My Vampire Queen

Taking her hand in mine I frowned at the title she said. “Isn’t a consort like a mistress?”

Tabitha’s lips twitch and she grasps my hand in both of hers patting my hand. “Some people say that, but a consort is more of a person who helps the royalty behind the scenes.” She lets go of my hand in hers and lets her eyes roam over me. “It is so good to finally meet you, I have been waiting a long time.”

“Did you know about me?” I asked and she nodded.

“I knew your mother was having a daughter.” She went over to her desk, opened a drawer and I heard buttons beeping. “I knew that you would be raised by someone I didn’t know, and I didn’t know where you would be. I trusted your mother to make the right choice, but I still had my regrets as the years went by.”

There was a large folder pulled out and she sat it on the desk. “Do you know what I am?”

She gave me a full smile this time. “I do, I am not an Amina, though one of my earlier ancestors had been, and that has given me the ability to be able to tell supernaturals apart for the most part. Being that my family has served yours as consorts for generations on my part, I am fairly well versed in Amina’s and Amina’s law.”

That gave me a sense of relief, it’s the second person I could go to for questions about Amina. Even if both of them aren’t Amina. At least they could give me some pointers. I walk over to the chair in front of her desk and fall into it, my hand coming up to rub my temples. “I just found out about everything about an hour or so ago, I’m trying to process this.”

“We can speak about something not supernatural related,” Tabitha suggests and I nod quickly. She goes to the folder she picked up and slides it in front of me. “You don’t have to go over all of this, I just had always updated these files so when you came you could get a grasp on the business side of things. If you are not interested, that is fine, I can keep everything running under your name.”

That gave me pause. “Business under my name?” I question as she moves to the seat next to me. I pull the file to my lap, the folder itself is a cream color, with a black emblem on the front, it kind of looks like those cancer awareness ribbons, but with a horizontal line going through it, a circle around it, and a half moon cupping the entire thing. I open the folder to the first piece of paper. “This is a lot of numbers.”

“The first few pages are company overviews for the last two quarters,” Tabitha said. I had no experience with looking at business’s financial reports, but I had always caught onto things very fast, especially with numbers. “Every company was started by your mother or her mother. My family has always helped but we didn’t start it, everything will be moved under your name.”

My first reaction was to tell her no, she had been running the company since I was born, and if I was reading the pages right, she had done amazingly well. I had no idea how to run a company. A nagging feeling had stopped me from saying anything, a feeling that it was my mother’s business and her mother’s. Sure Tabitha had run everything so smoothly, but it was my right to it. Goddess did that feel weird to think.

“My legal name isn’t Luna,” I told her closing the file. I had seen enough to know that I would never have to worry about money again.

“I can call you by your legal name if you wish?” Tabitha phrased it sort of like a question. “Or we can go get your name changed, that would probably be the best option. I can have everything in your name within a few days.”

Getting my name changed was probably the best idea, because Emma had died today. “Let’s get my legal name changed.” I hadn’t even finished what I was saying before her phone was out and she was typing. “I also need to quit my job, I don’t think I can mentally handle my job and what’s going on.”

Tabitha grinned at her phone. “Give me the number of your boss, I’ll handle it. We will also have to leave within twenty minutes to make it to the courthouse to change your name.”

“Do I need my birth certificate or something?” I asked.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” She put her phone down on the desk. “I have made connections in a lot of places, there should be no issue in getting you a new name, ID, passport anything you need. May I see your phone?”

I handed it to her after unlocking it and dismissing my text messages. She took it for a moment, typing out a few things, and handed it back. “My number is in there along with my assistants, just in case but I will always try to get to your messages or calls immediately. If you want to just text me your boss’s number I’ll get that sorted.”

“Thank you for doing this.” I let out a sigh as I get his number, copy it and send it to her. “I loved the idea of doing something, anything, and sure working was great at first but... I hated the actual work I was doing. It felt like it didn’t matter.”

Tabitha frowned. “What were you doing?”

“Night-time cleaning for a bowling alley,” I answered and her brows crinkled together and her frown deepened. “It’s my first real job, before that, I was cooped up at home and never left. It was just a way to be able to get out and make my own money.”

“Well, now you don’t have to clean,” Tabitha said, shaking her head slowly. “You will not have to worry about money any time soon.” She places her hand on the file I had placed back on the desk. “This will explain more, but I’ll give you a summary. Between your mother and I, we had started multiple businesses in multiple countries, under multiple names, and under multiple other companies. Then there are many, many properties, investments in stocks, savings accounts throughout the world, and many more things.”

I had to get up halfway through what she was talking about because I wanted to cry. I walked back over to the window, the sun was slowly dipping in the horizon, lighting the room in a bright warm light. I close my eyes as I stand in the sun. If she was being honest about all that money, I had so many options, so many things I had thought about doing or wanted to buy, I could do it now.

“We can change your name tonight, get pictures done for an ID and passport, tomorrow I can have them and a credit card all ready.” Tabitha’s voice was softer and I heard her moving back to her desk. “And if there is anything you want to do with the money, if there is anyone you want to give money to, just tell me whatever you want.”

“I’d like to give money to my mom.” I said without thinking, with a second to process what she said and what I said, “No, I’d like to buy her a house wherever she wants, and give her money.”

Turning around to face Tabitha she gave me a nod. “If you wanted to buy your mom three houses and a beach house we can do that unless you want me to give you a list of all the properties you already own?”

You.She said you, not my houses, not my birth mother’s houses, or the companies. Mine, I had multiple properties. “Is there a way for me to see the houses? Like online or some file?”

“I can have basic photos and addresses uploaded online, when it’s done I can email it to you.”

“I’ll text you my email address then.”

She gave me another nod and perched on her desk, phone in hand. “There is a house in town that we can go see after your name change, if you want to move there or if your mother wants to for now we can. You should also look at the properties for a possible nest.”

“A nest?” I question her. A nest sounded like somewhere I would hold up to have a brood of babies. I didn’t hate the idea, I had always wanted kids, but I doubt now would be a good time to start thinking about kids.

“A nest is where you and your Blood will live, along with some of your Queen Siblings. Your home will be protected by blood and Blood.” She enunciated the B on Blood to defer the two. “It will be a safe space for you and your nest to grow in size.” Running a hand onto the roots of my loose bun I try to think, Tabitha’s eyes lock onto my arm, and purses her lips. “Tattoos? Queens normally don’t have tattoos, I’m not against it, it’s just something to think about.”

“It’s not a tattoo exactly,” I say and shake my head. “I love tattoos, if I had the money growing up I would be covered in them.”

“What do you mean not exactly?” She looked curious until I saw the smoke leave from under my jacket and pool onto the floor just in front of me. He was still in his pirate gear, his hair a curly mass on his head. From here I got a better look at him, he was in between my height and Tabitha’s, so maybe five foot eight, and an average build. If I hadn’t woken up pressed to his hard body I might not have known about how muscular he was under that loose-fitting shirt.

“This is Caine,” I said taking that step up to be closer to him, just an inch from touching him. “He is my Blood, but not Amina.”

“I can see that.” Tabitha lets out a breath and visibly shakes her head. “I could have guessed who your father was, but seeing this makes it a whole more real.”

“I am here to serve and help guide our Queen.” Is everything Caine says to Tabitha.

There’s a small weary smile from Tabitha. “She will need help from all of us, once the other Queens know she’s alive, they won’t give her time to learn.”

“That is something we will have to talk about soon.” Sighing I forced myself not to rub my temples again, this was already giving me a headache. “My birth mother and Goddess gave me warnings, we need to worry about other Queens but also the humans.”

Tabitha didn’t tell me I was wrong, or silly to think humans were a threat. Her eyebrows furrowed and I could see the gears in her head turning. Apparently, she hadn’t thought of humans as a threat, but now that it’s said out loud it’s a real possibility. She looks to Caine. “If she can have demons as Blood can she have other supernaturals as Blood?”

“Yes,” Caine says shortly. “Also she can make humans into Blood, though they won’t stay human for long.”

My frown matches Tabitha’s, so I ask him for the both of us. “What would they turn into?”

“Demon, hellhound, hell horse.” He shrugs one of his shoulders. “I wouldn’t be able to tell until the change was almost done.”

“Would they lose how they look?” I wouldn’t want to turn someone into a horse, or a dog.

Caine shakes his head. “They will be like shifters, human form for the most part, but able to change into their demonic form.”

That gave me relief, I think. I’m not sure if I like the idea of being able to turn humans into my own personal demons. A beeping sound went off, Tabitha looked at her phone and informed me we had to go if we wanted to make it to the courthouse. Caine grabbed my wrist and disappeared into smoke before settling on my arm once again. Tabitha gets her jacket, speaks to her assistant, and we leave for a garage area where I ride with her across town to the courthouse. Having her with me seems to soothe me because she’s clearly a well-put-together woman who knows what she’s doing.

It helps my anxiety knowing someone is there to help me with shit like this.