My Vampire Queen

With ground beef, an onion, a green pepper, eggs, panko, and a whole pile of seasonings and fresh herbs I get started on the meatloaf. Tabitha has her laptop on the counter next to me as I move things around to cut up the onion and pepper, she pulls up the first of her list. “There are a few house options in London, is that somewhere you would want your nest?”

I didn’t have to think about it before shaking my head no. “I would like to stay in America, I might consider Canada but I’d like to stay in the continent.”

“Okay taking out all of the London ones, and ones in Europe in general.” Tabitha taps a few keys, and my phone next to the cutting board lights up with another text message. This morning it went crazy, then it stopped for a while until around the time I got home. “Anything I can help with?” Tabitha was looking at my phone when she asked.

I sigh and shake my head. “I technically have a boyfriend, but I don’t know, I loved him at one point, but I don’t see it going anywhere now.” I try to think of a way to explain it as I moved the cut veggies to the side and pulled over a metal mixing bowl. “He was my best friend, the only person I talked to for a while, so I started dating him now I regret it, even more so with everything going on.”

“And now you don’t want to hurt him.”

“Exactly.”

“It’s better to rip the band-aid off now than to leave him wondering.” It was blunt but true, I knew I should do it, but I felt bad.

“For the past little while he had been gifting me stuff, he’s well off but not,” I mention around us. “This well off, I’d like to send him some money for all the things he got me, but also for being there for me.”

“We can do that.” She pats my hand, trying to comfort me. “You had a life before coming here, you have people you still care about so if there are people you want to gift some money to I understand.”

Putting the meat in the bowl I was glad I had gotten enough for three meatloaves, and glad this bowl was massive. Small diced onions and green peppers followed. Fresh basil and parsley were torn up and added, I added three eggs, one for each pound of meat, and one-quarter cup of panko for each pound. “Hmm.” I hear Tabitha muttering. “We can’t go to New York or New Orleans.”

A frown pulls at my face. “Why not New Orleans? That probably would have been one of my top five places to live.”

Tabitha shakes her head as Caine comes into the room, sporting the candy bags. “Queen’s live in those cities I’m guessing.” Tabitha nods at his assumption, watching him dump the candy out onto the counter. “You cannot move into a city that already has a Queen’s nest, they will take it as a threat. Even if you have a friendship over time to Queens with nests so close never last, one leaves or one dies.”

“Or one agrees to be a sibling and then the more powerful Queen has two nests.” Added Tabitha.

“Yes, that could happen.” He agreed, then looked up at me. “I put all of your bags into your room next to your bed, I took all of my things and put them in the room next to yours.”

“Not just left them in my room?”

Caine gave me a smirk. “Your Alpha will share your room, it will be up to you who shares your bed, but I doubt there will be room in your closet for your stuff, your Alphas, and your Bloods.”

I didn’t like that, but he was right about the closet space. “Maybe in the nest, we can have two closets attached to the master. Maybe a bedroom right next to it a closet and have it for the Blood’s clothes.”

“If you want us all in the same bed. I wouldn’t mind until there are too many of us to fit.” He gave me a lot to think about. The idea of being with multiple people snuggled up in a huge bed sounded great. But people might not want that, I would have to wait and see what the other Blood wanted.

“Most Queens give their Blood a bunk room, their Alpha either shares their room or has a room connected to their bedroom,” Tabitha adds and I shake my head. I didn’t want a bunch of people in a bunk room, that seemed odd to put adults in for a long period.

“There are three more Blood on the way.” I start adding the spices to the mixing bowl, giving myself room to pause and think. “We have enough room now for every Blood to have their own bedrooms, but at some point, we might not. Maybe we can have Blood share rooms if they want. I won’t force them in a room together if they annoy each other.”

“I think we could manage that,” Caine said sorting through the candies, separating them into categories. I mash the meat mixture together and separate the three pounds into smaller foil pans. When I had gone through the kitchen, there was only the microwave and a coffee pot, plates, cups, silverware, a set of knives, and some large bowls. There are a few basic pots and pans but not everything I would need for a full kitchen. I’d have to go out at some point to fill it out.

“What about California, Nevada, or Texas?” Tabitha asks me, I go and wash my hands as I try to picture myself living in those places.

Shaking my head along with my wet hands I say. “Those are places I would like to visit. Vegas and LA are places I would like to stay at for a while but I don’t see moving there. When I picture a forever home, a place for a nest, there’s snow in the winter.”

“Okay, that helps quite a bit.” Tabitha starts tapping away. Caine walks up to me, making me back up to the counter until he cages me in with his arms, I raise a brow at him.

“Feed before the new Blood come, don’t want you making decisions hungry.” He had shed his jacket at some point, I reached up and pulled the shirt of his neck aside. There was a flash of that knife again and I latched myself to his neck. His hands went under my ass cheeks on my upper thighs and lifted me to sit on the counter, legs wrapped around his waist.

For a split second, I was worried about Tabitha there, but the soft clicks of a keyboard reassured me that she wasn’t paying attention to us. or she just didn’t care. The smokey taste of his blood hits my tongue, his shoulder hides my moan, most of it. The dryness in my throat is soothed in seconds, and my body slowly felt more alive, I felt like everything was clearer, sounds, smells, and the dim areas of the kitchen brighter. Every time I feed from him I feel a little different, better, stronger.

Liquid warmth, the best wine I’ll ever have, drinking from Caine is something I don’t think I’ll ever get over.

Bjorn had felt the call first, I was making lunch when he zoned out, looking to the north. Then I felt it. A tug to my soul that told me a Queen was in need of Blood and my Goddess wanted me to go to her. Wanted all three of us to go to her. For that I was grateful. Bjorn, Vinny, and I have been together for years, surviving under a horrific Queen, who only allowed us to leave because we are young and have yet to show our abilities. That she knew of.

Bjorn and I are sitting in our truck, filled with our small amount of things, Vinny in front of us leading the way on the back of a Harley. We had traveled far for this Queen, and I would do it again for this chance to serve someone different.

“Look.” Bjorn jerked his head to the side. On the corner past a few trees and an iron fence sat a sizable blue and white home.

“No nest boundary,” I noted as Vinny pulled up to the gate, two stocky but well-built men in khakis and black polos came from either side, the one on the left noted us then nodded to the other. There was a walkie-talkie pulled out from the first man as the second opened the gate.

“Human security,” Bjorn said half under his breath like they could hear him. Human security and no nest? That didn’t make any sense, she called three Blood at once. Most Queens only called one, on occasion two, I’ve never heard of three at once. We had been hoping for a Queen to at least call and accept one of us as Blood, allowing the other two to be Serfs under that Blood. We had gotten extremely lucky that all three of us were called, now all we needed was for her to take us all in as Blood.

Vinny is parked in front of the garage and off his bike quickly, Bjorn and I follow, a little slower because of the doors. The garage is closed and stays closed, so we head over to the front door, where it opens.

It’s a man shorter than any of us, at first, I peg him as human until we get closer. His face, his arms, his neck, and his chest that I can see are littered with scars, some all-black tattoos. His gray t-shirt has a spot on it, a black spot from blood. But he didn’t smell or feel Amina, but he was clearly fed off of.

“I am Bjorn Ragnor, we were called by our Queen.” Bjorn’s tone is blunt, he feels the call deeper than Vinny and I because he’s an Alpha.

“I am Caine.” The shorter man says with a jerk of his chin. “I am our Queens first and only Blood for now, not an Alpha. Don’t mistake me that I will kill all three of you if you step out of line.”

I can just barely see the toothy smile Bjorn gives him, showing fang to the man in front of us. “Good, a Queen able to call three Blood at once needs strong and willing Blood.”

Bjorn didn’t like the threat, I didn’t either but I also agreed that I liked he was cocky, and that he believes he could kill all three of us. It meant he was old, whatever he was.

“Then come meet the Queen,” Caine said turning his back on us, another point for cockiness, and walks farther into the house.