JULIAN POV
“Julian?? Julian?? Are you awake and up yet?”I stretch and answer “Yes Mother, I am”“Stop lying and get out of bed, I need your help to get everything ready and out to the field for the picnic...”“Okay mother, be right there!...”
I get out of bed as I hear her walk away from my door, calling to my brothers and sisters to get out of bed, too. I head into my bathroom for a quick shower. Once I’m finished, I get dressed and then head out to help Mother with whatever she requires. I ended up carrying some of the baskets containing the picnic food in them, but luckily, it wasn’t just me.“Hey Nat, Ri, you both helping as well?”“Yeah Jules, hey happy birthday! Did you manage to have some fun at Charlotte’s birthday celebration?”“Yeah, Nat, I did, but nothing that lasted more than the night, though.” I smile as he does.As Victoria, Violet, Eli, Chrysta, Chase, Gabriela, Katrina, Whitney, Seth, Kathleen, Victor, Sebastian, Teresa, Theodore, Tina, Uncle Dominic, Mother and Father enter and pass through the kitchen Nathaniel, Riley and I grab all the baskets and as the family, we are we all head to the waterfall field where the picnic is being held, to meet up with Scarlett, Phoenix and Aunt Seraphina.Once we have everything set up we all forget that we are part of the Royal family and just have some fun, us older ones play chasey with the younger ones for a while and then we have some fun in the lake, I have fun swimming and trying to dunk Nathaniel, Victoria and Riley under the water but I think they had more fun ganging up on me.We had just exited the water when we were suddenly surrounded by rogue vampires; we have all had training; it was a mandatory requirement by uncle Dominic. He wanted us to be able to protect our mates, but he was also preparing us, especially me, for my role as Nathaniel’s second when he takes over as king.
With Nathaniel and Riley, by my side we stand in front of Victoria protecting her, not that she needs it as she is a born fighter and quite good probably even better than us, it doesn’t take us long to see that the others need help too.“Nat, we need to make our way over to the others... Do you think we can make it?”“Maybe, keep Vicky in between us and we should be able to make it slowly over to where the others are.”Victoria hisses low at me for my comment but stays in the middle of Nathaniel, Riley, and me. We slowly make our way through the field so we are closer to the other children, it is then that we are jumped by a couple of the rogues we didn’t notice, Nathaniel, Riley, Victoria and I all fight but I notice they are not fighting to kill only to distract and maybe knock out. It isn’t long before we hear our cousin Charlotte scream.“STEFAN!”We all stop, even the rogues and look over to where her scream came from, then we hear another scream that comes from the same direction
“PHOENIX!”A strong loud commanding voice then sounds throughout the field.“KING DOMINIC! SHOW YOURSELF! OR I TAKE YOUR QUEEN’S LIFE FOR YOURS! NO ONE ELSE MOVES OR THE PRINCESSES DIE TOO!”Everyone else stops dead. I look around and see that while everyone is focused on the rogues, no one is watching the littler children. I turn slightly and whisper,“Nat, Ri, Vicky, the younger ones are all scared and it sounds like he is going to tell Aunt Sera what happened to Mother’s parents and I don’t think it is something they need to hear.”“Okay, we move very slowly so they don’t realize we are moving.”So we move very, very slowly, making our way behind the rogues we were just fighting and move over to where the younger ones are either standing or sitting on the ground, we slowly join them and then quietly distract them with soft fairy tales keeping their attention on us as much as possible as what the adults are discussing isn’t something that they need to know the details about. We all sit and manage to keep the younger ones distracted until we hear cousin Scarlett scream out in pain. Nathaniel leans over to me and whispers.“Scarlett has just gone into labour and Dad has just agreed to allow the rogues to leave, as long as they don’t cause any more trouble.”We then hear the rogue leader yell, “KINGSTON MALES STAND DOWN!”All the rogues but five leave the field. We get the young ones up onto their feet and, with the help of Sebastian and Teresa; we get them all playing again. We hear another scream and I look up to see Teresa move over, give Sebastian a kiss, whisper something into his ear and then started making her way over to where Scarlett is now laying on the ground. As the rogue leader made his way slowly over to where Sebastian was watching over Kathleen and Victor as they played with Chrysta, Chase and Gabriela. I look at Nathaniel and whisper.“I don’t trust him, do you?”“No! I say we stay close..”We played with the young ones as we listened to the conversation between Sebastian and the rogue leader.“Hey son, I am really sorry! But I had to protect the kingdom and all the innocent bystanders that would have been killed if I hadn’t killed him!”“Father, I know. That is one thing that Dominic did tell me, but he told me you were killed protecting all of us when his father had given in to his vampire's rage and bloodlust becoming a rogue. He killed Phoenix’s father and then you, but died shortly after from the injuries you had caused him.”“Seb about your sister....”“No, Father, I don’t want to know anymore. I knew that she and Dom had decided together to be mated lovers, and wanted everyone to know before they made anything official. They loved each other deeply, Dad. Dom was never the same after that day. He went cold and was extremely cruel and once he had decided to do something, no one could talk him out of it. He was like that until he found and rescued Seraphina. She is a combination of my sister and his mother. In the short amount of time Seraphina has been with us, she has managed to break through and thaw the ice Dom had in his heart, allowing him to love again. He still isn’t the same as he was with her, but Seraphina is the miracle he needed, that we all needed.”“I’m just glad you have had a good life and from what I can see, you were blessed with finding your true mate...”“Yes, I was. I didn’t meet her under the best of circumstances, but it always happens when you least expect it, making the love we feel for each other mean even more. Kathleen! Victor! Come here, please!”“Hey, Dad!”“Daddy!!”Kathleen runs and jumps up into Sebastian’s arms, whereas Victor took the more male approach.
“Kathleen, Victor, this is my father, your grandfather Maximus!”I watch as Victor looks at him with suspicion and then slowly walks up to him and offers his hand to Maximus. Maximus takes it and shakes it carefully. Kathleen, on the other hand, wouldn’t even go near him, hiding into Sebastian’s chest and neck. Maximus seemed a little disappointed but says.“It’s okay, little one, Seb. She is beautiful. I hope at some stage I will be able to meet your lovely mate.”“Yeah sorry, she is our female doctor at the moment and when one of your males grabbed princess Scarlett, they caused her to go into labour with her twins.”“Yeah, about that I didn’t want anyone to be hurt, but I needed to know that King Dominic was suffering the same as me. However, when I had heard that he now had a Queen and a family, I thought he had forgotten your sister and she meant nothing to him.”“He never talks about her, but I know he has never forgotten....”It wasn’t long before we heard two babies cry. My mother then calls out, “Gather everything up. It's time to head back.”We quickly pack everything up and then head back to the castle. Once we are there, we follow mother and aunt Charlotte to help put the younger ones to bed, we then put the picnic stuff on the kitchen table before Nathaniel, Riley, Victoria and I head down to our gaming room, where we play games and chat until it is near dawn, we all then head back to our rooms to crash.VICTORIA POVI don’t sleep well as every time I close my eyes and get anywhere near falling asleep; I see all those rogues run out onto the field. Now I am an exceptional fighter. It is one of the benefits of being a princess but with not being anywhere near taking over the throne, as that goes to uncle Dominic’s children before me or any of my brothers and sisters.I have been able to concentrate on my fighting and with all my training, Theodore has said that as long as I keep up with the progress I am making, there is no reason why I can’t take over his place as Head Warrior. I feel bad for him. He managed to find his true mate, but because of events in her past, she is unable to give him a son or daughter to take his place; it is why he has been training me so hard, not that I complain as I love what I do.I give up trying to sleep; I climb out of bed, head into my bathroom and have a long hot shower, hoping that will help, but it doesn’t. So I head down to the training field, hopi
NATHANIEL / HUNTER POVOnce we meet up with Father and Alpha Stefan, we start on our way in the direction of the explosion until Father stops abruptly, getting that faraway look we all get when talking to someone via a bond link; he makes us all jump as he hisses low and the power aurora around him changes. I watch as my father’s vampire Caleb takes control, letting out some of his Royal power. It is such a beautiful colour as it expands out and away from him. He then takes off in the opposite direction to where we were originally going. I look over at Uncle Noah as he lets out a short laugh. “Someone has gotten themselves into a lot of trouble!!" “Why?” Alpha Stefan looks at us, really confused. “That was not King Dominic anymore... That was the true Vampire King Dominic’s vampire Caleb! He is and has always been one of the deadliest vampires that have walked this earth. Now, since Queen Seraphina came on the scene, he has calmed down, but he was never completely gone. I pity the
RILEY POVNathaniel got the permissions we all needed to go on our learning trip. I don’t know why they included me. Julian and Victoria, I understand they are in training to work next to Nathaniel but me, yeah I am training as well, but am I really doing what I am supposed to do? Sometimes I really don’t know.As we slowly make the rounds of the different packs and clans and a couple of other kingdoms around the country, I find that there are not very many packs or clans that actually use a separate third in command, as they are usually the Head Warrior. I learnt all I can, but I still felt out of place.We have been travelling for a few months and are currently in the RedBlood Clan; I am about to get up and go down to have some breakfast when I hear from Nathaniel through our mind link.“Julian, Victoria, Riley! I need to see you... My room right away!”“Be right there.”I throw on some sweatpants and a shirt and head down the corridor. When I get to Nathaniel’s room, Julian and Vict
NATHANIEL POVAs I head to my room, I really want to be going after my sister Hunter and Cole are on my back giving me a headache trying to take over and go after her. “Hunter, Cole! Calm down... We will go after her.”“When?? That male already has nearly a week's head start on us. If we don’t go soon, our gift won’t work as well.”“I know that, Hunter, but we need some rest or we won’t make it very far.”“I could always take over and have us to our sister within moments....”“Cole, I know you can, but if you do that with how exhausted we already are, we wouldn’t be able to do anything. We wouldn’t be any help to her...”They both growl and hiss at me, but back off. Once in my room, I strip my shirt and jeans and climb into bed. As I lay down, I open my twin link with Scarlett.“Scarly?? Little Sis. Please talk to me?”“Nat! I told you I am not your little sis...”“Ha! I knew that would get you to talk to me... Where are you?”“Um... I’m not sure. We have been moving a lot. Nat, don’t
GRIFFIN POVI have been travelling the earth for years, moving between packs, clans and human cities. In my early teenage years, I learnt that I was different from everyone else, as I could see, hear and do things that no normal person should be able to do. I worked out that no one liked people that were different so I tried to keep hidden what I could do, some of my close friends noticed the difference in me as I got older but they didn't care, some of them even ended up giving their lives to protect my secret. I didn't like this; it didn't seem right that anyone would give their life for mine. When I reached one hundred years old I was working in a small werewolf pack when a stranger asked the Alpha if he could enter, as he was looking for someone and there was a possibility that this person was hiding in his pack. I didn't know at the time that he was actually looking for me. While he was there I went about my normal routine and helped whoever in the pack required assistance. On
SKYLAR POVI run into my room at the young adult hostel and I quickly pack up my stuff, shoving my laptop and the few clothes I have into the small shoulder sling I carry with me. I quite liked it here, but unfortunately, it is time to move on once again before they track my whereabouts. I started fooling around with technology when I was ten and found I had a real knack for hacking into anything, my foster parents weren't happy when at the age of thirteen they had who they thought was the Federal Police banging on their door looking for me as I had hacked some secret organization and managed to get copies of all their files before they kicked me out of their server. I didn't see much of the information as I downloaded it but it had something to do with supernatural species, the top two on the list were Werewolves and Vampires and the fact that they do exist and this organisation is gathering information on both to find weaknesses and destroy both species before they can overrun or
JULIAN POVWe have been travelling for nearly twenty years, Nathaniel even after all these years hasn't given up looking for Scarlett following every lead, every sighting that is reported and he refuses to let anyone know where we are because there still seems to be some sort of spy or leak in the kingdom as we have gotten close to her a couple of times over the years but he always seems to know and moves on before we can do anything.So we only head home maybe once a year for a few days at most, so Nathaniel can check in with uncle Dominic and catch up on anything that he needs to know about and then we are on our way again, Victoria on the other hand heads home every few months so that she can stay on top of what is going on there and report what she has learnt on our travels. But then when I think about it I think it has been more than a year or two or maybe even three since we went home last.Victoria had to return home a couple of months ago as uncle Dominic had sent Theodore to
RILEY POVI know this is a small clan but they should still have more than just the border patrols and some officers walking around the town, even just a few small discreet cameras on the streets, just to cover any and all travellers that pass through. As we sit in Malcom's private office and wait for Nathaniel, I turn to Julian."Hey, Jules? What was that about as we left that last clan? You could smell blood or something?""Oh, that doesn't matter. Someone on the bus we waited for and then passed must have cut themselves on something.""You know, we could have stopped for you to check it out. I could smell humans on that bus. We could have convinced a couple of the females on board to maybe spare and share a little of their blood with us. I haven't had fresh human blood in..... Oh, I can't remember and if I remember rightly you have gone even longer..""I am fine, I don't need any...""Jules, who are you trying to fool, me or yourself? Because you don't fool me. You need a release.