Beyond Human: Queen's Shadow Series

21.) A Bloody Mess

~~~Apollos May 21st, 1953

I found myself returning back to Europe more dumbfounded than I thought. This was a bloody mess, from the moment I heard the words leave her lips It showed me how much I did not know. I have to involve myself with my family more. Or maybe this was a secret that I was not supposed to know. For him to have been chosen by her it just bothers me. How one choice could simply have changed the outcome of everything. This existential feeling I don't think it's going to pass for a while.

I watch Richard as he is still asleep, thrown into a coma because of Clovis. As soon as he busts through those windows Richard shielded his brother and other humans. The glass cut through him while an iron rod pierced his lower stomach. I left so quickly that I didn't even bother to check on him, My body was already in shambles and needed to be looked at. It took them 2 hours to reconnect my spine perfectly, It took me 8 hours to become conscious.

It also took a gallon of blood to keep me from going berserk. 'Your body has taken so much damage I'm not even sure how you healed so quickly.' "I entered my limit breaker state," I said to her. 'When we saw you, you were barely conscious,' "I know," 'Yet you still forced yourself to meet Mother,' "Yes, because some asshole named Clovis wanted to make his presence known and I couldn't deny him of that," 'You should have stayed. We could have told more about him,'

I see Kaoru walking towards me, "Kaoru, it's not about staying, it's about the fact that I got my ass handed to me by some asshole who has an infatuation with my mother," 'That asshole is also a royal aristocrat and a noble,' "So, why haven't I heard of him?" 'Why would you know about him, Apollos? You've done everything you can to distance yourself from the family,' "And? You knew how hard it was for me with becoming a vampire," 'Apollos, we're not saying that,' Lucia says, 'We're just saying that you would have known about him at some time or another,'

It's then that I hear another voice, 'You wouldn't have found out about him at all,' I turn and I see Priscilla, 'Clovis hasn't been seen since Mother left almost 40 years ago. Not only that but they've been fabricating Clovis arriving at the meetings for the last 30 years,' 'Priscilla, how do you know all this?' Lucia looked at her. 'I've been keeping tabs on the aristocrats for months. It's not like Mother would have told you all. After the last uprising and thanks to Hans, do you really think she was going to leave any kind chance of betrayal after the first betrayal and after this Hans fiasco?' The problem is why is he keeping it from us?' Kaoru said.

'The same reason you guys were reprimanding him, Kaoru, you guys have been at his side since the very beginning before he turned into a vampire. Lucia, you've been dealing with personal responsibilities both in America and abroad. It's no question as to why you couldn't keep up on the info,' Priscilla said. 'You're right. We shouldn't have just reprimanded him. Everyone moves at their own pace. Apollos has suffered a lot in his lifetime. I'm sorry that was inconsiderate of us,' I wanted to be offended at what they said but they had a modicum of truth coming from them, they knew I didn't want to be a vampire and they knew I didn't want to fight. How many friends did I avoid because I wanted to judge them? Worse yet, how many enemies did I make just by being her son?

'We need to get our checks and balances in order. Apollos, how long are you going to be here?' Priscilla says, looking at me, her eyes focused on me as she folded her arms. 'Apollos, I understand you not wanting to deal with other vampires. I understand you want to distance yourself but at the end of the day, if you want to be here, I need to hear you say you want to be a part of our family. I'll always love you and I have always loved you but I can't pretend that you don't make me feel like you're only with me because we're bonded by blood. I want to actually hear you say that I'm happy to be your sister, I've never heard you say it ever. I want you to be thankful that I'm here. I want you to be happy that you have a family that supports you and is good to you,'