Beyond Human: Queen's Shadow Series

01.) Bad News

I go into the other room where Anastasia is, she's been distant lately. I wish I knew what was on her mind but I went out of my way to respect her. There was nothing wrong with having your own privacy, but she had been a little bit more private than usual. It's then that I hear a soft knock on the door, I realize Anastasia was in the other room talking to the kids. Something I should be doing but what would I tell them? I've never turned a human into a vampire.

As I walk to the door I hope it's Priscilla, if not her a human. I looked through the peephole, and I saw Priscilla. She smiled as she looked at me with her mismatched eyes. Her blue and brown eyes looked into me through the peephole. 'Are you going to open the door?' I forgot that she was only 12, one of my most dependable allies was also a little girl.

She was over 200 years older than me and knew me when I was a human. Yet she has never strayed from being my big sister, I open the door and she greets me with a warm hug. 'It's good to see that you're okay, I'm glad that you and Anastasia have been spending time together.' I smile enjoying the compliment, it's been almost 2 years since I left. I've been trying to find myself as a vampire now, and it's been difficult.

I've gone out of my way to help Queen Lilith find the men that she's looking for. She's been trying to move science forward in her vampire world, ever since Dr.Heinz has discovered more traits in Lilith's blood she's been looking for other scientists to further vampiric research. I have found plenty of people but the search has not been easy. Now I'm dealing with something that is completely out of my classification. I hope Priscilla can help me, I hope my sister can help me with these children. I hope she can help me so I can go back to my son.

~~~Priscilla

Apollos's smile is so genuine, and I'm so happy my baby brother can smile again. "I'm glad you're smiling more Polly." I can't believe I even made that name up for him, but it made so much sense. I didn't want to call him by his old name but calling him Polly suited him just fine.

'Thank you, Priscilla,' he says smiling at me. His smile went away quickly as he said, 'Anastasia has been talking to them and I don't know what she's been talking about. I didn't take time to talk to the children, but I take it the two guests you wrong were for the kids.' I nod and say, "It's better to talk when you have a full stomach."

He nods as he then opens the door to, another bedroom. I see all of the children talking to Anastasia, but I notice something off. They were all gazing at her, and one of them even had their fangs out. They're trying to persuade her, she knows what's happening, and yet she doesn't do anything. It's then that I see her make eye contact with me, I nod silently I don't need to read her mind to know. These kids were stalking her, they were ready to eat her if the opportunity presented itself.

Good evening everyone I say with a smile, they look at me confused it's then that one of them bears his fangs and tries to bite me. I caught him by his face with my bare hands, he was struggling and I couldn't help but chuckle. With one flick of my wrist, I sent him flying back. "Anastasia you should leave I say with a smile." She gets up and leaves, and I hear one of the children say, 'That woman was our prey.'

"That's where you're wrong, that woman would never let you feed on her." I look and see 7 children and 7 innocent lives lost. I take a deep sigh as I say, "How long have you all been vampires."

It's then that the one I pushed back speaks up, 'some us? Since the early 30's. 'some of these kids would have been adults by now, actually, they are adults. "And who is the youngest?" It's then that the smaller boy pipes up and says, 'I am. I was turned ten years ago,' He was the youngest, so the last time he turned someone was 10 years ago, I think to myself. Seven children: Ranging from their early 30's to teenagers, it's then that I tell the kids to relax, I look at the oldest one and say, "Can you come here please?" I say in a soft voice. He walks to me, taking his time, looking around. As he walks to me, I tell him: "Just relax. I need to look into your mind,"

He tenses up for a moment but then closes his eyes. I placed my hands around his head and he was a Brown-skinned curly-haired boy. Couldn't have been more than 12 or 13. As I look into his mind, I see things and had I, not my experience, I would have vomited. Instead, I released my grip, some of these children weren't just children. They were seasoned predators. This man not only assaulted these children in sexual ways but also used them to lure in adults. Apollos did the world a service by eliminating this man, I'm almost too proud of my baby brother especially since he made me make that promise years ago.

I make my way, going through each of their minds. As I go through each of their minds, I truly begin to see something. These kids weren't kids, they were predators but could the kingdom use them? It's illegal to make vampire children, punishable by death yet killing them all would be a waste. It would also be doing us a favor for future headaches. As I finish going through each of their minds, I get to the smallest ones, I go into his mind and he's pushing me back. I open my eyes and say, "You need to relax,"

He looks at me and says, 'I know it's illegal to turn children into vampires. You're evaluating to see if we can be saved, aren't you?' I take a deep sigh as I say, "You're right, I am and I won't deceive you but if you make this hard, you're leaving me no choice," 'You have a choice. Just let us go,' I hear the children say. "Let a bunch of vampire children go? Not even if I was paid to," It's then that I realized something, children are capable of lying. I send a mental message out to Apollos as I say "Lock the door."

'Priscilla no,' "Yes," I say to him, "I can handle myself. What you need to do is trust me. If you can't do that, then I'm not going to be able to do what I have to do. I need you to trust me, this is going to be hard for everyone involved," 'Is it really, Priscilla?' I see the boy say with a smile. I look down at the child and then I see the children with all of their fangs out. 'I may have lied about my age. I'm well into my 50s, Miss Priscilla,' It's then that Apollos tries to open the door and two of the children put all of their weight up against it. 'We wouldn't want anyone interrupting us, Miss Priscilla now would we?'

"You're right," I say with a smile. 'Priscilla, open the damn door,' "Sorry brother. This is the one time I can't listen," 'Priscilla,' He starts, using his vampiric strength. I then say, "One moment. Brother, I know you care," I say, telepathically. "You can't do this and you shouldn't do this. If you don't listen to me, then you'll set yourself up. This is going to be a hard choice for you to make and I'd rather you not be the one to make it," It's then that the banging stops as he says telepathically, 'Is it really that bad?' I answer with silence, he then says, 'Let me know when you're finished. Anastasia and I will wait,'

The boy then says, 'You're next,' It's then that Apollos says, 'Trust me if she doesn't survive, I'll make sure none of you survive,' All of the children then begin to circle me as Apollos lets go of the door, they're all relatively young so they don't know how strong I am. "I'll make this quick," I say with a smile.

End of Chapter 1: Bad News