Power or Death [editing]

Chapter 1.

I never thought the stress and pressure would get to me like this.

Come on. I am not even a legal adult yet, by human standards anyway. Vampires age slowly. We calculate one vampire year for every ten human years lived. I have been walking this earth for almost 180 human years and that is still very young.

My father, the Vampire King Abernathy Roland Sinclair, is looking forward to his retirement after his 25-year reign over the Vampire Kingdom.

Vampire Royalty rules the throne for 25 vampire years. Typically the oldest offspring, born shortly after the new King and his mate take reign, takes over on their 24th birthday. However, my eldest and second brothers along with our mother were killed in an accident outside the Kingdom when I was 3 years old. That tragedy gave us 15 years to prepare me for the throne because my father's reign is expiring and there is no one else.

I am Agnes Michelle Sinclair. The Vampire Princess.

Never in the history of our kind has a female taken the throne. I will be the first Vampire Queen.

Vampires have existed since the beginning of time, like most other supernatural creatures, and the first-born male has always ruled after his father as his fathers did before him. But after the accident my father and the council had no other choice. I must step up and rule. I have been the only child for most of my life and I do not see how anyone else could take my place anyway.

The Sinclair Family is Vampire Royalty. People are added when mated but the Sinclair name always stands. My mate will be taking my name. It is simply the way it has to be.

Mating is what has me the most stressed.

Going through the process of Royalty Mating does not sound like fun and the closer it gets the more I feel it. Being a Royal means there are different rules for how I find my mate. Unlike everyone else it is not an instant connection when you make eye contact with your destined person.

No. It is a whole lot more complicated.

Royalty Mating:

1. Proposing Phase
2. Mating and Marking Phase
3. Bonding Phase
4. Breeding Phase

Regular vampires find their mates at 16. Royalty finds theirs at 18. I am almost there.

I have been sexually active for the last two years. Because the Royal Mating process is so different from everyone else's, my family is permitted to choose a partner to fulfill sexual needs until a mate arrives. One single partner, used during this time, without the risk of reproduction. Vampires can only procreate with their destined mate. Sex with anyone other than your mate is non-pleasurable and shortens your mate's life. This cuts down on infidelity effectively, though most vampires would not stray anyway.

Malcolm Xavier Wright has been my best friend since we were 5. I selected him to be my sexual partner and I could not have chosen better. He is fantastic. We have extraordinary chemistry in and out of bed and I am so lucky to have him as mine. Malcolm, Xave as I call him, will be free to find his own mate once I have found mine.

There is a small chance he could be my mate. Only time will tell. His mate will most likely be older. Vampires can have more than one mate across their lifetime. You always have a mate from age 16 and if something happens to yours you will be given another.

My father, for example, received another mate after my mother passed. Monica is his third and current mate. He had another briefly, Tracy, but she passed when I was 4. Vampires can die. It is much harder to kill us but we are not immune and natural causes take us the same as anyone else eventually.

Monica is 32 and my father just turned 49. They do not have children yet but will be able to reproduce after I receive the throne. Only a first mate can provide offspring for the throne. Monica was upset about that initially but she has been a wonderful stepmother and I hope my parents decide to expand their family once things settle.