The Sunwalker- Heirs of the Night

3- Heirs

Nadja awoke when shadows came and knocked on all the heirs' coffins, but she stayed put. That voice, what was the deal with it? What had it meant? However long she pondered, no realisation hit her. Another knock made her sigh and exit her coffin.

"Make your way to the dining room, if you please."

Once there, Nadja saw people sitting by set tables, presumably the other heirs. Recognising only Lars of Dracas, she walked over to the table where he sat along with two other blonde and blue-eyed vampires. Likely also of the Dracas clan, Nadja figured. She made to sit down, but was stopped by one of the Dracas girls.

"And you are?"

The girl asked, rather rudely, as she stood up in Nadja's way.

"Nadja ot Belov. The Sunwalker."

Nadja said fiercely as she pushed the girl out of her way and sat down. Although she did not really want to sit with those girls, she would rather die than walk away now and let them win. Luckily, a shadow came with their red at that time, so no rebuttal came Nadja's way. The group drank their red in silence for a moment, before the arrival on another caught their attention. It was a a dark haired girl who glanced almost nervously over at them. Lars shifted slightly where he sat beside Nadja, and he spoke after a few moments silence.

"What is your name?"

"Alisa."

The girl replied. The group stared at her, waiting for more. Finally, Lars broke the silence.

"Alisa, what?"

"Alisa von Vamalia"

Laughter followed these words. A Vamalia? How ridiculous. Did the clans really need them to survive? Surely not.

"Poor girl's a Vamalia, no need to ask what their power is. They got the power of lo~ove."

It surprised no one that the speaker was one of the Dracas girls, they seemed expressively dismissive. They were not the only dismissive ones, not by a long shot, but they were the ones expressing it so clearly and openly.

"So did Jesus. Look."

A little boy said as he threw them a book. Lars caught it with ease, but Nadja could immediately tell that something was wrong. She looked over at the book and saw how it burnt Lars' hands.  Furthermore, Nadja felt something sting her own hands. She gasped.

"It's a bible!"

He shouted and threw the book away and the burning sensation Nadja felt left with it. The group's gaze followed the book's progress as it landed on the floor with a loud thunk. Nadja found herself unable to look away from it. What horrible books, those bibles. They burn those who touch them and, it seemed, those nearest. The bible boy got up, muttered something and picked the book up from the floor. Nadja and the others all stared at him.

"You see? It's all in here. Love is the way that leads us to the light."

"It's a miracle." Whispered the Vamalia girl.

"No, it's just the Nosferas power." Said the boy, grinning.

"I'll show you power!"

Lars pointed his hand towards the boy and raised it upwards. Nadja watched in amazement how the boy floated upwards. She had never before seen the Vikla power in use, or any power except for her own, for that matter. Sure, she had experienced the Dracas ruby, but she hadn't exactly seen anything then. People started to laugh again as the Nosferas boy started whimpering. The Dracas girls even got up to get a better look. This was, apparently, an opportunity too good to waste, for a dark vampire raised his hand towards the Dracas girl that had stood in Nadja's way earlier. It began to glow as the girl's skirt lifted. She tried to keep it down, but was not particularly successful. Nadja laughed even harder at this, as did everyone else.

"Malcolm, stop!" Someone shouted.

"We can see her underwear!" Said someone else, failing to conceal a laugh.

But the boy, Malcolm, did not stop. The other Dracas girl took hold of him and threw him against a wall. The skirt ceased flowing at once.

"You jerk!" She screamed as she dragged him upwards. They hissed at each other.

"You're hurting him!"

Screamed the Vamalia and threw herself at Lars, which seemed to be the cue for everyone else to start fighting too. The other Dracas girl attacked Nadja while she was distracted and hissed angrily at her. This seemed to be the perfect time for a rebuttal. Oh, how stupid of her, Nadja thought as she swirled to the side and pushed her to the wall. Mere moments later, one of the silver knives from Nadja's belt had been picked up and thrown. It got tangled up in her braid and stuck to the wall behind her. The girl tried to free herself, but the attempt resulted in a scream of pain and increasing amounts of hissing, which Nadja gladly returned. The doors to the dining hall flew open.

"What in the devils name is going on here?!"

Everyone stopped fighting and hissing at once and looked towards the door. Baron Magnus stood there, with the other Elders right behind him.

"Sit down."

He commanded, his voice a cold yet calm fury. They obeyed his orders and let go of each other, Nadja even pulled her knife out of the wall and put it back in place. The Baron was a man many feared, a cold warrior, and thus Nadja respected him. Conte Claudio stepped forth and began talking, now that everyone had sat back down. Though they had stopped fighting, the young vampires all glared at at least one of the others.

"Once, we were thirteen proud clans with powerful rubies, given to us by the Lord Dracula. After defeating him in his evil quest, we didn't choose peace. We started fighting each other. In the clan wars, we lost so many."

Nadja bowed her head ever so slightly. Amongst the many losses, were her clan. Every single member of the Belov clan, except for herself, had died.

"Now, we are only six. The Nosferas from Italia."

Conte Claudio pointed to himself, and the Contessa nodded her head. He continued and began to count them all off on his hands.

"Dracas from Norway."

Baron Magnus lifted his head, as did Lars, and the Dracas girls grinned.

"Vyrad of England."

Sir Milton looked over at the boy who had made the skirts lift, Malcolm, who looked as if he had waited until now to pay attention.

"Pyras from France."

Madame Audrey shifted her attention from a little girl and over to Conte Claudio. The girl followed her mother's gaze.

"Vamalia from Germany."

Dame Elina smiled, but the Vamalia girl didn't react at all.

"And Belov from Russia."

Nadja met his eyes, then the eyes of all the other Elders in turn. She could think of only one thing, as she sat there listening. She thought of how alone she was and how hers was the only clan where just one person had reacted to its calling.

"So why are we here tonight?"

"Ro kick each other in the face?" Asked Lars.

People laughed and, though Nadja was not amongst them, she too found it humorous, it lifted her spirits slightly. Kicking other vampires in the face, she needn't help from her clan to do that.

"Silenzio! We are here for peace. We are here to join hands. We are here because nothing, nothing should stop us from living forever, not even the redmasks. This is a night we will all remember. This night is the beginning of a new era. This night is the birth of a new generation. This is the night with which we start vampire school."