The Queen's Shadow

Exposure.

~~~Lilith August 1st, 1950

I sat in my room thinking about my kingdom. I had ruled for almost a thousand years, and every two hundred years we would modernize for times. I had been working on a new infrastructure for the 2000s. The way humans are progressing especially with the power displayed in Japan it was alarming, to say the least. There was also tension rising between U.S.S.R and the Americans, this all started because of one defector in America or maybe the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand could be seen as a catalyst. It didn't matter how I look at it, an all-out war, especially with nuclear weapons, could be a nightmare. Humans are simultaneously predictable yet dangerous. I was getting ready to leave to go back home.

I sat in my room gazing upon the view in Baltimore Maryland one more time. It was a beautiful city, I had decided to buy an apartment building near the Chesapeake Bay area so I could look at the city. The top floor had been modified to make one living space with 5 bedrooms. Before it was modified there were three bedrooms, but thanks to this we had ample space now and plenty of windows. we had three bathrooms and one had two sinks and a lions foot tub. All of the rooms were large and the smallest one there was the one I slept in. I had hardwood floors throughout the entire top floor. Since everything was on one floor it looked more like an enormous condo. We had a large living room and even got a television. The living room had a carpet that was a nice horizontal striped brown and white color. The TV stood on legs and was a hardwood frame it was light brown and it was still new only a few weeks old. We had couches in front of it and we enjoyed watching it. The couches were two loveseats and had been designed with nice dark leather and the cushions were soft how I liked them.

My room had a queen-sized bed smaller than what I was used to but I enjoyed sleeping there nonetheless. It had a simple wooden frame that looked almost like the one I had slept on when I was with Michael. I had a dresser and a walk-in closet though the dress wasn't large it still had a mirror I enjoyed it had been painted black and was hand-built by the carpenter on a floor beneath us. The walk-in closet had plenty of clothes from winter clothes to summer clothes. I had been wearing

The baron had been made aware of my presence but had also been told not to share it with anyone else and resume his duties. We also had a human living with us, he was just a butler. I then began to think of them the thought crashed through me like a train, thinking of their faces seeing them both and it had only been two months since I saw Adrian but I knew he would at least go a few more centimeters. With his big brown eyes and his beautiful smile, he had such a sweet spirit like his mother. The fact that I would be a grandmother made me happy since I had never been a grandmother, but it also made me sad because I would never be able to hold that baby. Nor would I ever be able to grow old, what could I be other than an immortal monster while I watch my grandsons and my son grow old?

I understand it though, why I abandoned my child and husband and why I walked away. It was because without me the empire that I worked hundreds of years to build would have surely failed. I wanted them to have autonomy thinking they would use their years as a human to understand how to run my empire, but most of those vampires only wanted was power. Power was nice to have, but it was also a waste because all it did was corrupt those who were weak-willed. The more I think about it, the more I realize my children are the only ones suitable for running my kingdom. This was probably one of the main reasons why I was willing to walk away from it all the 10 years I spent with that man were the briefest but some of the most beautiful, important, and most peaceful years of my life.

Love is something that I have experienced only a few times in my years, and each time I knew they were more than worthy of being a vampire to be the king of my empire. To live along with me in this immortality. Sadly each time they would turn me down and they would accept death's embrace, A feeling of familiarity with each one I wondered why these men would turn down immortality. Many men would strive to have this...to be immortal but that was probably the reason I fell in love with those men. They were kind and compassionate, but they also recognized that time is meant to be temporary. I could only hope that I could spend my last days with even one of them. Just to have Michael resting his head on my lap while we talked about his day at work. I could remember them all, and with each turn, I would remember how I stay with them until the end. All of them except for Michael.