Passion is the Divide Between Hunger and Need: A Tears of Shame Novel

Chapter 1: Best Laid Plans

Here is chap 1... hope you like it.

It is a little background for what has happened in the years following Arianna's death & what is going on in the kingdom now.

Sorry it is short, the next is longer :)

READ, COMMENT, VOTE & ENJOY!!

********************************************************************

***************

Chapter 1: Best Laid Plans

Things were not as they once had been, or so I was told. The Kingdom of Carisia was no longer a peaceful and happy place. What once was a carefree kingdom full of rules and mutual respect among vampires and humans had turned into a place fraught with rebellion and up rise. It was not that it was unsafe, just that turmoil had risen within the ranks of a once calm and law abiding society.

The royal palace was surrounded by numerous small towns and villages. They bustled with life and activity. People, well vampires and humans, went about the daily grind and fulfilled the mundane activities essential to everyday life. There were some towns that were segregated, only human or only vampire, but many were a happy mix. All seemed to live in a cooperative existence.

Homes in the normal towns were modest in the best parts of town, while in the worst parts, they were shameful accommodations. A variety of businesses thrived throughout the kingdom. Sure, there were places in each town that were questionable, but there were also places that were safe and secure. Sometimes bad thing happened, that was just a fact of normal existence.

Certainly many things had remained unchanged. The Royals still held power and lived in their palace. They gave respect to the humans and vampires who followed the laws. The King still handed out punishments to those who defied said laws.

Those who served them were still as loyal as they always had been, offered blood and services without batting an eye. Most humans and vampires loved the Royals and reveled in the peace that they had created between the races.

So what had changed?

In two words… Princess Arianna.

The death of the beloved Princess and once future Queen had changed everything so completely. Those who loved and respected Princess Arianna were deeply saddened by her untimely death, though they knew not the circumstances or reasons behind it. Neither had I. I was in the dark as well.

Those few underground vampire clans who despised the kingdom, its rules and all they stood for were ecstatic at her death. The sorrow that gripped the kingdom tightly after her end, only gave them room to have acquired more power. They enjoyed wreaking havoc. Then, there were places in the kingdom that not even the strongest and most fearless would have dared enter, the clans’ territories.

In the years that followed, skirmishes and unruly behavior had broken out in some of the small towns. The ‘unpleasant treatment’ of humans, for lack of a better term, caused hunting parties to have formed to ‘secure peace’ as they called it. These parties were headed by none other than the King himself, his brother and trusted members of the royal clan and their guards. Even the head of the safety council went along on the missions, as he was the strongest and most respected vampire in the kingdom, the former King Asteroth.

Yes, King Asteroth stood down from the thrown shortly after Princess Arianna’s death and Prince Xavier took over as King with his brother Ronan at his right hand. The territory went without a queen, as King Xavier refused to have taken a new bride. In his eyes, Arianna, the greatest gift God ever bestowed, was the only one who would ever have been fit to have been called his Queen.

The King had a plan and that plan was to have his daughter, Princess Lianna, married at the age of 19 to a well respected man of his choosing. She would then have spent years learning all there is about ruling a kingdom with respect and mercy, something the former King had never shown. Since there had never before been a vampire princess, only a long line of princes, the rules governing her actions and responsibilities were a bit sketchy, and some of the areas were very grey.

I was told that King Xavier was a powerful and merciful man. That he was gentle, kind and generous, and that he ruled with a fair, yet forceful hand. I could not have said that I agreed with that assessment. In fact I found him to have been the total opposite.

To me, he seemed nothing of the kind.

To me, he was a man with a plan, though I could have seen that his heart was no longer open to any suggestions.

To me, he was just a lost soul who wondered aimlessly in search of his lost love. Though he showed love and unrestrained devotion to those close to him.

To me, he was a great man lost in an unrelenting battle in his heart. A heart eternally covered by sadness and pain.

To me, he was my father and I loved him.

Though my father had plans for me all his own, sometimes the best laid plans ended in disaster.

************************************************************

This was a look at life through Lia's eyes.

Hope you liked... the next will be up soon!

Please remember to Comment & Vote! It makes me so happy when you do

Crissy =:)