Morgan Sinclair
Sitting on the ledge of Victorias office desk I wait for her to exit her dark room. "Hey Victoria?!" I yell out playing with the newton pendulum on her desk next to me.
"What!" She yells back through the door.
"Are we all Brooks'?" I ask the question that popped into my head.
"What?!" She exits her dark room a few seconds later with her brow creased.
I turn my attention back to my dangling legs I keep swinging left to right as they hover slightly over the floor. "Victoria and Dane Brooks." I say. "Lucien Brooks?"
Looking up at her and the disgust on her face I push back the smile that wants to form on my face at her reaction. "Fuck no. Brooks was my families name." She says in a normal tone.
"But Dane-."
"Dane never had a last name so I gave him mine." She explains. "Lucien sort of doesn't have one. High Celestials' last name was the city they ruled over. So Lucien of Kyrstollas then he abandoned that once everyone stopped calling the cities their celestial given names and he gained control over several of them. He's been only Lucien since then."
"Then Chloe and Kellan-."
"They took either their fathers or mothers names. A lot of High Royals do that just to distinguish themselves. Some don't."
"Huh." I say. "How was your photography stuff?"
"It's fine." She states walking towards the door of the office.
I hop off of the desk. "I didn't picture you as a photography girl."
"Surprising I know but I do things other than violence and drinking." She nods her head in the direction of the door. "Come on."
She walks out of the room and I follow behind closely. Walking through her intimidatingly large palace hallways we get to the grand staircase that sits behind the throne in the throne room. We descend the marble stairs, then she stops at her throne leaning back on its armrest. "Why are we here?" I ask.
"I wanted to talk to you about your future coronation."
"Okay."
"So your palace will most likely be the one that's right outside of Chicago. It's pretty similar to the layout of mine but imagine all of this with silver instead of gold." She says waving a hand behind her, motioning towards everything behind her.
"I get fun rubies or garnets too?" I cross my arms looking around at the stone accents, ending on the ones on top of her throne.
She glances up at the stones on her throne. "No your stone you'll choose before your coronation."
"Stone?"
"High Celestials would take stones as their symbol. Putting it in a ring or whatever else- It was just a tradition that Lucien took." She holds up her hand showcasing the ring she's been wearing lately. A fairly large gold ring with a shaved flat red gem at the top of it. "Mines ruby- not garnet."
"What does it do?" I ask as she puts her hand back down.
"It's not like a magical ring. It's just a ring."
"I've never seen you wear it before."
"I don't usually wear it unless I'm in my city or I'm around Lucien. The stone you choose will be pretty much everywhere. Your nobles will wear a ring with the stone. Your city will take up the color of the stone."
"So this stone is my personality trait then." I say and a bunch different stone choices run through my mind. Maybe diamond? Emerald? Sapphire? Amethyst?
"Yeah kind of. It'll be in your crown, on your throne." She points to the two ruby stones at the top of her gold throne.
"I get a crown and a throne. That's... wild." I hate to admit that I sort of like the idea of that. Will I know what to do when I'm in this position of power? Absolutely not.
"Yeah don't get too excited." Victoria says deadpan.
"What else happens at the coronation?"
"You'll have to pick out a dress- given. Hair, makeup, whatever. You'll recite a bunch of bullshit. You'll get a crown. The following night after the coronation you'll turn your first noble."
I flinch at the thought. "I have to turn someone. Like have to?" I can't imagine forcing someone into this. It's one thing if they choose it but what person would decide to turn? There's some good, fun stuff about being a vampire but it's a lot to deal with, it's an antithesis of being human.
"Yeah." I feel the frown on my face. I guess if I have to I'll have to find someone who wants to be turned. "You'll also need to kill someone at the coronation itself."
"Need?"
"In general no. It's not something required it's normally a quick feed off someone and call it a day but being Lucien's child- you'll be expected to kill someone. By others and Lucien demands it. Start off your reign with a show of force."
"She's absolutely right there." A voice echos from the far end of the throne room making my body instantly erupt in chills. I turn to the voice behind us.
Lucien.
He stands with his hands behind his back as he crosses the room towards us with even, slow steps. "A show of force is always necessary." His too relaxed energy has my stress levels spiking.
"Father. What a surprise." Victorias manner changes. "Is something wrong?" She stands unnaturally upright with her hands folded in front of her.
I copy her behavior except I fold my hands behind my back instead. I'm following her lead on this I have no idea what to do. I'm trying extra hard to keep my shaking internal. I think if I visibly show an ounce of "weakness" he refers to it as, this visit will end badly so I'll put on my best stone cold bitch.
"I can't check in on my daughters?" He nears with a seemingly harmless smile on his face but from him- hair raising.
"Of course. Welcome." Victoria artificially smiles.
"You were discussing her coronation."
Victoria nods robotically. "Yes I was. I figured I would tell her a little about what to expect."
"Why?" He angles his head. "Do you think she's already at the point of getting ready for succession?"
"Not yet."
He says nothing, his inscrutable eyes dart to mine and my blood instantly turns to ice. "Can I offer you a drink? I have your favorite bourbon upstairs." Victoria breaks the silence and thankfully diverts his attention from mine.
"Lead the way." He says with the same unnerving smile on his face.
We walk to the bar in the unnecessarily large main living room in complete silence but I felt his eyes burning holes in the back of my head. The room feels much bigger than it actually is. The vast floor to ceiling bookshelves on the walls tower over me. It's a clean room, I mean Victoria's servants are extremely attentive to even the slightest details but whatever grains of dust might be lingering I feel in my throat, drying out my mouth and making it hard to breath.
Victoria pours out a drink for each of us. I go to take a sip but notice my hand lightly shaking as I raise the glass so I sip fast then place the glass back down as quickly as possible hoping he didn't see. "Morgan. What have you been doing?" He asks monotonously.
"Um..." I glance over at Victoria then back at him. "I've been doing a lot. Probably the most homicide I've committed in my entire life."
"Probably?" My stomach twists.
I clear my throat. "It uh, it was a joke."
His face remains expressionless as he silently stares at me. He downs his drink then finally looks away from me removing the weight that is his stare off of me. "I'd like a drink." He says to Victoria, she takes hold of the bottle again but he holds out a hand. "Not that kind." His serpent-like smile returns. If he had a forked tongue I wouldn't be surprised at all.
She clenches her jaw and smiles. "Of course." She takes out her phone and texts something to someone. "5 minutes."
The next 5 minutes consisted of excruciating small talk between Victoria and him. With a few updates on hunters and Nephilim blood that I heard maybe mumbles of because I'm too busy internally screaming.
Everything this man does- a flash of his eyes, his mannerisms, his presence, everything is so frightening. I'm hyper aware of everything I'm doing and whether or not it'd be wrong or "weak" in his eyes. Am I standing correctly? Did I sip this drink correctly? What does my face look like right now? Is it emotionless enough? I hate this man and I'm terrified of him. I want to glare at him, I want to cry, I want to scream, I want to smash this glass over his head. I want to do so many things but all I can do and all I'm supposed to do is stand here.
He is my father. That fact still seems wrong to me. It's weird and will forever be weird to me that he and Aurelia are my parents. Biologically. My actual parents will always be my parents, they're my mom and dad not them. They raised me and made me who I am not them- not him. The thought of referring to him as father sends a shudder through me. This man has been nothing to me except a terror and a source of stress. I've barely interacted with him but I know he's a sad excuse of a man and someone who has never and will never earn the title of father.
The double doors to the room open up and Riley along with Mica and another servant walk in holding humans. They give us a human each- it's wild that they're really nothing but food to them, which is theoretically true but it's like they're not even people. Not sentient beings with thoughts, emotions, memories, and feelings.
The young woman in my grasp right now is maybe 25 years old. She's someone's daughter, maybe someone's friend, sister, niece, cousin- whatever she is, she means something to someone and I'm about to take her away from them. Take away any possibility of a future for her.
Her heart beating at a million miles an hour thunders in my ears. I feel her shaking, her eyes frantically darting all over the place, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Quickly I sink my teeth into this girls neck avoiding meeting her eyes before I do so. Like Victoria has been saying- I have to be able to kill without hesitation. At least in front of him.
I can't stand that this is something that I have the capability of doing. It's not like I've been killing someone every single day, it's significantly cut down since the first week or two but it's still too much for my liking. 24 in three months. 24 people dead at my hands. I don't think I've actually acknowledged it. I think if I truly did I wouldn't be able to function. Although I never was one to process my emotions and experiences just accept and keep going. What would my family think of me now?
I feel this woman mercilessly shaking at this point and her screams pierce my ears. I continue to feed as her heartbeat slows down, the flow of the blood becomes slower and she stops fighting. Her body goes limp, her heart is quiet, and there's nothing left. I step back dropping her body to the floor like she's nothing.
I glance at Victoria who nods lightly at me. I don't even have a moment to breathe before I feel a sharp pain shoot through my head like a bolt of lightning. I yell out gripping the side of my head as I drop to my knees.
"Now that is interesting. Victoria? What exactly have you been teaching her?" Lucien says through his gritted teeth. The foreign pain in my head stops, and Lucien's pained expression fades returning to his scarily emotionless face. "I just felt guilt. I saw sadness, self hatred. She feels bad for this random human she doesn't even know."
"You went in her head?" Victoria questions with widened eyes. That's what that feels like?
Lucien's hand back fists her across the face, sending her to the floor. "What I do is of no concern to you." His voice booms as I bite back a gasp.
"She's new. It's only been three months, give me more time." Victoria says with feigning confidence as she stands up.
"I understand that she's new but she should be better than this. To be like this, this far in? I question what exactly you've been doing for three months, because surely it wasn't anything correct."
With nostrils flared and and eyes hardened on him, covering up any of the fear that may have been visible moments before she stands to him. "You want a perfect child but to do that you have to undo 20 years of being a human and all that entails. That's not something that can be done this quickly."
"She's a full blood- nothing in her is human, nor should it resemble a human." He snarled. "I think you're simply not trying hard enough. You've been much too lax with her."
"No I haven't." He back hands her once more and the hit echoes throughout the room.
"Do not lie to me." He seethes. "I left my noble here for a reason Victoria. I know she went to them. The humans that looked after her." Victoria's eyes refuse to falter but her face pales- as does mine. "Jacob told me of it, so I came as soon as I could find time. She went to them and you did nothing but tell her how I killed your family which is what you should have done."
She continues trying to still remain as composed as possible. "If I did that. If I killed them she would've been an emotional wreck. She would be more defiant. Less cooperative."
He glares at her, then shakes his head looking down at the floor. "If I wasn't already dealing with one traitorous child of mine," His cold glare snaps to her, "I'd kill you right here for disappointing me as greatly as you have."
"Father please give me another chance." She pleads.
"No. Truly it was my mistake for entrusting you with training a full blood. I need her to be as you put it... perfect. Right now she's far from it." His bone chilling eyes shift to me, making my entire body tense even more than it already is. "I will fix that."
No.
Victorias panic flushed eyes meet mine then flick back to Lucien. "Father-." He grabs her throat cutting her off.
"Not another word." He commands squeezing down on her neck so hard her face turns bright red. He releases her, shoving her back. "Come, Morgan." He says to me walking towards the door.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
This cannot be happening. I look to Victoria as my stomach ties itself in a knot, my heart pounds, and my chest tightens.
Run.
Fight.
Scream.
Do fucking anything!
I stand there with my heart on the floor and my limbs turned to lead. This can't be happening.
Victoria takes a step forward ready to say something and as if he could sense her about to speak he whips around- his irises a deep red. "Not. Another. Word."
"Come, Morgan." He commands briskly walking past me and out of the room.
I stand staring at Victoria with pleading eyes. Both of us frozen in place, we're silent, desperately wanting to do something, anything but we know there's nothing truly to be done.
'I'm sorry.' She mouths as I see tears begin to well in her distressed eyes expressing an infinite number of apologies.
No, please. I'll have no one. I lost my family. I lost Chloe. I lost Dane. I lost Kellan. God, I even lost Grayson. I can't lose her too. Please.
"Morgan!" I flinch at his booming voice from down the hall.
I turn away, dragging my feet across the room. Walking further and further from Victoria- my only life raft in this daunting dark sea floating away before my eyes.
Just how long before I drown?
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This is the end of book 1! Hope you enjoyed :)
Book 2 completed and out now! So go check out Children of the Fallen: In Cold Blood to see what happens next...