Page 14 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

Crimson

“Next!” I shout, unable to hide the irritation in my voice. It’s barely two hours after sunset, and I already feel like stabbing myself with a silver knife.

I’m seated lazily on my throne in the war room, before a line of vampires from my clan and the surrounding region who are waiting to speak with me.

Why did I allow Murad to convince me that I should hold court? I feel less like a vicious vampire king and more like a professor at a state college during office hours.

One of our younger vampires steps up next. She has curly, brown hair and freckles sprinkling her pale pink skin. She pulls along Thomas, the vampire that I helped to glamour a breather the other night. He looks extremely apprehensive as they approach my throne.

“Thank you for seeing me, my king. My name is Cassandra Covey,” says the other vampire, her nose twitching.

“And what do you have to say to me, Cassandra Cov-”

“He stole my breather!” she shrieks, tossing the other vampire to the ground.

I narrow my eyes, sure I’ve misheard. “He what?”

“He stole her!” she repeats. “Obviously, I liked her first, and he knew that, and then he just swooped in and…”

“Wait, wait!” Thomas says, getting to his feet and addressing me with an appealing tone. “I actually liked her first, but I just didn’t say anything…”

Cassandra lets out a harrumph, her nostrils flaring. “Like hell you did! You said you liked the other one, the one with the braid…”

Thomas’s cheeks redden (an extremely unusual reaction for a vampire, even a young one, but he seems particularly bashful). “Well…well, I liked him too! Is it my fault, sir, if I liked two breathers?”

He looks at me as though I’m supposed to relate to whatever they’re babbling on about.

Cassandra tosses her curls over her shoulder haughtily as she looks up at me. “See? See how his story’s changing? You can’t trust him, my king!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I snap. “And if you don’t explain quickly, I’ll throw both of you in locked coffins for wasting my time!”

“Sir, I liked this breather-”

“Her name is Jocelyn,” Thomas mutters pointedly.

“I liked her first, and I clearly said that I was going to drink from her at the celebration,” Cassandra tells me, as though what she’s saying is the most reasonable thing in the world. She gestures accusingly at the other vampire. “And then he swooped in and glamoured her first!”

“That’s not true!” Thomas says. “She told me she liked her, but she never said she was going to…”

I glare down at both of them. “Can’t you just share her? I’m sure she would enjoy both of your company.”

“That’s what I said,” Thomas replies, giving Cassandra a pointed look.

“I don’t want to share her!” she says with a frown. “I saw her first! It’s not fair.”

“Well, why don’t you fight for her, then?” I suggest with a sigh.

“We tried that already, sir,” Thomas answers, with a hopeless expression.

“We’re evenly matched,” Cassandra concurs. “We were turned at the same time.”

“Fine then,” I snarl, unwilling to continue this conversation for another moment.

I lean forward in my seat, sharpening my expression. Both vampires look up at me desperately.

“If you can’t decide who the breather will belong to, and you’re not willing to share, then there’s only one possible option,” I declare, flashing my sharp fangs. “I’ll cut the breather in two, and you’ll both get half of her.”

All the colour drains from Thomas’s face. “What?”

“That seems perfectly reasonable, my king,” Cassandra says with a nod.

“Is that a joke, sir?” Thomas gasps, looking at me in horror.

I roll my eyes. “It’s not a joke, it’s a reference to…”

“Fine, then!” Thomas hangs his head dramatically. “You can have her, Cassandra. I’d rather you enjoy her than she gets cut in half!”

Cassandra shouts in glee, and skips out of the war room. Thomas follows her with a resigned sigh.

I can’t remember if that’s how it was supposed to work out, but I honestly don’t care.

“Next,” I groan.

Another vampire steps forward, an older one, with short, wavy red hair that kisses their neck, pale skin and narrow, grey eyes like my own.

They’re my only surviving progeny. I find the vampire turning process tedious, and so I haven’t created many new vampires over the course of my existence.

I try not to openly favour them, and I get the sense that they resent me slightly for it.

Tonight, they stand fiercely at the center of the war room, their gaze trained on me with determination, like they already know that I’m not going to like what they have to say, but they don’t plan on backing down.

“What is it, Kai?” I ask sharply.

“I’d like permission to marry my lover,” they reply haughtily. “We’ve been together for ten years, and we want to cement our bond formally. I’d like your blessing, and…”

“Who is your lover?”

They pause, their lip twitching. “He’s…one of the mermaids of the Crystal Coast.”

There it is. I glare down at them. “Kai, you’re not allowed to marry a mermaid.”

“And why not?” they demand.

“Well, to start, the mermaids are not our allies,” I tell them, firmly.

I hate the way my voice has taken on a lecturing tone, but apparently this is what I’ve become.

“The eastern dolphin shifter alliance would be furious if they discovered that one of our vampires has married a merman, you know that.”

Kai huffs angrily, crimson tinging their eyes. “Alexandra Price got to marry a wolf shifter!”

“That was for a strategic alliance,” I counter, giving them a forceful look.

“I don’t care about alliances!” Kai declares, tossing their head back so their wavy locks bounce around their cheeks. “You can’t stop me from marrying him!”

“In my three hundred years,” I boom. “I have never heard of a mermaid and a vampire together. It’s completely ridiculous.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think! We’re in love!”

I shake my head irritably. “You’re not in love, you’re high off of seablood, and I will not have you making such a statement.

Our clan has spent years cultivating a mutually beneficial relationship with the shifters.

A formal wedding between a mermaid and one of our vampires - my progeny, no less - would put our alliance at risk. ”

Ruby-red tears start to pool in their eyes. “You’re a heartless monster, Crimson! And I don’t care what you say…we’re in love and nothing else matters!”

“Will nothing else matter when the dolphin shifters cut off our supply of glow from the northern regions, and we have to rely on the southern vampires clans for their supply? Will it not matter when the Artemis witches try to attack our warehouses again, but the mountain wolves won’t help us defend them, because they’re allied with the other shifters? ”

I stand up from my throne, frustration mounting in my core. My voice fills the war room.

“Fuck him, drink from him, do whatever else you want to him…but you are not going to marry that mermaid, Kai. That’s my final word!”

They shriek with anger, and stomp out of the war room, slamming the heavy door behind them.

I slump back into my seat. Is this what running a vampire clan is like?

Newborn vampires whining at you all the time, with no concept of how their actions affect our political alliances?

They’re all happy to dance and drink and celebrate our wealth and power, but when it comes to maintaining it, they’re completely entitled!

Thank god, Murad steps forward next, a slightly amused expression on his face.

“Enjoying your reign, Solomon?” he asks cheekily. “That crown feeling heavy yet?”

“What do you want, Murad?” I snap.

“I’m afraid I don’t have very good news,” he sighs. “I just got off the phone with Damien Cross. Apparently Oana Ionescu and Cedric Ducharme escaped during the northern vampire alliance’s recent civil war, and they’ve been causing quite a lot of trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Well, it seems that Cedric is the one responsible for the most recent influx of tainted glow to our supply chain,” he continues, referring to the magically-enhanced drugs common throughout the region.

“He’s got a collective of independent witches producing it for him.

It’s causing unintended effects on the breathers, putting some of them into magical comas. ”

I wave a hand. “Glow creates all sorts of issues. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. What else?”

He pauses. It’s a fraction of a second, but it’s long enough to heighten my already sharp irritation.

“What else, Murad?”

“I’ve got it on good authority that…Oana is making a move for Midnight City.” His expression darkens. “She feels that, because she was allied closely with Xavian before his demise, she has a claim to some of his territory.”

My lip twitches into a grimace. “Well, she can get in line, then.”

“I don’t know how serious her intentions are,” Murad says. “You know how Oana is. But if she makes the correct allegiances, she could be a legitimate threat.”

“I appreciate the information,” I tell him. “But I only have time for staking my known enemies this week, Murad. Vague concerns about disgraced northern vampires will have to wait.”

“Speaking of those,” he replies, looking pointedly at the long line behind him.

I understand his tone, and nod curtly to the remaining vampires in the war room. “You’re dismissed. Visiting hours are over.”

The line disperses in a chorus of grumbles and sighs. Once they’re all gone, Murad steps closer toward me.

“What are you planning to do about Sabina?” he asks. I trust Murad more than any other vampire in my clan, and I confided in him that the breather told me Sabina was also involved in Waylan’s attempted coup.

“There’s nothing I can do about her,” I reply. “She hasn’t openly disrespected or betrayed me, so I can’t retaliate. I’ll have to just keep an eye on her, for now.”

“You need to be careful. She’s crafty, and almost your age.”

“If you want to lecture me, Murad, you’ll have to wrestle me out of this throne,” I snarl. “Do you think I don’t take my position seriously?”

A hint of red flashes in the other vampire’s eyes. “Don’t snap at me, Roslyn Night. I’m only sharing my counsel with you, and I know you value it.”

“Fine,” I answer, calming myself. Leadership has been more tedious than I thought it would be, but I shouldn’t harm my relationship with Murad because I’m frustrated with a bunch of newborns and disgraced vampires who are vying for my throne.

“And I do appreciate your advice, Murad. And the information about Oana and Cedric.”

His eyes return to their usual hazel, and he gives me a knowing smile. “Come, join me in the lounge. You look like you could use some sustenance.”

“On that, I can’t argue with you,” I reply with a sigh, alighting from my throne.