Prophecy:

Prologue

1860-Scotland

Seven sat beside his mother’s bedside as she lay dying. His father sat opposite of him, holding her hand to his face, his eyes closed, the tears he had given up trying to hide streaking down his face. They had sat this way beside her, not speaking, for hours now, waiting for the inevitable to come and take her away from them. They had known for months now that her time was coming. Seven didn’t understand what was really happening. He had never seen anyone he cared about die before, at least not like this. He was only able to sit there, watching as the light in her eyes had started to fade. He had sat there watching his father cry, something that his father never did. He sat there, trying not to feel anything, trying to let the numbness that the others around him seemed to cloak themselves in enfold him and take away the gnawing pain.

His mother looked at him; her eyes tired, and then looked back at his father. “Tiernan, I need to speak to my son alone please.”

“What can you possibly have to say to him that you can’t say with me here?”

“Tiernan, sometimes a son needs to hear from his mother.” Her voice now was a raspy whisper.

“Seven, if she starts to-well you come and get me when you are finished. I will be right outside.” His father then turned back away and went out the door, his steps heavy. When the door was closed, she turned to him again, reaching up for his hand and holding it loosely between her own.

“Oh my son. There is so much that I wanted to teach you, so much I wanted you to know before this time came.”

He leaned forward, taking the hand she extended to him. He wanted to be close to her now, to take in her smell, her warmth that he was afraid was leaving him now. “Mother, what is happening to you?”

“I’m dying son. It happens, it’s natural.”

“But vampires can’t die Mother.”

“Oh Seven, you know I’m not a vampire. You have watched me age, watched as my face wrinkled while yours stayed the same. Your father wouldn’t change me into one.”

“Why didn’t Father change you Mother? Did you ask him not to?”

“Seven, sometimes when you love someone, you make sacrifices for them. Your father didn’t want me to give up anymore than I already had for him. He loves me enough to let me go. I hope that you will be able to do the same.”

“But Mother, I don’t understand. What is this kind of love? What are you talking about? I love you, but I don’t want you to go. I’ll make you a vampire myself if it means you can stay with us.”

She smiled at him with a sad smile. “Your father has wanted to teach you the ways of the vampire, to be unfeeling, to take your responsibility seriously, and to always put your duty before yourself. He thinks you are going to be the Prime after he goes, you understand that right?” When he nodded, she continued. “Seven, there is so much more out there for you to understand. Your father wanted to protect you, but I am starting to wonder if we both made a mistake.

“You have never been as stoic as your father, as seemingly numb to everything as he is. It’s just part of who you are. You will feel things differently than anyone else around you. You have a heart that is tenderer, kinder. My son, you need to explore those feelings, it will make you stronger in the long run then you are right now. Don’t let what you are harden your heart. Seven, someday you will find someone special, just like your father did. Don’t let what you are prevent you from being happy. Don’t let your fear of the human half of you hold you hostage. I need you to promise me.”

He squeezed her hand. “Mother, I still don’t understand.”

“You will someday Seven, you will. Protect your father; he doesn’t know what he is going to do after I am gone. Don’t let him make mistakes that he will regret later.”

“I will look after Father for you Mother. I promise I will.”

She smiled, then closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Seven leaned forward; tears that he wasn’t aware were in his eyes falling down his cheeks now. “Mother! Please don’t go Mother. I can’t live without you here Mother please!”

He turned toward the door, yelling now for his father, who ran back into the room, leaning over the bedside and taking her other hand. She opened her eyes again, looking at his father.

“Tiernan, please take care of our son. Let him take care of you. Tiernan, be happy, promise me.” Her eyes closed for a moment, making Seven believe that the end had come at last. Then her eyes opened again, the expression in her glassy eyes looking more comforted.

“Tiernan, can you see them? There are angels here to visit me, to take me home. There are so many of them now Tiernan. I’m going home. I will see them all again, at long last.” Her voice tapered off into a whisper again, her eyes closing, and then she was silent, still.

His father brought her hand to his face again, nuzzling it with his cheek. “I promise my love. I promise you that I will try to be happy again. Go with the angels, go to your family. I know they have missed you.”

Tears were falling from Seven’s eyes now as well, as his mother’s soul left her body and ascended to the heavens, leaving her shell behind. They sat together in that room, the shell of her body laying cold in the bed for a long time, both letting the tears stream silently from their eyes, as if the tears would cleanse the pain from their souls. When they finally left the room to the servants, so they could prepare her body for burial, they stood together outside on the narrow stone walkway, staring out at the night sky together, not saying anything to each other.

His father had stopped crying before leaving the room, he could not allow the servants to see him like that, but Seven couldn’t stop the tears from running down his face still, brushing them away when they fell to his chin. Tiernan looked at him, reaching out a hand to Seven’s shoulder. Seven avoided his gaze and Tiernan pulled his hand back.

“I know this is hard for you Seven. We thought we had time. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that your mother was mortal. She was so extraordinary; I would think that she was going to live forever. I wish you could have seen her when she was younger; she was-well she was just as stubborn as your old man, but she was a fighter. Did she ever tell you the story of how she stood on top of the castle wall, right where we are standing, and she took out vampires right and left with a bow and arrows? And right after we were married no less. It’s a shame she never did, she was spectacular that night.”

“Father, I don’t understand this. I thought vampires were immortal. Why didn’t you save her? Why didn’t you make her like us, like you?” He couldn’t keep the angst from his voice, the emotion tearing through him like a monster eating his body from the inside out.

“I didn’t change your mother because I couldn’t do that, not to her. She was always so alive, so warm and loving. I couldn’t take that away from her. Besides, even though I am the Prime, I am not above the law, and changing a human is illegal.

“Vampires are immortal, if they want to be. Only sired vampires are immortal from creation, they gave up any choice of a mortal life when their own life was taken. But born vampires, like you and me, we can choose if we want to live forever or not. Just like you decided to stop aging when you became 22, you can decide that you want to live forever. Or you can decide that you want to die at some point in the future. But once that choice is made, you cannot change your mind, so take your time making up your mind.”

“But I’m not like you, I’m not like them. What about me? What will I become?”

Tiernan turned, wanting to reach out and hold Seven in his arms, knowing that he was too like his father to accept that kind of comfort. “You remember what you were taught about chromosomes? How they make up your body, determining your hair color and eye color and all that?”

“Yes. I remember about chromosomes and everything.”

“That’s good. You see, humans haven’t figured out chromosomes yet, so they don’t know what you know, but someday, they will figure it all out, you just wait and see. Since your mother made up half of who you are, you have some human being inside your make up. However, since I am your father and the vampire in you is stronger, you take on more of the vampire traits. You have my strength, speed, intelligence; you even look more like me then your mother. You will have the same choices to make in your life as a vampire, just like me. But, deep inside yourself, you are not like me, you are correct about that.

“You feel things Seven, more then anyone else I have ever met, with the exception of your mother. We have tried to raise you to bury your feelings, but now I see in you the same expressiveness that your mother had. She doesn’t want you to continue to bury your feelings; she thinks that by having the ability to feel on such a greater level, you will be a better Prime than I can be. At least, that’s what she thought.” His voice caught a little bit when he thought of the past tense he had to use now when talking about his late wife. He covered it up with a cough and continued.

“Seven, you really don’t know how special you are. You are the only one of your kind. You have the humanity to make you fair, the vampiric nature to make you strong. You will be a greater ruler than even I was in time. I find comfort in the fact that I will leave behind someone who can be the Prime I never could be.”

“Father, you don’t know that I will be Prime when you are gone. The Letting determines that. I might lose.”

“You won’t lose,” he said with a tone of finality. “No one will be able to beat you in battle when the time comes, you know that. You have been trained well, between Ulrich and me. If you lose, it will only be because you don’t want it bad enough.”

Seven leaned on the railing of the terrace, the tears having stopped when his father had started speaking. Seven didn’t want to think about what would happen when his father was gone. He had known for a long time that his father had chosen a mortal lifespan, meaning that someday he would die. He remembered that his father was already 363 years old, compared to Seven’s own 72, it seemed like it would be a long time yet before his father was gone.

He still didn’t understand what to make of everything, of what he was feeling, of what his mother had said to him. He turned to Tiernan. “What did she mean? When she said not to let my heart become hardened, what was she talking about?”

Tiernan sighed. “Seven, you have to understand how it was for us. I was a cold bastard when I met your mother. I was merciless, ruling with an iron fist and earning the hatred of my people. I was just what your mother didn’t want you to become. She didn’t want to see you hide behind a rock hard shell to keep yourself alive. She wants you to let people inside, to trust them, to be warm like she was. She wants you to be gentle, to believe the best of people. I tried to make her understand that in our world, it is not like that, but she didn’t want to listen. She wants you to be better than I was, son.”

Seven nodded, looking back out into the night sky. They stood in silence for a long time, until the servants had left with her body, to be taken away to a secret place until she was buried in two day’s time.

He wanted to pound his fists on the stone, battering it to dust. He wanted to curl up in a ball, right there on the ground and sob until the tears were gone.

Seven was wrestling with himself in those moments of silence. He knew what he needed to do, he just wasn’t sure he could do it. It might break his father’s heart, and then he remembered that his father didn’t feel things like Seven did, so hopefully, he wouldn’t see this as a betrayal, the way that Seven saw it. He turned back to his father again. “I think I need to leave for awhile.”

His father did look shocked, only slightly compared to how Seven thought he should react. “Leave? And go where?”

“I don’t know, the Americas maybe for awhile. I think I need to be on my own, find my own way.”

“Why? That makes no sense. Your place is here, with me, with the people who care about you.”

“Father, she wanted me to go out into the world. She wanted me to experience the depth and breadth of what my life can be. She wanted me to feel, to be part of her world. I can’t do that if I stay here.”

“How long are you going to be gone?”

“As long as it takes.”

His father pushed away from the wall, his shoulders tight. “I don’t want you to go, not now. Your mother just died.”

“I won’t leave until she is buried. I think I need to go Father, I think I need to do this for her. If I don’t go on my own, when you are gone, I will regret it. You don’t know; this might actually make me a better Prime, just like you said, if I go out and experience things for myself.”

Tiernan looked out over the countryside. He could see her in his mind, remembering how she had looked when he had seen her that first night, standing at her window. This time he didn’t stop the tears from running down his face and dripping from his chin. “I just lost my wife Seven; I don’t want to lose my son too.”

Seven nodded, walking toward his father, stopping when he was in reach of being able to lay a hand on his father’s back, but he kept his hands at his sides. “I will be back. I just need to do this Father. There can be no more discussion about it.”

“Then you have made up your mind?”

“Yes I have. I will leave after she is buried, and I will come back when I feel ready to come back, not before.”

His father nodded, looking at him now, his expression unreadable. “You know how to take care of yourself right? You can’t go out in the daylight for very long without some kind of protection. You can’t drink from human beings, it is illegal now. Are you sure you can do all of that?”

“Father, I’m 72 years old. I think I can manage.”

His father smiled at him then, placing his hand back on Seven’s shoulder, staring at him for a moment before pulling him in a tight embrace, then releasing him quickly, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I will give you some money; you will need it to survive. If you need more, you just need to send word to me somehow. Communications are not the best in this world yet, but again, the humans have so much potential. Someday, they will be able to communicate with each other anywhere in the world.”

“Sometimes, I think you have entirely too much faith in what humans will be able to do.”

“We live long enough that we have to have hope in what they will learn for themselves, or it might be too tempting for us to kill them all. I need you to help me with your mother’s burial arrangements. There is much still to do.”

They walked together into the house, conversing together for hours. His father tried to talk him out of the trip many times, to no avail, and plans were made for his journey as well. Two days later, his mother was buried. Seven had packed his belongings before the burial ceremony, and he left without a word to his father or anyone after she was laid to rest, taking off for parts unknown.

Chapter 1

2005-Seattle, Washington

Elizabeth Prescott and her friend Reyna decided the time had come to let go and piled in another friend’s car, heading to the new club that had just opened. Elizabeth was so tired of working so hard, she was studying psychology in college, and she just wanted a break. Reyna had suggested this great club, saying that ladies got in for free and that the drinks and the DJ were so good, it would have been worth paying to get in if they had to. As they pulled up to the valet parking at the club, Elizabeth checked her tiny black purse, matching her tiny black dress, and nodded once at the contents. Lipstick, 30 dollars in cash, and 3 condoms. You couldn’t be too careful out there these days, and guys sometimes didn’t feel they should get the protection. A girl had to be prepared, just like the boy scouts.

The bouncer took one look at the two girls, with their long legs, perky breasts, and long flowing blonde hair, and let them inside, no questions asked. Elizabeth giggled excitedly as she took Reyna’s offered arm and they escorted each other into the club. It was an opulent affair, done in some kind of Aladdin theme, with the rich colors, the Arabian carpets all over the floors in the VIP rooms, the staff dressed in black and rich terracotta red tops. She loved it instantly and headed for the dance floor, where the DJ was as good as he had been toted to be, playing trance music that had Elizabeth grinding her hips and swaying her arms over her head, giving herself completely into the music. She didn’t even notice that Reyna was at the bar until she took a moment when the song changed to look around her and noticed that her friend wasn’t there. She walked over to join her at the bar, ordering an Absolut martini and propping her body on the bar stool to make the most of her trim figure.

“This place is awesome!” Reyna turned to look at her as she spoke.

“I’m so glad you talked me into coming out tonight. I need a night of dirty bad fun. I have seen 3 guys already that I want to take in the bathroom and ride, after I have had enough of these.”

Reyna laughed. “You should have brought a box of condoms, the guys here are all hot.”

“A box wouldn’t fit in my purse.”

They both laughed and enjoyed their drinks, ordering 3 more before getting back on the dance floor. There, they found many guys who were willing and able to writhe and twist to the music, letting their hands wander over each other’s bodies, grinding hips into pelvises and French kissing when mouths would meet. They danced for hours, stopping in between songs, if there was a pause, to get another drink before heading back out. Elizabeth didn’t know what time it was when Reyna finally went into the bathroom in the back with a guy, leading him by his tie, but Elizabeth was happy for her, hoping she remembered to bring her own protection. As she turned her gaze away from the bathroom and scanned the room for more hot guys, she saw him.

He held her attention immediately. He was bewitching. He wore a pair of leather pants, tight but not too tight, and a flowing white shirt with an open neck. She could see a silver pendant dangling where his neck was exposed, a deep purple stone that maybe was held in place by a dragon’s claw, he was too far away for her to be certain. His hair hung down his back almost to his waist, a silvery blonde, straight as a board. His skin seemed unnaturally pale, almost translucent. In his long fingered hand was a glass of some deep red liquid, probably wine. He was standing above her, obviously a VIP, but he looked like some avenging angel. His face, what she could see in the lights, was exotic, like a sculpture, perfect cheekbones and a heavenly looking mouth. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel them, looking at her, making her feel a pull of desire unlike any she had experienced before. She grabbed another martini and went to the stairs, walking up to him. He turned to her, the light exposing those eyes, which glowed an intense violet. He smiled at her, perfect white teeth seeming to glimmer even when the light faded in time with the music.

She smiled in return and approached him. “What is a gorgeous man such as yourself doing up here alone?”

He laughed, a musical sounding laugh. “I have been waiting for you.” His voice was like warm candle wax dripping over her body.

“What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing, that I have been waiting for you.” He led her to a booth, where they sat close together, and the conversation floated away in the music.

Reyna came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, her sexual encounter not as promising as it had first seemed. A suntanned hand showing a white line on the left ring finger had taken all the joy out of it for her, she would have to find another prospect. She scanned the club for Elizabeth, and waved when she saw her, but Elizabeth didn’t notice. She was walking out of the club on the arm of a handsome looking man with the strangest shade of silvery blonde hair she had ever seen. Reyna smiled at her friend’s retreating back. At least one of them was going to have fun tonight. She went back to the bar and got another drink, staying in the club until they closed, then going home alone.

She didn’t worry about Elizabeth until the next day, when her hangover had cleared and she realized that her friend hadn’t come back to the apartment they shared off campus. It was then she called the cops, reporting her friend missing. 2 days later, the body of Elizabeth Prescott was found on the side of the highway, her throat ripped out, slashes all over her body, completely nude. She was the first victim in a case that sent the Seattle PD reeling as the body count rose in the next weeks and months.

Early 2006-Seattle, Washington

The dust swirled into the air with each step of his boots, but that didn’t stop him from entering. The building was old and had obviously been abandoned for a long time. There were cobwebs everywhere, dust over every surface, and all kinds of creatures scurrying within the walls and under the floorboards. Seven didn’t pay attention to any of that; he was looking for one thing. He walked through the room, looking over each corner and wall. He stopped at the stairwell in the far corner, turning to the vampire behind him. “Are you sure he is here?”

“My lord, I was sure I saw him. I was in Seattle last night and I know I saw him leaving some kind of night club.”

Seven put one foot on the top stair, testing the wood for steadiness. Finding it sound, he descended the staircase the same way, testing each stair before putting his full weight on it. His companion followed behind him. At the end of the staircase, Seven found a long hallway, with doors every few feet. He entered the first room, the smell of old blood assaulting his senses, causing his vampire instincts to take control.

As his vision heightened, he noticed the blood was all over the room, soaked into the floor and spattered on the walls, like some kind of slaughter had happened here. It was dried in, a few months old. The walls were falling in, leaving rubble all over the room, but Seven could still make out the metal autopsy table in the corner, still stained with rust colored splotches of dried blood. It appeared to have been shoved against the wall in a hurry for the wall it was next to had a dent the size of the table in the crumbling plaster.

Seven didn’t stop to look at his companion; he just turned and exited the room, going to the next one down the hall, entering with haste. His thirst was going to get the best of him if he didn’t get away from the scent of the blood.

In the next room, he found a posh chamber, a velvet draped king size bed, a black high backed chair also done in velvet sitting in front of a fireplace that was newer than anything else in the room. When Seven looked in the closet in the wall opposite of the bed, he found men’s clothing, designer, new or barely ever worn. The person who had occupied this room was obviously into his own appearance, the closet was overflowing. There was a silver goblet next to the chair, resting on a table, still stained with flecks of blood, some of which was congealed in the bottom of the goblet.

Seven didn’t need to see anymore. He exited the chamber and went back to the stairs, but just as he was about to mount the staircase and go back up, he caught another scent. This one was different; it had floral notes, a feminine scent. He followed it down the hallway to the last door, and pushed it open. Seven let out a deep sigh as his companion caught up to him.

Inside the room, piled on the rotting floorboards, was women’s clothing, lacy underwear lying among piles of low rise jeans, miniskirts, and blouses. Resting in pairs at the far wall, shoes of different sizes, with different size high heels, were collecting dust, as if the owner had just rested the shoes next to the wall with the intent of going back for them when she was ready to leave. Seven’s companion also let out a sigh. “There was nothing you could do my lord.”

“You said you saw him leaving the club last night. Did he have a woman with him?”

“I believe so.”

“Then he still has her, she might still be alive. Why didn’t I come here sooner?”

“You were being cautious my lord, it could not be helped.”

Seven nodded, turning from the door and walking back down the hallway. The sight of the 30 pairs of shoes was haunting him, he had to get out.

He was not as careful as he walked back up the stairs, taking them two at a time to put as much distance between him and them as fast as he could. When he got to the main room upstairs, the one that he had started in, he exited the old building and walked into the rain that was constantly falling in Seattle. The rain washed the dust off of his face as he turned his gaze to the night sky, feeling the rain running down his face in tiny rivers. His clothing was drenched in moments, but still he stood there, letting the rain wash away his feelings of shame and guilt, letting it cleanse him of the responsibility that he felt to those dead girls.

He knew now for certain that this was his fault. No matter what anyone else said to him, this was his fault for sure. He should have known better, but he just hadn’t expected this to happen. When his companion joined him, having determined that Seven had had enough, Seven followed him to the dark sedan that they had rented at the airport and let himself be put into the backseat, the door slammed shut behind him.

“My lord, what would you like me to do with the house?”

Seven knew that once the rain let up, if it ever did, he should have the house, and all the evidence, burned to the ground. Somehow, the order couldn’t leave his lips. “Leave it. Someday, when things have settled down, we will turn this in to the police, anonymously of course. They may be able to catch him for us.”

“My lord, you know that they won’t be able to do anything with him if they do catch him.”

“I know. But if they figure out who he is, then maybe he will get careless and we can take care of the problem ourselves. For now, lets just go back home. Is the plane ready?”

“Being prepared as we speak. My lord, is there anything I can get for you?”

Seven turned and looked out the car window, watching the rain run down, wishing he could roll the window down and stick his head out to catch the drops on his tongue. As he considered the thought, he dismissed it. The rain would not help his thirst. “No. Once we get back home, everything will be fine.”

Once they reached the airport, Seven walked to the private jet, mounting the stairway that lead inside. Before he entered the plane, he turned and stared out at the airport and the city beyond it. He made a promise to himself that someday, he would make this right. He would fix the mistake that he had made and he would atone for his sins. He stepped aboard the plane, settled into the seat, and tried to put it from his mind.

As the plane took off and headed back to Wichita, Seven felt something else that he couldn’t explain, some kind of a pulling sensation. He looked around himself on the plane, but saw nothing that would attribute for the feeling. He had missed something, but the feeling grew stronger the closer the plane edged to Wichita. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was drawing him. He shrugged off the feeling as the plane touched down, dismissing it as the accumulation of stress in his life since he had found out what was happening in Seattle. Seven was determined that someday, he would fix his mistakes, this one first and foremost.

 

---

 

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed the prolog and the first chapter of Prophecy. If you did, we hope you will purchase the book. You may simply click the button below to add Prophecy to your cart and then you can pay by any method you choose.