The War on Diamond Court

A meeting with the council

"I am Rhapsody of the Diamond Court, heir of the Diamond throne future of those with royal blood. The one true queen of the vampire race-" I was cut off by my grandmother.

"Rhapsody tell me, just how do you plan to make anyone take you seriously if you can't even manage to make eye contact?" she demanded with an air of false positivity.
" Well grandmother considering the council is most likely just meeting because mother and father have decided to extend their trip, I don't think the councils opinion of me matters much." I replied with a venomous smile.
"When will you learn, you must always command respect. Someday you WILL be queen, and all of these moments where you are our princess are essential for showing all of your subjects that you must be respected, that you're very much deserving of the throne, and that you must be feared." she says.
"Who said I want to be feared, maybe one can demand respect without also causing terror." I respond.
My grandmother paused and looked at me sympathetically.
"Rhapsody my dear, do you worry about the state of your friendships after you are crowned?" her tone had softened.
As always she had called my bluff, I swear the woman could see into my very soul. Of course I worried my mother and father never truly had friends after they were crowned. Of course people acted like they adored my parents, but once on a night when my mother had indulged in way too much wine, she had confided in me;
"Rhapsody my little love, you must never rule with fear. It's a lonely sort of power, one where all fear you. Friends that I had cherished for many many years suddenly couldn't bear to talk more then politics with me. Some were too scared to speak at all, out of fear that I would.. well I don't even know. I don't really know WHAT they fear. Keep your friends my princess, for without them you face a fate worse then death." She said slowly.
"What is that mother?" I asked.
"One day you will look around and find that there is absolutely no one who honestly loves you." She replied with tears in her eyes. "Not a single soul who truly knows you, or wants too. No one who thinks of you and when you do die no one to truly care about more then the inconvenience or having to pretend to weep at your funeral."
"Mother I love you! Father does too, we love you and well weep for you!" I replied with my own tears forming. I was only 50 at the time that she has dropped that humongous truth upon me. Relatively young for a vampire who can live eternally.
Actually the oldest living vampire is nearly 100,000 years old. He's a historian, I believe he just finished writing his 600,000 book this century. I really don't know how he doesn't get bored. Most choose to be staked at around 3,000 simply having no real reason to keep living. Some choose to be buried for 100 or so years in hope of waking up to something slightly more interesting. Or if you're like my aunt Tabitha you just have children every 100 years to keep things interesting. She has about 15 children and I recently heard she was pregnant again.
I looked at my grandmother and carefully decided what I would say.
"Of course I worry, to be alone is to be vulnerable. I truly believer having close friends is just as important as intimidating foes." I said confidently.
"Maybe if you were a human precious one. You aren't, you're a vampire and to be feared is to keep peace and keep our proud race going. No one wants a weakling upon the throne and unfortunately old fossils like me only respond to fear at this point. If anyone thought you were weak they'd murder you in an instant and take over." She replied gravely.
She wasn't wrong. That same historian with the 600,000 books has written about weak rulers. There were many coups and takeovers in the early days. Then my family took over and found an easy method to keep control. They beheaded anyone who could've opposed them, even if there was the slightest idea that they might one day rise they were murdered. Along with their families. The tale goes that my 100's of greats grandmother and father took the heads of those who could oppose and threw them into a lake. The lake was named the severed lake for the heads that once floated in it rotting into nothing. If anyone from a neighboring area thought to visit and take control they were quickly taught to not with a swim in the severed lake. This heinous act is exactly what my mothers friends feared. The lake is of course head free now, and actually it's quite the place for a hot summers night swim, but my kingdom still lives in the waves those actions caused. No pun intended. Nothing like that has happened in years, but my family rules with faces of pure stone and it really has kept the fears alive. All queens and kings of the Diamond court drain a live human upon being crowned in front of the entire kingdom. It seems like it would be customary for vampires to do so but really it wasn't. As a race we had made peace with the humans and asked for a sacrifice for crownings, which realistically didn't happen often and a large supply of blood as sustenance. Some don't even drink human blood. So it really is quite shocking to watch a human be murdered. They scream and try to escape, beg for mercy, and offer all of their belongings. Sometimes they even offer the lives of their fellow man. It never works, they're drained every time. It's strange to think about, my kind benevolent mother is not an exception she murdered someone for the sake of a crown, although she is an entirely different person when she sits upon her throne. Someone cold and unfamiliar. I wasn't even allowed into the throne room with them until I had tirelessly practiced the family deadpan. In our kingdom there hasn't ever been a need for last names we are all of the Diamond court, my family of the Diamond throne and those on the council are that of the ruby council. If my family did have a last name I believe IronEyes would be quite suitable. I was still forced to watch her kill someone though. A young girl who appeared no older then my mother, but she was about 5,009 at the time. We all physically stop aging at some point usually around 21 some so become middle aged which is unfortunate. There are also those poor humans that are turned by weaker vampires. They're stuck at whatever age they are turned at.
Back to the matter at hand,
"Grandmother what is life worth if one of us doesn't come along and make a change?" I said
"One that is peaceful it seems, there's been no war since severed lake gained its name." She replied
"I don't want to lose everything to gain a tension filled peace" I say angrily
"Rhapsody you will be murdered if you are weak! Do you understand? There is no other way! Unless you want to join the heads of the lake and shame your entire family I suggest you follow in all of the footsteps before you and upkeep the fear placed to protect us all!" She shouts.
I feel tears slip on to my face and I quickly wipe them with my handkerchief. My grandmother sighs and takes my hands.
"If you're friends cannot understand your responsibilities as their queen then they were never worth keeping." She says as nicely as she can manage.
"My friends are priceless, I just don't wish to join the history books as another violent and heartless Diamond queen." I state coldly.
I quickly stand and leave the room. The meeting with the council isn't until tomorrow and I have plans to see through.
I compose myself and burst into the sitting room where my friends tend to gather.
I see Zabrina jump out of her skin with a tiny shout of surprise.
"Rhapsody you absolute clod what do you think you're doing?!" She yells at me crossly
"I could've had a heart attack!" She adds.
"If you had a beating heart then I just might apologize" I reply with a laugh.
Zabrina scoffs and crosses her arms.
My body guard Ashton enters the room behind me and shuts the doors.
"My lady you dropped your handkerchief in the hall." He holds it out to me and I quickly take it. Not before Zabrina and the others in the room, Osanna and Hazelmere see the tears of blood on it.
"Yes thank you Ashton, at ease I'm just here to chit chat." I say quietly.
"I guess the training with Lynexia didn't go well?" Zabrina said hesitantly.
"It went about as well as smiling in the throne room." I replied
Osanna breathed in sharply. She had been lashed by her father for smiling in the eyes of the Diamond queen.
"Do you know why the ruby council suddenly wants to speak with you?" Hazelmere inquired.
"No, my grandmother didn't seem to know either, she thinks it's some training thing but I'm not sure. They all seemed so serious." I replied.
"Hate to break it to you dear but they're pretty well known for being serious." Osanna said with a giggle.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"Yes Osanna I know that, but even more serious then usual." I said annoyed.
"Maybe they're discussing your sacrifice." Zabrina says
We all shared a shiver.
"I hope not, I'm not taking the throne for a good long while." I said quietly.
"It has to happen eventually Rhapsody dear." Zabrina whispers.
I shook off the tension and smiled at Hazelmere.
"Did you hear who our precious Velvet was caught with recently?" I say waggling my eyebrows.
Hazel smiled back happy to change the subject.
"Oh I couldn't possibly know what you're talking about, velvets as innocent as could be!" She said jokingly.
We all shared a long laugh at that.
"It's Osannas dear brother Orion this time I'm afraid." I say in between giggles.
Osanna's face became a shade of red darker then blood and she shouted,
"No it can't be true not my dear brother! That witch!" She stood up and ran from the room barely able to keep her skirt up as she ran for the gardens where the boys were undoubtedly playing some barbaric game. She ran into Sin as she left and did a quick curtsy with a mumbled apology.
Sin entered and looked at us questioningly. Suddenly he appeared to figure out what had happened.
"Oh no which of you brats told on Orion?! She'll have his head in the lake by sunrise!" He exclaimed.
We all started to giggle again unable to meet his eyes.
"Well whoever it was owes Orion a pie." He said huffily.
Osanna and Velvet had been feuding since Velvet had kissed Osannas previous lover Kristopher. We were all so young but Osanna had a way of holding a grudge. It was awfully brave of Velvet to go after her precious brother, he was all Osanna had after the passing of their parents due to a sunlight exposure accident. Sin was partially right, both Velvet and Orion's heads would probably be floating in the severed lake by sunrise. I don't personally blame Orion, I myself had at one point had a tryst with the beautiful Velvet. She had stunning long black hair with adorable, comforting brown eyes. Her arms made you feel as if you could fly and her lips made every worry leave your soul.
My memories of Velvet were interrupted by Zabrina asking Sin where his brother had gone.
His brother was my fiancé, Strix. Strix and I were engaged mostly for business, it had been a while since anyone from his branch of the Diamond court had been upon the throne. I did like him however and I think with time I could most definitely love him. We had decided to take things like those before us had, painstakingly slow. We had oh so much time to figure out how we complimented each other. Our engagement had been the talk of not only our kingdom but many over. It meant a sacrifice, and royal children. I've always wanted children and settling with Strix didn't make that dream any less prominent in my mind. Even if we didn't love each other yet. The sacrifice was another matter entirely.
"Come on spill the beans where's the future king?" Zabrina demanded.
"Oh he's off with Alaric and the valentine twins chasing deer. He'll be with us soon." He said bored.
Ruse entered and immediately grabbed Zabrina for a big kiss, I saw Sin cringe, they had once been very much in love. Ruse however decided that he wanted Zabrina more and ended their relationship. Zabrina loved both Ruse and Sin but decided she would commit to monogamy to please her mother. Really Sin got the worst of the arrangement, occasionally he can be seen staring at them longingly. I went over to Sin and pulled him away from his entangled lovers. We went out onto the rooms balcony.