Blood, Lust and Handsome Liars

Chapter 1

The winter morning was crisp and cool, as was most mornings and Victoria lay slumbering in her bed huddled under the covers that hid her naked body away from those who would enter her chambers. Her black hair spread across her pillows, which donned a crimson red cover that matched her blankets. Across from her bed about five metres away sat her desk covered with stacked books and dusty tomes from her studies into the Arcane and some books about the sister covens. Her room wasn't overly large, but it was definitely spacious. There was enough room to fit her desk, her bed as well as a settee in front of the fireplace. A door not far from the bookcase behind her desk which led to the lavatory and bath was opened slightly, Victoria must have forgotten to close it when she went to the bathroom last night. A bell began to ring and there was a soft knock on the large door that lay to the right of the large bed. Victoria stirred softly and opened her eyes to reveal her crystalline grey iris', they scanned the room and flashed over to the door where the knock came from.

"Who dares disturb me during my rest!?" Victoria hated to be awoken from her slumber, especially this early in the morning. She looked over to the clock and looked at the time. It was 6:10, now she was really angry. She threw the covers off of the bed and pulled on her night dress to answer the door. She opened it and glared at the small framed woman who stood at the door nervously. After five minutes of silence, Victoria broke it by spitting outher words like venom.

"You better have a good fucking reason to be waking me at this time if the morning and standing at the entrance to my chambers fumbling over your words like a shy school girl." Victoria's vision narrowed to the girl's neck and she closed her eyes, focusing on the heartbeat as the girl spoke.

"S-sorry Miss Sinclair, b-but you father sent me to ret-retrieve you and bring you t-to his quarters." The girl sighed, thankful that she finally gave a message to the most intimidating woman on this planet. Having realised what she just thought, she looked up at Victoria and swallowed hard, seeing that she was now focused on her neck. Victoria lifted her left hand and backhanded the girl, sending her flying into the wall.

"Do I look like some dog to you!? Do I look like I need tobe fetched and brought to my master!? I will see him when I am well and truly ready to see him, do you understand?" Victoria grabs the girl by her neck and lifts her up against the wall as a masculine figure walks in from the shadows.

"I had a feeling you would say that, you can put her down now." Victoria scowls and drops the girl, who was now on her knees coughing and spluttering. She looks to the elderly gentleman and her face relaxed into a more regal expression. She turned towards him and bowed in respect the way a vampire should to the king/queen. Her right hand balled into a fist and she placed it over her heart before bending forward with her legs straight and her head inclined to the floor.

"I apologise father, I have let my anger get the best of me." The elderly man raised an eyebrow and looked to the dent in the wall and the coughing girl on the floor.

"So I have noticed. See to it that this does not happen again, especially to this young woman. She is only a fledgling, and you of all people know how fragile they are." He helps the young girl off of the floor and sends her back to the others in the lounging area. Victoria turns her gaze to the floor and Edric placed his hands on her shoulders.

"A member of our sister coven will be arriving here in a month's time. He is from the Montgomery coven. He will be moving here and I expect you to show him around, is that understood?" Victoria nodded in understanding before returning to her chambers and leaving her father in the grand hall. It was decorated with the finest wallpaper and the windows had thin, crimson red drapes. It seemed to be the theme of the manor, the colour crimson, vampires automatically liked the colour because it was the same as blood. Victoria hated the colour, she has since she went on her first hunt as a fledgling. She shuddered and went to the bookshelf, pouring over various titles until she found the book that she was looking for. She pulled out the leather-bound book that was engraved with golden letters that titled the book 'Montgomery' and began to search for the male his father had told her about, but knew that it would take a while before she could figure out whom exactly. Her father was always cunning like that, never giving away too much information. She sighed as her thoughts turned to her mother, her worried face as she found Victoria being carried in by one of the other hunter's explaining that she was having an allergic reaction to the blood. She remembered being carried into the hospital wing before the world went black, she still had no idea how her mother died and it certainly wasn't from being worried. It was hard to kill a vampire, let alone die as one to natural causes. Victoria awoke from her dream and looked around the room, it was dark and the air was crisp. She looked over to the fireplace and saw it was lit and moved over to her mother's chair which sat by the fire. Victoria frowned every time she saw the chair in the light of the fire, it reminded her of the stories her mother would read to her when she was just a babe. A tear escaped her eye and she violently wiped it away and threw her teacup at the wall, the memories fading from her mind as she fell to her knees and huddled her legs in front of the fire.