Nine.
Tatiana.
I looked at Amanda. She was sitting behind me and had her mind still wrapped around what I had done to the human. Our mother had said to show her everything that was going to happen, so I did.
I showed Amanda what was going to happen to her. The pain would be excoriating for her and it would an overwhelming experience for her. For sixteen years she didn't receive any of her powers, so tonight the pain that came with every birthday would be more than anything else in the world.
I had just looked away long enough to see Darren approach us. He bowed to me then wished me a happy birthday. He didn't request for a dance like all the other males. I would have declined every dance, but I was bound by custom to dance with every request I got. It had been that way ever since I was twelve, and would be that way until I bond with someone.
"Amanda?" I heard Darren ask when he was about to leave.
"What are you doing here Darren?" Amanda asked the boy in front of us.
"You know each other?" I asked, confused.
"Yes," they both said.
"How?"
"He went to the school across from mine," Amanda answered. "What are you doing here?"
"He's here because he is a vampire," I informed Amanda.
"How?" She asked.
"I made him fifteen years ago," I answered. "You go to school?"
"Yes, Princess. I go because..." Darren started to say. I cut him off before he could say anything else.
"I don't need an explanation on what you do outside of this mansion unless I really want to know. So, you knew Amanda before this?" I asked him, getting a little suspicious.
"Yes, Your Highness," Darren bowed as he answered. "But, I didn't know who she was until now."
"Open your mind," I commanded him, not wanting to take any chances.
"Tatiana, what are you doing?" Amanda asked me.
"Stay out of this, Amanda." I said in a harsh tone.
"I will open my mind freely," Darren said and took down the shields that blocked his mind. I closed my eyes until I went through his entire mind. Having the same thoughts, feeling everything he had felt, and seeing everything he had seen. None of his thoughts were about the Danielle and Roderick until I had informed them about it. He wasn't the one that had released information to them about Amanda.
I got out of his mind then said, "Leave us."
Darren bowed one more time then left. Adam Miller and his wife, Christina Miller were bowed before me. The human and his wife were human, but knew of the mythical creatures of the world. They were one of the few humans that had been told about us when my mother had assumed power after my grandmother. At first they didn't know anything about witches, but then my mother had told them.
The only they had been told was because of the black diamond that hung around Adam's neck. My grandmother had enchanted it so that the jewel could be in the protection of a human until the human died naturally or at the time that they were meant to die. If they were murdered then the jewel would automatically come back to my mother or in the place only the human knew. That place would be revealed to my mother when the human died.
"My wife and I have come to wish you a happy birthday, Your Highness." Adam said as he bowed to me.
"Thank-you, Adam. How are you doing?" I asked him. He was the only human that held my respect because he once knew my grandmother.
