The Queen of the Night

Chapter 9

When I finally woke up Jillian and Nalia were working together frantically near the dresser, bent over what I could only guess to be a jar. The burning came back in an ache. I groaned and covered my face with my hand but Jillian took it away as soon as she saw it.

"Quickly," She warned Nalia.

"I'm trying!" Nalia walked over with a jar of blue salve that she rubbed on my face and wrist. Almost immediately my body felt cool in those areas.

"Amelia," Jillian and Nalia parted the way quickly for Matthew and Alec. "What happened?" He growled at Alec.

Alec started to explain but I cut in. "We all provoked each other without meaning to. They didn't want their son talking to me but he did anyway and I..." I started sitting up. Jillian moved to push me down but Matthew held his arm out in front of her to stop her. "I don't know how I pushed that guy. I didn't even put my hands on him. I just wanted the yelling to stop."

"Jessica told you something, didn't she?" Alec interjected.

"She said it was my fault their daughter was kidnapped," I whispered low enough for Matthew to hear. "She said it was the Order but I thought the Order were just a bunch of vampires. Julio said dragons took his sister."

Matthew and Jillian had very grim looks on their faces.

"You don't think..." Jillian murmured.

"Hush. I won't have such things said here. Alec, I need to speak with whomever is in charge of your organization." Matthew turned on his heels to walk out of the room but then turned back around to me. He gently touched my burnt cheek with a fatherly touch. "This should never have happened...I'm sorry such an innocent girl such as yourself..." He left the unfinished sentence to hang in the air as he and Alec left the room.

"Is it really that bad?"

The two girls looked at each other uncomfortably. For a few minutes, they wouldn't answer or look at me. I walked over to a mirror and saw the salve covered the half of my face that the woman touched. The red that showed through the blue looked like it started to fade into a pink and I could clearly see the callouses that tunneled through my cheek and up to my forehead, and the scar that touched the corner of my eye.

"We can't let the other families see her like this when she's ready to be introduced." Jillian whispered.

"How long do we have until then?" Nalia asked her.

"In theory six months."

I shook my head, "It isn't that bad, guys. It's just a little scar."

The two girls were startled and embarrassed to learn I had heard them. Their eyes darted from each other to the ground and back again uneasily.

"What is it?"

Jillian spoke, "Well, the scar...vampires aren't known for them, you know, and there's a reason for it. We don't consider them very honorable."

I couldn't help but laughed. "That is the silliest thing I've heard of. It'll be fine. I can't be the first vampire to have gotten a scar."

Still, Jillian looked uncomfortable with the thought of my scar exposed for the world to see.

"I'll be ready in six months," I whispered to myself. Assuming I even survive that long.

Matthew had heard the news of Alexander's attack from Jillian and so he hired a new tutor but for some reason, they agreed that I should miss lessons for a while. "It's just until you've been properly introduced!" I heard her argue with someone out the door and I slowly peeked from a small crack in the door. This vampire looked startlingly like an older version of Ky. He had his blond hair and our father's deep, icy blue eyes that glowed in the light but there was a ring of red that showed through near the iris, he was also tall and thin and had traits of the Giovanni family.

I thought of all the photos the police made about Ky as he aged. They were guesses based on our father and mother's looks and some years there were three or more copies with something changed very slightly in the photos. Every year Officer Wu mailed them to me on Ky's birthday.

I covered my mouth and slammed the door shut. My dream came back to me quickly. Gordon mentioned something about Damien.

When Jillian came through the door she found me, sitting with my knees to my chest, staring at the wall. "What's wrong, dear?" She sat on her knees next to me.

"Can vampires have...visions?"

Jillian shrugged. "Well, it's a terribly rare gift, but yes, some do. Why do you ask?"

I was half afraid she'd laugh at me as I recounted to her my dream.

"That doesn't necessarily make it a vision. A vision of the past isn't a very rare gift and memories and dreams are often mistaken for it."

Maybe she was right but I still couldn't shake off this strange feeling that what I saw was as real as my new life.