Creatures and Legends (Wattys2018)

8: Budding of Royalty

I hear Dale shuffle and get up as I turn to face him. It doesn't hurt when I move anymore and I think about the dreams I had.

Were they memories...? If so, was that woman my mother? That man, Christopher, called her Sophia... That must have been her name. He also said... "my queen." Wait, if my mother was the queen... That means I must be... royalty... Is- that what Dale was talking about when he said that he, Thomas, and I were a "special type of vampire"? And if I'm royalty, does that mean I'm related to them...?

My head begins to hurt and I think about what Christopher and my mother were talking about. Christopher mentioned something about troops rallying and it being too difficult to take care of her and me. There must have been a war with the vampires...

My mother sent me away to keep me safe. She sealed my memories away to protect me. She cared about me, so she did what she had to do. She was the queen, and I'm to take her place? Just the thought of it made my head spin. "How am I going to do this? I can't do it alone."

"That's why I'm going to be ruling beside you" I wheeled around and was suddenly able to stand. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice Dale coming in behind me. He grabs my shoulders lightly and spins me around to face him. I give him a confused look. Before I realize what's happening, I'm pulled against his chest and he rests his chin on my head, hugging me. He kisses the top of my head and I slightly pull back to look up at him. His eyes twinkle with what looks like mischief but then returns back to normal as he looks down into my amber eyes. He quickly looks back up and gently pushes me away, putting space between us.

"W-what do you mean by you'll be ruling beside me...?" I ask him, stuttering. He stays quiet. I ask him again, more sternly, and he still doesn't say anything. Instead, he keeps his gaze trained to the floor.

"If you aren't going to say anything else, get out," I finally tell him. He sighs, snaps his fingers, and walks out of the room. A few minutes later I'm cleaning up the mess in my room when someone knocks on the door. I open it to find Thomas and he walks inside. He pulls me into a hug, almost immediately after shutting the door behind him. I hug him for a quick second then back away.

"What happened? I haven't seen Dale storm out of a room in a long time, especially in the presence of a woman. Are you ok?" he asks jokingly. I shake my head slowly and his smile changes into a look of concern.

"I-I'm fine," I say, "I just had a weird vision, and Dale filled me in on something that I now have no idea what he meant and then when I asked him about it, he stormed out. I know that's really vague, but that's the only way I know how to describe what happened."

"Well, what was in this vision? That should be a start to figuring it out," he says. He grabs my hand and pulls me to the bed where we both sit down.

"Well, they seemed more like memories than visions. There were three separate memories and one nightmare. I saw a woman who I think was my mother. In the memories, the woman, my mother, was there. I was just a little kid." I pause to make sure he's still listening. His eyes are wide for a few seconds as I stare at him, then they return to normal size and he snaps out of his daze.

"Start with the first memory, please," is all he says as the look of concern fills his expression.

"Well, at first I was confused who the woman was because the memory started out with someone waking me up. I was in a large room with a floor-to-wall window covered in a large curtain. She had called me 'Cylest' which, once again, confused me. Anyway, I figured out that the woman was my mother once I had called her 'mommy.' We had started to talk about my father and about how much we missed him and when he would be back to see us. She told me that we'd see him soon with a really distraught look on her face, then the scene faded out and that was it." I say to him. Something hits me and at that moment, I remember Dale calling me 'Cylest' by accident at dinner one night. I keep that tidbit to myself as Thomas speaks again.

"That's all that you saw?"

"Yes, that's it. I'm really confused about it."

"I know you are, but you said there were three memories? What about the other two? Can you describe them to me like the first one?"

"Yeah. I should be able to," I say pausing to think, "In the next one, I was in a rose garden similar to the one here, except bigger. There was a huge fountain in the middle, and I'm hiding from my mother and a man she called Christopher. He had said something about taking me somewhere and about enemies rallying troops. He had also called her 'queen' and 'Sophia' which I guess is what her name was. She talked about someone named Elettra and said she would take me to see her. The last thing Christopher says is that it will be more difficult to protect the people while having a princess around as well as the queen. The scene fades out after that."

"Ok, so we know you are a princess and your mother's name was Queen Sophia and she had to take you to a woman named Elettra because enemies were rallying troops. Am I correct?" He asks nervously as if choking on the words.

"Yes, that's what I've gathered."

"What about the third memory?"

"It was of my mother taking me to who I assume was Elettra. It was to a cottage in the woods. She seemed nervous while she hastily pulled me along beside her. The memory was really short, and it faded as soon as Elettra pulled us both inside."

"That's it? That's all the memories you saw?"

"Yes. I believe so, but there was something else."

"Oh yeah, you said something about a nightmare. Would you mind describing that as well?"

"Yeah, but can we talk about the memories first?"

"There isn't much I can say about them, other than they're trying to tell you something that Dale and I can't."

"Ok well, the nightmare was of me on the night we were attacked. The only difference was that the creature spoke to me before attacking me. It cornered me and... and..." I trail off, unable to find the words.

"Krista, what did it say to you?"

"It said it was a creature that was trapped forever in the walls. It said that I smelled like something it hadn't smelled in too long, then it attacked me and I jerked awake."

"Alright, I thought it was going to be something worse than that, but what have you concluded from all these memories?"

"If my mother was the queen, that means I'm a princess. Dale had said something about the three of us being a special type of vampire and I think that's what he meant. That means that you both are royalty as well. There must have been a war of some sort and my mother, Sophia, must have sent me away to keep me safe. Dale had said something about him ruling beside me and I guess while I was thinking about all this, I said it aloud." Thomas' expression becomes cold and feral as a sense of lethal understanding crosses his features. He shoots up from the bed and begins walking towards the door.

"Excuse me for a bit while I go talk to my brother," he says, anger unmissable, as he slams the door behind him. Being left alone in my room and realizing how tired I am, I allow exhaustion to take over and fall asleep.