Thorns of Fate: Serendipity Saga Book One

Epilogue

I woke up shortly after falling asleep when Carson's phone rang on the bedside table. He leapt up from his slumber, grabbing the phone and answering it without a word.

I could hear my father's voice on the other end of the line telling Carson to get us together and meet him at the mansion. Carson agreed and started pulling his clothes back on. He had stripped down to his boxers as he always did but quickly donned a t-shirt and jeans by the time I had rolled out of bed.

I glanced at him, confused but he only shrugged in response. He left to wake Kellic and Anton while I pulled clothes from my dresser. I found a dress shirt and tugged it over my head, sliding jeans up over my waist and met the three of them in the living room.

It had only taken minutes for us all to get ready.

Anton went to the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee while we chatted.

"What do you think he wants?" Kellic asked, and I could hear the dread in her voice. Our lives had become far too eventful over the past several months. We had needed the night in the club, dancing, and drinking and enjoying the evening.

The club, as it turned out, managed to mostly run itself. Tyler, fortunately, knew what he was doing and had advised me that we'd already taken in quite the profit. The money we made was mine and it felt odd to have something totally to myself. It wasn't part of the trust and went into an account that was solely mine.

"I have no idea," I said, having the same sense of anxiety.

The coffee was finished in short order and the four of us shared two mugs each before deciding we couldn't put the trip off any longer.

The club had been shut down for the night, the revelry coming to a close. It was eerily quiet without the pounding bass and din of hundreds of overjoyed patrons.

We made our way quickly to the Mercedes and Carson drove us to Damien's mansion.

It was quiet when we arrived which was odd with the urgency of Damien's call. He met us in the foyer, along with my mother and Gabrielle who looked exhausted.

"What's going on?" I asked my father, my hand clutched in Carson's.

Damien had a cheery expression on his face which seemed out of place there. He was always pretty serious and a smile was a rarity. He looked surprisingly refreshed as well and was dressed to the nines in a silk black shirt and black slacks. He always looked like he was ready to walk into a boardroom meeting.

"I've been...working on something," he replied and glanced over as Lucas entered the room. He came down off the balcony, smiling calmly to us.

"Good morning," he greeted, sidling up to Damien, his hands clasped behind his back. "It's not entirely customary but your father and I have been working on a coronation gift for you." They traded an eager glance.

"A coronation gift?" I asked, confused.

He nodded. "Whenever you're coronated as queen, it is tradition for each vampiric leader to provide you with a gift. An item of goodwill if you will," he explained. "But when I found an opportunity to give you something, your father agreed that it would be a great idea and allowed it. I wasn't sure how it would work out so I didn't want to tell you about it until it was a sure thing."

Kellic, Anton, Carson, and I exchanged thoughtful gazes.

Damien and Lucas started walking down one of the halls off of the foyer. The building was eerily quiet, no servants in the area. It was just us.

We followed through the bowels of the mansion, the halls still looking the same to me, even after all this time. Evidently, mazes were not my strong suit.