Aurora hesitated, unnerved by how quickly everything was progressing, and how imminent this reveal was. She half believed that nothing would happen, and Dracule would just tease her for being so gullible, but another part of her believed that this might be much more.
She put her tiara on the pedestal and delicately placed it so the moonlight was traveling through the prominently displayed gem, and thus refracting and shining upon a spot on the ornate stone door that looked like a great gargoyle opening its fiendish mouth to swallow a person whole.
When the light fell upon that faithful spot, the door slowly began to open, inch by grueling inch. Aurora was sure that if her legs didn't feel like lead, she would run as fast as she could back up those stairs, but she was glued in place as the stone door gradually slid itself away, and a faint blue light spilled out from the cavern that was previously sealed off from the rest of the world.
Chapter Two
Once the door was open enough for a human to slip through, Dracule scurried through it to meet the Vampire King, but Aurora was in no such hurry. She remained in her spot for what felt like a small eternity, but who knew how time passed in a dark cave underground. Sure, there was previously the light of the moon informing her that it was nighttime, but once the moon wasn't aligned with the hole in the rock, she had nothing to tell time with in the least, though that was the last of her concerns.
Her waiting did come to an end eventually, though. A man who was tall and pale, with the darkest of black suits on, and a long collared cape walked out of the chamber with the same confidence as a man who owned the world. This confidence was perhaps increased by his silent disapproval of what he saw, as he frowned from the moment Aurora saw him walk out of the chamber, all while he surveyed the room, and even when his glance touched upon her.
"Thank you, woman," the Vampire King, Neculai, said to her in a flat and stoic voice. He took a few steps towards her--his gait was long enough that a few steps could cover the eight feet between them, and he was then mere inches from her.
"Why did you decide to take pity on me, mortal? None of your kind have thought to do that before. Well, besides the descendants of my closest friend, but that hardly counts," Neculai said, running his eyes over her.
Though she was terrified seeing that the very thing that she had mocked was standing right in front of her--and an imposing thing he was--she contained as much fright as she could and kept it out of her voice. "Dracule told me that it was possible that you would be willing to help me reclaim this country's glory?" she replied, being totally honest with her reasons for summoning him. It was the convention to tell demons why they were summoned after all, wasn't it?
"I see. No philanthropic urge pulling at your heartstrings, just pure greed. Then again, as a noble, I expect nothing less. I'm glad to see that's precisely what I received," Neculai replied, turning his nose up and then surveying the room again with the same from. Then, without another word, he began to climb the stairs.
Seeing Neculai leave so unceremoniously and go upstairs, into some of the commons where staff might see him, gave Aurora a great deal of anxiety. She rushed after him as fast as her legs could carry her. Despite that, catching up with Neculai was no easy task. His strides were as easy and rapid as if they were effortless. It almost seemed like he was floating rather than walking--then again, he may well have been.
"Neculai, please! Stop!" Aurora called out, and much to her surprise, Neculai did stop, and he turned around. His eyes were a piercing crimson, and his countenance, form what Aurora could tell in the faint light from the lamp that Dracule was lugging along, was very grave.
"Speak, human," he said, his voice as cold as ice.
"Neculai, you're heading into the commons area. People might see you," Aurora said through her panting.
"I see. Even though I'm free, you'd lock me away," he replied, equally unimpressed here, just as he was earlier.
"Neculai, if someone saw you, they'd scream. You don't look like a normal human," Aurora said, going up to Neculai and lightly grabbing his hand. For a moment, both of them recoiled. To Neculai, her touch was moist and hot, and to Aurora he felt as cold as ice. Still, it seemed almost as if a shot of electricity zapped through them for a moment that left both of them tongue tied.
"You did not scream when you saw me," Neculai pointed out.
"I expected you. Dracule did not take me to your chamber without informing me of exactly what I was doing by opening the door," Aurora asked. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea right at the start. If I can think of a way to get you to my room, we can sit down and have a talk about this," Aurora said.
Neculai seemed intrigued by the offer. "If you wish to speak in your room, then we shall," he said. "No one will see me, so don't fret," he said, and at that moment, he vanished. Aurora's mouth just hung open, and she turned to Dracule for an explanation. The butler's jaw was as wide as the queen's however.
"He just . . ." she began.
"Disappeared," Dracule finished. "Go to your chambers, I'm sure that he'll meet you there," Dracule urged.
"How would he know where my chambers are?" Aurora asked, forgetting for the time being that Neculai had also been a monarch in the castle, so all he would have to do is retrace the steps back to his old home. Still, there wasn't much time to waste, so she hurried to her room, and sure enough, there sat Neculai. He was on the stood in front of her vanity, looking into the mirror. There was no reflection of him, though his clothes were represented.
Aurora carefully shut her door and locked it. "Neculai," she began, her voice trembling slightly in fear of this new creature.
"Don't fear me, child," Neculai replied and suddenly stood. He was easily 6'5", making him quite the imposing figure. It was hard therefore to take his advice and not fear him. Still, if that's what he wanted, she would try to mitigate her fear, if only a little bit. "Tell me, if you knew that you were releasing the Vampire King, why did you proceed?"he asked.
"Well, because my most trusted servant told me that you would be able to help. Adrian Dracule," Aurora replied. "He's been my best friend since I was young, because he took care of me."
"He's not that much older than you," Neculai observed. "But, if he is of the Dracule family, then he is one of the spawn of my great friend, Vladimir Dracule," Neculai continued. "A powerful warlock, though he kept his trade a well kept secret from the peasantry. That's one magic trick i wished he would have shown me, to be honest," Neculai said with a grunt.
"There aren't very many records on you--none at all that I'm aware of. So, I had to take Dracule's word for it that you would be able to help me" Aurora replied. "That's why I undid your seal, but that doesn't mean that my plan is to just throw you away after you've helped. I'm not a cruel tyrant, I am just . . ." she trailed off, biting her lip as she thought of a delicate phrasing to explain what she felt and what she thought.
"You're just afraid that I will become a nuisance? That, after I'm used up, I'll have no place around the castle, and that I'll be in the way. Maybe I'll even tarnish your good name," Neculai suggested pessimistically.
"I don't have much of a good name to tarnish around here," Aurora grumbled herself this time.
"No? Have you been caught whoring about perhaps?" Neculai asked.
As soon as the words left his lips, her cheeks turned a bright red. "Excuse me!" she replied, mortified by the suggestion.
"Well, then, what is it? Don't leave me in suspense," Neculai replied, waiting to hear why his savior had such a bad reputation around the castle.
"It's because my father left the country in a very delicate diplomatic position, and now because things aren't miraculously fixed overnight, the problem is because I'm a woman that doesn't know anything," Aurora replied.
"What would the fact of your being a woman have anything to do with it?" Neculai asked, his red eyes just looking at her with an earnest curiosity.
"I would assume you would know," Aurora replied. Still, Neculai's confused expression
didn't change, and he just kept looking at her. "I'm the first female ruler in five generations," she explained.
"I see. When my mother ruled Romania, she did it with more of an iron fist than any of the men before her could manage. I suppose she never had to suffer from being castigated as a woman thanks to that," Neculai replied in a very matter of fact tone.
"I can't simply rule with an iron fist. Barbarity will get me no where, when it's diplomacy I'm lacking," Aurora responded, quite annoyed if she was honest with the utter lack of concern that Neculai was displaying. Maybe he wasn't such a good role model. "Wait, hold on. Was your mother Sofia the Strong?" Aurora asked, just now drawing the lines together in her head.
"Indeed she was," Neculai responded with a nod of his head. "And I was known as Neculai the Gentle. Funny, huh?" he said, though he didn't smile, much less laugh.
Neculai the Gentle? Aurora thought. Surely Neculai the Gentle wasn't what she needed right now, with war boiling on the Western front, crops failing, and a slew of other issues on deck. What was Dracule thinking? Was this still some kind of drawn out, sick joke?
"A short Golden Age with increased art and commerce all went under the drain after the peasants decided to set fires to towns around the countryside in search for some "witch". God knows why they get such things into their head, but when my secret finally fell apart, they locked me under the castle. I'm assuming they meant for it to be forever, but luckily you and Dracule finally saved me," Neculai said, sighing.
"A Golden Age? Why wouldn't that have been in my history lessons?" Aurora asked, a bit skeptical of the claim that Neculai was making.
"Simple enough. There's a very basic human emotion called embarrassment, and few things are more embarrassing that throwing a successful and kind king off the thrown solely because of some superstitious mumbo jumbo. So, to avoid having to admit their huge blunder, the Golden Age would be covered up. That's simple enough to guess," Neculai replied. "But perhaps there's another reason for it? I don't know what it might be, but that's my guess."
"I suppose that guess is as good as any," Aurora replied, starting to get frustrated at the holes in her education, which were becoming more and more prominent as the day progressed, it seemed.
"Tell me, what are your problems?" Neculai asked, leaning forward and looking into Aurora's eyes.
"Too many to count," she replied with a tired sigh. "The biggest problem that I'm currently facing is the lack of military prowess to deal with a Visigoth invasion from the west. But there's a drought affecting the crops as well, and starvation is becoming a common occurrence in the peasantry," Aurora said, beginning with the two most pressing concerns to begin with.
"The Visigoths are a simple enough matter. If they're a Goth, then they're a German tribe, a bunch of barbarians. It's easy enough to just bribe them, or get foreign diplomats on the same page with you and drive them out that way," Neculai said. "Foreign diplomats might be keeping their fingers out of the pot currently because of hopes that you will be able to deal with the forces yourself. Then, Romania will be in a compromised position for them to strike if they so wished," Neculai said. Aurora was amazed at what clear objectivity he was able to look at a situation when he was so removed from the time period. Then again, some things never changes, and a man who had ruled for one hundred years certainly would know his way around foreign diplomacy well.
"Do you think that I'll really be able to enlist the help of neighboring countries?" Aurora asked, a bit skeptical of that claim in all honesty. If they were going to help her, then they would have already offered to do so. At least, that's the way that she looked at the issue.
"Unless they want to deal with the Goths next, then yes. I believe that if you put the scenario in that way, then they will have to help you," Neculai replied calmly. "As far as the drought, we will have to see how your farmers are dealing with the irrigation, and how the rivers are dammed up. But tonight, I don't have the energy," Neculai said and flopped down on her bed.
"You just rested for a couple hundred years," Aurora said, confused.
"Correction: I haven't eaten for a couple hundred years. I need food," Neculai said, and Aurora hesitated. Would she have to sacrifice a person so that he could eat? Would him feeding kill a human? She didn't know.
"Does your feeding kill?" Aurora asked timidly.
"No, no. Heavens, no. It just will make you a touch paler from lack of blood, and a bit lightheaded. You won't even turn into a vampire unless I decide to bestow the gift on you," he replied. "Now, go find me some flesh."
"I-i can't," Aurora said, biting her lip slightly. Neculai looked up at her, not disguising his annoyance in the slightest. She just bit her lip. "No one can know about you being released. It will cause mass hysteria, and I'll be killed for sure. So, if you must eat, then you can feed from me. And Dracule, because this was his idea in the first place.
"How awfully noble of you. You usually don't see that kind of selflessness in the aristocracy," Neculai said with a grin and patted the bed next to him. "Hurry up, I'm starving," he said.
Aurora was a bit hesitant, but she laid down as she was instructed to, and Neculai clumsily pulled down the shoulder of her dress and bit her on her arm, so the bit mark wouldn't show. This was the first time that Aurora had had someone remove her clothing, and it did make her nervous. Even though she had given permission to Neculai, she felt the urge to slap him away. Those thoughts fell away when she felt his teeth sink in, however, along with all other conscious thoughts.
His teeth pierced her skin as effortlessly as if it were butter, and she gasped sharply at the slight pinch that resulted. She expected the feeling of her blood being drained out of her to be a wholly unpleasant, yet a rush of adrenaline accompanied the loss of blood that the experience was exhilarating. Her breathing quickened and she closed her eyes, letting out soft words of encouragement for Neculai so that he wouldn't stop. She didn't know why she enjoyed his touch, and his taking a part of her. The fact that she didn't know was irrelevant, though. She didn't need explanations in this moment, she just needed to enjoy it while it lasted.
He drank his fill from her, and then fell straight to sleep. Aurora was more than a little uncomfortable with a vampire lying in her bed. Hell, just a man lying in her bed would have been bad enough. She had no choice but to let it slide, however, and so that she did, and fell off to sleep.
Chapter Three
As Aurora slept, her mind was a total dark void. She didn't dream at all, and the sleep was a heavy, deep sleep. She didn't wake until late in the morning, judging by the light pouring through the windows when her eyes fluttered open.
She sat up and stretched, though that sudden motion made her very woozy. She felt sick and just laid back down, checking beside her for Neculai, and he was there. His frame was totally inert while he slept. To Aurora, it seemed as though he didn't even breath. She carefully reached out a hand and placed it on his neck to feel his pulse. His ice cold skin was still, and she wondered for a moment if he had died.
When his crimson red eyes flickered open and he frowned, brushing her hand away in annoyance and turning over, pulling the covers over his head. "I'm trying to sleep," he grumbled.
"I'm sorry," Aurora said, stammering slightly. "I . . . You were just so still, I thought that you were dead," she explained, so he would know why she disturbed him.
"I'd be flattered by your concern, if it weren't for the fact that I already am dead," Neculai replied and then yawned. "But even I need my rest, so stop bugging me," he added and sifted positions slightly so he could fall to sleep better.
Aurora just bit her lip, not knowing how exactly to react to that. So, she got up and started getting herself ready for the day. It was just easier that way, rather than fooling around in conversation with someone who obviously didn't want to be talking to her. So, she went to her bathroom and washed her face, then changed into a fresh dress. She had her duties as the queen to attend to, and though something pretty incredible had happene
d to her last night, she couldn't dawdle.
Once she was ready, she left her bedroom, making sure to lock the door so no one got into the bedroom and saw Neculai, then she went to her throne room. Her gait was a little off, and she had to stop twice on her way, so that she could orient herself. Still, she made it to the throne room and sat down without causing too much of a scene.
Her first order of business was to write to other monarchs in neighboring countries, petitioning for their help. She explained the threat of the Visigoths, and how they could wreak havoc on the neighboring countries if they were able to make Romania their stronghold. They were a nomadic people to be sure, but if they took over Romania and secured it, then their job would be that much easier if they wanted to progress against the neighboring nations. Though Aurora wouldn't hold out too much hope that this method would prove successful, there was always a chance that it may work. So, she sent the couriers to deliver the messages, and in the meantime would try her best to sure of the defenses so they'd last until neighboring monarchs gave her a reply.
By the time that was done, it was nearly five in the evening, and so she got up and began to make her way to supper. As she walked, she heard everyone talking about a new aristocrat arriving at the castle, and Aurora had to wonder who it could be that was coming, especially without her knowing! Granted, she had specifically told no one to disturb her unless it was of the utmost importance, but what new arrival could possibly be coming without so much as a letter of introduction?
When she sat down at the table, her blood ran cold for a moment as she saw Neculai. He had makeup on to make his skin look a bit darker, so that he wasn't unnaturally pale. In addition to that, his eyes seemed black instead of the bright crimson, and his antiquated garb was replaced with something more fashionable and modern. Still, why was he here? He should have been in hiding!
AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN FICTION: BWWM ROMANCE: Billionaire Baby Daddy (Billionaire Secret Baby Pregnancy Romance) (Multicultural & Interracial Romance Short Stories) Page 46
