The New Queen Rises

by Dawn Gray

  I turned back to the ocean and he walked down to stand beside me. His smile faded when he eyed my face, I turned and sighed.

  "We're moving."

  "Why?"

  "I can't tell you." He crossed his arms and sighed. "It's for your own protection."

  "Ash, this is stupid, just tell me why?" He laughed, and then sighed. "I don't know why you have to be so damn stubborn."

  "We're moving because ...because." I stopped and squinted at him. "Because I know if my parents were to find out about us, you and the others would be put in danger. If I see you anymore, if you and I get any more involved, then you could get hurt."

  "You think that your parents can hurt me?" I shook my head. "Then who?"

  "I can't tell you, Julian, it's too dangerous." I sighed. He watched out over the ocean and sighed.

  "It's not possible." I watched him start to get emotional and then, suddenly, he was swinging at the air as he walked away a little bit. When he came back, he took my hand. "No one will hurt me, Ash. It’s not possible. I won't let them."

  "They will try, and you can't do anything about it, Julian." He suddenly broke down and cried, fell to his knees and held his face in my hands. "I have to go to protect you, because you care for me. That puts you in harm’s way, and I can't live with that."

  "Ashley, this silly." He pulled me down on the grass with him, reached out and touched my face. His fingers tingled my skin and I leaned toward him and inhaled deeply. "Can you stay for a little while?"

  "Yes, I guess that wouldn't be a problem."

  He took my hand and led me back to the house. I waited for him to bring me upstairs to his room, but we headed for the servant quarters. I followed him into the furthest little bathroom and watched him open a panel in the wall. He led me through a maze of dark paths that I could only think were under the house. We traveled for quite a while, before he stopped and opened another door.

  "Julian, where are we going?"

  "You'll see." He smiled bravely. I had to snicker at his slyness. We walked for several more minutes, and then he stopped again. Julian turned on a small light and searched his pockets. When he found what he was looking for, he held a small brass key. The door to his left opened when he slipped the key in and he pulled me through, out into the light of the afternoon. We stood at the edge of the water, looking out over the ocean. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

  "Sure, if I knew where I was." He took my hand again and led me up a winding path to the top of the hill. To my amazement, I found that we were standing on an island, far enough away from the house that it looked like a matchbox model car. "Wow."

  "Yeah, I know. No one else knows about this place." He smiled and pointed to a small hut just about twelve feet away. "Come on in."

  "You're not going to try to seduce me, are you?" He pulled me to the hut. He smiled then shook his head. "Good, because, I'm not interested."

  "Liar."

  When we got inside Julian started a fire as I made myself comfortable on the twin-sized bed that sat near a large window. I gazed out at the ocean that stretched for miles and then I looked at him. He stared at me as he had when met on the beach, in complete awe.

  "You're very beautiful, Ash." I smiled and then closed my eyes. "What's the matter?"

  "I'll never forget how you say that." My eyes filled up with tears. "I'll never forget you."

  "I know you won't." He walked over sitting beside me on the bed. "What makes you think you'll forget me?"

  "My parents want to take me to this man." I sighed. "He hypnotizes people. They WANT me to forget the past year. They WANT me to forget you."

  I watched him stand up and walk over to the fire. I could feel the violent streak in him coming out, and I didn't want it to happen.

  "Julian, please, don't do this, now."

  He turned to me, with all the anger in his gorgeous eyes and he walked over. He sat by me on the bed again and just looked me over. He reached out to touch my face, as he slowly laid me back on the bed. I wouldn't resist him, not in the state he was in. He put one arm beside my head, and with the other hand, he touched my hair.

  "I want to hurt them." He snarled. "I can't help it, I can't control it. I want to hurt them very badly, Ash."

  "You can't, they're my parents."

  “They're taking you away. They're trying to make you forget. I won't let them."

  "You have too. If you don't then you'll be in danger Julian."

  "I don't care!" He backed away from me and walked back to the fireplace. I didn't want to do anything to provoke him, but then I had to say what was on my mind.

  "Do you love me just because someone told you that you were supposed to?"

  He came to me quickly and pinned me down to the bed, a position that I remember being in a couple of times with him already. His face was violent, his teeth had grown and his eyes were red. I wanted him. I shook my head, moving my hair from my neck, as I had done once before. He closed his eyes.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Do it, Julian."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Do what your body tells you to do. I don't want to go home. I want to stay with you, and if I can't, I want die." My voice cracked.

  "You're crazy, Ash."

  "Do it, Julian." His anger level grew. "Damn it, Julian, do it now or I swear I will do it later."

  He growled and went to my neck. I closed my eyes and waited; wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pushed his face closer to my neck. He nuzzled it softly and then brushed it gently with his teeth. I shivered from that touch, but he never bit down. Instead he started kissing me again, but this kiss didn't end at my neck. He kissed my cheeks and my eyelids. Then he kissed my mouth, softly, like an angel's kiss.

  I looked into his silver orbs. He shook his head and sighed. "Don't ever ask that of me again, Ash. You know I couldn't do it." I smiled at him and then let out a shuttered breath, one that I had been holding in. "Please, tell me that you won't harm yourself."

  "I won't." I hugged him tightly.

  We lay on that bed for hours, just holding each other. I could hear his heart, but its slow beat put me to sleep. When I awoke, he was just putting another log on the fire. He looked at me and smiled.

  "Where did you live after Quinn was changed? How did you ever meet Michael and David? When did you start to live here?"

  "I lived in the woods, just outside of the small town that Victor lived in. Quinn never would leave him, but I would never leave Quinn. So we stayed there for a long time." He smiled. "I met Michael the same year we came here. The villagers were hunting Victor, so, we left and came here. My great-great grandparents built this place, therefore, we moved in when no one was here. Michael was walking on the shore one day and he almost fell into the ocean. He was drunk and we took him in. He has been here ever since. David is a fairly new vampire, but he befriended Michael one night after Mike saved him from some bullies that were chasing him."

  An hour later, Julian led me back to the house and we said goodnight. That night I faked being sick so that I could stay home from school the next day.

  My mother left me by myself. She thought I had gotten sick from spending the night on the beach. I changed the answering machine message to say that I wasn't answering the phone, but I was fine. After everyone left, I snuck out to see Julian and tell him we were leaving the day after my birthday and that my girlfriend, Gina, had invited me to the beach for a beach party in my honor.

  I had told her about Julian and the other three before, just that I knew them, and she had told me to invite them along. When Julian heard that he was invited, he was ecstatic, but I could see that the others had something else in mind.

  "You have to promise me that you won't do anything to influence these girls. You don't need any added attention brought on yourselves." Quinn smirked and looked out a window. I walked over to him and touched his arm. "For me, I'm asking you to behave."

  "Don't worry." He looked down at me. "You have my word."

/>   Julian drove the five of us to the beach where we were supposed to meet. When we arrived I introduced them to the other girls and guys that were there. He and Gina smiled at each other and the three of us were inseparable the entire time.

  Later, as the sun set, I told Gina that we were leaving in the morning. She started to cry, then so did I, and we hugged each other as we sat in the sand.

  Julian walked over and sat near us on the sand. "Are you two okay?" I nodded and then looked at Gina. "Everyone's asking what to do next. I was thinking of inviting everybody over and setting up a bonfire on the beach."

  "Sounds good." Gina looked at the two of us. "Why don't I spread the news and you two can talk?"

  I smiled at her and then, as she walked away, I looked back at Julian. He smiled at my bloodshot eyes, and then pushed my hair out of my face. I smirked at him, and then attacked him. He lay back in the sand and put his hands behind his head. I climbed over so that I was lying almost on top of him, stomach to stomach, with my hands under my chin.

  "We could get in trouble if anyone saw us like this,” I laughed.

  "It's not like were sleeping together," he said. I smiled and then I was suddenly on the bottom instead of on top. I looked up as he leaned over and put his forehead to mine, and then he kissed my nose.

  "You want to say something; I can see it in your eyes."

  "You're so young, but your heart and your mind, are centuries old." He spoke softly to me, as if he were about to start reciting poetry. The words he said, though, made sense to me. Being in my mother's womb for several centuries made me think that maybe I had taken some of her knowledge and kept it for myself. "Ash, I want ...no, never mind."

  "What?" I asked, snapping back to this reality.

  "It can't happen, you're still too young."

  "Julian, what do you want?"

  "You, I want you, but it's a want that I'll have to deal with. It can't be now, but when you leave, when they try to make you forget, just remember. Even if it's just in the furthest corner of your mind remember that I will be here and we will meet again. In the future, and then we can be together." He smiled at me and kissed my nose again. A wolf whistle made Julian's head snap up. He looked at Quinn and then at where Quinn was pointing. "Your sisters are here."

  "Oh, jeez." I sat up. "Quick, walk down the beach. They can't see us together, not like this." He stood up, looked at Quinn, who started to talk to Kim, and then at me and walked away a little. Grace walked over and Kim soon followed. "And you’re here, for what reason?"

  "We came to say happy birthday," Kim smiled, cheerfully.

  "Thanks now go home." Gina came over and looked at me.

  "Where's, um ...Todd, have you seen him. I seem to have misplaced him again."

  "I think I saw him on the other side of the tower." I smiled at her.

  "We leave in five minutes."

  "Where are you going?" Grace asked.

  "Gina's bringing me to see her cousin and then we're going to the movies." I got up. "Later." I meet Gina in the parking lot and she looked at me oddly. "My mother thinks that Julian's a bad influence and we shouldn't be hanging around together."

  "Ah, I see." Gina smiled as we got in the car. "Secret love affairs, I love them."

  The next morning, the five of us got into our car and headed north. I whispered good-byes to Julian as we passed his house. The excuse they had given on the hastiness of our departure was that Dad had gotten a promotion, effective immediately. So, a moving company was hired to pack up the house and move it north when they were done. I wasn't impressed with this lie, but I couldn't tell them that I knew the truth. For their sake, I hoped that Julian and the others were now out of harm’s way.

  4

  I hope that no one reading this has ever spent that much money on a hypnotist before, because they don't work, or at least in my case anyway.

  Shortly, after our move to Southfield, Massachusetts my parents brought me to an older man, recommended by the old lady that had visited our home. His name was Ludwig Van Tassel, hypnotist extraordinaire, or so he claimed as he set forth to wipe out any memory of Julian and the others.

  For hours we sat there, debating if Julian really existed and then I gave up. I agreed with them under the impression that I was still under, that there never was a man named Julian.

  My mother seemed so relieved that I had ‘forgotten’ this whole thing and that I could get on with leading a normal life. Therefore, I did. I went to school, I met new people and I got a hobby, writing. My parents thought it was great that I was so ‘into’ my new hobby, until they found out what my favorite subject to write about was: vampires.

  I had this ugly infatuation with killing off family members in my stories that had my parents wanting me to see a psychiatrist. I agreed, insisting that there was nothing wrong with my writing and that no other subject has as much possibilities as the subject of vampires and that's why I had chosen it. The shrink agreed and told my parents that it was just a phase. The shrink also said that I really held no ill feelings toward them and that they should let me express things in writing, even if they were a bit grotesques.

  Every summer we took a family vacation down to the beach house that we had lived in for that year. It was hard to see the house, but after a few days that first summer, I had learned that its owners abandoned it. It seemed very odd, for Julian had told me that the land had been in his family for generations. Underneath the excitement I felt of returning there and the emptiness of the house, there seemed to be an odd feeling of familiarity. As if the four boys were still there, but hiding. We had also learned that the land was signed over to the state, where it was turned into a national park.

  Feeling that this place held no more meaning for me and the threat of Julian was gone my parents didn't mind if I went over and walked around the place. The building was opened and the furniture was all there, all exactly as I remembered it. I walked from room to room looking at all the old furniture, and then I snuck up to the third floor. The door to Julian's bedroom had been covered by wood to make it look like it was part of the wall. I sighed and thought that maybe it had all been a dream. That I had never really met him, but I knew that that wasn't possible either, my heart wouldn't believe it.

  As I walked through the halls, alone, I felt a sudden presence following me close. When I turned around and looked, I came face to face with a young man I knew quite well. It was Michael, but I didn't want to let onto him that I remembered him.

  "Hello," I said and stared as if he were familiar, but that I couldn't place him. "Do I know you?"

  I watched his face drop, his eyes filled with the knowledge that I had, indeed, forgotten him.

  "Have we met somewhere before?" He started backing away from me. I stepped forward. "Wait." He stopped and looked up at me. I looked him straight in the eyes and called his name. Michael.

  He smiled at me and then stepped one step closer. "I knew it."

  No. I told him. Not out loud, with your mind.

  Why? His mental voice seemed quiet next to his verbal one.

  No one thinks I remember you, and for your sake, I’d like to keep it that way. He went to step closer and I shook my head. Listen to me, Michael; don’t tell Julian that I remember. Tell him that you saw me, and that I’m all right, but that I don’t remember.

  I don’t get it, why all the secrecy?

  "Hey, you kids!" A voice yelled to us. Michael and I both looked at the man standing behind me. "What are you doing in here?"

  "I was looking around," I spoke up.

  "Is this kid bothering you?"

  "No, um, we just happened to be passing ways." I replied to him. Michael nodded to us both and then disappeared around the corner. I looked at the man and then left the building.

  The next event told me that the former occupants of this place hadn't totally disappeared. The next night, as I walked with Gina around the park I stopped and looked at the stage that was down over a small hill. It was an open air theater,
lined with at least seven rows of benches on either side of a small walkway. Down at the bottom, where the small platform rose to form the stage, you could see the ocean from over the small wall that separated the dunes from the rest of the yard. It was there that I found Julian, or more to the point, watched him.

  The wooden walkway that leads over the dunes, to the ocean, was just in sight of where I stood. On the walkway was a small platform, with seats, and that's where I spotted the long, flowing head of black hair. He stood facing the west, watching the sun setting, leaning against the railing on his lower arms, his hands folded together. He looked peaceful, but I could almost feel the hurt from where I stood.

  I longed to hold him, to touch his face, but I knew there was nothing that I could do that wouldn't put him in terrible danger. I sighed, crossing my arms and looked up at him again, whispering his name. In that instant, he turned and looked toward me. I quickly ducked down, behind the wall and closed my eyes.

  That wasn't the last time that I saw Julian, not that summer anyway. He stood in that same spot almost every night, and every time I saw him, I wished to hold him. I know that he saw me walking around the park, but he never approached me, only stood and watched from a distance.

  Gina asked, once, about the sudden distance between Julian and me. Without giving away any unnecessary information, I told Gina about the fact that my parents had moved us away from here to keep Julian and me apart. To keep them from pressing any charges, because of our age difference and the fact that they thought he was taking advantage of me, we both decided to pretend we didn't know each other. This upset her and she spent the next hour letting me know what type of parents I had, even though, I knew that they were just my guardians and that my real parents were quite amazing people.

  As the years passed, we visited the park less and less. Even when we were there my sightings of Julian, or the others, became less, to the point where Julian disappeared from my sight for what I felt might be forever. He truly began to become the hazy vision of something that resided only in my mind. It was time to move on, time to admit that maybe my love for him wasn’t real and that I had only imagined it.