"Over the next four centuries, the hatred between my vampires and Kristof's werewolves deepened. Nothing of much importance happened during those four hundred years.
"Our second set of Coven laws was written. It was essentially the same as the first set, except it contained more rules about werewolves and a ban on blending the species as Niklaus and Sophia had done.
"Shortly after the laws were written, Erik took half of our Coven, twenty-five vampires, to Moscow. There, he created a second Coven that he ruled over.
"Strangely, Niklaus cheered up a lot after Erik left, and he opened up more around me. Once again, I became more pleasant and gentle as I'd been before I turned Erik.
"Our Covens were slowly rising in power as our numbers increased.
"In the early 600s, Kristof met with Niklaus and I at our castle, and we signed a peace treaty with the werewolves, who we now referred to as lycans.
"We gained two more Covens, one in Nagasaki, Japan, and one in Marseille, France. Our numbers grew tremendously over these years, and the first child vampire was born in 666.
"The times were peaceful, but everyone knows that peace never lasts for long."
In the early months of the year 750, the Ukrainian Coven had a tomb built in the castle. The tomb was meant for the Elders, so they could rest from time to time.
Amelia and Niklaus stood in the doorway to the new tomb, staring at the floor where the three crypts were.
The tomb was a rather large room made of black and gray marble. The doors that led to the tomb consisted of two layers. The first was a solid granite sliding door that served as protection for the slumbering Elders. The second layer was made of glass so that the other vampires could look in on the Elders to check on them if the need arose. Hanging from each wall was a flaming torch that illuminated the otherwise dark room. The ornately carved floor where the crypts were was sunk into the ground. Around it rose a small flight of stairs that led to the higher parts of the floor. At the far end of the room, there stood a single marble throne. The throne appeared to be on a stage with the stone walls closing in so close to it. There was a small room behind the throne where the casket would be placed after the Awakening ceremony.
The crypts themselves were simply deep, marble lined holes dug into the earth beneath the floor, covered by a metallic top. The tops all sported the Elder's initial and the same ornate carvings that looked to be nothing but show. The carvings were, in actuality, meant to hide the mechanisms that opened the crypts. The covers were made of gold, silver, and bronze, one metal for each Elder. Amelia's was gold, Niklaus' silver, and Erik's bronze. Inside the holes, placed upright, were the Elders' caskets. The coffins were topless and were built in a gothic-like design of mahogany. On the base and top of the wooden caskets, the carpenters had carved the Elder's initial that was to rest there. The initials were large, carved in a style that resembled Celtic, and were stained black.
Amelia and Niklaus looked in at the tomb with mild satisfaction. They were both glad to be getting a chance to rest, since they had drained most of their energy over the four centuries that they had lived.
"My Lord and Lady," a young Russian vampire named Abel said, appearing behind the Elders. He dropped to one knee in respect as they turned to him.
Amelia recognized him as he rose when she got a good look at his face. It had been his mate a century ago that had given birth to the first child vampire. She had died shortly after the child was born, and the baby had followed her a few weeks later. She felt a twinge of sympathy for the young vampire who'd lost everything, and she found herself smiling at him gently.
"What is it, Abel?" Niklaus asked, glancing sidelong at Amelia.
"My Lord Erik has returned from Moscow, sir," Abel answered, keeping his eyes averted.
"Good," Niklaus replied, brushing past Abel to go meet Erik.
Amelia watched him go and turned to Abel. She laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly at him when he looked up at her. She patted his shoulder reassuringly before following her mate upstairs to meet her brother.
Abel stared after her with wide, confused brown eyes. He'd never expected to see such gentleness from a vampire, an Elder who was centuries older than him no less. He smiled slightly, despite himself, and followed the pair of Elders upstairs.
"Within the next week, we had drafted a third set of Coven laws. The laws now included rules about the slumbering Elders and the Awakening ceremony that would take place every one hundred years. We also created the vampire Council.
"The Council consisted of at least one vampire from each of our five Covens. Altogether, there were seven Council members. They were vampires of the highest regard in our society. If I remember correctly, they were Eva from L'viv, Abel from Moscow, Misao from Nagasaki, Charles and Nathalie from Marseille, and Adam and Sara from Budapest.
"The Council was first stationed in L'viv where they were to assist the reigning Elder in making decisions and keeping him/her from gaining too much power over the other vampires.
"At the end of the week, Erik and I went into our first slumber while Niklaus stayed awake to rule first.
"My first slumber was wonderful. I hadn't rested that peacefully in four hundred years, and I fully enjoyed my two centuries of sleep while Erik and Niklaus wrecked havoc on the world."
The entire Coven gathered in the tomb and fixed their eyes on Erik and the Council. The vampires watched with wide, curious eyes, since most of them had only seen one Awakening ceremony before.
Erik took a deep breath and rose from his seat on the throne. He raised his hands to silence the vampires and quickly scanned their faces. "My fellow vampires and Council members," he began, lowering his hands. "As you know, it is the year 950, and according to the Covenant, it is time for the next Elder to rise."
A cheer rose up amongst the vampires.
"Silence!" Erik snapped, getting the vampires' immediate cooperation and attention. "It is time for me to awaken Amelia." He descended the two steps that led to the lowered floor where the crypts were and went directly to the gold crypt on the far right. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he knelt down beside the golden cover. He placed his fingers in the tiny holes surrounding the "A" and turned the rounded plate in a complete circle.
The vampires all watched with interest as the mechanisms were started.
The gold cover sank into the hole and broke into four curved pieces that disappeared into the floor around the hole. A moment later, an ornately carved Gothic-style casket rose up out of the hole.
Erik turned the casket down onto its side on the gold posts that supported it. He went to the head of the coffin and looked in at decaying corpse of Amelia. He pursed his lips in concentration and pressed the small button on the side of the casket, watching the bar move from her chest to her mouth. He lifted his arm to his mouth, pushed his sleeve back, and bit down into his wrist. He positioned his bleeding arm over the funnel-like opening in the bar and let his blood drain into Amelia's open mouth.
The blood coursed through all of her body and began to rejuvenate the long-dead cells. Memories flashed through her mind, Erik's memories, memories of what had happened over the past two hundred years that she had missed.
Erik wiped the blood from his lips and put pressure on his wrist to help the already healing wound close up. He motioned for the Council to step forward, and he backed away, indicating that his part of the Awakening ceremony was over.
The Council members took Amelia's casket from the posts that supported it and carried it to the room behind the throne. They set it down on the stone table right behind the throne, removing it from the other vampires' view.
Eva walked over to the back of the room, where a closet stood, and opened the heavy wooden doors. She took Amelia's clothes from the closet and went back to the other Council members. She set the dress across the lower half of the casket and moved to help the other females, Misao, Nathalie, and Sara, sit Amelia up.
The males stepped forward with their tools and began attaching the blood tubes to Amelia's back and arms. When they finished, they went back into the main chamber and waited patiently for the females to dress Amelia.
Once the females had her dressed, they called to Erik.
Erik hurried to the back room, afraid that something had gone wrong, and was met with the terrible sight of his sister's decayed form. "What is it?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from Amelia's body to look at the female Council members.
"Would you be so kind as to carry her to the throne?" Eva wondered, flipping her caramel-colored hair out of her eyes.
"Of course," Erik agreed after a moment's hesitation. He stepped forward and scooped Amelia up into his arms. He carried her around her casket and to the throne. He gently set her down in the stone chair and backed away from her, feeling sick at seeing her like that.
"Are you ready to go back to sleep yet, my Lord?" the French Council member, Charles, asked.
"No," Erik answered, looking at the Council. "I wish to speak to my sister when she fully awakens."
"As you wish, my Lord," Charles replied, nodding to Erik. He turned to the other Council members and said something to them in French.
Eva nodded and stepped forward. She turned to the gathered vampires and cleared her throat to get their attention. "Everyone, the Awakening ceremony has been completed," she announced, waiting for their cheers to end before continuing. "As you can see, the Elder Amelia has been awakened. She is weak from her sleep and must be left in peace until she is fully restored. No one is to enter the tomb unless they have permission from Erik or the Council. Is that clear?"
The vampires all nodded in agreement and slowly filed out of the tomb.
Eva smiled triumphantly and turned to Erik. "You may rest now if you wish, my Lord," she told him, seeing the exhausted look in his eyes.
"Thank you," Erik replied, smiling gently at her. Eva was the oldest female vampire next to Amelia, and she had been turned by the Queen herself. He liked Eva. She had a gentle disposition and was usually the one to cheer everyone up when they were down. "I'll be in my chambers. No one is to bother me unless Amelia rouses to consciousness."
Eva nodded in agreement and smiled reassuringly at him. She walked up to him and kissed his cheek lightly. "We'll look after her for you, my Lord," she said, patting his shoulder gently.
Erik smiled gratefully at her and left the tomb to go to his rooms.
Eva watched him leave before turning back to her fellow Council members. She smiled at them and looked up at Amelia.
A knock sounded at Erik's door, rousing him from his troubled sleep. He slunk over to the doors and opened them to reveal Eva's smiling face. "What is it, Eva?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"I just came to let you know that Amelia is awake and waiting for you in the tomb," Eva answered, turning to walk away.
"Thank you, Eva," Erik said, smiling slightly at her when she turned to face him. "Tell her that I'll be down in a minute, will you?"
"Of course, my Lord," Eva agreed, nodding to him and walking back to the tomb.
Erik hurriedly changed into his more formal clothes and hurried down the stairs to the tomb to meet with his sister. He walked into the tomb and froze momentarily as he saw her sitting there.
Her appearance hadn't changed much since he'd seen her a few hours ago. She had filled out a little, so she didn't look so gaunt, but her skin still looked decayed, her hair appearing thin and lifeless. Her eyes were the same ice blue as his at the moment, and her breathing was slow and labored as if she was in pain.
"Amelia," he called, hesitantly stepping forward.
Amelia smiled weakly at him and motioned for him to come closer.
Erik did as she wanted, noticing off-handedly that they were alone, and stopped just before the steps. "Amelia, I stayed awake so that I could explain to you in detail everything that has happened while you slept," he told her.
"Proceed," Amelia said, swallowing hard.
"Well, Niklaus did some things that I don't really agree with," Erik explained, lowering his gaze. "A few years before he awakened me, he violated our peace treaty and killed Kristof's mate, Lena." He paused when he heard Amelia's hoarse chuckle before continuing. "Kristof was so grief-stricken by her death… It was awful to see him like that… Anyway, Niklaus took advantage of his momentary weakness and enslaved the lycans." He looked up to see Amelia's reaction and was met with her questioning gaze. "The mortals are becoming more aware that we exist. They have been killing random people in the courtyards that they suspect of being vampires. They've so far only killed two real vampires, but it was still enough to cause Niklaus concern… So, he enslaved the lycans to be our protectors during the daylight hours. They stand guard around the castle during the day while we rest, so the mortals can't get to us."
"I see," Amelia replied, thoughtfully.
"When he awakened me, the lycans had already been "tamed" and were fully obedient to us," Erik continued. "We had a few rebellions during my reign, but the dogs were totally unprepared. We defeated them easily, so there is no need to worry about the lycans coming after you."
Amelia smiled slightly at him and nodded in agreement. She swallowed again and leaned forward a little in her throne. "I appreciate you telling me all this, Erik," she told him, her face softening when he looked up at her. "Now, it is your time to sleep. I know that you are tired, my brother. I can see it in your face… Call forth the Council, and we will put you back to sleep."
Erik nodded, knowing she was right, and summoned the Council.
"Fifty years had passed by without much event before the first note-worthy lycan rebellion took place. It took us nearly three months to suppress the lycans before we finally stopped them.
"We lost many of our best warriors to the rebellion, as did the lycans.
"Shortly after the rebellion, most of the surviving lycans fled to avoid their punishment. The ones who stayed on were tortured and killed. It didn't matter to us if they hadn't taken part in the rebellion. We were simply out for revenge.
"It only took us two weeks to exterminate every lycan in L'viv, and sadly, the leaders were not among them. My brother, Kristof, and his daughter, Loretta, had fled with the other survivors with their tails between their legs like the cowards they were.
"We searched for them for twenty years, and my rage quickly grew with the passing decades until I began to kill anyone who wasn't doing something productive. I don't even know how many vampires I killed in those twenty years."
The Council and soldiers were all gathered in the tomb, their eyes fixed on Amelia. They weren't entirely certain why she had called this meeting, but they weren't about to question her.
Amelia rose from her throne, and her icy blue eyes swept over the group of vampires. "Viktor," she called, watching as the General stepped forward. "Have you found the fugitives yet?"
"Not yet, my Lady," Viktor answered, bowing his head in shame.
Amelia's face twisted in rage briefly, and her fists clenched slightly in anger. "That's it," she announced, stamping her foot in a child-like manner. "I have had enough of this game of cat and mouse… Viktor, double your efforts to find them. I want them here by the end of the month."
"But, we haven't got the resources to do that, my Lady," Viktor told her, hoping that she wouldn't kill him for arguing.
Amelia closed her eyes tightly to hide the flash of rage she knew had been there, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Then, go out and change some of the mortal soldiers," she ordered, descending the stairs to stop in front of him. "Take your strongest warriors with you and change as many soldiers as you need."
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor agreed, nodding in agreement.
Amelia turned to the Council and walked over to them. "Send word to all of the other Covens immediately," she told them. "Make sure they have warriors posted on every street in every country until we find those filthy lycans."
"With all due respect, my Lady," Adam began, stepping forward. "I don't believe the lycans are stupid enough to move during the night. They know that we are looking for them, and they know that we can't go in the sunlight. They will move during the days, not the nights."
"Then employ mortals to help us find them," Amelia replied, going back to her throne. "They outnumber us five to one. Why don't we use them to hunt the lycans during the daylight hours?… Offer to change them if they help us. Do whatever you have to. I don't care… I just want those lycans caught and brought here by the end of the month."
"Yes, my Lady," Adam replied.
The vampires all dropped to one knee in respect before leaving the tomb to carry out their orders.
Amelia sat on her throne in the tomb, listening to one of the vampire doctors complain. She held her head in one hand, and her elbow rested on the arm of the throne. She was idly drumming her fingernails on the other armrest in boredom.
"My Lady!" Viktor called, bursting into the tomb. He stopped beside the doctor and hastily knelt down before Amelia.
"You had better have good news for me, Viktor," Amelia said, flatly.
"I do, my Lady," Viktor replied, standing up again.
Amelia motioned with her free hand for him to continue and watched him with lazy eyes.
"The fugitives have been caught, my Lady," Viktor announced, proudly.
"They have?" Amelia wondered, perking up a little.
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor agreed, nodding to her. "They were caught trying to flee the continent. Their captors tell me that they were headed for Britain."
"Britain!" Amelia exclaimed, standing up. "That's right. Kristof had a stronghold there. That's where they were going, back to Kristof's lair… Well done, Viktor." She smiled at him and walked up to him, stopping a few feet from him. "Have them brought here at once."
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor replied, nodding. He turned from the Elder and hurried out of the room to have the message sent.
Amelia hurried into the main hall and stopped before Viktor.
"My Lady, the prisoners have arrived," Viktor told her, turning to the doors. He snapped his fingers, and four vampires dragged in two battered lycans.
Amelia looked the pair over and stepped up to the one on the left, Kristof. She bent over so she was eye level with him and gently brushed the hair out of his face. "Kristof," she called, smiling at him when he looked up at her. "I had really hoped that it wouldn't come to this between us."
Kristof hung his head to hide the anger in his eyes. "Your kind killed my mate," he whispered, his voice tight.
"Yes, I was sorry to hear about that," Amelia told him, straightening. "But, then again, I never really liked Lena anyway."
"Don't you dare talk about my mother that way, you monster," the other lycan, Loretta, growled, glaring defiantly at Amelia.
Amelia turned to Loretta and fixed her cold blue eyes on the young lycan. "And what will you do if I don't stop?" she wondered, getting right in Loretta's face.
Loretta's eyes narrowed, and she moved to spit in Amelia's face.
Amelia saw her gather her spit and grabbed her by her throat, holding her just tight enough to not snap her neck. She waited for the vampires to release her before lifting her about a foot off the ground, reveling in the gagging sounds she was making. "Now, while I have your undivided attention, I want you to listen closely to what I have to tell you," she hissed, ignoring the sound of Kristof's struggles beside her. "I have good reason to hate your mother, little one… When I was young, she took your father away from me, and I was left alone again as the only immortal in Ukraine. She hated me for some unknown reason, and I despised her for taking my brother away from me… You're in pain now because of her. Because of her, our hatred of each other began. And… because of her… you're going to die." She promptly dropped Loretta and turned back to Kristof.
"Amelia, you've turned into a monster," Kristof said, struggling to get to his daughter.
Amelia knelt down before Kristof and smiled at him. "Well, that's not my fault, now, is it?" she wondered, brushing his hair out of his face. "You brought this on yourself."
Kristof's eyes widened slightly, and he looked away.
Amelia smiled at him again and kissed his cheek lightly before standing up. "Take them to the dungeon," she ordered, nodding to the four vampires that held the lycans. "And move the others down there as well."
The vampires nodded in agreement and dragged the lycans downstairs to the dungeon.
Nine years had passed since Kristof and his followers were imprisoned, and the vampires had been sure to make their lives miserable from then on.
Amelia and the Council were in the meeting room, debating what they should do with the lycans.
"I want them dead," Amelia announced, effectively ending the heated dispute between the Council members.
"But… the leader is your brother, my Lady," Abel said, confused.
"It makes no difference to me," Amelia replied, fixing her ice blue eyes on him. "He may be my brother, but he still helped kill dozens of our best warriors in his rebellion. He doesn't deserve to live any longer."
"I agree that killing them would be best, but how would we do it?" Nathalie asked. "Lycans aren't like vampires. They can't just be bound and left for the sun like we can. So, how do we kill them?"
"We kill them the same way we killed Sophia," Amelia answered, crossing her legs languidly. "We now know that lycans are allergic to silver, thanks to the research our doctors have done on the bodies of the dead ones."
"So, how did we kill this Sophia?" Misao asked. She was not old enough to remember Sophia's execution.
"We cut off her head, but that seems to quick a death for these lycans," Amelia replied, leaning forward in her chair.
"They've been tortured for nine years already," Sara argued. "The least we could do is give them a quick death. They don't need to be beaten any more."
"Look," Amelia began, standing up. "I don't care how we kill them. I just want them dead. You are free to decide on how to dispose of them." She turned from the Council and left the room.
"By the end of that night, the Council had decided on a way to kill them, and the execution was set for the next night. I will remember that night for the rest of my life."
Amelia stood at the edge of the granite courtyard, watching as the lycans were dragged in. She nodded to the vampire guards, and they chained the lycans down on their knees to the stone floor. In a brief moment of maliciousness, she blew a kiss at Kristof and waved slightly to him, receiving a cold, furious glare from him.
The executioner stepped up from the group beside Amelia, and his cold eyes swept over the lycans. There were thirteen in all. "You are being charged with high treason against your masters," he began, glaring at the lycans. "You deliberately rebelled against the vampires and killed many of our warriors. You have been sentenced to execution. Do any of you mutts have any last words?"
"I have something to say," Kristof spoke up, looking directly at Amelia. "Amelia, you will regret doing this one day."
"And why would I regret this?" Amelia asked him, snorting arrogantly. "With you dead, the lycans have no leader. They will die out, and I will no longer have to deal with you mangy animals. So, tell me, brother, what could possibly make me regret this?"
"Mark my words, Amelia," Kristof growled, glaring furiously at her. " This will come back to haunt you. One day, you'll learn what it means to feel true pain. You'll know how I felt when Niklaus killed Lena… Some day, when you have something that you really, truly love, my werewolves will snatch it away from you… You will know pain, and you will have no one to blame for it but yourself."
Amelia hissed in rage and walked right up to him. She grabbed the executioner's sword and was about to cut Kristof's head from his body when a thought struck her. She lowered the sword and grabbed Kristof's chin in her free hand, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Before I kill you, I want you to suffer," she told him, smirking maliciously at him. She let him go and turned to the vampires assigned to carry out the executions. "Kill her and the others." She pointed to Loretta and the other eleven lycans beside her before turning back to the vampires. "Leave him." She nodded to Kristof, gave the executioner his sword back, and returned to her place at the edge of the courtyard.
Kristof glared at her defiantly and growled at her in defense. His eyes widened at her smirk, and his head whipped around to see one of his lycans being whipped relentlessly with a silver whip. "No," he breathed, shocked that his sister was doing this. "NO!!!" He struggled futilely to get free of his chains, but the vampires held him back.
Amelia watched with growing amusement as his eleven followers were killed one by one before the executioner got to Loretta.
Loretta met his eyes defiantly and growled at him in anger. Her long brown hair was a mess, matted with dirt and straw from the dungeon, but her blue-gray eyes were clear and flaming in barely contained fury. She looked so much like Lena, despite her haggard appearance.
Amelia's amusement was cut short as Loretta died and Kristof began to yell at her.
"Amelia, I'll kill you!" Kristof screamed, tears rolling down his cheeks. "You won't live to see the day when you feel my pain! You're going to die right NOW!!!" He pulled harder on his restraints in his struggle to reach the vampire Elder. "I'm going to kill you for what you've done to me!"
At that point, Amelia's patience snapped, and with it, her anger peaked. She walked over to him, stopping right in front of him and knelt down before Kristof, meeting his enraged glare. "You want to kill me, do you?" she wondered, sarcastically.
Kristof snapped at her with his fangs in response and gagged as her hand lashed out and caught his throat. He looked back up at her, and his eyes widened when he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks. He couldn't tell if they were tears of rage or sorrow, but he didn't care. For a split second, she was once again the little girl that had been the jewel of his father's eye, the little girl he had loved with all his heart, the little girl he would have done anything for. She was once again Amelia, his beloved baby sister.
"What are you smiling at?" Amelia asked, her voice tight with her tears. She clamped down harder on his neck and watched his eyes roll back in his head. She gritted her teeth, angry that he wasn't answering her, and tightened her grip until she heard his neck snap. She promptly let him go and watched him collapse onto the stone.
Before she even realized what she was doing, she had taken the executioner's sword again and had sliced off Kristof's head. She snapped out of her trance when she felt his severed head hit her bare foot, and she looked down at it. She jumped back in surprise and backed away from her brother's bleeding body. She dropped the sword and shook her head slightly in horror and disbelief at what she had just done, her eyes fading back to their natural blue-gray color.
"My Lady?" Adam called, stepping forward.
Amelia couldn't tear her eyes away from her brother's body, and she began muttering incoherent phrases under her breath. She jumped when she felt Eva's comforting hands on her shoulders, and she looked over at the vampiress beside her.
Eva smiled warmly at Amelia and wrapped her arm around the Elder's shoulders, hugging her gently. She was pleased when Amelia leaned into her and began to sob silently into her shoulder. "I'll take her back to her rooms," she announced. "No one is to bother her until I say so. Is that understood?"
The gathered vampires nodded, not quite understanding what was wrong with their leader.
"Good," Eva said, turning to the executioner. "Get those bodies out of here, will you?"
"Yes, ma'am," the executioner replied, nodding in agreement.
Eva smiled at him and led Amelia back inside. She took the Elder upstairs to her rooms and set her down on her bed. "Are you going to be all right in here by yourself?" she asked, kneeling down into Amelia's view.
Amelia nodded slightly and managed a weak smile for Eva. "Thank you, Eva," she whispered. "I really appreciate you getting me out of there… I… I don't know how much more of that I could have taken."
"It was nothing, my Lady," Eva told her, patting her knee reassuringly as she stood. She kissed Amelia's forehead and went back to the doors to leave. "I'll come by later to check on you and bring you something to eat."
Amelia nodded weakly and watched Eva leave before lying down on her bed.
"My brother's death shook me to my very core. I wasn't completely back to normal until about two months after his execution, and I found that I couldn't wait to go back to sleep.
"I was disgusted with myself over what I had done, and I couldn't seem to get his last words, his promise of regret, out of my mind. They haunted my every waking hour, and he haunted my dreams while I slept.
"Eva was very kind to me during this time, and she became my closest friend. She took care of me those first few days while I was incoherent and horrified, and she comforted me when I cried for him in the later days.
"I quickly found that I wanted nothing more to be in Niklaus' arms and have him comfort me and tell me everything would be all right.
"I got my wish in 1050 when I awakened him. I told him everything that had happened, even though he already knew, and he held me and consoled me until I went back into my slumber, leaving him to rule."
"Our second set of Coven laws was written. It was essentially the same as the first set, except it contained more rules about werewolves and a ban on blending the species as Niklaus and Sophia had done.
"Shortly after the laws were written, Erik took half of our Coven, twenty-five vampires, to Moscow. There, he created a second Coven that he ruled over.
"Strangely, Niklaus cheered up a lot after Erik left, and he opened up more around me. Once again, I became more pleasant and gentle as I'd been before I turned Erik.
"Our Covens were slowly rising in power as our numbers increased.
"In the early 600s, Kristof met with Niklaus and I at our castle, and we signed a peace treaty with the werewolves, who we now referred to as lycans.
"We gained two more Covens, one in Nagasaki, Japan, and one in Marseille, France. Our numbers grew tremendously over these years, and the first child vampire was born in 666.
"The times were peaceful, but everyone knows that peace never lasts for long."
In the early months of the year 750, the Ukrainian Coven had a tomb built in the castle. The tomb was meant for the Elders, so they could rest from time to time.
Amelia and Niklaus stood in the doorway to the new tomb, staring at the floor where the three crypts were.
The tomb was a rather large room made of black and gray marble. The doors that led to the tomb consisted of two layers. The first was a solid granite sliding door that served as protection for the slumbering Elders. The second layer was made of glass so that the other vampires could look in on the Elders to check on them if the need arose. Hanging from each wall was a flaming torch that illuminated the otherwise dark room. The ornately carved floor where the crypts were was sunk into the ground. Around it rose a small flight of stairs that led to the higher parts of the floor. At the far end of the room, there stood a single marble throne. The throne appeared to be on a stage with the stone walls closing in so close to it. There was a small room behind the throne where the casket would be placed after the Awakening ceremony.
The crypts themselves were simply deep, marble lined holes dug into the earth beneath the floor, covered by a metallic top. The tops all sported the Elder's initial and the same ornate carvings that looked to be nothing but show. The carvings were, in actuality, meant to hide the mechanisms that opened the crypts. The covers were made of gold, silver, and bronze, one metal for each Elder. Amelia's was gold, Niklaus' silver, and Erik's bronze. Inside the holes, placed upright, were the Elders' caskets. The coffins were topless and were built in a gothic-like design of mahogany. On the base and top of the wooden caskets, the carpenters had carved the Elder's initial that was to rest there. The initials were large, carved in a style that resembled Celtic, and were stained black.
Amelia and Niklaus looked in at the tomb with mild satisfaction. They were both glad to be getting a chance to rest, since they had drained most of their energy over the four centuries that they had lived.
"My Lord and Lady," a young Russian vampire named Abel said, appearing behind the Elders. He dropped to one knee in respect as they turned to him.
Amelia recognized him as he rose when she got a good look at his face. It had been his mate a century ago that had given birth to the first child vampire. She had died shortly after the child was born, and the baby had followed her a few weeks later. She felt a twinge of sympathy for the young vampire who'd lost everything, and she found herself smiling at him gently.
"What is it, Abel?" Niklaus asked, glancing sidelong at Amelia.
"My Lord Erik has returned from Moscow, sir," Abel answered, keeping his eyes averted.
"Good," Niklaus replied, brushing past Abel to go meet Erik.
Amelia watched him go and turned to Abel. She laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly at him when he looked up at her. She patted his shoulder reassuringly before following her mate upstairs to meet her brother.
Abel stared after her with wide, confused brown eyes. He'd never expected to see such gentleness from a vampire, an Elder who was centuries older than him no less. He smiled slightly, despite himself, and followed the pair of Elders upstairs.
"Within the next week, we had drafted a third set of Coven laws. The laws now included rules about the slumbering Elders and the Awakening ceremony that would take place every one hundred years. We also created the vampire Council.
"The Council consisted of at least one vampire from each of our five Covens. Altogether, there were seven Council members. They were vampires of the highest regard in our society. If I remember correctly, they were Eva from L'viv, Abel from Moscow, Misao from Nagasaki, Charles and Nathalie from Marseille, and Adam and Sara from Budapest.
"The Council was first stationed in L'viv where they were to assist the reigning Elder in making decisions and keeping him/her from gaining too much power over the other vampires.
"At the end of the week, Erik and I went into our first slumber while Niklaus stayed awake to rule first.
"My first slumber was wonderful. I hadn't rested that peacefully in four hundred years, and I fully enjoyed my two centuries of sleep while Erik and Niklaus wrecked havoc on the world."
The entire Coven gathered in the tomb and fixed their eyes on Erik and the Council. The vampires watched with wide, curious eyes, since most of them had only seen one Awakening ceremony before.
Erik took a deep breath and rose from his seat on the throne. He raised his hands to silence the vampires and quickly scanned their faces. "My fellow vampires and Council members," he began, lowering his hands. "As you know, it is the year 950, and according to the Covenant, it is time for the next Elder to rise."
A cheer rose up amongst the vampires.
"Silence!" Erik snapped, getting the vampires' immediate cooperation and attention. "It is time for me to awaken Amelia." He descended the two steps that led to the lowered floor where the crypts were and went directly to the gold crypt on the far right. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he knelt down beside the golden cover. He placed his fingers in the tiny holes surrounding the "A" and turned the rounded plate in a complete circle.
The vampires all watched with interest as the mechanisms were started.
The gold cover sank into the hole and broke into four curved pieces that disappeared into the floor around the hole. A moment later, an ornately carved Gothic-style casket rose up out of the hole.
Erik turned the casket down onto its side on the gold posts that supported it. He went to the head of the coffin and looked in at decaying corpse of Amelia. He pursed his lips in concentration and pressed the small button on the side of the casket, watching the bar move from her chest to her mouth. He lifted his arm to his mouth, pushed his sleeve back, and bit down into his wrist. He positioned his bleeding arm over the funnel-like opening in the bar and let his blood drain into Amelia's open mouth.
The blood coursed through all of her body and began to rejuvenate the long-dead cells. Memories flashed through her mind, Erik's memories, memories of what had happened over the past two hundred years that she had missed.
Erik wiped the blood from his lips and put pressure on his wrist to help the already healing wound close up. He motioned for the Council to step forward, and he backed away, indicating that his part of the Awakening ceremony was over.
The Council members took Amelia's casket from the posts that supported it and carried it to the room behind the throne. They set it down on the stone table right behind the throne, removing it from the other vampires' view.
Eva walked over to the back of the room, where a closet stood, and opened the heavy wooden doors. She took Amelia's clothes from the closet and went back to the other Council members. She set the dress across the lower half of the casket and moved to help the other females, Misao, Nathalie, and Sara, sit Amelia up.
The males stepped forward with their tools and began attaching the blood tubes to Amelia's back and arms. When they finished, they went back into the main chamber and waited patiently for the females to dress Amelia.
Once the females had her dressed, they called to Erik.
Erik hurried to the back room, afraid that something had gone wrong, and was met with the terrible sight of his sister's decayed form. "What is it?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from Amelia's body to look at the female Council members.
"Would you be so kind as to carry her to the throne?" Eva wondered, flipping her caramel-colored hair out of her eyes.
"Of course," Erik agreed after a moment's hesitation. He stepped forward and scooped Amelia up into his arms. He carried her around her casket and to the throne. He gently set her down in the stone chair and backed away from her, feeling sick at seeing her like that.
"Are you ready to go back to sleep yet, my Lord?" the French Council member, Charles, asked.
"No," Erik answered, looking at the Council. "I wish to speak to my sister when she fully awakens."
"As you wish, my Lord," Charles replied, nodding to Erik. He turned to the other Council members and said something to them in French.
Eva nodded and stepped forward. She turned to the gathered vampires and cleared her throat to get their attention. "Everyone, the Awakening ceremony has been completed," she announced, waiting for their cheers to end before continuing. "As you can see, the Elder Amelia has been awakened. She is weak from her sleep and must be left in peace until she is fully restored. No one is to enter the tomb unless they have permission from Erik or the Council. Is that clear?"
The vampires all nodded in agreement and slowly filed out of the tomb.
Eva smiled triumphantly and turned to Erik. "You may rest now if you wish, my Lord," she told him, seeing the exhausted look in his eyes.
"Thank you," Erik replied, smiling gently at her. Eva was the oldest female vampire next to Amelia, and she had been turned by the Queen herself. He liked Eva. She had a gentle disposition and was usually the one to cheer everyone up when they were down. "I'll be in my chambers. No one is to bother me unless Amelia rouses to consciousness."
Eva nodded in agreement and smiled reassuringly at him. She walked up to him and kissed his cheek lightly. "We'll look after her for you, my Lord," she said, patting his shoulder gently.
Erik smiled gratefully at her and left the tomb to go to his rooms.
Eva watched him leave before turning back to her fellow Council members. She smiled at them and looked up at Amelia.
A knock sounded at Erik's door, rousing him from his troubled sleep. He slunk over to the doors and opened them to reveal Eva's smiling face. "What is it, Eva?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"I just came to let you know that Amelia is awake and waiting for you in the tomb," Eva answered, turning to walk away.
"Thank you, Eva," Erik said, smiling slightly at her when she turned to face him. "Tell her that I'll be down in a minute, will you?"
"Of course, my Lord," Eva agreed, nodding to him and walking back to the tomb.
Erik hurriedly changed into his more formal clothes and hurried down the stairs to the tomb to meet with his sister. He walked into the tomb and froze momentarily as he saw her sitting there.
Her appearance hadn't changed much since he'd seen her a few hours ago. She had filled out a little, so she didn't look so gaunt, but her skin still looked decayed, her hair appearing thin and lifeless. Her eyes were the same ice blue as his at the moment, and her breathing was slow and labored as if she was in pain.
"Amelia," he called, hesitantly stepping forward.
Amelia smiled weakly at him and motioned for him to come closer.
Erik did as she wanted, noticing off-handedly that they were alone, and stopped just before the steps. "Amelia, I stayed awake so that I could explain to you in detail everything that has happened while you slept," he told her.
"Proceed," Amelia said, swallowing hard.
"Well, Niklaus did some things that I don't really agree with," Erik explained, lowering his gaze. "A few years before he awakened me, he violated our peace treaty and killed Kristof's mate, Lena." He paused when he heard Amelia's hoarse chuckle before continuing. "Kristof was so grief-stricken by her death… It was awful to see him like that… Anyway, Niklaus took advantage of his momentary weakness and enslaved the lycans." He looked up to see Amelia's reaction and was met with her questioning gaze. "The mortals are becoming more aware that we exist. They have been killing random people in the courtyards that they suspect of being vampires. They've so far only killed two real vampires, but it was still enough to cause Niklaus concern… So, he enslaved the lycans to be our protectors during the daylight hours. They stand guard around the castle during the day while we rest, so the mortals can't get to us."
"I see," Amelia replied, thoughtfully.
"When he awakened me, the lycans had already been "tamed" and were fully obedient to us," Erik continued. "We had a few rebellions during my reign, but the dogs were totally unprepared. We defeated them easily, so there is no need to worry about the lycans coming after you."
Amelia smiled slightly at him and nodded in agreement. She swallowed again and leaned forward a little in her throne. "I appreciate you telling me all this, Erik," she told him, her face softening when he looked up at her. "Now, it is your time to sleep. I know that you are tired, my brother. I can see it in your face… Call forth the Council, and we will put you back to sleep."
Erik nodded, knowing she was right, and summoned the Council.
"Fifty years had passed by without much event before the first note-worthy lycan rebellion took place. It took us nearly three months to suppress the lycans before we finally stopped them.
"We lost many of our best warriors to the rebellion, as did the lycans.
"Shortly after the rebellion, most of the surviving lycans fled to avoid their punishment. The ones who stayed on were tortured and killed. It didn't matter to us if they hadn't taken part in the rebellion. We were simply out for revenge.
"It only took us two weeks to exterminate every lycan in L'viv, and sadly, the leaders were not among them. My brother, Kristof, and his daughter, Loretta, had fled with the other survivors with their tails between their legs like the cowards they were.
"We searched for them for twenty years, and my rage quickly grew with the passing decades until I began to kill anyone who wasn't doing something productive. I don't even know how many vampires I killed in those twenty years."
The Council and soldiers were all gathered in the tomb, their eyes fixed on Amelia. They weren't entirely certain why she had called this meeting, but they weren't about to question her.
Amelia rose from her throne, and her icy blue eyes swept over the group of vampires. "Viktor," she called, watching as the General stepped forward. "Have you found the fugitives yet?"
"Not yet, my Lady," Viktor answered, bowing his head in shame.
Amelia's face twisted in rage briefly, and her fists clenched slightly in anger. "That's it," she announced, stamping her foot in a child-like manner. "I have had enough of this game of cat and mouse… Viktor, double your efforts to find them. I want them here by the end of the month."
"But, we haven't got the resources to do that, my Lady," Viktor told her, hoping that she wouldn't kill him for arguing.
Amelia closed her eyes tightly to hide the flash of rage she knew had been there, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Then, go out and change some of the mortal soldiers," she ordered, descending the stairs to stop in front of him. "Take your strongest warriors with you and change as many soldiers as you need."
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor agreed, nodding in agreement.
Amelia turned to the Council and walked over to them. "Send word to all of the other Covens immediately," she told them. "Make sure they have warriors posted on every street in every country until we find those filthy lycans."
"With all due respect, my Lady," Adam began, stepping forward. "I don't believe the lycans are stupid enough to move during the night. They know that we are looking for them, and they know that we can't go in the sunlight. They will move during the days, not the nights."
"Then employ mortals to help us find them," Amelia replied, going back to her throne. "They outnumber us five to one. Why don't we use them to hunt the lycans during the daylight hours?… Offer to change them if they help us. Do whatever you have to. I don't care… I just want those lycans caught and brought here by the end of the month."
"Yes, my Lady," Adam replied.
The vampires all dropped to one knee in respect before leaving the tomb to carry out their orders.
Amelia sat on her throne in the tomb, listening to one of the vampire doctors complain. She held her head in one hand, and her elbow rested on the arm of the throne. She was idly drumming her fingernails on the other armrest in boredom.
"My Lady!" Viktor called, bursting into the tomb. He stopped beside the doctor and hastily knelt down before Amelia.
"You had better have good news for me, Viktor," Amelia said, flatly.
"I do, my Lady," Viktor replied, standing up again.
Amelia motioned with her free hand for him to continue and watched him with lazy eyes.
"The fugitives have been caught, my Lady," Viktor announced, proudly.
"They have?" Amelia wondered, perking up a little.
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor agreed, nodding to her. "They were caught trying to flee the continent. Their captors tell me that they were headed for Britain."
"Britain!" Amelia exclaimed, standing up. "That's right. Kristof had a stronghold there. That's where they were going, back to Kristof's lair… Well done, Viktor." She smiled at him and walked up to him, stopping a few feet from him. "Have them brought here at once."
"Yes, my Lady," Viktor replied, nodding. He turned from the Elder and hurried out of the room to have the message sent.
Amelia hurried into the main hall and stopped before Viktor.
"My Lady, the prisoners have arrived," Viktor told her, turning to the doors. He snapped his fingers, and four vampires dragged in two battered lycans.
Amelia looked the pair over and stepped up to the one on the left, Kristof. She bent over so she was eye level with him and gently brushed the hair out of his face. "Kristof," she called, smiling at him when he looked up at her. "I had really hoped that it wouldn't come to this between us."
Kristof hung his head to hide the anger in his eyes. "Your kind killed my mate," he whispered, his voice tight.
"Yes, I was sorry to hear about that," Amelia told him, straightening. "But, then again, I never really liked Lena anyway."
"Don't you dare talk about my mother that way, you monster," the other lycan, Loretta, growled, glaring defiantly at Amelia.
Amelia turned to Loretta and fixed her cold blue eyes on the young lycan. "And what will you do if I don't stop?" she wondered, getting right in Loretta's face.
Loretta's eyes narrowed, and she moved to spit in Amelia's face.
Amelia saw her gather her spit and grabbed her by her throat, holding her just tight enough to not snap her neck. She waited for the vampires to release her before lifting her about a foot off the ground, reveling in the gagging sounds she was making. "Now, while I have your undivided attention, I want you to listen closely to what I have to tell you," she hissed, ignoring the sound of Kristof's struggles beside her. "I have good reason to hate your mother, little one… When I was young, she took your father away from me, and I was left alone again as the only immortal in Ukraine. She hated me for some unknown reason, and I despised her for taking my brother away from me… You're in pain now because of her. Because of her, our hatred of each other began. And… because of her… you're going to die." She promptly dropped Loretta and turned back to Kristof.
"Amelia, you've turned into a monster," Kristof said, struggling to get to his daughter.
Amelia knelt down before Kristof and smiled at him. "Well, that's not my fault, now, is it?" she wondered, brushing his hair out of his face. "You brought this on yourself."
Kristof's eyes widened slightly, and he looked away.
Amelia smiled at him again and kissed his cheek lightly before standing up. "Take them to the dungeon," she ordered, nodding to the four vampires that held the lycans. "And move the others down there as well."
The vampires nodded in agreement and dragged the lycans downstairs to the dungeon.
Nine years had passed since Kristof and his followers were imprisoned, and the vampires had been sure to make their lives miserable from then on.
Amelia and the Council were in the meeting room, debating what they should do with the lycans.
"I want them dead," Amelia announced, effectively ending the heated dispute between the Council members.
"But… the leader is your brother, my Lady," Abel said, confused.
"It makes no difference to me," Amelia replied, fixing her ice blue eyes on him. "He may be my brother, but he still helped kill dozens of our best warriors in his rebellion. He doesn't deserve to live any longer."
"I agree that killing them would be best, but how would we do it?" Nathalie asked. "Lycans aren't like vampires. They can't just be bound and left for the sun like we can. So, how do we kill them?"
"We kill them the same way we killed Sophia," Amelia answered, crossing her legs languidly. "We now know that lycans are allergic to silver, thanks to the research our doctors have done on the bodies of the dead ones."
"So, how did we kill this Sophia?" Misao asked. She was not old enough to remember Sophia's execution.
"We cut off her head, but that seems to quick a death for these lycans," Amelia replied, leaning forward in her chair.
"They've been tortured for nine years already," Sara argued. "The least we could do is give them a quick death. They don't need to be beaten any more."
"Look," Amelia began, standing up. "I don't care how we kill them. I just want them dead. You are free to decide on how to dispose of them." She turned from the Council and left the room.
"By the end of that night, the Council had decided on a way to kill them, and the execution was set for the next night. I will remember that night for the rest of my life."
Amelia stood at the edge of the granite courtyard, watching as the lycans were dragged in. She nodded to the vampire guards, and they chained the lycans down on their knees to the stone floor. In a brief moment of maliciousness, she blew a kiss at Kristof and waved slightly to him, receiving a cold, furious glare from him.
The executioner stepped up from the group beside Amelia, and his cold eyes swept over the lycans. There were thirteen in all. "You are being charged with high treason against your masters," he began, glaring at the lycans. "You deliberately rebelled against the vampires and killed many of our warriors. You have been sentenced to execution. Do any of you mutts have any last words?"
"I have something to say," Kristof spoke up, looking directly at Amelia. "Amelia, you will regret doing this one day."
"And why would I regret this?" Amelia asked him, snorting arrogantly. "With you dead, the lycans have no leader. They will die out, and I will no longer have to deal with you mangy animals. So, tell me, brother, what could possibly make me regret this?"
"Mark my words, Amelia," Kristof growled, glaring furiously at her. " This will come back to haunt you. One day, you'll learn what it means to feel true pain. You'll know how I felt when Niklaus killed Lena… Some day, when you have something that you really, truly love, my werewolves will snatch it away from you… You will know pain, and you will have no one to blame for it but yourself."
Amelia hissed in rage and walked right up to him. She grabbed the executioner's sword and was about to cut Kristof's head from his body when a thought struck her. She lowered the sword and grabbed Kristof's chin in her free hand, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Before I kill you, I want you to suffer," she told him, smirking maliciously at him. She let him go and turned to the vampires assigned to carry out the executions. "Kill her and the others." She pointed to Loretta and the other eleven lycans beside her before turning back to the vampires. "Leave him." She nodded to Kristof, gave the executioner his sword back, and returned to her place at the edge of the courtyard.
Kristof glared at her defiantly and growled at her in defense. His eyes widened at her smirk, and his head whipped around to see one of his lycans being whipped relentlessly with a silver whip. "No," he breathed, shocked that his sister was doing this. "NO!!!" He struggled futilely to get free of his chains, but the vampires held him back.
Amelia watched with growing amusement as his eleven followers were killed one by one before the executioner got to Loretta.
Loretta met his eyes defiantly and growled at him in anger. Her long brown hair was a mess, matted with dirt and straw from the dungeon, but her blue-gray eyes were clear and flaming in barely contained fury. She looked so much like Lena, despite her haggard appearance.
Amelia's amusement was cut short as Loretta died and Kristof began to yell at her.
"Amelia, I'll kill you!" Kristof screamed, tears rolling down his cheeks. "You won't live to see the day when you feel my pain! You're going to die right NOW!!!" He pulled harder on his restraints in his struggle to reach the vampire Elder. "I'm going to kill you for what you've done to me!"
At that point, Amelia's patience snapped, and with it, her anger peaked. She walked over to him, stopping right in front of him and knelt down before Kristof, meeting his enraged glare. "You want to kill me, do you?" she wondered, sarcastically.
Kristof snapped at her with his fangs in response and gagged as her hand lashed out and caught his throat. He looked back up at her, and his eyes widened when he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks. He couldn't tell if they were tears of rage or sorrow, but he didn't care. For a split second, she was once again the little girl that had been the jewel of his father's eye, the little girl he had loved with all his heart, the little girl he would have done anything for. She was once again Amelia, his beloved baby sister.
"What are you smiling at?" Amelia asked, her voice tight with her tears. She clamped down harder on his neck and watched his eyes roll back in his head. She gritted her teeth, angry that he wasn't answering her, and tightened her grip until she heard his neck snap. She promptly let him go and watched him collapse onto the stone.
Before she even realized what she was doing, she had taken the executioner's sword again and had sliced off Kristof's head. She snapped out of her trance when she felt his severed head hit her bare foot, and she looked down at it. She jumped back in surprise and backed away from her brother's bleeding body. She dropped the sword and shook her head slightly in horror and disbelief at what she had just done, her eyes fading back to their natural blue-gray color.
"My Lady?" Adam called, stepping forward.
Amelia couldn't tear her eyes away from her brother's body, and she began muttering incoherent phrases under her breath. She jumped when she felt Eva's comforting hands on her shoulders, and she looked over at the vampiress beside her.
Eva smiled warmly at Amelia and wrapped her arm around the Elder's shoulders, hugging her gently. She was pleased when Amelia leaned into her and began to sob silently into her shoulder. "I'll take her back to her rooms," she announced. "No one is to bother her until I say so. Is that understood?"
The gathered vampires nodded, not quite understanding what was wrong with their leader.
"Good," Eva said, turning to the executioner. "Get those bodies out of here, will you?"
"Yes, ma'am," the executioner replied, nodding in agreement.
Eva smiled at him and led Amelia back inside. She took the Elder upstairs to her rooms and set her down on her bed. "Are you going to be all right in here by yourself?" she asked, kneeling down into Amelia's view.
Amelia nodded slightly and managed a weak smile for Eva. "Thank you, Eva," she whispered. "I really appreciate you getting me out of there… I… I don't know how much more of that I could have taken."
"It was nothing, my Lady," Eva told her, patting her knee reassuringly as she stood. She kissed Amelia's forehead and went back to the doors to leave. "I'll come by later to check on you and bring you something to eat."
Amelia nodded weakly and watched Eva leave before lying down on her bed.
"My brother's death shook me to my very core. I wasn't completely back to normal until about two months after his execution, and I found that I couldn't wait to go back to sleep.
"I was disgusted with myself over what I had done, and I couldn't seem to get his last words, his promise of regret, out of my mind. They haunted my every waking hour, and he haunted my dreams while I slept.
"Eva was very kind to me during this time, and she became my closest friend. She took care of me those first few days while I was incoherent and horrified, and she comforted me when I cried for him in the later days.
"I quickly found that I wanted nothing more to be in Niklaus' arms and have him comfort me and tell me everything would be all right.
"I got my wish in 1050 when I awakened him. I told him everything that had happened, even though he already knew, and he held me and consoled me until I went back into my slumber, leaving him to rule."