Chapter Two

Kaelina stood amongst the seething crowd, the press of bodies almost suffocating her to the point of asphyxiation. The disembarking passengers milled about like so many lost sheep and Kaelina allowed herself to get swept along with them towards the terminal exit.

Suitcase in tow, she stepped out through the glass doors and breathed in the chilly winter air. She felt strange to be here, almost disembodied, as though she were watching the scene unfold through someone else's eyes. The other day, her parents had taken her aside and explained that she had to leave them. Her mother's good friend had offered to take Kaelina in, in preparation for her transition. Kae was not stupid; she knew she needed a male vampire to feed from during the process but the thought of leaving her home and parents had terrified her.

Her parents lived in a large house that was isolated and separate and since her first memory, it had only ever been the three of them living there. There were no other vampire colonies nearby. The only male she had ever been around was her father.

When her mother had told her she was to live with Brotherhood, Kae had nearly fainted.

Males were one thing but her father had explained about the warrior class which lived within and yet separate from the vampire community. Thick blooded, strong and aggressive, they were the epitome that even the glymera could not find fault with, the highest circle of the class system; a system which she knew she would be hard pressed to find her place in.

She was a simple civilian, not even a part of the aristocracy which assumed a large part of the vampire community. She was poor and beneath others of their kind.

Sighing, she heaved her bag higher on her shoulder and looked out for the car that would take her to her new home. Bitter thoughts were counter-productive and would accomplish nothing. She tried to tell herself she was lucky her mother had such a good friend to take her in, that she was blessed to be able to find work. But in truth, she was scared and very much alone in a world she knew little about. She just hoped she'd be able to get along without embarrassing herself in the process.

A black car pulled up at the curb and an elderly gentleman in a driver's uniform got out and bowed his head to her.

"Miss Kaelina? I am Fritz the butler. I was sent here to bring you home to Mistress Bella."

Kae smiled, somehow reassured by his open, friendly demeanor. She knew the reprieve in anxiety would not last forever.

After Fritz had taken her bags from her, she slid into the back seat of the car and allowed her body to melt into the buttersoft leather seats.

"Just relax Miss, we will be home shortly. There are refreshments in the compartments next to you if you would like a drink," Fritz smiled as he pulled away from the kerb and soon they were lost among the throng of traffic. Kae pulled a Diet Coke out from compartment under her seat and tried not to dwell on the inevitable night ahead of her.

God, she wished she could have stayed at home with her parents, even though logically she knew she would die without the help she would be receiving here.

Her mother's friend, Bella, would be responsible for her during her stay and would find her a male to drink from when the time was right.

She tried to picture what the male would look like and felt an instant blush in her cheeks. To take so intimately from someone she barely knew seemed wrong. But from what she had been told of the transition, she would hardly be in the state of mind to worry about something so trivial and yet this made it seem even worse; that a total stranger would see her in a wild, untamed state.

As she drained her bottle of Coke, the most secret wish that had begun to burn in her heart quietly came to the fore of her mind and she indulged herself for a few private moments in the smile it brought to her face.

Of all the males in the house, whichever of them were unmated, she secretly, desperately hoped that she just might fall in love.

Just as quickly as it had flared, she doused that hope and buried it deep in the back of her mind.

"Mistress? We have arrived," Fritz's voice announced and Kae looked out of the windows to the towering grey structure before her.

This was it. She had arrived at the Brotherhood's mansion.