My eyes snapped wide open and my hand swatted at my throat. I could still feel those fangs deep within my flesh and I quickly glanced down at my wrist, unmarked. There was no one in my room and I slowly rose from my bed, the blankets around me were rumpled and twisted around my ankles, and I sat there hunched over still groggy with sleep. There was an unsettled feeling lodged deep within my stomach that made my toes curl with discomfort. There was definitely something wrong and it was making me sick to my stomach. I took a quick moment to sort through my emotions, locking away those that were not mine and then came a knock on my door. I stared at the opposite wall, listening to the person shuffle around outside of my door and I spoke,

"Enter."

A man in his mid to late thirties entered my quarters, he was tentative upon crossing the threshold and he inched ever so slowly towards me, afraid that I would lunge for him. He was taller than I, thin with a very light dusting of grey hair in his sideburns but he had warm brown eyes which, currently, were full of fear.

"Y-your guest has arrived, ma'am." He muttered, his head cast downwards, avoiding eye contact with me entirely.

The corner of my mouth lifted for two reasons, the first being that Moira was yet again early for our meeting and for two the pure fear that throbbed off of the gentleman that stood six feet away from me. By nature I was threatening but by personality I wouldn't touch him if he was the last man on earth, I had no desire for his blood, but on the contrary, he seemed to think differently.

"You fear me?"

He merely nodded, shuffling away another step or two from me.

"Then why do you remain working here, for me?" I inquired, pulling myself into a standing position. My eyebrow rose in genuine curiosity.

He stumbled over his words for a few minutes and finally spit out, "I-I was under the impression that I didn't have a choice."

I gave him a look of disbelief, "of course you have a choice. You always will. It's been years since I've even seen human blood, and even longer since I've drank any."

I was met with a look of skepticism and I laughed, "I don't care what it takes, you'll trust me eventually. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to get ready; I cannot come downstairs looking like this." My lips were still split into a wide smile and I was relieved to see that his face relaxed, even if it was barely noticeable to a mortal. The gentleman took his leave, the door closing softly behind him.

I moved to face my mirror, to take in the extreme paleness of my skin, my eyes that were red rimmed and the eerie beauty that pulsed off of my body in general. It was genuinely creepy how flawless I appeared to others, and the graceful lope that I now walked with was still foreign to me, even in my two hundred years of existence. However, the one thing that I would never get used to was my fangs, they popped out at the most inappropriate of times, and if I didn't feel the humiliation in just thinking about it, I would have ripped them out long ago, but unfortunately, they were my best bet in survival. There were always other Vampires out there, ones that were three times my age, and double that in strength.

The only thing that really saved my skin was my manipulative nature, even more so compared to the average Vampire.

Maybe that was why I was the Queen of New York; I could talk myself into and out of any situation.

It was awfully quiet on the main floor when I showed up Moira's figure was hunched over the island counter; she was nursing a hot cup of coffee between her hands, courtesy of Anna, our house keeper. Granted that she was a mortal, she was still the human companion of one of my Deputies. Moira beckoned me into the kitchen with a smile on her face, instantly I was by her side and I wrapped her in a warm hug, "you got my letter."

"You know dear," she said, returning the gesture, "no one writes letters anymore. We have phones now."

"Old habits die hard I guess." Sitting down I crossed my legs, "it's been a while."

"Indeed it has," she spoke with a smile, taking a sip of her coffee, "what did you need me for?"

I hesitated for a few minutes, not really wanting to know the answer to my question. I couldn't really help but feel naïve in hoping that my thoughts would come true. Deep down, I think I was just looking for an excuse, no matter how ludicrous it sounded. "Did the spell tell you anything, was I right?"

Moira's face softened into pity and she shook her head.

"What? It didn't tell you anything or…"

Her hand smoothed over my shoulder and a sigh escaped her lips, "you were wrong, I'm afraid. And I say that in the most sympathetic way possible, I know how much this meant to you. It is extremely rare to meet a reincarnated soul, but to have one- let alone two find their way back to someone they knew when they were alive…it's nearly impossible."

I felt my heart drop to the floor and I slumped in defeat, I had wanted to be right so bad. I was so sure of myself when I came to the conclusion, I'd do anything just to get them back into my life.

"I was so sure," I whispered, moving to the other side of the island, my back turned to Moira.

"Sometimes a person's guilt masks their sense of judgment, Clara. You wanted it so bad that you convinced yourself of impossibility."

"So I turned them for nothing?" I snarled, whipping around. My fangs extending by accident, "I damned two souls for nothing, just for my own selfishness!"

Moira came up to me, her hands outstretched to take my face between them, "my dear, you miss your family. What is the harm in that? Daimon and Evelynn love you to pieces, they always have and I'm one hundred percent sure that they always will… no matter what happens."

Her tone was firm as if she was scolding a child and slowly, my fangs retracted and my face became pitiful. "That still doesn't explain how I was able to do it."

Moira patted my cheek and stepped away from me, "the mind is a powerful thing."

I opened my mouth to argue with her but was interrupted by two figures entering the kitchen. It was because of them that I forced a smile onto my face, "G'morning"

Evelynn came and kissed me on the cheek, "its eight o'clock at night, Clara," she smiled her large blue eyes full of mirth.

My hand snaked up her back, and wrapped around the back of her neck in an affectionate squeeze, "its morning to us."

Beside Moira, Daimon's much larger figure sat on the small stool, his mass over powering it.

"What's on the agenda tonight?" He asked, his fingers drumming against the granite counter. His eyes, identical to his sisters' were full of mischief.

My head shook and my gaze became distant, "nothing as of yet."

The anxious feeling in the bottom of my stomach had swelled yet again, this time to over three times its original size. My hands turned into fists, to the point where my nails drew blood and for the first time in about one hundred years I opened up a connection so deep inside that I had forgotten it was there. A hurricane of images and emotions came flooding in, but the ones that I could identify with the most was fear… and anger. A sense of longing filled my body, it was so strong that even Evelynn and Daimon felt it, a feeling that I had hoped to keep from them longer than I had already.

"Clara, what is it?" Daimon gasped as he visibly fidgeted in discomfort on his seat, "what's with the damn anxiety all of a sudden?"

I didn't answer at first and it was the squeeze to my wrist that shook me from my silence, "go pack a bag. I need to be somewhere, it might be best if you came with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Moira, can you please alert Garrett and Janie to take over for me while I'm gone, the number to contact me is in my office."

"Clara!" Daimon growled, his hand grabbing my arm, "where the hell are we going?"

Instantly my lips curled around my fangs in a snarl and my hand ripped his off of my arm, almost crushing his wrist, "I'll tell you when we get there."

The shock was obvious on everyone's faces and I retreated to the main hallway, "and for the record Daimon, don't you ever question me again. My tolerance for attitude is very low at the moment; now go pack your fucking bags."

҉

We arrived early the next night and I still insisted on keeping Daimon and Evelynn in the dark. The less they knew about why we were here the better I felt, that way I could get in and out quickly. Like ripping off a band aid, I planned on making this hurt as little as possible… for everyone. The Hotel was Grande in stature, and it was swarmed with fellow Vampires, Daimon and Evelynn followed me inside, the both of them feared unfamiliar territory for the most part but they knew fully well nothing would happen as long as I was here.

There were humans as well as Vampires in the nest and they all seemed to be doing the same thing: celebrating. It was almost difficult to move but just by walking I cleared a path for the three of us. I may be smaller than most Vampires and definitely not as old nor as strong as most of them but in my two hundred years presence had become second nature to me.

"Can I help you with something?"

I looked over at a pretty blonde girl sitting behind her desk; she wore a black headset to match a slinky black dress and I sent a smirk her way. My painted red lips pulled up at the corner, "no, you can't."

I was not a typical Vampire, where I looked down on humans, I have many friends who are human and many of those people work for me back home. However there was one thing that I couldn't stand in anyone, mortals and immortals alike, and that was desperation, and this woman just screamed for attention.

Daimon sniggered and Evelynn threw an apologetic look at the girl, but quickly followed in my wake through a mass of people into one of the main rooms. There was a commotion going on that I couldn't see properly but I did make out a pair of female voices.

"There's going to be a cat fight," Daimon grinned and Evelynn shook her head.

"Between a human and a Vampire, this is not going to end well."

I ignored their chatter completely and wove in and out of the bodies until I could see clearly. There was a blonde woman blocking the path to a man; both the man and the other woman were vampires. The other woman, a brunette, turned her body to my direction and I hissed under my breath. An unbelievable anger surged though me as I caught a glimpse of her eyes, they were wild and dangerous and I knew what would come next. My body reacted with hers and the second she went to lunge for the blonde I leaped forward. How I got there first, I'll never know but my hand wrapped tightly around her throat, crushing her windpipe and I dragged her body upwards, my fangs inches from her face.

"Well isn't this a surprise," I hissed, my hand squeezing tighter, "I figured after what happened in New York you would have stayed out of my radar, but I guess unpredictable Vampires are stupid Vampires, huh?"

And I launched her body into the opposite wall.