It was early morning when I woke up feeling restless, I just had an off feeling. I looked to the clock to see it read 3:45 am. Sighing I carefully got up as Kendal continued to sleep. I walked into the bathroom and began to undress as I turned on the shower. Perhaps a cold shower will help. As I showered I washed my hair, body, shaved my legs, and my underarms.
After 15 minutes I finally felt refreshed. I turned off the water and wrapped my hair and body in a towel. When I looked into the mirror on my neck where Ken had bit me last night was a Queen's crown with a red rose through at an angle. My fingers lightly ran across the mark, sending light sparks to tackle around the area. What is this?
"It's my mark."
Kendal said as if reading my mind. I turned to him confused as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom.
"Your what?"
"When I bit you last night I marked you."
"You marked me?"
"Yes, in other words, I put a claim on you. This tells other vampires that you are not only mated already but mated to me. This also allows me to tell where you are at times, read your thoughts, as well as to allow us to communicate via telepathy, you can also do the same."
I nodded as I looked back into the mirror and continued to observe his so-called mark.
"By doing this it'll also allow for your royal vampiric powers to awaken and develop more smoothly."
Looked back at him as I tilted my head in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"When you kicked down that iron door, that was no simple feat; even for a vampire, and that electricity that you put out and felt was your power beginning to develop."
"I didn't re-"
I paused for a moment.
"Wait, I never told you that."
"No, but Chester did. He was doing his job and watched the whole thing."
I nodded as my mouth made an O shape.
"Anyway, I didn't realize vampires had other powers aside from the enhanced, well, everything."
Ken chuckled.
"Yes and no. It all depends on who changed you, if you were human before, if you came from a vampire family, among other factors."
"Like what?"
"Well, humans turned into a vampire by a previous human will have no special abilities and are the weakest of them all. Humans turned by a Knight has the possibility of a power, but it's not guaranteed. Humans turned by Baronets will have one power. Humans turned by a Baron will have two. Viscounts will give three. Earls will give four. Marquees will give five. Dukes will give six. Royals will give seven."
He explained as I soaked it all in.
"Then what about the natural-born vampires? Will I have seven different abilities?"
I enquired. Ken was more than happy to educate me,
"Knights have one, Baronets have two, Barons have three, Viscounts have four, Earls have five, Marquees have six, Dukes have seven, Royals have eight to ten, and originals like me and my parents have anywhere from 12 plus."
He paused for a moment.
"Concerning you, you are a bit different. You may be human turned, but you are my mate turned by me, meaning you may have any number between eight and 12, possibly more."
I thought for a moment.
"How will we know what or how many powers I have then, do we just have to wait and see?"
"With time, yes. We already know that one of your oilers is some kind of electricity. We'll know more once we're in Romania where the capital is when we can see a power specialist and start your training.
Oh, Romania, sounds pretty. I was about to say something when my phone began to ring. I walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom only to realize that I was still in my towel. I grabbed my phone to see Juli calling.
"Yes?"
I asked, answering my phone.
"Hey, is Kendal with you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Good, you two need to get down to 908 Trent Ln., we have a massacre of an entire family."
My eyes widened.
"Ok, we'll be there in 20 minutes."
I said as I hung up and quickly got dressed and ready before hopping into Kendal's car and heading over to the address that Juli gave us. Once we got to the house it was lined with officers from every county, as well as many ambulances too. We got out of the car and met with Mackin and More.
"What do we got?"
I asked as I put on my gloves. Mackin shook his head.
"A mess."
Mackin said dejectedly.
"One kid found dead in the basement, one in their bed, and both parents were also found dead in their bed. To make matters worse, the scene is by noo means clean and orderly, so watch where you step."
Mackin finished as he led us into the house. Mackin wasn't joking, there was hardly a clean spot to walk. There was blood throughout the entire house and the smell was absolutely revolting. I looked around as I saw a trail of blood on the floor leading from the hallway down the basement. The child must have dragged themselves. That's when I noticed the bloody claw marks that seemed to follow behind.
"Where should we start?"
I asked. More scoffed, clearly sickened and angered by the scene that lay scattered throughout the house.
"Take your pick. The conditions that the children are in are practically the same."
I sighed as I looked to the basement door.
"Let's start in the child's bedroom."
More nodded.
Once we reached the bedroom there was absolutely nothing untouched by blood. There were two beds, the empty one soaked with blood. I looked to the bed where the lifeless little girl laid. She and the bed were completely covered in blood, and the girl was completely gutted, sliced from the neck down. Her ribs looked like they were snapped, her insides completely cleaned out like you would do to the sides of a Halloween pumpkin. To make matters worse it looked like a lot of the wounds on the young girl's body looked to be done while she was still alive, including the breaking of her ribs, and seemed to have died while she was being gutted. Whoever did this to her just didn't kill her, they toyed with her. I was completely mortified by that thought.
As I studied the room another foul smell filled my nose as a thick black smoke hovered around the room, the smoke also following the blood trail. I quickly left the room and the house covering my mouth, unable to handle the smell; Ken following behind me. I just need to leave the child's bedroom and to get some fresh air.
Once outside and away from everyone I went to my knees as I continued to hold my hand to my mouth as I simultaneously held my nose.
"Are you ok?"
Ken asked as I went down.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But tell me you smelt that foul order and the thick black smoke?"
He knelt down beside me with a concerned look.
"No… I didn't."
"Then am I going crazy?"
I asked as I looked up at him, removing my hand from my face.
"No, I believe it could be one of your powers. But what did it smell like?"
"It smelt worse than routine meat marinated in its own routine juices. It smelt of death, danger, and pier evil."
"What about the smoke?"
"I scenced the same thing as the smell. I fear anyone who is touched or engulfed by it."
Ken thought for a moment.
"I think I may know what ability you possess. But it's strange that you would possess it as its a power only passed down from a vampire family nicknamed the Demon Hunters or the Hunters of Evil."
"Hunters of Evil?"
"Yes, they hunted the demons of Hell and kept any and all evil at bay. I may not know much about that family, but my mother does. I'll ask her once we're in the capital."
I nodded as I stood.
"Ok, let's head back in."
I said once I have collected myself. Ken nodded as we headed back into the house to finish our job.
I was back at the station in my office looking over the reports of the officers, forensic team; both the official forms and the personal forms from Kayla including autopsies, interviews, and my own notes; official and personal.
The parents were found dead completely drained of blood with deeper more violent bite marks. The kids, sisters; the one found in the basement seemed to be toyed with. She had deep claw marks all over her body made both while she was alive and postmortem, her organs too were removed, both bodies in similar conditions.
Other-than-the supernatural nothing unordinary came up in the other reports or the interview that we've done so far. All I've got to go on is that there are two culprits, a vampire and according to Ken… a demon. There was then a knock at my office door as Joe and Kay walked in. I looked up to them as they shut the door.
"So, where is Mr. Tall, handsome, and brooding?"
Joe asked. Kay smacked his chest with the back of her hand.
"Hey, that's King tall, handsome, and brooding to you."
I chuckled at their antics.
"He's out gaining some more information on the case. Something just isn't sitting right between us. Not to mention I caught the scent and reisudo of an apparent demon."
I said casually. Kay stilled, visibly affected by my words.
"Wait, did you say that you smelt and saw the resiudo and presence of a demon?"
She asked slowly as if she hoped that she somehow miss heard me. I nodded. Her eyes widened.
"How?!"
She shrieked, surprised.
"Yeah, Ken said it's one of my powers. He said it's called demon detection, evil detection, or something like that."
"You mean demon hunter."
Kay corrected.
"Yes, that's it."
Joe raised his eyebrow up at us.
"What is 'demon hunter'?"
He asked.
"The best way I could describe it was the way Kendal described it to me. I first smelt worse than rotting meat marinating in its own rotten juices. It smelt of danger, darkness, and pier evil. Next, I saw a thick black smoke with the same aura. I truly fear anyone who has been touched or engulfed by it."
I paused for a moment.
"I feel those who have been touched by this darkness include Hitler, Stalin, Heinrich Himmler, Saddam Hussain, Ivan The Terrible, Nero, Bundy, Jack The Ripper, Dennis Raider, Dahmer, Gacy, and hundreds more. The most evil and vile people in history, all of whom have been touched."
I explained, still, a bit shaken. Joe then pointed at my neck.
"By-the-way, Addi, when did you get a tattoo?"
He asked. Kay smacked Joe's chest again, but this time harder.
"Ouch! What was that for!?"
Joe said, raising his voice as he glared at her.
"How the Hell do you not know what that is?! Your mother is a vampire's mate for Christ's sake!"
She yelled, lecturing Joe. I chucked. Oh geez, those two.
"It's not a tattoo, Ken marked me last night."
I explained briefly. Kay sighed as she smacked her forehead, Joe still having a dumb look on his face.
"It's His Majesty's claim. When he bit her neck he marked her, in other words, telling every vampire that she not only already has a mate but is his mate. The crown is also a sure way to tell that she's royalty. It's a mark that demands respect."
She explained, Joe finally understanding. That's when I remembered that I still needed to talk with Juli. I got up as I handed Kay my notes.
"I need to go talk to Juli, let me know if you find anything that I may have missed or overlooked till Ken comes back."
Kay nodded as I left my office and headed to Juli's. I knocked on the door and heard a "come in". As I entered; shutting the door behind me, she looked up at me.
"Ah, Addi, this is a surprise. Usually, I'm the one entering your office. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
She asked smiling.
"How many vacation days do I have?"
"About 120 days. Why?"
I raised my eyebrow up at her.
"Did you really know that off the type of your head?"
"I've been waiting for this question for so long. So, yes I did."
She said quickly. I silently chucked. Of course, she has.
"Anyway, why have you decided to make my dream come true today?"
I chucked, shaking my head at her before taking a deep breath. I can't believe I'm actually asking for time off, much less time off to get married and to become Queen of Vampires.
"Well, um, Kendal and I, w-we-we're planning-"
I took another deep breath. I just need to spit it out.
"Kendal and I are planning on getting married and I need about three months in his home country of Romania."
I said all in one breath. A large smile stretched itself across her face.
"Of course! I knew there was something special between you two! I sensed it the minute you two met!"
She said excitedly before turning serious.
"You better invite me to the wedding."
I chuckled.
"I think we'll be doing two ceremonies, one in Romania and one once we're back."
"You better. Anyway, when do you need to take off?"
"We need to leave by Sunday night."
Juli nodded.
"Done. I'll give all of your cases to Josiah."
I chuckled. Oh, Joe is going to not only have it out for Juli but me as well.
"By-the-way, have you told Minnie, your parents, and your sisters yet?"
"No, not yet. I think I'm going to set up a dinner on Saturday night at my parents' house with everyone there."
Juli nodded.
"Smart."
"Yeah, I think I'm going to do that now while I wait for a few more things from Kay."
Juil nodded. We talked about a few more things before I headed back into my office.
Once back in my office I shut the door and pulled out my phone to call my parents. Three rings later I heard my mother, Josephine's voice.
"Addi, dear! How are you!?"
I smiled, hearing her warm happy voice.
"Hey mom, I'm doing good, a bit busy. But other-than-that, everything is going fine."
"You always fill your schedule with any and every case you can get your hands on. You should take a vacation, you deserve it."
I chuckled. She's the same as always.
"You aren't wrong. But speaking about a vacation, I'm actually leaving to go to Romania for about three months."
"Romania? Why so long?"
"Well, about that. I want to set up a family dinner at home with Kel, Sona, and Minn. I want you all to meet someone and explain some new developments."
"Oh! Yes! I'd love that! What day were you thinking!?"
She asked excitedly, making my smile widen.
"I'm scheduled to leave Sunday morning, so I was thinking Saturday night."
"Oh! That's perfect! Kelsey is supposed to come over for dinner around 7:30, and Sona of course lives in our basement and eats our food, so she's already here."
She laughed as I joined in laughing with her.
"True. Ok, I'll text Minn and we'll see you Saturday night."
"See you Saturday dear, love you."
"Love you too."
As soon as the call ended I texted Minn who said she'd definitely be there. I also told her that I plan on telling my family the truth, and having her there with Kendal will definitely help relax me and to give me the confidence that I'll need. I hope everything goes off without a hitch.