Chapter 3 – Vara
Well, this is a surprise.
The moment I walked into the room, it was as if a force pulled me to the new vampire queen. I never expected that overwhelming need to include a gargoyle.
This is more than simple attraction.
I was drawn to Layla the first time we met when she’d accompanied a shifter to one of my clubs last year.
She’s lived in New York City for a century, yet our paths never crossed.
Of course, I’d heard about her since she was the royal advisor for former vampire queen, Mildred Maycot.
She was Millie’s right-hand woman... her best friend.
Layla was always by her side, so seeing her out and being social without Millie was surprising.
Layla was more beautiful than I could have imagined. The moment I took her hand in mine, I felt what can only be described as a current. Electricity lit up my entire body.
It was exciting but equally terrifying.
I’ve always been a loner. It’s hard not to be when you’re 2,000 years old, 2,056 to be exact. When I was younger and had family and friends—when I wasn’t one of the last of my kind—I cared about conversations and being a part of another soul’s life.
Then hunters murdered my parents and siblings for their golden feathers.
I only survived because I was the youngest. The fastest. I escaped and hid for hundreds of years deep inside what is now called the Wadi Sannur Cave in Beni Suef, Egypt.
When I emerged, sphinxes were merely a legend.
My body evolved to survive, gaining the ability to mask so I can blend in with the human world.
I don’t trust easily. Love comes even harder for me. I enjoy sex and physical touch but not the emotion that comes with it.
So I didn’t immediately seek Layla out to explore this strange feeling.
But over the past year, I couldn’t get that night out of my head.
I regret not at least speaking with her.
I reached out to Millie a few months ago and begged her to bring her royal advisor to any of the clubs I owned. Millie refused.
I asked for Layla’s number, or for Millie to give her mine…
anything, but Millie said it wasn’t up to her.
Layla clearly didn’t want to see me either or maybe what she felt between us also scared her.
While I could have easily tracked Layla down, I wasn’t going to push her to see me without her consent.
Shortly before Layla was crowned, I heard about the plan to reveal ourselves to humans and how they wanted her to lead the effort.
Apparently, the elder councils for all supernatural beings have been discussing it for months.
I was furious that I was never included.
The elders have no idea what they’re doing.
Most of them are old-fashioned and refuse to adapt to the modern world.
They needed me. I went to COVE and presented my case.
I reminded them of my status amongst our kind and how I can sway any supernatural to my side.
That’s all it took for them to create the human ambassador role for me.
It’s been a year since I last saw Layla and she’s just as beautiful, just as fierce.
She dismissed me!
Rightfully so. I couldn’t wait for the party so I crashed the meeting. A meeting I didn’t know was taking place, only that my body knew where to go and led me to the war room.
She was surprised to see me… she was turned on… probably confused, too, which might be what angered her.
Now I’m being led away from her, and the gargoyle guard, feeling as if my heart is being ripped from my chest. That terrifying and electric connection I first experienced upon meeting Layla a year ago happened again the moment I put my hand on the massive, scarred monster whose name I still don’t know.
I don’t understand.
I need a moment to calm down—to think—and disappear into the bathroom.
When I emerge fifteen minutes later and enter the grand hall, I glance around the room, searching for familiar faces.
I spot Millie with her new mate, who is speaking animatedly with Xander, the gargoyle king.
He listens intently to the hyper fledgling vampire.
Next to Xander is his new mate, a human named Evangeline. The short and thick woman laughs at whatever Locheran just said. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. I immediately like her because exasperation is the only way to react to Locheran Perrier.
An older woman with gray hair stands beside Evangeline, and I sense her power from clear across the room. She’s a witch but one I haven’t met yet.
My eyes travel around the rest of the grand hall.
Malachi, the fae prince is here with his court.
Gregor, the werewolf alpha, stands at the back with his beta.
They’re speaking quietly while glaring at Philandria, alpha of the wolf shifters, who is here with two of her pack members.
Wolf shifters are different from werewolves, who require a full moon to shift while wolf shifters can turn at will.
There are also other animal shifters like panthers and bears, though they aren’t as prominent as the wolves.
Saoirse, witch and coven leader, stands off to the side with a small group of witches.
Aaron, a spirit, lingers in the shadows. He’s the only one not dressed in his finest attire, since he died in the 90s wearing punk rocker clothes. Ghosts are tethered to the place they died, which might be the only reason he’s here tonight. He has nothing better to do.
Wylan, tribe leader of the centaurs, is along the wall, arms crossed as if he’s ready to fight.
Gorgan, the only dragon that I know of living on the East Coast, is in his human form and mimics the centaur’s pose.
Hallerin, griffin prince, flirts with some of the women in Malachi’s court—who are clearly ignoring him.
Lorian, a demon, sulks in a chair at a back wall clearly not wanting to be here. He must have been nominated to attend the party since there are no leaders amongst the demons. They're all degenerate cunts.
Not surprisingly, there are no angel representatives here because they’re also degenerate cunts.
Despite the righteous angels, everyone who could physically be here is here. The entire supe community has been obsessed with Layla’s succession. Her coronation was historic.
There are tens of thousands of supernaturals living in the Big Apple and each species has its own leader.
Leadership that rarely changes power, like Xander who has reigned over the gargoyles, protecting New York City since it was merely a settlement called New Amsterdam.
And Millie who reigned over New York City vampires since the mid-1800s.
That’s why crowning a new vampire queen was exciting for our world.
Being immortal means running out of new experiences.
It means no longer finding joy in things, in everyday life, in companionship.
It means skirting rules and morals just to get a spark of adrenaline.
It’s why vampires go mad with blood lust, or why the fae like to make sketchy deals with humans.
Owning supernatural nightclubs, I’m constantly around a variety of these supes but they mostly keep to themselves, rarely interacting with other species. There’s always been a disdain amongst our kind. Some supernaturals are more powerful than others and stubbornness gets in the way.
This plan to unveil ourselves to the humans is truly a test. If we are unable to unite and get along—and I’m talking about more than one night—the humans won’t accept us either.
We have to prepare for anything. It could be brilliant, or it could backfire on us. If we gain a human’s trust, and reveal our life-changing secret, will they accept us or will they feel betrayed and hunt us down?
There could be war.
I have no doubt we’ll find plenty of accepting humans. The ones who advocate for gender equality and don’t condone genocide. Ones who have always believed but others saw them as crazy for doing so. Ones who read about fictional worlds involving the strange and unusual.
One problem we might run into are the people who’ve heard the urban legends that say supernatural beings are dangerous and evil.
While we may have killed humans in the past, most of us did it to survive or in self-defense.
It’s not like that anymore. We are not a threat, aside from a few rogue supernatural beings who we make sure are caught and reprimanded immediately.
I take a place at the front and once the room is filled, a side door near the stage opens and Layla walks out, surrounded by her security team.
She’s breathtaking in the violet puff sleeve dress with a sparkling full skirt. It complements her light brown skin, which fails to have that deathly vampire pallor to it. Her purple jeweled crown shines atop her curly mahogany hair.
I scan her body, despite most of her curves hidden by the fabric of the dress and imagine peeling it off so I can run my hands over her small breasts and rounded stomach, her thick thighs and meaty ass.
Layla’s new gargoyle guard shifts on his feet behind her. His large hands are folded in front of his groin.
I take a moment to admire his beauty as well.
He’s taller than me, at least seven foot to my six foot three.
He’s massive. Thick arms that threaten to tear the short sleeves of his black tunic, tree trunk thighs stretching his pants and testing the seams. He has wings and a tail as I do but gargoyle tails can do marvelous things during sex.
An image flashes across my thoughts of the gargoyle fucking Layla while his tail fucks me, and my tail fills his asshole.
He shivers, as if I had broadcast that image to him, and runs a four-fingered, clawed hand over his scarred face.
The urge to ask him how he got the mark surprises me into silence.
It’s not like me to care about another being’s life story, but I want to know everything about this gargoyle.
I still don’t know his name, but I want to hear all about his adventures, his heartbreaks, what makes him happy.
Layla too.
Who are these magnificent creatures? Why are they affecting me so deeply?
I have an idea why I have this... extreme lust for the two, but I need to be certain.
An elder vampire named Cyrus, who is president of the council for the World Organization of Vampire Elites, enters from the same door Layla exited and walks onto the platform.
“Welcome, distinguished guests, to the first celebration hosted by Queen Layla Sophia Aldana,” Cyrus says the moment he reaches the podium.
He’s nearly 900 years in age but appears no older than twenty-five.
He has bleach blond hair, blue eyes, and a svelte build.
“Tonight is more than just a party. Tonight is a chance at a new beginning for our world.”
Raised voices fill the room, heads swiveling to neighbors for clarification of what the elder vampire could mean.
“For far too long, we’ve lacked unification amongst our kind.
Let us change that. I encourage you all to mingle tonight, speak to a supe you would never naturally approach.
We need to form allies, more cross-species support, especially as technology advances and it becomes harder and harder to conceal our identities. ”
I see a few supes nodding in agreement while others stare at the elder vamp with uncertain scowls.
I know exactly what Cyrus is doing. He’s putting the idea inside their head that we need to work together for our future, for protection. Then once the committee is formed and the plan to reveal ourselves to humans is set, they’ll break the news to the rest of the supernatural community.
It’s brilliant, though secrets rarely survive in our community. There are too many creatures with advanced hearing listening.
Cyrus waits for the chatter in the room to subside before he continues.
“Tonight is the first step to a unified world. Now, if you’ll please join me in welcoming Queen Aldana and gargoyle soldier, Thorne DuPont to the stage.”
Thorne. Is he one of Xander’s newer soldiers? There are many in his army, it’s impossible to know all of them, but if this one is highly regarded enough to be selected to lead the new vampire queen’s security team, I would have certainly met him by now.
Where have you been hiding?
Layla walks to the stage, Thorne following, but she stumbles going up the stairs. I have no doubt her vampire reflexes would have kicked in, but Thorne is just as fast and catches her. The moment his skin touches hers, a thrill of pleasure shoots through my middle and down to my cunt.
Oh.
Well.
That’s interesting.