AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1 - Kristin
40 Years Later
Istared at the pictureon the wall of my office as I slowly swiveled my chair back and forth. So much had changed since that single moment in time. Forty years had passed, and wars had been fought—both human and vampire. Things were vastly different than they had been, and I found myself missing those simpler times.
I was now in charge of the United States VMF territory and had been since Alex’s death eighteen years earlier. Twenty-five years ago, there was revolt within our world, and while previously there had been only three masters around the world, now there were twenty-one. Each of us had territories, some smaller than others, but we oversaw the race that resided and visited under us. We also stayed in close contact with one another and, for the most part, got along.
A few years after the revolt, our entire race broke into two main factions. Even the smallest territories had rebels that attempted to overthrow the current masters. There were many here in the United States that were opposed to me being the master of our territory, and they had divided off. There were many more that were on board with the changes and stood behind me—or at least pretended to do so.
Sadly, about three years ago, our breed and lifestyle had become known to humans, and even after three years, fear and violence was sparked when it came to humans and vampires. Most of our breed spent more time in the shadows hiding from those who wanted to remove us from the earth.
It was a constant fight with the humans to prove that we weren’t hell-bent on destroying their race. It didn’t matter that we had been around for centuries, or that it had taken them this long to learn we existed. They didn’t want to accept that we preferred to live in coexistence with them—at least our side did.
I continued to stare at the picture as I dwelled on the past. It hung right beside the door and served as a constant reminder of how quickly life could change. Friends could become foes, lovers could leave. Mates could die, and everything could be turned upside down in an instant. Well, an instant in my lifetime, not to humans.
There was a knock at my office door, and Joshua pushed it open. “It’s time to go, Mistress.”
I stared at him for a moment. Over the last few years, Joshua had become a very important person to me. His broad shoulders, deep-set dark-green eyes, and quiet nature had become a constant in my life, along with his unwavering support. I stood, then walked around my desk to pause in front of the picture. I took in every smiling face, and my heart ached for all that was lost, the people I loved, the friendships that I had once cultivated.
“Mistress?” Joshua said softly, and I turned to him.
“I’m ready.” He gave an abrupt nod and allowed me to pass him before stepping to my side and putting his hand to my lower back. After we entered the elevator, I stared down the hall, wondering what I would find when the doors opened two floors down.
“How many people are here?” I asked Joshua.
“Sixteen. Eight of ours, eight of theirs,” he stated with a brief glance my way.
“Eight, huh?” I laughed slightly, hoping it would ease the tension in my own shoulders.
Joshua snickered as he turned my way, and our eyes locked. Many years ago, I had met Joshua when he had worked for Alexander. He had the ability to hide his presence from most of our kind, and his assistance had been instrumental in helping to rescue Trent, Mick, and his wife from Leo and his gang of thugs when human-turned vampires were just being discovered.
In the back of my mind, I truly believed that incident had been a turning point in our history. Somehow Leo had discovered that human-turned vampires had special abilities, at least the females did. Back then, my sister, Angelina, had been working with him. In fact, Leo and Angelina had both worked with my father, Burke.
I was glad that Angelina had changed her ways. Of course, if I hadn’t killed our father, she might never have, but she did, and that’s what counted. She was an important part of our society, and after getting to know her so well, I didn’t ever want her on opposite sides of the battlefield.
And a battlefield was what we were dealing with now. “Did they say what exactly they wanted?”
“No, Mistress.”
I sighed. I really hated being called Mistress, but sadly, I was stuck with the title. Since Alex had been known as the Master when he was in charge, I’d received the title when I’d mated with him twenty-four years ago.
The door to the elevator opened, and I stepped out. Once again, Joshua put his hand to my lower back. It was for more than just being gentlemanly; he was protecting me. Almost anywhere that I went, Joshua was at my side, always touching me. His ability to hide his presence from others now leeched into me if we were in contact since I had taken his blood—I continued to feed from him quite regularly to keep that bond between us strong. He couldn’t do that with everyone, only Angelina and me. We believe that it had something to do with our reborn genetics.
Joshua escorted me down the hallway. Two human men in suits stood at the door to the conference room, both eyeing me carefully.
“Josh, did we remove their weapons?”I asked in his mind.
“Yeah, Kris, we removed them. They balked at it, but they gave them up.”
I gave an abrupt nod and cast a wide smile over the two men at the door. Both of them tried not to return it, but one cracked, and a handsome smile filled his face. I gave him a wink before I walked past.
In the conference room, there were six more men that I didn’t know, but I quickly figured out that only two of them were there to speak with us. The other four were for protection. Did they really think we would hurt them? Humans were so simpleminded.
“Evening, everyone,” I said as I rounded the table and took my seat. Clayton Larkin sat to my left and beside him were two other male elders, Beckett and Henry. To their left were Scarlett and Hazel, two of the female elders on our board. In the corners of the room were more of my people: Jett, Ryker, and Lorna. All of them worked for the VMF as sentinels in the field but spent more time these days protecting us here—my very own secret service—oh, yeah—not!
Joshua stood behind my chair, and I let my gaze drift over the four men giving protection to the two seated at the table. My god, did we really need all this muscle in one room?
“Gentleman.” I smiled at the men at the opposite end of the table. “I’m Kristin Armstrong. I’m sorry for being late. I was on a call.”
