HECATE

III

The doors to the two leading cars opened simultaneously. Two women stepped out of the first car, followed by a man. They were members of the royal family of vampires. Out of the other car stepped the shifter king along with his wife, daughter and son-in-law. After them, all their bodyguards in matching black suits exited the cars of their entourage.

“Welcome Amelia and Antonio, it is lovely to see you again. You’ve come a long way from England and Italy for my younger daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony. It’s also very nice to see both of your families again. Why don’t we head inside, Arcene has prepared a banquet since you must be famished from the long journey,” Rina greeted them with a welcoming smile.

She didn’t get to see them too often with them living so far away from each other. They would all meet every five years for the meetings the council issued and apart from that only talked over the phone whenever they found the time, so it was nice that they had a reason to meet again.

“It is our pleasure, Rina; We’ve been looking forward to meeting you and your family for a while now. Arcene, you have grown even more beautiful than the last time I saw you, even though that should not be possible!” As Amelia, the queen of the vampires spoke to her, Hecate had her usual, unintentionally alluring, smile on her face that made her look like the walking definition of sin.

She really liked the vampire queen and her family since she enjoyed her conversations with the mother-daughter pair. The daughter of the shifter king was also a good friend of hers who usually spent her summers in France with Arcene.

"Actually, my son Asterias recently returned from his travels and will also attend tonight’s banquet, though he will be a bit late because his flight got delayed due to a storm," That managed to grab Hecate's attention.

She hadn't yet met the prince of the vampires ever since he was adopted by the queen at the age of five and, as per tradition, given her blood, making him her biological son through the magic that vampires possess to continue their bloodline. He left to study abroad before she got the chance to officially meet him as the crown princess of her own people. Once he had completed his studies he started travelling the world. All that had frustrated her quite a bit considering it was impossible to meet him even after 17 years, making her even more curious, to say the least, about what kind of person he was.

According to rumours, his personality was supposedly terrible, and he had a temper. Then again, the same could be said about her according to rumours so she didn't bother believing it until she met him personally.

The group headed towards the dining hall inside the old castle as they talked amongst each other to catch up. The same was the case for Hecate, Charlotte and Alessandra. They usually only got to converse over the phone and even then, they would be lucky to even talk once a month with their busy schedule so they always enjoyed spending time together in person.

"Ladies, we should spend the day after Delphi’s ceremony together and go shopping together with Clarisse and Audrey. We could also go eat something while we're in the territory of the humans, anyway. It's been a long time since I was in Paris since I never have the time to actually go into the city.” Hecate spoke English with a faint French accent while talking to her friends, though her pronunciation was impeccable.

She had a great interest in fashion, which was also why she owned several boutiques in Paris along with an international fashion brand, so she liked to inspect the outfits of the people close to her and improve them if need be. The vampiress Charlotte wore a crimson red dress that reached the floor and matched the colour of her hair. The dress was held up by the straps around her forearms, leaving her shoulders bare with a heart-shaped neckline. A dainty gold necklace adorned her neck along with matching teardrop earrings and a few matching piercings along with her ears. As always, she went for the look of a seductress without looking cheap and the only thing Hecate had for that outfit was approval.

The same was the case for the female wolf Alessandra's dress. Her outfit was a little simpler than Charlotte's but still looked beautiful. Her swamp-green jumpsuit matched perfectly with her white pair of heels and the silver accessories she wore like the arm ring with little leaves on her right arm. Her brown hair was styled into a messy yet elegant updo.

Overall, the outfit matched her calm and simple yet refined character perfectly.

Their conversation from before continued as they all took their seats at the large table inside the dining room.

"Arcene, that is a great idea. I have not been to France in a few years so it would be nice to spend the time I have here in Paris. I also want to visit your boutiques and see all the new designs you have. It’s really annoying that I can’t buy clothes from your stores in London,” Charlotte liked to complain about not being able to shop in Hecate’s boutiques on-site. The only way for her to get her hands on her collections was through a catalogue she received from Hecate. When she chose an item she wanted it would appear before her instantly, courtesy of Hecate’s magic.

“I’ve actually been wanting to buy new shoes and jewellery now that you mention it. I also have been craving some French breakfast so what about tomorrow morning?” Alessandra had a dreamy look on her face as she thought about having breakfast in Paris making Hecate and Charlotte chuckle.

“You should join us, Delphi. I’m sure it will be fun,” Charlotte suggested, seeing that Delphine was pouting and looking gloomy at being left out again. “You should have enough time in the morning before you have to get ready for your ceremony.”

“I would like that! Then I will go with you three tomorrow morning,” Delphine’s face was glowing as she said that, which Hecate found adorable because even though Delphine had a bad temper with almost anyone outside her family, she was a very sweet child who just wanted attention from the people she cared about.

“Actually, Arcene, there is something I wanted to talk to you about. Since you will be meeting my son today, I can make my request now. My son Asterias actually has a problem with his innate magical ability. We don’t know what he was before he was turned into a vampire by me and became my blood-related son so my husband Alaric and I do not know what to do to help him control it better. He has been travelling, looking for a way to figure out how his powers work to utilise them properly but to no avail. My hope is that with your deep understanding of magic and having awoken your magic yourself at the age of twelve, you will be able to help him. If you agree, he will tell you all the details himself regarding what kind of ability he has and what his problems are." As Queen Amelia continued to explain, the surrounding conversations gradually died down and everyone's attention was on her.

No one has ever heard of that story regarding the prince of the vampires. The fact that he wasn't able to properly control his powers because he didn't know anything about them made it that much more interesting to Hecate as a magic researcher. She wanted to immediately get to work and figure everything out about those powers of his and talk to her mother about them so she quickly went to agree.

Just when she was about to start speaking, the doors to the dining room opened and the attendants announced that “Asterias Achlys” was entering.