Celestial Clans: The vampire prince's origin

The Heiress

17th September, 1976

8:00am

Bloodhaven Palace (The royal palace), Bloodhaven City

Havana

The bells at the entrance to the city were being rung now, they had been rung for almost 30 minutes already and it meant only one thing to everyone in the great vampire city of Bloodhaven. The ancestral home of the Dracul family had remained peaceful for many years and although the pain of losing a prince at infancy to a friendly face had changed things in the capital city, there was happiness all around the city on this day. The bells at the city entrance being rung heralded one of three certain things. The first was an imminent attack on the city by enemy forces which was currently not possible because of the prevailing peace and diplomatic accords between and even within the clans, two was the coronation of the next vampire king which was also not possible at the moment because the current king had no heirs yet, the third was the arrival of the King to the city after a long military campaign or diplomatic visit away from Bloodhaven which was also not possible because of the relative peace everyone was experiencing. The only violence in Havana at the moment continued to stem from the Kravians who continued to ambush and attack the smaller vampire cities and mage cities before Bloodhaven, the wolves were never tired of killing the vampires it seemed. The fourth and final reason the bell could be rung was the birth of a prince or princess into the royal family, the birth of a child with the royal blood of the house of Dracul flowing through his or her veins. In this case and at this time, it was announced to be her highness.

Vlad Dracul Darien of house Dracul and Anna of house Vlad had gotten their second child just 2 years after losing their baby boy to death because of treachery, the Queen had delivered a healthy and strong baby girl to the jubilation and constant celebration of the vampires living in Bloodhaven under the direct care and protection of the Vampire King. Everyone in the city still remembered the events that unfolded at the birth of the King’s first child and some though some still held on to the prophecy of a future king with the blood of Dracula flowing in him who would bring unity to all of Havana, they were supposedly getting a future Queen this time and not a future King. The naming had been done before the child was born as is the custom with vampire births; the name ‘Jassmie’ had been chosen by the royal couple and the people loved it. The people loved the royal family and hoped only for strength and wisdom for their rulers to rule over them well.

Vlad Dracul Jassmie Marcellus was going to be her title in a few years. There was no one next in line for the throne but the people expected Darien to name the Princess as his heiress and most of Havana could sense it already. With no elder brother to act as the heir to the throne Jassmie would be named as the crown princess sooner or later which would make her the heiress to the throne and next ruler of the entire vampire clan. There had never been a sole Queen of the Vampire clan before and in the same vein there had never been a lady voted in as the Chief Mage of the mage clan before. The mage clan was clearly not going to be headed by a lady soon because it would be almost impossible for that to happen when the council responsible for voting in a leader consisted of only the oldest men in the mage clan. Jassmie had just been born but was already causing a stir in politics all around Havana; the mages knew it would affect them as well if a lady headed the Vampire clan.

The palace was swarming with soldiers fully armed with their rifles in hand and swords in sheaths strapped to their sides or behind them in diagonal straps between their shoulders. The palace looked like a warzone today and no one could blame the King for being this drastic. The last time he had a child born in this palace, it had been attacked and infiltrated by waves of Kravians that killed some of his loyal subjects serving in different capacities within the palace and forced him to sneak out of his own fortress. He had ensured that no one would dare to attack the palace or harbor intentions of harming his daughter. He walked past the line of guards stationed outside the Queen’s bed chamber and pushed the large doors open and walked in quickly, he was excited to see his daughter. He had no idea the baby’s delivery would be today and had been at the far side of the city overseeing the building of a new wing of the university in Bloodhaven. He had rushed back to the palace in his car as soon as the call had come in that his wife had gone into labor, as expected the journalists had piled in front of the palace gates waiting for any news on the new member of the royal family even when there had been no confirmation of a successful birth. He simply waved at them from the window of his car and immediately the car was through the gates he had breezed out of his seat and out of the car and was at the large front doors of the palace in a second. He had raced up the stairs in dramatic fashion too shocking all the palace guards inside as well as the soldiers brought into the capital from their base outside the city, none of them had ever seen Vlad Dracul Darien in a hurry before.

He walked past the doors and past the doctors standing between him and his wife. The first sight he had was that of Anna sitting up on the massive bed and holding princess Jassmie in her hands, she was smiling at the baby with pure love and joy obvious in her eyes as the baby’s cries got louder. That was one thing he had not considered this entire time, he had no idea how to stop a baby from crying and he knew already Jassmie was going to be a noisy one. Valentine had been the opposite in the minutes he had carried the baby as he snuck out of the palace two years ago, he had been quiet the whole time and not cried even once. He got out of his thoughts to look into his wife’s eyes from where he stood at the end of the bed and knew immediately she had been thinking about their son as well; there was sadness in her eyes now.

“Everyone excuse us, give me some time alone with my wife and our child” Darien commanded immediately and watched as the doctors and nurses walked out of the room in a single file as quickly as they could. He had gotten the best doctors in the city to ensure his wife was safe and their daughter was also delivered safely. Now he had to remove that sadness in her eyes, there was no reason to be sad on a day like this he thought as he sat next to Anna on the bed and took the baby in his arms so he could look into her eyes. He heard her heartbeat immediately and knew she was a vampire, he just wanted to be sure and not caught by surprise like he was when he noticed their son had been born as a normal human. After staring at his daughter for minutes he turned and smiled at his Queen. “Why do you have sadness in your eyes my darling, we have this bundle of joy with us now.” Darien said giving her his best smile and making her to smile back.

“I just really wish we could know what actually happened to Valentine.” she confessed looking into her husband’s eyes. “I really wish we could have gotten a chance to raise him Darien. I have spent more time with Jassmie already than I did with Valentine before we lost him. If I am being honest with you Darien I still feel our son is alive somewhere even though it seems impossible, I just really feel it.” She added further with a sniffle. Darien placed his hand over hers gently before saying anything.

“It would be unrealistic and unhealthy for us to keep holding on to Valentine Darling, he was our son and we lost him and I will feel pained by that till I go into the Everland sleep. Jassmie will be safe for the rest of her life Anna, I promise you that. She will grow up strong, smart and good. She will be a wonderful Queen to our wonderful clan and she will do it even without a prophecy backing her. We just have to raise her well and everything else will work out. I hope you can trust me on this.” Darien said looking into her eyes again as she nodded a yes to him “Thank you for trusting me darling, now please get some rest. I will be here with Jassmie the whole time, we are not going anywhere, and I promise you that.” He added as he leaned over and touched his lips to her cheek gently. They were sure things would eventually work out; patience was something that every vampire had after living a life for centuries. They were going to be patient with the universe and with their joint fates.