Celestial Clans: The vampire prince's origin

The King & his Palace I

20th July, 1974

7:00PM

Uninhabited forest, somewhere in Romania

The light from the teleportation spell Julian had casted to bring them out of Bloodhaven city had vanished now as both the vampire king and the young mage sworn to protect him stood in the middle of the forest in a seemingly strange place. They were clearly no longer in Havana and Julian was sure of it now because he could sense almost no celestial essence at all around them for miles, they were in the normal earthly realm. The young mage had entirely no idea where they were, but he had a feeling the Vampire King knew this forest and had probably brought them here on purpose. “Julian, you stay exactly where you are and wait for me to return. Meditate if you have to because once I return we will be heading right back to Havana. We have to end this coup immediately and ensure everyone else’s safety. I will be back shortly.” King Darien said and walked noiselessly into the thick darkness of the strange forest around them.

“Yes your majesty.” Julian responded.

King Darien had been in this Forest some days back with the Chief Mage’s apprentice Kalian and some of his personal guards so he knew the entire outlay of his surroundings. This place would have certainly seemed totally strange to the young mage accompanying him, but to him everything was familiar. He knew exactly where he was heading to. He knew exactly where the cabin was, he could sense the smell of blood coming from it and even if they were no one around he could have still tracked it perfectly from memory.

He was in a little clearing in the forest now and was looking intently at the nice log cabin that stood alone in the very heart of this forest in the middle of nowhere. Last time he was here, he was in a rush and as such still had no idea which exact forest in which exact place on earth he was. He just had the conviction in his heart that this would be the safest place outside Havana for the Prince at the moment. He could see that the light in the far side of the cabin was on and was not completely sure there was someone in the house as he took in a deep breath and got the smell of human blood rush into his system. He walked forward slowly and quietly and stood at the entrance of the cabin. Raising the small cot housing his child to his face so he could look at his son’s face closely, he smiled as the baby future king looked up at him with those beautiful grey eyes. He took the signet ring from the index finger of his right hand and placed it in the cot gently as he placed the little cot in front of the door. It was the signet ring of the Vampire King himself, bearing an engraving that looked like a “D” inscribed within a “W” and an “A” .He placed his child gently on the concrete in front of the front door, he left his son in the cot at the entrance to the Cabin and walked past the clearing of trees and back into the shadows and darkness of the forest turning for few seconds to look at his son, he knew if he stayed for even a single second more he would begin to contemplate his decision, he turned to the forest and raced through with the speed of wind.

“Julian, we are heading back to Havana stat.” the King said as he appeared from the thickness of the forest from where he traced the mages original position and was now standing before him again.

“Where exactly are we heading to sire?” Julian said as he raised his right hand clearly ready to cast the spell and match his haste with that of the King. He turned to look at the King and inquire about their next destination when he noticed it. “Your majesty you came back alone, what about the Prince? He is ---“

“He is safe.” Darien cut him off saying before he could complete the question. “For now we should both be focused solely on getting back to Bloodhaven castle and ensuring everyone else’s safety. Can you do that Julian?” the King asked placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Yes my liege, I can do that.” was the confident reply that had come from Julian.

“Take us back home then, this very instant.” Darien said with a weak smile and bit into his wrist again so his blood would flow. To travel through the millennia old magical barrier between the celestial clan world of Havana and the normal earthly realm, the transportation spell required the blood of any of Dracul’s descendants to flow. He was now accustomed to spilling at least a drop of blood whenever he had to travel between the two physical planes. It meant no one from Havana could leave the realm of Havana and come to the earthly realm without his blood or that of his newly born son. He was sure this was the perfect place to hide him; he was born as a normal human which would ensure his safety even on the earthly plane. He didn’t want his son to ever run into those ancient families on the earthly realm that killed beings with celestial essence, but now even if he did there would surely be no risk. He was a human born from two pure blood vampires, but no one would ever know.

Julian cast the spell and as the bright light of the transportation spell cleared out they were back in Havana. They were back in Bloodhaven and were beside the fountain, exactly where they had been before moving past the barrier and into the realm of humans some minutes ago. This time however, the King had no baby in his hands to protect. He could face his enemies squarely and as ferociously as he intended to when he found them. “The Prince is safe now your majesty but the Palace is still under attack. The only way we could help them is by destroying the barrier surrounding the palace. If that is done then the soldiers outside can finally go in and take back the castle.” Julian explained.

“I know that Julian, but how do we do that without the mage casting the spell. We have only two options that could be solutions in regards to the barrier problem, its either someone drain the essence from the barrier or we find the mage doing this and kill them. Draining the barrier of all the essence will take too much time. That means we need to know exactly where the mage who set this barrier up is as soon as possible. We need to find him, we need to end him.” Darien said and began walking past the fountain and towards the row of buildings along the palace walls leading to the main gate of the palace. The streets were totally empty as he expected, the army had done their best to maintain order within the capital even as the attack on the Palace itself continued. The people loved the royal family and remained quietly in their homes hoping for the safety of their King, Queen and baby Prince.

Darien was getting frustrated now and by the time he reached the army’s mobile base in front of the palace gates, he was already angry and just barely reigning in his fury. Immediately the hundreds of soldiers stationed outside the palace saw him they stood at attention as he walked past them straight for their commander with Julian following behind him.

“Commander, you should take 20 men and lead them through the tunnels by the fountain. Go in through them, navigate using my scent, meet up with the mage I left in charge named Kalian Soteko and start your counter attacks from inside while I try to bring this barrier down. Once I do that the rest of your men can go in through the gates and sandwich the Kravians. I want them all dead by morning.” Darien gave his orders and walked past the commander just as quickly and nonchalantly as he had walked past the army and to the commander directly. Immediately he got into the mobile tent pitched outside the palace gate he could hear the soldiers outside moving in haste, they were following his orders immediately he had given them. As king his orders were supreme at all times and to all vampires. His mind was troubled which was a rare experience for him; he never ever got worried about anything, any situation or person. He handled everything with wisdom and calculation and the only exception to that had been his wife, but fate had recently given him a second person to worry about and he didn’t know how to handle that feeling just yet. He had a son, a prince and a future heir to the vampire throne who was born as a human. That was something he would really have to worry about later, for now he had to keep his people safe and get his castle back. His pride as a king of the greatest celestial clan in Havana was at stake here and he planned to retaliate with fury.