Queen Velorina

Chapter 3

Years into the War, weeks before Alaric's tragic death.

Velorina stood at the head of the long war table, she had many that sat around the war table waiting for her to to figure out what their next step was. A long sigh left her lips, she was frustrated and annoyed. The war was almost even and she could't figure out why, it was like this with every battle. Everytime she thought she would get ahead then the dog's would manage to take charge again. A frown crawled onto her face as she puzzled over it, she slammed her hand down on the table making several around her jump from the sound. She was always so composed, but right now her anger and frustation was seeping out for everyone to see.

"Anyone have any idea as to why we can not jump in head?" At first the whole room was silent, but after a few minutes the door to the room opened. This was unexpected, no one was allowed in this room unless called in. Yet in walked a young petite woman, She was dressed in a long black dress. She looked mysterious, yet she seemed to hold the confidence of a thousand warriors. She made her way to the oposite end of the long war table, the woman was now standing in front of Velorina. She lifted her eyes to meet the Queens, no fear or worry reflected in them. Velorina was surprised, but a hint of curiosity flashed through her. The queen waited patiently for the woman to speak, the confidence alone was more than enough for the unknown woman to keep her head and speak her words freely.

"I can easily tell you the answer to your question, my queen. You will not like the answer, but I know it." Her voice was soft and even, her words drug out as if she was reciting them by memory. The council members, who sat along the war table, slowly strated to piece together why the woman was so mysterious, in way her black dress screamed who she was but no one could interput her as she spoke to the queen. Fear was on everyone's face, but the two women never broke eye contact. "I do not fear you my queen, I only wish to help you fufill you upmost power you are capable of having. The answer to your question is your late night lover."

"My late night lover? What late night lover do you speak of?" The mention of her hidden secret put the queen on edge, she narrowed her eyes at the woman and waited for her to speak once again. No one knew about those secrets nights, no one knew Aleric had been coming by late at night for secret meet ups. The mysterious womans straight face didn't break once, there wasn't the slightest hint of what she knew. Everything was a mystery, but finally the woman opened her mouth letting an explantation spill out like a waterfall.

"They are sendng him to you to get informaation. The more you snungle up to him, the more he finds out about our war plans. He even sneaks around the castle halls before he leaves the castle. You have given him the perfect oportunity and he gets to bed you. Wouldn't you take the oportunity?" The womans words made sense, but it didn't fix the fact that Velorina was the only one who knew about Aleric being in the castle. Many gasped and stared between the two women with looks of shock and surprise for many reasons. The two main reasons was that Velorina had let in a potional snake and the second reason was the unknown woman was speaking to the Queen in a very disrespectful manner. No one had dared to question the Queen as she had already made many scarfices for the Coven.

"I suggest you stop and think about the accusations you are throwing out onto the table... And I would identify yourself before I lose my patience and take your head off your shoulders." The Queen spoke slow and coldly, you could feel the tension rolling off the Queen like a tsunami. The woman standing at the other end of the table just held eye contact, she never showed any fear as she seemed to roll the Queens words around her mind clearly deabting them over for a few short moments.

"I, your highness, am a witch. The witch who will help you win this war, if you will allow me to stand by your side, my name is Sybill. I come here not to start a war between us, but to instead form and alliance and help you put an end to this war."The woman held an even more proud stance, her offer and explanation put several pieces of the mysterious puzzle together but now held for an even more interesting question. Many council members around the table glanced back and forth, the same question on their faces that was moments away from crossing the Queens lips.

"How are you supposed to help me win this war?" This question would start a small quick convestation between the two woman.

"Easy, a simple ritual."

"A ritual? For what exactly?"

"This ritual would make you the most powerful vampire Queen in all of your history."

"And what is it that I have to give up to gain that power? All power comes with a price."

"Only the thing you love most... Or what you think you love most. Your late night lover. He is not your mate though, so let him go for the sake of your kingdom. For your Coven."

"What do you mean witch?" Not calling the woman by her name placed the witch beneath the Queen, but now it was about finding out a deeper explanation to the words spilling from the witch's mouth.

"Exactly what it means, get rid of the obstacle blocking you from power and your fated mate. Get rid of the losing factor and win." Sybill stared into the Queens eye's, trying to desperately get her point across. The witch had seen the Queens life, her victory and her lover. The Queens wins and losses, The war was supposed to be a win. Sybill was only trying to hurry the process, it couldn't do very much harm afterall the Queen was the one in control. Wasn't she?

Velorina didn't say anything as she mulled over the words, it was now time to test the supposed witch. She opened her mouth to speak, but before even the slightest of words could be spoken the witch raised a hand and made a few of the papers in front of Velorina flutter around the table. The Queen and everyone around the table watched the papers, but of course wasn't impressed. The witch however was far from done. After a spilt moment of fluttering, the papers soon started to multiply and spill off the table dangersouly fast. Velorina let out a yelp of surprise as she jumped back a step then two. The council members gasped and quickly glanced at each other fear of the witch now growing quickly which only made the papers multiply faster. It took a good few minutes before Velorina could find her voice and demand the woman to stop, slowly the papers disappeared and returned to normal.

"Well, your highness, I do believe it is time for you to make a decision. Although I suggest, for the sake of the Coven and for your own sake, you choose me. You need a witch at your side anyways, someone to help enforce things you want... in a different way." The last part was what made Velorina seriously consider sybill's offer, but now a bigger question and possible problem crossed her mind.

"I have a question about this... plan of yours or idea if you will. How do you suggest I let go of the 'late night lover', as you think there is one." The words hung in the air for a moment, everyone could feel how heavy they were but none could have expected the witch to harshly throw out the next words.

"There's only one way to effectly do it. You have to kill him, drink his blood and then we will perform a ritual to turn you into a hybrid. Then and only then can you be at your full potential power. Do you understand or should I break it down even simpler for you." Only a small handful of words got through to Velorina, after the words 'kill him' left Sybill's lips she heard nothing else. A look of shock, horror and regret crossed Velorina's face. It was obvious that she wasn't expecting Sybill to say that, but only one thing crossed her lips.

"Is there no other way?"

"No, your highness, there isn't. Accept it and follow through with it, for your people. For your Coven."