Frozen Queen

Frozen Empire

Em-

A few years after joining the clan, Martin began the Tournament. He was tired and felt he could no longer be the ruler the clan needed. The Tournament was simple, every ten years the strongest vampires were pitted against each other in fights to the death. The winner was the new ruler. 

Emmaline emerged bloody but victorious from the first Tournament and had won every one since then. For nearly 100 years Em has been the Queen. In that century the clan had become the largest in North America. Despite the increasingly difficult trials, better and stronger vampires continued to join. 

Em was a kind ruler to those in the clan, but cruel and merciless to any who tried to harm them. This included the Vengence Pack, a werewolf pack whose borders constantly tried to infringe on Antebellum's land. This led to constant fights about who had charge of the local lands. Vampires claimed ownership due to being there first. Werewolves claimed ownership due to a hostile takeover of the mortals' city.

For the last ten years, Em had managed to strike a shaky truce with Vengence Pack and their Alpha - Damian Rosco. 

It set a definitive line for their territory and each side agreed that they would not step foot over. Antebellum had kept their end of the deal, but Vengence hadn't.

On the night of October 1st, the Antebellum clan held its annual Gala to celebrate the end of the Unsetting Sun and the beginning of the Unending Night. Situated in Alaska, winter was a dream for Antebellum, little to no sunlight meant clan members could go days without having to hide indoors. 

The Antebellum mansion was packed to capacity with vampires, humans, and even some friendly witches. Due to the strenuous relationship with the Vengence pack, werewolves didn't try to make friends, and the vampires were fine with that.

Despite the chilly weather, most people were out in the expansive gardens. Emmaline was there, surrounded by paparazzi and standing with her second in command Mary. Mary was stunning with black glossy hair, blue eyes, and a tall slim body.  Em was the leader, but Mary was the face of the clan. 

"Em, have you heard any news of Martin?" Mary leaned over to whisper. Em shook her head. Martin spent most of the decade traveling, only returning to his clan to judge the Tournament.

"We only have three weeks until the Tournament."

"Yes Mary, I am aware. I promise I will let you know the second I hear..."

Em was cut off when she caught a whiff of something. In the bustle of the party, she could smell several perfumes, human foods, wine, blood, sweat, and something that made her blood boil - wolf. It was just a second, but she knew what she smelled.

Grabbing Mary by the hand she stalked through the crowds sniffing to find the scent again. She caught it again and spun. In the far corner of the garden stood two men, one large and fit, one of them on the scrawny side. Em pointed to them.

"Mary, grab them and tag them. Keep it quiet, we don't want to interrupt the party. Call the guards and follow me to see if there are any others."

Em walked into the mansion and took a deep breath. She was one of the few vampires that could smell werewolves and witches. To most, they smelled just like humans.

"There." Em pointed to a tall, fit man. His aura gave off leadership vibes. Probably an alpha or beta. Guards swooped in and grabbed the man. He gave no resistance.

"Stay here and watch the party. I'll be in the dungeon." Mary nodded and walked back to the paparazzi. Em followed the guards down the back stairs into the dungeon. There kneeling at her feet were the three werewolves. One tank, one toothpick, and one model. 

"Here they are your majesty." Mccullough, her head of security motioned to the men. He had bound all three werewolves with cuffs behind their backs. Mccullough nudged the toothpick with his foot and the wolf almost fell over.

"Good catch your majesty."

"Thank you Mccullough." 

He nodded and stepped away from the prisoners.

Upclose she could now see that the model looked exactly like Alpha Damian, the leader of the Vengence pack, just maybe a bit younger. The Beta of the pack was Damian's younger brother Andrew. This was likely him. 

"Well gentleman, this is a breach of the treaty. Does Damian know you are here?"

No answer.

"You did a great job at hiding what you are, unfortunately, some things just can't be hidden."

"We don't know what you're talking about. We're vampires." the gangly man chimed in. He had a brave face on, but Em could see the fear in his eyes. She reached up to stroke his cheek with the back of her hand. When her silver ring made contact with his skin, he jumped back. 

Em chuckled and moved to the tank. When she caressed his face with silver, he didn't react, but the red burns gave him away all the same. 

When she moved to the Beta, something peculiar happened. They made eye contact and his green speckled eyes made her stomach clench. She suddenly felt like throwing up, something vampires rarely did. But her hand went to his face anyway and when their skin touch, a warm, foreign sensation ran through her fingers. This time she was the one that pulled away as if she had been burned.

Em had heard of this many times before but only one in a thousand vampires ever experienced it. She was the mate of a werewolf.