Katrina, The Beginning Read online

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  I rose with a start, not even sure what day it was. My head throbbed and as I opened my mouth to call Sarah, she rushed into the room, a full breakfast tray in her hands.

  “Hurry now. There is much to do.” She dragged me out of bed, peeled me out of my rumpled dress, and helped me wash.

  While I ate, Sarah told me about a fight the night before between Quinn and Gunter. “There was quite a commotion at the Watcher compound last night. I heard that Quinn gave Gunter quite a sound beating in a sword fight.”

  I had to frown. “Really, what was it all about? Is Gunter all right?”

  “They are both fine. Boys being boys I suppose. Nothing to worry your pretty head about.”

  By the time I had finished my eggs, sausage and a full stack of pancakes and gulped down a large goblet of fresh Crimson, Sarah had finished braiding my hair, styling it tight to the sides and behind my head.

  Energized from the Crimson, feeling refreshed and now headache free, I patted my full belly, rose and dressed in a simple, functionally tasteful traveling outfit of the softest lambskin leggings, riding boots, and a beautifully embroidered emerald green over-tunic.

  Sarah pulled me to stand in front the large ornate mirror, a gift from my father last year on my seventeenth birthday. Had it been so long since I’d looked at myself? I hardly recognized the girl in the mirror. The tall young woman looking back at me looked surprised too!

  “You look lovely. The picture of a young royal on her first journey to council.”

  Sarah often told me I was pretty, but now as I looked my reflection up and down I had to admit it was true, I was pretty. My golden brown hair shone in the candlelight. I smiled as I noted the green of my eyes, full of wonder at my appearance, were perfectly complemented by my outfit.

  I felt strong and ready for whatever would come. Sarah’s voice rang in my mind. “Stand up straight, head up, shoulders back. Look people in the eye when speaking to them.” The years of Sarah’s training , my education in the way to behave like a lady of the court was finally going to pay off. My body was trembling with excitement. I longed for an opportunity to make my father proud and I even secretly hoped that sometime during the journey, there would be a chance to use what we’d learned during the long hours of sword training and battle tactics.

  As I continued to twist and turn in front of the mirror I thought, it occurred to me that what I saw reflected would be what I would look like for many, many, years to come. Through centuries of evolution the Vampire race had developed the ability to slow the aging process. Beginning in our seventeenth year, a gene, dormant until then, turns on caused our cell regeneration to go into hyper drive. The byproduct of this was our aging process slowed to a crawl. For the next hundred or so years my body would undergo only subtle changes, but would look essentially the same; unless of course I continued to forget to feed.

  Quinn was right to be angry with me and I would have to apologize to him. I also wanted to ask him about the fight. However, I didn’t want to risk make him angry again by asking about it, so maybe it would be better to let him bring it up, I decided. If he wanted to tell me about it he would. I took a deep breath and made my way out of my quarters down to the central courtyard where everyone would be waiting.

  The sun was peeking over the mountains and beginnings of sunrise made the eastern sky glow with soft bands of pink and orange. Waking birds were singing and going about their business. It was May in Germany, and although mornings were still cool, by mid morning it warmed and the soft mountain breeze would be sweet with hints of jasmine in the.

  I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. In my mind I heard my father’s voice asking, “Use your gifts, Katrina. What do you ‘see’ daughter?”

  When I was small, I didn’t fully understand what he meant, but knew that I had an innate ability of detection that stemmed somehow from my sense of smell. My father recognized my gift and soon the purpose of his oft repeated instruction became clear.

  My extraordinary sense of smell, one much, much stronger and more refined than the normal Vampire’s, gave me mental pictures of every I could smell. That’s why my Father asked me to take a deep draft of air and then ask me what I could ‘see’. My olfactory sense worked on everything, but was most useful when looking for humans, vampires, and animals and was sensitive enough that I was able to discern their numbers.

  Father said if I was patient and practiced diligently, my gift would become a very useful indeed and I found, with experience I, was able to harnessed it, and grew proficient in identifying individuals, recognizing each being’s unique scent (not always pleasant). I soon learned once I found and identified a scent, I was able to retrieve the stored memory of it for reference later. To my knowledge, I have never forgotten a scent..

  With practice I was capable of differentiating differences between animals, horses from mules, dogs from wolves, sheep from, goats, and the like.

  When outside the grounds, I added my acute hearing to the mix, sensing, not only the kinds of animals or people, but also how far away and in what direction they were.

  “Katrina,” my father called as he walked towards me. Tall and regal, he looked handsome in his all-black attire, which included a hat and a cape. His slightly graying hair fell to his shoulders, and I couldn’t help thinking how lucky I was to be his daughter.

  “Yes Father?” I replied, as I hastened to meet him.

  “Are you ready? Did you have our gifts for court packed?”

  Although it was customary to give gifts of friendship to his Lordship the High Regent and his wife the Lady Margarite, I had also ordered Sarah to pack extra trinkets and baubles in case extra tokens were needed.

  “Yes Father, everything is in order.”

  Seeing the line of wagons fully loaded and prepared to leave, the magnitude of this journey finally impacted me. It must have taken all night for the servants to complete all the preparations.

  “Then let us be on our way. The journey is long and we know not what awaits us. Why his Lordship demands such secrecy of this journey I don’t know, but I’m anxious to go, to arrive early and have some time to seek counsel with others before everyone else arrives.” He pulled on gloves and strode toward the waiting line of horses.

  “Yes, Father.” I felt as if I were rushing behind him like a young pup, in order to keep up with his long stride.

  I spotted Quinn and felt my heart begin to race. He was standing by the horses, my beautiful bay mare and his dark grey gelding, their manes fluttering in the early morning breeze. He was talking to Thomas and hadn’t noticed me yet.

  Why was I reacting to him this way? He was just my Quinn. My Quinn? Where had that come from? He’d always been just Quinn. We had grown up together and Gunter had appointed him to my Watcher only last year.

  I was drawing closer now and as I stepped within a few feet of him, Thomas stopped talking and looked over. Quinn turned, our eyes met and held for a moment before he looked away.

  “My Lady,” they both said at the same time, and made a slight bow of their heads.

  My Lady? Not, “good morning, Katrina,” or “you are late, Katrina.” This was all too strange and I was determined to get to the bottom of it soon, but as I was about to remark on their new attitude, the guard on the wall yelled out. “Caravan approaching!”

  Count Philepe Bistodeau, his son Gerhardt, and their entourage cantered through the west gate.

  “Oh, good, Fredrik. I was afraid you would already be gone,” Philepe said, circled his mount and slowed him to a walk.

  “We were just about to depart, Philepe.” Father smiled and extended his hand in greeting.

  “Excellent, we can travel together. There’s safety in numbers and we can talk along the way.”

  Philepe turned his gaze to me.

  “Ah, is this Katrina? How beautiful you have become. You remember my son Gerhardt, don’t you?”

  I did. A pompous, spoiled, self-absorbed peacock
, as I recalled; but I greeted him, “Yes, of course. How are you, Gerhardt?”

  “I’m getting better all the time. I look forward to a long journey together.”

  I managed not to show my distaste as I thought of being regaled by his self-aggrandizing tales of daring-do for days on end. If I heard him talk about how great he was one more time, I would be nauseous.

  Quinn brought over my horse, Nulla, and helped me mount. After I was safely in place he gazed up at me and whispered, “Don’t worry, Kat. I’ll always be here to save you.”

  Then he winked at me, went to his horse, and mounted.

  I smiled and turned Nulla toward the east gate, positioning us so Quinn was on one side and Simon on the other. Gerhardt then had no option but to ride with someone else.

  I turned to Quinn to say thanks, but he was looking straight ahead, a wry smile on his face. I know I would have laughed out loud had I been privy to his thoughts.

  Much later, I was relieved when Gerhardt finally rode by us and joined our fathers. I had endured hours of his trying to engage me in conversation. His surrender was a small victory, but a satisfying one.

  For the next three days there was no privacy and no chance to speak with Quinn alone. We would arrive in Salzburg the day after tomorrow, about which I felt both excited and fearful. Having the young royal Vampire together at one time and place had never happened before. Until now, we had only briefly met with the other European clans to discuss rogue vampire killings or other clan business. I’d never seen most of the other clans. Of course Father had visited all of them, responding whenever help was needed. He was well acquainted with those members who had been sent to Council. Along the way I had heard him speaking to Philepe about how ‘on edge’ all the clans had been. Although council was successfully keeping the peace for now, rivals were arguing among themselves over a new territory across the sea in the New World.

  Where will all this lead? Was it true they intended to send us off to that New World they talked about? The Viking Clans had been going there for hundreds of years and had sent an expedition as recently as two years ago into uncharted territories beyond the cities in the east. I hoped there would be an opportunity to hear the tales of their exploits. These were not things that normally interested me, but the thought of young Vampire from several of our clans being offered the opportunity of starting a new clan in this New World was exciting. I knew I wanted to go. Now all I had to do was convince my father.

  After almost two weeks on the road, we were in sight of Salzburg. From afar the view was stunning, revealing colorful ornate buildings. As we rode closer we could see beautifully dressed residents and busy streets lined with shops.

  I had no idea a place could be so grand, so beautiful. I longed to spend time gazing into the sundry-filled windows. One featured fancy hats with feathered plumes, another beautiful silk gowns of every color and others individually displayed their food, meat, cheeses, and wine. The air was filled with wonderful scents from them.

  Children laughed and ran through the park as we neared the edge of the city. I was tired and the thought the Regent’s palace, located not too far outside the city gates would be both a comforting and welcomed sight.

  We had no time to linger now, but passing the shops, seeing the lovely outfits adorning the women, and the couples having lunch, made me wish I had time to stroll the streets and explore all the wonders that abounded there. Maybe our return would afford us a chance to stroll the avenues.

  “Daydreaming again?”

  Quinn’s voice jerked me back to reality.

  “Yes, and I wish…” Then I realized these were the first words we’d spoken for days, and I wondered where Thomas and Simon were.

  He said, as if reading my mind, “Thomas and Simon are consulting with Gunter about how best to guard you and his Lordship while in the Palace. What were you about to say?”

  I paused. “Nothing.”

  My heart sank. I hadn’t been alone with him for days, and now when I had the chance, I couldn’t think of anything to say. What a fool I was!

  The look on Quinn’s face and the movement of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed told me he was having the same problem. We rode along in strained silence.

  Finally, I couldn’t stand the tension and I blurted. “I was thinking about the reason we were traveling. Could it be the council will be announcing their decision regarding the Americas? You’d be coming with me, right? That is, if they really are sending us to start a New World clan, I mean.”

  “Nothing is sure, Katrina. Everything we’re heard regarding the reason for this meeting is sheer speculation. The High Regent may have called the council together to tell us something completely different. He may even forbid anyone to go to this ‘New World’ as you put it. But I will say this - wherever you are, until I am no longer, is where I will be.”

  Then he looked ahead to see Thomas returning.

  Wherever you are is where I will be. He did love me; I was sure of it now.