The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 1

January 16th, 1895

† Braddock †

Months passed and Yalena, the woman from Melas, proved to be a worthy ally. Her ability to heal negated her gender, when Braddock spoke to his superiors.

Though Braddock led his own unit of the army, made up of both vampire and human fighters willing to tackle the growing feud between their people, he took no comfort from knowing that Yalena could handle herself in a fight. It still went against everything he had been raised to believe in, to send her off on missions alone and expect her to return unharmed.

It was not just the war they had to worry about. More and more vampire Lords were banding together, insisting that their race be the superior force in the world. Killing a vampire took a lot out of a person, no matter whether they were human or vampire, and it had drained their supplies and numbers quickly.

Screaming interrupted his thoughts, as he walked from one end of the camp to the other. Braddock looked around, searching for the source, until two horses stopped by the post and two human soldiers dismounted, one having to drag a woman with him. She kicked and screamed so loudly that the sound woke half the camp.

"What is this?" Braddock demanded, as he stepped forward.

Before his men could speak, while trying to restrain the woman, Yalena exited her tent, pinning her hair back from her face. Two steps behind her was a young vampire soldier, Augustine.

A swell of jealousy rose within Braddock, as he spotted the soldier tucking his shirt back into his trousers. It was evident what they had been doing.

"Yalena!" One of the newly returned soldiers sighed in relief and practically threw the screaming woman at her. "We found this banshee in the woods. She will not quiet, will not explain why she screams and has injured both of us many times. It is only by the grace of the Gods that we have not killed her, to shut her up, already."

Yalena frowned at his words, but spoke softly to the woman, as she guided her into her tent.

Ignoring the obvious relationship she shared with Augustine, Braddock followed and stood over her, as she talked in whispers with the screaming woman. From the way she failed to contain her sadness, before nodding, he guessed that it was not good news.

The woman's torn clothing, revealing bloody smears and injuries to various parts of her body, warned him what the problem may be.

To his shock, Yalena reached to a nearby table and grabbed the knife that lay on the meal platter. With a few whispers and a tender hand that brushed hair back from the screaming woman's face, Yalena stabbed the woman in the heart.

A deafening silence took hold.

"Her pain was too great," Yalena explained, with a brief twitch of her head that said she felt the need to justify her actions, but could not turn to look at him.

Braddock gripped her shoulder gently and said nothing. There was not much to say. It was clear that the woman had suffered and he did not need an imagination to gather in what ways. At least now she would be at peace. "Is it...as I suspect?" he checked, so that he may report the crime to his commander.

Yalena nodded and tenderly closed the woman's eyes. "She is only a child. Barely nineteen," she explained, her voice full of grief.

"Shall I fetch Augustine?" he asked quietly, in case she wished to be alone with her love, to seek the comfort she would need.

However, Yalena wore a weak, amused smile as she looked up at him. "You think he is important to me?" she asked.

"I think you are playing a dangerous game, if he is not," Braddock warned, as he crouched beside her. He lowered his voice and looked into her beautiful green eyes. "Yalena, that boy is Commander Lee's son. A bastard son, but his son and only heir, if his new wife does not provide another. You had best be careful. You are valuable to us, but the commander will not hesitate to punish you, if you break Augustine's heart," he said, concerned for her safety.