Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

An unexpected call (I)

Gjaki sighed, and crossed another Gate. She didn't want to go back to the mansion yet, as her quarrel with Chornakish was still too fresh.

The truth was that he was as depressed as her, or more. He understood her suffering. When Tilli died, he had been holding her in his arms while she was crying inconsolably. In fact, he doubted his decision, whether he should let himself be bitten and stay with her as a vampire.

However, if he did, she wouldn't be able to consume his blood anymore, and it frightened him. Perhaps, it might seem silly, but their relationship had started in a certain way like that. He liked to feel how her lover bit him, how she enjoyed the taste of his blood, how she kissed him afterwards.

The vampiress had insisted that it wasn't like that, that she would continue to love him. She had even gotten angry with him. However, he felt that he would no longer be special if she couldn't bite her. At the same time, he felt stupid for thinking like that. Chornakish felt guilty, because he knew that he was making her suffer. He didn't know what to do.

Not knowing the thoughts of his beloved, Gjaki arrived at her destination. She walked through the halls, without any of the guards or servants daring to stop her. Instead, they greeted her with deep respect.

"Where's Kildkro?" she asked a servant.

"The last time I saw him, he was going with his wooden sword to the training room, quite excited, my queen," the servant replied after a deep bow.

"You seriously can't just call me Gjaki?" she complained.

"But... Your Majesty..." she almost panicked.

"Okay, okay. Do what you want," the silver-haired vampiress left, much to the servant's relief.

Calling the Blood Queen Gjaki was a boldness that the servant didn't dare, no matter how close the vampiress was. To her, as to many citizens of the realm, she wasn't only the queen, but her hero, her idol, almost a goddess.

Gjaki knew that there was nothing it could be done about it anymore. She was the Blood Queen, whether she wanted it to or not. During the Gjak Wars, as they were popularly called, her role had been too leading. She didn't regret having done it, since many lives had been saved thanks to her. However, even after so many years, the treatment still overwhelmed her.

In fact, Gjaki's mansion was considered the capital of the kingdom, even though it had been outside the territory. That was the reason why the city near the mansion had grown so much.

She sighed. She preferred not to think about it. Maybe another time. The vampiress now needed to relax, and Kildkro always managed to get a smile out of her.

She headed towards the training room, and found a young vampire barely seven years old facing off against a vampiress under thirty.

"Hi Kildkro! Hi, Solhana!" she greeted them.

""Aunt Gjaki!"" they both turned to her.

Solhana had returned a few days ago. She had volunteered to play with her little brother, or train, as he called it. The young vampiress adored him, and they both adored Gjaki, whom they called aunt despite not being related by blood.

"Do you have sticks?" the boy asked with glazed eyes, after throwing himself at Gjaki and hugging her.

"For you, always," Gjaki assured. She took out a delicious caramel sweet made by Goldmi. "Do you want some too?"

Solhana smiled. As a child, she too had eaten quite a few of those delicious sweets. However, now there were other things that she preferred.

"Don't you have any of the cream puffs left?" she asked.

Gjaki smiled, and made a pair appear. She was incapable of denying them anything, and they knew it.

"You pamper them too much," Kilthana scolded her in a rather sweet tone, as she came from behind.

"It's my right as the Blood Queen," Gjaki replied with mock solemnity.

"I thought you didn't like being that," the countess laughed.

"Well, since I can't avoid it, at least it has to have some advantage," the queen shrugged.

"Are you alright?" Her friend asked.

They had known each other for too many years to not understand that she was overreacting. That meant she was hiding something.

"Yes... Well... I've had a quarrel with Chorni..." she confessed in a low voice.

She didn't want Kilthana's children hear her, though they were distracted right now. Solhana had sat down in an armchair. She was slowly savoring a pastry filled with cream and covered with elven fruits. Her brother was sucking on the candy, while sitting on her sister legs. She was hugging him affectionately with her free arm.

"Again...!?" the countess got a little exasperated "Come. Why don't we talk more calmly."

Although she was somewhat irritated by the situation, Kilthana knew that her friend suffered a lot inside her. She couldn't have children, because her blood was too powerful to get pregnant. Her mate had to be of comparable lineage, and he wasn't.

As if that weren't enough, she was watching him grow old little by little. It was even more painful when she had already lost several friends for that reason.

Perhaps, what frustrated Kilthana the most was that all she could do was listen and try to comfort her. The countess owed everything to her friend, and really wished she could help her. Secretly, she had done some research, with Jiknha's complicity, but they hadn't found anything useful.

"Oh... Goldmi is calling me. It's green. I'll go see what she wants," Gjaki was suddenly surprised.

In the past, they had established a simple emergency system. Red meant they were in grave danger. Yellow meant they should come as soon as possible, although it wasn't life-threatening. Green was simply a call, to come over when free.

Relieved to have something to do, Gjaki decided to go see her elf friend. Besides, she had some unfinished business there.

"Hi, Gjaki... Are you already leaving?" Solodkro appeared. He had arrived just when a Gate was materializing.

"Yeah. Any urgent business?" Gjaki asked.

"Well, sort of. Soon, it'll be the parade in honor of the Blood Queen, and it would be nice if you went, so..." the count wanted to explain, but Gjaki interrupted him.

"Ah... Well... Now I'm in a bit of a hurry. We'll talk another time," she said goodbye, without giving him time to reply.

She disappeared through the Gate, leaving the count speechless, and the countess chuckling.

"She's not going, is she?" he asked his wife.

"Ha, ha. I don't think so. She is allergic to them."