2 The special gift

Tiana's point of view:

"What a wonderful dress, your Highness!" Exclaimed Lia while watching carefully the dress thrown over my bed. Meanwhile, I was sitting in front of a vast mirror as one of the human maids was fixing my hair.

"If you like it that much, then you can have it."

The thing is that I care less about that dress or any other dress, don't even care about how my hair's looking, or about the ceremony taking place this exact night.

"No way!" She shouted while quickly moving her sight far away from the dress. "The King might kill me if I did so. This dress is made for your Highness for tonight's ceremony. All the mighty and well-known vampires are invited, including Aaron Athan …"

Aeron Athan – I chuckled inside myself as I repeated his name. The mention of his name was enough to zone me out of this stupid conversation.

He is of course, good-looking, charming, wealthy, and strong – like all other vampires… Still, he was never mine, and he won't ever be. I would lie if I said that he's not an interesting person, he is truly a very interesting person.

He's indeed one of the rare remaining true blood vampires, but still, it isn't the real reason why he is well known by most of the vampires.

The thing is that he made his reputation for the many wars he won during his life. As one of the night creatures, we – vampires have many enemies, starting with witches that claim to be _Mother Nature's only children. While other creatures, including us, are just mistakes that need to be handled by them. The funny thing was that - they were the cause of most of the disasters in the world.

Of course, they weren't to be taken as a weak enemy since they possessed such an impressive sort of power. Not to mention that they do have a stronghold on the field when it's daytime.

As it's known, most vampires, including true blood vampires get burn by the slight hint of sun.

Well, when I say most I mean most. All vampires are gifted with special gifts that are shown few years after they transformed. Yet, it changes from a vampire to another.

To make it clear, my father can read everyone's thoughts, which makes it impossible for anyone to hide a secret from my father. Because of his special gift, he knows exactly who to trust, and who to not trust. Just a slight thought of betraying my father will get you slaughtered by his own sword.

Me on the other hand, my gift is quite weird. I don't know if I should call it a gift or a curse. I can see some few visions related to the future, the near future, and also the far one. Still, the future can change with the small butterfly effect, which causes my vision to not be stable.

There are some very few vampires that possess one unique special gift, the shield.

The shield can shield a vampire from the sun, and also from gifts such as my father's one. The same exact unique gift is one of the reasons why Aeron is seen as a strong vampire.

Besides his gift, he's also known for his intelligence. He was the one to come up with many war strategies that are still used until nowadays. Such as the newborn vampire's strategy that was used against witches.

Also, he was the one ahead of the Salem witch trials.

Though he's interesting, he's still just one of them, one of those damn vampires that care only for the throne that would soon have been placed on my head.

I most of the time wonder if he was going to show me an interest same as the one he's showing me now if I wasn't the future vampire queen.

The thrown over my head wasn't the exact reason why I'm not really into Aeron, there was also that wolf boy…

I met him five years ago during an attack made by werewolves on our previous palace.

His slight memory shall be a nightmare to me, still, I can't stop thinking about him.

His dark raven black hair was everything I wish to touch, his blue ocean eyes are a window not to his soul but to mine.

His very fine nose creates a bridge leading to his perfect lips. The blood on his face did not ruin his beauty at all….

As I was lost in my thoughts, a cough took me back to reality. Guess who was here and was not happy with what I was thinking about.

" The blood that covers his face was your own people's blood." Exclaimed my father who was the only one staying in the room with me.

While I was lost in my thoughts, it seems that my father dismissed all the maids along with Lia.

" I was just thinking..." He cut me off without waiting for me to say another word.

" You don't have to think at all, your people are your priority to think about first. Besides, the one you're making fantasies about doesn't think about you the same, he sees you as a monster, as his enemy."

The words spoken were all honest, though it spread an unbearable pain into my heart. My father seemed to notice the impact that his words have on me, the reason why he decided to speak again while lifting my chin up toward him.

" You are my everything, sweetheart, my one and only child. I would never want anything wrong to happen to you. Tonight shall prove that to you, my child."

This was all he said before he vanished from my sight.

I looked in the mirror as I was sitting in front of me to see that my hair and make-up were already done. All I still had to do was to wear the dress brought by my dad.

Tonight shall be another start in my life, I will no longer be a princess - I will be the queen.

Still, as my father says, a queen needs a king by her side.

Right after the coronation, I shall pick a husband among the nobles invited.

Again, like everything in my life, all the picking matter is nothing more than just an act since my future husband was already chosen by my own father...