Alina is an angel of a baby, sleeps through the night, feeds well, perfect for a first timer like me. Alone with no clue about babies, what a great combination. I grow tired of staring at the walls, looking out the windows at the passing world. The pram sits in the corner of the lounge room almost begging to be taken out.

'Would you like to be taken for a walk...' I frown. 'I suppose it would not be safe to call you by your real name, so maybe your second name then, Stefania... no too uncommon.' I gasp. 'How about Stephanie?'

She grins as she gurgles, grabbing her feet as she lays on my bed.

'You are such a cutie Stephanie.'

I dress her in warm clothes and put her into the pram. The weather was cool outside; I was grateful that Ethan had packed some warm clothes for me. I sat on a park bench that over looked a little park, several buildings lined the outskirts of it. A woman was sitting on the park bench beside mine, papers in her hands, she had tears in her eyes as she read them.

'Are you ok?'

She looks up at me, a middle aged woman, dressed a little dowdy she wiped away the tears.

'Uh, yeah. It's all good.'

Her attention returned to her pieces of paper, I entered her mind, curious to what has upset her. It startles me to find that she and her husband have been refused in their application to adopt a child, too old they told her. I looked at the woman who didn't seem like she was too old. The wind whispered to me that she is perfect. My eyes gazed up at the sky, knowing who it was that was whispering to me.

What is it that you want? Me to give Stephanie to this woman and her husband? The wind whispered that she will be safe with them, he will never find her. Are you planning on sending Miranda here so that we can discuss this? Again, the wind whispered to me, yes.

'My name is Josie.'

She looks up at me, a little smile appears on her pretty face.

'Mary.'

I see the familiar long curly blonde haired woman walking through the park, her petite frame and beautiful features get the attention of a passing cyclist.

'Afternoon.' she smiles at me as she sits down on the seat beside me.

'Hello again.'

Godfrey has been talking to me. Me too, is that her? Yep, Mary. Interesting. Her face looks rather optimistic. Is Godfrey sure of this? Yes, I have spoken to him at length about leaving Alina with humans. Stephanie. Sorry? she frowns at me. I renamed her, Alina is not a safe name. Oh, good thinking. She grins, looking down at her. Godfrey has followed Mary for a while now, observed her and her husband, examined their minds and found them suitable. How did he know of them? Apparently she passed you when you were in the grocery store, Godfrey liked the healthy foods in her basket she giggled in my mind. Did you have something to do with their refusal at the adoption agency? No. She frowns. They were refused, why? Too old. Bah! She's not that old.

'Ok, ready to say goodbye?' she whispers.

I look down at the baby.

'Not really, a month is a long time.'

'Yeah, sorry, took longer than I expected.'

She pats my thigh.

'Come on, it is in her best interest and you have bigger things on your plate.'

I rub my belly; I can now feel the baby move inside me. Miranda smiles at me.

'She will be fine, we will come back for her when she is eighteen and can take the throne.'

Miranda approached Mary and spoke with her in great detail, the child in the pram was an orphan and her and her husband could adopt the child if they so choose, which of course she accepted without even talking to her husband. She looked upon the child with love in her eyes, happiness etched on her face as the tears rolled down her cheeks. It would be an easy process, I would take the child to an adoption agency with Mary and her husband. We would go to a different one, hoping not to arouse any suspicion. I would pretend to be the mother, unable to care for the child and wanted my dear my 'aunty and uncle' to take the child. Being that I looked very young, I was able to pass myself off as an unwed teenage mother. The people at the agency didn't even bat an eyelid at any of us, a seemingly normal situation. It also helped that Miranda was in their minds, gently persuading them to not find any fault.

'Goodbye Stephanie Collins, be safe, lead a normal life.' I whisper in her ear. 'I will see you again in eighteen years.' my eye darts to Miranda, she smiles at me. 'Maybe a bit before then too.'

I put the baby into Mary's arms, she tries in vain to hold back the tears. Her husband, Dale has loaded all of the baby things into their car.

'You can stop by anytime you like.' Mary says as she puts Stephanie into the car seat. 'Anytime, don't be strangers.'

She hugs us and thanks us. It was hard to watch them drive away. I knew I would see them again, long before her eighteenth birthday, something inside of me said that my interactions with the princess were not done. Not by a long shot.

'There is much to discuss, this is far from over. You and I have a very long path ahead of us, my darling little sister.' she grins at me as she wraps her arm around me.

'What is there to discuss?'

We begin to walk down the street; her arm moves to link into mine.

'Godfrey wants a vampiric council to be formed to take over for Alina in her absence. Gavril cannot be punished because there is no proof of any of his actions. Sadly, he has been allowed to be steward of Rostonin until Alina is found.'

'So we all have to pretend that she is missing for eighteen years?'

'Yes, you will need to bury your thoughts on this subject very, very deep.'

'So, a vampiric council, huh?'

'Yes.' she grins.

'Who would be the leader of said council?'

'There are a few candidates that have put their hands up, members of the dark being council already, they are suitable candidates. Gavril has put his hand up as well.' she frowned.

'And how will this be decided, democratically or by Godfrey?'

'Well, he has approved all candidates except for Gavril, happy with those that have been nominated again, except for Gavril, but ultimately, it is a democratic decision. We can only hope that he hasn't managed to sway the member's votes. A member of each of the royal families for each kingdom will be placed on the council, each of those members will be given a vote. Oh, and you and I are to be on the council too.'

'Me?'

'Yes, you are the voice of Godfrey, as am I. We have to be there.' She looks at her watch. 'Very soon, in fact.'

I couldn't get over the outfit the maids helped me into. It looked like something from the Victorian era and I was grateful they didn't bring out the corset. But it was a stunning dress, white with black swirls in the cloth, the waist was supposed to be tight on my belly but of course the lump that protrudes from me makes it rather difficult. The dress flowed to the ground, a big puff of a thing, it was heavy and difficult to manoeuvre. Ethan grinned at me, watching on in amusement as the maids set about trying to hide the pink in my hair. It was surprising that he wasn't all over me seeing as we hadn't seen each other in a month. I guess the impending meeting was weighing heavily on him, his father had elected him to be this kingdom's representative. He looked very handsome in his full suit, the vest underneath matched his jacket and pants, a deep grey colour.

It was rather boring the council meeting, everyone bantered and jeered at the suggestions being thrown around the room. I would have thought that these people would be upset at the death of their king and queen and the missing princess, but they seemed too wrapped up in deciding their own future. Miranda rolled her eyes at these stuffy old men, too stuck in their archaic ways to see that a new age was upon us. There was only one that I thought would be young enough to see this council into this new age, a young vampire named Terrance Waeston. He was the second born son of a well-respected king, his time on the throne would not be coming any time soon and sought a challenge in his life. When I saw Miranda looking at him, a tiny grin curled into her lips, her eyes flickered with an unknown emotion. She called for a ten-minute break, hoping that it would relieve some of the tension in the room.

I wandered around the lounge room, filled with the men, still talking of politics. One thing that I did notice was that Miranda wasn't in the room. As I surveyed the men in the room, I noticed another person missing. I giggled in my mind as I ventured out of the room. I know what's going on here... It didn't take much to find them, just outside the front doors in what could be deemed a very scandalous and compromising position.

'Well isn't this interesting.' I smugly close the door behind me.

Miranda blushes as she stands straightening her dress.

'It's not what you think.' Terrance says.

'Of course not, I have seen mouth to mouth resuscitation before, I know what it looks like.'

I wipe the side of my mouth at him, he wipes the lipstick from his mouth.

'But you do realise that you are now biased towards him, if any of them find out it will cause problems.'

'Then I won't vote for him.'

'And if it comes down to one vote that decides it all?'

She sighs as she slumps to the concrete edge of the garden bed.

'How about you knock it off until after the vote has been cast, lock this in your minds, then when it's over with it will be fine.'

Miranda and I counted the votes, a secret ballot was the best option, so as no one was seen to be playing favourites. If I had worried about Miranda and Terrance's secret shenanigans on the front porch causing problems, I was wrong. Terrance won by a landslide, which made me grateful. He seemed the better choice. There was one at the meeting that I was grateful didn't win and I would have loved to have known who he voted for, Gavril. He had put himself up as the obvious choice, as Lucian's younger brother, he thought it was his given right to be crowned king of the realm. But of course, Godfrey was having no part of it, that was Alina's title and until she was found, there would be no monarch on the throne. I wondered how many there were here that suspected Gavril's involvement, how many would try and enter his mind. Of course, Miranda told me not to bother with it, he was one that knew how to lock his mind rather well.