A/N: Here it is, my newest project. I am super excited about this one. Let me know what you think. I have had this one started since November but just wanted it to be right before I put it out here. On to the story.....

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The Lost King of Blood

Chapter 1

I had been in Evenbere for 4 nights and I don't know how a town can operate in such a sleepy manner. It was the strangest type feeling I had ever had, as if I had come home. This town just appeared to be under a spell, as if it was the only town to exist. The people were not rude but they were not friendly either. They kept to themselves, heads down and moved about the small streets tending to their own business. They had the appearance as just surviving instead of living.

I had taken up residence in the evenings at a popular tavern named Dawns, which I was sure to be named after a real live person but getting someone to actually tell me more than an acknowledgement would be almost impossible. I suppose I would have to let the new of me being here wear off and me being an outsider did not help. They acted as if I had the plague, which concerned me. How in the world would I convince anyone to spend money to visit this sleepy, unfriendly place if they could not even welcome me.

I had noticed that many of the locals gave me a look of uncertainty and even fear. I tried to appear friendly but each time I tried to make conversation they looked at me like I was going to reach out and snap their necks. I was getting a bit frustrated and a pang of homesickness washed over me.

I looked over the interior of Dawns, trying to make some sense of this feeling that kept pulling me in to this God forsaken place and noticed that many of the locals had gone back to playing pool or were watching some sports game drinking pints of beer. There were a few couples that were buried into a corner booth or by the fireplace deep in some conversation. Everyone in here would occasionally sneak looks at me and when I tried to make eye contact they would look away in a blink of an eye but the looks were all the same, mistrust, concern and unwelcome.

I was just about to get up and make my way back to my room across the street at the small B&B when I felt a shift in the atmosphere. A coolness kind of enveloped the tavern and everyone felt it. I recognized it immediately as the door of Dawn's opened and in floated the most beautiful woman I think I had ever seen. It had been the same the previous three nights, where she would gracefully walk in as if she was floating and look me straight in the eyes but never acknowledging me. It was as if she was looking straight through me, never giving away any emotion. She was breathtaking and I could barely tear my eyes from her.

I don't even know if I could even do justice to her description, as her long jet black hair flowed down her back stopping at her lower back and fell in waves of loose curls, her eyes, those memorizing eyes were a gray color but so bewitching I found myself get lost in them. Her complexion was as if it was the color of a honey porcelain if there was even such a color. Her lips were a plump deep red and back to those eyes, which were framed with long black lashes and eyebrows that were perfectly arched. She was maybe 5'5 inches and if I was a betting man I would say she weighed no more than 110 pounds, but the authority and power she commanded behind her small dainty frame was engulfing and amazing all in one. I could not be sure of her age but I felt she was around my age of thirty two but she carried herself way beyond her years.

Her strange aura drew me in closer and as I watched the actions of the entire tavern I could see that everyone gazed at her with respect, mystery and fear. Why were these people so fearful? Then I noticed that people would look at her and then look at me with the same expressions. She whispered something to one of the waitresses who nodded back to my mystery woman as she looked at me. I tore my gaze away from her and instantly felt cold and nauseated. I could feel perspiration forming on my brow and back of my neck, a wave of dizziness coming over me, subconsciously reaching up to rub my temples. Resting my forehead against my hand I tried to settle the dull ache that was forming in my head. I had literally felt fine a second ago and now I felt like I was about to have a full blown bout of the flu. I sat there for a minute trying to will myself to feel better and wondered what the hell was wrong with me.

After a moment I glanced up as a waitress that I knew as "Kaley", calling out to her as she walked by.

I studied her as she slowly made her way to my table, eyeing me suspiciously "you don't look to good".

I could only nod to her knowing that my voice would sound strained if I tried to speak right this instance. Her forehead furrowed as she noticed my discomfort and told me she would be right back with a glass of water.

As I peeked out around my hand my eyes landed on my mystery lady, the visual contact alone sending a wave of familiarity through my body causing me to internally shiver. As my ice blue eyes met her stormy gray ones time came to an abrupt stop. It was like a whirlwind of emotions that hit both of us like a tidal wave and I could see the outline of her lips as she gasped to herself. Before I could look away Kaley walked up with my water breaking the spell.

Glancing up at her I managed to ground out a simple who is she, causing Kaley to glance at me nervously "Can I get you anything else?".

It was obvious that no one was going to tell me anything in this damn town.

I just waved her away taking a drink of my cool water feeling the soothing coolness as it glided down my throat. I instantly started to feel better and noticed that the woman was leaving out the front door or I thought. I was surprised to see her stop at the door and turn around making eye contact with me again. If only I could read her mind so I could know what those eyes were trying to tell me. She sighed and looked at me once more and ducked out of the door closing it quietly. The entire room just stared after her and I could feel the uneasiness receding as her absence was welcome to them.

I don't know how long I stared at that closed door but was abruptly pulled back into the present by a clearing of a throat.

I looked up to see Kaley standing pretty close to me "She is just a woman that has lived in these parts all her life sir".

I rolled my eyes and smirked "is that the best you can come up with, a line out of movie?"

Kaley nervously laughed with her brogue thick "I would lose my job if they thought I was telling you anything about our town", she swept the air with her hand as she told me this.

"Well then pretend you are telling me about the menu" I said while I tapped my fingers against the plastic menu.

Nervousness and fear rolled off of Kaley causing me to wonder what this little sleepy town was really hiding.

I lifted my eyebrow at Kaley as she  looked down mumbling quietly "What do you want to know?".

"Who is she?" I heard myself say more sternly than I intended.

Kaley shrugged and stood there looking like she would prefer to be anywhere but here. This was ridiculous and I could feel my even tempered self began to lose patience.

"Why all the secrets around here Kaley?" I spat at her as I narrowed my glare at her.

I noticed her go pale and she was beginning to shake as she looked down at my menu and pointed to an item and leaned in whispering "Because they believe he is coming home".

"Who is coming home?" I whispered back without looking at her and did my best to keep looking where she was pointing, hoping we were convincing to others so she would not get in trouble.

"The Queen believes her mate and our King is coming home" she gasped in a whisper and then was gone in a flash through the doors leading to the kitchen.

I am sure my facial expression was priceless as the unbelievable crap that came out of Kaley's mouth but I could not help but to wonder what secrets this little tucked away town held especially with this kind of stuff was part of its history. Maybe they believed in fairy tales or took their horror stories to serious but there was no King or Queen in Scotland that I was aware of so I could not even process this useless piece of information. Whatever Kaley meant with this King and Queen nonsense she believed it and so did all of these other insane people.

I was mentally replaying what she had told me when I felt a cold breeze and looked to my left as my mystery woman had approached me. I must have been so involved with getting answers from Kaley I never even saw her come back inside. She glided into the seat next to me and gave me that emotionless look that I was becoming accustomed to. I searched her stormy gray eyes for any trace of emotion or anything really but there was nothing.

"I hear you want to know my name?" Her voice was like pure warm milk chocolate gliding over her tongue and had me glued to her face as if I was in a trance.

I felt my eyes search her features for anything but that voice just echoed deep into my mind causing me to feel like I knew her. Something was familiar and safe in her mere presence. There was a pull to her that I could not describe, a yearning that left me wanting for more. I felt myself lean into her, subconsciously inching toward her wanting to be closer. I was having trouble concentrating and I could see it in her eyes too, she was panicking and then a fuzzy feeling started invading my brain.

She reached out and touched my hand which caused me to look down at it noticing her leaning in and whispering in my ear "Emory, my name is Emory your highness" and then she was gone.

I sat there for a moment, stunned, with a pain in my chest and a feeling of loneliness. My brain was still fuzzy but I had one thing on my mind, I was wanted to go after her but I literally could not move as if I was glued to my seat. I felt like my breathing was getting ragged to the point I could not catch my breath. I shook my head to try to clear the fuzziness but my head continued to feel like it was going to explode. My senses seemed to be heightened and I could hear everyone's voice as if they were whispering in my ear but the overload of it all was causing me to feel like I was being suffocated, which was going right along with my lack of breath that seem to not be going away either.

Although I felt like I was on the verge of losing every bit of my control I remained puzzled at what she had said to me, referring to me as "your highness" which did not make any sense. What the hell was she talking about in fact why was everyone staring at me like they had seen a ghost. I looked up and saw Kayla headed toward me with a beer with a look that mimicked the others had pasted on their faces. I looked up to her with a confused face but as she walked closer I could see that she looked pale and was trembling. I grabbed her arm as she sat the pint down and saw the visible flinch she gave me when I grabbed it.

"Why is everyone staring at me as if they have seen a ghost" I whispered to her.

I could smell her fear as it rolled off of her which I thought was strange, how does one smell fear. If I was being honest all of my senses seemed to be heightened. I could smell things that I should not smell, hear what everyone was saying no matter the distance and my eyesight seemed to be sharper than normal.

I pulled her down with a speed that even shocked me and saw the fear in her entire body as she was yanked down to my eye level.

I heard her whisper as if it was she was yelling across the room "It's you, you have come home".

I dropped her arm causing Kaley to almost fall completely down at my feet. I watched her steady herself and turn as fast as she could and run back to the kitchen, glancing back once more with a look that I would never forget, fear. I could feel that I was about to lose myself and I felt like I was going to explode with a feeling of anger and power like I have never felt before. I had never felt like this before, like I was awakening from a deep sleep and as I glanced around I could see everyone staring at me with shock.

I had to get out of here before all hell broke loose so I did the only thing that I could think of at the moment. I ran, I ran through the door at a speed that I never knew I had and for a split second I felt like I was flying. I continue to run across the street busting through the door of where I was staying only to look up and see brown eyes staring at me with shock and concern. The last thing I remember was Aggie's shocked expression as my world spun into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I am dedicating this chapter to my dear friends Amanda and Paula!  They read the first chapter and gave me the green light to post it.  THANKS!!

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