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6: I do know my place

It was cold when we entered the ancient city of Tenebris, the vampire capital and the city housing the magnificent Palace of Immortalis. To humans, it was a city unheard of, hidden in the shadows of the darkness which seemed to engulf the place. It was heavily wooded and dense with what one should say greenery, but what I found to be rather grey, thick trees which carried a light, pleasant scent akin to a mixture of cinnamon and bergamot. It was unusual, in an exciting type of way, and I realised that the entire place had me entranced in my timid wonder.

"If you keep gawking like that, your eyes are going to pop right out. The trees are enchanted."

"What!" I exclaimed immediately shutting my eyes closed and turning myself away from the window. Another sigh left Sebastian and he muttered, under his breath, "Such a naive girl."

I opened my eyes slowly and in embarrassment when I heard him. "Sorry... it's really my first time being anywhere away from my pack." I fell silent after that, and Sebastian responded with a quick, swift glance towards me and back towards the road. Finally, after being only surrounded by trees, we arrived at a pair of giant, silver gates which shone slightly in the pale dimness of the sky. The gates spanned almost endlessly, and I could not even begin to see where exactly they ended. Standing in front of the gates in quite beautiful, dapper black suits slightly less extravagant than the one Sebastian was donned in, were a large array of men and women. Their faces, I noticed as we inched closer, were void of any emotion, and they stood stiff as though each were a pale statue and I was surprised to see one of them begin to walk when we arrived just outside of the gates.

He was a tall, pale man with long, reddish hair tied in a neat bun to the back of his head. Only a few tendrils of wavy hair hung in his face, framing its unnatural beauty.

He took one whiff from the car as Sebastian rolled down the window and said, with a look of disgust, "Why have you brought a wolf here?"

Sebastian sighed, once again and said, "Take a closer smell."

He leaned down, past Sebastian and took in a deeper scent of me. Immediately he stiffened, and then stared at both Sebastian and I in shock. "Half?"

Sebastian nodded. "Athena's daughter." That seemed to be all the vampire needed to know before signalling to the others to open the gates. It was quite a magnificent portrayal as the large array of bodies began slipping their pale fingers onto the bars of the gate and pulling them, splitting the gates apart slowly until there was sufficient room for the car to go through. But the gates did not even come close to the absolute beauty that lay inside. It was a gorgeous, eutopia like city. Nothing seemed to be lacking in this large place. It included malls, fast-food outlets and entertainment. The houses were magnificent. Some even made of pure glass and transparent enough to show the grandness of the interiors of the homes. It was almost as if I were entering an entire new world. Far in the distance, I could see a glimpse of the Palace of Immortalis and could not bear witness to its grandness until a half an hour or so, when we were close enough for me to see it properly. A beautiful, intricately designed, tall glass fence enclosed the entire property of the palace. The gates leading into it were made of shards of thick, light blue shards of glass which criss-crossed.

"I'm guessing you guys don't have a lot of hailstorms?" I asked.

"No, the weather is dreary, for our skin's sake, obviously, but we've never had a problem with severe storms."

The gate, like the one to the entrance to the city was guarded again, by the stiff guards who, when they saw Sebastian's face, moved to the side and began opening them. Perhaps the guards here were more trusting than the ones back at the city's entrance.

The palace was absolutely grand with a gorgeous white marble finish on the top half and the bottom half was covered in deep, green vines which seemed to be neatly pruned and trimmed on a regular basis. On either side of the courtyard were beautiful red rosebushes fashioned into intricate mazes.

When we drove up to the double doors of the palace, two men opened the car doors on either side and then took the keys from Sebastian. The man who opened the door for me, however, gave me a strange glance, before trailing behind his partner. Immediately the doors were opened revealing a young man dressed sharply in a black suit. His hair was flattened back, and he wore a dazzling smile.

"Hello there Erwin. This young lady next to me is my Mistress, Phoenix Ackerman. Please would you do me the honour of announcing our presence to the guests in the dining room?"

Erwin looked at me for a moment, and after a sniff did a double take before shooting Sebastian a questioning look. Sebastian returned it with a cold, icy glare and quickly, Erwin was on his feet, disappearing into the palace.

"Right, arm in mine, and head up. They can smell fear a mile away."

His words did nothing to comfort me. In fact, they only made me more nervous and, as I snaked my arm around his, I felt the back of my throat dry up. A sign that I no longer possessed the ability to form even a single syllable. Good Goddess, what the hell did I get myself into!

The interior of the palace did a good job of matching the exterior and all I saw was the grandness of marble floors, crystal chandeliers, naked sculptures on full display, beautiful paintings and gorgeous vases.

"Wow..." I uttered breathlessly. "It's beautiful."

"Mouth closed, you'll catch flies!" Sebastian said, dragging me along with him to what I assumed was the dining room. When we reached just before it, I could hear the buzzing chattering.

"Ackerman? Isn't that the surname of that werewolf family?"

"That's preposterous! No werewolf would step foot in here, Delilah."

"Quite right, Katherine."

Sebastian tugged at my hand, bringing us to a stop. "In there lies the two families you are most concerned about. The Howards and the Chases. Do not dare feel intimidated, you have as much right to be here as they do. And I suggest you get used to the fact that there will be lots of people questioning you. It will only grow worse over the week as more noble families begin to swarm in like greedy little rats." He said the last part distastefully and scrunched up his nose. Then he began leading us in, almost stopping my heartbeat completely. Immediately, the chatter died down, and I looked around frantically at the faces which slowly, began turning sour. All but one. He was a young man who seemed to be around my age, perhaps even older. He was, out of all the people here, the most beautiful, with strikingly pale, flawless skin, dark, chocolate brown hair and beautiful deep brown eyes which swirled red as he saw me. From what I could tell he was well built, tall and slightly muscular- not too bulky though, just perfect. His gorgeous, full pink lips were pulled into a playful smirk and he shamelessly drank in my appearance, raking his eyes from head to toe. It was as if my presence provided some sort of entertainment for him, which gave me a chilling, yet exciting feeling right in the pit of my stomach, stretching to between my legs.

"I'd like you all to meet Queen Athena, and Alpha Ackerman's daughter, Phoenix."

The whole room was frozen. From the beautiful, red haired woman with high cheekbones and the iciest blue eyes I had ever seen, to the dark-haired man with deep, brown eyes. They were both sitting on either side of the handsome stranger. This state of frozenness even stretched to the other side of the grand table where only two people sat. A woman, slightly tan in complexion, with skin the colour of pure, light, pale caramel and beautiful black hair reaching down to her waist and the eyes to match it, and next to her a handsome man with a cold face and similar skin tone. His hair was a brilliant shade of white and his eyes were a gorgeous, startling green blue. His features seemed to be the most interesting and, instead of making him look old, they made his already young face seem even younger than the woman next to him.

"Say something..." Sebastian whispered.

"Something..." I burst out, and then placed my hand in front of my mouth with my cheeks blazing hot. Great, I just screwed up the entire mission with a single word. Good going, Phoenix!

Sebastian placed his hand on his face and uttered a signature sigh. I wondered how much of breath would be left in him by the time he was done with me.

"I-I mean... hello." It came out as a whisper, and Sebastian smacked at my hand and said, "Speak up, girl!" but only so I could hear him.

I cleared my throat and tried again. This time, being met with a response.

"A werewolf! What the hell is a werewolf doing here?"

"I thought I was quite clear on that, she's here because her mother was once the queen of vampires, which means, technically she is the last of the royals."

"Mixed breed freak!" The slightly tanned, brown-eyed woman yelled out.

"Oh, shut up Katherine." Sebastian began, making me do my own double take. "And where’s your son, Xavier?"

Her son? It then occurred to me that these were the parents of the two men I was instructed to keep my guard up against, which was frightening given their young appearance. They almost all seemed to be the same age. Was this the consequence of eternity? Looking so youthful? If so, did I inherit it too?

The woman, now known as Katherine, kept quiet, with the redhead, taking her place. "You can't really expect the vampires to actually make a... hybrid their queen. That is disgusting! We only accept purebloods."

"No, Delilah. You only accept close-minded, greedy little slugs. That's what has kept you in your cosy little home." The man next to her, whom I now only had to assume was Liam Howard, chuckled at this, and his mother's facial expression.

"Watch your tongue, and know your place, Sebastian." The man I assumed to be Liam's father said this lowly and in a warning tone.

Sebastian guided me to the table, pulled out a chair for me and one for himself and said, "I do know my place. It's right next to this young woman."

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