Caden's 1st Chapter

Here is Caden's portion of the first chapter. His little talks with Triljon are incredibly fun to write as I didn't get to go behind the scenes with the Guard that often writing Queen Sarah.

I joined the Queen’s Guard as the sixteen-year-old son of an exiled poet and scholar. I wasn’t rebelling against my father like Charlie or many of my fellow guardsmen. My father was a wonderful man and a good father, especially for the time we lived in. The 1830s weren’t great in general, but as the bastard son of a banished poet with four legitimate children, it was a bit harder for me. My father’s wife hated me and my half-siblings were less than pleased by my presence. I couldn’t blame them though. My mother was an immensely powerful vampire and there was no way a man could resist her, not even Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti.

“Deep in thought again?”

I looked up from the blade I’d been polishing and nodded at Triljon. “Is it that obvious?”

“You know, you keep rubbing that and it’s going to become as brittle as Ace’s bones,” the Svartálfen said, stabbing a thumb behind him.

“How many STDs do you have now?” the sniper quipped, sipping his coffee.

“About as many as you’ve sexual encounters,” Triljon retorted, sitting down across from me.

“So… four?”

“Really, man? Only four? I was being sarcastic, but that’s just sad.”

“I’m a romantic. I bet Caden’s the same way.”

“How about it, Rossi? How many romps have you had?”

“None,” I replied without thinking about it.

“None?” Ace asked. “Not even a… I can’t believe that.”

“I can. The man joined the Guard when he was a kid and lives and breathes this life. Not to mention he’s the primary guard of Pam Barker. That would send any man running and screaming away from his own libido.” The Svartálfen looked at me. “Is that why you’ve been up all night spit-shining your shaft?”

“Very clever,” I mumbled. “No, Pam said she saw someone walking around the house so I’ve been on guard. You know, we are still guards even if I’m the only one who still acts like it.”

“You’re the only one with an actual post. We’re on-call people,” Ace said, topping off his coffee.

“You were with Scarlet,” Triljon mused. “You were with the daughter of JC de Beaufort and you never did anything with that?”

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t have been right.”

“I didn’t know you were so pious, Rossi.”

“I’m not. She wasn’t in her right mind. It would have been taking advantage of an already awkward situation.”

“You’re talking to Chey’zir, he’s not going to understand,” Ace said with a snort. “You might as well tell a child he can’t play on the swings because the monkey bars are slippery.”

“I’m not that heartless, Martin,” the Svartálfen sighed.

“You could have fooled me.”

“So, what did Pammy say she saw exactly?”

“Just a man. She didn’t go into detail.”

“You’re just taking her word for it? Rossi, you know better than that. You need to ask that woman questions before you believe a word she says.”

“Even if there was nothing there, I have nothing better to do.” I slid the weapon into its sheath and placed it down on the table. “I don’t expect either of you to take up residence here again, but I’ll be here until I’m relieved.”

“Doyle might as well be dead as far as being Captain is concerned,” Triljon said. “You could just go and no one would say a word. Hell, no one could ever blame you for packing your shit and getting out of here while you had the chance.”

I leaned across the table with a hand on my sword. “Why are you here, Triljon? If it’s so easy to leave, why are you here?”

He nodded with a smirk. “I don’t have an answer for you.”

“Something keeps us here. I don’t know if it’s duty or some other higher force, but whatever it is, it will never let us leave this family.”

“Maybe it’s fate.”

“You believe in fate, Trey?”

“I believe in anything that will explain why we can’t leave these lunatics alone with their own misery.”

“Why use fate as your reasoning when you can use duty and honor?”

“It’s been a very long time since we got any honor out of this job, old friend. You might want to hang up your boots.”

I took a deep breath before replying, “I’ll hang up my boots when you hang up yours.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not blind, Trey. You still carry your piece.”

“I’m always prepared.”

“For what?”

“We’ve been in the Guard for too long to not have enemies. I’m just not prepared to meet my maker any time soon.”

“Fate has something else in store for you, right?”

“That’s right, brother,” the Svartálfen answered with a grin. “And no matter how long it takes, I’ll be waiting right here for it.”

“That was incredibly touching,” Ace chuckled. “I think I cried a little. On the inside, I cried a little.”

“Just wait until one of you has been with a woman from the Line and then you’ll see exactly why I’m willing to wait around.”

“You’re not waiting for love, you’re waiting for a good lay?”

“Not just that, Martin. I don’t know what’s in their blood, but Maria, Sarah, they were both… it’s was like riding a bolt of lightning.”

“I can only imagine what it would have been like if you’d waited until either of them was of age,” I sighed.

“As amazing as it was, I regret not being able to resist Sarah. I loved Maria. She was… she was my one.”

“You can have more than one one in a lifetime, especially if you’ve lived multiple lifetimes. It’s okay to love someone else.”

“Says the man who’s never loved a woman. It can take a lot more than a lifetime to get over someone.”

"I never would have pegged you as a romantic, Chey'zir."

"Martin, I'm a lot of things and you'll never peg any of them."