“How do Demons age?” I ask.
He looks startled. “Just full of odd questions, aren’t you?”
“It’s a valid query,” I say in a huff.
“Yes, I suppose it is. I am eight hundred and sixty eight years old. My parents are both fifteen hundred years.”
“Are you immortal?”
“No, we die eventually, around three thousand years.”
“Oh, okay. I have seen the power you wield. You reach your apex quicker than we do?”
“By ‘we’ I’m going to assume you mean Vampires and not Dragons,” he says with a pointed look. “Yes, we do. However, I, as first-born son to an Overlord and now Overlord myself, I’m the most Powerful of all Demons. I’m able to do things that others can’t,” he says proudly.
I nod as that makes sense. “So, tell me your history. Are you born or made?”
“Born. Come this way.” He takes my hand and leads me over to a massive painting at the foot of the stairs. It is of a huge black Dragon. Not unlike Tiamat, or me, but with bright red eyes.
“This is Dracul. He was your mother’s son.”
I stare at him wide-eyed but stay quiet, wanting him to continue.
“Before your mother was cursed, he was born to her a Prince. But as you know, the Dragons are ruled only by females and so he would never rule the Dragon Realms. He came to the Earth Realm and fell in love with a human. They had a child and that child was the first Demon. Once some of the other Princes heard of this, they too abdicated. There were six in total and they came here to The Underworld, to rule and start a new race. They each had many children and so the population began.”
I stare in wonder at him and ask, “So we are linked by my Dragon heritage. Six Dragons. Six Houses, then?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“Is Dracul still alive?” I ask hesitantly.
He shakes his head. “No. As it turned out full-blooded Dragons cannot live for extended periods outside of the Dragon Realms. The atmosphere is different, almost toxic to them. Five died and the sixth went back home and survived.”
“Oh,” I say sadly.
He doesn’t seem too concerned though and carries on with his tale, “So, the families are expected to have many children. I, myself, am the oldest of twenty-one.”
“Twenty-one? That’s a lot.” I quake in my Louboutins at that. I freaked out when CK mentioned having just one. And that isn’t even a child I will bear myself. Mrs. Draconis is one brave lady.
“So how many children do you have?” I ask.
He walks us up the stairs, hand-in-hand. “None. Yet. I am, however, the proud uncle of fifty nieces and nephews.”
“How come you don’t have any of your own?”
“I’m not so inclined. I like my life Earth-side. I like my freedom. It is my mother’s greatest wish for me to settle down,” he says with a sigh.
“And how does that work?”
He laughs. “Not like the Vampires. We are free until we choose to unite ourselves and then we remain true to that chosen one.”
“Forever?” I ask in horror. This whole true-to-one business is really a ridiculous concept in my opinion.
“Yes, forever.” He looks at me slyly. “My mother is delighted that you have been made Queen and aligned yourself with our race. She thinks you will make the perfect wife for me and the perfect mother for her grandchildren.”
Err, what?
I stop dead in my tracks. “There are three things wrong with statement.” Holding up my left hand, I say, “First things, I am already married.” I hold up my right hand and say, “Secondly, I am promised to another, if and when, my marriage ends and thirdly, children? I am a Vampire. We don’t procreate. At least not in that way.”