Princess Athenasya becomes Queen Athenasya when her descendant convinces her to be the prince's wife. It is not a happy marriage. From the very beginning, the prince is suspicious of her and her mysterious mettle, and does not even attempt to make it a pleasant union. They argue more than anything, mostly because of his arrogance due to his mistrust of magic, and it drives the queen to leave the kingdom, her home. She is afraid her husband will one day cause Lilith to come to the surface. She spends time on a mysterious island called Athos, where a group of Witches live that have Fae magic. The island is also a gateway to the Fae kingdom. The queen only returns because of her son, the prince of Athenais, whom the king has decided to target due to a relationship with one of his captains of the guard.
The kingdom has an unspoken but prominent stance against same sex relationships, a rule which the king himself flagrantly disregards, and yet holds to the letter of this unspoken law regarding his son. Athenasya speaks with the king, or rather, demands that he leave her son alone. That evening, the king sends an assassin that is unsuccessful, which leads to Lilith resurfacing. That night, the king is brutally murdered, and a lieutenant in the jurisdiction of the captain of the guard, who is the prince's companion, makes her arrest, but protects her at the same time because she is their queen. Another captain of the guard, Arielle Sezare, decides to visit the queen when she is under a house arrest of sorts. Lilith is still in control when she comes, and there is a battle between this fierce, defiant regular human military captain and an ancient, magical vampire queen, who is determined to end her. Lilith creates her first vampire that night, even though she thought she'd killed her. Arielle is cared for by the lieutenant who had kept the queen under house arrest, and leaves the military altogether when he sees his queen savagely murder one of his own. Arielle goes on to create her own coven, though it was never her intention to create anymore like her. Over the centuries, Athenais eventually becomes modern-day Ireland while another Vampire emerges, a feeder of insatiable bloodlust. Bellatrix sets herself up as the queen of the feeders. Arielle was not an ambitious vampire; she only wanted to serve a purpose and care for her own. However, as Bellatrix begins ravaging the countryside, she realizes she has to make a choice.
Arielle is older than Bellatrix by millennia, but as former military, she is bound by an oath to protect those she considers her own, and vampires far and wide have become her family. She begins to research her vampyric origins, and unearths journals that speak of a serum that perfect their immortality, specifically eliminates the need for feeding. She surrounds herself with associates and friends who also believe in her cause. Ten individuals make up her support system, the eleventh being a former Protector of Bellatrix, Damien. It had been her objective to ensnare Damien to working for her, and it had been his idea to make her believe her plan was working in order to gain information for his mistress. What happened was what neither of them planned. Instead of deceiving one another, they began to appreciate and respect many things about the other. Romantic feelings develop between them and a physical encounter results in Arielle becoming pregnant.
Bellatrix finds out about Damien's relationship with her enemy, and is determined to make her pay for her betrayal, even though technically, Arielle is her superior. She forces Damien to return to her and threatens him with Arielle's life if he does not have relations with her. Bellatrix wants to seal her reign as the queen of terror, and plans to use Damien's offspring to make that a reality. Shortly afterward, Arielle hears that Bellatrix has had her former Protector eliminated. Over the next few years, more and more Vampires are taking Arielle's serum, even though they are true Vampires, and not products of an experiment. Eventually, Bellatrix paints herself into a corner and are captured by a band of Vampires who have taken the serum. It was never Arielle's intention that Bellatrix die. She wanted Bellatrix to scale back her attacks on the human race because she was afraid one day the regular humans would rise up and destroy all Vampires. Each of Arielle's vampire associates had children, and one of those associates, Dermat, decided that there should be written documentation of their efforts, and rules by which a vampire should conduct themselves so they wouldn't become like Bellatrix and her hoard.
These writings were meant to be guidelines for their future children, not necessarily laws by which to live. Dermat felt most at ease with organization and control, because without those, she thought there would only be chaos. Arielle did not personally read these writings, merely skimmed them before putting her seal of approval upon them. The general idea appealed to her military mind, since there were rules by which she'd had to conduct herself as a captain of the guard. Arielle's son, Damien's son, took these writings to a level neither woman had ever intended. The ten diminished after they finished teaching their children what they knew, and how to conduct themselves as Ariellians rather than bloodthirsty fiends. They felt if they remained, their children would never rely on their own judgment but consistently lean upon their parents for guidance. Avram, Arielle's son, created the Ariellian Council and the other children became representatives on that council. Avram held to his grandmother's writings as the highest level of truth and law, and made sure the other representatives did as well. He went on a campaign where he forced every feeder to take the serum so they couldn't feed, including Bellatrix's son by a regular human, Emrys. As a result, Emrys' daughter did not have choice but to not feed, since when a vampire takes the serum, their children cannot feed. Erzsebet becomes the Lady of the Underworld, a group of Vampires who operate underground to avoid attention from regular humans.
This Council becomes a vampyric government who believe they alone are the true vampire, and that feeders need to be turned to the path of truth, law, and order. The current Council are overwhelmed with their individual concern and operations, but the general integrity of that council is disintegrating before the eyes of the council director, Anastasi Vasilus, Arielle's grandson. He has broken many of his own rules in marrying one of his own representatives, with whom he has children. Bellatrix emerges after millennia of being thought dead, but she is not the bloodthirsty queen she once was. She remains largely in the shadows until the unthinkable occurs: Damien, thought long-dead, returns, which puts everything Anastasi has fought for and stands for in immortal danger.
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