Love of a Raven

Chapter 47: Rising from the Ashes

 "Sir? Pardon me, sir?" A male voice spoke through the darkness.

There was a soft nudge to my arm and a soft whisper followed suit, "Master Garrick, they're ready for you."

I opened my eyes to see a middle aged man in an immaculate suit standing before me with a puzzled look on his face. Perhaps he didn't expect to see me falling asleep on my seat whilst I waited to be escorted to see the Queen of England. Since that is the case, I quickly rose to my feet then turned to face Kang-Dae who stood to my right.

At the moment, he was dressed in the finest clothing that I had gone to buy for him. He wore a crisp white shirt with a navy blue waistcoat over the shirt, a black dress coat donned over black trousers. He had on low heeled boots which he had polished earlier. Although, the shoes should still be in excellent shape as I had only bought them for him a few days ago. Kang-Dae's attire wouldn't be complete without a few accessories to complement it. Additionally, I provided Kang-Dae a gold pocket watch with only its chain visible and white gloves. My family's insignia was engraved on the golden cufflinks that adorned the cuffs on his shirt. Finally, his hair was slicked back to give it a formal style and was surprised that it did not get messy with the top hat I provided for him.

"Thank you, Kang-Dae." I thanked him which earned me a nod in response. I turned to face the servant again and asked, "Shall we get going?"

The man nodded his head and gestured for me to follow him into the Queen's room. We walked in complete silence. I never planned to talk to the Queen's servants as I wouldn't be making public appearances. The man stopped in front of a door and held it open for me. I expressed my gratitude to him before I told Kang-Dae to wait outside for me since I did not expect this talk to be too long. As soon as I entered the room, the door closed behind me and I heard the man's footsteps getting softer as he walked away.

"You are awfully late, Mr. Gastrell. I do hope you prepared an apology for such tardiness." I heard a female's voice state from across the room.

Sat in a regal and dignified posture was Queen Victoria in her mourning clothes as usual. She held an attentive gaze on me as I knelt to one knee with my head bowed and my right hand crossed over my left shoulder. "I would like to formally apologize to you, Queen Victoria, for my absence for the past two years. I had been negligent in providing you a crucial piece of information that I am quite certain has been weighing on your mind."

There was a hum in response so I assumed she wanted me to continue. I took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled before speaking again. "Two years ago, I discovered that my mother, Viscountess Violet Gastrell, was preparing to enslave humanity through hybrids much like my siblings. In case you have forgotten, your majesty, my siblings were similar to me with the major difference being that they were more demonic than vampiric. My mother created these hybrids with the same background as my siblings but she used my blood to create other hybrids so she could have them overthrow the humans."

"Overthrow the humans? Are you implying that the Viscountess Gastrell was planning a coup to dethrone me?" Queen Victoria asked apprehensively which was understandable.

"Not just you, Your Majesty. Everyone. She wanted to rule over the humans for Lucifer." I stated, and heard her gasp.

"Lucifer? The same fallen angel from the Holy Bible?" Queen Victoria inquired in shock.

I nodded my head, then I responded back to her, "The very one, Your Majesty."

"And what has become of this army?" Queen Victoria questioned, but it brought tears to my eyes as I thought about that night.

". . . I killed them. Everyone. The army. My parents. My s-siblings. I killed them all." I answered, almost choking towards the end, as the tears began to trickle down my cheeks.