Why does life have to be so goddamned complicated?” Chase Veldassare wondered as he watched his father take his place at the wooden podium in the front of the community banquet hall.

Suddenly, the entire room broke out into a loud, fully-animated round of applause. That was when a bored, uninterested Chase Veldassare realized that the attendees of the community meeting were actually clapping for him. Oops.

“...and I am proud to announce that my son, Chase Veldassare, will be mated with Azalea Bradenton exactly three months from today!” Vincent Veldassare announced proudly.

Vincent was up in front of nearly every member of the Lexus vampire community with a proud smile on his pale face. He was wearing a dark-colored, faultlessly tailored designer suit and his thin, dark hair was slicked back away from his slightly rounded face. He had been looking forward to this moment for months and his eyes were beaming with happiness and pride.

He had been the leader of the Lexus Veldassare vampire clan for the past century and was looking forward to passing his legacy on to his one and only son, Chase Veldassare. It was the tradition of the clan to mate their leader with the most eligible female vampire in the community, in order to keep their legacy alive and ensure the continuation of their kind.

Chase, however, was nowhere near as excited as his father was. He had known his “selected mate” Azalea since they were very young. Azalea used to be one of his closest friends back when they were younger; however, over the years, Chase felt that she had changed significantly when it came to her morality.

At one time, Azalea had been a good friend and a trustworthy person. However, her hatred and disdain toward humans had deepened tremendously over time, and she had become increasingly cold-hearted and much more self-serving as she’d grown into adulthood.

Azalea’s family had never really taken to the truce that the Veldassares had agreed to with the mortal city council leaders. They had been happier in the olden days when their kind used to rule over humans. Mortals used to bow at their feet and some of them would even offer themselves up as sacrifices to the Vampire Elders who once ruled the lands of Romania, where mortals either served as slaves or as cattle.

However, when Van Helsing rose to power, he and his armies of vampire-slaying brutes eventually inspired the humans to revolt, and it was during this revolution that the surviving vampires were inevitably forced to flee Romania and spread out into other areas of world—far, far away from Van Helsing and his followers.

The descendants of the Veldassare clan arrived in Mountain Crest over a few centuries ago and agreed to a truce with the leaders of the city. They had been allowed to live, thrive and procreate in the area as long as they never harmed a living human being. Every hundred years a new clan leader would be elected and would rule the next generation of the clan.

Unfortunately, some of the vampires still harbored deep contempt and scorn toward the human race. They upheld the truce because they knew it would ensure their survival; however, they secretly wished and even planned for the day when they could once rule over humans as gods once again.

Katheryn, Azalea’s mother, was one of these vampires. She secretly harbored a profound resentment toward mortals. She had quietly passed this on to her daughter, promising her that one day she would lead a new revolution—one that would turn the tables and make vampires the rulers over mortals again. Azalea believed this within her heart; and that as the first lady of the next generation of vampires, she would be the inspiration for that movement.

Chase walked with deep-centered disinterest, Azalea on his arm, up to the podium where she embraced his father, Vincent Veldassare before stepping up to the podium to publicly thank the Veldessare head.

“I am very proud to have been chosen as the next first lady of the Veldassare Vampire Clan. I just want all of you to know that I consider it a tremendous privilege to serve each and every one of you and I will not take my position for granted. I am truly dedicated to becoming the best first lady to the love of my life; Chase Veldassare, until death do us part. The day of our mating ceremony will undoubtedly be the best day of my entire life!”

Another loud round of applause rang out in the community center meeting room as every vampire showed their praise and support for the decision the leader of their clan had made.

Azalea was in no way unattractive—not by far. She was tall, thin and statuesque in appearance. At nearly six feet, she was roughly the height of a supermodel human. Her deep, penetrating ocean-blue eyes were extraordinarily captivating, almost mesmerizing. Flowing black hair hung down past her slender shoulders and nearly reached the small of her back. Her lips were lush and shimmery, always gleaming with a bright red gloss. Her naturally pale skin glowed in artificial light—the only kind of light she could tolerate without feeling as if she was about to burst into flames and burn to a crisp.

She had what the city girls would have called a “Barbie” figure, with breasts that were large and perky and a waist that was narrow and firm. Her ass practically begged to be squeezed, and her legs seemed to go on for days. She was drop-dead gorgeous and she fucking knew it.

She often used her looks to her advantage once she’d realized how remarkably appealing she truly was, and this was a large part of the reason why Chase was no longer as close to her as he’d once been during their childhood and early teenage years. He felt that she’d become a much different person—a self-serving person he no longer wished to remain close to.

The two of them hadn’t been very close over the past several years, but still, somehow, his mother and father had decided that she would be the most ideal mate for him to marry and carry on the legacy of the Veldassare vampire clan. Why, he would honestly never understand, and he wasn’t very happy about it. As the rest of the members of the clan began to dance and enjoy the gathering, Chase lowered his head and tried hard not to think about the fact that his parents were trying to force him to mate with someone he was not in love with—no matter how attractive she was.

Azalea stepped down from the podium with a proud grin on her flawless face. She truly was a sight to behold in her long, form-fitting black and silver dress that showed off her unblemished D-cup cleavage, pressing her pert, large breasts together. Her four and a half inch stiletto heels flattered her dress with their open-toe style, showing off her legs to their best advantage - and catching every male’s gaze in the building.

Azalea winked at her future mate while stepping down from the podium. Ever since she was a young immortal female growing up in the Lexus community, she’d had plans to wed Chase and become the next first lady of the clan.  Her mother had been prepping, influencing, and molding her into what she believed was the perfect female leader of the Veldassare vampire clan—all but ensuring that the Veldassares would choose her as their son’s ideal mate. She had even told Azalea at a very young age that she was destined for greatness and that she needed to do whatever she could to ensure that she grew up to become the most suitable mate for the son of the current vampire leader. And aside from having a little fun along the way, that’s exactly what Azalea had done.

She was just as determined as her mother was that she would be the wife of the next leader of the clan and nothing was going to stop her from doing just that.

Chase forced a half-smile when he saw her wink at him and then turned his head away from the direction where she was heading, trying not to show his indifference. He realized that now wasn’t the time to voice his disparity about being forced to mate with a woman he was not in love with. It never seemed to be the right time according to his father; however, he made a mental note to voice his disapproval later that evening in a more private setting. Again.