“Then clone me!” His Majesty, King Paul the Third, shouted.

“Your Majesty, cloning you would result in the creation of another vampire,” Prime Minister Pollock replied calmly.

 “I don’t know why the people are in such an uproar about a successor.”

 “Your Majesty, there is a lot of unrest among the people and much pressure from the cabinet that you step down.”

 “I’ll not hand the throne over to that idiot cousin of mine. I plan to rule for many years to come. Send for Derek Brungard. Now!” He paused while Pollock ordered a guard to fetch Derek. “While we wait, there is a request for additional financing from the minister of medical services. I will not approve it. However, I do approve a grant for the Faculty of Science.”

The minister of medical services responded, his tone agitated. “Your Majesty, we need another hospital. The population has increased dramatically, and—”

 “Silence! I’ll hear no argument. In a few months, when the cabinet has its annual meeting, we will deal with further requests and recommendations.”

Pollock and the other three ministers present at the private meeting fell silent while the king examined some paperwork in front of him, until the arrival of Derek, head of the Faculty of Science and a brilliant research scientist. His specialty was genetic engineering and that’s what interested Paul more than anything, especially right now.

 “Mr. Brungard, according to your last report, you have been successful in the cloning of several animal species. Am I correct?” the king asked.

 “Yes, Your Majesty. We’ve had outstanding success. The test subjects are developing normally.”

 “Good. I have just granted your request for additional funding. You will begin the cloning trials of a human.”

 “Your Majesty, many countries have forbidden human cloning and the church—”

 “It is not up for debate and will go no further than this room. Understand? You will take tissue samples from me and begin the cloning experiment immediately. I do not give permission to experiment with any other human. You have also been successful in genetic engineering, altering and adding DNA in embryos before implant. Can you extract DNA from the queen’s stored blood samples?”

 “Yes, Your Majesty.”

 “Good. You will use the best of the queen’s DNA and my own to create a male heir to the throne. Queen Juliette is to know nothing of this. We all know her illness is slowly taking her from us. I doubt she would approve, even if it meant she’d have a child for a short period. You must eradicate the vampire gene so that my heir will be completely human. Unless you can remove the faulty DNA, I will consider the experiment a failure and you will terminate the fetus and try again. You will begin immediately. I expect you to update me on your progress on a weekly basis.”