A Study of Poisons

ONE

      I was never really good at days like this, development day. The first day of a new mission was always dreadful- and I wasn't really good at hellos.

Usually, they hated me and ignored me; but I never disagreed with it. It would be easier to do my job if they did hate me. Watching the driver from the rear view mirror I studied his expression. It was clear he was a vampire. It was that look that gave them away. The look like the light had gone out of their eyes as death seeped in every ounce of their existence. It was so easy to pick them apart from the rest of society. "Have you ever been to Scotland?" He asked me making it hard to ignore his accent.

"No, all of my past assignments have been in the U.S., this is my first time travelling this far." I said looking outside. Summer in this quaint town has been nothing but kind. I was so glad to be outside the rigid air of Washington. Anything that was far from the city was perfect for me. The highlands were beautiful compared to home, then again what was home. In the reflection of the glass I could see my dark hair. I looked like a corpse but that comes from the time spent with vampires.

The driver laughed, "You definitely are different dove, not like most Keepers I've met." I ignored him, I was a normal Keeper I thought. I was raised with a strict education at the best private school in America, I've been training to contain a vampire- and kill if necessary, and I know how to conceal myself. My thoughts, my skill, my ideas, my opinions. It's best if I keep them all to myself.

Tapping my foot I could feel my body dissolve into the leather seat. I was heading to Whitmore Manor, the Vampire Queen's summer home. It was the end of May and the Prince had just finished his schooling for the year. Meaning I would go and aid him and his friends. The Queen was in Romania with the rest of her court with my friend Surano and others like us. I wish I was with them instead of here. I was chosen because of my age and my success rate. Apparently, the Prince is nineteen and the Queen requested that the Keeper in charge be around the same age.

How prudent.

He's supposedly a flirt, it was the first thing Surano said when I left. Don't let his charms melt at you, he is still a Vampire. As if I would ever let a bloodsucker weave his way into my heart.

Sure, I never thought Vampires were disgusting and should be eradicated like my friends in family. I mean they were complex beings. Living off of human blood from donors and their politics didn't make any sense. They have a Queen who's rule is absolute but a council that depicts all their laws. Then the strange way they claim an heir and who gets the crown. As long as it's just the third Prince it might be fine. I might lose my mind if it was the entire royal family.

I looked down to the ring on my finger. A snake coiled around my finger forged from gold. The symbol of the Keepers, while the Vampires hung their lion crest everywhere I looked.

Maybe it should be the other way around, their touch was poison. Or that's what my family says. We are lucky that it was illegal for Vampires to use magic. Otherwise it might just throw things out of balance. They have their strength and speed, then some have that tricky persuasion ability. While we have the blood craft. My family never called it that though- because it was so close to the witches we used to hunt. Instead, they say it's a gift or the gift. Something given to blessed Keepers and I've always been good at tying the strings of magic.

My last Vampire host, Kate, she used to love talking about it with me. It's against our creed to show magic to Vampires and if they ever see it- we have to bind their memory with iron. The thought of that always sent a shiver up my spine. It's a warped thing. To mess with one's memories. It should only be done  about maybe five times. Any more than that and they might just go mad. I turned on my phone as a picture of Kate and I in Seattle came to the screen. Back when she was just a fledgling who had never drank blood before. Back during my first mission when I had not a clue of what I was doing.