Blood & Power [Book One of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

1.11: Survive

The door I had entered through was wide open; the bodies of the Seventeen bloodline having flooded in as they returned from their trips to Ruby, filling the spaces left barren earlier. Sifting through the crowd was a hassle, with every step making me collide with someone new. Despite that, it did give me time to compose myself before I forced myself to face Kara; an encapsulation of childhood curiosity and eagerness that refuses to accept no as an answer. She was bound to come down on me with several questions, most of which sprung to mind as soon as I'd left for sure.

The last time Imogen had demanded my attention and I'd told Kara the reason, it hadn't ended as I expected. This time, I didn't dare tell her the contents of the conversation, for fear my image of the girl could be tainted even further.

Kara had pulled me to the lounge in a moment and plopped herself on my lap. She smiled knowingly, took one of my hands in hers, and began to rub softly as she waited for me to start to speak. I had decided to sit there and bask in her silence; enjoying every moment that wasn't an interrogation. The girl, childish as she was, had lost her patience quickly. Her eyes had darted around the room before she had whispered into my ear, "What did she want, Nika?"

I thought about the answer I wanted to give her. We'd often discussed the "poaching" I had been going through. I was an ample part of the first revolution and war, with many years of knowledge others hadn't experienced - which left me in a delicate position of want and need. It was, however, a position I hadn't wished to be in. Even with these conversations, I tried my best to grey out the details, not wanting her to know any more than Adrienne did.

The wait for a response had left Kara moving on to scratching my palm instead of her usual rubbing. I could imagine as a human she was used to getting her way, but as a vampire, many of us weren't used to giving. The older of us had kept secrets for generations which came with high resolve and patience.

This patience hadn't reached Kara yet; who was beginning to shift in my lap. My eyes had drifted from her and towards the vampires playing chess in the corner underneath the stairs. My lack of attention had left her eager to speak, her hand gripping my head and forcing me to lock eyes with her, "I still think you should join! Don't you want to know who is putting us at risk? How are we going to find out who is running a revolution unless someone goes and finds out!"

Kara was holding an icy glare, and I was painfully reminded of her naivety. I offered her a bitter smile, with no energy to bite back at her remarks. This conversation was like walking through a room scattered with broken glass and trying not to bleed as you crossed.

"Kara, I'm not going to join them. I refuse to have any part of the destruction of what we've built here. My decision is a firm no, and that's final," I said blankly but with as much conviction as I could muster.

"You're selfish." She had pouted, "I think more people will die if you don't. If someone out there had given me the opportunity to stop the people that we're putting our kind at risk; and all of humanity on top of that - I would have taken it in a heartbeat." She had removed herself from my lap and taken a glass from the table in front of us. She had almost stumbled in the high heels she'd put on this morning as she shifted her dress down. Her face refused to perk as she turned to look at me, regardless of the faces I pulled to achieve it.