The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 1: Chapter 30

From the corner of my eye I saw Marcel stiffen up. Seemed he was getting as frustrated with me as I was with him. I did not care, if he wanted to fight, I was ready to shut him up once and for all.

"I'm going to—"

"What? Beat me? I don't think so."

"Stop provoking him," the fighting trainer snapped as he walked over. I was not sure if Raoul was talking to me or Marcel. "If the two of you are going to fight, we'll make it official and have a proper one, fair and square in the training grounds. And then you can both knock it off afterwards."

He swung his steely gaze at me. "If you've got the time. I know you're in the middle of the Mistress's project."

I did not argue the fine points of what I was doing with him. "I can spare the time," I said. I would have spared this time even if I had not discovered Jack's entry.

"Good. Today, during martial training then."

"I'll be there," Marcel promised as he launched himself to his feet and stalked away.

"I look forward to it," I called after him.

Raoul looked annoyed at our exchange. "You can both stop that bullshit. We don't need petty squabbles here."

I raised an eyebrow at the statement. Who was he to tell me how to behave? Although I had turned my situation to my benefit, I remained an unwilling prisoner here, even if every other human in her domain had forgotten the truth of the situation.

With a shrug, I turned back to my food.

* * * * *

I continued through the archives, working on one leech after another. I tried to commit the worst of the monsters to my memory so that I would be able to remember them once I disposed of Melissa's killer.

I was closer to my goal than I had ever been but was simultaneously further at the same time. For the first time since my hunt had begun, I had the information I needed but I lacked the mobility.

My frustration was like a living thing.

Still, my escape would happen, either around or through the leech. I no longer relished the thought of her demise, but I would still do what I had to do. It would be easiest if I could avoid her notice.

As if summoned by my thoughts, light footsteps sounded in the corridor, sure but subtle. I did not have to turn around to know that it was her. I did not acknowledge her presence, although every instinct inside me screamed not to leave my back exposed to a predator.

Instead of turning, I moved on to the next entry.

"How far are you, now?" she asked lightly.

"I'm into M."

"Hmmm," she said. "Who're you looking at now?" She moved closer and tilted her head as she looked at the picture on the screen. "I don't know her. Victoria Mendal? I know all the old ones on the continent, and probably in all in the world."

She kept reading. "A fledgling, I see. Those fools just keep making more all the time. Stupider than humans, I swear."

I considered her delicate face by the light of the screen. I knew from my lessons there were other great landmasses impossibly far away. Humans had once freely moved between them in planes, although the concept seemed rather fantastical to me. A part of me envied the freedom of my forefathers from before the vampires had made slaves and livestock of us all.

"What's the rest of the world like?" I asked, almost against my own will.

She took a long sip from her cup before she turned her face towards me, too close for my comfort. "I haven't been out of North America for a few hundred years, and the last time was only down to South America to visit a friend. I haven't been in the east in a long time, not since before the wars. Perhaps, I will leave all this behind and relocate, one day, when I'm finished amusing myself here."