The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 12

There were several paintings on the walls, specifically chosen to give a certain air meant to lend credence to my overall vicious persona. One was of a woman who might be a seducing demon, perhaps a succubus, and I rather fancied that she looked quite a lot like me. I almost believed that perhaps I had fed upon the artist before forcing him to forget and he had brought this masterpiece out of his subconscious memories of me.

It was a shame I had not found it while the artist was alive. I could have shown him the truth in his art.

The other painting was a huge monstrosity of some sort of battle depicting a number of suffering humans. It reminded me a bit of the human suppression wars and it was ugly besides. The only reason I had hung it rather than having it burned was because I was almost certain that other vampires would snoop in my private council quarters when there was no one present to guard them, and I wanted to make a good show of it.

Every time I came, my tech human would spend hours sweeping the place to ensure that there were no bugs or cameras planted to spy on me. There was not much tech left, but the council had some and it was not worth the risk of my secrets being exposed.

I trusted Theo as I had trusted Wyatt, but I was always terribly uneasy for the first few quarterlies after I had to bring a new tech human. I was not looking forward to the time when I would have to replace him in turn.

I noticed that Ian was giving me sidelong looks as he went around pretending to do some chore. Was he dusting? I rolled my eyes. I knew as well as they did that other than donating blood, standing guard, and a few tasks for their own maintenance there was not usually that much required while we were in the capital. Apparently their idleness gave them time to worry about my mental health.

Had I been so obvious with my attachment to that particular human?

Once we were well out of earshot of the capital, I would order them to stop this nonsense. All it did was remind me that I could potentially be sad. The next human I caught hovering after I ordered otherwise would be dressed in a garish jester suit and forced to juggle or something. Perhaps before a fighting demonstration so that there would be a good crowd for their well deserved public humiliation.

I decided to get away from all the tiptoeing. I drained my cup and announced, "Now, humans, I'm going out to speak with those who deserve my presence. I expect everything to be perfect upon my return."

With that, I swept from the room.

I regretted it almost immediately.

Magnus was walking down the hall, and it seemed too much a coincidence. Had he been skulking about outside my private chambers?

I pasted my most patient yet elevated expression on my face. "Councillor Magnus, good day to you."

He shot me an extremely angry expression. "What was that, yesterday?" he hissed.

"Whatever are you talking about?" I asked.

"Interfering with my bill, Vienne? Are you still holding it against me that we voted against yours?" he spat.

I gave him a pitying look that would only anger him further, but I could not quite resist. "Of course not. We made a contingent deal and I carried it out as per our agreement. I simply disagreed with your bill of yesterday, because it was too imprecise. Bring a better one next time and I shall vote differently. It was not terrible in essence, but there were too many ways it would be open to abuse."

My words did not calm him, which was not surprising since I had not been trying to. I knew Magnus was a creature of emotion and passion, and he was already quite put out. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he spun on his heel and left like a petulant child.