The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 28

Standing up, I said. "I may come back and confer with you before the meeting if I think of anything else. When are they set to arrive?"

"The last should be here by dusk."

"Perfect." It gave me some time to ponder this new situation I had wrought.

Just as I opened the door, Dean appeared with my coffee. I smiled at him as I took the perfectly proportioned cup and dismissed him. I wandered around, searching in the vain hope that I might find Jamie, just so I could at least talk to him while he was in reach. I did not spot him, nor could not hear that steady voice, unfortunately. I did have a task for him as I had told him, but it would have to wait until after the meeting and after I spoke with my general humans. They would certainly have questions after the vampire slaying display.

It was obvious that they were more stirred up than normal, simply from the faster patterns of the hums of their voices. Usually they were fairly quiet as they went about their tasks, but now there was a definite rush of whispered information flying through my home. I likely should put them at ease, but I also wanted to talk to the leaders of my rebellion before I made any absolute decisions.

My rebellion had been so much more laid back and fun in the early stages, but of course I could never have taken on the council and supporters with such a small force. This was necessary, even if it wasn't quite as entertaining as I preferred.

I was sidetracked from my commiserations by the low rumble of Jamie's voice coming from outside. It was late enough that a peek would not kill me, but going out would be rather uncomfortable. I pushed aside the heavy draperies and looked out into the training yard.

Jamie was walking across with Raoul and seemed perfectly at ease, in contrast to the nervousness of many of the humans in my home this day. In every situation, he stood out to me amongst all the others.

And here I was, peering out the window at him like a stalker. It was not my fault that I could not go and easily join him in the sunlight, but my behaviour still seemed too skulking for my liking.

I sighed. If I had met someone like Jamie in my human life, perhaps I would have lived and died under the sun instead of having my head turned by a creature of the darkness. Or perhaps, my sire would have turned me regardless and nothing could have changed that.

Letting the draperies fall back into place, I walked away.

* * * * *

Hours later, I found myself sitting at the head of a long meeting table while I watched all of my most carefully chosen humans from all over my domain assemble in their own chairs. Leif sat to my right and Connor to my left, and there were more than a dozen others down the table. Since the room was more crowded than usual, along with those seated, standing out of the way there were at least a dozen more assistants to my rebellion leaders, but the only one I was truly aware of in that crowd was Jamie.

He made it so hard for me to focus, on top of my already questionable attention span. I just wanted to check off the other tasks I had to do so that I could get him alone for a while and see what happened.

Turning my attention to Leif, I nodded that he should begin. He started off with a short summary of what had happened and I simply watched as the humans around the table listened to the account of the incident. Most looked worried or irritated, and Tiberius' tense form and dark frown stretched across his lean features made him look especially agitated.

He was definitely not pleased with me. Once Leif finished speaking, I decided to deal with him straightaway before explaining our plans, rather than allowing his negativity to fester. "Tiberius, I'd like to hear your first impression of the situation."