The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Welcome to House Lash

Isla loosened her grip enough to lean back and look him in the eyes.

"I know things fit together so neatly that it certainly appears that a plan was in play. But I give you my blood vow, Lash, you weren't manipulated here." A slight smile touched her lips. "But I did play a hunch."

"That'll require a little more explaining," Lash said, eyes narrowed slightly but not turning away from her. Nodding, Isla moved in to quickly kiss him before drawing back again.

"It's no secret in the South Pacific that Temuera is overstretched," she began, her hands on the back of Lash's neck moving up to sensuously work their way through his hair.

"Holdings are small, and resources are scarce. They struggled to provide the half dozen liliths in the territory m'tada and an estate of their own. And Sam was overheard by a number of sources talking about downsizing their obligations to the Conclave to make room for their own progress. Just a few months before the attack, one of my m'tada visiting Robertson to deliver a funding request heard Sam say he had found an old law that would let him prune liliths out of the clan if their Houses fell."

"Shadrak's ghost," Lash hissed in dismay. "Did he allow the slavers to attack you so your Houses would fall, providing him with the first step??"

Isla smiled as she brought a hand from around his neck to tenderly caress the side of his face.

"Do all you European vampires see conspiracy in every shadow?" she asked and Lash shrugged.

"Pretty much," he admitted.

"Well, I can assure you there was no such plan here. Yes, he wanted us clipped off Temuera's branches to make his own finances work in his favor. But our Houses were already failing. All he had to do was wait a couple more years and Martin would've declared bankruptcy and dissolved on its own."

She paused to sigh in resignation and frustration as she recalled her efforts to keep House Martin afloat despite a Clan that didn't want them anymore.

"He may not have planned it. But Sam Robertson would definitely take advantage of an attack to position to shear us off, if we resurfaced. And, from the difference in the time I was taken, and your rescue, he's had several months to prepare for that eventuality."

Lash felt a muscle in his jaw ripple with tension. The most ancient House in all of vampiredom had never wanted for resources, replete with power and strength from the very beginning as the straight line heirs of the Ancient One. And so House Lash wouldn't have maneuvered as Roberton did to shed itself of unwanted liliths or little sisters. Because they didn't have to. And to hear a House maneuvering towards that end chewed at his very soul.

And yet, in the face of what he had seen across the world as Qos Viran, he knew not all vampires had what they needed. And many were willing to do what they had to, to survive. Like selling young daughters to the Conclave as breeders, like what happened to Ellie. Or find ancient laws to give them the power to cut free liliths that depended on their resources to survive. So, while it hurt his soul, he also understood it.

Regardless, understanding didn't equate to liking. Then Isla was recapturing his attention as she leaned back in to inhale his scent as she ran her nose up along his neck.

"Knowing this, and knowing he'd try to remove us at the first opportunity, I did a little research into that law myself and learned the shearing ritual. That's how I knew the response." She lightly kissed his skin over his pulsing carotid. "So when you offered the opportunity to extend adjunct status to those that couldn't return home any time soon, I saw my chance to leverage Sam's plan into getting freed to join House Lash."