High Stakes

Don't Blow It (Darien)

"So what? You're going to represent me?" I stared at him.

"In the event that a prisoner cannot provide themselves with a lawyer, one is provided by the state—which typically doesn't work in the prisoner's favour, so alternatively their maker can become a representative on their behalf."

"Guess that year of law school will finally pay off," I said sarcastically.

"Darien," Noah finally met my gaze. "This is serious. You killed four people on the council, who are essentially the people who will vote on your verdict. You're going to burn for this. They're going to ensure that you burn for this."

I stared back at him, deadpan.

"Why'd you do it, D?" His expression was unreadable. "You weren't even careful."

"It's hard to kill four council members carefully," I told him. "Three maybe, but four? Impossible."

"Why kill any?" he asked. "You must've known it was a death sentence."

"It was better than hers," I replied. The back of my eyes burned. I couldn't mention my special mind-reading gifts, even here, where they claimed nothing was recorded—it was simply too dangerous. "I knew they were going to vote against it."

Understanding crossed his features. I could hear the cogs turn in his mind as he thought, 'They were going to vote against her becoming a part of our society,' which was a polite way of saying they were going to kill my wife because he illegally turned her into a vampire. "I could've handled it,' he said. 'Paid them off,' he thought.

"They don't need money—"

"There's always other ways to handle politics, D. I would've handled it."

"By what?" I could feel the strain behind my eyes. "By sucking off half the council?!"

"If it came to it, yes!" Noah yelled. "Yes! I would've done anything."

"And then what? We hoped they stuck to their end of the deal?" I asked him. "I've seen those deals go south. You know a good way to ensure people keep their promise? Killing them. She might be undead, but at least now she's safe, the next in line for the council, the ones who will decide her afterlife, they're all pro undead...or whatever we call it. Her future is secured."

"And what about your future?!" he heaved.

"Well, you pretty much screwed that into the ground when you turned MY WIFE into MY VAMPIRE SISTER!!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, next time I'll just leave her to bleed out on the side of the road."

I stared at him, unsure about what to say.

"Please, just...don't do anything crazy, okay?" Noah's tone was serious, his dark eyes begging. "Stay put. As bad as this seems–and it really is bad, I'll handle it. Just don't be you for a few days as I handle things. Please?"

– † –

Salvation was our present.

True to his world, Luicien had somehow snuck explosives into the prison, and not the low-end stuff. It was good quality, blow a city down A-grade shit. I had no idea how Lucien had managed to sneak something like this into a high-security prison, but he managed to do a lot of things that shocked and scared me. My gaze burned as it trailed across the yard. Frankly, I didn't know why they called it that...it was just as grim and shadowed in here as everywhere else in the prison. It was a box with giant walls that seemed never-ending. It was almost dizzying, a trick of the mind to look upward, like staring into a broken skylight - the clouds were grey, but despite being outside, no real light or fresh air could pierce these unforgiving walls.