Broken Warrior

The Pale Rider's Dog

Eirene

"Why did you kill Yuri?" His face had returned to a mask again, though I found myself focusing on the point where his sleeves were riding up along his forearms, exposing his tattoos. It was so strange to see such an old vampire with relatively modern tattoos.

"He had spent most of his time killing innocents. He particularly enjoyed making them suffer and having games of hunting on his estates in Russia. Terrorizing, poor, starving, innocents by sending his people out after them like a pack of rabid dogs. Ninety percent of the vulnerable that go missing in Russia and the Eastern bloc, have ended up bleeding in those forests, running for a freedom they were never going to reach." I offered thoughtfully.

"You have that on good authority?" I heard a hint of surprise in his voice and looked back up to him, frowning at the doubt I saw.

"I research my targets well. Now tell me. You are one of Death's four horsemen? What name shall I call you?"

"Death is technically one of the four, if you wanted to get biblical." He snorted and rolled his eyes. "My name is Tim."

"That is underwhelming, Tim." I smirked and glanced away from him, tapping idly on my chains. "The Knights used to feed me information, they had contacts that would gather what information they could safely gather. I found, as they slowly became just like all others and more interested in their own gains and power, that they were feeding me the information they wanted me to have. So, I developed the ability to find my own. I stalk my prey for a long time before I strike. I have the files with all my information in my equipment. My computer will have self-destructed within forty-eight hours of me not returning to it."

"How did you know about Cadman's plan?" The more I gave him, the more he would demand from me, it would seem.

I could stubbornly refuse to answer his questions.

"Are you asking me this, because you are trying to figure out my methods and whether or not I have enough information to similarly expose your boss' dirty skeletons?" I looked back to him, meeting his eyes and holding the gaze. "What do I know? Do I have a plan to expose him, if I have a plan to destroy my data, in case of an emergency? Are those the questions you would like to ask me, Tim?"

Tim was silent, contemplative, for a long moment, before he bluntly murmured. "No. I want to know how you knew to show up at that gas station, when you did."

"I tracked Yuri and Cadman before I attacked. Despite their very genuine attempts at security, I was able to listen to their plans to work together to kill Alesky. A lot of angry, vicious vampires, who don't like being told what to do. Though... strangest thing. Cadman had aged a fair bit. I was rather curious as to how a vampire had come to age." I shrugged and looked back down to my hands, though I didn't miss his expression of understanding. "I continued to track Cadman, when I wasn't tracking Knight Corp, after I killed Yuri. He decided he wanted to hurt Carbry and had seen Alesky's human and another mate from the company leave. Cadman's people were looking for them and I was listening to them. I thought they were innocent humans, albeit ill-fated in their connections. But neither of those two were humans, were they?"

"You're telling me that you followed seven SUVs loaded with armed vampires on a warpath, with the intention of stopping them? With no back up." Tim didn't believe me, not that I really cared.

Tim could think I was lying about everything. I didn't think for one moment that anything I was saying would take my head off the chopping block. No, this was about getting information before they ended the source permanently.

I sighed softly, spreading my hands to the extent of the chains, tugging slightly on them. "I never have back up, Tim." I paused, glancing up to him and smirking ruefully. "And I was far more equipped to deal with Cadman and his men than those two were. It was a calculated risk."

"You're lucky you're not dead." His words were deadpan, serious.

I couldn't help but laugh, motioning around me and rolling my eyes. "Oh yes. I am grateful to lady fate, in sparing my life for a few more days. She was definitely smiling down on me when she put me into the hands of a monster I have been hunting since I lost my humanity."

"Mr. Alesky is not a monster." No hesitation but his words were genuine. The man believed them, glaring hard at me for even insinuating that Alesky was.

"So Cadman and Yuri believed. And so say most Knight Corp employees." I scowled at him, before turning my glare at the wall past his shoulder. "Tell me, Tim. Are you blind? Or are you a liar? Is it you who calls out the weak and afraid for Alesky to slaughter in the dark? Do you glut your hunger on the blood of innocents with him? Or does he hide these things from you?"

I had incensed him, though he did well to hide it, I saw the offence and anger flash in his eyes as he opened his mouth to retort. A sharp, single knock on the door silenced him and he turned to scowl in that direction.

For a moment Tim remained still, glaring at the offending door, but he stood finally and picked up the chair, putting it against the wall and far out of my limited reach.

"Eat. Eirene. It's the edge of the thirst that keeps you so angry all the time." He turned and stalked out of the room, slipping through the door before I could focus on through the light that shone through it.

I glanced at the bottles sitting beside me for a brief moment, before shaking my head and settling back into my meditation. I was no dog to follow orders anymore.