Being Undead

Chapter 19*

"Time to go, honey!" was what Daniel said as he suddenly barged into Laura's room out of nowhere.

She looked up from the book she was reading, too stunned to even be angry that he had actually had the audacity to enter into her room without permission. "What?" she said, confused. "Where?"

"The meeting room, duh!" He literally rolled his eyes at Laura and she got even more confused. "Look, Frederick have called the leaders of various rogue hunter groups in the area as backups in the hunt for Anton and they've arrived for a meeting," he explained. "So, let's go hear what they have to discuss." He pulled her out of bed and towards the door without even taking a second to look if she was actually dressed to go.

"Daniel, wait!" She pulled herself out of his hold. "Don't you have to be a rogue hunter to attend that meeting?" But she grabbed her jacket out of the closet anyway.

"Well, you're Daddy's favorite girl and I'm already in on the ride so we can skip that whole formality and get right down to party," he returned just like she suspected he would. "Now, let's go already."

"Fine." She led the way out of the room. "Let's go crash a meeting we weren't invited to." Laura had no doubt that if she actually said no, Daniel would carry her kicking and screaming there anyway.

"And please lose the "Daddy" name-calling, "she added in afterthought. "You make it sound like something from the pits of hell."

But Daniel only smiled in return. "No promises," he said and Laura rolled her eyes. Typical him, she thought.

Anyway, to say the leaders were less than pleased with Laura and Daniel's entrance into the meeting room would be a very big understatement, they were hyperinfuriated. "A rogue and a newblood," many of them actually said out loud. "This is more than an insult."

Surprisingly, Frederick didn't seem to mind the intrusion very much; and Damian didn't give a damn at all. "If you gentlemen are done whining," he said, "we can get down to business."

Laura couldn't understand any of the strategies devised by the men; she was never that good with anything combat-related, to be honest. But she wasn't the only one out of the conversation.

Thing is, Daniel didn't a pay a single attention to anything that was said in the meeting even though he had literally pressured Laura into coming with him. All he did was sip coffee and sketch on a notepad as the others talked. He must have come just to piss off the leaders, she realised; and she had to admit it was a tremendous success.

After the meeting though, Laura caught up with Daniel and asked him the one question that she knew she wouldn't be getting the answer anywhere else. "What's the deal with Anton?"

Surprisingly, he looked a bit hesitant to answer at first- which was a new look on him in front of Laura- but eventually, he answered. "Anton's full name is Antonio Vagarin. He's one of the oldest undeads still alive on this planet. He's so old, in fact, that his real age is unknown; estimate puts it at a thousand and three hundred. He's actually rumoured to be among the original undeads in the world and that he had lived so long even he has forgotten just how long he had lived."

"Wow!" Laura found herself gasping out. She had thought that Frederick and Graham were the most impressive undeads she would ever hear of. I was wrong, she admitted.

Anyway, she probed further. "What was his crime?" she asked. Original undeads were highly feared and revered- at least that was what she had been told- whatever required that they all would be willing to risk their lives in an attack against one had to be pretty serious.

"Well, official reports say that he was abducting and turning mortals against their will." Daniel shrugged like he didn't really care what the official reports said. "What I can categorically tell you though is that he's an insane egomaniac. The guy actually wants to be some kind of undead mage even though it's already a science that undeads and magic can't mix." He scoffed like the thought of it was too insane for him to hold to himself.

"So, how did you get mixed up with that so-called "insane egomaniac"?" Laura crossed her arms. "Is it because of that "property" of yours?"

Daniel smiled now; a very wide smile that was almost devilish in nature. "Nice try, honey, " he said, patting her gently on the head like a child, "but you won't be knowing my secrets today. Definitely not today." He held the smile even as he turned and walked away, sipping the rest of his coffee from the meeting as he did.

Laura sighed as she watched Daniel turn the corner. While it was no secret that he wasn't her favorite person, she discovered that she really was afraid of something bad happening to him; and if he had told the truth about Anton- coupled with his attitude towards the rogue hunters- then he was a very likely path to danger.

But despite all of her good thoughts, the truth remained that Laura wouldn't be able to save him on her own; she wasn't powerful enough. I need someone capable to stand up, she thought as she looked up to see Frederick in a discussion with Damian and two other hunter leaders, someone who cares and must be willing to save him before it's too late.