Blood & Power [Book One of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

1.11: Survive

"Just keep out of it Kara." I had resolved, picking myself up from the couch and extending a hand out to her to take. I could tell she just needed some affection to ease the worry.

"With pleasure," She had scoffed and walked past me; she had avoided my hand but pushed the glass into my chest and stormed her way out of the room. I knew better than to frustrate her, but it couldn't be helped in this scenario; the most I could do was let her cool off.

As she waddled away, almost tripping with every few steps she took, I couldn't help but wonder who had crawled inside her brain. Her feelings about a revolution had shifted ever so slightly, but just far enough away from how she was as a human to cause mild concern. She had chosen to become a vampire out of mild curiosity and a craving for more than she had, but that shouldn't necessarily have meant she was willing to take on the desires of the long-time vampires on her shoulders so easily.

Which led me to believe that someone had been whispering dark words in her ears and warping her brain into a minefield of dangerous thoughts. Either this was just a way to gain a new follower to the regime; the naive ones always folded first, of course, or this was an innocent way to get to me. If Imogen and her followers got to Kara, perhaps they thought they could get to me through her. I wasn't entirely sure that my affection for Kara was unbeknownst to those that I would worry to know about it.

I'd left the lounge area soon after Kara's departure, hoping I could join others in some sparring in the lower levels. As I'd reached the staircase I had been met with the familiar face of Adrienne who'd rushed down the stairs, cheeks flushed red and dressed for the outdoors. I raised an eyebrow before trying to move past her; the expression on her face indicated that she was determined to do something, and I knew for sure, it had nothing to do with me.

In the face of that, she hesitated behind me for a moment before turning and stopping me with a quick hand, "Nika, will you join me on a walk?" She had said hastily, pulling me around to face her. I couldn't recognise the expression on her face as one she commonly possessed. Her teeth were forcibly biting into her lower lip as I stepped back up the stairs to meet her on the landing. My eyes had darted to the front door, and I vaguely reminded myself that I desperately wanted to spar; a thought that was quickly replaced by my concern for Adrienne.

"Hasn't the sun already risen? You aren't forcing me to attend an early dismissal are you?" I commented as my eyes had drifted to the heavy curtains that were draped over every window that could meet with the sun. There weren't many vampires that had been acquainted with a witch when the war had begun, and I'd found myself as one of the few that were familiar with one before it. I'd been happily walking in the sun amongst humanity before the whispers of uneasiness had ever met my ears.

"We didn't all ignore the blessings of witches dear." She had said quietly as she linked arms with mine and began to pull me towards the front door of the building. I wondered who had given her this blessing; I had sneaked my way into the graces of a witch who was willing to give me the gift of day-walking, but not many witches cared much for vampires. In fact, I would have to say at least 90% of them would like to see us wiped out - it was only their 'neutrality' that stopped them from trying to make it happen.

I found myself grimacing as we'd taken the first step into the light. The sun was slowly rising in the sky, but it was placed high enough that any vampire that was partial to its effects would be long off of the streets. My eyes had drifted towards her to silence my disbelief of her words; that she wasn't going to burn herself by being out here with me. As expected, nothing happened to Adrienne as she walked slightly ahead of me, winter boots crunching deep in the snow as she went.

Like many of the older vampires, Adrienne dressed for the weather; a habit they'd picked up trying to blend into human society. It had only recently become a trend with newer vampires trying to appear older than they were to gain some semblance of authority.