Jamie had stood before me, handsome and defiant as ever, when I had let the power of my age seep into my words. He had not liked that once he understood, but it had to be done. If he was going to be running around challenging vampires, I could not afford to let my secret plans go unprotected. It would have been better if they had not brought him here, but Marcel would ever be Marcel for as long as he lived. In truth, I had done nothing to mitigate their conflicts.
I was at fault.
I listened to the sound of my guards removing Jamie from the rebel encampment. I regretted that I had to get rid of him so abruptly, but I was not sure that my self-control would hold up if I did otherwise.
Clearly, I had been off my game, but Jamie had made his decision and now I was going to live with it, or whatever close proximity my existence actually was to living. Even if the most intriguing person I had ever met was gone, I still had much I wished to accomplish. If the idea seemed emptier than before, I was just going to have to deal with that.
It was completely boring, terribly dismal, and above all most unfitting for a vampire of my stature, but I kept feeling like I might start crying, which was absurd. It was not as if he had died already, but I could not dare to hope that Jamie would survive the attempt or the completion of his goal. And even if he did not, it was only a matter of time. All humans died, like spring flowers, and what was it to me if they lasted more or less a day?
My comforting lies to myself did not come as easy as normal, but I would treat him as all the other humans before him, and eventually I would scarcely be able to see what I did not want to see.
Feeling reasonably certain that he was gone, I left the storage pantry and walked upstairs. Unfortunately, Lucas was waiting at the top with questions written all over his face. Worse was the concern also present.
These male mother hens would be the death of me. I, above all, did not need sympathy. They should turn and pity themselves for their tragically short lives. I sighed dramatically, but he seemed undeterred. I cocked an eyebrow at him.
Finally, he stopped looking at me in such an annoying way and asked, "What's your plan?"
"My plan? Well, I eventually hope to start a rebellion that will remove vampires from rule and shove them back in the shadows where they properly belong, of course. I'm quite surprised that you haven't figured that out yet, Lucas, since you have been with me for some time and I was rather convinced we were on the same page. I know your intellect isn't quite at the level of my own, but—"
"You know that's not what I meant, Vienne."
I wanted to scowl at him and go on my way without answering him, but that would be far too telling. If I gave Lucas a satisfactory answer, many would hear his impression of the situation. Lucas spoke a lot, and although I trusted him to keep my secrets, his knowledge always constantly tinted his attitude. He had the worst poker face of all my guards—rather my ex-guards. I hid the scowl I wanted to bestow on him, because he would surely think it was related to Jamie rather than his own irritating errors.
Instead, I smiled with all the peaceful confidence I could muster from long years of practice. "If you're referring to Jamie, he made his choice, the same one that you all ultimately made, but with a quite different response. It is clear he will not rest easy without his revenge, so I shall not stop him. I ensured that he will not speak of this to anyone, and I trust he will properly destroy his brand, so he'll appear as if he were nothing more than one of the free humans who got swept up in my feral branding program."
There was of course, still a risk that an equally talented and ancient vampire could undo my compulsion, but the odds were slim. Ivan was, of course, a risk for that, but to do so he would both have to guess that there was compulsion to undo and find a way around it. It was possible, but vanishingly unlikely since Ivan was one of those vampires who underestimated humans to the extreme.
I could not fathom how Ivan and his ilk could be so blind, yet he was. Worse, he had seen all that I had seen of the human world, but he considered humans as if no more intelligent than pigs. It was not worth complaint, however, since like all my imbecilic fellow vampires, it resounded to the benefit of my plans that they were unimaginative fools.
Lucas was nodding, and I chose to ignore the trace of suspicion he held that I might be embellishing the truth again.
Perhaps I would go on a truth spree until my humans became less suspicious of my little word games. Lull them into trusting me so my lies might hide more efficiently.
Except of course, now was a poor time since I would not admit how much Jamie had shook me. They had already surmised too much, but I could waylay their suspicions by acting as if his absence was no more than a mild disappointment.
They knew he was a game to me, but let them come to believe he was a passing fancy.
And truly, I had already extracted the maximum entertainment value I could from him. There was no way he could top his little half-hearted assassination attempt. I had been truly distracted and genuinely surprised. He was the most handsome round of Russian roulette I had ever encountered and I surely would never see the likes of such again.
It was bittersweet, but along with him, that kiss would stand alone in my mind for the rest of my existence as something truly memorable.
He was an amazing diversion and I was glad to have found him.
And now I had serious work to turn my attention to.
* * * * *
Since I was rarely in New Haven and I did not wish to risk travel home during the day, I called an early morning meeting with my most important leaders who were present. Connor was a former guard and I had set him as the head of the hidden military, while Tiberius had once run the metalworking plant that was a cover for weapon smithing.
How ironic that the very same plant that produced brands for the council also secretly produced the weapons that would one day be used to defeat them. It was these little jokes that kept me going when things got boring.
They all took turns talking and giving me status summaries. Food was stockpiled, but also was rotated in order to prevent waste. Weapons were likewise, although it was generational improvements that would render them obsolete as they stood the test of time more readily. There were issues of housing and maintenance regarding my ever expanding population of humans, most of whom did not know the extent of my plans but were content to live lives mostly unmolested by my vampire brethren.
Besides the trickle I bought from the council dungeons, I had scouts that would search the wilds for ferals that seemed as if they could be useful.
Truthfully, the feral human population likely might not have been in decline had I not siphoned off a significant number through the years through human recruiters.
The reality of the situation only made my constant harping about blood security at the council all the more hilariously amusing, because my concern was the ultimate falsehood. I had no concerns about my personal blood supply so long as I kept my humans protected, although the rest of the vampires might be wise to listen to my words.
My humans were more than just food, considering there were many that I would never even feed upon. They were even more than soldiers for the battles that would come. They were the future that I hoped to nurture into existence, because the current world was too dreary to be borne for even a few more centuries.
I liked the old world and I would have it back. Some days it was difficult not to just start the plans into action prematurely and be done with it.
As I listened to my well chosen humans report on what they were doing, I smiled with satisfaction. We were getting closer all the time. I was impatient, but I did not wish to act before we were properly prepared. I wanted a decisive victory. I would not allow the forces of the vampires to overcome humanity again.
* * * * *
I rested in my private chambers at the rebel encampment, an area far more modest than my pseudo-throne room at home, but I rather liked the coziness of the enclosed space. I had Lucas watch over me while I slept with only the slightest bitterness, since this was no longer a task he could regularly handle.
I might completely forgive him one day, especially if his offspring grew to exhibit the same spark that had first caught my eye in him. It had a good chance, because his female, though much less brave, had a sneaky rebellious streak I had noticed from time to time.
As well evidenced by the fact the two fools had engaged in unauthorized reproduction. It had clearly been unintentional, but not one of my humans was too stupid to know the risk so they had no excuse.
Well, no matter. There was no putting toothpaste back in the tube. I turned my attention to the planned improvements my chief human maintenance officer had proposed to improve the medical and dental care of my humans in general.
To the best of my ability, I kept my mind on the tedious matters of the day as I slowly slipped into the black, rather than allowing it to stray into territory of a certain man whose absence would only make me miserable if I chose to acknowledge it.