She looked at me thoroughly and there was little doubt in my mind what she was thinking, beautiful and oddly appealing in her cold state of existence. Marcel stood behind her, glowering at me like a dutiful watchdog, protective and aggressive. The older guard who I recognized but did not know seemed almost bored by the situation.
I returned the favour and ran my eyes up her body in turn, mostly to annoy Marcel, but it was hardly a hardship. She had her usual smirk on her face and I could not even summon my irritation. I was surprised when Marcel did not even bark a little bit at my provocation, and she seemed to enjoy it.
She began moving fluidly as she usually did, and I and the other humans began to follow her down the hall. She unlocked the door and pushed into a large room that was lined with what appeared to be torture devices.
The other humans seemed unconcerned about the location and the room smelled stale. I would have hated her for this, but now it seemed just another bit of theater to make herself look more evil than she was.
She met my eyes with a mischievous smirk. "Don't worry human, it's all for show in case I ever have nosey vampires sneaking down here."
I was not surprised, although I would have been, at one time.
She crossed the room to a rack on the wall with a number of painful looking weapons. Reaching around and behind the handles, she touched something and there was a metallic clank and the wall swung in on itself. The three of them made their way in and I went along into the deep darkness beyond the torture room, both other humans holding torches against the black.
Our footsteps sounded loud to my ears as we walked forward down a tunnel. At the beginning the tunnel was lined with stone, but it gradually gave way to dirt and support beams. I wondered what methods had been used to delve out the structure in secret, but there was something in the quiet of the underground that made me want to match it.
We walked for what felt like an hour but was probably less time in truth. Finally we emerged out into the dim light of dusk. The exit was nestled in the bottom of what seemed to be an old human made structure. I could not see any signs that it had been used recently. This seemed to be an exit of last resort and was likely the way that she had snuck away Lucas after the discovery of his indiscretion.
She strode out into the dim light confidently and we followed her out into the wilds. I watched her and Marcel and the other human and all three were acting as if this were a normal situation, although none of them spoke, which was especially odd for the leech.
Then we reached a dirt road, and further down the dirt road there was a parked SUV, manned by a lone human. His form relaxed as we neared and he looked relieved to see us arrive, I figured it was stressful for the man to be waiting exposed in the coming darkness when he was undoubtedly used to the comforts of being surrounded by humans and under a vampire's protection.
Strange how quickly my mind could change. The behaviour of the others had once confused and frustrated me, but I could understand them now on a different level.
Through the deepening darkness she got into the driver's seat. The human who had driven the vehicle there took the front seat, so I was left to get into the middle. The one who I did not really know who had accompanied us took the back, and Marcel of course took the seat beside me with a malevolent glare. The engine purred as she started it, although the lights stayed off.
Before putting the car into gear she looked back at us, although I could not see her expression through the darkness. "Don't you all look cozy?" she teased.
Marcel snorted at her words and I shrugged.
She turned her attention to the road and hit the gas. Although I understood that she could see, there was something unnerving about hurtling forward blind into the darkness.
We drove in relative silence for a long moment before she broke it. "So, Jamie, I suppose that I should introduce you to your fellow humans. You already know Marcel. Maybe you know Arnold, back behind you? He's one of my guards, but he's been running a lot of the training for my general human population."
"Nice to properly meet you," Arnold said.
"You too," I agreed. I could remember him yelling instructions in the background while I trained with her guards.
"Up here beside me is Kage. You probably haven't met him. He's something of Leif's assistant and he spends a lot of his time moving around between my properties a coordinating everything."
"Your reputation precedes you," Kage told me. He didn't sound particularly resentful.
I considered how I was supposed to respond to that, but she started talking again. "So, Jamie, once you're in New Haven, we'll get you settled in, and then I'll give you a little tour before dawn. Have any questions so far?"
Millions. "No."
"Well, don't hesitate to ask. I want to utilize you to your full potential."
"Sounds great."
"Don't be so prickly. I just don't want you to be wasted. I'm like this with all my humans, right Marcel?"
"She is," he agreed easily. I imagined he would have been giving me that challenging expression he usually had, but there was no way for me to see it. Even the last rays of the sun were fading on the horizon and the little light that was left was not enough for me to see anything with detail. We were well into the time when the bloodsuckers ruled, and my instinctual dislike of the darkness was difficult to ignore.
Humans were by nature of the sun, but every night that protective orb deserted us.
Because my vision was useless, I focused on my other senses. The vehicle smelled of leather, and the breathing of the other humans was barely loud enough to be heard over the low hum of the engine. They sounded calm as if they had made such journeys before, and I reminded myself that this was not like dealing with one of the hostile leeches.
Still, I would certainly be happy when we reached our eventual destination.
"A shooting star," she commented, breaking the dark silence. "I'm rather a fan of such things, they break up the night sky so nicely. I don't know if humans still know this, but they're pieces of rock burning up as they enter the atmosphere, beautiful in their own destruction. It seems poetry in and of itself."
I would have preferred if she kept her vampiric attention on the road I could only imagine was in front of us in the darkness, because I sure as hell couldn't see it. The vehicle descended into silence for long moments before she broke it again.
"This is why I was so angry that I had to get rid of Lucas. I used to bring him almost everywhere with me. If Lucas were here, he would be making interesting conversation and we would not all be driving in silence. He was especially good at getting new humans to relax a bit."
She paused. When she spoke again, she sounded vexed. "Any of you want to at least try to fill his shoes? Anything?"
"Well," said Kage from the front seat, "I could give you a couple summary reports on general resource development off the top of my head."
She scoffed, "I'm driving, you don't want me to fall asleep while I'm doing that, do you, Leif two-point-oh? Arnold?"
"Well, I've been doing nothing besides training the non-combatants in self-defense lately. I guess the food's getting better again now that the kitchen has been renovated," the guy behind me said matter-of-factly.
"Why did I pick the most diligent people to accompany me? What's your excuse, Marcel? You're not usually so quiet."
"You told me not to antagonize him."
"Hmmm. I did say that, didn't I? If I let you talk freely, is it going to end in the two of you beating each other up again?"
"Do you want it to end in the two of us beating each other up again?" Marcel asked. The way his voice went up at the end made him sound hopeful. Had he liked me kicking his ass? Because that was exactly what was going to happen again. I wasn't going to count the time they caught me escaping as a loss since I had been outnumbered and a gun had been involved.
She sighed. "No, I suppose that's not practical. Although it did seem you two reached some sort of peace after that, at least until Jamie staked me."
I did not have to see to feel the spiteful weight of the sudden attention upon me at her words. Was she trying to cause trouble for me?
"Seriously, now you're getting all morose? I refuse to tiptoe around the topic simply because you're all so high strung. Yes, Jamie staked me. Yes, you're probably all still displeased about it. That was weeks ago, time to move on. It happened, it's in the past. Tell them, Jamie, do you plan to try to stake me again?"
"Obviously not."
"See? Nothing to worry about then."
"Well, Mistress, there's a lot..." Kage began to mutter but trailed off.
"I've no intention of ever getting staked again. Turns out it's rather unpleasant, and if Jamie isn't going to do it, then what do we have to worry about?"
"The vampire council?" I suggested dryly.
She chuckled, "Perhaps once we begin, or if they figure out what I'm up to. I wouldn't worry, they're too busy finding new ways to make everyone more restricted and miserable to see the wider picture. So, Jamie's on our side and the council is oblivious so now you've all got nothing to worry about."
"Except everything," Kage added helpfully.
She sighed again. "Why are you all here? Kage, you were here to bring the vehicle. Marcel and Arthur are here as extra backup just in case we run into trouble while moving Jamie. But most importantly, all of you are supposed to be here to amuse me unless something goes wrong. You're all doing an excellent job at esthetics, but you're failing miserably at not being boring and terribly awkward. This journey wasn't nearly so bad when we moved Lucas, because he knows how to hold a conversation. Perhaps you all spend too much time on practical matters."
"Practical matters are what will win the war," Kage said.
"But what's the point of winning the war if you're not going to live?" She sounded genuinely curious.
"Avoiding death is the most humans can hope for," I offered.
"Good point. Although I hope your lives are somewhat better than that in the meantime. Some of you won't even be around to see the new world we're going to make."
I was clearly getting soft, because I found myself wanting to reassure her, but before I could give in to the urge the conversation moved on without me.
* * * * *
She stopped the car after about a half hour of driving. Except Kage who stayed with the vehicle, we all got out and walked. The process was quiet and slow, but I understood that we were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was well known amongst the free humans that while vampires did not need light to see through the darkness, it could capture their attention from great distances.
Once in a while she would warn us to be careful of a particular obstacle in our paths. There was something otherworldly about trusting a bloodsucker to lead me through the darkness, when only a year before I would have wanted nothing more than to kill her.
Still, it was a relief when she led us into the tunnel, and even more when a torch flared to life. I blinked while my eyes adjusted, and then it was thrust into my hands and another one was lit as we moved forward.
She met my eyes with her own, "I assume you remember this tunnel?"
"Yeah." How could I not? I remembered a hell of a lot of confusion and then relief at my freedom, as well.
Marcel chuckled, as if the memory of throwing me out was a particularly happy one for him. I ignored him. At least it was better than his usual braying.
As we exited the tunnel, the faint shapes of the buildings I had only seen briefly before were illuminated in the torchlight. Vienne turned to Marcel and Arnold. "You're both dismissed for the night."
We were met by a woman about my own age with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"Vienne," she said with a simple nod.
"Jamie, this is Shania, and vice versa. She'll show you to your quarters, Jamie. Let her know if you need anything and I'll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams."
She smiled widely, showing her fang on one side, and then she swept away.
Shania smiled at me, like an echo of the leech's own expression. "I already had your room set up. Follow me, please."
"You knew we were coming?" I asked.
"Yes, we've got an underground telephone line running between New Haven and Vienne's home."
"I've never seen one there." Although they did have computers, so I supposed I was not surprised. They would need some method of communication, and tapping into ancient tech was better than running messengers.
"There's only one in Leif's office and it's mainly for business use," she explained as we headed towards a large building. "This is the main residence, almost everyone lives in here. The rooms are a bit smaller than what you're probably used to from the main compound, but New Haven is more about functionality than comfort, since this is the heart of the rebellion."
She showed me around the main residence. The main floor had a large dining room that reminded me of the leech's home. The second floor seemed to be something of a windowless living and recreation area
Nodding my understanding, I followed her up a couple more flights of stairs. We walked down a hall and she pointed out what was of interest to me and then finally she stopped at a particular door and opened it, revealing a simple room. I didn't care, it had a bed and door so it was good enough.
"I had them gather everything you might need, but if we missed anything, let me know. I'm sure Vienne will show you where my office is in the morning," she said.
"Thanks."
"I'll leave you to settle in, then. Good night," she said, and without waiting she retreated from the doorway and down the hall, leaving me to get settled in.