There was a deep underlying satisfaction I found in my routine tasks, since my days had fallen into a pattern at New Haven.
Every morning I worked on training and maintaining my fighting skills, every afternoon I practiced in the shooting range, and every evening I put a group of youth through their paces. There was a nostalgia in teaching because it reminded me strongly of my time with Hadron when he had first taught me.
The group was composed mainly of boys, but there were a couple of girls as well, and all of them seemed to hang on my every word in a way that made me feel uncomfortable with the pressure to live up to their imaginings. While many of the other adults still clearly held reservations about my actions, the youth seemed perfectly happy to apply an unrealistic level of hero worship on what I had done mostly to survive while hunting my quarry.
I tried to reinforce that my vamp count was the last thing they should emulate, because I didn't want them recklessly throwing themselves into the fight with dreams of empty glory, but it didn't seem like they were interested in listening to that. I repeated the importance of caution and preparation while I tried to drill as many survival skills into them as possible.
For the first time, I understood Hadron's reluctance to let me start on my journey. It seemed justice of the highest order that I would have to watch these reckless children—for they were little more than that—dream of attempting things that could very well be deadly to them.
Still, it was a task worth doing so I dedicated myself to my time with them.
Once I finished with my evening training duties, I usually was captured by Lucas. At first, I had attempted to escape to be alone, but I swore he seemed to have nothing better to do than lie in wait to drag me into forced socializing, not only with himself, but also with any other person who he decided to include. The man seemed to be on friendly terms with everyone, to the point where it was exhausting.
If anything, he was even more talkative than he had been when we had both been in Vienne's home, probably because now I was in on so many of the secrets they had been keeping. He was annoying and overwhelming, but I couldn't help but like him just a bit.
Tonight, however, I was in the clear, because Rene had gone into labour early in the morning, so Lucas was well occupied, his mind was far from trying to be my friend.
I almost considered, for a moment, going to see how things were progressing, but I decided it was better to leave the situation alone. Eventually, everyone in the compound would know Lucas's news, including me, and I could only hope that everything would work out and that Rene and the child would both survive the process.
Since I had the night off of being friendly, I made my way up to the roof of the residential building. I passed a couple of people in the halls, but neither of them disturbed me with anything more than a nod of acknowledgment that I returned. I walked to the edge and leaned on the railing, feeling the wind and revelling in the freedom of the moment as I looked out at the dark buildings below me.
Like happened so often nowadays, whenever I wasn't busy my mind wandered to her. It had been almost a month since I had seen her last and I was no less conflicted than in that moment when she kissed my cheek and left, if anything, it was worse than before. It seemed not to matter how near or far she was, she was in my mind.
And I could not keep myself busy enough to evade the truth. I wanted to give her what she wanted, and the fact that it was a terrible idea did not affect my desire in the slightest.
We had nothing in common. She was a bloodsucker, I was a human.
The fact that she was dangerous should have been enough reason for me to want to keep her at arm's length, but when had danger ever stopped me from going where I wanted to go before?
She had all the power between us, but in spite of her inability to stop aggravating me, she seemed reluctant to force me to do anything. Other than buying and branding, what had she done besides tease and cajole me?
Still, if I dared move in that direction, I sensed that it was not something I could escape, and not because she wouldn't let me go, but because I was not sure I would even want to. I could accept that I wanted her body, but had I somehow come to care for a leech, of all people?
I looked up at the blackening sky and to the stars, as if they could give me some explanation about the uncomfortable truth. At some point, I had stopped wanting her destroyed and started wanting her to exist.
The female never stopped changing disguises so it was difficult to know which was truly her, but it was increasing easy to see the continuity in the chaos. She wasn't as bad as she wanted others to believe, somewhere deep under her constant layers of lying games.
My mother and sisters and Melissa followed by a decade of searching for the bloodsucker had been little preparation for dealing with Vienne. I would just have to figure things out as I went along.
I returned to my room, but before I was able to begin preparing myself for bed, there was a knock on the door. I moved to open it, only to find Belle standing there. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her breaths came out in harsh pants and I was instantly on alert, my mind jumping between possible threats.
"What is it?"
"Connor needs you, now. He's in his office."
I did not waste time asking her further questions as I jogged down the hall and took the stairs down by twos. I received a few questioning expressions as I ran past people on the main floor and as I grabbed a lantern before I pushed out the doors and ran out into the night.
New Haven had a blackout policy at night so that it would not stand out any more than necessary. Apparently even with the ability to see through the darkness, light could still potentially catch the eye of a bloodsucker, but being summoned by Connor was extenuating circumstances.
Walking past guards on duty, I pushed open the door to the main operations hub, and made my now familiar way to Connor's office. The door was open, and Connor was at his desk.
"Close the door," he said.
I did, and took the seat across from him. "What is it?" I asked. There was almost a feeling in the air of tension, and I wanted to understand the threat so I could meet it head on.
"You're needed back at Vienne's home."
I paused, rather surprised, considering how she had sent me away because she couldn't use me there. "Why?"
Connor paused. "The female vampire you staked wasn't destroyed, and she remembers your description accurately. Unfortunately, several other vampires put it together and confronted her on it. She's trying to smooth things over, and producing you is one step of that."
Shit. I had thought I had stabbed the female bloodsucker well enough, but it was true I hadn't taken the time to see Dana turn to ash before I had left. Was there anything I could have done to completely destroy her, pressed for time as I had been? My stomach felt like lead and guilt swept over me. My actions had endangered the very cause I now wanted to nurture to success.
"I thought I was officially dead."
"The documents weren't submitted yet. I'm told she thought it would sound suspicious to make the claim when they seemed to think you were alive. She said you were sent off to the textile factory when she grew bored with you. So you'll be picked up by one of the workers and brought back. From what it sounds like, she had to improvise and now we've got to go along with it."
There were a hundred holes in the story. "I haven't been rebranded."
"True. And it's too late to change that. You can claim to have scratched it away in secret, if asked. The whole situation is bad. The hope is that you can convince them that you're just a terrified, broken slave who's been there the entire time and get their attention off of you."
They were counting on my ability to act pitiful, which was far from easy. The whole thing became more hopeless the further in I got.
"Is there a backup plan?"
"There always is," Connor said in what was probably supposed to be a reassuring voice.
"Which leech figured it out?"
"Magnus, Katter, and Willow, I was told."
"Magnus was already suspicious of me."
"That's probably why you came to mind. Listen, Jamie, I know it looks dire, but Vienne's been doing this a long time. One way or another, the threat will be neutralized. No need to worry, there's no way she'll hand you over to them."
Oddly, the thought that she might had not even crossed my mind.
"Where do I meet my ride?"
* * * * *
I had not left the relative safety of New Haven since I had returned, and once again I found myself outside in less than ideal circumstances. My guides and guards led me out on foot until we finally met with a gravel road. After following the road, we found a vehicle waiting with four people in it, three men and a woman who was probably around my own age, from what I could make out in the dim light.
The guards who had escorted me melted back into the darkness without saying anything more, and I approached the parked SUV, unable to completely to ignore my usual caution. The door opened and the woman's voice said, "Hurry up."
I wasted no more time as I jumped into the middle seat. The vehicle roared to life and we sped off down the road.
"Good to meet you, Jamie. I'm June, and I've been running the textile factory for about as long as you've been hunting vampires. I'm supposed to give you some directions and a quick rundown of what you've been doing as your cover story, just in case those bloody leeches decide to grill you."
I could not help but like her no nonsense harsh way of speaking. "Sounds good."
"So, you need to act as downtrodden as possible. I'm sensing that isn't your natural state, but try to imagine what you would be like, maybe focus on past trauma. I don't want to put excess pressure on you, but a lot is riding on those leeches giving up on their belief that you're the one who staked those two. It's unfortunate that you look so much like what that leech is describing," she mused.
"She is describing me," I pointed out.
"I know, but it was hard to believe. I'd love to hear more about it, after everything has been settled. But first, did you bring your dagger? I can see you've been collared."
Connor had told me to. "Yeah."
"Good. But keep it hidden. They won't be expecting weapons so they probably won't notice. Basically, be completely subservient and follow Vienne's lead, no matter what happens. We're risking exposure here, and everything comes down to you and Vienne."
Maybe it was fitting, because ultimately it was our decisions that had bought the difficulty down upon us.
June continued to further explain my imaginary duties and give me tips for the remainder of the journey. It did not take long until we arrived at her home, and the gates opened before us. The driver wound the SUV into the yard, and brought it to a stop.
As soon as I stepped out, a dozen guards surrounded me. Instinctively, the desire to fight the situation welled up in me, but I held it back, reminding myself of the greater cause.
Even if I didn't get out of this unscathed, it would be worth it if the rebellion continued.
The guards led me through the halls, footsteps loud in the silence of the night. As when these three had been here before, it seemed almost all the humans other than the guards had been hidden away from the intruders. I had been blind to the strategy before, Vienne was protecting her humans from other predators.
In mere moments, we were at the entrance to her chambers. The doors were opened by a pair of guards, and a half dozen of her favourites were lining the walls, all of them shrinking as if terrified. I now knew many of them to know the act for what it was. I tried to copy them, hoping that it would be enough to remove me from the enemy leeches' suspicions.
Vienne, of course, was lounging in her usual chaise, looking completely relaxed and unconcerned about the situation at hand. Her eyes met mine only for the briefest second before returning to her guests.
The three familiar bloodsuckers also were sitting, chairs clearly having been brought for them. None of them looked nearly as comfortable as she did, as if it were her levelling accusations rather than the other way around.
She spoke, her voice confident and authoritative. "So, here's the human you somehow imagine could be the infamous vampire slayer, in spite of the fact that he was here with me or has been confined in my factory this entire time." Her voice dripped with derision as if she truly thought it was the most ridiculous idea in the world rather than the truth.
I could feel the bloodsucker's gazes on me for a long moment before Magnus finally spoke. "He looks exactly like Dana's description."
She smiled condescendingly at her guests. "As do about fifty of my other humans."
"Fifty?" Willow asked, sounding shocked.
Vienne raised her eyebrows as she looked at the other female. "You don't have at least fifty? How can you not? You probably buy that many every year."
"I—"
Magnus cut Willow off. "This is obviously him."
"I don't see how it's even possible."
"He's not the easy break you claimed," Magnus insisted.
"Does he not look meek? All I hear is you making a number of completely outlandish claims about one of my more useless humans. Do you not think I put him through any number of torments to test his metal? He broke distressingly easy. You can see the emptiness in his eyes, if you know how to look."
Instead of letting myself get irritated with her again, I focused on our goal and tried to match her pathetic description.
Katter spoke, his voice low and almost rusty. "We'll take him to Dana and she'll confirm the truth of our claims, Councillor Vienne."
Vienne laughed coldly. "And how am I to know this is not some silly scam you three thought up to rob me of my property? I was hardly born yesterday."
Magnus scowled as he stood up and walked towards me. I tried to flinch at the movement, and tried to hunch and huddle like I had no purpose and hope beyond avoiding further punishment. I forced my jaw not to clench, and my muscles not to tense aggressively like they so desperately wanted to.
He circled me as he had done once before, slowly inspecting me from every angle. He then faced Vienne. "I don't believe you."
"Then perhaps you should try to reign in your imagination to align more with reality, my friend."
Magnus stalked back towards Vienne. "You know, Councillor, perhaps this whole messy business could stay between us."
"Really?" she asked innocently, although I did not miss the flash of red in her eyes.
"Absolutely. For a price, of course."