I barely made it to my bed before I collapsed, blackness overwhelming my consciousness. Standing out in the sun and gloating over my fallen enemies had taken its toll on me. Still, it had been entirely worth it.
I woke from the darkness feeling quite refreshed. I stretched languorously and met the eyes of Dean.
"How are you feeling?" He had gone to the medical wing after a minor injury from Willow. His wrist was wrapped up, but he looked healthy besides.
"I'm fine," he said in his deep, slow way. "You?"
"I'm wonderful, as always. Don't worry, this little wrinkle will get smoothed out soon enough, and it will be back to life as usual before you know it."
Lying to Dean did not soothe my own concerns in the slightest, although I hoped it would at least give him some temporary peace of mind. This was far more than a slight wrinkle. Although the destruction of Magnus and his ilk had been deeply satisfying, it was also a serious move in a potentially deadly game. The long stasis had been broken and things were moving, whether I had wanted them to or not, at this point.
I would try to bring everything to a halt, but failing that there was no choice but to revel in the disruption. "I need to see Leif," I told Dean.
"He's waiting for you."
"Very good. Please get me some coffee and I'll meet you at his office."
"Yes," he agreed, and we parted ways.
I knocked as I pushed open the door and Leif looked up expectantly.
"Leif, we need a meeting with the other leaders," I informed him without preamble.
He sighed. "Good, because I already called them. Apologies for—"
I scoffed, "Save your apologies. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me, since it's my predilections that brought trouble to our doorstep. Of course, I don't apologize, but I will acknowledge this one time that I may bear a certain...responsibility in current and potential future difficulties."
My words managed to shock a startled chuckle out of Leif. After years of him reacting to my jokes with deadpan calm, unbeknownst to me, he apparently had been capable of such human demonstration of mirth all along. How my wit had not elicited such a reaction before was mystifying.
"Sorry," Leif said. "I acknowledge your acknowledgement."
I smiled at him and decided that was enough of unbecoming apologies. "So, I assume those three are well dead?"
"They're nothing but piles of ash. We haven't discarded their remains yet in case you wanted to see them before we did."
"Thank you. A shame I had to miss the actual moment of their demise. We really need proper video cameras again." I paused. "What next, do you think?"
"Well, it depends on what other people know. Did the three tell anyone what they expected? Did they tell anyone where they were going? We should expect some questions, at the very least, since the council won't simply quietly accept the disappearance of three of its members."
"Ugh, that council is nothing but a continual problem. They're simply not worth the vanishingly small amount of amusement I glean from manipulating them."
"If nothing else, there won't be any physical evidence for anyone to find once the ash is discarded."
I nodded. "I'll go out to the training yard tonight, after the meeting." Perhaps, for a moment, I could recapture the feeling of finally taking out three of my most tedious adversaries before dealing with all the coming complications. I would wait until it was dark enough that I could comfortably go outside. Their remains were not going anywhere, unless perhaps a strong breeze came up.
Standing up, I said. "I may come back and confer with you before the meeting if I think of anything else. When are they set to arrive?"
"The last should be here by dusk."
"Perfect." It gave me some time to ponder this new situation I had wrought.
Just as I opened the door, Dean appeared with my coffee. I smiled at him as I took the perfectly proportioned cup and dismissed him. I wandered around, searching in the vain hope that I might find Jamie, just so I could at least talk to him while he was in reach. I did not spot him, nor could not hear that steady voice, unfortunately. I did have a task for him as I had told him, but it would have to wait until after the meeting and after I spoke with my general humans. They would certainly have questions after the vampire slaying display.
It was obvious that they were more stirred up than normal, simply from the faster patterns of the hums of their voices. Usually they were fairly quiet as they went about their tasks, but now there was a definite rush of whispered information flying through my home. I likely should put them at ease, but I also wanted to talk to the leaders of my rebellion before I made any absolute decisions.
My rebellion had been so much more laid back and fun in the early stages, but of course I could never have taken on the council and supporters with such a small force. This was necessary, even if it wasn't quite as entertaining as I preferred.
I was sidetracked from my commiserations by the low rumble of Jamie's voice coming from outside. It was late enough that a peek would not kill me, but going out would be rather uncomfortable. I pushed aside the heavy draperies and looked out into the training yard.
Jamie was walking across with Raoul and seemed perfectly at ease, in contrast to the nervousness of many of the humans in my home this day. In every situation, he stood out to me amongst all the others.
And here I was, peering out the window at him like a stalker. It was not my fault that I could not go and easily join him in the sunlight, but my behaviour still seemed too skulking for my liking.
I sighed. If I had met someone like Jamie in my human life, perhaps I would have lived and died under the sun instead of having my head turned by a creature of the darkness. Or perhaps, my sire would have turned me regardless and nothing could have changed that.
Letting the draperies fall back into place, I walked away.
* * * * *
Hours later, I found myself sitting at the head of a long meeting table while I watched all of my most carefully chosen humans from all over my domain assemble in their own chairs. Leif sat to my right and Connor to my left, and there were more than a dozen others down the table. Since the room was more crowded than usual, along with those seated, standing out of the way there were at least a dozen more assistants to my rebellion leaders, but the only one I was truly aware of in that crowd was Jamie.
He made it so hard for me to focus, on top of my already questionable attention span. I just wanted to check off the other tasks I had to do so that I could get him alone for a while and see what happened.
Turning my attention to Leif, I nodded that he should begin. He started off with a short summary of what had happened and I simply watched as the humans around the table listened to the account of the incident. Most looked worried or irritated, and Tiberius' tense form and dark frown stretched across his lean features made him look especially agitated.
He was definitely not pleased with me. Once Leif finished speaking, I decided to deal with him straightaway before explaining our plans, rather than allowing his negativity to fester. "Tiberius, I'd like to hear your first impression of the situation."
He was caught unawares, and while normally I would find his now flustered expression amusing, right now I just wanted to deal with his opposition. Of all things, I did not want silent discord amongst the leaders.
Finally, he summoned the wherewithal to speak. "I have concerns."
"Undoubtedly," I agreed. "I imagine we all do."
"The council is going to start sniffing around now."
I met his eyes. "You are very likely right."
"Then what were you thinking?" he asked, and as vexed as he was, I could tell he truly wanted a real answer.
"As Leif said, Magnus, Willow, and Katter confronted me about the so-called vampire slayer I acquired, which was bad enough on its own, and then there were a few hints about deeper suspicions. I couldn't simply let them go, even if I tried to compel them I doubt it would take or last on such old vampires."
"Then, what about all the other incidents? Why buy such a human, why let him leave? I can't imagine he managed to stake you without you allowing it to happen on some level."
I smiled a bit. I certainly was not going to share the more intimate details of that particular moment even with the leaders of my rebellion, since it was largely irrelevant. "Well, I will admit I was rather distracted in the moment I got staked. But you're right. I was playing around a bit more than I should have."
Unfortunately, my admission did not seem to placate my humans in the slightest. If anything, they seemed even more vexed at me. I smiled shamelessly. "I can't entirely help how I am, and I think most of you are aware of that fact, even if you can't truly understand it. I was like this, to some degree, even before I was turned. Either way, I think we can all agree that having a vampire on the council has been helpful on the whole, even if my particular curiosities can be troublesome, and unfortunately I'm the only vampire who was bored enough to start a rebellion, so you're all stuck with me, for better or worse."
I paused. "And truthfully, my first human rebellion advisor would be shocked that I had managed to keep things together this long. Oliver was quite the pessimist and he would never have believed how far we've come." There was a comforting fondness at the memory of his infernal grousing.
"But now, we have to manage this situation I've landed us in. Best case scenario, my three attempted blackmailers told no one where they were going and nothing of their suspicions. We bring their humans into the fold, and it all gets brushed off as the mysterious vampire slayer's greatest kill as of yet. I act suitably shocked when I hear the sad news during the next quarterly."
The picture I was painting lowered the tension in the room slightly, and I almost wished I could simply leave it there, but there was more to say.
"Worst case scenario, they figure out I was behind these deaths, and I take the fall. If it comes to that, all my assets will either be passed down to my heir, or even worse, be divided up, and you'll all have to move fast to keep our secrets afloat."
Connor shook his head. "Or, we could officially begin."
"It would be ideal if we could manage another few decades," Leif countered.
June scoffed. "The only thing that's kept vampires out of our business is Vienne's cover, if she's gone, how long do you think this will last? Could another vampire even manage what she has done?"
She was not wrong, but I ended the debate. We needed to focus on all possible eventualities and prepare, not argue which was most likely of all the choices. "Regardless, we need to make plans for any possible outcome to ensure we have a plan in place for whatever comes."
* * * * *
The meeting dragged on late into the night. Some of the humans drank boring bloodless coffee, while others seemed to be running on the hope that we would be done sometime soon and they could go and collapse into their beds for the night. I, of course, felt both energetic and alert, but I contributed less as my energy grew and my attention wandered.
In spite of the growing tedium of hashing out the details, some important plans were put in place, everything from strategically moving humans to make my territory more defensive, to increasing the efforts to draw more feral humans into the safety of my territories. There was very little talk of me handing myself over, which I appreciated, but in case it came to that, we were sending out scouts to find Drak to take over as my heir. He was unlikely to be able to get into the council, but he could at least maintain legal ownership of my properties and my humans. If he could not be found, Davidson would be my second choice, because at least he could be trusted not to abuse my humans too sorely.
Regardless of the humans' opinions on the topic, I determined that I would take the fall if I was forced into an inescapable corner, but I certainly would rather survive to see the new golden age of cinema that my new world would bring. While I longed for the ability to watch even one more movie, at this point I would even settle for travelling theatre groups. I was willing to make such a concession considering perhaps entertainment might not be our highest priority, which was a dreadful misalignment that I could only blame the council vampires for.
After all the humans found their ways to their beds, I finally wandered outside to view the remains of my first defeated council adversaries. Three down, ninety-two to go, although I rather hoped that a few of the other councillors could be convinced to be reasonable and would not need to meet the sun.
I strode up to the poles and eyed the dark ash that had once been the physical form of the blowhard, the whiner, and the lurker. As much as I had disliked them, somehow, this dreary end still made me feel melancholy.
I had never killed a vampire before, and I was surprised to find it felt almost as unpleasant as inadvertently killing a human. There was no guilt, because they had forced my hand, but the unusual desire to do something for them would not seem to entirely leave me.
"I'll ensure that your destruction scene makes the future production of the story of my life," I told the unknowing piles of ash. "I'll even try to have them minimize your pathetic whining. It's a shame you were such fools that you could not be reasonable."
I frowned at the remains. Willow and Magnus would have been horrified that their ash had been left simply lying on the ground like worthless refuse and would be even more appalled when it was discarded. I did not know what Katter would have thought, but I was guessing he would have been furious, considering his final words. I smiled at the memory.
Across the yard, through the relative silence of the night, the door facing the training yard cracked open with a click. I did not look towards the one who was intruding on my solitude, because I knew him even by the sound of his breathing and the tempo and weight of his footsteps. It was like he was a radio station and I was simply tuned to his wavelength.
The light of a lantern illuminated the ground beside me, and then further to brighten the piles of ash on the ground. Once he was beside me, I finally glanced towards him, the shadows of night hiding nothing of him from my sight.
"Jamie."
"Vienne."
A silence stretched between us. It was not awkward, so I gained no amusement from making him uncomfortable. Instead, I just enjoyed the momentary peace. His heart was calm and rhythmic, so I imagined that he felt very much the same as I in that moment.
He finally broke the stillness. "If you have to take the fall for these deaths, I will, too."
A part of me rebelled at the thought of the council getting their fangs into him, but his words were strategic and I could not entirely argue. "It would be a good cover story, I suppose. The imperturbable Vampiress Vienne caught in her own games, falling for a dangerous human so hard she would kill other vampires to keep him? Very dramatic and so close to the truth who would dare question it?"
"It would solve the problem of all the bloodsuckers I staked. With Dana's testimony no one would feel the need to look further. It would cover the rest of them."
While I felt a swell of unidentifiable sweet emotion at his words, the idea of the council judging and punishing him made me want to declare war at that very moment. I tamped down that less than helpful urge and said. "I did have a bit of a premonition that you would be my downfall, and it seems I was right, as I so often am. Being this intelligent is a curse sometimes."
"Poor you."
I laughed a bit. Even when we seemed to have arrived at something of a peaceful stalemate, he still said what was on his mind. "Evermore pulled between two accursed states, separate by both nature and intention. That constant gnawing craving for that which is forever lost. You're wise not to want this life, or whatever it may be. It's not what those who think they want it believe."
Jamie was watching me with a frown across his forehead. "I know you didn't want this."
"I didn't know one way or another. But I've endured, when so many others have not. Do you know what kills the most fledglings? It's one of our dirty little secrets."
"What is it?"
"Themselves. They are turned and they can't endure it, so they willingly meet the sun. The numbers are bad enough for the willing, and even worse for those who are turned against their wills like me. And the most troublesome part is it seems the ones who survive the most readily are the worst of humanity. Humans who liked to kill, who enjoyed spilling blood, who revelled in causing pain, who loved the power, they seem most adaptable to the state. There are exceptions like myself, but am I even so much an exception? I don't seek out the blood of innocents, but I do have something of a cruel streak."
"You're not as bad as you pretend to be." He was looking at me steadily in a very serious way.
"You think so, hmm?"
"Yeah. You're mostly talk."
"Well, I never." I put on an expression of great offence that he probably could not even properly appreciate in the dim light of the lantern he carried. What a waste.
"You managed to win me over somehow."
"Have I truly won you over?"
"Seems so."
I blinked. He was as he had been when I had first bought him, almost completely unreadable. I was unsure of the situation, something he seemed uniquely able to be able to cause. And then he moved towards me, and I tilted my head up.
And my hilarious wit could not be resisted. "I feel like there's something missing in this situation. Oh, I know. Shouldn't there be a dagger involved in some way?"
"Don't worry, I still have it on me if I need it."
I grinned, and he kissed me, or maybe I kissed him, or more likely it was some combination of our actions. And it was good, whether from my long disinterested deprivation in such matters or because he was really was the perfect compliment for me I could not say.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I sunk into the kiss, and like the silence around us, there was no awkwardness, just an ache in my still cavity and the increased beating in his.