After Jamie excused himself to go and be tediously responsible, I turned my attention to finding some way to occupy my morning until the darkness overwhelmed me. I put a lot of effort into not wandering around and annoying people who were working towards the success of my rebellion. No one really understood the great efforts to which I went for success.
I checked in on Marcel, who was almost literally dead to the world, lying as if a corpse in one of the visitor rooms.
I had not seen a resting vampire for a very long time, not since the days when Drak and I had been intimate so long ago, and even then, our resting habits had been nearly simultaneous because of the similarity in our ages so I had only ever viewed his unconscious form through my own clinging weariness.
Before that, it had been my sister fledgling, Diane. She had been my junior, and there were times when we would rest in the same room so as to be guarded by the same loyal humans.
I had never seen my sire rest, because I was always so lost in my own darkness whenever he finally succumbed.
But now, I had the clear view of the state that generations of my humans had well guarded for me. He was so still and silent and I took my turn watching over him as he had so often watched over me, until the day got so heavy that I had to seek my own bed, this time for a much less pleasing purpose than when I had drawn Jamie there.
Lucas watched over my vulnerable hours, while my mind again wandered to my favourite, working away at whatever was his responsibility of the hour. He was undoubtedly somewhere, busy under the sun and completely inaccessible to me. My mind then moved to Marcel, who was surely still lying prone in a room somewhere below me, and then everything faded to blackness for an undefined period of time before it again released me.
From outside of the dark, a sound caught my attention and I pushed myself up to discover the source. Lucas was holding his infant while he watched me and I rolled my eyes at him. The underdeveloped human had certainly not been there when I had went to sleep and why would it have been, because the little creature was nothing but a vulnerability at this point in its lifecycle.
"Afternoon, Vienne," he said when he noticed that I was awake.
I slipped out of my bed and went over to my human and his progeny. I eyed the blanket-wrapped infant. It stared back as if it had no instinct to warn it that I was a monster that could easily harm it. Its absurdly huge eyes seemed like they were trying to burrow down into my soul and I took a step back to increase the distance.
"Want to hold him?" Lucas offered.
I tore my gaze from the infant and looked at its father. "Did you seriously just ask a vampire if she wanted to hold your defenceless child, Lucas?"
"Yeah. Well, does she? You seemed interested."
I ignored his observation. "That's terrible parenting. Shall I go and hunt down a manticore to read your child a bedtime story next?"
"A manticore?"
I held in my dramatic sigh at yet another unknown reference. It was not Lucas's fault that foolish vampires had ruined pretty much everything. "A monster, Lucas, but that is beside the point. My point is that you never hand such a vulnerable human over to a vampire."
"But you're not just any vampire, Vienne. What would you do that I should worry about?"
"Nothing, but that's entirely beside the point. You should be listening to your parental instincts. Look at that thing, it's fragile. And, I hate to tell you, but it smells far worse than the average human. Perhaps you should be changing its diaper rather than dangling it over a lioness' mouth. And, I doubt that Rene would approve. I should tell her of your insane suggestion so that she can yell at you about it."
He laughed at me, obviously forgetting his place like he always did. "You and Jamie really are perfect for each other. When I suggested he hold Zeke he acted like I was suggesting he hold a rattlesnake."
I scowled at his amusement. "Jamie and I are well suited, but it has nothing to do with your child one way or another. I just want you to take care of your progeny since it was so expensive." I deepened my frown to remind him that I had not forgotten his costly indiscretion, even if he had escaped my further wrath. "Now, go give that thing to its mother, the infant is hungry, and so am I."
* * * * *
After I fed on Lucas, I somehow ended up in another meeting so dreary I could barely remember what we had spoken of afterwards when I went to Marcel's room. He was still unconscious when I arrived, but I did not have a long wait before he began to stir. I waited until he opened his eyes and discovered me there before talking.
"How are you feeling?" I asked my fledgling.
"Hungry, I think."
"Come, let's get you some coffee, and then we'll focus on what needs to be done next." He followed me, looking around as if trying to figure out where he was. I poured two cups of coffee and added a generous dose of blood before handing him a mug. I wandered with him out into the dining room were a large crowd of humans were getting their food.
Marcel sat, but instead of interacting with the humans around him, he stared as if dazed by the all the activity. I hoped that he was simply having difficulty fathoming the new influx of sensory data, and not losing his will to live now that he was set apart from the very humans in which he had once fit so seamlessly.
"Marcel? Are you well?" I asked.
His formerly brown eyes looked towards me, swirling with red in the irises, probably as much from his heightened emotional state as from actual hunger.
"I'm fine."
"You look dazed." I certainly did not want my beloved human turned fledgling to decide he could not take this existence and remove himself from it in a violent fashion as so many others did. I needed to meet whatever this challenge brought head on.
Marcel brought his cup up to his mouth and continued to look around. "It's so much."
"All the detail will blur together in the end."
He nodded. If it really was just a difficulty with sensory overload, I knew how to deal with it. Marcel, meet my dear friend, Distraction. "So, I enjoyed your sparing with Jamie. You were managing to hold yourself back."
He grinned a bit at that and I could still see human Marcel in his expression. "Yeah, I tried."
"You did well. Although, it would have been a lot more exciting if you had both taken your shirts off, you know, for an advantage or some reason."
I had caught him off guard, and he looked at me with an incredulous expression that failed to completely hide his smile. "Really, Mistress?"
I looked back at him innocently. "What? I've made no secret that you are both incredibly attractive males, and if it was good enough for the ancient Greeks..."
Marcel took another drink, but I could tell my strategy had done the trick. Before I could think of some new way to keep his mind off of things that could not be changed, we were interrupted by another of my New Haven humans, Rush. He sat down beside Marcel with a slightly cautious expression. "How are you feeling now that you're a bloodsucker?"
I worried that his words might bring Marcel down, but instead, he grinned. "Hungry. Feel like donating?"
Rush did not look amused. "No."
Marcel was quick to assure him. "I was just kidding, man. But if you did agree..."
"What's it like?" Rush asked, completely ignoring Marcel's words.
Marcel did not miss a beat. "It feels amazing, but wrong. I've gained so much power, I haven't even properly tested it out yet. I can't beat our mistress, of course, but against younger vampires I think I could take them out."
"Why's it feel wrong?"
"I don't know. It's like something's missing. But in here," he said, tapping at the side of his head, "I don't think it's much different now. And the cravings, they're no joke."
Rush turned to me with a dour expression. "I'll do it."
"You don't look particularly certain of that decision," I commented, making no move towards him.
"I want more power to destroy those damn leeches."
I watched him curiously. He was fuelled by rage at past injustices perpetrated by the ruling class, like so many of my other humans, but that alone was not enough of a reason to choose this existence. While it might be good for the cause to have a force of vampires hell bent on destroying the council, I could not imagine what such vengeful creatures would do when we finally succeeded.
"What does Marlene think of your decision?" I asked him, cocking my head.
"She understands why I am considering this."
"And you know that you won't have any more offspring?"
He nodded. "We've already got four, we've made our peace with it."
"And have you thought about how you'll outlive them all? We can't turn everyone we care about, no matter how much we want to."
"Connor was clear on that subject."
"And you think you can survive that? Watching the mother of your children, and then your children and their children all die while you endure?" I was pushing, but I was not going to be like the vampires who treated this as if it were meaningless.
Rush's scowl seemed etched into his face and his tone was low and urgent. "I know, I know. But if some of us don't do this, they're going to die, and sooner than if we overthrow the damn bloodsuckers."
"Well, if you're sure."
"I am sure."
"Then, come with me."
* * * * *
I turned Rush, and left Marcel watching over him while I went to find Jamie. I wished I could linger and hover over my second fledgling, but time was of the essence. I predictably found Jamie out by the training yard, sparring with Lucas.
Before either of them noticed me, I watched him. Now that he had the freedom to do what he wanted, the man was constantly busy. He was not really of the temperament to patiently guard; he was kinetic energy to my constant stillness. No wonder I was so drawn to him.
The fight completed and he finally noticed me, and I smiled at his approach, admiring his form as his muscles shifted with movement. When he got close enough I leaned into him, caught his mouth with my own before tilting my head back and looking up at him.
"I need to leave shortly," I reminded him.
"Yeah."
"I was wondering if you would be willing to do something for me?"
"What do you want?" he asked. His voice was flat and I could not gauge what he was thinking by the sound. His heart stayed at its easy rhythmic pace.
"Do you know Rush?"
"I know of him."
That would have to be good enough. I hated to put him in any sort of possible danger, but Jamie was not a male who would balk at a little danger. He was nearly fearless and quite capable, for a human. "He chose to be turned, and I did it."
Jamie studied my face for a long moment. "You want me to stay with him?"
I smiled. "Clever human. That was exactly what I was going to request. I need to leave, but there are others who could do this if you don't want to. It is somewhat dangerous, because I don't know what state Rush will be in when he wakes up, but I know you can keep your cool when dealing with vampires, and now you've already seen it one time, so—"
"I'll do it," he said with a shrug. I led him in the direction of the residential building.
"Thank you. That's a load off my mind."
"How many are you going to make?" he asked.
"As many as wish to, out of the humans trust with such responsibility."
"And how is that going to fix the problem?" he asked. He was studying me as we walked forward. I met his eyes, hoping he understood that in this at least, I was sincere.
"If the pro-council imbeciles would stop treating humans like disposable packaging, there wouldn't even be a potential problem. They're the problem. Besides, as long as we kill one council vampire for every fledgling, the problem will not escalate. I plan to kill many more than I make. I can hardly wait for our first attack. I can promise you, my eventual goal—our goal—is that the vampire population will be significantly lowered."
"I'm on board with that."
"We've got our first target all picked out," I agreed with a vicious smile. "But sadly there are few tasks to complete first before we get to the fun stuff. I'm hoping to have a few vampires at each location to defend it by the time we attack."
We reached the room where Rush lay, as still as a statue. Marcel stood over him, oddly silent and lost in his own thoughts.
I kissed Jamie one more time, ignoring the vampire and the humans present, I thanked him again, and then Marcel and I left even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I had much to accomplish and for once I could feel the urgent flow of time pressing upon me.