When I returned to my chambers, Jamie was already gone, my guards informed me. I searched in the most logical place, the dining hall, and I found him there sitting at a table with a mug of what I could only assume was bloody coffee in his hand. A man after my own heart.
Except, he was not alone, rather he was sitting with a very pretty vampiress, talking far more animatedly than I had ever seen him, even when he had been human.
A very sour feeling spread inside me, and I did not want to give it a name, because it implied that perhaps I was not as above it all and as detached as would be my preference. Doubtless, this aberration was the fault of the obsessive affection that I felt for him. It was terribly bothersome.
Pasting a friendly smile to my face to cover my unsettling reaction, I slipped through the tables casually towards them, to discover who this female was that was so capturing his attention. "Good afternoon, Jamie," I said in the sweetest voice I could possibly produce under the circumstances.
He glanced at me quickly, and smiled with a happiness I had never seen before on his face. It was like she had lightened his burdens.
"Hey," he said, before glancing back towards the female who was sitting with him. She smiled as she met his eyes. I cleared my throat and he returned his attention to me, as if everything was normal.
What had I ever done but add more weight upon him? I was torn between the desire to grab her and throw her out into the wilds—perhaps in broad daylight—and some conflicted sense of gratitude that he actually looked happy.
My smile faltered. "I was just looking for you because I said I would tell you about the conclusions of the meetings that happened while you were at rest," I said, my voice far less assured than how I typically sounded.
She was watching me, as well. Such a delicate lovely face, green eyes, and an irritatingly friendly smile still plastered across her features. It even looked genuine. Did this female have no faults?
Jamie glanced between us. "I should introduce you. Vienne, this is Angelique. Ange is—"
"No, I'm sorry, Jamie, but I did not intend to interrupt you. I just wanted to let you know that you could come and find me when you're ready to hear about the strategies, Jamie." It was obvious he knew this female from somewhere, and if I did not get away I very well might do something to her that I would regret and would make Jamie upset at me.
"Vienne?" His brow furrowed, the first trace from him that he had not entirely lost his mind at the first pretty face to wander by.
I smiled brightly before I retreated.
My smile melted from my face as I strode away. My reaction to the situation was patently ridiculous. I was Vienne, an ancient vampiress, and I had no need for silly insecurities.
I made it to my favourite balcony before my casual escape was interrupted. "Vienne! Why are you out here?" Jamie asked.
"No particular reason, although I do like the view."
"You took off before I could really introduce you to my sister."
"Your sister?" I could not even feel as properly foolish as I looked since I was too relieved. Then, there was a sudden welling of something else. I was happy, just simply happy, for him. When had I last felt plain happiness that was not tinged by dark amusement or bloodlust?
"Angelique. I had believed they both must be dead, but she was turned instead."
"I am truly happy for you, Jamie."
He grinned, and I marvelled at the way the corners of his eyes crinkled with his real amusement. "Willow was her sire."
"Willow was her sire?" I repeated, letting the idea sink in. Then I laughed. "Now that is a delightful bit of news. Was she the fledgling that ran away?"
"She was."
"I do hope she's not too upset about how we executed those three," I said.
He shook his head. "Not at all."
"Good. I suppose she was Willow's last fledgling. How fitting that she should join our cause. That is why she's here, I'm assuming? I had not met her previously."
"Yeah. She was living up north, but she wanted to help remove the council."
I chuckled. "Poor humans, thinking they could escape vampires simply by living in the north."
"There are supposedly less up there."
"Indeed. Although if they figure out that's where humans are hiding, vampires will follow." I looked out at the stars that were appearing as the sun's oppressive light faded away. "I suppose you're still interested in the plans that were formed?"
"Yes, of course."
"We're hitting them tomorrow afternoon, with everything we've got. Davidson's human will lead the more ancient vampires who can handle some sun along with the human fighters to an unknown abandoned subway tunnel from before the human suppression wars. The tunnels nearest the city are used for nonorganic waste disposal, and the entrance is locked and lightly guarded. Davidson and Naomi will unlock the entrance and compel the guards not to notice us. The guards are already compelled by the magistrate, so it's difficult for them to override it, but they can manage. Once inside, we'll subdue the humans and the vampires that are awake, and open the city gates to allow all the fledglings in when the sun is low enough for them to survive."
He frowned at me. "Does this mean you're going in first, but I'll have to wait behind?"
He would not like being forced to wait. "You'll be in the second wave, timed to arrive a bit later, and coming in the tunnels. You're no good to anyone if the sun turns you to dust before that." I kept my voice deliberately nonchalant.
"What if something happens to you?" he asked.
"Are you worried?" I teased.
"Yeah."
I had been expecting him to deny it. "Well, I worry about you as well. You don't care enough about your own safety in the slightest."
"I take calculated risks. But you don't have to worry, there'll be nothing left by the time I get there." He sounded disgruntled.
"We could only hope it would be that easy, but it won't. The council surely has a lot of tricks up their sleeves."
"I don't doubt it."
"But we can do it," I said, mostly to help convince him.
I received a half smile for my words. We both knew I was guessing. For all I knew, the council would wipe us all out.
"So, when do we leave?" he asked.
"Before the sunrise. Until then, it's meetings and preparations."
Jamie considered. "And right now?"
"We've got a short while to breathe—figuratively—before I better get back to work."
"Good enough for me," he said, and quite without warning he swept me up into his arms, uppity fledgling that he was.
I did not argue, but rather put my arms around his neck. "Where are you taking me?"
"Where do you think?"
I tried not to smile.
"I look completely undignified."
"No one cares."
"Everyone cares."
"People have more important things to worry about than what I'm about to do to you right now," he said calmly as we approached the guards at my chamber doors. They parted without saying anything and I felt what, embarrassment? Whatever this awkward emotion was, I did not know it, nor did I particularly enjoy it.
This male was forever leaving me wrong-footed. Where had this daring attitude come from, the possibility of our potential impending destruction the next day?
No matter. He pushed open the door to the bedroom with his back, and set me on the bed. I waited curiously to see what he would do. He pulled off his shirt to reveal the nearly smooth skin of his chest. The scarring from the brand and the distortion of it was still visible, but not nearly so obvious as it once was. With human vision it might not be visible at all.
He landed on top of me, and quickly pushed all thought of the past and future from my mind.
* * * * *
The night past quickly. Jamie fell into rest in a seat on the bus with blacked out windows. Ironically the same one that once brought him to my home from the capital as a human captive would now take him back to the capital in an attempt to free the humans and remake the world without the very vampire council that had first enslaved him. His sister was there as well, in order to see him off, and I still somewhat begrudgingly shared him with her.
I was pleased to see him so happy. Although newly joined, since Jamie knew her she had been allowed to fight as well, but as untrained as she was she would be a part of one of the later waves. I did not know the details, since other people were more interested in that sort of thing.
Before the sun rose so high that I began to be pushed under, I took my place safely in the backseat of my lovely blood red car. Carter was driving with another human beside him and Drak and Finn were in their own spots beside me. It was cramped, but it would not matter to us when we were unconscious, so I endured until the darkness took me.
I woke, well on route. Drak joined me a short time later, his blue eyes looking a bit dreary for the first few moments. I pulled out a couple of blood bags from the cooler and handed him one. "Here, fuel up."
Biting my own, I drank the miserably cold liquid. The rush of life was barely enough to make up for the unpleasantness of the delivery system. Could anyone fully appreciate the sacrifices I made for the success of my plans?
"Waking up next to you feels nostalgic," he commented.
I was not in the mood for reminiscing "Save your sentimentalities for later, Drak. We've got enough ahead to worry about."
And I was worried, although I hardly wanted to admit it, even to myself. Almost everyone who I cared about was about to throw their existences at the council. I feared we would not prevail, but giving the council more time to prepare instead of taking available opportunities would never win the day.
"You're not wrong," he agreed. Perhaps he had been about to say more, but then Finn woke up and joined us in suffering the cramped space. We all drank blood in silence, building our energy for the conflict, until the vehicle pulled to a stop. We were not at the entrance to the tunnel, but it was only a short run to reach it. I and the other vampires pulled on our protective clothing before stepping out into the light of the late afternoon, then we followed Davison's human to the tunnel, and then into the darkness.
Dozens of human warriors, both old and new, were already waiting in the cramped spaces. I nodded to them, acknowledging their bravery. I could wish that they would all come through the day unscathed, but it was unlikely to come true, and they knew it as well as I did.
We continued to wait until everyone was there, and then we started down the tunnel, following Curtis. Some parts were completely intact and the entire group could walk together through entire sections, other parts were half collapsed and we could barely get through one at a time. Under the scent of damp, there was the faintest scent of human life, and I imagined there might have been a few daring humans who had recently lived here, right under the council's noses.
If so, I hoped they had not been swept up in the council's brutal capture of all the feral humans they could muster.
We reached the end of the tunnel, moving through sections that would doubtless be a tight fit for one such as Jamie. We passed piles of refuse the council had dumped down here, and then we came to a barred gate, with two humans standing on the other side of it.
Curtis strode to the gate and pulled on it, but it stayed closed with a firm metallic clank.
"Shit," Finn muttered.
The guards' eyes swept past us, as if we were empty space. Clearly, Davidson had managed to compel them, but why was the door not unlocked as well?
"It was supposed to be open," Curtis said, body tense, a tremor in his voice. "Something must have happened to Master Davidson."
"Perhaps," I said. We obviously could not rely on him now. The council humans were my only option. "Guard, look at me," I said, blasting them with the power of my years. There was no time for subtlety now.
He did not even look at me. Drat, the poor humans' minds were already so warped. I tried again, and then Drak, and then Finn, and a few others. While we tried to influence the guards' minds, others tried to break through the bars, but the strength of the metal exceeded even our vampiric force.
Finally, one of the humans looked at me. It was progress. "Unlock the door," I commanded him.
"I don't have the key, Mistress."
"Then go and find it," I ordered, recklessly. There were a million ways that it could go wrong.
"I cannot leave my post, Mistress," he said, sounding far more like an automaton than a living human.
"We are so screwed," Finn said.
"That's not helpful," I hissed and shot him a dirty look. More and more of the other vampires and humans were reaching us, and I could feel the quiet tension as they all realized that we were at a dead end.
Perhaps we should turn back and try to find another way.
Before I could speak to Tiberius about ordering a retreat, there was the sound of a couple of people scraping through. It was a teenage boy and the girl who I had found in the wilds with her siblings. Both absolutely should not have been there.
"They hid in one of the trunks, Mistress," the human dragging them along explained. "And they followed us to the tunnel."
Both young humans looked stubbornly defiant, although the hard pounding of their hearts gave away their heightened emotions. I was likely expected to discipline them, but I rather found the attitude amusing.
"I can pick locks," the boy commented.
"So can a lot of us," muttered another human, "but without tools for the task..."
The boy pulled out some metal bits. "We were going to...find some useful things to take back," he said, sounding proud rather than apologetic.
I shrugged. "Give it a shot."
The boy darted forward.
"I hope you weren't practicing this around New Haven, Jeremy."
"Of course not," he responded, most unconvincingly. The girl smirked admiringly at him. If things had not been so serious, it would have been amusing.
The door swung open with a clang. The guards did nothing, as if there had been no sound at all. Davidson's compulsion was holding true. I turned back to the reckless young humans. "You are to return to the place the vehicles stopped and to catch a ride back the moment you are able to."
Brazen though they were, neither of them were willing to argue with me, which was good because it would have wasted time.
"Thank you. We should have thought to bring tools like this along. Not every door can be smashed down." Tiberius plucked the lock picks from Jeremy's hand.
"Hey," he protested, but then he followed the girl down the tunnel.
No one watched them as they left as we hurried in through the gate, humans and vampires, all armed to their respective teeth.
I had daggers, and a sword. I had left the guns to the humans because there had not been enough produced to go around, and in truth, I was not a particularly good shot. Many of my humans were more accurate than me, having put in the time to perfect the skill as I had not, preferring to leave such resources to the more vulnerable entities.
My own fighting abilities were excellent, but it was almost entirely due to my age. I had begun as a fairly weak fledgling since my human life of suppressed luxury left me no opportunity to learn such skills.
However, the one thing I had always been able to do was dance, and I had carried that speed and agility into my indefinite state. I would never overpower a vampire of my own age, but I could outmanoeuvre them.
We flowed forward as a group, vampires I had known for centuries, vampires I had just met, humans whose families had been with me for generations, humans who had joined recently for a chance to fight for their own liberty from the council. There were many of us just in this first wave, and many more would be coming.
We at the front met the first resistance, and we subdued a pair of human guards without much difficulty. I was forced to admit that Drak was actually a decent fighter. Perhaps he had needed to protect himself with so many hostile to his way of thinking.
His friend was also a good find, bringing a furious power to our side. I was glad that he was anti-council, because it would have been inconvenient to have to face him. It was bad enough that there were still other old ones to contend with.
I pushed aside my worries, because this was what I had worked towards. I should enjoy it as thoroughly as I could, come what may.