The door I had entered through was wide open; the bodies of the Seventeen bloodline having flooded in as they returned from their trips to Ruby, filling the spaces left barren earlier. Sifting through the crowd was a hassle, with every step making me collide with someone new. Despite that, it did give me time to compose myself before I forced myself to face Kara; an encapsulation of childhood curiosity and eagerness that refuses to accept no as an answer. She was bound to come down on me with several questions, most of which sprung to mind as soon as I'd left for sure.
The last time Imogen had demanded my attention and I'd told Kara the reason, it hadn't ended as I expected. This time, I didn't dare tell her the contents of the conversation, for fear my image of the girl could be tainted even further.
Kara had pulled me to the lounge in a moment and plopped herself on my lap. She smiled knowingly, took one of my hands in hers, and began to rub softly as she waited for me to start to speak. I had decided to sit there and bask in her silence; enjoying every moment that wasn't an interrogation. The girl, childish as she was, had lost her patience quickly. Her eyes had darted around the room before she had whispered into my ear, "What did she want, Nika?"
I thought about the answer I wanted to give her. We'd often discussed the "poaching" I had been going through. I was an ample part of the first revolution and war, with many years of knowledge others hadn't experienced - which left me in a delicate position of want and need. It was, however, a position I hadn't wished to be in. Even with these conversations, I tried my best to grey out the details, not wanting her to know any more than Adrienne did.
The wait for a response had left Kara moving on to scratching my palm instead of her usual rubbing. I could imagine as a human she was used to getting her way, but as a vampire, many of us weren't used to giving. The older of us had kept secrets for generations which came with high resolve and patience.
This patience hadn't reached Kara yet; who was beginning to shift in my lap. My eyes had drifted from her and towards the vampires playing chess in the corner underneath the stairs. My lack of attention had left her eager to speak, her hand gripping my head and forcing me to lock eyes with her, "I still think you should join! Don't you want to know who is putting us at risk? How are we going to find out who is running a revolution unless someone goes and finds out!"
Kara was holding an icy glare, and I was painfully reminded of her naivety. I offered her a bitter smile, with no energy to bite back at her remarks. This conversation was like walking through a room scattered with broken glass and trying not to bleed as you crossed.
"Kara, I'm not going to join them. I refuse to have any part of the destruction of what we've built here. My decision is a firm no, and that's final," I said blankly but with as much conviction as I could muster.
"You're selfish." She had pouted, "I think more people will die if you don't. If someone out there had given me the opportunity to stop the people that we're putting our kind at risk; and all of humanity on top of that - I would have taken it in a heartbeat." She had removed herself from my lap and taken a glass from the table in front of us. She had almost stumbled in the high heels she'd put on this morning as she shifted her dress down. Her face refused to perk as she turned to look at me, regardless of the faces I pulled to achieve it.
"Just keep out of it Kara." I had resolved, picking myself up from the couch and extending a hand out to her to take. I could tell she just needed some affection to ease the worry.
"With pleasure," She had scoffed and walked past me; she had avoided my hand but pushed the glass into my chest and stormed her way out of the room. I knew better than to frustrate her, but it couldn't be helped in this scenario; the most I could do was let her cool off.
As she waddled away, almost tripping with every few steps she took, I couldn't help but wonder who had crawled inside her brain. Her feelings about a revolution had shifted ever so slightly, but just far enough away from how she was as a human to cause mild concern. She had chosen to become a vampire out of mild curiosity and a craving for more than she had, but that shouldn't necessarily have meant she was willing to take on the desires of the long-time vampires on her shoulders so easily.
Which led me to believe that someone had been whispering dark words in her ears and warping her brain into a minefield of dangerous thoughts. Either this was just a way to gain a new follower to the regime; the naive ones always folded first, of course, or this was an innocent way to get to me. If Imogen and her followers got to Kara, perhaps they thought they could get to me through her. I wasn't entirely sure that my affection for Kara was unbeknownst to those that I would worry to know about it.
I'd left the lounge area soon after Kara's departure, hoping I could join others in some sparring in the lower levels. As I'd reached the staircase I had been met with the familiar face of Adrienne who'd rushed down the stairs, cheeks flushed red and dressed for the outdoors. I raised an eyebrow before trying to move past her; the expression on her face indicated that she was determined to do something, and I knew for sure, it had nothing to do with me.
In the face of that, she hesitated behind me for a moment before turning and stopping me with a quick hand, "Nika, will you join me on a walk?" She had said hastily, pulling me around to face her. I couldn't recognise the expression on her face as one she commonly possessed. Her teeth were forcibly biting into her lower lip as I stepped back up the stairs to meet her on the landing. My eyes had darted to the front door, and I vaguely reminded myself that I desperately wanted to spar; a thought that was quickly replaced by my concern for Adrienne.
"Hasn't the sun already risen? You aren't forcing me to attend an early dismissal are you?" I commented as my eyes had drifted to the heavy curtains that were draped over every window that could meet with the sun. There weren't many vampires that had been acquainted with a witch when the war had begun, and I'd found myself as one of the few that were familiar with one before it. I'd been happily walking in the sun amongst humanity before the whispers of uneasiness had ever met my ears.
"We didn't all ignore the blessings of witches dear." She had said quietly as she linked arms with mine and began to pull me towards the front door of the building. I wondered who had given her this blessing; I had sneaked my way into the graces of a witch who was willing to give me the gift of day-walking, but not many witches cared much for vampires. In fact, I would have to say at least 90% of them would like to see us wiped out - it was only their 'neutrality' that stopped them from trying to make it happen.
I found myself grimacing as we'd taken the first step into the light. The sun was slowly rising in the sky, but it was placed high enough that any vampire that was partial to its effects would be long off of the streets. My eyes had drifted towards her to silence my disbelief of her words; that she wasn't going to burn herself by being out here with me. As expected, nothing happened to Adrienne as she walked slightly ahead of me, winter boots crunching deep in the snow as she went.
Like many of the older vampires, Adrienne dressed for the weather; a habit they'd picked up trying to blend into human society. It had only recently become a trend with newer vampires trying to appear older than they were to gain some semblance of authority.
I swallowed hard as she led me towards the west wall of the zone. The snowfall had momentarily stopped, leaving the skeletal trees that lined the pavement covered in a light dusting of white that clung to the branches. Heavy footsteps left deep imprints on the ground that led from the Red District all the way back to the skyscrapers - as a vampire this journey would take a matter of minutes, but as a human, it could take at least an hour; a purposeful decision by Central to eradicate the level of death.
"Where are we going, Adrienne?" I had said through gritted teeth. She had responded by raising a single finger to her lips and continued to usher me along the streets. Most of the skyscrapers were at least ten streets away from each other; with the space filled with destroyed buildings, empty stretches of parks that were burned in the beginning, and unremitting silence. Under a grey sky that was being faintly penetrated by the sun, the world seemed far quieter than I realised; the streets were stark bare.
I had tightened my grip on her arm which had been expectedly met with a look of annoyance. She had released a breath and pulled me into the square that fifteen used for refills. I imagined the area was an enjoyable one to spend time in before the war; a mosaic tiled floor that had been smashed and cracked through sparring, and a wrecked marble fountain stood proudly in the middle. We had been standing on the edge of it when I heard the wheels of a truck.
"Central had put a plan in action that was verified by all of the bloodline leaders; that fifteen will be given a restock to ensure its compatibility with the laws, disregarding the scrounging that took place. It's a critical plan that must be followed through on to ensure peace and sustainability within the zones," She had said in a quick breath, releasing the information as though it had been torturing her. We'd both looked around as the wheels were drawing closer. She had pursed her lips as she pulled me down into one of the rose bushes on the edge of the square. She turned to me and whispered, "Although I have been assured this will be a smooth process, I am keeping my expectations low and viewing it from a distance. I simply hoped you would oversee the process with me."
"I thought you were fearless Adrienne, need me to fight off anyone who notices you lurking?" I smirked, watching the truck pull up a few feet away from the machine with the backdoors facing it. Two large men exited the vehicle and began to talk to each other silently. Words that I could've made myself hear if I wanted to.
"I just like your company, Nika. There shouldn't be any issues with this refill - no one is aware of it other than the higher-ups of the bloodlines." She had said in a hushed tone, her eyes glued to the two men; staring with an intensity I hadn't seen her possess before. One of the men had hazily proclaimed, what was the code to this one again Sim?
"You don't think any of the higher-ups have ulterior motives, Adrienne?" I murmured. My mind was chasing after the faces of the bloodline leaders - most of them had taken part in the war but none of them had been the cause of it; and although it would confuse me that any of them would be concerned with the purpose of a new one, I could not remove the suggestion from my mind. I had little faith in their leadership and even less faith in their morality.
"I'd hope not. Most of us barely scraped through the first war, dear." She muttered, her eyes glazing over, "If any of them did have ulterior motives they would be dealt with swiftly by the rest of us," I had taken those words in but couldn't quite swallow them down, the hint of deception that seemed to line each one causing me some difficulty. There was something about the way she said it that just sat wrong, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
As she had spoken the men had gone quiet and Adrienne's hand had grasped mine tightly. My eyes were pulled to the truck in a quick second; the two men were standing with knives at their throats - held by two other masked men. Other men had swarmed the contents of the trucks that had already been removed and were quickly rushing it back inside. My instinct was to jump into the swarm of men, but Adrienne had a tighter grip on me than I'd imagined - a fury burning into her skin.
"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" I had questioned, barely containing my own anger. Adrienne had barely managed to nod in response as her eyes glared towards the truck. The truck drivers had been hit over the head once each and currently lay unconscious on top of the mosaic tile. A trickle of blood had begun to trail down the skin of their forehead which would surely perk the interest of the nearby fifteen.
"Apparently so." She had grunted and removed her contact with my skin. It felt like permission to get up and deal with the crime that was taking place in front of us - but I couldn't quite find the eagerness to get to my feet. One of the masked men had turned to look in our direction, and a flash of teeth had been shown; a vampire without question. Which only led me to believe all of them were vampires. Adrienne had looked down at the skirt of her dress and murmured quietly, "I guess you should've knocked on wood."
I had begun the process of standing, but Adrienne had pulled me by my arm back down to the ground. The anger I felt was bubbling on the surface of my skin and willing me to put a stop to it, but Adrienne was a far more compelling woman than I'd given her credit for. She had released a long breath before calmly stating, "That's about seven of our kind, Nika - not a bunch of humans. You're outmatched, and I refuse to allow you to even attempt it."
I couldn't deny her logic, but I couldn't help but fight it nonetheless, "I can't just sit here and let them destroy everything that we worked for. The longer I sit here idle the more desperate the situation becomes. What will happen when they do this once more during the zone-wide refill; shall I just sit back and watch the city crumble?"
Adrienne had given me a small smile before crawling away from me towards one of the four arches that gave entrance to the square. I had stayed seated behind the bush trying to force myself to ignore her warnings, but the hushed tones of "Now, Nika," had willed me away from the square.
As I met with her outside of the arch, she had linked our arms again, just tighter than before. I wouldn't be able to run back and change my mind without effort. The silence between spoke volumes enough without conversation; her lip was trembling, and the skip that was often in her step had been replaced by sullen lingers. It felt like a march to our doom.
Before we had parted at the doors to our skyscraper, she had placed her hands on my cheeks and stood with me for a few moments in an attempt to compose herself. The coldness of her skin connecting with mine was only a firm reminder of who we were dealing with. Adrienne had cleared her throat.
"What you worked for will survive. Fifteen will survive without the refill, and I've told you that before. I will inform our leader and get in touch with Central, and this will be dealt with swiftly and efficiently. Our peace will be safe; I can promise you that Nika."
I had to wonder if she truly expected me to believe that. If she truly believed that herself.