What had I been thinking, sharing so much information with my new human? I watched the horizon beyond me and tried to decipher my own motivations.
Had I been feeling guilty about how he would be branded?
Surely not. Such a thought was absurd. Certainly the process physically hurt and was probably terrible for the human's spirit, but it was easily survived.
Horrible things were done to humans and branding was probably the least of them.
Regardless of my odd reaction and the human's opinions on the matter, I had not lied. The law would be followed and he would be branded. It was not worth quibbling with the council and risking my position over such a small matter.
He spoke, drawing my attention back to his presence beside me.
"Your words are meaningless. If you want me to be branded, you'll have to force me."
A declaration of war. It seemed Jamie was done with his pretence of apathy and was ready to fight. I liked it. I caught his gaze. "Oh?"
"Oh."
"Very well, that's how it will be. I admit myself surprised, though," I lied. "I rather thought you might simply cooperate, considering you already so kindly offered me your blood."
My reward was a clenched jaw.
"It was a one-time offer."
"Oh. A pity."
"I'm sure you could as easily force me to let you feed as easily as you'll force the brand."
He did have a point. "True, but the matters are completely separate."
"Hardly, Leech."
I did not laugh at his words. "I'm not above the law and the law dictates a brand, so you'll have a brand."
"The law," he said, the derision in his voice blazingly clear. "What you call law is just a feeble attempt for you bloodsuckers to justify what you do."
Again, he was not entirely wrong, but I ignored the point as if he had not spoken at all. I moved closer to him, keeping my eyes directly boring into his. "Whereas drinking your blood has no legal requirement."
I was in his space now. He probably would have liked to back up, but his pride would also not want to give ground. I got close to his neck and could feel that he tensed up.
"Don't get me wrong, Jamie, I would love to use you as a form of sustenance, but there is absolutely no reason that I could not simply keep you here until you're old and grey, never once having so much as touched a drop of your blood."
He scoffed.
"You doubt me?"
"I've seen what your kind does with my own eyes, of course I doubt you."
It was such a challenge. I loved it.
"You've seen terrible things, of that I have no doubt. I suppose that's why you're enraged, human. But, you underestimate me. I'm very, very old, and the reason I achieved my great age is because I'm intelligent, I'm powerful, and I'm controlled."
I leaned closer to whisper to him. "If you want any hope of success when you try to fulfill your promise to me, you had better figure out exactly how much of a threat I am."
Stepping back, I met his eyes again. I adored the way he would try to stare me down fearlessly.
"Blood is not my weakness. Some drink to live, others live to drink. I'm of the former, not the latter, so flaunting that delightful blood around me will gain you no benefit. Although I do enjoy the show, so I won't tell you that you must stop."
I could almost hear his jaw as he clenched it together harder. I started walking away and then I turned back.
"Oh, silly me. I almost forgot."
He turned towards me, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Knife." I stayed where I was and held out my hand expectantly.
The indecision rushed through him again. His heart pounded, his eyes assessed the situation, demonstrating just how much he wanted to do it despite the consequences. After that moment's pause, instead of acting, he stepped forward and handed me the blade, handle first.
"Thank you for your cooperation," I said sweetly.
Satisfying silence was his only response.
"Good night, Jamie."
"Sleep tight, Leech."
* * * * *
As the days passed it was becoming increasingly difficult to give my new human the space I thought that he needed.
My mind kept wandering back to him. It did not help that all my servants were on high alert and kept reporting to me what he was doing.
It was not that they were doing anything wrong. It was my mind that was not quite right.
I put my odd behaviour down to my unusual attraction to the human. It had been such a long time since anyone had properly caught my interest in that way that of course I was behaving a bit off.
Strange though it was, I did not mind the disruption. Disruptions were glorious things, although most vampires were blind to the fact. Indeed, getting stuck in traffic, obstinate councillors, losing keys, death, full inboxes, impertinent humans, all the large and small travails bookended all the joys and pleasures and were simply part of the ebb and flow of the world. They brought delicious contrast. It was fascinating.
His effect on me was also fascinating. Who knew that there was even one person left in the world who could shake me, even just a bit?
But my enjoyment of the situation did not solve the problem, if anything, it compounded it, because I was overcome with the desire to test my new discoveries further.
At a certain point, I became desperate to find some way to hold onto my resolution to stay away.
Finally, I hit on the perfect inspiration: I started on a bill for the next quarterly meeting.
I did not typically put forward my own bills and it was almost unheard of for me to bring forth more than one in a year. Certainly it would cause a stir amongst my peers, since it seemed they had nothing better to do with their indefinite lives than gossip about my affairs.
Although perhaps, if I were not so fortunate as to be myself, I also might not have anything better to do than obsess about what I was doing. Thankfully, I was the one being who had the distinct pleasure of being me so I had no need to live such a hollow life as they.
Usually, I simply sat back and interfered with other people's bills. I rather enjoyed the way the other councillors sought to curry my favour, begging for my support for this or that pet project of theirs.
I almost never told anyone how I would vote until a day or two before at the most. Their panic and desperation was too amusing not to savour and it only got sweeter as deadlines approached.
Perhaps, the other councillors were relieved on the occasions when I had my own projects to keep me occupied. The thought entertained me, I hoped it was true. If they felt relief for a time, their dismay would only be more acute when I returned to my usual behaviours.
Now that I settled upon a matter that was worthy of my time and the council's attention, I set to work, diligently delegating tasks to my humans who were most capable of handling them. Leif was always especially useful for matters requiring organization. He would be dreadfully difficult to replace when that sad time came.
Hopefully, I had decades before that dark moment.
For the shorter term, I found myself looking forward to the next quarterly meeting. I enjoyed shaking them up. I was particularly looking forward to savouring the expression on Davidson's face when he discovered that his conscience would compel him to side with one of my bills.
He would not know what hit him. It was going to be deliciously hilarious.
* * * * *
I had genuinely been going about my business and I had barely even been thinking about a certain rebellious human of mine when I saw him next.
Of course, I had known he was there before I even turned the corner, but it was still a delightful surprise.
He was letting his facial hair and the hair on his head grow freely. He looked more like a wild human now than when I had first acquired him freshly shaved from the human pens.
I suspected letting his hair grow untamed was a small rebellion.
The joke was on him, because he still looked quite attractive in a beard.
Under all that hair, he did not look as happy to see me as I was to see him, but I was undeterred.
"Good evening, how are you?" I asked him in my most sweet tone.
I liked how he would completely ignore all my facades as if he could not see them at all, or perhaps he truly could not. I would not be surprised. He clearly hated me with a lovely passion.
"Slave to a leech, and you?"
He was so much more fun now that he was no longer pretending not to care.
"Delightful, thank you for asking. The night is young and I have much to accomplish. Perhaps you've heard, I'm working on a new bill to present to the vampire council. Come, I would like you to escort me. I find myself in need of Leif's assistance."
He looked like he wanted to refuse but instead he fell into step beside me.
"I suppose you don't know much about the vampire council?" I enquired.
"I know enough."
I could imagine. "Well, whatever you heard about blood orgies, I can assure you that the council is far too dry for that. I don't know what it is with vampires these days. We used to be so fun, the transgressors in the shadows. Now we're all bill this and motion that."
"Yet, you're on the council and just said you're working on a bill."
I could not contain my amused smile that he had dared to call me out. "Indeed. Must maintain the wellbeing of society, even if it's a chore."
He did not bother arguing. "Let me guess, you're suggesting mandatory blood donations?"
"Not quite, although an excellent suggestion."
"Free human slaves for new vampires?"
I smiled like an angel. "More human slaves all around does seem like it might make the world a better place, but young vampires already have so much energy it's exhausting. They can figure it out for themselves; hunger gives them a good direction to spend their efforts. Go on, guess again?"
"A giant golden statue of you on top of the bloodsucking council building?"
His sarcasm had grown so sharp I was surprised he did not grab it and try to stake me with it.
"That would be a delight. You're quite good at coming up with bill proposal ideas on the spot." I let my tone sound regretful to hide my delight. "I would love to properly enlighten you, but sadly, my bill is, at this time, top secret. Only my most trusted slaves are allowed to assist me and sadly, you're still terribly rebellious."
"If you think that holding out working with you on a bill will make me want to obey you, you're crazy."
I chuckled. His understanding of my motivation was inverted, but I liked it that way.
"Knock on the door," I ordered.
He gave me a look as if I were insane, but did as I told him. His resentment was almost palatable.
"What? Immortality is no reason to be rude."
"Come in," Leif called. Of course, he did not know it was me. My visit to his domain would be a nice little surprise for him.
I looked at Jamie expectantly. He scowled, and then he finally opened the door.
"Mistress," Leif said as the door opened enough to reveal my presence and Jamie alongside me. Leif began to get to his feet.
"No need to stand, Leif. My apologies. My new slave is just getting the hang of opening doors."
Jamie fought down his reaction. I fought my growing smile.
Sitting down across from Leif dramatically as if I were terribly exhausted, I said, "I dare say, training new feral humans is truly taxing. The walk over here seems to have stimulated my appetites."
Jamie's dark brown eyes dared me to ask him, just so he could refuse and fight me.
I ignored the challenge and turned my gaze back to Leif. "How long has it been since last time I drank from you?"
Leif considered for a moment. "Quite some time. I'm well recovered."
My smile grew until my fangs were fully exposed.
I did not bother to look at the true object of my interest. "Jamie, go wait in the hall."