As expected, Ruthven didn't want to give us long time to prepare. Ardealan was right in assuming we should stand ready to march out any day. While weren't completely prepared, we still have three days left. We're getting there.
Tonight I'm headed off to inform the slayers of the latest events. They already know when it's going to happen; I'm just going over to tell them what to do. Since our plan to train and try to prepare them for what was coming failed on an epic scale, we will have to keep them out of the action for as long as possible, to protect them. We can't forget that they are human, even though I bet some of them will be annoyed about being put somewhere relatively safe, away from the action.
I land in front of their new hideout and hurry in, wiping the rainwater away. Seriously, I've never been so soaking wet in my entire life, and I've spent way too many nights outside in the rain.
The first thing I notice is a slight scent of blood in the air. It's unnerving, but I presume a wannabe has gotten hurt. Wouldn't surprise me.
I try to ignore it, since vamping out in front of slayers isn't a good idea. I'm not going to give them an excuse to get the stakes out.
Most of them are outside, working, anyway, but I expect Mikael and Zachary to be here. Zach said he was going to stay behind, but I don't know whether to trust him or not. I don't have much of a choice though - he's their new leader. While I would have preferred to deal with Mikael in charge, imagine the uproar we'd have on our hands if I, as a vampire, tried to meddle with their business.
He comes in from a corridor, having heard me enter. Frankly he doesn't look happy to see me.
"You're early," he states, eyes resting on my back. And I realise I forgot to retract my wings before entering. I would rather not have him see them as it only serves to remind him I'm not human. Now it's too late to do anything about them.
"Impressive wings," he says. "I thought only vampire lords had them?"
"Vampire lord is just a title. Elder vampires have them, and those who have been turned by an elder," I explain, trying to be cheerful and act as if someone sprouting wings from their back is perfectly normal. "They are useful at times," I say, folding them behind my back. "Though it's a pain to get through doors."
Not even a hint of a smile in return. Cracking jokes isn't going to relieve the tension between us. Should have realised that, I conclude and decide to go straight onto business. I didn't fly through a storm for nothing.
"Anyway, the deal is to meet somewhere secluded and fight till we've had enough." I hand over the maps I brought with me, trusting he'll understand the route Edouard plotted in.
I notice we're not alone. A pair of wannabes are listening in to our conversation, probably vary of the extremely powerful winged vampire elder who dropped by. I sit down on a box, braiding my wet hair to keep it out of my face. More than ever, I'm thankful the old myth about that vampires can be killed by running water, isn't true or I would have been in trouble.
"Somewhere secluded?" Zach repeats, looking up from the papers in his hands. "Why would anyone do that? Sneak up on them instead, take them out before they know what's happening."
I see his point. I even suggested it to Vladimir, who explained why we are doing it the old-fashioned way; you know, meet at dawn and fight to the last man - that cliché.
We don't want the war to spill over into the human world, exposing us or claim innocent lives, mortal or not.
"This way no one outside the conflict will get killed," I tell him, choosing my words carefully. On top of that, the vampire lords can't break the pact they've made with Ruthven. None of them would stand for it, as it would dishonour them. I'm not even gonna try to explain that to Zachary, as he wouldn't care.
He wants to say something, but what I'm not sure. I've promised myself to stay out of their heads, seeing as I would have hated having a mind-reading vampire around me. He looks down at the map again, unsure of what to think of it.
"We want you to stay out of trouble for as long as possible. Keep to the back, at a safe distance and avoid close battle. Use firearms." When he looks like he's gonna argue, I cut him off: "There are going to be a lot of vampire elders. Going in would be suicide, especially for the humans you've taken in. They wouldn't stand a chance."
If I pointed out he might die, he would probably have scoffed and shrugged it off. He tends to think he's invulnerable. The wannabes on the other hand aren't like slayers.
"Guess you have a point." He folds the map, putting it away in a pocket. "We'll be there."
He walks towards the corridor he came from earlier. We're already finished, I've said what I came here to say, but I stay, waiting. He turns back, wondering why I'm not gone already. I frown, realising he really doesn't get it.
"Aren't you going to ask me how Nath is doing?"
He looks away.
I sigh, shaking my head in disappointment. "He's dead to you?" I spit and get up. When am I going to learn? "I had expected better of you."
"He's not one of us any longer," he says.
I'm about to leave, disappointed they still believe all vampires, including myself and Nathaniel, are monsters. I'd thought all this, helping them out, saving their arses while we could have chosen not to during the fight when the vampires loyal to Ruthven attacked, would at least have convinced them we're not like the rest. No such luck.
But suddenly recognising a familiar scent, I turn. Yelina comes towards us, from the same corridor Zachary came from. When noticing me, the look on her face tells me she's not happy to see me alive. My gaze falls on the weapons in her belt and the next second I notice Zachary is armed too. That weasel doesn't trust me. At least Nathaniel was nice enough to at least pretend he trusted us.
She goes up to him, whispering something about a girl into his ear, forgetting about my keen hearing. Zach nods, sending me a worried glance. When she looks at me again, her right hand rests casually on one of her long daggers. Seeing it infuriates me and I'm already irate after what Zachary said.
"I'll give you a fair warning. Next time you draw a weapon on me, treaty or not, I will kill you."
It doesn't faze her, but it wasn't my intention to scare her. I've warned her, and she knows what's coming for her the next time she tries to do anything. Hopefully it'll ease my guilt if I do something rash.
I'm about to leave when the scent of blood reaches my nose again. It just got stronger. And, contrary to what I first thought, it isn't human.
Following instincts, I lower every shield to better sense my surroundings. The two slayers notice the change when I grow more vampiric, releasing the more animal side of myself. There's a strong presence down the corridor where both Zach and Yelina emerged from.
I follow the scent, pushing Yelina out of the way and harshly into a wall when she springs into action to stop me. Something is off. Zachary follows me, his heartbeat quickening.
"Are you keeping people in here?"
He places a hand on my shoulder, holding me back. "This is none of your concern. We help you - but don't meddle with our business."
"This has to do with vampires," I counter, brushing his hand off me and continue down the corridor.
I try the handle on the door farthest down and find it locked. A wave of fear hits me. Someone's in there. The slayers are keeping someone prisoner.
The scent of vampiric blood makes mine boil with anger. I desperately hope I'm wrong about this, but my nose can't be mistaken. "Open it!" I command.
Zachary shakes his head no and moves towards me. I eye him for a moment - and then grab the handle and tear it out. A few seconds later I've destroyed the rest of the lock mechanism and with a light kick, the door swings open.
A whimper escapes her. She covers in one of the corners, as far away from the door as she can get. A waft of blood spirals up my nostrils and I have to restrain myself from unleashing the beast. It would have fatal consequences for Zachary and I don't want another murder on my conscience.
He grabs my arm, pulling me away. "She's none of your concern."
For just a second I contemplate killing him. My nails have already started growing longer and thicker, though I'm not willing it to happen. I could do it, and then have him replaced by a more sensible leader. This girl has been tortured to the point where she's so weak her wounds won't heal.
She looks up, blonde tattered hair disguising her beaten face; slowly understanding they aren't here to hurt her again.
"Let go of me," I hiss at him, fully aware my fangs are growing longer. The fangs don't have the wished effect on Zachary, though it looks like he's about to draw a weapon. The strong scent of blood really isn't helping my anger. I hold my breath, hoping to clear my head. It works. I calm down a little.
His grasp around my wrist tightens. "This isn't your business, vampire."
Oh, that was below the belt.
"Do you think I want to be a slayer if this is your work?" I grab his hand and roughly remove it from mine. My nails are back to their normal bitten stage now. "I can't believe how low you have sunk."
I turn my concentration to the girl again - and deliver a hard blow to Zachary's temple when he tries to stop me from entering. Instead of letting him fall, I catch him, being a lot nicer to him than what I feel I should be. He's out cold. I dump his butt outside the door. That should keep him occupied a few minutes.
But the girl isn't saved yet. She's right to be scared when she sees my wings and realises I'm not a normal vampire.
"What coven do you belong to?" I demand to know. If she's a servant of Ruthven or someone whose loyalty belongs to him, I'll have to leave her here, no matter how battered she looks and how bad I feel for her. She'd be a war casualty, simply by picking the wrong side. By rights, I would have to kill her, but despite having killed hundreds of vampires before, I don't think I would have been able to do it.
"The Morgenstiern coven," she answers, not sure if it will get her killed.
I sigh in relief and kneel down beside her, telling her I'm going to heal some of her injuries. She looks rather sceptic, still not sure I'm not going to kill her. And I guess it's the first time she's ever seen a humanoid with wings.
She's young, that's clear to see - not from her looks, I can tell from the spilt blood. She must have died around fifteen and been a vampire for a shorter time than I have, three to four months, maybe. Her turner can't have been much older either. Her blood is weak.
"What were they asking for, information?" I ask, directing my energy to close up a particular deep gash in her thigh.
She nods. "Yes."
What the hell has happened to them? After having a closer look at Carla's injuries I can't get myself to believe any of the slayers would have done something like this. This is why we had mentors. Without guidance, you have teenagers with superpowers running wild.
"Do you know if they have done this to others?"
To my horror, she nods again. "There were two others when I came. Zlatan, he was from my coven, and another - she belonged to one of the covens that joined Ruthven." She tucks her hair behind her ears. "They disappeared a few days ago. The woman was killed, I heard it. I don't know what happened to Zlatan."
I glance at Zachary's lifeless form. Maybe I was too soft on him. "Didn't they believe you when they told you what coven you belonged to?" I go on, still reluctant to believe this. There's got to be some sort of horrible misunderstanding. "That you were on our side?"
"They didn't ask."
It was the answer I expected and still it hurts to hear it. They don't care about vampires. When am I going to realise that and stop getting upset about it? Guess there's no reason in caring about what they think.
"Alright, let's get you out of here." Just as I'm helping her up, I hear Zachary come to behind me. He stirs, trying to wake up. We walk past him, out in the corridor. "Close your eyes and relax," I tell him calmly. "The headache will pass."
Of course he doesn't listen, but stagger up at once. Carla's fear rubs off on me when he draws one of his throwing knifes. Even with super reflexes and speed I don't feel safe. I've seen him in action with those and there are nowhere to go if he should decide to use it.
"She's staying here," he commands.
I tell her to go and spread my wings to cover her escape. If Zachary throws anything, it'll hit my wings and though that will hurt like a bitch, it's better than the only other option.
When she's safely out of the building, the first thing I do is protect my wings by folding them behind my back. And I let my anger out on Zach, approaching him till I am inches away. "What the hell are you doing? You've been their leader for two weeks and this is what you do? That girl was a kid, you psycho!"
He doesn't back away, I'll give him that. But damn, I am not far from wringing his neck. This isn't one of his ideas, I realise, remembering something from what seems like a lifetime ago. We talked about it back when I was alive - capture a vamp and interrogate it to figure out what was going on. Only, Jeremy wouldn't allow it.
I take a few steps back, more appalled over their actions than angry. "What made you think you'd get useful information from a fledgling? No lord would ever confide in a newborn. To add that to the fact that you tortured someone, you managed to catch one of ours. She's on our side!"
"I told you to stay out of this."
It takes all my self-control not to slap him. Slayer or not, he can't think it's alright to cause harm to thinking beings. We kill them, yes, but don't cause them unnecessary suffering. This goes against every rule in the unwritten vampire hunter's guide. It's wrong.
"This wasn't what your mentors taught you to do, you're supposed to be protectors, not murderers!"
Still no answer. I wanted him to shout back or at least defend himself. Most of all I wanted him to tell me he had no part in this - that one of the wannabes, Yelina maybe, arranged for it.
"They are vampires," he growls at me at last.
Always the same excuse. They are vampires, therefore they are evil. It's okay to hurt them.
"If you think torture is acceptable, you might fit better into Ruthven's army," I hiss right back at him. I've nothing against slayers, but now that they're lead by a fanatical moron I'm not sure I want to be friends with them anymore. What they have done truly disgusts me.
"Are you forgetting that our main mission is to kill vampires?"
I grant him my full attention, putting my anger aside. He has sheathed the blade, which is brave of him considering what I think he's about to say.
"I'm not sure we really want to help you." He shakes his head. Expecting me to speak up, he continues. "No good has come out of this deal. We lost two people when those vampires attacked, and... this isn't our fight."
This was what I expected. Still I'm dumbstruck, desperately trying to process the information. They are breaking off the deal. What does he mean it doesn't benefit them? It provides them relatively safe passage after the war, seeing as none of the covens allied with us would attack someone who was on our side.
But this isn't their fight. Not yet, I remark bitterly. Should we lose, however...
I put on a professional and uncaring mask, telling myself what happens to them isn't my problem. "If you back out now, no one will bother lift a finger to help you in the future," I warn him. "If things don't work out like we hope and Ruthven wins, you're on your own. If we win and someone decides you have become more than a nuisance, I won't stop them from going after you."
"We don't need help."
"I really hope you're right," I sigh and turn away from him. He follows me down the corridor. While I go, I discreetly scan the other rooms for signs of the other vampire Carla talked about, Zlatan. Nothing.
Now to get home and tell Vladimir. He won't be happy. They were important allies. The rest of the lords, on the other hand, will throw a party, I'm sure. While I could have tried to convince Zachary to cooperate, it wouldn't have worked in the long run. Why waste my time when he has already chosen?
On the up side, I can wring Yelina's neck without having to worry about breaking the peace. Darn that thought is tempting. Lucky for her, she's still out cold from when I shoved her aside and accidentally bumped her head a little too hard against the floor.
"I'll let you walk unharmed this time." Zachary's voice stops me. "Next time we meet, one of us dies."
I throw a glance back at him and chuckle at the cheesy line. Vampires aren't the only ones who like to create a little drama. "For your sake I hope we don't bump into each other," I comment dryly. "Say hi to Mikael for me."
On my way over to the door, I half wonder if I'll get a knife in my back. But he keeps his word.
He comes over to the door the moment I run into flight, leaping up into the air. I turn in midair, catching a glimpse of his silhouette. I rise, noticing his gaze following the airborne shadow. Before I turn my attention to the ground, searching for Carla, I realise the last connection to my old world is cut. It hurts less than I expected.
