The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 1: Chapter 24

I woke in the morning to the sound of Theo rummaging around in some of the supplies he brought along to the capital. They had taken to storing several boxes on one of the extra beds in the room.

I did not complain, instead I simply made my way to a washroom and shaved, showered, and got dressed. I went out to the kitchen where the tall Jeffry was cooking breakfast. I considered helping, but it felt too much like the other humans' unthinking obedience to the leech.

Also, the location reminded me of talking to her when I had awoken the previous night.

Her human facade was fairly good, there were moments when I almost forgot what I was talking to and that was a fool move. I was losing my focus.

I could not afford to lose my focus. Melissa deserved revenge, humanity deserved revenge. I could not take them all out, but I could take out some, most especially the one whose face was burned into my mind. Once I got him, I would have greater freedom in choosing my targets.

I pushed aside the thought that she had almost seemed pleased with the idea of me killing other vampires. I did not want to do what she wanted me to do, but at the same time, what would I have done after I killed him if I had not met her?

Maybe I could get printouts of some of the worst leeches while I was back in the leech's lair and focus my efforts after he was gone from the world. It would make my life count for something in the end, because I had nothing else to give.

I was getting ahead of myself. There was no guarantee that he was even in there and if he was not I would be back to my search.

I wandered out into the entryway, just in time to see the leech come striding in through the door.

"Good morning," she said genially and then those hazel eyes fixed on me. "Jamie."

"Morning, Mistress." I tried to minimize my sarcasm.

She must have still heard it, because her soft lips stretched into that annoying smile again. I hated that beautiful face and the deceptive softness of her features.

"How were your council meetings, Mistress?" asked Javier as he wandered into the room behind me.

"Very good," she told him. "Sadly, my bill was defeated, but I sent Councillor Magnus's bill down as a flaming pile of refuse so the night was not a total loss."

"What was his bill?" I asked without thinking and then added as an afterthought, "Mistress."

She smiled more widely at my interest until her fangs clearly showed. "He wanted to increase the fledgling allotment to five new vampires per century. I'm sure we can all agree that there are more than enough vampires already, don't you think? I don't want more fangs near my property."

She went on before I could decide whether I was supposed to answer. "The human population is already in decline as it is. The idea is terribly short sighted."

I frowned. "No more than increasing the hunting season."

"Increasing the hu—?" Javier began and then stopped suddenly at a sharp look from the leech.

I glanced between her wicked smile and his confusion and wondered what I was missing. I decided I would not care.

Javier shrugged.

"You're both dismissed. Don't worry your pretty little human heads about politics."

My temper flared as she watched me with that annoying fake human smile of hers. I left the room.

* * * * *

As I spent time with the leech's slaves, I gradually began to notice that they were far from overworked. Other than supplying her blood, amusing her, and occasional orders, she asked very little of any of us. Most of my daily tasks while in the capital seemed to be concerned with maintaining her chambers and taking care of our own mortal needs. One of the tech slaves had been called upon on to provide blood for her coffee and Greg had been chosen to feed her, but otherwise we were left relatively undisturbed.