The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 3

I did not know how much time had passed, but it felt like days since I had seen the sun other than the dim light that managed to get through a tiny window that faced out into the side of another building. They brought me food and water, but no one talked to me.

Which was fine. I was frustrated with twinges of some occasional ridiculous guilt over having staked her.

Still, every time that slight remorse returned, my anger surged up and overwhelmed it. Sure, I had staked her. Sure, Lucas and Rene were not dead after all, although she had certainly been willing to let me believe it. Sure, she seemed to be against the very vampire council that spent all it's time trying to crush the few humans that were left.

But regardless of all that, the entire situation was her fault because she had insisted on keeping me in the dark about everything. I could understand why she would feel the need to feel out new humans before bringing them into her plans, but it had to have been damn obvious that I was not about to run and tell other leeches that there was a vampire working against them. I had not even attempted to hide my dislike of her kind.

It pissed me off, and then I would feel just a bit bad which was the seed for a new bout of anger. Her slaves—or whatever they were to her, who the hell knew?—maintained an irritating solemnity when they came down to sustain me, as if it were I who was entirely at fault.

It was frustrating that I was trapped again. Nothing that had happened had made me waver from my goal, although once again I was kept away from it by the leech's hold. Those few hours I had been running had given me a taste of what I once had and I wanted it back.

I tried to find a way out, but this cellar that was clearly typically used for storage was annoyingly sturdy. I had carefully searched to try to find something to jimmy the lock or pry open the door, but all I found were random jars of preserves and other such items useless for the task of escape.

I could have tried to fight and overwhelm the people who brought me my sustenance, but I did not really have the heart to fight humans again so soon, especially since it would be futile. My confusion about their purpose here, the thought that they seemed to be truly working against our oppressors, stole whatever was left of my motivation to resist.

And, surely they would not leave me here indefinitely, if for no other reason than because it would be inconvenient for them to lose the easy use of this space. A few times a day someone would come down with guards and gather what they needed for the day.

It was obvious that they did not usually keep prisoners here, wherever here was.

My attention was caught as the door opened. A black haired youth brought in a tray with a bowl and a jug of water on it, accompanied by a pair of guards.

I glowered at the guards until they left me alone again in the shadows.

* * * * *

I did not know how much time passed while I waited in the dark, but I ate my food and drank my water, and after the pale dimness began to fade, finally the door cracked open and a lone human came into the room carrying a lamp.

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, but the voice identified Blondie readily enough. "Hey, Jamie."

"You're alive, Lucas?"

"That I am, you saw Rene, too?" He referred to the woman carrying his child.

"Yeah, but I heard her screams."

"Yeah, having the brand destroyed hurt like a son of a bitch," Lucas agreed. "As bad as getting it in the first place. And maybe Vienne was a little crueler than she might have been since she was furious about my 'absolute idiocy' and my 'irresponsible behaviour'. I've never seen her so angry before." He rubbed his shoulder sheepishly.