The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 9

I was well into Ivan's territory.

Like the lands belonging to other leeches, any remnants of the old world were left to slowly decay. Any signs that humans had once freely resided there were crumbling to ruin and being swallowed by nature. Unlike many others, this leech's territory was on the edge of a former city. I could not imagine its motives for the location had been anything but to gloat over the destruction they had wrought.

I could still see the incredibly tall buildings of what had once been a city center far off in the distance on the horizon. Their dubious structural integrity stole any curiosity I might have had about them. I wanted nothing more than to hide in the full wilds where I was comfortable, but I decided instead to make my way through the half overgrown skeletons of former neighbourhoods.

Most of the houses had long since lost their roofs, but some of the walls kept their structure, jutting out haphazardly from the encroaching natural world. What had once been roads were apparent because of the lack of human made structures although the flat rows had been largely overtaken by grass, shrubs and trees. It would not be long before this former city was almost fully a forest.

I kept myself in the trees or in the shadows of the edges of walls throughout the day in case there were human eyes watching, and then I settled for the night in a hollowed out ancient basement. My approach was slowed as I neared my goal because I did not want to risk detection, but my impatience was growing.

My plan was not as well formed as I would have liked, but several things had come together in my mind. The leech had shown me the power of an ancient vampire and she had warned me against Ivan. It was a barrier to my goal of taking out its fledgling, and I wanted as few barriers in my way as possible.

I knew a lot about that ancient leech as well. It seemed cruel and calculating. According to the archives, it made few fledglings compared to the other leeches I had read, but apparently when it did it mentored them and kept them near to it during their younger years, which was why that bastard Jack was still living in its domain and under its protection.

There were other facts I knew about Ivan as well. I knew I knew its face, some of its habits, and the most important fact of all, that it was on the council.

It had been roughly a half a year since I had been captured and bought by the leech, and it did not take a deep understanding of the bloodsuckers' culture to comprehend that quarterlies happened at evenly spaced intervals four times a year. If my guess was correct, Ivan would head off to one of those regular meetings of the vampire council any day now, and if I were truly lucky its fledgling would not, leaving it without its ancient protector, not that any vampire was not enough trouble on its own.

Even if all my guesses were correct, it remained a tricky situation. My time was still taken up in keeping myself hidden and in foraging because I did not dare to hunt so close to its lair.

I slept lightly, waking at every tiny sound around me, but nothing that was worthy of alarm. When the sun finally rose I readied myself and moved forward cautiously, keeping silent and watchful.

Midway through the day I found the lair. It bore some similarities to ones I had seen before, high walls for protecting the leeches during their vulnerable hours, but it seemed somehow more sinister than the ones I had encountered before, although perhaps it had been my imagination. I hid myself in some thick shrubbery where I had a free view of the lair, with little chance of detection.

Little happened while I maintained my vigil, other than a few vehicles transporting what were likely supplies or amusements for the bloodsuckers. I spent a few hours preparing myself for the night and finding more food. I was getting low on my stolen supplies, so I would be back to relying entirely upon my own skills soon.