The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 15

I travelled for a few days with the cranky old man again. He seemed to be happy to have me along since we had not seen each other for more than a few days at a time since he had taught me to survive. There was a sort of familiarity to the day to day tasks and the training that I enjoyed, but I still felt adrift without my hunt for my quarry to ground me.

With time, I was certain that the feeling would fade. I ran through the possibilities before me, I could continue to simply survive, or I could find something that I could do with myself.

When I noticed the area was familiar, I asked, "Are you heading to Braydon's?"

"Nah," Hadron said. I was not too surprised. Like me, he found the idea of humans staying in one place unsettling. He never liked to talk about his past, but I knew enough to know that he too had suffered at the hands of leeches.

Still, I decided to break off from him and make my way over for a visit since I had missed him last time. Something drew me, and while a part of me worried that I might bring Ivan down on the heads of any humans I had contact with, the lack of any trouble since I had escaped the fortress lair had allowed me to relax.

The cranky old man merely shrugged when I told him I was going to leave and said, "Don't be a stranger." I nodded and went my separate way.

It only took me half a day to get to the building and I arrived in the evening, much later than I usually liked to travel. I went inside and Braydon barked a greeting at me which I returned.

"Jamie! I missed you last time you came through!" he said.

"Sorry. I had something I needed to do."

"Oh? And how did that go? I see you're still alive, at least," he commented jovially.

I smiled. "Very well."

His eyes widened with question, but he did not say anything since there were a handful of other humans sitting at tables around the room.

I nodded.

"Well, that calls for celebration! Mia, get Jamie some supper! I'll bet he's hungry," he called to his youngest daughter.

I grinned. As she poked her head out of the back and waved at me. "Coming right up, dad."

"Sit down, sit down," he prodded. I sat on a barstool as he poured me some ale. "You'll have to tell me what happened," he said in a much lower voice than he had before.

"I will, when we're alone," I said. Vienne's control did not extend to my destruction of the demon Jack, but it was never too wise to spread the stories of my exploits around lest the leeches get wind of it, and doubly so now that I had likely pissed off one of the strongest vampires on the planet.

It sounded really bad when I put it like that.

I would definitely have to keep my head low. Even if I left no evidence, they would certainly wonder if it was not the same vampire slayer that had plagued them before, and there were rumours of some of my exploits amongst the free humans as well. The last thing I needed was for the bloodsuckers to put the facts together and come after me.

"You going to stay this time?"

"Seems like, for the night at least." I did not want to travel in the dark.

The door to the back pushed open, but instead of Mia, Kira walked out with a bowl of steaming stew. I assumed Mia had run to get her sister to help, since it was usually only two of them manning the place at any given time. She set the bowl down before me with an expression I could not fail to read.

She was beautiful, I realized with surprise, with light brown hair and a cute face. At some point she had grown up. I had paid her little mind other than to avoid her with my mind focused so fully on my goal, but now there was nothing to sidetrack me.