The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 19

She looked at me thoroughly and there was little doubt in my mind what she was thinking, beautiful and oddly appealing in her cold state of existence. Marcel stood behind her, glowering at me like a dutiful watchdog, protective and aggressive. The older guard who I recognized but did not know seemed almost bored by the situation.

I returned the favour and ran my eyes up her body in turn, mostly to annoy Marcel, but it was hardly a hardship. She had her usual smirk on her face and I could not even summon my irritation. I was surprised when Marcel did not even bark a little bit at my provocation, and she seemed to enjoy it.

She began moving fluidly as she usually did, and I and the other humans began to follow her down the hall. She unlocked the door and pushed into a large room that was lined with what appeared to be torture devices.

The other humans seemed unconcerned about the location and the room smelled stale. I would have hated her for this, but now it seemed just another bit of theater to make herself look more evil than she was.

She met my eyes with a mischievous smirk. "Don't worry human, it's all for show in case I ever have nosey vampires sneaking down here."

I was not surprised, although I would have been, at one time.

She crossed the room to a rack on the wall with a number of painful looking weapons. Reaching around and behind the handles, she touched something and there was a metallic clank and the wall swung in on itself. The three of them made their way in and I went along into the deep darkness beyond the torture room, both other humans holding torches against the black.

Our footsteps sounded loud to my ears as we walked forward down a tunnel. At the beginning the tunnel was lined with stone, but it gradually gave way to dirt and support beams. I wondered what methods had been used to delve out the structure in secret, but there was something in the quiet of the underground that made me want to match it.

We walked for what felt like an hour but was probably less time in truth. Finally we emerged out into the dim light of dusk. The exit was nestled in the bottom of what seemed to be an old human made structure. I could not see any signs that it had been used recently. This seemed to be an exit of last resort and was likely the way that she had snuck away Lucas after the discovery of his indiscretion.

She strode out into the dim light confidently and we followed her out into the wilds. I watched her and Marcel and the other human and all three were acting as if this were a normal situation, although none of them spoke, which was especially odd for the leech.

Then we reached a dirt road, and further down the dirt road there was a parked SUV, manned by a lone human. His form relaxed as we neared and he looked relieved to see us arrive, I figured it was stressful for the man to be waiting exposed in the coming darkness when he was undoubtedly used to the comforts of being surrounded by humans and under a vampire's protection.

Strange how quickly my mind could change. The behaviour of the others had once confused and frustrated me, but I could understand them now on a different level.

Through the deepening darkness she got into the driver's seat. The human who had driven the vehicle there took the front seat, so I was left to get into the middle. The one who I did not really know who had accompanied us took the back, and Marcel of course took the seat beside me with a malevolent glare. The engine purred as she started it, although the lights stayed off.

Before putting the car into gear she looked back at us, although I could not see her expression through the darkness. "Don't you all look cozy?" she teased.

Marcel snorted at her words and I shrugged.

She turned her attention to the road and hit the gas. Although I understood that she could see, there was something unnerving about hurtling forward blind into the darkness.