The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 2: Chapter 20

I spent the night observing how matters were being handled at New Haven, mostly to fill my time until Jamie would wake up and I could talk to him again. The situation was rendering me rather dismal.

Once I grew tired of poking my nose into the humans' affairs and was satisfied that things seemed to be in order, I wandered around and spoke with the night guards. Most of them did not seem to find my presence to be particularly troublesome, but neither did they seem particularly welcoming. I supposed it made sense. Unlike my home, if this place were to be discovered, my duplicity would be quickly uncovered along with it. We were not quite ready for that interesting moment yet.

Still, images of a world of free humans doing and making interesting things swirled through my mind. I missed the kaleidoscope of humanity and I wanted it back, but I could be patient. The current game was still afoot.

And there was another game that still maintained my attention even more than my desire for the new world I wanted to build. I could scarcely wait for the moment when I would see Jamie again. I was eager to explore this new situation in which we were no longer antagonists.

The night dragged on so terribly slowly that I could almost imagine that the vampire affliction had affected the whole world and caused it to fall out of the stream of time, but finally then the first light tinted the eastern horizon.

Fighting the most absurd urge to go and drag Jamie out of bed like an overeager puppy, I made small talk with the fresh guards who came on after the change of shift.

Finally, I simply sent a human to go and find out if he was awake, because I could not take the wait any longer, and it would be inconvenient for me to show Jamie around the compound after the sun came up so my impatience even had a practical level. The errand boy, Gene, the product of another former human indiscretion, ran with enthusiasm to find Jamie, while I waited and tried not to look like I was extremely excited to see him. The fact that I was even tempted to act with such undignified enthusiasm was indeed a bad sign of how terribly this man had gotten under my skin.

And then, instead of Gene returning, the very object of my obsession left the main residence and come towards me without any sign of hesitation. I could not help but admire his intrinsic fearlessness and the strong form that contained it. My smile was naturally borne of my pleasure. "Good morning," I said to him.

"Good morning."

It was so simple, a meaningless greeting, but at the same time the lack of hostility stuck me hard. His ire had indeed been endlessly amusing, but...

Was this, perhaps, what I had wanted from the first, but had feared to dare hope for?

I covered my inward confusion with another confident smile. It was one thing to talk to Jamie of vampiric weaknesses and another entirely to possibly demonstrate my own.

"So, I imagine that Shania showed you around the residence already, Jamie."

"She did."

"And you've eaten already?" Gene might have interrupted his meal, for all I knew, and it was generally important to keep my humans properly fed.

"Yeah." He looked at me. "Have you?"

"I fed before we left home. I dislike risking blood starvation. Terrible things happen when you starve a vampire. I'll have a bite again shortly before I return. Come along now, Jamie. I've got things to show you."

He started walking without complaint.

I started his tour with a bit of pleasing drama as we walked. "So, this, as you already know, is New Haven, the heart of the human rebellion I began to nurture when the obnoxious council blowhards became too much to bear. We chose this location because of the natural fortifications blocking it from easy discovery. My home is actually quite near the edge of my territory, and the only proper road through leads straight to there, it's all terrible gravel roads to my other various enterprises."