The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 3: Chapter 2

My promise to Jamie to try not to deliberately antagonize him was still in effect, because I was trying. I was just exceptionally bad at it. I could not help but be horribly amused at his reaction to a mention of my dungeon.

But, in the interest of trying not to frustrate him, I quickly added, "I'm not leading you to your death right now, or even to suffering, I promise. Unless of course, you find talking to prisoners to be torturous, in which case I have an unpleasant task for you."

My words seemed to mollify him. He started walking in the direction we had been going, and I joined him and continued talking. "All the other humans who participated in that little escape attempt of yours are still locked up down here. At first, I was afraid that I would do something regrettable because I was rather angry about the whole almost killing one of my humans in a fire along with part of my coffee stash—which is not that cheap or easy to get thanks to a certain mismanaged council—and then I simply was distracted by the return of a certain human with whom I am rather enamoured."

I met his eyes and saw his earlier displeasure had disappeared. "And now, of course, everything is pure chaos, and delightful as that is, I don't have time to give these four the attention they deserve."

"I'm not helping you torture them."

I rolled my eyes at him and made sure he saw. "If I had been planning to torture them I would already have done it. I thought you were starting to figure me out by now." I pretended to be offended.

"You're right," he said.

"Well, it's not that I wouldn't torture humans if need be, but most humans are no challenge at all. I prefer a challenge. It's probably one of the reasons I can't resist you."

"Oh?" His response was nonchalant, but I detected some interest under the terseness.

"Indeed. You're quite a rarity. Even my most brave or willing humans were quite terrified of me in the beginning, but you started with almost no fear and I can't detect any at all now. I love that about you."

As if they were meaningless, I threw the words out and turned back to business. "Regardless, what I want is for you to speak with your fellow escapees and explain to them how things are. You're permitted to tell them anything general to get them on our side, except classified matters that you've learned of while assisting Conner. And of course, you should keep what you've learned of my weaknesses to yourself."

I couldn't resist casting another suggestive look in his direction. A part of me wished to drag him off into some corner and resume where we had left off the previous night, but I was a good little vampire and kept to my business at hand. Leif would be so proud.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"So, you'll help?"

"Help you convince humans to work against the bloodsucking council? Yes, I'll do that."

"Good, they do have quite a lot of promise considering the fact they dared to act against me. Turned to the cause, such spirit could come in very handy in the future. While Travis is not quite your calibre, he's got the fire of rebellion in his eyes, and Barb actually dared to light my home on fire. As much as I was furious, if I had managed them properly I might have avoided the whole mess, but I was so fixated on you... Well, there's no use crying over spilled blood."

"It's 'crying over spilled milk'. My mother used to say that." I was surprised that such an archaic saying had somehow survived, but I had heard accounts that a few humans had managed to continue farming against all odds in far off places, so perhaps it was still relevant.

I blinked innocently. "Still, that's such a silly saying. Why would anyone cry over milk? I understand it's valuable nutrition for humans, but I just can't imagine anyone crying over it. Blood, on the other hand, is worth crying over, so telling people not to because it can't be undone makes much more sense."