The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 3: Chapter 16

"There's no need to be worried," Drak told me in what was probably supposed to be a soothing tone.

Instead of scowling at him like I wanted to since he would take it as confirmation of his erroneous assumption, I pasted an extremely satisfied smile onto my lips. "I'm not worried, Drak. I'm bored. I dislike waiting more than anything, and it's so much worse when I know something good is coming."

He did not look like he believed me, but he did not question me further.

I was back at home in my favourite chair, in my favourite sitting room, holding a steaming cup of my favourite beverage, but I was missing my favourite human.

Sadly, there was no way I could stop him without exerting my influence, and if I tried to manipulate him into staying where it was safe, he would only rage and resent me.

It was better that he went along for the sake of the cause and not only because he was a very capable human, but he was also rather inspirational for the humans who wanted their revenge against their vampiric oppressors. I had intentionally nurtured that reputation, but the consequence of that was that he was going to go and throw his frail human life straight into the path of dangerous predators.

I certainly hoped that everything was going fine. I took another sip of coffee and tried to look dismissive of Drak's mushy suspicions.

I certainly was not worried. I merely had a healthy appreciation for the potential risks that my fledglings and humans would likely be facing at any particular moment. They were just so horribly breakable.

But I did not want to talk about my feelings about sitting around waiting while my humans and former humans were running around doing dangerous daytime missions, so it was time to change the subject. To keep Drak off balanced, this time I would say something nice to him.

But before I could properly begin to torment him, there was a knock on the door. I motioned to Dean to open it, and another human walked in. "Lights were spotted in the security footage, Mistress. They're back."

"Oooh, are they?" I asked, trying to keep my nervous expectation from my voice. I wanted to run out there and meet them and see for myself that my favourites were alive and well. I glanced at Drak from the corner of my eye and saw him looking at me inquisitively.

I settled myself back in my chair and tried to look relaxed. "I do hope they brought me back something nice."

Hopefully, Jamie and the others were not injured. I took another sip of coffee to hide my face from my friend's irritating speculations.

"We could go and see if they're al...if they brought you back something nice," Drak commented dryly, setting his cup down.

"It's no rush," I lied. It was not a good sign if Drak was starting to play along with my pretense.

"Well, I'm going to see," he announced, standing up.

I frowned. "Well, I might as well come along with you then, I suppose," I said as casually as I could manage. I got to my feet painfully slowly. Drak stood at the door, looking impatient.

"Come, come now, Drak. We've got all the time in the world, don't we?"

"You're as excited to get out there as I am."

"Just keep telling yourself that."

Now that I could tell Drak was getting annoyed by my dragging, I had an even better reason than usual to go about it. I smiled sweetly as I walked as slowly as vampirically possible.

"You've made your point, I'm sorry for rushing you," he said.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked and batted my widened eyes a couple of times in his direction.