The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 3: Chapter 19

We were moving fast against the leeches and I could not be happier about it, although we were meeting increasing resistance from our targets. All the humans guarding the enemy leeches' fortresses were far more alert and suspicious. Gone were the days when we could send a single fighter up to the door with a sob story.

It did not stop us. The decades of preparation, the strategies for conquering defenses, and the collected resources paid off. Using catapults, we broke into several more fortresses. There were a few human casualties, mostly on the other side, which was unfortunate, but ultimately unavoidable.

We brought back the body of our first fallen comrade for burial and Vienne had been angrier than I had thought she would be. Her rage was against the council, but as I watched, other humans shied away from her. Even her fledglings seemed uneasy around her while we buried the body outside the walls under the early evening stars.

I stayed with her while she ranted and raged about how much she detested the council. There was none of her light joking about how foolish they were, it was all fury and vengeance as her eyes flashed like fire.

And the next day we went and hit another target under the blazing sun.

It was not like our first few attacks when we were fast and stealthy. It was more like a siege. I had nothing to do with the work that broke down the walls so I waited with the other fighters until the way was open to us.

Once the walls came down, we spilled in. There was some gunfire, but little resistance beyond to our swift incursion. It seemed our enemies had little by way of weapons for their slaves to wield. We did what needed to be done with cold efficiency, and searched for the bloodsuckers who owned the property or information as to their location.

By the time we were finished, we gathered about forty people in a great hall. I helped question them, starting with a scrawny woman who had an equally malnourished child clinging to her leg. She watched me warily, keeping her body between me and the young one. I could only imagine the terror that her life had been.

"I'm not going to hurt you. We're not going to hurt you or your child."

She sniffled a bit and did not relax.

"We're only looking for your leeches."

She shivered. "They're not here."

"No?"

She shook her head. "We were told to guard their home with our lives and they left to..."

I waited for a moment to see if she would continue, before gently prodding. "To where?"

She shook her head. "I cannot say."

She crouched down beside her child as I walked away to question the next human in line. Every human we questioned said something similar to what they had claimed. A couple of fighters located the inner heart of the fortress, only to find that it was as empty as the humans had claimed.

Sweeping out had become almost habitual at this point. Combatant humans were properly bound for the return journey, the broken slaves were loaded up to return to our home base to be nursed to health, and we took everything of possible use. We had a few injuries, including Lucas. His face was pinched and pale, but he seemed able to walk enough to get himself to the medical vehicle.

I dozed on and off as we travelled back, letting the sway of the vehicle lull me into catching up for some of the slumber I missed in the business of the past few weeks. Other people were on watch, so I trusted them to do that, and we were met with no threats on the nearly empty roads by the time we made it home, just as the sun was nearly about to set.