The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Part 3: Chapter 26

"Davidson?" Vienne asked, perking up and fixing her attention on the guard. "Fetch the human, I'll see them here."

The guard departed and reluctantly I pulled away from Vienne. I had intended to carry her off to the bedroom to apologize in a less conventional way than words, so the timing was not great. I did not complain, though, because if Davidson sent a human, she would need to talk to them, and I was curious as well.

As my fury had died down, Drak's words had seemed more reasonable. I was no good to anyone dead, but I could still work towards my human goals in this cold state. Still, whenever I remembered what I was, from the thousand small reminders each night, anger filled me at Drak for the betrayal. It did not matter that a part of me understood he had done it for Vienne.

I hated leeches, I hated being a bloodsucking leech, but I also contradictorily wanted to protect her. I was conflicted, which was the basic norm since she had yanked me into her life.

No matter my feelings, realistically there was no way to regain my former human life no matter how much I wanted to. I could either stake myself, or I could make the best of the situation and stake more vampires.

The second option was far more appealing, although a part of me was surprised to realize that. A year ago, I likely as not would have staked myself out of spite to my sire. Not now. Bloodsuckers ranged from rabid monsters like Jack to benign like—well, I would have said Drak before he turned me, but I was not feeling particularly generous to that bloodsucker at the moment—many of the leeches who were my allies.

The door opened and a guard ushered a human inside. He seemed reasonably healthy, but there were dark circles around his eyes and two bite marks on his exposed flesh.

"Come forward, human," Vienne said with almost a singsong tone, although she was not compelling him, merely acting like the enticing female she was. He looked nervous, but his eyes still managed to run over her. I could not even feel jealous, I just felt bad for the poor guy who would obviously throw himself into her web if given half the chance.

I glanced at her. Would she want to elicit a jealous response from me? No doubt the idea would delight her. If I ever did feel that way, I'd have to hide it from her. The last thing I wanted was her running around flirting with every male in the vicinity because she found my reaction amusing.

Life with her was never going to be easy. There would always be a need for strategy. A smart man would leave and never look back.

"What's your name?" she asked.

As he spoke, his eyes finally flicked to me. It was pretty obvious that he did not find me nearly as terrifyingly alluring as Vienne, although his eyes shifted around nervously. "I'm Curtis, and I've come from Master Davidson to bring you a message, Mistress Vienne."

"Oh? And what would that be?" she raised an eyebrow and pretended she was not curious about what information Davidson thought was important enough to send a human along. I did not let my smile at her act reach my face.

"Two matters require your attention. The council is planning another attack, this time with siege weapons. They've been hastily constructing such since their last failed attack and this time they intend to knock down your defenses before they try to overrun you."

Vienne pondered. "I wonder what the best way to counter them would be... Flaming arrows? Drone attacks?"

"Drones?" the human asked.

She sighed. "Ingenious little flying machines, sort of like miniature airplanes. I don't know how to describe them. I really should have turned some engineers and so forth into vampires when I had a chance. Where did my standards get me? In the exact same place, but with less industry experts."