The Vampire & the Rebel (Completed)

Epilogue

A lot occurred in the years after we took down the vampire council and replaced it. Vienne and I had lived on and off down in South America in the years since, and she had managed to embroil herself into their politics as a delegate, although with a far lighter touch than she had used when we retook North America for the humans, or, as she still liked to jokingly call it, the New Republic of Vienne.

I mostly watched her antics from the sidelines, scanning for trouble, which she still liked to instigate from time to time. She was never going to change.

That was fine, because I was used to the way she was, and when she was not deliberately trying to bother me, I even liked it. I loved her in spite of all the flaws she loved to flaunt, and I imagined neither would ever change.

Being an immortal vampire—or as she preferred to refer to it—indefinite, had taken time to get used to even after everything had settled. The things she had told me, the way she had described her existence had begun to make sense to me as the years stretched by without touching me. It was strange, but even strangeness at a certain point began to feel normal.

We were back in New Hollywood, which was the name of our lands because Vienne had gotten renaming it in her mind, and after the battles everyone seemed willing enough to call it whatever she wanted. Drak had shaken his head at her pronouncement but had not commented.

Vienne had insisted that I wear what she called a 'tux' to the 'premiere' we were going to. She was more excited than I had ever seen her, her soft brown eyes sparkling with excitement. She was nearly bouncing, a huge departure from her usual graceful stillness.

As much as I was not a fan of the uncomfortable formal wear she had insisted I wear, I appreciated her outfit. She was wearing a slinky dress—red of course—and it held to her curves in such a manner that my hands itched to follow. It was lower cut and higher up her legs than what she typically wore. My additional height gave me an excellent vantage point for viewing her cleavage, which I also wasn't complaining about.

"Jamie! We've got to get going!" she said, still unusually enthusiastic. "I'm so excited."

I didn't respond to her obvious statement as we walked outside toward the vehicle. I'd learned that sometimes she just spoke for the sake of speaking and really required nothing more than a sentient being present to whom she could announce her thoughts.

Truthfully, I was somewhat excited myself. After hearing her talk about the movies so many times, I was intrigued by the idea, and there was a certain momentous feel to being present to watch the very first showing of the first movie produced since before the human suppression wars.

The chauffeur opened the door for her and she got inside, and I got into the other side. For whatever reason, she had insisted that we would travel like this rather than one of us driving like we usually did after dark, but I did not care enough to argue with her.

Besides the idea of seeing a story play out on a screen, I was looking forward to seeing other old familiar faces. I did not know what this particular movie was going to be about, because she had been incredibly secretive about it. If I'd wanted to, I could have found out easily enough, but I let her have her little secrets since it seemed to make her happy.

"I can't wait for you to see it," she said. I smiled at her, she sounded more like the age she had been when she was turned than she was now.

"Me neither. I'll be something to remember."

"I still remember the first moving picture I ever saw. It was amazing, Jamie. Oooh, you're going to love it, I bet. And this one is going to be great, I think it'll be our movie, kind of like how people would have an 'our song' back in the day. You'll see what I mean when we're there."