Midnight Mage

28

***

He looked away and was silent long enough I opened my mouth to apologize. He said quickly, “No, it’s all right. I was remembering back.” A wry smile flashed my way. “I’m rather old, if you’ll recall.”

I smiled. “You don’t look a day over two hundred.”

He exhaled a silent laugh and slowly his expression turned pensive, then shadowed by sorrow. “One summer’s eve, a vampire broke into our home. He killed my parents and sisters. My brothers and I tried to fight him. I was the eldest, the strongest, and lasted longest. I managed to wound him while we were locked in combat. He tore my shoulder with his fangs, and some of his blood entered the wound. I weakened and he escaped, leaving me for dead. In truth, I was ready to die, to join my family in the afterlife. But it was not to be. I transitioned to vampire surrounded by the bodies of my family.”

“That’s horrible,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

It was a long time ago,” he said, and his eyes lost their sorrow as they focused on me. “I no longer grieve them, but I’ve never forgotten where I come from. I still remember my father's kind voice and my mother's embrace. I remember making sacrifices and hard choices for the good of the family. I have a different family now, much larger, but I still try to align my choices with the good of the whole."

I let out a shaky breath. “Did you find vengeance for them?”

“Yes. It took me a hundred years to meet that vampire again, but he died for his sins.”

“And what about Gabriella?” I asked without thinking. “Do you not want vengeance against the Liberati?”

“If you’re asking me if Gabriella deserves vengeance, then yes, she does. However, if you’re questioning why I’ve not hunted and slaughtered every last Liberati operative in the world for their transgression, the answer is more complicated. For one, Gabrielle abhors violence."

I looked away, discomforted by his use of the present tense. And annoyed, because I didn’t agree with Gabriella’s pacifism, while Connor obviously kept her on a lofty pedestal. Or maybe it all boiled down to what Adam had said, that I was Gabriella’s opposite.

If something gruesome happened to me—or Adam, or Declan—I’d want the Prime to unleash some apocalyptic justice. Lots and lots of violence. No pacifism, please.

As for myself, I had no doubts that when face to face with the Liberati who’d abducted and were apparently torturing my dad, I’d bring down the fucking sky on them.

“Bloodthirsty,” he murmured.

“Damn straight,” I said without heat. “I’m starting to believe what Delilah said on the phone. There's a war going on. There are different rules in war."

“Are there?” he murmured, a thread of humor in his voice. “No place for compassion on the battlefield?”

I snorted. “Of course. Kill them fast. That’s compassionate, right?”

He chuckled, tension releasing from his shoulders. “You, Alfea, are an enigma.”

“Nope,” I countered. “I’m pretty straightforward. There are bad guys and good guys. Bad guys need to be dealt with.”

“As I said, we are indelibly shaped by our formative years.”

“My dad raised me right,” I growled.

He lifted a graceful hand. “I agree. But did Frank not also teach you the importance of due process, and the adage innocent until proven guilty?”