by Moore, E. M.
When I looked up again, I noticed Gregor and the other vampires who’d been on The Council before, including Isabelle, staring at me. Joining them now were my princes. Christian walked past all of them and took the seat next to his father. He’d left me by the first row which held Lex and T.J. They scooted over so I could sit down next to them. Gregor shook his head and beckoned me forward.
I stood on shaky legs and took the couple of steps to the raised platform where the long table sat in the center. The chair my princes had sat in one-by-one the last time we were here was gone. Next to the empty space sat Stephan at the very end who smiled at me; then Connor, who looked amused; Nicolai whose arms were crossed over his chest, then Christian, and finally Gregor. All in a row like charming, handsome sentinels. The sight of them almost took my breath away. When I’d seen them for the first time, I thought they were intimidating and powerful. They still were, just in a less frightening way. If I didn’t know them, I’d wonder why Nicolai looked as if he was angry with me or what Connor thought was so funny or why Stephan’s smile made me uneasy. They were vampires after all, and I was just a mere human brought into this world to be their puppet.
That was so far from the truth though. So very, very far.
Gregor leaned over the table when I got there. His sleek hair was properly gelled into place like usual. His not even middle-aged looks were so profound, so filled with wisdom, that whenever I looked at him, I felt his air of superiority. It was palpable in the room. We did as he said. It was as simple as that. “Philippe’s not coming. You may start.”
I swallowed and stood up straight, staring at the rest of the line of vampires at the table. At that moment, with all eyes on me, it hit me. This was a crazy ridiculous scene no one would believe. A room filled with vampires and their human guards. If I went back to the human world with a story like this, everyone I met would think I was insane. They would literally lock me up in a psychiatric institute. But yet, I’d never felt more alive here. This was my home. This was my life now, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I lowered my head. “Members of the Council…” I turned on a whim and bowed my head toward Lex and T.J. “Members of the security team. I thank you all for coming here today. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, I am Ariana Stuart, trainee at the Rajyvik Institute.”
The woman vampire at the end of the table laughed. “We know who you are Ariana. Your name has quickly spread throughout our community. I bet you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know you.”
I forced out a nervous chuckle and continued. I couldn’t tell if being well known was a good thing or a bad thing. “I won’t bore you with details, and we’ll get right down to what I wanted to talk to you all about then. Our prisoner from the attack on The Fort has found it necessary to speak only to me, which led to our decision to raid a factory in Calcutta a couple days ago. Though we’re all aware how that turned out, leading to an injury of one of our most respected guards, we were able to glean information from that, and I’d like to take it a step further.” I walked back and forth in front of the table, making sure to lock eyes with Lex and T.J. every once in a while. The other vampires strewn throughout the room, however, I completely ignored. “Soren, our prisoner, has given me the locations of all possible places Dumont could be. I’ve shared those locations with our security team who are now cross analyzing that information with the number of human disappearances in the area, and even crime and homicides, so we can make our best guess as to where he is.”
“How’s that going?” Gregor asked.
He looked at me, and I looked back at Lex. She stood. “Well, Sir, since Matthews is unavailable at the moment, we’ve had to use some trainees to do the work so it started out a little slow, but we’re making headway now. It was a brilliant idea Stuart had. I only wish we had Matthews’ tech savvy abilities at our disposal.”
“I can help.”
All eyes turned toward the table. I knew who’d spoken before even looking that way. I’d recognize his voice anywhere, but still, the surprise rocked me when I looked at Connor. The grin was gone from his face. His eyebrows were pulled down, serious and astute, as he leaned across the table, his hands clasped in front of him.
Connor did have tech skills. He’d helped during the attacks on The Fort, being our tech guy for that mission, but I had no idea he’d ever thought about doing it since them. Lex looked at Gregor, unsurprisingly unwilling to accept his offer without confirmation first. Gregor leaned over and locked eyes with his son. He nodded, then looked back at Lex. “Connor will help you with anything you need on that front.”
My eyes immediately flicked to Nicolai. The muscles in his forearms bulged as if he were clenching his hands into fists, but you’d never know it from looking at his face. It was just as dark and intimidating as it ever was, without the feeling of being betrayed behind it.
“Thank you both,” Lex said. “I will speak to Connor after the meeting.”
She looked at me and I continued on. “Though we have that information to begin with, I don’t think we should stop there. It has been years, even centuries, since anything like this has happened to your world, and there is so much more available for our use in this instance to track him down.” I looked each Council member in the eye. “It may seem like an…interesting idea at first, but I believe you will find it sound once I give you the particulars.” I took a deep breath and launched forward, trying not to get caught up in my own head. “Because of where I come from, I have a different perspective and a different way of thinking in regards to finding Dumont. If there was someone who was wanted for crimes out there, out in the human world, it would be plastered all over the news. By keeping this just a vampire problem, we’re blocking ourselves from using true search techniques. Dumont is a purist. He feeds from humans, which also means there’s no way he’s going to go around the country one-hundred percent undetected. At this point, I can tell you that the list of locations where he could be are strewn all across the United States, and even a couple places in Europe. Because of this, I think we should start a massive search for him and utilize outside factors. We should use search techniques the way humans do. Can we get his face on wanted posters? Can we get him on news stations? He has killed and murdered humans. We can utilize this to our advantage. The first step could be working with human law enforcement. Do we have any contacts in the human police world?”
Gregor shook his head, and then looked down the line. Each of them in turn also shook their heads.
I shrugged. “That’s okay. We still have other options.”
“We could make a Facebook post,” Christian suggested. “We can try to get it to go viral.”
Gregor’s brows furrowed. “Facebook?”
I suppressed a laugh, smashing my lips together at Gregor’s confusion. “Excellent idea. We can use the power of social media to reach people all over the place. That’s just one part of the plan though. We have to get everybody here working together too. Let’s be open and honest about what it will mean if Dumont is able to gain control over The Council. Let’s spread the word to the outlying clans about what a change like this would mean. If we got everyone working together, on our side, we would be unstoppable. What if every clan kept their eyes and ears open for information? This isn’t just a Ravana Clan problem, this is a vampire world problem. If they like the way they live now, they should want to help keep it that way. Even if they like to keep to themselves, that’s even better. What will Dumont do to those clans who don’t want to be that involved?” I looked around at everyone’s mute faces. “You’re going to have to help me out because I wasn’t here when Dumont was in charge.”
“You’re talking about spreading propaganda,” Christian said, his head tilted as he looked at me.
I didn’t like the negative connotation to that word, but I guess I was. “I just think we all need to see that if Dumont takes over The Council, if Dumont succeeds in killing off the Ravana Clan like he wants to, m
ore things are going to change then what initially gets talked about. This will impact everyone, and since it will impact everyone, everyone should be involved in it. I think all it will take is for word to spread on what a Dumont leadership will mean for others. We should all be rallying together as equals. It’s not just the guards who have something to fight for in this, it’s the vampires too, and not just the ones who regularly come to Council meetings either.”
Gregor sat back and crossed his arms. I peeked briefly at Nicolai, and then did a double take. They might not have been family in the human sense, borne from one another, but their look, their gestures were the same. There were more things that made people family than just blood and DNA. “I had never thought of this type of wide-scale attack on Dumont.” He tapped his lips with his pointer finger. “It’s brilliant. There is no way Dumont’s army would’ve gone unnoticed for all this time. He would’ve had to build this up over the past few centuries just to become big enough to launch an attack against us. Why cannot we do the same thing? I will reach out to the clans to beg for their assistance as soon as possible.” He looked down the line, his eyes lingering on Isabelle the longest, but then further as he gazed at every member of The Council. “I will implore all of you to do as Miss Stuart says. We all have friends and families in the farthest reaches. Perhaps they have heard something of Dumont over the centuries that we can use to figure out where he is. Perhaps even some know where he is—”
“If they know where he is, I doubt they will want to come forward for fear of retribution,” the woman vampire at the end of the table said.
Gregor’s lips thinned as the thought about it. “As long as they are on our side, there is no punishment. All of us at this table remember what it was like to live under Dumont’s rule. If we don’t wish to live that way again, we all need to do something about it. This young trainee is correct. It’s not just a problem for the security team, but for everyone.” He stood from his seat and walked out to the front of the table. I moved away from the center and stood next to Stephan who briefly squeezed my hand.
Gregor stood at the front, looking straight out at the inhabited seats in front of him. Not at Lex and T.J., but at the smattering of vampires and guards who’d decided to come to today’s Council meeting. “This means you all, too. I have never closed a Council meeting. They are for everyone in our world to learn about what is going on if they wish to, but you will see none of that if Dumont takes power and stands where I am. It is up to us to fight for what is right and speak out against what is wrong. Dumont’s tactics are hurting, killing others. Do you think he will stop at humans? Or guards?” Gregor shook his head. “He never did before. I implore you all to go home and start asking questions. Call your neighbors and friends and family. Ask the questions no one wants to. You might not find anything out, but you definitely won’t if you don’t try. Don’t let your one contact be the thing that could’ve saved our world from the oppressive ruling of the Dumont Clan.” His stare focused on each person in the audience momentarily. I could tell where his gaze went by the posture of those he looked at. Each one sat up straighter, and I hoped, I wished, they were all getting a backbone.
Gone were the days of the guards fighting solely for the vampires’ freedom and safety. We were a team now.
18
After the Council members and audience members left, Stephan returned to the library where he’d been looking up books on how to treat Matthews, Nicolai exited in a huff right after his father’s emotional speech, and Connor jumped down from the raised platform to speak to Lex. It was just me and Christian and Gregor and Isabelle at the table. Isabelle squeezed her husband’s hand. “This is the way,” she said, smiling at me.
Christian told his parents goodbye, and then took my hand, leading me out a back door. Shadows crept across the hallway from the small wall sconces spaced every few feet. His hand tightened around mine as I asked, “What is this? I don’t remember you showing me this before.”
“It’s the secret entrance. It’s how my father always magically shows up at a Council meeting without having to go through the front doors. It’s linked to our area of the house, and—” Christian pushed open a door and a rush of diluted sunlight shone into the room. “—the canopy, we call it.”
My mouth opened as I took in my surroundings. I’d seen this room only once before during my tour of the Ravana Estate, but we’d come through the main entrance, which wasn’t quite so rain forest-like. Trees arched above us with a handful of singing birds, but beyond the leaves, I saw the same old mesh I always did when one lived around vampires. If I’d ever thought I would miss the sun by being with vampires, I was wrong. I still got it, just not with all the harmful side-effects for the men I loved. “It’s beautiful.”
He pulled me to a bench next to a small fountain of trickling water, his hand still in mine. “I realized something today.” He brought my fingers to his lips and kissed them. “You’re probably a hundred times smarter than I am.”
I shook my head, laughing. Something about the canopy made my heart race. Maybe it was the chirping birds along with the soft sounds of the water pattering, but it was tranquil, yet exciting at the same time. Then again, maybe that was just the way Christian made me feel. “You’re crazy.”
“It’s true.” He pushed a few strands of hair behind my ears. “I feel like you know exactly what to do in these situations, and myself, and my father, are always floundering.”
“In a lot of ways—though you’re ancient to some—you’re still a small, fledgling sector of the world. Because you’re so reserved, so hidden, you haven’t had to deal with some of the things the human world has had to. That’s where I got my ideas from. It’s not like they magically came to me in the night. I just decided to start thinking rationally for once. Start using human tactics in this world because isn’t that what Dumont’s doing? He’s just being a bully for the sake of being a bully. So, he wants power? Well, we’re not going to give him that. We’re going to take the power he thinks he has away from him. Right now, his power is that he can fade away without being seen, but that’s not going to work too much longer. In any case, you have a lot more things I don’t have, Christian Ravana.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
I blushed. “You have the same aura your father does. When you talk, people just want to listen. You have this foundation in strength, Christian, that I don’t think you realize you have. You’re calm, level-headed, and fair. You’re the perfect person to replace your father when the time comes, or to rule side-by-side with. When Gregor summed everything I’d said up at the end, it came out so much more eloquently than I put it.”
Christian squeezed my hand. “The only person I want to rule side-by-side with is you.”
My eyes widened. “Me? Are you crazy? I know we’ve been making a lot of headway, but I doubt they’ll let a guard do that any time soon.”
Christian shook his head. “I mean when you’re a vampire.”
I gasped, a short intake of breath that collected all his trust in me and dispersed it throughout my chest. There’d been so little time to think about what I was going to do after graduation. Right now, I was happy being a guard. I liked what I was doing even though I was constantly putting myself at risk. But what if I did want to be like them? What then?
“I know it’s a lot to think about, but I see you by my side, Ariana. I see you addressing The Council, using your wisdom and strength to lead us all. I see you as the peak of femininity. A woman all vampires should aspire to be. Strong and beautiful. Wise and empowered.”
“I haven’t—”
He smiled shyly. “I know you haven’t thought about it. It’s a big decision, I get it. Lots of factors.”
“A lot of factors,” I agreed. I touched his chin and grinned up at him. “I want to be with you forever. There’s no doubt in my mind that I would be the happiest if I had all of you for years and years to come. I guess the only question is when. I mean, do you want a family, Christian? Ki
ds? What about your brothers? There’s a timeline we have to think about…”
He swallowed hard, his chest rising. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying…” A cold sweat started at my forehead then down the back of my skull to my neck. I stared into his blue-gray eyes and tried to relax. “I’m saying if we changed some rules, maybe we could actually have kids of our own, that were a part of us. The only way we can do that is if I’m human though.”
He shook his head. “I never… I never thought of that. For me, it’s always been that we couldn’t have kids that way, but—” He groaned. “To have a young one that’s part you and part me would be… I don’t have words for it, Ariana. You would give me that?”
I smiled, clinging to the emotion in his eyes. “I would try. Growing up, I always thought I didn’t want a family, or kids, at least. I saw what happened to those who were left behind, but this is like the perfect scenario for someone who grew up like me, Christian. What more could I ask for? You have basically immortal parents and children that would never leave each other. I mean, I think children would be immortal. Is there any evidence about what kind of child a human and a vampire make?”
Christian grinned. “They are immortal, just like their vampire parent.”
Despite myself, a glimmer of heat shone in my eyes. I hoped Christian didn’t notice, but there wasn’t anything he didn’t. “I’m fine,” I told him after he tried to wipe the tear from my eye. “You don’t know what it’s like to have the promise that the people you love are always going to be there. Out there,” I said, gesturing outside our canopy, outside our safe little world, “it’s not like that. You wake up every day not knowing what could happen. Life is so fragile. Here…”
Christian picked me up and set me on his lap. He pulled my hair behind my shoulders and tracked a finger across my cheek. “…you wouldn’t have to worry so much. I get it.” He pulled down on my neck so that my head rested on his. “I want to give you that life, never so much than right now.”