“Now what do we do when the blood is gone?” Miriel asked her daughter. The girl had been along for several of the ‘vampire’ attacks. Miriel had wanted to teach her how to be a genuine assassin but William wouldn’t hear of it. He didn’t care at all for his daughter and if Miriel wanted to traumatize the child by taking her to work he didn’t mind, but he seemed to think the vampire was his lifeline. The rumors had spread quickly, and the founders were sufficiently afraid of everything. William had solidified his position and Miriel was allowed to branch out to other, less important, citizens. The vampire story hadn’t been attracting people in the numbers William thought it would. They had several groups come and try to find the vampire, but unless Miriel killed them they didn’t stay. Everyone seemed to be passing through. Lucian had given proof of his skills with the undead and now people thought they could be discriminating. Until William could bring them an actual vampire and prove what it was they were going to leave. Yet, he still wanted Miriel to waste her time putting on the charade.
“Umm. Clean up?” Mira asked.
“Good, and how do we do that?”
“Blood goes in the bag for William.” Mira never called William ‘father’, a trait that was heartily encouraged by her mother. William didn’t care what Mira did as long as she left him alone.
“And then?”
“Take out needles and clean the holes?”
“Anything else?” Miriel was proud of her daughter. Everyone else in the compound thought the child was strange. She never played with anyone her own age. She was attached at the hip to her mother and only enjoyed playing her mother’s games. She seemed far too intelligent for her age, and while the other women would comment on how well she could speak for someone so young they all thought something was wrong with Miriel’s parenting to have a child so out of the ordinary.
“We, umm.” The girl started sucking at her thumb.
“What else, Mira?
“Double check!”
“Good.” Miriel looked around the room quickly, there was no stray blood, even the white sheets of their target’s bed had stayed pristine. Deftly Miriel took a blood bag out of her pack and slipped it under the bed for Mira to find. “What do you see?”
Mira slid off her mother’s lap and looked around. She checked the bed for any kind of stain, looked at the body for stray marks of injury other than the puncture wounds. Very carefully Mira looked around the whole room for any sign of her and her mother’s presence. Just as she was about to pronounce them ready to leave her eyes fell on the bag. “There!” Mira looked excited.
“Excellent!” Miriel kissed the top of her head and stowed the bag back in her pack. “Anything else?”
“All done?”
“All done!”
Mira clapped as her mother kissed the top of her head yet again. “Job well done, my darling. Should we get back home?”
“To William?” Mira scrunched up her nose.
“I know, we have to go back to William. But he is part of our lives for now, so we need to live with him.”
“William’s scary.” Mira looked up at her mother with her eyes wide.
“I know, but I’ll protect you.” Countless times Miriel had spoken to William about the way he acted around their daughter. Not only did he still not want the child, but he always spoke to her in a gruff and angry tone, not bothering to disguise his disgust for the child. If Miriel could have taken the child and run she would have, but keeping her daughter safe was now her biggest priority and she refused to risk going outside the walls until she was sure things were safe for her again. Miriel was stronger than William, and luckily that kept him from ever laying a hand on the child. Miriel left the two alone with each other as little as possible, and when she had to Mira was locked in her room and the key went with Miriel.
Mira hugged her mother’s leg. “Promise?”
“Absolutely. Your mother loves you, little Mira.” That seemed to pacify the daughter for the time being, but Miriel was starting to get concerned. It was getting more and more important to find a way outside and away from William. The worse things got in the compound the more likely William would start taking things out on his daughter in ways he hadn’t been brave enough to try before.
36. Lucian and Miriel
“Who are you?”
“I have an appointment.”
“With who?”
“The man in charge.”
“If you had an appointment you’d have a name.”
Lucian was starting to get frustrated, he wanted to do everything properly. People you form alliances with generally don’t like knowing you can sneak into their world and mess things up without being caught. “You let all the refugees in, what’s one more.”
“We’re full. I don’t trust you.” The man behind the gate slammed his window shut and Lucian was ready to kill him. It was time for a different tactic.
“When I said I have an appointment, I mean, it was arranged for me. I have a face. But no name.” Lucian half shouted-half whispered through the crack in the gate’s entrance. It worked.
William pulled him through, closed and locked the gate, and slammed him against the wall with a speed Lucian would never have credited him with. “Who sent…you? You’re just that cult leader. How would they? What are you?” William stuttered into silence.
“At your service.” Lucian slipped out of William’s hold and bowed. “And who are you?”
“I,” William puffed out his chest and tried to stand taller in an attempt to make up for his earlier behavior. “Am William. Leader of this fine village. Protector of its people.”
“Protector? Really. I’ve heard something different.”
“Well.” William gave a sly smile, a sad imitation of his wife’s when she talked about work. “Have you come to play our game?”
Lucian was far from impressed. “No. I’ve come to see if you’ll play mine.”
“Oh.” William did a poor job of hiding his disappointment. “I suppose that could be discussed. I hear you have certain things you can offer your allies.”
“Well.” Lucian flicked some dirt out from under his nail. “I guess we could discuss it.” His tone left very little hope of those ‘things’ ever happening. It was obvious Lucian no longer felt he was talking to an equal.
“Come with me.” William tried to act like he’d brushed off the slight. “Before we talk you need to be properly attired.”
“Oh.” Lucian looked around and smirked. “Can I be Magwitch?”
“What? He isn’t here.”
Lucian shook his head. “Great Expectations. It looks like Victorian London.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Where are you taking me?” Lucian changed the subject in an attempt to keep himself from saying exactly what he expected.
“My home. You’ll have to wait outside. My wife doesn’t like strangers inside. Especially when they’ve come to talk business.”
“Of course.” Lucian smiled. “Woman must be as simple as he is,” Lucian muttered too softly for William to hear.
“Here we are, if you don’t mind waiting outside?” William gestured to the grass like Lucian didn’t know where the outside was.
“Your daughter?” Lucian looked over at the child playing the yard.
“Oh, um, yes.” William hurried inside.
“Wonderful. The man’s afraid of his own daughter.”
“William’s afraid of a lot. Who are you?”
Lucian turned around to see the little girl behind him, and he’d only taken his eyes off her for a few seconds. She was good. And those eyes. They were familiar. “Come here child, let me see your face.”
The girl shrugged and looked up at him, evaluating his face as well.
“You’re a fearless child, aren’t you?” Lucian was genuinely pleased.
“Killed bigger.” The girl shrugged and Lucian noticed a spark in her eyes he could have recognized from a mile away.
“Miriel.”
“Here you are, Lucian.” William looked like he was confused where Lucian had gone even after pointing out the spot in the grass for him to stand. “My wife is out so you can come in quickly to change.” His eyes darted to his daughter. “She didn’t, um, bother you, did she?”
“Oh no.” Lucian smiled faintly. “But is it safe to leave her outside alone? She’s very young.”
“Yes, almost three I think, or two and half. I’m never sure.” William shifted his weight from foot to foot. “But very, um, well, she’s independent.”
“Takes after her mother?”
“Yes.” William snapped and then turned abruptly to go back into the house.
Mira looked up but didn’t acknowledge the father abandoning her in the yard. She did give Lucian a giant smile as he waved before going inside. Then she sat down on the grass and waited for her mother to come home.
“So.” Lucian walked out of a guest room, dressed in full Victorian attire, and looked much more intimidating than William had wanted him to. “What kind of work does your wife do? I thought that kind of thing was frowned upon here?”
“She does some odd jobs for me when I get overwhelmed. With the game, my practice, and a war outside it’s hard to do everything.”
“Maybe we can come to an agreement that will help you with some of that.” Lucian tried to give one of Kristopher’s charming smiles, even William could tell it was fake.
“Why exactly are you here now? It wasn’t long ago you were condemning us as an enemy country. Why the change of heart?”
William seemed a braver, more self-possessed man inside his house and away from his wife and daughter.
“Because we need more bodies. Even if the live members don’t choose to fight we’d like to arrange an agreement where we get your dead. I’ll even agree to arrange transport. We just need those bodies. And from what I hear you have quite a few piling up.”
“Well.” William’s face muscles noticeably relaxed once he realized he wouldn’t have to leave the confines of his walls.
“Of course, we’d allow your people to join our cause if they wish. Plenty of young men out there ready to defend against Kristopher’s plots.”
“Yes, yes of course. But military service wouldn’t be required?”
“No, not unless you sign a treaty and then stop providing us with bodies. Although then you’ll need your men more for defense than anything else.”
“I can’t control how quickly my people die. I also can’t guarantee how long the game will continue. People are either getting suspicious or trying to join in droves. You wouldn’t believe how many people with perverse murder fantasies have come out of the woodwork.”
Lucian nodded, he’d had quite a few of those himself but didn’t believe William would have been turning them away. “And how do you hand them?”
“They’re allowed to join and taken care of within 24 hours. None of them have ever been allowed to make a kill.”
“Impressive.”
“Yes, well,” William chuckled and leaned back in his chair, basking in a compliment not meant for him.
“And he was really nice and said my eyes were the prettiest in the whole world!” Mira led her mother into the house, telling an elongated and slightly embellished tale of the man she met out in the yard.
“Oh, hello, dear.” William stumbled over to the door and attempted to give his wife a kiss.
“Splatter.” Miriel stepped around him and walked through the parlor to get to her kitchen.
“Mi.” Lucian stood up and bowed his head, trying to hid a grin and his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“See, he’s the man! Isn’t he nice! He doesn’t think I’m scary.” Mira stuck her tongue out at her father and then hid behind her mother.
“Hello. I think we’ve seen you on the news.” Miriel nodded but didn’t stop. “Come on Mira, let’s see how much you’ve learned about taking out blood stains.”
Lucian tried not to act surprised at Miriel’s response. It was the best course of action anyway. Whether she wanted to talk about old times or kill him they couldn’t do anything in front of William.
“That was my wife, Elle. She and my daughter are attached at the hip most days. It’s hard to keep them apart.” William gave a surface smile, but Lucian was starting to think William wasn’t allowed to have much of a role in Mira’s life. Nervous coward as the man was Lucian couldn’t blame Miriel for wanted him away from her child. Especially if she was training the girl to follow in her footsteps.
“All clean!’ Mira came skipping back into the room and planted herself at the foot of Lucian’s chair.
“Sorry about the rush. Hello, William.” Miriel gave him a light peck on the cheek. “Your count’s up again.”
“Thank you, dear. Our visitor here is Lucian, he’s trying to start an alliance.”
“A pleasure.” Miriel crossed over and offered him her hand palm down, in true Victorian fashion. Lucian noticed her waist was cinched in and her layers of skirts were so heavy it was a wonder she could walk let alone maintain her reputation as the best assassin in the business.
“All mine, I’m sure.” Lucian kissed her hand then settled back down in his chair, careful to avoid stepping on Mira.
Taking his lead William and Miriel sat down facing him and Mira played with a doll on the carpet.
“Tell me, Lucian, what’s in this for my people. I understand your desire for bodies, but what about us? Even by just letting your men near our gates we’d be at a much higher risk than we are now.”
“True, which is why I would give you a troop of fifty undead soldiers to guard your wall, meaning none of your men will ever have to put themselves in danger during a transaction. In fact, you could get rid of your guards entirely.”
“That sounds like an adequate arrangement.” William looked ready to make a deal, but was quickly interrupted by his wife.
“Adequate, yes, but not good enough. We’ve seen your armies on TV. The undead break down unless they’re maintained. You have one necromancer to every ten soldiers. How are we expected to keep our undead alive for long without them.”
“You’ve been paying attention.” Lucian was touched.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I can spare two necromancers to maintain your troops.”
“We need more.”
“I can’t spare that many. The majority of my men are needed to actively fight in the war or resurrect our cult and congregation members. I can’t afford to send that many out to the middle of nowhere on guard duty.”
“Fine. Then you stay until our security is operational. We all know you’re better than your men. If there are problems you can fix them permanently and there’s no reason for us to need extra help.”
“Elle, I’m not sure we can expect that. The man is leading a war outside,” William interjected in a desperate attempt to pretend he was still part of the conversation.
“Fine,” Lucian ignored him. “I’ll stay until your guards are working satisfactorily. But if I’m staying, I want to start playing your game. I won’t just sit around and pretend I’m not here.”
“Well, I’m not sure if,” William tried to interject again.
“Fine.”
“Then it looks like we have a deal.” Lucian turned to William.
“No.” Miriel had to keep herself from standing up. “First you have to tell us exactly what caused the break with Kristopher. If we’re expected to get involved with your war we should know why.”
“You’re right.” Lucian went back to ignoring William and focused all his attention on Miriel. “You do deserve that.”
“Alright.” Miriel sat up attentively in her chair. It wasn’t hard as the corset didn’t allow for much slouching, but it was an active choice.
“He lied to me, my follower
s, and other people I was involved with. He used me as an excuse to do things even I wouldn’t approve of.”
“Like what?”
“Killing people, or trying to. He’s never been much good at handling things himself.”
“Why should we believe you aren’t just trying to cover up things so horrible they might keep us from agreeing to join.”
William gave up trying to be a part of the conversation and settled on just trying to figure out what the two were talking about.
“Because when I want something dead I kill it myself. In person.”
Miriel nodded.
“Do we have a deal then?”
“Of course.”
All was forgiven.
***
“Good morning, Elle dear.” William kissed her on the cheek as he walked past then took his place at the head of the breakfast table. Lucian had spent the night as William’s guest and was currently sitting at the table bouncing Mira on his knee, eating toast, and discussing old kills with the child’s mother.
“Morning.” Miriel nodded and gave a very small, fake smile to her husband as she passed him a plate of toast.
“Lucian, I hope you slept well last night?” William asked with genuine graciousness. Miriel glared at him, upset he was there to interrupt her conversation. Lucian was much better at faking civility and controlling his anger. He managed to muster up an almost genuine smile.
“Very well, I’ve just been taking advantage of your hospitality again by enjoying the wonderful meal your wife organized for us. You’re so lucky to have a wife like Elle here. Must be the best partner you could have asked for.”
“I suppose.”
Lucian winked at Miriel while William was distracted by the task of spreading butter and jelly on his toast. Lucian had decided to refer to Miriel as William’s wife in conversation because he liked the look of disgust that flashed across her face. Miriel wasn’t thrilled, but she had agreed to marry him and being reminded of that fact seemed to be a fitting punishment. The only good thing Miriel got out of the arrangement was Mira. The child was an exact copy of her mother, William didn’t seem to have given her anything and that suited everyone just fine. William hadn’t wanted a child, and when Mira was finally born the responsibility to care for her rested entirely with Miriel. That was fine for the assassin, she hadn’t trusted William to raise the child right anyway.
The Price of Life Page 25