by Unknown
In short, she looked how I felt.
I spoke her name quietly, and either she didn’t hear me or didn’t want to. I tried again as I approached her, and nearly fell out of her chair in alarm.
“Shit, sorry boss, I didn’t realise you were coming, I would’ve..would’ve...”
She looked around, unsure of what she intended to say.
“Brushed your hair?” I offered with a crooked smile.
“Y-...yeah. That. Sorry. What’s up?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said to her, kneeling by her chair. “I hate to say it, but you look like hell. Have you even rested since...”
I found I couldn’t even say it that time, fresh agony stirring in my gut at the loss of the woman I loved.
Lorelei picked up on what I meant though, and shook her head slowly.
“Work helps to distract me. Besides, much as I like these guys, they...they can’t relate. They don’t know what it’s like to lose a friend you’ve known for almost a hundred years. Some of the others back at the base would know, but I don’t know them that well - Lev, Kalin, Corrigan, any of them. We were never close. It’s hard to find someone to talk to who would understand.”
“I may not have known Corvi as long, but-”
Another shake of her head cut me off.
“Doesn’t matter. You were married to her, and for that reason alone you would possibly be the one person who could understand. But you were bonded to her as well, and that’s something I’ve never known. Regardless of what anyone else might say, no-one knew her like you and me.”
“You know,” I said to her, pitching my voice low enough to avoid being heard by the other staff around us, “you recently said if I needed to talk, you were here for me, but...do you need to talk?”
She took a deep breath, scrubbing at her tired eyes with the heels of her hands.
“Yeah,” she said at last. “Yeah, I really do.”
“Then do me a favour and have a shower first. Corvi wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your own well-being for the sake of mourning her.”
Funny how easy it was to say that to someone else, yet so much harder to take the advice myself.
She nodded in silence, getting out of her chair slowly and trudging towards the shower rooms with heavy steps. Normally she moved with a sinuous, almost feline grace, but instead she was clumsy and un-coordinated. I needed to get her back to her usual self, not just for her own sake but for all of us - she had skills that were vital to my plans. Even without that fact however, I was worried about her.
An hour later she was sat cross-legged on my bed, staring absently into the glass of whiskey I’d poured for her. I poured one for myself as well, sitting next to her with my back against the wall.
At least she looked a bit better after a shower and a quick meal. I genuinely thought she’d also been neglecting her feeding, as I had.
“How are things going with that project I gave you?” I asked her, by way of opening the conversation.
“We’re nearly finished,” she said, not looking at me. “It’ll be ready by the time you’re ready to move.”
“I knew I could count on you, Lorelei. Thank you.”
There was a pregnant silence as I waited for her to speak, knowing there was something she needed to say.
“Why did it happen, Deimos?” Her question came out weak, her voice cracking with emotion, and I looked at her in confusion.
“Which part?”
“Why-” she paused and gathered her thoughts again. “Why did the Countess make this happen? Why did she take away my friend, your wife, when all any of us want is to serve The Order’s ideals and live in peace?” She continued to avoid looking at me, trying to hide the tears that trickled down her face.
“I asked her that last night,” I told her, feeling fresh tears pricking at my own eyes. “She said it was because of the insurrection that Corvi led, to end that and to forge me into this weapon she’s been after. Peace isn’t enough for her anymore - she wants superiority, and she’ll destroy anything and anyone in pursuit of that.”
Lorelei shook her head sadly.
“It isn’t fair. It isn’t right.”
I thought silently, sipping my drink while Lorelei followed suit.
“How did you know Corvi?”
Lorelei looked up, frowning slightly.
“Sorry? I didn’t hear you.”
“How did you know Corvi? You’ve mentioned that she was your friend, but I don’t know how you met. I don’t even know how old you are.”
“A hundred and sixty-three,” she said, checking her watch. “As of two days ago.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know it was your birthday,” I told her, smiling weakly.
She didn’t bother looking at me, instead looking at nothing in particular as she sifted through her memories.
“I must have been...about twenty I guess, when I met her. I’d just joined The Order, since my boyfriend at the time attempted to murder me when he found out I was a vampire.”
“I can see how that might put a strain on a relationship.” Although it was a terrible joke, it had the desired effect - Lorelei laughed a little, cracking her first genuine smile probably since Corvi died.
“Yeah, it’s hard to love someone who stabbed you in the chest.” She took a sip of her drink before continuing.
“Even then, Corvi was quite highly regarded. She was a senior Sentinel when I met her - she was my training officer, as Lev was yours.”
“I didn’t know both of you were Sentinels,” I said, my eyes wider in fascination.
“Yeah, my...previous skills were quite useful apparently. Despite her initial disapproval of me, I proved to her that I had reformed, and eventually we became friends.”
My eyes narrowed slightly.
“So...I assume you were a criminal for a while?”
She nodded silently.
“Thief. Assassin. Con artist. Whatever it took to make some money. The Order gave me purpose, Corvina gave me friendship, and now the Countess has poisoned both concepts for me.”
I felt immensely sorry for her. Everything she believed in, everything she held dear, was ruined somehow - her close friend was now dead, and the cause for which she fought was being corrupted by our leader.
“Can I ask you something?” She looked at me as she asked the question, curiosity brightening her eyes. I nodded to her, and she suddenly seemed ashamed to ask what was on her mind.
“Why Corvi? I mean...there’s a lot of women at our base, mortal and vampire alike. What made Corvi so special to you?”
“Mind if I ask why you want to know?” It wasn’t a defensive or aggressive response, I was simply curious.
“It isn’t often that a mortal willingly does the things you did for her, even when they are in a relationship with a vampire. And...because maybe, if I see her from someone else’s perspective, I can feel close to her again.”
I thought about my answer for a moment, trying to work out exactly what to say. I had never been able to pinpoint why I loved Corvi, I just knew that I did.
“I’m honestly not sure,” I told her finally. “I mean you’re right, there are other women at that base, many of which are beautiful, intelligent, wonderful people...but Corvi was different. She was beautiful without being arrogant, confident but humble.” I didn’t notice the tears tracing their way down my cheeks as I spoke again, closing my eyes and picturing her as I remembered her.
“She was like...like a queen. A queen who didn’t know how regal she was, who felt her place was among her people. She was beautiful, graceful, intelligent, funny...she was like everything I ever wanted from a woman, magnifie
d and perfected over a millenium. She was-”
“Unreal,” Lorelei finished, her own tears flowing freely, and I began to cry again as I realised how perfectly it summed her up.
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I said, and my empty glass slipped from my hands as I buried my face in them.
I barely registered a shift on the bed until I felt my hands being carefully pulled away, and Lorelei slipped her arms around my neck, pulling me into a hug.
“Yeah, that was her, wasn’t it Deimos?” she said through her tears. “Our unreal queen.”
I put my arms around her and hugged her too, and she buried her face into the space between my neck and shoulder.
“I miss her so much, Deimos,” she sobbed, and I found myself unable to reply as I gave in to my own grief again.
Shortly afterwards, we both dried our eyes and I got up to pour us another drink. It felt like we needed one.
“When was the last time you slept?” I asked Lorelei, as I passed her a fresh glass of whiskey.
“Haven’t a fucking clue,” she said, beginning to sound more like herself. “Not at all for the last week, that’s for sure.”
“There’s a bed right there,” I said, pointing where she sat. “Finish that drink and get some sleep, we’ll all be needing it soon enough.”
She looked away for a moment, unsure what to say.
“I can’t, Deimos, not when my own room is just a short walk down the hall,” she complained.
“Yeah, and you look like you’ll never get there. Lie down, get some rest. That’s an order.”
“And what are you going to do?” she asked, kicking off her shoes and pulling back the cover on my bed.
I offered a small shrug in response.
“I don’t know. Read. Plan. Try not to break down again.”
“You look pretty beaten yourself, if you don’t me saying.” I nodded at her appraisal.
“Sleep...doesn’t come easily, lately.”
Lorelei moved back against the wall, and indicated the space beside her.
“You should rest too. You need more than any of us.”
I felt unbelievably awkward - and a little shy - at the prospect of sharing my bed with another woman, when my wife had only been gone a week. The fact that we weren’t even in a relationship just made me feel worse.
Somehow, Lorelei seemed to pick up on my anxiety.
“Don’t worry, boss, it’s not like we’re going to be doing anything,” she said with a smile. “We’re just friends, offering each other comfort. That’s all.”
Reluctantly I slipped my boots off and laid down next to her, and I felt my entire body tense up as she put an affectionate arm around me.
“Promise me two things, Deimos,” she said to the back of my neck, and I turned slightly back towards her.
“Promise me that you won’t leave me here when we launch the attack...and promise me you’ll put that bitch to the sword.”
I chuckled humourlessly.
“Those I can definitely do,” I told her, and she seemed to relax at that.
“Lorelei?”
“Mhm?” She sounded half asleep already.
“Thanks. For everything.” I patted her hand warmly.
“You’re a close friend now, Deimos,” she mumbled drowsily. “Call me Lori.”
I thought for a moment. That seemed like quite a big thing to her.
“Does anyone else hold such an honour?”
“Only one,” she replied, and I closed my eyes.
She didn’t need to say who.
It wasn’t long before we were both asleep, and I have to admit that Lorelei’s presence did make it easier.
That would turn out to be only the first time that Lorelei and I slept in the same bed, and each time after it would be the same - we would share a few drinks, grieve for Corvi, talk about her, talk about ourselves, then we’d go to sleep. There was nothing sexual or romantic about it at all, we were simply what she herself had described - two friends, comforting each other through their grief. In fact, her growing friendship was instrumental in getting me through the worst of my pain, and the whole situation formed an extremely close bond between us.
I hoped that Corvi would have approved of our friendship. The last thing I wanted was to betray her memory.
I woke up a short while later, my hunger disturbing me from what had been the best sleep since Corvi’s death. I left Lorelei to rest while I went to acquire a drink of blood, then headed to my war room to see what else I could find out for planning purposes.
It was midday, so the rest of the staff were up and going about their usual duties. I nodded to the tech staff, the group that Lorelei usually led, and they gave a jaunty salute from their stations.
“Guys, can you find me any plans of Sharriana’s fortress, and the surrounding grounds? I need to see what we’re up against.”
A trio of affirmatives came back to me, and I waited for them to find what I needed.
“Got it, sir,” one of them announced, barely a few minutes later. “Plans for the base, specs on defences and a list of offensive resources.”
“Push it to the table, please.”
A few seconds later the war-table’s screen lit with the information I wanted, and I leaned over to examine it in detail.
Aside from the fortress walls, the place was also defended by several large gun emplacements which wouldn’t have looked out of place on a battleship, and a handful of close-in weapon systems, which I think actually were from a battleship.
Whichever way I looked at it, we were in for a pitched battle. The sheer number of troops and vehicles that place could store was mind-boggling, not to mention whatever allies she called on. We were going to lose a lot of people, and I needed to come up with some kind of plan that would allow some of us to get inside the base.
“Sir?”
One of the tech staff had approached me, concern plain on his youthful features. I turned to him and straightened up, giving him my full attention.
“I was wondering, well all three of us were, um...where is miss Lorelei?” He seemed almost nervous to be talking to me, although I had no idea why. Maybe it was the crimson eye. “It’s just...well, she hasn’t seemed herself lately, so we were...a little worried.”
“It’s fine,” I told him, and he relaxed a little. “She’s resting now, at my insistence - I’d already noticed she wasn’t looking too well when I got here this morning.”
I very carefully did not mention that she was resting in my bed. It just wouldn’t do to let the troops get the wrong idea.
The reassurance seemed to set his mind at ease, however, and he went back to his station. I went back to my examination of the defences at HQ. I needed to know everything.
I was still looking over the masses of data when Lorelei entered the room, looking far healthier than when I had arrived - her dark copper hair was straightened and tied into a small ponytail, her eyes no longer raw with pain. Instead she’d put on some dark red eye-shadow, enhancing the rich emerald hue of her irises, and she was drinking a decent-sized glass of her favoured blood type.
“Good to see you up and about, Lori,” I told her, and she gave me a small bow in response.
“Thanks, boss,” she answered laconically, leaning against the war-table. “What have you been looking at?”
“Sharriana’s little ego-fortress,” I told her, gesturing at the information before us. “I’m trying to find out what I missed, and to see if that project I gave you is actually going to help.”
“And?”
“And...it’s going to be a rough ride, but we can do it.” I switched off the display and took a step
back, a thousand different details spinning through my mind.
“You should get ready,” I said to her at last. “I want us to be ready to move at a moment’s notice, and I intend to keep my promise to you.”
“’preciate it,” she said in her usual casual fashion, and she pushed herself away from the table as she began to walk towards her room. I was pleased to see that she moved with her normal sinuous grace, instead of the half-focussed stumble of earlier.
“I’ll be heading back to the base in a few,” I told her, and she paused for a moment in the doorway. “If I don’t see you before we head off, I’ll see you on the field. And...thanks. For everything.”
She seemed to think for a moment, then walked back over to me and gave me a gentle hug.
“Thank you, Deimos,” she said quietly. “If you hadn’t offered to talk, I would’ve burned myself out. Thanks for being there.”
She let go after that and continued back to her room, and I pulled out my phone to call Lev.
“County morgue, you stab ‘em we slab ‘em,” Lev answered cheerily, and I stifled a chuckle.
“Make sure the base is still in one piece, I’m heading back soon,” I told her, “and I want a video conference set up with as many of the insurrection leaders as you can get hold of.”
“I’ll make it happen, D. Oh, and Tis is out of Omega Company for now, full of fire and fury but she can’t be ordered anywhere now.”
I allowed myself a proper chuckled that time, and nodded slightly.
“Yeah, she was well named, my sister. I’ll see you soon, and make sure Kal’s around for a report too.”
“Gotcha. See you in a few, D.”
I ended the call and left the building, looking to acquire a prompt flight back to the base.
Despite the short preparation time, it was time to turn thought into action.
It was time to end this.
CHAPTER 19