by P. S. Power
Avery got the idea, even before the memories flooded in, explaining that the Vampires had very few of their kind willing to work directly with the Council at all. So Norret, who was the second Ambassador there in ten years, didn’t have a real staff. Just one fifty-year-old Vampire who worked nights, four days a week. Leaving her there alone the rest of the time. Night and day.
She smiled as the food was passed over, eating it quickly.
That turned out to be a great part of being a Dragon, no brain freeze.
“That could be a good idea. You can live in Sparks still, right? I can get you to work most days, since you shouldn’t have Zack doing that. That means you might want to consider trading with me for it. You know, your personal friend, who is just a Dragon and doesn’t have to charge you way too much for it to be worth doing. Say… Free food each time I bring you here and pick you up?” She hefted the paper cup, so that Steve would get the idea.
Norret went a bit wide eyed again.
“I think we could do that. For your friend, Steve, only. Though we should be friends as well.” That got a serious face to be made, as if she were worried about the idea being taken the wrong way.
Steve laughed.
“Avery is a peach. A great person that way. Loyal, kind and all that.”
That was nice to hear, but the matrix inside her mind provided several things that were likely happening then. Norret, of course, wished to use her for line travel. Steve for his part was considering employment there. His place with the Mages would be finished then, since he had, rather firmly, changed teams. He liked the idea of getting her to take him around as well, since it was much easier than moving from the palace he lived in. Not that he couldn’t do that at need. It might even make more sense than having Avery move him using expensive node travel. That could be a sign of power, but he was new enough as a Vampire that being humble made more sense.
Which included doing what he was told to, in order to prove himself. That could take decades, which was a thing that he’d been told many times. Avery had that memory set inside of her, which flowed to the surface easily. Also, as it turned out, Steve, while straight, had been trained to be accepting of different things sexually.
By Eve and Ginger, his trainers. All the Vampires worked on rules that were, more or less, like those of ancient Rome. Meaning that the one in charge did what they wanted, and everyone else obeyed. That or beat them down and took their place.
So after a platter filled with hamburgers, hastily eaten, they went back to collect Chi.
She explained that part to both of the men.
“This needs to be witnessed, so we’ll take you back with us and have the others watch.” That part would, naturally, be as much of a test for Steve as anything else. He did it though, following along with her guidance, as if some random Shifter would know what he needed. She did, but that was all down to things he couldn’t know had happened. A magical Demon library suddenly being in her head, for instance.
Once back in Vancouver, having pulled the guys along with her, Avery was willing to leave, but Eve shook her head.
“Nope. This is your test. You have to be ready to fix things, if they go wrong. Chi is one of your peeps, so be ready, just in case.”
Which was probably true enough. Worse, it was clear that Eve was making certain that the other Vampires didn’t see her as being weak or having an area they could exploit with her. It meant standing there while a slightly reluctant Steve knelt and did things with Chi that she hadn’t thought about being possible before. It was close to what Leslie and Calley had been doing, however. That gave her the ability to not become uneasy about it all. Better, she just kind of didn’t care about that.
Steve beat the test, easily, which was the important bit for her. It was a hard one, according to what Eve said, after it was done.
“If you can manage that, you’re pretty much making it. You can’t slip with anyone, but you won’t. Not if you can do that. What do you have planned next?”
That got a shrug, and a curious look from Lenore. His maker. Steve referred to her with a glance, getting a very polite smile back.
Then she hugged the man.
“You have your music, which seems a rewarding career for now.”
He nodded, his face putting a smile on.
“I also have a job offer? At an embassy. The New Mexico one, if I manage to make it as a day walker. That would probably mean moving there, and getting Avery to help me go back and forth to meetings for the band. If I’m allowed, I mean. That isn’t my call.”
Edom smiled, but looked away, as Lenore seemed oddly pleased by the idea.
“That would be fast. I was expecting to have you around longer than that. Still, I can’t say I dislike the initiative on either your or Norret’s part. Out of my area of control, but that might be the point? You can’t be an Assistant Ambassador for about fifty years, however. Even if you can walk in the light. Then, no one is saying that you have to hold the job for that entire time, either. Yes. We should consider that option. Others as well, if they come up? I’m nearly positive they will.”
Edom turned to Chi then, smiling.
“Now, you provided a very fine and dangerous service for us here today. What do you ask in return for that?”
Avery hadn’t even thought about that kind of thing, but it was part of Greater Demon and Vampire Culture. Shifter as well, now that she thought about it. They all tried to pay their debts. Humans had that same basic concept, but a lot of groups really didn’t. It wasn’t always because they were bad or anything either. Some just didn't think of things that way. You did what was good for others, or the whole, and didn’t count the cost or expect things in return, for instance.
That was nearly as common as anything else.
Chi bowed a bit.
“I could, perhaps, get some line walking from Avery? I’ve been wanting to visit some exotic locations for a while. Other worlds and things like that. Maybe go back to Mars and see if I can hook up with Samantha and Eva.” That got him to grin at Eve, who smiled back. She shared the joke with everyone at least.
“Eva looks exactly like me. An energy being though, with hundreds of identical bodies. Really though, one of them is working here down at the book store. You should go and see if she remembers you. Which she does, since we’ve talked about that.”
Chi, dressed again, pushed his glasses up.
“Ah! I was told about that. Is she here now, do you think?”
Avery had to make a face then, since she’d been there for ten days straight and hadn’t seen her at all. Which was sad, since they were kind of friends.
Eve shook her head.
“Probably not. Zack is still partying with his Greater Demon pals, and he puts her away while he’s gone. To keep her safe from… Well, probably the likes of you, Chi. Still, if you’re willing to brave her protector, I bet you could hit that. You should leave a note. Anyway, getting with Avery for that travel is a good idea as well. She’s a Shifter, so it makes sense. Plus, she’s the one that got you to do this in the first place.”
How Eve had worked that out… The process ran through her head then, along with several possible variations. It wasn’t that hard, once you knew it was possible. There were only so many ways for it to have happened in the first place, after all.
That got her to nod.
“True. So that’s fair. We should set that up soon. We also need to swing past the HQ with Calley again, in the coming days. Some other locations as well. That way people will be able to see her working with me and some of you. Since, you know, she’s one of your people too.”
Lenore made a face, but Eve nodded.
“Too true. She’s one of my peeps. Steve is practically her boyfriend, so that works on more than one level. Troy… You literally dated her, right? That’s enough to show she gets on with us, while being low enough in the power structure that it shouldn’t tick off anyone else if she loses. We can’t afford that, even to back up a friend.”
A chart came up then, from the mind of Tarsus.
“That’s about right. I also need to get with Eric Weise soon. That sudden change in power… Poor Maddy Morse.”
The words got a finger snap from Eve.
“Right. Right. I got a call from Jahn Samson yesterday. He told me not to bother you with it before your fun night out, since he worries about you. It looks like that warning you gave them panned out. Bombs at two of the six locations. Both here, in the U.S. The other places were all safe enough. That could mean it was a hit on the President. The Human one, I mean. I hear that they aren’t upset by you canceling on them like that anymore. Large explosions can do that, I hear.”
Meaning they had been, at first. Not that she’d ever been set to do it. It was, most likely, that a girl like her was simply supposed to follow the orders given all the time. Except that, on rare occasion, she might know more about things than the people in charge. Not often, but when she was correct, she was.
“Good to know. I’d actually figured that I was just wrong and being lazy. Anyway, let me get Chi back now? After that…” She didn’t really have anything to do. Before she could mention that, Lenore Hawthorn moved in and hugged her. A lot like she had Steve earlier.
“After that, if it’s a thing you’ve time for, you should do something fun. See a picture show, or look at the internet? I do have to say that the modern world is amazing in a lot of ways. Why, when I was a girl, we had to talk to each other and communicate for entertainment. When you lived for years in the same small village, trust me, that is not as wonderful as it may sound. Hearing about granny’s arthritis twice daily wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as it might seem.”
That got agreement from most of the room.
Avery could see it, though didn't know what to do really, as far as that went. She could go home and watch the news, she figured.
Chi wasn’t eager to go through the node yet, but also didn’t want to walk back to New Mexico, so went with her, into the void, then the clothing store in that faraway place. When they got there, after a moment, a nice seeming dark skinned man came to the back, out of his office.
“Ah, there you are Hale. I was worried they’d stolen you away for all time. So, the testing for York went well? You aren’t a Bat, I notice. Which indicates no nibbling of note?”
That got a head shake, and a rather serious sounding report.
“No, sir. He maintained himself perfectly. After being a Vampire for only eight days. He should be a day walker inside another week at the current rate. On the good side, it takes years of training first to reach that level. So we shouldn’t be seeing a sudden buildup of Vampire forces. Though, if they can do this with all their new recruits or even half, then inside twenty years, we could be facing a much more powerful faction in the Vamps. A good fraction of what’s been keeping them from taking more power is that they can only bring out their armies in the dark. A few hundred of them attacking without end, day or night, might be tough to beat.”
She blinked, but nodded. That was all more or less correct.
Clyde, the Ambassador there, looked at her.
“Anything to report, Rome?”
She smiled, then covered the Greater Demon mentor thing and the memories.
“The training for that hasn’t started yet. It could be nearly anything. Oh, I did work out that John Hatter, your father, is also my dad. He goes by Fellows now, like you?”
That got a nod.
“Oh? I’ll see if I can get in contact with him then. He should know about you, if nothing else. It’s a bit of a strange situation. Him getting a woman pregnant and then not taking the child away later. That’s what we normally do.” That was in the memories from the man as well.
Several other Dragons chimed in on that one. It hadn’t always been that way, but their numbers were so small there, in the new world, that tricks were often used.
Also, it was very clear that Hatter had intended her to kill most of The Gray, possibly dying in the process. Which got her to make a face, once that was assured.
“I don’t need to meet him or anything. Honestly, he seems like…” She had to struggle for a bit. Not with the language, which she knew from battle camp, but with the idea of disrespecting an Elder. “He seems like a giant prick, to be honest.”
Chi made a face, but Clyde laughed.
“Oh… That is not wrong! Then, being a Dragon doesn’t mean you’re a good person. We have to work for that kind of thing, like everyone else. So, little sister, if you don’t want me to rat you out to the old man, rest assured that won’t be happening. He can twist in the wind on that one.”
That seemed to settle things, as far as that went. It did mean she had a brother, now. Two of them and a sister, actually. Plus, a new mentor to get in touch with the next day. It wasn’t a work day for her, so at least she could have a bit of time that way, in the afternoon. Still, she mumbled to herself.
“I need to eat more.”
Clyde chuckled again.
“That’s probably true. You can’t get fat or overeat. You won’t be able to, if you get too full, so don’t worry on that score. We really need to sit down and have a long talk soon. If nothing else, then about what you want for Christmas.”
Chi went wide eyed, but his freckled nose twitched as he moved all over the place.
“Oh, ask for a pony!”
Avery understood the idea, from the memories in her head, since little girls were supposed to love those things. It was a good time to explain that she was relatively old now, but let herself smile and go for a joke instead, holding her middle with one hand.
“That does sound tasty…”
They all got it, more or less. After that things felt a tiny bit strained, or were about to, so she waved, pretending she had real things to do.
“I need to get off for the time being. Talk soon? Both of you?” She got that Chi only wanted her for two things, but neither of them were wrong for him to want. Clyde, well, he was family. That was a bigger deal for Dragons than she would have figured, from the memories. In a way, that meant that what John, her father, had done to her was even worse.
If Dragons had a history of not caring for family, which they really didn’t, that was one thing. Sacrificing your own child as a weapon of terror was quite another. At least to her way of thinking. Plus, it hadn’t really worked. Not that she’d kept up with The Gray for the last few years. It was amazing, but when people tried to kill you, there was a lot less concern for them after that. At least it really had worked out that way for her.
Thinking about that, had a lot more memories flowing into her head.
One of those was that of her mother.
Who was, it seemed, well and truly alive.
Chapter eight
There were about ten million things that Avery Rome could have done when she found out that her mother was alive still. Running to her side was one option, of course. Ignoring her, since she was positive that even if the woman had been shunned herself, that she’d do exactly the same to Avery was another. After all, she’d been raised in The Gray and had lived with them her entire life. For thirty-five years, until that one night, when people died and fleeing seemed to be the only way for her to live.
It wasn’t just the memory of someone else having seen her or hearing the story to be passed along, either. At some point, for some reason, her mother had met the Greater Demon Tarsus, who, for his own particular sense of balance, had added her entire life up to that time to his bank of millions. Not that it was all that special.
Leslie Rome had been a fairly dutiful daughter to The Gray. Her grandfather, Torvo Rome, had probably died at the hands of her own daughter, which was, to that point, the most special thing about her. The story after that was different, however. One that was, to say the least, more than a little confusing.
She’d run, with no money, nothing but the brightly colored homemade clothing on her back, three years before. From there things hadn’t exactly been easy for
a bigoted Shifter woman whose power was changing into a Racoon. She drifted from city to city, changing when she could, in order to survive the harshness of the streets. For the first six months, she lived off of scraps and garbage, scavenging from the Humans, since that was all she knew how to do.
That, and to be a wife and mother.
Except that no one had ever needed her to be a wife and Avery, her only child, was dead.
At least that had been what she’d believed.
That part got Avery to actually smile. Not because her mother had been on hard times, but there was no hatred for her girl, even if she’d been born wrong, somehow. A thing of evil, except that couldn’t have been correct, since Avery was good. Perfect in her duty to the people.
Finally, in desperation, Leslie had taken to selling her body to any man that would host her for a day or two in his home. Except that, after the third man she tried, something ended up going horribly wrong. Instead of finding herself in a warm bed, moaning as she was thrust into by an unclean Human, she found herself being forced to swear loyalty to a Demon.
In this case, the man in question wasn’t familiar at all. Not at first.
Not until he transformed into a female, becoming the girl that Avery knew from school as Ann. Then Leslie Rome, her mother, was changed. Made to look younger. Prettier. Different. All so she could pass for a high school girl. One that Avery had to admit, did remind her of her mother.
Which had been how she’d lived for the last year or so. Trapped, serving The Rotted. As a girl no older seeming than Avery herself was. One with orders that precluded her telling her own daughter that she was still alive.
That got a sour faced grimace from her then. After all, it didn’t make a lot of sense that Ann could have known that her mother was going to be important to anyone at all. Not over a year before, when Avery was still at battle camp, not knowing how to do more than roughly survive, day to day.
