“Now that I have confirmation that a Halfling was created, I am duty bound to inform the Council of this. They need to be made aware of Mark and his association with Virgil Hicks. Your, uh, meeting him and your connection to him and Sarah are things the Council needs to hear about as well.” Lucan pauses and looks past me down the corridor as if he’s expecting someone to interrupt us. “There is another reason, unrelated to the Halfling, that I need you to meet the Council…” His voice trails off at the end like it does when is uncertain of my reaction. Whenever he does it, it’s usually something vampire related.
“What?” I huff. We are standing in a little alcove outside of two heavy wooden doors with brass knockers that look like sunbursts. “And don’t tell me you can’t tell me. I’m really not fond of this über secretive stuff. If I’m going to be involved with you and your world, I think I should get to know all the gory details.” I immediately regret my use of the word ‘gory.’
“I knew you were going say that. I promise I’ll tell you after we’re done. I just need you to trust me for now.” Lucan shifts uneasily from foot to foot. “And I know I say that a lot, but rest assured I don’t take those requests lightly.”
“Trust has its limits. This is not about trust, Lucan. It’s about being kept in the dark on something I have no basis for understanding. You can appreciate that right?”
He exhales loudly and fists his hair before flopping back against the rough wall. “You’re right. I continue to ask too much of you, Abri. For that I am sorry.”
“It’s okay, so long as we understand each other. Now, let’s get going. This hallway smells like fear and it’s creeping me out.”
An expression I can’t quite decipher flashes across Lucan’s face. Before I can ask anything he recovers and ushers me forward again towards the wooden doors. The doors swing noiselessly on their hinges as we walk through. The Chamber itself looks something like the courtrooms I am used to, only there are three seats behind the bench instead of one. On the wall behind the three standard issue office chairs is a large seal with the Enclave crest in the middle flanked by pair of the halogen bulb sconces. The anachronistic elements of this place are amusing.
The massive wooden bench sports designs best described as demonic compared to the typical blind Lady Justice motif. They are in the style of Egyptian wall drawings, only these scenes are of vampires being tortured and killed not servants offering grain to the gods. Overall, it’s rather over dramatic for a place functioning as a courthouse. I am beginning to think vampire justice is very different from human justice. It makes a cold chill run down my spine.
Just as it subsides, three figures appear in a little doorway to the right of the bench, two male and one female. The Council. I wonder if I should bow or something. Lucan takes my hand and halts our progression towards the bench. His thoughts invade my brain, making me gasp. Am I ever going to get used to this reverse telepathy thing?
“Keep your eyes down. Let me speak for you unless they ask otherwise. Relax, it’s really no big deal,” he thinks at me.
“No big deal? In my world not looking someone in the eye and having another, especially a man, speak for you is a very big deal.” He squeezes my hand in what I hope is an apology. “They can’t hear my thoughts too, can they?”
“No, love. I suffer alone,” he thinks back with a laugh. This time I squeeze his hand, and it is most certainly not in apology.
I won’t look at them directly, but I refuse to stare at my shoes for the next however long either. The first to enter is a man in his forties, or at least that is what he would look to be if he was human. The fact that he could be centuries older, millennia even, unnerves me. He is tall with caramel colored skin and wire rimmed glasses. My grandmother would say he had an “honest face,” someone you trusted based on looks alone. His full lips twitch into a smile and he nods at Lucan and me as he sits down in the seat farthest from the entrance.
The woman enters next. She is younger looking than man, but it is hard to say by how much. Her blond hair cascades down her back in dozens of loose ringlets and her dark, dramatic makeup contrasts strangely with her pale skin. She smiles a sly little smile at Lucan and winks one of her emerald green eyes before perching herself on the second chair.
The last to enter is the other male figure. He is shorter than the other two by at least a foot and he appears to be very, very old. Until now, all of the vampires I have seen have been young and virile but this man is far from it. His skin is so pale it’s almost translucent and his eyes are a dull grey color. He moves very slowly to towards the final available chair and hesitates a second or two before attempting to sit as if he may not make it. None of the Council members are dressed in the black robes I associate with judges, but wear typical civilian clothing. If you passed them on the street, you wouldn’t give them a second notice.
The older man raises his hand to beckon us forward. Lucan leads me several steps towards the bench and stops. I try to focus my line of sight somewhere between the Council and the disgusting images carved into their bench. The younger man speaks first.
“Good afternoon, Mr. O’Reilly. What business have you before us?” His voice is warm and even.
Lucan lets go of my hand. “I have information regarding the suspected Halfling, Reveré.” Lucan bows his head and clasps his hands behind his back. I surmise Reveré to be a term of respect like Your Honor. He continues, “The Halfling we have suspected entered my apartment last evening and frightened this woman.”
A rumble of disgust, or is it disbelief, murmurs across the bench and the Council members give each other a few sideways glances. Immediately, I am sure it’s in response to Lucan’s mention of me and not the Halfling.
“I do not know who his Maker is, but he is most definitely a Halfling. I was able to smell him when I entered the main lobby but he had already made his way to my apartment.”
The woman opens her mouth to speak, but the old man beats her to it.
“Child, you were frightened, yes?” He is addressing me and I snap my head up to look him in the face.
“No, not really. Why should I be afraid of a Halfling? I pitied him, actually,” I say, without thinking. Lucan cringes beside me. I’ve cross a line, I can tell. My response, however, has thrown the Council into a raucous round of laughter.
“She’s a feisty one, Lucan,” the older man says, not at all accusingly. “How wonderful.”
I hadn’t meant it to be funny, but it was the truth. I hadn’t been so much afraid of what Mark could do to me, as I was that someone was able to enter the apartment without my forewarning. Or at least that’s what I’ve told myself since he left.
“What’s your name, cheré?” the woman asks. I figure she’d spent some time in New Orleans by her accent. Maybe she is one of the ones Lucan had been talking about.
“Abri Cole, ma’am.” I give up looking at my feet since they don’t seem to take issue with me speaking to them directly.
“Ah! Very unusual name, Abri. Do you like it?” She is leaning forward in her chair looking at me over the bench. She raises a much-manicured eyebrow at me as if to accentuate the question. I can tell she is as fascinated by me as I am by her.
“Yes. Well, now I do, but I didn’t as much as a child. I begged my mom to let me change it to something more common.” What a strange question. And for some reason I feel myself compelled to answer her with casual familiarity rather than the distanced respect one should give an authority figure. What is it about this place that’s making me so defiant? “But my mother felt it suited me. She says it means ‘warmed by the sun’ in Latin.” I start to tell her that it is French for shelter or refuge, but I figure any Cajun worth her salt would know that. The two men on the bench look at each other and share a knowing look.
“I should say it does. Suit her that is. Don’t you agree, Lucan?” The older vampire chimes in again with a little chuckle. The old man was probably around when people still spoke Latin. Lucan nods in approval and laugh
s as well. The others are soon laughing too and I feel as if I have missed an inside joke, possibly at my expense.
“Mr. O’Reilly,” begins the younger man. “Do you think there is a connection between Ms. Cole and this Halfling?”
“Aye, Reveré. Ms. Cole is an attorney and she is handling a divorce matter for the young lady who is married to the Halfling. It is believed he knew of the divorce suit when he came to my apartment last night as he was served with the papers that morning. Ms. Cole certainly had no indication he was anything but human when she took the case. I received confirmation this morning from an associate of mine that the Halfling, Mark Ainsworth, has hired Virgil Hicks to represent him.” The last sentence hangs in the air over our heads. The two men on the Council give quick glances to the woman seated between them at this news but she gives no sign that this fact should bother her.
“I see,” the old man says thoughtfully. “Thank you Mr. O’Reilly. I trust you will agree to serve as Indagator for this matter?” Indagator? I remember a little bit from of Latin from high school. It means investigator. I knew the old man had been around when they spoke Latin.
“I am most honored, Reveré.” Lucan bows again. “And if it would please the Council, I have another matter of business to discuss with you as well. Unrelated to the Halfling.”
“That can wait, Lucan.” The blonde woman waives him off. “First, let us introduce ourselves properly to Ms. Cole. My name is Sophie Colette. This is Jonathan and Arius.” She gestures to the men on either side of her. Arius, the older man, nods at me and smiles. Jonathan extends his hand down to me over the bench. I reach up, intending to exchange a rather awkward handshake, but instead he pulls my hand forward slightly as he bends down to kiss the back of it.
“It is a pleasure, Ms. Cole. Welcome.” He purrs after his cold lips brush the back my hand. I feel no amps coming from him, which is strange given what I know about them. Maybe Jonathan is just being polite by in keeping them in check.
“The pleasure is all mine, each of you.” I reply looking each of them directly in the eye. My closer examination of Arius reveals not only is he old, but he is really, really old. He must have been quite ancient when he became a vampire. His eyes are not gray but actually a clouded over blue. How could a vampire have cataracts and why didn’t he get them fixed? Maybe he did not trust modern medical science, or maybe they didn’t bother him. I have so much to ask Lucan when we are alone again. I don’t look but I imagine him rolling his eyes at me, having already heard my questions.
“Now, Lucan,” Sophie Colette begins again. “What other business would you present to us this day?” Her formality coupled with her Louisiana accent makes me smile.
Lucan steps away from me and snaps to attention like a soldier. This must be the part that involves me, the part unrelated to Mark and his visit. He looks gravely serious and a wave of apprehension washes over me. So far, I have managed to charm the Council and I hope whatever Lucan has to say keeps me in their good graces. I can feel them staring at us in anticipation.
“Reveré,” he begins solemnly. His voice is strong and the accent of his ancestry more prominent than usual. “I believe I have found my Sodalis and I seek your permission.”
“Sodalis, eh?” Arius’ cloudy eyes are sparkling behind their haze as he mulls over something in his mind. “Wonderful, Lucan. I was beginning to worry. One such as yourself should not be left to wander eternity unmatched.”
Sophie and Jonathan looked at each other thoughtfully and then down at me with big, goofy grins out of sync with the formality of Lucan’s address. “Well then, permission granted Mr. O’Reilly,” Jonathan adds, still smiling at me. “It was wonderful to meet you Abri. Please, if there is anything we can do for you, all you need to do is ask.”
“Ah, thank you, that’s very kind,” I stammer. I look over at Lucan with a pointed stare. What the hell is a Sodalis? I know he can hear my question but he is ignoring it. The goofy grin has spread to his face as well. My temper begins to flare, as it’s obvious I am on the outside of something very important and apparently very amusing.
The Council is gone before I can risk asking Arius any further questions.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I have managed to keep my thoughts in check the entire elevator ride back to the lobby and out on the curb while we wait the valet to bring the car. But once I am behind the wheel I can’t take it any longer. Being in charge of the car gives me a sense of control over the situation. “What’s a Sodalis?” I demand.
Lucan is completely still unlike our last confrontation in the hallway outside the Council chambers. He’s like a deer caught in the headlights; not twitching or squirming the way a human might after being asked an uncomfortable question in an enclosed space. He’s not even breathing. After a few seconds, I hear him inhale deeply. “It’s Latin.”
Arg, here we go again with the Latin. “I might have guessed that. Latin for what?”
“I thought you took Latin in high school? You knew Indagator,” he says through his teeth. This is going nowhere and if either one of us has reason to be speaking through their teeth it’s me.
“True, but only for two years. I don’t remember much. Is it something bad? Something I don’t want to know about?”
“Soul mate. It means soul mate.” The words hang in the air between us as I ease the Evora to a stop at a red light. Lucan is looking up at the roof of the car and biting his lower lip when I glance over. He cringes almost imperceptibly as our eyes meet. Before I have chance to formulate a response he begins again. “When you’ve been around a hundred years or so you can start looking for your Sodalis. Been a vampire, I mean. Not everyone finds theirs but you know when you do because…” he stops again and looks to the ceiling.
“You can hear each other’s thoughts?” I venture with a little more sarcasm than necessary.
“Yup.” The one word reply pings around the car begging me to follow it with words of acceptance. Lucan is drumming on the door with his right hand as if he’s preparing to abandon ship if necessary.
“Okay.” I can’t think of anything monumental to fill the widening void between us so I figure this will have to do. Is that all, is that what he’s been worried about, I wonder. Relief washes over me because he has put into words the feelings I have felt since we met in the elevator. Two simple words to explain my life. I bite down on my lower lip to stifle the giggle welling up inside of me. My shoulders are shaking as I fight to keep myself contained.
“Are you crying?” Lucan asks as if he’s suddenly deaf to my inner monolog.
I shake my head, still biting my lower lip. I can’t hold it anymore. My laughter bursts forth, filling the empty space between us, drowning our previous one word exchanges.
“I’m sorry, Lucan. I’m not laughing at you. This is obviously serious shit. I laugh when I’m nervous.” I wipe away a few tears with the back of my hand. The light turns green and I steady myself to navigate the Evora forward again. “It’s just funny, you know. Monday morning I’m lying in my bed with a serious hangover thinking about how lonely I am and how I’m wishing for something more. I haven’t had a date in months. The next day, I meet you in what I'm sure you can agree were some very unusual circumstances. Lucan, I can’t get you out of my head, not from the instant I stepped on your toes in the elevator. There is a connection between us that I can’t deny. Call it soul mates, chemistry, happenstance, whatever, I don’t know. This whole time I’ve been thinking my girly emotions are getting the better of me and now it turns out I’m not the only one feeling this way. I’m sorry, but that is just fucking funny to me for some reason.” I forget to add that I curse a lot when I’m nervous.
Lucan is still looking at the roof of the car, silent and still. “Oh well, at least it’s not weird or anything. I don’t know if I could handle it if you thought it was weird.” I can spot sarcasm.
“Weird? No, I mean unless you’re going to tell me that you turn into a bat during the full moon or something
. That would be weird.”
“Good,” he sighs. “No bats.”
It is that moment that I know I have sealed my fate with Lucan. We are soul mates, Sodalises,—er Sodali, and I am no longer soul restless and empty. We ride the rest of the way in silence. I have so much to think about but I obviously need some space for that.
Once upstairs in the apartment, I start packing my bags in anticipation of returning to my own apartment before dinner. Lucan appears to be calmly channel surfing in the living room but I can feel the worry and anxiety rolling off him. He’s trying to give me my space while I pack and I appreciate it. After a few minutes, I peek at him from behind the bathroom door. He is pretending to watch a basketball game. It’s just after five o’clock when I check my watch. How did this day go by so fast?
“Lucan, honey?” I call from the bathroom, taking a look at my hair in the mirror. I’m going to need a shower before dinner. “I think I’m going to head over to my place and get ready. Are you coming with me or what?” He is behind me before I finish the second sentence, kissing my shoulder. “Are you coming with me?”
“You’re not mad that I want to come?” he asks, his eyes begging for my approval in the reflection of the mirror. “Especially after this afternoon, I don’t want you to feel like I’m smothering you.”
“I’m not mad at all. I’m just used to being independent, that’s all. And as for this afternoon, I kinda dropped a little relationship bomb on you as well, so we’re even.”
His eyes light up and he nuzzles my neck, grazing me with his teeth. My breath catches and he takes an apologetic step back. My heart is in my throat. I’m not ready to admit to him that I want this so I clamp my mind shut.
“Ah, sorry,” he mumbles. “I promise you won’t even see me. Just have fun with your friend and I will make sure to stay far enough away that I can’t, um, hear you either.”
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