“Fine.”
“I’m coming with you.”
I looked her blankly. She stared back, resolute determination sparking in he eyes.
“I won’t win this argument, will I?”
“Not if you don’t want your balls kicked up between your ears.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright, fine,” I told her, feeling more at ease than I had since Corvi’s death. “Just get back to me as soon as you have something.”
She promised to do just that, and we finished our breakfasts shortly afterwards. With that over, we opened the door to the office for anyone who wanted to see me, before going about our usual tasks.
My first personal order of business was to look into what Revenance actually was, and I didn’t like the sound of it.
Normal vampires, including newly fledged ones such as me, could normally go almost a full twenty-four hours without feeding, unless we over-exerted ourselves in some fashion, and even then we only needed enough to regain our strength.
Revenance accelerated the hunger, driving a vampire to feed far more frequently, regardless of source - mortal, animal, vampire, it didn’t matter. If they didn’t manage the condition properly, they became a feral - sometimes known as a ‘ghoul’ - which, if personal experience was anything to go by, meant they were severely unhinged and actively ate what they killed.
Kara Silvaine could potentially be a problem...or she could be a valuable asset. I could only tell by seeing her in person.
After my research, I looked over the other reports, finding nothing unexpected. The base purges continued as the organisation - my organisation, I thought bitterly - got rid of all traces of Sharriana’s influence, especially those people who were loyal to her and her ideals, and many other bases were counting their own losses from the insurrection.
I also noticed, with some sadness, that Pretoria needed several new fighters. Shield flight, the group of aircraft that had escorted my forces into the warzone, had taken heavy losses from Sharriana’s own personal defence squadron. To that end, I told the commander at Pretoria that I would be upgrading their all their fighters to the superior Su-37, and sending them some extra funds to be paid as compensation to the families of the fallen.
It was a pity - I never did get to buy their squadron the drinks I’d promised.
Although there were a few requests that I had to sign off on personally, there was one I had to decline.
One of our bases in the US had come to blows with one of the US army bases in the same area, and they were requesting authorisation to make a few hit-and-run attacks against the base in question, in the interests of forcing them to move. I had to decline that, because it was far too aggressive and would undermine our own position, so I made sure the base commander was informed of my decision, its reasons and the action I intended to take instead - which was far more than they would have received from Sharriana.
I conferred with Lorelei on the matter, and she agreed to speak with the Secretary of Defence on the matter, in order to come to a peaceful, mutually agreeable solution.
After considerably less form-filling and signing than I’d had to endure previously, I pushed myself away from my desk and got up, telling Lorelei that I was going for a walk around the fortress - it would be good to for the staff to see me around the base, so that they knew I hadn’t forgotten them. I was intent on doing so once every couple of weeks, because they were my people, and they deserved no less.
I walked around the fortress and its grounds, making sure repairs were still progressing well, praising my staff for their work and dedication. I watched the test of the new main gate, replacing the one I had torn from its housing with the sheer force of my will, three weeks previously. I watched the Omega Company troops going through their training and drills, remembering when I had been one of their recruits. Funny how things changed. I eventually finished my self-inflicted tour in our records hall, because I wanted to look up some very particular information.
“Ah, good morning, My Lord!” announced the Master of Records, a small, wizened old man who was either unbelievably ancient or one of a succession of Record-Keepers.
“Good afternoon actually, Ovadiehn,” I said, hoping his service to The Order at least meant he learned Vampiric. It was an archaic title - although most Vampiric titles were archaic by now, anyway - which meant ‘holder of knowledge’, or something to that effect.
“Bah! Don’t be using that crazy language with me, boy, English’ll work just fine. What can I do for you?”
Despite his age, the man had an energy in his tone that sounded half a century younger.
“I’m looking for any records you might know of from the...I believe it’s the seventeenth century, regarding the Selano family.”
“Eh? Oh, I think I know what you need, My Lord,” he declared, and beckoned for me to follow. “This way, this way.”
At that moment my phone rang, and by coincidence it was Lorelei.
“Hey boss, I found the information you were after,” she told me, her voice resigned. “You want to come back to the office so we can discuss it?”
I suppressed the urge to sigh. I really wanted to get on with finding out what I could about her family’s disgrace - but sadly, official business took precedence.
“Alright Lori, I’ll be right up,” I told her, swearing internally. We hung up and I hurried to catch up with the elderly Master, who still seemed quite spry for a man of his age.
“I’m really sorry, I’ve got some urgent-”
“Don’t bother telling me, boy, I know, I know,” he said, his voice holding no unkindness. “You run The Order now, so you’ll be busy a lot. You still want them books?”
“Uh, yes, actually - if it’s no trouble?”
He scoffed and waved away any such notion.
“I’ll hardly be lugging them around myself, young man,” he said with a weak chuckle. “I’ll have my boy run them up to your room, if it please you.”
I actually found the old man’s attitude refreshing and enjoyable to be around. He was polite and respectful, in his way, but he’d soon tell you if he thought you were an idiot.
“That would be brilliant, thank you,” I told him. “Sorry, what’s your name?”
“Just call me Master Deans, it’s all most people bother remembering anyways,” he told me, chuckling again.
“Thank you, Master Deans. Good day to you.”
I left him to his work and returned to the office, where Lorelei was waiting. She may have disagreed with my decision, but she was loyal enough to carry out my wishes regardless.
“Hey boss, I got what you wanted,” My friend announced, almost as soon as I entered the room.
“Okay then, let’s hear it.”
“Right, she is still in Toronto, which is odd - that’s where she was when we first assessed her, and that was...well, a while ago now. Three or four years at least, I think.”
“Why is it strange?” I asked, not quite following.
“Well, as you probably read, Revenants are driven to feed almost all the time - that makes it hard to form lasting relationships, and usually means that they have to move from place to place to avoid the authorities.”
“The plot thickens,” I said, more to myself than to Lorelei.
“Exactly. Now I’ve spoken with the commander at the Toronto base - Setra Giardin, she’s trustworthy.”
“But you don’t trust her, right?” I added with a smile, and Lorelei smiled back.
“Now you’re getting it. I’ve made sure she’s got room for us to stay the night, because I don’t know about you but I am not seeing anyone after a seven-hour flight. Speaking of which, we have a business jet that can be ready to fly out tomorrow, once they’ve double-checked the runway.”
I was actually mildly surprised. I asked for information, and she got me information and full travel plans.
“That’s...I’m really impressed, Lori. Thank you.”
“Told you I was
a genius,” she told me, returning to her work with a sly smile. I honestly couldn’t disagree at that point.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except for reports of a handful of attacks from hunter units, which were all pushed back, and a large-scale attack by our own forces, against the plant that manufactured the unpleasant chemical we’d discovered a few months before. Losses were minimal on both occasions, so I supposed I was meant to call that a success.
At the end of the day Lorelei and I once again parted ways for a short while, but not until I told her that she can come and visit as soon as she’s ready. Once I got back to my room and changed into jeans and a T-shirt again, I began to look over the tomes that Master Deans had sent up for me.
I’d only just started reading when there was a knock at my door, and I quickly put the books away. I didn’t know if Lorelei wanted her family name restored, and if she did I didn’t want to give her false hope.
Plus, I wanted it to be a surprise. A thank-you gift, of sorts.
I opened the door for her myself this time, and once again as soon the door was closed, she held her arms out.
I gladly pulled her into a comforting embrace, and for once neither of us shed any tears.
“Funny how such a small thing can have such a big impact,” she said as we separated, and I gave her a questioning look.
“Simple things, like hugs,” she explained. “They’re small things, really, and yet they offer so much comfort.”
“It helps when it’s someone you trust,” I replied, passing her a drink, and she nodded in agreement.
“I can’t argue with that.” She accepted her drink and sat down in one of my chairs, and I sat opposite her in the other.
“Mind if I ask something...personal?” I asked, a little too curious about something. As usual, Lorelei simply smiled at me.
“Sure, as long as I get the same privilege.” I shrugged and nodded. Fair’s fair, after all. “Go on then.”
“Did you have any other relationships after the guy who stabbed you?”
She frowned at me, almost confused.
“Why do you want to know about that?”
“Morbid curiosity.”
She sighed and took another sip of her beer.
“One other. Probably the one time I got involved with someone I didn’t trust completely, and again I nearly paid the price.”
“What happened?”
“Well, I was surprised when I proved my vampirism to him and he didn’t bat an eyelid. Most mortals usually have some reaction-” she pulled one strap of her tank top down her arm, exposing more of her breast than I was particularly interested in seeing. She indicated the deep, vicious scar between her breast and sternum, then pulled the strap back into place as she continued.
“- Regardless of severity. This guy was completely un-bothered, like he’d seen vampires before.”
“He was a hunter?” I guessed, and she nodded.
“And married. After he almost cut my head off, I broke both of his arms and fled. Decided from then on that I wasn’t going to get emotionally involved with any other man, unless I trusted them implicitly.”
“Sorry to hear that, Lori,” I told her, saddened that she seemed to have spent a lot of her life alone.
“Don’t be,” she said confidently. “I learned an important lesson - that people still couldn’t be trusted, even after a century of change - and I made sure never to let myself get close to people who weren’t worth my time.”
“Fair enough,” I told her with a smile. It didn’t seem like a particularly upbeat philosophy, but it clearly worked for her.
“My turn,” she announced, and I felt terrified of what she was going to ask.
“So, before you were with Corvi, you were a-”
“Yes, we established that last night.”
“Okay, you really don’t like the fact. I’m with you. I’m just wondering...how come?”
I blinked in surprise.
“How come what?”
“How come you hadn’t...gone that far? I mean, you’re a handsome young guy, I would’ve thought you’d be beating women away with a stick.”
I blushed at the compliment. I hadn’t been given praise like that since-
- Since Corvina died. Somehow everything came back to that.
Eventually I regained enough composure to answer her question.
“Two reasons. One, I was terrible at talking to women - well, girls, given the age I was at the time. And two, when I did get a date...” I sighed heavily. “My brother invariably swept in, with his bigger muscles, superior confidence and generally better everything, and they fell for him instead. Corvi was the first woman I’d ever been with who would rather die than walk away from me.”
Lorelei looked intently into her glass, and then back to me.
“I’m sorry Deimos, I didn’t mean to pry,” she said softly, but I shrugged the apology away.
“Don’t worry about it, if I didn’t want to answer then I wouldn’t.” I sipped my beer again, silently glad of Lorelei’s company. The weeks in which I hadn’t seen her were hell.
“We should get an early night boss,” Lorelei said, finishing her drink and pushing herself out of the chair. “We’ve got an early flight, and it’s a long one.”
“Don’t bloody remind me,” I told her, getting out of my own chair. “Alright, you go ahead, I’ll go get changed.”
She gave me an exasperated smile, although for what I didn’t know. I just hoped that she decided to get into bed before I came out of my bathroom. - I really didn’t want a repeat of the night before.
Thankfully, that was exactly the case - she was already in bed and looking quite comfortable when I returned. I still found myself standing at the other side of the bed, still feeling awkward and unsure about being in bed with another woman so soon after Corvi had died. It really didn’t help now that I knew how little Lorelei tended to wear.
Eventually I crawled into bed, maintaining a respectful distance from my friend and still unbearably tense. That tension was increased when Lorelei actually turned over, and put an arm around me in an attempt to pull me closer.
I resisted for a moment, until Lorelei stopped with a weary sigh.
“Deimos,” she asked, propping herself up on one elbow, “why are you always so tense when we do this?”
I turned to look at her, my heightened visual capability allowing me to see her features even in the darkness.
She was worried.
“Because I’m sharing a bed with a half-naked woman I’m not in a relationship with,” I told her, hoping she couldn’t see me blush as I said it. “It feels...odd. Like I’m betraying Corvi’s memory somehow.”
“Sorry, would you rather I was completely naked?”
I was so stunned by that remark I simply couldn’t respond - either I said no, and risked offending her, or I said yes and risked offending her and getting punched.
After a couple minutes, in which my jaw flapped uselessly while I tried to find some coherent words, at the same time trying to get the image of Lorelei naked out of my head, she eventually let out a short laugh - a sound all the more beautiful for how rare it had been at the time.
“Sorry Deimos. I was joking, don’t worry.” She chuckled again, and rested her free hand on my shoulder. “I understand. I really do. But I want to tell you something.”
I focussed on her, listening to whatever it was she felt had to be said.
“Corvi loved you. I mean, really loved you. I know it hurts, and I know it’s probably hard to hear...but she wouldn’t want you to be alone. She’d want you to be happy, and whether it was in a couple of weeks or a couple of years, she would want you to move on. Not to forget her - not that I think you would - but to find some happiness again.”
I stared at her blankly for a moment, before I finally gave her a weak smile.
“You know, for someone who doesn’t like people, you’re really good at dealing with them.”
“Fuck, no
, I’m just sick of sharing a bed with a moody bastard,” she said with her usual lazy smile, and settled herself back down on the pillow.
“Now, are you going to keep being miserable, or are you going to move closer and actually cuddle up for once?”
I laughed at her light-hearted attitude, realising that if it weren’t for her I probably wouldn’t have smiled again.
I surprised her with a small kiss on the cheek, laid down and pulled her close to me.
“Thanks, Lori,” I told her, as she settled her head on my chest. “For everything.”
“You too, boss,” she replied, already sounding half asleep.
Lorelei’s little speech didn’t rid me of the tension - not completely, anyway. But it was lessened, certainly.
It also helped that Lorelei was so insistent that we were just friends - although a small part of me wondered how long we could carry on as such, when we spent so much time in close proximity to each other.
Eventually I pushed those thoughts from my mind, praying that I was wrong as I finally fell asleep.
CHAPTER 3
Change is as good as a rest
The following morning we were up earlier than normal, in order to get our flight to Toronto. Unfortunately that I meant I caught another eyeful of Lorelei’s underwear - this time an emerald green silk pair edged in black lace, and I swear I wasn’t intentionally looking - as she pulled her trousers back on. We both needed to get dressed into something fresher, as well as make sure we had something a bit more formal for the meeting with Kara - after all, turning up looking like we just walked in off the street was not going to set a good impression of my organisation. Lorelei gave me a hug before leaving for her own room, reminding me to try and take it easy for a while, to which I told her that I would promise nothing.
A short while later we met again at the airfield, both of us with a small hold-all with our necessary clothes in.
The sleek, black jet was already idling, the pilot going through his last-minute checks before take-off.
“You’d best be getting on, My Lord,” the co-pilot said to me, raising his voice to be heard over the whine of the engines. Lorelei tapped my arm before I replied, and shook her head.
Of Angel's Blood (Chronicles of The Order Book 2) Page 3
