I woke with a start and frantically wormed myself free of the blankets, trying not to shiver at the lingering sensations of my latest nightmare. Not to think about how I could still feel the paralyzing tingle of a blade running along the more sensitive, tender, patches of my skin. Not to feel feel the icy chill as the sharpened steel crept its way slowly up my thigh. Not to think about the bite of the blade, or see the hint of an amused smile in the darkness, just below those ever present eyes. Fragmented and blurred as they were, those nightmares were still terrifying….
And presumably Merii and Brewer’s little interaction last night had something to do with the content of this one.

 I swallowed and let out a deep breath, forcing those awful dreams down and away from my mind. Back into the dark mists where they lived. Whatever reprieve the fresh blood had given me was apparently gone, much to my displeasure.

Luckily I had a routine to keep me from losing myself, mainly in losing myself in how badly I wanted another drink. I cleaned up and ignored the implications of the blood I had seeming cried during the night, showered, and put on some comfortable, baggy clothes.

This morning I decided to do some stretches as well. I was almost certain I didn’t need to, but it was still nice to move my body in such a way. At this point I was damned close to being able to do the splits, a feat I definitely didn’t think I was capable of, and with every meal and every night that passed, I could tell my body was getting just that little bit closer to perfect, those muscles below the skin getting a little more defined and the remaining fat on my body shifting to just the right spots.

It was a nice thought that distracted me from the darkness in my mind as I stepped out into the hall and began walking downstairs, jumping like an idiot and trying to touch one of the ceiling lights, almost knocking it out of its mounting. I grimaced a little and made a hasty retreat to the main floor in case it decided to drop. Merii had apparently gotten up before me, as she was talking on the phone in something of a heated conversation that I obviously could only hear one side of.

“… I’m aware of the time. -Well then go crack the lid off whatever box she’s sleeping in and give her the phone. -No, you don’t need to know my name. -Just wake her up, this call isn’t cheap, and I need to talk to her today.”

I was sure I remember her saying something about “being nice” on the phone before I crept away last night. I also assumed leaving last night was the right call, if the scent coming from the lounge, and the stairs, and the hall, were anything to go by at least. I probably should have stayed in bed longer so she could at least clean up a little. It felt awkward being there, especially when I wasn’t sure where to look or overly keen to actually sit down on my favorite couch given it apparent fate last night.

“.. listen mortal, put your Mistress on the line! I haven’t the time, nor patience to be dealing with you. -I am~. -Excellent, I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
Having noticed me as I sat myself at the table, Merii gave me a little wave, and I returned the gesture mouthing “good morning.”

“Eliana? -Saints it’s been so long. -No. No this definitely isn’t her. I’m nearly certain she’s dead. -Yes, that’s the joke. -Ha ha, don’t you dare. -Because it’s true and it will be your head as well.- Now I remember why I hate you. -Awwww.~ Anyway, pleasantries aside, I need to ask you a few things. -I’m well aware of that, and have been since I was twelve. -And who’s fault is that?! -Look, forget that… well, don’t actually, I still wish you would fall into a vat of silver, but I need to know where Asim is. -Because. -Yes. -The colonies? I’m pretty sure it’s a republic now. -Just tell me. -Because this is literally your hobby you pervert. -Thank you.”

 My mind flashed black and red, and distant screams filled my mind as there was a long pause in the conversation, Merii impatiently drummed her nails on the counter top, staring into nothing as she apparently waited for the person on the other end to do something. I didn't know who Asim was, but the name made me feel…. Afraid….. Hollow, cold even, like a chill had filled the air and laced its way up my spine.

As the person on the other end of the line answered, Meriis' expression turned dark. Her eyes flashing to red and silver as she furrowed her brow.
“...... I’m sorry, I must have misheard, you don't know? -That's more than a year ago. -No reports after that? Nothing? That's ridiculous.- Good for you maybe! -It's possible. -No! The last thing I need is them poking around after so long. -So you have nothing? -Killed them all? Seriously? -Well fuck. -Don’t young lady me! I’ll talk how I like. -No she is not a bad influence! -Stop distracting me, you literally run White Harbour, no one gets past the Pillars without you knowing! -Damn. -No I’ll handle it. It's only me over here….. probably -I know, stay low, stay quiet. Don't worry, I'm fairly out of the way here. -I hope you die in a fire. -You too.”

Merii hung up the phone and put it on the counter. Pausing a moment before taking a deep breath and letting out an exhausted sigh. I was about to ask what that was about but she silenced me by holding up a finger and walking to the fridge. Taking one of the blood bags she did what I had done just the other day and simply ripped the cap off, downing the bag in a few quick gulps before tossing it into the sink. She took another few deep breaths before turning to me with a clearly forced smile plastered on her face.
“Morning.”

“Morning…” I swallowed, It was most definitely unlike her to be worked up. Especially in the morning, “ You ok?”

With a small sigh she lent forward and rested her elbows on the counter top.
“Yeah….. Just confirming that I am, as always, right”

“And humble?”
I ventured, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“You know me so well dear~.” Merii straightened up as she continued, “But we do need to have a conversation. An unfortunately serious one, if you could go wake Brewer for me? Shes likely sleeping in after last night.~”

“No need”

“Shit!” I nearly fell out of my seat as the witch's voice came from just behind me. Apparently neither of us had noticed her enter the room, but unlike me, Merii seemed completely unfazed but whatever crazy magic stunt she had pulled.

“Perfect timing as usual…. Could you?” She gestured around the room.

Brewers eyes and hands flashed a fascinating shade purple for a moment and suddenly it was as though the apparent were unlived in. Not a smell or be found even with my sensitive nose.

“Thank you.” Merii swallowed “Now onto the unfortunate news.”

“Asim isn’t in Europa. Is he?” Again I felt the chill, although that may have just been that having Brewers emotionless voice speaking so close behind me was slightly disturbing all on its own. But I was curtain the name was having a physical effect on me.

“No,” My sire grimaced. “No he's not. Apparently he’s been on the loose for nearly a year.”

Brewer tsk’ed, a surprisingly expressive noise given her normal state.
“He’s not just headed off to pester some of the tribal folk? He did always like playing god for a year or two.”

“No” Merii was adamant in her statement. “All his progeny were killed before he vanished. Not a single monarch of his line left standing….. so no, I doubt it.”

I raised my hand a little tentatively. Unsure if I wanted to ask questions, and even less so if I wanted to know the answers.
“I feel left out, who’s “A” and why is this our problem?”

“A?” Merii asked with a raised eyebrow, while Brewer took a seat besides me, hands folded in her lap, prim and proper as could be.

“A” I nodded, unable to meet anyone's eye as I spoke softly. Something like…. shame, keeping my head bowed. “His name makes me…. Cold.”

Brewer and my sire shared a look, and while I couldn’t read the witch, my sire was still human enough. But what I was picking up was concern and a touch of…… fear. Seeing those emotions on her didn't make me confident I would enjoy this conversation.

“…Well, “A” is one of the progenitors, the son. I think Brewer told you the basics but suffice to say he’s strong and violent beyond measure. The definition of brutal and sadistic.”

“And we’re discussing him because?” I spun my hand trying to prompt an answer to why I was having this conversation rather than breakfast. I liked my morning blood, it helped to clear my mind after a night.And I felt a growing need to clear my head and leave this conversation behind.

Brewer answered my question promptly.
“Because of the nature of the magic invoked at the recent killing, and his titles. He is the greatest Warrior, the Alpha, and The Wolf.”

“Oh… ok I think I see where this is going.” Strangely I could feel my heart rate quicken without my input. “The moron we’re after wants to contact him?”

There was an uncomfortable pause before Merii spoke, her fingers drumming on the counter top. “That is the basics…. If this person knows him then it’s likely he was in the city…. Or nearby some time recently. In fact, we’re certain he was…… And he was around long enough to mess with their minds to the point of worship…...”

I hated that news. It wasn’t exactly clear to me why I hated it but it weighed heavy on me. The chill in the air now feeling like a ghostly hand on my shoulder, sapping my warmth and joy, draining me to the marrow.
“I thought you said no one would, or could, be in the city without you knowing?” I was slightly surprised at the tinge of anger in my voice. I didn’t feel angry. Did I? More importantly, should I?

The corner of Merii’s mouth trembled slightly as though she were holding back a smile or a frown, some emotion she didn't want me to see.. “I’m confident now….. but I have my reasons to think he was here very recently, within the last month or so…. and he was likely skulking around the farming regions for a few months before he took off.”

My leg was trembling involuntarily. He was here, recently, where I had been killed. “Why would some famous super vampire be here? And then just…….. Leave?”

Brewer placed a hand on my shoulder, an oddly emotional gesture from her. But the warmth was nice, I hadn’t had many opportunities to touch an actually living person, who I wasn’t planning to kill, and I found it a very soothing experience. While I contemplated Merii spoke. “Given our limited knowledge? Likely looking to find a fledgling to make and take under his wing… have them as the King of a new house out here. Away from all the old world politics….. but clearly failed or he wouldn’t have left.”

A fledgling.

I swallowed.
“Ok…. He left and now we’re dealing with what? His servant? Failed child? What’s the deal?”

Merii looked away but nodded.
“Vampires don't have “failed children”..... This is likely his servant, yes. I doubt if it’s his familiar, given his known disinterest in human life. So probably someone he compelled into worship and then abandoned.”

“Why are they trying to contact him though?”
My voice was still soft, coming out as merely a whisper now.

Merii grimaced slightly. “The way Brewer explained it, they want to summon him, as in, they want him to come back to the city….. and they’re using the old magics to try and get his attention.”

I swallowed hard as a bolt of fear ran through me, causing my whole body to tremble and my breath to catch in my throat. The word went black for a moment, a horrid image of eyes, black and red, staring into my soul. Like some visage of the hells, my body frozen before those eyes and I heard the screams again. Distant screams, wailing, pitiful sobs, I heard them in my ears, in my mind, like I knew them, I did know them……. I knew them personally…..
The world felt as though it were shrinking around me, suffocating me, strangling me. Brewers magic had been unpleasant but this… this was final, a crushing weight on my chest and in my head.

He couldn’t return to this city, it was an impossible fate. We couldn't let that happen, it would be the end, if he was in the city, we would have to flee, to run as far as possible. The thought of where to run, of how to hide, of the need to vanish started playing on repeat in my mind. Thoughts of a desperately dug burrow, of the darkest depths of some long abandoned mine or…..

“....Ellie!”
Meriis voice cut through my thoughts, snapping my attention to her. I found myself hunched slightly, black claws dug deep into the table top as I hyperventilated, tears clinging to the corners of my eyes. I could feel the icy grip of fear on my heart, feel it nearly paralyzing me as it had done in my recent dreams. Perhaps the only saving grace was Brewer's warm hand, gently rubbing my back, a pin prick of reality in a nightmare.

I tried to talk, to express myself, but my voice wouldn't work, my thoughts wouldn't process properly. I was scrambling for something, anything to anchor my thoughts in meaning and context. But the more I tried the more they slipped past, I could feel myself trembling, feel how I hunched over the table that I so desperately held onto, as though I could curl into a ball where I sat.
When I did manage to force the words out they were panicked and half formed. Bearing only the edge of meaning and carried by a voice filled with more desperation and grief then I had even known.
“I- We can't…. We can't let him come here….”

There was genuine concern and compassion on Merii’s face now, as she looked at me like someone watching a wounded animal struggle to walk. Her voice soft and comforting as it had been in those first few hours after I first woke, she spoke to me.
“That’s the plan dear….. we’re not letting that bastard back into my city. Brewer will cook up some wards and double down on the building and the likely entry points to the city. While you and me, we’ll go out and get this guy. Ok?”

I nodded slowly, I felt like I was listening to her through a fog. A haze that refused to lift from my mind as I throughout the words I needed. But blind panic still clouding everything meaningful or deeper than those most basic of words.
“I…. I can do that yeah…. We hunt him down and kill him, yeah?”

Merii nodded, confidence returning to her face. “We find him, we grab him, make sure he hasn’t spread the word of what and how he’s doing things. Then you can have him.”

That sounded…… good. It was a solid idea, a plan I could grip onto even as my mind continued to spin. Merii was a professional at these things, she would know how to do it, how to protect me. She was my sire and I trusted her more than I trusted myself. If she seemed confident that she could bring this under control then I would stand right there besides her. And I knew she would have me along, I knew instinctively.

The idea that I wasn't alone calmed me, if only a little, and allowed me to catch my breath. The new clarity letting me at least think on what Merii had said. We definitely needed to stop any spread of information or kill anyone involved, to get him to tell us why he would do such a mad thing.
I pulled back my lips in a snarl, by the gods I was certain I could, and would, make him talk once we had him. He wanted to bring hell to this city? Hell he was so blissfully ingredient of? I would show him what special kind of hell was already here.

Slowing my breathing and taking a long moment I moved a little, noting that my claws were now stuck in the table I had been clinging to. With a small effort I pulled them free, wanting to retract them fully, but my body just wouldn’t do it yet, still overcome with adrenaline and panic. So I settled for resting them on the table. Taking slow, deliberate breaths once more. I had definitely seen that breathing was optional for me, but much like Brewer's hand on my back, the little humanity the action made me feel was soothing to my muddled mind.

Merii and Brewer both gave me time to calm myself, neither of them talking or moving for several minutes. Minutes I used to think and reassure myself. We would catch this guy, I would break him, and we would be done with all of this. I did wonder why the circle had called to me, but only for a moment. That was a question that could wait….. Assuming I even wanted to know.

Merii coughed into her hand.
“Brewer…. Why don't you go and run Ellie over how we do patrols…. I’ll get the old maps out and plan a route.”

“Certainly.” Brewer stood slowly, her warm hand still on my back. “Come along dear, we’ll give you something to occupy your mind for a while.”