Vampire Nation 3: Titan Rules, page 12
“It never fails. Gronk, are you capable of being serious for more than a few minutes?” Lorac was laughing good-naturedly.
“I hope I never have to be. My way is much more fun!” Gronk’s booming voice was a welcome sound.
We spent nearly an hour reliving happier times from Gronk and Lorac’s past. The rest of the old ones began showing up then. Chief joined after his plane landed. By the midpoint of the night, all old ones for this event were present in the meeting hall.
I was standing with Lorac, Arria, Sela, Gronk, and Petra. The rest were off in another grouping. From what I could see, everyone was having a great time.
That was when I started feeling a little off. I couldn’t stop my smile. I had a room full of friends to keep me company.
“Good phone call last night. So far, Ghost doesn’t know I’m here.”
“I almost gave it away. I was about to tell Ghost to make the call but he would have added things together from there. Did you listen in while Hermes was there?” I needed to ask that. It was eating away at me. I really wanted to know what Ghost was up to.
“Yes. It appears Ghost wants Hermes to organize a movement among the old ones. He felt Hermes out before making the suggestion that Hermes get more old ones to push for you to feed from the council. Hermes liked the idea. I think he will try.”
“I doubt he will be successful but it is worth a shot. Maybe with enough support, Arria will have the excuse to allow it.”
“Normally I would tell you not to get your hopes up but Hermes can be very persuasive. Every old one knows he is not trying to persuade them out of selfish reasons. He is the only old one who might be able to pull this off.” Ares sounded a little hopeful.
I watched the others in the room. I made sure to monitor their conversations somewhat while I carried on my conversation with Ares.
“I know it is a long shot. Honestly, drinking from the council isn’t completely a good thing for me. I still get enough of those worried looks even from those I consider to be on my side. Sweetie, Apollo, and that group of friends are the only ones who still see me the way I want to be seen. Normal.”
“It might not last even among them. This level of power comes with drawbacks. I will admit that Apollo and Sweetie might still see you the same for some time.”
I could hear the longing in Ares mental voice. I knew how he must feel. He has been the most feared vampire for twelve hundred years. Everyone shivers at the mention of his name.
“I can hope.” I thought, as I saw Sabina walking toward us. Her eyes were more on Arria than anyone.
“…Gronk body slammed him through the table. Ale went everywhere. They all wanted us to leave but they were too afraid to try and make us.” Lorac was reliving some tale from a thousand years ago.
Sabina placed a hand on Arria’s arm and whispered to her. I couldn’t hear what was said. I watched as Arria and Sabina walked to the rear of the room.
“Don’t worry, I will listen in. If it is something good, I will let you know.”
“Thanks, Ares.” I wanted to smile. Since Lorac’s story was bringing out smiles from the others, I let mine be seen.
“One thing we can all agree on is how much better travel is now. We might not have as much fun as we did in the old days but travel is a breeze now.” Sela offered. “We don’t have the same kind of stories anymore but we can attend two or three events a week instead of one a month.”
“It is a tradeoff for me. I will always miss the old days. It suited me so much better.” Gronk admitted.
“I’ll never miss the caravans travelling all night for weeks on end. Having to plan everything so carefully so we would have a place to wait out the day. Daywalkers were the highest paid employees by far.” Lorac added.
“I never really thought about what it must have been like. It doesn’t sound too pleasant.” I really hadn’t thought about it. I was born into a world ruled by technology. I knew my thoughts would be returning to this train of thought when I had more time to ponder it.
“It wasn’t entirely bad though. We got to mingle with the humans so much more then. It was necessary. It was always hilarious to me when a human warrior tried to bully me around because I was a woman.” Sela laughed. “It never ended well for them.”
The others all laughed with her.
I found my eyes looking to Arria and Sabina more and more. Arria looked worried, then angry, then contemplative, and was currently looking relieved of all things. I debated asking Ares but didn’t need to since he told me before I could.
“Sabina has proposed a decent plan. She is offering to let you drink from her if Cronus shows up. She is willing to act like she wasn’t given permission so the council would be blameless. Arria would have the best of both worlds then. You would get much stronger and she wouldn’t need to face the anger of the old ones.”
“Sabina is thirty five hundred years old. I would have a fighting chance. Not a good chance but a chance none the less. It is better than the alternative.” I could feel my hopes rising.
“Sweetie asked me why I didn’t just let you drink from me. I had to explain how it wouldn’t help as much. Mainly, you would get twelve hundred year old blood and the few strength and speed gifts I have added.”
“I thought the same. When the thought crossed my mind, I knew it would bring the same kind of anger from the old ones. I am going to wait until the last minute before I drink from anyone. It might not even be necessary.”
“We can hope.”
Arria and Sabina began walking toward the group. Lorac gave an inquisitive look but Arria only shook him off. She may have said something to him through her thoughts. Lorac didn’t show any reaction that I could see.
“Everyone, now seems like a good time to draw the card.” Arria announced. She looked at me then. I knew what was going to be said. “Sorry, Titan. Old ones only for the drawing.”
“Yes, Arria.” I bowed slightly with a smile on my face. Most of the old ones wore the same kind of smile. I’d been part of the drawings as an old one with my own fighters. This was one of their traditions though.
I entered the hallway and made my way aimlessly. I turned a corner and leaned against the wall to take a moment. I didn’t really have a direction to go. I knew Ghost would be trying to get his latest plan going with Hermes. He would need his thought time. Apollo and the gang had some responsibilities for preparing the event. Reptile was the same. Ares was busy eavesdropping on the old ones.
I headed for the suite since I couldn’t see a better place to be. Sweetie was the only option. I knew she might be with Apollo and the others even though she wasn’t actually employed by an old one. I decided a slow boring day should be a relief.
Too slow. Too boring.
I spent the first hour or so thinking about the events of the old days. Having to travel in caravans of carts and carriages or by horseback alone. From what I’d gathered, some walked. That would involve the fighters, the employees, and the old one. They could take their donors as they came across them.
That line of thought grew boring and somewhat incomprehensible. Being born in the early nineteen nineties, travel was easy and fast.
I spent some time contemplating the two new plans.
Ghost’s plan would be best if it would work. Hermes could be persuasive. He was trusted completely by all who knew him. Some would listen. Would it be enough though?
Sabina’s plan would be a good enough last resort. Arria would have deniability. The council wouldn’t come under fire as a whole. That brought up the question that I couldn’t answer. Would her blood be enough?
Ares told me I may have taken in more speed and strength gifts than he has. His base is thirty eight hundred years old. If I drank from Sabina, my new base would be thirty five hundred years old. Could it be enough to face Cronus and his nine thousand plus years?
Would my gifts be able to help me? If he was facing five of me, it might make a difference. The mind control wouldn’t work. The illusions would only work briefly. Once he realized I was using the illusions, he would look through them. I wasn’t sure if he could overcome the emotional control or not. He would be too fast for any of the fire gifts to work on him. The poison gifts might slow him down briefly but would I even get the chance to inject them?
There were too many questions to answer and not enough information to answer them definitively. Still I thought through everything the best I knew how.
I started feeling off then. I smiled up at where I guessed him to be.
“Anything interesting said?” I asked.
Ares materialized by Arria’s chair. I knew he was only dropping the illusion, but it really did look like he materialized out of thin air.
“Not really. Lorac is too busy making everyone laugh. I can’t really fault him for that though. He does like to have a good time.” Ares sat in Arria’s chair. “You look bored.”
“I am. I’ve been going over options but I don’t have enough knowledge of what is going to happen. I thought about bugging Sweetie for a while but figured she was with the guys helping them with the event.”
“She is. She is seriously thinking of settling in for a while. I’ve been trying to keep her moving and seeing new things. I love seeing the wonder on her face when she gets to do something new.” Ares wore a big smile while he spoke. I felt happy for both him and Sweetie.
“Sweetie would be just as happy with a quiet life. As long as she has people around her she cares about, she is fine.” I was fairly sure Ares didn’t come here for small talk.
It hit me then. Does he ever really get to enjoy small talk with a friend? He is Ares. There are very few who would be willing to sit and talk to him at all. My mind grew angry at the thought. He was one of the best individuals, vampire or human, I’d ever met.
“I’ve never asked, where were you originally from?” I didn’t think he would mind that question.
“A little north of London. The village where I grew up isn’t even there now. It got destroyed in some battle and they never rebuilt it. What makes you ask?” Ares was smiling so I knew it wasn’t a problem.
“Just curiosity. North of London and the outskirts of Kansas City. Part of me is still wondering over the gifting. I think Ghost knows the answer but refuses to tell me. He tries to laugh it off and make jokes about it.”
“For someone who is being threatened by Cronus, you sure seem to be relaxed. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to see you aren’t pulling your hair out in frustration. I just know that most people would be.”
“I was driving myself crazy. The frustration kept building. Then I started feeling sorry for myself. That’s just not my way. I take things as they come, or I try to anyway. I am in love with, and loved by, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. I have wonderful friends and a luxurious lifestyle. I know I’m lucky.” I shrugged as I finished speaking.
“I have a few questions I need to ask you. This might be something you haven’t thought of too much.” Ares sat forward in his chair. “Let’s say you and Cronus fight and you win. What then? Will you go back to being the hammer for the council even though you will be far stronger than any of them?”
The question caught me off guard. I saw a few quick scenarios.
“It is hard to say but I don’t think I would keep working for the council. I know I would still be involved somewhat since Arria would be still be the council leader.” I stopped then. My mind became locked on trying to figure out why Ares asked me this. “I’d need more time before I could give a better answer. What were you hoping to hear?”
“Cronus didn’t want to be involved in the everyday decision making and problems of the vampire world. That is why he faked his death. We’ve seen that being older doesn’t always lead to being wiser. Cheng, Cadoc, Agda, and so many more have proven that point. I’ve wondered if I shouldn’t become more involved.”
“That’s a new thought.”
“Not really. I’ve been thinking it for a couple of centuries now. I knew the mayhem my resurfacing would cause. If not for you, much more attention would be directed toward me. I can see how some of the old ones might be ready for me to join everyday life among our kind. That part is fairly new. You’ve changed their perception of what our gift can mean.”
I listened as Ares spoke. Some new things were hitting home within me.
“Well, we could think things through and find a different angle or something. Either way, I would want to remain with Arria. I can’t see being ordered around by the council too much though. Not in that scenario.” I was confusing myself.
Being with Arria was priority number one. Doing what was right was second. Following the sometimes questionable orders of the council, would no longer be necessary.
“My thoughts have changed over and over. I would have hated one of the most obvious options. Being a kind of judge over the council’s decisions. Making sure they stayed in line. That would make them hate me. It might put a target on my back.”
“In a way, you were put in that situation last year.” I recalled.
“Exactly. You understand what I am about to say better than any other.” Ares hesitated. I knew about what he was going to say. “It isn’t fun being feared and hated. I want the same things others want. I would love to settle down with Sweetie and live a nice mostly ordinary life. I’m just not sure that is possible.”
“I think it is possible. Enough old ones are coming around. That should continue. Whether we like his reasons or not, Cronus is helping to rid us of some of the bad elements of our society. I can’t condone the killing of the innocent ones but those like Gnome and Micah needed to be dealt with sooner or later.” I took a breath. “Whichever way this goes with Cronus, I think you could find a comfortable place now. It may take some time for them to get over their fear though.”
“I have no one to blame but myself for that.” Ares admitted.
“They were bad and needed to die. You did the right thing. I still have to deal with their fear. It is why I’m not allowed to drink from the old ones even if it means I can stop Cronus. Once they got to know you the way I have, they would ease up.”
“I hope you are right.”
My phone rang then. I looked at the number.
“Hey, Ghost. What’s up?”
“Some things aren’t clicking for me right now. Sometimes talking them through helps.” He shocked me with that one.
“Always glad to help. What is giving you problems?”
“I tried to accept everyone else’s explanations but they aren’t working. We still don’t have a good enough answer for the first two free vampires dying the way they did or the search party that died. One more thing, why wouldn’t Cronus dispose of the bodies? He wouldn’t want to risk our exposure. I couldn’t see the answer so I accepted Lorac and Arria’s assumptions. My mind can’t let it go.”
I hadn’t thought about that for some time now. It didn’t occur to me to question why Cronus would have left the bodies there.
“Is this what has been bothering you for the last few days?” I asked.
“It has been bothering me from the start. Lorac kept telling me to accept what we decided before. It doesn’t fit, Titan. It might help if we went back through it.”
“Tell me, maybe I can help.” Ares offered.
“We were going on the assumption Cronus killed the first two to draw me to the Chicago area. It was how I could be blamed for Gnome’s facility. If the search party saw him, he would have killed them to cover his tracks. I have no explanation for his leaving the bodies.” I spoke my thoughts but I could see the holes.
“Cronus wouldn’t leave those bodies. It is that simple.” Ghost declared. “He would have known you would come to Chicago for the two dead vampires even if they were only thought to be missing. He wouldn’t have risked the cops ending up with the corpses.”
“He is right. Cronus would have disposed of them.”
“Could it have been something entirely separate? I know it would be a strange coincidence.” I was guessing now.
I watched as Ares thought things through.
“There is more involved. I know it. I wanted to hear your thoughts. I know you will keep thinking this through. Let me know if anything comes to mind.”
“I will, Ghost.”
He disconnected.
Ares was still deep in thought.
“Well, there went the boredom.” I tried to laugh it off but I knew I would be thinking of little else for some time.
“Why haven’t you been thinking more about this? Why didn’t Ghost tell me his doubts? This brings a lot more into play.” Ares sounded worried.
“Ghost, Lorac, and Arria were the ones doing most of the thinking with those things. I was busy planning how to fix it. Then the Gnome facility was a huge distraction. I was keeping my mind elsewhere. It does surprise me for Ghost to wait so long to bring me into the discussion.” I was becoming more and more bothered by that.
“I think we both need to think for a while. I will contact you if I figure something out.” Ares told me as he stood.
“I will call Sweetie if I have something for you.” I replied.
Ares nodded and pulled the illusion back up. I felt it when he left.
Arria found me as Ares left me. Two hours had passed without my moving from my chair. My mind was still wrapped around Ghost’s doubts.
“Why were we so ready to accept the premise that Cronus killed the eight vampires in Chicago?” I asked Arria. I knew it would be better if there were no lead in.
“It fit enough to explain things. Cronus wanted to lure you there so he could frame you for Gnome’s facility.” Arria looked puzzled. “Why are you asking about that? We need to be concentrating on other things.”
I couldn’t see anything off in the way she replied. I couldn’t believe I was questioning Arria in the first place. She’d shown her love for me repeatedly. I knew I was missing something and would obsess over it until I found it.
“Cronus wouldn’t have left those bodies.” I spoke simply and to the point.
Arria opened her mouth to retort. She closed it when the obvious truth dawned on her. She sat in her chair.
