I don't claim any of this, save for the characters of Monica, Brief, and Binding. And maybe some more to come later.

Mystery Binding

Chapter One: Brie's Briar

"I said no, Fala!" I snapped again, pushing the black-haired vampire away. "I won't do it!"

She pouted at me, her hands reaching up to her hair to fiddle with the blue combs that held her bangs back. "Why not?" she demanded.

I met her gaze easily, my eyes as dark as hers, maybe darker.

"Because breaking people is not what I do," I said evenly, already regretting my outburst. I prided myself on my self control, but somehow, whenever Fala was near me, I couldn't keep my temper under wraps.

"You were so good at it, though," she mewed, coming close enough that I could smell the blood in her breath.

"I don't do that kind of thing anymore."

"You should listen to her, Fala," said Jessica, pushing herself off the wall. She stalked over to us, her hair swinging as she walked.

I had known that Jessica had been standing in the darkness, listening to us argue, but Fala hadn't, once again informing both Jessica and I that Fala didn't deserve three minutes of our attention because we could kill her with a thought.

Fala's eyes flashed in surprise when Jessica came into the light from the bar, and when she saw her I couldn't help but laugh.

Jessica and Fala had been enemies since before Jessica had been turned into a vampire, because Jessica had written things about Fala that had made her seem weak, and there is nothing more fatal to a vampire than weakness. Once known in the vampire community as Ash Night, Jessica had been a human author who dreamed vampire dreams, and had written books about them. After we had found her, Fala had fought her, and Aubrey had changed her, we had discovered that Jessica had been half-vampire, one of Siete's fledgling's daughter.

Speak of the devil, into the bar walked Aubrey, his handsome profile bringing every human woman's eyes in the bar to him, and some of the men's, as well.

For once, we weren't at Las Noches. I didn't frequent the vampire bar anyway, as I really didn't care for the people there. When I felt the need, I headed to Brie's Briar, a little tavern in the middle of Ramsa.

"Hello, Monica," said Aubrey, his eyes flicking to Fala, "How are you?"

"I could be better," I admitted. My own eyes went to the skin above his collar bone. "New tattoo?"

He looked sheepish. "Couldn't help it. Jessica loved the design."

I shook my head. He and Jessica had been acting like newlyweds ever since he had changed her. Still, I had to say that it was a nice design. The tattoo was a black rose with a green/black steam, the dark colors stood out starkly against his pale skin.

"What do you want, Aubrey?" snarled Fala.

(She hated him, too, by the way.)

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yes," she hissed.

"Well, then," he said, pulling Jessica to him and wrapping an arm around her waist, "I wanted to see Jessica."

"You always want to see Jessica," grumbled Fala. She looked at me. "If you won't break him for me…" She let her voice trail off.

"No, I won't," I answered firmly.

Aubrey looked interested. "Won't do what?"

Jessica pulled herself free from his grip so she could see his face while she talked. "Fala fell in love with a new human, Aubrey," she told him, "His name is Brief. So she turned him, expecting him to behave like Moira. However, he is very much not in love with her, and Fala wants to break him down so he will."

"And she came to you?" Aubrey wanted to know.

I sighed. I hadn't wanted this to become common knowledge. In fact, I don't even know how Fala found out. "Before I was changed, I was a…I don't know, a trainer, I guess they're called. I worked with slaves."

"But you were changed when, when Cleopatra was queen?"

"Yeah."

"Women didn't hold positions of power then."

"I did." My tone was final; I didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"So Fala came to you for help in breaking this human-"

"Vampire," interjected Jessica.

"Vampire," Aubrey nodded, "And you're refusing to do it?"

"I thought that had been made quite clear," I muttered.

"Funny," Aubrey remarked, "I wouldn't have pegged you as a trainer." He looked at me closely, trying to read whatever was written in my eyes at the moment.

"You don't know me very well," I said, anger beginning to enter my tone.

Great, just great. Twice in one night, I've almost lost my temper. It has to be time to go.

I slid ten bucks across the bar to John, the bartender. Through the thick curtain of blonde hair that hid the rest of his face, he smiled. It was a heavy tip, since I had only had one drink tonight, and that had been a Coke. However, even though John was human, he was a "friend", and he liked to talk, when he wasn't working.

"Are you leaving?" asked Jessica, watching John scoop up the money, then resume the work of drying glasses. Even though their voices hid our conversation, there weren't that many people in the bar this late.

It was almost two in the morning.

"Yeah."

I turned away from the vampires, and started to make my way to the door, when Fala grabbed my shoulder.

Immediately, my training took over, and I grabbed her wrist and threw her over my shoulder. Caught by surprise, she hit the floor with a gasp, all the breath knocked out of her.

"Don't touch me," I said, staring down at her, all sprawled limbs and rumpled clothes. "Ever. I don't like to be touched."

Jessica was observing me very closely, and I had the feeling that she saw a lot more than I wanted her to.

I walked toward the door, pushing through the thin crowd of humans, toward the street, toward the night, away from Fala and Aubrey and Jessica, and ran straight into the guy I had never thought to ever see again.

Mystery Binding