Disclaimer: They're not mine. Wish they were but I'm just inviting them to play in my world for awhile.
Eliot stood on the flagstone patio and stared out at the garden. "Hello, Nate," he said quietly. "How long have you been standing there?"
"A few minutes." Nate walked up behind him. "I've sent the rest of the team back to Boston. They're going to make some modifications to the offices to accommodate Mercier and the Minister."
"That's probably a good idea. It might increase their life expectancy." Eliot looked up at the sky.
"Eliot." Nate put his hand on Eliot's shoulder.
"You're handling this pretty well. Better than I am."
"It took you almost two days to come out of it. The Minister and Mercier had a lot of time to explain things. I don't know all the details of what's expected of you but I did get a crash course on the care and feeding of vampires."
"So I'm a pet now?" Anger colored Eliot's voice.
"No, Eliot. It's like having a new baby in the house but without having to change diapers. You need to eat every two hours. You can't control your emotions and you don't yet have fine motor control so you'll break things and fall down a lot." Nate smiled. "Fortunately the terrible two's only last a couple of days."
"Daniel said two to three weeks of this."
"On the liquid diet, yea. After that, your coordination'll be back to normal and you'll only need to feed every twelve hours or so. Apparently, the older you get the less blood you need. After the first year or so you'll be down to every couple of weeks."
"Good to know."
"Eliot! Nate! We have a problem." Daniel ran out onto the patio. "Come inside, quickly. Captain Manning and Captain Borger have news from Boston."
Eliot followed Nate and Daniel back into the house to the kitchen where the other two vampires were waiting for them.
"This is Captain Manning," said Daniel pointing to the tall blond vampire. "And this vision of loveliness is Captain Melissa Borger." Daniel took her hand and kissed it lightly.
"You keep tryin' sweetheart, but it's not gonna happen," she replied.
Eliot took in the sight of the little brunette. She looked maybe sixteen or seventeen. "Please forgive me for asking but I'm having trouble gauging... Um... How old are you?" he asked.
"Seven hundred and forty give or take," she replied.
"And you don't look it," said Daniel. Eliot could see he was smitten with the girl.
"Daniel," she said. "Focus. We have problems."
Daniel's expression turned serious. "What kind of problems?"
"Somebody's infiltrated the Boston Nest," said Manning. "Nocturnes used humans to do the dirty work. Our sources tell us, they're on their way here."
"Nocturnes?" asked Eliot.
"They're on the other side of this civil war. Nasty creatures," replied Daniel. "They're not capable of walking in the day light. Strictly underground."
Captain Borger jumped in. "We lost twenty two night walkers, six day walkers, and six human companions including two children. They firebombed the house. To pull off a daytime attack, they would either have to use humans or traitors to do the actual killing."
"How would they get humans to do the killing? How do humans even know about you people?" asked Nate. "And why now?"
"We interact with humans all the time. They just don't know what we are. We have human donors and some humans we turn to replenish those we've lost." said Manning.
"Donors," Eliot mumbled.
"What," said Nate.
"Where's Victoria? Back in the library, the Minister said she was on her way down to see me but where is she?" Eliot turned headed toward the door.
"Eliot?"
"Diana? That girl. The donor. She asked me if she could sleep it off upstairs but when I got out of the shower she was gone."
Manning caught up with him and pulled him back. "Let us go. We'll find her. Stay here with Daniel. He can protect you."
Eliot began to resist but a sound of a struggle on the other side of the door changed his mind. He backed up and stood between Manning and Nate. The door opened and Diana was shoved into the room. She stumbled and caught herself against the center island. Manning grabbed her and held tight as she fought him.
"Calm down, human. You're stuck," he said as he bound her wrists.
Eliot looked back to the door and Victoria where she stood silently and gazed at him with big blue eyes. Her bright red hair was pulled back in a ponytail leaving her bangs grazing her eyelashes. Eliot noticed how tiny she was, maybe five feet tall. She still seemed frail and the simple blue dress she wore accentuated her white skin. As Eliot broke eye contact with her, he realized everyone else in the room had bowed.
"Gentlemen," she said quietly and the officers stood straight again. "And lady. I'm sorry miss."
"It's quite alright your highness." replied Captain Borger.
Victoria turned to Eliot. "My champion." She held her hand out to him and he took it in both of his. It took all of his concentration not to crush the delicate bones. She stepped forward, put her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. Eliot flinched, expecting visions of her past but they didn't come. He put his arms around her and held her close for a moment. When he let her go, Victoria addressed the other vampires.
"This girl is one of your donors, yes?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"I'm afraid she may be up to no good."
Eliot glared at Diana, knowing exactly what he had to do and he wasn't looking forward to it. He walked over to her and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her close and as she struggled he held her fast, cheek to cheek. He closed his eyes and searched her memory. Conversations, talk of death, passed through his mind. He saw a night meeting with a creature that looked almost human. He heard promises of eternal life and he felt no remorse in her. Eliot could hold on no longer and he released her. As he stumbled back, he realized the Nate had a hold of him and was setting him down in a chair.
"She's your traitor," said Eliot as he tried to shake off the vision. He slumped over and rested his forearms on his knees, his hair shielded his eyes from the shocked gaze of Diana who was crumpled on the floor. "She's made a deal with the Nocturnes. At least I think it was a Nocturne. Information in exchange for eternal life." Eliot brushed his hair back and stared at her as she tried to avoid his gaze. "They're on their way here. Forty five minutes maybe an hour tops."
"That's not enough time to get reinforcements," said Manning.
"We have to get the Queen and the Guardian to another shelter," said Daniel.
"That's going to leave the others vulnerable," replied Manning.
"Can we take them with us? I mean what are they doing right now? Can we wake them up?" asked Eliot.
Manning and Daniel both paused.
"How many are in the house?" asked Manning.
"Mercier, the Minister and a dozen Night officers," replied Daniel.
"How many day walkers?"
"Us, the Guardian, and six day officers."
Nate dialed his cell phone. "Hardison, where are you? Yea. How long will it take you to get back here?"
He closed his phone. "Parker and Hardison are a couple miles down the road, they're on their way back. Can you wake up Mercier and the Minister? It'll take a few minutes but I think we can make the van light proof?"
"That could work," replied Manning. "Daniel, check with the day officers. Have them scour the place. Waterston was paranoid. There's got to be a place in here that's both fire and light proof."
"What about the bunker?" asked Eliot.
"What bunker?" asked Borger.
"Through a secret passage in the living room. That's where I found Victoria and where Parker and I had our run in with Waterston."
Manning nodded. "Daniel, go."
Eliot rubbed his chest. "I need to feed again, Nate," he said quietly.
"I'm on it." Nate went to the refrigerator and retrieved a packet of blood.
"Nate, put it back," said Manning. He hauled the girl up off the floor where she had been dropped and pushed her toward Eliot. "We have no reason to keep her around any longer."
Her arms were still bound as Eliot caught her and bared her neck.
"You can't do this," she said. "I'm innocent."
"No, You're not. Innocent people died in that house. Children died in that house. You had a hand in that, and worse, you felt no remorse," replied Eliot.
"I'm sorry," she pleaded.
"Are you apologizing to me or to God?" Eliot growled. "You wanted eternal life. I suggest you make your peace with God now."
"Eliot, what are you doing?" asked Nate, his voice shaking.
"Nate, this has to be done," said Manning. "He knows it. Our law demands it. We get no justice in human courts."
"Take him out of here," said Eliot. "I don't want him to see this."
Borger grabbed Nate by the arm. "Really, sir. You don't want to see this," she whispered. "Please come with me. We need your help elsewhere."
Eliot listened to their footsteps as they left and when they had gone pulled Diana closer to him. He popped his fangs, bit into her and drank until her heart stopped beating. When he had finished, he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and dropped the girl to the floor.
"Your first kill," said Manning.
"No. No, it's not." Eliot's fangs receded.
"It had to be done. You understand that."
"I never killed anyone because I wanted to. I take no satisfaction in this."
"You're a predator, Eliot. Like it or not. You'll hunt like the rest of us."
Eliot stared down at the limp, white body at his feet. "As long as I don't have to like it."
"Go, I'll deal with the body."