A day after he'd put his offer on the table, Mir appeared to Ingrid. She was busy when he turned up, draining one of the Count's more precious vintages into an empty bottle of soy blood. When she saw him she smirked, raised an eyebrow and dared him to comment on her misdeed.
Instead he drummed his fingers on the wall. "Do you want to join the council?"
Her answer was without hesitation. "Yes." She'd made her choice.
"Then come with me."
Mir released Ingrid's arm and an overgrown courtyard rippled into focus.
She realised she recognised the place. An old electrical station, complete with an empty warehouse contained by fields and farmland. The perfect place for clandestine meetings, the place you didn't stumble up by accident.
She and Jonno had met here. Her words from a mere month echoed in her mind, threats, insults and bargains all in an attempt to convince the slayer that taking Vlad's life was a good plan. A burst of panic and numbness gripped her. Did he know? Was this a game to make her pay? Was this the end of her?
Silently she trailed after Mir into the factory.
"You brought Ingrid?!" For the first time Ingrid was glad to hear the voice of Jonno Van Helsing. He was sat at a table in the centre of the room with two other slayers, an older man who had steely grey eyes, and a young dark skinned woman with springy hair and a genuine smile.
Phaelyss was sat alone at a table with two empty seats, one for Mir and Ingrid. Though he looked perfectly calm, Ingrid recognised the subtle twitches of a pissed-off vampire. How long had he been kept waiting?
Long enough for the slayers to get uncomfortable apparently because the moment Ingrid's behind touched the chair the oldest slayer started talking. "This might class as a meeting under "parley" but if a single one of you thinks about feeding yourself we will be forced to respond, with ruthless efficiency."
Mir nodded. "Likewise." He didn't bother to seat himself but moved the centre of the room. "Now, as to why we are all here. Before any shots fly I would like to point out: we are here to discuss the future revamp of the treaty, not to fight and not to argue our personal histories."
"That's fine and all," Jonoo looked quite pained as he spoke. "But why did you bring Ingrid?"
"Considering her role in the collapse of the first treaty I thought her support would help to cement a new one." Her brother shot and investigative look back at Ingrid. She was unable to read him but she understood well enough what he wanted. If she supported the treaty and 'had his back' then he would give her a place on the council.
Or that was what she hoped.
So she smiled as politely as she could manage and settled into her chair.
"I hope your brother knows what he's playing at..." Phaelyss hissed across the table.
She hoped so, she sincerely hoped so.
"The most important thing we need to consider about this treaty is what we want from it. The vampires want to live and feed without fear of death." Three pairs of vampire eyes looked towards the slayers. "Slayers want to prevent a loss of human life." He took a deep breath in. "These aren't mutually exclusive events!"
Vladimir Dracula didn't seem so bad, Onika thought. Despite his dubious nature and family history he did truly seem like the man Jonno suspected he was. She was no Olivia but she saw what she believed was true sincerity in the vampire. He started simple: punishments for vampiric rule breakers, punishment for rogue slayers, he even managed to put up with the increasingly threatening and volatile remarks from Evans, the general-tier slayer with them.
Onika was convinced that the violent fogey wanted the treaty to fail even if it meant convincing the Grand High Vampire to devour them there and then.
"This will be hard for slayer's to accept but it's an unfortunate, necessary evil for the sake of vampire cooperation." Mir stood before their table, palm open in a gesture of peace, his rough cadence shaping his words into diplomatic opportunity. Onika glanced slyly across at Jonno and Evans, both of whom were watching the vampire with utmost attention. Well almost, Evans was texting on his phone with one hand. "Vampires have to attack breathers."
"Sure about that?" The general slipped his smartphone into a pocket on his jacket. "The last treaty had the vampires going dry." He narrowed his eyes. "This sounds like an attempt to swindle us into allowing you free -reign."
"The last treaty struggled when cutting the vampire community off from blood." His expression remained perfectly diplomatic but Onika imagined the vampire must have found Evans irritating by now. She had certainly found his constant interruptions irksome. "The lack of substance demanded more bloodshed in other countries and we even had to take donations from slayers." The vampire's eyes glinted with the barest hint of threat. "Unless you want to do that again,"
Evans opened his mouth, possibly to offer a constructive, helpful response but most likely to start an argument so Onika butted in first. "Shut up you old coot." Conveniently he did, though Onika knew she would most likely suffer a court-martial later. She turned her eyes back to the vampire. "Keep talking."
"It's a difficult concept for people who have only seen sightless murder from vampires but the need to hunt and feed is a necessary..."
Onika already knew where this was going and tuned out. Vampires had to be allowed to attack breathers because they would regardless of a treaty or not. A no-kill order was the best way to maintain order, reduce loss of life and appease both factions. She certainly would never be comfortable with it but she knew that vampires had to be allowed hunt because they wouldn't stop for anything.
Mir managed to put the idea forward well, despite his grisly voice and violent history with the guilt he managed to present a balanced argument considering many of the flaws with the last treaty and new troubles that might arise. When Onika checked on Jonno he looked content as well.
Finally Mir brought his speech to an end. "I hope this can begin a treaty between our two races that is beneficial for both parties." He stepped back and waited for a response.
"This won't be the same treaty we committed to a year ago." Jonno swallowed and got to his feet. "But I think it is a treaty I'd be happy to stand with." He reached into his pocket and drew out a glittering knife. A stream of red erupted across his palm where he scraped the knife.
He offered it to Mir and the vampire took the knife, cutting a similar line into his palm.
Jonno glanced back at her and she nodded encouragingly. "Blood is something that vampires understand better than anything, so I think we should seal this in blood." He raised a shaky hand, droplets of red already splashing onto the floor below.
The vampire nodded and took the extended hand gripping tightly. Slayer and vampire blood mingled and both ambassadors released their grip.
Jonno's face broke into a nervous grin. "This treaty is going to work."
"Definitely." Both leaders retreated into their chairs and turned to their respective parties.
Jonno staunched the bleeding clumsily with his sleeve. "So… can I have some sort of bandage for this? I didn't actually mean to cut that deep."
Mir halted at the vestiges of the small compound, back to the fenced-in generators, eyes to the surrounding fields. There was nothing to see. Only a few cows and some sheep. No, her brother, he was mulling in something. Jonno had gone, taking his slayers with him and Phaelyss had left with only a grunt and a stiff nod.
But Jonno hadn't left without speaking to him and Ingrid didn't need bat hearing to miss how the slayer mouthed Erin to Mir.
She stood herself next to him, her cape flapping behind her and slowly said, "she wants you dead."
His face was impassive but his response strained. "I know." The only motion within a mile radius of them was the wind, dragging at their clothes and begging for their attention. "I don't know what to do with her."
He turned to face her and she was unsettled by the intensity of his eyes. His emotion was too much for a vampire like her, with a heart as void as the desert, to handle.
"She approached you because she wants to kill me." He resumed his attention on the fields. "But she doesn't think she can do it alone."
"Can she?"
Mir only looked at her. "I don't intend to let her." His eyes closed and he sighed, a righteous sigh of regret and resignation. It impressed her that her brother had grown beyond the idealist who wouldn't do what was necessary. She had no doubt that Mir was capable of ending Erin. "Or you."
Suddenly she was under the microscope, and she didn't like it. "Can't trust me? Excuse me but I did agree to your crazy scheme of peace."
"I'm not an idiot, Ingrid." Despite his even tone her brother appeared rather sad. His face was lined with tired, the kind of tired that came from strain, stress and struggle. "I wouldn't have believed you six months ago either. I know what I am. I know that you are only in this for the power."
He glanced at her. "I know that I can't trust anyone." The wind flooded them as he twisted away, ruffling his scruffy hair and sending locks of ebony back into Ingrid's face – she could've turned away and out of the wind but her brother was so intriguing that she tolerated it.
So aware of what he was and what he was meant to do but so desperate to be something else.
The silence drew out as Ingrid watched his face.
"I can kill her." He said. "She only loved a shadow of Vlad anyway."
Wow. That was just plain depressing. Abruptly Ingrid didn't want to observe her brother. Thinking about love was miserable and brought up memories she wanted to forget. She nudged Mir hard in the shoulder.
"You want to get something warm to drink? Or is that against your treaty?"
The vampire in question frowned but the first signs of positivity breached his face again. "Course not, weren't you listening? Go for it. I'm starving."