Chapter Eighteen:

I never much cared for the sun.

I preferred nice cloudy days, a chance at pelting rain to beat against my face as I walked aimlessly. Dominus said it was because I was always reckless, I liked thunderstorms because lightning was reckless. See, I was never one for direction either, which is why Dominus always said I was his right hand and not the ruler. Because though I could see the future, I could never much plan a solid plan, one that would go off without a hitch. It had made sense once; then again enslaving an entire populous based on racial inferiority had made sense once too. Just look how that ended for those Yankees.

Dominus always told me what I was, and because I had memories of him beside me on a battle field, because I remembered him saving my life, I never questioned his perception of me. Dominus does like to lie just not to his own so I took his word and never questioned it. But if my brother were to be found to be alive; well then Dominus would just have to see how much of a leader I could be; when my own is toyed with.

I was somewhere in the world, on a beach where the sun was placed high in the sky, bright and forlornly just dangling there above my head as if it had nothing better to do but to be careless and leisure. I know what my brother would say if he were with me, he'd say there was no time to sulk around like an infant, that exploration must be saw to first. The thought of exploring the vastness that was the mass of swaying green palm trees and large leafy plant-things made my head spin.

So I stayed in the hot, white sand my hair a tangled; half-pinned half-cascading in mess of red fury. I watched the sun until I saw black then closed my eyes until the white of the sun vanished behind my eyelids. The sting of the rays being the only source of gravity I had left. After a while the constant beating of heat seemed to me to be a mockery, just as the sun mocked me as it slowly sunk down into the blue water creating red ripples across the sky. Everything seemed to mock me here, the white clouds, the yellow sun, the clear blue water, the large leafy plants, everything told me I didn't belong. Screamed leave.

The large blades of leafs that is sewn together could wrap me as a woolen blanket would seem to all mimic each other in there echoed hatred of me, berated me with there slew of verbal assaults against my person: You are disrupting this place with your un-holiness, with your mass of sorrow you shrewd us, suffocate the peace. So I left.

London was a mess of thick grey fog, men with smoking pipes, women in tightly constricted waistbands and the soft warning of misting rain. I breathed in the smell of London's fog, it's warning of a storm soaking into my bones relaxing the rushing nerves and seemingly bursting blood cells inside of me. It been God knew how long since I'd been gone, nights and days on that beach began to burn together into a string of eyelash blinks and self-pathetic-pity.

I still had yet to form a plan. The bloody marvelous ruler I am. Watch out for Tess or the sheer brilliancy of her plan formation will send you quivering like mice.

It briefly occurred to me to go back to Dominus, to demand my brothers return, to torture it out of him, but one does not single-handedly torture and successfully capture the ruler of the Maji's now do they.

I was left to the plan of walking aimlessly hoping a sudden storm would befall me, and fall it did. Sheets and sheets of heavy rain fell on hunched in shoulder blades, the sound of my ticking feet across the cobblestones never once faltered in my pursuit of nothingness. Soon it grew tiresome, the sun stretched into red which faded to pink giving way to the black of twilight where London's onslaught of lights changed the entire air of the city, pulsing it with the fever and grace of a dying thunderstorm.

A group of men bustled out of a tavern, cheeks flushed and eyes alit with alcohol. I pushed the oak door open and held my chin high as I took a seat next to a startled aristocrat, my eyes slid over to the corner of the dust damp tavern where I saw the most interesting thing. A familiar face, the young handsome vampire had the palest skin I've seen in years and the straightest jaw-line you could image.

I crossed the creaking floorboards fluidly, shoulders back, eyes glinting, and fingers twitching "Charles." His black eyes slid to acknowledge the women's voice and blinked when they took in my appearance. The two women on either side of the vampire seemed unhappy when I dragged a rather abnormally and unnecessarily loud screeching chair to their table. Charles gave a subtle flinch at the noise and I smiled folding myself into the chair gracefully. "Fancy finding you here."

The frown lining his ancient face nearly made me grin "Fancy." His shock was thinly hidden behind his amusement. "Glad to see the rumors have been put to rest." His lips quirked, pale long piano playing fingers grasped my hand softly to kiss the still damp knuckles. "Still enjoy walking in the rain." Another twitch of a smile.

"I need you to find a man for me." I placed my elbow on the shabby table neatly resting my chin on top of the kissed knuckles.

His shock was not betrayed by the inward folding of his lips but I could feel it coursing through him. "I have taken a queen you know." The simple way he could brush off my request made it clear how much things have changed.

"Charles." If he flinched it was only a tick of a movement, he'd grown since our last encounter. Granted that encounter had nearly led to our deaths two thousand years ago.

"Your favors have not a valor to them anymore my dearest." My head tipped back as that tinkling laugh escaped my throat. His fingers trailed lightly up my arm to my jaw line where they stilled for a brief moment then dropped like dead weight to the cut crystal wine glass on the table. His old eyes were black, bottomless and intensely set on comprehending my sudden appearance.

"Loyalties to old relics my dear." I paused, tilted his glass to my nose smelling the pungent odor of fresh blood, and kept his eyes locked with mine as I let the crystal slip out of my fingers and onto the dirty floor. This time at the sound of shattering glass Charles did flinch and when he flinched I took the opportune moment to clutch the back of his neck bringing his young handsome face inches away from mine. "Never lose their valor."