Guys, I'm back. Sorry for the wait but TRUST ME I have not stopped thinking about this story for a single day. Heads up, this chapter is going to cover a lot. Like, there's going to be SO MUCH to unpack here.
Also. The first segment of this is strictly dialogue between Kurda and one other person. The other person's lines are bolded. Then the last segment is another dialogue-only piece between two other people - I won't spoil it but it'll become apparent almost immediately. Every time I tried to add dialogue tags I just hated them. And then I decided I liked how it came across without any additional description. Personally I really like limiting dialogue tags when in a situation where two people are talking, and it's obvious who's saying what. It plays really nicely with the fact that I'm a lazy fucking writer. But hey, you're here anyway.
Also, I've gone back and combined chapters 6/7, so this update would have been chapter 22 if not for that. Just FYI in case you're scratching your head.
Chapter 21: Making Wishes In The Dark
Song: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy, because I've been wanting to pair this song to a CDF thing (a Kurda thing specifically) for YEARS.
Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart
My songs know what you did in the dark
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION:
"Young Kurda Smahlt... you know, I've witnessed more mortal beings living more lifetimes than you can fathom. Don't let it go to your head, but I must say I've found yours more than a little intriguing."
"It's an honour to stand in your presence. I never imagined I'd be here."
"Were you seeking me out?"
"I don't know what I was looking for. All I knew was that I couldn't stay where I was."
"You may not have known you'd end up here, but I did. I've been waiting for you."
"If you don't mind me asking... why? Can you offer me guidance? There has to be a way I can help end this war."
"I don't take sides. I don't see vampires or vampaneze. I simply see weary warriors fighting for their lives in a futile game they don't even know is rigged against them."
"But what do I do about it?!"
"You have a unique role in all of this, Kurda. I don't think you even know how unique you are."
"That's not exactly new. I've never fit in."
"No, you didn't. But to deem you a mere misfit does you no justice. You may be a vampire, but you've put your career, your honour, and your very life on the line for the good of the vampaneze clan countless times over the decades, with no personal gain for yourself. You stand up for the vampaneze as you do for your own brethren. You've won the respect of both clans - in that regard, you have pieces of both in you. Despite your blood status. And for that, you've earned my respect."
"An honour most high. Thank you."
"I am not in the business of flattery. It is simply the truth. The fact that you said you are looking to end the war, rather than win it... this tells me everything I need to know about where your heart lies."
"But what am I supposed to do? How do I end the war?"
"You save them, Kurda."
"The vampires? The vampaneze? Who?"
"All of them."
"What about the designated Hunters? Our clan was under the impression it was all in the hands of Darren Shan, Larten Crepsley, and Vancha March. What about the prophecy?"
"When that prophecy was made, your influence was not factored in. You were considered dead in the eyes of the vampire clan. That isn't so anymore. Destiny is far more complex than you can comprehend; nothing is finite."
"What is my role in all this? Am I to be the one who slays the Vampaneze Lord?"
"It's not that simple. But since when have you been interested in slaying anyone or anything? Violence has always repulsed you -"
"This war repulses me! The senseless death repulses me! We're losing vampires and vampaneze every single day because of my failure! THAT repulses me!"
"Ah. You blame yourself for all of this."
"How could I not?"
"Your driving force has always been striking a true peaceful unity between the clans, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Listen closely now, Kurda. The past year has been a time of reckoning for the noble vampaneze clan, quite possibly more so than for the vampires. What I am about to tell you is a secret so closely guarded, it is not even whispered about amongst either clan. You are about to become the first vampire to learn this."
"Wait... is your intention to help me? I didn't think that was your way-"
"My intention is to give you a chance to clear a path to a new figure for both clans. If you choose to leave my cave and go back to the small, sheltered life you carved for yourself in exile, then it will be as if you were never here at all."
"I'd rather die than go back to exile. I've sat on the sidelines for seven years - never again."
"You may not be a warrior, but you certainly have the spirit of one. Here it is: a small group of vampaneze have broken off from the clan, with the intention to quietly distance themselves the Vampaneze Lord -"
"Impossible! They're honour-bound to follow him! Til the death, if he requires it. That can't be right."
"Let me finish, Smahlt. Your shock is valid; this type of revolt is unprecedented within the vampaneze clan. But they have been pushed to their limits. They feel the whims of the Vampaneze Lord go against their honour system, and they believe this so strongly they have forsaken the prophecy. They'd rather suffer any consequences the universe can possibly throw at them than submit to his rule. You can sit there with a shocked look on your face, but this group is not the first in history to do so."
"Are you referring to the original group that broke off all those centuries ago, the first ones to refuse to live by the laws of the Vampire Princes?"
"You're a clever boy, Kurda. I'd give you a gold star if I had one. Yes, their goal is to follow in the footsteps of their noble forefathers who refused to be beholden to anyone but themselves. They call themselves the Last Stand. They have no official leader, but at the core of the Last Stand there is a vampaneze by the name of Shane Astor, who is highly regarded by his clan... and his Lord. If you choose to intervene, he's your key."
"I remember that name from negotiations years ago. What do they need me for?"
"Because they need a leader. You lead the vampaneze against your own once, during your first crack at an investiture. A group of vampaneze who, like you, believed the future could be better and risked their lives to fight for that belief. Now you must lead the vampaneze once again. This time, against themselves. Against their lord."
"...Because that worked so well for me last time?! Forty vampaneze were slaughtered in the tunnels of Vampire Mountain. Almost a dozen of my own people killed there too. And I lost everything."
"Don't be so melodramatic. From the first moment your exile began, you knew your work wasn't done. You've never once laboured under the delusion that your path would be easy. And you've always known you had a bigger part to play."
"That's not true. I thought it was over for me. I was exiled by order of the Princes. It was clear-cut. I'm only here because my daughter was attacked under the ordered of the Vampaneze Lord, with the intention to be used against Mika. Against the clan."
"Ah... your daughter. Quite the journey that little one has been on."
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because you still think it was an accident that you and Mika found her that night when she was a defenceless orphan. And that she was the only human left alive in that house."
"Of course it was an accident. The vampaneze that killed her family was mad. We'd been tracking him for ages and we were too late. It was a tragic accident."
"And was it an accident that, out of all the vampires in the clan, you and Mika happened to be the ones to find her, that you both happened to be on the same mission... despite your history of working poorly together?"
"I... I never..."
"I'm waiting, Kurda."
"You're answering my questions with more questions! This conversation is going in circles! Say what you mean!"
"I mean my father picks his game pieces... and I pick mine. The fate of the vampire clan comes down to the bloodlines of the only two vampires who were alive to see both the first war and this one. Seba Nile - who's blood runs in Darren Shan's veins, via Larten Crepsley. Larten's been an object of fascination for my father for centuries. Personally, I find his unpredictable-ness makes him rather predictable. I prefer a true dark horse."
"Why are you -"
"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to interrupt?"
"My sincerest apologies."
"I'm sure you've figured out the other vampire I'm referring to was Paris Skyle. He may have left this world behind but his blood lives on in all remaining Princes - including Mika. The same Mika with whom you rescued and raised Grace. I trust you're doing the math in your head as we go?"
"No! That can't be right! Gracie hasn't been blooded. She's not a vampire. She's not Darren! Mika's not Larten! It's nothing like -"
"Vampire or human, she is the reason my father's original prophecy was derailed even as Darren unknowingly went about fulfilling it. Had you and Mika not found her, you'd both be dead right now. You want her to distance herself from the clan, but she's already part of it. Blooded or not."
"I don't understand any of this. Please! Tell me what this means for her."
"It doesn't have to mean anything FOR her. She's not the 'why'. She's the 'how'. If your plan succeeded in a timeline without her, you would have killed Mika and then been executed once the clans united. Had your plan failed in the same timeline, you'd have been executed in Vampire Mountain. And Mika, of course, would have fallen in the war - along with every other vampire. When you saved her, you unknowingly saved yourselves."
"I figured out that much on my own. What are you implying? What was your role in this?"
"I predicted what my father didn't. It isn't because you and Mika loved *each other*, no. Nothing that whimsical. I know you both would have put your individual perceptions of cosmic duty above your personal feelings, had it just been the two of you. You'd have killed him for the greater good. And on the other side of that coin, he'd have killed you for your treachery to fulfill his duty to the clan."
"...But both of those options were off the table as soon as Gracie entered the equation."
"You've always been a great thinker. It's simple, really. One could almost call it a loophole. Mika loved her more than he honoured your laws. And you loved her more than you feared the prophecy. And that, Kurda... that is what my father didn't see coming."
"I'm going to throw up."
"Please, not on my frogs."
"To hell with your frogs! What are you trying to pull?! My daughter isn't part of this war! She's an innocent human! She didn't choose any of this! You can fuck with me, and you can even fuck with Mika, but if you or your father come anywhere near her, I'll -"
"Shout at me and my frogs some more, Kurda Smahlt. Go ahead, try it. See what happens."
"I apologize for losing my temper, but I stand by every word I said. My daughter has no place -"
"No place? Who do you think made her?"
"What?"
"You heard me. Where do you think she came from? Don't tell me you've never considered how convenient it was, that the orphan you plucked from certain death in the very middle of nowhere turned out to be a precise blend of both you and Mika, as if she was woven from your very DNA? That she has his mind, or your heart?"
"What... what are you -"
"Come on, Kurda. She even looks like you. And you're welcome, by the way. I knew she'd take on more of Mika's personality as she grew up, so at least I gave her your captivating eyes. Not that his steely smoulder isn't lovely, but I've always admired your baby blues."
"You... You gave her... No. Impossible! I don't understand... you're her mother?"
"No. I have never birthed a child and I may never. Time will tell. Your daughter is not of me, I did not create her in a biological sense. I simply placed her carefully in your path."
"With all due respect, that clarifies absolutely nothing for me! Please -"
"We're finished with that topic for today. But I'll grant you a word of caution, if you choose to heed it. If you make the decision to intervene using the information I've revealed to you, you must do so as an equal agent of both the vampaneze and the vampires. Shane is your counterpart among the vampaneze - you can work with him if he'll let you, but you yourself cannot tip off any other vampaneze or vampire of what I've told you. If you would prioritize one clan over the other, it would be best for you to stay out of the way entirely and let the war take its course without you. But if you still believe in peace as you did when you betrayed your clan to save them... it's not too late to fulfill your destiny."
"Equality is all I've ever wanted."
"Then go. You've wasted enough time already, Kurda. Find Shane Astor. He won't be eager to work with you, but he's your only chance."
"Where do I find him?"
"He visited me not too long ago, he can't have gone far. Now get out of my cave. You're upsetting my frogs."
"...Thank you for your guidance, noble Lady of the Shades."
Kurda continued east after his convoluted meeting with Evanna. As his mind tore itself apart trying to make sense of the cryptic revelation about Gracie, he threw every last shred of his physical energy into scouring the countryside for Shane Astor. Kurda only ate and rested enough to keep himself functional. He felt like a sentient machine, knowing nothing beyond the instinctual drive to keep fighting until the task was complete. He'd only felt like this one other time in his life - the weeks that followed the revelation of the original prophecy. The torturous mental journey that yielded only one viable option, and cumulated in that final gut-wrenching realization that his destiny was to betray Vampire Mountain. Betray Mika. Betray Gracie.
At least once an hour, he had to stop himself from reaching for Mika by way of their mental link. The effort it took to restrain himself was astronomical, but he knew it wasn't fair to convey that kind of information mentally. It would have to wait til they saw each other in person again. Not to mention Kurda still didn't fully understand what Evanna meant. Although it would have been nice to have someone to discuss it with.
But Kurda also had to factor in that he was legally still in exile. Mika had been reeling from trauma when he asked Kurda to come back to Vampire Mountain - hardly in his right mind. The exile sentence had been a lateral decision amongst the Princes. It had been an unprecedented move, and if it was ever to be reversed or lifted, Kurda knew better than to think a decision like that could come from Mika alone.
Those were the thoughts that rattled around in Kurda's head for hours upon hours, day after day.
It had been seven days after Gracie's attack when Kurda stumbled into the city. At first he had no earthly idea where he was. And normally he had a very strong sense of direction, so for him to reach such disorientation was a testament to his mental exhaustion.
Something about this city looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it. An unsettling sense of déjà-vu washed over him as he walked. His feet moved on autopilot until he found himself on a quiet street full of dilapidated or completely abandoned buildings. His mind spun (even more than it already had been) as he tried to pinpoint why this particular place was triggering such an increasingly visceral reaction in his subconscious. The further he walked, the more his body tensed. He paused in front of the biggest building on the street and looked up at it. It was a grungy, ugly yellow brick building that clearly hadn't been used in years. It was coated in layers of graffiti and there was a ragged "for sale" sign on the window that had clearly been ignored for a long time. Most of the windows looked like they'd had rocks chucked through them, jagged shards of glass framed each one. A cold testament to how little of care this building was receiving - if it had ever been cared for at all.
And suddenly the realization crashed into Kurda like a freight train and he audibly gasped. He'd been here before.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO:
"This. Is. Terrible." Kurda gasped. You'd think he was looking at a battlefield, not into the window of an orphanage. He insisted on doing some recon before they dropped their precious package off, so here they were clinging to an ugly yellow wall 20 feet off the ground, shamelessly spying.
"It's rather dismal, isn't it?" Mika muttered. They were looking down into what appeared to be a play room, but there wasn't much play occurring. There were at least 50 kids, some looked to be in their teens. There were a few playpens along the walls, holding varying numbers of boys and girls around Grace's age. There weren't many toys or books, and the few they had looked grubby and outdated by at least a few decades. All of the children were poorly-dressed and had a suspiciously hungry look about them. Few were smiling. Even more depressed looked the handful of caretakers who drifted aimlessly around the room. The prince and the general exchanged a glance and released their grip on the wall, dropping silently into the snow. Grace let out a peal of laughter, an indication that she'd quite enjoyed the brief ride from her secure spot in Kurda's hood. And in that moment something passed between the two vampires, an unlikely combination of sympathy and responsibility.
"We aren't leaving her here." They spoke at the same time, in perfect synchronization.
PRESENT DAY:
This was the place where, for the first time, Mika and Kurda agreed on something. And it ended up changing the course of their lives. And ultimately taking the destiny of both clans right along with it.
It wasn't an accident when they took Gracie home, and it wasn't an accident that he'd stumbled back here. Now, of all times.
Destiny's one bad bitch.
Standing alone in the street at 5am, surrounded by litter and broken glass, Kurda dropped to his knees and sobbed until the rising sun threatened to sear his skin. He didn't have time to return to the wilderness before the sun rose any further, but it didn't matter. There was only one place he could imagine going next.
Before checking out the orphanage back then, Mika and Kurda had escaped the rising sun in a junky but cozy motel a few blocks away. Twenty-five years later, it looked exactly the same. Kurda couldn't be certain, but he thought the woman at the desk might've even been the same one who'd been on duty back then. He couldn't remember her name, but he remembered catching her in his arms after Mika deftly rendered her unconscious with a quick exhale. Seeing as Kurda had no money this time around, that was the approach he had to take. After gently laying the receptionist on the floor, Kurda checked himself in. She'd wake up a few hours later and think she fainted or something. He scanned the wall behind the desk on which an assortment of room keys were hung. And he exhaled a weak sob of laughter when he saw room 13 was currently vacant. The room where it all started.
As he walked in, he felt a rush of nostalgia on top of the already overpowering emotions. He couldn't believe he was in this city again, let alone this room.
Last time he stood here, he had no way of knowing that this was the first night of his new normal. It started as just another mission, a business trip with his notoriously difficult boss. And suddenly he found himself in this run-down room with aforementioned boss, and also an entire baby which neither of them were equipped to handle.
But gods, did they try. Mika fed Gracie Doritos from the vending machine while Kurda cringed and went across the street to steal some proper clothes and food. He wasn't proud of the stealing, but it wasn't difficult to justify. The little girl needed those items more than Wal-Mart needed another fifty bucks. He had more fun than he cared to admit, picking out some cute outfits before flitting out. He'd never forget the sight he walked in on when he got back. In his absence, Gracie had required a diaper change, which Mika had attempted to facilitate. His intentions were pure, but his execution was disastrous. He failed so spectacularly that he and Gracie both required full-body bubble baths. So when Kurda finally came back with the supplies, there they were. Mika, shellshocked and humbled, in the bath tub. Gracie, amused and delighted, in the sink. Both buried in soap bubbles up to their eyeballs.
If there was one moment throughout the past two and a half decades Kurda wished he could've had a photo, that would be it.
Kurda lay on the bed for almost an hour, eyes closed. Just breathing in the memories. Once again he almost reached out to Mika through their mental link, but stopped himself for two reasons. One: at this moment, Mika would be fully consumed by taking care of Gracie in the wake of last week's disaster. He didn't need this bittersweet reminder right now. Two: it was another thing Kurda was determined to tell him in person someday.
Instead, he turned on the TV. He knew he needed sleep, but first he needed to unwind. It never hurt to see what was going on in the human news.
It ended up changing everything.
One second, Kurda was lazily flipping through channels, remembering the way Mika silently cringed as Gracie watched The Wiggles. The next second, the screen was overtaken by a face he never thought he'd see again. Like a ghost from another life. And his heart dropped into his stomach.
Darren looked so much older now - clearly he'd reached the other side of vampiric puberty. But it wasn't just his physical features. He looked terrified and lost. Police on either side of him. Before Kurda even paused to wonder what the fuck Darren was doing on national television, he felt his heart break at the fear in the young man's eyes. With a shaking, sweating hand, Kurda hammered on the volume up button.
"- might look harmless, but police are urging the public not to be taken in by his appearance. Darren Shan - or Darren Horston, as he is also known - is a teenager, but he consorts with brutal killers, and may be a killer himself."
Then a photo of Harkat joined Darren on the screen, followed in quick succession by disturbingly accurate drawings of Larten and Vancha.
"To repeat our incredible breaking story," said the newsreader. "Four alleged members of the gang of killers known as the Vampires were cornered by the police this morning. One, Vancha March -" the lines around the drawing of Vancha flashed "- escaped, taking Chief Inspector Alice Burgess hostage. The other three were arrested and detained for questioning, but made a violent break for freedom less than twenty minutes ago, killing or seriously wounding an unspecified number of officers and nurses. They are considered armed and exceedingly dangerous. If spotted, they should not be approached. Instead, call one of the following numbers -"
Kurda wrote down everything. The name of the city, the numbers, the names, every last detail. Waiting for the sun to set was torture, but he had to stay in this room til then.
But as soon as he had the safety of night on his side, he left and didn't look back.
Where there'd been a major scuffle involving the Hunters, there'd be the Vampaneze Lord.
And where there was the Vampaneze Lord, there might, if he was lucky, be Shane Astor.
I'm in the de-details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you off the cage
I'm a young lover's rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN
Mika could tell when Gracie was finished reading Kurda's letter, because her eyes stopped moving. They remained fixed on the page, held by one trembling hand while the other covered her mouth in shock. There were silent tears slipping down both of her cheeks. Mika kept quiet; not wanting to prompt her for a response before she was ready to give one.
As much of a control freak as Mika was in his day-to-day life, that part of him had never extended to Gracie. It used to drive Kurda crazy, how Mika could be so assertive, almost aggressive, in his role within the clan, then pull a complete 180 and take such a hands-off approach to parenting. Not that he wanted Mika to boss her around like he did the clan, but Mika's reluctance to use any sort of discipline resulted in a bit of friction between him and Kurda in the early years. Kurda couldn't fathom why Mika seemed unable to strike a balance between the two extremes. Or why he - the pacifist - kept getting suckered into playing Bad Cop.
"I'm not asking you be mean to her! But would it kill you to make her clean up her toys for once?" Mika vividly remembered a frustrated Kurda chastising him one night, back when Gracie was still small. "Since when can't you take charge of a situation? What's the problem here?"
Mika knew exactly what the problem was. It made sense in his head, it was just hard to explain out loud. He was a career warrior turned authoritarian ruler. But there was a dark side to that hard-earned glory: the inherent violence and the autocratic dominance that went hand-in-hand with Mika's chosen place in the world. He never had trouble accepting that for himself. For better or worse, it was the vampire way.
Then this fragile, defenceless orphan appeared in his life and it wasn't enough for him to simply dilute the controlling tendencies that were hardwired into his brain, or the disciplinary tactics that were required of a Prince. When the title of "Gracie's Dad" became the other half of his identity, his instinct was to put as much distance between his two roles as he possibly could. Because he couldn't stomach the thought of Gracie seeing him as anything but a safe place, not even for a second.
He knew it was an irrational mindset. He knew he was more than capable of finding a balance where he could gently lay down the law as needed without tarnishing their relationship. Much stupider people than Mika Ver Leth had raised healthy, well-adjusted children, after all. Sometimes he thought he should be firmer - then she'd look up at him with this big blue eyes and any semblance of discipline was chucked unceremoniously the window. It was her world, he was just living in it.
Back in the present, Mika watched Gracie's face intently as she read over Kurda's letter, just as Mika had done less than an hour ago. He could tell by the expressions that flashed across her face what parts she was at. Mika had read the letter three times, and that was all he needed to commit it to memory. Every last word. Every neatly dotted "i" and deftly crossed "t". Mika had tidy handwriting himself, but Kurda's had always been on another level entirely. It could practically pass for professional calligraphy. If his normally steady cartographer's hand had been shaking (and surely it had to be) while it penned those last all-telling words, there was no trace of it on the page.
Eventually, her watery gaze shifted from the letter, and she looked Mika dead in the eye, looking as stunned as the day it happened. He cautiously reached out and gently wiped a tear from her face with his thumb.
"Why didn't he tell you about this once his plan failed?" She croaked out, voice hitching. As she spoke, Mika could tell her guard was still very much up. Even more than his own.
"I don't know." Said Mika quietly. "I've been asking myself that, but I can't say for sure."
"I don't understand how he could hide this for seven years. I laid awake so many nights trying to figure out why he stopped loving us. And I know it wasn't that simple... but that's how it felt."
"Trust me, I did the same. I think he hid it because he knew he'd never be able to come back from what happened." Mika offered slowly. "Whether his plan succeeded or not, he didn't expect to survive. But then he was sentenced to exile. And I think he wanted us to have closure, as if he died."
"That's a really shitty reason." She replied bitterly.
"You're not wrong." Said Mika. "I don't know for sure if that's the case, I'd like to ask him someday. But that's my theory - that he thought it would be easier to move on if we believed he did something unforgivable."
Gracie looked down at the letter again contemplatively. She blinked rapidly, her face darkened by bitterness.
"But you forgave him anyway, didn't you?" She asked. There was a chilly shrewdness in her voice that Mika recognized as his own influence. He sighed.
"Knowing what he was prepared to give up in an effort to unite the clans before it was too late, I feel like I had no choice but to forgive him. At least, for what he did to me." Said Mika, his voice no longer steady as it began shaking just as hers had. "But mostly I struggled with knowing his plan would've ultimately left you alone in the world, if he'd succeeded. That's the part I could never forgive him for."
Mika didn't want to know how many hours of sleep he'd lost coming to that acceptance.
"And now after all of that, we find out he had a failsafe in place the entire time. For both of us." Said Gracie wearily. "Why now? What the fuck are we even supposed to do with that information?" The venom in her voice had disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. Now she just looked as dazed as Mika still felt.
"I don't know." He replied. Truer words had never been spoken. "But I'm open to suggestions."
She was quiet for a minute or two.
"Do you ever feel like just going outside and screaming for a while?" She said at last.
"Constantly." Mika deadpanned. Also a true statement.
"We could try that."
"Lead the way."
My songs know what you did in the dark
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
I'm on fire
BUTTFUCK NOWHERE
"I knew I smelled vampire." Said Shane bluntly as Kurda approached. But he didn't turn around. There was a measured, purposeful calmness in his voice that reminded Kurda of Mika. "Evanna told me to expect company, but she neglected to specify which clan."
"Are you Shane Astor?" Kurda replied guardedly.
"I'd hazard a guess you already know the answer to that." Said Shane. He slowly turned to face Kurda. He was taller than Kurda, built much like Arrow. His face was marred by worry lines and his deep-set eyes had a weariness about them. That alone confirmed what Evanna had implied. This man was exhausted, devastated, and broken inside. And Kurda knew immediately Shane wanted the war to end as much as Kurda did.
"It's good to meet you, Shane." Said Kurda carefully, feeling it was best to take a straightforward approach. "My name is -"
"Kurda Smahlt. I wasn't born yesterday. She may not have told me who was coming, but any other vampire would have attacked me long before now." Shane retorted. Although not angrily.
"Right you are." Said Kurda lightly. "How do you know who I am?"
"Everyone knows who you are." Shane huffed. "Your notoriety amongst my clan is renowned. And I can only assume it's the same for yours."
"I suppose I did cause a bit of a stir, didn't I?" Kurda answered. He offered a small smile, which Shane did not return. That was alright. This wasn't Kurda's first negotiation. He'd breezed through tricky conversations with both vampires and vampaneze. He'd also dated Mika Ver Leth. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"That's an understatement. Whenever your name is spoken within the vampaneze clan, it's never not attached to a strong opinion."
"I can just imagine." Said Kurda evenly. He punctuated this with a soft sigh. "Almost forty courageous men were slaughtered in the tunnels of Vampire Mountain because of my failure. I'm pleasantly surprised you aren't trying to slit my throat, if we're being honest."
"It's true that the cost of your attempt, and your ultimate failure won't soon be forgotten." Said Shane. And it wasn't lost on Kurda that he was speaking in the same deliberate cadence that Kurda was. "It's also true that there's no small amount of vampaneze AND vampires who'd do a lot worse than slit your throat if they had the opportunity."
"Then I guess I should count myself lucky that you aren't among that group."
"Not so fast, Smahlt. I'm on the fence." Shane replied, his voice suddenly gruff. "There are also more than a few vampaneze who hail you as a hero, who claim your story will serve as an inspiration for generations to come. I may not stand with those who'd kill you on sight, but you're not going to get any of that hero-worship from me."
"You're in luck. Hero-worship has never appealed to me. The only reason I ever aimed for an investiture was to fulfill my goal of uniting the clans." Said Kurda.
"Why have you sought me out?"
Kurda paused, but only for a second. Complete honesty was the only possible course of action here.
"I've spoken with Evanna, the Lady of the Shades." He said simply. "I reached a point where I could no longer sit powerless as both clans tear themselves to pieces. I sought her out. She told me about you and the Last Stand. So here I am. That's the truth."
"You've broken the terms of your exile sentence." Said Shane warily. "By discussing the war with the Lady of the Shades, and by having this conversation with me. If word of your interference gets back to your Princes, they'll have you hunted down and killed. Not that I care, but why the sudden shift?"
Kurda laughed hoarsely.
"The Vampaneze Lord ordered an attack on my adopted human daughter in an effort to manipulate my ex-partner, Sire Mika Ver Leth -"
"I heard whispers about that." Shane interrupted with no small amount of disdain. His nose wrinkled as though the idea of it disgusted him. "I don't think much of Ver Leth, nor do I care for your clan's hierarchical structure. But you and I both know that no true vampaneze would take such a cowardly shot at a Prince. In a bid to access the Stone of Blood, no less. It would be one thing to seek him out and offer an honourable combat challenge. But there was no honour in that plot. It was unprecedented." Then Shane lowered his voice as though the Vampaneze Lord himself might be listening from the treetops. "Not to mention the Vampaneze Lord himself couldn't even be arsed to carry out the slaughter of the human man. He pawned it off on his mercenaries. I was glad to hear it was foiled."
"I was glad to have a hand in foiling it." Kurda responded coolly. "Interestingly enough, I had a similar conversation with one of the mercenaries - shortly before I dispatched him honourably. He was already dying, but he had some intriguing words for me. So I allowed him the noble end he wanted."
"Who was he?"
"Marcel Cage."
Shane closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"You knew him?" Kurda inquired.
"Knew him? I blooded him." Shane muttered. There was a distinct bitterness, evident in his tone and his eyes. "Marcel was as honourable a vampaneze as any. But he was scared. When I asked him to quietly retreat from the clan with me, he refused. He felt he was fulfilling his duty to the Vampaneze Lord by staying. While I felt I was upholding the true values of the vampaneze clan by leaving. I don't know which of us was right. I knew he died; I felt his mental presence fade. Thank you for giving him an honourable death despite his role in your daughter's attack."
"Like I said, he earned it with what he told me." Said Kurda darkly. "Wasn't a lot, but it spoke volumes. It planted the seed in my mind that this might actually be possible. And my conversation with Evanna only reinforced it."
"And what seed did he plant in your mind, Kurda Smahlt?"
"Let's hunt some food and build a fire. I'll tell you."
All the writers keep writing what they write
Somewhere another pretty vein just dies
I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see
That you're the antidote to everything except for me, me
VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN
The premeditated screaming-into-the-void helped. It helped a lot. Next time Mika was confronted with some whiny General with a list of complaints, his response would be, "Have you tried screaming about it? Just go outside and yell for a while. If you're still mad after that, then you can bother me."
"We used to do that during exam week at school. It's like free therapy." Gracie explained with a faint grin once they were all screamed out. They retired to a sheltered outcropping of rock near the base of the mountain, where they sat side-by-side looking up at the stars. It was almost summer, which was still cold as shit for Vampire Mountain, but perfectly fine for a quick outing.
"Surprisingly effective." Mika commented wryly. "I can think of much worse coping mechanisms."
'I've personally utilized much worse coping mechanisms' would have been a more accurate statement. But if Mika knew one thing for sure, it was where to draw the line between things Gracie was allowed to know about him, and the secrets he'd take to the grave.
"It's better with cheap wine or White Claws, but it gets the job done either way. My campus used to have therapy dog hours in the library too, during exams." Gracie reminisced. "That was nice."
"I could probably find some wolves around, if you want. And you know I know where the alcohol is." Mika offered, half-joking.
"Remember when you took me outside to pet the wolves when I was little?" Said Gracie.
"Of course. You were so excited. You loved them, and you weren't scared at all." Said Mika, smiling at the memory.
"Remember how you told me it was our little secret and I couldn't tell Kurda?"
Mika grimaced, but there was a smile in there.
"Because he specifically told me not to let you near the wolves. He thought they'd eat you or give you rabies, or fleas or something. But I knew it would be fine, and I wanted you to be adventurous." Mika explained ruefully. "He found out years later, though. He was so pissed at me."
"Why go behind his back when you outranked him?"
"Ranks and titles had no place in our attempt at giving you a family. As far as you were concerned, Kurda and I had to see each other as equals in order to make it work." Mika explained.
"Bet you loved that." She snorted. Mika exhaled a light breath of laughter as well.
"It was an adjustment, but it was refreshing once I got used to it. Not like Kurda really listened to me in the first place. I think that's what I liked about him. Even long before I liked him... I still respected him."
"Is he ever going to come back to Vampire Mountain?" Gracie inquired. She sounded serious again, and she was looking up at Mika in a way that made it clear the question was not rhetorical. She genuinely wanted to know Mika's take.
Mika felt his stomach drop at the mere notion of one day seeing Kurda walking those halls again. Part of him knew it wouldn't happen in this lifetime. But until a few days ago, he also "knew" Kurda set out to kill him once. So Mika supposed what he *thought* he knew didn't amount to all that much.
"Depends on a lot of things. It would involve rescinding his exile sentence, and that decision would have to be made unanimously by all of the Princes." Mika replied at last. He knew it was an extremely diplomatic answer. Normally he spoke more candidly to his daughter but he didn't know how else to phrase it. "And I don't picture it going to a vote anytime soon, unless there's a major shift in circumstances." He added.
She frowned, looked pensive.
"Like what?"
"He'd have to redeem his honour in the eyes of the clan as a whole, or at least the majority. And I don't know if that's possible. Not every vampire sees the gray area of what he did. Many still call him a traitor."
It was true. Mika remembered every single time over the past seven years where he'd overheard someone throwing dirt on Kurda's name and had to restrain himself from throwing them through a wall. But regardless of motive, Kurda was still technically a traitor for all intents and purposes. And Mika was more than a little conflicted by how hard he had to work to keep his mouth shut when he heard that word thrown around. Makes perfect sense, right?
But apparently it did to Gracie.
"If you and I can forgive him for ruining our lives, then the others can pull the sticks out of their asses and accept that he was trying to take one for the team." She remarked icily. And Mika couldn't help but let out a genuine laugh at her earnest bluntness.
"I know everyone says you're just like me." Mika chuckled. "And they're not wrong. But you have just as much of him, and I see more of it every day."
The jaded skepticism disappeared from her face in an instant. Suddenly she looked like the bewildered kid she'd been before the war started.
"Really?"
"I think I'd know better than anyone." Said Mika, the weary smile having not yet faded from his face. Because the more he thought about it, the truer it was. "Everyone always assumed I was the tough one. I was a warrior. He was a pacifist. Enough said. But Kurda was tough in ways nobody else understood, not even me. Then we adopted you, and I got to really know him - completely against my will, at first."
"I wish I'd been old enough to remember the early years." Said Gracie, grinning. "Bet you two were hilarious."
"So we were told. He used to drive me crazy... but eventually I started looking past all the things that the rest of the clan looked down on. He just had this quiet strength about him. He was unapologetically true to himself. I'd never seen anything like it - until you got older. Now I see it in you. The way you handle everything life throws at you." Said Mika.
"I got my strength from you." Gracie interjected reproachfully. "You're the one who's been there for me since he turned, while still holding the clan together. You're the strongest person I know."
Mika shook his head.
"Not in the same way Kurda is. I love the clan and I'm honoured to have the responsibilities that come with being a Prince. But I won't sit here and tell you that personal success wasn't my main motivation when I started out. Because it was." Mika admitted.
"What do you mean? You're a great Prince, Dad. You might even be my favourite."
"Thanks, honey. I'm a good Prince, but I'm not great. I keep things running smoothly but I never wanted to change the status quo. Kurda, on the other hand... Kurda would've been a great Prince if things had been different. He was never in it for himself. He wanted change, not power. Do you see the difference?"
"I think so."
"And it's no coincidence that you chose to be a lawyer." Mika added. It was all so clear in his head. He felt his eyes dampen a little, but not from pain. "I used to think it was because you were competitive like me. Stop me if I'm wrong, but now I think it was because you wanted to do good things. Like Kurda."
Gracie stayed quiet for a long time.
"Gracie, I want to ask you something." Mika asked at last. "And no matter what you think I want to hear, I need you to be honest."
"Fire away."
"Do you wish we'd just left you at the orphanage?"
Pause. Deep breaths on both sides, turning into fog in the cold night air.
"There's no easy answer to that, Dad."
"I figured as much. That's okay."
A contemplative silence hung between them. As chilly as the air was, the rare lack of wind made for a peaceful ambience. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.
"Last year I worked a case for a girl who was taking legal action against one of her former foster parents." Gracie spoke up at last. "She went through every kind of abuse you can imagine. At multiple different homes, but she could only afford to go after the worst one. We won the case, but no amount of money can change what happened to her. She was my age... she started out as an orphan like me, and her life almost ended before it began. And she's not the only one to live that. Not even close."
Mika had to take a few deep breaths before responding. He'd never been one to flinch at a secondhand sob story about someone he'd never met. But it didn't take a genius to figure out why this one hit him a little too close to home.
"We spent about a day in the city where we almost left you... Kurda and I. Nothing felt right. We both knew it. It was a rough place. Drugs, gangs, human trafficking." Mika recounted slowly. He could still remember the day as clearly as if it was yesterday. All of it - not just the motel shenanigans he held close to his heart all these years later. He remembered the dark shit too. The used needles scattered on the ground, the hateful graffiti on every corner, the acrid stench of the factory that loomed over the entire place. He remembered glancing at Kurda out of the corner of his eye as they looked for the orphanage, seeing him clutch Gracie a little tighter against his chest as they walked.
"We climbed up a brick wall to see what you'd be living with." He added. "It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. The kids looked miserable and the staff looked half-dead. As I said to Paris afterwards, I wouldn't even have left a tarantula in there."
Gracie arched an eyebrow and managed a wry smile, even though she looked more troubled than anything else.
"Coming from you, that says a lot. But there's no point in asking ourselves 'what if'. Maybe I would've ended up with a nice family with a warm house and enough food. Or maybe I would've ended up just like that girl. Or worse."
Mika's throat burned at the very notion of it. He ran his hand through his hair wearily.
"That's what Kurda and I were afraid of." He said. "All we knew for sure was that we had the power to keep you safe. We knew your life with us wouldn't be perfect or normal. And maybe it was the wrong choice, but even back then we couldn't consider the alternative." To speak had become a near-impossible struggle and by the time he got to the end, Mika had to fight to get the words out. "Did we make the wrong choice?"
Gracie sighed and leaned tiredly into his shoulder. She was shivering ever so slightly, so Mika carefully adjusted his thick, fur-lined cloak so it was covering both of them.
"I loved my life with you. You gave me the best of both worlds, and I know it wasn't easy. Yeah, sometimes I wished I grew up in a normal house with a human family." Gracie told him at last. Her voice was small but determined. "But there was no way to guarantee it. So if I had to choose between taking that chance, or knowing I'd be safe with you... I'd choose you every time."
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me, second to nothing. Never forget that." Mika whispered. "But if I had the choice to go back in time and find some magic solution where you had a home who loved you like we did, without you ever having to be involved with the vampire clan..." He felt his voice break just a little bit. "...then I'd choose that."
Gracie looked up sharply so she could fix Mika with a curious and mildly calculating gaze.
"I'm glad I know about the clan. I don't know if I've ever told you that, but it's true." She said seriously. "I know it isn't perfect. I'd even go so far as to say some of the traditions are a little fucked up, if we're being honest."
"Fair enough." said Mika.
"But I don't want to live in a world where I don't know about this place. And even though I found a place in the human world where I felt like I belonged, even at the best of times I still didn't feel the connection I feel when I'm here. And I know the idea of me joining the clan scares you. But the idea of going through all of this, just to maybe have a "normal" life and a "normal" job in some city again, when I know there's so much more to the world? That scares me."
Mika took a deep breath, and it shuddered on its way out.
"I understand that. Honestly, I do." He told her. "You think I don't want to have you in my life for hundreds of years, instead of six or seven decades?"
Gracie exhaled in frustration, her eyes gleaming with sudden irritation. And when she spoke again, her voice was strained.
"So then what's the problem? When Kurda used to talk about how he was completely against me joining the clan... it felt like he didn't love me as much as you did."
"That's not true, Gracie."
"I know it's not. But that's how it felt."
Mika ran his hand through his hair slowly.
"I hear you. I saw it from both sides. But I never wanted to make you feel like that. The war changed so much... but back then, allowing you the option to choose your path was more important than what I personally wanted for you. On the condition -"
"That I waited until I was grown up and knew more about the clan, beyond my sheltered life in the mountain, I know." She chuckled ruefully. "You add the same disclaimer every time. Got it all locked away up here." She tapped her forehead for emphasis.
"I don't want you to forget." Mika shrugged. "Especially now that we've put Darren through all that, it'd look pretty bad on me if I went and gave my own kid a free pass."
"It's okay. I get it. And I don't blame you for sheltering me all my life. You did such a good job, too. I've felt more unsafe at a McDonald's in the suburbs than I ever did in Vampire Mountain." She added, punctuating it with a dark laugh. Then she continued: "But I'm not as naive as you think I am. I see the parts of the clan you love, but I see the dark side too. I see what Kurda believed could be changed for the better."
"I'm more proud of you than you could possibly imagine. You have the best of both of us." Said Mika softly. "You always have."
"And I used to think that was destiny preparing me to be a great lawyer. But maybe I was meant to be a great vampire instead."
Mika fixed his gaze straight ahead and focused intensely on a scraggly pine tree a hundred feet away. Because if he didn't put one million percent of his energy into keeping it together, things would get ugly awfully quickly. He was acutely aware that he spent more time crying in the last seven years than he had in the entire 270 that preceded them. But he was not going to break down in front of his daughter, gods fucking damn it.
He knew Gracie was intuitive enough to pick up on the fact that his silence was indicative of a major internal struggle taking place, and she rested her head on his shoulder like she used to when she was small. And there they sat, in their own little world, where the only sound was the rustling trees and wolves calling to each other in the distance.
"Gracie, if it's what you want, I'm willing to have a real conversation about blooding you. I wasn't ready when you brought it up the other night. I shut down and didn't listen to you. I handled it poorly." Mika forced out at last. And it took all his strength to produce that statement because he knew he was finally opening a door he'd always hoped would stay shut, against all odds.
Gracie sighed, leaned forward and buried her face in her hands for a moment. When she looked back up at Mika, her expression was one of regret. And he knew she knew exactly how much her words had hurt him when they had that fight - not that he felt he deserved any semblance of an apology.
"To be fair, I kind of attacked you." Said Gracie. "You didn't deserve that."
"Nothing you said was wrong." Said Mika firmly. "Some of it was a little harsh, but under the circumstances... it was justified. And I needed to hear it."
"I really have put a lot of thought into all of this. But if you truly don't want to blood me into the clan, I understand. And I won't hold it against you. I can't. For all intents and purposes, you're the only family I have. And I can't lose you too." Said Gracie, her voice shaking slightly again. "But I know this is where I belong. You have to trust me."
Mika took another long, deep breath. Stared back at the tree for a few minutes.
In his mind, he travelled back in time to a quarter-century ago. Specifically, the first week Gracie spent in Vampire Mountain. She spent the majority of her time in Kurda's arms that week. Mika didn't tell Kurda (they wouldn't be on that level for a long time yet) but the truth was that he was scared to death over the fact that suddenly he was responsible for an entire baby. He didn't think his rough, battle-scarred, man-slaying hands had any business holding something that innocent and fragile. So that entire first week, he kept himself purposefully busy. He checked in with Kurda often, making sure Gracie had everything she needed, but keeping a wary distance himself. But the more he thought about it, the more he was certain that Kurda knew exactly why that was. Maybe that was why Kurda purposely rearranged his schedule on the seventh day so Mika had no choice but to spend an entire day on solo baby duty.
Mika remembered how his heart pounded the first time he picked her up while she was crying. The next moment, as he gingerly cradled her against his chest and by some cosmic mixup, she actually stopped crying. Then she snuggled her little face into his body, and simply went to sleep as though all was right in the world. It wasn't the first time Mika had picked her up since their paths crossed, but it was the first time he truly held her.
Twenty-five years later and it still felt like it was yesterday. It was the first of many moments where Mika thought to himself, This is my life now. I can handle it. This is us. And that mantra ended up being his greatest source of comfort in the years that would follow. From the highest highs, to lower lows than he could've imagined, he always had that moment in the back of his mind.
Even now.
Back in the present, he closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath of crisp night air.
This is my life now. I can handle it. This is us.
Exhale.
And then he told her everything about the clan he could think of. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The parts he was proud of, and the parts he wasn't. Every last law, rule, tradition, limitation, and significant historical event. Every biological component and side-effect that came with the transmission of vampiric blood. Everything. She took it all in, asked countless questions, and he didn't spare a single detail when he answered them. By the time he couldn't think of anything else to add, the sun was starting to rise.
"We should head in." Said Gracie, yawning. They'd both been up for over 24 hours now. "Don't want you to get burned."
"It doesn't happen right away." Mika replied, voice hoarse from talking so much. But he smiled and rolled up his sleeve to expose his forearm. "I'll show you. If you're going to deal with these things someday, you might as well see how it works."
A constellation of tears on your lashes
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes
In the end everything collides
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see
BACK IN THE CITY
They called it the Cavern of Retribution. The name was an invention of the Vampaneze Lord himself, apparently.
Talk about a flair for the dramatic.
It was supposed to be impenetrable; a master feat of engineering and intuition.
Shane had limited information about the cavern itself. That was where Kurda came in. After spending a day and a half discussing their options, Shane and Kurda parted ways. Shane flitted around the country to spread the word amongst the other known members of the elusive Last Stand.
They were walking a razor's edge, both of them. If the Vampaneze Lord caught wind of Shane's agenda, he'd be killed along with anyone else he was found to be coordinating with.
But Kurda couldn't afford to worry about his new ally. He memorized the small amount of information Shane provided him, then quickly set to work. In the dead of night he broke into City Hall, and stole as many blueprints for the city's underground tunnel system as he could find. It wasn't quick or easy work. It took him hours, and he wasn't entirely sure if he'd know when he found what he was looking for.
And when he did find it, he didn't for one second labour under the delusion that it was a lucky accident. But it was what he needed, so he didn't question it.
He camped out in the woods on the outskirts of town when the sun rose, his stomach chewing itself from the inside-out as he wondered what Larten, Darren, Harkat, and Vancha were doing, if they were alright. He hadn't seen Vancha since the near-fatal mission prior to his own investiture nomination. And he hadn't seen the other three since his trial. He'd never forget the look on the boy's face when he came bursting into the hall that day, undoing everything Kurda had worked so hard to set into motion.
And the most fucked up part of that was how proud Kurda was of Darren in that moment. Now, when he wasn't thinking about Gracie or Mika, he thought of Darren. He spent years wondering if the boy had been spared execution and prayed he had. Then Mika showed up and told him that scrappy kid with a heart of gold three sizes too big had taken the spare throne originally meant for Kurda.
It had almost been a year since Mika's unexpected visit to the seaside cabin Kurda called home. It would most assuredly go without saying that Kurda spent weeks unpacking the emotional baggage Mika unloaded on him that night. Every conversation they'd had was fraught with a thousand layers of complexity. They'd gone deep, and yet somehow Kurda felt they hadn't even scratched the surface of everything he'd missed while the entire clan pretended he was dead. While Kurda himself pretended he was dead.
Kurda thought about Gracie more than anything else after that. Agonized yet again over the turmoil he'd caused her, and then he'd go back and re-read her letter and break down crying out of sheer shock that she didn't completely hate his guts.
He thought about Mika almost constantly. Although he didn't worry about Mika the way he did about Gracie; the guilt was just as crippling. The way Mika's eyes glazed over and went cold when he saw Kurda looking at the old scars on his arms. Scars he could've healed easily, and didn't. That's what haunted Kurda the most - the visceral reminder of what his betrayal had done. He came so close to telling him about the letter in that moment. Mika's physical scars were a living metaphor for the ones Kurda had left on the clan as a whole.
Kurda acted for the greater good when he made those plans years ago. He was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice with no personal gain.
He also left a knife in the back of the people he loved most. The people who trusted him.
It took a long time to accept that both of those things could be true. That nothing would ever again be as it was before, and for better or worse, that was on him.
But maybe it could be different.
KS: You awake?
MVL: I'm always awake.
KS: How's she doing?
MVL: She's going to be okay. We had a good talk today.
KS: And are you going to be okay?
MVL: I don't know. You tell me.
KS: You don't need me to tell you that. You never have.
MVL: I know. It was nice, though.
KS: Fine - you'll be okay. Did that help?
MVL: It did, actually.
KS: Listen, I don't have much time. But I have to know... did you read the letter yet? Yes or no?
MVL: Kurda, if you think I'm even going to attempt to unpack that through telepathy, give your head a shake.
KS: Yes or no, Mika...
MVL: Yes.
KS: Good. That's all I wanted to know.
MVL: I know I shouldn't have asked you to come back to the mountain. It was a moment of weakness, and you were right to refuse -
KS: I know.
MVL: - but we need to have a legitimate face-to-face conversation. You, me, and Gracie. We can come to you, but it has to happen.
KS: I'd love that. But right now, I have to go.
MVL: Where?
Silence.
MVL: Kurda, where do you have to go?
KS: I'll see you soon. I meant every word of that letter when I wrote it seven years ago, and I mean it now. Don't you ever forget it.
MVL: As if I could. Are you okay?
KS: If you and Gracie are both okay... then I'm better than I've been in a long time. I'll talk to you in a few days.
MVL: What are you not telling me? Last time you withheld major information, it ended really fucking badly. Remember that?!
KS: Do you trust me?
MVL: I never stopped.
KS: I'll see you soon.
My songs know what you did in the dark
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
I'm on fire
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
(Meeting In Progress. Do not disturb.)
"You were bold to attempt to take the Stone of Blood. That was never part of the prophecy, Stephen."
"It would have worked! My men had him in their hands -"
"Yes, it would have worked if not for the fact that it was a massive failure. You got greedy, you deviated from your target, and you paid with six high-quality soldiers! But I didn't come here to scold you. I'm not your father -"
"Wink at me one more time, you fucking creep."
"Very well, you nasty, uncivilized brat. I'd strike you worse than dead if you didn't make for such grand entertainment! Anyhow, I happen to know my daughter has been stacking the deck against me."
"She favours the vampires?"
"No. She favours peace. I'm disappointed in her. And just for the record, I don't favour the vampaneze myself. I favour chaos. Life's more fun that way, don't you think?"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"You can still see your plan through. Your passion project, your Cavern of Retribution is diabolically impressive, even to me. But I'm here to remind you that nothing is set in stone. No matter how hard you fight, no victory is ever guaranteed."
"So, what? My plan will fail?"
"Hard to know when it hasn't happened yet! I suppose we'll find out, won't we? Now, don't plan to fail, or you will fail. But be flexible about your methods. Stick to your plan - you always shone more brightly than young Darren where foresight was concerned! But if you get an opportunity to go where no vampaneze has gone before, I suggest you take it."
"And what the fuck does that even mean?"
"Your ambition goes beyond crushing the vampire clan. You want to add insult to injury. You want the Stone of Blood. High risk, high reward. You made an attempt on it already. It means if you want something done right... you should do it yourself."
"What about the prophecy?"
"It all hinged on Kurda Smahlt's plan failing seven years ago. Fail he did, but he also survived. The odds on that combination were so unlikely I didn't even consider them. That was silly of me, wasn't it?"
"Say what you mean! Enough riddles! I don't have time for this."
"You're a rude boy. Has anyone ever told you that, Stephen?"
"No. They always called me much worse than that."
"How unfortunate. Now, back to Smahlt. His exile sentence meant he was dead in the clan's eyes. And you know how stubborn those vampires are! Surely his symbolic death would serve the same purpose as a literal one. But perhaps those vampires are getting soft. The Princes hold all the power in that clan and even if they can't all admit it yet, every single one of them would pardon Smahlt if given the opportunity."
"And how can you be sure of that?"
"Because I'm a people person! Kurda's odds at redemption grow shorter with every passing day. If the Princes pardon him, and I mean formally pardon him for the world to see, the clan will have no choice but to accept him back into their ranks. If that ever happens, it will jeopardize everything you've worked for. Pretending he doesn't exist won't help us."
"Us? Pardon the fuck out of you?"
"Language, Stephen!"
"My apologies... Desmond. I stepped out of line."
"There. Was that really so difficult? Manners matter, you know!"
"Will you please tell me what I'm supposed to do with this information?"
"Dear boy, what do you think I've been doing for the past five minutes? Good luck! Not that teamwork is your strong suit, but may the best team win!"
My songs know what you did in the dark
(My songs know what you did in the dark)
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
I'm on fire
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa
In the dark, dark
There it is, kids. Hope that was worth the almost-month it's been since I last updated. I've mentioned it a few times, but this story is reaching a very critical point, so I have to take my time and think carefully in order to bring it to a satisfying conclusion.
Notes:
1) Room 13 in the motel, where it all started, was a tribute to the fact that the second chapter of This Is Us (which takes place in the motel) were originally written and posted in 2013 before I ghosted. And if that wasn't corny enough, Kurda sitting in that room with those memories was a direct nod to how my mind went back to the motel chapter of This Is Us to get some perspective while I was roadblocked with this story.
2) I may very well have butchered both Evanna and Tiny, but this works for what I'm doing so just go with it. If you still think I'm here to comply with canon after 70 chapters of this nonsense then I don't know what to tell you.
3) I've never written Steve before, but dipping my toe in here was fun. He'll appear again (duh) and I'll try my best to do him justice for all his stans in the audience.
4) My writing app recorded that I spent 11 hours total on this chapter. It takes less than one minute to leave a comment.
Thank you for being so patient with me! I hope this wasn't a massive letdown! Please tell me what you thought, I'm dying to know if anyone predicted any of this.
Cheers!
Roxy