Both Suela and Belatucadrus were still awake and in the manor when Ree went down to look for someone. The vampire was easily missed in such a large place, but he had a way of knowing what was going on inside. It was nearly impossible for someone to go wandering about while he was awake without him ...

Bela spent the better part of three hours in the dim green light, pouring over notes related to Ciara and her research. Long periods of time had a habit of clouding his memories, and occasionally dreams would infiltrate them such that he would remember things that never happened, or happened ...

The vampire's crimson eyes stared distantly at the two women until Suela had escorted Metarie out of sight. Even with this degree of anticipation pulling at part of his mind, the vampire was a statue as patient as eternity.

The notes required privacy. Ciara's words were for him alone, and they ...

"Wait." The vampire finally looked up from the package, although the slightest change in his demeanor was evident at this point. He was eager to find privacy to find out what was in it, an emotion that expressed itself by even more monotony in his expressions and tone, and even less effort to appear ...

Hearing that Metarie's mother had addressed a package to him gave Bela pause in a way few things could. Ciara's research was among the most important endeavours he had funded during the early years of Marn. A false hope drove him to seek a cure for his condition with unmatched desperation fueled by ...

A smile that could be mistaken for genuine crept across Bela's chiseled features at the mention of her childhood. Whether he actually remembered events with fondness, or was merely skilled enough at deception to know how and when to look touched, was up to Metarie to guess.

"Time passes so quickly ...

Bela's eyes flitted briefly to the package she'd brought for him, and then to the papers in her hand. He plucked them gingerly between his leathered thumb and index finger, and examined them at arm's length. He spent only a few seconds scanning one page before moving on to the next, and gave no ...

"Metarie Sehkhara is here to see you, master."

Suela's gentle voice echoed distantly from somewhere behind a wall of darkness. Dreamless and unconscious, they were the first words Bela heard and they spurred the machinations of his mind to life. He pulled himself out of the darkness of slumber ...

"As you wish."

Willow closed his eyes briefly and nodded once in a submissive gesture that was nearly a bow. He was serious, but only to the degree that formality dictated, rather than overly foreboding or with a sense of dread. He did seem content to hang around and do whatever she wanted ...

Willow knew of Metarie, although she probably knew nothing about him. The elven doctor was special. Among those with magical gifts, she stood out for reasons of simple reliability. She had potential, and the eye of the captain of the guard. Politically speaking, the doctor was among the upper tiers ...

Willow made no initial move to help Alyson. From the time that she stopped to pick up the book, until she was kneeling in the dirt to tend to the fallen stranger, the small, dark-skinned man did nothing but observe.

His attention was first drawn to obvious suspicions. Belatucadrus didn't tell him ...

Willow was a short, thin man with dark brown skin and simple clothes that hung off him like robes. He was not intimidating and had no look about him that suggested he was anything but an average man, save for the way he looked at Alyson when she made eye contact. He didn't have the dead eyed look of ...

Spring, 122 PW

Once Alyson was gone, the vampire closed his eyes and struggled with the overwhelming urge to sleep. Being awake during the day was something he hadn't done since his early days of struggling with experiments to allow himself to survive in sunlight.
In those days he did it often ...

( holy fuck a whole month, wtf I'm sorry, I didn't see you posted. I am fail).

Bela could never be so sure of other people's thoughts and actions as to expel all doubt about what they would do. In Alyson's case, there was always plenty of doubt. She might do anything from explode into a physical ...

"As long as you remain near me, I can ensure that the guard and justice hall cause you no significant harm."

While locking eyes with her, the gravity of what he was in the process of offering her settled in like the weight of a thousand leagues of sea water. She was dealing with the most powerful ...