To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,4

not even the hint of guilt touches his face. Is he really that vacant inside?

“I think he’s right.”

The pained voice strikes right through my heart, bursting it to a thousand pieces within my chest.

Fallon stands in the shadows. The clear morning sunlight threatens to whisk across her sun-kissed skin. The newly defined, sharp angles of her face look across the clearing toward us as I casually lower Declan back to the ground.

He clears his throat, but a look of impassiveness fills his face.

“Arrange a meeting with President Docile and her advisors. Don’t give them the details of my condition.” Her voice is smooth against the breeze. Nothing but confidence storms through her words.

“Fallon, we have more important things we should be doing.” A weakening feeling twists my stomach and I almost want to beg her to listen.

Atticus is still out there. She’s still cursed. The blood lust grows stronger by the day.

Luca watches her friend from a few feet away, her full lips thinning as sadness creeps over her features.

“Arrange the meeting. We’ll leave the city and take care of the other issues as soon as they see and understand who they’re dealing with.” Her eyes sparkle as they shift to finally look at me, the red glinting even in the shadows. “The world hasn’t changed just because I have.”

A charming smile pulls so tight across my lips that my face might split open from the force of it.

“It’s good to see you again,” I tell Ayden, clasping his hand in mine the way I’ve seen humans do countless times.

The thin man jumps from my happy demeanor, unsure of himself with the simple gesture of shaking my hand. He swallows hard and nods, his brows dipping low. I make his skin crawl; I can tell. Part of me feels triumphant knowing he hates me for something neither of us can control. Knowing I can piss him off just with my mere existence makes my smile a little more genuine.

“Where’s Fallon?” The human tries to find his balance around us. Gabriel, Declan, Kaino, Luca, and I fill the space within the tent. Too many mystics for his comfort level, I’m sure.

Ayden sits with perfect posture; his long arms neatly folded in his lap. His pulse taps wildly at the crisp white collar of his button down shirt. His breathing is short and clipped, like we have a stench he can’t bear to inhale. Or perhaps he’s trying to calm the nerves that are building by the second …

The seat directly next to Ayden is where I decide to settle in, choosing to study his discomfort up close while Kaino leads the meeting.

“Fallon is preoccupied with militia work this morning,” Kaino lies as he takes the seat at the head of the table as his father normally would.

Lord Raske trusts Kaino more than Kaino trusts Lord Raske. Kaino has been taking over more and more of the Lord’s duties. Someday he’ll lead these people just as his father has. Will he live his entire life in a lie? Will he push aside his own desires just to fulfill his father’s wishes?

“What do you do at the Capitol?” Declan asks. His fingers tap against the worn table top restlessly.

Kaino’s dark eyes shift to the hybrid across from me. Luca stiffens in her chair, the delicate muscles in her arms grow tense as she waits for the questions dancing in Kaino’s eyes to surface.

The commander’s naturally silent demeanor continues as he swings his attention back to Ayden.

“I work in the Department of Human Relations.”

My brows rise of their own accord. What the hell does that mean?

Gabriel scoffs the moment the title is spoken. “What the hell does that mean?” my friend asks, mirroring my thoughts exactly. I smirk at him from across the table, and he looks my way with a crooked smile of his own. A single second passes before Luca rolls her eyes at us.

I bite my sarcasm back as I give the mortal my full attention.

“It was created about a century ago to make sure human’s basic civil rights weren’t being abused.” Ayden shifts uncomfortably in his chair.

“And today?” Luca leans forward, her amber eyes searching his face.

“Today it’s used to ensure the people aren’t abusing their rights; that they aren’t breaking the basic laws of unions, of reproducing … things of that nature.” Ayden clasps his hands atop the table as he leans back in his chair, finding his confidence as he describes his position in society.

I fold my arms