Page 4 of Blood Ties (City of Blood #1)
Bash
“One night! One fucking night out to try and enjoy this swamp hell-hole we live in. And what do I get? A baby vampire with no self-control ruining everything!” I bellow as I throw the cattedrale door wide open, startling the humans here to meet with Marcus.
“My apologies,” I say with a slight bow of my head, continuing my way through the antechamber of the old church.
I storm through the doors at the back of the vestibule, into the office where I know Marcus and the rest of the council are meeting.
“Sebastien! What is the meaning of this?” Marcus responds to my sudden appearance in front of him.
“Marcus, get the children under control. The new sanguine nocturnus are creating sirelings all over the city and they are unchecked, untrained, and out of control.” I storm around the room, feeling a bit like I am throwing a tantrum. “Tonight, I was at the Velvet Tomb and -”
“You were where? A brothel?” My mother interrupts from the other side of the council table.
“Mother, not now,” I answer, with a dismissive wave.
“Anyway, I was having a glass of wine when a newly turned vampiro drew a woman into a dark corner and proceeded to feed on her with no foresight as to not draw attention to himself. He fell upon her uncontrolled, and tore her throat out, creating a scene for an entire bar full of humans. Disgusting animal.” I spit.
“And, being as I am a member of Corvo di Sangue, I have an obligation. Therefore my night was ruined and I had to extinguish his flame. Elina had to clear out the bar, which was full of tourists, by the way, and didn’t know what she was supposed to do.
” I suck in a huge lungful of air, my monologue complete.
Marcus watches me like he has never seen me before—like I am doing something decidedly unexpected.
My mother tilts her head curiously, a look in her eyes I don’t like.
“Elina? Who’s Elina?”
“Mother, please focus,” I beg, as ice blue eyes with a curiously lifted eyebrow flash in my mind.
“What do you want me to do Sebastien? Kill them all?” Marcus shouts irritably. I have no idea why he acts as though he has no power, he's the Re. The council shifts uncomfortably under this challenge of Marcus’s authority.
“I don’t care what you do or how you do it, but you must do something.
It's going too far and it’s out of control.
” And with that as my final contribution to the conversation, I walk through the room and out into the night air of the gardens.
The sky is barely starting to lighten behind me but at my age, the early light does not bother me as much.
I head over to my loft off Pirate’s Alley and climb the stairs to my windowless room.
The humans like to think it's a coffin or some sort of tomb, but I am much too old and particular for anything less than a comfortable bed in a secure space.
After twenty-five years in this humid buggy swamp, I fall asleep with a face in my thoughts and a need to know more.