The Vampire's Rival

When she calls you out

Humans are a part of the Enclave, but, even as Chief of Security for the Enclave, I didn't involve myself with them unless I absolutely had to. In the five Enclaves, there were four types of humans - Barn-raised humans, Progenies, Warehouse Assets and the Wildlings.

Barns are human-centric spaces. I only ever assigned each Barn with a miniscule vampire team of security personnel and medics. Other than that, the humans were usually on their own. Progenies, humans who are born and raised in vampire homes specifically for Masters to Turn, had their own strict systems in place at their homes to keep them in line as they grew into their Turn age. Warehouse Assets were... well, it was unfair to call them human. Wildlings lived up to their names, running and living wild in the spaces between the Enclaves, forestland that was under no distinct vampire rule.

While I did come across these different types of humans every so often, my focus had always been on the vampires of my Enclave. Making sure they stayed safe and obeyed all Rules and Accords that were put in place after we ended the UV Wars. It was true that there wasn't much that could endanger a vampire after the apocalypse had catapulted us to world rulers, but there were a lot of our rules that were tempting to break and that would spell our downfall if it happened.

Having relegated humans to the least of my concerns for so long, it was fascinating to observe them now, after all these centuries.

The best part of it for me was that, even among her peers, Hadley stood out.

We had arrived at a building that I deduced from Barn blueprints I'd seen many decades ago to be a storage facility. It was built to hold food from summer harvests, equipment and even some vehicles in an attached garage - golf buggies and heavy duty two wheeled tractors. Hadley entered a code on the digital security panel and was answered by a loud clang of gears shifting to open the massive solid steel door leading into the building.

I thought she was a Medic? She shouldn't have been able to gain access to this building. Only Barn Horticulturists should have this access. Her purview and security access should have ended at the Clinic, like every other Barn human assigned to be a Medic. That was a Barn rule.

"Elder Zenobia shared the code with you?" Jamila whispered in surprise as we walked into the warehouse.

Hadley shrugged.

Zenobia Jamieson. Queen Aadya's sister. Hadley's aunt. It didn't surprise me that she had been chosen as an Elder for the Enclave. Wildlings are wily. Survivors. From Jamila's statement, I was right in assuming that it wasn't usual for the warehouse code to be shared to those not authorized to have it. I finally had solid confirmation of my suspicions about Hadley's source of information that she had no right to know. Zenobia had shared more than the warehouse code. When this was over, I'd have to take her tongue, no excuses, no compromise.

Hadley held the door open for us. I walked in last, noticing a tome of words pass between us when my eyes caught hers. She quickly turned away, her focus set on closing the door behind us.

Looking around the warehouse and the myriads of items it held, I bristled.

We were wasting time.

"Jamila," Hadley called out. The golden eyed beauty turned to her. "Get everyone who can wield one a harvest machete and protective gear."

We needed to hurry up! Once we killed the dogs that had made it into the Barn, I would have to leave to warn Lujeo. The Sun Festival had to be cancelled and I needed backup to kill all the other dogs outside the Barn. After all the dogs were dead, we would then have to figure out how the fuck we now had vampire dogs, given that dogs went extinct decades ago!

"What about the children?" Jamila asked, looking at the group of younger girls, hurdled together in fear in the middle of the room. There were four children in total – toddlers of about four or five years old. I suppressed my exasperation. Didn't Jamila realise just how much time she was wasting questioning Hadley?