Moonless - The Eternal Night

The Meal

Orion

"Let him try, you've warned him, and if I send back his offer in pieces, even a Lysander will understand," came the voice like gray velvet, heavy smoke swirling around Orion. There was no escape.

Disgust and anger swirled within him. At his neck, the bite seemed to respond to the vampire who had inflicted it. The damned corpse that entered the room, a cellphone to her ear, listening as the door behind her closed as if on its own.

Without sparing a glance at any of the three, the vampire walked straight to the wooden monstrosity of a chair and sank into it. She wore a loose dress, her hair flowing freely, the black almost reaching her hips, her eyes cold, piercing, motionless, even from the side, they seemed to cut into Orion.

His hands clenched into fists. Everything within him screamed for a fight. Wanted to drag him to her, to take that damned head.

"No," finality echoed in the word. "If he asks you again, tell him to face me directly and not hide behind your back like a damn pussy. You're not my pimp." As she spoke, she raised a bulbous wine glass over her shoulder. Beside the human, he felt a jolt, and Virion moved, one last meeting of gold and green, then Viv turned away, reached for a wine bottle on the table, and walked over to the vampire, filling her glass.

As she seemed to listen to the words emanating from the device, which Orion couldn't understand, whatever was said caused the lamp above their heads to flicker, making the room even colder. Chillingly cold.

"Go burn yourself." The hiss that formed those words was cold and piercing, a bodiless knife in Orion's skull, a tone no living being could ever achieve.

She hung up, threw the phone on the table, and brought the wine glass to her lips. Still, she exuded something dark, cold, murderous.

Virion beside her was visibly tense.

"Your brother?" Orion had never heard the shifter like this before. So... careful. As if trying to defuse a ticking bomb. Perhaps not so far-fetched. "What did he want?"

No answer. She drank, held out the glass to Viv again, without looking at him. Just stared at the opposite wall, her face completely motionless. A dead mask.

He poured her another glass, and the bloodsucker took a sip.

Only then did she speak again. "To give me a reason to become an only child."

There was a palpable sigh of relief from Virion, as well as from Kenji. Tension dissipated. A grin spread across Viv's lips.

"What did he do this time?"

"Playing messenger pigeon for Midnight's courtship."

"Lysander?" Virion poured again. "Not a bad alliance. With that, you'd be the most powerful vampiress on this continent."

A disdainful sound emanated from the undead. "No, not him. He wanted to throw some distant, insignificant cousin into the lion's den. Lysander would never bind someone like me to him." Her eyes fell on the wine she swirled in the glass. "He thinks he'd be doing the Steels a favor. Finally erasing the stain on both families."

"And he will keep trying. Vampires don't give up once they've sunk their teeth into something. So I've heard."

She offered no response. She just stared into the wine. Motionless. So still, it grated on Orion's nerves. No breathing. No blinking. Just staring. Unnaturally so.

"You know, there's a very simple way to immediately rid yourself of all of them, My Lady."

Slowly, her head lifted, her stiff, lifeless eyes meeting Virion's, who smiled at her in turn.