Moon's Rite

Take a Breath

Tony needed time and space to think. Recover. Alistair needed time and space to process the brand-new link overriding Biren's making and Sophia's claim.

They found a safe house in the heart of London and Tony let them in, throwing the three locks on the doors, checking the lone window, and raiding the place for supplies. The first aid kit wasn't really necessary, but good to know about. Alistair found four bottles of various flavors of booze in various quantities and grabbed all of them.

Tony paced back and forth, half paying attention as Alistair poured two tumblers half full of whiskey with a shaky hand and ignored both to drink from the bottle. "You gonna be alright?"

Alistair grimaced and took another large gulp of alcohol. "I feel like...like there's this massive weight on my shoulders. So heavy I can barely breathe."

"That's the link. You're my only soldier so you feel all the responsibility. I'm sure there's a way to sever it somehow-"

"No!" Alistair stiffened, eyes wide and fixed on Tony when she turned to look at him. "No. Not until after Biren is dealt with."

Tony slowly nodded. Eyed him for a moment before continuing to pace. "Is your mother alright?"

"Mum is fine. Biren grabbed me on my way home. My bike is wrecked." He sighed as Tony hummed in shared disappointment. "Could you...stop and have a drink."

"I'm working."

"Then stop and watch me drink."

Tony ground to a halt. Her gaze shifted to Alistair with a disapproving glare but he was ignoring her to take a long drink from the bottle again, draining it. She slowly eased into a chair as he reached for the next bottle. Her fingers curled around one of the tumblers and dragged it towards herself. She didn't feel like drinking, not until after Biren was dealt with, but she didn't want Alistair to keep panicking either.

"He most likely assumes I'm dead and you're alive. I'm not sure what a stolen claim feels like, but I know if a claimed Vampire dies, the master feels... Well, it's not pretty."

Alistair lifted his head, sensing the story that went along with that. Tony considered how her sister had gone berserk the day one of her claims had killed herself and frowned. Biren might not be as attached to his claimed, given that he used them as pawns. Might not think of them as family as Katty did. But surely he still felt it when a link died.

"We need to track him quickly, before he realizes you didn't kill me. Hopefully he doesn't know you're mine instead of his and we can capitalize on that."

"Why didn't you just kill me?"

Tony raised a brow. Alistair raised a brow back over the half empty bottle of tequila he was planning to drain next. He grimaced as he swallowed, apparently not liking the taste of tequila as much as he did whiskey, and gestured at her around the bottle.

"You killed six people without hesitation. You could have ended me just as you did the rest of them and gone after Biren. Why didn't you?"

Sighing, Tony decided she needed a drink after all, and she drained the tumbler she had been slowly rotating between her hands. "Biren's cronies were there willingly. The fact that he threw them on my sword does not change the fact that they were following a man who wants to subjugate and commit genocide. You were a hostage. I prefer to keep collateral damage to a minimum."

Alistair continued to stare.

"I like you, okay?!"

A soft huff of laughter followed her annoyed outburst, and he carefully set aside the bottle in his hand. "So much for only working alone."