Christmas Consort

Murder the Master

Lara Howard was uncertain at what point she decided to kill her consort, but kill him she undoubtedly would. Perhaps it was a foregone conclusion from the moment he first ripped her fangs away from the lily white throat of a most hated debutant at the Sealback Hotel in Louisville. Regardless, a goodly portion of these many years since was spent plotting how to shiv her more senior and thus more powerful mentor.

The obvious conclusion of her deliberations was that she must find someone else to do the deed on her behalf.

Who knew a quite wretched car accident could elucidate the means to his end?

Lara's consort had basically imprisoned her in the old fashioned sense of the word since his goal was to rehabilitate her. She had believed she was doing quite all right, thank you very much, considering she had been on her own almost since the beginning. The vampire who changed her had wanted only one thing - her inheritance. In exchange, she received eternal youth and the ability to take her revenge on every last person who had ever gotten in her way. She was carrying out this personal imperative in the debutant parlor when Silas Boone got in her way...as no one else had before.

There were basically two vampire rules. Silas lectured her after stealing away the sweet debutante revenge she had earned. Neither Make Nor Take. She had not believed him. How could a vampire not take blood? How were there any of them at all if no one was allowed to make new ones? There were exceptions apparently for every rule.

She didn't believe him.

So why had she fallen in line and handed her future over to Silas Boone? Two reasons. First, he showed her the results of taking. The object lesson was a vampire she actually knew, one she hunted with from time to time. She and Silas watched from a distance as the youth was beheaded by a dark and silent power that must be death itself. The enforcer with a short curved blade the likes of which she'd never seen and never wanted to be acquainted with destroyed the creature. With a frightening mixture of violent brutality and businesslike detachment, the enforcer did his work with practiced ease. One second the vampire was there and the next there was his familiar face on a head rolling down the dirty pavement.

The enforcer had then turned slowly towards her and she realized that he had known they were there all along. He stared into her, left her feeling as if he read her every depraved desire and pathetic dream, and promised a similar end...if such a thing was necessary. Lara had sat paralyzed and frozen until the man turned back to his unfinished work.

Similar to others of their kind, Lara could not dream, but if she could she was fairly certain she'd be having recurrent nightmares about the enforcer in his black clothes and hat. And the wickedly curved blade, of course. Sometimes she could almost imagine how it would feel for that cold steel to pierce her skin and push deep into her body. It was not a pleasant thought. Fortunately, she knew the enforcer now, knew him as Jackson Ridley. Having a passing acquaintance with him did nothing to relieve her anxiety. The promise of a similar end still shone in his steely gaze, but now she knew how to hide her dark ways.

Lara knew she had learned everything Silas could teach her. Now it was time to move on, to break free. Returning east to Louisville was out of the question since the city was part of the enforcers' territory.

Two questions were always foremost in her mind.

Where should I go?

How can I kill Silas?