Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Forty-Nine

As it turned out, I got the idea that I was going to like Maryilyn too. She peppered me with questions as we walked down through the lobby towards the dining room where a breakfast buffet was prepared for us. Already I could smell crispy bacon and fluffy eggs even though we weren't even at the doorway.

Already, she'd asked me how I was adjusting to life in the Robur coven, the people I'd met and what I'd been learning about vampire society. I gave her honest answers and so far, her interest did seem genuine. Enough so that she requested Damon and I sit with her so she could talk more with us. We'd agreed and sat down at one of the round tables which was covered with a lovely beige table cloth.

I was about to get up to grab something to eat off the buffet, but Maryiln had grabbed my forearm before I could fully stand. "No need dear, Dominic will get us something," Dominic clearly didn't look so happy with this idea, but after a sharp look from his mentor, did as he was ask. "So, before all this happened, what ambitions were you working towards?"

I lowered myself back down into my chair and smoothed out a wrinkle in my shirt. "Well, I was attending my last year of high school before I was attacked. I'd been on track to graduate this spring and afterwards I had hopes to attend law school. I wanted to be a lawyer," the past tense was like a punch to the stomach. The final reality of that dream biting the dust was me no longer saying "I want to" or "I will be" a lawyer. Even if we did manage to stop Richard and prevent his attacks on me, there was no way I'd ever be able to go back to my old life. My hopes and dreams, they were gone. I'd see creatures of the night everywhere I went. Going into law wouldn't be a profession I'd feel safe in anymore. Finically, maybe, but for actual protection? No way. I'd never feel what I knew about law would be enough to fend off vampires.

"A lawyer?" Marilyn asked, obviously to my internal struggle. "Interesting, why that choice of major?"

"I liked the inner workings of the legal system," I told her. "They interested me, and I brushed up on them during my spare time. I also consider myself very adapt in arguing and thought I may as well get paid for it."

The vampire laughed. "I have no doubt about that! You have an impressive wit Ms. Hawthorn."

I shrugged. "It's not wit, it's honesty, a trait so rare in politics that it's considered cleverness."

Marilynn laughed again, the sound like a wind chime. Dominic came back, setting plates down for us, there seemed to be a little bit of everything there. "Thank you," she said politely, picking up her fork and cutting into the eggs on her plate. "So, do you still hold interest in law?" she asked me. "We have our own system, the High Court."

"Yes," I answered. "I do, and I was aware of your High Court, but I haven't been able to learn just how it works. Would you care to explain it to me?"

Marilynn looked purely delighted and launched into a breakdown of the seven judges that served on the Court and explained their customs as well as their cult-like rituals required for each of the members to undergo before they could fully serve. The one that stuck most to me where the tattoos they were required to take to enter, runes of Zalam as well as one for every case they ruled on.

I interrupted every now and again to ask questions about the process and how they sorted between cases, but Marilynn didn't looked annoyed with me, in fact she seemed to like my interest and questions. "How do you know all of this?" I asked, finally having exhausted my storage of questions.

"I used to serve," she said, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket and I saw the midnight blue swirls of unfamiliar patterns. "Two centuries when I was young."

It was all I could do to keep my jaw from hitting the table. "Two centuries?" I repeated. "Forgive me, but you don't seem that old."

"We never do Ember," she told me. "You should know after all," she glanced over a few tables away where Damon was chatting with Jasper Abbing, leader of the Milita coven and someone I recognized from Cruor Luna.

I blushed and laughed nervously. "I suppose I should." I glanced sidelong at the other woman and asked. "You have thoughts on the matter?"

"Would they change your mind about it?" she asked.

"Not at all," I heard Ife's wise words come to mind "Who gives a damn?" "But I'm interested to hear them regardless. I've heard mixed reviews this far, some from older vampires, some from younger but all of them have known Damon and I well. I want to know how we look to someone who's not so close."

"It's by far the strangest thing I've ever seen," she said, words unsugar coated and that's why I realized she'd been drawn to me. Neither one of us wasted time with soft words in the face of uncomfortable truth. "And I've seen very strange things so that says something." Then her thin lips curled up into a smile. "But maybe what we need is a little weird around this place, maybe it can help us take steps we were too afraid to take before. Time will tell I think. I do like you from what I've seen, and I've always liked Damon, but as for how I feel about the two of you together and what that means for the rest of us," she chuckled. "I don't know yet, but I'll let you know when I figure it out."

"I appreciate that," I mumbled and I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Excuse me," I heard an unfamiliar face and turned my head to find out who it was. A young woman was standing behind me, dressed in white linen robes, gold bangles all the way up her arms, showing very little of her teakwood colored sin. Her head was shaved and large green eyes lined with khol. "Ember Hawthorn," she said, voice low and gravely. "You need to come with me."

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New chapter! Seems Mariyln is one of those on the fence people Damon was talking about! And who is this newcomer? Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them so do remember to COMMENT and VOTE!

Write on! =D