Veridian Shores

Chapter 09 - Forging Tomorrow

Brooke lounged in the estate's spacious bar area, glass of blooded brandy swirling delicately in one hand. Around her other vampires drifted, the low hum of conversation settling over her ears like a blanket, insulating her in her thoughts. She watched, only partially paying attention, her mind drifting to more troubling matters.

After the showdown in the assembly chamber she still felt the residual tingle of adrenaline from the confrontation, and the small kernel of fear that had been planted in that room. War – something that for the longest time seemed impossible – now loomed on the horizon. Brooke was an expert fighter in the training ring with duelling rods, but she'd never struck a blow in anger. Hopefully if a conflict did erupt the guards would do the fighting.

She didn't want to die.

But then her thoughts darkened further when she thought back to seeing Capper with that tramp. Not long after the assembly she'd spotted the two of them making their way down to the training pits, and the sight had pricked that little angry part of her brain that just couldn't grasp it. She thought she'd made it clear to him that running around with a stranger was no substitute for his duty to the clan, but apparently not.

Even if they hadn't been teetering on the edge of a war with Clan Baelock, he shouldn't have been spending so much time with an interloper from a backward ice-ridden black hole like Iron Hollow. She couldn't be trusted, and if Brooke knew one thing, it was that the girl's story was nothing more than a smokescreen.

Taking a long, slow sip from the brandy, she let it rest against her tongue, the fire burning as her thoughts raced. So what to do? If Capper wasn't going to find out what this stranger wanted then someone else would have to do it for him. The simplest solution would have been to lock the interloper in a cell with the clan's interrogators and wait until she screamed. But that was a little tasteless, and the clans of Veridian Shores had long ago abandoned those barbaric practices.

Shame, she thought wistfully.

But then, how to do it? Some closer surveillance would certainly be a start, but it wouldn't do for an Elder-blood to be creeping around following another. She had better things to do with her time. She needed someone else to do the leg work, but someone who wouldn't go blowing the whistle to the Elders the instant they discovered something incriminating. This needed a delicate hand, and most importantly, she didn't want to throw Capper to the wolves in the process. If she could get this girl out of the picture she could remove his bizarre infatuation. Then maybe he'd see sense.

That left her with a quandary. She sat there for several minutes, dimly registering the ebb and flow of the bar: the groups of Elder-Bloods tucked into dark, smoke-filled corners, their voices humming in the air; the odd off-duty guard making reports and thralls gliding silently back and forth, serving drinks and removing empty glasses.

Then a feline smile split her features when she spotted Finbarr's lumbering bulk enter the room, and an idea occurred to her. The big guard had shed his bolt-thrower, clad in the simple black fatigues of his rank. He moved slowly and carefully between the other vampires, as though he thought he might break anything he collided with. A justifiable concern, perhaps, for someone of his size. He may not have looked like the best informant, but he had one thing that Brooke knew she could use.

She pretended not to notice him as he wandered over to the bar itself, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him glance in her direction. He ordered a beer with a name she didn't recognise, something prevalent among the guards in their rowdier nights, and he slumped into a bar seat with a long sigh of exasperation.

Brooke left it for a few seconds, taking another sip from her brandy, then put her plan into motion. She swivelled to face him, lounging back and leaning one elbow on the bar. With the slightest motion she turned and displayed the slit in the side of her dress that exposed her thigh. Predictably, she saw his eyes flash down for an instant and his face tightened with awkwardness.