Excerpts of Twilight Borealis

[Elizabeth]

House of Feritas Rendezvous

“I need you to go to an old abandoned abbey north of the town line. There are rumours circling it lately…” The male whispered, his eyes bouncing between the brunette telepath, and the blonde, antsy looking Shadow next to Elizabeth.

“Rumours?” Elizabeth inquired as her head tipped to the right as she began to process the most vital of information she was given by their guild leader. “Are you going to elaborate?” The woman smiled at the male, urging him on. Even if he told the woman nothing, she would still go. It was required when asked.

“I don’t think I will need to. You will know when you get there.” The wiry looking male told Elizabeth as he stepped back a little. “I want you to go there with an open mind and not some tales I’ve heard, but have no proof of yet. What I’ve heard seems...unimaginable and incredible and that is all I’m going to tell you ladies.”

It was tempting for Elizabeth to pry deeper, past the words spoken to her and Albina , but she kept her reserve and decided against it. Some stories, as the woman knew, had truth, half-lies and full out lies. It was better to make a sound judgement without knowing what they are going to be walking into exactly.

“Will it be only us?” The woman with a clear German accent asked as she pulled out a small blade from a belt around her waist. Something builders would have worn these days.

“Yes. Think reconnaissance. Go in, observe, don’t initiate any contact during this objective and be back before sunrise. That gives you just under…” The Necromancer looked up at the night sky and then returned his lingering gaze on both women..”five hours. It’s about an hour ride to get there and the same time back. I would go if I were both you.” He placed both his arms behind his back as his eyes fell on the heavy wooden door of what used to be a tavern, but had been bought out as a watch station for those in the Guild of Borealis, not more than a handful of years ago.

Albina saluted the male with a laugh, before Elizabeth wrapped a set of her fingers around the woman’s arm and dragged her out with the telepath. “Why do you insist on attempting to upset him?” Elizabeth asked the woman with a sharp, harsh tone to her question.

”Why don’t you attempt to upset him more?” Albina lifted her shoulders and then dropped them down. “You like him don’t you?” Albina accuses Elizabeth before the woman let go of Albina arm. “His company is more desirable than most. Do you not think?” Elizabeth inquired as they made their way to a small stable that had been built a few months after the purchase.

”No. I don’t think.” Albina said after snorting under her breath. Elizabeth would never reveal why she was so well behaved and willing to appease the leader of this branch of Twilight Borealis, because if anyone know who she really was and what she had done...This Guild was now her safety net and her ‘family’ now.

“That is because you are too wrapped up with...Phillipe, is it?” Elizabeth attempted to jar the woman with a quick retort as they started to ready their horse. Every once in awhile Elizabeth would have to soothe the horse by stroking the side of its neck and talking to Caper.

”I’m not.” The woman snapped at Elizabeth before looping her leather seat around the horse's abdomen. “Then do not be so shortsighted.” Elizabeth chirped at the woman before continuing. “You know it is highly frowned upon to court anyone-but most of all court with those in the guild.” Elizabeth said in a tone that seemed close to the one used on them by Stagio just mere minutes ago.

“Forget about this. We are loosing night while we prattle like ninny’s.” Elizabeth said as she turned her back towards Albina so that the woman could help her get out of the top layer of her skirt so that the ride was not so uncomfortable. Once the woman was in a very plain and simple light pink petticoat, Elizabeth did the same for Albina. “You would think that someone would create something for the woman that enjoys or needs to ride.”

”They do. Just steal a pair of trousers from one of the guild members.” It was difficult to tell if Albina was serious or jesting, so the woman canted back with, “After you.” She grabbed ahold of the cantle on the saddle and hoisted herself up, Albina doing the same...more or less. “I forget...what you did as a human.” Elizabeth asked as the other woman struggled to gain control of the saddle and the horse.

”Not all of us worked the lands. Some of us had servants to do that sort of dirty work.” Albina said as she glared at Elizabeth, knowing full well the telepath was making fun of her mounting, or lack of. “That is most certainly true-though without food to feed those servants, where would either of us be?” Elizabeth lifted the reins on Caper before making a whistling noise after inhaling a decent amount of breath and left for the abbey, leaving Albina to fend for herself and play catch up later.

[Elizabeth]

“Is it true?” Elizabeth asked the woman after the blonde shadow managed to find her way besides Elizabeth and her horse. ”Is what true?” Albina asked harshly, the whispered words echoing throughout the heavily wooded area, as the horses kept a constant pace besides one another. “About you and Phillipe.” The older of the two women knew Albina was pretending to not know what Elizabeth was talking about, but deep down Elizabeth knew that Albina knew what she was trying to pry out of the woman.

”Maybe. So what?” Albina tightened her hold on her companions reigns, insisting the horse keep the same gait as Elizabeth’s horse was. “I’m not going to tell anyone.” Elizabeth said with a bemused look. “But you do know it is a dangerous game you two are playing if it is true.” There was a gentle shrugging of Elizabeth’s shoulders, alluding to the fact she didn’t care and wasn't going to tell. No, the woman very much liked to know secrets, but seldomly let one slip. It gave people the sense of power-to know secrets, and Elizabeth had collected a fair few while she lived with the guild.

”Good thing it’s not true then.” Albina snapped before pushing the backs of her boots into her horse's side, urging the four legged beast to promote a galloping stride, instead of a quick trot, as they had been doing. ”We’re wasting nightfall.” Albina forewarned Elizabeth, making the elder vampiress demand the same stride as Albina’s horse now.



---

The two floored stone abbey was overgrown with wild grass a plenty and vines that ran across its great big width. At one time, Elizabeth imagined this to be a beautiful place for those to come and worship to their false god. As the woman leaned against separate trees and listened, every now and again a piece of the building would crumble and fall on other pieces of crumbled brick, the echo going on a great distance. I do not hear anything. Elizabeth slipped the thought into her company’s mind, before her head darted around the tree that was at the back of the abbey. The German woman did not have the abilities Elizabeth had, so she only shook her head and shrugged, indicating that she too heard nothing.

The darker haired woman looked up at the moon, attempting to gauge the time of morning, believing its low position to indicate that it was somewhere between two thirty and three in the morning. As her eyes roamed to the stars in the sky, that was when a noise was heard. A noise different from the crumbling bricks of the building in front of them.

The noise that came from a tower on the second floor, was far from human and seemed almost ghoulish in nature. Rabid and frenzied would sum it up in its purest form. Still, that did not mean this was something for the guild to look into. It could be a wild animal trapped in a room, trying desperately to escape the confines in which it trapped itself or was locked away in.

”Which tower is that awful racket coming from?” Albina’s spoken words brought Elizabeth out of her focus, and the state of perplexity as her blue hues focused on the blonde woman. ”You’re the tracker, aren’t you?” Albina’s attention was displaced to the towers and off of Elizabeth as she waited to hear if Albina was going to go east or west once inside. Elizabeth had not yet gained the information needed to do the skills Albina could do on her natural, vampire born path, but she suspected in another decade or so, Elizabeth would be able to track anything down in a state where she would be invisible to the naked eye. Vampire and kine alike.

There was another savage sound high in the building, just beneath the full belly of the moon.Blue irises bounced from left to right, before Elizabeth bent down, picked up a leaf that had taken an early flight downwards before the approaching fall ripped the rest of its friends from that very tree and let it go. It dropped right at her feet, drifted neither east or west, so that sealed the deal for Elizabeth. You will want to go to the western tower. Elizabeth turned to look back to where Albina once stood, but was met with nothing other than the shadows of leaves and tall blades of grass against the tree where the woman once stood.

[Elizabeth]

Every once in awhile the telepath would slip her way into Albina’s mind, for just a quick glimpse of the woman’s progress. The dark haired woman wouldn’t be absorbed in the woman’s memories for too long-she had heard that this irritated people sometimes-or that they felt the presence of another within their mind if one stayed too long within it, searching for whatever it was they were looking for.

It was as if Elizabeth was peering through Albina’s own eyes at the very moment, as the woman made headway through the refectory; but the telepath knew that wasn’t true. What Elizabeth was actually seeing had happened seconds, if not minutes before hand, which could be dangerous to Albina if Elizabeth saw things a little too late. With this thought, the dark haired telepath decided to encroach upon the Abbey, using trees and high, thick blades of grass to keep her covered as best as she could as the woman sneakily made her way to the old stone building.

Another glimpse through the woman’s eyes showed that she was in the depths of the middle of the room where the monks dined, empty, long wooden tables with benches tucked neatly under those tables made up the entire length of the meal room as Albina persevered onwards, unphased by what the howling, and snarling creature was that content with making its presence known to everyone who was within the immediate area.

The Telepath’s back was pressed tightly to the outer wall of the stone building, listening for other noises within the Abbey, hearing nothing more than whispers on the east side of the building. Nothing that seemed to indicate they had seen Elizabeth or knew about the intruder in their homestead.

The glimpses Elizabeth would take would dwindle down, as she focused on her own safety as the woman entered through the same entrance Albina had gone through a handful of minutes ago. It was impossible to try and keep tabs on both Albina and what was going around near Elizabeth as she made her way through the depths of the main floor of the Abbey, after her shoes had been removed near the entrance of the building. To her, it was easier to maintain the shroud of silence in barefeet instead of feet that were covered in clothed wood.

There came a point when Elizabeth stopped searching through the thoughts and memories of Albina as she approached the low murmurs of men in the east range, a long narrow stone room that was an extension of the southern transept.

One voice was louder than the other, but not by much and she only heard bits and pieces of the conversation as Elizabeth continued down the width of the warming room, the light flicker of what used to be a grand fire on the walls, outlining her petite form on three of the four walls. One of the two men were worried about what was in the west tower and was talking about what would become of the monster if they could not help it.

Trying to listen to more of the conversation in an attempt to retain vital information that Albina might not have procured, Elizabeth became reckless and stepped on an ember that had fallen from the fire in the room, a muffled sound of pain emitting from her throat as her bare foot became scorched by the high temperature of the cinder on the stoned floor.

Alarm rang throughout the entire abbey as men of all ages scrambled around, attempting to find the intruder(s). If they knew about one, or both women, was still anyone’s guess, but they knew someone that wasn’t part of their collection of brotherhood had triggered something that could not be undone.

Elizabeth had found herself in the cloister, not far from the garth that was dead center of the abbey, using that area to hide within the dark shadows the stone covered overhang brought the woman as she ran, barefoot to where Albina was. Where the telepath had last ‘seen’ Albina through the snippet of memories Elizabeth pulled from the woman’s mind. Elizabeth had heard the woman go up a series of stone steps, and the pitch of the ravaged beast getting louder and louder as Albina continued climbing the stairs to the top, west tower, where it was being held.

The telepath knew to head west and hopefully meet the same series of stairs Albina had come across and get to her before anyone else did. The outside wooden steps buckled with her weight upon them-not that Elizabeth was heavy, it was the impact of each heavy footfall that made the steps creak and groan, along with old age. The thud of each foot on a step would alert anyone nearby that someone was making their way to the top of the west tower, which would hopefully keep their attention off Albina as the woman finished collecting information on what she believed to be going on in this place.

When Elizabeth made it to the top of the second floor, she was met with a male, about fifteen years older than she, had the woman still been alive, dark brown robe, tied at his waist, with a rosary wrapped around his left wrist, holding the cross in his left hand. He was muttering some prayer in Latin, that Elizabeth couldn’t care less about. “I ask thee to step aside.” It was the one singular attempt he would get to step aside and leave her alone, before things would turn south. The older guy, with visible fangs in the light of the moon, as his chant grew louder and louder, refused to move. Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, reached an arm out and shoved him off the side of the stairs. The fall wouldn’t kill a kindred, but it would certainly break a bone or two.

“Albina.” Elizabeth called out in a hurried whisper. “Albina-we have to go.” Elizabeth’s tone grew slightly louder, as the woman made her way through a monk’s dormitory, where no monk’s could be found sleeping. “Albina!” At this point, the woman didn’t care if she was heard; her first priority was finding Albina and getting out of here before one or both of them were caught, or worse..killed.

The telepath turned a corner to meet more stairs-the stairs that would take her to where Albina and the other unknown being was at, taking two stairs at a time with hurried strides and bounces. “Alb-” Elizabeth stopped dead center on the top, cracked stone stair and reached out a hand that would come nowhere near the blonde shadow. Instead, it grazed against a wooden door that had been pried open due to her guild companion as Elizabeth’s hand flung out, the woman’s name would never be finished before the woman was decimated into nothing more than shadows, that made a black inky mass that sort of clung into the air, before those shadows drifted to the high ceiling of a chamber that had been turned into a holding cell of sorts.

When the shadows dwindled, only then did Elizabeth truly see the monstrosity that had been been heard, but not seen. Only-it wasn’t a singular monster, but two. Two creatures that once appeared to be part of the brotherhood. One, seemed enormously weakened, compared to the other, as he was held up in a sitting manner against the brick wall near what used to be a window. His head hung close to his chest, the only thing holding his head up, was the fact that his chin was touching his chest, tucked lazily to it.

For now, since he was the lesser of the threats, Elizabeth focused on the wild creature that was standing there, either waiting for Elizabeth to make the first move, or devise a game plan on what to do from here. While the ex-monk was in better shape than his friend; he was missing an eye from Albina’s tiny blade, and a few scratches upon his arm and abdomen area. Could Elizabeth take him? Potentially, but highly unlikely. Not something she was going to risk. Not with one guild member down. So instead, the woman made bounteous copies of herself, and stood there waiting. She wanted to gauge this monk’s intelligence and capabilities. Perhaps even attempt to sort out his path before the plentiful steps that were approaching by other members of this brotherhood reached the makeshift cell.

As soon as there were three copies of her, he reacted. He didn't wait to start slashing and punching at her copies, attempting to destroy her in a physical sense, then magical, or intelligent sense. At least to Elizabeth. This was something she could report back to her coven; not that it would save the woman from the punishment that was sure to follow, with the news of Albina’s death.

As the male attacked the other impressions of the dark haired woman, Elizabeth knew she couldn’t go back the way she came, and the windows were not a viable option either; so there was only one way out. Through the only person that could summon her at the moment, because a couple others in Borealis were completing other tasks they had been assigned. Phillipe...I need you to summon, please. Elizabeth hadn’t said ‘summon us,’ but she suspected he would attempt anyways. Working with Albina was not a big surprise or something new. The two women usually made a perfect pairing and worked together quite well.

Soon, the world around her started to shift, meld, and bend (that was how Elizabeth would describe the summoning process), and soon she was inside the coven’s stronghold. ”Where’s Albina? I tried to summon her too.” Everyone, no matter if they possessed the power or not, knew that so long as the person considered them a friend, or an ally, they would appear. And if they did not...either they no longer were friends, or...they were no longer within this realm of existence. “Phillipe..”Elizabeth placed a hand on his shoulder and then slowly shook her head. “I am most terribly sorry.” The hand was dropped before the woman sighed, turned and walked to meet Stagio with the somber news and report what she saw and knew

[Elizabeth]

In the moonlight, it was clear to any and all, the lashings of the leather strip that had been used on the telepathic woman’s back two evenings prior. Skin was still puffy and risen in each spot of flesh that had been kissed with the strip as punishment for allowing a fellow guild member to go alone in the mission. It wasn’t that a companion had fallen-that was nothing new in all the years the guild had existed that she had been punished, it was her hesitation, or lack of action from the beginning that cost her twenty lashings upon the woman’s upper back.

While it hadn’t been Elizabeth’s fault completely, Stagio concluded in his decision, had she been more forceful mayhaps, Albina wouldn’t be dead. Or perhaps the pair would be dead together. Both would be tragic endings, the older male admitted to the brunette woman; losing a guild member was never a good thing-as the guild only attained a handful of recruits each year; with five loses to the guild, they were lucky to gain a single member to replace those five. It was why no one was allowed to go alone anywhere.

From time to time, Elizabeth would scratch at her healing wounds while what was left of the guild stood outside the abbey, listening and watching. Elizabeth was not here to help-another punishment brought forth by Stagio; no, she was here to learn. Learn how a team, or group worked together at every second during a mission. Fifteen in total surrounded the old stone building, all heads tilted up towards the west tower as they listened to the sounds.

“It sounds feral. Newly turned and dangerous. Sporadic and unpredictable.” Stagio whispered in Elizabeth’s direction, acting as nothing more than his voice as the telepath entered the minds of each guild member that slowly inched up on the building. That was all she was good for. Nothing but a mere messenger at best. Anyone with half a brain should be able to manage that, Stagio believed.

“Let Lavinia, and Marco progress onwards, along with Cretheus, and Marsilio. Stick together, everything needs to be tight.” With the message conveyed to four of the fourteen, blue orbs watched them infringe upon the abbey. It was massacre time, only this group didn’t know it yet.

[Elizabeth]

It wasn’t long before furor spread over the abbey like a wildfire; by the time this had happened, two more teams were dispatched, the first team to the tower, the second to maintain order upon the first. Still, Elizabeth stayed at Stagio’s side before he permitted another team to approach and stand guard near the entrance. No one was getting past this team; two killer’s-the best and oldest of the guild. A pair of twins nonetheless-in both senses. Both were human female born twins, who in return were sired by the same woman upon the same night. Both, in return had trained relentlessly together for decades prior to joining the guild, with their sire, who had been killed half a year ago or so. With ten of the fifteen members, the events that unfolded were quickly taken care of. The rabid creature in the tower was not killed, but detained by multiple methods...binds at his hands, followed by a set of stocks, and two ropes around his neck, pulled by a person on each side of him. As if he was a wild animal and in a sense...he was. He was untrained and starving and on top of that...he was carrying out a most grievous crime for their kind, even if he knew it naught.

Behind him came two monks-kindred as well. It wasn’t difficult to smell the difference between kine and kindred. Not in this proximity, However, this was not something Elizabeth had noticed about the brotherhood as she was primarily focused on the ominous monster-like creature in the west tower. With her attention on the creature in the tower and Albina-very little else was paid attention to.

”What is this place?” Stagio inquired as he circled around the three males, two of which were forced on their knees, the other still held by two in the Guild. Neither of them made any noise, besides the newly turned vampire, who tried to break free from his shackles, while snarling and snapping at everyone that slowly encircled him. ”I’ll ask again. What is this place?” Stagio’s tone grew thicker and harsher as he asked for a second time. Elizabeth pulled air into her lungs and waited. She hoped for all their sakes one of them would answer and answer soon.

When pressure was applied to the back leg of one of the monk’s by a solid, strong foot of Stagio’s, the male groaned but refused to reply. Instead he joined the other monk that was looking up to the night sky, whispering some prayer of faith to whoever he believed to be in the night sky, or further than that. The prayer was short lived when a medium size blade made of metal from tip to hilt was jammed in the back of his calf, a howl of pain to the night sky subsided any prayer uttered second ago.”It is a house of our lord.” The other spoke as he clutched his brown beads that were tied around his waistline with one hand while the other hand rubbed at the faded brown cloth material that covered his body.

”That’s a very promising start. What lord?” Stagio pressed further as his foot came to rest on the handle of the blade in the other man’s lower leg. ”Our lord and savior Jesus Christ.” The talked spat out as his eyes shifted from his fellow brethren to the crowd that heckled at them with each thing he said. “Your lord is naught anything but a lie!” Elizabeth couldn’t help but spit out with utter hatred towards the men and their false god. Her false god. The laughter dwindled down as some eyes moved to her, some to Stagio, while others remained on the captives.

”She is naught wrong.” Stagio mumbled slowly, a hand motioning for someone to take his foot’s place on the flat handle of the blade before he moved around to look them all in the face again. ”You’re lord condones the captivity of his children? Those he created in his own image? But...we are not his own image anymore, are we?” There were some small chuckles from the crowd as Stagio paused to move to a new train of thought, eyes solely focused on the male in multiple forms of binds.. ”What did this man-this vampire-this kindred do, other than perform in the act of neucratism? A most heinous crime among our kind?”

”He...he has lost his faith. In times of doubt, reflection is needed. Only time and solidarity can provide that.” The right side of Stagio’s lip curled upwards as he shook his head. ”You.are.WRONG!” He bellowed out, his words echoing through the trees and bouncing off them to carry further and further yet. Any heckling and sounds had died out and only the soft croaking of toads and the random sound of a cricket’s legs rubbing together could be heard, unphased by what was going on around them.

”Your ignorance has created this monster. Your naiveté, has killed your entire coven, house..whatever you go by.” Stagio lifted an arm as he made a fist and punched the other in the side of his face as he proceeded. ”You have condemned this man to death-drove him mad and created this MONSTER-all for your foolish faith?” While Stagio may have lifted his voice and his tone indicated anger, or even annoyance, his face showed none of those characteristics. The two men looked up at Stagio, both silent, not certain what to say. It was evident they were not the masterminds behind this place-this house-brotherhood. Whatever they desired to call it, but nothing more than nescient individuals-children at play.

”What he is-cannot be. His life is forfeited to this guild. Only one of you will see the moon rise tomorrow evening.” The male stood tall, proud and stoic as he spoke, moving around his collective and those captured, as if he was in a comfortable environment with nothing to fear. ”Which, is up to you two.” Slowly, he turned so that his head inched in their direction. ”I suggest one of you start telling me what it is, I need to know. What is this called? Your house? Who founded it? How long have you been here? Is this kindred before me, the only one like this among your brethren?” Stagio extended a skinny finger to the man held captive by now three of their guild as it continued to snap, growl and grow restless in the constraints.

”House of-of-of Feritas Rendezvous.” The one with the leg drenched in his blood stammered, not waiting on the other to pipe up as he spilled what it was he knew. “Not long.” He admitted, his face writhing in pain as the male drug the injured leg up so his knee was in line with his hip and not extended further than it needed to be. “About fifteen months.” He said after looking around the crowd of people. “We don’t know. His name. He never said. He just goes by father.”

Those words let the group know a lot-even if it didn’t seem to mean much of anything to anyone else. ‘Father’ wasn’t here, and for all appearances it indicated he wasn’t here a lot. The coven of this brotherhood was weak, which explained why they were so easily murdered without any inkling that anyone was coming. They had no idea of protection-but maybe that was due to their faith prior to being embraced by this mysterious ‘father’ figure. It was true the group might not probably find this careless male, but when he came back (and he would), he would find his hard work had been upturned and mayhaps think better of his plan and his actions. Ideally, it would be better to dispose of this male, like most of his household, but it would waste copious amounts of resources the group just didn’t have. So, a statement had been made instead on this night.

Stagio nodded his head as his eyes scanned the area behind and around the Abbey, hoping that maybe, by some fluke chance, the creator of this piss poor group was lingering around somewhere in the blanket of the night. When he was either disappointed or appeased that the ‘father’ wasn’t around, Stagio took a step back, eyes shifting between three men that stood the closest into the large circle around the restricted males in the inside of the mass of vampires.

“Kill the talker, along with the rogue, release the other to find his maker later to tell him of his failure.” The male waved his left hand in a dismissive manner as the three descended upon their designated and preferred target; the rogue. ”Bu-but, you said!” The monk that had provided the group with a decent amount of information started rambling on, making Stagio turn to look at him with not an ounce of remorse. “Did I?” He looked around to the other guild members, who seemed to not be phased by the sniveling monk that pleaded for his release. “If you can easily turn on your house, then you will just as easy turn on your species to save your own skin.”

And just like that, Stagio retreated from the group to let the guild to finish what he had started a few nights ago and saw come to an end before it actually ended. Only when the screams subsided did he actually vanish from the scene, returning to a place no one had ever been to or seen through the use of some magical property Elizabeth and the majority knew nothing about. The other monk would be released as instructed from the guild’s leader, walking in whatever direction he thought was best for whatever reason, limping away gingerly from the half dozen wounds or so he received. Slowly, other members of the guild dissipated after the two monks were killed. As the night cooled from the gentle breeze the drifted southbound from the sea north of the abbey, everything returning to a relative calm. The ash that was scattered on the floor would eventually blow away or be taken as nothing more than dust from years of presumed emptiness should anyone travel by in the days to come.

[Elizabeth]

Casualties from the Coven of Caedes

Twilight Borealis moved around often, because it was required and because it was safer for the Guild this way. No single couple was allowed to reside in the same place for more than half a year, or after a mission was completed. Secrecy was what the guild was excellent at upholding and by moving around often, it helped ensure not only the secrecy of vampires, but what members were part of the guild. A plan, assembled by those much older than Elizabeth and Stagio as well, but had been lived by for decades prior to either of their entries into the guild.

By the time they had arrived at their new location; an old farm, rumored to have belonged to one of the vampires in this guild, Elizabeth had been partnered up with a woman from somewhere. It was not as if the woman did not remember what the woman had told her, Elizabeth just preferred to not retain it, or care to recall where it was the red headed woman said she hailed from. Neither seemed to like the other, and she worked less efficiently with this woman than her last partner. Everyone could see it, and yet, Stagio seemed to not hear the concern in Elizabeth’s words and tone, or seemed to not care. Either way, this was not an ideal match for either woman.

Lottie was her nickname, short for something Elizabeth preferred not to care about. It was not because the woman was more traveled than Elizabeth, or spoke more languages. Nor was it the fact they were both telepaths, with the same abilities, minus one or two variations-it was simply because while Elizabeth was at fault for her last partner’s death, she missed the woman; even if the dark haired woman had teased her horribly. There was a comfort in being within the woman’s presence, along with trust and dependability. Elizabeth either knew, or believed that Albina would never have failed her, and in time, trust had been built-even if it had taken years to build said trust.

Weeks could not, nor would not bring trust, and from what Elizabeth could see, the woman was younger than Elizabeth by just under a decade and she seemed to have a carefree attitude. It was impossible to trust anyone that had managed to get ensnared within a bear trap on their own guild’s property; a trap that had been there long before they moved here. In truth, Elizabeth pondered if Stagio had devised a plan to see her death while he still held control over this guild. It made the woman slightly paranoid and on the edge, which probably did not help her be overly friendly or helpful with her newly assigned partner.

“We have night watch duty tonight.” The woman’s French accent clearly present as she took it upon herself to ‘inform’ Elizabeth of what the woman already knew. “Indeed.” Was all Elizabeth retorted with as they sat in the dimly lit shared bedroom on the east side of the second floor within the old wood farmhouse. “I had thought it best to do as we had done before. Keeping with the advantage point from within the barn, just above the stalls.” Elizabeth’s words glided off her tongue with little effort, as if she had been rehearsing those thoughts the entire night, when that couldn’t be the furthest from the truth. Elizabeth just knew what seemed to work effectively and so doing as they had done before seemed logical and practical.

“I think sitting in one place isn’t such an excellent idea. We should walk the grounds, otherwise we might miss someone approaching before we know it.” Elizabeth wasn’t in the mood to debate or argue with the younger, newer vampire, so she compromised. “If you think that is best for you, then I believe one should do as they desire. So long as one is discrete while doing what it is they wish to do.” It was Elizabeth’s way of saying that she was going to remain in the spot she thought best, while the other woman could do whatever it is she wanted. Perhaps not a smart move, as it would split both of them up, but she refused to be on one side of the house, unable to see past the house and miss someone approaching. If Lottie wanted to be in charge, then let her be in charge of herself. “I’ll do a walk through the property every hour or so then.” Lottie appeared to be compromising as well, as she decided to stay with Elizabeth through most of the night, sans the fifteen or so minute walking she felt she had to do.