Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (18 page)

“Good thing Marcus showed up in time,” she said a little too sweetly.
 
She looked at Silas then.
 
“Who do you think sent them?”

He shook his head thinking.
 
“I have no idea.
 
I’m quite certain there are many who might see Alec as a threat of some sort.”

“I don’t understand that,” Alec said thinking.
 
“How do I represent a threat to anyone?
 
I’m just one man.”

“There are a lot of, um, zealots and purists out there,” Marcus said.
 
“And then there are some crazy conspiracy theorists running around out there as well.”
 
When he said this he looked at Cassandra and smiled.
 
She frowned and raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
 
Alec supposed Jake’s influence was making all the vampires present tight lipped.
 
He just shook his head.

“Alec, there a few things I’d like to discuss in private with you.
 
I’ll have Xavier show Jake to a room and once we are finished you and your friend can catch up.”
 
Silas motioned to Xavier who approached them.
 

Silas turned and stood as he addressed Jake.
 
“I apologize for what happened today Jake.
 
This is an unfortunate event.
 
My kind can be rather direct when there’s something we want but it’s a major breach of the law to reveal ourselves to humans or to threaten them in any way.
 
If you’ll go with Xavier he will show you to a room.
 
Once I’m finished speaking with Alec I’ll have him brought to you.”

“He’s not in any trouble is he?”
 
Jake looked worried for his friend.

Silas just shook his head.
 
“Alec will be fine.
 
He and I will discuss today’s actions at a later time.
 
Right now, I need to talk to him about another matter.”
 
Silas smiled warmly at the young man.
 
Jake nodded and stepped towards Xavier.
 
Before he left, Jake motioned for Alec to come over to him.

“Are you going to be okay with these three?” he whispered quietly.

Alec hid a smile.
 
“I’ll be fine.
 
And they can hear everything we are saying,” he said and glanced over his shoulder to find Cassandra watching him.

“I don’t care if they can hear me or not.
 
If you need me to stay then I’m not going any damn where, man.”
 
Alec hugged his friend then, surprising him.
 
Jake returned the hug.

“Jake you have no idea what that means to me.
 
But I’ll be fine.
 
I trust Silas and Marcus with my life.”

He frowned then.
 
“And Cassandra?”

Alec looked Cassandra directly in the eyes and said, “I trust Silas and Marcus with my life.”

Jake shook his head and said, “Gotcha.”

“When we are done here I’ll come find you.
 
You’ll be fine Jake.
 
This place is better than some four star hotels.”
 
Alec laughed to show his friend he was okay.
 
“Hell, my chambers here are bigger than my apartment.”

“Chambers?” Jake said making a face.

“Sorry.
 
It gets stuck in your head after a while.”

Jake just pounded him on the back.
 
“Man, if you need me, all you have to do is yell.”

Alec hugged him again.
 
“I’ll talk to you in a little while.”
 
Jake allowed Xavier to lead him off and out the double doors.

Alec turned to find Cassandra and Silas in conversation.
 
Marcus was sipping his scotch, lost in thought.

Alec returned and sat on the small couch and picked up his glass and emptied it.
 

“Cassandra, if you’ll excuse us, I need to debrief Marcus and Alec.”

“Of course,” she said handing her empty glass to Silas, who in turn put in on the table beside him.
 
She walked slowly towards the door, her hips swaying back and forth and her heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
 

Once the doors were closed and the three men were alone, Alec turned to Silas.
 
“I’m sorry about everything.
 
I’m also sorry about what Jake said before he left the room.
 
I know you guys could hear us.”

Silas waved the last apart way.
 
“Alec, you’re lucky to have a friend like Jake.
 
I believe he would take on every single one of us to keep you safe.”

“He might.”

“As for the other bit, Alec, Cassandra actually suggested that I send out the guards to drag you back here and shoot you if you resisted.”

“What???”
 
He looked completely shocked.

“Be glad you aren’t in Laramie’s district.
 
She would have sent a squad out after you in a heartbeat.”

“Actually,” Marcus said soberly, “You wouldn’t have even gotten that far with Laramie.
 
He’d have had you killed in the hospital.”

Silas nodded thoughtfully.
 

What kind of world is this? Alec thought to himself.
 
This is messed up!

“Anyway,” Silas said pushing the thoughts aside, “I’ve come to a decision.
 
I’ve contacted the council and they’ve agreed to meet to discuss your, uh unique circumstances.
 
They wanted to meet next week to discuss the situation, but I’ve convinced them that Doctor Schubert needs to run more tests on you before we can make any sort of educated decisions as to your future.
 
I’ve gained us some time.”

“Good… I think?” Alec said wishing things were different.

“I’ve gained us some time to figure out a strategy and for some of my people to work on the vampire populace at large to let them know that you don’t threaten our way of life or our secrets.
 
But Alec,” and at this point Silas looked him directly in the eye and made sure he had his attention, “you can
not
pull another stunt like you did tonight.”
 

Alec blushed and nodded and Silas continued.
 
“I understand why you wanted to see your friend and put his mind at ease. I’ve known men like Jake before and you are right, they get something in their heads and they don’t stop.
 
But we could have arranged something.
 
You could have been hurt tonight.
 
Even worse, Jake could have been hurt tonight.
 
That would have been disastrous and Laramie and the others would have put it in the worst light possible and used it against you during your hearing.”

“I’m sorry Silas.
 
I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“I know Alec and I know that you aren’t used to our rules, but in this world sometimes the simplest actions have the most drastic consequences.”

“Mentioning, what is going to happen to the men that attacked Jake and me tonight?”

“Tell me everything,” Silas said and refilled all their glasses.

So Alec told him all that had transpired.
 
He told him about the threats the vampires had made and everything that was said and done.
 
When he got to the part about taking out all five of the vampires, before Marcus even got there, he hesitated and debated lying to them but decided that they should know the truth.
 
Silas just sighed and shook his head.

“I want you to understand how much I trust you Silas.
 
I could have lied to you about…how I did what I did.
 
I trust you and I respect you.
 
I want you to understand that.”
 
Alec realized how bold he’d gotten in the last couple of days.
 
The old Alec would never have done something like he’d done today, or spoken to anyone like this, especially not the leader of a vampire clan.

“I do and I thank you Alec.
 
Trust and honesty are a rare commodity these days. But to answer your question, they will be questioned and punished.
 
Their punishment will be up to the council.
 
It all depends on how they answer the questions we have for them.
 
Excuse me a moment.”
 
Silas walked to the buzzing service phone and picked it up and had a short conversation.

He walked back to the couch and sat down again. “Mentioning, that was Dorn, the head of security.
 
Seems Cassandra went down there and demanded to speak to the prisoners.
 
I told them they were to have no visitors unless it’s myself or Doctor Schubert.”

“Wonder what she could have been doing down there?” Marcus asked sarcastically.

“Probably a conjugal visit.
 
She doesn’t look too picky,” Alec said distastefully.

Marcus had just taken a sip of his scotch and almost spewed it across the room.

“Don’t let anyone else here you talk like that Alec,” Silas admonished, but Alec swore he saw the man’s lips curling upwards slightly.
 
“Cassandra may be hard to deal with at times, but she’s a well-respected member of our society.”

Getting back on track Alec said, “So working with your people, you think you can convince everyone to see me as, what?” Alec asked, searching for a word, “Harmless?”

Silas sighed.
 
“Something like that.
 
At least they will be able to put a face to the name.
 
Maybe it will help some of the more vocal advocates out there think twice before they yell for your death.”

“Great,” Alec said unconvinced.

“Some vampires have nothing better to do.
 
News and secrets are all they live for.
 
Some believe the more they know, the higher up in our society they rank and others just love a good mystery,” Marcus said.

“And others see a conspiracy in everything that’s different,” Silas said carefully.
 
“Some of us feel threatened by every small change to our way of life.
 
You never know who’s plotting or with whom.”

“I don’t see how you guys live like this.
 
It has to get exhausting after awhile keeping up with everyone that is working against you and wants to see you fail,” Alec said thinking about it.

“It’s really not all that hard to keep up with Alec, pretty much everyone is out to get you at all times,” Marcus said matter of factly.

“Yeah… that makes me feel better,” Alec said sarcastically.

“Alec, why don’t you go spend some time with Jake?
 
Marcus and I have a few more things to discuss.
 
We will talk more about this later.”

Alec stood as Silas went to the service phone and summoned Xavier to show him to Jake’s room.
 
They bid each other farewell and Alec followed the butler up the stairs and to the room across from Alec’s. At lease it wouldn’t be hard to get back to his own ‘chambers’.
 
He laughed at the thought.

Alec listened at the door for a moment before he knocked and
 
could hear Jake breathing heavy.
 
Jake was probably exercising.
 
He exercised constantly, especially when he was stressed.
 
He hoped he was exercising anyway.
 
He knocked quietly and waited.

After a moment Jake opened the door shirtless and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

“Hey man,” he said and stepped back to let Alec enter.
 
“I was just exercising to take my mind off of everything.”

“That’s what I figured,” Alec said as he entered.
 

“What?” Jake asked confused.

“I could hear you breathing and figured you were exercising like you always do,” Alec said laughing and shaking his head.

“Everything okay man?”

“Yeah, Silas had a few ideas he wanted to discuss with me.”

“What exactly is going on here, Alec?
 
How did you get mixed up in all this?
 
What do they want from you?”

So Alec told him pretty much everything.
 
He figured if Jake was compelled to keep what he knew to himself then he could discuss the situation with him.
 
It was a good thing too.
 
He really needed someone to talk to who knew him.
 
He told Jake everything, even about being half vampire and half human, and the fact that the council might decide to kill him for being created without permission.
 
His friend stood quietly, wringing his forgotten shirt in his hands listening to Alec unload his burden.
 
He shook his head and just stood there when Alec was finished.

“Damn man, what are you going to do?”

Alec shook his head.
 
“I don’t know.
 
Normally,
unapproved
vampires are put to death to make a point.”
 
He sighed heavily.
 
“But I’m something different.
 
I’m half vampire and half human, both sets of organs and all.
 
I’m something that, according to Silas and Doctor Schubert, shouldn’t even exist.”

“So they are trying to convince this ‘council’ that they should study you and what, try to make more of you?”

“Oh
hell
no,” Alec said looking upset at the very thought.
 
“Could you imagine how much fighting there would be if there were more than one of me and vampires could hire us out or blackmail us to kill for them?”
 
Alec shivered just thinking about it.
 
That would be the biggest disaster in… well, history, honestly.
 
Vampire super-soldier.
 
Have abilities, will travel… and kill for the highest bidder.
 
No thanks!