0358: The Vampire's Daughter Book IV

Some time had past before Vein saw Sabastian again. Vein occupied his time by wondering about the city. Meeting with old friends and even enemies. He was able to gather information about Thomas and easily relay the relevant news to Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, the news wasn't terribly useful. A stalemate had risen, in which Thomas did not appear powerful enough to push higher than 42nd street and Elizabeth was not powerful enough to push lower. From mere size, Elizabeth held the larger area, but it was disjointed, full of undesirable sections, and diluted quickly once above Central Park.

Worse was the effort needed to keep the new formation of the Tribunal from crumbling into chaos. Hers was a band of individuals, once marginalized by lack of size, but now material players since Thomas had decimated so many clans, usually choosing the strongest and most influential to be killed.

Elizabeth quickly learned that Thomas had followed a very direct plan in his efforts to take the city. He destroyed the leaders. Very often, once the leaders were gone, the clans either dissolved or fell into infighting. Either end worked in Thomas' favor, as both allowed him to inflict surgical strikes and wait for the clan to fall apart, leaving him to pick up the pieces.

Trying to explain this to clans already in the throes of self destruction was difficult, if not impossible. Often Elizabeth had to follow the path of Thomas and simply wait for the outcome. When a new leader, or multiple new leaders, emerged was when the work began. She found that she was bargaining for power over Thomas. But it wasn't a vacuum, since Thomas was bargaining with these new leaders as well.

Her nights were long and tiring. She had to juggle protecting her boarders with collecting new clans and factions for the Tribunal. But with every new entrant came additional obligations. She had to accommodate personalities and sooth enemies to keep things moving forward. It seemed that she spent all of her time in meetings.

And all the while, she had to protect the relationships that she had already established from Thomas' sway. It was tiring, long work.

To her surprise, she actually looked forward to seeing Vein. His sarcastically driven honesty made her laugh. It allowed her time to be herself and not the President of the Tribunal or the erstwhile head of the Orion clan. She actually began to share stories about her past with Sabastian that brought them both to tears from the ensuing hysterics. When they were more serious, however, these meetings also brought her valuable news about what was taking place below the 42nd street divide.

What Vein's visit didn't bring was news about Sabastian. And somewhere deep inside, this was the news she desired most to hear.

“I haven't seen him since we last met,” Vein would say just about every time he stopped by. “In fact, I'm not even sure he's in the house. I can't sense him, and that boy hasn't seen him, either.”

Elizabeth was worried about Sabastian, but she was worried about so many other things, too. There were moments when she doubted her desire to defeat Thomas. Doubted her resolve that she could even achieve such a goal. But she kept going and partly because of Vein. She knew what he had given up on her request, what risks he was taking, and that they both knew he would probably die because of it—if Sabastian's prediction proved true.

Every time Vein left, Elizabeth would give a heartfelt thank you and they would share a moment. Both realizing that they were on a path that risked destruction and both willingly walking that path together.


[The Vampire’s Daughter: An ongoing vampire story. Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. All rights reserved.]