Chapter Text
Sam is not happy to be working with this swipetooth.
Privacy is at a premium and none of the other coven lords are willing to give them any, yet the swipetooth persists. It’s infuriating in a way he hasn’t experienced often.
Of course, much of Sam’s life was spent as nothing more than a glorified servant to his monsters. (He ignores that his mistress and the heir love him as a family member.) He rarely felt any kind of emotion other than contentment at knowing he served his monsters and he served them well. Oh sure, he remembers some incidents where it was nothing but despair or fear or even anger, but they were fewer than the contentment.
Sometimes, he wonders what his life would have been like if his monsters never found him. Likely short.
“I find you quite suspicious, swipetooth. You claim to have such important knowledge yet you do not offer your name first,” Sam growls.
The swipetooth stops talking. There’s a neutral expression on his face that is quickly replaced with a saccharine grin.
“Lord Vacquero! Impatient much? In due time, do not worry. When I was born, a name was not shared so easily.”
Sam snarls and thrusts a hand out to wrap around the swipetooth’s throat. His hand reaches its target.
He pulls the swipetooth close and hisses, fangs bared, in his face. He’s furious. Enraged. So angry he doesn’t even know how to describe it.
“You dare try my patience?! You are far too bold for the position you’re in,” Sam states, practiced neutrality clear. “I agreed to hear you out on the promise of information on the vampire who brought the beast that harmed Lord Courier Wings’ fledgling. You have given over none of such information. Give me one reason I should not simply turn you over to the Courier Wings to do with as they please.”
The swipetooth flaps his hands around in a show of surrender.
“Lord Vacquero! There’s no need for such drastic measures. I am simply a man trying to make my way in this world. I suggest that you hear me out and make a decision after, yes?”
Sam grunts, teeth bared and eyes narrowed. Nonetheless, he remains silent. He dips his head, motioning the swipetooth to continue.
“I knew you would be amenable! Now, as for who brought the feral vampire, well…”
“Is it wise to be sharing this information in public?” Sam interrupts, making eye contact with a nearby coven lord. Lord Casahuevos, if memory serves correctly. Casahuevos does not look away and there is a noted interest in their face.
“Ahh, perhaps not! Maybe we should go somewhere more discreet?”
Sam flicks his eyes over the swipetooth’s shoulder and finds a Courier Wings vampire holding a polearm behind him.
“Yes, let us go somewhere more discreet. Lord Vacquero, Lord Casahuevos, excuse the two of us. Lord Courier Wings has asked to meet with Delegate Keay,” the vampire gruffs, voice deep and rumbly. This one is a breakneck, just like the second son of Courier Wings.
Sam does the smart thing and inclines his head, stepping back with his hand on his chest.
“As you wish, Soldier Courier Wings,” he states, no small amount of satisfaction dripping off his tongue at the deer in the headlights look the swipetooth - Delegate Keay - adorns at being addressed by a Courier Wings vampire. He can see Casahuevos do the same out of the corner of his eye.
Trouble appears to have darkened Lord Courier Wing’s doorstep.
-
Tommy wakes up knowing one thing: he is hungry.
It’s a deep hunger. One that aches and races through his body like lightning. One that he thought left behind in the streets.
There’s a hand in his hair and he scrunches his nose. It smells like hospital.
“Finally waking up?” Kristen, of all people, asks. Tommy fights an eyelid open enough to glare at her.
He tries to open his mouth and say something, probably an insult knowing how irritable he feels, but nothing comes out. He settles for an annoyed grunt.
“I know, it’s never fun waking up in a hospital. Did I ever tell you about the time I was strapped to a hospital bed while I was away in the stars?”
Tommy huffs, but turns his head a bit more towards Kristen. He’s never been shy about his interest in her fighting with aliens. It’s honestly a little baffling that nobody has thrown a fit over the existence of aliens and the fact Lady Universe is also invested in them.
Kristen smiles at him, pulling her hand from his head. The door opens behind her, startling him a little. He calms down when he sees Techno walk in with a paper cup of what he assumes is water in hand.
“Runt,” Techno grunts. Tommy hums. The cup is placed in Kristen’s hands and Techno goes to return to standing sentry.
The cup is held up to his mouth and he happily takes a small sip. The cool relief of water flows through his mouth and relieves it of the feeling of sandpaper and cotton.
“You’ve been asleep for a few days now. They had to keep you sedated for a bit after your surgery to make sure you didn’t injure yourself further. The doctor thinks you’ll make almost a full recovery,” Kristen explains quietly. She doesn’t sound particularly upset, but neither is she happy.
Tommy blinks, scrunching his nose again. Kristen runs a gentle finger between his brows and down his nose, softening the lines and expression.
“Now then, I promised you a story.”
Tommy closes his eyes and prepares to listen attentively.
-
Philza is an experienced coven lord. He knows when to discipline and when to let things pass.
The second word reached him that there was a vampire going around saying he knew something about the feral vampire in the Courier Wings dungeon, he wanted that vampire in front of him.
Delegate Keles Keay of the Arboreal Union stands in front of him looking simultaneously poleaxed and smug.
“What a pleasure this is, Lord Courier Wings,” Delegate Keay says. Phil will give him points for being experienced at playing professional.
“Delegate Keles Keay. I would say it is also a pleasure but unfortunately for you, my fledgling has been maimed and you have information about just how that happened,” Philza smiles as he says it. A threat and promise waiting for Keay to become uncooperative.
“Ahh, about that, Lord…”
Phil narrows his eyes, keeping the smile tight and full of teeth.
“Yes? I suggest you speak clearly and plainly. I find myself quick to anger these days. You understand, yes? You are one of the older vampires outside of a coven. It is ever so easy for old vampires like us to become unstable the older we get.”
“Yes, well. Lord Courier Wings, I don’t necessarily have information about the specifics but more about the broad strokes. The Arboreal Union works in information but we are bound to only certain types of information. What I know about the perpetrator of this dreaded crime against you and yours is something I unearthed myself, not a byproduct of the Union.”
Philza tilts his head, leaning his cheek onto his knuckles. There’s a storm brewing behind his eyes. He carefully flashes a bit more fang to prompt a quicker explanation.
“I, well, there’s no simple way of putting this, Lord… I uncovered a conspiracy aiming at dismantling the last of the Origins and the overall structure of our society. From what little I know, the first point to strike is, well, you. Your fledgling being human is seen as a weak point to use against you.”
Phil holds up the hand not holding his head up and hums. He closes his eyes and drops the smile. He signals the guard outside his office door to come in. Keay tenses at the door opening and the clanking of the guard entering.
“I see. Delegate Keay, I thank you for this information. While I cannot promise no harm will come to you while under my care, I can assure you that it will not be openly allowed. You will be assigned a guard to make sure you are not treated unfairly during your tenure here. Michael, bring Delegate Keay here to cell eight.” Philza waves a hand and turns his chair around. The guard grabs the quickly panicking Keay and he smiles as the delegate is forced out of the room with screams.
He runs a hand through his hair, huffing. Everything he learns about this situation makes his temper rise more and more.
A rebellion against the Origins… He knows this is not the first time, or the second or third, he just cannot remember how he knows.
One would think the young upstarts would learn that Lady Universe chose her Origins carefully. Kristen was not allowed to turn people all willy nilly back when she was still new. There is a very real reason that only a few Origins still remain in society and not locked away in their little torture mausoleums.
This whole business makes Philza reconsider whether he should get his own torture mausoleum. He shakes his head to dispel the thought. His coven needs him, and he needs them.