"We're going to the Arc territory now, before anything happens." Rush narrowed his eyes and let out a huff of breath. Rush wanted her near a mage as soon as possible, but it was nice that he was relying on his allies for something. There had been many rough patches between him and Neil Arc, and she would enjoy taking a day trip... well, night trip.

Mer had no arguments as she offered her hand down to the girl. The poor thing stared at it, flexed her hand, and then slipped it into Mer's, not closing it in fear of harming her sire. Mer felt badly, and she knelt at the girl's side.

"Do you have a name?" she asked, and the girl shook her head but said nothing. "Well, how about I call you Dawn, since that is when you came to us." The girl nodded vigorously and gripped her hand so hard that she winced and the girl dropped it. "It's fine, I'm fine," Mer growled the last at Rush as he descended on her with frustration. "Try this," Mer said holding out her hand, and the girl frowned as she placed hers on it again. "Now close your hand slowly and I'll tell you when it's too much."

The girl was so obedient, and she did so arduously slowly, checking at every increment to see if she'd hurt her again. When her grip was snug but not painful yet, Mer said 'when' and the girl yanked her hand away as if she'd crushed her bones. Mer had to ease her hand back, and the girl trembled.

"Do that a few times," Mer said, and the girl looked to her for meaning. "Just opening and closing your hand to grip mine safely. That way you'll know what is too much, right?"

After ten or so times, Dawn smiled and slid her hand up her arm to hug it with the same force. Mer held her shoulders and couldn't help but smile. She was so small, a full head shorter than Mer and skinnier than her by far. What did she expect of a girl raised in a pen like a pig or a goat? Of course she would be smaller and lankier.

The trip to the Arc territory was wondrous for Dawn. They decided to use Mer's magic to transport them since Rush frightened the girl, and Dawn ran around the magic circle as it took them to the Arcs. When they arrived and several Arcs turned to their unannounced presence, Dawn stuffed herself into Mer's back, gripping her shirt like she'd been told and pressing up against the energy that felt safest.

"Meredith," Damien showed up first, sensing her as his daughter before anyone else had time to process.

As Neil Arc's second in command and a former mage, Damien was also the one most likely to be running patrols around the battlegrounds. Since the Arcs were the Shades border buddies, so to speak, their castle was enveloped in forests. The battleground continent where the vampires thrived was primitive in human development in comparison to current society. While the vampires outfitted their castle with technology, most of their human subjects were back before electricity and running water, though the Shades had been assisting in developing places for them since the existence of vampires had been revealed to society.

"She lived," Damien said, looking to Dawn tucked behind her, and the girl popped her head out to look at her father curiously.

A whine escaped Dawn, and Mer looked down as she ogled Damien and looked to want to know something.

"Damien is safe if you want to say hi," Mer tried, and the girl eased around her like she was a phone pole, putting her back against Mer's front for safety before she reached out her hand and just barely poked Damien's lower chest.

Damien watched her with confusion, but he smiled when Dawn looked up to him. Her father was far too gentle to regard her with any hostility even though he too knew how dangerous newly sired vampires could be. Astonishing Mer, Dawn took a step off of her and extended her hand to her father. When he offered his, she slipped hers in and closed it so slowly that it had Mer really laughing.

"Damien is a vampire like you. You can give him a good squeeze," Mer said to encourage her.

Dawn looked back to check, and Mer nodded to show her it was okay. Perhaps she shouldn't have, because Dawn jumped on Damien and squeezed him so tightly that Mer was sure she heard bones crack. Damien groaned in agony, but the girl snuggled him as if she were hugging Mer.

"Isn't she supposed to be like this to Rush," Damien wheezed as Dawn noticed his pain and unhinged her hands. In a brush of air, she appeared at Mer's side and hid behind her again, nervously hiding as if Damien would be mad, but he just sat up and smiled to calm her.

"She didn't survive the change from my blood alone," Rush said, drawing just about every vampire's attention in the room, Neil's included as he entered through the door.

The Arc leader was short in stature, just about as tall as Mer was, and his bone white hair was stark against his wind-embroidered, pitch suit and Damien's completely jet attire as Neil stopped at his second in command's side. Neil made up for his lack of height in strength and an attitude that made her want to gut punch him half of the time, but his mate seemed to love him anyway. Silvia wasn't around tonight though.

Neil's crimson eyes crawled over Dawn before moving to Rush. "What do you mean, she didn't survive on your blood alone?" It was a fair question, as both Neil and Rush were new leaders and Mer did all sorts of wonky shit nowadays.

Rush spoke with the same look of depression he'd had since Dawn had chosen her over him. "The girl would have perished, as her body rejected the change, but Meredith used her magic to heal and coax her body to take hold of my blood. Because of that, when she awoke, she recognized Mer as her sire and not me."

Just as Lyon had, Neil laughed. Except Neil didn't hide it. He full on burst into it, leaning against Damien to hold himself up, and her father found it about as amusing as Rush had.

"I guess since my dark magic has persisted since I was a human, it must feel like Meredith's, even if Arc blood and power runs through my veins," her father said, waving to Dawn when she peeked again. "That's fortuitous because it means I can help Mer with her. Humans shouldn't be sires to vampires who lack control and stability."

"Dad, come on. Rush already ground it in," Mer said as Dawn sank behind her. "It's okay. I love you just fine," Mer said, and Dawn purred, her fangs sneaking out as she nuzzled Mer's arm. "No biting," Mer reminded her, and she shrank back and closed her mouth.

"Damien said you found a slave left behind for dead, but she's younger than me," Neil said with distaste that Damien had shared when he'd reluctantly told Rush to change her. "Vampires don't mature," Neil said when Mer lacked understanding as to what everyone was so angry about. "You might find it amusing to poke fun at how I behave at times, Meredith, but I myself am stuck with the functional capacity of a eighteen years old's developed brain."

"It makes a huge difference in a vampire's ability to assess danger, respond accordingly, and acclimate to our way of life," Damien said kindly. "Neil is more emotional because, as adolescents, human brains use a different center to perceive emotion or to consider caution. Thankfully, he was changed late enough in his progression that he can work to even out the responses and use solid judgment, but the girl behind you will always see the world through the eyes of a teenager. She'll never develop the caution of an adult and her judgement skills will not progress past teenage logic. That is just as much an issue as her halted physical progression. The combination will make her feel isolated if she ever wants a mate or to be normal."

"You're not thinking of doing anything to her, are you?" Mer nearly growled as she hugged Dawn to her side protectively.

"No, of course not," Damien said with a slow sigh. "But she will need to grow with someone tolerant of the fact that she'll be stuck as a teen for eternity. They can get a little difficult to handle, and as a new vampire, she will be strong as well. No offense, Meredith, but she will need someone physically stronger and easy going. You snap at mosquitos."

"Mosquitos suck," Mer argued but looked to Dawn with sadness.

As much as she wanted to say she could take care of Dawn, Damien knew her pretty well. A vampire teenager rebelling would likely get her killed. For now, Dawn was docile and dependent, but once she got familiar with things and grew, she would want to adventure and wouldn't always listen to her. Mer brushed her hand against Dawn's curls and noticed that she had something tattooed on the back of her neck. It had been hidden before and she moved her hair out of the way to better see it.

"What is this mark?" she asked, looking to Rush, but Neil spoke.

"It should be a slave mark. Vampires who breed humans to any capacity brand their slaves with ink or heat to show who owns them. The shape should help us narrow down who bred this girl. They don't exactly come with maps to where their owners are, but it's a start. I'd approach but the girl seems skittish. What does it look like?"

"It's a sun, but black," Mer said, rubbing her finger gently over the black spikes surrounding a closed circle. Neil's eyes widened in a recognition that didn't show on Damien or Rush's faces. "Do you know the people who did this?" Mer asked pointedly, but he shook his head.

"No. But I know someone who might. I've come across one other person who bares the mark of the black sun, and they share no love for the masters they escaped. Perhaps if I can convince them to work with us, we can track the breeders down and end their sick practices once and for all. Allow me a few hours to contact them."

"That's better than what we had, so we can wait," Mer answered.

Anything would help right now, and Mer followed Damien as he led them to a place Dawn could relax. The castle had too many human heartbeats mulling around, and it was easily noticeable how distracted Dawn got as they passed.

Damien led them out to the gardens, and Mer had never seen a child's eyes light up so brightly as when she saw the splash of water that ran through the forest, surrounded by stone walls on all sides. It kept the sound out and gave Dawn some air to run around and experience things without being frightened of bumping into other vampires. Dawn was so excited, panting to breathe in every scent she could but also easily startled, like a baby deer.

Neil brought a man to the gardens a few hours later, and he reminded her a little of Dawn as she rolled into the grass and tucked herself by Mer for safety. The man's deep grey eyes didn't at all shine with the youth and innocence of Dawn's, but he looked like they could share a people at the least. Aside from identical skin tones, their facial structures were similar, with straight noses, more almond shaped eyes under dark hair.

"This is Vice," Neil introduced him, and the man ran his gaze over everyone present in silence before he lingered on Mer.

That was probably her fault, because she was hella lingering on him. It was hard not to with the full-body, pitch, stretch suit contouring his muscles and hugging his groin area more than any sane man would be comfortable flaunting outside of a swimming pool. The fabric wrapped up around his neck and over his face, leaving only his eyes and forehead to denote physical features, which consisted of nothing but short black hair that was close cut around his head and those completely calm grey eyes.

How was he so relaxed wearing that?

Dismissing her, Vice moved his eyes to Dawn where she sat at her side and hugged Mer's shoulder, peering at him with curiosity. Vice knelt to her height a few feet away and pulled down his face covering until it revealed an identical sunburst on the side of his neck. Dawn focused on it and then lifted her eyes to his. A small smile curled his lips, and he made a gesture instead of speaking to her. With both hands open before him, he curled them into fists and brought them on top of each over his chest before pulling them apart.

Dawn jumped on him so quickly that Mer could barely process the girl leaving her side. Vice wrapped his hands around her in an embrace that was filled with warmth, and tears slipped out of Dawn's eyes. Even though Mer was her sire by feeling, this man shared something with her that was deeper than that, and Dawn felt safer crying with him. It jerked Mer's heart as the man pet her hair and she took his comfort with relish. It was normal for Dawn to be more comfortable with something familiar considering their masters had been vampires and neither had likely chosen to become one, but Mer hadn't realized how much Dawn had been holding it in.

"What does that gesture mean?" Rush asked calmly, sitting like a stone under a tree to shade the moonlight. It was impossible for her to make him out like the vampires could, so it was just a little creepy how he wasn't even alive until he spoke.

Vice looked up to him with little emotion. "Safety," Vice said, glancing at Neil before returning his gaze to them. "It has been forty-three years since I was last in a slave farm, but those of us who share a master pass down our gestures with each new infusion of slaves. Talking is forbidden in their presence, so we worked out ways to communicate when it is safe to do so. The one I used indicates that the masters are gone, meaning we are allowed to act as we wish until their return."

Vice looked down to Dawn again and tapped two fingers from one hand on the other in front of himself. Dawn opened her lips and spoke for the first time, her voice so timid and quiet, lower than Mer had expected from someone so tiny but soft all the same.

"Dawn," she said the name Mer had given her, and then Dawn really smiled. A blush smothered Mer's face as she realized Vice had asked for her name.

"I gave it to her since she doesn't speak much," Mer said with embarrassment.

"That is fine," Vice said with a flat expression that unnerved Mer. "We are not given names in farms. Most go without, and I adopted a name upon my freedom as well. I am sure she was excited to receive one from you. Most females are isolated, whereas men are crowded together to save space, unless they are breeders."

"Breeders?" Mer wasn't sure she wanted to know, but they needed to learn what they could to get to the bottom of this and find her aunt.

"Men who are more virile, better for reproducing stronger young. The ones they choose to impregnate their women are usually prone to violent tendencies if carted with other men. The masters like the fight in them as it makes for stronger vessels if they wish to change the humans for slave soldiers."

"Lovely," Mer whispered.

"This one is small," Vice continued, and Mer didn't like the way he was assessing her like livestock, but it was better to get an idea of their process. "Being under five feet by several inches at this age and skinny means she would have difficulty bearing children and likely never grow to favorable height. That is likely why they used her for blood and cast her aside. It is better she was stunted or she would have already been forced to bear several children."

"Several?" Mer growled, and Rush pat her head to try and calm her, early dragging her into his arms under the tree, but it did little good. When they found these men, they were going to burn for this.

"As soon as a female reaches puberty, they can bear children. If their body does not support it, the masters give them a few years, as they did this girl, but he lack of progress left her only use as blood to feed a newly changed vampire."

"You say it all so mechanically." Mer couldn't stop herself from saying it, tired of his completely emotionless treatment of this sick scenario, and it drew a frown from Vice.

"I apologize if I do not appear to be responding appropriately. For the last forty years, I have been trained to suppress all emotion. I was never really all that expressive to begin with, but inside of me, I too crave to end the masters in a sea of their own blood." Darkness crept into the man's grey eyes that eased Mer's worry.

"What house do you belong to?" Rush asked. "I do not recognize the vampire energy flowing through you, so your sire is of no house that I have interacted with. That means it was a master, and if you are no longer with them, you were sold, is that correct?"

"No. I escaped shortly after my change, and a vampire allowed me to take refuge with him. I do serve him faithfully now, but I am not allowed to disclose his name. I will offer you any and all support to take down the farm that bred me and this girl, but that is all I can offer you. My current master shall remain unnamed and out of this for the most part."

"That is acceptable as long as you swear you are an ally," Rush responded carefully.

"What does the word of a past human slave who loathes your kind mean to you?" Vice smirked, and Rush frowned.

"Remus," Neil spoke to draw his attention away, do far having kept out of the conversation as he leaned on a far brick wall. "Vice is an ally and is loyal to our kind. He's just messing with you because he knows how easy you are."

"Remus is prickly," Vice laughed and it lightened his expression a bunch. It had been hard to stare at Vice when he was completely devoid of emotion, but when he showed it, it was genuine. That gave Mer some comfort. "While my assistance is not contingent upon one further request, it is highly preferred," Vice said, closing off his emotions again.

"What do you want?" Rush asked with a tired breath of air. These two were not destined to be buddies.

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