Jamie seemed to be barely injured at all, and he was worryingly eager to take on a council building full of vampires who exceeded him in age and quite likely in power, although he surely outranked the majority in skill and strategy. I did not think I had it in me to lose him twice in a week.

Still, we pressed on. My humans and fledglings and allies streamed in with me. Many of them knew their way around from years—or even decades—of familiarity with the wide corridors. I smiled as we defeated one enemy after another and I raged after any of my people fell to the unworthy council.

I spotted Drak from the corner of my eye and was pleased to see that he had not yet gotten himself killed. If he did, it would be almost as bad as it would be to lose Jamie.

"Glad to see that you're still alive, old friend," I commented as Drak pushed a wooden stake into one of the younger vampire fodder the cowardly council was throwing at us. If they had even the slightest spines they would step forward to meet their fates.

The vampire turned to dust, and I saw Drak cringe at what he had done.

"You too, love." His voice sounded almost normal. I hoped this fight was not breaking a part of him.

Kind monster that I was, I decided to take his mind off the fact that he had just destroyed another person, deserving or not, the best way I knew how. "I rather like knowing that your shifty self is out there somewhere, free in nature, spreading your mush liberally around the wilds. It sets a bar that I can always surpass."

"Be as nasty as you want, Vienne. I know you love me, too."

I rolled my eyes as I regretfully broke the neck of some poor council fledgling. "Peace loving beatnik."

It did not feel quite as accurate considering that he literally had bloody ash on his hands, but I was not going to correct myself if he did not call me out on it.

"Stodgy government...rebel?"

I grinned with my fangs. "Haha, yes! Revel in the chaos that will birth my new order!"

"That gave me chills. Not in a good way. In a terror sort of way, Vienne."

I smiled wider. How amusing. "Don't be silly. New Hollywood will be glorious. You've nothing to fear, Vice President."

"I never know if you're serious about that or not." I had not been serious at first, but the more I talked about it...

Another foolish young vampire attacked me, and I slipped out of his way and put him out of his misery.

"Of course I'm serious. If the new order does not produce some quality media in a couple of centuries, I'll simply plot another rebellion."

"Not any of the starved leeches wandering around in here," Jamie commented, apparently completely ignoring the conversation.

"Because the council is—was—full of cowards and morons. It's rather less full than it once was now." I smirked at the thought. It would be very empty soon if I had my way.

"It's strangely quiet in here," Jamie commented in a low voice, scanning the area around us with his usual seriousness.

I shrugged. "Well, they're probably all hiding in some chamber like the vermin they are. Perhaps they ran out of poor young vampires to sacrifice. I wonder how they motivated them to throw their lives away."

"Maybe we should aim to be stealthier," Jamie said in a tone that well told me he disapproved of my lightheartedness.

"Perhaps," I agreed silkily. "Or perhaps we should keep talking and tempt them to come to us."

None of them looked impressed with my suggestion, now that they were getting paranoid. The silence was rather odd; the council building was never this silent. Had we merely taken out everyone who was on guard? We continued on in silence. My attention caught every little sound, but there was nothing that really gave away a location where we could find more of the remaining members of the council. By my estimation there still had to be about thirty or so still wandering around somewhere, unless more were taken down that I was unaware of. I had seen very few of my former colleagues today.

We found few non-combatant humans hiding in corners, but no more vampires. I wracked my brain, thinking of where we might find them. As much as I did not want Jamie or Drak to get hurt, we were the oldest group on average and had the best chance of success against the old ones. I wondered if Ivan would be cowering somewhere with Beckett, probably with all the other councillors lined up in front of him as fodder. And where would the magistrate be? I could only hope that he could be reasoned with.

We continued forward. A cut-off shriek sounded from down the halls, and I could only wonder who it had been as we rushed forward. Shoving open a door, we discovered one Carter being attacked by Graves, and I did not waste a minute grabbing her by the head and wrenching her neck around so hard it was almost backwards. She made a disturbing gurgling sound as she collapsed onto her victim, and then Jamie kicked her off of Carter's body.

"Grab some of the furniture and break it into stakes, we can't afford to give up any more weapons," I said, as I moved to do the same. Chair leg in hand, I walked towards the prone vampire and stabbed into her chest with a stake multiple times before shoving the chair leg in the dark bloody hole I had made. I wiped the bloody dagger on her skirt, no need to get more Graves gore on me than strictly necessary.

Once finished, I ordered Carter to flee the city for his own safety, and we hurried on again. Breaking down doors, we checked the various chambers, including my own, or rather my former chambers. They had not emptied it, but my things had been strewn about as if thrown by an overpowered toddler on a tantrum. They had broken the succubus painting that resembled me, and I took that as a personal affront. If I had not already been planning on killing most of them anyway, I would have figured out who did it and punished them severely.

On and on we searched. Someone was working to free the humans from the slave cages, and everyone else was doing what we were doing. I instructed each group we passed to inform us if they found Ivan.

I began to suspect that he had fled through some tiny hole in the foundation like a repulsive rat, although in truth the comparison might be offensive to rats.

Finally, there were shouts, and I followed them, along with my group. We had picked up fighters on the way; mostly daring vampires who probably wanted to take a shot against the council. Marcel was with us, and Jamie's sister too had joined us, along with a dozen others.

We broke into the courtyard, and I spotted exactly who I had been looking for, Ivan. I would have bet my favourite human that the small group had been sneaking out of the building to escape and plot for another day. Limp human forms were held up to the mouths of various councillors and council guards, and other bodies strewn on the paving stones, discarded amongst dust and clothing. I did not know if they were mine or not, but the wasted potential angered me either way. I focused all my fury on the damn councillors who ultimately caused this situation by their idiotic tedium.

We were at a standstill, both groups looking with wary unease at the other. They had the advantage of concentrated power, but we had the advantage of numbers. Which would win the day?

"There he is," Jamie said, his eyes going in the same direction as mine. His face was hard and his expression determined.

"Is he on your list, now?" I asked casually.

"Absolutely."

"You still can't take him alone."

"Neither can you." He was not wrong, I was faster than Jamie, and maybe even faster than Ivan, but the ancient vampire's power made my own look somewhat insignificant in comparison. I tilted my head towards Drak, without taking my eyes off of my ancient antagonist, and spoke. "You and Finn go after Beckett. We'll take Ivan. The rest of you, take out the others and keep them from attacking us from behind."

Without waiting for verbal agreement, we rushed forward. Some of the group looked alarmed, which appeared a good sign. Some dropped the humans, but others held them like shields. We worked to separate them, and Ivan stayed behind the others. I scoffed at his behaviour. Of course he was exactly the sort to hide behind the others and keep a fragile human as a hostage. His arrogance was completely unwarranted, unlike my own which was based solidly on the foundation of my brilliance.

With some dismay, I realized that I recognized the face of the human he held, but I pushed aside my grief for later. Kasha had come along only to take care of the wounded, and now she was dead. I could not hear her heart, but there was nothing that could be done about that now. I could only imagine how she could have fallen into his clutches, and Marcel's grief once he realized what had happened. My poor fledgling, all my poor fledglings, that they would be forced so soon to learn to wrestle with the pain of existing through loss.

They stayed in a tight defensive knot at first, but gradually a couple got picked off, and finally Mantis landed a good kick against one, knocking him into a few of the others and spreading the group. Shots rang out from the top of the building and Ivan ran for cover, Jamie and I on his heels.

Ivan spun around. He bit down into the side of Kasha's neck, her head lolling to the side limply. "Come closer," he said, his voice garbled from by talking while biting, "and I will rip out this human's throat."

"She's already dead," I snapped.

"You think so?" he said, stepping backwards. "I think you're wrong. This faint pulse... must mean something. I'm giving you a chance to leave before I am forced to end you, Vienne, and your lover boy there... Oh? Just a moment. It's that human you were so upset that I killed... Or rather, that former human that I apparently failed to kill. I rather thought that I had ripped him open irreversibly."

As he spoke, Ivan tossed Kasha to the side. She was little more than an impediment now that I had called his bluff. Jamie hissed beside me at the callous treatment.

"You know what? I changed my mind. This brand new fledgling is certainly the one who staked Dana and who killed Jack, and I am rather upset about that particular loss. Jack was a natural as a vampire. None of the sentimentalities that plague those pathetic human sympathizers, or even the human breeding faction and the other moderates. No, Jack was a prodigy, a great loss, and the least I can do is see my son's criminal assassin die."

"He couldn't have been that great of a vampire, considering I killed him when I was only a human," Jamie said. A muscle jumped in Ivan's cheek.

This calm determination was exactly what I loved about this male. "He's got a point. You're not very good at selecting quality humans, are you?" I added, with a smirk of amusement. I had missed this banter. "Always underestimating them, never considering for a moment that there might be something that you cannot see considering that they have managed to survive as long as they have."

Ivan laughed. "Oh, you foolish younglings. Humans still exist merely because we allow them to exist. They have always existed on our mercy alone. For that matter, you have existed all this time because we allowed you to exist. You think yourself so powerful, but you're nothing. I allowed you to continue, only because you kept the other bugs in line."

I widened my eyes and I bit my lip, nervously. "Jamie, I think we have a problem."

"Oh?" He barely spared me a glance.

"Yes. I thought I had cinched the title of most arrogant vampire, but he's challenging me. He needs to die. I don't like the competition." I play pouted, and Jamie chuckled, right before Ivan rushed towards him.

I slammed my dagger into his back, but it was unfortunately not even enough to slow him down, and the hilt ripped from my fingers. Darn it, I was down to two before I would be trying to fight an ancient vampire with my bare hands or a chair leg. He yanked it out and shoved it into Jamie's thigh.

Jamie's grunt of pain severely pissed me off. This ignoramus had already hurt Jamie once, and I did not want a repeat of that terrible night. Abandoning any semblance of dignity, dagger in hand, I leapt onto his back and clung while Jamie had a chance to recover himself. I tried to push the weapon into Ivan's flesh, but he grabbed my wrist and squeezed until I was forced to let go and it dropped uselessly to the ground with a forlorn clank.

His bone crushing hold could not make me drop my fangs, though. I sunk them hard into him as if I had gone feral and tried to remove a chunk of his flesh. His disgusting blood welled out of the wound and into my mouth.

Thankfully, while I sacrificed what was left of my mental well-being and my taste buds to the metallic rot, Jamie had not been inactive. He had a long dagger and shoved it home into Ivan's chest, until the blade came out the other side and nicked my chest, as well. Ivan released my hand as he grasped at Jamie. I jumped back from him before it could go any further.

I inspected the dark bloody spot right below my breasts. Most of the blood was Ivan's, but he had nicked my flesh as well. "I thought you promised not to stake me again," I said, smirking at Jamie as I stooped to grab my fallen dagger.

He was trying to get out of Ivan's hold, but he sounded apologetic. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I rather thought you adored my chest now, so this does make me feel a bit unappreciated."

"Vienne, you know—"

Before he could properly respond to my teasing, Ivan yanked the dagger from his own chest. Jamie shifted and it went into his side as if he wore no protection at all, but thankfully the injury was well away from his heart. He grunted in pain and clutched the hilt as he staggered back.

I lunged forward and stabbed Ivan a couple more times. He was finally slowing and so was I, but it seemed like he was losing energy faster, his body unable to keep up with the many wounds. Encouraged, I kept stabbing, sacrificing what was left of my dignity like a deranged serial killer, until he collapsed on the ground.

"Give me one of those chair legs, Jamie. He would hate that," I said.

Jamie complied and I worked the leg in through the wound until it emerged out the other side. "Let his body try to heal that giant sliver," I said with a triumphant smirk. "Pass me a couple more, I want to ensure he's not getting up before he meets the sun. Or perhaps we should burn them all night and not risk an escape."

I worked the additional pieces of broken wood in as well. Jamie was crouching over Kasha's still form. Stepping away from Ivan, I spotted movement out in the far corner of the courtyard. Beckett had Drak on the ground, and was bringing down a dagger towards his chest. He was far too far away for me to intervene in his fight in time to save him, but I sprinted in his direction regardless.

Beckett was shoved off of Drak by another blur, and it took me a moment to recognize Whitmore, her hair flying loose as if she had been released by the councillor demon that had possessed her body. She looked like a wild thing, as she broke Beckett's arm with a snap. My already healthy respect for her grew tenfold.

I reached Drak and yanked him to his feet. "I would yell at you for getting yourself in trouble, but you make such a lovely damsel in distress I can't even be mad at you. It's like an art form, when you do it."

"Is this really the time for this?"

"You were almost destroyed a moment ago! You would have been if your girlfriend had not saved you! I can't think of more appropriate time to torment you. You had one job—not dying—and you can't even manage that."

Drak sighed, just as Beckett went down, weapons protruding from both his front and his back courtesy of both Whitmore and Finn. Credit where credit was due, Beckett's thick head made for a tough kill.

"I thought you weren't going to take sides," I commented to her.

"We were going to stay neutral, and you saw how the council took that. They killed my former secretary feeder."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Well, I should say nearly. I turned her at the last moment. The plus side is that I won't have to replace her, but the downside is I can't feed on her anymore and I'll have to pay her."

I shrugged. "You would have had to pay her anyways. We're going to let humans unionize."

"Ugh, that's going to be such a headache."

I shrugged. "Better for the feeders though."

"I suppose. I do miss the world of my childhood, it would be nice if we could reclaim a small piece of that."

I thought the idea of the humans pushing their weight around and annoying the other vampires to be quite entertaining. "That is the plan. But first, we need to finish cleaning out this place. If we let the rats escape, they could cause trouble later. And the fallen deserve to have the cause they were destroyed for realized."

Whitmore nodded, and we split off again.