Seraphina appeared a few hours into my work. She leaned against the building, watching me work for a short while before she spoke. “Have you contacted the order, yet?”
“After the bond passes.”
“We could use their protection,” she said. “Assuming they still have the strength to offer it.” Seraphina held up her phone limply. “This device is useless for things about our kind. That, or I have no idea where to begin my search.”
“We will have to make our own way for now. Did you make any progress securing alliances?”
“No,” she said. “Nobody wants to get on Bennigan’s bad side. It also seems more and more vampires are leaning into the old ways. They think the pact should be abolished, and any who support it should be left in the sun to fry.”
“We’ve been gone too long.” I hammered a few nails, then stepped back to admire my work. “What do you think?”
“I think the three of us may have had some power before we were detained, but Alaric’s ill-advised romance with a human robbed us of that power.”
“No,” I said. “I mean the cabinet.”
Seraphina sighed. “It’s great, Lucian. But I fear you’re walking in the same footsteps Alaric walked. You’re losing sight of the bigger picture because of a human.” She motioned to Cara, who had rolled to her back so her mouth was hanging open and she was snoring in a very un-ladylike, but adorable way.
“I don’t only enforce the pact because it pays well,” I said. “I believe in what it stands for.”
Seraphina cocked her head, looking annoyed. “And you think I don’t?”
“I think you enjoy having The Order’s authority behind you when you enforce the pact.”
She grinned. “You do know me well. But believe it or not, I don’t look down on them.” Her gaze slid to Cara again. “But if I have to choose between us and them, I’ll choose us. I’ll choose family.”
“And I’ll make the choices I can live with,” I said, picking up the cabinet. “Cara,” I said softly. “It’s finished.
She sat up suddenly, slurping in some drool, then wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. As I expected, Seraphina had already left before Cara was done blinking the grogginess from her eyes. “What time is it?”
“Time to get you inside and get this cabinet installed.”
I was relieved that none of her roommates were in the kitchen to bother us while I removed the previous, water-logged cabinet and installed the new one.
Cara appeared to gradually be waking up. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. “So do I get to have your number and call you for household repairs when this is all over?”
“When this is all over,” I said, getting on my back to reach up and screw in the fasteners. “We will never see each other again.”
I couldn’t see Cara’s reaction, but there was a long pause. “You keep saying that. You’re really just going to disappear?”
“I have to.”
“What if I don’t want you to?”
I set the screwdriver down and sat up, looking at her. She was watching me intently, eyes focused. She kept pushing her lips over to one side, an expression I’d come to learn was her way of showing she was nervous—maybe even a little embarrassed.
“I don’t want to leave. I must, though.”
“You could protect me from the others, couldn’t you?”
“Not if things are as bad as they are starting to appear. Before we were locked away, my… employer was very powerful. My position enforcing the pact made me powerful. It meant Bennigan and anyone else with a grudge couldn’t move openly against me.”
“What is this pact thing you keep talking about?”
“A dangerous topic you don’t need to know about.”
“Spare me, Lucian,” she snapped. “I’m tired of you telling me what I should and shouldn’t know.”
I bit back a smile. I really did like this woman. “A very long time ago, some of the most powerful vampires decided we shouldn’t have to hide. They wanted to reveal themselves openly and take their ‘proper’ place as the masters of this world. But there were others who saw what their idea would truly look like. It would be master and slave. Humans subjugated and treated like cattle. It would be hell on earth, and there was a large group of us who formed The Order and helped resist any efforts of an uprising. Over time, The Pact was formed. It was our commitment to co-existence. We live our lives in the shadows, you live yours in the light. It also means we don’t harm humans beyond what’s necessary to feed.”
“And now this pact thing isn’t as widely supported?”
“That’s what we’re gradually coming to realize. Yes. It doesn’t seem as though my kind have embraced the technology available, so our ability to learn more is limited at the moment. So far, we’re only encountering vampires who are too afraid to openly support the pact, and I have no way to contact The Order.”