Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 2

Chapter II

"Welcome, First Born. To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Gabrielle smiled. She knew Darryl and the other elders of the Washington, D.C. group had heard of her recent takeover of the Vampire Order. She'd received dozens of messages from people loyal to her asking her what was going on, so she knew word had spread to every cluster in the world within a couple days of her ascension to Queen.

Darryl gestured for everyone to find seats on the plush couches that decorated his personal office. Gabrielle took one of the individual recliners and seemed to turn it into a temporary throne just by sitting in it. All attention was focused on her.

"I'm sure you've heard of my recent acceptance of my place as First Born. I've decided to tour the Order's major holdings to get a better understanding of what resources I have at my disposal as leader of the Order and your activities here happen to be very interesting to me."

Gabrielle nodded to Chen and he stood with one large briefcase in each hand and waited.

"I want you to let Mr. Wu here copy your records to take with me, so that I can look at them at my leisure."

"Um, those are very sensitive documents. If they were to end up in the wrong hands..."

"Are you challenging me?" Gabrielle cut him off.

She slowly stood and everyone else in her party did the same. Darryl hastily got to his feet and looked around at the three vampires that had joined him for this meeting. None of them appeared to be interested in backing him up.

"No. No, I'm not challenging you. I just want to make sure you're aware of the danger of not only having duplicates of those files, but also making them portable. They'll be very easy to steal that way."

"Well, since only those of us in this room will know of the copies, I'm curious as to who you think is untrustworthy here."

"Things happen, First Born. I'm sure no one ever thought you would betray Blake and take control of the Order, but you did."

Everyone in the room could feel the subtle shift in Gabrielle's demeanor from mildly amused to ice cold.

"You've been misinformed. Blake betrayed the Order. I simply stopped him from going through with his plans." Gabrielle turned to regard Chen. "You have everything you need?" Chen nodded. "If you have any trouble, let me know and I'll take care of it personally."

With that, Gabrielle headed for the door and walked out without so much as a nod to Darryl or his associates. Michelle and Shiri followed, with Yelena and the three remaining servants bringing up the rear. They walked in silence until they were outside again and Gabrielle took several deep breaths of the cool night air. She turned to Shiri.

"I'm going to go hunt. I'll meet you back at the airport. Remember, our flight leaves at midnight, so make sure everyone is there and checked in."

"Wait, what about Chen? That'll only give him an hour to make the copies and still get to the airport on time."

"No, he's going to be taking the next flight after ours."

Shiri sighed.

"You need to let me know what your plans are, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry. I'm not used to consulting with anyone about what I'm doing."

"I know. But things are different now."

"You're right. It won't happen again."

"Good. Now what if Darryl or one of the others gives Chen a hard time? You said you'd take care of it personally, but you won't be here."

"The threat should be enough to keep him and the others in line," Gabrielle said confidently.

Shiri nodded. It was very unlikely that Darryl or anyone else would want to call Gabrielle's bluff. Especially since they would have already heard about what had happened to the last members of the Order that had opposed her. Gabrielle was quiet and unbelievably patient, but when push came to shove, she seemed to be very capable of annihilating her adversaries without a second thought.

"I'll see you later then," Shiri called out as Gabrielle headed off into the darkness.

Shiri watched Gabrielle's disappearing form for several moments and then turned back to Michelle and the others.

"We should probably get some hunting in now, too." She looked at Trevor, Samantha, and Theresa. "Get to the airport and confirm our seats. Make sure our baggage is checked properly."

"Yes, Mistress," Sam replied.

She looked to the other two servants to follow her to the rental cars and then nodded farewell.

As soon as they were gone, Shiri turned back to Michelle and Yelena.

"Let's go. I'm hungry," she grinned.

~\/^^^\/~

"So everyone's in place. For how long?" Gabrielle asked into the cell phone.

"Two years. Then we'll lose a third of them and have to work on replacements," the masculine reply came through the earpiece.

"Start recruiting replacements now. I don't want any gaps. What about the Vice President?"

"He's ours. If he wins the election, you're in charge."

"And his running mate?"

"We haven't approached her yet."

"Any particular reason why?"

"Her history shows her to be anti-vamp. Her sister was attacked a few years ago. Ever since then, she's endorsed bills that make it easier to search for us."

"But the VP chose her anyway?"

"Yes. She's a good balance for his ticket. He may be on our side, but he still has a political career to think of."

"Of course. And maybe she can be swayed. What about other possible candidates?"

"Only one of the Republican potentials appeared interested, but I think a couple of the others were just holding out for a sweeter offer. We'll keep working on them. And the other Democratic nominee looks promising. He's just waffling on the details."

"Alright. You know how to reach me."

"I'll let you know of any changes."

"Good. Take care."

"Bye."

Gabrielle closed the cell phone and checked the time. She had less than fifteen minutes to get to the airport and then find the right gate.

With her preternatural speed, that was plenty of time and she actually arrived with a few minutes to spare. Yelena was there at the gate's entrance and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Gabrielle gliding towards her.

"We weren't sure you were going to make it. Shiri asked me to keep a lookout for you, just in case."

"Thank you," Gabrielle replied quietly.

Gabrielle handed over her ticket to the attendant and was given the stub in return. Yelena flashed her ticket stub and then the two vampires walked down the hallway to the plane's entrance.

"How was your hunt?" Yelena asked.

Gabrielle frowned.

"I was unable to find anyone suitable. I'll hunt again when we get to Chicago."

Yelena looked at Gabrielle a little funny, but then they were forced to walk single file and she could no longer see Gabrielle's face. They took their seats and the flight attendant gave the safety speech.

As the plane left the ground, Gabrielle reached up to the silver locket resting near her throat and ran her fingers over the engraving. She closed her eyes and saw Clark smiling in the moonlight.

Clark.