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.And then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over.There was only breathing and blackness.Chapter 8Set in Motion“Let me be sure I have this right.You claim to be the girl that Theroen chose to make his bride?”Stephen’s voice was tinged with incredulity and something that bordered on disgust.The tone of his words cut through her despair, and Two looked up at him, eyes narrowing.“That’s right.Why?”“I’d not expect such poor taste from an Eresh-Chen.”“Stephen Connelly!” Naomi hissed.She couldn’t seem to find the words to begin chastising him.Two only tilted her head, looked at Stephen, waited for his explanation.“For Christ’s sake, Naomi, listen to her.‘Kill me,’ she says.What a great load of weak, pathetic bullshit.”“You will not speak like this to the one who killed Abraham!”Naomi was on her feet now, blocking most of Two’s view of Stephen with her rump.Two supposed that many a man and likely no small number of women had admired this view over the centuries.Currently, Two was more interested in what Stephen had to say than whatever Naomi had to flaunt.She leaned to one side and watched.Stephen was looking up at Naomi, his expression skeptical.“Aye, she says she killed him.I cannot believe that anyone capable of such an act would then simply roll over and give up at the first sign that things might not go the way she wants them to.”“You have no idea what she’s been through.”“I don’t care what she’s been through!”“Stephen, I—” Naomi began, and Two interrupted.“What are my options?”Stephen looked over at her and said, “I haven’t finished thinking of them all, I’m sure, but I’ll give you what I’ve got off the top of my head.Let me assure you that none of the ones coming to mind include lying down and dying.”Two motioned for Naomi to sit down and looked again at Stephen.“Good,” she said.“So tell me.”Stephen shrugged.“You are Eresh-Chen.That means ‘child of Eresh’ in our language, but that’s not all it means.That title is reserved only for a select few.You are part of an unbroken line that has been traced for almost five thousand years.”“What does that mean?”“It means many things.First, it means that every point in that line, from Eresh through Abraham to Theroen and yourself, are first-children.As far as we know, Eresh was the first vampire.By blood, you are her direct heir, and blood – ‘tah’ in our language – is the only thing that has ever mattered to us.“If you die, the line dies.There are some – and at times I’ve been among them – who would dearly like to see it happen.Abraham was an oppressor, a thing of pure evil, and we had only Naomi’s word that his son was anything else.”“That should be enough,” Naomi muttered.“And for me, it is.That and your lovely personality,” Stephen said, flashing her a brilliant grin.Naomi rolled her eyes.“You’d think the word of a member of Kharas would carry a bit more weight.”“I don’t understand why any of this matters,” Two said.“I’m a human.Whatever blood was in me is gone, at least mostly … Maybe there’s enough so that Naomi could tell I’d been a vampire once, but that’s about it.”“That doesn’t matter, or at least it shouldn’t.Two, you’re Eresh-Chen.Not only that, but you managed to kill one of the oldest vampires left on the planet, a being who had kept the entire American council under his boot for centuries.You have more of a right to the blood than anyone else in the world.You’re going to let them deny you that because of some foolish law from five thousand years ago?”Two leaned forward, met Stephen’s gaze, did not look away.“I’ll ask again: what are my options?”Stephen nodded.He sat back on the couch and began to tick the items off on his fingers.“First, I’d try appealing to the council.If that fails, then second, I would try to find a vampire who doesn’t obey council laws.If that didn’t work, then the third thing I’d try would be to take the blood by force.And fourth, if pressed, I would start killing vampires until the council relented.”“Stephen …” Naomi was looking at the floor, shaking her head.“I’m not advocating those last few, Naomi.She asked me what I would do, other than give up and die.Those are my answers.”He returned his attention to Two, He began to speak but stopped, his hands first opening and then folding.He reconsidered and started again.“I don’t know how to put this, Two.There has never been a case like yours that I know of.Only Eresh vampires revert to humanity, and Eresh vampires are rare.Those few in history who might have been in a similar situation were usually killed at the same time as their masters.There has certainly never been another Eresh-Chen in this position.“If the council says ‘no,’ there are other options.Most of them will be dangerous, since you’ll be breaking our laws, but you’ve already broken several of those and seem to have come through all right.”“What laws did I break?” Two asked.Stephen glanced at Naomi, who took a breath and spoke up.“The person who killed Abraham is technically wanted for questioning.You’ve broken statutes thirteen and fifteen of the scrolls, and triggered statute twenty-seven.”“Oh, go ahead an’ recite them, Naomi.You know you want to,” Stephen said, amused.“They’re wordy.In a nutshell, thirteen says you can’t kill an elder of your line.Fifteen says you can’t kidnap a fledgling.Twenty-seven says that any human who becomes aware of us should be brought before the council to explain themselves, particularly if they’re actively seeking us
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