Chapter 27 The Enemy of My Enemy (Aleksander POV)
The coffee shop is exactly fifteen minutes from Vivian's school, which means I've timed this perfectly. She finishes classes at 3:15, needs ten minutes to get to her car, and always stops here before heading home because their espresso is better than the cafeteria sludge she complains about constantly.
I'm sitting at a corner table with a clear view of the entrance when she walks in at 3:26. Right on schedule. My sister is nothing if not predictable, which has always made her excellent at intelligence work and terrible at poker.
Vivian is nineteen, two years younger than my cover identity claims, with the same dark hair and sharp features that run in whatever family actually produced us. We don't know. We're both orphans who were recruited into the Silver Dawn young enough that our origins don't matter anymore.
She spots me immediately, her expression cycling through surprise, suspicion, and concern in about three seconds.
"Alex?" She moves to my table, keeping her voice low. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be embedded at Silvercrest. If anyone sees us together, your cover is blown."
"My cover's already compromised. Sit down. We need to talk."
She sits, but her body language screams wariness. "What happened?"
"I need you to investigate Victoria."
The words land like a bomb. Vivian goes perfectly still, her eyes widening.
"Investigate our commander? Alex, have you lost your mind? If anyone hears you talking like this..."
"Then we'll both be executed for treason. I'm aware." I slide a flash drive across the table. "But I need you to trust me. Just for a few days. Look at what's on this drive, then investigate Victoria's communications and financial records. See what you find."
"Why would I do that?" She's not touching the drive. "Victoria Ashford is the best hunter alive. She's kept the Silver Dawn operational for decades. She's saved hundreds of lives."
"Has she? Or has she just convinced us that she has?" I lean forward. "Viv, I've been at Silvercrest for three years. I've watched vampires live peacefully with humans. I've seen them protect human students, create art, form genuine relationships. Everything Victoria taught us about them being irredeemable monsters doesn't match what I've witnessed."
"So you've been compromised by vampire influence. This is exactly what they do, Alex. They manipulate. They seduce. They make you believe they're harmless right up until they kill you." Her voice has that rehearsed quality that means she's reciting training doctrine. "You need to extract immediately and report for deprogramming."
"I'm not compromised. I'm awake." I push the flash drive closer. "Just look at it. Please. If I'm wrong, if I've been manipulated, the evidence will show that. But if I'm right..."
"If you're right, you're accusing Victoria of what, exactly? Being secretly evil? Manufacturing evidence? Staging attacks?" She laughs, but it's strained. "Listen to yourself. You sound like a conspiracy theorist."
"Then prove me wrong. Investigate her communications. Follow the money. Use those brilliant intelligence skills you're so proud of and see what you find." I soften my voice. "Viv, I wouldn't ask this if I wasn't certain something is wrong. You're the only person I trust enough to look into this properly."
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see her brilliant mind working through possibilities, weighing risks, calculating outcomes.
"What's on the drive?" she asks finally.
"Evidence that Victoria orchestrated the Pinehurst murders three weeks ago. Autopsy reports showing the wounds were made with medical instruments, not vampire fangs. Witness statements. Financial records linking her to the mercenaries who actually committed the kills." I pause. "Three innocent people died so Victoria could justify accelerating her assault timeline. That's not protection. That's murder for political gain."
Vivian picks up the flash drive slowly, like it might explode. "If you're wrong about this, if I investigate and find nothing, I'm reporting you for deprogramming. You understand that?"
"I understand."
"And if you're right..." She trails off, the implications clearly terrifying her. "If Victoria really did stage those attacks, if she's been manufacturing the war, then everything we've dedicated our lives to is a lie."
"I know."
"You're asking me to potentially destroy the Order. To expose the one person who's held us together for decades. To betray everything we believe in." Her voice cracks slightly. "That's not a small ask, Alex."
"I'm asking you to find the truth. What you do with it is your choice." I stand, preparing to leave. "But Viv? We have two weeks before Victoria launches an assault on Silvercrest. A hundred hunters against a school full of students. If she's really fighting to protect humanity, fine. But if she's manufacturing wars to maintain power, then we're about to commit mass murder for a lie."
I walk out before she can respond, leaving her sitting there with a flash drive full of evidence and the worst decision of her life ahead of her.
Either she'll investigate and find nothing, confirming I've been compromised and need extraction.
Or she'll investigate and find everything, confirming that our entire organization is built on manufactured conflict and strategic murder.
I'm betting on the latter.
But I'm terrified I'm right.
Two days later, Vivian calls me at 2 AM.
"I looked into the Pinehurst case," she says without preamble. Her voice sounds wrecked, like she's been crying. "You were right. The autopsy reports don't match vampire attack patterns. The wounds show metal particulate. All three victims were sedated before death."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. Just tell me you have more evidence than this. Because if I'm going to accuse Victoria Ashford of staging attacks, I need more than one case."
"I have more. But it's buried in classified archives. I don't have clearance to access it remotely."
"I do." She's quiet for a moment. "I've been working intelligence for three years. Victoria gave me elevated access six months ago. I can get into financial records, communication logs, operational reports that even most field hunters can't see."
"Vivian, if you access those files, there'll be a record. Victoria will know someone's investigating her."
"I'm aware. But if you're right, if she really has been manufacturing attacks, I need to know." Her voice hardens with determination. "Give me a week. I'll dig through everything I can access. Financial transactions, communication records, operational reports for every major vampire attack in the past decade. If there's a pattern, I'll find it."
"This is dangerous."
"Everything's dangerous. At least this way I'm choosing what I risk myself for." She pauses. "Alex, if I find what you think I'll find, what are you planning to do with the evidence?"
"Stop the assault on Silvercrest. Expose Victoria to the Council. Give the reformist hunters ammunition to challenge her leadership."
"That's treason. She'll execute you."
"Probably. But it's the right thing to do."
"Since when do we care about the right thing? We're hunters. We care about survival and eliminating threats." But there's no conviction in her voice.
"Maybe it's time we started caring about more than that."
She's quiet for a long moment. "I'll call you when I have something. And Alex? Be careful. If Victoria suspects you're compromised, she won't wait for the assault to eliminate you."
"I know. You be careful too."
"Always am."
She hangs up, and I'm left staring at my phone in the dark, wondering if I just condemned my sister to death by asking her to investigate the most dangerous hunter alive.
But if we're going to stop Victoria, we need proof. Real, undeniable, documented proof that she's been manufacturing the war.
And Vivian is the only person with both the access and the skills to find it.