Chapter 130 - Dhampir Knight

Theora would have never admitted it out loud, but she handed Darim her best report yet that afternoon. After having spent hours holed up in her bedroom with that document as an excuse, at least she'd come up with a good one, although her handwriting was still as bad as ever. Her Team Captain wasn't there that afternoon, probably gone to partake in the day shift of their mission, so she had her afternoon to herself. Since she didn't feel like training with Kleis nor going into town without her cousins, she decided to look for Reylan. She hadn't forgotten how he'd promised to show her something that would supposedly change her mind about vampires, and she found it strange that she hadn't seen him at all yet, not even in the corridors of the Military Hall. Either their missions were on completely different schedules, or they really had been out of luck. Sure, Theora had been going out and about a lot, but they still should have run into each other at dinner at least once, she thought. Without knowing where to go, she went to look for another of her seniors instead and found Red in one of the study rooms.

"What's up, Theo?" he asked, lifting his eyes from his own report.

"I was wondering if you knew about the other missions in the Capital this week?" Theora asked. "A friend’s mission supposedly overlapped with ours but I haven't seen him at all."

"Funny," he frowned. "Maybe he's positioned elsewhere or his mission got delayed? I think only mission leaders have access to that info, though. You might want to try asking Darim when he's back. Don't go out again today, though."

"What? Why?" Theora frowned.

She wasn't planning to, but it was weird Red would say that when she still had plenty of time to run an errand or something. He grimaced.

"There's been an attack," he admitted. "A vampire attack in one of the Capital's neighborhoods. It hasn't hit the news yet, but I heard they called an emergency meeting this morning."

A lump of ice dropped in Theora's stomach.

"Holy shit. Is the victim...?"

"Dead? Yeah," Red nodded grimly. "From what I heard, it was nasty, too. Sorry, Theo, I know it's a shit situation for our vampire trainees and... you. You got blood this week?"

"Y-yeah. The trainee who was in charge was an asshole about it, actually. They ignored my chart and gave me such gross blood I had to get my own at The Blood Bank.

"Oh, I heard Darim kicked someone off the rotation; it must have been about that... Well, at least you're covered. Sorry that happened, though. At least with The Blood Bank you'll be in the clear if they want to check which vamp got fed or not this week."

"You think they'll check the Military Hall's charts?" Theora asked, shocked.

"Oh, honey," Red scoffed. "They'll check every damn blood-providing establishment in the Capital. That's why the Crown oversees the blood banks. They want accountability when people start pointing fingers at the vamps. It's not the first time, and it always triggers a whole bunch of nasty investigations. So, my point is, I'd stay where everyone could see me for a few hours if I were you. You been out and about today?"

"I went to see my cousin. She lives near the De Boreal residence though, it was a short trip."

"Well, glad you did because tomorrow you might be asked to stay here. At least you won't be a suspect; it happened right in the middle of our shift, from what I heard. Before dawn or something."

"Damn... You know exactly where it happened?"

"Somewhere south... Sounded like it was in the slums. I guess we'll get more details from the newspapers tomorrow."

The slums. Wasn't that where Reylan and his sister were from? A shiver ran down Theora's spine. She had a bad feeling about this. What if Reylan had chosen a mission close to where he grew up? What if he was to become aware of what had happened and hated the vampires even more because of it?

"Theora, please don't sneak out."

"Why would I sneak out?" she frowned.

"Because Darim said you're prone to bad decisions and that I should keep an eye on you. Which means that if you sneak out, I'll be the one in trouble."

"Why would I sneak out, and why would Darim have you watch me?"

Red tilted his head, raising his eyebrows in a 'really?' kind of way. Theora rolled her eyes.

"Come on, kid. We both know you have a little knack for disobedience. Please just stay where we can see you; I do not want Darim to rip me a new one on this mission. I'm almost done with the Academy."

"You're not doing the third year?" Theora asked, surprised.

Red shrugged.

"To be determined. I got a job offer; I have to meet my future boss soon. They'll decide what they want me to do."

"Already? And they decide what kind of knight you'll become?"

Red chuckled.

"Yeah, kid. Why do you think everyone wants to take a Capital mission? We're knights, our goal is to find a knight position somewhere eventually. It might be easy for legacies like Darim or Kleis, who are almost guaranteed a position, but free agents like me need to find a position the old-fashioned way."

"So you got a job offer? From whom?"

"I'm not allowed to say, but it's good," Red grinned. "How about you, Theo? Any family you'd like to work for? House De Boreal is loaded. If you made a good impression on the young lady, in a couple of years, they might offer you a position there."

"Hell no," Theora grimaced. "I... I plan to be a Royal Engineer."

"Oh, even fancier," Red grinned. "Salatur's the one you got to impress, then. I heard he was nicknamed a genius or something. He's got plenty of contacts, I bet he could easily recommend you."

"That would be great," Theora nodded. "...I'm going to go now."

"In your room?"

"In my room," Theora rolled her eyes.

"Drop the sass, Theora."

She shrugged, leaving the study room to go back to hers. She hadn't thought a lot about her career plan with everything going on lately, but now, she realized becoming a Royal Engineer meant she would be working directly for the Crown... For her uncle Lucius. She wished she'd dropped by this afternoon to at least find out if he felt better. She had gone straight back to the Military Hall from visiting Cylea, remembering too late that she'd been allowed to visit that day, as well. Theora sighed, guessing she was going to miss her uncle Lucius this time around, and decided to use the time in her room that afternoon to write him a letter instead. She might be shy about meeting her father, but she already had a bond with her mother's cousin, and she felt sorry she hadn't been able to see him. The least she could do was keep him updated on her whereabouts like she would an actual uncle. Therefore, she wrote him a letter, telling him all about her latest weeks at the Academy, her time in the Capital, mentioning her job at House De Boreal and how she had met Gregorio, Breorion and Antonis in the gardens. She tried to make her encounter with the last two a bit neutral because she had no idea what her uncle's relationship to them was. She also didn't mention her encounters with 'Orion' at all; those were too private to share. She made sure never to call him by his name, only referring to him as 'uncle' for privacy purposes, although it felt strange. Done with that letter, Theora decided to use the remaining hours to go over her correspondence, writing to Danell, her dad, and then Merigold. She mentioned that she'd been paid for her first mission and how she was sending them all money to reimburse them, although she didn't say where most of the money had really come from; Theora still had a hard time making peace with her new-found fortune. Finally, she wrote another letter to Quil. This one was a bit more intimate, telling her everything she'd found out about her mom, although Theora made sure to use aliases and be vague regarding the 'incident' she wanted to know more about. It wasn't the first time she wrote to her godmother, but a part of her hoped that the more she asked, the harder it would be for Quil to keep her lips sealed.

She had just finished writing and double-checking her last letter when her roommates came back. She tried to interrogate them for information on the murder, but none of them had heard anything about it, and they were more curious why Theora missed lunch at House De Boreal. She made up a lie about having promised to have lunch with her cousin, and they let it go, going down for dinner while chatting about their shift instead. Selvie joined them with a yawn, sitting down next to Theora.

"You look tired," Theora commented.

"Thanks, Theo," she groaned. "The night shifts are harder than I thought. It's hard to get used to sleeping during the day. My body is tired and not happy with the weird rhythm, but whenever I manage to fall asleep, there's always something waking me up. I'm just glad the De Boreal knights are trying to make it easier on us. Their night shift knights are far more used to this than we are."

"At least we only have two shifts to go," Elexei yawned. "It's not like it's been the hardest mission either, there's been almost nothing to guard. I heard we're the last rotation of trainees hired at House De Boreal; their new knights are taking over as soon as we're gone."

"You should be glad," Ricki commented from the end of their table. "I heard the knights guarding the Duke face attempts twice a week."

"...Twice a week?" Elexei paled.

"They said it's gotten worse since he's been up for the title," Red nodded. "That's probably why they were short on guards."

Theora stopped eating. There were assassination attempts against Breorion twice a week...? She felt the food turn to dust in her mouth, her stomach rebelling for some reason. Even as a very inexperienced trainee, Theora knew two assassination attempts a week was... a lot.

"It's all too late for them, though," Ricki commented. "I heard it's done. Title's been finalized, the guy's going to be officially named the new Duke anytime now."

"Which means he won't be targeted anymore?" Theora asked, frowning.

"Oh, he still will. But once he gets the title of ‘Duke’, it's going to be a hell of a lot harder for his enemies to touch him. Dukes have a whole bunch of extra securities and guarantees around them. That's why the enemies of House De Boreal were so bent on taking him out before that. The young Duke's been way too good at making his house wealthy and powerful again. Rumors are he's one of the best politicians of his generation, let alone as a businessman. Not only did he manage to salvage everything the former Duke had dilapidated, but I heard he's made their fortune three times what it used to be."

"Red," Ricki scolded him.

He'd probably spoken too openly, and even if they weren't at House De Boreal, it wasn't appropriate for knights to discuss this. Red shrugged, but Theora was grateful for the nugget of information. Now she was curious what kind of duke Breorion was... Somehow, the genius entrepreneur image that her teammates depicted didn't match with Orion, the young man she'd met those mornings. It made her feel a bit disappointed and realize the image she'd built in her head was nothing but a fallacy. Still annoyed, Theora finished her meal, and went to bed as early as she could for her next shift.

At least, even upset, she managed to sleep well enough to wake up without issues the following day. As usual, Theora and her roommates got ready quickly and quietly, leaving the Military Hall right on time. But, to their surprise, they weren't let out of the Military Hall building without Red presenting some paperwork to the trainees charged with guarding the gate.

"What was that?" Keffen frowned.

"Reinforced security," Red sighed. "With what happened yesterday, security is going to be tighter everywhere. Anyhow, stay close, and let's get to the De Boreal residence quickly."

They all nodded, and they resumed their walk throughout the Capital at a slightly quicker pace than usual. Theora did notice that they walked by more patrols of knights, and some businesses that they had previously seen open at this time of the night were closed. The atmosphere felt utterly different, tense and heavy. When they were almost at the De Boreal residence, another pair of Royal Knights stopped them with annoyed-looking expressions. Theora didn't miss how one of them gave her a disgusted look, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Papers?" he barked at Red.

"I got them here. We're on an academy mission for House De Boreal."

"...Why isn't the dhampir marked?"

"Her name's right there," Red pointed with an annoyed voice.

"Maybe, but it could be a fake name. Vampires have special marks next to their names. Where's hers?"

"She's a dhampir, not a vampire, you dimwit," Keffen retorted.

"There's no regulation regarding dhampirs on the Academy paperwork," Red retorted.

"If she's not marked, I cannot assume it's her. Does she have her papers?"

"She has a name and a voice," Theora retorted, annoyed. "And no, I don't carry around my papers when I'm going to work."

"Watch your tone, dhampir," the guy hissed.

By then, even his partner was giving him glances, probably not fully on board with his attitude, but it was too late. Theora returned his defiant stare, unwilling to admit defeat. Red sighed, and leaned towards Themid.

"Go warn the House De Boreal knights."

Themid nodded, and left before one of the Royal Knights could say a word.

"You need to watch your attitude, dhampir."

"You need to watch your prejudice," Theora retorted. "You don't get to give me shit just because you have something against vampires, asshole."

The man turned red immediately.

"Alright, that's it!" he barked, grabbing her wrist. "I'm arresting you for insubordination and-"

"Like fuck you are," Theora retorted, freeing her wrist with a movement.

"Theora, don't resist!" Red exclaimed, visibly alarmed.

"I'm not letting this asshole arrest me for nothing!"

There was a scuffle, and while Theora was good, she wasn't good enough to resist two grown men trying to bind her arms behind her back. Red and the others were frozen, clearly unsure how bad it would be if they intervened. Against all odds, Kleis was the one who suddenly stepped forward, delivered an impressive drop kick to the Royal Knight's arms to make him let go, pulled Theora behind her, and brandished something Theora couldn't see in their faces.

"The dhampir girl has Royal Immunity," Kleis hissed ferociously. "Touch her again, and I swear I'll make sure the consequences you face are much worse than being sent to jail for insubordination."

Theora's jaw dropped.