82. Separation Anxiety

[Mercy]

"Good morning, Mrs. Vincent," Alaric said as he kissed me awake, smiling when he saw me turning my face into the pillow, trying to hide my blush. "Why do you feel the need to try and hide it? I love to see your reaction, Mercy, and you know this."

"I know, I can't help it," I mumbled as I tried to stand and get out of bed but couldn't as Alaric wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to lay back down.

"Trying to run away from me now?" He whispered in my ear before nibbling softly on the lobe, chuckling when I tried again to get free. "No, I won't let you go. It's too early to get out of bed."

"Babe, we're going to be late. We have to go meet with Mariah, remember?" I said, then stuck my tongue out at him before jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom, as if that would have stopped him, should he have wanted to chase me.

"I didn't realize it was already seven," Alaric responded from the bedroom, then rapped softly at the bathroom door. "Have you finished trying to hide from me yet?"

"Hmm? No, not yet. Give me like... ten minutes?" I called back, grinning as I brushed my teeth, imagining the look on Alaric's face when he heard my words. "Hey, I thought we weren't keeping Bartholomew's second?" I asked, opening the bathroom door so that he could get ready to go as well.

"We are not. Mariah was his secretary for the last three years, so she could be of great use to us while we are finding our way around things."

"Is there a plan for today, or are we just going to say hi? Wait, I thought you didn't want to be seen by the public until the company transfers were done?" I asked him after washing my face, then walked into the bedroom where he'd set out a change of clothes for me on the bed. *'Is it weird that I like when he does this? That's weird, right?'*

"I suppose you could say that we are going to say hi, yes. I'd rather meet her before we start, which will hopefully make the transition easier." Alaric said, watching me with a slight smile as he buttoned his jacket, then straightened his tie.

"So, who is she? Just a random human?" I asked as I pulled the black blouse he'd picked out over my head, standing in front of the mirror as I buttoned my jeans and gave my outfit a once-over.

"According to Bartholomew? She knows about vampires, which is another upside to keeping her around. If she already knows, that's less for us to worry about. He did warn me, however, that she's a smart-ass and a spitfire."

"Oh, a smart-ass spitfire sounds like my kinda friend!" I grinned as I zipped up my boots and tossed on a black cardigan before taking Alaric's hand and walking with him towards the main house. "Mmm!" I exclaimed as I started walking a bit faster, the smell of cinnamon getting stronger the closer we got. I couldn't help but smile, as the smell of cinnamon, first thing in the morning made me happier than I ever thought it would.

"So this is the secret to making you happy in the mornings? Shit, I thought I had you figured out." Alaric chuckled, shaking his head in amusement as we turned the corner of the house, bringing a sparring Maeve and Rafferty into view.

Both Alaric and me stopped walking when we saw the two sparring, stunned into an amused silence as we watched them. Maeve and Rafferty were training with swords, and while Rafferty was throwing everything he had into trying to gain the upper hand over Maeve, she was dismissing his advances with one hand and an open book in the other.

"Perhaps you should drop the book and focus on the matter at hand?" Rafferty gasped as he took a step back, then tried and failed to doge Maeve's advance, groaning in pain as her sword slashed across his chest, causing a horrendous gash to open from his left shoulder to the right side of his ribcage. It only took a few seconds for the laceration to heal, but I couldn't imagine how many times Maeve had already done that, as Rafferty was able to ignore it, for the most part.

"If you want me to drop the book, maybe you should put up a fight worth dropping it over, aye?" Maeve responded with a disinterested shrug, not looking up from the book she was reading as she swung her sword towards the ground, clearing his blood off of her blade before holding it towards him once more, waiting for him to attack.

"You do not lack in self-confidence, that I can see," Rafferty growled, his lip twitching in anger as he tried again to overpower Maeve, the anger radiating off of him as she waved off his attacks as if they were nothing, her every movement graceful and precise to the point of lethal accuracy. It was easy to see that Rafferty was correct, and Maeve held the upper hand in physical strength, as it was evident that if it weren't for his immortality, she would have killed him many times, just in the span of time that we'd been watching.

"I could kill every person on this property before they'd have the chance to realize what was happening. If that isn't something worth being confident about, I don't know what is."

"I will prevail, Maeve. I may not know of this technique now, but I will not rest until I am standing over you, victorious."

"You keep pointing that sword at me, telling me how much you want to win, but I'm starting to doubt your commitment," Maeve responded with a roll of her eyes, tossing her book to the side as her eyes turned a bright purple, narrowing into thin slits as she glared at Rafferty.

"You doubt my commitment? Ha!" Rafferty snorted with a shake of his head before tilting it down as he crouched at the ready, his glowing eyes taken over by a bright purple haze, mimicking Maeve's as he glared at her. "You have doubts in your own." He added in a mocking tone, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips before he planted his right foot, chuckling as Maeve pushed forward, the sounds of their swords clashing, ringing out through my ears in a harsh and deafening note.

"I'm trying my best to be cordial, but if you move that blade a single centimeter closer to me..." Maeve growled as she pushed against Rafferty, glaring up at him in nothing short of disgust and hatred, pausing for a moment before speaking once more. "I will tear you to shreds."

"You will try, Maeve, but you will not succeed. The angrier you get, the stronger I will continue to get. I encourage you to try to tear me to shreds. Please do."

"Keep mocking me like this, Raffey, you'll find this blade somewhere uncomfortable." Maeve spat before bracing herself and shoving Rafferty forward, successfully throwing him back a few feet, then growled as he stabbed her sword into the ground with so much force, I watched it split open, spanning the few feet between her and Rafferty.

"Well, that was more than just a sparring match," Alaric breathed out before looking down at me, shaking his head with a small scoff before walking forward.

"I wonder why they're fighting? No, actually, I'm curious where Sinclair is." I responded before looking around the yard, surprised when I didn't see Sinclair anywhere, as it seemed like something he would have tried to intervene with.

"He's in the kitchen, and I was thinking the same thing the moment I saw that it wasn't a simple sparring match." Alaric agreed as we watched Maeve walking into the house, shaking her head as she cast a glare over her shoulder at Rafferty.

"It was not a fight, not in the sense that you think. We were purposely trying to anger each other, to build my strength faster. It appears as though I pushed a nerve. I did not mean to do so, however." Rafferty said as he yanked Maeve's sword out of the ground, laying both swords down carefully before following us into the house, where everyone else was already waiting in the kitchen.

"Oh, really? Right, you did say that sparring would help you build your strength faster." I said, smiling at Alaric as he pulled my chair out for me and waited for me to sit, pushing my chair forward before straightening his jacket as he sat next to me. "Can I ask, why or how does getting her angry work?"

"We have a sort of border up, to protect us from letting out our power, without using it. It's an instinct for us, much like breathing, and it's something we do without trying to." Rafferty responded as he took the plates off of the counter and set them in the center of the table, pulling a chair out, offering it to Maeve, who eyed him suspiciously as she sat, then looked to her right where Sinclair was pouring a cup of coffee at the counter.

"And being angry forces her to let that border down, letting more of her power flow out, which in turn, allows you to absorb more of it," Damien added with a nod, standing as he served the twins, then Bast, before putting a cinnamon roll on his own plate. "I mean no offense to your house, Sinclair, but I am happy to be going back to my own."

"I took no offense. You will never be more comfortable than when in your own home," Sinclair responded with a shake of his head and a dismissing wave as he sat next to Maeve, watching her as she tore off a piece of her cinnamon roll and popped it into her mouth. "You will need to eat more than that, Maeve."

Maeve didn't respond, but rolled her eyes at Sinclair, then made a big show of scooping a large helping of eggs and potatoes onto her plate, raising an eyebrow as she looked back at Sinclair with a mocking smile.

"Thank you," He said with a grin, chuckling softly in amusement as he watched her, then looked to his right where Rafferty was hesitantly following Maeve's lead, tearing off a piece of his cinnamon roll before taking a small bite of it. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the way his eyes lit up in shock and delight when he tasted the cinnamon sweetness that crossed his lips.

"I wish I could taste cinnamon rolls for the first time, but I know how you feel." Samantha sighed softly, shaking her head as she stared longingly at the plate of gooey cinnamon delight in front of her.

"Oh, right, sometimes I forget you guys can't taste as we do," I said as I looked up at Alaric, who was reading the newspaper, entirely unbothered by the food in front of him, just as Damien, Sam, and Sinclair were. *'I guess it makes sense. They've been like this for centuries, so they don't really care anymore. Unlike Samantha, who's only a few months old in terms of being a vampire. Wait, how is she so in control for a newborn?'*

"Having your bones broken continually is a pretty good deterrent, so she gained her control much faster than a newborn usually would," Damien commented as he and Alaric switched newspapers, reminding me that he could read my mind, as somehow, I'd managed to forget that he could.

"Why don't you train all newborns like that, then? That would result in a lot less death, wouldn't it?" I asked him, then looked at Sam, who was typing out a message on his phone, raising an eyebrow when he noticed that I was watching him.

"Other newborns wouldn't have the control to endure such a thing. A broken bone hurts a lot, as nearly everyone at this table can attest to. We could try to, but I can nearly guarantee that it would only make their blood-lust worse if we tried to restrain them from the moment they are turned."

"I concur. Samantha was turned in a town full of mimics, so she's been surrounded by all of the things that make a vampire not want to feed from the time she was turned. Every part of Samantha's rebirth was enough to force her not to give in to her blood-lust, whereas almost no other will have those things." Damien added as he checked on Bast and the twins, making sure the three of them were okay, before looking back at his paper.

"I get it, I think," I said with a nod before turning my attention to the plate in front of me, smiling as I took a big bite of the cinnamon roll, then almost choked in laughter when I saw the way Rafferty was watching me. "Yes, I know, it's weird that a demon such as myself can still enjoy food. I'm only half recreant."

"A creature with a blood-lust should be unable to taste food the way you do, whether full-blooded or not. I apologize. I did not mean to cause you harm. I find you a curious individual." Rafferty responded, giving me a small smile of apology before looking over at Azeneth and Ciaran, watching them curiously for a few moments. "You did not inform me of why you wanted one of my feathers."

"Hmm? Because it's so pretty!" Azeneth beamed, then traded a look with Ciaran before looking back at Rafferty with a grin of proposed innocence. "We also want to see if we can use it. We don't know what we can do, and the only way to figure it out is to try."

"Is that so? If your parents agree, I wish to propose a deal."

"That depends on what the deal is," Bast said, leaning back in her chair, narrowing her eyes at Rafferty as she waited.

"Once I am at full strength, I will allow the children one feather," Rafferty started to say, then shook his head at the twins as they began to gasp out in excitement. "The feather must be of my own choosing!"

"And in exchange?" Damien asked, waving a hand in a circular motion, telling Rafferty to continue.

"They must allow Maeve to give them her celestial crest."

"What?" Maeve gasped, her fork clattering to her plate, then falling to the ground as she whipped her head up to watch Rafferty curiously.

"You feel a kinship with these twins, a powerful one. I know they are the biggest reason that you are hesitant to stray too far away from this group. You have desires of your own that you need to pursue, but you will not do so until you believe these children are safe. You will never have true peace of mind until their power is not something to be sought, which will never happen." Rafferty explained, looking back and forth from Maeve, to the twins, then to Bast and Damien.

"Done deal," Ciaran said as he stood and straightened his vest, then walked around the table, holding his hand out to Rafferty.

"No, nothing is a done deal. Did you not hear when he said that you have to let Maeve mark you?" Bast gasped as she took Ciaran's hand and led him to sit back down in his seat, much to the twins' chagrin.

"We heard him, and we're fine with it. He explained how the crest works, and it will protect us, plus it will give us a direct line to Maeve, no matter where she is." Azeneth responded with a shrug, then sighed as she looked back and forth between her parents.

"How does the communication part of it work?" Ciaran asked Rafferty.

"Speak her name to the heavens, and she will hear it. She'll know who is calling on her and if she is immediately needed, based on how scared or hurt you are. If you are in imminent danger, Maeve would be made aware of it without you needing to call on her."

"So, if the person she marks isn't in imminent danger, then there would be no connection or anything like that?" I asked, raising an index finger to gather his attention.

"I believe only the twins would have the capabilities to reach through the one-way door if they wished to speak to her mentally. For Ismenia and me, I can reach out to her, but she cannot reach out to me, as she is or was not powerful enough to do so. If the ones we marked could simply march into our heads whenever they pleased, I'm sure no angel would ever mark a person."

"Ah, I was incorrect in what I thought the crest would do. I thought that meant that we would all constantly be in her head, which I'm sure would drive every one of us insane." Alaric chuckled with a shake of his head.

"No, and she would not be able to enter your mind without you accepting her, in any way. I suppose it could be likened to the phone calls you make on your cellular devices." Rafferty said, motioning to Sam's phone before looking back at Alaric.

"So, can we?" Azeneth and Ciaran asked, clasping their hands together in a show of plea, looking back and forth between Damien and Bast in question.

"I know if we try to tell you no, you'll manage to talk us out of it," Damien said, closing his eyes with a groan before motioning towards Maeve, who was watching them silently. "We are not the only ones who you need to ask."

"I don't know," Maeve hesitantly responded, biting her lip as she looked up at Sinclair, who gave her a warm smile before kissing her temple softly.

"It is entirely up to you, Maeve," Sinclair said with a slight shrug, then stood to get Maeve a new fork, motioning for her to continue eating after giving it to her.

"I'll think about it," Maeve said, sighing when she saw the defeat and sadness on the twins' faces. "It's not as simple as you two are making it seem. It's kind of a big deal for us. So, I'll think about it."

"What are your plans for the day?" Sinclair asked Alaric and me, clearing his throat as he took one of Maeve's hands in his and kissed her knuckles before rubbing the same spot with his thumb.

"We are going to meet Bartholomew's old assistant, Mariah, but I'm not sure what we're doing past that point," I responded before taking another bite of my now-cold cinnamon roll. *'Cold or not, a cinnamon roll is a cinnamon roll.'*

"Is that so? She's one of the few humans who I wouldn't rather rip out my own fangs than be around for a few minutes." Sam laughed out as he shook his head in amusement.

"Can we rip out our own fangs?" I gasped, looking over to Samantha, who seemed just as shocked by this as I was.

"Ripping out a vampire's fang could be likened to ripping out an angel's wing. Though, if you wanted population control, that is a good way to do it, vampire king." Rafferty said to Damien, furrowing his brows in confusion when he saw the look of shock and bewilderment on Damien's face as he held out this hand for the newspaper. "If you remove one fang, the vampire will never evolve, as their tie to the celestial force will be severed. If you rip out both fangs, you will force them into starting the very long and brutal process of dying."

"Is that so?" Sinclair gasped softly; his golden eyes widened in a mixture of crazed fascination and amusement. *'Well... that's terrifying.'*

"These are things you did not know?" Rafferty said, looking from Sinclair, to Damien, then to Sam, before finally landing on Alaric. He seemed to find it funny that no one knew what he was talking about and chuckled about it for a few moments before saying anything more. "A vampire's fangs are seemingly more important than even you knew. It makes sense why such a thing was lost to the past, as I wouldn't have told others of my greatest weakness had it been me."

"When you say that ripping out their fangs will start a long and brutal death cycle, what precisely do you mean?" Damien asked, folding the paper before handing it to Bast, motioning for her to pass it towards Rafferty.

"One fang removes their ties to the celestial force, and the other removes their ties to their existence itself. Their mortal shell would reject their being, and so they would die permanently. As it stands now, if one of you were to die, an angel could bring you back. If one or both of your fangs are torn from their sheaths, you no longer have an existence to bring back."

"So, you or Maeve could bring back a dead vampire?" Sinclair muttered in a low and husky tone, his once golden orbs now burning like hellfire as he stared at Rafferty.

"No, we are no longer angels. Unless you can enlist the help of an angel, which you would never be able to do, as they'd much sooner end your existence than so much as converse with demons as yourselves, then no, they cannot be brought back."

"You are fallen, which means you still have a connection to the light, right? If you used that connection, doesn't that give you access to the same power an angel has?"

"Only a full angel can reach into Acheron to bring back a mortal, and this is an ability that has only been used once in our entire history. I was not telling you as it was something commonly done. I was only using it as an example as to how important your fangs are. Each creature has something linking them to the celestial force from whence they were created."

"How did we not know this before? How is it possible that no vampire has thought to tear out another's fang?" Sam scoffed in disbelief, shaking his head as he leaned forward in his seat, casting a curious glance at Sinclair, who was still watching Rafferty, his eyes filled with floods of different emotions.

"Have you torn out the fangs of a vampire before?" Samantha asked nervously.

"I have not, no. Ripping out a fang would be just as easy as ripping out one of my wings. It does not matter if you were informed of what it meant before or not. Every fiber of your being will fight to stop it from happening, possibly showing vampires what they are truly capable of, should they be in such a situation."

"I suppose we could just say that we'd rather inject ourselves with our own venom, then?" Alaric suggested with a laugh, causing both Sam and Damien to burst out in laughter as well.

"Why is that so funny?" Maeve asked, looking between the three men in confused amusement.

"There was a man, a few decades ago, who threatened to inject himself if Damien didn't give him a position at the table. It was the most idiotic thing we'd ever heard, and that's saying something, as we've heard some pretty stupid fucking things in our time." Sam responded after he stopped laughing, then started again, shaking his head.

"I'm guessing you find it funny because the vampire threatened to attempt to kill himself by doing something that wouldn't affect him?" Sinclair asked Damien, then looked down at Maeve, who was scrolling on her phone and absentmindedly twirling the straw in her orange juice.

"Precisely, yes," Alaric said as he checked his watch, then turned the face towards me, showing me that it was nearly seven-thirty and almost time to head out.

"We are going to get going soon, but before we did, I had one question. Rafferty, you said we'd call to the heavens to call Maeve. Did you mean that literally?" I asked him as I took a bite of my long-forgotten cinnamon roll, then stood to wash my plate.

"Yes. When you wear a celestial crest, you need only speak the name of the celestial whose crest you wear, and they will hear your voice." Rafferty confirmed with a nod as he stood and gathered his plate, then walked around the table as he grabbed the other dishes, then dumped them out in the trash before setting them carefully in the dishwasher.

"Is Samantha coming with?" I asked Alaric as I watched Rafferty as he loaded the dishwasher, smiling when I saw how he was inspecting the machine as if he expected it to come to life and attack him.

"I don't know, am I?" Samantha responded with a shrug, looking from Sam to Alaric, waiting.

"Perhaps it would be good for you to meet her as well. Spend some time with Alaric and Mercy before spending your days with them could be good as well." Sam said as he stood and pulled Samantha's chair out, putting an arm around her waist as he walked her away from the table.

"We will be going home. I imagine you will be coming by when you are done to rebuild the borders in the basement?" Damien asked as he stood and motioned for the twins to go upstairs. "Go and pack your things. Make sure you leave his bedroom the way you found it."

"We shall. Are you staying or going to Damien's house?" Alaric asked Sinclair and Maeve as he straightened his tie, then took off his jacket, shaking it out before putting it back on.

"Staying, for now. We've got some researching to do, but we did talk about stopping by for dinner." Sinclair responded without looking away from Maeve like he was watching her reaction to everything he said.

*'That must mean that they want to tell us something later tonight when we are all together again for dinner before going on our separate ways? I wonder if it has anything to do with the way Maeve was acting yesterday.'* I thought as I gave Maeve and Sinclair a hug goodbye, then walked with Alaric out to the car, where Sam and Samantha were saying a very passionate goodbye.

Alaric opened the passenger side door for me, giving Sam and Samantha a few moments alone before clearing his throat, opening the back door, waiting for Samantha to get in the car so that we could leave.

"You two haven't been apart in a while, have you?" I asked her as we pulled out of the driveway and drove towards downtown, where we were supposed to be meeting Bartholomew's assistant in his old office.

"No, we haven't, not really," Samantha responded, watching out of the window in silence for a few moments before saying anything more. "Please tell me there's a parking garage?"

"There is, yes. I am trying to take the route with the least amount of sunlight, but I cannot promise you will arrive entirely comfortable." Alaric said with an understanding nod before pressing his foot down on the accelerator.

"It's okay; I've got a hoodie to cover up with. Can I ask why we're going to meet Barry's old assistant?"

"There's a bit of paperwork that she will be giving me, as we don't want to waste the time it would take for delivery, or any human means, to be honest. There was a section left out of the paperwork that was meant to be sent to Lucifer, and so we are going to retrieve it."

"Oh, it must have been an important section if we're going to get it?" I asked him before looking over my shoulder at Samantha, who was glaring out the window, rubbing her arm as it was starting to turn red, then pulled the hoodie over her head to block the sunlight.

"Not the most important part, but a vital part of it, nonetheless. It's just another reason that we will need to go there for dinner tonight." Alaric responded with a nod, eying me out of the corner of his eye for a few moments before saying anything more. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, just thinking about everything." I said with a dismissive wave, then sighed when he pursed his lips, telling me that he wouldn't leave it at that. "About what Edward and Nancy said. I meant what I said before, but I still can't help but think about it."

"That's understandable. Would you like to talk about it?"

"Mmm... No, I truly and honestly do not want to talk about it. I don't mean any offense, but I'd rather just put this all behind me. I'm so done with the endless drama, and I'm really excited to see firsthand what an elder does."

"I will respect your wishes for so long as I believe you are okay with it all." Alaric agreed with a nod before pointing towards a building outside, motioning for Samantha and me to look. "There it is, our new office."

"You vampires are such show-boats," I chuckled when I saw the fortress before us, shaking my head in disbelief. The building before us was hundreds of feet wide and at least fifty stores tall with an armada of trucks to the left and a shipping yard to the right, backed by the beautiful Lake Michigan. *'I may mock them, but this is one of the prettiest sights I've seen in this country so far. I think I'll really like working here.'*

"We may be; it may also be that we aren't," Alaric responded with a shrug as he pulled into the garage along the side of the building, laughing when he saw the look on my face as I watched him. "Vampires have been known for our flair for the dramatic."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Samantha said as she tossed her sweatshirt onto the backseat, using the window as a mirror to straighten her hair before following Alaric and me into the elevator.

"Can I take back what I said so that I can say it all over again?" I gawked as I looked out of the three glass panels in the elevator, watching as the people on the ground shrunk until they were like ants as we made our way to the top floor.

"I second that. What's the actual point in an elevator like this?" Samantha agreed, grinning as we stood side-by-side; our backs turned to Alaric as we drank in the sight of the skyline coming into view before us.

"You realize that insulting vampires as a whole includes you?" Alaric challenged with a snort of amusement, typing out a message on his phone before answering Samantha's question. "I believe the point is obvious. It's a beautiful sight, one that is hard to tire from."

*'What the hell?'* I thought, looking around the elevator as it came to a sudden stop just before we went to the top floor, almost making me lose my balance, as I would have if it weren't for Alaric grabbing my arm to steady me.

"Identification, please?" A woman's voice suddenly said from inside of the elevator, nearly making me jump out of my skin, as I knew there was no one else with us, but that didn't stop me from looking around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Elder Vincent, accompanied by lieutenants Roberts and Stone," Alaric said in a low growl, pointing to a small speaker on the panel above the floor buttons, showing Samantha and me where the voice had come from.

"Approved, thank you." The monotone voice responded after a few moments of silence.

"That was slightly scary. You could have warned us, you know." Samantha grumbled as the elevator began moving once more, allowing me to release a breath I wasn't aware I'd been holding.

"I knew that we would need to verify identity, but I did not know that the elevator would trap us between floors until we did. Though it was a bit gruff, it's a great idea. If someone who has no business on the top floor tries to get to it, they will be trapped until they can be verified." Alaric said with a shrug as the elevator doors opened, showing a beautiful woman standing a few feet in front of us, leaning against a desk with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hello, I'm Mariah. It's a pleasure to meet you finally." The woman said as she stood and held her hand out to Alaric, shaking it with a nod before holding her hand out to me. "Mercy, I presume?"

"Yes, I'm Mercy, and that's Samantha, as you probably already knew," I said, returning her gentle smile as I drank in the woman's appearance. She was a gorgeous woman, with gray eyes like Alaric's and long blonde hair cascading down her back like a golden waterfall. I couldn't tell how old she was, but she appeared to be somewhere between my age and Maeve's, either in her late teens or early twenties.

"Yes, of course. I know this is a bit unorthodox, but I did just receive a report that I believe you may be interested in pursuing?" Mariah asked as she turned around and grabbed a stack of files off of her desk, holding them out as she waited for one of us to take them from her.

"What was the report?" Alaric asked as he took the stack of files, browsed quickly through the first few pages, and then handed them to Samantha, who had her hands out to accept them.

"As sad as this is to say, it's a normal open and shut case. The bank only a few miles from here reported a robbery by a man with a very life-like wolf mask and a pack of attack wolves." She responded with a scoff, nodding understandingly as Alaric sighed in disbelief.

"Care to go on your first mission, ladies?" Alaric asked Samantha and me, then laughed as he motioned for us to walk back to the elevator. "We have the time to spare. May as well get your first case out of the way while we're out here."

"Hold on a second, in the elevator, you said lieutenants Roberts and Stone," I asked him as I took his hand and leaned against the wall next to him in the elevator, watching out of the glass as the elevator began its descent.

"Yes, you are a lieutenant, just as Samantha is. Because you are a hybrid recreant, your position is on a probationary period, but one of the things we've had the elders signing off on is you becoming a lieutenant." Alaric said with a nod, kissing the back of my hand as he watched the slew of emotions that passed through my face. "It was unanimous approval. Congratulations, Mercy Krysanthe, for you are now the co-lieutenant for the elder of North America."