Futuristic The Darkness of Space (Supernatural Scifi)

[Sakuma]

Morei's mouth tightened, but he gave no other indication of his grief.

"It was not intentional," was all he said.

Truthfully, that hatching ground was only likely to be viable for another fifty years regardless. Whether Yasen interfered or not, the Ferenden people probably only had a few hundred years left before they died out. The laser may have quickened things along, but the outcome was the same. With as much misfortune as the tear brought, it was also their only chance at salvation.

"I know what an ocean is, in theory, but it is different to see it," he said slowly. "The idea that you cannot even see the bottom is bizarre."

Renza watched Morei and Vanya for a moment, then turned his attention back to Dmitri.

"Right. I agree," he said. They did need to get ahead of it and control the narrative.

Still, he couldn't help stepping up next to Morei and Vanya to see the scenery as they landed. He lived in a rural area of Albaques, but it was closer to a prairie than anything. The mountains and trees were worth admiring.

"Why would she greet us?" Morei asked, curious. He was still getting used to the concept of marriage. Back home, mates were taken seasonally. Sometimes, people would choose the same mate over and over again out of fondness and a sense of partnership, but it wasn't the same.

"Hospitality is very important to vampires, if I'm not wrong," Renza explained, looking to Dmitri for approval.

He jumped a foot in the air when a little girl who was not there just a moment ago was suddenly standing next to him, but Morei just looked confused.

"Kas is the one who left with the little prince, correct?" He asked Renza, and the priest grit his teeth as he gave him a sour look. God, he felt like he just had a heart attack.

"Yes," he said drily, then turned a winning smile on Iona. "My name is Renza. We should listen to your dad before we talk more, though."

"It is strange how you do that," Morei mused aloud. "Change from one face to another depending on who you're speaking to."

Renza pointedly ignored him as they got off the ship. He could tell that Morei was playing cool, but the girls had thrown him off balance. He wasn't used to children that young. From what Renza understood, Ferenden children didn't really start interacting with the general public until they were around fifteen or twenty years old, and had developed a proper exoskeleton.

He followed after Renza obediently, though was clearly enamored with the trees. Even after seeing them in memories, being surrounded by so much plantlife was mind boggling. He was almost happy to get into the house and away from it all, even if the house itself was still strange. It was stone, at least, which was familiar, but there was so much more furniture and decoration than he was used to. He tried to pay attention, but he kept getting distracted by different furnishings. He looked up from where he was examining a pillow on the sofa to eye the twins, reaching out just the slightest tendril to identify their mental signature. Barely enough to be felt as more than a shiver, he filed the information away to identify them in the future.

"Iona and Leksi," he clarified, pointing to them in turn to make sure that he had it correct.

"It's nice to meet you, Elder Zmey," Renza said, moving into political mode once he was certain that Morei wasn't going to do anything stupid and Vanya was busy being accosted by her siblings. "You have a lovely home, and lovely children. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

He sat down on the couch, motioning for Morei to do the same. He did so after a moment's hesitation, then jumped back up almost immediately with a Ferenden curse.

"Why is that so soft? It feels like it's trying to absorb me," he growled. Renza blinked, then remembered a brief memory of a Ferenden creature than imitated rocks and ate whatever sat on them. Right. The couch was a bad idea.

"You can stand, too," Renza offered, but Morei was already staring at the couch with distrust before he turned to examine a different piece of furniture. The wooden side table seemed to fascinate him.

Turning back to Yva, Renza offered his winning smile once more.

"Water will be fine, for both of us," he said, because he wasn't sure what kind of food vampires would have on hand, and Morei was clearly not going to give an answer.

Settling into the couch that Morei was now giving a very wide berth, Renza took a deep breath. Now was the time for getting ahead of things. Right.

"I know we still need to explain the situation to your wife, but if you have a signal capable of reaching Albaques, we might need to use it. Fenrick is in a secure location there, and it would be best if we got a recorded statement from him to explain the situation. He's got a way of putting people at ease, and that would be helpful."

"I wish to speak to the little prince as well," Morei chimed in. "I trust that your 'Kas' is looking after him, but I want to know his strategy for the duel, if I am to be his second."


Fenrick nodded.

"Plant, yes. Kind that grows on rocks," he explained, then hummed. "Yes, ceiling. Hmmm... To compare to Albackee, ceiling would be what we stand on? Underneath is hollow, and then way way down is where we live. That is theory, though. Nobody knows for sure. Going to ceiling would need many resources, and we have not had those for long time."

He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Your people are more advanced, have more... understanding? More knowledge. We have theories, but no proof. Research is about water and rocks, and preserving nest grounds. Other things are not important."

Fenrick's smile faded, growing more wistful.

"I not always think like this. Before, I thought I know better than everyone. I thought I could be good leader because I am strong. Losing to Montrose made me realize being strong is not enough," he said with a sigh. "I am not glad to be hurt, but I am glad he beat me. I would have made things worse back then. Not being able to walk for year gave... perspective? I never needed rely on others before, but then I did. If I was not prince, if Jona and Riel had not been my friends, I would have died. It was scary."

He took in a deep breath, his grip tightening on the door of the car.

"I just not want anyone else to feel like that. I still not know if I can be good leader, but I will try. It feels good that you believe in me so much."

After a second, he smile returned.

"I am also glad to have you and Vanya helping me. And Morei and Renta. I could not do this alone."

Seeing that they had pulled into the parking spot, he gazed up at the supermarket with wide eyes. Even with his background knowledge, it was still so far from everything he'd ever seen before.

"There is one thing," he admitted timidly. "I not know if I can eat it, but I want to try apple."

 

[Reynarda]

Dmitri nodded in response to Renza's questioning glance. "We may be a bit unconventional in most things, but hospitality is an important aspect of our culture."

"Yeah, but nobody ever comes here," Leski complained. She cut her eyes at Vanya, as if bringing people home was her sole responsibility.

"Two people are here, Leksi," Vanya sighed, gesturing at Renza and Morei. "You're welcome."

Leksi rolled her eyes but turned to stare at Morei. When he guessed, she scowled. "I'm Iona! Sister is Leksi!"

"No, you were correct," Vanya sighed as she sank down next to her mother. "She has decided to be contrary."

Yva's polite smile had turned genuine. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Father Richtail, Morei."

Iona inspected the couch after Morei jumped out of it. "It's safe," she said as if to reassure him. She glanced back and found her eldest sibling staring at Morei, which of course made him all the more interesting.

Huffing, Leksi flopped onto the couch next to Renza. "So," she said, squinting at him. "Not Kas. Who?"

"Renza is a friend, Leksi," Vanya said.

Leksi nodded shrewdly. "A boyfriend."

"No!" Vanya groaned.

Leksi nodded. Right. She understood this. "Girlfriend."

Vanya was about to protest when she realized the confusion. "No, he is a boy, you're correct."

At her expression, Edwin explained, "Boyfriend is significant other."

Leksi laughed and Vanya punched his arm before glancing at her younger sister. "Go get our guests some water, please."

Leksi scooted off the couch and disappeared.

"Not in the house!" Yva called after her.

Iona, who was still staring at Morei turned to her eldest sibling and nodded to him. "Can he speak Vampiric?"

"No," Vanya said. At least, she was pretty sure he couldn't.

"He looks like a human, but he doesn't feel like a human."

Vanya, who looked like she had been falling asleep, perked up. "You can tell?"

"Children," Yva scolded, though she had also noticed--and noticed how Vanya acted as if she was ready to jump him. "That is rude."

Leksi popped back into existence, then looked down at her empty hands. Something crashed and shattered several rooms over. She winced and peeked at her mother out of the corner of her eye. Yva had her lips in a firm line, and Leksi quickly turned pleading eyes on Vanya and Edwin. With a groan, Vanya started to push herself up, but Edwin pushed her down.

"I got this one," he said, getting to his feet and putting his hands on his hips. "Come on. I told you not to do that."

As they disappeared towards the kitchen, Dmitri sighed, taking Eva's hand. "I am not sure which is worse. A space-sighted child, or a time-sighted one."

"I was so easy and you know it," Vanya said, leaning back and closed her eyes. "Anyway, those matter-sighted dads aren't too bad in a pinch."

Yva raised her eyebrows and turned to Dmitri. Her husband looked chagrined. "What happened?"

Vanya grinned.

"Yes," Dmitri said quickly, focusing completely on Renza while Yva eyed him. "We absolutely can do that."

He tapped the coffee table between them and a panel slid back, revealing a computer. He waved his hand over it, and it blinked to life, projecting a three-dimentional Welcome in Vampiric. He logged in and pulled up the communication function.

"Do you have his contact details?"

There were some rare energy philos who could use the energy of thoughts to speak to those around them, but Yva was different--her power rare in that she could influence entropy--which was usually Vanya's domain. However, in this situation, thought energy would be useful. Who were these people in her home? Why was her eldest aching so deeply Yva could feel it? Who was this prince? Why did neither of these men have entirely human energies? It felt like looking at a stick that turned out to be a bug. And what had Dmitri done to Pyotr that had Vanya so gleeful?

"Kasper Jaager is looking after this prince?" Yva asked, wishing she could catch up with what was going on. "There's a duel?"

"Yes, you really do need to to explain the situation to your wife, Representative Zmey," Vanya said without opening her eyes.




Kas frowned, at first picturing Fenrick stading upsidedown on their ceiling, and then realizing that he must mean his people lived inside their planet. He nodded to himself. "So Albaques's crust is like your... ceiling, I guess? And you guys live on the... mantel? Core? I dont remember geology very well, obviously."

Kas shrugged a little. "People are advanced in different ways. Maybe we know more about our world, but..." He shrugged again. "It sound like you are selling yourself short."

With a loud huff, Kas shook his head. "Yeah, well, you were a kid, right? Kids do dumb shit. You should not have paid for it like you did. The punishment did not fit the crime. I bet it was scary. I would have been scared."

And he hadn't been able to walk for a year? That was some cruelty right there. There was a small part of Kas that really hoped he would get to puch Montrose.

"People are important," Kas agreed. "People need other people. It's not a weakness, it's a strength. Working together was the only way my people could ever handle apex hunters like vampires. I don't think Vanya mentioned, but they probably used to live here with us because we have stories. They were probably lone hunters, so the theory is that we banded together to, uh, defeat them. And then they left. Went to Yasen. That was a really long time ago, though."

He locked the vehicle behind them and stepped into the supermarket. "Um... I think you can technically digest fruit. I think it's mainly complex carbs you can't eat, like bread. Even then, I think there's probably enzymes or something you could take so your body doesn't freak out."

Grabbing a cart, he lead Fenrick to the produce section. "Those are apples," he said, pointing at the varieties. He picked up a red and yellow one. "Oh! Looks like this one is local--so it will taste best."

He glanced around. "Anything you want to try, we can get it. I just wish they had a place we could restock on your kind of food. Maybe let's grab some protein."

 

[Sakuma]

Morei narrowed his eyes, then huffed. At least he knew which one was which now, even if they were being silly about it.

He eyed the couch again, nodding at Iona's insistence that it was safe.

"It's too soft. Sitting in it feels like being eaten," he explained. "I think I'll stand for now."

Renza laughed at Leksi's suggestion that he was Vanya's boyfriend.

"Nope, not a boyfriend, just a friend. In English, gender is inferred by the pronoun, not the noun," he explained. "I think vampiric languages don't use gendered pronouns the same way? I haven't studied them much, though."

Morei cursed in Ferenden at the sound of shattering glass, nearly jumping out of his skin.

"Do all your children blink around like that?" He asked, eyebrows rising. "They're like little jumpbugs."

"It's not really polite to call kids bugs," Renza said, then smiled ruefully. "And I don't mind if they speak in Vampiric in front of us. It's your language, so you should feel free to use it."

He glanced at Morei, who was staring at Vanya with a look of concentration. After a moment, he turned to Iona.

"I am not human. I came from the other side of the tear in the sky, and I do not speak your language. I can get the gist of things by reading looking through the thoughts and memories of someone who does speak your language, but apparently that is rude," he explained. Even though he admitted to the rudeness of it, Renza noticed he seemed to have no issue skimming surface thoughts from Vanya's head.

Don't do that. Vampires have different abilities depending on their sights, and you peeking through thoughts could be seen as a threat. We don't want to piss off our hosts, he warned mentally, and Morei rolled his eyes.

"I will not look any further, so please speak English from now on," he seceeded.

Renza watched the communication software start up, and he took a deep breath.

"He probably doesn't have a com, but he should be with my sister at Summerfield station on Albaque. I'll give you her private line. In the meantime..."

He glanced at Yva, considering, before his shoulders slumped.

"Right. This is a lot to explain, but as Morei said, he came from the other side of the tear in space. It's some kind of overlapping parallel universe? I don't know the specifics, but there's an entire planet of people there, completely different from us. Right now, those people want war with Albaques and Yasen both."

"Your worlds are rich in resources that we lack. My king plans to raze your planets to the ground and plunder them - this is a stupid idea that will only end in mutual destruction. The little prince, his younger brother, has been in communication with this side for many years. Apparently, his presumed-dead royal guard has been living here," Morei explained, giving Renza a pointed look. Renza shrugged, clearly unbothered.

"Leese crossed over years ago. It was an accident, and it shouldn't have happened. Right now, it's not important. The important thing is avoiding war with an army whose abilities neither of our people understand or can prepare for. Fenrick, the prince, wants peace. To get that, he needs to ursup his brother's throne before the first wave of soldiers comes through. We couldn't risk him getting captured by Pyotr Sylvestr, so yes, he's with Kasper Jaager, and my associate, Leese. By now they should have made it to Summerfield and rendesvoused with Hanabelle. She has a communication array that can tune into specific frequencies that have a tendency to slip through the cracks between dimensions, and if she caught onto my plan, they'll probably be using it to arrange a duel."

He crossed his legs, leaning forward.

"The most important thing right now is preventing Yasen and Albaque both from making any further moves until that duel can take place. Fenrick cannot be revealed as a green ruler to either side."

 

[Reynarda]

Leksi and Edwin reappeared with water in glasses that Edwin had put back together and handed them to Morei and Renza.

Leksi laughed, but Iona only blinked slowly at Morei. "It's not eat." She sat on the couch to prove it. "Safe."

"He said it feels like being eaten," Vanya explained. "Not that it would eat him."

Iona nodded to Morei. "Ok. Stand."

Leksi frowned. Gendered pronouns were the hardest part that they had learned thus far. "Hefriend?"

"Just friend, little heart," Vanya sighed. "We don't have gendered words at all--though, some have implied gender. Our pronouns are based on our status or rank, depending on the situation. So my pronouns are that I am the eldest of my siblings when I'm in my clan, and that I'm a philos in academia. We also have polite pronouns for when the rank of the person or the situation in which they are being addressed is unclear. We don't really have titles quite like humans, so when you call my dad 'Representative' you're actually using the English equivalent of his pronoun. I never paid much attention to gendered pronouns until Kas started making such a big deal of it."

A great way to insult someone was use a pronoun that was a rank below them, but Vanya didn't think they needed to know that.

Dmitri smiled at Morei's shock. "No, just Vanya and Leksi. Honestly, the 'blinking' around is one of the least stressful things that young vampires can do while coming into their sight."

"I once accidentally vaporized my hand," Edwin said before Vanya could even take a breath. "Vanya turned back time and then fainted."

Vanya opened her mouth to protest that she had passed out because she had done something she should not have been able to do, not because it had freaked her out, but Iona was staring at Morei after he turned to her.

"Not human?" Iona said, her eyes wide while she stared up at him. "Tear in sky?"

Sitting all the way up to better give Morei a glare, Vanya said, "Don't tell her that! She's twelve!"

Iona frowned. "I'm not a baby. I won't be scared."

"It's not that--" Vanya broke herself off. There was no way to explain why she had to learn things when she was twelve. Especially since the twins were not at the age her parents were certain they could understand the gravity of the situation. Besides, Vanya wished she had been in blissful ignorance when she was twelve.

Instead, she turned her gaze back on Morei and shouted in her mind. You better not be reading my thoughts, you overgrown Scarabaeinae larvae.

Vanya actually hoped he were reading her thoughts rather than those of anyone else in her family.

Dmitri nodded, taking the numbers from Renza and keying them in.

"What is he saying?" both Leksi and Iona demanded.

Yva sat for a few seconds while her youngest daughters asked each of the family to explain. "There is a hole in space near Olea, and our guest is from there. Vanya and her friends are trying to stop a war."

Leksi looked at her oldest sibling, who could do a lot, in her opinion. But stop a war? "How?"

"Another friend of mine has to fight his brother, who wants to kill us," Vanya summarized.

Leksi and Iona glanced reflexively at their brother. They fought all the time, but they couldn't imagig fighting their older brother.

"He's bigger?" Iona asked, clasping her hands tightly.

When Vanya nodded, Leksi's eyes widened. "Why has to?"

Vanya tried to think of a vampire equivalent. "You know how the clan voted dad in as representative? It's sort of like that but if dad had to fight other people to be the representative."

Both girls nodded. They'd never seen their dad fight someone, but they had seen him stand between Representative Sylvestr and their mom before, so they figured he'd probably be good at it.

"And you're going to help your representative friend?" Iona asked.

"Of course."

"Can we help?" Leksi asked, leaning on the arm of the couch and nearly faceplanting in Vanya's lap.

"Yes, I need you to keep it a secret."

Niether Leksi of Iona were fooled. That might have worked when they were six.

Vanya saw mutany in their eyes. "And help care for Renza and Morei while they're here."

The twins nodded. That was better.

Yva was nodded to herself. Still, it didn't explain what they were doing in her home.

"Renza and Morei are here because there is a threat certain people would like to use for political gain," Dmitri said recognizing the expression in his wife's eyes.

Yva raised an eyebrow, looking very much like her eldest, who was snickering. "Certain people like Pyotr?"

The twins turned to their parents. He turned up sometimes, and they were never to talk to him but run and get one of their parents. Or Vayna--not becauase their parents had said so, but because they knew Vanya would stop him from doing whatever bad thing he was there to do.

Yva turned to look at her husband. "What did Pyotr do? And don't downplay it. I know him better than either of you."

"Well," Vanya said as if unrolling a laudry list of complaints. "He's continues to be an asshole, for starters. So basically he's kidnapped Renza like... twice? And he locked Morei up in his brig. Then he locked Dad up in his brig--and it's not even his brig! And then he was a dick."

"Language." Yva raised her eyebrows. "And he's trying to frame Kasper Jaager?"

"Like I said. Being a dick."

Yva had quite a few suspicions where Kas Jaager was concerned, but her child's energy was filled with defeat and regret. Something else was going on, and she had an idea who was the cause. She nodded to herself. "So you came here. So I can fight him off my territory."

"Dad and I can kick his ass," Vanya said, closing her eyes again.

Yva resisted the urge to pull Vanya into a hug. Even holding her husband's hand was a little riske. She settled for brushing a strand of white hair form Vanya's face.

She turned her attention back on Renza and Morei. "And what if he loses?"

"He's not going to lose," Vanya said. "We're rigging it. With Kas and other synthetic disrupters. And Morei."

"And Vanya," Iona added.

Vanya gave her little sister a smile, not having the heart to correct her. There wasn't much she could do in the upcoming fight other than potenitally run interfeerence for Sylvestr.

 

[Sakuma]

Morei snorted. His thoughts on human genders were far from generous.

"We do not have gendered pronouns in our language - everyone uses the same. Titles are optional," he said, because this was all confusing.

"They're, uh, a bit different from us. Er, you. Both of us," Renza offered, because he had a feeling that this was going to get very confusing for the girls very fast.

"'Men' and 'Women' are silly classifications. It is stupid that your species are split into people who can have children and people who can't," He continued. "Why does one person always have to be the egg layer? Caregiving should be a choice. Designating certain people to only be caregivers and certain people to only be warriors is stupid."

"You are going to confuse the hell out of these kids," Renza warned. Even with his new understanding of Ferenden gender politics, the gender and title designation was a little confusing.

Morei turned to Vanya, one eyebrow rising.

"You can undo time?" He asked, genuinely impressed. "I do not know of anyone who can do such a thing. Maybe, in a few centuries, the little prince might be able to, but that is impressive for one so young."

He found himself frowning slightly at Vanya's anger, not understanding.

"Would you not want your children to know about potential danger? They're old enough to be developing their abilities, should they not be able to protect themselves?" He was genuinely confused, and a little offended on the twins' behalf. They didn't look twelve to him - they had fully bipedal forms - but maybe twelve year old vampires were like twelve year old humans, and more equivalent to an eighteen or nineteen year old Ferenden. Still. If there was danger, children needed to know about it.

"It's, er, a little different for humans. And vampires, presumably," Renza said quickly. She's worried about upsetting or scaring them. If things go according to plan, they won't be in danger at all.

There is never a guarantee that things will go to plan, Morei said back, a scowl on his face.

Renza understood, really. In a place like Ferenden, kids needed to be able to defend themselves against predators. Even with the care of adults, hatching grounds couldn't be defended entirely 24/7. It was different from a place where children were relatively safe, with few threats against them. But he agreed that explaining everything to the twins might be a bit much.

Morei rolled his eyes, his upper lip curling into a sneer.

"I am not reading your thoughts, you juvenile. You are speaking a language I don't understand, I need to interpret. You othersiders' aversion to mental communication is baffling. If you do not want me in your head, I need a different way to translate," he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Honestly, being in a mostly human body was helping to offset it, but the solitude of not having a dozen other presenses in his mind at any given moment was really starting to get to him. Everybody here acted like his attempts at communication were invasive or violent, and it bothered him.

On a hunt, words were secondary. Everything was conveyed to comrades by thought or feeling. Even in private, he was a well enough respected hunter that he always had at least eight or nine juniors in his head at one time, learning from him and seeking his approval. He didn't know how Keleesa had adjusted to the sudden silence. Maybe having the ability taken away completely would numb the loss, but right now he was frustrated and feeling horribly isolated.

Renza frowned, then stood up and placed a hand on Morei's shoulder, squeezing.

"Look, I get that it's weird, but he really isn't trying to be an a-- invasive," he pointed out. It was weird that he was defending the man who had attacked him less than two days ago, but like it or not, they had a connection now. And the worst part was, Renza did like Morei. He was blunt, stubborn, and a bit weird, but he was also straightforward and did his best to protect the people in his care.

Morei closed his eyes, taking a steadying breath, and focusing on the one presense in his mind that helped give him stability.

"It is different than your siblings," he explained slowly, sinking down to sit on the floor against the wall. "Everything is different, there. It is hard to explain things in a way that you would understand, because what is normal for me would be completely strange for you."

It was frustrating. He had thought that children, at least, were something that was static across dimensions. They were small and had to be protected. But since enterring this house, it had hit him just how different everything was.

Renza watched him for a moment, then refocused on Dmitri and Yva. Priorities.

"Right. We needed a safe space to plan and draft a statement, for the time being. Morei and I didn't have anywhere else to go that was safe, so we thank you for your hospitality," he said politely. He looked back to the communication system, then hit the call button.

It took a few minutes for a response to come through, Hanabelle's face coming up on the vidscreen.

"Hello, unidentified Yasen signal, this is Summerfield station executive officer, Hanabelle Acher. Hello Renny, nice to see you're not dead."

Though her face was smiling, there was a hint of reproach in her voice. Renza grimaced, because yeah, he had kind of left her out of the loop more or less.

"Hi, Belle. I take it Fenrick, Kas and Leese got to you ok?" He asked, only to hear a muffled sound from the background before Leese stepped into the camera.

"Fenrick and Kas are out getting supplies. We've issued a challenge to Montrose, and now we're waiting on a response. I take it this is the Zmey clan?"

Renza nodded, and finally, after a very long few days, he felt his shoulders relax.

"Yes. Dmitri, Yva, Vanya and siblings, this is my sister, Hanabelle, and my bodyguard, Leese. Hanabelle is the founder of the Acher Intergalactic Aid and Research foundation. Her and Leese have been helping to monitor the situation in Ferenden, on the other side of the rip, for the past decade. Leese is a Ferenden native, like Morei, but she's been living on our side for around twenty years," he explained. Leese stood a bit straighter, as if realizing that they were now in work mode.

"It's good to see that you're safe, Vanya. Kas was worried. I had him take Fenrick into town so that they could get some rest before we start our operation in earnest. Are we ok to talk shop? Or are there little ears listening?"

Renza smiled, folding his hands over his lap. He figured that since the girls had a loose grasp of English, it should be safe to speak, but he still gave Yva and Dmitri the chance to relocate them if they chose to.

"Right. So, getting into the meaty part, I'll start by reintroducing myself. My name is Renza-Korlan Richtail, and I'm an investigative operative for the Acher Foundation. I can't get into specifics about my investigation within the church, but I've been undercover in their organization for around nine years now. The Foundation's mission is, officially, to support environmental research and conservation on Albaque. Unofficially, we investigate and resolve issues of power abuse in various organizations. We have a small branch office on Yasen with one of the southern vampire clans, but our influence here is minimal. Mostly, we excel at uncovering child exploitation and sentient trafficking. Belle started the organization twenty-three years ago, when she was eighteen."


"All of this is confidential, and I haven't actually gotten to talking to Kasper about it yet," Hanabelle pointed out. "But since this is an emergency, and Renny trusts y'all, I trust his judgement. The Foundation is not affiliated with any government, and we plan to stay that way. But from our unique position, we have resources and information that most folks don't. Hence how we have access to military grade disrupters."

 

[Reynarda]

Yva raised her eyebrows at Morei's tirade about pronouns. "Both Dmitri and I are caregivers," she said evenly. "And neither of us are warriors. I am fairly certain some humans have similar practices." She glanced at Dmitri before turning a slight smile back on Morei. "If you are classifying based on barring children, that is the nature of our biology. Dmitri, I'm afraid, does not have that ability."

As fun as it would be, Vanya didn't have time to get into the nature of how the classification of mammals cared for their young. Leksi was already demanding to know what Morei had said.

"He thinks man and woman are stupid classifications."

Iona blinked. "Why?"

Vanya was not entirely sure. "I think he thinks we should divided genders differently than between who can get pregnant and who can't? Or maybe he thinks only women can care for children and only men can be warriors. I'm not really sure."

Leksi giggled. "He's so funny."

"I can't undo time," Vanya said quickly to Morei. "That was an extreme circumstance. I thought Edwin was dying."

Edwin raised his eyebrows at his sibling. As there were few time philos, the limits of their abilities were undermined. But Edwin had a feeling Vanya could have probably done a lot more than anyone thought possible if she had not left for the special forces. While stopping entropy and stepping out of it were conceivable, it was generally understood that reversing entropy could not be done.

"Wait, Fenrick can reverse time?!" Vanya demanded, shocked.

"What danger?" Iona asked Morei.

"A war is dangerous," Yva explained. "People could be hurt."

Iona chewed on her lip thoughtfully while Vanya scowled at Morei. At least her mental shouts worked--though she figured that was because Morei was in her head and not because she had suddenly mastered telepathy. Her scowl shifted as she took in his tone and body language. He was... upset? Hurt? He looked lonely. Maybe if his people were used to communicate by thought, it would be weird not to.

Crossing her arms, Vanya huffed. Maybe if you would ask permission, I wouldn't mind. And tell me you're here. It's like walking into someone's home without asking or announcing yourself. I'll try to be sensitive to your culture if you try to be sensitive to mine. She scowled. And don't be nosy.

Iona sat next to Morei, her hands on her knees. "Why different?"

"His world is more... dangerous," Vanya said, trying to think how conceptualize it for a twelve-year-old. "They don't have enough food for everyone, so they have to fight for it."

"Oh," Iona said thoughtfully. Then she frowned. "But when there was only one glycoblood, you let me have it."

Vanya sighed. "Yes, well, you and I were not starving."

Iona squinted at Vanya. She was pretty sure her eldest sibling would have given her the last bit of food even if she were starving.

Yva squeezed Dmitri's hand as the human woman come on their holo projector. Both took a few seconds to digest this new information--there had already been a person from the other dimension here for two decades--before slowly nodding.

But when Hanabelle addressed Vanya, each Zmey turned to look at her. Vanya, for her part, went bright red.

"How is Kas?" Leksi demanded of Hanabelle, and Vanya managed to go redder.

Yva smiled at her eldest and the giggling younger siblings before turning to Hanabelle. "I am the head of the Zmey clan, and this is my family. Vanya you are familiar with, but this is Edwin, then Iona and Leksi."

Iona and Leksi bowed from where they were sitting, as was befitting meeting a vampire about Vanya's age.

"My youngest daughters are not proficient in your language," Yva explained.

"What did Mom say?" Leksi asked, but Vanya waved her hand.

"I knew it," Vanya muttered at the end of Renza's reintroduction. At Edwin's glance, she explained, "There is no way a priest would hit on someone like he hit on me."

"He hit on you?" Edwin asked, turning to Renza and sizing him up.

"He was really bad at it," Vanya promised.

"What did you-know-who think of it?" Edwin asked with a grin.

Vanya shot him a glare. "The priest hit on him too."

Edwin was about to gleefully ask if that had made her jealous, but their mother had just figured something out.

"Firstborn Child Vanya Zmey, is my ship in Summerfield?"

Vanya winced. "I didn't know Kas would take it to Summerfield! Renza was a bit vague on the details!"

"Do not blame this on Renza," her mother scolded. "Not when you gave That Jaager Boy control of my ship."

Vanya made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. "I locked it on them, no one else can get to it, I swear."

"If they get it locked down, you are going to have to go unlock it!" Yva scolded.

"'That Jaager Boy' is not going to get my ship locked down," Vayna said, though she definitely didn't know for sure.

Yva took a deep breath an let it out. She gave the Nocturne to Vanya so that she would be safe. Hopefully, it was protecting her friends as well. Turning her gaze back on Hanabelle, she said, "Please tell Kasper Jaager that if there is a scratch on Vanya's ship that he will have to deal with her mother." Yva winked at her husband. "Maybe then we'll finally get to meet him."

Vanya was mortified. It was fine when her family teased her when there were no guests around, but this was a nightmare. Especially since she was going to have to figure out how to get him to stay away from her.

But Hanabelle explaining they hadn't told Kas yet irritated Vanya. "Kas is the most trustworthy human I know. You need to tell him." She glanced at Renza. "And when you're done being a butt I have a list of powers that are abusive."

"What did he say?" Iona asked for the third time over the sound of Leksi asking for the sixth.

"He helps people who are kidnapped and stops people hurting children," Vanya translated.

"What?!" Leksi demanded. She thought about it for a minute. "He's... hero."

Vanya made a disagreeing sound in the back of her throat, but really just to irk Renza than to actually disagree.

"Disrupters?" Yva echoed. They were not something vampires liked conversing about. "For what purpose?"

"It may neutralize Montrose's... sight. So we can defeat him easier." Vanya shrugged. "That's the hope, anyway. Even just Kas messed a little with Morei."

Yva nodded. "I see." She turned back to Hanabelle. "What can we do to assist?"

 

[Sakuma]

"It is not--" Morei sighed, making a face. This is why he hated communicating only with words. "Yes, a caregiver lays eggs - gives birth to children. A warrior is one who does not lay eggs. But they are not static things you are born into. I am a warrior now, but I was a caregiver for five years. You can choose to be one or the other. Not having a choice in the matter is stupid," he clarified with a sigh.

"It's not really something us mammals can help," Renza pointed out, and Morei huffed again. Clearly their evolution was stupid.

"He cannot now, but he is the strongest ferensnik we've ever recorded. In another few centuries, who knows what he would be able to do?" Morei said, clearly not thinking it was a big deal.

He shifted slightly, giving Vanya a look as he pursed his lips.

I am not used to someone who would not notice a link, he admitted. And I am not trying to read your thoughts. I'm accessing specific language information. It's like....

He grumbled, placing his head in his hands. This was why he hated language.

After a moment, he sent over a memory, of a young hunter who wanted to learn the best way to corner a Sarlik. The hunter had accessed his muscle memory and sensory information. He was able to see and feel exactly how the technique was performed, but there was very little conscious thought shared between them.

I cannot properly interface with you anyways. Your thought structure is unfamiliar. But language ocuppies specific muscle memory, so it is easy to access. Of course, if you shout at me, I will hear you. My control in this body is... unusual. But I am not intentionally reading your private thoughts or memories.

Normally it was a two way link. If Vanya was Ferenden, she would be able to freely sort through his relevant memories for whatever information she wanted as well. Private thoughts, rare as they were in Ferenden culture, were usually shielded and, in turn, ignored.

He glanced down at Iona, tilting his head to the side as he considered how to explain it.

"They are not siblings the way you think of it," he said after a moment's thought. "For us, all children of the same age in an area, regardless of who our parents are, are raised together as nestmates. Those are similar to siblings as you know it. The prince and the king are not nestmates. Their sire - father - raised them separately, at different times. They did not live together in the same place, or spend time together, or even know each other very well until the king was an adult. The king, who had grown up with no nestmates, who had all of his father's attention, all of a sudden had to share that with a new child he did not know. Then, people started to say that this new child was smarter and stronger, and would make a better king. The king was angry and jealous, and made bad choices."

He trailed off, leaning his head back against the wall. Those bad choices had only piled up and escalated, and now, Morei doubted that there was a way for Montrose to get out of the mess he'd created.


Hanabelle blinked, then grinned as Yva put two and two together.

"There's no probem, representative Zmey! It might not look it, but I promise, I run a tight ship here. Your ship is perfectly safe in our docking yard," she assured her. Renza snorted.

"Almost everybody who goes through that station is on Belle's payroll in one way or another, and none of them would risk making her mad by stealing from a guest," he clarified., matching Hanabelle's grin.

"I will admit, I do find the cloaking tech truly fascinating. I'd love to talk shop with you sometime - no state secrets included,, of course - but that would be best saved for after the threat of an impending war is gone," she wheedled, and her grin took on a sharp glint that reminded Renza of a shark. He opened his mouth to say that he would keep his sister in line, but then Leksi said the one thing he was absolutely not expecting.

Instantly, his face turned as red as a tomato, and Hanabelle excused herself from the call. There was the muffled sound of laughter from off screen.

"No, no, I'm definitely not a hero. Not hero. I'm a normal person. We just try to make the world safer for everyone! It's no different than what your sister or your parents do!" He exclaimed.

Morei rolled his eyes, but chose not to comment. Leese, seeing as Hanabelle was otherwise occupied, leaned on the desk.

"Yes. Ferenden people - like Morei and I - have an ability that is similar to what vampires think of as energy sight. It's not quite the same, but we've figured out that the disrupters have a similar effect on Morei when he's in his natural shape. Which... Is a whole other topic."

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I'm really sorry, this is a lot of information for one call. I can answer any questions that you might have at length another time. The important thing is, by using the disrupters, we can force Montrose to become human."

Morei frowned again, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"I will be the prince's second, and if he cannot finish the job, then I will take over," he said seriously, then cracked one eye open when Leese made a strange sound.

"About that," Hanabelle said as she came back onto the screen. "We decided it would be smarter for Kas to be Fenrick's second."

Morei stared, mouth open, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

 

[Reynarda]

Well I am not used to someone in my head, Vanya shot back at Morei. So we can both do things to help the other.

Still, being able to access Kas's fighting muscle memory would be very helpful in not dying, she thought. Point to Morei on that one, even if her thoughts felt like the only thing that she had true control over. But, she could take a deep breath and let him hang out in her brain until they dealt with this problem. She wondered how Fenrick had felt, or if he had been used to being lonely in his mind after his defeat by Montrose.

Wait. Vanya paused, her nebulous thoughts moving too fast for words. Can you see my sight when you're in my head? Like, can you see time? She hesitated, then focused on the strange waves and wisps that twisted around everyone and everything in the room. Around the atoms in the air, it looked like fuzz, making there air look hazy. It moved always in one direction, though sometimes with carrying speed. Around her own hands, time moved more languidly. Vanya could ignore the wisps of time like someone could ignore scents, but sometimes it was--like rotten blood--difficult to ignore. Had she heeded her parents and suppressed her sight, they would not have appeared as strong and insistent in her vision.

Iona blinked up in Morei in mild confusion while he gave her what she assumed was a very in-depth explanation of why Vanya's friend had to fight his mean older brother. She listened politely, carefully looking to the side instead of meeting his eyes as was respectful of an older person. Or, maybe that was wrong. Maybe he was more like humans and she should make eye contact. She tried, but after several seconds that became very uncomfortable, so she dropped her gaze.

When he was finished explaining, Iona turned her gaze on Vanya, met her eyes, and then quickly looked away. She had been so focused on looking like she had listened that she had forgotten to listen.

"He says that kids of the same age are all raised together--kind of like your class at school." When Iona nodded, Vanya continued, "So my friend didn't know his brother until his brother was grown up. So it's sort of like if I had never met you until now."

Iona scowled at that. "But then you wouldn't know me."

Vanya nodded. "Exactly. So he's not a brother like Edwin."

Edwin, who had mostly stayed quiet, letting his older sister handle everything, smiled. "I don't think he'd fix broken glasses for Vanya's friend."

Iona scrunched her nose, trying to imagine what it was like not to have two older siblings who cared about her. While sometimes Vanya and Edwin were bossy and annoying, she had to admit she'd rather have them than not.

Iona might be struggling with English, but she understood body language. He was sad. Vampires didn't usually touch other vampires the didn't know, but he was sort-of human, so maybe it was ok.

She patted Morei's arm like Edwin often patted hers. "Sorry you're sad."

Vanya smiled fondly at her quieter younger sister before turning her attention back to Hanabelle. "Well, it would just lock itself down with someone inside and then I would have to scrub dead human from it, which I would bill you for," she said grumpily.

Dmitri rolled his eyes to the ceiling, wishing his eldest wasn't so direct. "What she means to say is that we appreciate your guarantee of safety."

Yva smiled her best and most convincing polite smile. "Yes, there is the problem of the looming war," she agreed evasively.

She had not given those details to anyone as currently it was protecting the one child she could not protect from the person she had most wanted to protect her from since the moment she had realized Vanya was growing within her. But there was no way to politely explain that.

Vanya arched an eyebrow at the not-a-priest's red face. "That's it? That is what embarrasses you? Not all of those innuendoes or hitting on anything that moves? Someone actually thinks you don't suck and you don't know what to do with it. Leksi may be wrong but--"

"Not wrong!" Leski insisted, extremely confused as to why Renza appeared to be embarrassed. All she had said was he was a hero. She didn't even mention someone he had a crush on or anything, and he hadn't coughed blood all over his friends at lunch. In her book, those were the two most embarrassing things that could happen. There was no reason then for him to be embarrassed.

Leksi reconsidered. "Is 'hero' the wrong word?"

"No, you got it right," Vanya promised. "He's just weird."

Leksi frowned. "Vanya and Mom and Dad are heroes, too."

"What am I, old blood?" Edwin asked.

"And Edwin," Leksi corrected. She was deciding to pay better attention in English class and get Vanya and Edwin to practice with her. She didn't like not knowing what they were saying, and one of her friends said she sounded like a baby when she spoke English.

Yva and Edwin glanced at Vanya as Leese explained.

"They look sort of like our arthropods and can take DNA lying around and rewrite their own genetic code to match," Vanya explained. "Fenrick turned up on a vampire research station, so he used vampire DNA. We're hoping this will give him a leg up over Montrose if he takes a human form."

"What about conservation of mass?" Edwin asked.

"I did not get an answer on that one," Vanya sighed,

"So he couldn't just turn into a bug and you step on him?" Edwin asked.

"A valid point I also had."

When the conversation turned back to Kas, Vanya decided to stick to the facts. She wanted to know what Kas thought about all this. Was he stuffing everything down so that he would have a meltdown later? Would anyone help him work through all that? But she couldn't ask. Not when it might give him false hope.

"He is an excellent fighter," Vanya supplied. "The only reason I'm still alive is because he never really tried to kill me."

She winced when both her parents turned to her, horror on their faces. It also sounded like a compliment or a relationship, and Vanya immediately wished she had kept that to herself.

"I'm not dispariging Kasper Jaager in the slightest," Yva said carefully. "But why him?"

"He's the logical choice," Vanya answered nearly before her mom stopped speaking. "He's from this side, he's human, and he can disrupt sight."

Dmitri frowned, but Yva thought she was catching up with her daughter's fast thoughts. "Yes," she hedged. "But that would put him in a lot of danger."

Vanya opened and closed her mouth before settling on, "He wouldn't want anyone else to put themselves in danger in his place. He would take Fenrick's place if he could just to try to protect him." Her face shifting, Vanya took a shuddering breath. "He's kinda stupid like that."

Yva decided to screw protocol and wrapped an arm around Vanya and pulled her close.

"So if something happens to... Fenrick," Dmitri said glancing at Vanya to confirm he had gotten the correct name. "We are entrusting our fate to the--to Kasper Jaager."

Her father clearly sided with Morei, and Vanya rolled her eyes.

 

[Sakuma]

Morei squinted, looking at the different threads.

I can see it in your memories. I do not have the muscles necessary to see it myself, but if I did, I could learn to do so like this, he mused. Even by viewing someone's memories, I am limited by my biology. I could show you how I activate my venom glands, for example, and you would gain the knowledge, but not the capability. Your sight is... somewhat different to ferens.

He jumped when Iona touched him, looking down in shock. He was not used to being touched by creatures that weren't either in his head or trying to kill him.

"I am not... sad," he said slowly, his mouth twisting. He was a little sad, but he wasn't going to ever admit that. Renza gave him a look, and he let out a sigh. "But thank you."

"I mean he's already a bug," Renza pointed out, and Morei flipped him off.

"The king is Darak. They're the strongest race among us, as they can fly," he clarified.

"They're basically like giant human dragonflies," Renza supplied helpfully, which got him an eyeroll.

"We don't really understand the science behind it," Leese admitted. "It's a genetic advantage we developed for hunting, but Ferenden doesn't have the resources for serious scientific research."

"The only reason the king would take on a physically inferior form is if his pride was threatened. If the prince issues a challenge in another shape, the king will probably shift to match him," Morei explained. Renza grimaced at the word 'probably', but really, that was all they had. If Montrose didn't take the bait, they were screwed.

"The average Ferenden wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a vampire and a human - no offense, of course - so if we control who is physically present at the arena, we'll have an advantage," Leese explained. Morei hummed, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. Fenrick would likely have the best shot if he used Renza's DNA, but he doubted that they'd have the chance to rendesvous before this challenge took place. Besides, to bring that up, he'd have to bring up how the priest was miraculously stabilized, and he wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

"It is still foolish to have a human second," Morei protested. "Once the king has shifted, then what?"

"I think you're not giving him enough credit," Hanabelle cut in. "He's special ops, he's been trained to fight vampires."

"A vampire is no match for a Darak warrior."

Renza winced, then gave Yva and Dmitri an apologetic look. If he'd learned one thing from this meeting, it was that Morei was a terrible politician.

"That aside, Montrose knows you too well for you to be effective," he pointed out, which got him a cutting glare.

"He trusts me, which could be used to our advantage," he countered.

"If he's been drinking blood, he probably doesn't trust anyone," Leese interrupted. "Besides that, Morei, I can't trust you in that role given your past relationship. Kas is objective. I'll do my best to protect him so the danger is minimal, but we don't really have any other choice. If Montrose starts a war, we'll all lose."

 

[Reynarda]

Vanya nodded thoughtfully. Right. Morei wouldn't have the receptors in his eyes anymore than she had a venom gland.

Iona glanced at Vanya as she had the most experience with humans. Her sister was rolling her eyes at Morei, so Iona guessed that she had read the man's energies properly and he was just trying to be tough. She smiled up at him when he thanked her. "You're welcome."

"A smaller bug," Edwin corrected. "A step-on-able bug."

He glanced at Vanya at Renza's explanation and found her face scrunched in thought. "A dragonfly is like a big odonata," Vanya said after a few seconds.

Leksi frowned. "Why are we talking about odonatae?"

"Apparently Vanya's friend's brother... and presumably her friend... look like odonatae with arms and legs," Edwin said, clearly enjoying the insect discussion.

Leksi's eyes widened. "Does he have six legs?"

"No," Vanya answered. "Just the two."

"Then how does he look like a human now?" Iona asked. "Is this man also a big odonata?"

"Kinda, he looks more like a..." Vanya trailed off as she tried to think of a creature with a stinger like Morei had. "An allopa but doesn't live in the water. But he also has wings like my friend."

Both girls nodded slowly. An allopa was a creature that crawled along the ocean floor on eight legs and had a segmented tail with a venomous barb at the end. Iona gave Morei an up-down as she tried to figure out where he kept his stinger.

"Anyway, they can take DNA and change forms to match."

Leksi considered this, wishing she could also take different forms. It would be pretty cool to have wings.

Dmitri and Yva smiled politely when Leese said they couldn't tell the difference between humans and vampires. They had to admit that compared to the people on the other side of the rip, they probably did look nearly morphologically similar.

"You were so scared of Kas that you avoided us," Vanya reminded Morei, giving him a look at his insistence that Kas was not strong enough to fight Montrose. "So maybe vampires aren't a match, but Kas is."

Dmitri let out a sigh. "And unfortunately, Ms. Hanabelle is correct. Kasper is one of the most problematic special operations operative their military has. His bioelectriomagnetic field is one of the strongest we've been able to measure and he's smart." He felt Vanya's eyes narrowed on him, but he pressed forward. "The fact that Vanya can do anything around him is a testament to her own abilities."

Vanya had noticed that what she thought of as the sharpness--how it felt against her own sight--of Kas's field had dulled over time, but she wisely kept that to herself. Still, she had been fairly certain Pyotr had had a meeting with her dad about Kas, and now she had proof.

Besides, there were more important things to be concerned with. Vanya slid her eyes to Morei. She had felt emotions flickering in the back of her mind, piquing her interest. How well does this guy know you?

Any derisiveness on her part were halted immediately. A light on the computer flashed green, and a light on a wall console in the hall flashed the same. Dread settled in Vanya's stomach. Yva glanced at Edwin in a silent request, but Vanya slipped from time before he could get up. The sounds ceased, scents dissapeared, and colors faded to grey. Whisps of time sat lazily, resisting as Vanya attempted to move without them.

While her family and new friends sat still around her, she stood and glanced at the door. No door chime had sounded as the green light was only their proximity sensors on the road to their home. Vanya stepped carefully through her family, a pain starting behind her eyes. She hadn't slept, and Pyotr had done something to her sight, so it only made sense the pain was starting already, but it only settled the dread deeper.

Opening doors was tricky as she had to return the flow of time to them in order to get them to move unless she wanted to splinter the doors. She touched the door panel, returning entropy to it. The door slid back, and she stepped out onto the front step of her home.

There was a black transfer vehicle from the travel port in the Zmey territory. Vanya didn't really need to get a good look of the outline of the man in the backseat to know who it was. She knew she should stand out here and protect her family from this man who would just not leave her alone. But the thought made her breaths come quickly. She didn't want to admit it, but she was afraid of him.

She knew it wasn't her fault, or her mother's fault, or the fault of anyone who was not Pyotr Sylvestr, but she still felt like if she had never been born, he never would have looked at her family twice. Or maybe, if she had listened to her parents, passed herself off as a weak energy sighted kid, and gone on to do literally anything but become a time philos, he would never have figured it out.

She couldn't help but feel like the guilt and shame was hers to bear alone. And she had been doing a damn good job of it for the past two years.

Then she had dared think she could be friends with someone, and now Pyotr was after him, too.

Vanya shook out her hands and stood up straight. But she couldn't convince herself to let go of time. She couldn't step out of the grey-scale colors of the timeless zone and deal with this man. She was safe here. As long as he couldn't touch her, he couldn't drag her out of the silence of the lack of time.

Her breaths came faster as the pain spiked behind her eyes, and she lost her grip. The world came back in a tsunami of colors and sounds as the vehicle sped up the drive and stopped near the other vehicles owned by her family.

Vanya couldn't do this. She was good at being a stubborn smartass, but not with everything she held dear on the line. Pyotr hadn't threatened to kill anyone until now. She could piss him off and he could have Kas killed. This wasn't like the threat he held over her head--the threat that served him better never carried out. Kas was as her dad had said: a serious problem in the eyes of the vampire military. If he carried out this threat, Pyotr would rid himself of the main thing keeping him from the informatoin he wanted and break her will at the same time. It was a win-win situation for him.

But she couldn't run. She couldn't run and let him near her family. She was trapped.

The driver of the transfer vehicle--a distant cousin of hers--gave her an appologetic look as he slid from the driver's seat.

A realization hit her. She wasn't in this alone. Hey, Morei?

She paused, thinking through her options. She didn't want any of her family out here, not even her dad. Morei was intemidating, but he was clearly no politician. Really she should ask for Renza's help, but he wasn't stupid. If Pyotr was going to use his usual threats, Renza could end up learning things and he was an operative for some group--but what if they weren't really good people?

You've seen the inside of Renza's head, right? Do you think I can trust him with... well I guess you didn't understand what Pyotr was saying when we were in the brig with you. Vanya felt her cheaks heat as shame washed over her. But if you think I can trust him with something that could destroy my family if it got out, would you send him outside to me, please?

Vanya decided she was probably not very good at this mental communication thing and hoped she wasn't yelling in Morei's ear and that he would understand her. She wasn't sure why she had trusted Morei faster than Renza--maybe it was because he had told her rather bluntly how he would kill her. There was something nice about knowing exactly where she stood with him. Renza, however. She had no clue where she stood with him. What if he decided any information he learned was better used for his group and he was willing to sacrifice her family for that? She could be endangering her family to protect Kas.

Vanya exhaled long and slow. Morei would tell her his honest thoughts. He had no skin in whatever game Renza was playing. She just hoped she wasn’t handing Renza any pawns.