And All Sorts of Messes
With a vampiric growl, the tea cup sailed across the velvet room like a missile, smashing into dust against the opposite stone wall.
“Something tells me this isn’t going as planned.”
Valerian now sat forward, robes askew, panting with the effort to keep from ripping the room apart. “If I had other choices, Aubry, I would use them.”
Aubry floated silently over to the wall and began to brush the dust into a pan that he pulled out from his robes. He always seemed to be cleaning up messes these days. “You could still send someone else. Or better yet, let me handle this.”
“No. I cannot afford to show more interest. And sending anyone else into that area would alert the Shapeshifters.” Valerian bowed his head, shaking it from side to side. “Jesper is all I have at the moment to work with. And what he lacks in actual vampiric ability, he makes up for in intelligence… and charm.” Valerian chewed over the last word as if it were moldy bread.
“He has altered from his time with her, has he not?” Aubry spoke, still bent about his task, his back to his master. But he did not need to see Lord Valerian’s face to feel the vampire’s displeasure nor wonder at its source.
“You saw his wounds?” Valerian asked softly.
Aubry stood, surprised. “No, I did not.”
“I only noticed because I’ve always felt he was made quite young, never having truly lived and experienced, showing no scars at all.” Valerian sighed heavily. “He’s sporting two recently healed round scars, square on his chest.” His fingers started tapping again.
“Stakes? Is that possible?”
Valerian nodded to himself, his eyes staring off into the distance.
“Perhaps Mr. Jesper is a better guardian than you thought.”
Valerian leveled his eyes upon his servant. “What good does it do me if he won’t obey later? If he wants her for himself?”
Aubry smiled cautiously, “Perhaps we should focus on the immediate need: keeping Sophie alive.”
“If it is the Taint, Aubry, she’ll need more than our bookish vampire to save her. There must be more we can tell her.”
“The last thing she asked about was the Book itself. She never answered back about the photo. She wanted to know about the book’s origins.”
Valerian stood, a glimmer of his weary mind showing in his slow movements. “Never mind about that. That damn book of hers is no longer important. I should have burned it a long time ago instead of allowing you to reunite her with it.”
Valerian made his way to the door while Aubry waited. He could see the wheels turning in the vampire lord’s mind. Hundreds of years of experience and this one human still vexed him sorely.
“No, Bruno has served his purpose for the moment. It would be best if he went dark. We could use him later to draw her back in, if all else fails.”
“And the tainted one, this Skovajsa?”
Valerian steeled an eye on Aubry. “Jesper had better hope his resources are enough to keep her safe. His life won’t be worth much to me if she dies. I can’t afford to wait another hundred and twenty-five years for a reunion.”
Valerian shuffled out of the room, leaving Aubry with nothing but doubt about this course of action and everything but hope about what the future held for his old friend from the Ghost Club.
Vampirony 
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