Half Moon Balance

Alan Wolfe spent the nights riding. Alexandria Dorian waited for him at the end of the week, his tutor in the Ventrue power to dominate minds. It was an appointment he both feared and looked forward to.

Politics were fertile grounds for corruption and kindred politics were worse. His debt to the Ventrue primogen obligated him, and gave the woman more power over him than anyone one person had in a long time. He owed her more than his own sire. But the prize she offered was appealing; the ability to control minds and erase memories, a talent that would make his job as a guardian easier.

He might’ve preferred studying with Black Johnny, and learning the shape of wolf and bat, which would have made his scouting easier, but this would encourage the Ventrue to give him the room he needed to do his work.

When Alan rose and noticed the finger-print dust on his motorcycle, he wished he’d begun the domination lessons earlier. The police had found his bike, and taken his gun. There was shot in the wall of the home where he’d fought Brightwind-ikthya, and they would probably be able to match it.

He paced around his bike, learning all his senses could tell him from the scene. The half moon lit his way as he drove into Kenning, a plan forming. There was a chance that he could divert this before it became a problem, before lives – his own and innocent mortals – were risked. If this worked, he could survive this with something like honor.

Wolfe turned himself into the police, giving them enough truth to satisfy their needs, but not enough to endanger the masquerade, and therefore their mortal lives. And it worked.

The Ventrue seemed pleased, or at least mollified. He had managed to play by their rules and his own at the same time, a delicate balance where a misstep would bring about bloodshed and cost Alan his humanity if not his life.

The full moon shone in through the window of Alexandria’s manse, reflecting on the skinny black piano, and the creamy white skin of her breast. She complimented Alan on his handling of the police and summoned a servant to demonstrate her powers. With powers like those, Alan had to grudgingly admit how much easier it would be to protect mortals from the things they might see.

He sat next to her on the piano bench, her arm brushing his shoulder. Even as unschooled in the subtle things as Alan was, he knew it could not be an accident. Nor could her choice of short piano bench as opposed to the large armchairs in the room or the black gown that exposed so much of her skin to the moonlight.

Dismissing her servant, Alexandria complimented him by being honest and straightforward. She was lonely. Surrounded by the vampires, even the blood of her clan, she held no one close. Even her father now stood across a divide from her, their designs clashing for the first time in a millennium.

Her solitude touched Alan, stirred something inside of himself. He suddenly wanted to leave and go back to his apartment and open his trunk, to bathe himself in memories of times when he had friends and family, but that would only deepen his own loneliness; remind him of all he lacked now.

The physical attraction was strong, but there were many beautiful men and many beautiful women in Valerton. The college brought in a parade of youth and vigor. Even Alan, handsome in his own way if not as shockingly gorgeous as Alexandria, would have little trouble finding a lover for a night if he wanted. But their shared loneliness brought the two vampires closer together. They were both vulnerable, carefully letting down their guard and exposing this longing.

The trust placed in him by Alexandria touched Alan as well. He knew enough about the politics of kindred to know that this could be powerful leverage against her, or a tool against him.

They made love in the early hours of the morning, underneath the spreading canopy of her bed. She’d not had a lover in eight centuries, and her memories were distant. What’s more, sex had changed drastically since her age. Manuals like the Kama sutra had spread into mainstream culture, and the sort of kinky fetishes undreamed of in her time were jokes on sitcoms and on every page of the internet.

Wolfe left before dawn. He was still too much independent, still too untrusting to spend the day in her bed, whatever the attraction. At another time, they might sleep in each other’s arms, but their need for companionship was sated for now. What little he knew of modern sex was a wealth of knowledge and pleasure for her, and it had been good. When he returned for his next lesson, he knew that Alexandria would receive a lesson as well.

But Wolfe had no illusions, and the primogen made that clear. While their liaison would become public knowledge soon (and the Toreadore were really going to be after him now), he knew their relationship for what it was. He owed her his life and whatever she asked of him. He was attractive enough, and she respected him enough. He was safe, and this was a deal. No more.

Alan was threatened by the loneliness, regardless of his beautiful new lover. While their partnership was not cold, it was bounded by rules and necessity. But Wolfe was beginning to wonder if he might have a friend in Sasha Black.

The grad student was struggling to fight the Red Robin lichen that was devastating the Gangrel Preserve, but they needed lab space and equipment. Alexandria (Alan had begun to think of her by her first name; it was hard to think of someone he’d slept with by last name alone, and the Ventrue elder seemed to welcome it) had answered the second challenge. Her hospitals provided the equipment Sasha needed and the cost was a drop in the bucket compared to his existing debt to her. The first challenge was more difficult.

The only answer Alan had was to offer up his own haven. His apartment was small, but nearly empty. Once he’d removed his trunk and packed away some of his clothes, it became adequate space for the small, improvised lab that Sasha was constructing.

There was a pact of trust between Alan and Sasha as well. She was beginning to take Alan at his word, and put faith in him when he answered her questions – or refused to. And he had been telling her more. She was fiercely intelligent and was capable of making great leaps on limited information, her instincts and sharp senses helping her to fill in the gaps. She knew enough already that if their secrets were found out they would both die, so he told her the rest. It was past the point where information would be more dangerous; she was in deep enough that now a lack of knowledge was more deadly.

Wolfe watched her and listened to her as she set up her equipment and began her tests. Most of it was well over Alan’s head, his school days were long in the past, and his schooling was a hundred and fifty years behind the times, but Sasha was patient and explained anything that he asked of her. And he responded by answering more of her questions. His answers were short and informative; he was no longer in the mood for tale-spinning, but she drank up all he told her like a sponge.

In a way, it was almost fun. They had a secret, something only the two of them knew and their conspiracy bound them tightly together. Each depended on the other for their life, and they both believed fiercely in their goal. Alan appreciated her company and he aid…and he was beginning to enjoy her presence. Even more, Sasha seemed to be enjoying spending time with him as well.

All of the same threats were arrayed against him; the danger was deepening if anything. But the difference was that the challenge was not his alone. They were in it together. It was only a half moon, but the night seemed a little brighter.