The Vampire & Her Witch

”My father,” Talauia started haltingly. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, unable to meet the gazes of the people around her but in truth, as she sat there holding a cup of chilled sweet tea, her gaze was lost in the distant past.

”My father was the High Lord of the Endless Marsh. It’s not really endless,” she added as though it were an old reflex when describing her home. ”It’s just really, really big. It wasn’t just the Glimmerwing Clan there either. The Scaled Clan, the Ancient Clan, even the Night Weaver and Mist Wraith clans lived there.”

”But the Glimmerwing Clan was always at the top,” she said in a tone that blended pride and deep sorrow. ”All the way back in my great-great-grandfather’s time, the family rules were to keep the peace by eliminating threats as soon as they became obvious.”

”By eliminating threats,” Ashlynn said as the pieces started to fall into place for her. ”You mean killing people who might challenge your family for the position of High Lord?”

”Only outsiders, only outsiders who weren’t part of the clan were killed before they could grow truly strong,” the winged witch said. ”There was no guarantee that my siblings or I would inherit my father’s crown. Anyone in the Glimmerwing Clan could compete for crown. Rich or poor, man or woman, none of that mattered. Once the contest of succession starts, anyone can compete. Only the best, the most lethal, could wear the crown of the Endless Marsh.”

”What about people outside of the clan?” Ashlynn asked gently. ”Was the ’contest of succession’ open to them as well?”

”Of course, of course it was,” Talauia said, swirling her sweet tea in her cup without drinking any of it. ”But anyone who might win was dealt with before the competition.”

Ashlynn nodded slowly as things became clearer. The Eldritch, in general, valued strength more than anything and challenges for lordship needed to be open to preserve the idea that the person currently ruling was genuinely the strongest. But, if their competition was never allowed to reach the stage, a lord could easily dominate ’less worthy’ competitors and retain their crown on the basis that no one could defeat them.

”It’s my fault,” Talauia said. Tears began to flow again, dripping onto her hands and occasionally splashing into her tea before Ashlynn passed over a small handkerchief. ”I was supposed to be next after Father,” she explained.

”You don’t know, you don’t know how scary it was for people to be told a Glimmerwing assassin had been hired to kill them,” the winged witch said. ”The worst, worst, worst, worst of us, only failed to kill their targets one in ten times. Anyone who was that bad at assassination would be laughed at and told they should give up and reconsider life as a hunter of dangerous beasts instead of pretending they could hunt intelligent people.”

”One in ten survived,” Heila said, freezing in place with a wedge of bright red melon half way to her lips. ”And you consider this to be bad? How successful was a good assassin?”

”The minimum standard was ninety-five in one hundred,” Talauia said with a grim smile on her face. ”My father only failed six times and he killed more than two hundred men. But I was better. I, I never failed. Not once.”

”And that’s why you think it was your fault?” Ashlynn asked gently when the winged witch fell into silence. ”Because you were too good at what you did?”

”That’s not it, that’s not entirely it,” the Thistle Witch said, squeezing her eyes shut against the painful memories until her whole body trembled and her wings begand to vibrate. ”Because I was so good, one of the vampires sent his progeny to collect me. They call him the Fangs of Death. He said that I was being wasted in the Endless Marsh and that I should put my talents to use for a greater purpose.”

”The Fangs of Death?” Ashlynn said, blinking in confusion. She had been certain that the Glimmerwing clan had been attacked by Bardas, the Jaws of Death. Nyrielle’s teacher choosing to be involved with a talented assassin made sense, but clearly she had rejected the offer or she would be a vampire now and not a witch. So how had this led to the destruction of her clan?

”He wanted me, wanted me in the wrong way” Talauia said softly. ”Not just because I was a talented assassin but because I was an ’enchanting woman.’ But I didn’t want that. I wanted to inherit the Endless Marsh from my father. I wanted to be the next High Lady. That’s why I worked so hard to be so good,” she said, her shoulders shaking as she broke down in another wave of sobs.

”Now I understand,” Ashlynn said, pulling Talauia into a tight embrace. ”I understand why you’re so weary about vampires who want to sink their fangs into someone who might be a little powerful and talented and why you all were so nervous about Mistress Nyrielle.”

”But I don’t understand,” Heila said, blinking in confusion. ”What happened after you said no, Tala? How did it turn into the death of your whole clan?”

”Because Shubnalu, the Fangs of Death, still wants Talauia as his progeny,” Ashlynn said as she gently stroked the winged witch’s hair. ”If he attacked her, she might die and then he would lose what he wants. Instead, I’m willing to bet that he suggested that Bardas do the dirty work.”

”If Bardas destroyed her clan because they had grown ’too powerful’, but he allowed Talauia to escape, then Shubnalu could offer her a place of safety. By taking her in, he could keep her safe from ’the Jaws of Death’, when really, all he had to do was ask Bardass to stop pursuing her and he likely would.”

”You’re saying he had her whole clan slaughtered, just to force her to become his progeny?” Heila said, her eyes going wide in horror. ”But that, that’s far too cruel. How could anyone be that cruel?”

”Because he doesn’t feel anymore,” Talauia said bitterly. ”Because he doesn’t know what cruelty or sorrow even is. He only knows what he wants. Since he wanted me, he would do whatever was ’logical’ in order to obtain me.”

It had taken her months of running, hiding, and striking back only when she was certain of her opportunity before Talauia had met the Mother of Thorns. It was only after she became the Thistle Witch that Amahle helped her to understand everything that the Fangs of Death had done to drive her into a corner.

Now, seeing Ashlynn become the Seneschal of the Harbinger of Death, the witches of the Briar had been deeply concerned not just that Nyrielle was using cruel methods to manipulate Ashlynn... but that the Fangs of Death would come for Talauia again. He might not be able to turn a witch into one of his progeny, but if Nyrielle taught him how to take a witch as his Seneschal...

If that ever happened, then perhaps even Amahle and the defenses of the Briar wouldn’t be enough to keep Talauia safe from the powerful Great Lord.