Like the previous time she shared an apartment with Gabriel in Nashville, Alyssa had trouble sleeping, especially since it was daytime in the city. She got up and strolled into the living room and looked around to make sure Gabriel wasn"t in the room before going over to the windows. There were metal plate blocking out the light, but when she found the switch, Alyssa hit a b.u.t.ton that she a.s.sumed would open just one up. To her surprise all the windows opened, bathing the entire room in natural light. She looked out the window and marveled at the sight that was New Lycan, the city formerly known as St. Louis. The building they were in had a distant view of the big arch, and it looked amazing from where she was looking at it. Alyssa stood there for a short time taking in the view of the big city until she heard a voice call out to her from the other side of the room."Put the wall plates back down please," Gabriel ordered.
Alyssa walked over to the same panel she used before and hit another b.u.t.ton that lowered the plates and put the room back into darkness again.
"I thought the sun couldn"t harm you," Alyssa recalled, "Were you lying?"
"I wasn"t," Gabriel replied, "But people are not used to seeing open windows in the vampire building at this time of day. Just seems weird and can cause people to ask questions we might not want to answer at this time."
"Alright," Alyssa conceded, "That makes sense."
"Trouble sleeping?" Gabriel asked as he walked deeper into the living room.
"Just nervous in a building full of vampires," Alyssa answered, "Scared even."
"Nothing to be scared of," Gabriel said, trying to rea.s.sure her. "There are only two vampires in the building, the rest are security provided by the city, so the rest are Lycans. I told you there are not many of us, and the only other Vampire in the building is several floors below us. I"ve already informed him you"re off limits. He wouldn"t dare cross me, so nothing to fear."
"Except fear itself," Alyssa added.
"One of my favorite quotes," Gabriel said, sitting down. "Good bloke too; I miss him."
"I keep forgetting how old you are," Alyssa confessed, as she also took a seat on a couch opposite of Gabriel"s. "You"ve probably seen amazing things and met some great people during your time."
"You could say that," Gabriel replied, "I had some power back then, so it was easy to use that influence to open some doors."
"You were also here when it happened," Alyssa added, "When the undead arrived and wiped most of us out."
"I was," Gabriel confirmed, "Many of us thought that no one was going to survive. I"m happy to report that we were wrong. It"s still a struggle, but most of us are adapting to the new setting, some better than others as you can see here."
"I believe we covered that; the Lycans are living large." Alyssa said, as she layed down. "And now they have a city, this is all so weird."
"We can"t stay long," Gabriel told her, "The full moon is close, and security gets a little more hostile as it draws closer."
"They"re that touchy about it?" Alyssa asked.
"It"s not like that," Gabriel said, "The wolves become more sensitive and their senses are more heightened as the day draws near. What you saw at the superstore was just that aggression brewing to the surface. If this was last week, that incident probably would have never happened. That"s why I didn"t press charges, I knew they"re getting a bit jumpy with the moon coming up."
"I guess that makes sense," Alyssa said, thinking about it. "So kind of like how women get aggressive during their time of the month, the wolves have theirs."
"A crude way to put it, but accurate," Gabriel confirmed, "We should leave when the sun goes down. The darkness will also prevent anyone from seeing us enter your town. I like the apartment you were given, the roof is near the wall and I can quickly zip over there without being detected."
"That was the point," Alyssa said, smiling. "I want you to have as little exposure with the people of my town as possible. I"m keeping our deal a secret, as there are people who I don"t trust that might try to use our agreement to their advantage. So the longer we can keep your partic.i.p.ation in the dark, the better."
"Agreed," Gabriel said, laying down across the couch, "I don"t really like being around humans that much anyway, present company excluded of course. Yet the more that there are around, the harder it is for me or any vampire to control their blood l.u.s.t. One on one we"re fine, but if any of us are surrounded by more humans than we can handle then we are capable of losing our minds and going in to a feeding frenzy. You do not want to see us lose control; a full blown blood l.u.s.t isn"t something we"re proud of. We do everything in our power to avoid it at all costs."
"Understandable," Alyssa replied, "I wouldn"t want to see that either."
"That"s why you would never see us stay long in a human city," Gabriel continued, "Even before the outbreak, we were forbidden to live in the big cities out of fear one of us might lose control and starting draining people dry. It"s just too overbearing. Even when I was messaging, I was there just long enough to deliver what I had, and then took off as soon as I could after being paid and given the return message. Cities like New Lycan are the exception, because we don"t feed off them. We are able to roam here without worrying about the blood l.u.s.t. As you saw it"s rare for humans to visit here. It still happens, but they prefer to travel only to their own cities rather than stay here too much. They know they Lycans and other monsters exist, but prefer to concentrate on the undead as long as we don"t do anything to interfere. As long as we keep the peace, they leave us in peace as well."
"Wow, I had no idea." Alyssa admitted, "I don"t even think anyone in my town knows any of you exist."
"Doubtful," Gabriel disagreed, "But if your town does trade with any other towns or even just one of the cities, there is a small chance your leaders might have been brought into the loop. They might have told them about it just to warn them to stay away from certain cities that are no longer safe for humans to enter."
"I guess that would make sense," Alyssa said, aware that humans wouldn"t be welcome in New Lycan, especially during the full moon. She thought about the mayor of her town, aware that he"s the kind of guy capable of keeping secrets that big. After what happened to her crew on their first mission, Alyssa knew that Maxwell couldn"t be trusted, despite being the leader of their small town.
"Are you alright?" Gabriel asked, sitting up on the couch. He could sense there was something bothering her.
"It"s the mayor of my town," Alyssa answered, "I don"t trust him, and if he knows about these cities he"s exactly the kind of guy that would keep it secret just so he could profit from the knowledge. He"s a little weasel."
"What makes you say that?" Gabriel asked, surprised to hear her say such negative things about someone in her own town.
"I think he tried to have me killed," Alyssa answered.
"Excuse me?" Gabriel said, hopping off the couch. "When?"
"When you saved me," she answered, "When we left the town that day, I couldn"t help but notice that the people I was teamed with were members of our town that were outspoken, known for asking too many questions. I can"t help but believe he sent us out to the slaughter just to get the bad apples out of the way, and have a few less mouths for the town to feed."
"If this theory of yours is true," Gabriel said, pacing around. "Then he is a weasel and should keep him in the dark about our agreement. I want nothing to do with this man, especially if he might have knowledge about the other towns and cities."
"I have no intention of talking to him," Alyssa confirmed, "After what he did I am never going to trust him with anything. Would you?"
"No, I wouldn"t." Gabriel agreed, "If he crosses a line or puts you in danger again, I may have no choice but to remove him from the picture."
"I hope he doesn"t try it again," Alyssa said, "But let"s burn that bridge when we get to it. Hopefully he"ll never learn about our arrangement."
"They won"t," Gabriel said, as he layed back down on the couch. "I"m going to rest for a few more hours and then we"ll fly back to your town."
"Do you need any more blood?" Alyssa asked, curious.
"Not right now," Gabriel answered, "But I might when we get to town. You still have some in the fridge so that will do."
"I"ll start packing our things into the bags you brought." Alyssa said, standing up to go back to her room. "Thanks again for bringing me out here. Despite the incident, I really did enjoy visiting."
"I"m glad you did," Gabriel said, closing his eyes. "See you in a few hours."