occupied far too much of Blair’s time.
As Connor stumbled away to sleep off his banquet, Jason said excusingly, “He just got carried away.”
Blair scowled. “Well, none of us can afford for that to happen. I’m going to start killing anyone who gets ‘carried away’ from now on. Spread the word.”
Jason nodded unhappily. He looked pale and unwell. Blair sighed. Mentoring the fledglings was not a job he particularly enjoyed. Someone just had to do it, or there would soon be chaos in the city and the existence of vampires might well be discovered. But on the whole, morons like Connor were more easily dealt with than Jason, who, since the battle in Holyrood Park that had killed so many of his fellow fledglings, had clung to his humanity as if it were a lifeline rather his death knell.
“When did you last feed?”
“I was going to bite her,” Jason said with a jerk of his head toward the street. “But Connor got there first.”
“Don’t hunt in pairs,” Blair said. “It leads to competition and idiocy like tonight’s. Hunt alone. You’re better at it than Connor, and if you keep your wits about you, you’ll be the one who survives the longest.”
Even as he said the words, though, he doubted they were true. No longer bound to the sorcerer who’d initiated his “turning” and free from all instruction but Blair’s, Jason found himself rudderless and miserable. In fact, Blair suspected if it wasn’t for his devoted parents, Jason would have let himself die by now. Which plucked an uncomfortable chord in Blair’s own far older and much more selfish soul.
On the other hand, Jason had the intelligence and the finesse the others lacked.
“Walk with me,” Blair said abruptly, and obediently, Jason fell into step with him. They strolled out of the courtyard and into the alley beyond, meandering up the hill toward the Royal Mile.
“I have other things on my mind than you lot,” Blair said at last.
“Better things, I imagine,” Jason said humbly.
Oh yes. Sera and her ridiculous job, which he seemed to have fallen into. Plus he had to watch out for the Founder now and protect her from any move that entity might make. If he could. How the hell did one protect anyone from the most powerful being on the Earth? At any rate, he had to try. Even if she was drifting away from him.
For a moment, an echo of the old blackness slithered into his mind. He shoved it aside. He could win Sera’s body whenever he chose to. He couldn’t force her to feel more, to relax into the deeper companionship he craved. He could only wait and see, and watch out for her. And so he answered Jason, “Better? Not necessarily. Just ‘other.’”
He glanced at the fledgling thoughtfully. Make-or-break time, Jason. “So, how would you like to be my lieutenant here in Edinburgh?”
Jason’s jaw dropped. “Me? They wouldn’t listen to me!”
“More fool them. You’re the one with the brains.”
“Unfortunately, you need brawn to make that count with them,” Jason said dryly.
“I can give you brawn.”
Jason’s brow twitched. “You can?”
Blair stopped. He knew the alley was empty, but he cast a glance up at the tenement windows on either side. There weren’t many at this angle, and all were dark.
“Bite me,” he said.
“What?” said Jason in alarm.
“Drink my blood,” Blair said impatiently. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you have much. For one thing, you couldn’t handle it. It will make you much stronger than the rest. One demonstration should be all you’ll need to keep the shits like Connor in line. You’ll watch them and discipline them, and if you have trouble, you come to me. Sound fair?”
Jason closed his mouth. For a few moments, his eyes stood out like organ stops at the very idea. Then the possibilities began to filter through quite visibly. It was a purpose, a necessary purpose beyond his next meal, and Blair knew from experience that any vampire with intelligence needed one of those.
He held his head to one side, exposing his neck. “Do it, then.”
Jason advanced, reached hesitant arms up to Blair’s shoulders, and swallowed once, convulsively, before he bit.
Christ, it felt good. It had been so long since anyone had drunk from him, he’d forgotten… It was actually a wrench, after a few seconds, to yank Jason back by the hair with a curt, “Enough.” But the difference in the fledgling was immediate. He didn’t just look suddenly healthier— rosy-skinned and fuller in face and body; he