Here Be Sexist Vampires(104)

Seeing that people were looking at us curiously I made my way to one of the few empty seats. Evan and Jared placed themselves either side of me. Evan was then directly opposite Bran’s Consort who was staring at Evan like he was a snack. Well it’s a start.

“Why Samantha, how are you?” asked Connelly after having greeted Jared and Evan and talked to them like they were gods. It almost made me laugh.

“Fine and dandy, thanks.”

I don’t know how you’re not drained, you should’ve took some energy from me, said Jared.

The person who went away drained was Joy. Besides, I don’t fancy teleporting to the arena and the bottom of the pool every five minutes like last time. Feeling particularly put out by my new gift, I added, When Antonio and Luther come in, let them know about my gift having manifested itself, but don’t tell them what it is. He smiled at my eagerness to have them kept in suspense.

“I was telling Jared last night that he may set off a trend by having a Sventé as a Consort,” Connelly said to Evan.

Jared smiled. “Actually, Consort isn’t the correct word. She’s a commander.”

“Within the legion?”

Still smiling, Jared nodded.

Kaiser scoffed, “A Sventé , a female Sventé, working as a commander within the legion? Absurd.”

Yes I know I should be used to this by now but apparently I’m not. Before he could twist the cap off his NST bottle I, in a movement so swift he didn’t see it coming, sucked energy into my hands and manifested my whip which I then cracked toward him and used to snatch his bottle. I then dragged the bottle to me with the whip, picked it up and read the label as I let the whip fade away. “Nah, I don’t like that flavour.” With that, I placed the bottle back on the table and released a gust of air from one hand, sending it zooming across back to Kaiser. The commanders chuckled.

“A Feeder,” gasped Bran.

“A Sventé Feeder,” said Kaiser. I winked at him and leant back in my seat. “But that is only a Pagori gift.”

“And that is only one of many things that make Sam unique,” announced a new, deep, rhythmic voice as he, Luther and Sebastian strolled into the room. Antonio.

As usual Nero came to greet me with a lick to my arm and then he squeezed himself between mine and Evan’s chair, eager to be stroked. When both Antonio and Luther looked sharply at me with intrigue written all over their faces I knew Jared had told them telepathically about the surfacing of my new gift. I could see that they were itching to know more. I merely smiled.

After Antonio made all the introductions he began, “Bran, Rupert” – he called Connelly by his first name the same as Jared did – “and Kaiser have arrived to inform me about certain things that Bennington of Great Britain was heard to have said last night at Rupert’s gathering. All of it supports Luther’s vision: Bennington intends to attack The Hollow and is trying to recruit as many vampires as possible. Bran, Rupert and Kaiser have agreed to support the defence of The Hollow by adding their own legions to ours, which has increased our numbers greatly. In fact, their legions are being teleported to the Guest House and other accommodations as we speak. This sense of urgency I have is in light of what we didn’t otherwise know before: Bennington intends to attack at midnight tomorrow.”

There were gasps and mutterings and curses. I was pretty much mute with the dread running through me. That gave us no additional time to train: we would literally have to put ourselves in place tomorrow evening and lie in wait. Jared’s hand gripped mine under the table. I could sense his rage and his unease. Bennington might himself be nothing but a little fart, but his army of specially gifted vampires were a big concern. And God only knew how many allies he’d manage to secure.#p#分页标题#e#

“It would seem that he decided to bring his time-table forward, probably because he suspected that my Advisor may have had a vision and so he hoped to catch us off-guard. We may not have had as much time to prepare as we would have liked, but had it not been for Luther’s earlier vision we might never have been as psychologically prepared as what we are now. I would advise all commanders to spend this evening familiarising yourselves and your squads as much as possible with the surrounding rainforest. I have additional security measures in place, including a stronger shield over The Hollow so that no one may teleport there until I have removed it. Even now the other vampires and humans are being hidden underground.” Antonio cast a look at the three High Masters. “If you wish for your Consorts to also be hidden then that can easily be arranged.”