For Marcus, unconsciousness was a sweet release from the past few days of torture. When his mind gave out, he could no longer feel the pain of the magical torments inflicted upon him, he couldn’t feel the vampires periodically draining him of his mana, and he couldn’t feel the plainer, more mundane beatings that he was given. In some ways, he was glad when Kassia beat him into unconsciousness if for no other reason than he wouldn’t have to look at her anymore.

But most of all, the reason he was grateful for unconsciousness was because he was no longer questioned. Kassia and the woman that Alcander had brought home questioned them intensely about Leon. Personal things, like his power and capabilities as a fighter, to greater-scope concerns such as who he was allied with, who he was friends with, who might join him if he were to be suddenly attacked, or who might investigate it if he were to disappear.

Marcus was a little ashamed to know that he didn’t remain as strong as he could have throughout the ordeal. He gave the vampires some information, though he didn’t think anything he’d said couldn’t have been found out anyway. Leon was known as a Hand of the Director, an eighth-tier mage, and an enchanter, after all.

However… Marcus now knew that Kassia, despite only being third-tier, possessed some control over darkness magic thanks to her contract with a shadow demon, and while she was the only one who questioned him, there were frequently other, much stronger vampires around, though some seemed overcareful and wore masks and other face-concealing garments. Marcus could be confident in only giving up information that was already public, but when it came to darkness mages and the power they had over the mind, he couldn’t be sure if he’d betrayed Leon and the others or not even when he kept his mouth shut.

Still, he and Alcander remained as strong as they could, and for his part, Marcus did his best not to judge Alcander for his moments of weakness, just as he hoped Alcander did the same for him. The shame didn’t go away while he conscious, however, and Marcus couldn’t imagine how he would face Leon again. He was surly and extremely unfriendly to those he wasn’t already familiar with, but Marcus still considered the man a friend—what was more, Leon had been quite generous to both him and Alcander, and whether he’d admit it or not, Marcus considered himself to be in debt to Leon for as long as that generosity continued. To give the vampires even the fact that Leon had forged new armor was something that brought Marcus deep shame.

As those hours and days passed, his hope began to die out, but he did his best to keep the fire lit. He wavered many times, especially when his blood was freshly spilled. Alcander wavered, too, and he did his best to encourage his friend, at least until they were gagged when the other was being interrogated.

Things came to a head when a massive explosion ripped through the warehouse, but before even the barest hint of relief could wash over him, Kassia rushed forward and hit him and Alcander with her demonic magic, and everything went dark once more.

---

Marcus didn’t immediately recognize his surroundings. He stood in his father’s palace back in the Bull Kingdom, but everything was dark and twisted, bearing little resemblance to what he remembered it looking like. But he knew unmistakably that it was his childhood home, and his father was there, tall and stern, looking like he had been carved of stone.

“Finally back from the brothels, are you, boy?” he growled as soon as Marcus became aware of his presence. “Done cavorting with women far beneath your station?”

Marcus couldn’t respond. He couldn’t remember what he’d been doing or why, but even these protests couldn’t pass his lips. He could do nothing but stand there as his father glared at him, the knowledge that he was a disappointment to the Aeneas family crashing upon him like a tidal wave upon the shore.

“No, you’re not done, are you?” Marquis Aeneas continued. “Worthless men like you are not fit to rule the lands of our Ancestors. Aventino deserves so much more than you, a man who would piss and fuck away all of this land’s wealth and leave it with nothing. You are not worth even being acknowledged as my son. Begone.”

The brutality of his father’s rebuke seemed to echo in the space he found himself in, as the walls vanished in an oncoming wave of darkness. Marcus, feeling ashamed and hurt, couldn’t even muster the strength to fight this wave. It washed over him, his father’s words echoing in his ears, and when it receded, Marcus found that the scene had changed, though for some reason he couldn’t fathom, he didn’t even question it.

He found himself standing before Leon and all the rest of the retinue. Even Alcander stood opposite him, glaring at him for the mistakes he’d made.

“You have betrayed me,” Leon intoned, his voice resonating in the darkness, pressing in on Marcus and nearly forcing him to his knees. “You have given away my secrets to my enemies. I brought you into my retinue thinking you a worthy addition, but it seems you aren’t even fit to call yourself a son of House Aeneas. Get out of my retinue. I need the best, I need people I can trust. And that’s not you.”

Marcus finally did collapse to his knees in front of Leon, his mouth unmoving despite his desperation to explain himself, to say anything at all that might mitigate this rebuke.

But even then, despite his vain struggling, he knew in his heart of hearts that Leon spoke true. He was nothing, he deserved nothing. If he hadn’t been born into a noble house, then he would have nothing at all. Everything he had had been bought by his Ancestors, and he’d squandered every advantage he’d ever had.

He was nothing, he deserved nothing. And now, he was losing everything. When he glanced to Alix, Gaius, Alcander, everyone in Leon’s retinue, they all glared back at him, each and every one of them knowing that he was worthless, too, and Marcus went limp, his despair overwhelming him.

Slowly, Leon and his retinue disappeared as the dark closed in again, pressing in on Marcus until it enveloped him completely, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

But after a while, he felt a light shining through the darkness, breaking through the haze and reminding him of what he was doing and why he was here. He’d been hit with darkness magic, and this was some kind of mental space. Relief flooded through him, though the terror didn’t go away completely. It remained within him, banished only temporarily.

For now, though, Marcus was glad to simply slip into proper unconsciousness and leave this strange dark world behind.

---

“Back off, everyone!” Leon ordered as his retinue closed in on Marcus, his retainer lying back in the hospital bed. “If he wakes up only to find all of you staring back at him, I think that might freak him out even more than waking to an empty room!”

“But he’s stirring!” Alix exclaimed, though she followed Leon’s orders and stopping leaning over Marcus, watching his every move.

“Be that as it may, let the man breathe!” Leon responded.

Marcus slowly opened his eyes just as Leon’s retinue pulled back a little, but Leon and Alix were both still fairly close. His eyes slowly, sluggishly flickered between them, and the mild look of pain that had been on his face ever since being brought in faded.

“Hey…” he weakly whispered.

“You’re alive!” Alix exclaimed. “It’s about time you woke up! It’s been five years! Do you know how much money has been spent on your care! But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to—”

“Alix,” Leon interrupted, cutting his former squire off with a reprimanding look and an amused smile.

“That’s funny,” Marcus replied, sounding quite winded but a little stronger than before now that he was starting to wake up. “I’d almost believe you… but I know you…”

“Hey!” Alix responded. “Are you saying I’m not trustworthy?!”

“To be fair,” Helen interjected, “you did just try to tell him that he’s been in a coma for five years.”

Alix frowned, but backed off. “Just trying to have a little fun…” she murmured. Turning back to Marcus for moment, she said, “It’s good to see you awake. Now let’s see how quickly we can get you up and about.”

“Hold on,” Leon said. “Putting the cart before the horse a little, aren’t you?”

Alix shrugged.

Leon sighed and focused on Marcus now that his retainer had had a minute or two to wake up and collect himself. “How are you doing, Marcus?”

“Better, I have to say,” Marcus replied with as energetic a smile as he seemed capable of giving. “Alcander?”

Leon moved a bit, giving Marcus a glimpse of the still-unconscious Alcander in bed behind him.

“He’s been out about as long as you’ve been, but he’s showing signs of waking up soon.”

“How long has it been? Really?”

“About two days since we hit the place where you were held.”

Marcus weakly nodded, but before they could continue their conversation, a Heaven’s Eye healer burst in.

“All of you, back off!” the ornery healer cried and started shooing them out of the room. “This man needs his rest and none of you need to be here for the tests we have to run! Out!”

Leon complied, letting the healer do his thing, but he wasn’t going to leave the hospital just yet.

About three hours later, Leon, and only Leon, was allowed back in to see Marcus, and he was pleasantly surprised to find Alcander sitting up in bed, too.

“Leon!” the large man exclaimed as Leon walked back into the room.

“Alcander!” Leon replied with as much enthusiasm as he could summon. “Good to see you up, too!”

“Good to be up!” Alcander replied. “Hey, will you tell these bastards that I’m good to go? When you go after those piss-drinking demon-worshipping fuckboys, I need to be there so I can kick their asses hard enough to make them vomit out their spines!” Alcander gestured madly as he spoke, showing that he was effectively recovered as far as Leon could tell.

However, Leon looked first to the healer still giving him a check-up.

“He can go,” the healer dismissively stated. “He’s honestly not worth the attention.”

Alcander then looked at the healer, a look of comical disbelief on his face that slowly transitioned to one that was more quietly impressed.

“Wow,” Marcus whispered from the other bed. “Not worth the attention, huh? Buddy, I think you’ve got to work on that. Raise your worth. Be more attractive. You know. Now be quite so terrible at everything you do.”

Alcander leaned back in his bed, his arms stretched far enough out over the back rest that everything below his elbows were hanging off. He looked unamused, but not particularly insulted.

“You two seem lively,” Leon observed as he took a seat.

“I’m done here,” the healer said. “They’re healthy enough to leave by the end of the day.”

“Thanks,” Leon replied, and the healer swiftly made himself scarce. “Now, then, let’s have a quick chat about these vampires that came after you.”

“Yes, let’s do that,” Alcander growled. “Are they all dead? The ones from the warehouse?”

“Kassia’s alive, but she’s been captured.”

“I can’t believe she was a vampire,” Marcus said, frowning. “I never even realized…”

“It’s early,” Leon responded, “but as far as we can tell, she’s still very early into the transformation and can still cover it up fairly well. Her fangs aren’t that pronounced, her skin is still capable of tanning, and she’s weak enough that she doesn’t attract that much attention. And that’s assuming she doesn’t have any magical disguises to cover up even those tiny signs. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

“I’m trying not to,” Marcus said, though he had a strange look in his eye, and he seemed reluctant to look Leon in the eye.

“So,” Leon continued, not wanting to challenge Marcus’ strange behavior with Alcander present, “think the two of you can fill me in on what happened? We still have some holes in our timeline that need filling, and it’s clear that there were more than just half a dozen vamps running this operation. If they didn’t have friends, then there’s no way they could’ve gone undetected for so long, or been as brazen as they were…”

“There were more than just half a dozen…” Alcander grumbled, and together, he and Marcus told Leon the story of their capture, from picking up the first vampire at a club, to bringing her home, and the subsequent ambush.

“They were in your house?” Leon asked in alarm.

“That seems to be the case,” Alcander replied. “There were those concealing traps all over my house that I didn’t even notice until my attention shifted off of her.”

“Was there anything in your house?” Leon asked Marcus.

“I honestly didn’t get much time to check,” Marcus replied. “Even then, I don’t remember anything. I just went home and started to pass out until I sensed the ambush being sprung on Al.”

“So they could’ve only been targeting Alcander…” Leon mused. “But if that was the case, was Kassia just insurance against you? It seems kind of convenient that she just happened to be your neighbor if you weren’t being targeted…”

“I can’t answer that,” Marcus replied. “When we came to in that warehouse, the vamps that had us didn’t answer any of our questions unless it was for some sadistic purpose… Usually it was them questioning us, and beating us when we weren’t forthcoming with the answers.”

“What kind of questions were you asked?” Leon inquired.

“It was mostly taunting,” Alcander gnashed, a few wisps of killing intent quickly snaking through his aura. “Trying to worm their way into our heads and lose all hope.”

Ignoring his outburst, Marcus answered, “They wanted to know about you.”

“Me?” Leon asked, not entirely surprised. “Just me? Xaphan didn’t come up?”

“Just you,” Alcander confirmed.

“The ones in charge did leave pretty hastily about half an hour before your raid,” Marcus added. “They didn’t seem done with us, either, so it’s possible that Xaphan might’ve come up later if they’d had more time.”

Leon nodded. “What did they ask you two, specifically?”

“Your strengths and weaknesses,” Marcus answered. “Your skills, your equipment, your contacts, allies, and family. The defenses at your villa, your usual schedule, your finances…”

Grumbling, Alcander sarcastically added, “Your shoe size, the color of your nose hairs, the precise length of your short and curlies…”

“So, pretty much everything,” Leon said.

Marcus and Alcander both nodded in confirmation.

Leon sighed and asked the natural follow-up question, his face stoic and as unjudgmental as he could make it. “And how much did you two tell them?”

Both of his retainers went quiet, exchanging a quick, guilty glance before averting their eyes entirely.

“I won’t judge,” Leon continued after several long seconds of silence. “We all do what we have to do. You two were put into a terrible position because of your connections to me. I’m not going to get angry or punish you two for doing what you felt you had to do. But I need to know what you told them. I need to know.”

Leon alternated his gaze, his golden eyes practically burning holes in both of his retainers.

Marcus spoke first, his voice dripping with shame and guilt. “We told them your position, but I think they knew that already.”

“We… told them about Sid, too,” Alcander added, his furious, energetic demeanor dampening as he admitted it. “And the names of the team leaders working at your estate…”

Leon grimaced but didn’t interrupt.

“We told them that you don’t have a set schedule and rarely leave your villa,” Marcus said. “We told them that you don’t have many close friends outside of our usual group, too. We also gave them the names of the rest of the retinue, but not their addresses…”

“But we didn’t tell them about your enchantments,” Alcander pointed out, his voice almost pleading. “I mean, there’s really nothing we can tell them about that sort of thing…”

“Was that all you two told them?”

“Yes,” Marcus replied a little more confidently. “We gave up nothing more.”

Leon breathed a sigh of relief. If what they said was true—and he didn’t have much reason to think otherwise—then they didn’t give away any information that these vampires couldn’t have gotten by other means.

‘Hells, they probably already have that information,’ he cynically thought.

Leon sighed once more and said, “All of that’s good to know. We’re going to have to make preparations for any further attacks on us that may happen in the future—and there most certainly will be. I’m going to have warn everyone, make sure Heaven’s Eye gets its ass in gear with hunting these vamps down…”

“Why would that be needed?” Marcus asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I’d think that all that’s needed would be the Director snapping his fingers and these guys would be brought in.”

“I’m sure that can happen,” Leon replied, “but Anna told me something while you two were gone: there are vampires in Heaven’s Eye.”

Marcus and Alcander both stared at Leon, utterly dumbfounded.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding,” Alcander growled. “I knew that demonic powers weren’t illegal here, but fucking vampires?! Full-blown fucking blood-sucking demon-worshipping pasty-faced leeches?! How?! Why?!”

“I don’t have the answers to those questions,” Leon said. “At least, I don’t yet.”

Picking up on Leon’s tone, Marcus asked, “Do you have an idea about what to do next?”

Leon took a deep breath. “For the moment, I think we’ll be doing nothing.”

“What?!” Alcander nearly bellowed, but before he could continue, Leon held up his hand, immediately silencing him.

“Did you two tell the vampires about my current relationship with Penelope?”

Marcus squinted for a moment, and then widened his eyes in surprise. “No, we didn’t,” he said, and Leon guessed he’d already realized what Leon was going to say. Alcander, however, still looked a little lost.

“If we’re being targeted,” Leon said, “then it’s all the better that we’re planning on leaving to the north. Get out of Occulara for a while and let others hunt down these rats for us. I intend to try and get on the Director about dealing with this, but since these vampires are already in Heaven’s Eye, I have to assume that he already knew. And if he knew, then I can’t trust that he’ll deal with them. Hells, there are a lot of reasons I can’t really trust him right now, but that’s the most relevant, I think.

“But Penelope, I think I can trust a little more. She told me about the Director spying on me, and she told me that he’s planning on something secret that involves blood magic…”

“You mean that the Director is working with the vampires?” Marcus exclaimed in disbelief, and Leon was glad that the hospital was well-warded against noise.

Leon grimly scowled, then shrugged. “All I’m saying is that there’re many reasons not to trust the Director, and perhaps a reason or two to trust Penelope. I’ll also have to inform Sid that her name got dropped in all of this, and I think that Heaven’s Eye’s best blacksmith might have clout enough to get the Director moving, too. Or at least to help to do so. I’ll have to see Emilie, too, she ought to have more power in kicking things into gear. We’ll have to see.”

“I suppose we will,” Marcus whispered as Alcander grumbled a series of threats and statements of disbelief about everything that Leon had just said.

“For now,” Leon said, “the two of you should focus on your recovery. If that healer was right and you two can leave tonight, then I think moving into my villa at least for a little while might be warranted.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Marcus responded.

“Good, because I don’t think my patience would’ve borne that out,” Leon said with a smile. “We can discuss next steps later. For now, I’ll get out of your hair and let you two rest.”

“Fuck rest, I can—” Alcander began, but Leon’s aura settled around him and gently but firmly pressed him back into the hospital bed.

“Trust the healers,” Leon ordered. “They know better than you. You’ll leave tonight.”

Alcander looked like he wanted to respond, but he kept his mouth shut as Leon walked back to the door.

But as Leon grasped the doorknob and twisted, Marcus stopped him by saying, “Leon. Thanks for coming for us. I was certain you would, but there were a few moments back there that I… well, thanks. It means more than I can say.”

Leon, his hand still on the doorknob, turned back toward him and Alcander. Fixing them in his golden gaze, he said with utter seriousness, “You two are my people. I’ll never abandon you. If anyone wants to get to you, then they’ll have to go through me, first.”

Marcus just smiled and nodded, accepting the sentiment.

Alcander, however, said, “That seems a little backwards to me. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? That anyone who wants to get to you has to go through us?”

Leon just smiled, shrugged, and replied, “Can’t it be both?”

Ending on that note, he pulled the door open and left his retainers in peace to contemplate everything they’d just discussed.