Thrall

The day was halfway finished before Damien heard anything about Cain, and he had to immediately fight back a wave of annoyance. He was gently laying down one of the delicate silks to dry when he overhead two thralls at the drying rack beside it chatting rather loudly with one another. Damien didn't consider himself a busybody of any sort, but when he heard the name Cain his ears perked up. His hearing was better than that of the average human, so it was easy to hear what they were discussing, even after he left the drying table and returned to the delicate wash station.

"Did you hear about Cain?" the conversation had begun.

"You mean about his thrall?" the other had answered, sounding both elated and conspiratorial.

"Cain always has thralls," the first speaker had said, a hint of exasperation edging into his tone.

"I heard he actually took this one aside for a private matter. Jacen is saying that there was evidence of a direct feeding!" the second speaker was clearly affronted that she would be accused of boring her audience with an overused tale.

"Wait, you mean that Cain actually fed directly from a thrall? But he always takes his blood in the kitchen!" Now the first speaker sounded suitably intrigued.

The second speaker, now sounding unbearably smug, insisted, "That's why it's such a surprise! Johann heard about it, too," she added, sounding sad. "He was inconsolable this morning."

"Isn't he a night thrall?" the first speaker asked. "He should have been asleep before you were up!"

"Too miserable to sleep," the second speaker said, still smug. It almost sounded like she was glad that another thrall was miserable. "He's had his hopes pinned on Cain for too long - it's time he moved on."

Despite the fact that Damien didn't actually want Cain, a small part of him - his instincts - bristled at the idea of anyone else pursuing his mate. Cain was his mate! He didn't care about feedings or whatever it was the thralls cared about, but he didn't want another thrall taking all of Cain's time and attention. Except that, he told himself firmly, he didn't actually want Cain, and it was stupid to get jealous over someone he actively despised. But try telling that to the possessive wolf side of him.

By the time he reigned in his focus, the conversation had moved on, and the two were no longer talking about the drama among Cain's many thralls. It took him a moment to realize they were still talking about Cain, though.

"I wonder how long he'll be gone this time," the second was saying, her voice less smug and more thoughtful.

"He was only gone about two weeks last time," the first speaker said, "And that was meant to be a challenging mission. I heard this one was just assigned because Crowe was mad at him."

"Crowe does still have the most influence inside the castle, huh," the second speaker said thoughtfully. "I wonder what Cain did to make him mad this time?"

"I heard he called him bird again," the first said.

"Isn't he always doing that, though?"

Both speakers lapsed into thoughtful silence for a moment. Then, the first speaker said, "I wonder if it's connected."

The second speaker sounded as confused as Damien felt when she asked, "What's connected?"

"Maybe Crowe also wants the thrall that Cain took for himself," the first speaker said. "It must be some sort of rare blood to drive not just one, but two high-ranked vampires so crazy that they turn-"

Damien nearly jumped out of his skin as a large hand clapped down on his shoulder, startling him so badly he almost ripped the delicate lace in his hands. He lost the train of conversation, his concentration broken by the appearance of Ellen.

"Afternoon, Damien," she said, sparing him a glimpse of a soft smile before putting on her 'serious face' and asking, "How are you doing today? Need a break?"

Damien could hear the undertone grumbles of the other thralls at the wash basins, and did his best to ignore them. "I'm ok," he said. "Feeling pretty good today." He frowned then, remembering that Cain had apparently left the castle recently - it had to have been the middle of the night, because he'd stopped by Damien's room the previous evening. He was now very grateful for the shirt delivery, as he had no idea when the vampire would be back. Well. Very grateful was saying a bit much. But he was at least appreciative of the gesture, and also quite grateful for his absence. He didn't want to deal with Cain any more than was strictly necessary, and he had the feeling that the vampire was the meddling sort. So long as Cain was out of the castle, he'd have fewer opportunities to annoy Damien.

And he'd be farther away from this rumored thrall, too. The one Damien had to staunchly remind himself he was not jealous of, because he didn't actually like Cain, not did he find the idea of the vampire sinking teeth into his throat the least… bit… appealing…

Shaking his head to dislodge the unwelcome thoughts, Damien glanced up at Ellen, who was staring down at him with a look of mild distrust.

"That's what you said last time, and then I had to ask someone to carry you to your room," Ellen told him, planting her hands on her hips.

"I really am feeling pretty good," Damien insisted. "I'll make it to the end of shift."

"If you insist," Ellen said, giving him a sharp look. "You let me know if you think you're going to be falling asleep again, though."

Damien nodded. "I will. I'm not going to, though."

Ellen gave him another look, but apparently decided he looked well enough, because she moved on.

Damien tried to hear the two thralls gossip again, but they had moved farther away from the drying racks, and he couldn't clearly make out what they were saying anymore.

Sighing a little to himself, Damien resumed the monotonous task of laundering lace, a little bit more bored than he'd felt before.

* * *

When Damien retired for the evening, he was surprised to discover Grace waiting for him outside of his room. "Oh," he said, a bit taken aback by her presence, "What's this all about?"

Grace cast Damien a worried glance. "Did you hear?"

Damien was forced to stare blankly at her for several seconds before finally saying, "Hear what?"

"Cain is gone," Grace said, sounding almost mournful.

If Damien hadn't seen the starry-eyed looks she'd been sending in Dezzy's direction, he'd suspect she was nursing a crush on the vampire. The thought raised his hackles slightly, despite knowing that it was patently ridiculous. "I did hear that," he said. "Is there a problem?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Grace said, then glanced at his door. "May I?"

Damien reached over and popped the door open, ushering her inside before stepping in himself and unerringly grabbing the candle, followed by a quick step outside to borrow a light from the nearest torch. He stepped back into the room to see Grace still standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor. He realized that her vision in dim light was far less powerful than his own, and felt a bit smug for a moment before he remembered all the issues that also came with being a werewolf.

"Have a seat," he said, setting the candle on the bedside table and settling on one end of the bed.

Grace followed suit, taking the other bed.

"So what's the problem?" Damien asked

"There are two problems that I can see," Grace said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "The first is that Cain was sent on a mission with a much shorter turnaround than usual."

Damien failed to see how that was a problem. "And that's a problem because…?"

Grace frowned at him. "Because normally vampires are given time to recover between assignments. But Cain wasn't given that time."

Damien still didn't understand why that mattered so much, but he let it rest for the moment. "Okay, so Cain didn't get his usual rest and recovery time, that's problem one. What's problem two?"

Crowe is actively walking around bragging about the fact that he got Cain out of the way," Grace said. "So that means he probably asked Solveig to send Cain away early."

"I gotta say, that still doesn't explain why it's a problem for me," Damien said, recognizing he was being insensitive but also not sure he knew how to be anything else in that moment. He just didn't care that much about Cain's stupid misadventures and whether he was off murdering other innocent werewolf packs or picking off some other victims. He didn't want to think about it.

Grace shot Damien a dark glare. "It matters because Cain is the one protecting you. If he's gone, any other vampire who notices you won't have a deterrent."

Damien thought his amulet was a decent deterrent, but he remembered that Cain had been able to push past it, and frowned. "You said Crowe was the one who got Cain sent away early, right?"

Grace nodded. "Yes. He's-"

"He's the one that Cain told to stay away from me," Damien said. "And warned me to steer clear of." He frowned. "He's one of the ones who likes messing with other vampires' thralls, right?"

"Right," Grace confirmed.

Damien swallowed hard. "That is a problem," he said, suddenly feeling small and helpless. "Because I'm pretty sure Crowe was interested in me."

Grace's eyes widened. "Crowe saw you?"

Damien nodded. "The day before yesterday," he explained. "When Cain pulled me aside for a quick chat." He swallowed hard. "He called me a morsel," the word burned on his tongue when he said it. "And then Cain told him to leave me alone."

Grace's face was bone-white. "And two nights later Cain is sent away from the castle," she whispered.

Damien grimaced. "It sounds pretty bad, put in perspective like that."

Grace was already on her feet, pacing. "We need to let Morgan and Ellen know, maybe they can pull some strings-" she pinched her nose bridge, scowling hard as though thinking was giving her a headache. "Maybe you're feeling more sickly than usual - Crowe probably wouldn't come all the way down here for you," she said, dropping her hand and looking at Damien excitedly.

"He came all the way down here for his thrall," Damien said. "And he was mad about it."

Grace's eyes widened. "Was the thrall all right?" she asked.

"He probably got a shoulder injury at a minimum," Damien admitted. He didn't think he'd be able to work in the laundry if Crowe manhandled his shoulder the way he had the scared thrall in his grasp.

"Oh good," Grace sighed.

Damien stared at her, waiting for the explanation. When none was forthcoming, he asked, a bit timidly, "...what do you mean, good?"

The awkward grimace Grace sent his way was not comforting. "Of all the vampires in this castle who have permanently maimed thralls, Crowe tops the list by a wide margin," Grace said quietly. "He has a terrible temper. It's a big part of the ongoing conflict between him and Cain - Crowe thinks Cain is soft, and Cain calls Crowe needlessly cruel."

That was a hypocritical sort of accusation, coming from a vampire, Damien thought. But the look on Grace's face told him that as terrible as Cain was, he was not the worst in the castle. He still didn't agree with all the thralls who seemed to think that Cain was some amazing heroic figure who protected them all from cruelties at the hands of people like Crowe. But he could admit that Cain hadn't manhandled him. He was still a killer, though, and it was so hard to understand how the same person who murdered an entire pack with his bare hands could also fight so hard to protect the helpless thralls.

He must have made a face of some sort, because Grace gave him a sharp look. "What's wrong?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Damien said, not wanting to get into his complaints about Cain with someone who practically worshipped the ground he walked on.

"It's not nothing," Grace said. "Are you worried? We'll do our best to protect you until Cain gets back."

Gets back from what, though? Damien wondered irritably. Another murder mission? It felt so backwards. "I just don't understand why Cain would care, when he doesn't care about the people he kills all the time," Damien finally said.

Grace frowned. "He does care," she said, giving Damien a confused look.

Damien stared back with equal confusion. "He cares… about his murder victims?" he finally asked, his disbelief made clear in his tone.

"He doesn't torture or maim them the way a lot of vampires like to do," Grace said quietly, growing subdued. "He only kills when he has to, never for pleasure."

Damien blinked. That was such a weird distinction to make. "He still kills, though."

Grace nodded slowly. "You can tell he hates it," she said quietly. "It makes me glad that I'm not one of Solveig's thralls. The things he makes them do…"

"Solveig's thralls?" Damien repeated. "Cain's a vampire, not a human."

Grace frowned at him, before the expression melted away in understanding. "Oh, I forget sometimes that you're not as familiar with vampires as most of us are," she said. "There are two kinds of thralls in a vampire clan. Human thralls, and Vampire thralls."

Damien blinked. He'd never heard that, before. "What's a vampire thrall?"

"Every vampire is bound to the will of their sire, the vampire who turned them," Grace said. "For some vampires, that bond is weakened when their sire dies, and the successor of that vampire takes his place. It's similar for human thralls - when we're enthralled, we are initially bound to a single vampire, but other vampires can use the same method to achieve some level of control over that thrall, though it won't be as strong a bond as the original."

"So the first person to enthrall a human has the most sway, and the vampire who turns a human into a vampire has the most power over them, too?" Damien asked, then frowned as he considered the matter a bit more. "Is that really the same as enthrallment, though?"

"The bond magic is very strong," Grace said, "And the stronger the sire, the stronger the bond. Most of the vampires in this castle were turned by subordinates of Solvieg who were killed sometime in the past two hundred years, so their allegiance to Solveig isn't quite as strong."

Damien frowned. "For example?"

"Well, one that immediately comes to mind is Crowe," Grace answered. "He was actually turned by the vampire thrall of one of Solveig's first vampire thralls. So there are two degrees of separation between him and Solveig. That gives him a bit more… flexibility in choosing how to follow orders."

Damien frowned. "And Cain?"

"Cain is the first human in almost one hundred years to survive being turned by Lord Solveig," Grace said. "Most of the prospects die. It's quite rare for a turning to take, especially for a vampire with as much power as Solveig."

Damiein blinked. "Does he try turning humans into vampires often, or…?"

"He usually chooses one or two thralls a year," Grace said, "and occasionally he'll pick a random human that strikes his fancy. Cain was one of the unlucky humans he selected for turning." She pressed her lips together slightly, a bit of a sheepish look crossing her face. "He was… not happy about it."

"You talk about it like you were there," Damien chuckled, thinking that the thrall storytellers must have very convincing tales, to inspire such genuine reactions.

"I was there," Grace said. "I was ten years old. He wasn't even twenty yet."

Damien blinked, feeling as if the world was tilting underneath him. He grabbed at his blanket for stability, but ended up grabbing a soft, familiar-scented tunic instead. "Wait, so Cain is… young?"

He didn't know why that made such a difference to him, but it did.

Grace shrugged, making a vague hand-wavy gesture. "He's probably thirty years old. Eleven, if you only count the vampire years."

He's practically a child, Damien thought, still reeling. "I guess I always assumed that vampires were hundreds of years old," he said weakly. "I didn't even consider the possibility that he'd be…" close to my age! "...so young."

Grace nodded. "I think for those of us who didn't witness the turning ourselves, it can come as a big shock. He's really risen through the ranks." She grimaced, then, adding in an undertone, "That's another reason why Crowe hates him, though. Solveig's blood made him very powerful, despite how young he is. It makes him a threat to a lot of the older, more established vampires. Especially since Solvieg trusts him so much more."

Damien frowned. Hadn't she just said that Cain hated being turned into a vampire? That didn't sound like the sort of attitude to inspire confidence. "Why would Solvieg trust him more?"

"Because his power over Cain is nearly absolute," Grace said. "If he says 'go kill these people', Cain has to kill them. If Solvieg tells Crowe 'go kill these people', Crowe might argue about it, and might drag his feet, or find a way around it, if he really wanted to." Grace sighed, finally turning and walking back to Damien's bed to flop down on it dramatically. "Cain doesn't have a choice." She chuckled a bit. "He's as bound as any thrall. Maybe that's why he has so much sympathy for us. He hasn't forgotten his humanity, yet."

Damien glanced down at the tunic in his hands. He'd never really allowed himself to wonder why a vampire would let his scent fall into the hands of a werewolf, or why he hadn't tried to steal blood from Dezzy when she came begging for the scent that first time. He'd pushed all of those thoughts aside, because he hadn't wanted to think of the possibility that there might be a glimmer of humanity buried deep down inside the vampire. Now, though…

"So that's why you're worried about him leaving so soon," Damien said, after several long seconds of silence. "Because even if he wasn't ready to leave, or he had matters here that he would rather take care of first, he doesn't have the ability to refuse."

"Yeah," Grace sighed. "Hopefully he'll be back soon, before Crowe…" she trailed off, casting a worried look in Damien's direction. "Let's just hope he gets back soon."

Damien found himself nodding in agreement. "Yeah," he said softly. "Let's hope so."