Page 33 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 3
“Nero, who were these Weryn?” Grayson asked. “Ones that have come here?”
But Nero shook his head. He grimaced, putting his hands on his hips. “No, some War buddies.”
“Nero!” Dani’s voice was filled with repression this time.
He held up a hand. “I know. I know. But they had my back, saved my Second Life, so many times. That they weren’t in favor when the Order was put back into place… Well, we now know that the Order was just another effort by Kaly to control everyone. So I thought: what is the harm in seeing them again?”
“What was the harm?” Kaito asked, glaring at Nero.
He ran a hand through his thick salt-and-pepper hair. The curls sprung back irrepressibly as his smile normally did, but Nero looked unnaturally grim.
“I was asking them what they thought of everything. Daemon’s return. The exposing of the Order as a work by Kaly. All of it,” Nero explained. “They were close mouthed, which was strange. People like us who had fought against Kaly so hard should feel good about them being exposed and rooted out! But they were not. They acted as if what took--what is taking--the Order’s place just as tainted.”
Grayson’s fingers curled against his palms. He hardly recognized his voice as he said, “Daemon has returned.”
Nero bobbed his head in agreement. “I tried to tell them that, but they were born during the War. They have no understanding of what we were under Daemon and what we could be again. All they saw was the old, corrupt ways being painted over with a fresh coat.”
He caught Dani looking at him in faint alarm and realized that he was squeezing his hands so tightly together that his fingernails threatened to break the skin. He forced himself to relax his fingers.
“So they judged before they knew anything?” Grayson asked, voice still low and taut.
“Besides Nero here, no one of the old blood would associate with them,” Kaito said sternly. “Even those that stay away do not seek them out. They are more than exiled. Most of them are on death lists.”
“Ryder and Demos can tell you more about that,” Dani explained. “But some Vampires from the war are mentally unbalanced. In the past, so long as they kept to themselves and didn’t reveal us to humans, they were left alone. But if they acted out of line in any way their Second Lives were forfeit. Ryder was responsible for taking out more War Children than most.”
“He made more War Children than most,” Nero reminded her. When she gave him a sharp glance, he lifted a shoulder. “What? Master has said we should tell him the truth. I am not trying to change his feelings for Weryn--not that I could--but he needs to know. You cannot fight a foe you don’t understand!”
“How are they foes, Nero? You haven’t gotten to that part,” Grayson pushed gently.
He was certain that Ryder knew, better than anyone, just how many War Children that Weryn had created and all the crimes that they had committed. Unconsciously, he guessed that Ryder had taken it upon himself to hunt them down to fix his mistakes.
“One of them, Leandra, got blood drunk. I had to pull her off…” Nero grimaced and looked away. “I stopped her from ending a life. But in her cups, she told me that I should want to join them. Not respond to Daemon’s call, but to another’s, one more worthy, one bathed in blood, Vampire and Immortal alike. We even have a name, she said. We took it from our hunters. The Sect of Dawn.”
Grayson grew cold. “What else did she say?”
“Nothing. She fell unconscious and I… I wanted nothing more to do with them. They were animals. She wasn’t the only one who nearly fed to the humans’ deaths. She was just the one I stopped,” Nero admitted, this time with a sheepish look at Kaito.
“You are always bringing in strays, why am I surprised when you do the same with Vampires?” Kaito shook his head. “But if these Weryn killed the humans--”
“I don’t know. They took them away before I could make sure and I--I just wanted away from them. Because they started looking at me like I was an enemy.” Another shrug.
“It’s good you got away. I have a feeling they would have done something terrible to you. They kill people--Vampires and humans alike--without compunction,” Grayson said, his mind flashing back to Sam and then his, Ryder and Demos’ own fight against Jill and her cohorts. “Nero, you haven’t seen any of those Vampires--or associates of those Vampires--here in Nightvallen, have you?”
Nero’s eyes widened. “By the gods, no! They aren’t allowed in the Ever Dark anymore. None of them would come here. They’d be spotted and--”
“Taken care of,” Balthazar’s voice rose up from behind him. “But we do need a list of all of your drinking compatriots, Nero, and how you met up with them in the first place?”
“That’s what I was going to suggest,” Grayson said.
Grayson turned and saw Balthazar and Caemorn standing there in the lane. He found himself smiling broadly at them both. He half-noticed, but ignored the stiffness that had entered every single one of his Vampires.
“Yes, yes, I heard your thoughts like a trumpet signaling the end times. You found another piece of the puzzle!” Balthazar answered easily. “Bravo, Grayson! You’re like an immortal Sherlock Holmes.”
“I think you rather fancy him yourself with that plaid getup. What century is that from, Balthazar?” Grayson asked as he approached the other two Immortals.
Balthazar was dressed in what could only be termed a three-piece suit in some kind of brown, red and yellow tweed outfit. He had a cane and was twirling it around his fingers.
“It’s from no actual year. It’s my own creation!” Balthazar picked at an imaginary piece of lint from said outfit. He likely just wanted to draw yet more attention to it. Though it was rather screaming itself.
