Trixie nearly came off the ground as she rushed around. After she raced to the wall and actually took flight, a low groan had Slade inching Eli behind her.

Manny eyed the harpy in hate. “We do not have the time for this.”

“It’s just her way,” Slade explained. “Harpies are creatures of habit.”

“Nonsense,” Manny seethed. “When we left the club and the courthouse, I did not see her dusting the god damned rafters.”

Unease settled deep in Slade’s gut as she watched her friend’s talons find purchase in the stone wall. “We didn’t spend the night at the club or courthouse,” Slade explained.

A minute later, Trixie fell from the ceiling, huffing and puffing. “Approximately four minutes. Dat’s rather fast, init, boss?”

Slade tried to assure her, “It was quick, Trix, don’t you mind.”

“Enough of that.” Manny shot Trixie a hateful look. “Can we finally go now?”

The harpy hesitated to speak.

Shit. Slade closed her eyes because Manny must have noticed it.

Sure enough, it came. “What is this?” he demanded.

Trixie chewed her bottom lip then confessed, “Tryin’ to hold you here longer.” Manny darted for her and she took flight. A harpy, much like a vampire could float without trouble but as vampires had the power needed to propel forward without wings, harpies weren’t as fortunate. A lot more advantages came with the wings than without and Trixie proved that by allowing them to wrap around her for safety. “It was for your own good,” she admonished. “Three...two....”

Manny winced, clutching his eye. He used the table to break his fall but crumbled to his knees eventually.

Slade laughed in triumph. “Whatever you put in that food, Trix. Good thinking. Now help me lock him in that cage.”

She turned with that intent. Something caught her by the neck. Manny hoisted her up and his stone, cold expression spoke of violent intent.

“Lock me where? What did you just say?”

Eli’s reaction was slow but it came. In one leap, he shifted. Manny stared straight at him and he fell like a rag doll.

He twisted on the ground before failing to move.

“Well, look at that,” Manny boasted, “I still got it.”

Throat tight for many reasons, Slade warned him, “He won’t stay hypnotized for long.”

“It will be long enough to beat you until I prove my point.”

“Three...two...” Trixie landed.

Sure enough, Manny winced but he didn’t let go. “Whatever you are doing—”

“You are doing it, sir. And if you’d let the boss go, Trixie’ll explain.”

“What?” Slade’s eyes widened. “Don’t you help him. He—”

The grip on her throat shut her up.

“Two...one....” Trixie waited. At Manny’s distress, she said, “If you’d let her go, sir. Trixie’ll explain it.”

Manny’s grip took time to loosen, mostly because of the agonizing pain that tore through his body. Bracing against the table with both hands, he said through gritted teeth, “This is far from over.”

Slade rushed to Eli. The way he rested, paws over his eyes, meant he wasn’t going to be much help.

“Trix—” Slade turned but came to a halt upon seeing Trixie rubbing the nape of Manny’s neck.

“You just swallowed a lotta magic runes after a long hiatus. Your body’s adjusting. Figured if we went now and you took flight, you’d fall outta the sky and maybe get staked through by a tree branch.”

“If only,” Slade grumbled.

A time or two, Manny tried to brush the harpy aside but she came back and kept on rubbing his neck and shoulder. Forearms on the table, he braced himself.

He parted his lips and exhaled. “How long will this rune last?”

“For you?” Trixie said, “Thirty days.”

“What!” Manny stood to his full height and brushed her off. “A feeding that large should last almost a year with the proper conditions.”

Trixie shrunk away. “Dat’s why I said...for you.”

It was the gentlest Manny’d been all day when he demanded, “Explain.”

“Well...keep in mind that you’re dealing with a primate. Their god is wild and unreliable. But wild and strong. Fury and rage is what he’s known for and it eats away at that rune fast and...sir, you—you do have a temper. So, somebody like the boss could maybe keep that rune for upward of three years, on account of her being so stingy.”

“Thanks, Trix,” Slade grumbled. Eli started to rouse. Once he shifted, she found herself rubbing his neck and shoulders, much like Trixie’d done for her brother.

“So,” Trixie continued, “for you, sir.... Figure you’ll eat through that rune in ‘bout thirty days. Faster if something ticks you off long term. And...that could be anything.”

Manny braced himself against the table again. This time, when the harpy tried to comfort him, he shrugged her off.

“Do not touch me.” He pulled out a chair and sat, body slumped.

Without uttering a gratitude of thanks, Manny rested his head on the table. “How long before I’m fully powered?”

This hesitation was different from the rest. Trixie reached for her right wing and muttered, “This headache signals you’re fully up, sir.”

“What?” Slade couldn’t believe the betrayal. “This news a little sooner would’ve been helpful.”

“Sorry, boss.” Trixie shrugged. “Didn’t want you ta try nothing and he break your back.”

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She said it as if it were written in stone as a guarantee.

If going by Manny’s track record thus far was any indication, that outcome was more than obvious.

Still, at least everyone was at rest. The hangover-like effect for Eli would take a few minutes to fade.

Slade rubbed his back and shoulder, but said to her brother, “Why do you need us to go anywhere with you?”

“I do not need you per se,” Manny drawled. He looked healthier when he sat up. “I need your Legion.”

This got Slade’s attention. “What is this Legion thing? And why don’t I know about it?”

“Why would you need to know about it?” Manny asked. “You can’t fight it and you don’t know what to do with it. I do.” He told Trixie, “Get ready to contact it.”

The harpy swallowed hard. “Interesting fact, sir, Trixie can’t do that.”

“Well, Trixie’d better bloody well try.”

“No. It’s....”

Slade came to her rescue. “She works for me, a-hole. I give her orders.”

Trixie nodded and confirmed, “Yes, this is true.”

Manny still wore a scowl but turned his head and muttered, “Please.”

That single word came unexpected.

Slade wasn’t falling for it. “Tell me what it is first and why you want to talk to it so bad. You’ve got one of your own, apparently.”

Manny took interest in the room at large, “I cannot talk to the one in me, because when it comes, I go. Understand? So I must talk to yours.”

Silence. Slade didn’t even give him a blink as a response. Come hell or high water, she wasn’t backing down. She needed to understand what was happening to them—to her.

“Legion’s our landlord,” he said without looking up. “Vampires—when we were human, we made a covenant with a deity to give us youth and power for x amount of years.” He told Slade finally, “And we’re about due.”

Slade dragged Eli close to her and the man turned to put his head in her lap. “You said landlord?”

“Yeah.” Manny leaned back in his chair, one leg dangling over the arm rest. “It wants something. That is why it is awakening. Apparently, every Child of Rune is...inhabited by a piece of the deity they made the covenant with. Ours was Legion. Only...the name is hidden. Without knowing the real name, we cannot control it.”

“What happens when the agreement ends?” Slade asked. Thoughts of being dragged down with the likes of Manny plagued her.

“From what I understand,” Manny drawled, “Legion wants to keep the covenant alive—keep us...alive. If you can call it that.”

“To what end?”

“What other end is there, dear sister? Survival. Humans are gone today. The logical progression is that vampires are gone tomorrow. Correct? And when humans died out, the god of man was silenced. Diminished to nothing. Vampires not feeding is like worshipers not going to church. Ask yourself, what is the choice we have got with no human blood? Hmm?”

Slade didn’t want to but she glanced at Eli to find him watching her.

“Live as the undead and make do,” she admitted.

“Break the covenant and find a new god to serve,” Manny corrected. “And we’d be in our right to. And we would get back what we lost.”

Slade’s head snapped around to face him.

What was the madman saying?

“Our humanity—our souls. Whatever the fuck you want to call it. It is returned. Legion is expelled. We are still technically undead but we are whole. That is what this is. The pain from not eating is excruciating. And Legion guaranteed that to discourage us starving. But without man, we do not have a choice. Each reversion we go through, that is us grabbing a sliver more of ourselves back from it. Go long enough....”

He let the words linger and Slade was floored. “And we’d be back to normal.”

“Maybe not alive. But...” Manny boasted. “Then we find a pure deity that is underrepresented and make a new covenant. And since we know what a shit one looks like, we would be set.”

That sinking feeling in Slade’s gut returned. She wasn’t sure what deity Legion was, but it was able to control vampires, who knew how many. It also had harpies, one of the most war-hungry Children of Rune panicked. Thoughts of trying to wrestle power from it was less than appealing.

“Why are you doing this, brother?” Slade asked. “Why are you looking to fight with a god?”

Manny’d always been an enigma to Slade and she cursed having known him before he’d turned. It was those fond memories why she’d often fall prey to any softness in his voice. The way he said, “Do you never tire, sister? Tire of being a vampire?”

Click. Click. Puzzle after puzzle pieces clicked in place.

Upon the final click, Slade saw the big picture. She had only one conclusion. “What are you doing, Manos? She doesn’t want you.”

Her brother’s lips parted but no words came out.

If not for Eli’s limp body anchoring her down, she would have come off the floor in protest. “Is this what your plan was? You maim that poor animal, bleed it dry, all in an effort to chitchat with our ‘landlord’? All for her? Is this all for her? She doesn’t want you!”

“Shut up,” Manny warned.

“Did you think she’d just wait around—wait for you to find some miracle cure for your vampirism? Wake up—”

“Shut the hell up!”

He trembled. Trixie tried to approach, to perhaps put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him. The look he cut her told her to keep her distance.

Eli forced himself to sit up. Fear was certainly sobering.

“Your rune, sir,” Trixie reminded Manny, unafraid. “Stay in the fury long enough, it’ll give you the power of the Monkey God, but at a price. Why waste it on this?”

Her hand still hovered but although Manny seethed, he allowed her touch.

A series of strokes along his neck then down his back had him staring at the table, unresponsive.

Being forced to calm was rare for Manny. It was an opportunity Slade had to exploit.

“She does not want you,” Slade cautioned. “So why do this? Why seek out Legion?”

With each stroke of Trixie’s hands along his throat and back, Manny’s tension faded. It was less likely due to the harpy’s efforts, and more so because Manny feared losing his runes.

“Don’t you feel hollow?” Manny asked Slade. “Food has no taste, even when we’d fed and had taste buds active. Conquests hold no satisfaction. Not a second goes by that I don’t regret it.”

Slade nodded, convinced she was right. “Margarite isn’t waiting for you. I’ve heard enough whispers to know that much.”

The words hurt Manny despite his assured immunity to such useless attacks. But that face, the face he wore now, looking sad and defeated, that was the face of Manos, her brother, the man who had never wanted to be a vampire.

“I know it was hard,” Slade began, “but you chose this.”

“She chose this.” Manny met Slade’s gaze. “This wasn’t my choice. The moment she stopped aging, she chose this.”

He still blamed her for it. While Slade was turned at eighteen, like most, Manny’d fought to stay human until he was twenty-five. The cutoff was twenty-three usually. And he’d done it for the love of a woman. A half vampire who he’d decided to die old with. Only...she stopped aging.

“We decided it,” Manny confessed, sounding gentler. “She did not want to live without me, nor I without her. So what else was there to do?” Two pained brown eyes met hers. “Tell me, what would you have done?”

A grip on Slade’s hand signaled Eli’s recovery. But when her friend interlocked their fingers, that meant more—he was listening, too.

“The very second, the very moment I rose from that grave with her standing there, that hallow chasm in me never faded. While the day before, I would have burned this planet to the ground at her word....” He scoffed and eventually laughed though it held no humor. “When I saw her, I did not care who she was. I felt nothing. Absolutely...nothing.”

“Then that means you don’t care now,” Eli challenged.

His words met with no protest but Slade needed to understand his intent. “Forgive his way of saying it. But...but he’s right. Even when you dropped power and got back parts...of your humanity or whatever, you never went to her. Hell, that’s how you ended up with Trixie—you refused Margarite.”

“Because it hadn’t come back.” Manny picked his head up. “When I was human, that was the last time I felt happiness. Now as a vampire, the only joy we get is from destruction and it still does not compare. Think of it, what did you feel the night you were turned?”

Slade had no answer. It wasn’t a pleasant night.

“Anger? Apprehension? Fear?” Manny explained, “Perhaps that is what most feel. Well our final emotion—the final one that belonged to our once human body, that lingers. And mine was of joy. It was of happiness at being with someone forever and it hangs on me like a phantom. And I would look at her—look at the reason I had agreed to even turn and...nothing. I felt dust.”

And that feeling hadn’t returned when he’d starved himself of blood for weeks after he turned. It was then that he truly become evil, because when Manny couldn’t have what he wanted, no one else could.”

“That’s why you neutered the wolves,” Slade said through gritted teeth. “You sick. Fuck.”

Manny warned her, “Choose your words carefully. As of now, we are on the same side. I wish to free us of this—of all of this and allow us to choose another deity freely.”

“We wouldn’t have to choose another g’damn deity if you hadn’t wounded enough wolves to turn everyone against us!”

“Carefully,” Manny said again. “Think very carefully before you speak.”

“Boss,” Trixie whispered, “apologize.”

Slade recoiled, disgusted. “I’d sooner die a thousand deaths.”

“That...can be arranged.” Manny stood.