A Dangerous Game Interlude: Beginnings

A Dangerous Game Interlude: Beginnings
By Misha

Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes I was stuck trying to start Act II because there was just so much to cover due to a time jump and then this side story popped into my head and it addresses a lot of what needs to be addressed. Huge thanks to LizEBoredom for helping me with this and letting me toss ideas off of her. This takes place fives months after Lilith and Adam’s marriage. This is all my attempt at fleshing out Vega’s origin story and figuring out why he hates the Clanless so much.
Pairing- Adam Vega/MC
Rating- PG-13
Summary- Lilith has an unexpected reunion with an old friend and then an even more unexpected heart to heart with her husband.
Words- 3905

(Series Timeline can be found here)

Lily glanced at the clock and then at the fire escape. I frowned, it was the third time she’d done that since I’d arrived at her apartment to hang out.

“Expecting someone?” I teased, but to my surprise, she visibly tensed. “Lily, what’s going on?”

Before she could answer, if she intended to give me a straight answer, there was a knock on the door that led to the fire escape and Lily leapt up to open it, letting the person on the other side in.

My mouth fell open in surprise when I saw who it was. “Jax?! What are you doing here?”

It had been over six months since I’d seen Jax, not since the night I told him I was going to marry Adam.

Jax and Lily exchanged a look.

“I needed to talk to you,” Jax said after a moment, “and Lily agreed to set it up.”

“So you came in through the fire escape?” I asked, rising from the couch “Why didn’t you use the door or just pass on a message asking me to meet you?”

“Because you live in an impenetrable compound with one of the most powerful vampires in America and you have bodyguards wherever you go,’ Jax reminded me, “including ones guarding said door right now.”

Oh, yeah. I’d gotten so used to my guards going wherever I did, that I didn’t even think about it. But yes, my bodyguards were not about to let me meet with the leader of the Clanless. Especially not now. My hand drifted unconsciously to my still-flat stomach,

Jax’s gaze followed my movement. “I hear congratulations are in order,” he said casually, but there was a strain in his voice, something I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, identify.

“Yes,” I said softly and then looked him in the eye, “Why are you here, Jax? Why did you have to speak to me?”

“I owe you thanks,” Jax answered, “things have changed lately and I know it’s because of you.”

“Not just because of me,” I demurred, “Adrian, Kamilah, and Adam are the ones who are making the changes. Not me.”

“Less than a year ago Vega ordered any Clanless he saw killed on sight,” Jax reminded me, “he didn’t suddenly change his mind out of the goodness of his heart, he did it for you.”

“So you came to thank me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes and no,” Jax told me, “I mean, I am grateful, but I also know that this is a temporary situation and… I want to be kept in the loop. I’ve talked to Lily some,” I shot her a look and she just shrugged, “but she’s not in the inner circle. You are.”

I didn’t deny that. I didn’t go to council meetings, but I often accompanied Adam when he met with Kamilah and Adrian and it had gotten to the point where I even felt comfortable speaking up.

“Lily has been passing on messages to Adrian for me, though,” Jax continued, “about new Turnings.”

Yes, because one of the things that the council had agreed on, was that anyone caught creating a vampire was executed. It had made me a little uncomfortable, because of what Adrian had done for Lily, but he’d been in agreement.

“So why do you need me then?” I asked, still not sure what he was asking me for.

“I just want to be kept in the loop,” Jax said smoothly, “What’s been done so far has reduced the number of unauthorized Turnings, yes, but it doesn’t solve the problem that my people face or reduce our risk of going feral.”

No, it didn’t. No one could agree on what to do with the Clanless, especially now that the Feral situation was under control, at least temporarily, and things were at a stalemate. I also had a feeling that Adam considered his promise fulfilled and wasn’t willing to push any further, though I didn’t confide that thought to Jax.

“I can’t exactly go talk to the council myself,” Jax continued, “but whatever they decide effects me.”

“It does,” I agreed, still feeling torn. “I’m not sure our meeting like this is the best idea, though.”

“No,” Jax agreed, his eyes lingering on my stomach again, “but you can pass information on through Lily and so can I and just… Keep that line of communication open.” He looked me in the eyes, “that was why you agreed to the deal with Vega, isn’t it? To help us?”

I suddenly remembered the last conversation we’d had. Had it really been six months ago? When I’d been honest about the deal Adam had proposed. I remembered how it had felt telling Jax, yet… That felt like a different life now.

But as I looked at Jax, I couldn’t find the words to tell him that. To explain how much my feelings for my husband had changed and what had once been an arrangement of convenience, and a little bit of self-sacrifice if I was being honest, had become so much more.

Instead, I nodded. Because I did still want to help the Clanless, even if my feelings towards my marriage and my husband had changed, that hadn’t. And he wasn’t asking that much of me, I might have my doubts about how much good it would do, but… There was nothing wrong with having that line of communication open, right?
**

Jax didn’t linger and Lily and I returned to our girl’s night activities before it was time for me to return home. Once I got home, I headed straight for my room to get ready for bed. I loved seeing Lily, but the late nights were definitely taking a bigger toll on me these days.

I’d just changed into my nightgown when the door opened.

I turned to greet my husband, but my smile faded at the look on his face. I had a feeling he hadn’t come to just to say goodnight or even to join me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, but I had a feeling I knew. Obviously, Jax hadn’t been as discreet as he’d promised.

“Would you like to explain what the Clanless leader was doing leaving Lily’s apartment?” Adam asked in a low, furious voice as he crossed the room to my side, pulling me roughly into his arms and staring down at me.

I didn’t even chastise Adam for having me watched, I’d come to accept that it went with being a human married to a vampire. In Adam’s world, I was vulnerable, now more than ever. Besides I could sense the fear beneath the anger, though I didn’t quite understand it. But it’s presence was enough to soften my voice.

“I didn’t know he’d be there,” I explained, “Lily set it up without telling me. He just wanted to talk about what the council plans to do about the Clanless.”

My explanation didn’t do anything to ease Adam’s fury. “He shouldn’t be involving you,” he seethed, “you are a human under the protection of a vampire clan.” His hand rested on my bare shoulder and the mark there.

“He didn’t want to harm me,” I said gently, “Lily would never have agreed to the meeting if she thought Jax’s motives–”

“Lily is young and naive,” Adam cut me off, “she is reckless and hasn’t experienced first hand just how dangerous the Clanless can be and I’m sure it’s not a lesson Adrian is in a rush to teach her.” There was disdain in his voice and I pulled back.

“You keep saying the Clanless are dangerous,” I pointed out, remembering the last time I”d seen Jax. The first night Adam and I had been intimate. A lot had changed since then, including my willingness to prod and ask the hard questions. “Why? Why do you hate them so much?”

I pulled out of his embrace and moved to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

“Because they are a threat,” Adam told me, moving to stand in front of me, “it doesn’t matter how nice they are or that they are victims of unfortunate circumstance, their entire existence is a ticking time bomb and no one is safe, human or vampire. They threaten everything we build by just existing. The Clanless almost cost me everything.”

“Tell me,” I urged, taking his hand and pulling him towards the bed.

Adam resisted for a moment, long enough to shrug off his suit jacket and throw it to the floor, and then he sat down on the bed, immediately gathering me in his arms. “It’s a pretty story,” he warned, “but maybe you need to hear it. Because maybe you need to understand that while the Clanless can seem romantic or dashing, they’re not.”

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“I was the oldest son,” Adam began, “there were 5 of us all together, at least 5 that survived childhood,” I shuddered involuntarily at the reference to child mortality rates in 17th century Spain, my hand moving to my stomach. I noticed Adam’s covered it, even as he continued talking, “as I said, I was the eldest, Isabella was the youngest and then we had two other sisters, Maria and Theresa, and a brother Juan.”

The sheer loathing as he said his brother’s name caused me to glance at him, but he didn’t appear to notice. Instead, he had a faraway expression on his face.

“Juan was eight years younger than me,” he continued, “and always the rebel. It started out as rebellion against our father and then grew to rebellion against any type of authority, and then eventually, rebellion against the nobility itself. He’d finally found a rebellion that let him feel righteous.”

I winced at the bitterness of his tone.

“By the time he was 30, I’d used up countless favors saving him from the executioner’s block,” Adam continued, “even my influence couldn’t stop him from spending time in prison, though I was always able to bail him out eventually. His gratitude was fleeting, just long enough for him to forget the circumstances he’d found himself in, and it was usually only mere weeks before he disappeared again.”

“But you cared about him,” I said softly, trying to picture the softer side of him, so at odds from the picture Adrian had painted that first day, but more in line with the man I’d grown to know.

“He was family,” Adam corrected, “he was my responsibility. Any affection I had felt for Juan had vanished long before that point, but for my mother and sisters, I felt duty-bound to keep him alive. Which is why when I got a cryptic message telling me that Juan had gotten into trouble and to come to Seville, I did so, though I might not have if I had known what was awaiting me…”

 

“Show yourself,” Adam called out as he surveyed the empty building. He knew this was the right address, he had checked multiple times. He never left anything to chance, which was why he had also left the address with trusted associates, just in case.

“So impatient, so commanding,” a voice drawled, emerging from the shadows.

Adam turned to see the other man and almost took a step back. Power radiated off of him. Who was he?

“Where is my brother?” He demanded, refusing to be intimidated by the stranger.

“Not here.” The stranger told him with a casual shrug. “He has already met his fate, whatever it may be. He was merely a means to an end.”

“And what were those ends?” Adam glanced at the door. There were men waiting outside for him. Should he alert them or continue to listen to this strange man? It was the aura of power that made his decision for him because Adam had never been around that much power but it called to him.

“You,” the man told him simply, “when your brother crossed my path, it was not him that interested me, but the rumors of his far more charismatic brother. A man who knew how to appreciate power and consolidate it.”

Before Adam could blink, the man had crossed the room and was standing behind him. “I had to see for myself and now that I have… Well, you are just what I was looking for. I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams, all you have to do is agree.”

Adam soaked in the words and the promise. To have the kind of power this man radiated… It was all he had ever dreamed of. “Yes.”

 

“That’s the night you were Turned,” I said slowly, gazing up at him.
“Yes,” Adam confirmed, “Gaius had set a trap and I’d walked into it, but I didn’t mind. Gaius offered me power and strength and I willing accepted his offer.”

Of course, he had. I’m sure immortality changed people, but probably not that much and after six months I knew Adam well enough to know he would never turn down an opportunity for power.

“What about Juan?” I asked after a moment. “What happened to him?”

“By the time I was Turned, Juan was already a vampire,” Adam answered after a moment. “He wasn’t Turned by Gaius. In fact, he was Turned by a group that had come to Gaius’s attention because of their rebellion. Even in undeath, my brother could always find someone or something to rebel against.”

Even though three centuries had passed, the bitterness in Adam’s voice was undeniable and it made me wonder how deep the wounds went and exactly how things had ended with his brother.

“The vampires that Juan aligned himself did not have brands,” Adam continued, “the older ones rejected the necessity of brands, despite having them themselves, and convinced the younger ones that they were useless, that they represented the worst of vampire society. That was the kind of message that Juan would eagerly accept.”

I winced, having a feeling I knew where the story was going.

“Still, I tried,” Adam told me, though I wasn’t sure he was actually speaking to me. “I petitioned Gaius for permission to give Juan my brand and then went in search of my brother…”

 

“So the rumors are true,” Juan commented, giving Adam a once-over. “You’ve crossed over.”

It had taken weeks for Adam to track his brother down and arrange this meeting, but there they were.

“I have,” Adam agreed, “I have been taken in by Gaius Augustine himself, given a place at his table and I can extend the offer to you.”

Juan scoffed. “Always so gracious. Of course, you ended up in service to Augustine, if there’s a source of unlimited power, you’ll find it.”

“He has plans for the world, for our kind,” Adam told his brother. He looked around them, this place was little better than a hovel. “You can be part of that, Juan.”

“Part of what?” Juan challenged. “Another corrupt system where all the power goes to the few at the top, who give orders for their own benefit? The stories I’ve heard about Gaius…”

“From who?” Adam challenged. “Your revolutionary buddies? The ones who lured you with promises of power and set you up to fail?” He met his brother’s eyes, noting how cold they were. He was sure his own were just as cold. “Do you know what will happen to you without a brand?”

“I know what your beloved Gaius says will happen,” Juan said scornfully, “but of course he says, that it keeps people like you indebted to him and gives him an excuse not to spread the gift, to keep the power for himself. I bow down to no one. Not now. Not ever again.”

 

“So I take it he didn’t let you brand him,” I said softly.

Adam laughed humorously. “No. It had been a long time since we’d seen eye-to-eye, but when we parted ways that evening it was with the understanding that if we ever met again, it would be as enemies.”

“Did you?” I questioned, knowing that the story couldn’t have ended there. Because what I’d heard so far didn’t explain Adam’s intense hatred of the Clanless, his conviction of how dangerous they were. There had to be more.

“Yes and no,” Adam answered, “I never saw my brother again. I did see the creature that he became.”

I winced. “So he became feral.”

“Oh yes,” Adam told me, “he made it ten years, maybe that made him over-confident, maybe he started to think that he was right after all about not needing a brand, but in the end, all his noble ideals didn’t save him, and unfortunately didn’t save his victims. He was responsible for a massacre and once more, it fell on me to clean up his actions.”

 

“I have news of your brother,” Gaius’s voice was even, but Adam could sense the fury that lay behind those words.

“What of him, my lord?” Adam asked apprehensively, wondering what mess Juan had created this time. They had not met in almost ten years, not since the night Juan had rejected his offer of a brand.

“He’s gone feral,” Gaius said coldly, “word has come from the south of a feral attack on a village. I have it under good authority that it was your brother’s clan. They have caused panic all over the countryside, we are all in danger.”

It was obvious that Gaius was struggling to control his fury and Adam braced himself for the brunt of it. In ten years, he had seen Gaius lose his temper, but he had never had it directed at him. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to stay in his sire’s good graces. It appeared, however, that his luck had run out and that it was all thanks to Juan.

“I warned you to brand him,” Gaius continued, “once he rejected your brand, you should have killed him, because you didn’t, the blood he spilled is on your hands and I expect you to clean up this mess. First, take care of the… problem… and then make the damage disappear.”

Gaius didn’t have to elaborate on his unspoken threat, a decade in his company had been enough to show Adam what happened to those who displeased the powerful vampire.

“Don’t worry, my lord, I will take care of it.” He promised, bowing his head, internally seething at both the act and at the task that lay ahead of him.

 

“It was estimated that over a hundred people died in that Feral attack,” Adam told me, his jaw set. “My brother and his compatriots had been living in that village for some time, successfully laying low, feeding when needed as they planned their next great movement and then, without warning one Turned Feral and by nightfall the next day, they were all Feral.”

I swallowed hard, thinking of all those victims. “How long?”

“Before I eliminated the problem?” Adam asked me. “Perhaps a week.”

So many people in so short a time…

“It was a lesson I’ve never forgotten,” Adam told me, “that weakness can be fatal. I couldn’t bring myself to eliminate my brother and he became a problem and not just mine. The remaining villagers were incensed, determined to drive the demons away. Gaius had to leave Spain, taking refuge in France.”

“And did you go with him?” I asked softly.

“No,” Adam said flatly. “I was banished for my mistake, for a time. Left to my own devices.” Once again there was no mistaking his bitterness, even after all these years I could tell the slight still rankled. “Gaius didn’t invite me back into his inner circle for almost 60 years.”

“And that was a bad thing?” I ventured, sure I was missing something important. “I mean, couldn’t you just have gone off on our own?”

“I could and I did,” Adam told me, “but Gaius… He had the kind of power I could only dream of. Each generation of vampires is weaker than the previous one.” He smirked, “don’t tell her I said this, but it’s why Priya’s the weakest member of the council.” I filed that information away, in case I needed it. “And Gaius… He craved power to and he knew how to achieve it, in a way I never would on my own.”

I just nodded.

“Eventually, he decided to try his hand at life in America,” Adam told me, “and he decided he could use my skills in making peace, so I was invited to join him. But I never regained my role as favorite, that fell on someone new. I was a good diplomat, but Gaius decided what he needed was a soldier and he found one.”

“Adrian,” I guessed.

“Yes,” Adam answered, “He was Gaius’s new pet. I’d helped broker the deal with the founding fathers that would make Gaius a king, but I didn’t stand at his right hand. I mean, he had his land, I had done my job. Adrian was much more use to him and so eager to please. You know, he reminded me of Juan, when we first met.”

Oh. I gazed up at Adam, taking in the expression on his face. Although all this had happened centuries ago, it didn’t feel that way.

“What happened to Gaius?” I asked cautiously.

Adam’s jaw set and he pulled away from me. “That is a story for another time,” he told me, getting to his feet, and I knew I wouldn’t get any more information out of him. I was surprised I’d gotten this much. Suddenly, his expression softened. “Do you at least understand now why I was so upset?”

I did. I wasn’t sure I thought that Jax was capable of the kind of destruction that Adam described, though maybe that was naive. Regardless of whether I thought Jax was a threat, I finally understood why Adam did.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said softly, standing up and wrapping my arms around his neck. Adam had opened up to me tonight, had shared a large part of his past and that felt… Good. Really good.

This marriage had started as one of mutual convenience, about politics of both the human and vampire variety, but as I stood there it hit me it had become so much more. I’d known for a while my feelings were changing, which had scared me, but as I stood there thinking of what he’d shared, how he hadn’t just shut me down and told me that his way was law, I realized there was no denying it anymore and I didn’t want to.

“I love you.” The words came out on their own and I held my breath waiting for his reaction.

Adam stilled just for a second and then his lips were against mine, his arms wrapped tight around me. I kissed him back eagerly, not needing words, this reaction was enough. The way he kissed me as if he would never get enough of me, the way his hands tugged at my nightgown, obviously eager to touch all of me and I was just as eager.

We had reached a new step in our relationship tonight. Adam had opened up to me, had shared a part of himself and that had allowed me to do the same. He wasn’t just my husband of convenience or the father of my unborn child, he was the man I loved and that no longer terrified me.

• End