They’re the closest thing we have to family outside of our own blood ties. They’re like a beloved… pet.” Caleb shrugs.

“Marcus couldn’t even remember the name of his old familiar and you’re telling me he thought of her as family.”

“Marcus is an asshole.” Caleb reminds her.

“Right. So what about your familiar?”

“I don’t have one. I’ve never liked long term relationships. I get by with drinking bagged blood and occasional one night stands.”

“And what about-”

Caleb stops hers with a single raised finger to pause her as he catches sight of a group of officers walking in. They’re young, dressed in the familiar navy blue with all the little bits of metal shining as it catches the light. He stands up and stares at them and slowly with the most contempt that he can muster begins to slow clap.

“Bravo.” He says to them when they look his away.

Most of them just sigh and ignore him, but one isn’t. His badge reads Rowlings and he sneers at Caleb, “Fuck off leech.”

“Oh, I would love to, but I have a ton of extra work because some fuckfaces didn’t do their job.”

Rowlings comes at him now, “Screw you! How the fuck were we supposed to know there were going to be more dead bodies, huh?! She was just a fucking dead blood bag, a whore who let monsters like you bite her! Who gives a shit if someone like her winds up dead? The killer was doing us a god damn favor cleaning that trash!”

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Sophie covers her mouth in shock, “Oh my god,” She whispers, “she was a living person. How can you say something like that?” Not even when she thought that officer had assaulted that woman did she ever feel so disgusted. “She was murdered, her unborn child was murdered, and you… think they deserved that?” Sophie can feel her eyes fill with tears at the cruelty.

Rowlings face turns pale at her quiet accusations. The room of officers is deadly silent, no one knowing what to say or who to defend until final Lieutenant Motley gets in between them.

“That’s enough. Go back to your desk and finish your paperwork.” He directs at Rowlings before turning to Sophie. “Free, go to the bathroom and clean yourself up.”

She inhales slowly, “No,” she shakes her head, “no, I’m fine.” She wipes at her eyes to clear them of the tears, “I’m going to help Caleb.” She walks around the desks and firmly plants herself in her chair.

The lieutenant nods, “And Caleb,” he turns to him, “don’t incite shit in the precinct.”

“Sure.” Caleb says as Andrew walks away without waiting for a reply. He sits back down and looks across at Sophie. She’s typing quickly to pull up their new case file and examine the evidence and reports. “You’re very human, you know that?” He compliments her even though she doesn’t know that it’s a compliment.

“What?” Sophie stutters to a stop and looks across back at him. He stares at her and contemplates his next moves before coming to a decision.

“Come on.” Caleb stands up and grabs his jacket off the back of his chair.

“Where are we going?”

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“To the embassy.” He starts walking to the front doors without looking to see if she’s following.

Sophie scrambles to grab her stuff before he leaves her, “I thought you were calling them?”

“Better to visit in person.”

~

The embassy is a flat-looking, two story, long rectangular building. Simple columns surround the entrance and hold up the awning to the doors. It’s plainer than she had expected, a simple brick and mortar building with dark, tinted windows. Calebs walks unperturbed up the stairs and past the armed guards while Sophie sticks to him like glue.

Once inside Sophie actually grabs onto Caleb’s arm as she’s suddenly thrown into darkness. The building isn’t pitch black, but the only lighting are candles placed at regular intervals down the halls and it takes a long time for Sophie’s eyes to adjust and even still she can only make out the general shape of the halls and doors. For Caleb and the other purebreds though their eyes don’t have to adjust they just have to change over to their infrared. To Caleb the hallways are blinding white with flickers of black indicating the heat of a flame and the entrance to rooms and offices. Most of them are empty on this level.

“Couldn’t afford the electric bill?” Sophie jokes as Caleb begins to lead her through the dark maze of halls. The flooring creaks as they walk echoing through the empty walls.

“Aurelius likes things old school.”

Sophie nods, “So, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about vampire stuff, but isn’t he like super important.”

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“Important? He would argue no. Powerful? Yes.” He glances over at her. She looks much more fragile as a black and gray specter walking amidst the white. “Aurelius is a philosopher at heart. He took his name from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.”

“I don’t know who that is.” Sophie admits, “History wasn’t my favorite subject.” Caleb just rolls his eyes and leads on.

After a little further Sophie asks the question that’s been bugging her since they entered the embassy, “Where’s everyone at?” She whispers. “I thought this place would be bustling.”

“Not many people actually work in the embassy. Those who do are our librarians and scribes who stay in the basement for the most part.”

“Oh, so… vampires have their own library. What type of books do you keep?” Sophie moves her head to the side to try and see anything discernible in the hallway, but everything looks the same in the dark. Even with Caleb there with her she can’t help but start to feel a little afraid.

“History books.” He can feel her heart beat faster than normal as her grip on him tightens, but he does nothing to offer her comfort and they fall back to silence so the only sound is the creaking wood under their feet.

Caleb leads Sophie through the maze until he stops them at a door identical to all the others in the building and opens it. Sophie is blinded by the sudden outpouring of sunlight coming in from the window, but she can feel Caleb’s hand on her back gently pushing her in. When her eyes finally adjust she finds a small room set up as a nursery. A crib, a table with