A Year Later

It has been a year since Niu arrived. Aulus couldn't stop going to see her. He visited her every day. It wasn't that her blood was especially delicious, healthy blood was healthy blood. But the woman herself was unlike anyone he had ever met. She talked to him and made conclusions based on what he told her. Those conclusions were more than often correct. She had figured out the vampire hierarchy just by listening to what others said. And she had never tried to make a vampire turn her as it happened to those who were overly ambitious. She had even won over Sergius, who was the vampire errand boy, there to do anything anyone needed of him. Aulus liked him. Sergius had freedom Aulus didn't and cherished that freedom immensely.

Despite the fact Aulus had been careful to only tell Niu certain things, she had figured out he hadn’t been an only child as a human and the reason her knew how to speak her native language so well. After that, he spent a night telling her things he had never told anyone else, and she returned the favor.

“Going to see the human again? You’re more attentive than I gave you credit for.” Crispus stopped Aulus on his way to Niu. Aulus always considered Crispus a gnat. A very competent gnat that kept Aulus's father away from trouble and steered away disasters with an expertise no one else had, but a gnat nonetheless. Crispus was involved in everything going on and held such a tight grip on the power he had, Aulus was wondering how he had time to do anything else with his life.

“You told me I needed to be thorough.” Aulus deadpanned. “I am just following your advice. You have watched over slaves your whole life.”

Crispus smiled. Aulus was reminded about the only reason he liked the fact he was going to be in charge. He could diminish Crispus’s reach and rest easy he won’t get overzealous.

"Well, I can't blame you, she is a nice little thing," Crispus said, his eyes glazing over with lewd thoughts.

Aulus rolled his eyes. "I don't go for human girls." It was true. He treated Niu more like a shiny little bauble than a woman. He showed her around, and every time she made a correct assumption it was like the bauble sparkled. He wasn't worried that she would find out too much and attempt to escape anymore. He had tried to give her a lecture on that the previous night.

"And here I thought you thought of me as smart." Niu laughed. "There are twenty vampires in this building alone at all times, and that doesn’t account for the guards who would drag me back, or other slaves whose job is to keep me in line, or the fact this place is intentionally a maze solely so none of us can find our way out. There is no way to escape without dying. And that is not counting the fact there are people around me who are scared enough that they would report any attempts of an escape. My plan is to be alive as long as possible. And that will happen if I take care of myself and keep being useful.”

“That is impressive.” Aulus had never called anyone impressive before. “And here I have been complaining I have seen everything.”

“New things happen every day Aulus.” Niu looked up at the ceiling. “The stars and the moon change every night, and a new sun rises every day. It would be foolish to think this world is not in a constant state of flux.”

Now Aulus was planning on sneaking Niu out. Not permanently. He wanted to show her something, and the only way to do that was to bend the rules a bit. It was easy for him to ask the guards to leave for five minutes and take her out of the room. Then it was just a matter of avoiding everyone.

The garden to the east of the building was one of the more extensive ones in Rome. They had fun walking around and him sharing his knowledge with her. She soaked it up like a sponge. He sat behind, watching Niu’s brown eyes sparkling with excitement and the moonlight reflecting off her skin. Aulus wondered if this was what all humans were like. His head was telling him no. But he was glad he found at least one.