His penthouse was empty and quiet when he arrived. A cursory glance around the place told him there was no one there, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way. A quick check for traps, then Azrael was leading Jacob into the place that had served as both his home and safe haven.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said your sire had some money,” Jacob said as he looked around the place with a raised brow.

“The guy has been around for a while, he’s had plenty of time to collect some cash,” Azrael told him as he led him down the hallway to his room.

Jacob watched him open the door, staring at the metal plate in the wall when the door swung open. “And I can see why you’d think to put all your valuable stuff in here. This is definitely like a vault. You guys don’t screw around about your safe places in this city, do you?”

“Alexandre is—no, no we don’t. I guess vampires in other places aren’t like this?” Azrael asked as he opened the closet to find the safe hidden in the floor.

“No, not usually. Only the really special vampires usually have places this nice,” Jacob said as he paced around the room, taking in the security.

Azrael paused as he swung open the safe. “The special ones?”

“Yeah, the ones that were special to their master or whatever. Usually the ones the master or sire planned on having some sort of special relationship with other than the normal. Kind of like how you described that Paul and Alexia were constantly around Merrick,” Jacob explained.

Azrael frowned. “But I’m not like that with Alexandre.”

Jacob shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t going to be the same thing, but I’m telling you, if there’s more than two vampires in your Camarilla, he doesn’t spare this kind of expense on every one of them. If he’s throwing out cash to let you live like this, and giving you as much freedom as he does, you’re special to him somehow.”

Azrael grimaced as he slammed the safe closed. “Well, doesn’t that make me feel better about going behind his back, killing his guests, and leaving without a word?”

Jacob looked at him, concerned. “I—I’m sorry, I didn’t think about—”

Azrael shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ve done a lot of shitty things for bad reasons. At least this time, I’m doing a shitty thing for a good reason.”

“Maybe it’s not as shitty as you’re afraid it is,” Jacob said quietly.

Azrael knew Jacob believed Alexandre hadn’t given Azrael a real chance to decide if he wanted to be a vampire or not. Azrael would admit if that were true, he would feel less guilty about leaving everything behind. As it was, he didn’t know the circumstances leading up to his rebirth into the world of vampires. All he knew was he had been too lost in the haze of drugs, dying in an alley, to remember anything but waking up the next night.

He wanted to tell Jacob not to worry about it, but his mouth froze as he began to speak. There was a ripple of power, a disturbance in the air. Azrael instantly knew what it was, and wasn’t surprised when Jacob didn’t seem to notice. The werewolf certainly noticed the shift in Azrael’s body language, and the way he turned in the direction from which he had sensed the power.

“What’s the matter?” Jacob asked, suddenly on edge.

Azrael sighed, feeling that he should have known it was inevitable. “Alexandre is here.”

Jacob frowned. “Is that your paranoia or did you hear something I didn’t?”

Azrael smiled sadly, tapping his temple. “Vampire thing. I can always tell when he’s close, unless I’m really distracted by something.”

Jacob watched the doorway, on guard. “Is he coming?”

“No, he’s waiting for us,” Azrael said as he stood, stuffing money into his pockets.

Steeling himself, he walked out without looking back to make sure Jacob was with him. Not only did he know Jacob would be with him every step of the way, but Azrael wanted to prepare himself for the confrontation. Alexandre had never been cruel and had never been controlling. His master had even been chided by others for being too permissive, and had given Azrael so much. Now, Azrael would have to look his sire in the eye and tell him everything he’d been given wasn’t enough, and that Azrael would be turning his back on him and the rest of the Camarilla.

Alexandre stood, rather than sat as usual, at the window facing out onto the expanse of city lights. He was wearing his customary, well-fitted, conservative suit. As Azrael approached, he saw his sire had chosen a red and black tie to go with the crimson dress shirt. It reminded Azrael too much of all the blood he had seen lately, and how much he might still see by the night’s end.

“Azrael, I see you finally made your way home,” Alexandre said in his smooth voice.

Azrael drew himself upright. “So, you came looking for me.”

Alexandre barely stirred as he spoke. “Imagine my surprise when Merrick came to me, with Alexia at his side, to accuse you of a great many things. They accused you of betraying my trust, of betraying our kind, and even killing his dear Paul. Despite my best efforts, I could find no falsehood in Alexia’s story. It broke my heart to give Merrick the permission he sought to take your life, but even I must bow to the laws of our kind. I comforted myself by saying you were a survivor, you were a fighter, but most importantly, you were clever. That you would slip Merrick’s grasp, and find your way to me.”

“I wasn’t looking for you,” Azrael admitted quietly.

“No, you weren’t, which is the most heartbreaking bit of all. I had hoped that perhaps Merrick’s accusations, while well presented, were unfounded. That perhaps little Alexia had finally grown bold enough to make a play for your life. I knew that at some point, sooner rather than later, Merrick would find you. I had hoped you would escape him and flee to my side to protest your innocence. Instead, I find you here, taking scraps of money and in the presence of that thing,” Alexandre said, and Azrael could see his sneer in the reflection of the glass.

Azrael shook his head helplessly. “What do you want me to say, Alexandre? You already seem to know everything, so what can I say?”

“Amuse me first. How did you escape Merrick and Alexia?” Alexandre asked calmly.

Azrael blanched, knowing what he was about to admit but knowing he was already committed to their course. “Wasn’t really an escape. They found me at Jacob’s place, where Alexia had spied on us. They attacked us there but we got the advantage and—”

Alexandre turned at that, eyeing Azrael before his eyes slid over his shoulder. “So, are they simply torn apart, or did the two of you finish the job?”

“You were the one who told me once that an enemy left alive is one whose blade will find your back at the worst moment,” Azrael answered softly.

Alexandre smiled coldly. “And so I did, I suppose it is a small, cold comfort that some of my lessons were listened to. A pity it would be the one that cost me a friend. I knew Merrick for over three centuries and he has been a great companion over these many, long years. When you have lived for as long as I have, good companions are difficult to find.”

“Alexandre, I’m sorry,” Azrael said with a pitiful wince.

“Are you? I have no doubt you regret the necessity of your actions, and of the consequences I am sure you know will follow. But are you truly sorry? I do not believe you are. You have always been your own creature, one who followed the dictates of your own will rather than that of others,” Alexandre mused.

Jacob snorted softly behind them. “Told you.”

Alexandre looked at Jacob once more. “I take it this pet of yours knew you a great deal more than simply having lived nearby then?”

“This ‘pet,’ was and is his best friend. I’ve known him better than anyone else, and that includes some ancient, dusty vampire who thinks he knows everything,” Jacob snapped.

Azrael turned to him, wincing. “That’s not helping.”

“I’m not trying to help him,” Jacob growled in obvious hatred.

“I’ve found that the older I become, the less I truly know. For instance, I thought that you, Azrael, would become quite the companion for me over the next several centuries. I am surrounded by sycophants and crude manipulators. For all their airs, all their polish and manners, so few of them show even a glimmer of the promise I saw upon first meeting you. In you, I saw the potential for someone who could one day walk beside me, not behind. So I let you find your way in the world, I let you be the person I thought you were meant to be. The greater your independence, the more tantalizing you became to me. Each child before you, I treated as an extension of myself, and they always grew to be such disappointments. But you? You were never meant to be a part of me. Separate, connected, but not part of the whole. Someone who I could one day treat as an equal,” Alexandre explained, growing more disappointed with every word he spoke.

Azrael frowned. “And how is that better than the way you treated any of the others? You treated them one way, because you thought that would make them better company. When you figured out that didn’t work, you found someone else to treat differently. Do you really think trying a different experiment is somehow better? Do you even remember what it’s like to be a person anymore?”

Alexandre’s eyes widened in delight. “You see? Even as you face the end, even as you have to stare down the end of your eternal nights, you challenge me. You’ve always been challenging and fascinating in equal measure. Nothing about you has ever fit into our world, and that is what has made you a delight. I thought you would be so much more than—this. Disappointment is an old friend along the road to eternity, but I had hoped you would be different. Which I suppose you are, a different sort of disappointment.”

Anger took the place of guilt in Azrael’s chest. “I’m not some plaything, Alexandre. Some piece for you to shift around on the board to see what happens. I’m a person, we’re all people in this Camarilla. For God’s sake, all those assholes do is compete for favor and you, what, find them boring? Worth playing with but nothing more? Jesus, Seamus is your child too.”

Alexandre waved a dismissive hand. “Seamus serves his own unique role, but that is all. He has been a good companion for you, a good guide when I could not be your teacher. Alas, like so many others, he is empty of any real spark or character.”

“There is so much more to all of us than what we can do for you,” Azrael growled.

“As I told you before, when a human died for the first time by your fangs, time changes all things. What once seemed important ceases to hold that value after a century or three. First you come to believe the loneliness of eternity will be the death of you, until the boredom sets in. Why do you think so many of the eldest vampires play their little games? Why so many of them go to varying extremes in order to fend off the ennui of living for far too long?” Alexandre mused while he watched Azrael’s reaction with interest.

Azrael shook his head. “That’s the excuse you’re going with? For why the vampires screw with other people’s lives so much? Because you’re bored?”

“Did you believe our laws were there just to keep the young ones in line? It’s not the youngest among us that are the most dangerous, but the eldest. Boredom and loneliness can drive a vampire of great age to desperate measures. Our laws are meant to keep a vampire in line. A master controls the youngest, but it is every other master that makes sure other older vampires behave themselves. You think you understand so much, but you know so little, Azrael. It’s a pity I won’t get to see you grow and change with the ages,” Alexandre said with a sad shake of his head.

Azrael pointed an accusing finger at him. “As if you really cared. All you apparently gave a shit about was whether or not I would prove interesting for you over the next who the hell knows how long. All I’ve been to you is entertainment.”

“Everything becomes a source of entertainment or boredom over time. It doesn’t mean you cannot grow fond of said source. I don’t know what consolation it would be, but I was quite fond of you,” Alexandre said in what Azrael imagined was meant to be a soothing tone of voice.

Being fond of something wasn’t the same as caring for it, Azrael knew. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, he had yet to meet an old vampire who didn’t have some kind of alien perspective on things. Azrael had always been curious as to what Alexandre’s reason for choosing him had been, but had never dared push to find the truth. In some ways, he’d preferred not knowing, as he’d always been afraid of what he might find if he dug too deep. Just as he’d never asked whether he’d truly been given a choice, Azrael had chosen to ignore the possibility that his sire’s reasons were as dark and murky as the motivations behind so many elder vampires.

“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” Jacob whispered behind him, sensing Azrael’s inner storm.

Azrael shook his head. “No, I should have known. I haven’t known a single vampire that wasn’t fucked up once they got old enough. Merrick was crazy, and Alexandre’s even older than him, so I should have known, right?”

Alexandre smiled. “All of this bothers you?”

“Yeah, it stings a little to realize you were something interesting and shiny to someone, nothing more. I don’t know why I expected anything else from you after all I’ve seen, but I guess I’d hoped…well, it doesn’t matter what I hoped for, does it? I’ve hoped for a lot in my existence, and the only person to not disappoint me or use me is the man standing behind me,” Azrael said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder.

The amusement on Alexandre’s face vanished. “Ah yes, and now we come to the crux of our problem. That being your fling with this beast.”

“His name is Jacob,” Azrael interrupted.

“What you decide to call one another is irrelevant. Despite my desire to see what you could stir up in your existence, even I must have limits. A life without limits is a sure path to madness, and madness always waits for the oldest of us. You must understand, my decision here is not personal,” Alexandre explained.

“I don’t think anything has been personal with you for a very long time, Alexandre,” Azrael said sadly.

Alexandre considered that. “It could have been, with time, perhaps. Who knows? Just the short time you have been in this Camarilla was bringing change. I can only imagine what you would have done if you had just not crossed those final few lines. Now you must be cut down before you can reach your prime, and that is a shame.”

Jacob growled, advancing as his body rippled and threatened to shift. “Don’t get too cocky, leech. He’s not alone.”

Alexandre nodded, loosening the links at his cuffs. “Well Azrael, your taste in men is deplorable, but at least you have chosen a faithful hound. The two of you might have been enough of a match for a young vampire and a relatively young elder, but you will find I am less simple. I have existed for far longer than Merrick, and fed from several powerful vampires in my time. There are few active vampires who can boast my age and strength.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Azrael said, knowing his words were falling on deaf ears.

Alexandre pulled his jacket off, laying it gently on the back of a chair. “I am no more happy about this than you are. You bore such promise and I had such high hopes for you.”

“If you care about me in the slightest, like you used to pretend you did, you won’t do this,” Azrael said.

Alexandre paused in his movements. “Renounce this beast. Swear you’ll have nothing more to do with his kind, and allow me to kill him. Should you do that, I would be more than willing to forgive even the slaying of my friend.”

Azrael stared. “You want me to…”

Alexandre nodded. “Do all that, and I will forgive you, in time. I will, of course, be keeping a closer eye on you. Once I feel you can be trusted not to make poor decisions like this again, you will be allowed to resume your life as you once lived.”

Azrael pulled back in disgust. “Is that how little your friendship with Merrick meant to you? That you would be willing to forgive his death just because I was a good boy and let you kill Jacob?”

“You wished for a way out, and I have made you an offer,” Alexandre said.

Azrael’s chest tightened and he didn’t hesitate in his response. “You might consider even your friends disposable, but I’m not you. Jacob means more to me than my own life. I would do anything for him, where you can’t even be bothered to be more than irritated that I killed Merrick. I will never do what you ask of me again, and I almost want to thank you for showing me what I could have turned into if I’d stayed your student.”

Jacob gave a low, warning noise. “Your little mind games won’t work here, leech.”

Alexandre sighed, his posture shifting. “It cannot be said that I was not willing to compromise in some regard. For all my faint hopes, it was all for nothing. Alas, I am sorry Azrael, but this must be ended. I will make it as swift as I possibly can

Azrael could see Jacob growing in height beside him, and he reached behind him to pull the blade from its sheath. He should have known he wouldn’t get out of the city without having to face Alexandre. It still stung to know he’d been little more than a new toy for Alexandre to play with. It wasn’t as if Azrael thought he was much more to the master vampire, but part of him had hoped. Even knowing that, he didn’t want to fight Alexandre, he didn’t want to face him and risk either side losing their life. There was no backing down from the fight, Azrael knew it, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Azrael held the blade out before him, readying himself. “And I’ll try to do the same thing for you.”