Pig up the tiny whisper like it oken normally, Amber smiled and giggled at her newfound powers. “Amazing. Everything that the other wards say is true. I heard you clear as a bell.” Amber tied up her shiny hair into a bun and dismissed the i. “I know it wasn’t a kiss of passion, Master.” She ughed, “True, I would have liked you to ask…however, I know why you did it. I five you, An. Don’t worry about it.” Amber winked one of her green-tinted hazel eyes. “Let’s keep going for now. Show me everything.”

  Excited that he was finally being taken seriously, An paused and scratched his shaggy brown hair. “There’s a few more things where I saw with those diamond eyes….” An rubbed his , “..at least I think they are eyes.”

  Amber poked her new master and ughed, “Are all vampires this flighty? You lost focus.” She chuckled, “Vivienne used to do the same thing, but Faye usually kept her on track.”

  “Who?” An inquired, before it came to him. “Ah..” His hands began shaking, “The Raven. I..I don’t know how you…” He pointed a nervous fi Amber, “...you speak so casually about her.”

  “I lived with her?” Amber volunteered. “She has a manor, a huge one, just oskirts of Petersburg.” She started scrolling through other news footage on her phone. “Yeah, We were in charge of helping wards that lost their masters get bato their lives. When Sylvie decided to move, the three of us blood bunnies…Um…” Amber made An another drink. “...Veronica, Jessid myself…We asked Sylvie if we could go with her.”

  “Any reason why? Sounds like you had it made in the manor.” An queried.

  “The pce is so old and to be ho, at night it be a bit spooky. Even if there aren’t gargoyles all over the pbsp; It’s like a twenty-first-tury version of a dark dungeon castle.” Amber ughed and slid the blood co to An. “Okay, so we don’t have to wait oelevision to reveal what you know, show me these other pces where you’ve seen the eyes.”

  “Right.” An ughed and reached for Amber’s phone. “If you don’t mind.” Pleased when Amber offered her mobile to him, An then punched up one of the other videos. “Alright, the college student that died from pying a video game too long.” He started pying the footage and handed Amber the phone. “Obviously the body had been removed, and the reporter was interviewing others o…” Aated as the camera panned back to show the entire room. “What do you see, Amber?”

  Shod disbelief crossed over Amber's features as she spotted the anomalies immediately. “Holy Hannah! Is this real? There are like ten students being interviewed with half having those eyes.” Amber shivered as an icy chill went down her spihis is disturbing, Master.” Grabbing a red-colored beer from the cooler, Amber began to dowter liquid in the effort to calm her nerves. “Is the st ohe same thing? The strange eyes?”

  An nodded, “The others are even more bothersome and disturbing, I think I have even heard a voice that some of these people cim to have.” He chuckled, “Perhaps I should admit myself to a mental hospital.”

  “Distrag yourself again, Master An.” Amber smiled widely and handed him her phone again. “What else do we have going on?”

  “On it.” An winked a his mood improving. “Aold you that being near you lifts the spirits?” He tapped on her phone a little longer. “I bet you didn’t know that you are my first ward in a long while. Something about you makes discussing this easier. I admit having you present is making the tasks ahead a little less daunting. I find myself hoping that you don’t ask to be released.” He handed Amber the phohat one is with a grandmother of three.”

  Flig the button to start the video, Amber witnessed an elderly woman in her sixties carryihree dead grandchildren outside where the police had surrounded her home. ‘They are all safe now! I did them a favor! You’ll see, you’ll all see! I saved their souls from the diamond demons!’ The old dy pced the three bodies on the porch. ‘Yes, I did it. This isn’t a fession, it is a revetion!’

  Amber watched as the dy then dreistol and began firing it into the crowd of officers, ughing while she did so. “She’s trying to die as well. Oh man.” Amber half-muttered.

  Patting Amber’s hand lightly, An did his best to sole the new ward. “Yes, the police killed her. If you want to adva a few seds, you will see the important part, Amber.”

  “No need for me to adva, An. I have seen lots of things as a vampire blood bunny.” She tilted the phoo watch the rest of the video. “How the?...” Amber wondered as the polid elder woman exged gunfire, riddling her with bullets from head to toe. Her aim took down four officers before her pistol ran dry of ammunition. “She’s just standing…..” Then Amber heard a hollow and dead voice, barely audible from the video.

  ‘Fragile creatures, the lot of you. Your physical form is weak beyond measure. Blood flows too easily from your bodies, no wohey feed so well. Pathetic, the bunch of you. Myself and the rest of us will show you the meaning of fear and madness, all while you watch.’

  It was then Amber who saw the twin diamonds light up from ihe old dy’s eye sockets. “If I am seeing this correctly, that thing is ihe woman?” As if the creature heard Amber’s question, she watched a few foggy clouds lift from the woman and the children. “There were four of them?” Amber asked as the video showed the grandmother falling over dead.

  Without saying a word, An simply nodded. “It would appear that is the case, but if you look..not one officer registered that something was wrong. They just go up and tape off the se like a normal crime.” He picked up his refreshed drink and took a healthy swig from the straw. “What got another level of my attention was the speebsp; It literally almost gave up vampires to the general public.”

  “How many more cases are there, An?” Amber tilted her head as she inquired. “I mean you are just going to repeat the whole thing again..what… tomorrow night at the meeting?”

  Rubbing his temples as though he had a headache, An o his new ward. “Yeah, that was the pn. I had also hoped to have some things ‘fixed’...” He held up his hands and used air quotes, “...by your mistress. I couldn’t have foreseen that she would make a vampire after two hundred ay years or so.” He shrugged. “If you look at it from my point of view, I took the lead on finding the veil breaks and tasked a local vampire to assist. That looks like a good leader to me.” He shrugged and pulled up another newsreel and hahe phone baber.