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Morcant is watching the eastern side of the house. The large windows, designed to catch the sunrise, provide the best vantage point to monitor what is happening inside. For the length of the night, nothing has happened. Only tiny glimpses of movement, which were just as likely to have been caused by a stray gust of wind as they were a person. Or anything else, for that matter. But Morcant knows there is a person in there, because he sent one in.
Whatever Abolish is doing, Morcant cannot see it. That is, in a way, a good thing. Abolish should not be seen right now. He is alone in that house, with no armour, no weapons, nothing but the simple instruction of 'survive until sunrise'.
Alone is the wrong word to use. Abolish is not alone. There is a vampire in the house with him, and they are hunting him.
He is also not alone in the sense that he is being watched very closely. Morcant is one of the many sets of eyes on the house at that moment, every angle and vantage point carefully monitored. When the confrontation occurs — and there will be a confrontation, Morcant is certain — it will be clearly observed.
Technically, Morcant shouldn't be there. He cannot be there in an official capacity, deemed unable to remain impartial, but no one was willing to tell him that he wasn't allowed to be present at all. And so he sits, perched in a high bough of an ancient dark oak, all pretence of dottery old man stripped away to leave only the predatory grace of an Elder vampire.
The sky on the horizon behind him is beginning to lighten.
It is just as the agents stationed at the gates at the front of the house's courtyard begin to move into position, that there is finally a sign of movement. Through a second storey window, Morcant spots a streak of shadow. His sharp eyes lock onto the movement, and he tracks as two figures move rapidly through the house. It's begun. Around him, tension rises as, one by one, the agents begin to notice as well.
The two figures in the house are moving fast enough, and are far enough away, that even Morcant struggles to follow their exact path. They are engaged in some kind of combat, that much is obvious, but it's difficult to tell who has the upper hand. Which is incredible, because that means Abolish — at just sixteen years of age — is holding his own, bare handed, against a powerful vampire.
The Organisation was right, that Morcant would not be able to remain impartial for this. He feels a swell of pride, as he watches his ward do exactly what he trained him to do.
At sixteen, he should only just be beginning his practical training. He should be in the courtyard, practicing sword forms and learning to draw a crossbow. He surpassed those skills years ago. Morcant hadn't been able to keep a book or a quill in the young man's hand. He had demanded a weapon, long before his body was ready to wield them. He wielded them anyway.
If he makes it through this, he will be in the field before the end of the month.
The shorter of the two figures pulls away from the other, Abolish creating space between himself and his opponent. Morcant has the floorplan of the house memorised, has held countless assessments at this location, and he knows that the room they are in only has one exit. The vampire is between Abolish and the door.
Morcant taught Abolish to use his smaller stature to his advantage. He was lithe and agile, and could move unpredictably. If it had been an empty room, Morcant did not doubt Abolish would be able to spin his way past the vampire. But the room was not empty, there was a large table Abolish would have to manoeuvre around. Morcant doesn't like his chances. He tenses, waiting for the vampire to strike.
Abolish moves first.
It takes Morcant a second to process the movement, as Abolish does not move towards the door. He dives for the window.
The sound of shattering glass breaks the silent, predawn air. Morcant hears one of the nearby agents draw in a sharp breath of shock.
Abolish plummets to the floor. He lands in a forward roll, but even at the distance Morcant hears the distinctive sound of a bone cracking. Collarbone, probably, or something in the arm or wrist, from the way Abolish landed. Morcant feels himself lean forward, instincts screaming to protect, but he freezes himself in place. The vampire lands silently behind Abolish. They are close enough now that Morcant can make out Abolish's face. There is a claw mark, running from his chin to his temple, that is bleeding in the aggressive way head wounds do, but it does not look particularly deep. The left sleeve of his shirt is torn and bloodied, and he is holding that arm to his chest in a way that suggests he no longer has the ability to use it properly. He is breathing in deep, even breaths, but it is clearly forced. He is fighting a losing battle.
Abolish has staggered to his feet, and turns to face the approaching vampire. The Organisation chose the opponent well. He is showing the behaviours Abolish is likely to face in the field, an equal mix of genuine threat and dramatics. If it were Morcant hunting, the human would have been dead on the floor the moment he hit the dirt, but few vampires are that ruthless. There is an instinct to toy with the prey. An agitated meal does have a particularly pleasing taste. So the vampire approaches slowly, knowing that Abolish has no hope of escape.
The first streak of sunlight casts over the horizon. It gleams across the shattered glass scattered around the vampire's feet, and he blinks.
The gates to the courtyard are pushed open.
There is a moment, where both Abolish and the vampire look up and over to the gates. The air is still and silent. And then Abolish runs.
Abolish is fast. It will take him approximately ten seconds to cross the distance to the front gates.
The vampire can clear half that distance in a single lunge.
He lands hard on Abolish's back and sends them both to the ground. They are close enough for Morcant to hear the sound of the air being knocked from Abolish's lungs. There is a moment of struggle. Abolish twists underneath the vampire. He throws his arm back and slams his elbow hard into the vampire's throat. It knocks his attacker off balance enough for Abolish to get his feet under him. His even breathing has been lost to desperate gasps of air. He shoves himself upright and takes three steps before the vampire's claws swing and slice into his calf muscle. He drops to the floor with a cry. The vampire is on top of him again in a second. They are meters from the gate when Abolish gives a choked off cry as the vampire's fangs dig deep into his neck.
The vampire takes the required three swallows that mark the end of the exercise. Morcant drops from the tree branch, lands silently, and retrieves his cane from where it rests against the trunk of the tree.
***
By the time Morcant makes it to the gates, Abolish has been helped to his feet by one of the medical staff. His uninjured arm is draped around their shoulder, and he hops awkwardly on one leg as he is half carried through the gates. Abolish looks up as they cross the threshold, and meets Morcant's gaze.
Abolish was never a particularly emotive child. Morcant had heard horror stories, of the kind of emotions a human child could be consumed by, but not once had he seen Abolish succumb to them. The occasional nightmare, a few fits of frustration when he failed to advance at the pace he expected of himself, and the odd moment of melancholy where the most Morcant ever saw from him. As he grew out of fragile childhood into his teenage years, it seemed each emotion had been carefully catalogued and brought under his precise control.
"Sir."
Abolish's voice is tight, the single syllable laced with pain.
"We will speak in a moment, Abolish," Morcant says. The assessing agents begin to move in, as well as the full medical team. Morcant will only be in their way. He gives Abolish a small nod, and turns to walk away.
His path takes him past where the vampire has been taken aside for his own debriefing. Morcant finds himself swallowing a growl as he smells Abolish's blood on the other vampire's claws. He quickens his steps, just slightly, and makes his way over to wait in the carriage. He brought some miscellaneous paperwork with him to complete on the journey, that should sufficiently pass the time.
***
It is an hour before Abolish is released from the medical tent. Morcant finished his paperwork twenty minutes ago. He looks up from where he had been rereading the same line for the last ten minutes as the door to the carriage opens and Abolish hobbles in. He slumps down into the chair opposite Morcant without a word.
"Are you ready to go home, then?" Morcant asks, tucking his paperwork away. Abolish just nods. Morcant reaches behind him and raps twice on the wood on the carriage, signalling to the driver that they are ready to depart. After a few moments, the carriage begins to rumble down the road.
The first few minutes of the journey are silent. Morcant takes that time to assess Abolish's condition. The boy is staring out the window, expressionless. His left arm is in a sling, and the wound on his face has been cleaned. It was not deep enough to require stitches, obviously, and may not even scar. His right pant leg has been rolled up above the knee to allow a thick bandage to be wrapped around the much deeper wound in his calf. Morcant didn't need to be able to see it to know it had needed stitches. He can smell the sharp scent of anaesthetic in Abolish's blood. Other than a few mild scrapes from smashing his way through the window, the only other wound is the bite. It has closed naturally, as well treated bites do, and has left a very clean, subtle scar just at the point it will be able to be covered by a collar. The vampire did a very clean job of it, Morcant has to acknowledge. A week or two of rest, and Abolish will be back on his feet. It will take longer for the collarbone to heal, but Morcant knows Abolish won't let that limit him.
It is as they roll back into the familiar streets of Blackwyn, that Abolish finally breaks the tense silence.
"I'm sorry, sir," he says, still not looking away from the window.
"What, exactly, are you apologising for, Abolish?" Morcant asks, genuinely. That gets Abolish to turn his head, a small furrow of confusion on his brow as he looks across to Morcant.
"I…" he starts, and his eyes flick down to himself — to the sling and the bandage and the heavy wooden crutch leaning on the seat next to him — before he continues. "I know you expected better of me."
Morcant tilts his head.
"Were you killed?" he asks. The slight furrow in Abolish brow grows deeper.
"No."
"Were you turned?" Morcant folds his hands in his lap, and raises a brow quizzically.
"No."
"Did you forget your training and act irrationally?"
"No, sir." Conviction paints Abolish's voice then, and Morcant smiles.
"Then you have done exactly as I expected of you, and the only person you have disappointed is yourself," he says. Abolish stares at him, eyes searching his face, jaw clenched. Morcant resists the urge to chirp at him. The boy is clearly not in the mood for his fussing, but the way he looks so utterly lost certainly stirs an instinct within Morcant. Abolish's gaze drops to the floor of the carriage.
"I still failed."
Morcant cannot help himself. He laughs. A small fond chuckle, as he reaches across the carriage and places a hand on Abolish's knee. The boy looks up at him, pure confusion in his eyes.
"My boy, you were supposed to fail."
At those words, Abolish looks stricken. He pulls back from Morcant's hand as much as he can, pressing himself against the far wall of the carriage.
"What?" he asks. It is the first time in a long time that Morcant is reminded, visually, just how young his ward is. He looks small, tucked into the corner of the carriage, wrapped in bandages, shadows under his eyes from the blood loss. Again, Morcant feels the urge to chirp at him. Old sire instincts that cannot help but see a lost fledgling needing comfort, despite the way Abolish's heart is still beating, and Morcant's fangs have never once touched his skin. He gently removes his hand from Abolish's knee, and folds his hands in his lap once more.
"You were let into that house exactly eight hours before sunrise," he says. "You had no armour and no weapons. You had half an hour before the vampire started hunting you. In what world were you supposed to be able to make it out of there?"
"Then what was the point?" Abolish snaps. It has been some time since Morcant has heard that much anger from the boy.
"There will come a time, Abolish," Morcant says, keeping his voice soft and even, "when you are faced with an impossible situation. When everything is stacked against you, and there is no way for you to achieve your goal. You will be forced to make the wrong choices. You will be forced to compromise. You will be left with no option but to accept defeat. The point of the exercise you just completed was to see how you might handle such a situation. I have been running that specific assessment for nearly three decades now, and no one has ever made it out of those gates."
Abolish is staring at him, flickers of emotion passing over his expression, as he decides how to react.
"That's bullshit."
He clearly settles on anger.
"Abolish," Morcant chastises.
"No, sir, it is," Abolish pushes back. "You train me up, give me all these skills and tools, prepare me for every possible situation and then turn around and say I'm still supposed to fail? That's. Bullshit."
Abolish attempts to cross his arms to make his point, but the sling hampers him. Pain twists the anger on his face for a moment, as he drops his uninjured hand to his side, fist clenched. Morcant waits out the tantrum.
"You are hurt. You are tired," Morcant says softly. "You are young. This is why we run this assessment. You cannot prepare for failure, not truly. I know it is not fair, but it will happen. You will understand, one day."
Abolish does not respond. He turns his gaze back out the window. Morcant does not push the issue. This, too, is part of the training.
***
Abolish sits silently inside the Beacon tower. He has no heart beat to keep steady, no need to even out his breathing. It has only been a few minutes since Cleo followed his sire the Doctor over the the ramshackle wall around the remnants of the town. He does not focus on the waves of guilt and anguish he can feel trying to be withheld from the bond.
Soon, he will feel that bond shatter. It is better not to let it take any hold.
He has the cure books tucked into his pocket. He will walk out of Oakhurst human. Mission complete.
He stares at the golden glow of the beacon.
You will be forced to make the wrong choices.
Morcant's voice rings in his head. He ignores it. A plan has been made.
You will be forced to compromise.
Martyn and Ren's bodies are laid out at the far end of town, ready to be buried when anyone has a spare moment. Avid, Pyro and Owen are ashes on the wind. Legundo won't be far behind.
You will be left with no option but to accept defeat.
…
Bullshit.
Abolish stands.
He mentally grabs the bond in his mind with all his strength and shoves a single thought down it.
Stop.
He takes bat form, and flies after his Sire.
No one else dies today.