Laurel Library, Britechester
"So, how do you know Aadi?" Mariah asked.
"Still don't trust me?" Snow smiled.
"No," Mariah said honestly.
"Good," Snow said easily. "That's smart."
"I could say it's classified, and it actually is, but I'll tell you," she continued. "I really do know them through the karaoke group."
"You seriously expect me to believe it's a coincidence?" Mariah said suspiciously.
"Well, yes and no," Snow admitted. "Here's the classified part... Miko Ojo, the lady with the beret. She's one of the founders of the group. She used to be a staffer for Victor Feng. "
"Wasn't he that politician who got arrested a couple years ago for being involved with one of the Families?" Mariah asked. [1]
"That's right," Snow said. "At the time, the Agency was looking for information on Feng and his ties to Landgraab Family. Getting someone close to Miko was a good way to do it. I was the only one on the ops team who could carry a tune."
"Really?"
"Hey, it worked," Snow grinned, "and, as it happens, I enjoy it. The Agency tolerates me staying with it because I can still get information from Miko, especially now that she has a seat in the Lower House." 
"What does this have to do with Aadi?"
"Not much honestly," Snow allowed, "except that Miko's ex-roommate Darling also identifies as nonbinary. Darling was doing work for a LGBTQ support group, where they met this troubled, bullied, insecure kid. Darling brought the kid to the karaoke group, to try to help them build some confidence."
"Aadi?!" Mariah blinked. "I can't imagine Aadi being insecure."
"They've come a long way," Snow said.
"Wow," Mariah said.
"The coincidence part is Aadi ending up as your roommate," Snow said. "Unless you believe in fate."
"Miranda talks about that stuff," Mariah said. "She calls it 'wyrd' and, well..."
"Yeah," Snow said, "I've read some of the reports about her. Even I don't know if I believe half of it... and I hunt vampires."
"OK, we need to talk about that," Mariah said.
"If you want to see my scars, you've got to buy me a drink first," Snow grinned, "and I really doubt your girlfriend would approve."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Mariah mutter under her breath, before saying more clearly, "Look, what can you tell me?"
"Short version," Snow said, her face becoming serious, "I lost someone... someone I cared about. I went digging and found things out. Because I was an idiot, I tried to deal with it on my own. Thus, scars. I'm lucky to be alive."
"They're monsters," Mariah snarled.
"Worse," Snow said seriously, "they're people."
Mariah started, shocked.
"If you're going to do this, you have to remember that," Snow pressed on. "Whatever they have become, at the heart of it, a vampire started out as a person. Yeah, they have supernatural powers, and drink blood - sometimes killing to get it - but what makes them really dangerous is the 'person' part."
"So what kind of person is Ms. H?" Mariah asked.
"She was born in Windenburg around the turn of the last century, Marie Isabelle Schmidt," Snow said. "Despite their humble ancestry, her family were fairly well-to-do merchants at the time. Like most upper middle class girls of the time, Marie Belle's job was to be pretty and marry money... in her case a young man named Caleb Vatore."
"Huh, isn't there a writer by that name," Mariah mused. "I wonder if it's the same family."
"Actually... umm... let's stay on track," Snow said. 
"According to records, a strange wasting sickness swept through the bourgeois of Windenburg one particular summer. Marie Belle was about your age when she fell ill and died... as did several others in her circle... including Caleb's sister Lilith, who died a few weeks earlier, and his cousin Lily's entirely family. Caleb himself died the following year."
"Vampires," Mariah said.
"Vampire," Snow corrected. "That summer, a wealthy country nobleman, Count Vladislaus Straud, arrived in Windenburg."
"I know that name," Mariah snarled. Miranda's nightmare, she thought. We can't escape them.
"Everything I've gathered says that Straud is a master vampire," Snow nodded. "The master vampire of Windenburg, in fact.
"That summer, he turned Marie Belle and her friend Lilith into vampires. I have reason to believe he wanted to turn Lilith's cousin Lily as well, but ended up killing her family instead. She's probably laying in a shallow grave in the woods outside Forgotten Hollow." [2]
"Why?" Mariah wondered.
"I don't know but I can guess. Same reason any creepy old man wants to surround himself with beautiful young women who are dependent on him," Snow said bitterly.
"Ick"
"In the end, it didn't work out well for Straud. Marie Belle appears to have rebelled against him almost immediately and escaped his control within a few years. Lilith stayed with him longer, but ultimately she broke his hold too.
"Sometime after she escaped him, Marie Belle started using the name Lady Hel, after an old pagan goddess of the underworld. Over the years that follow, the figure of Lady Hel appears in records from Windenburg to Tartosa, Oasis Spring to Willow Creek - almost always involved in crime, violence and mayhem. Over the years, her name shifts from Lady Hel to Ms. Hell to simply Ms. H. She's gathered followers, including others she turned. She's grown more cunning... but at the heart of it, she's still an angry, rebellious young woman."
"So, under it all, she's just like Carla," Mariah mused. "Just like me. Another damaged person, lashing out to assert control. Why is she involved with the Altos?"
"Well, the vampires have been involved with the Families for generations," Snow said. "They have a lot in common, really... secrecy, violence and power. The vampires use the Families for soldiers, or recruits, and the Families use the vampires for their power. Count Straud had alliances with most of the major Families. Ms. H's alliance with the Altos probably started as a power play against Straud... 
"I believe that's what this is all about for her - a power play. Straud has been missing for three years. Not long as vampires count time, but long enough. The Windenburg vampires are looking for a new leader. Currently, they're divided between Ms. H and Lilith Vatore, both of whom can claim to be Straud's rightful heir."
"Why is she interested in me?" Mariah asked. "She seems focused on me and on... well, messing with my relationship with Miranda."
"I don't know," Snow admitted, "not for certain. It could be she just thinks you're cute, but I doubt it."
"Gee thanks," Mariah chuckled.
"She wants something," Snow said, "and it's more than just your hot bod. Your Miranda was involved in the events that caused Count Straud to drop out of sight. [3] They've been after Miranda for a while now... her kidnapping two years ago, for instance." [4]
"Wait," Mariah snapped. "Ms. H was involved in that?!"
"Most likely," Snow nodded. "We know it had something to do with the vampires, and she's the master vampire with ties to the Altos."
"The Altos?!" Mariah suddenly couldn't breathe. "What are you saying?"
"You didn't know," Snow said bitterly, half to herself. "Yes, the Altos were behind Miranda's kidnapping, in league with Ms. H. Like I said, they're after Miranda... and I think Ms. H wants to use you to get to her."
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