Whatever her true feelings were on the matter, Ava just shrugged. “Even defensive gifts can be substantial.” She held a forkful of ravioli to my mouth, dismissing – and thereby irritating – Gina. “Here, try some. It’s so good.”

Stifling a smile at her ability to piss someone off whilst looking the personification of innocence and pleasantness, I indulged her by taking a bite.

Blythe sipped her red wine-flavoured NST. “Where exactly are you from, Ava?”

“Originally, Seattle. But my brother and I did a lot of traveling and eventually ended up in London.”

“Is that where your nest is?”

“Um-hm.”

“Who is your Sire?”

Ava waved a flippant hand. “Oh, Victor’s dead.”

Blythe’s brows flew up. “Dead?”

Ava nodded cheerfully. “Sam killed him when he wouldn’t free her from his hold.”

“Oh, you’re both from the same nest?”

“Now I see how you got a spot in the legion.” Gina snickered. “Doesn’t it bother you that you didn’t earn it, child?”

Ava gave her a fond smile and leaned in, as if about to tell her a secret. “I used to know a woman who’s like you, putting people down a lot because she has low self-esteem. Anyway –”

“I do not have low self-esteem,” growled Gina with a snap of her teeth.

The fond smile turned patronising. “Of course you don’t.” And now Ava was humming again.

“Gina, enough,” Blythe quietly scolded.

If I didn’t know Blythe as well as I did, I’d have thought she’d warmed to Ava and was defending her. That wasn’t it at all. One thing Blythe loved to do was make alliances, become friendly with ‘the right people’; people who could give her something, help her become friendly with more ‘right people’. She’d seen how everyone had gathered supportively behind Ava at the party. She’d seen that Ava was well-liked here; that she would be a good person to have on side. And she was doing her best to win Ava’s trust and friendship.

Sadly for Blythe, that wouldn’t happen. Ava wasn’t the flaky, oblivious girl she was showing them.

Will spoke then. “This is a very beautiful place. The Hollow, I mean. Very peaceful.”

“It is,” agreed Blythe. “The best decision we ever made was coming here. I can see why you didn’t return to us, Salem.”

“How do you find being part of the legion?” Will asked me.

“Good.”

“Was it very long before your squad was sent out on assignments?”

“Ooh, that’s classified information,” said Ava. “We can’t share stuff about assignments with anyone outside the legion.” She rolled her eyes, as if it was pathetically dramatic.

“I see. Are there many trainers within the legion?”

Ah, so Will wanted a spot in the legion. I should have expected that, really. In truth, the legion didn’t have ‘trainers’. Each commander was responsible for the training of their own squad. As Ava had said, though, we didn’t share anything about the legion with outsiders. “That’s something you’d have to speak with the Grand High Pair about.”

“Surely there’s always room for more trainers.”

“Like I said, that’s something you should speak with the Grand High Pair about.” A spark of frustration buzzed down our blood-link.

Blythe smiled. “It would be good for you to find work, Will. You’re not the type to sit around. I’m sure Salem could put in a good word for you.”

“If you want to be employed by Sam and Jared,” began Ava, “you have to prove yourself.”

Gina shot Ava a condescending sneer. “And what could you have possibly done to prove yourself? Or maybe you just giggled until their heads hurt.” Her curt, abrasive tone caught the attention of a waiter and some of the other diners.

Ava snorted softly. “Who lit the fuse on your tampon?”

Eyes bulging in anger, Gina went to bark a retort when Will banged his fork to get her attention. He shook his head; making Gina grind her teeth.

Will turned to me with a smile, but I sensed that he was far from happy at that moment. “I’m guessing your interviewers were very impressed by your control at the try-outs.”

“Salem does have very good control,” remarked Blythe. “Thanks to you, Will, of course. You’d make a good trainer for the legion, without a doubt.”

I was rapidly losing my patience with this conversation. “I can’t imagine why you’d want to work in the legion when you didn’t approve of me coming here.”

His expression hardened. “I didn’t support you coming here because I didn’t support the idea of you punishing yourself.”

“Punishing myself?” I echoed, confused.

“You blame yourself for what happened to your parents. The only thing that gave you the incentive to live was vengeance.”

Gina spoke to Ava. “Has Salem told you why he became a vampire? How badly he wanted revenge? That the reason he joined the legion was to die? To die with honour, granted. But still to die. I cannot say I’ve met many suicidal vampires.”

Shocked, I snapped, “What?”

“The problem was that once you had revenge,” began Will, “you lost your sense of purpose. Even though I made you one of my fighters, it didn’t help. You gradually deteriorated. Joining the legion was, in effect, a suicide mission for you.”

He and Gina were so very wrong about that. Admittedly, the matter of whether I was dead or alive had ceased to mean much back then. But I never took the easy way out of anything. I had a number of reasons for joining the legion, but killing myself wasn’t one of them.

“Threatening to cast you out of the nest was unforgivable of me,” continued Will, his tone sad. “But I hated the motivation behind your leaving and…I just wanted you to live.”

“I wasn’t suicidal,” I rumbled, “and you know it.” And the fact that he was implying it in a public place – where people were deliberately listening to the conversation – pissed me off even more.

Will held up his hands in a placatory gesture, but his satisfaction was streaming down our link. “I’m merely trying to point out that I can see this is no longer the case; that the legion has clearly been good for you.”