Aria and Will by Kallysten Read Free Book Online Page B

leaders
commended you for it repeatedly. You are not a soldier, Private Cambria, but
you're a fighter. And these days, we need fighters more than anything else.”
    Bergsen pulled a small box from his pocket and thumbed
the lid open. Light reflected on the silver sword when he pinned it to the
collar of Lorenzo's uniform. Wilhelm closed his eyes, and let the thanks and
promises to do better slide over him. It had not been his idea, and he had
tried not to let his personal feelings interfere when Bergsen had told him
about this. All he could hope was that this new responsibility would not
prevent Lorenzo from fulfilling his other duties.
     
    * * * *
     
    “So what did Ariadne say?”
    “She wasn't too happy. She tried not to show it but I
know she was wondering.”
    Wilhelm kept his eyes on the horizon as he nodded. So
far, there had been no signs of demons, but the night was still young, and they
might attack before it was over. From the corner of his eye, he could see that
Lorenzo was fidgeting, raising his hand to touch the pin at his throat, as
though to assure himself that it was really there.
    “I've been wondering too, actually,” Lorenzo said at
last. “She's been in the Guard longer than me, and she's been cited by her
superiors far more often. She should have been promoted long before me.”
    He stopped there, but Wilhelm heard the unasked
question anyway. He turned to face Lorenzo, and could see, in the light of the
rising moon, the same young vampire he had first met a little more than a year
earlier and had convinced so easily to join the Guard. Lorenzo had been killing
humans at the time, along with the other members of his clan. Without a Master
to rein them in, they had been like children left unsupervised for too long.
Wilhelm had jumped in and asserted his authority as easily as if they had truly
been his Childer.
    “No. I did not tell Bergsen to give you that
promotion. You earned it for yourself.”
    Lorenzo nodded at that, and seemed to straighten his
shoulders a little, his pride evident. Still, Wilhelm's answer had not
completely satisfied him.
    “But Aria,” he started, and stopped when Wilhelm shook
his head.
    “She'll be promoted, eventually. But not before she
reaches twenty. Bergsen's policy, and I can't fault him on it. She's too young
to lead.”
    Lorenzo's lips twisted in a dry smile.
    “She'd be pissed off if she heard you say that. She's
still ranting on how you didn't help her join the Cadets, and kept her in an
office after she was sworn into the Guard because you thought she was too
young.”
    Wilhelm shrugged. “I still think she'd be better off
elsewhere, and I'm not going to change my mind about that.”
    “Even though she's a damn fine fighter?”
    “Damn fine or not, fighters get hurt. Or worse.”
    “Not when I'm around.”
    “True. You've been doing a good job so far. Just keep
it up.”
    Something on the horizon was stirring. Wilhelm picked
up the phone at his waist and flipped it open. Others might have raised the
alarm already, but he wasn't taking chances.
    “Go find her,” he told Lorenzo. “Keep her safe.”
    Lorenzo saluted him. “Yes, sir.”
     
    * * * *
     
    When I think back of the night I met Lorenzo, I
can't help seeing the scene through different eyes. Back then, I was a young
girl on her first official night on duty at the walls, and the soldier I met
that night, the man I soon realized was a vampire, was just sweet, funny and
cute. Today, I know he was nice to me because Will had asked him to be.
    I had thought I had won, when Will relented and
obtained my transfer to active duty. But all he did was switch tactics. He
couldn't lock me up in an office, so he gave me a babysitter. Vampire, so he'd
have a better chance of protecting me. Relatively young, so we'd bond more
easily. And bond, we did.
    Lorenzo had my back from the first night on. It's
something relatively common in the Guard; most of us can't afford to fight
demons alone. Will is one of the