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Usually if I was struggling to make a big decision, I would talk to one—or all—of them. But this time, I can't.
And what about the vampire clan? Treyton is the clan leader; if he were to just pick up and leave, the vampires would no longer have someone to guide and regulate them. And they need that. Vampires aren't the best at regulating themselves. Without supervision, they'd go rogue and run rampant, doing whatever they wanted without fear of being held accountable by their leader. And their actions would affect everybody, not just the clan or the coven, who would try to subdue them. All the people in the city would be impacted by a faction gone wild,especiallythe humans, who would probably become the victims of an unregulated feeding frenzy.
I know Treyton has considered these consequences and risks. And yet we're both still taken with the idea of moving.
But talking about the idea has made me tired. I've recovered from the glamour the vampires in Salem put on me, but I don't feel like going back to my own apartment just yet. I know I'll have a bunch of missed messages from the other witches waiting for me and I don't want to deal with them yet, especially not in my current mental state. So instead, I decide to spend the night here with Treyton in his apartment.
On any other night, I would probably be chomping at the bit to kiss him. But tonight, with all this weighing so heavily on my mind, I crave a different kind of intimacy.
"I never knew I longed for freedom this much," I say as I lie in his arms beneath a thin, white satin sheet.
"That's because you didn't know that you weretrappedto begin with."
"I don't feel trapped in Boston. And I don't feel trapped in the coven either," I say as I tilt my head to look up at him.
"Then why do you think you're longing for freedom?" he asks.
It's a fair question, and one that I honestly don't know the answer to. All I know is that something has sparked a rebellious streak within me, like a lit match that I can't extinguish.
"There are too many rules ," he says as he wraps his arm around me. "And they're all either unfair or cumbersome. They don't allow us to enjoy our lives. Instead of feeling happy and free, we're all burdened. Burdened with responsibility, membership to a clan or coven, or peacekeeping duties."
"I hadn't really thought about it like that," I admit.
"None of what the coven or the factions are doing isbad," Treyton continues. "Everyone is just doing what they think needs to be done to survive. But what if someone wants to domorethan just survive? What if someone truly wants tolive?"
It's so much to think about that my head is spinning. I have enough restraint to know that I should give this some thought so I don't do anything rash. And to really think through the decision, I should probably go back to my apartment to be alone and sort through my feelings, because here with Treyton, I'm much too preoccupied and distracted by him to think straight. But I'm also too comfortable and cozy in his arms to go anywhere.
"Tell me some stories from your days in New York," I say as I trace my fingers along the muscles of his chest. His shirt is thin enough, and his sinewy body defined enough, that I can trace their lines like I'm tracing a picture.
"You want me to tell you stories about my criminal conquests?" He chuckles. "I'm not sure you'll like them."
"Try me."
Treyton tells me about elaborate heists that fooled dozens of city officials. He also shares a story about a time when he saw a wealthy man walk by a starving, homeless person and smirking at him like he was superior. Treyton proceeded to relieve the man of his fancy jacket, shoes, and watch, and gave it all to the homeless man.
"I sat with the man for a while after that," he says in a thoughtful tone.
"Which one? The homeless man or the greedy one?"
"The homeless man. He was down on his luck, had been fired, his wife had left him, and a corrupt landlord had evicted him. It had all happened at once. He just needed a break, and that's what I gave him."
"But how do you know that he wasn't a terrible person?" I ask, just to play devil's advocate. "Humans can be exceptionally deceptive, even to themselves. Maybe his wife left him because he was abusive, and he lost his job because he showed up at work drunk."
"I kept track of everyone that I helped or stole from," Treyton says. "I wanted to be sure that I was helping therightpeople, and not the wrong ones. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't adding to the problem instead of trying to help fix it."
"And?"
"And the homeless man sold all the clothes and combined it with the other money I gave him from the rich man's wallet. It was quite a lot. He used it to get a haircut, buy a day pass at a gym so he could shower, and get a business suit. He got a new job and applied for a small loan after a while. Then, he used the loan to open a community kitchen."
"What about the other guy, the greedy one?"
"Oh, he went on to do some pretty terrible things." Treyton frowns. "Some of which he did because I robbed him. He blamed the incident on the presence of too manythugsin the city and convinced the council to tear down some of the affordable housing and repurpose the space into small, upscale boutiques. He justified it as making the neighborhood more attractive to consumers, but in reality, all he did was kick decent people out of the only homes they could afford."
"So, you helped one man, but made it worse for a lot of others?" I wrinkle my nose at the contradiction of it. It would be too easy to make mistakes and make matters worse. I don't know how I would be able to live knowing I made life harder for good people and helped to line the pockets of bad ones.
Maybe I'm not cut out for a life of crime.
"Only temporarily. I hadn't quite finished that story. In the end, I took down the entire council, consisting of more than a dozen corrupt city officials, several business owners who were breaking the rules, and a handful of venomous slumlords. I robbed each of them of all their wealth, right down to their last penny. It took a while, but it was so worth it. I gave every cent back to the people who'd been affected by their rulings."
