Kendrick doffed his hat and coat. “Foils or rapiers?”
Dominic shot him a narrow look. “What need have we for foils?” He chose a rapier, feeling the edge. “Not as sharp as I’d like, but it will do.” With a sword in his hand, Dominic recovered a bit more of his vampiric liquid grace, shedding the stilted movements Kendrick had worried over at their reunion.
Kendrick picked up one of the light rapiers to test its balance. “You’ll go easy on me, won’t you?”
A slow smile crossed Dominic’s face. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Kendrick grinned. “En garde.”
Kendrick let Dominic make the first thrust and parried with the slim rapier. They had to temper their strengths to not snap the blades—another reason why he preferred a stronger, wider blade—but that was part of the challenge and skill. Kendrick disengaged and made a feint at Dominic before a thrust of his own. Then the blades flashed silver, advancing and retreating faster than a human could follow.
Dominic grinned as Kendrick was forced to parry his attacks. “You say some have tried to kill you? I assume they haven’t come at you with a rapier, or they would’ve done some damage.”
“Funny,” Kendrick said, advancing with a thrust that Dominic jumped backwards to avoid.
“There are dueling rules, you know,” his friend complained.
“My attackers don’t follow dueling rules. They come at me with a knife in the dark, children trying to use the element of surprise. It’s very tiresome. But I expected that.” Kendrick defended against Dominic’s riposte. “I didn’t expect them to run mad.”
“Madness?”
Kendrick explained about the regressions, getting a hit in on Dominic’s shoulder. “What’s strange is that none of them are older than a hundred. We never saw ones that young losing their minds.”
Dominic acknowledged the hit. “Touché. In recent years, I have heard of a higher rate of recidivism with regards to human attacks, as well as an uptick in madness.”
“Do you know why?”
“No. No one does. That’s why Rupert ordered all the exits from the underground guarded a few years ago.”
“Did that help?”
“No.”
“So he penned up everyone who had no home.”
“Yes. He thought every vampire should be under a master’s thumb, with his thumb being the largest. Those of us with the money or position to establish our own households had a measure of independence, but Rupert wished to keep an eye on what he termed ‘rabble.’”
I’ll need to do something about that, Kendrick thought, retreating against Dominic’s lunge.
“Even at the very start, he insisted all vampires who had sworn a blood oath to him make their homes in London,” Dominic said. “And then after he lifted all restrictions on turning, those newly-turned ones were disenfranchised and dependent.”
“Who supported Rupert?”
“Those who never wanted to leash their base urges.”
“No one did anything about it?”
“We don’t deal well with change; you know that. We assumed it would sort itself out. Then Rupert or his cronies dusted those older than him who might’ve stood against the injustices. He made commands via the blood oath so we could not oppose him. And everything seemed so…futile.” Dominic’s gaze turned inward.
Kendrick’s blade sliced through Dominic’s sleeve. “Another hit. Stay with me, old friend, or I might skewer you.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “The day you manage to skewer me with my favorite weapon, consign me to the grave.”
Kendrick’s teeth flashed in a grin.
“You’ve pinked me.” Kendrick watched the skin over his collarbone close.
“You let me through your guard,” Dominic said.
