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Faint voices floated to him from the adjacent room. Gen\'s and Olivia\'s. He had a small moment of deja vu before sighing deeply. Slowly, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for the bottle of blood wine on the nightstand. He drank deeply, the blood pooling in his heart where he ignited it with the intensity of his weariness.

He sighed in relief as the vitality flooded his body, soothing every ache and pain away.

Gen and Olivia entered the room just as he set the empty bottle down. Their expressions shifted from concern to relief upon seeing him awake. "Ezra," Olivia said softly, her eyes scanning his face. "We were worried. When you didn\'t come home, we went to the Star Heights hotel looking for you."

Gen nodded, her usual brash demeanor softened by genuine concern. "We found you unconscious in your car. What happened?"

Ezra hesitated, the memory of his battle with Valaren still clear in his mind. He hesitated. "I... I\'m not sure," he said finally, the lie surprising him even as it left his lips. "I think I used too much vitality while posturing."

Olivia and Gen exchanged a skeptical glance but didn\'t press further. Olivia stepped closer, her hand resting on his arm. "You should have told us if you were feeling unwell. We would\'ve found a way to go around it."

"It\'s alright. I just used up most of my vitality while playing around." Ezra smiled slightly. He just had a surprising realization. While they were his wives, he realized he didn\'t know them well enough to trust them completely with the truth of his dreams. The dreams, the strange connection with Valaren. He didn\'t know what them meant.

He wouldn\'t know if he was sharing something against the vampire rules. The rules whose main punishment was death.

"Come on," Olivia said, her tone brisk but not unkind. "You need to eat. It\'ll help you feel better."

They led him to the kitchen, where a spread of blood cooked food was laid out. Ezra sat at his usual spot at the table, taking in the meal. "Thanks for the food." He smiled at Olivia who nodded in acknowledgement.

As they ate, the conversation shifted back to their mission. He told them of his success with Griffin and asked about their own task.

"We failed." Gen answered. "For now."

"We need to get Sarah to come after us," Olivia said, her eyes thoughtful. "But she\'s too smart to take the bait easily."

Gen nodded, amusement in her eyes. "We just have to find the right pressure point. Everyone has one, even her."

Ezra listened, grateful for the distraction. The food and the blood wine worked together to restore his energy, but his mind remained restless. He thought about the dreams, about the progenitor\'s words. The most powerful blood of all is the blood that is freely given. What did that mean for him?

He looked at Gen and Olivia, seeing the determination in their faces. They were strong, capable, and loyal. But the realization that he still kept part of himself hidden from them weighed heavily on his mind. Could he truly lead and protect them without full trust?

**********

Their days had fallen into a monotony of sleeping during the day and attacking the gangs during the night.

Each night brought it\'s own challenge, and lately, they\'d begun to encourage vampire resistance which had stalled their progress. The vampires had even begun to infiltrate their own gang, attempting to bring it down from the inside. They had already caught a few double agents and saboteurs, but the threat was constant and pervasive.

Ezra had even found a post it note with the words: \'Two can play that game.\' They needed to take one gang off the table instead of splitting their focus on one. The deal had to go through.

Tonight, Ezra was in the training room, focused on improving his combat skills. He was particularly working on fighting and balancing using only his tail as he sparred with Gen.

Ezra launched himself into the air, curving through a jump, while Gen hurled her giant battle axe at him, the force sending a small wind blowing around the room. With a grunt of exertion, Ezra dug his tail into the ground, using it to change direction mid air and dodge the axe. He landed smoothly, rolling up to meet Gen with a laugh.

"Nice try," he called out, his eyes sparkling with the thrill.

Gen already had another axe in her hand, descending towards his neck with a wide grin of her own. "You\'re getting better," she admitted, her voice tinged with pride.

Ezra slapped the axe aside with a powerful blow, the impact reverberating through the room. His tail came up, wrapping around Gen\'s torso and pulling her towards him as his punch raced towards her face. At the last second, he stopped his punch, his fist an inch away from her face, both of them grinning.

They separated, laughter filling the room. Gen clapped him on the shoulder. "You\'re really getting the hang of that tail. I\'m impressed."

Ezra accepted the compliment with a nod. "It\'s hard to forget killing a vampire with it in a single strike. The tail\'s faster than any other part of my body. It would be stupid to ignore it."

Just then, Olivia entered the training room, her expression serious. "Ezra, Gen. Count Griffin has set up a date for the negotiations with the Macmillan and Aaron covens."

Ezra\'s smile faded as he heard the news. "When?" He asked, dismissing his tail.

"Two nights from now," Olivia replied. "We need to prepare. This is our chance to push for a resolution."

Gen stretched, her muscles still taut from the sparring session. "Looks like we\'ve got our work cut out for us. How do we want to approach this?"

Ezra walked over to a nearby bench, sitting down to peel off the weights he\'d been wearing. "We need to present an offer they can\'t refuse. But do we actually have anything they might want?"

"We still have to try. We are the ones with the advantage here. Whether we unite the gangs or not, the gangs would still be assimilated by the coming Count. It\'s better for them to get something out of it now than to lose everything later." Olivia nodded, her eyes serious. "That doesn\'t mean they\'ll make things easy for us. We need to be ready for any tricks they might have up their sleeves.

They\'ll be looking for any weakness to exploit."

Gen swung her axe in a wide arc, the blade gleaming under the light. "Let them try. We\'ve faced worse."

Ezra grinned at her confidence. "Whatever happens, let\'s deal with this. We\'ll finally know who owns which gang and when I find Malachi\'s gang? I won\'t be offering any deal. We\'ve got a score to settle."