Blood Brothers (short story)

Blood Brothers is a short story set in the Silverse. It details how Alistair and Adewale first met and became friends.

Blurb
'Two vampires. One heist.'

Alistair is a washed-up drunk. He's been rejected from the Solis Invicti, he's dejected from that failure, and – to add insult to injury – he's just been ejected from his local pub.

Then a Silver named Adewale comes to him with a proposition: steal the dagger that belongs to the leader of the Solis Invicti, and bargain their way into the Silver's most elite fighting force.

There's only one problem: if they fail, they're dead.

Content warnings
General warning for violence.

General warning for blood/gore, including blood drinking.

Events (Spoilers)
Alistair is drinking in a pub outside Inverness when Adewale walks in. At closing time, Alistair falls over in the snow and Adewale offers to help him up, calling him 'friend'; Alistair rejects this and walks home alone, He wakes up in a snowdrift outside his house, and when he gets in, he finds Adewale has made him breakfast. Adewale asks him to be his partner in a plan that will let them join the Solis Invicti; Alistair, having already been rejected once on account of his drunkenness, reluctantly agrees.

Alistair and Adewale head into Inverness to find some blood. Adewale picks a fight with some racist drunks and the two men feed, which Alistair reluctantly admits is easier than his usual methods. They then take the sleeper train to London, and take rooms at the Savoy Hotel. Adewale's plan is to steal the Fidelis Dagger, which the Secundus carries; it is an important item used in the swearing-in ceremony for new Solis Invicti. Adewale hopes that stealing it will demonstrate their skills to the Secundus in such a dramatic way that he will invite them to join the Invicti.

Disguised as a wealthy man, Alistair goes to a Silver-owned brasserie in Paternoster Square, which is a regular lunch spot for the Secundus. Once he is seated, Adewale, disguises himself as a waiter. When the Secundus gets up to leave, Alistair catches his attention and asks to see the dagger; though the Secundus is brusque, he allows Alistair to handle it and Alistair, using putty hidden in his hand, secretly makes an impression of the Solis Invicti crest on the hilt. Alistair asks the Secundus for an appointment to talk about weaponry, and they agree to meet back at the brasserie on the next Friday.

Over the next week, Alistair spends most of his time fighting the urge to drink, eating chocolate and watching TV, since he needs to keep a low profile. Adewale continues working at the brasserie to maintain his cover; however, he makes friends and at least one sexual partner. Alistair wonders why, when Adewale is so charming and handsome, he feels the need to join the Invicti, and confronts him, and Adewale tells him he is looking for his little sister, WInta. His half-sister was born Silver (a rare occurrence) after his father, newly Silver, remarried a Silver woman. When Adewale and Winta came to London, he promised to look after her, but she ended up looking after him, and turned him Silver at his request. When their parents died, she 'got into trouble', and Adewale hopes that joining the Invicti will allow him to find her and get her out of trouble.

On Friday morning, Adewale receives a replica of the Fidelis Dagger and the partners prepare for the meeting. At the brasserie, the Secundus reveals that he looked Alistair up and knows he had previously been rejected from the Invicti; Alistair dismisses that history and shows the Secundus the handcuffs he has invented, which are lined with blades to deliver poison or tranquilisers into the bloodstream of captive Silver, since they need to be bled or drugged to be controlled. He also shows him concentrated blood pills, which he takes with water to demonstrate their safety. Then he waves over Adewale to top up his water; Adewale spills the water everywhere, drenching the Secundus in water and reconstituted blood from the pills. He tries to mop up the Secundus's clothes, but is batted away. The hostess moves them to another table, and the Secundus tells Alistair he likes his ideas. He touches the dagger and notices it is a fake, as the silver on the crest flakes off when scratched. He accuses Adewale of theft, and Adewale hands over the real dagger, which was in his trousers. The Secundus throws the fake back at Adewale and tells him to get out. He tells Alistair that people are always trying to steal it to prove themselves to him, but he isn't going to punish Adewale because he recognises him. They continue their discussion of Alistair's inventions.

Alistair arrives back at the hotel at half past three, to find Adewale having sex with the hostess from the brasserie, Elodie. Later, Adewale shows him the dagger he left with, which is the real Fidelis Dagger. When Elodie had moved the Secundus to a new table, she'd placed a fake cap on the hilt of the dagger, so the Secundus was fooled into thinking that was a fake; the Secundus had swapped the fake dagger for the real one himself.

A couple of hours later, Alistair and Adewale go to the Invicti headquarters to reveal their successful theft. They show the dagger to the receptionist, who sends them up to the Secundus. They show him the real dagger, and cut their hands with it in the beginning of the swearing-in ceremony; the Secundus points out he doesn't have to accept their oath, but they point out their skills, Alistair's inventions and Adewale's fighting prowess. The Secundus notes that Adewale took down five Invicti 'when they came for his parents', and Adewale tells him he needs to join for his sister. The Secundus accepts them into the Solis Invicti, but puts them on a year's probation, warning them not to make any more trouble. Before training starts, Alistair tells Adewale they should go and find his sister.