Chapter 17

The Last Hearth
Umber Holdfast in the North

I didn’t take very long at all to snatch Rickon Stark, of course. It was still dark and I was a vampire, after all. It didn’t take me long to dispatch any guards standing in my way, though I wasn’t alone. My company was with me: Justen, Damon, Jenny, Carrie, Bancey, Claere, Nora, Lara, Tenas, and Alyse. Of these, six of them, namely Justen, Damon, Jenny, Carrie, and Bancey, were vampires now. The other five were human and that was about to change. I now had enough in my nest to turn everyone.

For now, though, we were strong enough, human and vampire alike, to slice through the ranks of the Umber guards and rescue Rickon. We managed to collect Shaggydog with him and led them out of the castle, using my remote to send us directly to Winterfell and drop them off there. Lady Sansa, acting as Lady of Winterfell for now, was very pleased to see us, though especially Rickon and his direwolf.

“Dear brother, you are the Lord of Winterfell now! Welcome home!” Sansa greeted Rickon as he appeared inside the courtyard of Winterfell.

He was a bit older and bigger than she recalled, but still her baby brother. For the moment, at least, she was correct. He was the Lord of Winterfell, assuming that Bran stayed true to his word and didn’t seek to be a lord or anything of the sort as the Three-Eyed Raven. The last legitimate, trueborn son of Eddard Stark, he was the heir of the North, the lawful Warden thereof.

Not that the Lannisters would agree, but they were themselves in a bind, what with Tywin and Cersei dead, Ser Jamie far from King’s Landing, and Tyrion in exile. I had no plans to help them gainsay the return of the Starks. I had the Tyrells in place and that was an improvement by some degrees.

What might happen with Stannis and his camp was unclear, but I had hopes that at least some of my scheming might bear fruit between all of these efforts. I might have to tweak things at times, but the general thrust was still feasible, I was sure of it. I had great influence already over House Tyrell, did I not? I could keep moving the pieces on the chessboard a bit longer and buy myself time to alter some other series that went south, couldn’t I?

American Horror Story immediately came to mind, but only after I had turned more of my folks ... and had traded in the silver for gold or cash. I couldn’t spend what my nest could not touch, after all. Oh, yes, Murder House had to be corrected in its course, because why not? That was my purview, my mission, to alter the direction of various series on television and that was what I would do with that show, too.

The Harmons could use a little family counseling, couldn’t they? Ben and Vivien, both wallowing in self-pity and blaming each other in such a toxic manner, Violet full of petty resentments against her old man, yes, a lot could be improved. Most of all, best not to let that despicable Tate fellow, the embittered Hayden, that fool Larry Harvey, and the man-hating ghost Moira ruin everything. Antichrist would have to come from somewhere else, even if he only existed in that fictional universe and others like it.

“Alright, guys, let’s trade out the silver for gold here. We cannot handle silver after tonight,” I made that meaning plain.

I also made a note to stop by the Buffyverse to pick up a special ring ... I was tired of being limited to the darkness. If I got a little tail there in the process, so much the better. I especially wanted some Faith booty and fully intended to tap that. Then again, Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Tara (if they would make an exception for me), and maybe Anya and Cordelia ... even Drusilla ... would be interesting to sample as well.