Carrick was sitting alone in the summer house in a corner of his gardens, glumly watching two of his dogs chase each other and play-fight.
His newly-rediscovered humanity was not agreeable. He couldn't imagine how he had ever considered this state of being natural to him. He'd been born human of course, but it had only been seven mortal years before he had been taken into the agoge, the Spartan military school. He'd spent nearly 30 mortal years being trained and honed into the peak of human ability before he had been considered ready for initiation into the dark brotherhood of Spartan vampires. He had said goodbye to his human life on an endless winter night over 2500 years ago, and he had never expected to return to it.
Leto trotted over to him and sat down, gazing at him expectantly, but he was in no mood to join his pets in their romp. He patted her gently, then dipped his hand into his pocket as his business phone rang. The number on the screen was unfamiliar to him, but this particular number was only known to a small number of people.