The New King of the Vampires

[dragonfan]

Before Stephan had left Nick’s loft to head back to his hotel and his meetings there, both Tracy and Natalie had shown up and accepted his offer to make them ladies in waiting. Natalie had then requested a private meeting to explain what she wanted as her boon. He had sent Nick on ahead to the hotel and Tracy on her way to her work so that he could grant Natalie the privacy she asked for. After they had left Natalie had played her tape for him; including Nick’s tearful confession of how much he did love her and how he couldn’t let her die at LaCroix’s hands.

“I want you to free Nick and Janette from LaCroix. They should not have to put up with this sort of thing. I know LaCroix arranged for Nick to kill women he’s loved before. He made the agreement but he refuses to play by its spirit. He uses it to torment Nick over and over again. Janette is only a little better off. She’s 1,000 years old but she still has to obey his slightest whim. Please break the bond of Master and Child between Lucien LaCroix and Nick Knight and Janette DuCharme. That is what I ask as my boon, freedom for them from their master.”

Stephan had learned enough about the doctor to realize just how difficult this request was for her and why. She wanted freedom for her friend and the man she loved, but she did not want to kill anyone. And if LaCroix died from her request she would see herself as a murder. But it was something she was willing to do as long as they were granted release from their master.

‘Why did this mean so much to her?’ he wondered as he landed on the balcony of his hotel suite. ‘If it was only because she loved Nick and wanted him free to love her then she would not have included Janette in her request.’ He barely took notice of the note that Michelle had left for him telling him that she knew he would be busy all evening so she was going out to run errands and would be back after midnight.

‘She kept saying freedom. That seems to be the key. She wants them to be free of LaCroix’s demands and his right to abuse them.’ Although fledgling/child abuse was frowned on, it wasn’t against the Code and most likely never would be. He had far too radical a change to ram through the Code to do anything about that.

He noted that someone had done some subtle rearranging to the furniture in the main room of his suite. It now resembled a throne room as closely as it was going to get. Nick was standing behind and to one side of the only chair in the room. And kneeling before it was every Enforcer in the city. It was a much larger group than normal. Every Enforcer was bound to the king by a fledgling bond, no matter who had actually brought him or her across. They had all felt his father’s death and had only been waiting for the call to pledge themselves to the new king.

Stephan had prepared himself for this moment, feeding heavily from the Bloodstone. This was his first true act as King. He handed Nick his coat and sat down in the chair. He was wearing his t-shirt instead of one of his usual sweaters so that his arms would be bare. He stretched them out and placed his wrists in the waiting hands of the Enforcers. He didn’t so much as twitch as one by one each Enforcer fed from him. As they did so, Stephan forged the fledgling bonds and he learned that not only were these all the Enforcers in the city, they were all the Enforcers left.

The rest had walked into the sunrise rather than serve Radu. It was only this group that had faith that Stephan would be able to take the throne from his mad brother. It was a humbling experience for Stephan. These people weren’t just loyal to him because he was the king; they were loyal because they believed in him. It also gave him the idea of how to grant Natalie’s request without killing LaCroix.

This was one of the marks of the king, to be able to snap fledgling bonds and forge them with someone who already had an active fledgling bond with someone else. But more than Enforcers had fledgling bonds with the king. The Royal Guard did as well. There hadn’t been a need for a Royal Guard since his grandfather’s time, but with so few Enforcers creating Royal Guardsmen would ensure that the Enforcers would focus on their jobs and not on protecting him.

It would also let Lucien live if he chose Nick and Janette as Guardsmen. They were a logical choice as they had been his and his mother’s protectors when he had been a child. He could kill several birds with one stone by doing this. Lucien would be in his debt, he would gain the guards that he wanted, he would be granting Natalie’s boon and he would be able to teach Nick the things that LaCroix hadn’t; which was something that had chaffed at him for centuries. For now though, it was time to get to work. When the last Enforcer finished feeding, he turned to the Captain of the Enforcers, “Demitri, bring me the Archivist.”

Aristotle was nervous. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know young Stephan. ‘King Stephan, he’s the King now!’ he reminded himself. But he didn’t know what Stephan had in mind for the Purge. Purges were nervous times for all vampires, even those who had what would normally be secure positions like him. He stood up as Demitri walked out of the King’s suite and gestured him in.

He walked into the suite and knelt at King Stephan’s feet next to Demitri. He could see that the young king was as pale as death. With as many Enforcers as there were in the room if the boy had fed and bonded with them all, it was amazing that he could even sit upright. “Aristotle, have you completed the census that my father commanded?”

“Yes sire, it is here,” he held up the briefcase that held both a laptop and a series of disks.

“Demitri, how many times have we come close to being discovered in the last decade?”

“One thousand, five hundred and fifty eight times Your Majesty.”

“You all know that your work has increased every year, but I don’t think you have all known the extent of the problem. We are averaging ten times a month that a vampire comes close to being discovered or actually is discovered. It is no longer a question of keeping our race a secret. The question is when will we be discovered by the entire mortal world?” Stephan paused to let that settle into their minds.

“When it happens it must be we who control it. It must be under our terms, not the mortals. The worst has already happened. They already know how to destroy us and now they have a new weapon, the Fever. It would not take much for them to design another virus that will kill us all. Dr. Lambert saved us and it is her research that has provided us with a way to control how the mortals see us. To the mortal world vampirism will be nothing more than, under the proper conditions, a highly contagious genetic virus. By making our people something that they can understand and most importantly feel slightly superior to, they will have no reason to start the hunts once more.

“Do not misunderstand me. I personally couldn’t care less what they think of us, but the welfare of my people come first. We will be discovered and I must take every advantage I can to make sure that my people survive this situation. When the mortals discover us there will be no place to hide. Their new technologies will see to that. That means The Code must change and you must Purge our people of those that will cause me more problems with the mortals than I can handle. I must do every thing I can to prevent the wide scale hunting of our people by the mortals.

“The Archive is now open to the Council of Elders, the Captain of the Enforcers, the Captain of the Royal Guard and me. Demitri, Aristotle take the census and find those who are mad, those who cannot stop killing, those who torture or torment mortals in ways that break the mortals laws and those who cannot live in peace with mortals. You have four nights. At the first hour of Sunday, the Purge begins.”

“Dismissed,” Nick snapped and the Enforcers left, dragging Aristotle with them. “All right, Stephan. You need to feed and lay flat for a while. Up you go,” he said as he carried Stephan to the bedroom.

“Michelle will be back soon,” Stephan muttered. Nick laid the exhausted vampire on the queen sized bed. Stephan hadn’t been the only one to prepare for tonight. He knew that the Bloodstone would not be enough to help Stephan recover from the blood loss binding the Enforcers to him had caused. Stephan would need a large volume of blood and Nick had brought a case from LaCroix’s personal supply to the hotel. While it was admittedly a petty jab at his master, Nick also knew that it was the best blood available and he would give his king nothing less.

Swiftly he uncorked a bottle and set it beside the bed. Then he climbed in behind Stephan and pulled him into a reclining position against Nick’s chest. From there it was an easy task to carefully dribble blood into Stephan’s mouth. It wasn’t long before Stephan was draining the bottle in large gulps. “Easy, Stephan, easy,” Nick soothed. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“You can drink slowly when you’ve been nearly drained dry,” Stephan griped but he did take more time with the second bottle and the third. Then he heard the door to the suite open. “Michelle, she’s back. Let me up! I don’t want her to see me like this!” Stephan hissed at Nick.

“Stop that! You still haven’t had enough blood and you need to spend the rest of the night resting.” ‘Or at least that’s what I’m going to tell anyone who tries to see him for the rest of the night,’ Nick told himself. He knew what Michelle had planned and he was going to make sure that they had both the time and the privacy they needed. He would also make sure that Stephan didn’t make a stupid mistake by not drinking enough blood to replace what he had lost.

“Stephan, I’m sorry I’m late,” Michelle trailed to a stop when she was Stephan and Nick on the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Stephan insisted. But he was still weak enough that Nick had no trouble holding him down.

“He will be fine my lady. He just needs to replace the blood he lost bonding with the Enforcers tonight. I’ll make sure that the two of you get plenty of time to, rest before sunrise.” Nick handed Stephan another bottle. “Make sure he drinks all of this tonight my lady.”

Michelle caught both the slight pause and wink Nick gave her from behind Stephan’s head. ‘So they were going to be, resting, while Stephan recovered,’ she thought. ‘At least Nick was far more subtle than Lillian had been.’ She remembered the time her friend had simply blurted out to their friend Mara that she and Michelle would leave her and her boyfriend alone so they could have s*x. “I’ll make sure he has plenty,” she simply said. Nick eased out from behind Stephan, bowed to them both and left.

“I don’t need to be coddled,” Stephan grumbled.

“Of course you don’t,” Michelle agreed and then held up one of the bags her shopping was in. “But perhaps you could drink your blood while I try on what I bought?” Seeing the label, Stephan quickly agreed.

[dragonfan]

It was three in the morning when Michelle finally fell asleep. Stephan watched her sleep as he dressed, she had surprised him. When she’d told him she was going shopping he’d no idea she meant to shop for lingerie. It made sense though when he thought about it. She had been traveling on a research trip when they’d met, not a romantic one. She’d been dressed for practicality. Toronto was the first big city they’d stopped in once they’d left Prejnar. She’d been also been buried in either her research or her dissertation until now.

Stephan gently kissed her cheek and left the bedroom. He had about three hours before sunrise. And that meant that he could accomplish one more task tonight. “Nicholas,” he said formally. Nick was reading on the couch and looked up when Stephan said his name. “Call your sister Janette and have her come to the suite now.”

Nick frowned but pulled out his cell phone. He didn’t know what Stephan wanted with Janette, but it was obvious that it was the King that wanted her. And when the King of the Vampires wanted to see a certain vampire, that vampire had better show up. He just hoped she wasn’t busy.

Janette had been waiting for her brother’s call. LaCroix had warned her that the King wished to see her and would send for her when he was ready. She left the Raven immediately and flew directly to his hotel. When she arrived, Stephan ordered them both to kneel in front of him as he sat in the chair that had, for now, become his throne. “For her work in curing the Fever I granted Dr. Lambert a boon. What she has chosen is for the two of you to be freed of your bond to your master. I know the sort of man Lucien is. I’ve watched how he has treated both of you and I agree with Dr. Lambert, both of you do deserve better. Janette, give me your wrist.”

Janette was shocked and worried but handed over her wrist as he commanded. Stephan first drank from her and then had her drink from him. As they exchanged blood, Stephan snapped her bond to Lucien and reforged it stronger to himself. With the bond came her memories of her master. Stephan swiftly searched through them to discover what lessons Lucien had failed to teach her. As he had feared, Janette had faired no better than her brother at the hands of their master. There were several large gaps in her education.

Stephan then held out his hand for Nick’s wrist and repeated the procedure. The horrors that LaCroix had visited upon his ‘favorite’ son were worse than he had anticipated. Dr. Lambert had been right about LaCroix making certain that Nick killed those he loved, and Nick, like the men of his own family, tended to fall in love with mortal women. What Stephan considered to be the worst was that it was easy to insure that a mortal woman survived, rather than died. All a vampire had to do was to make sure that their lover was bitten in a muscle area before things got too far along. The instinct to bite at climax would also direct the vampire to the spot that was already bleeding.

“Lucien has neglected to teach both of you certain things. For you Janette, most of these things are not vital for you to know but they are things you should have learned. For you Nick, some of these same things are vital. Without these lessons, your life has been much harder than it has to be. Now both of you listen to me,” Stephan said. He instructed them both on the techniques needed to shut out other vampires from their minds and watched as they both quickly mastered the technique. It didn’t take either of them as long as it would have if they had been fledglings. An hour later they were both proficient enough that he was satisfied they would not be subjected to another vampire’s thoughts without their knowledge and consent. It would also allow them to know things that he did not wish anyone else to know. Being a king meant that there were few people he could confide in. Both their new ability and their bond with him meant that Nick and Janette were now among those few.

“Janette, come here please.” Stephan led her to the bedroom where Michelle was sleeping. “Dr. Lambert wanted your freedom. The best I can do is to give you the duty of guarding my lady. As she is a mortal, your duties will not last very long. She is a scholar, and the only duty you have is to see that no one harms her.” Janette nodded, that was a light duty indeed. “This is your only duty and purpose in the Royal Guard. The rest of your life is yours to do with as you please.”

Stephan turned to Nick. “Nicholas, you are now the Captain of the Royal Guard. I will be your primary responsibility. For right now, however I need you to stay at your job as a detective. When the time comes, you will be an example and an important one. But for now, I just need you to be with me when I’m in meetings and during the day. Nick?” Stephan was startled at Nick’s appearance. He hadn’t moved from where he had knelt as he had put Stephan’s lessons to use.

“All I can hear is silence,” Nick whispered. “For so long, I’ve lived in a battlefield. But now there is only silence.”

It was then that Stephan finally understood. He had always known that Nick broadcast his emotions loudly, but he had thought (as had most people who met the Crusader) that it was only because his was an extremely passionate nature, even for a vampire. But that wasn’t the case, Nick broadcast so loudly because he was so strong. And the stronger a vampire could broadcast, the sharper his ‘hearing’ was. Nick must have been inundated on a nightly basis every time he got even remotely close to another vampire. How could have Lucien missed this? How could he have taken such a chance with Nick’s sanity? It was no wonder the man sought a cure; it was probably the only way he could see to live and not go insane!

Stephan explained Nick’s situation to Janette and asked her to take Michelle to Nick’s loft. “He needs you near him right now, Janette and the hotel isn’t set up to accommodate all of us during the day. I’ll take Nick.” Putting words into action they headed for the loft. They arrived just before sunup. Janette put Michelle on Nick’s couch and went and got blankets and a pillow off of Nick’s bed for her. Stephan lowered Nick to the floor beside his coffin. “Nick, can you hear me?”

“I hear you Stephan. Thanks for taking care of things right now. I’m afraid I need to get used to this before I can be of much use,” Nick whispered.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll adjust quickly. But the sun is almost up and I must sleep now. Good day my oldest friend. I’m pleased that I was able to help you so,” Stephan whispered as well. Then he climbed into his coffin to sleep. Janette settled the blankets over Michelle and placed the pillow under her head. Then she sat down next to Nick and leaned into him.

She and Nick had shared a passionate romance but it had eventually burned itself out. Not that they couldn’t bring fires from the embers if she tried she knew. But what they had now was even better than the romance had been. Nicola would always be her knight defender and her confidant. She would always need that more than she needed a lover.

When Natalie entered the loft she wasn’t sure what to expect. Would Nick be angry with her? Would he be sad, happy? There was no telling how he would react. LaCroix had been abusive and victims of abuse were often conflicted over their abusers and as far as she could see Nick was very much conflicted in what he felt for LaCroix. She found Nick leaning against Janette, both of them on the floor up against a coffin. Janette was watching a sleeping figure on the couch and Nick had his head tilted back and seemed to be listening to something that Natalie couldn’t hear.

Janette turned so suddenly to face the elevator that Nat wasn’t sure she’d seen the vampiress move. She stood up and moving quickly, threw her arms around the startled mortal. “Thank you, doctor for not asking for LaCroix’s head! This is so much better for us, especially Nicola!” she exclaimed in a whisper. “I never truly understood why he was the way he is before. Now I understand that he could hear so much more than I. It is no wonder he never enjoyed being part of a Community and wished to be mortal again. I’m surprised the noise did not drive him mad.”

“What noise?” Natalie asked in confusion. She had managed to catch that Stephan had found a way to give Nick and Janette their freedom from LaCroix without killing him (something that she was grateful for) but Janette’s talk of noise threw her for a loop.

Janette swore delicately in French. “Of course you do not know. Come, sit with us and I will explain.” She gently pulled Natalie over and sat her down next to Nick. Then she sat down on Natalie’s other side. “Has Nicola explained that one vampire can sense another even if they do not share a blood bond?”

“Yes,” Natalie said quietly. She didn’t know why they were whispering but she would follow Janette’s lead. “A blood bond is the bond between vampire family members or those who share their blood with each other. The more often they share blood, the stronger the bond is.”

“Yes, but for Nicola it is more than that. For most of us sensing each other is something we must learn, another skill we must have to survive. But Nicola is so strong that he senses everyone all the time. That is why he found it so difficult to sense just one vampire when he was a fledgling. How do you pick out a single voice in a crowd? He could not. Only if we were away from a Community could he do it. That is why he has never been happy when surrounded by his own kind. That is why he has always sought the company of mortals. He cannot hear them.”

Nick chuckled, he could tell that Natalie was still confused, and of course Janette would dismiss his religious beliefs out of hand. “When you asked for us to be freed from our fledgling bonds to LaCroix, Stephan knew that you didn’t want to kill anyone but would accept it if that was what it took. So he chose to make Janette and I members of the Royal Guard. The Guard are like the Enforcers, bound only to the King. Stephan then taught us how to block out other vampires, something that LaCroix never bothered to do.” He pulled Natalie into a hug. “Thank you for the silence Nat. You have no idea how much it helps.”

He wasn’t going to tell her what he had begun to suspect; that a good portion of his mood swings hadn’t been completely his, but that whatever he had been feeling had been amplified by others. Time would tell if his suspicions were correct. He knew, however, that his temper was solely his own. That was something that hadn’t changed from his mortal life when he had become a vampire. He had just become better at controlling it.

[dragonfan]

Schanke and Tracy were making their scheduled stop at Nick’s before heading home. They had great news. Schanke was practically dancing as he opened the elevator door. “Hey guys!” he called as he burst into the room. “We’ve got great news! The best news ever!” Tracy was grinning as she followed the senior detective into the room.

“Hey, keep it down will ya?” Michelle grumbled from the couch.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I’m Don Schanke. Tracy and I are Nick’s partners on the force,” Schanke held out his hand to the young woman who had been sleeping on the couch. He was too excited to calm down and be embarrassed over waking her up.

“Michelle, and this had better be really good news detective, or I may just feed you to my fiancé.” Michelle knew that Stephan wouldn’t really eat the nice detective that was Nick’s partner, he liked him too much. But the small threat made her feel better. She was too tired right now to be nice and polite.

“Well, you know that Nick’s out on sick leave and there is an IA investigation about it?” Schanke turned to Nick who hadn’t moved from his position on the floor. “Sneed confessed. It was all deliberate and he said it was because he didn’t believe that your allergy was real. Lots of guys down at the precinct on days talked to IA too. Heck, even Miller down in Records came in voluntarily, and admitted that although he was giving you a hard time he and the guys down there had done what they could to minimize the sun exposure you got by coming over to the door so that you didn’t have to go into the room because of all of the windows.”

“They also said that most of what you were being ordered to do was stuff that didn’t have to be done immediately. There was no reason to call you in early. I told them that most of the paper shuffling was supposed to be my job, after all I’m the rookie here!” Tracy added.

“And that’s not the best part of all! You’ll never guess!” Schanke was so excited he was literally vibrating in place.

“The world’s best polka group will be performing at Sneed’s trial?”

“No, Nat that can’t be it. Elvis came out of hiding and is playing at my welcome back party, right Schank?” Nick teased.

Schanke took their teasing with grace. “Better, the powers that be got Stonetree to come in and take Sneed’s place while Reece is recovering!”

“That’s great!” “Wonderful!” Nick and Natalie exclaimed. They had both missed working with the large Native American captain. He had been the one to team up Schanke with Nick in the first place. It was under his command that they had become the best detective team on the Toronto police force.

“Yeah, they felt that it was best under the circumstances for someone who had already worked with Nick and that Nick trusted to take over the department. That’s why they pulled in Stonetree. He’s worked with you the longest of all the captains on the force.” Delighted he stood there bouncing and grinning so hard it looked like his face was about to snap in two.

“It looks like today is the day for good news isn’t it?” Natalie said, looking at Nick. Did he want her to say anything? Schanke was the only one here who didn’t know about vampires but he did know that LaCroix was Nick’s father and he had approached her before worried about the emotional abuse he feared the man was heaping on Nick. Nick nodded slightly. He would trust Natalie’s judgment on what should and should not be told.

“There’s more good news. LaCroix is now under a restraining order. That little blow up of his in the department had repercussions too. I just hope it slaps some sense into his head about what he was doing to his children.”

“I thought he was worried about Nick’s health? I mean, I know I don’t like Mr. CreepyCrawly, but I gotta admit, Nick was sick.” Schanke said.

“You don’t yell at someone for being sick and you don’t belittle the job they love Schanke,” Natalie said from experience. “That’s abuse, plain and simple. Someone understood what they were yelling at each other and got a judge on Nick and Janette’s side. LaCroix won’t be able order them around for a while at any rate.”

Janette stared at Schanke in shock. She knew of the ‘argument’ that the two mortals were talking about. She’d have been scared stiff if she had been in that room. There was nothing scarier than her former master when he was upset and this mere mortal had been there and still had the audacity to call him by that name? Finally she gave in to all of the shocks that had hit her that night. “Mr. CreepyCrawly,” she sniggered and then couldn’t stop laughing. “You called The General, ‘Mr. CreepyCrawly’!”

“Well he is,” Schanke protested, laughing along with her.

“Nicola, I finally understand why you like this man! I would have never believed it if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears! Mr. CreepyCrawly!” Janette subsided into giggles. That set Nick off as well.

“Ok you two, it’s late and you need to get some sleep. You’re both getting punch drunk. Tracy, would you help me get Janette upstairs?” Natalie asked. Tracy nodded and helped Natalie pick Janette up off the floor.

“My lady has to come too! I must guard her!” Janette insisted.

“Ok, she’ll come too,” Tracy soothed and shot Michelle a pleading look. Michelle sighed and got off the couch. It seemed that she wasn’t going to get any more sleep.

Nick and Schanke watched as they led Janette up the stairs. “Well partner, I’m supposed to ask if you want to do any computer work from here but I think the doc would have my guts for garters. When you start to go stir crazy for lack of stuff to do around here, let me know. Fortunately things are really slow right now. We only had one new case come in, an H and S, pretty cut and dry.

Schanke pulled out the notebook that was common to all detectives from his coat pocket. “Helen Mitchell, age nineteen, worked at Delmar’s Coffee and Snack House over on eighth and pine streets. She was dating a Gary Voigt for about; get this, six days before she broke up with him.” Schanke shook his head. He knew it didn’t take long for someone to get obsessed, but six days? “According to her roommate Helen was an old fashioned girl and wasn’t into sleeping around. That’s why most of the guys she dated didn’t last very long. They’d start wanting to jump into the sack and she’d break it off. Even for her though, Voigt was short term. She told the roommate that something about him was starting to creep her out which was why she broke up with him.

“Anyway, Voigt doesn’t get the message and starts harassing her. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do anything that we can pin on him and he walks. After he gets out of the harassment charge he goes over to the coffee shop and finds her flirting with a customer, one Larry Sheaffer. It wasn’t anything big or dramatic, the other waitress says they all do it and she was more low key than most of them. But Voigt takes exception, pulls out a gun,” Schanke looked up from his notes, “We’re still working on where he got the gun. And he proceeds to shout out the usual, ‘You can’t have her, she’s mine! If I can’t have her no one can!’ and shoots her, Sheaffer and himself. Mitchell and Voigt died on scene, Larry Sheaffer is in critical at the hospital.” Schanke shook his head at the waste.

“You’re right, that does sound cut and dry.” Nick paused for a moment to consider the tragedy. “I hope that Mr. Sheaffer recovers.”

“He should, he got medical help right away and while the wounds were serious it didn’t take long to patch him back together. Right now they’re just making sure he doesn’t get an infection or something. Well, I gotta go; Myra’s expecting me home for breakfast.”

“Thanks for the good news Schanke. I really needed to hear that.”

“Any time partner, any time, Hostalabyebye!” Schanke smiled on his way out. One of these days Nick was going to trust him with the truth, he knew it. Either that or he was going to have to tell Nick because Janette had almost blown her cover right then and there. He’d actually seen her fangs for a second when she was laughing at him. Ok, so calling some probably very old, and very mean vampire a name wasn’t very smart but when it got his partner and his ‘sister’ (yeah and he was the king of Egypt!) to laugh it was worth it. They were both far too serious. And he was just the guy to get them to lighten up.

Nick heard Michelle promise to stay with Janette up in his room and decided to move to the couch. Today hadn’t been exhausting for just Janette. He’d had his share of topsy turvy moments as well. He settled in and once more listened to the sound of the silence. He had missed this. He hadn’t known just how much he had missed it.

[dragonfan]

Chapter 11 - Girl Talk

Up in Nick’s bedroom Janette was trying to get Michelle to get into Nick’s king sized bed with her to no avail. “Just go to sleep. I promise I won’t go anywhere. You brought my laptop and I have some work I need to do.”

“Very well, my lady,” Janette yawned. The truth was she was exhausted. There had been way too much turning her world upside down tonight for her. “I can’t remember if I introduced you, but this is Doctor Natalie Lambert. She cured us of the Fever.” And with that Janette was asleep.

Natalie smiled at Janette. She had gotten closer to the vampiress after the Fever. Not as close as she was to Nick, of course, but slowly they were becoming friends. It helped that they were both more worried about Nick than they were about each other. As far as she was concerned what would be, would be when it came to Nick and Janette’s relationship. If Nick needed Janette for something that she couldn’t give him, then she was grateful that Janette was willing to give it to him.

“You threatened to feed Schanke to your fiancé? You wouldn’t happen to mean King Stephan would you?” Natalie said more than asked.

“I’ve had about three hours sleep. Besides, I know Stephan wouldn’t really eat him. Personally, I’m not sure whether it was having Radu as an older brother or growing up with a mortal mother but he kind of freaks at the thought of actually drinking from a person, well feeding anyway. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with biting.” Michelle blushed and rubbed her shoulder.

“Let me see,” Natalie said switching to doctor mode.

Michelle sat down on a stool and bared her shoulder for the doctor. “Stephan says that you know more about vampires medically than any one in the world. Do you know anything about pregnancy? Stephan said that his mother had a normal pregnancy except that she had a craving for blood. We’re trying to start a family.”

“Are you kidding? It took me three years to get Nick to tell me that a male vampire can’t climax without taking blood from his partner and even then he wouldn’t look at me for a week afterwards. If I want a blood sample, or a skin sample no problem, but if I actually asked him for a semen sample I think he’d actually spontaneously combust. There are times when it is very clear that he’s still a thirteenth century knight.” Natalie laughed as she examined the bite marks on Michelle’s shoulder. “I do know that Nick was told he was sterile and there has been more than one vampire that has told me and I quote ‘Vampires and mortals don’t play house. Either the mortal ends up dead or a fledgling.’ Personally I have some serious doubts about that seeing as how Royal vampires are born rather than brought across.”

Michelle thought about the things that she and Stephan had discussed before becoming lovers. “I think it has to do with several different things. First is that Royal vampires are born and that means that their blood is supposed to be more pure or something. All vampires descend from the Royal family in one way or another. Another is that they have more control, even as fledglings because they grow up as vampires. They learn control as small children. Well, most of them do. I’m not sure that Radu ever learned that lesson. Also, Stephan told me that fresh blood wins over hidden blood every time. That’s why he bites me before we get started.”

“The King has an older brother?” Tracy asked from where she sat on the end of the bed. She had her own reasons for being curious about the subject of Royal vampires versus regular ones.

“He did until just over three months ago. They were half brothers. Radu was permanently warped both physically and mentally. He murdered their father and then went on a killing spree. Karl, one of Stephan’s mortal friends, and I helped Stephan kill Radu. Well, ok I was more of the damsel in distress than helpful but Radu and the two fledglings he made did end up dead.” Michelle didn’t want to talk about the fact that those fledglings had been her friends.

“I’ve done the whole damsel in distress thing too where vampires are concerned,” Tracy said with sympathy.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the bite mark. I’ll need to take a blood sample to see how much of the virus is in your blood. As for a pregnancy, as long as you don’t have any problems with infertility and he doesn’t take too much blood I don’t see any problems. How long have the two of you been trying to get pregnant?” Natalie asked. It seemed to her that more and more of her patients had vampire related problems. If this kept up, she just might have to cut down on her hours in the morgue. Not that she wanted to do that, but there were only so many hours in the night.

“We’ve been lovers for almost three months now, but we’ve only just really started trying for a baby. Stephan told me that you found a virus but he didn’t say much about it other than it was genetic.” Michelle was wondering just how much of this virus was in her and if it really mattered.

“The cause of vampirism is a viral nucleotide that attaches itself to a person’s RNA. The damned thing is a persistent son of a gun but it only takes hold of a person if both a certain level of the virus is present and there is a large amount of blood lost. If both of those things happen it becomes extremely contagious. I only found it last year. I must admit, I’d love to get a sample from his majesty, all kinds of samples to be honest,” Natalie grinned. “I don’t suppose you could persuade him for me?” she asked felicitously.

“What do you mean it’s persistent?” Michelle asked. Tracy nodded as she wanted to know as well.

“I’ve been trying to find a cure for the virus. Nick doesn’t want to be a vampire any more. Or at least he didn’t while he was still bound to LaCroix. Considering how the man abused him for nearly eight centuries, I’m not surprised.” Natalie sighed and sat down on the bed next to Tracy. “He may not feel the same way anymore but the truth is I’m hooked on the puzzle. Now that I know what the physical cause is, I will find a cure, one way or another, even if I have to give up the sun to keep working on it. Even if no one else wants it, it is a solution to those who survive a vampire attack with too much of the virus in their systems. Give them the cure and they won’t become hunters. It will be just another assault that needs to be treated.” She didn’t speak of the other reason why she would give up the sun. That was still between her and Nick, if he decided that now they could be together or not she’d deal with it.

“Vachon told me about Hunters. Anything that keeps their numbers down is a good idea in my book,” Tracy said. “And it’s not like I can’t understand where they’re coming from. I mean, it must be really horrible to be caught half way between being a vampire and being mortal.”

“Exactly, and I’m sure that Nick isn’t the only child being abused, excuse me, WAS being abused by his master. I’d like to be able to give them an option as well.” Natalie said. It was good to have a goal in life. It was just that sometimes the sheer absurdity of it hit her. She was a forensic pathologist who was researching a cure for vampirism.

Michelle giggled, “You do realize just what we’re talking about right?”

“Oh god, yes, sometimes it just really hits me about how unbelievable all of this is. We’re talking about vampires, real live or undead if you prefer that description, vampires.” Tracy said. “I mean, I’m a homicide cop. That’s about as practical an occupation as you can get and here I am talking about vampires and sitting not two feet from a sleeping one.” She gestured at Janette’s sleeping form.

“I know what you mean. For all that I’m a folklorist; I tend to be a very practical person. If I hadn’t come face to face with Radu, I don’t think I’d have ever believed. How did the two of you find out about vampires being real?” Michelle asked.

Tracy started with her story, “I was checking out a make shift morgue that held the bodies of the victims of an airplane bombing. Vachon was one of the passengers and he was poking around looking for his hand. I found him and well, for some reason he decided not to kill me. We’ve been friends ever since, that was about eight months ago.”

Natalie smiled, “I was working on my birthday when the body of a man who had tried to stop a robbery came in. The robber had thrown a pipe bomb in the guy’s face for his trouble. Nick woke up on me and then I found out later that he was a homicide detective. We ended up working together not only on trying to find a cure but professionally as well. That was five years ago.”

“Five years!” they both exclaimed.

“And the two of you are still claiming to be ‘just friends’?” Tracy exclaimed. “Come on, you can’t tell me that there isn’t something more between you and Nick.”

Natalie sighed. If there was anyone who could understand what she was going through it would be these two. She grabbed her courage and confessed. “When Nick was a fledgling he bargained for his sister’s life with LaCroix. He would let her live only if when one day Nick fell in love with a mortal woman her life would belong to him. Not only do we have problems with Nick loosing control but if LaCroix had found out before his majesty had broken the fledgling bond between Nick and LaCroix I’d be dead. Now, the status quo is gone and I have no idea what’s going to happen now.” Natalie admitted. “I don’t know if he wants to try to have a relationship with me or what. I’ll just have to wait and see.”

Tracy reached over and hugged Natalie. “There is no doubt he’s going to want to have a relationship with you Nat. And if that thick as two bricks partner of mine doesn’t take advantage of this Schanke and I will both gang up on him. We’ll even get Myra in on it!” she promised.

“I’ll help too.” Michelle promised. They put their heads together and started to plan.

[dragonfan]

Lucien LaCroix was furious and every vampire in the city knew it. Even he couldn’t contain the rage that echoed through the ability of the vampires to sense one another. It was all he could do to control himself physically. The King had taken both of his favored children from him and had given him no explanation as to why. When he had gone to demand a reason, Nicholas had not even allowed him to see the King. He had turned him away. Him, one of the Elders of the Council! Nicholas had told him that the King would see him when he met with the Council of Elders and not before.

“It is the right of the King to claim any vampire he wishes Lucien. You know this,” Elder Ari said.

“Yes, but to take both my favored children without so much as an explanation is not something I can except quietly!” he hissed.

“But I don’t owe you an explanation Lucien.” Stephan stood in the doorway of the backroom at the Raven. This was where the Council was meeting with the King. Lucien’s rage was so great, and the other Elders were so strong, that the only customers out front were mortal. Every other vampire in the city had cleared out. “And even if I did, you should have figured out at least a few of the reasons why I chose Nicholas and Janette without my telling you.”

Stephan strode to the head of the table and sat down, with Nicholas shadowing him every step of the way. “Nicholas and Janette are now Royal Guards, Nicholas for myself and Janette for my mortal lady, just as she was for my mother.”

“Well, that explains it,” one Elder, a short Chinese woman, muttered. The Elder next to her jabbed her in the ribs.

“There are other reasons of course,” Stephan continued smoothly, as though he hadn’t heard and seen the by play. “The Enforcers will begin the Purge tonight. This way they need not concern themselves with my safety nor that of my lady’s.” He turned hard eyes onto Lucien. “It also allowed me to save your life, Lucien.”

“WHAT?!” the cry came from all of the Elders except LaCroix. “That mortal doctor!” he hissed.

“She wanted your head Lucien! Be grateful that what she asked for was Janette and Nicholas’ release from you. You brought this upon yourself. She does not have the full story of what you have done to your ‘favored children’ over the centuries but I do. You almost drove Nicholas mad! How could you have refused to teach him to shield himself when you must have known how strong he is? He has been bombarded from the moment he crossed over!” Stephan didn’t have to fake his fury.

“There was no need,” Lucien began only to be interrupted by Stephan.

“I have only one thing to say about that Lucien, Gregory!” he snapped. That silenced everyone. They had all been present when Gregory had come to court. His master had been not much older than Stephan was now but he had not taught his first fledgling how to shield. Once they had arrived at court Gregory hadn’t lasted long and he had taken out the last of the Royal Guard in his attempt to stop his torment.

“I did not realize he was that strong,” LaCroix whispered.

“You never bothered to look you mean,” Stephan snapped. He took a deep breath and continued, “Our debt to Dr. Lambert as a nation is now repaid. She and Detective Tracy Vetter, one of Nicholas’ partners on the police force have both agreed to become ladies in waiting to my lady. Dr. Lambert will be able to care for her better than any midwife from Prejnar and Detective Vetter will be able to protect her during the day.

“Do any of you have any business you wish to bring to my attention?” he asked changing the subject.

“James Grannis wishes to establish a new Community,” Elder Annittas began.

“Where and who are the locals?” Stephan asked. The next few hours were taken up with similar tasks, determining the general placement of new Communities, the planning of new refuges, the Archive being open to the Council, and Stephan’s announcement that Castle Vladislas would be rebuilt.

“Are you going to turn the entire reconstruction over to mortals?” Elder Mari asked.

“No, Lucien, who knows more about Castles than anyone else, will supervise the reconstruction. Lucien, see to it that all of the crypts and coffins are removed to the Prejnar Fortress before the mortals begin. Karl will show you where they are to be stored. A coffin isn’t going to cause any comments in a monastery,” Stephan instructed.

Lucien nodded. His temper had cooled a great deal when he had learned just what the ‘good’ doctor had wanted and why. That Nicholas was as strong as Gregory had been had never crossed his mind but now that the idea had he could see how so much of his son’s frustrating behavior was similar to that of the doomed fledgling. Of course, the fact that they had spent so much time in areas with low vampire populations had built up Nicholas’ tolerance. It was probably the only thing that had kept him from greeting the sun. And now the King was giving him an important assignment. There would have to be modifications to the old ruins to ensure that the mortal woman lived long enough to bear his King a child.

“Majesty, it’s midnight,” Nick said.

Stephan nodded to him and turned to the Council. “The Purge begins,” he said simply and left with Nick trailing along behind him. The Council looked around and wondered who among them would still be there when they met again.


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“So much for a slow week,” Schanke muttered as he held up the crime scene tape for Tracy. From midnight on it was like homicide was the new national sport, or at least reporting it was. They had yet to find a single corpse. There were reports coming in from all over that some kind of crazies were running around staking people, chopping their heads off, and one report claimed that man was set on fire. He just hoped Nick and Janette weren’t on someone’s hit list. ‘Now if it was Mr. CreepyCrawly I wouldn’t mind,’ he thought to himself.

He supposed he ought to include Tracy’s snitch if he was praying. He knew the guy had to be a vampire if the looks he and Knight had been shooting each other behind Tracy’s back were any indication and he had been helpful. “Did anyone find a corpse this time?!” Schanke called out annoyed.

“Yep! And this one’s a doozy Detective,” the uniform said. “We also got a witness but she isn’t talking. In fact, she refuses to say anything. I mean she won’t even open her mouth.”

“Great just what we needed, a witness that we’re not even sure is a witness,” he shook his head. He walked through a bunch of trees to a small clearing in the park. To one side crouched a young woman staring at the body, she was curled into herself and completely ignoring the uniform standing next to her. In the middle of the clearing the body of a tall man lay, staked multiple times to the ground. There were wooden stakes in his arms, legs and in multiple places in his body, most noticeably right where his heart should be.

“Tracy, take the witness, maybe she needs a woman’s touch. I’ll take the body.” Tracy nodded and Schanke went over to where Natalie was examining the body. “What have we got Nat?” He really didn’t want it to be what he thought it was. The last thing he wanted around was some loony tunes who were randomly hunting down people they thought were vampires. His own little bunch of blood drinking creatures of the night might be in danger. ‘And Myra and Jenny would kill him if anything happened to Uncle Nick!’ Schanke thought.

“Damned if I know what to make of it, Schanke. He’s been staked multiple times and I’m not sure that it was just with the wood stakes,” she pointed to the flesh surrounding the wood. “That looks to me to be some kind of corrosive. I’ll know more when we get this guy back to the lab. It’s going to be a hell of a job getting him off the ground though. Those stakes went all the way through and into the ground.”

“Oh man, oh man, oh man,” Schanke just shook his head. “I want these guys Nat. It would be just our luck for these nut cases to go after Nick.”

“Don’t even think that Donald Schanke!” Natalie hissed. She knew who was behind the killing and most likely why. This had to be part of the Purge that Nick and Stephan had told her was coming. She had to get this one back to the lab before the sun came up and toasted the corpse. The last thing they needed was to get that on tape!

Later at the morgue, she was very careful not to remove any of the stakes in the body. Whoever this was he hadn’t just been part of the Purge, he had provoked the Enforcers into a real rage. “Natalie?” Tracy said as she poked her head into autopsy room. Natalie turned and waved her in. “Well, what are we going to do now?”

“Well, this one wasn’t supposed to be found. What ever he did he really pissed off some Enforcers. Usually they just stake, decapitate or set someone on fire, they don’t do things like this all the time,” Natalie said. “I think he was supposed to be finally burned in the sun. Contact Nick, and let him know where all of the evidence is. The Enforcers did this, so they have to clean it up. I’ll put Mr. Soon to be Toast into drawer 15. I think I’ll have other customers to do first,” she said.
Chapter 12

Tracy nodded with understanding and took off, pulling out her cell phone. This was more than a slightly dangerous situation. If they couldn’t get a handle on the evidence, make it disappear or something, the existence of vampires could be confirmed and that would be a disaster for everyone.

[Lady Mage]

This is very good! I am enjoying it very much. I don't normally like vampire stories, but this is an exception. Are you going to continue?

mage

[dragonfan]

Yes I am. I kind of stopped posting here because I got stuck and then I forgot I was posting here because I wasn't getting any feedback. Sorry about not answering sooner.