The ranch had been their home for quite a while, they had stayed safe.  Though there were those humans who searched for them, either for their lives or their images on media, they could not be found.  It was suspected that Sadian, Astoric and their father were hiding, that they were with Thierry Jewel who also could not be found, even that they lived somewhere on the African continent.  But the Ranch was so remote and in name had always belonged to Aje and never to Thierry, though he seemed master of the house more often than not.

     Pop was always with them, keeping them safe.  And most of the time Grandmother, whom they all called Quick, was there, except for short trips she made elsewhere.  And always either Angel or Aje was with them.  They both might be called away as Quick was to help the Abdals.  Sadian knew about the Abdals.  Opium was with them now and she had visited the ranch.  She was the only other one who knew exactly where they were.  Others had some idea.  Old Steven knew that they were with Thierry somewhere.  David and Orchid suspected they had gone back to the ranch, David even knew its location, but they wouldn't tell anyone else. 

     Only those who stayed at the Ranch in the remote part of Tanzania where only the local wildlife, teams of archaeologists, anthropologists, various zoologists and the occasional geologist came poking about...and they were always more concerned with old bones dug up at Olduvai Gorge, the protected herds of animals or the present measurements of the Great Rift Valley...knew quite where they were.  None of the scientific teams paid much attention if they did notice a fenced in compound with large cast concrete house and various wood or pre-fab composite material out buildings.  If they noticed the strange children lurking in the tall grasses, watching the lions mate, as they did with video cameras, they showed no notice. 

     Sadian loved Africa, their life at the ranch.  Thierry was making sure all of them continued learning.  She suspected his motives, thought Thierry wanted to prepare them should such a time come when they would have to survive much more self-sufficiently than this.  Mother was earning a degree in medicine over the net, and was spending much more time devoted to soul searching and casting of spells.  Father was ever at one of the computers or reading old books from Aje's library.  Aje was turning out to be very interesting, Sadian thought. 

     But Thierry was particularly concerned with Sadian and Astoric's education.  He pushed them to their limits, fed them information of endless topics, always steering Sadian a bit more toward science and biology, toward the use of knowledge to manipulate one's environment.  Thierry allowed Sadian to see that he had collected genetic samples from many animals, as if he believed a flood would come and he must save these to repopulate the world. 

     Astoric learned to work with his hands, to make things, to understand design specs and blueprints and make from them useful objects.  And because he enjoyed it, Thierry encouraged him to study the local animals and to care for and feed the ones kept on the ranch. 

†  †  †

Angel was in the control room again.  There was no place quite as secure as Vampire City, and since Prince Ludwig cared more for his title than Italy's climate he had no problem with Angel taking up residence here again.  She had her own title, Empress of the Vampyres, and she had called many of her surviving kin to her.  

     She had Aje in an open window of the large world map that was so often projected onto the wall-sized thin plastic screen from a device in the ceiling.  He was keeping watch at The Ranch and was safely brought to her via maze of satellite relays Quick had set up.   Angel had her back turned to the screen just as Aje's voice came through the many concealed speakers in this room explaining the movements of American anti-Darkling organizations. 

     Athen was in the room with Angel, one of the few Vampyres who might be more powerful than she, and having foolish humans to befuddle and destroy had brought him back to life as it had Angel.  Athen had been going slowly mad living alone in that Palace in LA now that his father, Shade, and all of their bloodline no longer lived in the palace he had built for them.  And Kasha had come, the oldest still living of the Asbeelian or Asian Vampyres.  She had been using the name Koki last Angel lay eyes on her.  And Faye had brought others from Paris, Devon of course, and ever clever Dolores, and Deborah who had been among those who helped Angel take this city from the Catholics long ago.

     Angel looked to the screen again.  The map of the world now showed in color coded pinpoints of light the location and movements of all the known anti-darkling forces as well as the red which Angel had selected to show all places secured by the Darkling or her Abdals.  Angel nodded, having needed only half her attention to understand what Aje had been saying.  "I can't bring in Vampyres from certain places because it would cause suspicion.  Theo is much too public to be able to abandon New Orleans and it is best he keep Christian there, Zuelekha and a few others as well, for their own safety in number.  And Amad really should stay in New York.  He and Mazaret, though she isn't a Vampyre, do a good job of keeping that city under control.  And we need a few powerful beings in that area at all times should anyone go after Old Steven or his family."

     "Any new news from Karachi?" Aje asked.

     "They're still suffering the occasional hate crime.  But they've been able to win a few convictions for their attackers.  Orchid is ever supportive but...you know him...he's devoted to his people there.  He will never himself leave the Village unprotected.  And David has become a bit too public in his political work there, but he serves us well in that.  Miko and Laila are on call should I need them.  And of course Daerick and Joy and the kids have been here for quite some time."

     "She a problem?"

     Angel looked at the camera lens crossly, "So long as I have Athen or Faye or Dolores about Joy does as I say."

     "Opium and Jean-Daniel are doing well throughout the British Isles.  They called all the available Sidhe to them as you have gathered your kin.  The so-called Psychic Dicks were the main opposition to the Sidhe, in particular, and the Sidhe do seem to be winning."

     Angel nodded.  She'd been up there just before coming into Vampire City.  Opium and Jean-Daniel seemed able to dig up the most obscure reclusive members of their tribe to fight with them.  Not only did they have the Elves such as the ruling Sidhe such as Opi and Jean were sometimes called, but Opium had managed to get Robin to call all his diminutive yet oh so malevolent Pix to them, plus they had the Merrows already positioned throughout the Isles in the many waterways, they had a few Dwarves, they had Sidhe from all over the world, Sylphs, Fee, Nymphs, Dryads and Phi.  All manner of strange being had come en mass to the British Isles which had been the last stronghold of the Sidhe.  They would render their enemies there powerless and make that land theirs again. 

     Of course, the Abdals had much to do with this.  Once Opium and Jean-Daniel got the Isles under control, the Abdals would call on their legitimate political contacts and in all probability England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland would soon be part of Goth.  They might even straighten out the nasty centuries old border skirmish in Ireland faster than the pleas of the most talented Folk Singers.  Who would continue with their bombs and their guns when the land was so suddenly overrun by Faerie?

     They had let themselves be chased out long ago, because they feared they were nothing without the Angels who had lent their blood to the tribe, but they had thousands of years studying humans and plotting.  Now, they were too angry to fear. 

     "We're preparing to take down a large part of the Secret Christian Brotherhood in Morocco.  We're still working with associates in Goth and in San Francisco on fighting the Rowan."

     "I just got word that Opi and Jean gave Monique a small team of Sidhe and she took out the Manchester School."

     Angel nodded again, "A small nuisance really, but they did  have managed to really piss off Athen and David both in the past.  I'm glad to have the silly Vampyre hunters gone."

     "Apparently they had managed to trap a number of Unicorns."

     Angel glanced back to Kasha.  "Yes, Unicorns are natural enemies of Vampyres, the Asian Vampyres in particular had trouble with them in the past.  Do you know what tribe of Unicorns they were?"

     "Various," Aje said shortly.

     "Well so far we've encountered two of the tribes and made a peace with them.  I do not think all of their original tribes have survived to the present.  Opium should speak with them."  Angel studied the large screen before her.  A section of Africa was blocked by Aje's image but Angel knew what was there in any case.  The southern United States of North America still seemed a trouble spot.  "Anything from America?" she asked.

     "Mitchell Jewel went over to San Fran where his relatives had banded together with local Darkling.  They are a little behind you or I in organizing counter strikes.  I'm afraid that there are many small groups in the states rather than large very organized groups.  I think you may have to deal with the various Vampyre hunters there yourself."

     Angel shrugged.  "I've got a good number of my kind with me now, and I can still call on Miko and Laila and even Andrew.  And Amad with often help me.  And if we do go over there I'll be able to use Theo and Christian and even Zuelekha.  As soon as I deal with the SCB and relieve you for a time at the Ranch I'll make the trip over there."

     "Might be a couple years."

     "Years are nothing to me," Angel said.

     "As with me,  but they matter greatly when dealing with Humans.  Two more years and things may change again in the states."

     Angel cursed herself for not seeing it herself.  "Zachary will have finished his second term in office, it'll be a big election."

     "They elected a decent woman as the other of the Joint Presidents this year, she takes over after the new year."

     Angel bit at her bottom lip, thought.  "I'll need to think on this.  Something will have to be done about America."

     "The young adults are now those who were taught Darkling history as children, that might account for something."

     Angel shook her head.  "That's not enough, they have to identify, to understand.  I'll see if I can talk to Morpheus and to some of the Jewels.  I think he actually has stock in GothWorld, and they are in Television.  What they need over there is a hit series with Darkling in it.  Not just token characters of difference I mean whole shows about Darkling."     

     "What ever happened to Hi, Honey, I'm Dead?" Aje asked.

     Angel laughed, "Wasn't much more than a bad imitation of the Addams Family.  Not serious enough.  No, we need something that will draw the young voters."

     Aje had a wicked smile on his face.  "Let me handle this, Angel, I've got a great idea."

     "Not telling?"

     "Not yet.  I'll see you when you get back to the Ranch."

†  †  †

Morpheus rolled the rented German car through the security gate and drove to the garage behind the stable as he was directed.  He had not been to this castle in something near fifteen years, not so long ago since Rozz and Valerie's wedding.  Morpheus lifted the door and stepped from his car.  He preferred conventional means of travel when traveling alone and on business, otherwise he would have just materialized where he wanted to be. 

     Claudia greeted him at the door.  They had servants about, but once visitors were through the gate the extended families living within usually answered the door of their castle personally.  This was the young Claudia, Rozz's sister, though she was an adult now.  She gazed at his wings before managing to speak, Morpheus was used to the effect he had on humans.  "Tris is in the offices right now.  I can show you in."

     "Thank You," Morpheus said.

     Claudia walked him through the stone lined halls hung with tapestries and up a few flights of shallow stairs.  And then they stood in a hallway busy with traffic, carpeted with nobby carpet that Morpheus loved to walk on and hung with various print and poster artwork.  He recognized Ludwig, Prince of Italy.  The paparazzi were always putting pictures of him on the net.  And Alaric, his father, retired Leader of Goth. 

     Tris stepped out into the hall just then.  "Hello, Morpheus, what did you want to see me about?"

     "May I speak with you alone?" Morpheus asked.

     Tris glanced back into the room he had come from, wings twitching anxiously.  "Alrhight, no one's in the conference room."  Tris turned, lavender hair swaying with black, red and pink braids that hung from the right side of his part. 

     "How do you keep people from falling all over you here?" Morpheus asked.

     Tris laughed.  He had such a sexy laugh.  "You're feeling a touch of it aren't you?" Tris asked, blushing slightly.  He slipped into the conference room.   Morpheus stopped himself in the doorway. 

     "I suppose I am...hold on."   Morpheus let his eyes go black to the corners, saw the body he wanted to take and felt himself change, wings seemed to melt into his back, lips paled, eyeteeth grew into fangs, and then the corners of his eyes returned to white as the irises became brilliant blue.  "I feel...hungry," Morpheus said.

     Tris seemed to be studying the new body, smirking a bit, arms crossed at his chest.  "No sexual attraction?  Undying love?"

     "Nope."  It was easy to block the effect in this body, Morpheus' own body: much too sensual a thing.  The effect of Vampyre blood on the brain, amazing.  Ah, Vampyre alert.  Morpheus had been a body similar to this before, he knew how it worked.  "Freidrich is coming," he said plainly.

     The Vampyre ran into the room, might have seemed a blur to an other's eyes.  He had a gun aimed at Morpheus, "Sir!"

     The gun became red hot in Freidrich's hand and he dropped it.  Morpheus grinned at Tris across the table, "So I made myself a very powerful Vampyre."

     Tris laughed and looked up to his bodyguard.  "alrhight, Freidrich?"

     "Sir?"

     "It's OK.  He's not a real Vampyre.  I'm sure you worried when you felt his presence suddenly near mine...but it's Morpheus."

     Freidrich stepped closer and came to Morpheus' side so that he might look at his face.  "Yes, the Triquat, the shape changer.  We met in Berlin, Our Leader was there, John, before he had become Our Leader, and The Lady as well, and Joy."

     "Oh, I do remember.  You were in the German Darkling Guard, in Berlin.  Joy was flirting with you."

     "Trying to make John jealous...Sweet rather."

     "Probably wanted to get the two of you in bed together," Morpheus laughed.

     "I'm not gay," Freidrich said.

     "Pity," said Morpheus.

     Tris shook his head, sadly?  "Don't worry, Fred.  Go back to what you were doing."

     The Vampyre left the room slowly.  Morpheus saw Tris was tsking at him.  "What?"

     "You know that's what they hate about us," Tris said.  "Murph, you spend too much time in the Village..."

     Morpheus laughed loudly, was shocked that his laugh sounded so tinkly and high in pitch.  Must be the Vampyre blood. 

     "What?"

     "I've lived in various villages."

     Tris shook his head again.  "It's not kind...not polite to say things like that.  To suggest that people should be gay when they are not.  It would be like someone telling you that it's a terrible pity that you are gay."

     "I'd take it as a complement," Morpheus said.  "I came here on business tho."

     "Yes.  What is that?"

     "How would you like to have your own talk show filmed at GothWorld studios and aired in America and various other countries via satellite?"

     "You're serious."

     "Yes."

     "But why?"

     "We are both partangels, Tris, usually.  Associates of mine have let me know that having a popular show with a Darkling celebrity would do wonders for their cause."

     "You mean it would be good for all of us?"

     "Yes."

     "But why me?" Tris asked.

     "You're a celebrity.  You've been famous ever since they outted you during Caroline's campaign for the Presidency. And you were always finding your way into the news while you lived in Karachi..." Morpheus laughed, "Thinking you could go to a nightclub just like everyone else!  And then there was the deliciously eccentric Vegas marriage to the Leader of Goth which the chapel leaked a copy of to the press.  And there's that picture of you and Teena Marie crying over that little gymnast killed during the Olympics in Berlin...your wings showed and all.  They show it every two years in news retrospectives.  All those American zines are always including you on their list of the Fifty Most Beautiful or Interesting or Sexy People.  And I remember more recently some kid in Finland was putting digitally altered photos of nude figures with your face on the net.  Young Americans would eat you up.  They can relate to you, problems with family, wild years while at University, romance.  You're old enough to sound serious but you look young enough to wear the clothes all the young kids are wearing."

     "You have this all planned out?"

     "We have," Morpheus admitted.

     "Well, why do you think one talk show would be so important?"

     "Because, you're Darkling, and people are comfortable with that, they don't fear you much. You're photogenic and charismatic..."

     "Maybe too charismatic?"

     "Oh, we'll take care of that.  But you see you'd have guests.  Various humans and Darkling would appear and tell their stories.  All very real.  We'd pick guests with good stories.  And the people at home staring at their screens would see.  They would see how Darkling don't have to be feared at all."

     "But don't some talk shows get violent?" Tris asked.

     "Well, we wouldn't be one of those shows that invites the Klan on every other week pretending to let them tell their story and then stands about attacking them and just begging them to start yelling back at the audience.  It's all got to be very professional.  Just you and your guest in comfortable surroundings, a set that could be someone's living room.  And a small studio audience to give the people at home a voice with which to question.  And they won't want to argue with you, and so you'll let all their questions be asked in turn as best they can be."

     "This wasn't your idea," Tris said.

     "No, but I am involved with producing it.  Aje had the idea.  And Faye has become involved.  It's about time Faye try having a real job.  She says she used to sit around watching Oprah and that was a very successful show.  She's already got people researching for reading materials and quality films we can recommend to the viewers every month.  And we've got people working on a net site to collect viewer feedback and let viewers chat about the show and the books or movies they are all checking out."

     "But who are you going to get if you can't get me?"

     "Well in a pinch we'll have Faye host the show herself, but being a Vampyre closely related to Shade makes her less appealing to the masses."

     "Alrhight, Murph, I'll host the show so long as do get some say in what we do."

     "Excellent, I've got the contracts right here on my PDA."

†  †  †

He was watching Interview with the Vampire again, the small monitor in Astoric's bedroom showed the scene in which the vampire, Louis, is trying to make his slave girl leave him, but she is so concerned for her master that she will not leave his side...and then the breasts that just heave from the bodice of her dress, and the visible pulsing of the blood beneath the soft skin of her neck, and her wrist...

     Oh, he bites her of course, sinks his fangs down into her wrist and sucks blood from her.  And his pretty slave girl, Yvette or some such thing, cries out in pain, but it sounds beautiful somehow.  And then Louis, and this is so like the character Louis really, seems to feel awkward and guilty about biting her and apparently in trying to silence her kills her.  And then a short time later all the other slaves come with torches and Louis says that he is the Devil, and he burns his house...which makes Lestat very angry.

     Sadian let herself into the room, she often did this.  Astoric knew a few things about Sadi, she was a different person with him than with her parents, and she was another entirely when she thought she was alone with Thierry.  The monitor went black, the room silent, and Sadi must have done it.  She was Mara's daughter, she was witch as well as Shi Vampire.  Astoric didn't have quite her ability to effect matter by force of will. 

     "These old movies are bad for you," Sadian said as if she knew better.  She always assumed she did.  "It's so unhealthy...these old movies made by humans."

     "But I like them.  I like Interview, that little girl vampire is hilarious and tragic.  And the colors are just so beautiful."

     "Yes, Claudia," Sadian said, disappointed.  She did know the stories. 

     "And that one with the actors Winona and um...the one with orange hair...Dracula's wives have violet eyes."

     "They're only contacts."

     "I know," said Astoric slowly, as he was thinking, "I like the old fashioned effects, they used real props, camera tricks, not just a bunch of digitized dots programmed to appear as one person or other.  The colors are really so beautiful. And they are sad, but in a really gorgeous sort of way.  I also like that one with the stunning lady vampire in which the children she makes eventually age...forever and ever?"

     "Oh yes, the shower scene from The Hunger."

     Astoric smiled as he looked up at Sadian from his bed.  She'd watched the movies.  Astoric reached for the remote and turned the movie back on.  Sadian allowed it.  He watched as the character Lestat sat bitching to Louis in a cemetery crypt.  "And what if they don't want us there?" Astoric asked Sadian, hint of a false French accent. 

     She shook her head.

     "Do you think I would look dazzling and irresistible if I grew my hair out like that?" Astoric asked.

     "Yes."

     Astoric smiled to himself.  He didn't love the character Lestat that was in this movie, personally Astoric was thinking of changing his name to Nothing, because he had adored the book Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite, but one had to admit than in movie and in books Lestat did look dashing and well dressed.  And Lestat could do such mad things, like bow under the skirt  of  a religious woman and suck the bloody menstrual flow right out of vagina and womb...and no one was really shocked.   Astoric imagined many well dressed vampires standing about laughing, "Ha Ha, look what Lestat just did, that is just so Lestat."

     "You have a rich fantasy life," Sadian said as she lay herself down across the foot of Astoric's bed.  She was only a year or so older, but she could sound so like a Psychology text book.

     Astoric rolled his eyes, developing attitude Thierry would say of late, as if in joke.  He so wanted to be dashing and sweep women right off their feet.  He must be good looking, because he looked so like Pop who everyone said was beautiful.  He was older now, didn't feel sick.  Surely if he tried he could be exceptionally dashing and daring and romantic.

     But not here.  Couldn't dream of doing impressively mad things such as drinking menstrual blood.  Sadi and Mara were the only ones on the ranch who ever had their period, Astoric knew that.  Everyone else was male or Vampyre.  There was not even anyone to dance with, just his sister and the rest of their family and guardians.  And of course, Astoric had the bad luck of having the fear.  Father had it.  They told Astoric he had it as well, that if he approached strangers they would feel inexplicably afraid of him.  And that was just not very romantic...unless maybe you thought about it in a Beauty and the Beast sort of way, thought that somewhere there was someone who could love you despite the fear. 

     Mara loved Father, and he had the fear.  Father had had a few lovers when he was young.   "It's just wrong," Astoric said, "That we should be stuck here, because Humans fear us.  I wouldn't really hurt them.  What's a little bite?"

     "They don't fear us because we can bite, any Vampyre or motivated Human could bite.  They fear us because we are so different, so unknown.  They think we will take over the planet, as we're stronger and can live on blood or meat and vegetables."

     "Us three?" Astoric asked.

     "Well, not us three exactly, but all our descendants over many many years..."

     "Doubtful," Astoric said, "there are so many of them and so few of us after a  long time none of our descendants will be much more than human.  I mean, they all intermarry and they are still many different colors."

     "Well it takes millions of years."

     "Then why are they scared?" Astoric scoffed.  "millions of years?  Why would they be afraid of something that might not ever happen?"

     "Star, it's the idea of it.  The idea of us being a race that is better than their race is so horrifying to them that they would like to kill us just to make sure we can never replace them on their planet."

     Astoric shrugged.  It all sounded very stupid. 

     Sadian sighed.  "Did you know that in the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations that rights and property were passed down from father to son and that people were so concerned with this especially when it came to right of succession that they had these laws: first born sons inherited before other sons but sons born by a half-sister with the same father as the man inherited even if they were not the first son because they had two lines of succession back to the grandfather instead of just one.  So a lot of the Pharaohs actually married their half-sisters in order to produce an heir so that a brother or an uncle could not take their throne if they should die."

     "Nope. I didn't know that."

     "So, if we lived then, you and I would have a child, and being you are our father's only son and he is also my father our child would inherit all."

     "That's incestuous, Sadi.  And it's not like dad is a Pharaoh."

     "Well the old European Monarchies were rather incestuous.  They couldn't just marry common people, it was important to keep the royal blood."

     "And the European Monarchies are doing so well now aren't they?" Astoric laughed. 

     Sadian got up from the bed and left the room in a huff.

†  †  †

They all shared concern for Trepidation and his family, but Quick could not help being suspicious of these other guardians.  Sweet wouldn't listen to her.  David had never really wanted to listen.  But Quick knew Thierry and Aje had plans of their own.  Aje had fooled Shade into thinking him a hapless hireling and been pardoned while Thierry let himself be captured...but they had allowed Thierry to go to the ranch and given him funding for his research.  And did Alexandria know he had been researching science which was restricted?

     Quick kept careful watch on them.  She tried to piece together what she could.  It seemed to her that Thierry and Aje must have met and lived at this ranch some time before.  Even Thierry could not have mastered the science of cloning in the short time since Claudia met him in Alexandria.  This lab at the ranch must have been set up long before.  Thierry must have been studying for years.

     But whom did he learn from? Quick asked herself.  She let herself into the lab now.  Thierry and Aje were there, pleased with a collection of tiny cold vials that had arrived from Australia.  Aje glanced in Quick's direction.  Thierry remained bent over one of the sterile workbenches. 

     Surely Aje hadn't taught Thierry.  Aje was working with Thierry of his own free will, let Thierry live at his ranch, aided Thierry in his various schemes, but if Aje knew how to clone living beings why had Thierry needed to learn to do it himself? 

     Quick had been reading.  During the conferences on cloning leading scientists had marveled at and in many cases denied Thierry's accomplishments.  None of them could have done such a thing.  Sure they could clone living animals, but it was painstaking and required very particular biological materials to begin with.  It appeared Thierry could clone some beings from blood alone.  Besides that he seemed to be able to manipulate genetic code to bring out desired traits, this resequencing was supposedly a procedure just as difficult but entirely apart from cloning existing beings.

     Quick touched her right hand to the glass-doored refrigerator, read the labels on the various containers as she glimpsed her faint reflection.  They were used to her pony tail, clean face, and dresses that slowly wore to shreds here.  "Planning on building an ark?" Quick asked.

     Thierry grumbled.

     Quick tried to read Aje, but he was closed to her as usual.  She still didn't trust him.  He'd held her prisoner once when she was mortal, he and Thierry both. 

     Sweet was close by.  He came in through the double doors.  "The kids are going out and Trip and Mara are still in town picking up supplies, should I go after them?"

     "They're fine alone," Thierry said.

     Quick couldn't read him either.  "Come upstairs with me, Sweet," Quick said.  Perhaps Thierry would believe Quick only hungry or seductive.  She took Sweets hand as she came to the door and led him through the front room and up the stairs.

     "Where are we going?" Sweet asked, sensing at least that Quick had some other motive.  He'd been drinking Orchid's blood while in Karachi and he'd been annoyingly perceptive ever since. 

     "Sssh," Quick hissed at him.  She found Aje's room, locked as she expected it might be.  "Open it," she said.

     Sweet had been in training with Angel when she was here.  Quick and Sweet had both learned a lot from her.  Angel was a better teacher than David had been, she had fine tuned her psy power for uses Quick had not even thought of.  The door opened. 

     "Help me search," Quick said in a whisper, but made sure she spoke rather than projected thought.  It was safer to speak here. 

     "What for?"  Sweet asked and Quick didn't think it proper English.

     "Aje is too mysterious.  I need to know about him."

     "You need to know everything," Sweet said.  But obediently he began to look around the room.  It was rather brightly lit, having a large window in one wall.  There were various weapons hung on the walls and a hanging punching bag and elsewhere a target dummy with a knife in its chest.  Quick went to Aje's small computer terminal. Several of the computers on the Ranch were networked together. 

     Quick placed her fingers close to the keyboard without actually touching it, Angel had taught her this, said that she had picked it up from a halfangel herself.  Without touching an input device Quick reached into the computer with an invisible hand formed by her will and information flashed into her mind.  Binary made sense to her she had worked with so long.  Unfortunately she occasionally had seizures when looking at things that seemed ones and zeros but were not actually written in code, it was maddening when they did not make sense.

     "He's got to have something laying around," Quick whispered.    

     "Nothing in the computer?" Sweet asked.  He was near Aje's small bed.

     "Not what I'm looking for."

     "He's got a lot of religious books," Sweet said.

     Quick moved quickly to the small case of shelves near the bed.  Sweet was reading the titles to her, explaining what they were.  Quick did know something of the various world religions but this was more Sweet's area of expertise. "Translation of the Enuma Elish, that's a Sumerian creation story, Bible, Koran in Arabic, this is a real Torah, on scrolls in Hebrew...he's got a lot of stuff here, collection of the books left out of the present bible, kabbalistic writings, books on angels, Mayan art, Mythology, ancient Astronauts, the Wolfbreed Bible."

     "They have a different Bible?"

     "Yeah, it's similar to the Torah but it has additional books.  They use the Catholic New Testament."

     "Why do they have a different book?"

     "They say Gabriel gave it to them when she made them."

     "Like she gave the Koran to Muhammed?"

     "Yes."  Sweet stood up.  "This is her."

     Quick glanced up.  Sweet gestured to a small statue atop the bookcase.  "That's Gabriel?"

     "Yes, you can tell her from any other angel because she carries the lily and is dressed in red."

     Quick stood up and studied the small statue.  "Sweet, tell me about Gabriel, why does she carry the lily?"

     "She has always been shown with it because Gabriel is the Angel of the annunciation...she appeared to the Virgin Mary to tell her she was with child."

     Quick fell to her knees.  "Sweet, which of these books would tell of Gabriel creating life or announcing births?"

     "Well, probably all of them," Sweet said, "If you consider that she is also known by many other names.  In the Sumerian stories she created seven male and seven female people, if I remember it right."

     "That's got to be it!" Quick hissed.

     "What?"

     "Gabriel knew how to create living beings ages ago.  She appeared and then a girl who had never been with a man became pregnant, just as our Mara did.  She could make humans, or she could make people who changed into other forms with the phases of the moon.  Thierry and Aje are both part Angel, it is obvious.  It must have been Gabriel they learned from.  Or at least they found a way to learn how she had done these things from another source."

     "Thierry must imagine himself Prometheus, or God himself."

     "Because he steals knowledge meant for the gods?  The Angels?"

     Sweet nodded.  He was frightened.

     Quick took Sweet from the room.  She was thinking.  And then she spoke.  "It makes sense.  It was always Thierry's plan to found a more powerful race of people.  When David turned me and Trepidation was born that must have been such a happy accident to him. And we took Trip right to him.  And this knowledge somehow taken from Gabriel, he used Mara, a clone of his sister, a Jewel to mother the race, because being a Jewel himself he knew that not only has Shade declared the Jewel family protected but the twin Angels Zerachiel and Gabriel have placed their protection over Steven Jewel and all his kin.  Gabriel cannot harm what Thierry has created with knowledge stolen from her.  Surely it was stolen, probably by Aje, he is the more powerful and mysterious.  I wonder if Opium knew any of this when she placed the additional protection of the Sidhe over them."

     "What would happen if someone managed to harm Sadian or even Astoric?"

     "Being Jewel and Shi Vampire Sadian is the more protected.  If anyone should try to harm her they would surely have to die..."

     "Two Archangels, Shade himself, all the Sidhe and all of us who have love for Sadi would all be after that person."

     "Just as we are now, all of us striking out at all the anti-Darkling organizations because they threatened Trip and his family.  And if we kill a human for harming them, and it becomes known...disaster."

     "Right back to war?"

     "Or just anarchy."

     "Then it can't happen," Sweet whispered. 

     "But how can we hide them forever?"

     "Maybe Thierry has that planned too, Quick."

     "Yes, Thierry's building an ark..."  Quick mused, "but where could he mean to take them?  How could he convince them to go?"

†  †  †

Sadian was running ahead of him, her body better suited to it, her legs so long.  She reached the tree they had silently agreed to race to and spun around.  She was there, peering from behind the tree, laughing when Astoric reached it.  "You win," Astoric said.

     "Yes, I do.  And now that you've missed me you have to kiss me."

     Astoric rolled his eyes.  Sadian really seemed to be fixated on him doing such things.  "Or no," He said. 

     She bowed her head, brought her wrist to her mouth and bit at it.  She had her hair braided into tiny rows that ran back from her forehead and all the ends fell loose to hide her face from him. 

     Sadian looked up, lips bright red with fresh blood, her hand raised so that blood ran down the paler side of her arm toward her elbow.  "Will you kiss me now?"

     "I don't understand," Astoric said.  He couldn't see why Sadi pursued this.  But he did want a taste of that blood.  They let him drink animal blood every day but only twice had he taste a person's blood.  There had been a tiny taste of Claudia and then she had beat him for it.  And then Sadian had come and showed him that she had fangs and hunger and was alive as he was.  Astoric had sank down to his knees when Sadian let him drink her blood from her wrist.  There had been just Heaven and Earth and Sadian's blood. 

     "You do want it, don't you," Sadi said.

     "Yeah," Astoric admitted. 

     "Should I try to make him understand?" Sadian asked.  She was talking to spirits again, she and Mara did it sometimes, Thierry too.  Sadian slipped to the ground as if in surrender.  She held her wrist before her.  "Come, just drink if you want it, I don't want to force you to do anything.  You are my brother, I do love you."

     Astoric crept to her, cautiously, expecting a trap.  But she was only offering the blood.  Astoric sat with his back to Sadian and took her wounded wrist in both hands.  Astoric was close to ecstasy.  He was drinking blood from a body again, it was the most pleasurable experience he had yet discovered.

     Sadian's forehead fell to his back.  "Do you want to understand?" She asked, but she needed no answer.  "I want there to be more of us.  I can only make more of us if you help me.  I need you to father my child, Star."

     Astoric screwed his eyes shut and made himself stop drinking.  He licked slowly at his lips.  Now he understood.  And he thought it was fear he was feeling.  He knew himself, dared not deny the effect blood drinking had on him.  He'd let himself drink blood, and it was Sadian's and now he could feel his penis had gone hard while sucking blood from his sister's wrist.  But the fear would take care of that.  The fear of what she could persuade him to do.

     "If you want me, Astoric, I'll be yours.  I love you. But if you do not want me forever couldn't you just try to give me a child, just give it to me and go on with your own life."

     "Why, Sadi?  Why do you want this?"

     She crawled around his body so that finally she was on hands and knees in front of him, dress hanging to bare her breasts, and Sadian had probably calculated that.  "Just do as I ask and I will be your slave."

     Astoric shook his head.  "I do not want a slave."

     "Star, I need you."

     "I'm not a complete fool.  I am your brother.  Maybe I'm not a witch like you but I'm smart, I'm strong, I see that you are willful and manipulative.  You could get anyone you wanted and so could I given a chance."

     Sadian sat back, nodded slowly.  "I've played you for a fool, I'm sorry.  You have grown to be just a strong and beautiful as I am...we are beautiful.  And I admit, you have your own talents and power.  You're perceptive.  Neither of us need be a slave to the other.  I offer you myself," Sadian said with arms outstretched. 

     "Yourself?"

     "Me and my love, my loyalty, my protection, all in exchange for yours.  I offer you my blood and my body willing to make love to you."

     Astoric laughed.  "You've never made love before."

     Sadian bit at her lip.  "I was saving myself for you."

     "Really?"

     "Yes.  I do know how it's done though."  She did mean it, Astoric could tell from her expression. 

     "So do I.  Thierry keeps books with rather detailed pictures in his library.  Besides we had to learn the basics of it in schooling."

     Sadian smiled.  "We could be lovers, Star.  I bet it feels better than drinking blood."

     Astoric's eyes fluttered back into his head at the thought.  He wanted it, he just had serious doubts about doing such a thing with Sadian.  "But I hear that it's not very good the first time."

     Sadian leaned forward again, smiled.  "My patience in exchange for yours."

     "I need to think about it," Astoric said.  "Now that I understand why you want to do this I need to think about whether I am the sort of person who wants to help you make more like us."

     "All creatures are programmed for self preservation and perpetuation of the species."

     "But we are gifted with reason, Sadi," Astoric said.