Tris let himself into the family's castle.  Morpheus followed him in and then Friedrich.  Morpheus wanted supper, and then he wanted to lay sprawled in a chair and call up Orchid on video phone.  Tris hoped Orchid would send them payment for the bill Morpheus was running up, Orchid always had money.  "I smell chicken," Friedrich said.  Vampyres didn't much like the smell of burnt flesh. 

     "It's Friday, Elzbieta always does fried chicken on Friday for her men," Morpheus said. 

     Tris smiled to himself.  Elzbieta had learned to make many Southern American dishes for her husband and son.  She could even do Cajun.   Morpheus seemed to enjoy the act of eating in general, he was slightly more Angel than Tris was, perhaps he felt sensations in a way Tris didn't.  In any case American food rather interested Morpheus, though they both had spent a number of years eating various Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. 

     The dining room was crowded as they came to it.  Alaric was there, Valerie's brother, Isolde was with him.  Tris had met her before, she and Alaric had been living together in Berlin for some time.  The elders were about the table as usual, Alaric, Merideth, Louisa, Justin, Elzbieta.  Elowey was not there, but this was not unusual.  Elowey had been a ghostly, gray thing that haunted the halls at night ever since Salome's death.  Rozz and Valerie were already seated, Claudia, and Ludwig with fiancee, Maria.  Teena Marie and her boyfriend Ethan, and Eva. 

     Tris walked around the table to take his seat.  Rozz sat at the head of the table now and Tris, Morpheus and Friedrich all sat close by.  Eva had already set a bottle of blood at Friedrich's place.  They were rather sweethearts. 

     Valerie wanted Tris' attention.  He looked up as Rozz was spooning mashed potatoes onto his plate.  Valerie gazed from across the table.  "Why were you trying to find the number for the ranch today?  Is that where they are?"

     Tris nodded.  "I had to ask around before I figured out I could just ask Morpheus and he could get me the number."

     "You spoke to them then?  Are they all OK?"

     Tris didn't feel entirely comfortable speaking about this, but he was among family.  "They're alrhight."

     Valerie couldn't let it go.  "But why did you have to call today?  Did you think something was wrong?  I thought Trip said he would have to stay out of contact...and why does Morpheus know?"

     "My Mother was able to tell me how to contact them because Quick had needed her help with something.  Trip and his kids are Sidhe.  Opium handles a lot of the more practical matters that our Prince Jean-Daniel isn't up to."

     Valerie didn't look like she trusted everything Morpheus said.  She liked him, most people did, but she was prone to belief in conspiracies.  "I happen to think The Sidhe's Prince only pretends to be clueless so we mortals wont suspect what he's really cabable of.  I'm up on current events.  I know how the Sidhe just swept all though the British Isles."

     "Val," Rozz pleaded, "Can't we just eat."

     "You don't have to be diplomatic with us, Dear," Val said, "You'd like very much to know how Trip is doing...wouldn't he, Tris?"

     Tris admitted this with a nod. 

     "We all hope that our friends are well," Rozz said as protesting he had particular interest in Trepidation.  Tris couldn't see being jealous even if Rozz did have some special interest in Trip.  They all knew Rozz had once been the vampire's lover, still very much admired him. 

     But Valerie was going to continue to get louder and drag more of the family into the conversation if Tris didn't give her what she wanted.  "Sadian's pregnant.  Alrhight?"

     "You're kidding," Rozz said.

     Tris shook his head.  "Sadian and Astoric are going to have a child," he whispered.

     "God, that would be like me and Ludo having a child!"

     "Vas?" Ludwig asked, he had heard his name in conversation. 

     "You don't want to know," Alaric said, almost in a laugh.  Isolde was whispering at his ear and he laughed .

     They were all silent for a minute and then Valerie had another question.  "But how did you know to call then?"

     "Because we can all see Daniel," Teena Marie said quietly.  Right then Tris knew that Teena Marie had seen the spirit recently.  He wondered if his father and his sister Caroline knew...if Caroline's children Mitchell and Emilia knew.  Daniel would be a horrible security risk if it weren't for the fact that only certain members of the Jewel family could see him.

     Valerie smiled on Teena Marie.  "Sometimes I forget that you and your father have abilities I don't," Val said, "I'm sorry Tris, I miss them a lot, but I should have remembered that you, Mara and Sadian are blood relatives.  It is a family matter."

     "No, it's a matter of family," Tris said, "And we are all family.  You are Teena's Mother." 

     "I love you," Valerie silently mouthed the words across the table. 

     Tris returned the silent phrase, and then they both looked toward Rozz and smiled.  He knew they both loved him just as much. 

†  †  †

They were patched into the Supercomputer at the Library of Alexandria.  It was the only computer Thierry could reliably get access to that was up to the task he demanded of it.  Still, it was a lot of work, this playing Deity.  Sometimes, secretly, Thierry doubted he was up to the task he demanded of himself, to create something so contrived with so many variables that just couldn't be calculated with certainty.  A fallen Angel of the Cherubim, a revered Monarch of the Wolfbreed, and some of the most powerful witches of the Jewel family had passed their genes to him; his willful, rather careless mother, and his genius father, were both horrifying creatures, despite the fact most thought them completely innocent.  Yet, there were instances Thierry felt doubt.

     Aje had his heels up on one of the counters as he sat back in a chair beside Thierry.   Thierry would have to clean that countertop again, but such things he tolerated because Aje was something of a godsend.  Thierry had never met anyone else who so completely understood and shared his vision, and with their differing talents they made a formidable team in whatever they ventured to do.  Sometimes Thierry was almost in awe of himself: that he could have a completely platonic relationship with anyone over such a long time and yet really respect and like said person.  Thierry didn't express weakness, but secretly, he knew he was disturbed.  No one who had been raised as he was, coming from the gene pool he had could be otherwise.  Thierry had not yet found anyone that could keep him from hungering for constant physical affection and simultaneously seeking to be punished and forcibly restrained...because what he didn't want anyone to know was that he sometimes felt he wasn't in control of himself. 

     Cat and Anne had come close, at least they had given him everything that he needed so that he was kept in control.  But they had both chosen to leave him finally, and no matter what anyone else thought, that had broken his heart; he had loved them.  And his dear Mara, his sister, she had come so close to understanding him, but she was so good she made Thierry hunger for punishment.  Caroline had made him want to find a stunt so horrible and mad that he would have to be stopped.  But it was always too easy to get out of punishment.

     Thierry sighed.  He was waiting for a reply from the Alexandria Supercomputer, it was taking this mammoth machine a long time to calculate what he needed to know.   The problem: if you are the architect of the garden of Eden and space and cost must have a given limit exactly what combination of plant and animal life do you place in the garden and still insure that in the course of their natural growth no one species completely dominated the space or wipes out another, all species must be kept in check, except for those the garden will be given to.

     There were so many species. So much interesting flora and fauna yet each must be picked for it's role in the food chain and not for it's beauty or interest.

     This latest scheme wasn't an outgrowth of Thierry's inability to find real challenge in the mortal world.  This was more important work.  Thierry felt called to this task.  It was his gift.  It was what he and Aje had been working on for many years.  And still so many things could potentially go wrong.  His present Mara often pointed out that so much of what nature creates in life is more interesting than what was produced by controlled experiment.  Even some of the best inventions of science happened when aiming to create something else entirely. 

     "Quick still being a nuisance?" Thierry asked.

     Aje yawned.  "She's got her theories.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was recording the data that passes between here and Alexandria in some way."  

     "I'm sure she is," Thierry said, "Hackers can be so damn curious.  But she won't really stop us.  I understand her.  She has a thirst for all manner of knowledge, but when she knows something she doesn't act.  You know what I mean?  She can collect so much data and use logic to figure out all the possible consequences and implications of this information, but Quick isn't the sort to place moral judgment on such things."

     "You've got to be a little amoral to want to become a Vampyre the way she did," Aje said.

     Thierry nodded.  "Vampyres like Orchid are different, I could respect him if he hadn't fucked me over in New York when Cat was dying.  He didn't ask for the blood but when he got it he used his power and influence to do very interesting things. The others are so damn cold. Orchid found a business he could be successful in and earned an enormous amount of money over the years and he uses it to surround himself with very beautiful things and truly loyal people.  And he schemes, he swung an election with a dress for Christ's sake!  Now that's just interesting, that anyone would think to do that."

     "Yeah, well, the Nazi's were good at calculating public image.  They were fiends, but they really smacked with style.  Every old newsreel I see of the Nazi's is full of some damn good looking German people in really sharp uniforms."

     "What did you do then?" Thierry asked.  He knew Aje was ancient and that he sometimes identified himself with the Jewish people. 

     "I was in the French Resistance actually."

     Thierry laughed, "You do that a lot."

     Aje shrugged. "I rather like France."

     The lab doors swung open.  Quick was there.  "You have a visitor, Thierry," she said.

     "Visitor?  Who would come here?"  But he knew.  Monique was there, she shielded her thoughts well, but the others had seen her come in.  "I'll go talk to her," Thierry said.

     Quick wasn't leaving.  She was looking at Aje.  "You're at least as old as Mazaret," she said, "And she was daughter of King Mutwallis of Hatti.  And I believe he fought a war with the Pharaoh Ramses.  So what are you, related to one of the ancient Israelites?  One of the kings of Israel perhaps?"

     "Hmmn, I'd just about forgotten that Mazaret was that old."

     "She's scarred enough."

     "No, Shade did that to her just several centuries ago.  She lost half her scalp practically but she got a Nightcloak in the fight, which was probably worth it.  Leliel's children aren't usually so friendly with Lilith's."

     Thierry left them arguing and went to see Monique.  She hadn't changed much recently.  Some new earrings, a summery dress, but she looked the same as she had last he saw her in Karachi, blue skin, hair and eyes, small feathery wings with tiny clawed hands at the arches and at least a dozen visible piercings.  "What brings you here?"

     She smiled, sat down as if to make herself at home, crossed one leg over the other.  "You."

     "Didn't we break up?" 

     She looked a bit wounded.  "We decided it was best we weren't lovers at the time..."  She sighed.  "I've been amongst the Sidhe a lot more recently.  We have ways of knowing where other members of our tribe are."

     "Nothing mystical about asking Opium for the phone number or address, it's been done."

     "I didn't come to have another delightful sparing match, and I did always find them intellectually arousing, delightful.  I can see where you are going, can see knowing you as I do what you have started with contriving Sadian's birth, and then her brother.  It's known there is another on the way.  It's all well and good you have your plan, we don't care, all of Briton knows what fiends we really are..."

     "Yes, luring passionate English lords to their doom, inspiring mad, drug-induced poetry, eating people, stealing babies, the usual Faerie stories."

     Monique nodded.  "But we hear disturbing things from the Jewel family.  How have you been able to keep yourself from Mara all alone out here on this ranch without a lover?  I know Aje hasn't the slightest interest in it, and Angel has been in New Orleans a long while."

     "You think I would harm her?"

     "I think when you close your eyes at night you see yourself straining between her thighs.  You see that your father's parents were what they call kissing cousins and he turned out to be a genius and a powerful witch.  And Genetics does so interest you.  And you so long to be understood."

     "Seems you understand fairly well."

     "I know," Monique said.  "Look at me.  Am I less misunderstood and feared than you?  It is only slightly different in that I look a freak and you simply are freakishly powerful and freakishly wounded by society.  I know how it feels.  That's why we got along so well.   You can go on with your various schemes, for all we know one of the Angels has been manipulating you just as you have been manipulating your creations...but Mara won't be touched against her will, deep down you do not want yourself to hurt her, you love her more than most can comprehend.  So I offer myself to you, let me be your conscience, the cricket at your ear, keep you on the straight and narrow so to say."

     "Me?  Straight and Narrow?" Thierry laughed.

     "You've such a dirty mind, Dear," Monique said.  "I will stay with you, make sure you're restrained securely when you get bad ideas in your head.  If I see you doing something you will later wish you had been stopped from doing I'll slap you around.  It's what you want, it's what you need.  And we both know I am a fabulous lover...and fucking is always a nice distraction from one's troubles."

     Thierry's eyelids fell low, "Why does it always turn me on so when you say 'fucking' in your accent?" He asked mimicking Monique's French accent. 

     "Everything sounds sexy in a French accent to those who aren't really French.  And even though you were born in Paris, your parents were not really French."

     Thierry shrugged, "And I was surrounded by people speaking Spanish until I was five."

     "Yes, I can tell, you've a pretty little remainder of an accent.  It makes me want to sit on your face."

     Thierry couldn't help but smile.  Monique could get to him, she just could.  "For that I'll let you stay, Cara Mia, you can sit your purple pussy on my face anytime you want."

     Monique smiled and lifted her one leg off the other.  "There's nobody else in the room."

     Thierry fell to his knees.  "I fuckin' adore you," he breathed.

     "You adore fucking me," Monique purred as she lifted the hem of her dress. 

     Thierry shook his head even as he stared at every centimeter of pale blue thigh Monique bared.  "Keep talking dirty like that, tie me up and use my body mercilessly and I may just fall in love."

     "I really missed you, Tear."

     Thierry closed his eyes and breathed.  "I missed you," he said.  They'd broken up because Monique had made it quite clear she expected monogamy of all her lovers...and Thierry had come across a very tempting young man.  But he really had liked Monique.  It was one of the few relationships he really remembered fondly. 

     "Do I make you nervous?" Monique teased.

     Thierry realized he was breathing heavily.  He shook his head.  "I can't do this here.  Come to bed with me."

     "Only if you follow me on hands and knees like a dog."

     Thierry kissed her sandled foot.  "If you're as good a lover as you were before and you play Jiminy Cricket I swear I won't want another lover."

     She laughed slightly.  "At my heel then," Monique said as she stood.  Thierry followed her on hands and knees.  It was only a short trip through the kitchen and up the back stairs.  It made him feel so Lupine moving along in this position. Thierry wanted to pull her legs from under her and tear the flesh of her throat with his teeth.  

     But when they reached his bedroom and Monique turned and sat on the edge of the bed Thierry wanted nothing more than to lay with his face between her legs and wrap his tongue about Monique's three tasty piercings.  The one in the middle always made her scream.  And the slender purple snake with flickering tongue tattooed on the inside of her left thigh was just darling.

     He heard Monique take in a breath as she sliped a slave collar and leash of metal links about his neck.  "Tear...if you can be satisfied with me as your only lover I will say that I do not want to use any condoms while making love."

     Thierry lifted his head as he lifted Monique's dress.  He licked at the ring in her navel.  "Then we'd really be as good as married," he whispered. He had not gone entirely without condoms since being with Mary:the bitch.

     Monique moved her fingers through his hair.  "I know."

     Thierry pulled Monique down to the floor with him and they kissed.  "It has been a long time," he said then.

     "If I know that we can be satisfied with each other then I want to try this.  I care about you so very much," she whispered at his ear, "I will not leave you."

     Thierry thought about it.  Monique was biting at his neck, hard.  It felt good.  It really did feel good being with Monique again.  At the moment he did not believe there was anyone else who could satisfy all his needs and wants so well.  "It feels very good to be with you again.  I will do my best to be faithful to you."

     "No.  You must actually be faithful or you will force me to leave.  I do not want to leave, I never did, but I would be a weak foolish woman if I stayed with someone who needed other lovers, when I know I devote myself to only one and expect the same from those I share myself with."

     "Wait," Thierry said.  She was too close, he was too aroused by her to not be tempted to lie to her.  He got up and walked across the plastic floor that appeared to be darkly stained aged wood.  He pulled off his shirt and stood leaning toward the bookcase.  "You know that I feel out of control sometimes," Thierry whispered.

"You lack all self-restraint."

"I'm trying." Right now he was. "But that's why I can feel so good when I am with you.  I trust you not to let me hurt you.  You will control me or you will leave, you won't let me break any promises I make to you."

     "I could lock you in a room and hide the only key on my person, but you could teleport right from the room if you wanted attention badly enough.  So tell me you won't.  Tell me that you want me, that you need me, tell me every day.  If I am several rooms away and you start to feel these obtrusive thoughts and want to force someone into giving you some semblance of love then scream for me to come to you.  Do it now!"

     Thierry turned and looked at her, she was naked, so many endearing piercings and tattoos against her pale blue skin.  "Do it now!" she commanded again.

     Thierry sank back against the bookcase as he drew in a breath.  "MONIQUE!  I NEED YOU!   I WANT YOU, MONIQUE!"

     She smiled with purple lips and brought the collar across the room to him.  Thierry felt safe when she put it on him.  He waited for her to look up into his eyes.  "I love you."

     She smiled and nodded slowly. Monique tightened her grip on the leash.  "So take off the rest of your clothes and then make me feel how much you love me."

     Thierry kept his eyes on hers as he removed his clothing.  "I'll make you come so hard your soul jumps right out of your body," he said.

     Monique seemed amused and somewhat aroused.  "Oh, I do like flirtatious male posturing when it comes from you...will you be sure to call me back into my body then, Sidhe witch?"

     "Over and Over," Thierry promised.  He picked Monique up off her feet and carried her back to the bed.  She was so light, as many Faerie were.  He dropped her down, and felt her jerk on the leash. 

     "I want you inside me  NOW, Tear!" Monique said, "I've been celebate since we broke up, I want you so badly.  I won't let you get away with so little foreplay next time."

     Thierry entered her obediantly, managed to speak a dare, "promise?"  But she felt so amazing he almost came right then.  Monique didn't answer him.  She could only scream, moan, gasp and cry out short breathless phrases.  It had been such a long time that she wasn't the slightest bit desensatized, she was building up to an orgasm quickly.  It really seemed to be no time at all, though it must have been quite a number of minutes. 

     "I want you to come inside me!"

     "Now?"

     "Oui! Now, oui!"  Monique was screaming like a Bean Sidhe.  Thierry knew them to be real screamers, but especially so while lovemaking.  David's mother Mary had Sidhe blood in her, and though he tried not to dwell on it, Theirry's mother had been one of the Bean Sidhe and he had heard the sounds that came from her room as his father was with her.  Thierry had always known when his mother had her period, his father had become a Vampyre a few years after Thierry was born and he could bring bring Thierry's mother to a near continuous state of orgasm with only his tongue when she shed the blood.  It was really more than a man should know about his mother.

     But Monique was screaming for Thierry, "faster...harder...like you will hurt me!"  And then that Bean Sidhe scream of pleasure that was not so unlike their death call, a high pitched rather entrancing and musical scream.

     Thierry came, felt the stretching seconds of intense pleasure.  It felt as if the walls of Monique's vagina yet bowed to kiss the tip of his penis.  Perhaps they did.  He felt very good, cared about nothing in the world except that this woman beneath him had shared with him something that caused him to feel happiness at the moment. 

     Thierry looked down.  Monique looked amazing, but he probably had that same afterglow.  He wasn't quite sure if he'd rather lay down and sleep with her or use this energy to go do something.  Monique's eyes were closed, she lay trying to catch her breath, the tiny hands on each wing were playing with her hair in a lazy relaxed sort of way.  "Monique?"

     "I'm here," she said.  She still had his leash clenched in one fist. 

     "You want to get pregnant don't you?" Thierry asked, it had occurred to him earlier for a fleeting second but he had felt to good to question anything. 

     She nodded slowly without opening her eyes.

     Thierry placed a small soft kiss on her lips.  She had a small hoop at the corner of her mouth through her bottom lip.  Monique opened her mouth.  Her tongue reached to lap Thierry's lips and he knew he should kiss her.  She had a barbell through her tongue.  She really loved him, she wanted to have his children, she wanted to save him from himself.  "I love you," Thierry whispered. 

     Monique's eyes were open and she was smiling.  "You are a great lover, Thierry, I needed that."

    Thierry nodded, "I think I did too, I hadn't realized how much I missed it."

     "It's not like you to be without a lover, I know how irritable and depressed you get when you don't have constant affection."

     "I do," Thierry admitted, "You know this.  But the work I am doing is so important to me, somehow I managed.  I did call Daniel to me from time to time.  And Angel was here, and it's so easy to get her in bed."

     "She's like you. But I'm here for you, and I need you, Thierry, because I love you."

     Thierry nodded again.  "I have to go finish my work in the lab.  It requires long periods of waiting for results...I could send Aje out and lock the place up...I'd love for you to play with me there."

     "Ah, but women hate seeing their men pay so much attention to their computers."           

     "I have to work, Monique, but I've missed you.  You promised me torturous hours of foreplay."

     "Well, I'll have to bring some toys."

     "You won't need them, trust me, the lab is one big toy."

     Monique smiled, one of those amused knowing smiles.  "You've been fantasizing about this."

     "Yeah," Thierry admitted, "I just didn't have a suitable playmate."

     Monique raised herself up slightly, "I love the way your kinky little mind works," she said with a smile that wrinkled her nose. 

     Ah, she could really get to him.  "And you, Monique, My Faerie Love, are deliciously domineering."  He almost didn't want to work at all.  "You will tie me up and use me mercilessly once I get my work done for the day?"  She would.  She might even leave him tied spread eagle to the bed while she sat before him naked reading aloud passages from erotic novels Thierry and Anne had written together during the time they lived together. 

†  †  †

They'd been working on two cases simultaneously, trying to set up a network of Vampyre hunters as well as the Klan who had roots with the Ku Klux Klan but were now mainly a group of militant Darkling haters.  Thanks to their undercover agent James, as well as Dolores and Ganymede, they had learned more about anti-Darkling activities in America.  Jean-Daniel had sent over some of the Sidhe who knew of the Abdals to assist Angel.  They also had some Halfangels who weren't of the Sidhe tribe that Opium had recommended. 

      They planned to gather enough evidence to turn over to the legitimate authorities, they thought it best to anonymously help the American law enforcement agencies to go after the large number of anti-Darkling organizations who were committing hate crimes and various forms of unlawful discrimination. 

      But they were going after the Vampyre hunters themselves. They were good at what they did and strongest in the Southern part of the United States of North America.  They had made it so that outside of New York and New Orleans practically no Vampyres lived.  Even in San Francisco and Los Angeles there were not many, where in the past the west coast had been home to a large population of Vampyres. 

      Angel and her agents were close to busting up some of the hunters.  They had lured a few to their deaths already.  But it was dangerous work.  The individual hunters often worked for others who hired them to exterminate  unwanted neighbors.  They operated an information network that almost anyone with a link and a small amount of know-how could gain access to and then get detailed instructions on the most sure methods of Vampyre terminating, recipes for various incendiary devices, and files on Vampyre anatomy and biology. 

      It bothered Angel that they were so well educated on the subject.  But recipes for incendiary devices were always useful. 

      They had to stop the best of the hunters, had to destroy them utterly.  And destroying things utterly was what Angel was good at.  Wreck a family, a nation, capture a holy city, fight a messy European land war, turn against her own: she had done all these things.  And Angel was determined to beat these hunters.  Quick and Aje had been right to put her in charge.  She knew how the hunters worked, because she had once been one of them.

      This was what she had gathered her group of powerful and talented Vampyres for, to battle the hunters.  And the only way to be sure to get them was to make the threat to her kind absolutely real.  She knew that there were those in New Orleans who complained about Theo's little club on Bourbon Street.  So far there had not been any one person or organization to put a high enough price on its Vampyres to make the hunters risk going against such a den of Vampyres.  But Angel had made sure there was a price on their heads.

      Athen had worked it out, through various corporations he owned parts of.  The hunters all knew that some human group had pooled money together and wanted these Vampyres eliminated.  And Angel and her gang had spread rumors as to why a group might want them dead.  The more rumors and mystery the better.  It might be they had earned an enemy long ago in another city.  It might be a government conspiracy involving the INS.  It might be the local Catholics with a vengeance against Vampyres or the vices Theo and his staff entertained.

      They were all on guard.  They waited from word from their agent Paul, or for an attack.  Angel had told Emile to rent himself an apartment near the hospital and to be on watch for trouble.  It was not unknown to the locals that Angel and Theo were connected to the club or that they had raised an adopted human boy.  Angel had sent her two daughters-in-blood Felicity and Perpetua to Alexandria so that the house she owned in the Quarter would be empty.  They spent every night at the club, and took turns keeping watch over the two houses Angel and Andrew still owned, in the Garden District, during the day while the rest slept. 

      The bounty had been out for several weeks.  So far there had only been one minor attack on the club, and Angel and Amadeo had dealt with those hunters quite easily.  Angel knew the hunters would work out allegiances amongst themselves and figure how to split the reward.  But she worried.  They should have attacked by now.

      Christian was at Theo's desk searching the net for clues.  Theo was upstairs watching TV.  Daerick and the kids were out asking around for information on the streets. 

      "Nothing," Christian said knowing Angel had been about to ask.

      Angel left the office for the back hall.  Some of the others were gathered there, Ganymede, Dolores, and Deborah were back  They were there with Andrew and Zulekha.  Ordinarily these rooms were filled with Theo's various types of prostitutes, clients could experience just about any fantasy, his staff were familiar with all manner of sexual and deviant role playing.   But now Theo had cut back, not so much that word would get out that he expected trouble, but enough that he wouldn't endanger his more generous clients. 

      Zulekha's face said that Amir and Gabriel were in one of the spare rooms.  Amadeo was probably busy minding Joy.  Joy had never quite forgiven angel for turning on them long ago and locking her up in the menagerie.  Angel supposed she deserved this treatment from Joy.  The menagerie had been a horrible place, even from the other side of the doors and bars.

      Angel moved into the large front room where the bar, stage and seating area entertained the most legitimate customers.  Mareena was serving drinks, topless as usual.  She was one of the Lilim that managed to get along well with Vampyres.  Mazaret got along well with many of the Vampyres, especially Joy, and even Shade.  But Mazaret also harbored something of a grudge toward Angel. 

      All the more ancient Darkling with grudges against her were what had sent Angel south to spend her time between New Orleans and Miami, where she still kept houses.  The cities had been free territory at the time. 

      Athen was standing against the wall near the door Angel had just left, against the disturbing murals of black-winged Angels with supermodel-like faces and thin, all too Gothic looking, Vampyres and so much bondage gear and Victorian Fashion, amid gnarled trees, crucifixes and other dark images of Catholicism.  Athen really looked like humans expected Vampyres to look, at least when Angel and her brother had been mortal they had both thought he looked the part.  He'd gone without cutting his hair that night and wore black vinyl jeans with ruffled shirt and fitted velvet jacket. 

      "Can you move in those?" Angel asked.

      "This from the woman who kicked ass in Mugler Robot Suits."

      Angel rather scowled at him.  Athen could seem so ageless and sexless at times...when he didn't look like a boyish young hoodlum.  Someone should make him the star of a vampire movie.  "Something should have happened by now.  Paul hasn't checked in yet."      

      "If it'll help I'll go stand under a streetlight and bare my fangs to passers by."

      "You do look the part, but I doubt it will help."

      "I'll buy you a drink then," Athen suggested. He was moving then, toward the bar.  Angel decided she'd follow.  "Nice tits," he said as Angel sat on the stool beside his. 

      "What'll you have then?" Mareena asked.

      "What have you got?"

      Mareena leaned forward over the bar.  "Honestly it's hard to impress Vampyres since you've all been here.  I don't have anything under the bar that you can't get from each other."

      "What d'ja wanna bet you don't have a bottle of Orchid's blood there?"

      "I can't drink his blood," Angel said.

      Athen shrugged. 

      "Actually I have, but only because Amadeo brought it to us."

      "Yes, he got Orchid quite drunk on his 300th birthday and drew quite a lot of blood from him.  He likes to pass it around to impress the rest of us."

      "Give At'en a glass, I bet he misses the taste."

      Athen shook his head.  It was probably best he didn't take Orchid's blood, he might feel very depressed knowing that Orchid was quite happy living on that white beach in Karachi giving his blood to David and...

      "I wonder how Orchid's taking Morpheus living in Frankfurt with Tris and Rozz and all those Goths."

      "Have you seen the show?" Mareena asked, "Morpheus has done a good job of putting it together.  It does well in the ratings."

      "Yeah, Tris has had all the presidential nominees on his show to answer questions from his audience," Angel said.  She rather missed Tris.  He was such a sweet boy.

      Athen looked irked.  "the faggots are probably having phone sex every night."

      "I find your language offensive, At'en," Angel teased.  "What you need is a boyfriend."

      "I've had boyfriends.  I even had a husband.  I gave my blood to him so he would live forever and he just breaks up with me.  Just leaves me for an angel and talks about how they are fated to be together forever.  Sure I have distractions, but he's immortal and there are so few of us so old now, I'll always be reminded of him."

      "Get yourself an Angel," Angel laughed. 

      "Try one of my sisters," Mareena suggested.

      "You ever see Melalie around?  She used to live in LA with us.  Shade had a bit of a fling with her."

      Angel laughed.  Shade had all sorts of little flings that most people didn't know about.  Mareena seemed shocked that Shade had been with any of the Lilim.

      "Christian has mentioned her.  I believe she lives in Italy somewhere."

      "Have I ever had Christian's blood?" Athen asked.

      Angel smiled.  "One day we should draw up a chart of which of us has had blood from each other."

      "Then I'll know who to hit on next," Athen laughed, "Got to keep up my reputation as the slutty one.  Can't have Shade or Orchid sharing blood with more Vampyres than me."

      The door opened.  Daerick was carrying Paul in his arms.  Angel was off the stool in an instant.  "What happened?"

      Daerick continued to carry Paul to the back rooms.  The others scattered as he came back.  Estasi ran ahead and opened a door so that Daerick could lay Paul in one of the beds.  "Amad!"  Angel shouted.

      Paul was trying to speak.  "They're after the Shi Vampires..."

      Angel's heart went still.   She hit herself in the chest.  Amadeo was just rushing into the room.  Athen was there.  Theo was in the doorway.  "Theo, get Cat over here to help Paul.  Amad, the hunters must have been offered a bigger reward to go after Trip and his kids..."

      Amadeo lay his hands on Paul.  Angel wasn't sure Amadeo could help him.  Caroline had been the one with the healing touch.  But it was information Amadeo wanted.  "Informed by Richard that a lot of the hunters had passed along a tip that there was a big reward on the Shi Vampires and that there were as many as four now and they were located in Africa on a ranch in Tanzania close to Olduvai Gorge and Serengeti National Park...one and a half billion American Dollars...Dusty followed him...he was suspicious...Dusty shot him..."

      "We have to split our force.  We have to warn them!  We have to get over there."

      "I'm going over there!" Amadeo said.

      "I wouldn't try to stop you," Angel said.  She moved from the room.  The others had gathered about and were waiting for her orders.  "Christian is sending a message to them?"  He was.  "I'll split the force.  I'll need the fastest of us with me and I'll need a strong force behind in case they still attack the club.  Christian, Zuelekha, Kasha, Miko, Laila, you can all fly, I need you with me.  Athen, Dolores, Ganymede, I really need you to stay here.  Andrew, you stay too.  I'll take Daerick.  Angelo and Estasi will stay.  Gabriel will stay.  Amir will stay.  Deborah, stay.  And Joy, we'll need your help over there."

      Theo and Christian came from the office.  "They are going to get out of the house as soon as they can.  They have two pregnant women and none of them fly.  Thierry and Quick are concerned about leaving certain things at the ranch if the location is known."

      "Damnit!  Forget Thierry's secret stuff!  They've got a 1.5 billion dollar price on their heads."

      "They've got Aje and Thierry there, and Quick and Sweet," Theo said, "None of them are fools."

      "And neither are the hunters," Angel said.  "Theo, I'll be leaving with some of the others.  Try to see if you or Angelo and Estasi can cheer Athen up.  And look out for Cat."

      Angel hardly waited for an answer.  She walked into the front rooms.  Athen was at the bar again.  Mareena was passing him a bottle of blood.  "Daerick, thought you, Joy and Miko might like to share this on the way.  Maybe Laila if there's enough."

      Daerick took the bottle as they were leaving. 

      "It's Orchid's," Joy said plainly. 

      †  †  †

"But we can't just leave...we've got to put the computer into lock down mode and get the stuff in the lab down into the bunker," Thierry cried.  They were all there in the lab, even Daniel Never, their guardian spirit, all looking at him with various degrees of shock or irritation...well except for Quick and Sweet who looked as cold and as delirious as usual.

     "There is only one vehicle that can get us all to the nearest train station.  We don't know how long we have.  Either we split up or we leave now."

     Always annoying when Quick went into Robot mode.  It took too much effort to go through the long arguments of logic with her in order to change her mind.  Thierry sat down at his terminal in the lab and began initiating the emergency lock down mode.

     "1.5 billion dollars, Mom!  We're dead if we split up.  If we all help Thierry lock things up we may get out of here sooner." 

     "Thierry, let me take the knowledge from you...I can type much faster.  Aje can go out and bring the Land Rover to the back door.  The boys can move your horrible secret things into the bunker.  Mara and Daniel can keep watch."  Thierry didn't want to just give Quick the ability to lock down and restore his computer with his secret password sequences, but it was hard to argue with the orderly mind responsible for getting the Goth across a continent at war safely.  He concentrated on the information in an effort to lead Quick from picking his brain for anything other than what she needed to know. 

     In seconds she was at the terminal typing with preternatural speed.  Sometimes she could be such an android...but cold Vampyres often were. 

     Thierry turned his attention to Sweet, Trip and Astoric.  They did look a bit frightening together, all so tall, strong and blonde, someone's idea of a superrace.  But of course that's just what they were.  Why else would anyone put a 1.5 billion dollar price on their heads.

     "The bunker is right beneath the lab, accessible only by this control panel under this table."  Thierry bent to the floor and opened the panel with a tap in just the right space.  Once he had it open he punched in the code and behind him one of the shelf units moved away from the wall and then clicked open. 

     Trip was already pulling at the shelves to swing the door open.  There was an elevator behind.  "I feel like I'm in one of those surreal computer adventure games," Trip whispered.

     "What do we have to move?" Astoric asked.

     "All the computer drives, everything in refrigeration, and if there's time the chemicals and instruments in those two cabinets over there," Thierry explained as he pointed things out. 

     "I'll gather up all the computer stuff, you two can get the cold stuff," Trip said.  "Go fast, Dad."

     Sweet went fast, it was one of the good points about Vampyres, that they could perform tasks faster than humans.  And since Sweet had been in training and had had opportunities to drink Orchid's and Angel's blood he was fairly talented for a sixth generation spawn.  He didn't even have to touch some objects, but with series of mental and hand gestures sent things floating from one location to another.  It was almost amusing, the way Sweet used his powers: to look some ancient magician rather than to just stand still and think on a task as other Vampyres did. 

     Quick was soon finished with the computer.  And in two trips down to the bunker they had all the most important stuff moved to the smaller lab beneath. 

     "Risk a couple more trips," Aje said then, he had already come back inside.  "There's probably some things upstairs we all want to hide."

     "A few things I probably won't be able to carry," Quick said.  She had so much of her electronic gear used to manipulate communication lines and for assisting her in hacking into other computer systems.  She left before anyone else answered Aje. 

     "Trip, come help me see if we can lock up the library," Thierry said.  They went through the ground floor to the library, like all this house it was constructed of tough energy efficient materials that mimicked in appearance natural materials.  The windows could be shuttered.  And if Thierry concentrated he might manage to move heavy furniture to the doors and windows from outside the room.  Or he might teleport out.  Both would take considerable energy.  And in a time of crisis he might not have strength of will and concentration enough to keep from aging slightly. 

     He risked it however.  "Have the others lock all the doors in the house."  Trip left the library and Thierry went to work pushing tables against the portals of the room. 

     Daniel appeared, somewhat transparent, ringlets of auburn hair and bright violet eyes.  "Mara says a small group is approaching.  Four men. One Woman.  They think they will succeed because they are the first.  Many more are coming behind them."

     "Warn Sadian if you haven't already!"  Thierry teleported from the room back into the kitchen.  Most of the others were there.   Mara came running down the back steps, had thought to dress for conflict and carried a small bag.  Trip came down the steps after her. 

     "Aje is already in the car," Astoric said.

     Thierry nodded.  He felt weak.  Monique came to his side and slipped under his arm.  "I'll help you," she said.   Thierry put his free hand to Monique's belly, swollen with child.  She looked up at him.

     "I love you," Thierry whispered.  He wanted to kiss her then.  Wanted to teleport the both of them to some private beach or better yet to a cushy penthouse apartment in some very tall building in Paris.  He wanted to lie in bed with her and tell her how much he loved her for the fact that she would bear his child and help him raise it...not like Mary: the bitch.

     "Thierry, they're coming!" Mara shouted.

     Thierry moved, climbed with Monique into one of the back seats of the Land Rover.  In an instant Aje was racing the rugged vehicle across the grounds and out onto the dirt road. 

     "I see them!  They're in a truck." Mara called. 

     Aje swerved and cut across country, tall grasses hissing against the sides of the truck. 

     "I didn't think I'd have to run away from that place twice!" Mara said, "They're still behind us."  And then a loud bang. 

     Thierry still felt drained but he looked up.  No wonder Mara was the only one paying attention.  Monique and he had been distracted.  Astoric and Sadian were whispering to each other and nervous.  Sweet was up front gesturing as he said something to Aje and Quick and Trip were hunched over on the floor trying to get a portable computer to work.  

     "I know the terrain...take the rifle!" Aje snapped at Sweet.

     Sweet took the gun from Aje and climbed toward the back of the vehicle.  "Get down," Monique whispered, a hand on Thierry's head as she slipped to the floor.  She wasn't comfortable but soon Thierry sat down between the seats and she lay more comfortably in his arms.  Sweet hopped over them and cranked open the window at the back. 

     A number of shots were fired.  "We're going to have the park police here thinking we're poaching if they don't stop shooting at us!" Aje called from the front. 

     "I think I just took out the driver," Sweet said.  "Yeah, he's dead."

     The Land Rover swerved.  Thierry heard that thumping sound and knew they had managed at least to hit a tire.  Still Aje was trying to speed across the rough terrain. 

     "They got another driver..." Sweet called.  He was firing at the truck behind them.  The rear window cracked.  "I can hardly see."

     Aje tried to turn sharply to one side to get the hunters in the truck off their tail.  Thierry felt heavy, as if he were pulled against the wall he leaned back against.  And then everything was upside down.  The Land Rover had Rolled.

†  †  †

"Star, Star...help me."  He blinked open his eyes and saw the world sideways.  Sadian seemed to be stretching her arms to the roof of the truck they were in, but she wasn't on the seat anymore.  "Star, they're coming, help me get out of here."

     Astoric righted himself.  Sadian was balanced on her forearms and the top of her head, feet braced to the floor above.  Thierry seemed to be asking Pops if Monique was OK.  Astoric saw Father and Mara laying on the floor.  There was some blood.  "I'll try to ease you down this way," Astoric whispered to Sadian.  He couldn't see out, the windows were at his knees. 

     "I can see three of them, I think, in the grass," Sadian said.  Astoric held her hips and supported her weight so that she could lower herself to the ceiling.  "I don't feel so great," she said. 

     "Which way are they coming from?"

     "Behind you."

     Father was shaking himself into consciousness.  It seemed Thierry was in a panic because Monique had some sort of injury to her head.  Sadian managed to turn around and kick out the shattered window there.  "It's really hard to crawl around like this five months pregnant."

     "Is she OK?"

     "I'm not really sure, Star...I feel kinda strange," Sadian whispered as she wriggled out the window.  Astoric crawled out after her.  Quick was crouched down in the grass.  Aje was reaching into the front of their Land Rover for something.  

     "Monique is hurt," Astoric whispered.

     "Sssh," Quick silenced him.  She was in a weird mood again, the older ones said she'd been just a bit weird ever since getting David's blood and giving birth to Father.  She was crouched like an animal, skirts knotted between her thighs, hair falling out of its clip messily.  She was listening for something.  Sniffing the air. 

     Aje pulled a gun, perhaps a shotgun from the wrecked car.  Quick made some silent hand signal to him.  Quickly Aje stood, fired into the grass near the front of the car and ducked back down.  Someone cried from the dense grass.  Quick hit the ground.  They knew the last three were coming from the other side of the truck. 

     Quick made some signal to Astoric.  He understood her.  He hit the ground and crawled to the window Sadian had kicked out.  "Father."

     "Mara's broken her collarbone, help me get her out."   Father was squeezed between the two front seats trying to lift Mara's body from its middle as gently as he could.  Astoric reached in and slid his hands under her shoulders.  He lifted carefully.  Mara grit her teeth. 

     "I can't get a better grip," Astoric whispered.  He could see the movement of grass beyond the windows.  "We have to hurry."

     A shot came from the rear of their truck.  "I've got them pinned for now, get out of here," Pops called.  Astoric glanced to the back, Thierry and Monique were gone.  "Thierry teleported her out...but he seemed pretty weak...don't think they got far," Pops called. 

     Astoric managed to inch his hands down Mara's back and pull her out of the rolled vehicle.   She was talking.  "Trip, you've got to push right here."

     Father shook his head. 

     "I can't do it, set the bone.  If I immobilize...my arm, I'll be able to run at least."

     "Sit her up,"  Father said with a nod to Astoric.  Astoric lifted Mara and braced himself.  Father put the palms of both hands against Mara's chest and pressed.  She screamed. 

     "Aaah, I need some rope or fabric...something to tie...to keep my arm still."

     Father took off his shirt and started ripping at it, first busting the seams that attached both sleeves and then ripping the fabric of the shirt. 

     "Star," Sadian called.  Astoric left Mara in Father's care and went to Sadian.  She put both hands to his face and kissed him. 

     "Sadi, I love you, but it's not the time."

     "Come with me," Sadian whispered.  She was walking backward, but stooped low so as not to be seen by the hunters. 

     "Sadi!" Astoric hissed.

     "Come on."

     Astoric lost sight of her.  He darted into the grass, sniffed the air.  He reached for her mind.  And then sprinting through the grass Astoric found her.  Sadian was laughing.  She opened her arms.  "Come here, My Love," she said.

     "Sadi, are you mad?"

     "Oh, Star, that must be it!  The madness has hit me."

     Astoric crawled to her.  She was kissing his neck instantly, but whispering to him when taking breaths, "The madness, Star...Mara and Salome were human when they bore us...I'm the first of us to have a child...perhaps it's different for me...maybe the accident disturbed her..."

     "What does she say to you?" Astoric asked.

     "Listen," Sadian giggled as she bit at Astoric's ear. 

     Astoric held Sadian close and listened.  He could hear Sadian, and then he heard their daughter.  "She wants to be born."

     "Oh, Star, I want you so much!"

     "But it's madness."

     "Yes," Sadian purred, "We don't really need you.  What we really need is a safe place."

     "I'll carry you.  Even carrying you I should be able to get to the train station in a matter of hours.  If she decides to be born on the way we'll just have to do our best to help her."

     Sadian nodded.  "You're so elf-like," Sadian said then bit at Astoric's nose. 

     Astoric stood and lifted Sadian into his arms.  "Try to concentrate on something else, please," Astoric said.

     "What?"

     "Maybe you could call Daniel to you and have him check on the others, or help them."

     "Yes, it's better if I keep talking about something else."

     "I know, see if you can call an animal to us that could carry us."

     "Excellent idea," Sadian said. "Help me, we'll all call together."

†  †  †

They still had the hunters pinned.  But Sweet feared they'd never get away if they stayed here shooting at the hunters.  Eventually they'd be out of ammo.  They might win in a closer fight, but they didn't know what sort of weaponry the hunters had.  Either they'd learned to block or as Quick was suggesting they had one of those new devices that generated electronic impulses that interfered with mind reading. 

     "I'm out," Aje said quietly. 

     Sweet checked the small box of bullets under him.  Only four left.  "I could get them if I could see them clearly."

     "Don't aim with your eyes," Aje said.

     "What are you a Jedi Master?"

     "Yeah, trust me.  Don't look for them wit your eyes, use your mind."

     "Give me the rifle," Quick said.

     "I told you to get Trip and Mara out of here already!"

     "They're not leaving us," Quick said, about as annoyed as Sweet felt.  Still he tried what they asked of him, closed his eyes and felt for the hunters. 

     "I still can't do it, they're blocking."

     Quick lay down close beside Sweet.  "No, reach with all your senses, concentrate, watch the grass, smell the air, listen.  Your senses are sharper than theirs...there," she said, and pushed the barrel of the rifle slightly to the left. 

     It did seem there was something there.  Sweet fired, heard sounds of pain and stress from his target.  "He's not dead," he said.

     "Fire again," Quick snapped.

     "I'll run out bullets!" Sweet said but he fired again. 

     "Now he's dead," Quick said.  "The woman, she's close..."

     Sweet searched the grass, snuffed the air again.  "Grenade!" Aje hissed and buried his face.  Sweet turned on his side, drew Quick against his chest.  Something thudded to the ground and Sweet had a vision of fire and pain.  A click and then a loud hiss as the air filled with a fine mist.  Quick was clawing at the air and then it hit Sweet.  Sugar spray! 

     It filled the air and settled on his eyes and lips, on all his body, filled his mouth and then his lungs.  The sugar hit his bloodstream, something so harmless to humans but it sped his heart so that he felt it would explode. 

     His vision cleared and Sweet could see Quick crawling away from the Land Rover, coughing and spitting.  Aje went for the rifle as Trip called.  "Father!"  Trip took hold of him and held Sweet still.  "Be still, it doesn't effect me, just Vampyres." 

     Sweet felt his son's tongue licking at his eyes, melting and lapping up the sugar crystals.  He licked at his nose and then at his lips. 

     "Someone's coming," Mara said.  And then Thierry was there. 

     "Mara, I need you, Monique's not coming out of it, I think she has a concussion or a worse head injury.  She can't die.  I can't lose her and the baby!"

     "I'll go, get my bag," Mara said. 

     Sweet felt his heart slow slightly.  Trip left him, bent over Quick.  "Go with them," she told Trip. 

     "Mom!"

     "We'll come after you," Quick said. 

     Trip followed Thierry and Mara and then it was just Aje with a few bullets and a rifle and Sweet and Quick trying to fight the effects of the sugar spray.  "We're going to have to fall back, Aje, try to get out of here," Sweet said. 

     "I can still buy the others some more time.  We don't know how far any of them have made it."

     Someone's coming!" Quick hissed.   Sweet looked up.  There was movement.  A pale child-sized face peered from the grass with dark eyes.  "Morpheus?" Quick asked.

     He stepped from the grass, no taller than four feet, a spindly child with midnight blue hair and black wings.  "I split in two," he whispered.

     "I did not know you could do that," Quick said, she was still wiping at her eyes. 

     Morpheus moved forward and bent to look through the windows.  "There are just two.  The woman is considering throwing another sugar grenade," he told Aje.  "I just split for the first time, it wasn't very easy, and I can only be small people it seems.  You should go.  Mara and Monique will have trouble traveling, I was just with her, I hope Mara can heal her."

     "Do you know what happened to Sadian?" Quick asked.

     "Oh yes, my other half is with them now.  They are making their way to the train station on the back of an elephant.  Sadian is in labor.  Go now, we'll take care of the hunters.  You should guard Trip, and the others when you find them."

     "Just you against the hunters."

     "I won't be alone.  Just go.  It will be better if you are all safe.  Go to Alexandria." 

     Sweet walked low and helped Quick up.  "Go with them, Aje," Boy Morpheus said.  "I could probably handle these two alone...I am multi-talented."

     A scream came from the grass.  "Ah, just one for me," Morpheus giggled.  He ran off into the grass after the last hunter.