She wrinkled her nose at the metallic smell of blood as Nicholae carefully drank from his cup.

'It never used to make you squirm.' Nicholae spoke after he wiped his lips with a black napkin.

Valentina simply shrugged off his accusations. What did he know about her anyways? If she was uncomfortable with the sight of him drinking blood then she was. However in this case, he was right. Was it unnecessarily petty? yes, but it had to be done.

'You don't know anything about me.' She retorted.
He would have said something but his keen hearing caught the shuffling of approaching feet.

'Hide.' He instructed Valentina.
She wanted to argue but the anxious look in his face made her obey. Something else in her ordered her to obey him. She'd investigate that traitorous voice later, but for now...
She went inside his closet just as the door to his room opened.

'Papa.' It was Niko, but he didn't sound very happy.

'Nicholae.' A deeper voice spoke.
Valentina immediately recognized it as Ivan Tchkovskys.
'So you returned and I'm the last to here of it?'

'You aren't the last to hear of it Papa.' Nicholae's voice was tight.

'Since I wasn't the first, I might have as well been.' His voice held a certain overbearing note to it. It reminded Valentina of Cornelius Lynch, her guardian and lord.

'Well you know now. What do you want?'

Valentina peeked from the opening.

Ivan's hand was possessively placed on his grandson's shoulder. From the look on Niko's face, he wasn't pleased either. The poor boy.

'I'm sure Sonya told you about moving the truce banquet forward. There will be very important people present. Like your future wife for instance.'
Ivan raised his other hand and silenced his son's protests.
'For so long we have condoned your actions and left you alone. Now the half breed needs a mother and this house needs a pure heir.'
Ivan squeezed Niko's shoulder before pushing him towards his father.
'When you aren't busy, your mother would also like to see you. And she would also like to be told when you are leaving and when you arrive... from your lips. Not the staffs' or the child.'
Then he quietly closed the door behind him.
'Take me with you.' His son ran into his arms and hugged him.
'I thought you were mad at me.' Nicholae smiled ruefully lifting up his son.
Niko laid his head on his father's shoulder,
'Uh uh.' His voice wobbled.

Valentina stepped out of the closet in time to find Nicholae checking his son's neck.
It looked like Ivan had scratched the boy.
He signaled Valentina to remain in the closet. Begrudgingly, she returned to her spy hole.
'You're sleeping here tonight.' He said to his son the news made Niko smile brightly. How easy it was to please children.

Once he had his son settled into the bed he whispered in his ear.
'There's no need for me to leave again. I've found what I was looking for.'

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentina couldn't sleep. One of the downsides to being a spirit.
Nicholae had shut the black curtains preventing the sunlight from disturbing their slumber.
Vampires hated sunlight, it wasn't a secret. It killed the made vampires and pure breds alike. However the Tskovosky manor was enchanted with wards to prevent such casualties. Even the clothes and jewelries were enchanted to allow them to walk in sunlight. They could never be too careful.
Had she been in full control of her powers as a witch, she'd have been tempted to to spell Nicholae's clothes and so when he walked into the sun he'd burst out into flames.
Sadly, she didn't have her powers so that could only be a passing thought.

She sat at his desk once again to continue snooping. Papers she could move but opening drawers were a different story. That task required a lot of concentration.
She pressed her lips in a thin line in her effort to concentrate. Her fingers felt the cold of the metallic handles confirming her success. She pulled and lo and behold, it was locked.

'Where is the damned key?'
There had to be one lying around.

She looked up at Nicholae and saw him watching her with a funny look in his eyes and her heart skipped.

'I'd have told you I had them spelled. It will only open when I touch them.'

Busted.

He arose from the bed. Her eyes immediately went to his opened tunic which revealed his flat stomach and his chest.

He smiled when he caught her ogling.
She quickly looked away and blushed ferociously. Yes, it was still possible. stupid but possible.
He leaned in towards her face when he opened the drawers.

Now she felt some type of way about snooping now that he was actually letting her.
He placed the ancient looking book in front of her.

'This has been a tremendous help to me in figuring out the descendants of Ximena. This is what led me to North Carolina to find Semi.'
He opened to the middle page which revealed a family tree which kept reducing instead of growing.

'They aren't a lot of them left out there because someone is after them. So most of them went into hiding. That makes them are pretty damn hard to find.'

Valentina studied the ever updating tree.
It was very obvious it was bewitched.

'There are three copies. Just three. We have one and the dragons have... had one and so do the Lynch clan. Our ancestors knew then the importance of keeping track of your relatives. Whoever stole the other copy knows this too and wants them gone. Your bloodline are the only ones who can heal the guardian trees. And someone doesn't want that.'

'Why are you telling me this?'

'Because you want to know.' His reply was so simple.

Valentina did want to know. The thought of someone killing her relatives, no matter how distant, disturbed her very deeply. Could this have been the real culprit behind her death?
She looked at the book again.

How had Nicholae figured this all out?

'Why do you care so much about them?' She kept voice low to keep Niko from waking up. The child looked angelic in his sleep. What was she saying, even awake he was the most adorable thing she'd seen.

'No one deserves to die just like that. Plus, I'm looking at the bigger picture.'
He brought her attention back to the topic at hand.
'If humans are enslaved under one person, the harm to us supernaturals will be exponential. War would break out and we'll be on the losing side. Vampires would be cut off from their main food source. We'll be out numbered 700:1 and we'll be stuck with manic vampires attacking anything that moves.'

She now understood why he cared, why he couldn't have possibly been the one to kill her.

Maybe.

'Osei would take sometime before coming to a conclusion. Semi will convince him to help you. As long you also keep your promise to help Osei.'

'I wouldn't lie about that.' He looked genuinely hurt that she'd insinuate that he was insincere.

There was a hesitant knock on his door.

Valentina jumped up to hide but Nicholae stopped her.
'It's a human servant girl.' He whispered.

He opened the door slightly.
'You have a letter, my lord.'

Nicholae accepted it so when the girl still there he asked.
'Is anything the matter?'

'Ni... Niko isn't errr...'

'He's here with me. Don't worry about it.'
She could just imagine the poor girl's relief.

When the door was closed, he opened the letter.
'Semi wants to meet.'

'I'm coming right?'

But he chuckled.
'You will stay here. I need to verify all what you told me.'

Valentina was enraged.
Such marvelous nonsense.

'You can't keep me here against my will.'
She whispered harshly.

'I have been doing just that.'
He still smiled when he picked out his enchanted clothes.
She really wished she had her powers.
'You look scary when you scowl.' He said then kissed his son before leaving.
'Don't let him see you.' He warned her before disappearing.

She wanted to scream at the walls.
When had her guard gone down? She should have tried to ensured her release instead of listening to him babble on about the good he was trying to do. That one good act would not erase all the bad ones in his past.
Damn him.

She pushed the curtain back and watched a valet drive a sleek tinted car to the driveway.

Before Nicholae got in, he waved up at the window. He knew she'd be fuming from his room and watching him.

The engine roared as he zoomed away.

She defiantly sat at the edge of the bed scowling at Niko, urging him to wake up and see her.
Maybe he'll be scared and let her go.
But the boy was out like a light. 

In defeat she slumped her head and got up to leave.
Her heart froze when the child started waking up.

'Mama?' He slowly sat up rubbing his eyes.