Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:46:21 +1300
From: Arthur <artcart65@vodafone.co.nz>
Subject: Prince of house vladd part 12

			   PRINCE OF HOUSE VLADD

				  PART 12

				 BY ARTHUR




Yep all that stuff goes here, I'm sure you know it all by now so on with
the story.



Peters sobs seemed to time themselves to the rythmn of Swiftwings blood
flow as the bright red source of life flowed from the open wound in his
chest, Peter clasped him closely as the sobs racked his body. Levi was the
first to take hold of Peters shoulder and try to pull him away from his
young lover but without success, Peter just held on tighter to the wounded
boy.

"My love, my love, don't go, please I need you so much, I'm so sorry my
love, I should have stopped him, I...I was too slow, please, please, don't
go."

>From a long way away a voice began to penetrate Peters torn soul as levi
tried to shake his shoulder for attention. Peter lashed out but missed his
intended target that was a blur before his misted eyes.

"Get away, get away from him, he's dying, my love is dying, don't you
fucking understand."

The total distress in Peters voice sent a shiver through Levi, he shook the
distraught boy harder and yelled loudly in his ear.

"PETER, PETER, LISTEN TO ME, YOU CAN SAVE HIM BUT YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME,
QUICKLY BEFORE HE IS GONE FOREVER, PETER LISTEN."

The loud strident voice finally penetrated Peters over stressed mind.

"What?...what do you mean, he's dying, can't you see that?"

"You can save him Peter, for crying out loud, your a vampire, ask him if
he'll let you turn him, quickly, before he's gone to far."

The frightened look on Peters face slowly faded as what Levi had said sank
into his head.'Of course, he was a vampire, he could save his lover, but
would Swiftwing agree.'

Peter bent close to Swiftwings ear.

"My love, my love, I can save you, please, please let me turn you, I love
you so much, I can't let you go, my love, please let me turn you?"

Swiftwings eyes fluttered open, the darkness was so close now, the pain in
his chest was diminishing with every rattling breath he took, in the
distance he could hear his lovers voice begging frantically, what was he
saying, the voice was so far away, he didn't want to go down the dark
passage that stretched out before him, his lover, his beautiful Prince, did
he say he could be saved, he couldn't leave his Prince, not now that he had
found his soul mate. With his last wavering strength, Swiftwing gave a
slight nod of agreement, Peter wasted no more time as his Fathers memories
of how to turn a human rushed into his head, his fangs buried deeply into
the young tender bronze flesh laying in his arms.

As the last of Swiftwings blood filtered past his lips, Peter felt and saw
all of his lovers memories, the old grandfather that had reared Swiftwing
since he had been a small boy of eight, the boy running naked in an open
desert, mysterious nights sitting at his grandfathers fire listening to the
stories of the spirits, the practice that went on for years to learn about
the weapons of his ancestors, how to shape shift and use mother natures
gifts to enhance his training, all of this became clear to Peter as the
blood seeped into his throat.

As Swiftwings heart beat lowered further to the point of no return, Peter
withdrew his fangs and, with a quick slice of his thumb nail, opened a vein
in his wrist and pressed it firmly to the blueing lips of his lover, the
first drops ran down Swiftwings chin but enough dribbled into his mouth to
start the first process of his turning, Peter looked up into the searching
eyes of Levi.

"Was I in time, will he make it, please, tell me, I can't lose him?"

Levi nodded his head.

"Yes, you were in time, now let me take him in the house, he'll probably
stay asleep for two or three days as his system adjusts, what do you want
done with the survivor?"

Peter looked at the young man being held by Caleb, he appeared to be no
more than twenty years old, the look on his face was one of utter terror as
he saw the fangs still projecting from Peters mouth.

"Take him to one of the cells, keep him alone and seperate from the others
up there, make sure you strip him totally so he can't hide anything, I'll
attend to him when I'm sure my love has recovered."

Levi nodded towards Caleb who immediately clamped a strong hand on the boys
shoulder and steered him towards the house, Levi lifted Swiftwing tenderly
and carried him also towards the house, Peter followed along behind, still
in a state of dread for his boyfriend.

Once they had all returned to the house, Peter lead Levi with the comotose
body of swiftwing, up to their bedroom, Levi started at the thought of
having the limp boy in the same room as Peter.

"Peter, there's going to be quite a mess, I don't think your bed should be
the place for him, let me take him into the spare room, we can strip it
down and let him lay there."

"Why, I don't want to leave him alone, not for this."

"He won't be alone, besides, you should know deep down that he isn't aware
of you just now, let's put him in there, he'll still be close and you can
look in on him whenever you want to."

Finally, Peter saw the sense of the action and allowed Levi to take his
lover into the spare room for his turning, already Peter could begin to
smell the first odour of his lovers turning, as Levi lay Swiftwing on the
stripped bed, the mattress quickly covered with a sheet of plastic, both
vampires could see the beginning of a strange green growth starting to edge
its way over Swiftwings body, much like a dark green mould, the smell of
decay rising quickly from the forming mass.

"I've never seen that happen before." commented Levi as he stared open
mouthed at the encroaching mass.

Peter just stared in disbelief at what was happening, there was nothing in
his Fathers memories of this ever happening before either, Peter began to
tremble at the thought of something going wrong with his lovers turning,
slow tears began to slip unnoticed down his young cheeks as he took in the
sight before him, everything seemed wrong but he didn't know what to do
about it all.

Slowly Levi reached out and took Peter by the shoulder and lead him from
the room until they were standing beside Peters bed.

"You need to rest Peter, all this has been a shock for you, just lay down
and rest for a while, you need to relax and let your blood do it's work, I
know it all looks strange with that mass thing but, maybe it's in his
blood, you know, his Shaman abilities, maybe it's some sort of protection
for him. You rest, later we can both go and look at him again."

Peter's numbed senses just accepted Levi's advice and, with resignation on
his face, Peter collapsed on the bed, the smell of the other room still in
his nostrils, Levi leant over the exhausted Prince and pulled up a light
cover so that Peter was comfortable and then left the resting boy to
himself. Levi went down to the main hall and called for Trantor, once the
butler had appeared, Levi gave instructions for the man to go upstairs and
clear out the spare room, the smell would not worry Trantor as he had been
in the service of vampires for most of his life and would be aware of what
was happening to the comotose Swiftwing.

Peter awoke several hours later, the rank smell seemed to have disappeared
to be replaced by the heady scent of green woods, Peter rose from his bed
and quickly made his way into where Swiftwing lay, the sight that met his
bleary eyes startled him at first. On the once clean bed lay a large mound
of thick green moss, no human form could be seen under it, from all sides
thin tendrils stretched out towards the wood panelling on the walls, where
the tendrils touched the wood there were bleached marks as though the moss
was drawing the very substance of the wood from the walls.

Peter became aware of his other guardians now moving around the house, he
had slept through the day until the evening, Peter sent out a mind call for
Sin Yu, if anyone knew what was going on with Swiftwing it would be the
older vampire, it took only minutes for Sin Yu to join Peter in the spare
room. Peter looked up at Sin Yu from his position on the side of the moss
covered bed.

"What's happening to him? what's all this stuff doing here?"

"I don't know Peter, I've never heard of anything like this, mind you,
there's never been a Shaman turned before either, so all this is new, I
suggest we just wait and see what happens, it's all we can do, I'm sure
he'll be alright, this is all new for everyone."

Sin Yu lay a hand on Peters shoulder as a reminder that all his friends and
guardians were there for him in this time of trauma, Peter sighed in his
resignation and acceptance of the facts before them, again looking up at
Sin Yu he said.

"Let's go and see to that prisoner, I want to find out what's going on."

Sin Yu nodded in agreement and followed Peter from the fresh smelling room
where his lover lay under the covering of moss. Once in the main hall,
Peter called all his guardians and the off duty security guards, setting a
cordon around the room, Peter sent Mbeda up to get the prisoner to bring
him down to the hall. Within minutes the terrified young man was standing
in front of Peter.

As he had instructed, the boy was naked, he looked to Peter as though he
had not had a decent meal in a long time, he was thin and a little
undernourished, his ribs showed through his skin and his arms and legs were
thin and under strength, the mop of black curly hair was a little unkempt
and need trimming, fear and terror showed in the dark eyes.

The young mans knees were shaking and his face covered in a thin film of
sweat, he knew what he was standing in front of, his home country had had
stories of vampires for centuries, although this was the first time he had
actually been in the presence of a real one. The young boy standing in
front of him seemed like any other teen boy that he might have gone to
school with but the dead-pan look on the young face sent shivers of fear
through him.

"What's your name?"

The language was hard to understand, his English was very rudimentary, but
he got the idea that the young boy wanted to know his name.

"Estaphan." said the young man, all trace of feeling had left the voice.

Next the young man found himself spread on the floor, his cheek felt on
fire as he tasted a drop of blood on his lip from the three deep gouges in
his cheek, he hadn't even seen the young boy move, Estaphan lifted his head
to look up at the young vampire with terror in his eyes.

"I am Prince Poitre Vladd of the House of Vladd the Impaler, you will
address me as My Lord, do you understand?"

Estaphan could only nod his head, this boy vampire was a decendant of the
most feared man in his countries history, the notorious actions of the
Impaler were well recorded in all his homes history books, and here stood a
direct decendant of that same butcher, Estphan knew he was not going to see
another day if this boy vampire was even half as callous as his ancestor.

"Why did you come to my home to kill? and be warned, if you lie to me I
will know and for each lie you will lose blood, painfully."

Estaphan struggled to his knees and looked up at the young face above him,
in very broken English, Estaphan tried to tell his story, trying
desperately to make this incarnation of the most evil man in his homes
history, understand why he was there. Peter stood above him, arms folded,
his eyes never leaving the terrified face of the young man kneeling on the
floor below him.

"Uhm..Lord, I..uhm, road boy,..uhm, no family, no house, no work, I..uhm
sell me, food, sleep place, one man come, tell me, come work in America,
eat good,..uhm plenty money, good work, Lord, I not know what work,...he
uhm, bring me here, say,..shoot all people here, you be rich boy, Lord."

Peter stared down at the young man without expression, it took the young
man a while to stumble with the language and get his story out.

"What was the mans name?"

"Lord, name Dmitri, he shoot brown boy."

'Damn' thought Peter he was already dead and he was the one that could have
told him who was behind the attack, it seemed that this boy was just cannon
fodder for the attack, Peter looked down at the boy again, his thoughts
racing through his mind as he worked out the pros and cons of what he had
in mind.

"Do you want to live?"

Estaphan leant forward until his head was on the floor.

"Please Lord, I not die, I not die." his voice was broken with sobs as he
pleaded with Peter for his life.

"Look at me!" the boy lifted his head until he was staring fearfully in the
yes of the young vampire.

"If I let you live, you will be a bound servant in my house till you are
old and die, do you understand me?"

"Yes Lord,... I ahh, serve you Lord, all time, Lord, I promise my word."

"I don't need your word, once you are bonded to my house, I'll know where
you are at all times, I'll also know what you are thinking all the time, do
you still agree?"

"Yes Lord,..Yes Lord...all time, please I not die."

"Stand up."

Estaphan slowly rose to his feet, the tears still tumbling down his thin
face as he looked at the fangs projecting from Peters mouth, swiftly Peter
bit Estaphan on the neck and, turning the boys wrist, set his ring mark,
followed by the two bars, removing his fangs from the boy he slit his own
wrist and let a small amount of blood drip[ over the shivering lips of
Estaphan, the seal had been set, all of the boys memories were now his own
and he was able to see that the boy had been telling the truth, he was,
after all, no more than an innocent in the affair.

Peter released the boy from his grip and called for Trantor, when he
appeared, Peter gave him his instructions.

"Trantor, this is Estaphan, take him to the kitchen and find a solid meal
for him, he's to be taught better English and find something around the
house for him to do, he's bonded for life so make him earn his living."

"Yes My Lord, come boy?"

Grasping Estaphans arm lightly he lead him from the room towards the
kitchen, when they had disappeared peter looked around at the security
guards, picking one out he asked him.

"What were the explosions we heard?"

"That was your marksman, he spotted two vans along the road so took them
out with two depleted uranium rounds, they're both still parked down the
road, he thought it would cut off their escape if needed, My Lord."

"Tell him I'm pleased with his decision and he did the right thing, can you
get the vans, or whats left of them, back here, maybe there's something
inside we can use to find who set this up, also look around for any
cellphones or radio equipment that might hold a clue."

"Yes My Lord, we'll get to it at once."

"Sin Yu, do we have anyone that could check those vehicles out?"

"No Peter, but there's a Feline that works for the Police forensics, maybe
you could contact Queen Sheeva for permission to use him?"

"Good, I'll go and do that now, Levi, you and Caleb should go and get some
rest, we can handle it from here, after this morning you both need a
break."

"Thanks Peter, come on you, lets go get a rest." Levi said to Caleb with a
smile, somehow Peter didn't think it would be resting that the twins would
be doing.

Peter dialed the number he had for the Feline queen, it was answered almost
immediately.

"Yes?"

"Your Highness, it's Poitre Vladd."

"Hello Prince Vladd, what can I do for you today?"

"I am asking for a favour, we had an attack on my house this morning
and..."

"Prince Vladd, I hope you are not insinuating that the folk of the Feline
were involved."

"Certainly not, your Highness, it was humans, foriegners, I'm trying to
track down the leaders now, we have the remains of two vehicles here and I
was hoping you would allow us to make contact with the Feline that works
for the police forensics to check them out for evidence?"

"An attack, but who would be fool enough to attack one of the strongest
houses of the folk, were any of you hurt?"

"Only myself and my partner, I..I...had..to turn him to save him." the
sound of tears in Peters voice told the queen how really traumatic the
event had been on the young Prince.

"You will have the full co-operation of all the feline folk, Prince Vladd,
my order will go out within the next few minutes, if there's anything else
we can do, please let us know, have you contacted any of the other folk?"

"No your Highness, I felt it was aimed only at us, I didn't want to cause
any un-necessary problems for the others."

"I would suggest, Prince Vladd that you contact the leaders of all the
other folk immediately, if this is an attack on our way of life then they
should be alerted to it, besides, we all have a pact now, we are bound to
honour it, an attack on one of us is and attack on all of us."

"I...I...thank you your Highness, I'll try to make contact with the other
leaders and inform them."

"How is your partner doing?"

"He's in his death sleep at the moment, I'm hoping he will reawaken
tomorrow or the next day, its all very strange, it's not like any other
turning that my advisors have ever seen."

"What's happened, Prince Vladd? I can hear the distress in your voice?"

"It's just that he has become covered in all this sort of green moss, we
can't see his body under it, I'm...I'm worried something will happen to him
and he won't be the same boy I love." tears rolled down Peters cheeks at
the thought of his lovers body lying under the thick green mat. Queen
Sheeva picked up on Peters distress again.

"Listen Prince Vladd, he's from the Shaman lineage, I've never heard of one
of them being turned before, I know it must be very hard for you, but you
must trust to mother nature to know what it's doing, the Shaman people were
very special people, just put your faith in them and him."

Peter felt a little better now that he had shared with the Queen, she was a
very wise person in many respects and it was her words that began to set
his mind at rest.

"Thank you, your Highness, I'll try to do that, it's just... I love him so
much and it hurt so deeply to have to turn him."

"You must put your feelings aside for a little longer Prince Vladd, you
have a lot more of the folk to protect at the moment."

"Yes, yes, you're right, thank you again, I'll get onto that right away,
goodbye your Highness, and again, thank you."

"Anytime young Prince, just call, you'll find that after our meeting the
other night, you have a lot of friends within the folk for what you are
trying to do, just call any of them if you need help in the future."

"Yes, I will, again, thank you."

Peter hung up the phone and went to find Sin Yu whom he found down stairs
watching TV with the other three guardians. Peter sat in an empty chair
with a heavy sigh, Sin Yu looked over at him.

"He's going to be alright Peter, it's just that he's not like your ordinary
human."

Peter absently nodded his head in understanding.

"I know, it's just I love him so much, the thought of losing him is just
too much."

"You won't be losing him, you'll see, now how did you get on with the
Queen?"

"It's ok, she said she will contact all her feline folk and instruct them
to help us at any time so you can try and get a hold of the guy at Police
headquarters and see when he can come and look those vans over."

"I'll go and do that now, I'm sure there will be a number for him
somewhere."

As Sin Yu rose from his chair another alert sounded in the house, startled,
all the guardians ran for their weapons as one of the security guards
appeared from the hallway.

"My Lord, there's been another breach of the main wall, a Feline just
jumped it and is heading for the house now."

As Peter picked up his Katana, which he had left on a table near the door
when he had come in earlier, the other four guardians arrived fully armed.

"I think it's ok, it must be the one we're lookiing for, the queen said she
would issue the order immediately, although I didn't expect it to be this
quick, let's go see who it is?"

"Don't be in a rush Peter, it's only been a couple of minutes since you
made the call, he couldn't get here that quick, let's do this properly,
Steven, you and Mbeda take each side of Peter, Dmitri and I will take the
lead, ready?"

At a nod from the others and with Peter surrounded by his guardians, they
made it to the door and opened it to see the figure of a cheetah morphing
into a young man of about 25 years old. as the morphing completed, the
young man pulled on a pair of spandex shorts and, with a smile to Peter he
bowed low with open hands to show he was not armed.

"My Lord, I am Tony, Her highness has instructed me to come and help you."

"How did you get here so quickly, it's only been a few minutes?" asked
Peter.

"I'm sorry My Lord, I was hungry and out hunting close by when I got Her
Hignesses call, she said it was most urgent so I came running, it's what
Cheetahs do very well." said Tony with a small smile.

Peter smiled back and the other four relaxed there defensive stances.

"Thank you Tony, I'll make sure your Queen is informed of your quick
reaction to our call, did Her Majesty mention what it was about?"

"No My Lord, she just said it was most important that I got here as soon as
possible."

"Please come in, I'll explain it all inside, if your still hungry I can get
you a meal from the cells."

"Thank you My Lord, yes I would appreciate a meal, it's very close to the
moon and that's not a good time for me to be hungry."

Peter nodded and then looked over at Steven, Steven nodded and left the
room to bring one of the prisoners to the hall. While Steven was away,
Peter began to tell Tony what had happened earlier in the day, as soon as
he had finished, Tony said.

"I'll give them a cursory look over now and, if it looks as though there is
anything there, I'll need to go and get one of my kits to test it
properly."

"Thank you Tony, anything you can give us will help, ah here's your meal,
where would you like to take him?"

"If you would be so kind as to release him out in the woods, I like to have
my meals on the run, as it were." said Tony with a slightly embarrased
smile.

"Steven, take that piece of shit out to the gate and release him."

The prisoner, a man of middle years but very solidly built, looked at Peter
with a sneer as thought to say, 'you little idiot, you'll never catch me
again' Syeven lead the man outside and to the gate, once there he opened
the gate and pushed the man through, telling him to run like hell, the man
need no further encouragement, he was glad to be free from the weird house
and all the young teens strutting around like kings, besides, he was not
fond of little homo's, he'd killed enough of them before, he took off
running, glad to be free of all the bullshit, now he could get back to what
he did best.

Staying on the edge of the roadway, he began a slow jog down the road, he
knew he was a long way from the city and it would take him most of the
night to get back, being naked didn't help either, he would have to steal
some clothes somewhere before he got to civilisation. As he jogged along he
heard a strange soft sound coming from the tress linging the roadside, a
soft hissing voice came to his ears.

"You better run faster than that."

The words turned into a soft coughing grunt as the man was startled into
increasing his pace, in the darkness he couldn't see to much but he was
well aware of a soft padding sound coming closer to him, suddenly he heard
a deep snarl behind him, turning his head he was just in time to see the
lythe form of a cheetah flying through the air towards him, the sharp teeth
digging into his neck was the last thing he felt as he fell under the speed
and weight of the cat.

Half an hour later there was a knock on the front door, Trantor opened it
and Tony came in, his slim stomach was now distended and he had a satisfied
look on his face, bowing to Peter he said.

"Thank you My Lord, it's a pity he couldn't run faster but he still made a
pleasant meal."

"My pleasure Tony, now would you like to look over those two vans?"

"Yes, and what happened to the bodies?"

"They've been put in the cellar, it's colder down there, would you like to
see them as well?"

"Yes, I'll do the vans first and then take a look at the bodies, there
might be something on them to tell us more."

"Mbeda, would you take our guest out to the vans and get anything he needs
for his investigation, after take him down to the cellar to look over the
bodies."

Mbeda nodded in assent and, with a gesture towards the back of the house,
lead Tony away.

"Do you think he will find anything, Sin Yu?" asked Peter.

"If there's anything there to find, I'm sure he'll find it Peter."

It was three hours later before Tony returned to the main hall, his face
was a study of deep concentration as he stood before Peter.

"My Lord, I'm going to need to get my kit from the city, there's a lot
there but I need to make some deeper investigations to make sure I've got
everything."

"When would you like to continue with it, Tony?"

"Right now is good, if your Lordship would be so kind as to have a car for
me, the sooner I get it all done the sooner you will have some real
answers, I have a feeling that there's not much time so I better do it
now."

"Steven can you take Tony into the city and bring him back?"

"Yes Peter, I'll get him there and back in under two hours, is there
anything else you need while I'm in there?"

"No, this is of prime importance, anything else can wait."

Steven nodded and lead Tony out to the garage, minutes later Peter heard
the sound of the BMW roaring towards the gates, Peter looked over to Sin
Yu.

"I'm going to go and look at Swifwing, can you check the house for me, I
know I should be in training today but, I can't thinkk straight until he's
back with us."

"You go ahead Peter, there's nothing we can do now until Tony gets back and
gives you his report."

Peter adjourned to his bedroom and then through to where Swiftwing lay
under his green covering, the first thing Peter noticed was that the scent
in the air had again changed, now there was the smell of flowers in the
room, looking at the bed he could see that small red flowers had broken out
all over the green moss, the tendrils that had been working their way up
the walls had disappeared and in their place were only the stark white
bleach marks where they had been.

Peter knelt beside the bed of his lover, the heady odor of the flowers
became almost intoxicating as his highly sensitive sense took it in, as
though in a dream, Peter began to have strange halucinations of Swiftwings
life as well as strange dream like images of spirits whirling around the
room above Swiftwing. Peter tried to shake his head to clear away the
images surrounding him but, it was to no avail, they only seemed to
multiply the harder he tried to dispel them.

Something deep inside Peter seemed to resonate within his chest, it was
like a deep rolling drum beat, shaking his head to rid himself of the
slight dizziness, Peter rose from his knees and left the room, it was as
though both Swiftwing and he were being reborn in another form, still
vampiric, but something more, something deeper and more powerful.

Peter went to his bed and lay down, his head still feeling the effects of
the heady aroma of the flowers, Peter closed his eyes and was soon
asleep. Three hourds later, Peter awoke to the sound of his phone ringing
in the office, quickly he got off the bed and walked through to his office,
lifting the reciever he asked.

"Yes, who's this?"

"Peter, it's me, your Father, I,ve just heard you were attacked this
morning, what happened?"

Peter retold the events of the morning to his Father and the actions he had
taken to find out the perpetrators.

"Well son, keep me informed, if this is a strike against our house we might
need the help of the council, let me know when you have something concrete
to work on."

"Yes Dad, but I want to try and fix this myself, you gave me charge here so
I have to take what actions I deem fit, but, if anything comes up that's a
threat to all of us, I'll contact you immediately."

"Ok, Son, you do what you feel is right, but, keep me informed, ok?"

"Yes Dad."

Peter hung up the phone and returned to his room glancing at Swiftwings
room as he walked past the door, the flower smell was still strong in the
air.

-------------------------------------------

Gregor Antovich rolled over in his bed, pushing the young girl to the side
as he reached out to answer the ringing phone as he mumbled to himself.

'Why do these bastards have to call at 3am?'

"Yes?" he asked.

"You failed, what happened?" the voice was as cold as the blood of the
vampire himself.

"I don't know, I haven't heard anything back from them."

"They're all dead you bloody fool, you don't send twenty men after a
vampire, idiot."

"But it was daytime, they all sleep in the day, there would have only been
his human guards." Gregors voice was getting more gutteral and sharp as he
heard the insults.

"He's a bloody daywalker, you fool and he has two other guardians that were
bred just the same, he can't stand too much harsh sunlight but he can
operate very well during the day, also, his security guards were trained
overseas by the SAS and those bastards make the SEALs look like school
girls, you should have sent all the men you have then they would have had a
good chance by sheer numbers, as it is all you've done is warn him that
he's under attack, now it's going to be ten times as hard to get too him,
you bloody fool."

"But....but, you should have told me all this, if you had I would have sent
everyone and a few extras as well."

"I told you too send in a full attack, that meant everyone, now we have to
hope there's nothing on the dead guys to tell them anything, you better get
onto your contacts and start getting more men here as quick as you can, if
he tracks you down, you're going to need an army to stop him. The only good
thing to come out of this si the fact that one of your men killed his
boyfriend and there you were lucky, he was a Shaman."

"A Shaman, what the fuck is a Shaman?"

"If you ever meet one, you better hope he's feel well disposed towards you,
if you think a vampire is powerful you just don't want too meet a Shaman,
they're more ancient than us and have powers that can make life very
uncomfortable for everyone, fortunately, there's not many of them left, if
we're lucky, that one might have been the only one left, if so, then at
least you got something right."

"How many new men should I send for?"

"As many as you can get into the country, we're going to need all of them,
make sure that Thomes has all the details."

Gregor didn't get a chance to answer as the phone gave the buzzing sound of
a dead line, the vampire had hung up on him, Gregor groaned as he looked
down at the young girl still asleep on his bed, slapping her hard across
the cheek to wake her, he rolled her over on her back and forcefully spread
her young legs, mounting her quickly he began to savagely ram himself
deeply into her young flesh as she cried out in pain, Gregor ignored her
pleas as he turned his pent up anger onto her.

-----------------------------------------------

Peter yawned as he awoke with the sound of the shutters descending for the
day, his senses told him that the four guardians had retired to their rooms
and that Levi and Caleb were downstairs having breakfast with the security
guards. After his shower and checking in on Swiftwing, he went to join
them, at the table a very tired looking Tony sat with a cup of coffee in
his hands, as he saw Peter enter he rose to his feet.

"Good morning My Lord, I have my preliminary report ready for you."

"Thank you Tony and good morning, just give me the short version of it,
please."

"The vans are govenment issued and registered, department unknown so they
will be from some security division at a guess, the men are all of central
European descent, mainly slavic, some are definately Romanian, not much on
their bodies to tell who they are but by the look of most of them, I would
guess they are from the lower edge or criminal element of the streets. One
or two had jewelry that was cheap but pointed to the same area's, I'm sorry
that's about all I can tell you at this stage, there's nothing on them to
say who sent them."

"Thank you Tony, do you wish to stay here and rest or would you like me to
get you home?"

"I had better start back to the city, My Lord, I still have work at
headquarters to take care of."

"Ok, Levi, could you take Tony to where ever he needs to go, and Tony, my
sincere thanks for all your hard work, I'll make sure your Queen knows how
much you did for us, again, thank you."

"Any time My Lord, I have instruction from my Queen to be at your service
whenever needed."

"Thank you again, Levi will take you home."

Tony followed Levi from the hall and within minutes the other two heard the
sound of the Beemer leaving the estate, Peter turned to the security guards
at the table.

"Who was the marksman?" he asked them.

A short hispanic man stood up, he was only about 5'8" tall but well
developed in the shoulders and chest, his hips were slim and his legs
looked lythe under the tight uniform.

"My congratulations, your work on the vans was exceptional, even had we
lost they would'nt have had any transport to escape in, there'll be a
special bonus in your pay this month for your quick thinking, you have my
gratitude."

"Thank you My Lord." the man seemed to have a slight blush at being singled
out for special attention.

"Caleb, when Levi gets back, I want to go and have a look at Ellis Street,
I have a bad feeling that it's going to need to be completed sooner rather
than later."

"Do you think it's wise to go out at a time like this Peter?"

"We'll take the limo with two extra security guards, I don't think they
will be ready to mount another attack so soon but I had better be ready
just in case."

"Well, ok, but make sure you don't get seperated from us."

"I won't." Peter smiled at the concern on Calebs face as he returned to the
lift to go up and once again check on Swiftwing, his mind was a whirl of
thoughts and images as he stood beside the bed where his lover lay under
the flower covered moss.

Four hours later, just after midday, the limo pulled up outside the Ellis
Street building, the whole area seemed in an uproar of tools and machinery
with men coming and going from the front of the building, out on the front
steps, his right hip hitched up on a half empty pallet of bricks, sat Jake,
as he saw the limo pull to a halt he smiled and threw one finger to his
forehead in acknowledgement of Peters arrival.

The two security guards were the first from the limo, they took up
positions of defence as Peter, Levi and Caleb got out of the back, Peter
smiled broadly at the relaxed figure of Jake as he saw the werewolf rise to
his feet.

"Hey spunky, come to visit the hard working men?" Jake's smile was from ear
to ear as he took Peter's hand in his own.

"Hi Jake, how's it all going down here?"

"Better than I thought, even most of the Vaga are helping where they can,
there's a lot of tallented kids amongst them, it's a wonder no one looked
to them before today."

Peter stepped back and looked at the old building, on the outside there was
very little difference apart from the dark tinted windows that had replaced
the broken glass that had been set in the frames before, the door was wider
and new but looked like any other wooden doorway. At each end of the main
building, the superette and the club were well under way and looked as
though they would be ready within weeks.

Peter gave Jake a questioning look.

"Don't worry little guy, the windows are all 4" armour glass, the door is
backed up with a steel drop door behind it and there's an electronic
warning system being installed right now, each of the live-in guests will
recieve a card that'll give them entrance, anyone else will have to ring
the bell to get in, want to have a look over the inside?"

Peter just stood nodding his head, he didn't think they would be that far
advanced yet, it had only been a few weeks since they had started, Jake had
been right, his men knew how to work fast. Peter followed the large figure
of Jake through the door, the entrance had been deepened by several feet so
that anyone entering could not see further than the desk at the end of the
short passage.

"If they get unwanted visitors, there's a drop door at the end of this
short passage and the one just behind the front door, during an alert they
both drop and trap anyone in the passage, it'll take a thermal lance to get
through the doors." Jake explained to Peter.

Peter moved on into the room, what had once been a large empty concrete box
was now unrecognisable, the desk peter had seen from the entrance was
actually behind a clear thick glass sheet, it stretched from floor to
ceiling and wall to wall, at each end was a shiney steel door with a card
reader where a door handle would have been. The floor was now ground and
polished stone, behind the desk was a thick stone wall that seperated the
rest of the reception from the rear area, split only by the two opposing
passages for the guests to enter the back.

"Behind the wall is the main office and a conference room with a bathroom
and small kitchen, there's extra bedrooms in there for emergencies, they're
protected by the stone wall, the glass is all bullet proof, it'll take a
.50 cal bullet easily. The entrance to the lower floors is also hidden
behind the wall so you can't see it unless you're told it's there. The left
door takes you to the lower floors, the right one is to the upper floors,
there's a trap door under the desk if they need to get out of there in a
hurry."

Peter looked up and smiled at the proud look on Jakes face.

"It's great Jake, I never even thought it would be like this, how much more
is there to go?"

"Not much more in the heavy construction area, most of it's already
finished, they're just starting on the excape tunnels now, most of the rest
is just fitting out the rooms and putting in the security features as well
as finishing the two buildings at the ends, the humans have been doing the
club and superette, we thought it better to keep them out of here for
obvious reasons, they wanted to argue at first but we had a small chat
about it and they decided to let us do it." Jake smiled broadly at the
thought of the chat he had had to have with the humans.

Peter looked at the open grinning face of the werewolf and guessed how the
chat had gone.

"How long do you think it will all take to finish, Jake?"

"Hmm, to finish installing all the elctronics and security systems, fit all
the rooms out and check security, I'd say about two weeks should do it,
how's that sound, little Prince?"

"Great, it's a lot quicker than i thought it would be, but after yesterday,
I'm glad it's going so fast, I don't think we have much more time left to
get them safe."

"Yeah, I heard about the attack, is everything ok with you?"

Jake could see the pensive look on the young vampires face.

"What's wrong Peter, what aren't you telling me?"

"They shot my lover, I...I had to turn him to save him, I'm not sure how
it's going to turn out, everything is going strange with his turning."
Peter's eyes began to fill with tears as he remembered his lovers plight,
Peter felt two large arms encircle his small slim waist as Jake pulled him
into a hug and whispered quietly in his young ear.

"He'll be ok Peter, if he's not dead yet then it'll all turn out right,
just be patient and wait and see, he'll be back in your arms in no time."

Peter could only nod his head against the large chest as his tears began to
dry, with a small shudder and a last sob, he lifted back from Jake's hug
and tried to smile.

"I know it will Jake, it's just,...well it's just I miss him so much and
each time I think of how close I was to losing him,... well it brings it
all back again."

Jake rubbed gently on the back of Peter's head to sooth him a little.

"Just think of it this way, if he turns properly, you'll both have a long
life together, had he stayed human, you would have had to watch him fade
away as you stayed the same, maybe this was meant to be, Peter."

Peter slowly nodded his head as the reality hit him, Jake was right, he
would have had to watch his lover fade into old age as he himself stayed
young and alive, slowly, Peters heavy heart began to lift, it was true, he
would have many years with his boyfriend now, shaking his head to clear
away the earlier heavy thoughts, he concentrated again on the renovations.

"I noticed that there's no balconies for the avians yet, are they going in
last?"

"No, they looked at it and decided they wanted the outer walls to stay the
same, they said they could fly directly into the main room so we fitted
electronic sliding doors where the outside windows are, the reciever has
been set to their body signature so it will automatically allow them once
they break the beam, but keep anyone else out that doesn't fit their own
special signature." replied Jake.

"Can we go down and look at the sub-basement?"

"Sure, follow me."

Jake swiped a card through the reader on the left hand door, it swished
open almost soundlessly, the three boys followed Jake to the re-inforced
door of the sub-basement, it also was controlled by a card reader, once
activated, the door slid silently into the floor and faint red lights came
on along the steps leading downwards, Jake lead the way down. At the bottom
of the steps Jake stopped.

"Take a look above your head, Peter, that steel panel fixed to the ceiling
drops down in an emergency and locks in place sealing the access off from
the living area, it can only be opened from the other side, there's another
three door further along, each one can be dropped as the rooms on the left
and right are cleared so there's a steel barrier dropped as each part is
cleared, they're made of high grade 6" armoured steel, by the time anyone
breaks through them, the residents can be out of the escape tunnels and
away free, we've left the main passage wide on purpose so that there won't
be any worry about congestion in emergencies, the two lower floors are the
same set up. I'd show you the rooms but they're all full with the Vaga just
now, although there's still some free rooms right down on the last floor."

"No, it's ok Jake, this is fantastic, they'll all be safe here, that's all
I needed to know, let's go up again, I need to get back to the house,
thanks Jake, for eveything, its exactly what I wanted it too be."

Peter gave Jake a hug and then they all turned to the steps and, after a
couple of minutes were back outside the building, Peter smiled broadly as
he looked again at the results of his dream to bring all the folk together,
after another hug with Jake, Peter waved and got into the limo, the
security guards last to eneter, with a last wave to the werewolf, the limo
turned and set out for home.

On his return home, Peter called for Trantor, once the butler was present
he gave his orders.

"Trantor, I want the two boys kept out of our room until Swiftwing has
recovered, Levi, I would like Sin Yu to take them down stairs and train
them in combat, I want everyone here to be able to defend the house if
needed, Trantor, how is the new boy?"

"He's still a bit fearful, My Lord, but he's beginning to relaxe a little,
I've set him in the kitchen for now but I see no reason that he should not
be taught to serve in the dining room as well, he and Alfred seem to have
hit it off although they are both fencing around the subject as yet but, I
think they might end up with each other in the end, it's rather amusing to
see them trying not to look at each other, My Lord." stated Trantor with a
wide grin on his face.

Peter laughed for the first time since the attack as he tried to picture
the over exuberant Alfred and the scared new boy making eyes at each
other. Peter left the others in the hall and made his way back to his own
room, the first thing to hit him was the slightly decayed smell in the
room, it wasn't unpleasant but reminded Peter of a wet and damp forrest
covered with last years dead leaves and laying wet on the ground in an
Autumn morning.

Quickly Peter ran into the spare room, there was still no sign of swiftwing
under the moss but Peter could see immediately that the moss was becoming
brown around the edges as though dying, the flowers of earlier had already
died and there bare stalks stuck up out of the shrinking moss, Peter sighed
with impatience and returned to his office desk.

Opening his console, Peter idally played with the different programs until
suddenly a flash of inspiration caught him, opening a design program, Peter
began to doodle aimlessly, slowly a picture emerged, it was nothing
intentional, just and idle doodle, Peter looked more closely at it and
began to make some alterations, suddenly it dawned fully on him what he had
on the page, adding his house crest above the drawing, Peter looked again
at the page, a small grin spread over his face.

On the page was an animal similar to a griffon, it had the feet and body of
a Feline, the wings of an avian and the head of a wolf but with extra long
fangs, his house crest was above it and below were his two lines, Peter
sighed with contentment, this would be the signet of house Vaga, he would
get one made to hang above the door of Ellis Street so everyone knew what
the house was and that it was under his protection. Peter was suddenly hit
with a wide mouthed yawn, maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt, it had been a
long day.

Peter saved the page and closed down the console, soon he was laying on his
bed, the scent of the moss decay still in his nostrils as his eyes closed,
'please, please, let him rise soon' Peter thought as he began to drift into
sleep.


TBC

artcart65@vodafone.co.nz