Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 15:27:49 +1200 From: Arthur Subject: Prince of House Vladd 5 PRINCE OF HOUSE VLADD PART 5 BY ARTHUR All the usual preamble applies here as with everything else artcart65@vodafone.co.nz Refreshed by his shower, Peter returned to his bedroom, Sin Yu stood there with a young hispanic teen of about 19, one look at the boys mind and Peter had no hesitation in attacking without further thought, this one had specialised in home invasion and rape of young an old alike, his blood was full of energy from both fear and aggression. Peter quickly drained him, then let him fall to the floor. Sin Yu lifted the lifeless corpse and took it away, Peter returned to the bathroom and wiped his chin and mouth clean, unlike the movies, vampires did not make a mess when feeding, the blood was to precious a commodity to waste by being messy and spreading it all over the place, apart from the fact that the two puncture marks were just large enough to allow the fangs to drain the blood at the same rate as the persons heart beat with only a little assistance from the vampires suction of his lips and mouth. Once again clean and refreshed, Peter went through to his office, everything he could do so far had been set in motion, it only remained for the other species to make contact and he could move forward with his plan to bring some sort of order to the people of the night. Peter sat at his desk just as Sin Yu returned. "Sin Yu?" "Yes Peter?" "Why did I need to feed so soon after the last time?" "It's your extras kicking in, they take a little out of you until they are fully integrated in your system, so you need the extra feeding to adjust, because of your royal blood, you have more extras than a normal vampire and it takes more out of you than normal." "You mentioned that my Father was over 700 years old, yet Drakula is over 1400, I thought that Vladd the impaler was the first of the vampires according to Stoker?" Sin Yu gave a chuckle. "As you've been told, Stoker was, and still is, one of us, all he wrote was to mislead the humans, you'll have to read the scrolls of our history for all the fine details, but, I can give you a brief synopsis if you like?" "Well I've got nothing else on at the moment, I'd love to hear more?" "Ok, well, we've been around a lot longer than most humans think, actually we are pre-Egyptian, stop and think about their gods, what does Bastet look like?" "I've never heard of it?" "Bastet was the god of Felines, cat's to the egyptians were sacred, you would be killed for hurting or killing a cat, Does it ring any bells?" "Ahh....damn, the Felines." "Exactly, next, who does Horus, remind you of?" "Horus, I know that one, he's half man, half bird." "Right, but he's half Hawk actually, a bird of prey, who does that remind you of?" "The Avians." "Right again, next is , Anubus?" "The dog?" "Well he was actually a Jackal, so he would be a Canine." "The werewolves, right now I see, but where do we fit in, I don't ever remember anything in the history about vampires in acient egypt?" "Ever heard of Apep?" "No, never." "Well Apep was another histroical misdirection, Apep was the snake god, snake equals?" "Ahm.....ah yes...Fangs, gotcha, so each egyptian god was a symbol of all shape shifters and vampires?" "Yes to a certain degree, you have to remember that there was no information super highway and the new forms of religion had not reared their ugly heads yet, people were very supersticious, anything they did not understand was thought to be because the gods were angry, and, the gods being fickle would come in many and varied shapes and sizes, to accept all that was going on the people thought it best to just call anything that might harm them,a god, that way they were playing it safe by worshiping them." "But what about older civilisations, say, like the Inca's?" "Similar system, think about why the Inca's insisted on blood sacrifices, another misdirection by the movie makers was that the victims were nubile young virgins, well part of that was true, but the virgins were young boys, not girls but the powers that be could not have that sort of gay thing being shown on the screen so they changed it to girls, frankly, for us, male blood is far more tasty and is a hell of a lot better than womens, their blood tastes like three day old milk, you can live on it but it tastes like shit." Sin Yu chuckled. "So why did Stoker start the whole Vladd the Impaler thing?" "He had to have a starting point, if our major food source thought we had been around as long as humanity, if not longer, then they would have come after us with a vengence, just think about the holy crusades and the inquistion, fanatics are prepared to murder millions just as long they themselves are not affected and they can gain as much power and wealth as they can get their greedy little hands on." "Well that expains our people but, what about the Shaman's?" Peter asked. "Ahh, now, the Shaman's were very much like us to start with, have you ever looked at their indiviual totems?" "Well, I've seen pictures of some of them....damn, of course, the eagle, the wolf, the snake, the bear, the aligator, the mountain lion, yes... I see the connection now." "You're right to a certain point, in early history, when the land bridge was still covering the Bearing Sea, humanity, and our ancestors, came across from Asia, in the early times, we were still thought of as gods, hence, the totems, later, however, the Shamans, or, if you like, their witch doctors, slowly learnt how to shape shift. At first they discovered various types of drugs, like peyote and such, with the aid of them they began to have dreams, from there it was a natural progression to being able to shape shift. This of course took centuries but they had nothing but time on their hands between trying to kill each other. Now about a thousand years ago, some of the very powerfull and knowledgeable Shamans learnt how to control the natural animal instincts in man until, now days, the few truly powerful Shamans that are left,can change into virtually any animal shape they like. The only thing a Shaman can not do is change into a vampire, well unless he is bitten and turned that is, but that just doesn't happen, they would never allow one of their own to be turned. As far as I know, there are only 3 or 4 true Shamans left in the world, modern technology has taken over and besides the invasion of europeans to America conspired to kill off as many Native Americans as they could for their own protection, or, greed, which ever it was." "So what you're saying is we've been around just as long as humanity has, it's just that the normal people don't know about us or don't want to know about us?" "That's about it, if it had not been for Stoker writing his misdirections, the rest of humanity would come after us with a vengence, oh we would take a lot of them with us, but, in an all out war, we couldn't win, their technology wouldn't beat us, just their sheer numbers would overwhelm us so it's better to make them believe in fables and horror stories for our own protection." Peter sat deep in thought, so much of history started to make more sense now he had better facts to work with. "What about the influence of the Vatican and churches that tell of how to kill us?" "More misdirection, ok, the only certain way to kill us is either sunlight or decapitation, the rest is all bogus rubbish given out by Stoker, remember, when he was writing the stories, the catholic church was very powerful, it still is today, although not as much as it would like us to think, to get them away from starting a vampire inquisition and trying to eradicate us all, Stoker suggested they could kill us with holy water, wooden stakes through the heart, silver bullets and crosses. Well the truth is, as you probably have already been told, silver only stings like hell, it wont kill you, a cross is only a nice decoration, you'll see a lot of vampires wearing one as jewelry, a wooden stake through the heart, hurts like hell but it won't kill you, just stop for a moment and count your heart beats." Peter sat back and relaxed, then concentrated on his heart beat, slowly it began to dawn on him after a minute of counting, his heart beat was only five, the look of surprise on his face did not go unnoticed by Sin Yu. "You see, if you get staked, it doesn't kill you, oh sure, it hurts like hell, but with such a slow heart rate, your body will heal long before it could kill you, and, with your heritage as a blood royal, you'll heal even faster than a normal vampire would." "So the Vatican is kept out of our business?" "Yep, the best place to hide, is always in plain sight, how many people look at those around them, nearly all religion is based on myths, look at Christ changing the water into wine for his disciples?" "So?" "What is the slang for Jesus Christ?" "Well a lot of people just say JC?" "That's right, but JC is also the initials of Count Drakula's ancestor." "WHAT?...you're joking...right?" Sin Yu smiled. "Not at all, you've heard of the count of Monte Christo?" "Yes..?" "What does Christo mean?" "Shit..." "Exactly, Christo is the surname of Drakula's ancestors, Jesus was actually Justius Christos, an ancestor of Count Drakula, the turning of the water was in actual fact the adding of his blood to the water to turn the disciples into Simbiots, Count Drakula's name is really Drago Christos. Now your's is just as interesting, the name Vladd, is from central Europe, Vladisch, which comes from the mongol empire and the name VeiDeng who was a distant ancestor of Temujen or more commonly called Genghis Khan, where do you think he got his blood lust from. they were also distant relations of the Shaman, that's why they practiced shamanism in their religious practices?" Peter sat and all he could do was shake his head, there were two histories, one for the masses and the one hidden in myths and legends. "I've got to read those books and scrolls, there's just so much that's now starting to make sense, I used to think history in school was sooo boring. There's still a few things that don't add up though" "And what are they?" "Well, firstly, the bible says Jesus Christ was a real man, he could perform miracles in front of others, also, if he was a vampire, how could he be out in the daylight?" "Good Point, first, he could be out in the daylight simply because we used to be people of the day, it was as he was being crucified he decided that the safest way for our people to continue to survive was to change our living habits to the night. When they though he was dead, he was in fact, only in hibernation, he knew that trick from his association with the Shaman. Stop and think about the resurrection, the stone over the doorway was to heavy for a single man to move, but, not for a vampire, as to the witnesses that said they saw no one come out, well you've used that trick already, remember your fast actions with the vampire Seaton?" "Well not really, just one minute I was sitting and the next I was on top of him." "You used your glamour unconsciously, he didn't have a chance to react as you had sent him the image of you still being seated, so you were on him before he could do anything. Now as to the miracles, in those times, very few could read or write, everything was explained as being a gift from the gods, what he did was again use his glamour and also other tricks picked up from all the various species of blood and ,meat eaters, did it ever cross your mind, that of all the people like us, it's only the vampire that stays out of the daylight. After a hundred years or so, our systems adjusted to being only out in the night, slowly our DNA changed until we couldn't go out in the sun any more." "But what about all the religious history and other things written down about those times?" "The humans idea of history is to let the winners write it, that way they feel better about all the mass murder they commit and they don't want to think that they are inferior in any way, it's part of their phsyci, they hate to think they are just cattle, so, they write history to suit themselves and make themselves feel better, truth has nothing to do with it, besides, the truth scares the hell out of them." "Hmm...ok, but what's this glamour?" "It's a mind trick, you project an image or feeling that you want someone else to see or feel, we call it glamour, others have different names for it but it's all the same thing." Peter sat back and let the new facts sink into his brain, just as it was beginning to make a lot more sense, his console activated and the blue light began to flash, Peter reached over and made the connection, a picture of a large, heavy set man came onto the screen, the name Sven Bronholt came up with a small icon of a wolf beside it, Peter opened the channel. "Alpha Bronholt, a pleasure to meet you Sir." "Prince Vladd." The voice was curt and gruff."you wanted a meeting?" "I was hoping we could assemble a meeting with youself along with the Felines and Avians." "Why?" was the curt reply. "I thought it might be in all our interests to meet and make some sort of alliance to our mutual satisfaction." "Big words for such a small boy." the leer on Bronholt's face was obvious. Peter's mind switched and his instincts took over. "Alpha Bronholt, I am Prince Poitre Vladd of House Vladd, I have treated you with respect, the least a real man could do is return the honour." Peters eyes showed red and his fangs dropped as he glared at the werewolf Alpha. Suddenly, the werewolf began to laugh out aloud. "Little Prince, I like you, you've got balls, great, I like that, ok lets set up a meet, I'll have to bring in the Alpha's from the other states but, I'm sure that won't be a problem, I'll just need a couple of days to set it up." Bronholt was still grinning as he finnished. "My apologies for my actions Alpha Bronholt, yes I would like them as well if they can come." "No need for apologies Little Prince, I like a man with guts and you've got plenty, just call me Sven." "Thank you Sven, and I'm just Peter, I'm waiting on the other species to make their decisions known, so what about a week from tonight, those that are willing should have let me know by then?" "Sounds good to me, what time?" "Lets say 8 pm, I'll have a meal laid on afterwards for all those that come." "Good, until then Prince Poitre Vladd, and don't you back down to anyone, you're gonna be a good Prince around here, young Peter." With that, Sven closed the connection and Peter sat back and relaxed. "What do you think of that, Sin Yu?" "You handled that just right, standing up to him was a good thing to do, the wolves don't like others to toady to them, they see it as a weakness and they'll exploit it to the fullest given half a chance." "Is there any special protocols I should know in dealing with the rest of the species?" "No, not really, except for the Felines, they're always lead by a queen, the female is always looked on as the strongest, just take note of their actions and follow suit, most will probably show a little reticence at first, it's pretty unusual for a vampire to call a meeting of everyone, so they're probably going to be a little skeptical at first." Peter nodded his understanding as he let all the new infomation sink into his head. Just then Trantor appeared in the doorway from the bedroom. "Excuse me My Lord?" "Yes Trantor?" "The boys have finished the other rooms, may I bring them through and show them what to do in here before they take the laundry down stairs?" "Certainly Trantor, we're just wasting time here." Peter said with a grin. "Thank you My Lord." Trantor said with a bow, shortly he returned with the two boys following along behind, he then went around the office explaining what they had to do each night, polishing, dusting and straightening up the room as they went, once they had finished, the two boys bowed to Peter as did Trantor, then he asked. "My Lord, can we have someone take us downstairs?" "Sin Yu, can you ask one of the guardians to take them down?" "Yes My Lord,...Dmitri!" Immediately, Dmitri appeared from his and Sin Yu's room. "Please take them downstairs, soon as they've finished get Jason and Mbeda to take them shopping." "Yes My Lord." Dmitri lead the three others to the lift and stepped in, seconds later they were on their way, Peter turned to Sin Yu. "Let's head for a club, oh shit, we won't have the limo." "You've not been in the garage yet, have you?" "No, why?" "Well you do have more than one car, you know." "Really, what else is there?" "You've got the pick of the Beemer, a Mercedes or the Aston Martin, although that's only a two seater and you have to have at least two guardians with you at all times so, I would suggest the Beemer, the Mercedes is like driving a tank and it's nearly as big as the limo because of the bullet proofing." "Isn't the Beemer bullet proof?" "Yes, but it's lighter, you have the extra speed and manouverablity for any escapes if you ever need it, now any club in particular?" "I don't know, let's try one of the downtown ones." "Ok, do you want to change first?" "Yeah, a little grunge should do it, don't you think?" "Yep, that should do it, don't want to stand out too much down there." Peter rose and went into his now very clean and tidy bedroom, searching through the wardrobe and drawers he found enough older looking clothes to try to fit in downtown, the tee shirt was slightly older with the neckline stretched a little, his jeans had the obligatory gaps at the knees and the cuffs were scuffed, an old pair of his own sneakers went on his feet without sox. Once suitably dressed, Peter returned to the office, Sin Yu looked him up and down with a smile. "Well you really like to slum it don't you." he said with a smile. "Yep, makes me feel more like I was before all this, ready?" at Sin Yu's nod Peter continued. "Right, let's go." Peter and Sin Yu reached the ground floor just as Dmitri came from the back rooms, Sin Yu gave him the orders. "Want to go and grab the Beemer, we're going clubbing downtown." Dmitri smiled and took off in the direction of the interconnecting door to the garage, Peter and Sin Yu strolled towards the front door where Trantor stood waiting for them. Opening the front door, Trantor bowed and said. "Have a good evening, My Lord." "Thank you Trantor, and let the two boys go as soon as you can, they need quite a lot of things for themselves and their new room." "Certainly My Lord, they'll only be a few minutes behind you, Milly is showing them how to use the washer and dryer then they're free." "Thank you Trantor, well, we'll see you later, good night." "Good night My Lord." The Beemer pulled up just as Trantor closed the door, Peter noticed Jason and Mbeda sitting in the limo waiting for the other two boys, although with their faces so close together, they might have trouble seeing them arrive, Peter smiled to himself as he got in the back of the Beemer while Sin Yu sat in front with Dmitri. As the Beemer entered the city limits, Dmitri turned the car westward towards the river, Sin Yu asked Peter. "Remember what I said about your reading of aura's?" "Yes?" "Well the other species can only see that you are a vampire by your blue aura, but, now your extra's are coming in fast, yours is changing, it now holds a darker blue that is from your Fathers memories, so your aura now is pale blue on the outside then, a dark blue ring and in the centre pale blue again, that's how other vampires will know you're the Prince, all the others won't be able to see any change from just the pale blue so you will have to be careful when you go out on your own, it's the main reason you should always have at least two of us with you at all times." "Ok, now what's this place we're going to?" "It's called 'Satans Pit', it's run by one of your brothers, well not a real brother but a vampire that was turned by your Father, we call them brothers if they're turned by your sire, or in your case, your Father." "Will he know who I am?" "Oh sure, soon as he see's your aura he'll know." Just then the car pulled up outside a dingy looking door, set half way down the three story building, outside the door were two large werewolfs again. There was no long queue on the sidewalk but there were men and women going into the door at a regular pace. Dmitri pulled the car to a stop almost directly outside the doorway, the two bouncers looked at the car with sudden interest, the larger of the two stepped up to Dmitri's window and made a sign of winding down the window, Dmitri did as asked. "Can't park here Vamp." The werewolf told Dmitri. "Why not, Wolf?" "Reserved for the boss, Vamp." Dmitri gestured over his shoulder at Peter. "He's the boss, Wolf." "Yeah, fuckin right, just move it along Vamp." "Who owns this club Wolf?" Dmitri's voice had lowered almost to a growl. "Alex Timms, what's it too you, Vamp?" "Who does Alex answer too Wolf." the tension was building fast. "Shit, everyone knows that, Vamp, he answers to the Pr....oh, shit." Peter almost laughed as understanding appeared on the face of the Werewolf, immediately he began to apologise to Peter. "I'm sorry Prince, I never thought you would come down here." "No problem, you're just doing the job you're paid for, you won't get any hassles from me." Peter said with a grin as he and Sin Yu got out of the car, followed shortly by Dmitri, the beep of the security locks sounded as the werewolf went to open the door for them. "How do they know a club's here, there's no sign or anything?" Peter asked Sin Yu. "Look up at the lintel above the door, what do you see?" "Nothing." "Ok, change your vision for looking at aura's, now think of infrared, see it now?" Above the lintel was Peter's house crest with three wavy lines underneath. "What are the lines for?" "That's the sign for one of your Fathers sons, one that was turned by him as I said before, the two lines you use tells others that you are a son born of the blood and not turned like all the others." Peter nodded his head in understanding, with Sin Yu on one side and Dmitri behind him, they entered through the door, a short dingy hallway lead into a small bar room that held about a dozen werewolfs and a few vampires, in a far corner were three feline males. Behind the bar was a female feline and a young vampire about twenty years old, although his aura was older. The three made their way to the bar, the vampire looked up and immediately bowed to Peter. "Good evening, My Lord, Welcome to my club, I never expected to see you in here." "You must be Alex, one of my brothers?" "Yes My Lord, I'm Alex, and as to being your brother, I would really like to think so, with your permission of course." "Well from what I've been told, my Father turned you so I see no reason why you shouldn't be, besides, I never had a brother before, it would be neat if you could be?' "Entirely my pleasure, My Lord." "Just call me Peter, please, afterall, it's not often I find a brother." Peter said with a grin. "You don't look very busy, is it too early yet?" "No, most of the action is down stairs in the basement, would you like to go see?" "Sure, soon as we have a drink, I'd like that. What do you have down there?" "The best fight arena in town Peter." Alex said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Arena?" "Yep, I get the best of the best here, plenty of money changes hands down there, mainly because everyone knows I run it straight and honest, not like some of the other places." "Who does the fighting?" "Mainly werewolves, they just love to scrap, sometimes I get a few lions and tigers, I won't allow interspecies fights though, to much chance of things going wrong, some of the independant fight clubs allow it, but there's always trouble, I've got a good thing going here so I don't need the hassles." Dmitri had ordered the drinks from the feline barmaid and as alex talked the three of them sipped. Once the drinks were finished, the barmaid refilled them and Peter asked Alex if they could go downstairs to have a look. "Sure, hang on a sec, I'll get one of the wolfs to take you down." Alex looked over to a table with five wolfs sitting around it. "Hey, Jake!" A large heavy looking werewolf looked up from the table, he was dressed from head to black work boots in rough worn denim. "What?" came the surly reply. "I want a favour." "What?" "Take my little brother downstair and look out for him, he's new at this." Jake rose to his feet, all 6'6" of him, thick legs and narrow waist only slightly bulging over his skin tight jeans, above was a heavy barrel chest covered in dark brown hair that curled up through the neck of his tight checked shirt, his arms bulged in the rolled up sleeves. Jakes face was covered in a thick brown beard but his head was shaven clean until it shined, he sauntered over to the three boys at the bar, close up he was a very intimidating man, looking down at Peter, Jake gave a frown. "What you want to go down stairs for little boy?" "Ah, Jake..." Alex began. "It's ok, Alex." said Peter, looking up at Jake, Peter smiled his best little boy smile and tried to push a little glamour at the man. "I want to see what real men look like." A deep rumbling growl started way down in Jakes chest, eyes squinting and lips parting to show the begining of two sharp canine teeth as he looked down at the smaller boy in front of him. Sin Yu and Dmitri went on alert immediately, suddenly a loud bellowing laugh came rushing out of jakes open mouth as he slapped his knee. "You little shit, you were glamouring me." Jake let one of his huge hands rest lightly on Peter's shoulder, "I like you, brother of Alex, what's your name, spunky?" "Peter, these are my friends, Sin Yu and Dmitri." "Well, Peter, brother of Alex, you want to see some real men, huh, ok spunky, let's show you what they look like." Jake continued to chuckle as he effortlessly picked Peter up around the waist and threw him over his own shoulder. "You two Vamps want to see some real men as well?" continued Jake as he carried Peter towards a door at the end of the bar. Sin Yu and Dmitri just shrugged their shoulders and followed the other two through the door. "You ok up there, spunky?" "Good as gold, Jake." Jake chuckled again and continued down the steps to the basement from which was coming a lot of yelling and other noises. At the bottom of the stairs there was a big crowd, all yelling and catcalling, as yet Peter could only see where they had been and not where they were going, the smell of testosterone was heavy in the air as Peter was carried through the crowd and getting some very amusing looks as he hung upside down on Jakes shoulder. "What you got there, Jake, you eating takeouts now?" a loud amused voice called from the crowd. "Nah, this here is spunky, he wanted to see some real men." "Yeah, not much on him to make a meal, Jake." another voice called. With a slight shrug, Jake flicked Peter off his shoulder and stood him on the floor, Peter looked up and saw he was surrounded by werewolves, all stood more than a foot taller than Peter and were built to match, all showed an amused grin as they looked Peter over. "Who's up next?" asked Jake of one of the wolves. "Sinbad and Mooch." "That'll be a good fight, those two been itching to get at each other." "What you gonna do with the shrimp?" "Stand him on a table, I suppose, he won't see much that far down." chuckled Jake. "Spunky, this here is some of my pack." Jake quickly ran through their names but Peter didn't quite know who was who, they all nodded at Peter, some with a grin and some with a little reticence but all were friendly towards him and the other two. With a quick sweep of his arm, Jake cleared all the empty glasses off the table and without thought, picked Peter up and stood him on the table so he could see over the heads of everyone. "You see ok up there, spunky?" Peter nodded his head."Yeah thanks, Jake, it's a real bitch being 5'6" in a land of giants." Peter giggled as those around him chuckled, one of the wolves said. "Now there you go Jake, you got your own little bitch." Jakes hand shot out so fast, Peter hardly saw it, the speaker went flat on the floor, his lip split open, but even as Peter watched the lip healed. "This here is Prince Vladd, you treat him with respect, you hear me?" "Sorry Jake, was just joshing, you didn't tell us who he was." the man replied. "Don't matter what I say or who he is, you always treat my friends with respect until told otherwise, you got me PUp?" "Yes Alpha." the man said as he hung his head. Jake seemed to brighten up as though nothing had happened, "Now how you doing up there, spunky?" "Great Jake, jeez, how many people down here?" "Oh, we usually get around two hundred a night, Alex gets a percentage of the bets, see the big guy over by the ring, he keeps the tab and sorts out the bets and the purse for the winner, nobody argues with him, he's partners with Alex." The man pointed out by Jake was huge, close to 7" tall and maybe 300 lbs of muscle, he was black with very white hair, he sat quietly by the ring with a big cigar burning in his mouth. The ring was round and about ten feet in diameter and was raised about two feet above the floor, it was surrounded by heavy metal bars with a doorway on one side. "So, Jake, what happens, how do they pick the fighters?" Peter asked the wolf. "Well, there's no real program, what happens is that if a wolf or any others, has a beef then they come here, challenge each other, and then go to it, wait, you'll see it soon, see that red headed wolf over in the corner?" Peter looked around the room and finally spotted the wolf, he was another big man, maybe 6'5" thick muscled and strong sinewy arms, Peter nodded to Jake. "Ok, that's Sinbad, now over on the other side of the room you'll see another guy with long black hair, he's the one sitting with that girl in black leather." Peter looked at where Jake had pointed and saw the man, he wasn't as tall as Sinbad, maybe 6'2" but he was a lot wider and more thickly muscled, his jet black hair flowed down onto his shoulders. "That's Mooch, the girl is the problem, she was in Sinbads pack and then went to be with Mooch, now to us wolves, that's like declaring war to take someone elses pack member, specially a woman. Just watch for a minute, Sinbad will make a challenge to Mooch by pointing his finger at him and baring his canines, just like dogs getting ready to fight, well, we are wolfs after all." Jake smiled at Peter. "So what do they do, just jump in the ring and go to it?" asked Peter. "In the old days they would just go at each other anywhere and at any time they saw each other, but nowdays, there's a lot of money to be made out of the fights so, although the reasons are the same, the results now can be very profitable for the pack of the winner. You've got to realise, spunky, that there's not much real work for us in this world, we do the bouncer thing and some of us have had construction jobs and the like, but with the downturn, most of us have lost our jobs, this is one way of getting some cash to live on and seetle any differences at the same time." Peter nodded his understanding, while the thought of watching these huge men fight each other was a thrill, he was also learning a lot about his new life style and what it entailed to be a Prince. "Now, the rules are kept pretty simple, all fights are three rounds, rounds 1 and 2 have to be faught as human, no changing into animal form, if there's no winner after the two ten minute rounds, then it goes to the tie breaker, it then becomes a free for all, no time limit, no rules, the winner is the one still standing at the end, the only rule there, is that they can not go for the kill, that of course can be a bit of a problem as once a guy changes into a wolf they tend to loose all reason in the heat of the fight so that's why Alex's guy is there, when the fight is over he goes in and stops them from killing each other." "Jeez, that one guy stops two wolves by himself?" "Easy, mind you one of them is already down and the other is usually pretty weak, but even in an open fight he would beat them both, you just keep an eye on him when it comes to the end of a bout, you'll see what I mean, wait, look at Sinbad." Peter turned to where the red head had been sitting, he was now standing upright, his shirt had been tossed aside and he was only wearing a pair of spandex shorts, his huge torso was covered in the same red hair as on his head, solid tufts of hair could also be seen in his armpits, Sinbad was a 6'5" mound of total muscle. Sinbad was pointing towards Mooch and his mouth was open showing his upper and lower canines in a menacing and merciless grin as he walked towards the steel cage of the ring. With a fling of his thick hands, Sinbad threw open the steel door and stepped into the ring, still with the look of menace on his face as he waited for Mooch to take up his challenge. Within seconds of the challenge, Mooch was on his feet and showing the same challenging attitude towards Sinbad, the arena room was silent except for the low growling of the two protagonists, Mooch made his way to the ring and, with the appearance of total disreguard for Sinbads challenge, entered the ring, slamming the steel door behind him. Both fighters circled each other as the big man beside the ring stood up to speak. "You guys know the rules of this arena, no changing for two rounds, if there's no winner at the end of the first two rounds, you'll fight to submission with no time limit and no rules about changing, the winner will step clear when the other surrenders, any breaches and I'll settle it, understood?" Both men gave a brief nod, continuing to circle each other. "Ok, gents, on the bell go at it." said the big man. The noise of the crowd grew louder, five young men in their mid to late teens, circulated around the crowd taking bets as the two contestants continued to circle around the ring. "Who're those young guys, Jake?" "Those are Ned's pups, that's the big guy, they collect all the bets and take them to him for safe keeping, he works out the winners percentage and the percantage for the house as well as paying out on the bets." Peter nodded his head at the explaination as he continued to watch the two circling men, suddenly, the bell rang, both men leapt at each other, a rain of blows AND kicks could be heard around the room as the spectators roared their support for one or the other of the men. A massive punch from Mooch, dislocated Sinbads jaw, with hardly any sign of the damage, Sinbad kicked out at Mooch and forced him backwards, in the pause, Sinbad reached up to his jaw and, with a loud click, reset it and was again on the attack with a roundhouse that threw Mooch back against the iron bars and splitting open his cheek on the steel bars. The fight continued on in its brutal fashion, neither man giving an inch, the recuprative powers of the werewolfs was self evident as broken bones were reset and cuts were almost instantly healed, only the deep puffing breathes of the two men showed how tough the fight was, as the two men paused to check each other out, the bell rang again, both men turned their backs to each other and retired to oposite sides of the ring. Peter became aware of his own heavy breathing, the sights and sounds as well as the high level of testosterone in the room had excited him more than he thought possible, he felt a tap on his butt and looked down into the smiling face of Jake. "Gets your blood boiling, don't it spunky?" "Shit yeah, I've never seen a fight before and this is way more than I thought it would be." Peter panted out, the excitment of the fight and the smell of blood had made something inside Peter stir to almost sexual heights. "Well this one's going to go all the way by the look of it, the last round is the one that's going to get you going, you wait and see." said Jake. The second ten minute round went much as the first had done, both men had advantages and disadvantages, Mooch had the advantage in close when grappling, his more powerfull shoulders giving him a clear advantage but with room to move, Sinbad took over with his extra height and reach, the blows were vicious, the kicks so hard they would have cracked open brick walls, Peter realised that without his vampire sight, he would have missed a lot of the action as they would have been nothing but a blur to normal human sight. The bell sounded for the end of round 2. Ned, the time keeper and so called referee, stood up and quieted the cheering crowd. "Gentlemen, as there is no winner, the next round is no holds barred until one of you submits or until one of you has a death grip on the other." Both men glared at each other, this was a fight to near death, they were both panting for breathe but Pter could see a look of waiting in both their eyes, both knew that this was for all the marbles, the bell rang out loud and clear in the hushed room. The reaction of both men was instantaineous, Peter watched in awe as they began to transform into wolves, Sinbad grew to 7' and Mooch was not much smaller, their head elongated into muzzles, their long sharp canines bared in a loud growl of challenge, sharp pointed ears appeared on top of their heads that twitched as they watched each other, their arms turned into legs with long sharp claws and their legs elongated into hind quarters with a thick tail protruding from their butts which swished back and forward as they growled louder. With unbelievable speed the two wolves attacked each other snarling out their challenge, hair and skin began to fly as they made contact, their sharp claws and canines diggin and gouging at their opponent as they each tried to get an advantage, Mooch raked his claws down the side of Sinbad, opening up a huge wound that blood flowed from freely, Sinbad let out a howl of pain and then clamped his jaws on the foreleg of Mooch, biting down hard and drawing blood to the sound of crushed bone. In his turn, Mooch howled then raked his other arm down Sinbads face, his claws leaving three deep gouges down the other wolfs face and splitting open the eyeball, half blinded, Sinbad released his jaws from Mooch's foreleg, seperated, they began to circle each other again snarling and spitting like two rabid dogs. Suddenly, Mooch came in low and attacked Sinbads hind leg with his teeth, biting down hard, Peter waited to hear the sound of snapping bones, little did he realise that his fangs had dropped and his eyes were glowing bright red as the viciousness of the fight took over his human reserve. Mooch continued to bight downb hard on the leg but somehow, Sinbad had managed to bend his neck down far enough to clamp his jaws on the back of Mooch's neck and clmap down hard, Mooch tried to shake him off butt, even Peter could see that this was a killing hold, try as he might, Mooch could not shake off the werewolf holding him, slowly he began to sink onto the floor of the ring as more blood loss took it's toll of his strength, it was over and he knew it as he slumped onto the floor of the ring, the bell sounded loudly, but Sinbad didn't release his hold, he was to far into his wolf. With a speed that astounded Peter, Ned jumped through the door of the ring and changed into his wolf at the same time, he was huge, over 8' tall and nearly twice the size of the two wolfs in the ring, with seemingly childish ease, Ned clamped his jaws down in the middle of Sinbads back, puting severe pressure on the other wolfs spine, with a howl of pain, Sinbads jaws opened and released Mooch, Ned gave a shake of his head as he threw Sinbad to the side and gave out a loud snarl, almost instantly, Sinbad began to change back into a man as Mooch's form did the same while Ned looked on and transformed himself. Both men were a bloody mess, it seemed to Peter that the damage caused when the men were in their wolf versions, took longer to heal and by the look of things, Sinbad had permanently lost the use of his eyesight where Mooch had clawed him, the eye ball had been destroyed. Sinbad growled out at Mooch and then walked out of the ring, the female that had been the cause of the fight, bowed her head and walked over to Sinbad, her whole demeanor was of a cowed dog, Sinbad just back handed her and pushed her away towards Mooch, loudly, so all could hear, he told her go back to her dog, he didn't want anything to do with her machinations. the female sank to the floor as Sinbad went back to his table to be tended by his pack brothers. Peter felt a pair of strong hands pick him up around the waist and deposit him on the floor next to Jake. "Well spunky," said Jake with a smile."What do you think of real men now?" Peter was still panting with excitment as he looked up into the bright eyes of Jake as he stood above him. "Th...tha...that was something else, Jake, are all the fights like that?" "No, a lot of them are usually finished by the end of the second round, that was a grudge match over that bitch, Sinbad could have taken her back, he was entitled to reclaim what was his, by rejecting her he's telling her she's not much better than breeding stock, which in our world is about as low as you can go. Do you want to stay and watch some more?" "No I don't thinks, that was a hell of a lot of excitment for one night." "Good, ok, the other fights won't be nearly as good as that one, here we go then." So saying, Jake flipped Peter back up on his shoulder and wakled towards the stairway, Peter hanging over his back laughing as he bounced along. Once back in the bar area, Jake set him down again on his feet, Peter was still laughing as he tried to thank Jake for his unusual ride. "Thanks Jake, that was the most exciting time I've ever had, tell me, do you work at the moment?" "Nah, me and my pack were wroking on a building site but, as usual, the bankers and finaciers took most of the money before it was finished so we were out in the street with nothing to show for it, why do you ask?" "I like you Jake, I've got some things going on and I'm looking for some good men to help, if you want to that is?" "What is it?" "I'm going to build a home for all the vaga, its in the planning stage now, I have a construstion crew to do most of the ordinary work but, there's going to be some special stuff I want done that I want to keep from outsiders, if you're interested, I'd like to talk it over with you some time soon?" "I'm certainly interested, I've only got two of my pack working at the moment, we get by but it's not easy, I'd be interested to listen to what you've got to say, when do you want to talk?" "Can you give me a week, there's some things I've got to get sorted first, if I can have your cell number, I'll give you a call as soon as I know what's happening." "Sure, no problems, here, this is my number." Sin Yu took the number and entered it into his cellphone. Peter stuck out his hand for Jake to grasp in a shake. "Thanks for everything Jake, tonight was a real blast, and I'll call you as soon as I've got everything ready for you." "Ok, spunky, be a good little Vamp now, and let me know when you want to see the fights again, maybe next time you'll want to take a bet." Jake smiled down at Peter as they shook hands. "yeah, ok, thanks again Jake, you'll hear from me soon." Peter broke the hand shake and, along with Sin Yu and Dmitri, walked towARDS the doorway, giving his brother Alex a wave as they left. Dmitri opened the car and the two boys got in. "Where too now Peter?" asked Sin Yu. "Home I think, Sin Yu, that was quite a night, I think I could do with a rest, it's been a few hectic days and nights this week." Dmitri pulled the Beemer out into the street and turned for home, both he and his boy friend had enjoyed the fight as much as peter had, although they were not entirely happy with the way Jake had treated their Prince, even though it had all been in jest it still rankled a little with them. TBC. artcart65@vodafone.co.nz