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8

Anisa wakes suddenly as the bed is jostled, sitting up she sees her mother perched on the bed post in front of her
“Morning sunshine. How’d you sleep?”
She stretches softly “Could’ve been better… When’d you get here?”
“Just a moment ago,” Caroline holds up a key, smiling softly “Let myself in.”
Shan snores softly, tossing a little as the bed gets colder
Anisa lowers her voice so as not to wake him “Since you know the building so well, why don’t we go someplace else, so we don’t disturb snoring beauty over here?”
Caroline snorts softly, nodding she helps her daughter out of the bed and into a room down the hall from theirs “This was the room I stayed in the time I was here. We can talk now. How are you?”
“I’m… fine…” Anisa smiles softly, her eyes filled with a fake happiness “Everything is perfect.”
“Lair…” Shan appears at the door
Instinctively Caroline wraps her arms around Anisa, glaring at Shan “What did you do to my daughter???”
“Mom it’s not-” Caroline forces her to sit on the edge of a bed
“Hush darling, don’t talk.” Turning to Shan she continues “If you hurt her, or didn’t protect her the way you swore to, I’ll kill you. Now tell me what happened.”
“It was beyond my control at the time, it’s hard to defend her while I’m retrieving a blanket because she’s cold.” Shan stares back “And if you haven’t forgotten, you can’t kill me, you tried before.”
Anisa shakes her head softly and shoulders past them, going back to her own bed she grabs the notebook and pen that she slipped under the mattress and writes down her latest dream about Kail. She returns them to their hiding spot and buries her face into her pillow, crying. Caroline stands in the doorway, watching her “Shan… I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions and blamed you for her emotional state. It’s probably just the fact that she’s going to ‘pop’ soon.”
“I hope that’s all it is… She’s been dreaming about Kail…” Shan goes to the fridge and gets a cookie, rummaging for supplies as well
“Kail? We haven’t heard from him since he left the night we fabricated her death… the night I took back her crown… What’s she told you?”
“She dreamed he was at her aunt’s being tortured…”
“At Kate’s place? She’s never been to Kate’s… There’s no way she’d recognize it…”
“Well, that’s what she said… I think she keeps a journal of the dreams…”
“Why would she do that…? Unless…”
“Unless I believed them…” Anisa walks in, holding a red journal “Mom there was a picture… of Uncle Jack on the wall of the room that he’s in…”
“Should I leave you two be for a while?”
“No… Please stay…” Anisa walks up to him and wraps her arms around his waist “I need you… I feel like I’m going to explode any day now and I want you with me…”
Caroline picks up the journal that Anisa dropped on the ground and thumbs through it to the picture that Anisa described. The picture perfectly shows a woman, with the same birthmark as she on her lower back, sitting in the lap of a man who greatly resembles a younger Jack Saumers, Caroline’s brother-in-law.
“I’ll stay then.” He wraps his arms around her as well
“Who is she mom… I know you know… I see it in your eyes…”
Caroline smiles softly “You always did take after me… Your right… She’s your aunt Kate… And Kate did have Kail… He described this picture shortly after we got him back. You see he disappeared after I gave him your crown, and when he got back he was babbling about this picture…”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means I think that Kate tried to use Kail to get information about Anisa.”
“Mom… Do you know what she wants?”
“No…Not yet…”
“Whatever it is, it isn’t good for us.”
“No its not…”
Anisa chews her fingernail softly “Mom…? Do you think she knows…? Well… Do you think she knows I’m pregnant?”
“I’m not sure darling… Why?”
“Well… What if that’s what she’s after…? Mom you took dad from her. Because she was intended for him her body was genetically altered so that she could only bear one child, and she was supposed to get pregnant on her wedding night and officially bring together the Vampyres and SkyKnights… But because dad fell in love with you, she didn’t get pregnant that night. Now she could be after a baby… My baby… She may feel entitled to Heather… Because you stole me, she wants to steal Heather…”
“It would explain her interest in Kail.”
“Yes… But why would she still be holding a grudge…? She sends you a cake every year… along with an apology card to me… But… If she wanted your child, why would she have tried to poison you every year for the last 198 years???”
“Maybe because she finally realized that the poison was never going to reach my lips? She heard I was pregnant and she decided that stealing your grandchild would be better revenge than killing your oldest daughter?”
“There may be more to it, you said Kail was loopy, right?”
Caroline nods “The only thing that he could tell us was a woman offered him tea and the exact details of the picture… And he said a bunch of random stuff in between; talked about pancakes, rainbows, random stuff. Why?”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s supposed to be with his parents… But we’ve not received confirmation… He sent his guards back before they reached the portal…”
“Great…”
“You don’t honestly think Kail would betray us like that do you? I mean after all he did go crazy when he discovered that Anisa was dead. A boy with that kind of devotion… he wouldn’t betray her…”
Anisa blinks a few times, trying to stay awake. Her mother’s words slur as she sinks to the ground
“Not good, I should have lowered the dose some.” Shan quickly catches Anisa
“Shan what did you give her?”
“Some of my blood.”
“Shan… How much did you give her…?”
“Enough to sate her at half power…”
“Shan… she’s never had that much blood at one time in all her life… I know it was stupid of me to try and protect her by cutting back her blood supply, but I thought… I thought that if she didn’t come into her powers she’d give up, she wouldn’t try… But from the looks of this journal she’s developing the ability of sight… When did the dreams start, and when did you first give her blood?”
“I first gave her blood yesterday.. And I’m not certain what time the dreams started.”
“Yesterday is too early… There’s at least seven dreams in here… Have you started training her yet…? “
“Of course.”
“How did she take to the training?”
“She did pretty well at the element training and control, that’s all we got to though.”
Caroline paces, tapping her finger on her lip “I just don’t get it… Only an extreme does of element or a high dose of blood could’ve kick-started her powers like this… And the only elements she’s been in contact with are yours and hers… and you said that she did pretty well… she had to have excelled for it to have been her element… Unless… your wedding day…”
“The explosion?”
“Yes… After that, at your wedding, when Cain and Able attacked, the temperature in the room went from being 80 something to being 20 something in a matter of seconds… There’s really only one element that can do that… and that’s water. That’s Anisa’s element isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’d bet money that’s around the time the dreams started…” Caroline opens the journal again “Which either means that Kail is being held by Kate or that these dreams have yet to come true…”
“Either way it isn’t good, tea and torture equals mind control.”
“I know what it means… it was a technique that my mother developed when she was younger… Rumor has it her father was a drunk, and so she developed this to get him to quit hitting her.”
“I’m pretty sure that my people didn’t own slaves, thankfully… Although I keep feeling this urge to let her mark me in some way as hers.”
“Do you think this feeling relates to something from your past…? I mean… Why would you feel that way….? What would possibly compel you to do something like that?”
“I’m not sure, it feels important, but anytime I try to grab the information it slips away…”
“Well I think we should go lay Anisa down. Then we’ll talk over lunch, alright?”
“Ok…” Shan picks her up and softly carries her to the bed
Caroline grabs two plates and slaps together two sandwiches, one with pickles and the other with bananas. She sets the sandwiches on the table and sits down in front of the banana sandwich and waits for Shan to return
“Back.” Shan walks in and takes one of the sandwiches
“How is she?”
“She’s sleeping. All in all she doesn’t seem to be any worse for wear…”
“Good… Shan… When you said ‘half power’, which power did you mean?”
“I meant my own power.”
Caroline pauses mid-bite and sets her sandwich back down on the plate “Your power? Are you crazy? You gave her half your power?”
“No, I am currently at half power, as such my blood’s flavor and strength has decreased as well.”
“Don’t worry me like that… Shan I need to ask you a very personal question, and be honest please.”
“Ok, go ahead.”
“How did you give Anisa your blood? Did she bite you or did she drink from a cut?”
“A cut, she was worried she’d go too far, why?”
“Because Vampyres can leave a marker in their lovers. A marker that prevents another vampyre from biting them, and if a vampyre is stupid enough to bite a marked person the vampyre will get sick and die. But drinking from a cut won’t have left the marker. If you’re still worried about having her leave a mark then that might be one way to do so.”
“My instincts seem to say that wouldn’t work… Remember, I’m a Dragon-bred, Dragon-bred’s mate for life, but unless some physical form of their love is made into both of them the mating can be called off, or disrupted.”
Caroline winks softly “Then bite her back.”
He chuckles “You know how much power is in my blood… You should be able to guess what would happen if I did.” He smiles softly at her, a small sadness in his eyes
“Then what do you propose, oh smart one?”
“I have to fight her, with Stealers, I can make two blank slate knives and start her training on that, but it might take too long…” He paces, nibbling at his sandwich
“Don’t initiate a fight with her… She’s already emotionally unstable as it is, something like that would cause her to think you don’t really love her, it’d send her into a spiraling depression. Why not weave magyk? Weave it into a bracelet shape and then use it, wrap it around your wrists, imbuing it into your skins”
“Could be undone, most Drakes have a single scar, the one from their lover, if I can somehow find a way to get her to leave a scar, then it should work…”
“Yeah… until she looks at the scar she left on your perfect body and starts to hate herself for hurting you… Shan you need to explain this to her, tell her that it’s a tradition of your peoples and that if done improperly she could lose you. Or just start talking about your wedding day and piss her off.”
He half frowns “I’m sorry things went wrong… Honestly we could have made it out of there without the fuss if Cain and Able hadn’t found out who I was…”
“Don’t blame her, she doesn’t fully understand who you are. To her you’re the hunk who saved her life. To her family you’re a betrayer who kidnapped the princess, staged her death, and deserves to die. Help her understand before things get out of hand.”
“I’ll try, hasn’t really been a lot of time, I was hoping to use our time alone here to do so, but she slept through most of it…”
Caroline smiles softly “Well you did knock her out… I’m assuming you used your power to do it, since I was there and I didn’t see you hit her, that’s the only logical solution. So next time you go to knock your pregnant wife out, don’t use that much power.”
“I used one tenth the power I’d use to knock you out, which honestly is just enough to knock a human out for a day, something else was keeping her under…”
“Well that’s not surprising… she was trying to manipulate her element, with almost no prior training it was a miracle the room got as cold as it did before she passed out. But still… that she was out for a week… that’s odd…”
“I think Heather was trying to talk to her…”
“I’ve heard Anisa reference this girl before, but who is she?”
“It’s the baby Caroline.” Shan smiles at her “If you turn on your predator ears and lay your head on Anisa’s stomach you can hear the babies thoughts…”
“Really? It’s a girl?” Caroline hugs Shan “That’s so cool! And you’ve decided to name her Heather?”
“She picked the name herself, it was one of the first things she said to me.” He keeps smiling “Now you might want to let go before the angry mother-to-be decides you’re trying to steal me.”
Caroline backs up a little just as Anisa stomps into the room, grumbling under her breath “Morning dear, did you have a nice nap?”
Anisa continues to mutter and grumble as she pours herself a glass of coffee. Caroline takes it away and replaces it with a glass of orange juice “No caffeine honey…”
“Any other dreams?” Shan sits beside her
“A really weird one… I was sitting in the middle of a field… there were two girls… being chased by a boy… the girls looked to be about three years apart… the boy was roughly the same age as the older girl… Then… someone came… A woman came and took the elder girl away… The girl screamed… they all looked at me… I felt I had to save her, to protect her with my life… But…” Anisa stops, not wanting to tell them that Shan was there, a sword pressed to his throat, he’d been beaten within an inch of his life and she knew that if she saved the girl, Shan would be killed
“I would prefer that to losing any child of mine.” Shan’s hand rests on her arm, his eyes seeming to focus on something far off
She blushes softly “I didn’t know you could hear my thoughts…”
“I can’t, but my presence is so powerfully magykal that I can enter dreams and thoughts that hold me in them…”
She glares at him softly “I never said who’s children they were… I didn’t even know myself…”
“Remember, I said I entered the dream, where do you think I would be? I took the spot where I was, and I could see their faces…”
She opens her mouth to make a smart remark but closes it before she says anything, remembering the boy’s face, how it perfectly resembled Shan’s. She crosses her arms over her chest, her face falling into a pout
Shan chuckles softly “So you noticed too.”
“He had your eyes… his hair fell just the way yours does…” a tear slides down her cheek “Mom he was gorgeous…”
“I bet he was honey… and he will be beautiful the day he’s born,” she wipes the tear off her daughters face “Feel better now?”
“Yes…”
Shan softly hugs her, and kisses her forehead
She leans against him “Thank you for being patient with me… I’m sorry if I’ve been a little cranky…”
“It’s alright dear.” He smiles at her then chuckles
“What’s so funny?”
He gently sets a hand on her belly and winks “She’s getting louder.”
“Oh…? What’s she saying?”
“Something along the lines of how big an adventure the outer world will be.” He chuckles softly
“She’s going to love hide and seek…” Caroline smiles softly, placing her hand on Anisa’s belly she whispers to Heather “And you’ll love the hidden treasures in your Nana’s castle…”
“Nana?” Shan looks at Caroline then his eyes go wide, the next moment Anisa’s water breaks
Anisa’s knees go weak as pain erupts through her, she screams in pain. Caroline supports her against Shan “Shan we have to get her to a bed. Do you have a midwife? Or a doctor?”
“Not nearby, but I can get us one, I’ll get her to the bed, you get a fire going!” Shan lifts Anisa into his arms and carries her to the bed
“Hurry.” Caroline goes to the room next door and grabs a lighter and a bottle of vodka, she lights a fire in the stone fireplace and takes the bottle of vodka to Shan “You can use this as a painkiller” Anisa screams again as another contraction hits
“You’re more medic than me, you do it, that fire will be enough for me to get the nearest doc.” He hands her back the vodka and kneels before the fire
“Again Shan, hurry.” She turns to Anisa, opening the bottle “Sweetheart, this is going to be nasty.” She hands the bottle to Anisa and helps her to sit up a little. Anisa downs the bottle “Honey I need you to concentrate, I need you to breathe, in and out and in and out. Get a rhythm in your head and follow it.”
Anisa takes in a deep breath, preparing to give her mother the speech of a lifetime when another contraction hits her, the pain worse than before. Anisa’s scream rips through the air, almost too high for Shan’s hearing range
“Get here now, more so if you could hear that.” Shan says into the flames
“I bet half the galaxy could hear that.” Comes a deep half joking retort “I’ll be there in a flash.”
Caroline takes Anisa’s hand “Honey concentrate, breathe, come on breathe. I promise you’re going to be okay, this is completely normal you just have to breathe.”
Through gritted teeth Anisa spits “I’m going to die if I have to go through this two more times! I swear I-” her words cut off in another scream
A man in a long dark cloak walks in and winces softly “You hear softer screams in a battle, I swear Shan, why you ever got hitched is beyond me…” He goes into the bed room and taps Caroline’s shoulder “What’s been done so far?”
“She’s had vodka, an entire 48 ounces. And I’ve been doing my best just to get the girl to breathe… She’s holding her breath, gritting her teeth, muttering curses every chance she gets… Did I miss anything darling?”
Snarling Anisa says “Get. This. Child. Out. Now!!!!!!! If you don’t I will-” she bites her lip, a shriek escaping as blood trickles down her chin
“The good news is the contractions are coming fairly quickly, which means it will be soon.”
“You should have given her blood, I think O would have done it in this case.” He places a hand on her neck and Anisa instantly stops moving, her breathing now coming as if she were asleep “Much better. Now, I need you to put your hands on either side and be ready to push, since I had to knock her out before she could hurt herself or the baby, we’ve got to do this the hard way.”
“Every Vampyre is different when it comes to this. I had vodka when she was born… But your right, this is definitely the hard way…” she puts her hands on Anisa’s stomach “By the way, I’m her mother, Caroline.”
“Good to know, now start massaging from the top of her stomach down, putting as much pressure as you think necessary to get the baby out.” The man moves between Anisa’s legs and softly coats them with some kind of oil “And trust me, the right type of blood will solve anything.”
“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me your name?” Caroline massages her stomach as the man instructed
“Wouldn’t help. Besides, I know you’re married, Far First House vampyre Caroline Rose DeGenerie… So don’t get any ideas about anything.”
“As you said, I’m Caroline not Kate. Do not confuse my beliefs with hers. I was simply asking the name of the man who’s to bring my granddaughter into this world so that I may thank him properly. I do not appreciate being accused of flirting.”
“Of course not.” He winks at her “And you should be able to smell my blood from there, if not then you are really far removed from the First House.”
She smiles softly “You may know my name and my heritage, but you don’t know my secret. Now, shall we finish what we started and bring this new baby girl into the world?” Caroline pushes down one last time, the silence is interrupted by a new baby’s crying
“Shan, come get her, she’s all yours.” The man cleans the baby and removes the umbilical cord
“Thank you.” Shan comes in and wraps her in a blanket “You sure you don’t want credit?”
“I’ve seen too many of the First House today for my liking… I want to go back to my cottage and await my next battle assignment.”
Caroline swiftly moves to the door, her hand on the handle she turns to Shan “When you get done coddling your new child I’d like a word.” With that she storms outside
Shan sighs and set Heather in a crib then goes outside “What is it?”
“Who was that? And don’t play games with me. I don’t want a lecture about how I should have instantly recognized him because of the power I don’t possess anymore. I want a straight answer. Who. Was. That.”
“An Ex-Vampire of the Main First House… If he didn’t tell you then I won’t, I’ll answer personal questions all day, but he has to tell you his name.” Shan glances at her
Caroline slams her fist into a wall “I know him… I know I do… I just… I can’t place his face… I’m sorry Shan; go back to your daughter and your wife… I shouldn’t have called you away from them.”
“It’s fine, you need to come back in before the Packs go nuts…” Shan opens the door and steps inside
“Fine…” Caroline follows him back inside, heading towards the kitchen
“Thank you.” He walks over to Anisa “She’s still out cold, damned idiot, he could have at least woken her up before leaving.” Shan kisses her gently and she nearly jumps awake
She screams, her nails digging into the bed beneath her. Caroline sits on the counter in the kitchen and stares at a chipped tile on the floor
“You thirsty Anisa?” Shan carefully sits on the edge of the bed, Heather starting to cry softly from Anisa’s scream “There, there little one, it’s ok.” He picks her up and rocks her softly
“Umm… no I’m fine…” Anisa sits up slowly “How about her? Is she alright? Please tell me she’s okay??”
“She’s just worried about you.” He smiles at Anisa and gently holds Heather out for her to hold “Here you take her, and open up your mind so she can get in.”
Carefully Anisa takes Heather “Shan please no riddles… Not tonight… What does that mean…?”
“You’ve a block on your mind, like a wall, I want you to open it up, create a door in it. Does that make a little more sense?”
“Darling there’s always been something wrong with my head, and now I’ve got to open a door? I don’t understand how to do that…”
“Imagine the front of a house and open the door set into it.”
Anisa closes her eyes, concentrating on opening a beautifully carved ornate door “Alright what is supposed to happen next?”
“Momma!” A small young female voice rings in her head as Heather snuggles deeper into her chest the sound of it awing and terrifying all at once
“She’s going to talk to you.” Shan smiles softly as he moves in closer to them both
Anisa looks at Shan with shock, awe, and wonder in her eyes “How’s that possible?”
“I have the ability to reach out to people, mind I do it as a search, it seems that the psychic abilities of the Vampyre’s and the Skyknight’s amazing mental strength probably all merged within her so that she has the ability to talk with her mind.”
Heather seems to nod as she cuddles just a bit closer “Daddy has it right.”
“So she can talk to us and she can understand us? Wow… You are one special little bundle of joy, Heather…” Anisa holds her daughter close to her as her own mother walks in.
“Glad your awake Anisa. And Heather you’re so beautiful!”
“Grandma or Nana?” Heathers voice seems to echo around the room
“Nana darling, call me Nana” Caroline walks up to them “Anisa, may I hold my granddaughter?”
“Of course mom,” Anisa carefully puts Heather into Caroline’s outstretched arms “be careful, mind her head…”
“Shall I leave you girls to bond? It seems that there is someone at the door, and I’d rather not keep them waiting.” Shan smiles deeply, softly turning toward the door
“As long as you don’t run away with them its fine love.” Anisa pulls him close, kissing him “Just hurry back to us…”
Caroline sits down on the edge of the bed, cooing to Heather in an eldritch language
“Daddy seems so rugged and wild…” Heathers voice seems as quiet as a whisper
“And energy, lots and lots of energy…”
“I’ll need to speak to him about the energy part soon…” Caroline sighs
“What’s that mean Nana?”
“Oh nothing little one…” Caroline smiles and rocks Heather as she slowly falls to sleep
Anisa walks away from the door that Shan just left out of and leads Caroline to a room across the hall, the walls a bright pink. Caroline sets Heather down in a light purple crib “Darling you did a marvelous decoration job with the Nursery…”
“Thanks mom. Shall we go into the other room and have a glass of tea?”
“Of course.” the two leave the room, shutting the light off and keeping the door open, tiptoeing so as not to wake Heather
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shan stands outside the tower before the two representatives of the other clans
The two women walk out laughing, Anisa has two steaming cups of tea in her hands.
They stop when they see the three
“Oh dear… What’s going on Shan?” Anisa says, holding the second cup out to him
“Caroline, meet Coyia, and Shepard.” Shan points to a Reptilian female, and a man with similar features to a dog “They are two thirds of the other reason I called you here, the third is up in smoke at the moment.”
Anisa smiles softly “Are you talking about the jerk cat who tried to kill me?”
“Yes, Jag was the third, though he wasn’t when I tried to set up this meeting.”
“So, what are they?” Caroline asks, softly stepping forward to greet them both
“A snake… cobra maybe… And… a husky? But he might be a wolf, I’m not sure I could distinguish the two… Shan what meeting are you talking about, and why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was hoping that your mother could create an alliance between them and the Vampyre’s she has reign over, but Pan died while I was away, and Jag was trying to take control, needless to say, he’s dead, and there are only two Representatives here today.”
Anisa stifles a laugh “Your trying to tell me… that these two… Would’ve been totally okay with that jerk becoming leader of that pack?” She snorts “For one, he was a jerk. Two, Coyia would’ve never put up with his superego. And three, he’s crispy fried chicken. Speaking of…” Anisa wanders back inside, softly nibbling her lip as she searches for food
“And why would you want my Vampyres to make an alliance with theirs?”
Coyia clears her throat “You mean The Cats were almost run by the startup punk who wanted to lead open raids against everyone?”
Shepard snorts softly “I highly doubt he’s chicken, though the fact he’s ash and smoke surely helps our cause…”
“Yes it does, this means that there’s a better chance that someone more favorable to the idea of peace can be put in charge, it also increases the fear of my power in the cat’s, who seem to have forgotten it while I was gone.” Shan leans against the wall of the tower “Because they can walk freely in the sun, on this or another planet, I’ve tested it…”
Caroline clears her throat softly “If you’ll excuse me, I think my daughter is sick…” she goes into the kitchen and finds Anisa passed out on the floor “Not again…” picking her up she carries Anisa to her bedroom and lays her down
“What’s happened Caroline?” Shan calls into the tower, worry tenting his voice
“So the Great Destroyer does have a weakness.” Shepard murmurs softly
Caroline leans out of the doorway “It’s nothing Shan; completely normal.” She mutters softly as she gets a wet rag from the bathroom and places it on Anisa’s forehead. Anisa murmurs in her sleep, the temperature outside drops exceedingly fast
“If it’s normal then what is it?” Shan starts to come into the tower
“None of your business! It is a House Secret! Now stay out of it!” Caroline blocks the bedroom door and goes back to her daughter, whispering fervently in her ear
“If you don’t tell me then how will I deal with it once you are not around?”
“It’s not supposed to be a problem Shan. It was never supposed to happen… I… I’m just trying to protect her…” Caroline goes back out to them “But I can’t protect her any longer, she’s your responsibility now. What I’m about to tell you may come as a shock, so shall we sit down somewhere?”
“Sure, we will hold off this meeting until tomorrow.” Shan steps inside as Coyia and Shepard leave
Caroline sits up on a counter, looking at the floor “Shan I have no power anymore. I gave it all to her. It saved her life and now it’s killing her… Something went wrong during my pregnancy and she died… It took me four hours to get her heart beating again… I gave my powers to her to save her life, making her the second most powerful vampyre yet. Being able to walk in the sunlight made her the first. Shan… the two things have finally started to backfire and they are killing her…”
“What can I do to help?” Shan stands and paces softly “I think she either needs a transfusion, or an expansion on the power centers and controllers, as well as a bit of her blood, but the only way for it to work will require it be a vamp of extraordinary power. In other words someone who is straight born of the First House…”
Caroline looks up at him as snow starts to fall outside “No! Absolutely not! No one from the First House will go near my daughter! Not that branch!”
“I know one person who you might agree to, and he has perfect timing as always.” Shan says with a bit of a grin
“Why am I being called here again?” The doctor from earlier walks into the door
“Shan… Who is he…?”
“Glad to see he kept our arrangement. My name is Darkwing Shadowcloud, I’m an ex member of the First House, son of the fifth leader Dracula.”
“No… Shan no. Not on your life. NO!” Caroline ducks into the bedroom and bolts the door. She chews her fingernail as she watches her daughter sleep. Anisa twitches, her face twisting with the fear of a nightmare, screaming she sits bolt up
“Caroline, if he can enter her mind-scape then he can teach her control, instead of us having to take medical action. Then, hopefully, she will be able to take small doses of my blood to help get her system used to the power within her, we have to try, and before it tears her apart and leaves Heather without a mother.”
Anisa looks into her mother’s eyes, tears spilling down her face “Mom… what’s going on…?”
Caroline wraps her in her arms, the door opens “Fine… Help her… But I swear if you hurt her… I’ll kill you.”
“I know you will.” Darkwing and Shan walk in “Dear, settle down and relax, your latent power is trying to break through you, I brought the doctor back so he could help you get a handle on it, ok?”
Anisa shakes her head “No… I have no power… Mom said so herself… Its why I couldn’t drink as much as my sister… its why I couldn’t manipulate the way she could… Mom says that the power can sometimes skip around, it chooses who it blesses… and I just wasn’t strong enough… I...” her voice trails off as she looks into her mother’s eyes, looking for confirmation of what she was saying
“No sweet… your stronger than your sister… I gave up my power… I gave it to you to save your life on the day you were born… But it was too much for you to handle at the time so when I gave it to you I Sealed it away… and by giving you Spook’s blood I made sure it stayed Sealed… But you fed from Shan… And that caused the Seal to weaken tremendously…”
“My blood has some very special compounds that tend to cause a lot of trouble to things that shouldn’t be there, so…”
“So… What happens to me now? Who am I?”
“You are who you’ve always been, you just have a lot to learn about how much more of you there is.” Shan winks in a semi playful way
“Can I start before things get mushy and she gets worse?”
Caroline nods softly as a light flickers outside “Shan, I’m going outside for a minute, watch her.” without waiting for a reply Caroline leaves the room, leaving Anisa shivering and still scared on the bed
“Alright, now, Anisa, can you open your mind, like what you did for Heather?”
she sniffles softly “I don’t know… maybe… I’ll try…” she closes her eyes, trying to see the door. She attempts to open it, but is confronted by a faceless man, blood covering his clothes. He reaches out for her, his fingers black, dead. Anisa screams and faints
“Holy! I’ll have to force my way in!” Darkwing kneels on the bed and puts his hands on the sides of Anisa’s head “Try and keep her breathing!”
Anisa thrashes in her sleep, her forehead beading with sweat
Darkwing kicks in the door “Hey Girl, you in here?” Darkwing walks in
Anisa leans out of the closet and drags him in there, her hand over his mouth “Be quiet! He’s here! He’ll find us! Please he’s trying to kill me!”
“Who may I ask is he?” Darkwing looks at her
she shakes her head “I don’t know… He doesn’t have a face… I’m scared… Please tell me you know how to get out of here?”
“One way would be for you to beat him, the other would be to get killed, honestly, I like the one where it’s his blood everywhere, not ours. So, you got any weapons training?”
“I’m no good with weapons… they really don’t like me… Is… Is killing him really the only way??”
“Unless you want to die yourself, yes. Otherwise be my guest to ask him to tea or something.”
“Fine. But if we’re gonna go and fight him, we’re fighting him my way. I mean this is my head isn’t it? I should have some control of the situation…” she closes her eyes, the closet shifts around them, the dark walls flattening out into a beautiful meadow, with a table in the center. Three chairs are set at the table, two on one side one on the other “Hopefully he’ll accept the challenge…” Anisa sits at one of the two chairs, pulling chess pieces out of a drawer in the table
“Oh holy…” The man sits across form her “Now this is ridiculous…”
“This is my head, my rules, my ridiculous game.” Anisa sets it up in a pattern that doesn’t resemble any normal chess board game “My mother taught me this. The rules are simple.”
“Do explain please, what did your mother call the game?”
“She called it War-Academy. She said the only objective of the game was to be the last one standing. But I don’t quite like that rule…”
“Then what rule are you going by?”   Darkwing relaxes and opens a small vault by his chair
 “Tag team rules. If you’ve got a friend around here… You may want to find them.”
“Ok, explain further.” The faceless man splits in two
“No cheating. As in no flipping the board around or weird stuff like that. But other than that, there are no rules. It can be played like chess or it can be played by pieces battling each other... and if you don’t understand that, ask Darkwing, he can probably explain it better. Right?”
“Basically, just try to survive my onslaught.” Darkwing grins evilly as he sets a “King” piece on the board, pawns surrounding it
Anisa smiles softly “As this is a tag team game, I’m going to just watch and step in if needed.” she leans a little closer to Darkwing “If we make it out of this alive, I’ll owe you, huge.”
“You bet you do, you and Shan both.” Darkwing snaps his fingers and all the pieces turn into people or monsters, Shan standing as Anisa’s king piece, and herself as the queen “Now this’ll be fun.” He grins down at the board
“Why am I on the board? I told you… I can’t fight…”
“Then why does the mini you have a bow, wait, these are memory pieces, oh no. You better not lose any of them.”
“Would you explain this to me later? Mom never told me anything about ‘memory pieces’… and I don’t know why mini me has a bow, I can’t stand violence…”
“Not yet you can’t. Just wait.” Darkwing’s king turns into him, the pawns turn into demons and Vampyres, the faceless men’s pieces turn into multiple of them
“As long as you know what you’re doing…”
“I do.”
“Well I’ll just hush then so you can concentrate on your match, shall I?”
“Whatever you want.” The pawns rush forward to attack the hordes of faceless men
She sits back, gently chewing her fingernail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline’s voice drifts into the room just moments before she appears, a woman beside her holding Heather “Ver this is Shan, your brother-in-law. Shan I assume-” she drops her glass of tea on the floor, it shatters “Shan she was supposed to be awake by now! What have you been doing in here? It’s been five minutes! I know Darkwing’s the best there is so why isn’t my daughter back yet?”
“We ran into some difficulties when we started and she passed out, He’s attempting to bring her out of it now, and I’m not sure what’s going on in there. And hello, Ver a nickname?”
Ver smiles coldly “Of course it is. I know you’re not stupid so don’t act it. My name is Veronica, ‘Anisa’s’ younger sister.”
“Of course, so, how have you been?”
“Lonely, but don’t try and pretend you care. It’s your fault all of this happened anyways…”
“Veronica please don’t start… Can’t you just have a nice visit with your family?”
“That Thing is not part of my family!” Veronica glares icily across the room at him
“I guess you’ve heard the nickname the Skyknights gave me?”
“Demon Drake. You’re a monster!”
“Maybe, but do you know why they gave me that name?”
“Who needs to know?” Veronica hands Heather to Caroline and comes up to him, her nose inches from Shan’s she whispers “If you hurt my sister, or her daughter, there will be nowhere that you can hide… nowhere safe… because I will hunt you down, and I will kill you.” she turns to leave and trips over Darkwing
“Veronica, meet Darkwing, right now he’s inside your sisters mind trying to save her while I keep her soul Fyre going.”
Veronica glares at Darkwing and his adorable face “Humph. I almost had a good exit…” standing up she moves away from him “Why would she need saving in her own mind? Unless someone screwed up and gave her blood, she should be safe because of the Seal…”
“Some seals need to be broken, the only problem is that it was a complete seal and didn’t allow for her to gradually get use to the powers within her, so she went into shock.”
“You… You did it on purpose… I’d wager that was the whole reason you married her! You know she’s got more power than you do and you’re afraid, so you tied her to yourself! You made sure she’d never want to use her powers against you by making her fall in love with you!” she looks down at Darkwing “And Master of Cuteness is in on it…” shaking her head she walks out of the room, Caroline follows her
“Good grief, what was her problem…” Darkwing rubs his neck softly as he gets up “By the way, she’s fine, just sleeping it off while she gets used to her powers. Is what the girl said true?”
“Anisa does have potential to become more powerful than I am, but only if she somehow managed to mix her own being… And you and I both know that it’ll happen once she’s a Reaper.”
“Do you think she should know?”
“Not yet, I want her to find it on her own so that she won’t be driven by the need for power.”
“What about the afraid thing?”
“No. My only worry is that something will go wrong…” thunderclouds gather outside as rain begins to pour; lightening hits just outside the tower causing the ground to shake as Veronica paces around the base of the tower
“Oh great, now what…” Shan goes outside “What, may I ask, is wrong Veronica?”
“You’re in my way…” Veronica moves around him as Caroline walks up to his elbow
“I’ve told her to stay here, to help her sister. Anisa has never used any of her powers before, and since I don’t have mine anymore I decided that Veronica will teach her the Vampyre powers and you can teach her the Elemental Magyks. Deal?”
“Sounds good, so what’s with the light show?”
“She’s cranky because she’s stuck here and can’t follow her new crush wherever he decides to run off to. Plus she’s decided she hates you.”
“Sorry about the crush thing, but the hating my guts has to stop now, so Veronica, take your four most powerful attacks and have at me.”
she snorts softly “You really don’t get women do you? I don’t really hate you. I’m just pissed. You took my sister away from me… what if she doesn’t love me anymore…? I’m no longer the one who’s always there to protect her… now it’s you… You’ve replaced me…” Veronica looks away before her emotions betray her “Please excuse me.” she walks off, shifting into a panther on the way. She crouches down low to the ground and jumps into a tree. As she settles down so does the storm, the thunder and lightning stop and the rain settles to just a slight drizzle
“Adding in the Skyknight increases a Vampyre’s elemental attacks it would seem, and I only offered so she could vent.”
Lightning cracks across the sky again “Shan do you have to have such a bad first impression on both my daughters?”
“Not my intentions.”
Caroline smiles softly, handing Heather to Shan “Be thankful, your own daughter adores you.”
“I’m glad she does too.” He smiles softly, then snaps “Take her inside and hurry, Veronica, get inside!”
Caroline takes Heather back to the nursery, pausing in the doorway to look back and see Veronica slinking back towards the tower, she shifts back just before she gets to the door “Why are you bossing me around, old man?”
A hill not far from the tower turns black with masses of cat-like Vampyres “That’s why.”
“They’re probably just our cousins… But then again… I’d rather be safe then dead…” she ducks inside
The cry goes out “Vengeance!” They rush the tower and try to break in, using any opening they can find
“Demon what have you done to these people?”
“Their newest leader attacked your sister so I fired him. Honestly, this is more angry than just me killing him, there seems to be something else behind it…”
“Well… they’re cats and they’re Vampyres… Shall I go talk to them or are we going to sit here until they wear themselves out?”
“Use the exit on the roof, and take Darkwing with you.”
“Whatever you say, Demon. Hey Darkwing, come on.” she ascends to the roof without looking back to make sure that Darkwing followed
“Ok.” He follows slowly
Ver looks over the edge “Got any suggestions, Cutie Pie?”
“Hey Cats! What’s the big idea!” They all look up and try to climb the tower “Guess they want in by any means.”
she smiles softly, her tail curling around her arm “We could join the party… Find out what they want… Last one down’s a rotten egg…” she leans over the edge slightly, falling off. Nimbly she lands on her feet in the middle of the chaos
“Great. They’ll kill me if I come back without her.” Darkwing jumps after her
Veronica looks around the group “You kittens act like someone stepped on your tails… What did that Demon do to you…? Blindly attacking like this won’t help you, talk to me and I can help…”
“We want blood!” They encircle her and slowly press in
Veronica looks around the group, catching Darkwing’s eyes she winks softly, her eyes a deep green, with bright red slits in the middle “And what would you do for this blood? Instead of fighting like wild animals, why don’t we all calm down and come to an agreement? I’m sure I can help you as much as you can help me… Please?”
“Blood!” They charge in on her, becoming a swirling mass of bodies
“Well I guess we can’t all be civilized…” lightning cracks again, hitting Veronica, forcing the Vampyres to move back “I’m still willing to talk, unless you want to be burnt to a crisp you should calm down and hear what I have to say.”
They charge again, wind rippling through their ranks
The lightning that’s dancing through Veronica’s body strikes out, hitting every Vampyre within ten feet of her, they go up in blue green flames leaving behind small piles of ash
They continue to charge, the wind forming a barrier around them that bounces back the lightening
the lightning starts to fade as the Vampyre’s press closer, Veronica looks at Darkwing seconds before her claustrophobia kicks in and causes her to faint. Soft heat is the last thing she feels before passing out completely
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Poor girl, she just had to jump into the thick of it.” He sighs then turns once again to look at her “She is fine as can be at least, so bringing her here wasn’t a complete waste.”
Veronica pretends to still be asleep, wanting to know who all is there or if he’s talking to himself
He smirks “Glad to see you’re awake, though it would have been better for you if you had just stayed asleep.”
she sits up, her hand against her forehead “So what happened? All I remember is that they got too close…”
“You passed out, and I decided that I’d make you my play toy.” He grins wickedly, a drowsy feeling slowly creeps over Veronica.
"I am no one's play toy!"
“You will be soon.” His grin is the last thing she sees before passing out.


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