 
# The Wolf Clan Chronicles:

# Wolves in the Shadows

By Sharon McLaughlin

Copyright Sharon McLaughlin 2014

Smashwords Edition 2

She took a deep breath, inhaling the sticky sweet aroma of the myriad of oranges in their varying stages of ripeness and rot and the musty smell of the cobwebbed robed trees. She could never recall exactly when it was that she had begun to haunt these abandoned orange groves, but one day she just realized that every day she would have a strange compulsion to slip away from the hustle and bustle of campus life and enter the old groves through a gap in the crumbling brick wall.

Sometimes she would lay sprawled out on her well worn red and white striped picnic blanket, reading or studying or writing in her little journal or just looking up at the clouds and thinking of nothing. Sometimes she would stroll aimlessly through the overgrown lines of trees, careful not to trip over the rusting smudge pots that had once burned with kerosene to keep away the frost. Sometimes she would simply stand still with her eyes closed and arms outstretched as she felt the peace on the grove flow around her like a lazy river. She would listen to the carefree songs of the little birds going about their little business and the rustle of the leaves being moved by the breeze and crunch of earth beneath her feet as she walked through this quiet place that time had forgotten. There was a sort of calm about this place that she could never quite describe. It would fill her the moment that she would step through the gap in the wall.

But sometimes, especially lately, it seemed like something about the grove had shifted. The calm had become a sort of watchful brooding, a quiet stillness before a storm. It filled her heart with fearful anticipation. Like she was waiting for something that lurked just outside her sight. There was a part of her that dreaded the groves in these moments, but she found that she could not abandon her daily visits.

What was it that drew her to this strange place that no one ever seemed to pay any attention to? What was she waiting for? No matter how much she pondered these questions, the answers would always elude her grasp.

She could not have known that tonight, something she had been waiting for her whole life without even realizing it, would happen and change her life forever.

Would it be for the better?

Or would it lead her down a path towards death and despair?

Only time would tell.

# Thursday Night

## Chapter 1

Elizabeth sighed and dropped her backpack in the chair next to her neatly organized desk. It had been a long day, and she had just realized that she had left her journal in the grove yet again. She glanced out the window at the rapidly darkening sky and frowned. When had she become so absent minded? She hardly wrote in the stupid thing anymore. There seemed to be no point as nothing interesting ever happened to for her to write about. Still, she didn't like the idea of anything leaving it in the grove overnight.

She opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a slim flashlight. It was always a pain to navigate through the overgrown aisles of trees at night. After a moment's contemplation, she got her oversized grey Orange University sweater out of the closet and pulled it over her head. It had been a warm day, but the evening had been getting a little chilly when she had walked back to the dorm after dinner.

She locked the door to the room and walked down the hall to the stairs to the back door. It would have been faster for her to go out the front entrance, but that would have meant going through the common room in the lobby. Elizabeth had a feeling that Michelle would be sitting there with her friends as she often did after dinner. As much as Elizabeth liked her roommate of the past two and a half years, she had no desire to be drawn into conversation right now. Michelle just didn't understand that sometimes Elizabeth just needed to be left alone. So once again, the back door would be the answer. Elizabeth smiled to herself as she looked down at her sweater. Michelle hated seeing her in it and would always say how totally unflattering it was, but Elizabeth always ignored her. It was soft and warm and had nice deep pockets. And besides, who was she trying to impress? Michelle could be the pretty on one, but she would be the comfy one.

Elizabeth made sure that no one was watching before she jogged across the street and slipped through the hedge that hid the crumbling brick wall from the street. It was more out of paranoid habit than necessity. The imposing trees that lined the road on the campus side effectively blocked most of the light coming from the campus. She had never met anyone in the grove, but she still wondered as she followed the lane between the hedge and the wall if anyone else knew about her secret entrance. She liked to imagine the grove as her own private retreat though she had made the mistake of mentioning it once to Michelle. Fortunately, her roommate had never had any interest in seeing the place and had shockingly not mentioned it to anyone. Or if she had, she must have made it sound like such a boring place that they hadn't bothered coming to see it themselves.

Elizabeth ran her hand along the rough wall until she reached where the bricks had by chance or design crumbled away to make a narrow gap that was just wide enough for a slim person to squeeze through into the grove. The dry earth crunched beneath her feet as she walked towards her usual picnic spot. Fifteen rows to the left and twenty trees forward.

The last light of dusk had vanished behind the distant mountains and night had fallen by the time she found it. Her little journal sat right where she had left it, propped against the soot-blackened smudge pot. She sighed and dusted off the cheap cardboard bound notebook before putting it in her pocket. Why did she even bother keeping a journal? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Something felt different, the air seethed with a strange restlessness. Or maybe it was just her. Elizabeth shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. It was probably nothing. She was just frustrated at herself for leaving her stupid journal. That was all.

She switched on her flashlight and started to walk back towards the dorm. She was glad that she had recently changed the batteries. During the day, she could wander aimlessly for hours without getting lost, but at night, the trees seemed so foreign and imposing, strangers in the dark. As she walked, she started to feel a tingling sensation on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. She stopped and looked around. The cobweb draped trees looked almost ghostlike as the beam from Elizabeth's flashlight swept over them. She squinted into the darkness. There was nothing but trees and the smoke stacks of smudge pots sticking out of the undergrowth here and there. She shrugged and continued on her way.

The sharp sound of a twig snapping behind her made her almost jump out of her skin. She spun around. Her knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on her flashlight. Why hadn't she invested in a heavier flashlight? Then at least she would have something that she could use to cause some damage.

"Is anyone there?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. There was no response. She ran her free hand through her hair and forced herself to laugh. Surely she was just imagining things. It was just a squirrel or something. She turned and started to walk again, determined to calm down and stop jumping at nothing.

"Don't be afraid." A deep voice spoke out of the darkness.

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks but did not turn. A shiver ran down her spine at the sound. There was something eerie about the voice, something strangely cold and inhuman. Not mechanical, just not human.

"I'm not afraid," Elizabeth tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke, but she could hardly breathe.

"Deception does not become you." The speaker seemed to materialize in front of her. His pale blue eyes looked down at her from under thick brows. There was an intensity in his gaze that seemed to be able to pierce right through her. Honey blonde hair fell around his temples, framing his broad forehead. His smooth face seemed young, but there was an air about him, a whiff of an ancient world. He was like something that Elizabeth had only imagined. She knew instinctively what he was, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it. He couldn't possibly be. No, it was too much. She clearly had been reading too many crazy novels. She wanted to say something bold and threatening, but there were no words.

"You're right," she said after she had forced her thoughts to stop whirling out of control. She was used to looking up at everyone one she met, but he absolutely towered over her. She had never felt quite this small in anyone's presence. "I'm absolutely terrified."

A smile flitted across the stranger's sharp features. "See, much better."

Elizabeth found that she could breath easily again, though her fear did not diminish.

"I am Sir Marcus of the Wolves," he said. "And I mean you no harm."

Elizabeth inhaled sharply as a large grey wolf with bright yellow eyes appeared out of the darkness and started to circle her. It was so close that she could have reached out and touched its rough fur with her fingers if she felt so inclined.

She did not feel so inclined.

"You want to run," Sir Marcus said. His voice was gentle, but there was a deadly edge to it. "But you know that would not be wise."

Elizabeth nodded. Fear had indeed rooted her to the spot, but she did not trust herself to say it out loud. She didn't want Sir Marcus to think that she was being rude by not responding. She jumped and had to bite her tongue when the wolf abruptly pressed his cold nose into her hand. He kept nudging her hand until she gave him a tentative pat on the head. The wolf grunted and tilted his head so that she could scratch behind his ears.

The scream that had been growing inside her came out as a nervous laugh. "I'm actually amazed that I'm still able to stand," she said. "Running is certainly out of the question. Though now I'm beginning to question my own sanity."

Marcus tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. There was a hint of a frown on his lips.

"I'm petting a live wolf," Elizabeth continued. She had not seen the look on Marcus' face, but she felt compelled to explain herself. "And I'm having a conversation with a-a very scary looking guy in a dark abandoned orange grove and not screaming and running in the opposite direction. That doesn't seem very sane."

"But you said running was out of the question."

Elizabeth looked up to see Sir Marcus' teeth flash in the darkness as he grinned suddenly.

She gave him a small smile in return in spite her fear. "That's beside the point," she said.

"You really think I look scary?" Sir Marcus sounded both pleased and amused.

"You're a v-" Elizabeth stopped herself. She couldn't say that. "Well, er...um," she stammered awkwardly as she tried to think what to say. "You're over a foot taller than me, and you have a pet wolf." She winced as the wolf nipped her hand lightly. He obviously did not like to be referred to as a pet. Elizabeth was grateful that he had no bitten down hard; his teeth were sharp. "Sorry, Romulus," she said.

The wolf whined and licked her fingers.

Elizabeth's eyes widened as the realization struck her. "How did I know his name was Romulus?" It had just come to her like she had met him once long ago and had just now remembered his name.

"That should be the least of your concerns right now," Sir Marcus said.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked before she could stop herself again. She inwardly cursed her curiosity and started to chew on her tongue. What kind of idiot was she? Asking a complete stranger if he was some mythological creature just because there was something about him that seemed strange. It was just pathetic!

Marcus did not reply right away. He stood still and studied her features as if he was searching for something in her face.

"Yes," he said after he had found-or perhaps not found-whatever he had been looking for. "And I've been waiting a long time to finally meet you, Elizabeth Morden."

Elizabeth felt a mixture of fear and excitement course through her. "How did you know my name?"

"I know many things."

"Are you going to kill me?" Elizabeth was amazed at how calm she sounded when she asked it.

"I said that I meant you no harm." Sir Marcus replied.

"People lie sometimes." Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hand. She could not believe that she had just said that. She looked away from Sir Marcus in embarrassment, worried that she might have offended him.

But Sir Marcus chuckled. "Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, you'd be long dead." It did not sound like a threat. It was a mere statement of fact. "I'm here to take you to my father."

## Chapter 2

Elizabeth felt as if she must have been in a dream as she walked through the grove with Sir Marcus and Romulus. On a seemingly random impulse, she shut off her flashlight and put it into the pocket of her sweater next to her journal. She found that she could still see Romulus leading the way with his tail held jauntily high. The night, which had seemed so dark and quiet before, seemed to be ablaze with life and sound. She could hear the scampering of little critters hurrying through the undergrowth and in the bush-like trees looking for food or their mates or for shelter from larger creatures that would swallow them whole. She could hear the swoosh of hunting owls as they descended upon their prey like shadows of death.

There was heat rising from the earth beneath her feet and from the trees that surrounded her, but the rusting smudge pots that once burned hot were as cold and dead as Sir Marcus as he walked beside her. She had always taken for granted the sounds of a person's breath and footsteps and the rustle of their clothes when she might have walked with them, but Sir Marcus made no noise as he moved. It seemed especially strange now that Elizabeth felt like she could hear so much.

The darkness seemed to melt away before her eyes, and she could see the long lines of trees stretching out before her. The moon shone brightly in the sky, reflecting off of the milky white strands of spider webs that covered every tree. Elizabeth could see the dimpled oranges peeking out from behind the stiff dark green leaves as clearly as if the sun was shining down upon them.

"How is it that I can suddenly see so well in the dark?" She asked, turning to Sir Marcus. "And I can hear everything to, except for you. You don't make a sound."

"You are with us," he replied. It was a simple enough answer, but Elizabeth had no idea how it was possible. She wanted to ask him to clarify, but there were too many other questions clamoring for attention inside her head.

"Who is your father?" She decided to ask.

"My father, Lord Reginald Wolfrick is the master of the Wolf Clan. He is very old and powerful and commands a great deal of respect."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously and said, "Sounds scary."

"He is scary," Marcus replied. After a moment's pause, he added, "but you have nothing to fear from him."

"Why not?" Elizabeth winced at her words. Something about Sir Marcus made her feel like she had to say whatever dumb thoughts came into her head. It was getting frustrating. "How can you be sure?"

Fortunately, Sir Marcus did not seem annoyed by her impertinence. "Because Romulus likes you," he said simply.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and looked down at Romulus. The wolf had turned and stood staring up at her with his bright yellow eyes.

"Romulus has been with my father for well over 600 years," Marcus said. He stopped just before they reached where the wolf had stopped. "If my father had any intention of harming you, Romulus would know and want nothing to do with you." He seemed more serious than Elizabeth had seen him since she had met him. "As it is, he has already told you his name and is helping you see the world as he clearly as he sees. And beyond that, I would not take you to my father if he was going to harm you."

Elizabeth grimaced as a sudden pain shot through her temples. A strange sensation overtook her as half formed images shimmered before her eyes.

"Romulus," Sir Marcus said sharply.

The pain and the images vanished before Elizabeth could make any sense of them. She blinked in surprise, unsure of how to respond.

"Forgive him," Sir Marcus said.

"What was that?" asked Elizabeth. She was glad that they were standing still at the moment. She felt like she needed a moment to get her thoughts organized. She ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

Sir Marcus did not reply. He just looked at Romulus and then looked back at Elizabeth.

"Is he a were-wolf or something?"

"He's something." Marcus replied

"So your father," Elizabeth said when it became clear that he was not going to explain exactly what Romulus was. "Lord Reginald Wolfrick was it?" Elizabeth tried to think how to ask it without sounding absurdly ignorant. "When you say he's you father, what exactly does it mean?" She hoped it wouldn't come across as rude, but she was just curious. She had never met a vampire before and wasn't quite sure how to talk to him yet.

"It means he's my father and my father."

Elizabeth failed to stifle a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Marcus asked. His looked genuinely perplexed.

Elizabeth shook her head. "Your answers to my questions seem so simple, but I have no idea what you mean." The words were out before she could stop them. "It's like you're speaking in riddles."

It was Sir Marcus' turn to chuckle. "You are a forthright and inquisitive girl aren't you?"

Elizabeth shrugged. There was no point in trying to answer when he already had made up his mind. He had a frustrating way of getting her to say exactly what she was thinking.

"I am the natural child of Lord Reginald and his wife, Lady Anya daughter of Aldo the Silversmith," said Marcus. "When I was in my early twenties, he turned me at my request. So he is my father and my father." There was a hardness in his face as he spoke that made Elizabeth shudder. His expression was one of pain mingled with burning anger and hatred and something that Elizabeth could not quite identify. She did not have the courage to ask him why he had asked to be turned. She could tell instinctively that it was a horrible story, and she doubted that she would be able to hear it.

"So vampires can have actual children?" She asked instead, hoping to steer the conversation towards something less frightening. "Or did Lord Reginald become a vampire after you were born?"

Marcus' expression softened a bit. "My father was turned hundreds of years before I was born." He seemed slightly amused by her ignorance. "It is possible for a mortal woman to become pregnant by a vampire, but it is very rare. Often the child is stillborn or too weak to survive beyond the first few days of life. Or more often, the father or his clan will kill the child themselves."

"But not you."

"No, I was strong enough to survive, and my father would have rather died than allow me to be harmed by his clan." His eyes seemed to be looking far into the distant past as he continued. "The fact that my mother was able to bear two children for my father that survived to adulthood is nothing short of miraculous."

"You had a brother? Or a sister?" Elizabeth asked. She always loved hearing about people's families, perhaps because she had no family of her own.

"My sister, Mallory." Marcus' face brightened as he said her name. "She was thirteen years younger than me and the apple of my eye. She was beautiful and gentle, like my mother. She did not deserve-" He trailed off into a brooding sort of silence.

"I always wanted a sister," Elizabeth said with a sad smile. She had to bite her tongue to keep from asking more questions. It was clear that Marcus was done answering for now.

"We should go," He said. "Father is waiting."

They walked in silence, both deep in their own thoughts as they went further into the grove. After awhile, the lines of trees parted and a wooden shack surrounded by tall weeds came into view. Elizabeth guessed that it must have been an old storeroom from back when the grove had been thriving. Romulus led them down a rocky dirt path to the weather beaten door. Before Sir Marcus opened the door, he turned to Elizabeth and said, "Be careful in here. My father can be overwhelming."

"More overwhelming than you?"

Marcus gave a little snort. "Much more."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously and rubbed her hands on her jeans. Her palms had suddenly become uncomfortably sweaty. "I'm pretty scared right now, Sir Marcus," she said. It felt good to be able to admit it.

"Just be yourself," said Marcus with a wry smile. Elizabeth could have sworn that he gave her a little wink when he added. "And remember not to run away screaming."

Elizabeth mustered up a small smile in return. There would be no running possible. She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. "I'm ready.

## Chapter 3

Sir Marcus's father was indeed overwhelming. Elizabeth felt a wave of power crash into her the instant that she stepped through the door. It was like being swept out to sea by a riptide but warmer and wilder. Like falling into a bottomless pit filled with swirling shadows. She had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out at the immensity of his presence. Surely this was the very embodiment of fear, but it was not merely fear that rooted her to the spot. No. It was awe.

He stood regally in the middle of a small room filled with empty orange crates. He was not as tall as Marcus. His hair was darker and coarser and pulled back at the nape of his neck into a long braid. His features were more sharply defined. A thin scar that ran from under the corner of his left eye down to his chin was the only imperfection on his otherwise smooth face. He was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit and silk shirt that brought out the steely grey of his eyes.

Elizabeth hardly noticed any of this. She was caught up in the steadiness and wisdom of his gaze that spoke of long years of memories. He was old, soul crushingly old. She could feel herself being pulled into his eyes, but she could not look away. She was a fragile moth being drawn inescapably towards a flame. There was no escape possible now or ever. It was as if his gaze could not merely pierce through her as Marcus' could. It could rip into her very soul and lay bare every secret thought and desire and fear that she kept hidden within herself. She felt as if the room was spinning around her as images of things long forgotten came floating to the surface of her mind. Old dreams that had faded from memory. Childhood fears that had been outgrown. Nightmares that had haunted her in her youth came to life and reached out to her with withered hands. The smell of burning flesh and twisted metal filled her nostrils as she heard agonized screaming.

She could hardly breathe or even think. Her senses were filled to overflowing as she felt herself being pulled down into the deepest, darkest part of her memory.

But Elizabeth was not one to surrender. Even as she felt the last vestiges of herself threaten to slip into the darkness, something woke up inside her. Something fierce and bestial. She clawed her way towards the pair of eyes that watched her from the shadows.

"Let me out!" Her own voice echoed inside her head though she did not speak. She blinked and the darkness had vanished, and she once again standing still before Sir Marcus' father. It took her a moment to realize that whatever had just happened to her had been in her own mind.

"Father, I have brought you Elizabeth Morden as you requested." Elizabeth heard Sir Marcus say, though she hardly realized that he was speaking at first. His voice seemed to bring her back into reality.

"Son." His voice was deeper than his son's. Elizabeth was not sure if it was just her imagination, but she was certain that the floor beneath her feet shook as he spoke again. "Do not be afraid, young Elizabeth."

Elizabeth could not respond. Her mouth was dry with fear, and she felt as if she had somehow been turned into a statue, rigid and unmoving. Marcus guided to a crate that had been draped with soft black velvet and sat her down. She must have been able to walk, but she could hardly feel herself move. Everything seemed to be strangely shimmering around the edges.

"I am Lord Reginald Wolfrick." She had neither seen nor heard him move, but suddenly he was sitting beside her. His grey eyes studied her delicate features.

Elizabeth nodded, still unable to speak. Of course she knew his name, but nothing that Sir Marcus had said could have possibly prepared her for this presence, this unbearable power.

"Thank you for coming to me." He pronounced each syllable with the slow deliberation of someone who was not accustomed to having to say thank you, someone whose every word was to be heard and obeyed without question. The effect was somehow both charming and terrifying. "It was a brave thing to do."

"Thank you, sir," Elizabeth managed to croak out at last. She did not feel remotely brave. She felt weak and insignificant beside him, somehow even smaller than Sir Marcus made her feel. Her worn jeans and sweater and tangled hair made her feel so shabby next to his chiseled features. Even his scar somehow added to the unearthly beauty of his appearance. Elizabeth was certain that she was about to embarrass herself forever by passing out as he looked at her.

Mercifully, the waves of power that still sought to wash her away to nothingness began to recede, and Elizabeth found that she could breathe easily once again. Feeling rushed back into her body and everything around her seemed to become solid and real.

"Thank you," she gasped, taking in great gulps of air. It might have been musty and stale but at least it was air. She would never take breathing for granted ever again. The smells of rotting wood and orange peel filled Elizabeth's nostrils, along with another bittersweet smell that she could not identify.

"Forgive me, young one," Lord Reginald's voice was like a warm blanket beginning wrapped around her shoulders. "I will restrain myself as best I can until you become more accustomed to my presence."

Elizabeth had to bite her tongue yet again. The idea of becoming used to such a presence was laughable, but she didn't think that this ancient vampire would appreciate being laughed at. Not that she would be laughing at him of course, but he might not understand. He seemed far more solemn than Sir Marcus. And absolutely more dangerous.

"I did warn you," Sir Marcus said with a touch of a smirk. He gave Elizabeth a sly wink.

Lord Reginald shot him a withering glare.

"What?" Sir Marcus asked. His expression was impossibly innocent.

The ghost of what might have been a smile flitted across Lord Reginald's aristocratic features.

"Lord Reginald," Elizabeth said, feeling compelled to speak. "I don't think I've ever been more terrified in my life, but at the same time, some part of me feels like I'm perfectly safe. It doesn't make any sense. Especially considering what you just did to me. I don't even know what it was, but it was like I was trapped inside my own head with you." She shuddered as she spoke. She hadn't thought it was possible for any power to tear into her psyche like that and make her see and feel such terrible things. She knew that she would never be the same. "And I don't know how I was able to get out."

Romulus, who Elizabeth had almost forgotten about at this point, rested his head on her leg. She could feel his hot breath on her thigh through her jeans. It was strangely comforting. She patted him on the head.

"It was a test, young Elizabeth," Lord Reginald's voice was filled with remorse. "Forgive me, but I needed to look inside your mind without taking it over completely."

"You could have warned me." Elizabeth was surprised at her own daring. She desperately hoped that she hadn't offended him.

Lord Reginald shook his head. "It would have been more painful for both of us because you would have resisted me."

Elizabeth frowned. "It was painful for you?"

"Yes."

"Could you see everything that I saw?"

"Yes."

Elizabeth looked down at Romulus and tried to gather her thoughts and keep her composure. It was horrible to think that this complete stranger had so easily seen into her mind. She hated how exposed and vulnerable she felt, but wondered how she was able to feel as calm as she felt. Up until an hour ago vampires and psychic powers and centuries old whatever Romulus was were just things that she might read about in one of those novels that her roommate loved so much or watch on some TV show or movie, but here she was. Before she even realized it, she was gushing to Lord Reginald how confused she was about her own response to meeting him and Sir Marcus and Romulus. "It makes no sense," she said shaking her head as she finished sharing her thoughts. "Hell, it makes negative sense. How can anyone be so scared and not scared and calm but totally confused at the same time? Part of me is certain that I'm going to wake up and find that this is all a dream, but I know it's real."

"You know that it is real, because deep down, you always knew that we existed." Lord Reginald said after she had finished. "You are afraid because you have never encountered such dangerous creatures, but not afraid because you also know deep down that we will not hurt you."

"But how do I know?" Elizabeth asked. Part of her was screaming at her to stop talking. Was she really questioning a vampire lord who had already shown how easily he could rip into her mind? Was she crazy or did she just have a death wish?

Lord Reginald frowned slightly, but Elizabeth got the distinct impression that Sir Marcus was trying to hold back a smile.

"You are a strange creature, young Elizabeth," Lord Reginald said after what felt like an eternity to her, but was surely only an infinitesimally short period of time to one as old as he was. "You are far braver that you think you are and honest to the point of impertinence, but I do not blame you for that. You are both ignorant and innocent, but hungry for answers. The pursuit of knowledge is always admirable."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile his words. "Thank you, I'm usually not this brutally honest about how I feel, but I can't help it right now. It's like-I don't know what it's like-it's just strange."

Lord Reginald smiled slowly, as if she had reminded him of some pleasant memory, but there was something else in his expression that Elizabeth could not quite read. Pride? Sorrow? Regret? She had no way to tell.

"Father," Sir Marcus said softly. "You should tell her why you summoned her here."

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

Lord Reginald seemed to rouse from whatever his thoughts might be nodded and said. "Young Elizabeth, I wish to tell you a story from my youth. Would you like to hear it?" He said it with so much gravity that Elizabeth knew she could not refuse. Though there was no way that she would pass up such an opportunity anyways. After all, how often does one get to talk to someone who's lived through so many centuries?

## Chapter 4

"It was not love at first sight," Lord Reginald's voice was rich and sonorous as he spoke. "Nor was it lust at first sight. Indeed I hardly noticed her when fate first brought our paths together. I imagine that it was their youthful naivety that gave them the courage to walk home without an escort on that dark night. Anya and Elise, two of the most beautiful mortal women to ever walk the earth. They were sisters and best friends, the daughters of Aldo who would later be known far and wide simply as Der Siberschmeid, or in English, the Silversmith. They were both slender and fair, with clear blue eyes and flowing golden hair. Anya was the eldest, wise far beyond her years, but Elise was reckless and impulsive. Quicker than her older sister to bouts of passion and anger, quicker to laugh and smile but also quicker to folly. She was forever filled with excitement and emotion that she could hardly contain. It was a good thing for her that her beloved sister was so gentle and patient. Anya was the calm at the center of the hurricane that was Elise.

"It once pained me to admit that it was Elise that first caught my eye that night. She was laughing loudly and telling Anya of the many young men that were madly in love with her and the many games that she would play with her suitors before she would chose one to marry. She had the radiance of youth that made her feel invincible.

"Anya was listening but ever on the alert for anything or anyone that might disturb them as they walked. She was armed with a small dagger that she always carried up her sleeve when they walked at night. Not that it would have done any good against the likes of me.

"She loved her sister dearly, and she did not care that she was neither as beautiful nor as beloved as her sister. Her features where not as perfect, her lips not as full, her teeth not as straight. Her quiet nature made her easily overshadowed by her sister's gregarious personality. Indeed, there were some who were even a little intimidated by Anya, mistaking her silence for arrogance, but those who knew her quickly saw that she was gentle and kind. There was no malice in her heart, and as the years went by, she would grow more and more beautiful while her sister's beauty faded along with her youth. She was truly the more beautiful of the two though few could see it at first." Lord Reginald trailed off into a thoughtful silence. His grey eyes were looking into a faraway place as he recalled their first meeting all those centuries ago. Elizabeth found that when he spoke, she was able see the sisters before her on that dark road. She had heard Elise prattling on unaware of anything around her as she walked while Anya's eyes continually darted here and there. She had been able feel the blood coursing through their veins, so fresh and warm. Now that he was silent, the sisters faded from view, and she was again sitting on an old orange crate.

"I was hunting alone as I often did in the days of my youth," Lord Reginald continued, and Elizabeth plunged back into the vision that his words created. "I had only been with the Wolf Clan for perhaps two hundred years, but I was already so high in the esteem of Lady Selina, the master of the clan, that she had named me as her heir, much to the displeasure of some of the older and more powerful members. This will be important later, as you will see, but at the time it was of little consequence to me. Like Elise, the carelessness of youth was ever present.

"As I roamed the countryside, cloaked in shadows and hungry for blood, I saw them dancing gracefully even as they walked in the moonlight. How could I resist such creatures? So pure and young and delectable. I could taste their blood on my lips as I swept down upon them and took them by surprise.

"I weaved the most incredible fantasies before their eyes. They deserved at least the illusion of happiness before I took away their lives, for I was certain that once I tasted their blood, I would not be satisfied until I had drunk every last drop. Such was my gluttonous appetite in those years. I showed them a life within the most beautiful of palaces with the finest servants and the richest furnishings. I showed them a banquet with the most succulent of meats and more decadent of wines. They were dressed in the softest of silks and bathed in the choicest perfumes. I showed them a glorious world where they would always be safe and happy.

"Elise was utterly mesmerized and within my power, but Anya, sweet Anya, proved to be far more resilient to my charms than anyone I had ever encountered. Anya, who at first had seemed to be less fair that her sister, proved to be stronger and more beautiful than I had ever thought possible.

"'My lord,' she said as she stood before me without fear. 'Do whatever you will with me, but I beg you to let my sister go. I have seen her destiny, and I know that she will bring a lasting peace though it might be through terrible destruction and a river of blood.'

"I was amazed. Never had any mortal thwarted my power so completely and cooled my desire for blood. I could feel her life force clash against mine and sate my hunger. It was beyond anything that I thought possible.

"'Why should I permit my prey to walk free when they so rashly wander through the hunting grounds of the Wolf Clan on a night such as this when the moon shines so brightly?' I asked. Though my thirst had been slaked, my pride could not permit me to accept defeat from a mortal girl. 'Who are you to beg a favor from Sir Reginald, the prince of the Wolf Clan?'

"'I am no one of consequence,' she replied. She fell to her knees and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. 'I am the mere daughter of a blacksmith, but for the sake of my sister, I would gladly lay down my life.'

"'But you are even now within my grasp,' I said. I was angered, for though she knelt, there was something like pride in her supplication. Who was she to stand against me? What a fool I was not to my own hypocrisy! 'No power on Earth can save you from me, and yet you beg for the life of another?'

"'I do,' she said simply.

"'What if I wish to take you both of you this very night?' I asked though I already knew that I could not harm this gentle creature. It vexed me that she somehow seemed to know this. How else could she have spoken with such confidence?

"'Then there is nothing I can do,' she said as she pulled her dagger from her sleeve. 'But still I will try to fight you until my dying breath.'

"I laughed. How could I not? This little girl actually thought to fight me! Never had I encountered such a bold creature. Even as she begged for the life of her sister and threatened me with a weapon that she knew was worthless against me there was a dignity and grace and fearlessness to her that I could not ignore. I shall never forget the image of Anya on her knees before me begging not for her own life but for that of another. It was a thing of beauty. I could not help but be moved by her fierce loyalty and gentle kindness towards her sister.

"'Lady Anya,' I said, for truly she deserved such a title though she had not a drop of noble blood in her veins. 'You are indeed a strange woman. You will come to the castle of the Wolf Clan and swear fealty to me and my clan forever more and serve as my own personal servant and seer. If you do this, then I will spare your sister.'

"She turned deathly pale, as well she should have. The mortals that entered the castle of the Wolf Clan rarely left alive. And those who did were forever changed. She would be entering a life of terrifying servitude to the deadly Wolves as the lowest of slaves. I will not deny that it gave me pleasure to see her finally show fear.

"She bowed her head respectfully and said, 'My lord, I swear that I will come and serve you and your clan, but I beg you to let me first take my sister home and say farewell to my father and brothers, for I may never see them again.'

"It baffles me to this day that I gave her permission. I warned her that I would rain down destruction upon her entire family if she failed to come to me by sunset the next day. She stood before me and bowed low promising to come as I commanded. Without another word, she led her sister away, and I stood stunned at what had just occurred. I, Sir Reginald, mighty prince of the Wolf Clan, had willing let two such beautiful creatures slip through my fingers. I would be the laughingstock of the clan.

"Part of me was certain that she would not keep her vow and that the next night I would feast upon the blood of her entire family. How foolish I was! My sweet Anya, ever fearless and honorable. Never in her wildest dreams would she have broken her word, even to one such as me.

"The next night, as soon as I had awoken, I readied myself for battle. Surely Anya's father and brothers would fight to the death to protect their dear daughter and sister. I was eager for such a fight, for the thought of their blood running down my sword filled me with excitement. I alone would destroy Anya's family, and all who saw the fierceness of my wrath would look on in terror. But it was not to be, for when I reached the courtyard, I found Anya waiting for me. She had kept her word.

"Augustus, the captain of the Wolf Guard, stood beside her. He told me later that her whole family had followed her to the very gates of the castle, and that from his post, he had seen her say her final farewells just as the sun had begun to sink in the horizon. Her younger sister, the fair Elise was the last to leave her side.

"She never saw her father or her sister again in her life. Her brothers she would see one last time, but it only brought bitter pain that I shall not speak of yet.

"She worked hard and served me well. Any tears that she might have shed for her family, she hid from me, but it was clear the greatness of her loss, for never had she been apart from her family. She fascinated me. No creature ever had such a diligent and gentle servant. She was a sweet balm to my unholy soul. With all of her purity and goodness, how could I not fall in love with her? Every second that I spent with her was a moment in that blessed paradise that I shall never enter. Oh, the damned creature that I was! That I still am! She was the most glorious gift that heaven could ever deign to bestow. And she loved me! This angel loved me as no cursed monster could ever hope to deserve."

As Lord Reginald spoke, his face seemed to glow with an ethereal light. His eyes were filled with joy and love. His smile was almost celestial.

The memories of his love swirled around Elizabeth as his words flowed over her. She was utterly enthralled by his tale. She was there with him, all those centuries ago. She felt herself being pulled into a sweet oblivion without time or thought. A place where the most wonderful memories dwelt in all their unfading beauty. All around her seemed to fade into nothingness.

Suddenly Anya stood before her, dressed in a gown of soft white silk. She was no longer the young maid that Lord Reginald had met on that dark road, but she had bloomed into the fullness and beauty of womanhood. Around her neck was an intricately wrought crucifix of silver. Golden curls cascaded down her back, and her clear blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The smell of roses and lilies followed her like a train. She was glowing with happiness as she beckoned to Elizabeth.

"Come with me, young one," the vision whispered to her. "My lord's power is too great for you. Come with me, and I will keep you safe in the place between places."

Elizabeth did not fully understand what she meant, but she ran into Anya's open arms even as she felt that her body was still sitting on that wooden crate. She sank into Anya's warm embrace and breathed in her sweet essence. She felt as if at long last, she had found her home.

A feeling a tranquility filled her entire being as she drifted away with Anya on a calm sea.

## Chapter 5

"You have mesmerized her, father," Marcus said reproachfully, seeing that Elizabeth had fallen into a deep trance where she sat. Romulus was curled up at her feet and seemed to be asleep. "You almost mesmerized me." He shook his head in disbelief. "I haven't heard you speak with such power and passion since I was still a child."

Lord Reginald's expression became grave. He laid Elizabeth gently on the floor, wrapped her in the velvet covering that had been on the crate and placed his hand on her head. A deep vertical line appeared between his eyebrows as he looked up at his son in bewilderment.

"If she is mesmerized, it is not by me, my son. She seems to be asleep."

Sir Marcus raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. "That is not possible."

"See for yourself."

Sir Marcus crouched beside Lord Reginald and laid his own hand on Elizabeth's head. He stood up almost immediately, deep frown on his face. "You are right, but how?"

"I am not entirely certain," Lord Reginald replied as he stood beside his son. The line between his brows deepened as he frowned as well. "It is as if something is protecting her from my power."

"It's a miracle that she survived," Sir Marcus said. "Any other mortal's mind would have been destroyed by the vision that you were showing her. It was far too vivid."

Lord Reginald shook his head. "I forgot myself as I spoke. The memories of my sweet Anya fill me to overflowing."

"Perhaps it was not merely the memories," Sir Marcus said. He gazed shrewdly at his father. "You know, or you think you know, what protected her."

Lord Reginald shot him a dangerous look.

"Forgive me, father." Sir Marcus said with a respectful bow. "We will not speak of it."

Lord Reginald nodded curtly in response.

"Her life force is indeed strong."

Lord Reginald's expression softened at Sir Marcus' words. "Yes, indeed it is."

"But not as strong as mother's."

"No," Lord Reginald said. There was something like regret in his deep voice. "But she has a different kind of strength that she is not even aware of. She is like and unlike gentle Anya. Perhaps that will save her."

"Your words are of little comfort," Sir Marcus said.

Romulus lifted his head from between his paws and let out a small whine.

"Your companion agrees with me. Look at him pretending to be asleep." Sir Marcus said with a fond smile as he looked at the wolf.

"Romulus does not need to sleep," Lord Reginald said. His smile mirrored his son's. "But he does like to try. He can almost dream when he runs through his memories."

"Ah, to dream," Sir Marcus said. "It has been far too long."

Lord Reginald let out a deep sigh. "Yes, to dream of my sweet Anya would be almost as wonderful as holding her once again. But instead, I must be content to walk through these sweet smelling groves and dwell within the memories of the joys we shared until the dawn drives me to rest. Romulus will watch over young Elizabeth until she wakes."

Marcus looked down at Elizabeth's sleeping form with a troubled expression on his face. In a single liquid moment, he knelt and kissed her forehead gently. As he stood, he nodded once to Romulus and then followed his father into the night.

# Friday

## Chapter 1

Elizabeth woke up as the sun was rising. She groaned and stretched, feeling that unpleasant stiffness that comes from sleeping on a hard wooden floor. The early morning sun filtered through the wide cracks in the shed's ceiling and walls, transforming the floating dust motes into dancing sparks of color. She sat up and rubbed her eyes as memories of the previous night swirled in the front of her mind. Had it all been a crazy dream? Was she still dreaming? No, everything around her felt solid and real. But then again in the vision that Lord Reginald had shown, everything looked solid and real too. Especially that last part. What had happened after she ran to Anya? She had felt so alive as she fell into that strange oblivion. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

Beside her, Romulus lifted his head and yawned. His yellow eyes were on the same level as Elizabeth's brown ones. The wolf looked at her thoughtfully. His expression was more intelligent than any animal that Elizabeth had ever seen. He even looked more intelligent than some of her fellow college students. She jumped in surprise as the yellow eyes flickered and changed to a piercing blue. Before she could quite process what she was seeing, they had turned back to their usual yellow. She rubbed her eyes again. Maybe it had been a trick of the light or something. Or maybe she had just imagined it.

"Good morning, Romulus." She patted him on the head and smiled. Normally she would have felt foolish talking to an animal, but after last night, she was no longer sure exactly what normal was. Her whole world view had changed so drastically that she hardly knew herself. The wolf continued to stare at her in silence.

A sudden pain shot through her temples. Elizabeth gasped as everything around her grew dark. At first it was not as clear as the vision that Lord Reginald had shown her last night. It was fuzzy, like she was looking into a fogged up mirror. She heard Lord Reginald's deep voice telling someone about Anya. As she listened, it became clearer, like tuning the static out of a radio station. The fog before her eyes melted away, and she realized with a jolt that she was seeing herself from last night listening to Lord Reginald's story. She was curled up on the floor looking up at herself. She could feel hot blood coursing through her veins and hear the soft whisper of her own breath. Her heartbeat seemed to make the air quiver.

Then there was the smell, faint at first, but growing stronger with each passing moment. It was a cold smell that she somehow knew was the smell of death and another smell, warmer and richer. She realized in a flash that she was somehow in Romulus' memory, seeing and smelling herself as he must have. It was by far the strangest thing that she had ever experienced, and considering last night, that was saying something.

Her head began to throb painfully. She shook herself out of the vision and began to massage her temples. She could feel Romulus' eyes on her even as she looked away. Her thoughts were a jumbled mass of confusion. She took a deep breath and looked back at him. "I wish I knew what the hell you are and how you did that. Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus are one thing. They can actually talk to me, but you're something else entirely aren't you."

The wolf licked her face.

She giggled. "Deep down you're just a big puppy, aren't you?" She scratched him behind the ears. She didn't think that she was quite ready to find out exactly what he was. Not yet anyway. Her headache began to fade as she sat and tried to gather herself.

"Thank you for looking after me while I slept," she said after a few minutes.

Romulus whined in response.

Elizabeth got to her feet and stretched. She was still tired, but there was no way that she was going try to go back to sleep on the floor. She longed for her soft bed in West Hall.

The wolf stood up with her and rubbed his head against her leg.

"You and I are going to be good friends, aren't we?" She ran her fingers through the rough fur on his back. "As long as I keep scratching you in all the right places."

She opened the door and squinted as light poured into the little shed. The overgrown trees of the grove were like miniature mountains of green with fruit in all stages of maturity peeking out from under the stiff waxy leaves. They no longer seemed even remotely ghostlike in the bright morning sun.

With Romulus at her side, Elizabeth walked down the rocky path to the nearest tree and plucked a ripe orange. She usually had trouble eating this early in the morning, but she was halfway through her third orange before she even realized it.

"I must look ridiculous!" she said as she laughed at herself. Her fingers and chin were sticky with juice, and bits of peels littered the ground around her feet. She was about to ask Romulus which way the university was when he abruptly left her side and started to trot away through the groves. Elizabeth jogged after him with the unfinished orange still gripped in her hand.

The brisk morning air was invigorating, but all too soon, they stood at the gap in the wall near West Hall. Elizabeth ate the rest of her orange, wiped her sticky hands on her jeans and gave Romulus one last pat on the head.

"Thanks, friend," she said. "Let Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus know that I'll be back here at sunset as they requested.

The wolf licked her hand in farewell and bounded away through the trees in the direction that they had just come.

Elizabeth frowned. It had just occurred to her that she did not remember Lord Reginald or Sir Marcus asking her to return. She had just somehow known that they wanted her to, and of course, she wanted to hear more about Anya. She let out a sigh followed by a yawn. Right now she was too tired to figure it out. She'd worry about it later. Without a backwards glance, she left the grove and stepped back into her own world.

## Chapter 2

Elizabeth found her roommate Michelle dozing with her head on her desk. She closed the door as quietly behind her as possible and slipped off her shoes. As she crossed the room on her tiptoes, Michelle jerked awake.

"Huh? What time is it?" she said. She lifted her head, brushed her dark hair out of her eyes and looked around in a sort of groggy panic.

"Sorry," Elizabeth whispered. "It's little after 5 am."

Michelle yawned and rubbed her eyes, smearing her black eyeliner and mascara across her cheeks. "No worries," she said. "I just don't want to miss my class."

"Chemistry exam this morning?" Elizabeth asked. She changed into clean pajamas and got into bed. Part of her was frustrated that she had woken her roommate, but at the same time there was something comforting and familiar about coming home to her. Despite her exhaustion, she felt like she needed to hear a human voice. "Have you been up all night?"

"Most of it," Michelle replied. "I might have napped for like twenty minutes just now."

"You should probably get some rest. You wouldn't want to fall asleep during the actual test."

"Whatever you say, mother," Michelle said. She stood up and stretched and yawned again. "Hey where were you all night?"

"Nowhere, Michie," Elizabeth said after yawning herself. It was just too contagious.

"Oh come on, Lizzy," Michelle protested. "I always tell you where I've been." She walked to the mini fridge that they shared and pulled out a can of energy drink.

"Whether I ask or not," Elizabeth said under her breath.

"What was that?" Michelle asked. She took a gulp of her drink and made a disgusted face. "Why do I even drink these things?"

"I don't know," Elizabeth said. Her bed was so warm and soft, and sleep was calling to her. "You know how bad they are for you."

Michelle chugged the rest of her drink and let out a huge belch. "I know, I know, but if I go to sleep now, there's no way that I won't sleep through my class."

"Well, good luck. I'm going to sleep now."

"It's not fair," Michelle said. "When am I ever going to need to know any of this stuff?"

"At least it's Friday."

Michelle brightened at the thought. "We should totally party and get totally smashed!"

"Good night, Michie," Elizabeth said. She rolled over and faced the wall, hoping against hope that her roommate would finally pick up on her signals.

Michelle was never one for subtlety. "I'll see if Lindsey and Emily want to go out, and you can come with us."

"Chemistry," Elizabeth said. She yawned so widely that she was certain that her head was going to split open. "Sleep."

"Fine, I'll let you sleep," Michelle said grumpily. "But you are going to go out drinking with me tonight."

Elizabeth did not respond. She closed her eyes and let sleep finally overtake her.

## Chapter 3

Elizabeth woke up a few hours later feeling delightfully refreshed. Michelle must have already gone to breakfast. Her desk was still strewn with chemistry notes. Elizabeth smiled fondly at the sight. She really did like her roommate even though she was always totally unorganized.

She took an especially long shower that morning, enjoying the hot water running over her stiff muscles. Hopefully she would not have to sleep on the ground anytime soon. It was just too uncomfortable.

She slipped into a clean shirt and jeans and checked her watch. There was still time for her to get some coffee before class. As she gathered her books and packed her backpack for the day, she wondered if she should even bother going to class. She doubted that she would be able to concentrate and absorb anything right now. Her brain still felt like it was in overload from last night and then this morning with Romulus and the crazy visions. She still couldn't quite wrap her head around everything that she had seen and heard. Maybe a strong cup of coffee would help. It would at least be tasty.

She was so distracted as she walked towards the campus café that she didn't even notice him until she had already walked right into him.

"I'm so sorry!" He caught her just before she fell; his muscular arms steadied her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm sorry," she said quickly as she looked up at him. She wanted to explain that it was all her fault because she hadn't been paying attention but found herself tongue tied. She had never considered herself to be one who was particularly boy-crazy or easily smitten, that was Michelle's job, but she found herself immediately drawn to this guy. He wasn't that tall, maybe a few inches shy of 6 feet, but he was still a head taller that her. His dark grey shirt was just tight enough to suggest that underneath he was well toned and fit, but not so tight to leave nothing to the imagination. There was a solidness to him that made Elizabeth feel comfortable and safe in his arms.

"Thanks," she said at last in a breathless voice.

"You're sure you're okay?" he asked. His voice was friendly and concerned, but the way his lips were pressed together in a crooked little smirk suggested that he was trying not to laugh.

"You can let me go now." Elizabeth realized that he was still holding her.

"Oh, sorry." He released her and took a step backwards. His dark eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Go ahead and laugh," Elizabeth said in an effort to ease the awkwardness between them. "I won't think any less of you."

He bit his bottom lip and looked away in embarrassment. Elizabeth could not help but chuckle at the sight. He looked at her and a second later, began to chuckle himself.

"I'm sorry," he choked out as he vainly tried to stifle his laughter. "I know it's mean."

Elizabeth shook her head and smiled. "I said I wouldn't think any less of you. I definitely don't blame you. That had to have looked hilarious."

"Especially the part where you lingered in my arms." He gave her a roguish wink and returned her smile with a cockeyed one of his own. "That was nice."

Elizabeth felt heat rise into her cheeks.

"I'm Chase," he said.

"I'm Lizzy, er Elizabeth that is." She was surprised with herself. Why in the world had she introduced herself as Lizzy at first? She usually didn't like when people called her that. Michelle had been the first person to call her that, and she had only allowed it because she was her roommate.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl," Chase said and then winced. "That sounded creepy didn't it?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"I can't seem to catch a break." He shook his head sadly. "First I almost run you over and then I creep you out."

"It could have been worse." Elizabeth tried and failed to hide her amusement. "But then again, you also laughed at me."

"What's a guy to do?" he said with a dejected sort of shrug. "If we were near a bar, I'd offer to buy you a drink to make up for it."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. Was this guy for real? "It's barely 10 am. I'm not actually old enough to drink in a bar, and I don't think I would accept a drink from a total stranger."

Chase threw his hands into the air in surrender. "I just keep striking out don't I?"

Elizabeth giggled. She felt totally foolish, but there was nothing else that she could do. She was disarmed by his easygoing personality.

"I got a laugh though," Chase said. His expression brightened. "That's got to count for something, right?"

"Right, Chase," Elizabeth said. "It was nice to meet you." She began to walk away towards the campus café, but Chase started walk with her.

"I don't give up that easily," he said in response to her questioning glance. "Plus, I've got to make sure that you get to wherever you're going without another collision. It's my duty as a nice guy."

"So now you're a nice guy?"

Chase gave her a flirtatious grin. "Only if you want me to be."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes but did not reply.

"So where are we going?" Chase asked eagerly.

"I'm going to get some coffee and then go to class," Elizabeth said. "Where are you going?"

"Where is anyone going in this life?"

"Getting philosophical now?"

Chase shrugged. "Figured I'd go for the intellectual nice guy who occasionally is inadvertently creepy."

"I see. Well, you do that."

They walked in amiable silence for a moment before Chase said, "you could always invite me to get some coffee with you."

Elizabeth smiled when she replied. "I thought that was the nice intellectual guy's job to ask."

"Oh, I see how it is. A bit old fashioned are we, Lizzy?"

"A bit. And it's Elizabeth by the way."

"Well, Elizabeth," Chase said, dragging her name out so it would sound more dramatic. "May I accompany you to get some coffee?"

"I don't see why not," Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"Hurray!" Chase said. "Let's go!"

## Chapter 4

The campus café was always crowded in the morning. Filled to the brim with confused looking freshmen trying to look cool with their shiny laptops, disheveled frat boys and sorority girls needing caffeine to recover from their hangovers, classmates meeting for some last minute studying, but Elizabeth and Chase had managed to find a tiny table in the corner that was just big enough to hold their steaming mugs of coffee. They had talked flirtatiously all the way to the café about nothing of any significance. It was strangely soothing to Elizabeth. She felt like she could disconnect her brain and just relax with this friendly guy.

"So what are you doing on campus, other than knocking people off their feet?" Elizabeth asked.

"Maybe I'm a student," Chase replied with a shrug.

Elizabeth, who had just closed her eyes in lazy enjoyment as she had taken a drink, had to struggle to keep from choking on her coffee.

"What?" Chase asked. His teeth flashed as he grinned crookedly at her reaction. "Don't I seem like a student?"

Elizabeth snorted. "You didn't even know where the café was. You kept trying to go in the opposite direction."

"Maybe I just transferred."

"Oh please, it's obvious that you're not a student here or anywhere."

"Just too cool to be student, right?" Chase asked with a knowing look.

"Nah," Elizabeth said. Her eyes glinted mischievously. "Too old."

It was Chase's turn to almost choke of his coffee. "Too old?" He said, feigning offense. "That's not nice at all."

"You're the nice one, not me," Elizabeth said. She tried and failed to suppress a smile.

"Is this payback for me laughing at you and then hitting on you right away?"

"And for calling me Lizzy."

"But I got you coffee." Chase made a ridiculous pouty face.

Elizabeth giggled. "Okay, I guess that makes us even."

Chase smiled. They both sat drinking their coffee and watching the steady stream of humanity coming in and out of the small café. There were so many people, and yet suddenly Elizabeth felt so alone, isolated from the rest of the world and lost in thought. No one here would believe her if she told them about the strange things that had happened to her last night. She had wanted to try forget, even for a little while, that there were things in the world so horrible and wonderful that they defied the imagination, but the more she tried not to think about it, the more she could see Romulus' eyes burning blue as they looked at her from the inside of her mind. She could still smell the cold deadly smell that seemed to follow Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus. What did it all mean? What was the point of sitting here talking about nothing with a complete stranger surrounded by people who she felt no connection with when there was a completely different world hiding in the shadows? Suddenly she longed to be alone. She could hardly wait for the sun set, but at the same time she dreaded the night. What was wrong with her?

"What are you thinking about?" Chase snapped her out of her thoughts with his question.

"I don't belong here," Elizabeth said before she could stop herself. "I don't know if I really belong anywhere. It's like I'm waiting for something to happen, something to change. Like there's something wrong with the world that I need to try to fix, but I don't know what it is. But then I realize how crazy that sounds. I'm only a small person in a wide world. What could I possibly do to make difference? And where would I even begin?" She stopped abruptly, her face glowing red. "I can't believe that I just told you that." She was relieved that she had been able to stop when she had. Another minute and she would have spilled everything about Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus and Romulus. And of course he would have thought that she was even crazier than he probably already did.

Chase finished his coffee and set his cup down with a gentle chink. "You're definitely an odd one, Elizabeth. It's not every day that you meet someone who gets so distracted that she runs into a complete stranger one minute and then next starts talking about changing the world the next."

Elizabeth let out a nervous chuckle and glanced down at her watch. "I have to go to class, and for the record, I didn't run into you. I walked into you."

"What's the difference?" Chase asked with a grin. "Maybe we could walk or run into each other later today. Say around dinner time."

"Sounds painful," Elizabeth said. Her embarrassment was beginning to fade.

"We could wear helmets."

"I'm sorry, I can't tonight." Elizabeth was genuinely sorry, but she didn't want to be late for her meeting in the groves. She laughed inwardly as the scenario played in her mind. Sure we can get dinner, but then I'm going to go meet my undead friends that I just met, so I we'll have to be done by the time the sun sets.

"Got a hot date?" Chase asked. He looked as disappointed as she felt.

Elizabeth shook her head. She worried that as soon as she opened her mouth, she would say something that she didn't want to say. There was something about Chase that she instinctively trusted. He wasn't like Michelle, who was as interested in hearing gossip as she was in spreading it. Part of her screamed at her to tell him everything, but she had no idea why. She hastily tucked that part of her far in the back of her mind. Where was the impulse coming from?

"How about tomorrow or maybe next week?" Chase asked.

"Lots of studying to do," Elizabeth managed to say. Her head was spinning. There was something wrong that she just couldn't quite put her finger on. She had to get out of here. "Thanks for the coffee," she said hastily as she hurried away.

## Chapter 5

Elizabeth struggled to catch her breath as she sat in the rose garden behind the Goldberg Memorial Hall. She vaguely remembered a tour that she had taken just before her freshman year where the guide had said something about the garden being a gift to the school in memory of someone's mother. It hadn't seemed important then. It didn't seem important now either. It was just a random memory.

She had run all the way from the campus café, looking for a quiet spot where she could just sit in solitude and gather her thoughts. She cursed inwardly. What had it been about Chase that made her want to spill her guts to him? It was so strange. She had liked him from the moment that she had met him. There was just something about him that made him seem completely trustworthy. Maybe it was just because everything was so fresh in her mind. Yeah. That had to be it.

Part of her wished that she could somehow avoid going to the grove tonight. But she had to. It was like there was some invisible line tethering her to the vampires and to Romulus. It was so frustrating that there was no one that she could talk to about everything that had happened. There was no one to ask for advice or support.

She sighed and pulled her journal out of her backpack. She would write down everything that she was feeling. After all, that was the whole point of a journal, right? She laughed out loud at the realization that there was finally something interesting enough going on in her life for her to want to write about it. Surely that would at least help her to organize her thoughts.

She ripped out all of the pages that she had already written on. They were boring anyways. There was a part of her that felt like her everything that had happened in her life before this point was completely unimportant.

#

It took her hours to write down everything that she remembered about last night, starting from when she first heard Sir Marcus's voice, but she hardly noticed the passing time. Her hand ached by the time she had finished. As she looked back over everything that she had written, she couldn't help feeling like there was something very important that she had left out. She was frustrated at how poorly she had described what it felt like to be in Lord Reginald's presence, but she did feel much better know that she had gotten her thoughts out on paper.

She realized that part of what was missing from her account was exactly why Lord Reginald had wanted to meet her in the first place and what was so important about him telling her about Lady Anya. That must be why she had to go back.

## Chapter 6

"So who's Chase?" Michelle asked with a smirk as soon as Elizabeth walked into their room. She was sitting on the ground by her bed with her laptop computer on her lap.

"Hi Michie," Elizabeth said, pointedly ignoring the question. "I'm fine. How was your day? And how'd your chemistry exam go?"

"Don't talk to me about chemistry, Lizzy. Tell me about this Chase fellow." Michelle looked up at her with a mischievous glint in her eyes. She loved playing matchmaker even though she wasn't very good at it.

Elizabeth frowned. She had spent the better part of the afternoon trying to put Chase out of her thoughts. Her life was too crazy right now to have to worry about some guy that she had randomly met.

"He's a guy that I met this morning," she said. "But how the hell did you find out about him? Do you know him or something?"

"Obviously I don't know him," Michelle said as she rolled her eyes. "If I did, do you think I would be asking you about him?"

Elizabeth dropped her backpack by her desk and went to sit next to Michelle.

"I don't know, Michie," she said with a sigh. "We met this morning and got some coffee and then he invited me to dinner. I said I was busy, and that was it. Nothing to get too excited about."

"Really?" Michelle asked like she knew something that Elizabeth didn't know. "Well, he called asking for you a few hours ago."

"What?" Elizabeth's voice jumped an octave. Michelle looked at her in surprise.

"I never gave him my number. I didn't even tell him my last name."

An evil grin appeared on Michelle's face. "I know," she said. "He said that he asked around in the café after you have left to see if anyone knew your last name or who your roommate was so that he could look you up in student records, and then he sweet talked to switchboard operator into giving him the number to our room phone. He said that he had a lovely time with you this morning and that he was sorry that you had plans tonight, but he hoped to see you again soon. And I hope you're not just blowing him off by saying you have plans because he sounded super cute, and it's super adorable that he went to so much trouble to find you."

"Super creepy, you mean," Elizabeth said. "Did he leave a callback number?"

"No, he said that he'll call again tomorrow." Michelle's expression was dreamy. She sighed. "So romantic."

"Again, creepy," Elizabeth said, though she found it hard to keep from smiling. It was nice to be pursued even if she wasn't even remotely available. "And even more so that he didn't leave his number. Then at least you'd have some sort of lead when I turn up missing."

Michelle giggled. "You're so jaded and melodramatic!"

"Me, melodramatic?" Elizabeth poked her playfully in the ribs. "This from the girl who spent a week eating nothing but cookie dough and marshmallows and listening to nothing but the soundtrack to Titanic after Bob the bum broke up with her."

"Robert and I were soul mates," Michelle tried to sound dignified but her comical squirming kept her from succeeding. Living together in close quarters for almost two years had ensured that they both knew exactly where the other one's ticklish spot were.

"You went on like three dates," Elizabeth said with a grin

"That's it!" Michelle said dramatically. "It's on!" She slid the computer off her lap and started to tickle Elizabeth's neck.

Any further discussion was drowned out by giggling until they were both red in the face.

#

"Okay, okay, truce!" Michelle threw her hands up in surrender. "You're just too fast, Lizzy."

"One of the benefits of being small," Elizabeth said. "I need something to drink now."

"There's some soda in the fridge," Michelle said. "Get me one while you're at it."

Elizabeth tossed a can to Michelle and sat down at her desk to drink her own.

"Are you coming out with us tonight?" Michelle asked after she had taken a gulp of her soda. "Emily is going to get us some vodka, and we're all going to that party at Sigma Tau."

"I can't tonight," Elizabeth said.

Michelle tilted her head to the side at looked at her suspiciously. "What are you up to, Lizzy?"

"I'm just busy," Elizabeth said. "I'm not trying to blow you off or anything."

"It's a Friday night."

"And you know I like to get my homework done early."

Michelle rolled her eyes.

"Lizzy, you need to get a life. You're always studying and being a little hermit. We're in college! We have to live it up!"

"I'm sorry, Michie, I really am. I just have something really important to do tonight."

"Just please tell me that it has absolutely nothing to do with school."

Elizabeth smiled. "Michelle, I promise that it has nothing to do with school."

"Yes!" Michelle said. She pumped her fist in triumph. "Is it some hot date that's not Chase? Do you have multiple guys interested in you? Tell me everything!"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply, but Michelle was not finished yet.

"Does it have something to do with why you were out all night last night? You wouldn't tell me anything, and I let it go because you were obviously tired, but now that you're awake-"

"Michelle!" Elizabeth interrupted. She knew her roommate well enough to know that she was about to go on one of her rants. It was best to stop her early. "It's not a date. I'm just meeting some friends."

"Who do you know that I don't know?"

Elizabeth chuckled and shook her head.

"You don't know everyone in the world, Michie."

"Well, I should," Michelle said with a grin.

"Shall we get some food?" Elizabeth asked. "The commons should be open for dinner, and you know what happens to you when you drink on an empty stomach."

Michelle grimaced at the thought. "Good point. Let's go."

"Excellent," Elizabeth said. She helped Michelle to her feet and got her keys and meal card out of her backpack. "I don't know what it is, but I've been starving all day."

## Chapter 7

Sir Marcus was leaning indolently against the wall with his eyes half closed as Elizabeth slipped through the gap into the grove.

"Hi," Elizabeth said with a shy smile. He seemed so much less threatening tonight even though he was every bit as big as she had remembered. She noticed that he wore a silver hilted sword at his hip that contrasted jarringly with his dark jeans and collared shirt. She hadn't remembered seeing it the night before, but then again she had been too surprised by their sudden meeting to really notice what he might have been wearing. She was happy at least the she had chosen not to wear her old university sweater. Her roommate may have had a point about that old thing.

Romulus trotted up to her through the trees and licked her hand. She patted his head in greeting.

Sir Marcus greeted her warmly, but then wrinkled his nose and said, "The smell of garlic precedes you."

"I brushed my teeth," she said. She was not sure if she should be offended; he hadn't sounded like he was trying to be rude.

Sir Marcus chuckled.

"Forgive me, I'm not laughing at you," he said. "It just brings back memories."

"I didn't even think about it," Elizabeth said, embarrassed in spite of what Sir Marcus had said. "It was Italian night at the commons, and I love the garlic bread."

"I've never cared for it myself," Sir Marcus replied. "Even when I was human."

"So, garlic really does repel vampires?"

Sir Marcus let out another snort of laughter before he replied, "garlic repels just about everything."

"Sorry," Elizabeth said. She dreaded that he would send her home for the night all because she had been too ignorant to realize that eating garlic bread would make her smell bad.

"It suits you, oddly enough," Sir Marcus said. He tilted his head to the side and frowned ever so slightly. "I think it will be a good way to keep us from forgetting that you are human."

Elizabeth tilted her head and mirrored his expression without even realizing it.

"Garlic doesn't actually repel us," Sir Marcus said. "It just makes the blood smell and taste different, but so does just about everything else that people put in their bloodstream. I've known a number of vampires who actually like the taste. The idea that it's so repellent probably came from hunters using garlic to mask their scent."

"How would it mask their scent though," Elizabeth asked. "Wouldn't you think as soon as you smelled the garlic that there was a hunter around?"

"Once we figured out what they were doing, but smell of garlic is so strong that it makes it harder to tell which hunters are around, and the smell spreads so quickly that it becomes harder to pinpoint their exact location."

"So it's like a sensory overload?"

"Indeed," Sir Marcus said. "Shall we go?"

"So, did you think that I was a hunter?" Elizabeth asked mischievously as they began to follow Romulus through the grove.

"Not even for a moment," Sir Marcus said. "The garlic might disrupt my sense of smell, but my other senses work perfectly. I know the sound of your breath and footsteps, and I can feel the beating of your heart as if it where my own."

Elizabeth was not sure how to respond.

"Did you have that sword last night?" she asked, feeling the need to change the subject. "I feel like I would have remembered it."

"I did," Sir Marcus said. "I always carry it, but most people cannot see it."

"How come I can see it?"

"You are not most people."

"Why can't most people see it? What's so special about me?"

Sir Marcus laughed. "Most people would be too terrified to speak in my presence much less notice that I bear Aldo Der Siberschmeid's sword," he said. "But you are forever overflowing with questions."

"I can't help it," Elizabeth said with an apologetic shrug. "I'm just curious, and I hate feeling so completely ignorant about everything." She didn't add that he was less intimidating than his father.

"You're still young," Sir Marcus said. "The longer you live and the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know."

"But that's no reason stop learning," Elizabeth replied. "I don't need to know everything in the world, but I'd like to know enough so that I don't do seem like a total moron. Every time I open my mouth around you or Lord Reginald, I'm afraid I'm going to put my foot in it."

Sir Marcus smiled.

"Aldo Der Sib-Siber- Der Siber-" Elizabeth quickly gave up trying to pronounce the name. "That was Anya's father right?"

"Yes," Sir Marcus replied. "He was my grandfather and a good man." There was something in his tone that sent a shiver down Elizabeth's spine.

"Did he give you the sword?" she asked, though she somehow knew the answer before he said it.

"No," Sir Marcus said. "I took it from him. I ripped his heart out of his chest with my bare hands."

Elizabeth shuddered and suddenly found that she had no more questions.

## Chapter 8

Lord Reginald smiled warmly at the sight of Elizabeth. He stood up from his velvet covered crate and bowed.

"I am glad that you have returned, young Elizabeth." His deep voice rolled over her like a warm flood. "Your return is braver in many ways than your initial visit."

"Thank you, sir," Elizabeth said with an awkward attempt at a curtsy. His power was every bit as potent as it had been the night before, but she found that she could endure it somehow. "I wish I actually felt brave. I almost didn't come back even though I said I would. I felt like I was going to rip myself to pieces when I tried to decide. Even now there's still a part of me screaming to run away and never look back, but there's no way I ever could. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm somehow connected to you. And I have to know what it all means." Elizabeth shook her head, as if she that could somehow organize her thoughts. All it did was make things seem even more jumbled. "I feel like I'm going insane," she said.

Lord Reginald indicated that Elizabeth should sit beside him. She obeyed him without even thinking about it. It was vaguely comforting to know that the turmoil in her mind did not affect her ability to follow direction. Romulus immediately curled up at her feet.

"Do not mistake courage from lack of fear," Lord Reginald said as he sat down with her. There was something like pride in his expression. "Or confusion for insanity. You have come for answers to creatures that, until last night, must have only existed in your nightmares."

"Or in horror movies," Sir Marcus said. He had sat down on the other side of Elizabeth without her even noticing. She looked at him questioningly.

"I'm nearly 700 years old," he said with a shrug. "I've seen my fair share of movies."

"Actually, I was thinking about how weird it is that you can move so quickly and quietly," Elizabeth said. "It's creepy."

Sir Marcus smirked. "Maybe you're just too noisy," he replied. "In addition to being smelly."

Elizabeth punched him in the arm and then grimaced in pain when her fist came in contact with his solid bicep. She realized suddenly how strange it was that he always seemed to switch between being completely approachable and amusing one minute and terrifyingly cold and dangerous the next. Maybe it was just a result of centuries of existence.

"I get the hint," she said. "I won't eat anymore garlic."

His smirk broadened but then vanished at a look from his father.

Elizabeth turned back to Lord Reginald. "I'm sorry that I fell asleep last night when you were telling me about Lady Anya. I don't know what happened. I remember seeing Lady Anya, and she told me that she would keep me safe, but then everything was just a blur."

"Your mind was almost destroyed," Lord Reginald said sadly. "I should never have put you in so much danger. You could have died."

Elizabeth eyes widened.

"I didn't know," she said. "If that's what death feels like, I don't know why people are so afraid of it. It was beautiful." She shook her head, trying to think how to describe the way she had felt her consciousness slip into a warm oblivion. That had been something that she had left out of her journal. Until this very moment, she had not remembered it, but even if she had, there were no words. She shook her head. "I think we talked for a long time, but I don't know what we talked about. It was like I became someone else for awhile, but that's not right at all." The words 'place between places' floated through Elizabeth's mind, but she wasn't sure what the significance was.

She looked at Lord Reginald and saw that though his eyes sparkled with tears, he was smiling.

"She protected you," he said.

"Anya?" Elizabeth asked.

"I knew it was so," he said more to himself that to her. "I was right."

"Perhaps, father," Sir Marcus murmured. "But we do not know for certain, and if it really is so, then we don't know how."

"You might not know, but I do," Lord Reginald said.

Elizabeth felt lost. She was just a little girl sitting between two ancient men as they discussed something far beyond her understanding.

"The sign has been given," Sir Marcus said. "Regardless of how it happened. It's been so long, I almost doubted that it would come."

"It has indeed been a very long time," Lord Reginald said.

For a brief moment, Elizabeth could see the toll of long years upon his ageless face and feel the weight of time upon his shoulders. It was overwhelming. How many children had he seen grow old and die while he never aged? How many kings had risen and fallen while he watched? What even was time to such a being? A way to number innumerable years? Did the nights fly by so quickly that he felt like he was forever standing still in an ever changing world? Or did they drag on endlessly?

"So quickly do the seasons seem to change and the rose blooms and withers, but yet how slowly do the centuries pass, but it is all an illusion." Marcus said, as if in answer to Elizabeth's silent thoughts. "Long ages have passed since I saw my beloved sister with flowers in her hair as she danced in the moonlight, but the memory remains as clear as if it happened yesterday. But no matter how many years go by, it can never be again. Would it have been better if it never happened?" He trailed off into a thoughtful silence.

"No, indeed," Lord Reginald said. "I can still feel the warmth of Anya in my arms and hear her sweet voice. She is still the light in my darkness."

"It was love," Elizabeth heard her voice as if from a great distance, but they were not her own words. "Love changed you both into something more than what you were. I made you strong enough to prevail against the very gates of Hell." She winced as a searing pain shot through her head. She looked down at Romulus and saw that as he looked up at her, his eyes burned blue. She blinked, and the wolf's eyes were yellow again. The pain faded as quickly as it had started.

"Romulus," Lord Reginald said sharply. He looked at Elizabeth as if he was seeing her from the first time. His grey eyes bored into her skull.

The wolf whined and laid his head between his paws.

"What was that?" Elizabeth asked. Her voice was a little shaky, but she now had control over it. "It was like someone was speaking through me. Was it Romulus? His eyes were like Anya's eyes! What is he? What am I?"

"It's okay," Sir Marcus said. He patted her back gently. "Father, you should finish telling her about mother."

Lord Reginald nodded and said. "It's the best place to start."

## Chapter 9

"So I took her as my bride," Lord Reginald said. As he spoke Elizabeth could see Anya standing before her dressed in white and glowing with happiness, just as she had looked the night before when she had taken Elizabeth under her protection.

"I built her a cottage with my own hands just beyond the shadow of the castle walls, for my lovely Anya did not belong in a cold stone fortress surrounded by dead and cursed warriors. She belonged in a garden surrounded by the flowers that she loved so much. The fear of the Wolf Clan was so great through the countryside that no mortal would dare come within sight of castle. And amongst the Great Clans, the Wolf Clan was so powerful and dangerous, that even the boldest of renegade masters would not dare enter our borders without permission.

"So Anya was safe in her little cottage from the outside world, but it was my own clan that I feared the most. I instructed her to plant wolfsbane around the borders of her garden to ward away the Wolf Guard, and I commissioned her own father to make a silver crucifix for her to wear whenever I was not with her. I also warned her to never permit any other vampire to cross her threshold even if they were willing to surrender their power to her. I feared for her safety whenever my master sent me away on clan business, and for good reason, you will see."

"My master, the Lady Selina, found our union deplorable. She had planned on me becoming partners with the master of the roving Bat Clan, Laila the raven haired, and so unite our clans. She would say to me, 'It is not proper for the prince of the mighty Wolf Clan to join with a mortal. Have your way with her and cast her aside, or at least turn her into one of us and keep her as a lover, but you will insult Lady Laila if you continue to insist that this Anya is your bride.'

"But I could not tarnish the sweet perfection of my love. I did not want to have anything to do with Lady Laila. What did I care of grand schemes and clan politics? They were nothing to me when compared to my Anya.

"Because Lady Selina had already named me as her heir, she could not outright control or command me as she could the less members of the clan. Indeed, if I had less loyalty, I could easily have broken away and become a rogue master, but I was not willing to give up my position, and I could not bear the thought of taking Anya away from her home.

"When I refused to bow to my master's wishes, she sought the aid of one of her most trusted followers to put an end to our burgeoning love.

"Demetrius, who was third in command of the entire clan, already hated me for being named as Lady Selina's heir. He was older and far more powerful that I and had served the Wolf Clan loyally since before the fall of Rome. He had been my mentor and friend until I surpassed him in the esteem of our master. When I had been named heir, his anger had been terrible to behold. He had been so certain that he would have had that honor, and perhaps he deserved it. But from that moment onwards we became bitter rivals.

"I am certain that he rejoiced at the chance to discredit me in front of the whole clan by taking my Anya away from me.

"He would lurk outside the cottage whenever I was away on clan business and call to Anya and try to entice her to come to him. His voice was sweet and powerful as he tried to turn her from her love for me, but she would not listen. She would not even acknowledge his presence, for our love was too great to be broken by the gentle words of a seducer.

"He would quickly become angry that his voice had no power over her, and his kind whispers would turn into the cruelest of threats that he would hiss through the windows. He would describe the terrible things that he would do to her and her family if she did not leave me. He would never have dared to do any of the things that he described without the permission of Lady Selina, but still the images of what he spoke of burned into Anya's mind and filled her with horror.

"She would weep whenever I had to go away, and beg me to protect her family. I hated to leave her even for a moment, for she was forever in danger from those who should have been my own comrades. It vexed me that while I could see to it that she was physically safe; I could not prevent the anguish that she felt from Demetrius' constant attention.

"Oddly enough, it was Augustus, the captain of the Wolf Guard who came to our aid. He was completely loyal to Lady Selina and the Wolf Clan, but he pitied Anya. I think it grieved him to see such a gentle creature confined to a lonely garden by day and a tiny cottage by night, for he was directly descended from the ancient and noble line of the Dire Wolves, who rejoiced in running far and wide beneath the full moon. He watched with growing admiration and respect at how bravely Anya would resist Demetrius' attempts to seduce or frighten her. He could not see what was so wrong with a vampire prince loving a mortal woman. He could clearly see that though she had been born the daughter of a poor smith, she had a nobility and grace to her that could not be denied.

"One night, after weeks of observing her from afar, he approached the cottage while she tended her garden as I watched over her. He could not enter the garden because of the wolfsbane, but he stood outside the gate and asked her why it was that she would stay with me when her life and her family would forever be in danger. She smiled and walked to where he stood. She took his hand, laid it on her belly and told him that she would love me forever and that the child she bore in her womb would serve as a testament to that love for all time. From the moment, Augustus understood and became our friend and ally.

"Augustus grew to love Anya, not as I loved her, but as a brother loves his sister. He loved her quiet strength and loyalty. He became her constant friend and companion, her daytime protector. He would bring different members of the Wolf Guard to visit her, until the entire guard had come to know and love her. Anya uprooted all of the wolfsbane in her garden, for she no longer needed its protection, and she wished for her new friends to come and go as they pleased. Many of the vampires of the clan, seeing the devotion that the Guard had for Anya, became curious and began to visit her as well. She was such a gentle soul that none of them could keep from loving her as well.

"Soon almost the entire Wolf Clan had come to accept Anya as one of their own.

"When Marcus was born, I rejoiced along with all of our friends and allies. Even when I had to leave on clan business, my wife and son were well protected and cared for. It warmed my heart to see my wife so happy. She was forever surrounded by friends and no longer confined to her cottage and garden. But it grieved me that her own family did not dare to visit her, even though I would gladly have given them safe conduct.

"I did not wish for her to visit them. Lady Selina had recently sworn to the people of their village that no member of the Wolf Clan would set foot on their lands as long as they would not shelter any hunters or members of any other clan, but it was too tenuous an arrangement for me to risk sending Anya alone.

"But while the majority of the Wolf Clan was with us, Demetrius was more enraged and bitter than ever. He begged Lady Selina to rescind my title and name him her successor rather than me. For myself, I would have welcomed being set free from my responsibilities as prince of the clan, but Lady Selina would not be swayed. She told me that while she still deplored my union with Anya, she would finally accept it. She said that she could see that the clan would follow me with even more loyalty and respect than they ever had for her and that they would be willing to sacrifice their very souls for my sake.

"Demetrius' anger was so great that he left Wolf Clan forever and swore fealty to Lady Laila of the Bat Clan. It was the beginning of the end, though I did not know it.

"Why must it always be that from such joy, sorrow and pain are always doomed to come?" Lord Reginald trailed off into silence and shook his head. His expression was troubled.

"Without sorrow, there can be no joy," Sir Marcus said sagely. "Without suffering there can be no peace."

"Speaking like a Lorican?" Lord Reginald said with a humorless chuckle. "You think they're a bunch of religious fanatics."

"But you don't," Sir Marcus replied.

Lord Reginald ran his fingers down the scar on his cheek. Elizabeth realized for the first time that in the visions that he had shown her, his face had been perfectly smooth. Before she could give it any further thought, Lord Reginald continued to speak and the vision of his memories swirled around before her eyes.

She could see Anya smiling and laughing as she played with her rosy cheeked, blue-eyed son in the garden. Lord Reginald spoke of the great pride that he felt as his son grew into a strapping young lad who aspired to be a knight. Under the watchful eye and brilliant instruction of Augustus, young Marcus would became the first mortal man to be made a part of the Wolf Guard.

Elizabeth laughed as Lord Reginald told her about the birth of his second child, thirteen years after the birth of Marcus. She could see her chubby little legs and tiny fingers curling and uncurling. She could hear the baby cooing and giggling as Lord Reginald held her close and breathed in her essence.

Little Marcus looked at his little sister with a sort of confused awe. He nodded solemnly as his father told him that he had to watch over and love his sister forever.

"But our happiness was to be short lived," Lord Reginald said sadly. "For Demetrius and Lady Laila where gathering rogue masters together to strengthen their position, and there were whispers of ancient enemies returning to take their vengeance against the Greater Clans. The unrest amongst the clans grew even more when word began to spread of a new threat, mortal hunters who had learned to slay vampires and their allies with silver blades and consecrated stakes and sacred relics. Though even more disturbing was the fact that these hunters could somehow resist all but the most powerful masters through some unknown means.

"The Bat Clan, along with all of their new allies, was clamoring for the Clans to unite once again and wage war against all humanity. Lady Laila insisted that it would be the only way to prevent our ancient enemies from returning, for they needed mortal blood before they could again walk the earth. But the other Greater Clans did not want to go to war. They were comfortable within their own borders and were not concerned by rumors of old fears. Frustrated by the reluctance of the other Clans, Lady Laila led her allies against the stronghold of my old friend Lord Godfrey as a statement of her power.

"Of course I rushed to his aid with Marcus, who had become a strong young warrior, and the whole Wolf Clan at my back. Little did I know that the danger was much closer to home that I had thought possible."

Lord Reginald fell into a brooding silence.

"I shall not speak of that danger tonight," he said after a long time. "Nearly 700 years have passed, but still it weighs too heavily upon me."

"Then I will speak of it," Sir Marcus said. "For the vision is forever seared into my mind. The enduring memory of what I witnessed while I was still mortal."

"No," Lord Reginald said. "Forgive me, young Elizabeth, butI cannot speak of the death of my true love. Neither do I want you to hear of it from the lips of my firstborn son. Not yet."

"It is not right to keep it from her," Sir Marcus said, his voice thick with emotion. "The blood of my mother flows truly in her veins."

Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat. She looked wildly from Lord Reginald to Sir Marcus and back again, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Romulus lifted his head from between his paws and whined.

Sir Marcus quailed at the expression on Lord Reginald's face.

"I'll just go wait outside," he said sheepishly as he stood and hurried to the door.

"Stay!" Lord Reginald said in a voice sharper than Elizabeth would have thought possible.

"Is it true?" Elizabeth whispered. She looked down at Romulus, unable to meet Lord Reginald's fearsome gaze.

"Yes," Lord Reginald said softly. "You are descended from my daughter Mallory. I did not wish for you to know until you had heard the full extent of my deeds. For as the last mortal alive who bears the blood of my Anya, you are the one who must judge me, and I cannot have you blinded by filial loyalty."

"With all due respect," Elizabeth said, still looking at Romulus. "It seems impossible that I could be even remotely related to you and Sir Marcus. And how can I judge you for anything?"

Had she been brave enough to look up, she would have seen Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus exchange meaningful glances.

"Your insistence on your unworthiness and guilt grows tiresome, father," Sir Marcus said. "You cannot bear the blame for my mother's death. She foresaw her fate long before we left to fight the Lady Laila and Demetrius. You cannot expect Elizabeth to become your Lorican confessor. She is more blinded by your sheer power than by the ties of blood that until this moment she was completely ignorant. Beyond that, her mortality alone should be just cause of why she has no reason to condescend to name your penance for something of which she can have no understanding."

Elizabeth got the distinct impression that Sir Marcus had wanted to say all this for quite awhile. She massaged her temples and lifted her eyes to look at Lord Reginald.

"I didn't really understand anything that Sir Marcus just said, but he sounds like he's right."

Lord Reginald smiled as he looked at her.

"Of course I'm right," Sir Marcus said impatiently.

"Once again, my own damnable pride has made me a fool," Lord Reginald said.

"I would say it's more your damnable devotion to those foolish Loricans," Sir Marcus said under his breath.

If Lord Reginald heard, he did not reply.

Elizabeth looked back down at Romulus and saw that his eyes were blazing blue.

## Chapter 10

Elizabeth gasped as a sharp pain shot through her temples. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. A strange new vision filled her mind's eye.

She saw Lord Reginald in battered armor with a deadly fire burning in his eyes. A huge bloodstained sword was gripped in his fist. He stood atop a hill as blood flowed from under his feet. Elizabeth realized with a pang of shock and terror that it was not actually a hill but rather a huge mound of corpses. She could see the mangled bodies of vampires and wolves and men in a chaotic jumble of flesh and fur and bone. She could taste the hot metallic blood that dripped from the vampire lord's fangs and smell the horrible stench of death on this ancient battlefield.

Lord Reginald threw back his head and howled in a voice so filled with fury and grief that the heavens above seemed to quiver with fear. Elizabeth found that she could somehow understand his words even though she could not recognize what language he was speaking.

"I am Lord Reginald Wolfrick, Master of the Wolf Clan. Come forth you demon of the abyss and face the one who you sought to destroy. The one who has spilled the blood of those he held the most dear. Come and face justice!"

As if to answer, the earth rumbled and shook and cracked opened up at the foot of the mound. With a mighty roar, Lord Reginald leapt down into the abyss and vanished from sight. Elizabeth's eyes were stung by the thick black and yellow smoke that billowed out from the darkness. She watched in horrified fascination as the bodies that had lain dead under Lord Reginald's feet began to stand up and follow their master. Proud looking vampires with rent armor and notched swords, their faces pale and bloodless, fierce looking wolves with their fur matted in blood, bizarre half-wolf half-man creatures with gaping wounds, steely eyed men with blood stained weapons of all description. They all rose and went down into the earth.

From the abyss a terrible voice was calling to them all. Elizabeth felt herself being drawn towards the darkness under the earth, but she turned and saw the shadowy shape of a huge wolf appear in the distance. It was growing rapidly as it approached at impossible speed. As the last of the bodies disappeared from sight, the wolf leapt down into the chasm. The earth shook again, and the walls of the abyss slammed shut with a deafening clash.

Elizabeth felt certain that her head would burst. She was suddenly buried deep beneath the earth, trapped in eternal night. She could hear moaning and cries of agony all around her in the darkness that pressed against her. There was no escape from this pit of despair. She closed her eyes and waited for death to take her.

#

"That's enough, Romulus."

Elizabeth could hear Lord Reginald's voice as if from a great distance.

"Elizabeth, open your eyes."

She could feel Marcus shaking her. She shook her head. How could she face the darkness that she knew awaited her?

"Open your eyes," Marcus echoed his father's words.

A slash of light ripped through the darkness.

Elizabeth's eyes flew open. She gasped for breath.

"Just breathe," Marcus said. "You'll be okay.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. The pain in her temples subsided into a dull throbbing.

Romulus whined and put his head on her knee.

"I warned you, Romulus," Marcus' voice shook with anger. "You had no right to show her that."

Romulus growled in response.

"How?" Elizabeth managed to choke out at last. "And why?"

The pain in her temples began to intensify as she looked into the wolf's eyes. They were still blazing with that horrible blue fire.

"Get out of my head!" she yelled without thinking. She felt as if some kind of energy had suddenly burst from her body, sending ripples of heat in all directions.

Romulus yelped, and his eyes flickered back to their usual hue.

The pain was gone completely. Elizabeth blinked in astonishment.

Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus exchanged surprised glances and then stared at her. It was clear that they were as confused as she was.

"I'm sorry, Romulus," Elizabeth said softly, unable to bear the awkward silence.

"I don't know what just happened," she said as she gave the wolf a tentative pat on the head. "I just can't have you messing around inside my head like that."

Romulus licked her hand with his rough tongue and whined as if in apology. For a brief moment, Elizabeth thought that there was something almost like fear in his eyes. But the moment passed quickly, and he curled up on the floor at her feet and laid his head between his paws.

"Romulus is deeply sorry, young Elizabeth," Lord Reginald said. "He was just overexcited."

"Overexcited?" Elizabeth had trouble keeping her voice from squeaking. "I don't understand what just happened! Are you ever going to tell me what the hell he is and how he can do that?"

Lord Reginald seemed older than ever as he spoke. "Romulus has been my faithful companion since I entered the gates of the abyss." He sighed and shook his head sadly before he continued. "I cannot say exactly who or what he is beyond that. He was born in the darkness besides me, and he somehow carries within him the souls of my lost comrades."

"I don't understand," Elizabeth said. For once, she didn't feel embarrassed by her confusion. Her curiosity was far too potent. "What did he just show me?"

"When my Anya died," Lord Reginald said; his voice was heavy with grief. "I pursued the one responsible down to the very gates of Hell with all those loyal to me at my back. How long we fought in the deep places beneath the earth, I cannot say, but when at last I triumphed, all that remained was darkness and silence.

"The souls of my comrades were not willing to leave my side, partially out of loyalty, but I think even more out of fear. For they knew that their souls would be damned for all eternity to despair and torment if they dared leave the mortal realm. So we waited underground, in the womb of the earth, clinging to the barest hope that we might one day return to walk the earth in the light of the moon.

"Even I, the mighty Lord Reginald Wolfrick shuddered to imagine the terror that awaited me in death. When Marcus found me at last, the bodies of all my companions had long ago been turned to dust, but this creature, in the form of a wolf, lay at my side. He carries within him all of the thoughts and memories of my noble companions that sacrificed themselves for my sake and for the sake of my beloved Anya. But he is also himself. He is unlike any creature that I have ever encountered. How he came to be at my side, I cannot imagine, but he has been a faithful companion ever since."

"I think I understand, at least in part," Elizabeth said. "So many souls within a single creature all clamoring to be heard and remembered. Sounds like it would be easy for him to lose control."

"Indeed," Lord Reginald said. "The collective power of all my fallen comrades is within him. It is incredible that he is able to hold all of it within himself. I know of no other being in existence with such strength."

Elizabeth frowned as a thought struck her. "But then," she said, "If he's so powerful, how was I able to get him out of my head like that?"

"You are my mortal heir," Lord Reginald said with a hint of pride in his voice. "He will obey any command that you might give him. He was just eager for you to know his story, and he knew that you wanted to know it as well. You seem to be developing a very strong connection with him."

"I wish it didn't hurt so much," Elizabeth said.

"In time, you will be able to endure it," Lord Reginald said. "You are already growing more and more powerful yourself, though you are not aware of it."

"The vision that Romulus showed you could have killed you," Sir Marcus said.

Elizabeth jumped slightly. She had almost forgotten that he was with them.

"You were strong enough to break the connection when it became too much," he said.

Elizabeth gave a sarcastic laugh. "I don't feel very strong or powerful," she said. "I felt like my head was going to explode."

"One can never know how strong they are until they have reached the very edge of despair," Lord Reginald said in a low voice, more to himself than to Elizabeth or Marcus. "I fear that soon, your strength will be tested in ways that you cannot possibly imagine."

A shiver ran down Elizabeth's spine at his words.

Sir Marcus laughed aloud. "But not tonight, father," he said. "Her mind has been tampered with quite enough for one night. Come on, Elizabeth, I will take you back to your dorm."

Lord Reginald nodded but remained silent.

"Goodnight, my lord," Elizabeth murmured as rose and followed Sir Marcus out of the room.

## Chapter 11

"What did he mean back there about my strength being tested?" Elizabeth asked as she walked with Sir Marcus.

Marcus shrugged nonchalantly. "He's just worrying himself," he said. Anya's death weighs heavily on his heart tonight, and Romulus bringing up memories of the abyss didn't help either."

Elizabeth sighed. She would never have said it out loud, but she had been relieved when Sir Marcus had led her away from Lord Reginald and Romulus. She had been feeling so tired that she had worried about making it home, but now that she was walking through the grove, she felt herself becoming strangely alert.

"The night air is invigorating," Sir Marcus said as if he had read her mind. "Especially after such a grueling affair."

"I feel like my mind has been turned to mush," Elizabeth said.

"Anyone else's mind would have been turned to mush after all that," Sir Marcus said grimly.

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair nervously.

"In the vision that Romulus showed me," Elizabeth said after a few minutes of silent contemplation. "What was that big shadowy wolf that followed Lord Reginald and the others into the abyss? Could that have been Romulus himself?"

"That was Augustus," Sir Marcus said. "He was bringing my father a message from me. I was very worried when he did not return. It took me years to find out what had happened to him."

"What was the message?" Elizabeth asked. "And where were you?"

"Sometimes I wish you weren't so inquisitive," Sir Marcus said. "You remind me of my sister."

"Well, according to Lord Reginald, I am descended from her."

Sir Marcus chuckled.

"Sorry to be so nosy," Elizabeth said.

"I sent Augustus to tell my father that Mallory was safe and that I had succeeded in destroying those that had killed Anya." Sir Marcus said.

Elizabeth frowned and cocked her head to the side.

"I thought that was what Lord Reginald was doing," she said.

"He was after the one that ordered her death," Sir Marcus said. The bitterness in his voice could have cut through steel. "I was after the men who actually killed her and kidnapped my sister. I swore an oath that I would rescue Mallory, rain death and destruction upon those who had taken her and killed my mother, and that I would not leave a single member of their families alive. I begged my father to turn me so that I would be strong enough to fulfill my vow."

Elizabeth shuddered. She could feel the heat of Sir Marcus' anger radiating from him like a furnace. She felt especially fragile and small next to him right now.

"Forgive me, Elizabeth," he said. He seemed to be struggling to maintain his composure. "I do not wish to burden you with more of our family's history tonight. You have enough to bear already."

Elizabeth felt herself smile in spite of her fear.

"You said 'our family,'" she said.

The tension in the air around Sir Marcus began to dissipate. He looked down at Elizabeth and returned her smile.

"We are family," he said. "Regardless of how many centuries have passed and how many generations divide us. I can see clearly that my mother and sister live on in you."

"I haven't had a family in a long time," Elizabeth said sadly.

"You have," Sir Marcus said. "You just didn't know it."

"Did you end up fulfilling your vow?" Elizabeth asked before she could stop herself. Part of her wished that he wouldn't answer, but he did.

"I did not," Sir Marcus said. "I couldn't."

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. The thought of Sir Marcus killing off entire families for the sake of vengeance had been extremely troubling to her.

Sir Marcus frowned but did not reply.

"One more question," Elizabeth said as they reached the gap in the hedge.

"At least for tonight, you mean," Sir Marcus said.

"Lord Reginald's companions in the vision were all dead," Elizabeth's voice faltered at the troubled expression of Sir Marcus' face.

"Then how could they have followed him into the abyss?" Sir Marcus finished her question.

Elizabeth nodded.

Sir Marcus sighed.

"Only death can open the doors to the abyss." He said. "The entire clan sacrificed themselves so that Lord Reginald could tread the path between the mortal realm and the pit of Hell."

"But they're still alive somehow?" Elizabeth said.

"In a way," Sir Marcus replied. There was a sort of finality in his voice that told Elizabeth that he would not answer any more questions.

She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Uncle Marcus," she whispered in his ear. "Goodnight."

Before he could reply, she jogged across the street to the back door of West Hall. Before she went in, she turned and waved.

Sir Marcus waved back and chuckled to himself.

"Uncle Marcus? I haven't been called that in centuries."

# Saturday

## Chapter 1

"Wake up, Lizzy!" Michelle's voice woke Elizabeth with a start.

"Go away," Elizabeth mumbled. She had been tossing and turning all night and had no desire to get out of bed just yet.

"Elizabeth! That Chase guy is on the phone for you!" Michelle started shaking her. Her voice was annoyingly cheerful.

"Tell him I'm sleeping," Elizabeth said with a yawn.

"Ah! But that would be lying!"

Elizabeth rolled over and looked at Michelle.

"I was sleeping, Michie."

"But not anymore!" Michelle said as she thrust the phone into Elizabeth's hands before she could protest further.

"Hello?" Elizabeth said groggily into the receiver.

"Oh, sorry," Chase's voice came through the earpiece. "Sounds like you really were sleeping."

"Yup," Elizabeth replied. She halfheartedly threw her pillow at Michelle who was now prancing in front of her bed with her tongue out.

Michelle caught it and threw it back playfully.

"It's almost noon," Chase said. "I was thinking that maybe we could get some lunch, and in your case, maybe some coffee?"

Elizabeth yawned again.

"Lunch? Sure."

"Awesome," Chase said. Elizabeth could picture him smiling that adorable crooked smile of his.

"I can pick you up," he said. "You're in West Hall, right?"

Elizabeth smiled. Surely she had been a little hard on him yesterday. He really did seem like a nice guy.

"Give me like forty minutes," she said. "I have to get ready and possibly kill my roommate for waking me up."

Chase laughed. "I'll see you then. I'll be on the front steps."

"Sounds good," Elizabeth said. She hung up and glared at Michelle.

"What?" Michelle's innocent tone did not match her evil grin. "You're going to lunch with a cute guy!"

"You've never even seen him. You had one phone conversation with him."

"And what's your point? He sounded cute over the phone."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and dragged herself out of bed.

"You should totally wear that super cute dress that you bought last year," Michelle said.

"The one that you made me buy?" Elizabeth asked. She put on her bathrobe and gathered her shower supplies.

"And that you keep refusing to wear," Michelle said. "I have the perfect boots for it somewhere in my closet. I'll find them while you shower."

Elizabeth shook her head, but she knew better than to try to protest. Her roommate was a little too obsessed with shoes.

"Just so you know," she said with a chuckle just before leaving the room for the shower. "I'm still going to kill you. It'll just have to be after lunch."

Michelle, who was already half buried in the closet laughed and waved her out the door. "Only if it's a bad date, Lizzy, and even then, not until you give me all the juicy details."

## Chapter 2

"Someone had a late night last night," Chase said with a wry smile as Elizabeth emerged from West Hall at a quarter to one.

"It's Saturday," Elizabeth said. "You're supposed to sleep in on Saturday."

"True enough," Chase said. "That's a nice dress, by the way."

"Thanks," Elizabeth said. She did an awkward little twirl to show it off. The soft brown skirt fluttered around the tops of her knee-high boots.

"You might want to take the tag off though."

Elizabeth looked down and grimaced at the sight of the tag hanging from her sleeve.

"Oops," she said as she hastily removed it. "It's my first time wearing it. I don't really wear dresses very often."

"Neither do I," Chase said.

Elizabeth smiled.

"So where should we eat?" Chase asked.

Elizabeth gave a noncommittal shrug. "You invited me."

"I don't really know the area," Chase said. "I'll eat anything."

Elizabeth checked her watch. "Do you like Japanese?" she asked. "There's a sushi place a couple blocks from here, and I've heard they have really good lunch specials. We can walk there if you feel like it. I don't have a car on campus."

"Sounds good," Chase said cheerfully. "Nothing like a walk on a nice day to work up an appetite. Lead the way."

"Sure thing," Elizabeth said, and they set off walking down the tree lined street with the sun shining brightly down on them.

#

"So your roommate, Michelle, right," Chase said after a few minutes of amiable silence. "She seems energetic."

"That's one way of putting it," Elizabeth said with a smirk. She appreciated his brave stab at conversation. There was something about him that made her feel awkward and uncomfortable one minute and then perfectly at ease the next. It was strange, like there was something lurking beneath his calm surface.

Chase shot her a mischievous look. "Too bad," he said. "I'll never get to meet her in person since you've killed her.

"I've decided to let her live a little longer," Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"Glad to hear it." Chase said knowingly. "It's such a pain to dispose of a body after all."

"That's creepy." Elizabeth shook her head, trying to keep from smiling.

Chase gave her a cheeky grin. "Sorry, but you started it. Maybe I think that you're creepy." He said.

"Then why ask me to lunch?"

"People like me need a little creepy in their lives."

## Chapter 3

Ocean Sushi was good, but Elizabeth and Chase soon found themselves so caught up in conversation that they hardly noticed what they were eating.

"So you just threw your shampoo bottle and killed it?" Chase asked with a grin.

"Yup, left a smear of cockroach guts on the wall," Elizabeth said. "Though I guess that's not a very good story during lunch."

"No worries," Chase said through the big bite of salmon that he had just taken. "I have a very strong stomach, and there's really nothing that you could say that would stop me from eating this delicious food."

Elizabeth took a few bites herself before replying, "Good to know."

"It's good to see a girl with such a hearty appetite."

"I've been eating a lot more than usual lately," Elizabeth said. "It's kind of weird."

"Stress maybe?" Chase said with a wink. "Cockroaches invading your private shower time can be pretty traumatic."

"It's true," Elizabeth said with mock severity. "And Michelle always makes me kill any spiders that she finds in our room."

"I see I've misjudged you, Lizzy, my dear. Here I was thinking that you couldn't even hurt a fly, and I find that you are a master assassin of all manner of creepy crawlies."

"I'm actually pretty brutal when it comes to flies too. I almost never miss."

"That is impressive."

"Oh, shut up."

#

"You're a really good listener, Chase," Elizabeth said as they finished their lunch. "You make me feel like my boring life is so exciting." She couldn't help but smile inwardly at how interesting her life had become lately. Though he probably would have thought she was completely loony if she told him about it. "But I feel like I don't know anything about you," she continued. "It's not usually like me to prattle on about myself."

Chase shrugged. "I guess I'd rather hear about you than bore you with my life," he said. "You're a bright and interesting college student, and I'm a boring old guy."

"Oh please," Elizabeth said with a snort. "You're what, like eight years older than me? Stop trying to be all mysterious."

Chase winked roguishly across the table.

"You think I'm mysterious?" he asked. "I definitely like that more than 'creepy.'"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm in town visiting family," Chase said, growing serious. "My father died recently, so I'm taking time off of work."

"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth said. She felt a pang of guilt at her curiosity. He clearly had not wanted to talk about it. Her own parents' deaths in that car crash had been so long ago that she hardly even remembered them.

"It's okay. You couldn't have known." Chase said.

An awkward silence fell between them.

"He died well," Chase said at last. "He saved my life."

Elizabeth frowned. There was something in his tone that disturbed her, though she couldn't explain why. She suddenly wished that she could see through him the way that Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus could see through her, but try as she might, she just could not get a good read on him.

"Excuse me," Chase said as he stood abruptly. "I have to use the restroom."

Elizabeth nodded, unable to trust herself to speak. She couldn't help wondering if Chase could also feel the strange tension that she felt between them. It was not merely because of the death of his father. There was something else there. Or maybe she was just imagining things.

## Chapter 4

"I'm so stuffed," Elizabeth said, rubbing her stomach as they reached steps of West Hall. She was convinced that she had imagined whatever it was that had disturbed her about Chase. Surely it had just been the grief of losing his father that had made him behave oddly. When he had returned from the restroom, everything seemed normal between them and they had been chatting pleasantly about nothing for their entire walk back to campus. "It's a good thing that we walked back, or I'd feel like a total fatty."

Chase let out a snort of laughter.

"What?" Elizabeth said playfully, though she could already guess what his answer would be.

"What is it with girls always saying that they're fat?"

"What is it with guys always asking girls about why they always say they're fat?"

"I'm now officially confused." Chase threw his hands into the air in surrender.

"That's the idea," Elizabeth said with mock exasperation. "You're supposed to say that I'm absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way and that I'm silly to say that I'm fat."

"Oh, forgive me," Chase said gallantly. He waved his hand in front of his face as he made as he made a dramatic bow. "You are absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way, and you're silly to say that you could be even remotely fat."

Elizabeth chuckled and winked at him.

"Thank you," she said. "I had a lovely time!" She gave him a little wave and started to bound up the steps towards her dorm.

"Hey wait!" Chase called after her with feigned offense. "Seriously? You can't leave me hanging like that! You've got to at least say something about how ruggedly handsome I am. And I need your number so I don't have to keep bugging your roommate by calling your room phone."

Elizabeth turned and walked back down the steps.

"Okay, give me your phone," she said. She smiled at him and put her number into his phone. "There you go," she said as she handed it back to him. "And you do have a charming smile."

"Dinner tonight?" Chase asked with a wide grin.

"Or lunch tomorrow?" he added quickly when Elizabeth's smile started to fade. "You probably have some awesome college student plans tonight, right?"

"Tomorrow would be great," Elizabeth replied. "Around 1ish?"

"I'll be here."

"And this time, I'll pay," Elizabeth said over her shoulder as she turned to go back up the stairs.

"That's what you think," Chase muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Elizabeth asked from the top of the stairs.

"Nothing," Chase said with a wink. "See you tomorrow."

## Chapter 5

"How was it?" Michelle looked up expectantly from her computer.

"Don't you have anything better to do than to wait for me to get home and interrogate me?" Elizabeth asked as she sat down on her bed and found that she could not stop smiling.

"HAHA!" Michelle pumped her fist in the air triumphantly and started to jabber away a mile a minute. "Obviously it went great! Aren't you happy I made you answer the phone? Where'd you go? What did you do? What did you talk about? Did he ask you out again? Of course he did, right? Unless he's a total loser which he couldn't possibly be because then you wouldn't like him, which you obviously do! When are you going out again? We should totally go on a double date! I'll just grab some random guy and make him go out with me just so we can all go out! Is that totally desperate of me or what? Tell me everything before I go crazy!"

Elizabeth laughed while Michelle bounced impatiently in her seat.

"We've already established that you're crazy, Michie. Now calm down and catch your breath."

I'm just so excited to see you go out with a nice guy," Michelle said. "And I'm sick of being cooped up in here."

It's actually weird seeing you home on a Saturday afternoon." Elizabeth tried to steer the conversation away from her date. Unlike her roommate, she was not one to gush about her love life, or lack thereof. Michelle was just too talkative to be trusted. "Are you actually doing homework?"

Michelle frowned and sighed. "Unfortunately, yes," she said. "I'm stuck here doing this stupid paper while you're out gallivanting with some guy. When did we switch places?"

"Gallivanting? Really?" Elizabeth said with a snort. "What happened last night? Who are you trying to avoid this time?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Michelle said as she look down at her computer and began to type slowly. Her calm tone did not fool Elizabeth in the slightest.

"Todd again?"

Michelle smashed her fingers against the keyboard angrily. "The bastard's going out with Kim," she said through gritted teeth.

Elizabeth had suspected this but wasn't about to mention it. "You ran into them on your way to lunch?" she asked.

Michelle nodded; her eyes became watery as she stared at the computer screen. "We met up last night at the party, and I thought we were going to get back together."

Elizabeth had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything. She could never understand what Michelle saw in her ex, but she knew better than to express that thought. Michelle seemed to be constantly shifting her opinion of him. One minute he was a total jerk and the next she would go on and on about how much she loved him. Elizabeth had long since discovered that in this matter, as with so many, anything that she might say to console Michelle would just make matters worse. Michelle was perfectly capable of pulling herself out of her current mood.

"Anyways," Michelle said after a few minutes. "It's good that I'm working on this paper now because the Delta toga party is tonight, and I plan on drinking so much that I'll have the world's biggest hangover tomorrow."

"I would say that's responsible of you to get your homework done early," Elizabeth said. "But you remember what happened at last year's toga party, right?"

"No, and that's the point," Michelle said. "But I do remember the hangover the morning after."

"So you're planning on getting even drunker this year?"

"Naturally." Michelle's expression brightened as she spoke. "You should come with us! You could get drunk with us for once."

"No thanks," Elizabeth said with a grimace. "I do remember last year's toga party."

"Didn't you sit in a puddle of coconut flavored rum and then someone threw up all over you?"

"That was you, Michie."

"I sat in rum?"

"No, you threw up on me."

"Oh, Sorry."

## Chapter 6

"You've met someone rather interesting, haven't you?" Sir Marcus said with a slight frown as Elizabeth slipped into the grove a little after sunset.

"Good evening to you too," Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "I've had a lovely day, thanks for asking, and I haven't had any garlic, so I don't know why you're wrinkling your nose like that."

A ghost of a smile flitted across the vampire's sharp features. "What's his name? And when would it be convenient for me to kill him? I don't care for his smell."

Elizabeth ignored him and leaned over to give Romulus a pat on the head. The big wolf whined in delight at her attention.

"Elizabeth," Sir Marcus' voice was sterner than his expression. "Who is he?"

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile at his protectiveness. She winked at Romulus and then looked up at Sir Marcus.

"His name is Chase," she said.

"And?" Sir Marcus' pale eyes fixed her with a piercing look.

Two nights ago, she would have not been able to meet his gaze without at least a shiver of fear, but tonight she found that she was able to look into his eyes without a trace of apprehension.

"We had coffee yesterday and lunch today," she said. "And, well, I don't know. He's sweet and intelligent and a great listener. And he's totally cute too, but there's something about him the just seems, well, I don't know. Just off somehow."

Marcus raised his eyebrows but did not reply.

"It's difficult to explain," Elizabeth struggled to find the right words. "He's-different, but not in a bad way." She ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to organize her thoughts. She could feel Romulus' unease as he nudged her thigh with his nose.

"I don't know," she said at last. "Sometimes I can feel this weird tension between us and then it's gone just like that. I don't understand it. It's like one minute, I feel perfectly comfortable with him and the next I feel confused and a little-I don't know-uncomfortable."

A line appeared between Marcus' eyebrows as his frown deepened.

A growl issued from Romulus' chest. Elizabeth could feel him pressing against her mind like he was trying to tell him something. She didn't know how she was doing it, but somehow she was able to keep him out.

"Romulus, no," she said through gritted teeth. "I can't have you in there right now." Her head began to throb ever so slightly.

Sir Marcus laid a gentle hand on her small of her back as she took several deep breaths. The pain and pressure eased. Romulus turned and disappeared into the grove. Elizabeth tried desperately to rid herself of the sinking feeling that she felt in the pit of her stomach.

"He means well," said Sir Marcus.

"I know," Elizabeth said looking in the direction that Romulus had gone. "I just wish he wouldn't push so hard. I hope I haven't offended him. It's just that after the last couple nights and with this weird thing with Chase, I feel like my mind isn't entirely my own anymore."

"Makes sense," Sir Marcus said. "Your mind has been stretched and pushed in all directions lately. Most mortals would not be able to bear the amount of tampering that we've done to it."

"That's not very reassuring."

Marcus patted her back affectionately and said, "Let's not keep father waiting. You can tell me all about this Chase fellow while we walk."

## Chapter 7

Lord Reginald met them before they reached the storeroom. His hair glistened in the moonlight as he walked with Romulus at his side.

"Romulus told you," Sir Marcus said with a scowl.

"He didn't have to," Lord Reginald replied. There was something that seemed distinctly different about the vampire lord tonight. There was more color in his cheeks, and his eyes seemed to shine with an inner light.

"Hello, young Elizabeth," he said as he took her hand and kissed it. "I trust you are well."

"I am sir, thank you." Elizabeth said with slight bow. "You seem younger tonight." She felt foolish the moment the words passed her lips, but Lord Reginald smiled.

"It is all thanks to you, of course," he said warmly.

"As a master vampire, Lord Reginald can feed exclusively on the life force of those within his clan," Sir Marcus explained, seeing Elizabeth's puzzled expression.

"It is true," Lord Reginald said. "You have an especially strong life force because the blood of Anya flows in your veins. Your mere presence makes me feel stronger than I have in centuries."

"Glad to be of assistance," Elizabeth said, not exactly sure how she should respond.

Sir Marcus suppressed a chuckle, but Lord Reginald nodded regally.

"It is a beautiful night," Lord Reginald said. "I thought we might walk through this charming grove rather than sit in the confines of that musty storeroom."

Before Elizabeth could blink, she was walking arm and arm with Lord Reginald on her right and Marcus on her left. She smiled at the sight of Romulus trotting ahead of them like an excited dog going for a walk. He kept flitting in and out of the shadows before them. He seemed to have the need to scratch and sniff everything in his path.

Elizabeth breathed in, enjoying the aromas of juicy oranges and old trees.

"I quite like it here," Lord Reginald commented as he also took a deep breath. "There is a freshness and youth to the air. Though I suppose that it would smell old to one of your age."

"It does smell old to me," Elizabeth replied. "I used to come here all the time because it made me feel like I was stepping into an older world that time forgot. I guess that's still the reason I've been coming here."

"Indeed," Lord Reginald said. "We do come from an older world, an older time, but you too belong to that world. One day, you will come to the ancient home of the Wolf Clan; then you will see how young this grove is."

"I'd like that," Elizabeth said. "But this grove will never seem young to me."

"Everything is old to a child," Sir Marcus said with a wry smile.

Elizabeth shot him an annoyed look.

"It's true," he protested.

Lord Reginald chuckled. "It is true enough," he said. "But our young Elizabeth does not consider herself a child."

"No, I don't," Elizabeth said. "But I guess I am aren't I? I feel so ignorant and foolish around you. There are so many things that I need to learn, and I still have trouble getting over the fact that I'm related to the two of you."

"But isn't it obvious that you are indeed a part of the Wolf Clan?" Lord Reginald asked. "How else would you be able to endure my presence? And not be driven insane by all that we have shown you? And sustain us with your life force without being weakened."

"I know, I know," Elizabeth said throwing her hands up in surrender. "I don't doubt it; it's just a lot to swallow. Suddenly, I can see perfectly at night and somehow have some weird physic connection with Romulus. I feel more alive than I ever have, but it's just strange knowing that so many things that I thought were true aren't and that there are so many people who would think I was totally crazy." She took a deep breath; it felt good to get that off her chest.

"It may take awhile," Lord Reginald said. "But in time, I think that it will not seem so strange to you."

"In the meantime," Sir Marcus said. "You have a few centuries of clan lore to catch up on."

"Indeed you do," Lord Reginald said. "But not tonight. There is something in the air that troubles me."

They walked in silence, each deep in their own thoughts. It was not an unpleasant sort of silence but rather that warm, glowing sort of silence amongst close friends.

After a while, Elizabeth began to feel like there were a sort of watchful presence that followed behind them, hidden just out of sight. She tried to shake the feeling off. Surely she was just imagining things.

## Chapter 8

"How did Anya die?" Elizabeth asked suddenly. She cringed the moment the question left her lips, but she felt an unusual sense of urgency. She had to learn the answer tonight.

All warmth went out of the night in an instant. Tidal waves of power, far beyond anything that Elizabeth had yet experienced crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. It was coming at her from all sides, driving into her with so much force that she was certain that she would be crushed. The world became dark and cold and silent.

And then she saw her. Anya. Older, yet more beautiful than she had been in her youth. Her blue eyes pierced into the core of Elizabeth's being. Her face was the face of an angel, and yet more real than any vision that Elizabeth had ever seen. She struggled to her feet. She could feel the rocky earth of the grove beneath her feet, but she knew that she was somewhere far away. She stretched out her hand, and as her fingers brushed Anya's smooth cheek, she realized that this was no vision, this was flesh and blood. Somehow she was there with her ancestor standing before her, bathed in glorious splendor and clothed in a gown of soft silk.

Elizabeth longed to speak, but what was there to say?

"Elizabeth," Anya said. Her voice was rich and musical, but filled with endless sorrow. "Forgive me."

Horrible gashes began to appear on Anya's arms and legs and torso as if she was being flogged by an invisible whip. Pieces of her dress were torn away as the scraps that remained became stained red. Elizabeth could smell the blood that flowed down Anya's pale skin. Anya's face became twisted with agony, but she did not make a sound. Dark bruises formed around her eyes, and her head was knocked this way and that by some unknown force.

An ugly wooden stake seemed to grow out of her torso, just under her ribs.

Elizabeth gasped in pain and surprise. She looked down in absolute terror to see that the same hideous stake had been driven through her own belly. An almost inhuman howl of anguish and despair ripped out of Elizabeth's throat. Anya at last cried out in pain, adding her voice to her descendant's. Elizabeth could taste the sharp tang of blood and bile as it rose in her throat. The bittersweet reek of death filled her nostrils. She knew that she was going to die alongside Anya, and that there was no avoiding it.

She wrapped her trembling hands around the rough stake and pulled it out inch by agonizing inch. White hot spasms lanced through her belly again and again. At last, with her hands slick with her own blood, she pulled the stake free and fell to her knees at Anya's feet. Her entire body was racked with pain. She reached into the hole left by the stake and pulled out a squalling blood covered baby.

"Please no!" Elizabeth cried out. She looked up pleadingly at Anya; her eyes burning with tears. "Anya, help me."

Anya looked down at her. Her eyes were filled with pity, but she shook her head. The blood and bruises and horrible stake vanished. For an instant, she stood before Elizabeth as young and radiant as she had been when Elizabeth had first seen her. Then she faded without a word.

Elizabeth looked down at the baby cradled protectively in her arms. It opened its eyes, and Elizabeth saw Anya's pale blue eyes looking up at her, filled with innocence and love.

"Forgive me, mother," the baby seemed to whisper.

The eyes turned black. No whites, just two bottomless pits that suddenly became ringed with flames.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. The baby turned to ash and crumbled to nothing. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear someone calling her name.

## Chapter 9

Elizabeth's eyes flew open as Lord Reginald called her name again. Her hands went immediately to her torso as if she expected to find a gory hole. There was no blood, no pain, only a lingering sense of horror at the memory of what she had just seen. She started to tremble and sob uncontrollably.

"It's okay, young one," Lord Reginald said as he rocked her gently. He was crouched beside her on the rocky ground.

Elizabeth buried her head in his chest and clung to him.

"What happened, father?" Marcus' voice shook with barely restrained fury mingled with something that sounded oddly like fear. "What did we do?"

Lord Reginald shook his head but said nothing.

Elizabeth looked up at Marcus with her pale tearstained face. Romulus whined and tried to lick the tears from her cheek. She pushed him away weakly. His presence was not as comforting right now as it had been before.

"What does it mean?" She asked. Her voice quavered as she spoke.

"Perhaps nothing," Lord Reginald said so softly that Elizabeth could hardly hear him. "Perhaps everything."

If Marcus had heard his father, he gave no sign. He knelt beside Elizabeth and cupped his hands tenderly around her face.

"My mother was killed by a group of hunters who were under the influence of our enemies." He said. "They tortured her for information about the Wolf Clan, but she wouldn't say a word. They left her for dead staked to a tree in front of her own house and took Mallory away." He sighed, his eyes blazing with blue fire. "Do you remember how I swore to destroy the families of those who killed her and stole Mallory?"

Elizabeth nodded. Sir Marcus' anger was too thick and suffocating for her to speak.

"There were four of them," Marcus' voice was dripping with bitterness. "They were Anya's three brothers and her sister's husband."

Elizabeth's eyes widened as the horror of his words sunk into her heart.

"That's why I could not keep my vow," Marcus said. "Not completely."

Elizabeth shook her head, unable to find any words to express herself.

"I killed Aldo and his children and all of their families," Sir Marcus continued. There was no remorse in his voice. "I left the youngest child of each of Anya's siblings alive and fled with Mallory. I watched after her family for generations until at last I left in search of Augustus and my father."

Elizabeth shuddered at the coldness in Sir Marcus' eyes.

"And the child?" she asked. She placed her hand on her belly. "Was Anya pregnant when she died?"

"No," Lord Reginald said, shaking his head. "What you saw did not come from us," he said. "It was a sign."

Sir Marcus shot a perplexed look at his father. Romulus whined.

"A sign?" Elizabeth asked. "Of what? And from who?"

"Yes, father, explain," Marcus said. His eyes had narrowed into dangerous slits.

"I cannot speak of it tonight," Lord Reginald said. "There is something in the air that whispers of danger. You are not safe with us tonight. You must go home and stay there."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously and nodded. She did not feel safe at all right now. She allowed herself to be led back to West Hall without another word. Her mind was churning with questions whose answers she was not sure that she really wanted to know.

## Chapter 10

As Elizabeth stood at the door of her room, she realized that she wasn't ready to go home. She sighed, turned from the dorm and walked back down the hall the way she had come.

The main lobby was deserted. She sank into one of the worn armchairs and tried to gather her thoughts. She shuddered as she thought back to her vision and the revelation of Sir Marcus' fierce vengeance. It was almost too much for her to be able to comprehend.

Part of her wished that she could just go back to her life of blissful ignorance. Was she really better off knowing of the existence of the shadowy world of vampires and hunters and werewolves when they were capable of such atrocities? She could have been out with Michelle tonight, drinking and partying, but instead she was here alone agonizing over horrible things that had happened centuries ago.

She laughed inwardly; was she actually missing her old life of following her roommate around and holding her hair back when she had too much to drink and needed to puke her guts out? What was happening to her? Maybe she was just afraid. Yes, maybe that was it. Her life before meeting Sir Marcus may have been boring, but at least it was safe. The worst things that had ever happened to her were getting vomited on or failing an exam or maybe tripping down some stairs, but now a whole new world filled with pain and misery had opened up before her. Could she really go back to the grove now, knowing the terror that awaited her? Could she face the answers to the terrible questions that she had to ask Sir Marcus and Lord Reginald? She shook herself out of her thoughts and looked through the glass windows beside the doors.

She realized that she couldn't just sit here quietly agonizing over what she had learned tonight. She had to go now and find Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus and get up the courage to speak her mind to them. Part of her was suddenly certain that Lord Reginald's warning about it not being safe for her to be with them tonight was just an excuse to get her away. She stood up and squared her shoulders. Something in her mind screamed at her to just wait until tomorrow night, but she was certain that if she didn't go now, she wouldn't have to courage to go back the next night.

She walked to the door and threw it open. The night beckoned to her with its velvety darkness, and she felt compelled to answer its gentle call. She sighed and stepped out of the dorm hall for the last time.

## Chapter 11

Though her plan just before leaving West Hall was to go back into the grove, Elizabeth found herself wandering aimlessly in the opposite direction. She felt like she needed time to untangle the jumble of thoughts in her head before going in search of the Wolf Clan. As she walked along the neatly manicured paths that led through the heart of the campus, the night seemed to become thicker and darker around her. She remembered how Sir Marcus had said that her night vision was better because she was with him and Romulus. Surely that was the reason that it was harder for her to see right now. It was a shame. She had been enjoying her new improved night vision, but then again, the darkness seemed strangely comforting. It matched her mood.

In no time, her feet had carried her through the campus to the Rose Garden. She breathed in the sweet smell of blooming roses. What was it about that aroma that was so soothing? She frowned and wrinkled her nose. There was some other smell under the scent on roses. It was oddly familiar.

She whirled around and crouched down, her fists clenched. She could not hear or see him, but she could sense his presence. She recognized the cold smell of death the surrounded him. The shadows around her seemed to solidify.

A velvety, musical laugh came from the darkness. A soothing influence began to creep into Elizabeth's mind. A few days ago, she would have succumbed, but she had become much stronger without even realizing it. She pressed against his power, closing her mind to his will.

She heard a snarl rip from her own throat in response to her unseen foe. "I don't know who the hell you are or what you want, but you would be wise to just walk away," she said through gritted teeth. "I know how to defend myself, and I will hurt you." It may have been a lie, but it made her sound braver than she actually felt.

"Little girl," the voice was like a gentle caress. "If you knew who I was, you would know better than to make such empty threats."

"I know what you are," Elizabeth replied. She squinted into the darkness, but could not find where the night ended and the stranger began. "You are very old and powerful, but I know someone who is much more powerful that you."

The strange vampire seemed to materialize before her.

"You know nothing of power," he said as he glowered down at her. His grey eyes had none of the warmth of Lord Reginald's. His body seemed to be cloaked in shadows that swirled in bizarre patterns before Elizabeth's eyes. His face retained the vestiges of youth, but there was a bitterness in his expression that spoke of centuries of brooding anger. His power was cold and cruel, like an icy wind whose fingers could find a way into the warmest shelter.

"I could show you things that would turn your world inside out," he whispered. His voice was so calm, so hypnotic that it took almost all of Elizabeth's willpower to resist it. She could feel the coldness beneath the calm. It sent shivers running through her entire body. She shook herself, trying to regain control of her thoughts.

"You are very brave to stand before me," he continued silkily. "You do indeed have a great deal of power within you, but you are no match for me. Not yet anyways."

"No," Elizabeth heard herself say as if from a great distance. She struggled to hang onto her consciousness. She could feel his mind pressing inexorably against her own. She knew that he was far too powerful for her, but she also know that she could not surrender to this creature. Not without a fight.

"They'll find you, Demetrius," she managed to say with some effort. "They'll make you pay."

"You're a perceptive little bitch," he spat on the ground at her feet. His face became a twisted mask of fury. His pale eyes sparkled with malicious intent as Elizabeth could feel the weight of the centuries of seething bitterness. She could see stretched out before her the long years that he had spent contemplating the vengeance that he would take against his ancient foe and all his family. And she was a part of that ancient family.

Her knees buckled in the face of such unadulterated hatred. His cold power chilled her to her core, as frozen arrows pierced through her soul. Cruel laughter filled her ears. She cried out in agony, but there was no one to hear her. Demetrius' shadow descended upon her, and she knew no more.

# Sunday

## Chapter 1

Michelle groaned and covered her head with her pillow in an effort to hide from the sunlight that was streaming in through the window. As she had predicted, she had an absolutely horrendous hangover. Her head was pounding, and her dry mouth tasted like cigarettes and cheap vodka.

"Never again," she mumbled even though deep down, she knew that she was lying. She rolled over abruptly and vomited spectacularly into the trash can next to her bed.

She wiped her mouth and shook her head. What the hell had happened last night?

The phone started to ring. The sound seemed to rip through her temples.

"Lizzy, get the phone!" she winced as she spoke. Why the hell did her voice have to be so loud?

The ringing continued. Who had mistaken her head for a bass drum?

"Fine, I'll get it." She rolled out of bed and stumbled towards the phone. "Damn it!" she said as she stubbed her toe on the desk. She dropped onto the chair and looked at her foot.

"I'm coming, calm the fuck down!" she yelled and then winced again.

The phone just kept ringing.

"Who the hell is calling right now?" she muttered angrily to herself. She was annoyed and in pain.

"Hello," she said as she finally answered the phone. Her voice was inexplicably cheerier than she actually felt. She rubbed her eyes in an effort to get rid of some of the thick mascara that still clung to her lashes and was making everything look fuzzy. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the closet door. Elizabeth would have said that she looked like a raccoon, and for once, Michelle would have agreed with her.

"Is Elizabeth there?" a concerned voice came from the phone. "This is her friend Chase."

Any other time and she would have been thrilled to talk to him, but right now her head felt like it was going to explode. She reached for her trash can and vomited again before glancing at Elizabeth's bed. It took a few seconds to realize that her bed hadn't been slept in. She frowned and looked at the clock on her desk. It was almost 3pm.

"Hello?" Chase said tentatively. "Is Elizabeth there?"

"Yeah, sorry Chase," Michelle said at last, hearing her crankiness seep into her voice. She felt way too crappy to try to maintain her usually bubbly phone voice. "Elizabeth's not here. I don't think she came home last night."

"Do you have any idea where she might be? We were supposed to get lunch two hours ago."

"Did you call her cell?" Michelle massaged her temples. She was not in the mood for this right now. She just wanted to go back to bed and sleep it off.

"Yeah, but she's not responding to my calls or texts," Chase said.

"I don't know where she is, and my head is killing me," Michelle said. Who asked her to always play matchmaker? As much as she loved her roommate, she just couldn't understand her sometimes. Lizzy just needed to decide once and for all whether she wanted to go out with this guy. It wasn't like her to play these sorts of games, and she had picked a hell of a time to start.

"I'm sorry, Michelle," Chase sounded genuinely concerned. Michelle couldn't help but soften a bit. He did seem like a nice guy. Lizzy had probably just misplaced her phone or something.

"I hope you feel better," Chase continued when Michelle didn't say anything. "If you think of where she might be or if she comes home anytime soon, could you give me a call, or have her give me a call? I can't explain, but I'm worried about her."

Michelle nodded before she realized that Chase couldn't see her.

"Yeah, I'll call you," she said as she rummaged through her desk for a pen. "What was your number?"

## Chapter 2

Chase cursed quietly as he got off the phone with Michelle. He didn't know why he was so worried. He had just met the girl. If she didn't feel like talking to her that was fine by him. Maybe Michelle had just told him that Elizabeth wasn't there so that he would leave her alone. Maybe her saying that she hadn't come home last night was a hint that she had spent the night with someone else. He didn't have the best track record with the ladies. For all he knew Elizabeth was already seeing someone else or just wasn't interested in him but was too shy to say anything.

No, she wasn't like that. She just didn't seem like the type to flake out on a date and then avoid the person. She seemed to be way too straightforward and honest to do something like that. And it wasn't like they were seriously dating or anything. Just hanging out, right? Was he just being overly protective for some crazy reason? He hadn't really dated for years. Maybe things were different these days.

He gnawed his lower lip. There was something about that girl that he couldn't quite put his finger on. She wasn't normal. He chuckled to himself. He wasn't exactly normal himself, but he couldn't help feel drawn towards Elizabeth's uniqueness.

But she was hiding something. Or was she? He couldn't expect her to tell every little detail of her life to someone she barely knew, but there was something between them that seemed almost sinister. And it wasn't like he had been completely honest with her. He sighed. Surely he was just being paranoid. And for good reason, but surely it was just in his imagination. He wished that he could convince himself of that.

The phone rang in his hand.

"Lizzy?" He answered without even looking at the display. "Er-Elizabeth?" He remembered that she had seemed a little annoyed when he didn't call her by her full name.

"Who's Elizabeth?" A loud woman's voice came out of the speaker. Chase had to hold his phone a few inches away from his ear. His mother had never really gotten used to speaking normally into a phone. He was glad that there was no one around to overhear their conversation.

"When are you coming by?" she asked. "I have to clean up the house before you come over, and I have plans tonight."

"Hi, Mom," Chase tried to keep his voice cheery. He was relieved that she couldn't see the expression on his face. He hated having to call her mom, but she insisted on it. As far as he was concerned, the only thing that made her his mother was the fact that she had given birth to him.

"Are you still there?" Her voice broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry. I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all. I'll call you back, okay?"

His mother sighed into the phone. He could picture the irritated look on her face.

"You can't avoid me forever, Chase. You need to come over at some point. We need to talk about your father."

"I'm not avoiding you," Chase tried not to sound as exasperated as he felt. "I've just got lots of things to do."

"Things to do? What things?" She almost sounded scared. "I thought you were giving that up. And you don't have partner anymore now that your father-" she stopped abruptly.

"I'm sorry, mom," Chase said with a sigh. "I've got to go. I'll call to you tomorrow."

"Alright then." She didn't sound remotely convinced that he would actually call. "I'll talk to you then."

Chase felt a twinge of remorse as he ended the call. He put his phone in his pocket and rubbed his forehead. Something about talking to her gave him a headache. It wasn't completely her fault though.

He barely knew her. She had left his father when he was only a child and had made no effort to establish any sort of relationship with her son. His only memories with her were either her fighting with his father or being miserable when his father was away. It had been as if he didn't even exist to her, but now, out of the blue, she wanted him to visit.

He had taken her up on her offer because he did need a chance to rest and recover, but the idea of having to face his mother worried him. If talking on the phone with her made him cringe, how awful would it be to talk to her in person?

He smiled suddenly at the thought of Elizabeth. She had been the bright spot in this otherwise bleak trip. He really did like spending time with her. There was something about her that made his feel so warm and happy. He loved the way her eyes sparkled with intelligence and mischief. He both loved and dreaded the way that she sometimes seemed to be able to look right through him with that piercing gaze of hers.

His smile quickly turned to a frown as he thought about that strange feeling that he had gotten last night. That twinge of warning that had been in the air.

He tried to tell himself not to worry, but he failed miserably.

## Chapter 3

Elizabeth woke up and moaned softly. Her entire body ached. She was sitting on cold hard concrete with her hands chained together and suspended above her head. She blinked as her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. She realized that she must be in someone's basement. The only source of light came from a dirty little window at the top of the wall to her right. The sun must have been setting because the light that filtered through the layer of grime had a reddish hue.

She looked around, taking in as many details of her prison as she could in the fading light. She almost smiled at the memory of how good her night vision had been when she had been with the Wolf Clan. The basement was a small square room with solid concrete walls and floor. There was a narrow staircase on the wall opposite of the window leading up to a steel door.

Elizabeth wriggled her wrists in a vain hope that she might be able to free herself somehow. She just might be able to fit through the window if she could reach it. The soft clinking of the chains sounded almost deafening in the otherwise complete silence. She craned her neck to look up at the chains. They looked like tarnished silver with strange words and symbols that she could not quite make out etched into them. There was something about them that made her strangely uncomfortable.

She knew by the light that Demetrius would soon be waking up. She shuddered at the memory of his cold power. What would he do to her? What did he want from her?

There was no way that she would be able to free herself in time to escape, but she wondered if maybe, just maybe she could reach out to Romulus through that connection that Lord Reginald had spoken of before. She wished that she had tried to reach him last night before going for that walk.

Hadn't Lord Reginald warned her that there was something dangerous in the air and that she should stay at home? Why hadn't she listened? Why had she followed that strange urge to walk alone in the middle of the night when she knew that vampires and even worse things existed?

She took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do now to change what had happened last night, but at least she was only captured and not dead. If she got out of this, she promised herself that she would never allow herself to be taken prisoner ever again. She would learn everything that she could to be able to defend herself against anyone who wanted to hurt her or her family. The realization that she considered the Wolf Clan her family warmed her heart and gave her courage.

Of course, Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus would come looking for her after they had woken up, but who knew how long it would take for them to find her and what Demetrius would be able to do to her before they found her. Why hadn't he just killed her yesterday? It would have been easy for him. But then again, he could easily kill her tonight if he felt so inclined. No, she would somehow reach Romulus, and he would find her. It was her only chance. She tried to calm down. She knew that she needed to focus.

"Romulus," she whispered. She closed her eyes and thought back to the time the other night when she had told him to get out of her head. Maybe she could somehow reverse what she had done in order to call out to him. "I need your help."

She gritted her teeth and concentrated. A burst of energy suddenly pulsed from her body, sending ripples through the small room. She gasped as the energy bounced back and hit her like a wave of intense heat. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as her skin crawled with the power. She tried to relax and embrace the sensation. It was like the walls of the basement were keeping her mind prisoner as well as her body. She breathed deeply and felt her mind begin to open up.

She pictured delicate tendrils of her thoughts unfurling in every direction. This time the energy did not rebound onto her. She started to feel the confines of the wall around her thoughts. It seemed impenetrable at first, but as she focused on her task, she started to feel a chink in the barrier. Her head began to pound, but still she pushed and prodded at the chink until she could feel her thoughts slip out of the confining prison.

"Romulus," she whispered again, willing with every fiber of her being that he would somehow hear her call and come to her aid. She needed him right now.

Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. She was almost certain that she would burst, but she knew that her salvation depended on being able to reach the wolf. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out as an explosion ripped through her mind. She felt as if her entire body had suddenly caught fire with her mind at the center of the blazing inferno. She felt her consciousness begin to slip; her vision became hazy.

Somewhere in the distance, she thought she could hear a wolf howling, but before she could be certain, she passed out.

## Chapter 4

Elizabeth was not the only one to hear the wolf howling. Chase frowned at the sound. He looked to the west. The sun had almost finished setting, only a brilliant sliver of the sun was still visible in the horizon. A last golden gleam retreating from a blood red sky.

"So ends another day in wrath and brooding night has come," he said out loud. Something was going to happen tonight, something horrible. He could feel it in his bones. There was no shaking the feeling no matter what he did.

He hugged the shadows as he made his way back to his car. His dark clothes and stealthy movements made him almost invisible. He had parked in a secluded spot between the university and the abandoned orange groves. He opened the trunk and sighed at the sight that greeted him. He had never hoped more that his instincts were wrong. That he wouldn't have to do what he was about to do. He wasn't sure if he was ready to start again, especially considering that he didn't have a partner.

He jumped as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the display, but he didn't recognize the number.

"Hello," he answered.

"Hey Chase! It's Michelle!" Her cheery voice grated on Chase's ear. "I just wanted to let you know that Lizzy hasn't come home yet, and she isn't answering any of my texts either. It's not like her at all. Anyways, it might sound weird, but just now I thought I heard a dog howling or something, and I randomly remembered that sometimes she goes and hangs out in those old orange groves across the street from West Hall. You know the ones I mean?"

Chase tried to reply, but Michelle was talking so fast that he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"Anyways," Michelle continued. "She says something about it being nice a quiet or something like that. She stayed out all night a few nights ago, which, again is weird for her. I don't know if that will help at all, and I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but then again I was really hung over and-"

"Thanks, Michelle," Chase interrupted her. He didn't have time to listen to this silly girl. His worst fears were slowly being realized.

"I've got to go," he said. "Take care." He hung up and tossed the phone into the trunk. He didn't need it to go off at an inopportune time tonight.

A crooked smile flitted across his features. It was not the smile that Elizabeth had come to like so much. It was colder, deadlier. He took a deep breath and reached into his trunk.

It was time to go hunting.

## Chapter 5

It was fully dark in the basement when Elizabeth came to again. Her head was still pounding from her attempt to reach Romulus. She wondered if her efforts had actually been successful. Had she really heard a wolf or had it only been her imagination? She squinted into the darkness, trying to get her eyes to adjust.

She sighed and rested her head against the wall behind her. Her body felt stiff from being in the same position for hours and hours. She stretched her legs in front of her, relieved that she was wearing her most comfortable pair of jeans.

She closed her eyes and tried to think positively, but it was difficult in the gloomy basement. Minutes slipped by in silence so deep that she could hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears like a drum.

Her eyes snapped open as a scratching noise and a familiar whining reached her ears.

"Romulus?" she whispered in a soft rasp. Her mouth was painfully dry. She looked towards the window at the pair of gleaming yellow eyes that looked down at her. She forced herself to breathe slowly and not get excited. She needed to be calm in order to open her mind.

With agonizing slowness, she felt her thoughts unfurl themselves and reach towards the wolf. It was a delicate process, like tuning a radio to the perfect frequency with an especially sensitive knob. With a jolt, she felt her mind connect with Romulus. She could feel the wolf's concern and anger. He was furious at whoever had done this to her and was determined to rip them to shreds

Elizabeth thought about what had happened when she had been captured, willing the wolf to see and understand that it was Demetrius. Her head began to throb painfully. Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus were not far away. They were looking for her. Elizabeth felt like her head would burst if she didn't break the connection soon. There was something else out there that she couldn't quite see.

There was someone coming. Did she think it? Or Romulus? Romulus was inside her head as much as she was inside his. Memories and thoughts that did not belong to her swirled into the forefront of her mind. She was starting to forget where she ended and he began. Fear gripped her. What if she couldn't get out? She tried to pull herself free, but she felt herself being pulled in further. Would she be trapped with all those souls? Or would they become a part of her the way they were a part of Romulus? She was beginning to drown in the wolf's endless sea of being.

#

Elizabeth gasped as the connection was abruptly severed. The basement door flew open and light flooded the small room.

Romulus snarled and smashed his head into the window.

Elizabeth could not hold back a scream of horror as shards of glass mingled with blood rained down on her. The wolf's head had broken through the window, but there was no way that he would be able to fit through the small window without injuring himself further. Already blood was streaming from deep gashes in his head and muzzle.

"Romulus, no!" Elizabeth shouted hoarsely as a dark figure swept down the stairs towards her.

A velvety laugh assaulted her ears as she suppressed a sob.

"No need to worry, little girl," Demetrius' voice was like a gentle but still unwanted caress. Elizabeth could not help but shudder at the sound of it.

"I'll protect you from the big bad wolf. See? The beast can't get you in here." He said "beast" as if it were a curse word. Romulus yelped in pain and disappeared into the night.

"I'm more worried about the 'beast' in here." Elizabeth tried to put the same amount of hatred into the word as she spoke.

Demetrius sneered down at her. "You'll never be able to use your voice like I can, idiot girl," he said. "So don't even try it. And you should thank me. Another few seconds and your mind would have been trapped inside that thing."

"Better than being trapped in here with you," Elizabeth said defiantly. She would have spat at him, but she had little saliva to spare.

"You need to learn some manners, bitch." Demetrius' eyes blazed with anger. "I could have destroyed you a thousand times over."

As he spoke, Elizabeth felt ice cold razors cut into every part of her body. He laughed as she writhed in agony.

"What do you want with me?" she gasped, determined not to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out again.

Demetrius frowned. The pain began to recede.

"Strange," he said more to himself than to her.

Elizabeth forced herself to breathe deeply, trying to slow her galloping heart.

"You're an especially stubborn brat," Demetrius said. He looked down at her with a curious expression on his face. "You remind me of her."

Elizabeth had to ask, "who?"

Demetrius ignored the question and held up a water bottle.

"You should drink," he said. He unscrewed the lid and tipped it into Elizabeth's mouth. She swallowed it greedily, but he poured it slowly, so she wouldn't drown. It was like the sweet nectar of life. It could have been poisoned or drugged for all she knew, but at this point, she didn't care.

"Who do I remind you of," Elizabeth asked again, panting ever so slightly.

"Lady Anya Wolfrick," Demetrius said at last.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You look nothing like her of course," he said looking away from her. Much of the bitterness in his expression faded as he spoke. "She was much prettier than you. Beautiful in fact. Eyes like the sky. Hair like sunlight. She brought sweet memories of things that I have not seen in such a long time, but you do have some of that courage of hers. It is both admirable and vexing."

"From what I've heard, you didn't find her so admirable," Elizabeth said, surprised at her own daring.

Demetrius chuckled.

Elizabeth gritted her teeth in preparation for pain that never came.

"Everyone loved Anya in their own way," he said. His voice was completely sincere. "Including me."

## Chapter 6

It did not take long for Chase to find his quarry in the orange groves. He crept through the trees like a shadow.

"I know you're there," the tall vampire that he was stalking growled. He was unarmed and seemed unconcerned about being followed. "You might as well come out and face me."

Chase stepped out from behind the bush-like tree that he had been crouching behind. He drew the sword that he had strapped to his back in a fluid motion as he stood before his prey.

"So all hunters have to wear black trench coats?" the vampire asked with a smirk. "Is it a uniform or something?"

Chase smiled crookedly in response. "Something like that, vampire," he said. He twirled his sword experimentally, testing the balance and letting his muscles remember what it had been like to wield such a weapon. "It helps us hide in the shadows and conceal some of our weapons."

"But you only have that sword tonight," the vampire said with a shrug. "And your stealth leaves something to be desired."

"I'm a little out of practice," Chase confessed. He cursed inwardly for admitting his weakness. He needed to be more on his guard.

"I can tell," the vampire said, his smirk deepening. "And you seem to be missing a partner."

"Not all of us need to hunt in pairs," Chase said.

"But you do, especially if you really think to fight me."

"This sword is all I need to defeat you."

The vampire chuckled. "You carry yourself with the confidence of a slayer, but you are reckless to come against me," he said. "Even with that Silversmith's blade that you carry. I can't help but wonder where you might have stolen that from."

"I'm flattered that you recognize my title as a Slayer," Chase replied, feeling his confidence grow as he spoke. "I am the youngest in a century, but I wonder that this blade doesn't impress you. It was passed down in my family for centuries. There's only been one vampire who ever defeated the one who bore this weapon."

"That was me," the vampire said. His eyes were like chips of blue ice. "If you're not careful, I'll do it again. You see, I am Sir Marcus of the Wolves, though perhaps you would know me as the Kin-Slayer."

Chase felt a chill run down his spine. Surely this foul creature was lying to him. The Kin-Slayer was a myth.

"It is true," Sir Marcus said as if he could read Chase's thoughts. "I am the one who ripped Aldo's heart from his chest while his sons watched and then cut them to pieces with Aldo's own sword."

"Even if the legend is true," Chase said. "There's no way it could have been you." Part of him knew that the vampire was telling the truth, but he did not want to believe it. It could easily have been a clever ruse. "You aren't that powerful now," he continued with more bravado than he actually felt. "How could you have been powerful enough to defeat the Silversmith over 600 years ago?"

"The swords of the Silversmith are merely tools," Sir Marcus said with a careless shrug. "The true importance is the one wielding the weapon. I defeated Aldo because I was more skilled than him."

"That's not the story I heard," Chase replied. He was getting tired of talking about old legends. He had more pressing things on his mind. He began to walk sideways, his sword held at the ready, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Marcus mirrored his steps, but his arms remained casually at his sides.

"I could care less about the story that you heard," Sir Marcus said darkly. "I want to know who you are, and why you're here."

Chase did not want to answer, but he could feel the vampire pressing against his mind, compelling him to speak. Clearly Sir Marcus was much more powerful than Chase had first thought.

"I am Chase Brennan, Slayer of the Rat King," he said in spite of his efforts to remain silent. "My business here is my own."

Sir Marcus threw back his head and laughed. "So you're the one that killed that old crackpot?" he said. "Well done! No wonder you are so confident that you can beat me." He frowned and cocked his head to the side. "You must also be the Chase that Elizabeth has been telling me about. I guess I was right about what was 'off' about you."

"So you know, Elizabeth," Chase said. He sounded calm, but a spark of anger had ignited in his chest at the thought of Lizzy being anywhere near this monster. He gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"Yes, I do," Sir Marcus said. "She's really a sweet, delightful girl, and I think she's rather fond of you." His tone was light and cheerful; it fanned the spark in Chase's chest into a flame. "She was talking about you quite a bit last night."

"Really now?" Chase's voice rose to a shout as hot fury began to course through his veins. "She didn't mention anything about you!" Without warning, he leapt forward, his sword flashing towards Marcus' neck.

"Not bad," Sir Marcus said. The sword that he had used to block the blow was a twin of the one that Chase held.

Chase had not seen him draw it. He hadn't even seen that he was armed.

"Elizabeth never mentioned that you were this aggressive," Sir Marcus continued casually. "And a swordsman too for that matter. I like that."

"Where is she," Chase snarled as their blades met again with a deafening clash. He could feel that vampire's power working to break into his mind.

Marcus blocked every blow with a graceful ease, but still Chase attacked savagely. In one nimble movement, Marcus leapt well out of the range of Chase's blade.

Chase tried not to show how relieved he felt by this. He kept his sword up as he tried to catch his breath. He hadn't fought since his father's death, and he had to focus so much energy on keeping the vampire out of his mind that he knew perfectly well that he was in no shape to fight this creature.

"What did you do to her," he tried to cover his panting. He had drastically underestimated his opponent. Sir Marcus was indeed far more powerful that Chase had realized.

Marcus raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'what did I do to her?' Why do you think I would do her any harm?"

Chase almost laughed in his face. "You're a fucking vampire!" he shouted. Sir Marcus' careless attitude infuriated him. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why she didn't come home last night."

Chase almost screamed aloud as he felt the vampire's power rip through his mind. He gritted his teeth against the pain. "If she's still alive, just let her go, please she's just a kid," he gasped weakly. It was not in him to beg, but he was desperate. There was no way that he could fight against this creature. "You can do whatever you want with me, just let her go."

Marcus' face was a terror to behold. His lips were curled, his teeth bared in a ferocious snarl. His eyes burned with a deadly light.

Chase dropped his sword and fell to his knees. The vampire's power swept over him. It was no longer blood that coursed through his veins; it was fire.

A large wolf bounded into view, its muzzle coated in blood.

"No! Elizabeth!" Chase managed to cry out before he was pulled down into the raging sea of Marcus' fury.

## Chapter 7

"No doubt," Demetrius said as he unchained Elizabeth. "Reginald has told you all about him and Anya and me. He probably wove one of his charming tales of love and passion that conveniently glossed over some of the more unpleasant details."

Elizabeth did not reply. She massaged her wrist and flexed her fingers, relieved to finally be able to lower her arms. She wanted to stand up, but she didn't trust her legs to support her at the moment.

"Tell me," Demetrius said. His voice had become gentler than Elizabeth would have thought possible. "Was I the villain in his story?"

Elizabeth's every instinct told her to lie, but she couldn't.

"Yes, you were," she said quietly.

"I thought as much." Demetrius' eyes flashed with sudden anger.

Elizabeth flinched; her cheek burned as if it had been slapped.

Demetrius took a deep breath; his voice became gentle again. "What did he say that I did, little Elizabeth?"

"You'll hurt me again," Elizabeth said, desperate to stall this clearly insane vampire until Romulus could return with help.

"I'll hurt you anyways," Demetrius said with a shrug. "And then make you answer all the same. You might as well save yourself the trouble while I'm in a generous mood."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously. "He told me that you tried to seduce Anya and then tried to scare her into leaving him. When that didn't work, you threatened her family and then left the clan to join Laila and start a war against the Wolf Clan."

"And of course you believe him," Demetrius said.

"I have no reason not to," Elizabeth replied

She flinched as Demetrius crouched down so that his face was level with hers. His cold eyes chilled her to the core, but his voice was friendly.

"Why would Reginald, the mighty lord of the Wolf Clan lie to a sweet little thing like you?"

"At least he didn't attack me and chain me up in his basement," Elizabeth said. She could feel Demetrius' pressing against the walls of her mind, trying to find a weakness on her defenses. It made her feel violated and sick to her stomach.

"You know they'll find you," she said.

"Yes, yes, and save you and rain destruction and death or whatever on me," Demetrius said with an impatient wave of his hand. "I've heard it all before, and it's gotten old."

Elizabeth struggled to her feet. She wanted more than anything to get as far away from her captor as possible, but her knees buckled underneath her. Demetrius caught her and held her up.

"What do you want from me, Demetrius?" Elizabeth asked. She hated feeling this weak and helpless.

There was something almost like pity in the vampire's eyes as he looked at her.

"I want you to know the truth," he said.

"I don't want to hear whatever your version of the truth is," Elizabeth said. She glared angrily at Demetrius and wrenched herself out of his grasp. "I want you to let me go."

Demetrius' expression was unreadable as he stared at her with a faraway look in his eyes.

"You think I'm a monster, don't you?" he asked at last.

Elizabeth did not have to answer; it was written clearly on her face.

He smiled suddenly, his teeth flashing in the gloomy basement.

"Well, little girl, listen carefully, and I'll tell you about the real monsters."

## Chapter 8

"Enough!" Chase heard a deep voice cut through the darkness that surrounded him. The pain began to recede, and his blood began to cool. He found that he could breathe easily again.

As his vision returned, he saw that another vampire had joined Marcus. Chase could tell that this vampire was even more powerful than any that he had ever encountered. He could feel his skin crawl at his mere presence.

"Forgive me, father," Marcus' voice sounded far away as he spoke to his companion. "I lost control."

"It's miracle that you didn't kill him. It is never wise to kill a hunter without provocation."

"He attacked me first," Marcus protested.

"After you taunted him," the older vampire said calmly. "He is no threat to us."

"He's a liability," Marcus said with a scowl. "He could be a threat to Elizabeth."

"He's her friend, you know that."

"He doesn't know what she is. And he's no mere hunter. He's a descendant of the Silversmith, and he was powerful enough to slay Lord Godfrey."

Marcus' father raised his eyebrows. "Intriguing," he said looking down at Chase. His grey eyes seemed to be able to pierce into the depths of his soul. There was something about his gaze that was vaguely familiar. "He could prove to be useful to use."

Unbidden, memories began to come to the surface of Chase's mind as the vampire's power washed over him.

He watched in horrified fascination as he saw his fight with the fierce Rat King play out before his eyes, like watching a film, but far more real. He could hear the clash of steel and the crack of gunshots and the wailing of dying men and beasts. The smell of blood and fear and smoke and death filled his nostrils. He remembered the feeling of hot blood running down his sides where his foe's sharp claws had ripped into his flesh. He tried to cry out in anguish at the sight of his father's broken body, but no sound came out.

He fought with all his might against the swirl of haunting memories that threatened to swallow his whole. The ancient vampire was not trying to kill him; he was trying to take over her mind. Chase did not know if he had the strength to resist. Even as he felt the last vestiges of himself begin to slip away, a single image floated through the chaos and solidified before his eyes.

It was her face.

He suddenly realized why the vampire's gaze had seemed so familiar. There was the same look in her gentle brown eyes. He gasped as he at last understood what she really was. So the legends were true.

## Chapter 9

"I don't believe you," Elizabeth said, tears staining her face. It was too painful to think about.

"You should know that you can't lie to me," Demetrius said with a smirk. "Even if you want to lie to yourself."

Elizabeth shook her head. Her mind was in turmoil as what she thought she knew and what Demetrius had told her tried to reconcile themselves with one another. She could feel the vampire messing around inside her head, twisting her thoughts and memories until she couldn't tell where the truth ended and the lies began.

"Don't you see," Demetrius' voice cut into her like a dozen razors. "He was supposed to unite the clans once and for all and lead them to victory over our ancient foes, but instead he slaughtered his entire clan and caused the other Great Clans to turn on one another and rip each other to pieces all for the sake of a lowly mortal woman. And then that bastard son of his could have wiped the Silversmiths off the planet once and for all. There could have been peace if he hadn't been too weak to fulfill his vow."

Elizabeth said nothing. She had known already that Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus had indeed done these terrible things, but some part of her had somehow been able to justify their actions. There was no changing the past, but when Demetrius spoke of their actions, the atrocity of their deeds made Elizabeth sick to her stomach. It sickened her that she could forgive them, but no, it wasn't forgiveness that she could give; all she could do was accept what they had done and move forward.

Something within her stirred suddenly. With some effort, she pushed Demetrius out of her mind and shook herself free of his influence.

"That lowly woman you're speaking of was my ancestor," she said angrily. "And how dare you try to twist an act of mercy into an act of weakness."

Demetrius reacted as if he had been slapped in the face. His eyes widened in shock.

Elizabeth felt strangely warm. She clenched her fists and stared at Demetrius. She could see straight through him. He was afraid. He was being manipulated by something that was far darker and deadlier than he.

The moment passed in an instant. Elizabeth blinked in surprise. Part of her was certain that she had imagined it. She shook her head and looked at Demetrius.

The vampire returned her gaze with a slight frown. "You are not like the others, Elizabeth Morden," he said after a moment's contemplation. "Perhaps you will succeed were others have failed." He turned and began walking up the stairs to the house above, leaving Elizabeth standing alone and perplexed.

As he reached the door above, he turned and looked down at Elizabeth. "Come with me, little girl," he said, there was a trace of reluctance in his voice. "There's something I want you to show you."

Elizabeth was genuinely surprised to find herself obeying him without hesitation.

## Chapter 10

Before Elizabeth's eyes could adjust to the light of the house after the gloom of the basement, she heard a growl beside her. Demetrius grabbed her and forced her in front of him, holding both her hands behind her back with one hand. She felt the cold steel of a knife pressed to her throat.

She blinked as the room came into focus. It was a neat little sitting room. A couch and a loveseat with soft floral prints and dark wooden legs sat on opposite a sparkling clean fireplace. There was a faint smell of cinnamon and potpourri in the air. It looked almost cozy except for the trench coat clad man standing in the middle of the room with two swords held casually at his side. Blood dripped slowly down both blades onto the thick carpet.

"Chase!" Elizabeth gasped. She hadn't recognized him at first. It wasn't merely the change of clothes or the weapons that he held; there was something in his expression that was very different. His normally warm eyes were like cold, deadly pits.

She was almost more afraid of him at this moment than of her current captor. A horrible thought that he was working with Demetrius rushed through her mind. It quickly vanished when she realized that the vampire was just as surprised to see him as she was.

"Stay back," Demetrius snarled. He tightened his grip on Elizabeth. "I will kill her."

Chase seemed to hardly even notice Elizabeth. He gave her a slight nod before addressing Demetrius with a careless shrug. "Kill her if you want, vampire, but I have a message that you might want to hear first."

"Speak your piece, hunter," Demetrius' voice was filled with contempt. Elizabeth was surprised that Chase didn't so much as flinch his words. It was as if he was somehow immune to the vampire's power.

"Lord Reginald Wolfrick demands that you release his descendant at once you will suffer his great displeasure."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth as the knife began to bite into her neck. A thin line of blood welled up along the blade. She could feel Demetrius' anger flow over her like a cold flood as he replied. "Reginald is no Lord of mine, and why does he not address me himself instead of sending some pathetic excuse of a hunter? It is an insult. Does he fear me so much that he will not surrender his power in order to come face me?"

Chase raised his eyebrows. "Would you?" he asked.

"No," Demetrius said with a snort. "But I have no reason to."

"Neither does Lord Reginald," Chase said. Elizabeth got the distinct impression that he was enjoying himself. She just wished that she wasn't in the middle of it. "He has a hunter, and you're about to lose yours."

Elizabeth could feel the soft trickle of blood down her neck. She knew that Demetrius was restraining himself, and that if he lost his temper, she would lose her head. She could feel the vampire's will clashing into Chase's with the force of a speeding freight train, but Chase was unshaken.

"Where is Elaine?" Demetrius' voice had become dangerously soft and velvety.

"Oh, she's fine," Chase said with a crooked smile that chilled Elizabeth. She had never seen anyone look so deadly, except maybe Marcus. "At least for the moment," he added darkly. "When I left her there was a big wolf eyeing her, and he looked hungry."

Demetrius trembled with fury. The knife bit deeper into Elizabeth's throat. She closed her eyes and tried to prepare herself for the inevitable.

"If any harm should come-" Demetrius started to say.

"Yeah, yeah," Chase interrupted. He sounded completely unaffected by Demetrius' anger and Elizabeth's increasing peril. "Whatever. Will you stop trying to hypnotize me already with your voice and just let the girl go already? You have no power over me. I was invited."

Elizabeth opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as Demetrius pulled the knife away from her throat.

"You alright, Lizzy?" Chase asked; a hint of concern had crept into his voice and eyes.

Elizabeth nodded, unable to speak through the lump in her throat. Her eyes burned with tears.

"Now let her go," Chase said firmly to Demetrius. "And Lord Reginald will spare you and Elaine."

"Do I have the Wolf's word on it?"

"You do," Chase replied. "No one from the Wolf Clan will be permitted to touch either of you without provocation."

"Very well," Demetrius said. He released Elizabeth and nudged her towards Chase.

Elizabeth side stepped awkwardly and stood beside the fireplace. She didn't particularly want to be near either of them right now.

"Now, hunter," Demetrius said. His voice was velvety smooth, but Elizabeth could hear the turmoil beneath. "Tell me where she is."

Chase shrugged; the side of his mouth twitched upwards as he spoke. "I haven't the faintest idea. I figured I'd deal with her after I'm done killing you."

"Save your threats," Demetrius said, his eyes narrowing. "You are under Reginald's power and bound by the honor of the Wolves."

Chase laughed. "I am under no power but my own," he said. "The Wolf Clan might not be able to touch you, but I am free to do whatever I wish with you and your human whore."

"Who are you?" Demetrius said; his eyes kindled with sudden flame. The fury that radiated from him almost knocked Elizabeth off her feet, but seemed to have no effect on Chase.

Chase raised his bloodstained blades and said in a voice that took Elizabeth's breath away, "I am Chase Brennan, slayer of the Rat King. The blood of the great hunter that flows through my veins and the blood of the Wolf Clan upon these blades protect me from you power. Now prepare yourself, for your final death is at hand!" The coldly confident expression on his face filled Elizabeth with awesome dread.

Demetrius' face twisted into a mask of hatred mingled with fear. In a blur of movement, he flung his knife at Chase's heart and rushed towards Elizabeth with his arms outstretched and his teeth bared.

Elizabeth instinctively dropped to the ground and kicked his legs out from under him.

Chase, who had easily batted the knife away, laughed triumphantly and leapt at Demetrius, swords flashing.

Hot blood splattered onto Elizabeth and the spotless fireplace as the sword in Chase's right hand sliced through Demetrius' neck, cleanly decapitating him while the sword in his left hand pierced through Demetrius' chest.

Elizabeth rolled away from the vampire's body and retched onto the carpet. She was shaking like mad when Chase knelt beside her and put a warm hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Lizzy," he said. "It's over. His voice was as gentle as it had been when they first met.

Elizabeth looked up at him and shook her head. There was no way in hell it was over. She knew in her heart that it had only just begun.

## Chapter 11

"Thanks, Chase," Elizabeth said as she touched the bandage around her neck. She had been too emotional to speak while he had patched her up, but now the silence between them had become too much.

"You're welcome," Chase said stiffly.

"You're a hunter?" Elizabeth asked. She hated feeling like the easygoing friendliness between them was gone forever. She hardly knew how to feel in his presence.

Chase walked across the room and picked up Demetrius' knife from the floor. He brought it back to Elizabeth and placed it in her lap without a word.

Elizabeth stared down at it. Her own blood was drying on the blade into a rusty brown. She swallowed nervously and looked up at Chase.

"I'm a Slayer, Lizzy," he said. He sat down beside her on the couch and started to clean the blood off his swords. He seemed a little more like himself, but Elizabeth would never forget the expression on his face when he had killed Demetrius. He seemed to have enjoyed it far too much.

"Do you know what the difference is?" Chase asked as he sheathed the swords across his back.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"Slayer is the title given to a hunter who has killed a Master Vampire," Chase said.

Elizabeth bit her lip and carefully lifted Demetrius' knife from her lap. She was not sure how to respond. Ever since she had met Sir Marcus, she had felt like she was living in two separate worlds. Now those worlds had collided, and she hardly knew what to think. She looked down at Demetrius' body sprawled out on the ground. That could have been her if it hadn't been for Chase.

"How do you know Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus?" she asked at last.

Chase let out a dry chuckle. "I was honestly expecting you to ask me if I'd killed them," he said.

"You couldn't hurt Lord Reginald," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "He's way too powerful."

Chase raised his eyebrows. "What about Marcus? I never said that I knew him."

"That's his sword," Elizabeth said, indicating to the hilt over her right shoulder. "Whose blood was that?"

Chase slipped off the couch and knelt before her so their eyes were on the same level. "Whose do you think it was?"

Elizabeth's grip tightened on the hilt of Demetrius' knife, but she did not reply. She did not like the look in his eyes.

"What would you do if I had killed Marcus?" Chase asked.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and studied Chase's expression carefully. "I would say you're lying," she said.

"How do you know that?"

"I can see it on your face," Elizabeth said. "And I think you know that if you had hurt him, I'd probably try to kill you."

A smile flitted across Chase's face as he replied. "Not a very strong threat, Lizzy. You'll have to work on that."

Elizabeth frowned and glared at him angrily.

Chase's crooked smile returned as he watched her. "Pretty feisty, aren't you? But you are right. There's no way I would have been able to hurt either of them." His smile faded slightly. "Would you have really tried to kill me?"

Elizabeth gave him a small smile and shook her head. "You know I couldn't, Chase. You know the only things I can kill are bugs."

"You helped me kill Demetrius."

Elizabeth shook her head. "I just tripped him, you did the rest."

"You moved faster than any human I've ever seen," Chase said. "You could have been a hunter."

Elizabeth looked into Chase eyes. She wished, as she often had before that she could somehow see through him.

Chase looked away. "I wish you wouldn't do that," he said.

"Do what?" Elizabeth asked.

"I can feel you pressing against my mind," Chase said with a grimace. "You don't even know that you're doing it do you?"

"I'm not doing anything," Elizabeth said. "At least I don't think I am."

Chase massaged his temples gingerly and sighed. "Look into my eyes and tell me what I'm thinking right now."

Elizabeth chuckled. "You're kidding me right?" she said.

"Seriously," Chase said. "Just don't push too hard."

"Okay," Elizabeth said. She took a deep breath and looked into Chase's eyes. Her brow furrowed as she frowned.

"Part of you thinks it would be best for you to kill me right here and now," she said after a few minutes. "You think I'm far more dangerous than I realize, but you don't actually want to hurt me. You gave me this knife to defend myself in case your instincts overwhelm you rational thought."

"You're absolutely right," Chase said through gritted teeth. Beads of sweat had begun to form across his forehead, and his face was twisted with pain.

Elizabeth forced herself to break eye contact with Chase and focused on her own breathing. She could hardly believe it, but somehow, she had been inside his mind for an instant.

Chase stood and backed away from her, clearly shaken.

"I'm sorry, Chase," Elizabeth said. "I've never done that before."

"I knew I liked you for a good reason," Chase said with a chuckle. "God damn, you're powerful."

"How can you laugh?" Elizabeth asked. "We've gone from being a couple friends who liked to hang out and eat to-to...to being I don't know what." She shook her head as words failed her."

"To enemies?" Chase asked just above a whisper.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't want to be enemies," she said. "I don't think we have to be. You obviously allied yourself with the Wolf Clan."

"At least temporarily," Chase said. "But you're right; I think we can be friends. We're at least being honest about who we are now."

"I figured that you'd just think I was crazy if I told you about Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus."

"And I figured you'd think I was crazy if I said I was a guy who goes around killing vampires."

Elizabeth smiled in spite of herself. "Maybe we should just start over again. I'm Elizabeth; I'm apparently descended from a clan of ancient vampires."

"It's nice to meet you, Elizabeth," Chase said sitting down next to her. "I'm Chase. I'm a vampire slayer descended from a long line of hunters."

## Chapter 12

It didn't take long for Chase to tell Elizabeth all about meeting the Wolf Clan in the orange groves and their hastily formed alliance.

"The fact that I was your friend was the only thing that saved me," Chase said. "Marcus could have easily taken me apart."

"I'm glad he didn't kill you," Elizabeth said with a smile. In spite of everything that had happened, she found that she still really liked Chase. Things would never be the same between them, but then again maybe they would end up being better. Once they had gotten over the initial awkwardness, it had been easy for them to talk to each other. "So Sir Marcus loaned you his sword, and he and Lord Reginald gave you some of their blood so that you could be protected from Demetrius?"

"Exactly," Chase said. "And here I am."

"But how did you get in without Demetrius knowing? He was just as surprised as I was."

"That was partially thanks to you. I think he was having so much trouble keeping you under control that he wasn't as aware of his surroundings."

Elizabeth frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Didn't you tell him that you were invited in?"

"Elaine let me in," Chase said. "She was Demetrius' human companion."

There was something about the way he said it that made Elizabeth shudder.

"I didn't hurt her," Chase said seeing Elizabeth's reaction. "She's fine; she's tied her up in the next room."

"Chase!" Elizabeth said reproachfully. "She's probably scared out of her wits! How long has she been in there? And why didn't you tell Demetrius that she was okay? He probably wouldn't have-"

"I needed him to attack first," Chase interrupted. "And I said she's fine. I just put her into a trance. She won't even have a headache when I wake her up."

"Sorry," Elizabeth said. "I just spent all day chained up in a basement, and the idea of someone being held prisoner just doesn't agree with me."

"Understandable," Chase said. "But trust me; you would not have wanted to deal with both of them at once. Elaine is pretty fierce."

"What'll happen to her now?"

"It depends," Chase said coldly. "I don't know how long she's been under Demetrius' influence. It could be she'll be able to go to whatever her life was before he came around, or it could be that she'll end up going insane now that he's dead."

"That's not very helpful."

Chase shrugged. "We'll have to talk to her to find out. I'll bring her out here; hold onto that knife in case she tries anything."

Elizabeth nodded. "And then we can go to the Wolf Clan?"

"If all goes well, they'll be able to come in here," Chase said. "They're waiting outside right now."

## Chapter 13

Chase emerged from the next room a moment later with a confused looking woman in a green silk robe. She might have been fifty, but she seemed much older. Ragged tangles of blonde hair with conspicuously dark roots fell down past her shoulders. Her dark glassy eyes seemed way too big for her emaciated face. She had the look of a woman who had been sick for a very long time and had lost way too much weight way too fast. Her skin sagged limply from her protruding bones.

"Elizabeth, this is Elaine," Chase said as he ushered her into the room.

"Chase, what the hell is going on?" Her voice grated on Elizabeth's already frayed nerves.

Chase pointed to Demetrius' body beside Elizabeth.

Elaine inhaled sharply at the sight. Her right eye twitched. "What have you done?"

"We killed him," Chase said. "He had you mesmerized and was using you as his human servant. Do you remember anything?"

Elaine threw back her head and laughed a velvety laugh that was disturbingly familiar. "I remember everything, Chase." She spat out his name. "I remember promises being broken. I remember long nights alone in the dark not knowing if the man I had loved was alive or dead. I remember that bastard's whelp growing inside me like a disease."

"You told him that you wanted a child," Chase said bitterly.

"It should have been HIS child," Eliane screeched; her eyes burned with fury. Elizabeth unconsciously tightened her grip on Demetrius' knife. The hatred that radiated from Elaine was so thick that it was almost visible as she continued, "If I had known what was inside me, I would have ripped it out of me myself."

"You should never have even thought to attempt it," Chase said. He seemed to be having trouble keeping his voice steady. "Especially now. It would have never worked."

"We'll never know now will we?" Elaine replied. Her voice was softer now but still thick with emotion. "But she still has to die. You know that."

Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat. Her every instinct told her to get out of there, but her feet where rooted to the ground as her gaze kept darting between the two of them. It was clear that they had known each other for a long time.

"She won't die as long as I'm around," Chase said calmly, though his grim expression did not match his voice. "I swore to her clan that I would protect her."

"Her clan," Elaine sneered. "The same clan that almost wiped our clan off the face of the Earth."

"Yes," Chase said. "She can't be blamed for something that happened centuries before she was born." He looked at Elizabeth, his face troubled. Elizabeth could see that a small part of him agreed with Elaine.

Elaine did not reply. A look of something like pride flitted across her sickly features.

Elizabeth relaxed slightly. Surely this woman could be reasoned with somehow. Everything was going to be fine. She glanced at Chase. He was watching Elaine warily.

"You're a fool, Chase," Elaine whispered. She looked at Elizabeth. Her lips curled back into a smile that suddenly turned into a snarl.

Without warning, she leapt at Elizabeth with her arms outstretched.

Elizabeth instinctively lifted her hands to defend herself.

Elaine let out a hoarse cry and looked down at the knife protruding from her belly.

Chase rushed forward.

Elizabeth's fingers slipped off of Demetrius' knife as she backed away in horror. She had forgotten for an instant that it had been in her hand.

"I-I-I'm," Elizabeth could only stutter in disbelief. What had she done? "E-E-Elaine?" She shook her head and continued to back away, not knowing what to do. She could not take her eyes off the stain that was slowly spreading across Elaine's flimsy robe.

The older woman dropped to her knees and wrapped a pale hand around the hilt.

"Don't!" Chase shouted, but it was too late.

Elaine twisted the blade and wrenched it out of her body. "I'll see you in hell, bitch," she gasped as her lifeblood gushed onto the carpet.

The room spun around Elizabeth. She felt like her heart would burst out of her chest. She was hyperventilating and trying desperately to process what was happening in front of her.

Chase was on his knees, vainly trying to staunch the bleeding, but there was not power on Earth that could have saved Elaine. He was saying something, but Elizabeth could not hear him. All she could hear was her own pulse pounding in her ears and the rasping breath of the dying woman.

## Chapter 14

The front door was ripped off its hinges as Lord Reginald burst into the house. In an instant, he was beside Elizabeth.

"It's okay, young one," he said. He wrapped his arms around her protectively. "You're safe now."

She buried her head in his chest and burst into tears. The realization of what she had just done swept over her.

"I killed her," she gasped between sobs. "I didn't mean to kill her."

Lord Reginald rubbed her back and whispered soft words of comfort into her ear.

"Marcus," he said sharply, looking up suddenly.

Elizabeth lifted her head and turned to see Sir Marcus holding Chase in the air by his throat. He must have come in just after his father without her even noticing.

"I'll kill you, hunter," Marcus snarled at Chase.

Chase kicked his legs and clawed at Marcus' arm in an effort to break the vampire's grip. He seemed to already be too weak to reach up and unsheathe his swords as the life was slowly being choked out of him.

"Marcus, no," Elizabeth whimpered. She had never seen him this angry. The air around him shimmered with his rage.

"Marcus," Lord Reginald said again.

A muscle twitched in Marcus' cheek. He threw Chase across the room as if he weighed nothing.

Chase grunted as his back hit the wall and he slid to the ground.

"Chase!" Elizabeth yelled hoarsely. She tried to break free from Lord Reginald, but he would not let her go.

"It's okay, Lizzy," Chase said. He was clearly in pain, but he managed to struggle back to his feet. "I'm okay."

"Not for long," Marcus growled.

"Please don't hurt him anymore," Elizabeth said. "He saved my life."

"That woman could have killed her," Marcus said without taking his eyes off Chase. He acted like he hadn't even heard Elizabeth. "If you weren't under my father's protection, I would rip out your liver and make you eat it."

"See, Lizzy," Chase said with a crooked smile. "That's a good threat."

Elizabeth could only stare at him in astonishment.

"Rest, young Elizabeth," Lord Reginald said, ignoring the thick tension between his son and the hunter. His power began to flow over her like a warm flood washing away her pain and fear. Her body felt delightfully weightless. She could feel him offering her the gift of sleep without dreams.

"Thank you, my lord," she whispered. She was more than happy to accept his gift; her eyelids were already beginning to droop. "Please don't let them kill each other."

"You have my word," Lord Reginald replied.

Elizabeth sighed in contentment as she drifted away on a calm sea.

## Chapter 15

"Thank you for your assistance, Slayer Chase," Lord Reginald said as he lay Elizabeth's sleeping body on the hotel room bed and tucked her in gently. Romulus hopped onto the bed and curled up at her side.

Chase nodded, his jaw clenched.

"I still say that this is a foolish thing to do," Marcus said. If looks could kill, Chase would have been diced into tiny bits on the floor. "How can we possibly continue to trust him? We are putting Elizabeth's life in his hands yet again?"

"And where else would you take her to keep her safe?" Chase asked. He was a good six inches shorter than Marcus, but still he stood toe to toe with the tall vampire without batting an eye. "Into your coffin while you sleep? You know that she can't go back to her dorm, and you can't leave her with only a wolf to protect her. He may be powerful, but he's not more powerful than the Council. They would be able to track her down within a day, and you know that they'd kill her long before you could reach her. And then what would you do? Have another little massacre of hunters and their families? You would start another war."

"The Council would not have even been an issue if you had simply let us deal with that woman," Marcus growled.

"You?" Chase said with a snort. "She'd still be dead then wouldn't she?"

"At least Elizabeth wouldn't have been involved!"

"How could she not have been involved?" Chase's voice rose angrily. "Do you really think that the Council would care about who actually killed her? The mere fact that she was there. Hell, the mere fact that she is what she is-"

"She is not-" Marcus started to speak over him.

"That's enough," Lord Reginald said, silencing them both with a wave of his hand. "I would have left them both alive if they had released Elizabeth as I requested. That was what we discussed, and the word of a Wolf is binding. Marcus, you know that. And Chase, you should not have baited Demetrius into attacking. You knew that you would have been justified to your Council, but they are not here. You went in there under my protection, and now, one of my oldest friends is dead."

"I told you-" Marcus started to say but stopped at the look on his father's face.

"Furthermore," Lord Reginald continued. "You knew that woman was once a part of the Council. You had no right to put Elizabeth in that kind of danger."

"I know," Chase said. He looked at the ground, unable to meet the ancient vampire's eyes. "I just didn't think she would have been that far gone. I thought I could help her. She was my mother."

Marcus' jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke. "If you wish to avenge her, I alone will claim the responsibility for her death. You may challenge me if you wish."

Chase let out a chuckle in spite of himself. He looked at Marcus with a look of mingled respect and disgust. "She might have been my blood, but she was never my family. I would have killed her myself after she attacked Elizabeth."

"I just figured I'd give you the option," Marcus said with a careless shrug. "It's a matter of honor."

Chase cocked his head to the side and smiled sardonically. "Vampires with honor? I'll never get used to the idea. Makes me feel like I'm the abomination."

Lord Reginald was between them in a flash.

"I should kill you for that," Marcus snarled.

Chase had no doubts that he would have if Lord Reginald had not been there.

"It is not wise to mock the honor of a Wolf," Lord Reginald said. Beneath the calm in his voice, Chase could sense a deadly undercurrent. "Marcus, do not rise to this foolish boy's taunts. He is not thinking clearly, but he is still under my protection."

Chase gnawed his lip in embarrassment. It was like there was something inside him whispering seditious thoughts into his mind.

"There is no shame in your mother's weakness," Lord Reginald said as he studied Chase's expression. "I understand some of the turmoil in your mind, but it is never wise to taunt an enemy who cannot hurt you, especially if he is stronger than you."

"So, we are enemies," Chase said.

"We can be enemies, if you wish it," Lord Reginald replied. "But you did help us save Elizabeth, and I swore to her that you would be not be harmed. So long as you continue to protect her, we shall be allies."

"I understand, sir," Chase said, feeling chastised. "I apologize for my rudeness, Sir Marcus."

Marcus grunted and left the room without another word.

"I don't need to tell you what will happen if any harm comes to Elizabeth," Lord Reginald said. For the first time, his voice became ever so slightly threatening.

"I'll take care of her," Chase said. "Any bitterness I have towards your clan, is directed at your son and Demetrius. And Demetrius is dead."

"You hate my son for something he did centuries ago, Chase," Lord Reginald said. "It has no doubt been taught to you since childhood, but you should remember, that the only reason you are alive today is because of him."

Chase glanced at Elizabeth sleeping peacefully on the bed. "I think it's more thanks to her," he mumbled to himself.

Lord Reginald must have heard because before leaving the room, he turned and said, "It's a good thing then that Marcus has such a respect for his family." He opened the door and was gone before Chase could reply.

Chase sighed and looked back at Elizabeth.

Romulus lifted his head and gave him a piercing stare.

"Don't look at me like that," Chase said.

The wolf gave a quiet growl of warning.

Chase chuckled and shook his head. "It's been a long day," he told Romulus. "Wake me up if anything else happens." He stretched himself out on the second bed in the room and was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow.

# Monday

## Chapter 1

Elizabeth woke with a start to see sunlight streaming through the window. She was lying on a large bed with a lumpy mattress and stiff white sheets. As she looked around at the dingy walls with cheap looking watercolor painting of sailboats and the identical bed beside the one that she was in, she realized that she was in a motel room.

She closed her eyes and tried to piece together the events of last night. She remembered falling asleep in Lord Reginald's arms, but then how had she gotten here?

The door opened and then closed with a quiet click. Something big and furry jumped up on the bed beside her and started to lick her face.

"Hey, Romulus," she said as she ran her fingers through his rough fur. She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise at the sight of the wolf. It definitely was Romulus, but he looked and smelled all wrong. His fur gleamed as if it had just been brushed, and he was wearing a big red collar. She scratched him affectionately behind the ears and asked him, "Who gave you a bath?"

She laughed as a vision of a very wet Chase with a soap covered wolf in a tiny hotel bathtub filled her mind.

"It took plenty of convincing on my part."

Elizabeth looked up from Romulus to see Chase standing at the foot of her bed with a wry smile.

"I'm glad to see he's okay," she said, smiling back. "And you too, Chase."

"I'm pretty happy about that myself," Chase said. He held up the box of donuts with two cups of coffee perched precariously on top. "I hope you're hungry."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "You are my new best friend," she said.

Romulus whined and nuzzled her cheek.

"Sorry, Romy," Elizabeth said with a smile. "But he does have food. She sat up and took a sip of the coffee that Chase had handed her.

"I didn't know what you like, so I just got a bunch of different ones," Chase said as he set the box on the nightstand between the two beds.

"Fine by me," Elizabeth said through big bite of a maple bar. "I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my life."

"That's saying something," Chase said as he sat down on the second bed and helped himself to a cinnamon roll. "I've seen how much you can eat."

Elizabeth finished the maple bar and picked up another donut. "I like Romulus' collar by the way," she said. "Red's my favorite color."

"I figured that it would work better than a pink and sparkly one."

Romulus grunted in agreement.

"Though you can be the one to give him a bath next time," Chase said. "I figured he'd be more convincing as a dog if he had a collar and wasn't covered in blood. Plus, I told him that you'd like him better if he smelled better."

"There's no way anyone would think he's a dog," Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "But it's worth a try." She finished her second donut and picked up her third. "His cuts are healing nicely," she said before taking a bite.

"They might leave some scars, but other than that he'll be fine," Chase said.

"And you're definitely okay, right?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'll be fine too," Chase said with a wink. "As long as you don't eat all the donuts."

Elizabeth selected her forth donut from the box and grinned mischievously. "You just need to eat faster."

#

In the end, Elizabeth did eat almost the entire box of donuts by herself, but Chase insisted that he'd had enough.

"You'd better not say anything about feeling fat now," he warned as her as she rubbed her stomach contently.

She stuck her tongue out at him and rolled her eyes.

He chuckled and shook his head. As she had eaten, he had told her about how Lord Reginald had asked him to watch over her during the day and then meet up after sundown. He had not mentioned the fact that Elaine was his mother, and he did not feel even remotely inclined to do so.

"I can hardly remember last night after Demetrius' died," Elizabeth said. "I know it's there; it's just really jumbled."

"You just need more rest," Chase said.

"I remember being worried that Sir Marcus wanted to kill you."

"Most vampires tend to want that," Chase said with a snort. "But then again, I usually kill any vampire I come across."

"You'd better not try to kill my uncle," Elizabeth said. She found it hard to sound as serious as she felt. "That might put a damper on our relationship."

Chase grinned and said, "Our relationship?"

"Our friendship." She tried to stress the word.

"I like 'relationship' better," Chase said. He raised his eyebrows.

Elizabeth threw a wadded napkin at him. "I'm trying to be serious," she said.

"Your choice of weapon tells me otherwise." Chase replied. He had dodged the napkin that Elizabeth had thrown and was crumpling up his own arsenal.

"It honestly worries me," Elizabeth said with a sigh, growing more serious with each passing moment. "I like you, Chase, I really do, and it genuinely scares me." A slight line appeared on her forehead as she scrunched her eyebrows together.

Chase cocked his head to the side and asked, "why?"

"You're a hunter," Elizabeth said. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to organize her thoughts. "Some part of me will always be afraid that you'll-" She found that she could not finish her thought.

"I'm actually a Slayer, remember?" Chase gave her a roguish wink.

Romulus growled a warning.

Elizabeth gave up trying not to smile. There really was no point. Chase always seemed to be able to disarm her completely with his charm. She could feel Romulus' mind press against hers. She could tell that he didn't like or trust Chase very much.

Chase gnawed his lower lip. "The truth is if it was anyone else, I wouldn't be here," he confessed. "I'd be hunting for Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus' current daytime resting places, and then if I couldn't find them, I'd take you somewhere and rig up every sort of anti-vampire charm and trap that I could think of."

"But they're different?" Elizabeth asked hopefully.

"No, Lizzy," Chase said. "You're different."

Elizabeth's smile drooped into a frown. "I'm getting a little tired of hearing that," she said.

"It's true," Chase said with an unapologetic shrug. "You are a rare individual. Whether you want to accept it or not. I have more reason to be scared of you. You could easily rip through my mind."

Elizabeth yawned, suddenly feeling ready for a nap after all that food. "Well," she said. "You don't have to worry about me for a bit." She settled comfortably against her pillows and smiled as she looked up at Chase. "Thanks for breakfast."

## Chapter 2

Elizabeth's eyes snapped open; she sat up and looked around wildly.

"What is it?" Chase asked.

"I killed her," Elizabeth said. The jumbled memories from last night had suddenly coalesced as she had been napping. She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head. "How could I have done it? I didn't-"

Chase hurried to her side and shushed her. "It's okay, Lizzy," he said taking her hand.

Romulus lifted his head from between his paws and watched him warily.

"It was self-defense," Chase said. "I know you didn't want to do it."

Elizabeth relaxed a bit and frowned as she looked up at Chase. "Who was she?" she asked. Her gaze bored into Chase's skull.

Chase looked away and said nothing.

"She was you mother, wasn't she?" Elizabeth asked.

Chase's entire body went rigid with shock.

Elizabeth pulled her hand away from his and clapped it against her mouth.

"How did you know?" Chase said at last, his expression wooden.

"I just know," Elizabeth said. "I think Romulus told me."

Chase frowned and glanced at the big wolf who had put his head back down between his paws and had closed his eyes.

"You weren't going to tell me were you?" There was a hint of accusation in Elizabeth's voice.

"Did Romulus tell you that too?" Chase asked. His eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at her.

"He didn't have to."

Chase rubbed his temples. His head was beginning to pound. "You're messing around in my head," he said.

Elizabeth wrenched her thoughts away from his mind. She felt sick to her stomach at what she had found there.

"She would have killed you; you know that right?" Chase said.

Elizabeth nodded, but did not reply.

"You know I don't blame you."

"It's not that," Elizabeth said. "She was your mother, but you feel nothing."

"You heard her say that she never wanted me," Chase felt a twinge of shame as he spoke. What sort of monster was he? It was true that he had never considered Elaine to be his mother, but she had been. Had he become completely desensitized to death?

"She was lying, Chase," Elizabeth said. "I could see it. She was proud of you."

"She probably wouldn't be so proud if she could see me now," he said with a self-deprecating smile. He sat down and shook his head. "Sir Marcus offered me a chance to fight him to avenge her, but I turned him down, and here I am protecting the one who killed her."

Elizabeth frowned. "My whole life is about to change, isn't it?"

Hasn't it already?" Chase asked, raising his eyebrows. "Is that really such a bad thing?"

## Chapter 3

Elizabeth let out a contented sigh. There was nothing like a long hot shower to make the world a little brighter. She wrapped a towel around her and poked her head out of the bathroom.

"At ease, Romy," Elizabeth said with a chuckle at the sight of Romulus sitting stiffly by the door.

The big wolf looked up at her and whined.

Elizabeth stepped out of the bathroom and patted him reassuringly on the head. She was actually relieved that Chase hadn't returned. He had been a perfect gentleman when he had suggested that she relax and shower while he got her some fresh clothes, but there had been an undeniable tension between them. She felt like she needed to talk about Elaine's death, but it was clear that Chase had no interest in discussing it. His lack of remorse worried her, but far worse than that was the fact that there was a part of her that had enjoyed digging around in his mind. She was slowly coming to realize that she really could rip apart his mind if she wanted to. It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

"What's the matter with me?" she said out loud. She instinctively threw up barriers around her mind.

Romulus cocked his head to the side as he looked at her.

"I don't really want to know, Romy," Elizabeth said with a shrug. She could feel his thoughts pressing against hers. She tapped her forehead with her index finger. "There's too much going on in here for there to be room for you right now."

The wolf kept looking at her silently.

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair. "Things are happening so quickly, I hardly know what to think," she said more to herself than to Romulus. "Sometimes I wish you could just speak plain English and tell me what's going on."

Romulus whined sympathetically.

"Just having you around, is comforting. I can't imagine what it's like having so many souls in you. I feel lost and confused, and it's just me in here." She drew the towel around her more tightly and sat in the chair by the window. It was frustrating how quickly the delightful feeling of being clean and safe had slipped through her fingers.

"I hate how one minute, Chase and I are acting like old friends, and then the next it's super weird and awkward."

Romulus trotted across the room and laid his head on her knee. Elizabeth smiled fondly down at him and started to scratch behind his ears.

"I know you don't like Chase, but I really do," she said. "But it's so confusing and complicated, especially now."

Romulus grunted in assent.

They sat quietly, each deep in their own thoughts. After a few minutes, Elizabeth stood and walked to the phone by the nightstand between the beds.

## Chapter 4

Chase drummed the steering wheel impatiently as he drove away from the hotel. He was conflicted. Should he just drive away and not come back? Surely Elizabeth would be fine without him. Maybe even safer. He shook his head and gnawed on his lower lip. He had made a promise to protect her, but at what cost to himself?

He remembered his father looking down at him after his first kill. She had been young, still in her early teens, maybe a year or two younger than he had been. A freckled, red haired girl with eyes to big for her face. She had been too small for the shotgun that she had pointed at him as she tried to defend her master. He hadn't even hesitated. He had killed her before she could kill him. He could still remember the acrid smell of gun smoke and the vision of her tiny body crumpling to the ground.

He had watched in fascination as the blood had spread across the girl's chest, staining her pale blue dress. One minute she had been alive and vibrant, and the next she had been dead. Because of him.

He had felt a strange sort of emptiness as he looked at her. The same emptiness he felt at the sight of Elaine's death. He shuddered. How had he come to be so heartless?

His father told him more times that he could count that anyone who allies themselves with a vampire should be hunted down without mercy. He would have said, without a doubt, that Elaine deserved to die. But so did Elizabeth. And so did he.

Chase almost laughed aloud at the bitter irony. Who would have imagined that the famous William Brennan's widow and only son would both end up serving master vampires? It was almost too dreadful to think about.

He sighed and shook his head; he needed a good strong drink.

## Chapter 5

Elizabeth picked up the phone and dialed with trembling fingers.

"'Ello!" a cheery voice answered after one ring.

"Michie, it's Lizzy." She winced as her roommate started a loud gush.

"Oh my god! Lizzy! Where the hell have you been? I've been totally worried! Are you okay? Shit! I sound like you now. That Chase guy was looking for you yesterday and today there were these other random guys that came over and were asking for you. It was really weird! What's going on? Where are you? And whose phone are you calling from? When I told you that you need to get out more, I didn't mean-"

"Calm down, Michelle," Elizabeth cut her off. The speech that she had planned out only minutes before vanished from her memory. "Listen Michie, I'm going to be going away for awhile."

"Lizzy, what's happened?" Michelle's voice was filled with concern.

Elizabeth could picture her slouching at her desk. She sighed and frowned into the phone.

"Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"No," Elizabeth said as reassuringly as she could manage. "I'm fine. I can't explain it right now. I just need some time to figure things out."

"What things?" Michelle's voice bordered on hysteria. "Please tell me what's going on! Those guys were saying some pretty weird things. Please come home. You can't just leave like this! I need you here."

Elizabeth realized for the first time in two years how much her roommate had come to depend on her. Memories of the many hours that they had spent together came flooding into her mind. At the same time, her head was spinning at the thought that some random strangers were looking for her. She wondered what they had said to Michelle, but at the same time, she could not bring herself to ask. Were there more hunters around? Or maybe the police?

"I'm sorry, Michelle," she said at last, pulling herself out of her thoughts. All this time, she had thought that she had been the one who needed Michelle. Hadn't she always defined herself to a certain extent as Michelle's friend and roommate rather than as her own person? Her voice began to shake as she continued. "Remember how I used to say that I felt like I didn't belong at this school?"

She could picture Michelle nodding into the phone as she had often seen her do.

"I think I finally figured out where I belong." It was a blatant lie. She had no idea where she was going to go or what she was going to do. All she knew was that she had to get as far away as she could.

Michelle sniffed before she replied, "But Lizzy-" She trailed off into silence.

"I'm sorry, Michie. Maybe someday I'll be able to explain it to you."

Michelle did not respond.

"I just wanted you to know that I won't be coming back." Elizabeth was relieved that she could at least tell her one thing that was true. "You can give any of my stuff that you don't want to charity."

"Okay," Michelle's voice sounded flat.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Elizabeth sighed and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She could feel her roommate's misery and frustration pulsing in the silence between them. "You'll be okay without me."

"I know, Lizzy. Take care of yourself."

"You too." Elizabeth nodded even though she knew that Michelle couldn't see her. "Oh, and Michie?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you burn my journal? It should be in the outer pocket of my backpack."

Michelle sighed into the phone. "Alright," she said.

"Thanks." Elizabeth's eyes burned with tears as she hung up without a word. There was too much that she couldn't say.

Romulus stood suddenly and growled.

"What is it, Romy?" Elizabeth asked wiping her eyes.

The fur on the back of Romulus neck stood on end as something crashed against the door.

## Chapter 6

The Walmart cashier gave Chase a funny look but didn't say anything. Chase figured that it wasn't every day that a guy came in to buy ladies clothing, bandages, and fifth of Jameson. He shrugged it off. It was the least of his worries.

He had decided that he wasn't going to run. She was still Elizabeth, that same sweet wide eyed girl that he had been drawn to the day they met. He was worried though. The Council would never accept her. They would see an abomination that needed to be destroyed immediately. Or far worse, they would take her alive.

The thought of what they might do to her, made him feel sick to his stomach. Anyone with any connection to a master vampire was considered fair game for imprisonment and torture. It wouldn't matter that she didn't have any information. It wouldn't matter that she had only killed Elaine in self-defense. All they would care about was that she had vampire blood in her veins.

Chase realized with a start as he drove back to the hotel, that Elizabeth must also have hunter blood in her. He could not stifle a laugh as he imagined her as a hunter with a sword in one hand and a stake in the other. It was a strange sight indeed. But then again, he couldn't help reflect, hadn't she already helped him kill a master vampire? And he did need a new hunting partner. He tried to think how that conversation would go.

"Oh, Lizzy, so I was thinking that technically you're a Slayer, so maybe some time we could go hunting together," he would say. He laughed again.

Her eyes would widen innocently and she would say...

Chase stopped laughing. What would she say? She clearly could see that not all vampires were as good and honorable as those in the Wolf Clan. The fact that he thought of them as honorable worried him a little, but he shook it off. Surely Elizabeth would want to learn how to fight and defend herself. It was clear that she would never want to be taken prisoner ever again. Maybe she actually would want to learn from him and would take him up on his offer. Maybe someday they might hunt together.

It was a pleasant thought, followed immediately by the terrible thought that if he did teach her, she might turn her abilities against the Council. But then again, the Council was so corrupt, that maybe it was time for someone to take them down. He felt a pang of shame. Was he really contemplating the idea of undermining the Council? He tried to shake the thought away, but it clung to the inside of his head like a leech. He was so deep in thought that he almost drove past the hotel.

As he turned into the parking lot, a searing pain shot through his temples. The pain faded quickly, but it was enough to pull Chase out of his thoughts and make him alert enough to notice the sleek black car parked near the door of his room. It had not been there when he left. He drove slowly past the car and saw that the license plates had been removed. For an instant, he considered just driving on, but he knew that he couldn't. He could not let Elizabeth fall into the Council's hands. He parked behind the building, took a deep breath and prepared himself for an unpleasant confrontation.

Chase hugged the wall as he rounded the corner and walked cautiously towards his room. The wood around the lock had been splintered, and the door hung crookedly on its hinges, like someone had kicked it open and then let it swing closed of its own accord.

The pistol that he had brought from the car felt unnatural in his hand, but the idea of going in unarmed was not in the least bit appealing, and his swords would draw far too much attention in broad daylight. If it came to it, he would easily be outgunned. He pushed the door open with his foot, half expecting to be greeted by a barrage of bullets. Part of him would have welcomed it.

He held the gun in both hands, with his arms straight and stepped into the room.

What he saw shattered all of his expectations.

## Chapter 7

It was as if a tornado had ripped through the small room. Bits of bedding and mattress stuffing were still falling onto the overturned furniture like snow. The window at the back of the room and the mirror on the wall had been shattered. Elizabeth and Romulus were gone, but there were two strange men clad in cheap black suits sprawled motionless on the floor. Chase checked their pulses and breathed a sigh of relief. They were only unconscious.

He wondered how they had found Elizabeth so quickly, and how she had been able to knock out two such big competent looking hunters. Were they hunters? That was what it looked like, but he couldn't be sure. There wasn't time to dwell on it.

He looked around the room for any clue the Elizabeth might have left. She had taken Demetrius' knife from the nightstand but had left her bloodied shirt and jeans crumpled on the floor in the bathroom. Had circumstances been different, Chase would have been amused by the thought of her running around in her underwear. He folded her clothes and packed them in the large duffel bag that he had left in the closet. Years of travelling taught him to never unpack more that he had to in case he had to leave somewhere in a hurry. His trench coat was missing, so at least Elizabeth had something to cover herself. He found the collar that he had bought for Romulus in a neat circle beneath the window. He had a feeling that it meant something, but he wasn't sure what. Whenever he found Elizabeth, they would have to have a conversation about what to do if they got separated again.

He tucked his gun into the waistband of his jeans and slung his bag over his shoulder. After a quick look through the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he decided to go out the back window. It was already broken anyways, and it would save him from having to walk around the building again. His instincts warned him to put as much distance as possible between him and these men. Hopefully, Elizabeth wouldn't have gotten too far yet. He had to find her soon.

## Chapter 8

Chase tossed the duffel bag into the trunk and got into the car. He tucked his gun and Romulus' collar into the glove box and glanced into the rearview mirror.

Two sets of blazing blue eyes were staring back at him.

He yelled in surprise and turned to see Elizabeth and Romulus sitting quietly in the back seat.

Elizabeth looked especially tiny in Chase's huge coat with her legs curled to the side. She was leaning against Romulus with her arm around his neck. They both blinked, and their eyes turned back to their normal soft brown and bright yellow.

"Sorry," Elizabeth said. She ran her fingers through her damp hair. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Scare me?" Chase's voice sounded shrill in his own ears. "What the hell?"

"We were hiding in the bushes, and we saw your car," Elizabeth said.

"I didn't even see you back there," Chase said. "What happened in the room?"

"I'm not sure." Elizabeth's eyes widened with genuine innocence. "They smashed through the door and then- I don't know." She shook her head. "I don't know exactly what I did. It was like I was inside their heads. I didn't kill them did I?" Her voice became tremulous.

"No, they seemed okay. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little shaken."

"Here," Chase handed her the Walmart bag that he had left on the passenger seat. "I got you some clothes and a fresh bandage for your neck. We should get out of here."

"Yes, please and thank you," Elizabeth said eagerly. "Let's get as far away from here as possible." She started to pull the tags off a pair of black sweatpants and a red tank top while Chase pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm going to change while you drive," Elizabeth said. "And if you look, Romulus will chew your face off."

"That's decent threat," Chase said with a wry smile. "But I'm tempted to risk it."

Elizabeth returned his smile and replied, "I'll smash this bottle of whiskey over your head."

"Gotcha," Chase said, suddenly very focused on the road. "Can't waste good booze."

Elizabeth laughed.

#

"Okay," she said after a few minutes of wiggling into her new clothes. "I'm finished." She lifted the bottle of whiskey up. "Do you mind if I have some of this?"

"Help yourself," Chase said. "Just save some for me."

Elizabeth took a long swig and grimaced. "How can you drink this?"

"It's delicious. That's some good Irish whiskey."

"It's disgusting."

"Not a good idea to insult a man's whiskey."

"Maybe if the man had better taste..."

"No one's making you drink it."

"Two guys broke into my motel room while I was in a towel," Elizabeth said with a snort. "I think I deserve a drink of something that doesn't taste like battery acid."

"Fine," Chase said with a chuckle. "We'll stop somewhere and get you some girly drink."

"And a burger," Elizabeth said, her eyes brightening. "I don't know about you, but I could eat a whole cow right now."

"I love a girl with a big appetite."

A growl rumbled from Romulus' chest.

Elizabeth hushed him. "It's just a figure of speech, Romy."

## Chapter 9

"Much better," Elizabeth said after she had finished her first cheeseburger. "I've been so hungry lately." She took a long swig of her beer before she started to unwrap her second burger.

Chase smiled at her from across the weather beaten table. He had made sure that they had found a quiet place where they could eat in peace. It was truly incredible how much this girl could eat in one sitting.

"I'm not too surprised honestly," He said. "The amount of energy you've been expending must be ridiculous. It takes a lot out of a mortal to spend so much time with extremely powerful vampires. I always had to eat and sleep a lot more after a good hunt."

Elizabeth smiled back at him and looked down at Romulus. The wolf looked up at her and growled; his eyes were a blazing blue. Elizabeth's face grew stern as she looked at him.

Romulus stood and started to trot away from the table. After he had gone a few yards, he turned back and let out a whine.

"It's okay, Romy," Elizabeth said.

Chase saw that once again, her eyes were the same color as the wolf's.

Romulus took off running across the grassy lawn of the deserted park. In the blink of an eye, he was a speck in the distance. The next instant, he had vanished from sight.

"Damn, he's fast," Chase said.

Elizabeth nodded. Her eyes had returned to their normal color. "He doesn't like you or trust you."

"But you do?" Chase asked hopefully.

She winked at him and took a bite of her burger.

"We should change cars," Chase said. "Those guys will be able to track us pretty easily. I used my real name when I checked into the hotel, so we'll have to lay low for awhile."

Elizabeth finished her second burger before she replied. "Romulus thinks that we were set up."

The thought had occurred to Chase, but he hadn't wanted to mention it.

"He suspects that you had a hand in it, but I know you didn't," she continued when Chase did not reply.

"Elaine could have easily pulled some strings with the Council to have some hunters nearby in case anything happened to her," Chase said. He was relieved that he didn't have to worry about defending himself. It was nice knowing that Elizabeth at least trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't deliberately betray her.

Elizabeth nodded. "Fortunately, they won't be catching up with is anytime soon."

"Why's that?" Chase asked with a frown.

Elizabeth gave him a mischievous grin. "Because now that they're awake, they'll have an unbearable urge to go to Disneyland."

Chase raised his eyebrows.

What?" Elizabeth asked. Her voice was almost too sweet. "I needed them out of the way, and I figured they should at least go somewhere fun. I sent Romulus to make sure that they head out of town."

"What are you?"

Elizabeth's smile turned into a frown. She shook her head. "I've been wondering that myself," she said with a sigh. "When they broke the door down, I could see into their minds. Their names are Michael Servin and Josh Nelson. They're brothers-in-law. Josh is married to Michael's sister, and they've been hunting partners for ten years. They both knew Elaine, but they aren't especially sorry that she was dead. Michael thought that she was just using them to do her dirty work, but Josh thought that they owed it to her to avenge her. Romulus wanted to rip them apart, but I wouldn't let him." She paused and rubbed her temples. "I could have ripped them apart myself," she said. "That scares me more than anything." The words seemed to flow out of her like an unstoppable flood. She told him about everything that Demetrius had said to her the night before. How he hadn't wanted to hurt her, but there was something that was driving him that he couldn't speak of. How there was something about her that was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

"I don't know why he didn't just kill me," she said. She shook her head again. "I just keep feeling like there was something that he wanted from me, but I don't know what it was. I don't know if I want to know. It might sound crazy, but I can still feel him inside my head."

"Demetrius is dead," Chase said reassuringly. "We killed him together. You saw me chop his head off and drive a sword through his chest. There's no way he could have possibly recovered from that, and even if he could, we burned the house to the ground after you passed out."

"I know that, Chase. I know that he's gone, but I feel like, I don't know, like there's a part of him in me. It's like how suddenly I have so much more control I have over my own mind. How I was able to break into Michael's and Josh's minds like they were tissue paper. I tore that room apart with a thought. I was able to hide from you. You looked right at me when you first came back to the car, but you didn't see me. I didn't want to tell you when Romulus was around, even though I know he knows, but when I first met Demetrius, he was able to wrap the shadows around him like a cloak. Somehow I did the same thing."

Chase frowned. "There are legends amongst the Hunter Clans of powerful vampires being able to walk unseen by mortal eyes," he said. "And lately, legends seem to be proving to be true."

"But I'm not a vampire."

"Obviously, but I think that Romulus is somehow sharing his power with you. When you were in the car, you and Romulus both had these radiant blue eyes."

Elizabeth eyes widened, but she said nothing.

"I don't know what that creature is," Chase stopped at the expression on Elizabeth's face.

"It suddenly occurred to me," Elizabeth said. "Romulus carries the souls of the old Wolf Clan that followed him into the pit. Maybe somehow, he caught Demetrius' soul. Maybe that's why I still feel him. It makes sense. Our bond seems to getting more and more powerful, so it's easier for us to share power."

"I won't pretend to understand what any of that means," Chase said with a shrug. "I'm not an expert on the inner workings and flow of power within vampire clans. I just hunt and kill them."

"Not anymore you don't," Elizabeth gave him a little wink. Her good spirits were returning quickly now that things were making a bit more sense. "Unless they deserve it, of course."

"Look at you," Chase said, glad to see Elizabeth smile again. "Next you'll tell me that you want to learn how to hunt."

Elizabeth's smile broadened.

Chase's eyes widened. "I was kidding."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in response.

Chase realized that she could probably see exactly what he was thinking. He shook his head and chuckled. "You know that basically as of last night, we're both part of a vampire clan. The Council will have a bounty on both of our heads and no hunt-"

Elizabeth cut him off with an impatient wave of her hand. "I know that no Hunter Clan would accept me, considering my bloodline, but I would never want to be part of a hunter clan. I want to learn so that I can protect myself and others from vampires like Demetrius and other hunters like Michael and Josh."

"I don't think you have to worry about other hunters too much," Chase said with a wry smile.

"But what about if Romulus isn't around? I don't want to have to always depend on others to protect me." Elizabeth's eyes took on a steely glint. "I am absolutely determined to never allow myself to get captured ever again, and I figure that since we're going to be traveling together, you might as well teach me a few things."

"Who said anything about traveling?"

Elizabeth let out a little chuckle. "Don't act like I'm that naïve. You and I both know that we're going to have to go on the run, and I know you well enough to know that you won't leave me."

"Why not just go with Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus?"

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath before replying. "Because I'm human, Chase," she said with some effort.

Chase frowned and looked perplexed.

"I feel like sometimes they forget that I'm not a vampire." Elizabeth said. "I know in time I'll get used to it, but there are so many things about them that make me feel so weak and ignorant. I need someone who I can actually talk to about, I guess, human things. I don't know if that makes sense."

"It makes sense," Chase said. "You're doing well for someone who just found out about the existence of vampires and hunters and shape shifters and the like."

"I feel like I barely know anything," Elizabeth said. "But I do know that I trust you, and I want you to teach me everything you know."

Chase's teeth flashed as he gave Elizabeth a crooked grin. "I'll teach you everything I know on three conditions."

"Name them," Elizabeth's eyes glinted dangerously.

"We have to get permission from Lord Reginald."

"Fair enough."

"You have to keep your 'uncle' and Romulus from trying to kill me."

Elizabeth laughed. "What's the third?"

Chase's eyes narrowed as he answered. "Stay out of my head."

Elizabeth became serious. "I promise to do my best."

"Thank you, Elizabeth" Chase said with a sigh. "It's nothing personal. I just don't think you'd like what you would find in there."

## Chapter 10

You're get more and more interesting every minute, Lizzy," Chase said with a smirk. "How the heck did you convince that guy to give you this car with an IOU?"

"And he's taking back your rental too," Elizabeth said. "He was very helpful."

Chase shook his head in amazement. He had just watched her sneak into three different clothing stores and emerge with enough new clothes to last fill her new suitcase without anyone noticing. Now she had just finished sweet talking a used car salesman into parting with a beautiful silver Ford Mustang with only the promise of payment.

"I have every intention of sending 'Honest Abe' the money when I get the chance though I don't know when I'll be able to," Elizabeth said. She settled into the passenger seat and sighed in contentment." "I figure we can hang on to this for a few days and then exchange it for something less flashy."

Chase slid into the driver's seat and chuckled. "That guy was one of the oiliest car salesmen I've ever seen."

"It seems to be getting easier the later it gets," Elizabeth said with smile. "My head doesn't hurt as much, but I'm trying to hold myself back. I don't want to lose control."

"That's probably a good idea," Chase said. "I'm just glad you're not planning on messing with my head."

"I won't deny that I'm tempted, but I said I'd stay out."

Chase started the car and nodded approvingly at the rumble of the engine. He pulled out of the used car lot and drove down the street. "I could get used to a car like this," he said. "Feel like using your burgeoning new mind control powers to get us some free dinner?"

"No thanks."

Chase looked at Elizabeth in surprise. "You're not hungry?"

"Oh, I'm starving," Elizabeth replied with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I'd just rather make you pay." She grimaced and started to massage her temples.

"Are you okay?" Chase asked.

"Yeah," Elizabeth said, her breath becoming slightly labored. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's Romulus. He's waiting for us at a cabin about a two hour drive from here."

"That wolf gets around fast," Chase said. "We'll have to get our dinner to go."

## Chapter 11

"Are you sure this is the place?" Chase asked as they reached the end of the long winding dirt road. The last glow of dusk had faded, leaving them isolated on a heavily wooded mountainside.

"Yeah, I can see the cabin," Elizabeth said, pointing into the woods. "See that light?"

Chase squinted into the darkness. "I can't see anything," he said. "But I trust you. I know your night vision is much better than mine."

"Romulus is there with someone," Elizabeth said with a frown. "But I can't tell who it is."

"He must be powerful if you can't see who it is," Chase said. "Could it be a trap?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't think so. He must be very powerful, but I think he's friendly. We outnumber him anyway."

"Numbers don't guarantee safety," Chase said.

"We'll be fine," Elizabeth said as she opened the door and stepped out of the car.

Chase looked troubled, but got out of the car without further comment. He opened the trunk and slung his two swords over his shoulders.

"No trench coat tonight?" Elizabeth said with a slight smirk. She touched the hilt of Demetrius' knife that was sheathed at her side. There was something strangely comforting about the feel of the weight against her hip.

"We're not hunting tonight," Chase said. He gave her a little wink. "But I'm not about to go anywhere unarmed."

"Here's Romy," Elizabeth hurried forward towards a dark shape moving through the trees.

The wolf trotted up to her and nudged her leg affectionately.

Elizabeth patted him on the head in greeting and started to follow him towards the cabin.

"Hey, wait," Chase said. "Aren't you going to ask him who's in there?"

"Oh, sorry," Elizabeth said turning to him. "He's too powerful for Romulus to be able to even tell to me, but I think that he's a shape-shifter of some kind. Apparently he was passing through, and he caught Romulus' scent."

"Seems a little too coincidental," Chase said. "This cabin is pretty far out of the way."

"Romulus seems to trust him," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "And Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus will be here soon."

#

After a few minutes of stumbling around in the dark after Romulus and Elizabeth, Chase breathed a sigh of relief as the rundown cabin came into view. It looked more like a shack than a cabin, but the light that shone from the small windows set on either side of door looked inviting enough.

"Can Romulus at least tell you what clan this shape shifter is a part of?" He whispered to Elizabeth, catching her by the arm before she could knock on the door.

"He's not a part of any clan," she whispered in reply.

Chase gnawed on his lower lip. "He's a rogue?"

Before Elizabeth could reply, the door flew open and a burly man with thick red hair and a bushy beard stepped out to meet them.

"Welcome, welcome," he said in a friendly voice that did not match his gruff lumberjack appearance. "You must be Elizabeth, good to meet you." He offered her his large calloused hand. "You're certainly an oddity aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Elizabeth was not exactly sure how to respond. "Hello, sir," she said tentatively, shaking his hand.

"Call me Donny." He looked over her head and smiled. "And this is Chase."

Chase jerked his head in a stiff nod.

"Yon Slayer doesn't seem to like rogues." Donny said. He seemed to be talking to himself more than to them, but he didn't bother to lower his voice. "But he's more of a rogue than I will ever be."

"You have us at a disadvantage," Chase said. His eyes narrowed as he began to toy idly with the hilt of the sword over his left shoulder. "You know our names, but won't tell us your real name."

Donny let go of Elizabeth hand and laughed a deep booming laugh that echoed in the quiet evening. "Aye, it's true," he said. "I have not spoken my true name, but it is hardly of any consequence to one such as you."

"Then why conceal it?" Chase asked darkly. There was something about Donny that just got under his skin.

"Stop it you two," Elizabeth said. She could tell that Chase was spoiling for a fight, but she couldn't tell why. Donny's presence felt strangely familiar, like he was an old forgotten friend. "It's good to meet you, Donny," she said before shooting Chase a dirty look. "Forgive my friend; he's very protective and suspicious of everyone."

"As well he should be," Donny said with a slight bow. "Come inside and rest while you wait for your comrades."

## Chapter 12

Donny ushered them into a tiny room with a roaring fire and roughly hewn furniture. It was clear from the thick layer of grime over the wood floor that no one had stayed here for years.

"There's not much here," he said, handing them two steaming mugs of hot tea. "Years ago it belonged to a crazy old hermit who built it with his bare hands. He told me that I could stay here whenever I passed through."

Elizabeth and Chase exchanged glances but did not reply. They sat and drank their tea while Donny reminisced about his old friend.

Donny started to pace restlessly in front of the fire while he spoke, leaving Elizabeth and Chase sitting side by side on a low wooden bench. Romulus sat stiffly at Elizabeth's side, without making a sound.

"Tell me," Donny said after a while. "How did a Slayer and a-" He paused and seemed to struggle to think of the words. "Well, and one such as yourself, come to be allies?"

"I would think if Romulus told you who we are, you would understand why we chose to become allies," Elizabeth said.

Donny rubbed his beard and frowned back at her. "Romulus. Interesting name," he said. "Is that what he's calling himself? Interesting. No, I actually couldn't get anything out of him other than your names and the fact that you're meeting with the rest of the Wolf Clan here tonight."

Elizabeth glanced down at Romulus frowned. He was sitting as still as a statue. She reached out to him with her mind but couldn't feel him. "What have you done?" She demanded, looking back to Donny.

"He'll be fine," Donny said. His voice had become slightly menacing.

Elizabeth turned to Chase and saw that he too sat rigid and unmoving. "Chase?" she said. She touched his shoulder; it was stone cold. She leapt to her feet and drew her knife, "What the fuck did you do!" she yelled furiously.

Donny stopped pacing and stared at her.

Elizabeth realized for the first time that his eyes looked wrong. The pupils were strangely oval, almost like a cat's.

"What are you?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"I am a traveler," Donny said calmly, as if people regularly pulled knives on him. "An ancient one at that." He returned to his pacing, though it was less energetic now. "I have seen many things, and consequently know many things. For example, I knew that Chase was a Slayer the moment I laid eyes on him. It's in his eyes and voice. But you, Elizabeth, you are so much more."

Elizabeth's knuckles turned white as she gripped the hilt of her knife.

"I can feel your power crawling along my skin," Donny continued. His voice had become a low growl.

"Then perhaps you should let my friends go," Elizabeth said. She sounded much more serene than she actually felt. "Unless you want to make me angry. It's harder for me to control myself when I get emotional."

"In good time," Donny said. "There's something that I wanted to tell you, and I didn't want them interfering. When I release them, they won't even realize that any time has passed."

"Then tell me," Elizabeth said. "Donny, or whatever your name is; tell me what you want."

"What I really want," Donny said sadly. "Is something that you cannot give me, at least not yet." He stared at her; his catlike eyes searched her face for something.

The sound of an owl hooting loudly somewhere outside the cabin seemed to shake him from his silent thoughts.

"Do you know why you have suddenly become so powerful?" He asked.

"I don't know," Elizabeth answered.

"Does it scare you, not knowing?"

"A little."

"It should scare you a great deal."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously.

Donny's beard tickled Elizabeth's ear as he whispered. "Do you know what you have inside you?"

Elizabeth jerked away from him and blinked in surprise when she realized that he was on the opposite side of the room.

Donny smiled at her reaction and walked slowly across the room. "Put away that knife, Elizabeth," he said. "It still belongs to Demetrius."

"Demetrius is dead," Elizabeth said, but she did slip the knife back into its sheath. She knew instinctively that Donny was no threat to her.

"Is he?" Donny rubbed his beard pensively. "Are you sure?"

Elizabeth did not reply.

"Your Clan is approaching faster than I anticipated," Donny said. "Take this." He handed her a small gray coin. "You need to find Philippe the Alchemist and give him this. He'll know what it's for."

Elizabeth looked down at the coin. It was so old and worn that whatever had once been etched into it had become blurred and distorted. "Where will I find him?" she asked, putting the coin in her pocket.

"I do not know," Donny said. "But you must not tell anyone about the coin. Don't even let anyone look at it."

"What is it?"

Donny shook his head. "Philippe will tell you when you find him," he said. "I must go."

"But-" Elizabeth stopped and looked around. Donny seemed to have melted into thin air.

"What happened?" Chase said groggily, rubbing his eyes.

On Elizabeth's other side, Romulus let out a confused grunt.

"I don't know," Elizabeth said with a sigh.

"Where's Donny?"

"He's gone."

"Gone where?"

Before Elizabeth could reply, the low rumble of an approaching vehicle reached her ears.

Romulus whined cheerfully and trotted to the door.

"They brought a truck?" Chase looked at Elizabeth in surprise. "How did they manage to get it up here so quickly?"

Elizabeth glanced at her watch. It was already approaching midnight. "It was just after sunset that we got here," she said. "How could all that time have passed?"

"I don't know," Chase said. "It had to have something to do with Donny."

Elizabeth fingered the coin in her pocket and bit her lip. "At least Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus are here now. They might know what happened."

"Not likely," Chase replied. "That Donny was unlike anything I've ever encountered."

## Chapter 13

"The Coyote Clan had accepted your generous gift of territory and has sworn friendship to us, young Elizabeth," Lord Reginald said after he and Marcus had greeted her warmly.

"Of course they would," Sir Marcus said. "They are our natural allies, but the Desert Clan was not too thrilled.

"The Desert Clan is more powerful at present, but only because the Coyotes are spread so thinly across the country while the Desert Clan in concentrated on a few large metropolis areas."

"Of course, of course," Chase said pretentiously, winking at Elizabeth. "Quite right, indeed."

Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus stared at him.

Chase shrugged, but Elizabeth said, "He means that we really have no idea what you're talking about."

"He could have just said that," Lord Reginald said.

"But where's the fun in that?" Chase asked with a crooked smile.

"There is no point in us trying to explain the politics of the clans with this creature, father," Sir Marcus said. He shot Chase a dirty look before he continued. "He has served his purpose. I say we send him on his way."

"No, Marcus," Elizabeth said.

Sir Marcus looked at her and frowned.

"I'd like Chase to stay with me," she said. She told him about the two hunters that had come for her in the hotel room and about the conversation that she had had with Chase about learning to be a hunter.

Lord Reginald looked thoughtful but said nothing.

Marcus on the other hand, looked livid. He glared at Chase. "You're going to teach her to go against her own kind? Who do you think you are?" He bore down on Chase, his eyes flashing.

Elizabeth leapt between the two of them with her arms outstretched. "Marcus, please listen. I want to be able to fight. I promised myself that I would never allow myself to be captured by anyone or anything again. And I want to be able to take care of myself."

"I could teach you more than this whelp could even imagine," Marcus said. His eyes still flashed, but his anger was beginning to subside.

"I'm not a vampire," Elizabeth said softly. "I need to learn from a human."

"At least at first," Lord Reginald said.

Marcus turned to his father, "You actually think it's a good idea?"

"She is right," Lord Reginald said. "We sometimes forget that Elizabeth is young and knows little of our ways. She cannot travel as quickly as we can or hide as easily. She will be better off, at least for now, in the company of a Slayer. He will know how to evade the hunters."

"I was thinking that we could travel east," Chase said. "I have a friend in Vegas who can help us."

"Are you crazy?" Marcus said. "Vegas is too volatile. It could turn into a war zone at any time."

"But no one's allowed to hunt there," Chase said. "The Council lets the Clans keep control of the city."

"As if they need the Council's permission," Marcus replied with a sneer.

"You can throw off your pursuit there," Lord Reginald said to Elizabeth, ignoring Marcus and Chase's bickering. "The Coyote Clan there can assist you."

"How will I know them?" Elizabeth asked.

"You're part of the Wolf Clan," Lord Reginald replied. "You'll know."

"Will you be coming with us?"

"No."

Chase and Sir Marcus both looked at Lord Reginald in surprise.

"We're not going to leave Elizabeth alone with him are we?" Marcus asked.

"Romulus will be with them," Lord Reginald replied. "We must return to Austria and continue to strengthen our clan. They can join us when the time is right."

"It might take awhile," Chase said, biting his lip. "I can't imagine the Rat Clan will be too thrilled to have me back in Europe."

"They don't control all of Europe," Lord Reginald said. "I can deal with them." He turned to Marcus and said, "Take Chase and show him the supplies we procured for him, Elizabeth and I will join you shortly."

Marcus nodded, and he and Chase left without a word.

"Is it such a good idea to let those two be alone together?" Elizabeth asked with slight smile.

"I am not worried about them," Lord Reginald said. "They are both hot headed and reckless. In time, I think they will get along quite well, but I am worried about you."

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair and looked down at the floor.

"What is troubling you?" Lord Reginald asked gently.

"I keep feeling like there's a part of Demetrius that's still alive. It's like I can still hear him inside my head even though I know that he's gone." Elizabeth said. She sighed. "I almost wonder if he's the reason that all of the sudden I can do so many things that I couldn't before, but it seems crazy."

Lord Reginald smiled sadly and laid a hand on her shoulder. "The flow of power amongst vampires and the clans is very complex. When Demetrius died, everything that was his became yours by right of conquest. That is why we could give the Coyote Clan the territories that Demetrius controlled."

"But I didn't kill him," Elizabeth said. "I might have helped, but-"

"There is vampire blood in your veins, Elizabeth," Lord Reginald interrupted. "Chase might be a Slayer, but he is wholly human. He cannot share in the power of the clans and masters the way you can."

"So what does that mean?" Elizabeth asked. "Did I somehow get some of Demetrius' power or something?"

"In a way," Lord Reginald replied.

Elizabeth threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Why do vampires always have to be so vague in their answers?"

Lord Reginald chuckled. "Because we do not have all the answers," he said. "The longer you live, the more you realize how little you know."

"You know much more than I do."

"Many of those things, I wish I did not know," Lord Reginald said with a sigh. "And I hope you never have to know them."

Elizabeth swallowed nervously but did not reply. She felt uneasy at the expression on Lord Reginald's face.

"Come," Lord Reginald said, shaking Elizabeth out of her thoughts. "The time of our parting must come soon. Let us go out to see Marcus and Chase and have one last discussion before we say farewell." He held out his hand.

Elizabeth took it and together they left the cabin with Romulus trotting at their heels.

*~*

The sun slowly lifted her majestic head to look down with fiery eyes on the pristine white SUV that barreled down the empty stretch of highway through the desert. They had driven in silence while the night had lasted, but there was something about the dawn that finally loosened their tongues enough to speak.

"Have you ever heard of Philippe the alchemist?" Elizabeth asked.

"I didn't know there were still alchemists around," Chase replied. "Why do you ask?"

Elizabeth shrugged and took a deep breath. The rich smell of new car mingled pleasantly with Chase's cologne. She glanced towards the back seat were Romulus lay stretched out comfortably.

"I've never been to Vegas," she said. She felt a slight pang as she thought of her roommate. "Michelle invited me to go with her last summer, but I didn't think that I'd like it."

Chase looked at her and gave her a sly wink. "You'd make a killer poker player."

"You'll have to teach me."

"I'll add it to the list. It seems like there are lots of things you don't know how to do, little Lizzy."

Elizabeth punched him playfully in the arm. "That's why I have you, old man."

She looked out the window as low shrubbery and stunted trees raced by. The pale sky turned slowly to a rich blue as the sun climbed higher and higher with each passing moment. She could hear her pulse throbbing in her ears and feel her blood flowing. She felt so alive as they raced down the desert in pursuit of adventure.

She turned to Chase to see that he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, his lips curved into that familiar crooked grin.

"What?" she asked.

Chase shrugged. "It just looks like it's going to be a beautiful day."

The Beginning

Elizabeth's adventure continues in The Wolf Clan Chronicles: Shadows on the Soul.

Available July 2014.

Until then, enjoy a little excerpt from the first chapter of that book:

The crisp breeze stung Elizabeth's bare skin as she stood on a sandy stretch of beach watching the first pale fingers of dawn caress the distant horizon. Normally, she would have felt incredibly self conscious standing out in the open like this wearing nothing but a tiny red bikini, but not now. And not here were the only sound was the whispering rhythm of the waves that lapped up around her toes. She could hardly remember the last time that she had felt so alone. It wasn't a bad thing. Indeed she relished the feeling almost as much as the salty tang that she licked from her lips.

She could not help but feel a certain sense of melancholy as one by one the last stars where swallowed up by the slowly brightening sky. Soon the sun would emerge in all her radiant glory and send her rays skipping across the glassy sea. It would be a beautiful symphony of color to herald the beginning of a new day, but it would bring little joy to Elizabeth. She had come to love the night.

"It's been centuries since I've seen a sunrise," a velvety voice came from beside her.

Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat.

"I must thank you for this, young Elizabeth," the voice continued.

"You're dead." Elizabeth finally found her voice. She turned to face the speaker. "I watched you die, Demetrius."

"Did you really?"

Elizabeth tried not to shudder as she looked into his cold grey eyes. He was exactly as she remembered. The same sharply defined features and cruel expression that did not quite match the smooth velvetiness of his voice.

"I saw Chase stab you through the heart," she said.

"That's right," Demetrius said. His thick lips curved into an amused smirk. "He cut off my head too, but here I am."

"And where exactly is here?" Elizabeth was surprised at how calm she sounded and felt for that matter.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Elizabeth looked out across the water. The sky had turned to a soft pink and the sea to gold as the first sliver of the sun rose above the horizon. "I'm dreaming aren't I?"

"You're getting quicker at noticing," Demetrius said.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked with a frown.

"We've had this conversation before."

"You'd think I'd remember."

"I wouldn't actually know. Do mortals often remember their dreams?"

"Sometimes. I suppose vampires don't dream."

"We don't."

"Lucky you." Elizabeth turned and began to walk along the beach. The waves lapped eagerly at her ankles, but she paid them no mind.

Demetrius followed a couple steps behind her. "Aren't you curious how I ended up in your dream?" he asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Elizabeth said without looking back.

"You know better than to lie to me," Demetrius said with a shadow of a threat in his voice.

"Why? You can't hurt me in a dream."

"You're certain of that?"

Elizabeth bit her lip to keep from exclaiming. Demetrius was suddenly blocking her path, his eyes gleaming with a deadly fury. "You really think that you're safe from me?"

She could hardly hear him above the sound of the waves, but there was no missing the menace in his voice. Her hand began to stray towards her right hip.

"Looking for this?" Demetrius' voice was now syrupy sweet. He was casually tossing a bloodstained knife into the air and catching it by the hilt. "It is mine after all."

"It was yours," Elizabeth replied. She felt a sudden surge of anger as she watched the blade slice through the air once again.

Demetrius smirked at the expression on her face. "I like your temper," he said. "You seem so sweet and innocent at first, but-"

"Don't talk to me about innocence," Elizabeth snapped. She felt as if someone had lit a fire in her stomach. "Thanks to you, I'll never be innocent."

"So you blame me, do you?"

"I blame myself," Elizabeth said. She could feel the heat from the fire within her rising along with the sun. There was something stirring deep within herself. Something horrible and dangerous. "Now give me my knife and get out of my dreams."

Demetrius' eyes widened. His smirk faded. "You're not what you seem," he said.

"Neither are you," Elizabeth replied. "But at least I'm still alive."

Demetrius handed the knife back to her hilt first. "It's a pity that you won't remember any of this when you wake up."

"I'd say it's a good thing."

"Maybe for you," Demetrius said bitterly. He furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side as if he was listening for something. A smile spread slowly across his sharp features. His eyes began to sparkle with malicious intent.

Elizabeth took a step backwards; her fist tightened around the hilt of her knife.

"I might not be able to hurt you," Demetrius hissed. "But here comes someone who can."

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