 
THE MIDNIGHT SON

EXISTENCE

By Louise Warren

Copyright 2013 Louise Warren

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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PROLOGUE

He was tossing and turning unable to rest, visions of his human life long ago tumbling through his dreams.

The vision of beauty that had been his wife, her long black hair tumbling around her body as he kissed her everywhere, a longing and a need he had kept hidden for 10 centuries. The softness of her skin coupled with the moans of delight as they became one in secret.

Anthony awoke from his nightmare, for the first time in many lifetimes feeling claustrophobic in his coffin. He stilled his breathing, trying desperately to erase the face of the woman he had once loved, but he couldn't, she was seared into his memory forever. There was nothing he could do, save for relive the moments he had shared in life with her ..... Orla, the only woman he had ever loved, no one could replace her, no one could give to him what she had given to him, what he still craved even though she had been dead almost 1,000 years.

But he would never get to touch her again, feel her soft delicate skin below her cold fingers. He had forfeit that right the night he had made his decision, and it was a decision he had regretted every moment of his existence ever since.

It was the decision that had cost him everything, and led him to be what he was today.

Powerful, dangerous and with nothing to lose except his dark life.

CHAPTER 1

The sun was shining as Alanah pulled the curtains back. A new day lay before her. She opened the French windows and walked out onto the small balcony that led directly out from her bedroom window. It was a Saturday morning and the road was quiet, everyone was taking the opportunity for a lie in.

Alanah drew in a deep breath of clean air and felt the warm morning sun on her face. She closed her eyes feeling a slight breeze flow gently over her cheeks; she could hear the twittering of the birds in the trees and they began to sing in her ears. She smiled at the sound, remembering the birds she had heard in the village in France, she wished she were there now.

Although this was all wonderful, and she thanked the world for everything she had every morning, there was always a dull ache in her chest for the man she loved, the man circumstances had taken from her. No amount of fresh clean air, or birds singing could bring him back. The sun on her face reminded her at every turn what she was missing, what Dan was missing and her heart ached a little more every time she thought of him asleep somewhere in a coffin whilst she enjoyed the warmth of the sun's rays.

"Morning!" Came Jessie's voice from the door way, she stifled a yawn as she spoke.

"Hi. Did you sleep OK?" Alanah asked smiling at her friend. She came in from the balcony and closed the windows. Although she knew that Jessie knew about her melancholy, she hated reminding her, and she always did her best to hide it from her friend. There was only so much sympathy she could take at any one time.

"Yes thanks. What about you?" Jessie asked sitting down on Alanah's bed.

"Not too bad, getting a little uncomfortable, but OK. Junior was pretty active during the night, giving me practice I think for when he arrives. I was a little hot last night and it took ages to get to sleep, but once I finally managed it, it was a good night's sleep." She smiled sleepily at her friend.

"So we're going shopping today?" Jessie asked, checking their plans hadn't changed.

"I think it's time we went and sorted out what I need, and it's a long list!" Alanah laughed. "Good job I've got what feels like an unlimited supply of money, I think we could end up spending a lot today!"

"I guess that's the upside of having a grandpa 500 years old. Plenty of time to accumulate plenty of money!"

As Jessie put on the kettle in the kitchen, Alanah heard the post drop onto the mat. Waddling from the dining room to the hallway, she stooped awkwardly to pick up the post from the mat and began to flick through it, past bills and circulars until she came to a padded envelope with a post mark from France.

Opening the envelope, a memory card fell out into her hand and she looked at it bemused, wondering who could have sent it to her and what was on it. She carefully sat down on the sofa in the front room and turning on her laptop she slotted the memory card into a slot and after running a scan on the files, opened up the little icon that came up on screen. Staring up at her was a photo of Dan in his wedding suit, smiling and looking happy. Alanah almost screamed at the sight, wondering who the hell had sent the photos to her.

She was 31 weeks pregnant, and the surprise she had seen on the screen seemed to resonate with the child inside her, she felt the baby moving and kicking at her ribs, it was as if he knew something had shocked her. She knew in her heart, somehow that the baby already knew he was different. To say it scared her would be an understatement, but Damian had always told her that he would grow up as a normal child. She could only hope this was true.

Steadying herself, she began to study the photos, clicking through them one by one, remembering how perfect the day had been, how happy everyone had been. The feeling of love and happiness that had surrounded them, given to them by the people who had, at a moment's notice travelled far to be with them on their wedding day. Yet here she was, pregnant and alone, wondering where her beloved Dan was, sure she would never see him again. She held back her tears, wanting never to cry over him again, determined to be strong.

Jessie walked into the room carrying two cups of tea. "Photos!" She exclaimed happily looking over Alanah's shoulder. Only realizing after a couple, what she was actually looking at. She understood in that moment how it was shaking Alanah's controlled facade. It had shocked her to the core.

"Yes, but I don't know where they came from. I thought the camera was left at the cottage in France, god knows how they got here." Alanah said coming to the last photo. "Oh my god." Her face went white as two familiar faces stared back at her. It all made sense at last.

Their smiles were cruel and their faces sunken and ashen. Their eyes pierced Alanah's through the screen and she shuddered as she stared at their unwelcome faces, intruding into her home. She showed Jessie, suddenly feeling queasy.

"Mary and Anthony." Jessie scowled. "It's a video, not a photo." She wished instantly that she hadn't said that. "Lani, don't play it, please just delete it." She knew that all of Alanah's suffering was down to this malicious pair and she too hated the sight of them after what they had done to her.

"They know where I live. I don't think I have a choice. I need to know what they want to say, I can't just delete it. I'll spend every day worrying about what they said, that's got to be worse than hearing it and seeing it, imagining what they want to say. It's better that I just watch it. I have to know." Alanah said as she clicked on the play button. The screen filled with the faces of Mary and Anthony and they began to talk.

"Alanah my dear, I do wish we could be there in person to enquire after your health and that of my unborn grandson. Still, we must deliver this message via this new medium that is a digital video instead." Mary smiled at her through the screen.

"What Mary is trying to say is we though you should have possession of the last human photos of Daniel." Anthony said, his demeanour more controlled than Mary, but he did not seem at all comfortable in front of the camera.

"Yes, just a little reminder of what you have lost, he's one of us now. We will be watching you Alanah Newman, don't think that we won't. You may not see us or the people who watch you, but know that you will always be under surveillance. We can't have you running off on us now, can we?" Mary's eyes narrowed as she delivered her warning.

Anthony took over the threats. "I advise you to take care of yourself and your child, you may have the protection of the Council of Souls and the Midnight Son ring, but that protects your physical self, not your resolve or your spirits. We shall see you soon enough."

The video stopped abruptly and Alanah let out a staccato breath. Something didn't quite add up about the video, there seemed to be more to it than just the threats, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was and she didn't have the heart to figure it out right now. "My life can't get any more complicated can it?"

"It will when the baby comes along." Jessie giggled trying to lighten the mood. "At least the ring protects you. Even Anthony and Mary know you are protected by it, that's got to be some comfort, that they can't hurt you."

"Yes, but they are watching me. And who knows if the ring can truly protect against them? They could be lulling me into a false sense of security. Make me feel untouchable, when in fact I'm as vulnerable as every other human. I really don't want to have to put it to the test."

"You have been watched your whole life." Jessie hugged Alanah, reassuring her. "I can't imagine how it must feel to know that now, but it sounds like they are pretty good at it, and I doubt there is anything you could do to stop it."

"But I never knew before. Now I know, I'll be looking at everyone, wondering if they are watching me." Alanah trembled at the thought. "It's going to colour how I look at the world. I'll never know who to trust. Don't forget Mary infiltrated my mum's circle of friends when I was a baby, just so she could watch me. How can I make friends with any new mums? I'm going to worry they are from the Family spying on me and the baby. How can I live with that thought?" Alanah sighed.

"You don't have a choice. You can't live your life entombed in the house. You have to live your life, and you have to let the baby live his, you can't cocoon him inside you for the next 7 years, no matter how much you might want to. They are doing it to scare you, don't let them rule your life. They can't touch either of you." She placed her hand protectively on Alanah's bump.

"But they can get to you." Alanah had a horrible thought. "If they are watching me, they will know you are here too." Alanah started to panic. This was just as bad as them coming after her in Alanah's eyes.

"Lani, I am quite capable of looking after myself." Jessie reassured her friend.

"But they would torture you." Alanah was frightened for her friend.

"Calm down sweetheart, nothing will happen to me. I am about as useful to them as a chocolate teapot, I have no bearing whatsoever on the Midnight Son. They are only trying to make you paranoid."

"Well they are doing a damn good job of it." Alanah said petulantly.

"Don't get stressed, it's bad for junior. As your birthing partner, it is my job to keep you happy and that video should be got rid of."

Alanah nodded in agreement and hit the delete button, after quickly copying the file without letting Jessie see. She pulled open her folder on the hard drive and pasted the file into it. She wanted to keep it, but she didn't want Jessie to worry about it, so letting her think she had got rid of it was the best thing for her to do. "What do I do with the photos?" Alanah asked staring at the pictures of what should have been the best day of her life. She had a few candid shots, but these were the official photos Steve had taken for them.

"What every woman does, frame them and display them around the house." Jessie gently suggested.

"I'd settle for the man in the photos." Alanah sighed, her heart aching as she looked into Dan's human eyes, but she knew she'd give anything to see the black eyes that she knew he had now, she desperately wanted to see him, but she hadn't seen him since he had left the rose for her. It already seemed such a long time ago.

"You know that won't happen. He's trying to protect you from himself." Jessie said, giving her a reassuring hug.

"It can't stop me dreaming about it though." Alanah smiled as she thought how Dan used to hold her in his big strong arms and make her feel safe. When would that ever happen again? She couldn't stand the thought of never being held in his arms again.

"I know, but you need to focus on the future, there are only 9 more weeks until you give birth to a screaming baby!" Jessie shuddered at the thought.

"You don't have a maternal bone in your body do you!" Alanah laughed as Jessie thought about how awful it must be to have to push another human out of yourself and then have to look after it for the rest of your life. She was nowhere near ready for that to happen to her yet, not an idea she was currently relishing!

"Let's just say it's not my idea of fun, but I'll be Auntie Jessie to your little bundle of joy without any hesitation – I can hand him back to you. All the fun, none of the responsibility!"

"Well, you may change your mind after being at the birth of this little one! For which I will be eternally grateful." Alanah smiled at her friend. Although her mother had said numerous times during her pregnancy that she would come and be there for her, Alanah had always put her off. She wasn't ready to deal with her mother's worries, she had enough to deal with on her own and she couldn't deal with having to grieve for Dan the way her mother would expect her to. How could she when he wasn't dead in the conventional sense.

"Let's just hope I'm not damaged by the whole thing, I may never choose to have children if it shocks me that much!" Jessie laughed.

"Oh you'll have children, I know you will, but you'll have to find yourself a bloke first!" Alanah winked at Jessie. She moved position as the baby began kicking her in the ribs, she stroked her bump gently.

"I already have." Jessie said sheepishly. She'd been wanting to tell Alanah for weeks now, but she'd never found the words to tell her, it seemed so unfair. But here she sat, having said the words that brought out the truth. She had found herself someone to love.

"When? Why haven't you told me?" Alanah asked shocked, she hadn't seen it coming, but she was excited at her best friend's good news.

"Because of what you have been through and lost. I didn't want to rub your nose in it. Besides, you know him." Jessie said, a blush creeping over her cheeks as she knew she had no option but to tell her. There was no going back now.

"Oh Jessie, never let what is happening to me stop you from telling me your great news. One of us has to have some luck. What's his name? Where did you meet him?" Alanah asked enthusiastically.

"It's your brother, Steve." Jessie blushed a deep shade of pink. "I've always had a crush on him. Do you mind?"

"How could I mind! I thought you two were looking quite cosy together at the wedding! Jess, that's wonderful, however, I can't imagine what it is like dating my brother, and the thought makes me shudder! Still, if it makes you happy, then I'm happy too. I'm so glad you have met someone. Are you in love?" Alanah asked excitedly, truly happy for her friend.

"It's only been four months since he got back, but I'm feeling quietly confident about him." Jessie smiled.

"I can't believe you are going out with my brother! Has he asked you anything about me, about how I'm coping? He's done nothing but worry about me since he came back. It's sweet really, but as I can't tell him the truth, it's very frustrating."

"Well he knows I'm living here at the moment, and that seems to comfort him, knowing you're not on your own, but you're right he is worried about you. He keeps saying you are too young to be a widow and that whoever took Dan away from you was cruel and vindictive. He obviously knows I was at the Family, but he thinks it was a church and I haven't done anything to make him think otherwise. My scars have healed pretty well. John gave me something to rub on them, so he hasn't asked any awkward questions. Damian said he could still see them, something about them being invisible to humans, but visible to vampires. They can tell when a vampire has feasted on a human. I still can't believe that I was so gullible, that I let myself be fed from. Anthony was one of those who fed, and we know he is a vampire, but there would have been others, I just don't know who they were. At least I can lead my life without humans seeing what has been done to me. Steve has nothing to see to ask questions about, so it's making things much less complicated."

"Probably a good thing! He might think you were delusional if you told him what has really happened. Somehow I can't imagine Steve coping very well with the news his little sister was carrying the baby of a vampire!" Alanah laughed. "Well I guess I had better buy some photo frames, something else to add to our extensive shopping list! However these photos came to me, they are my last link with Dan and nothing is going to stop me being proud of him. I can show our child what a wonderful father he has and tell him what a great day our wedding day was." It wasn't much, but to Alanah it meant the world.

CHAPTER 2

Dan had been watching her for a few minutes and he knew that she was about to become tonight's feast. She must have been in her early 30's and she held herself with the assurance of someone who had finally worked out who she was. It had been this confidence that had first alerted her to him and made her a possible person to feed from. The night was quite warm and her neck was bare, an open invitation for any vampire. Her honey colour hair was tied back in a loose pony tail, and her face was pretty, but not overtly beautiful.

She was sat waiting for the last train of the night, alone on an empty platform, looking intently at her phone, playing a game or surfing the net, something to keep her occupied during her wait for the train to take her home. She seemed comfortable and not at all phased by being alone in the middle of the night and Dan could tell that it was part of her every day routine. Tonight that routine would end.

Dan walked slowly towards her, not wanting to scare her, he had been practicing his seducing techniques – not wanting to pounce and feed like he had during his initial blood lust. He no longer wanted to feed like that, he hated himself every day when he was forced to think back over his actions from the night before. He was always crippled by the angry voices in his head. He still had times when he could not help feed hungrily and although it was taking much longer than he had hoped, he was beginning to get his hunger more under control.

Sitting on the bench near, but not next to her, he smiled up at her as she looked at him, checking out who had sat so close to her. She smiled back and looked back at her phone again.

"Is this the last train tonight?" Dan asked politely, knowing full well it was. His fangs were straining to lower themselves in anticipation of food, a process that was always painful, but he resisted, he wasn't ready to feed just yet.

"Yes, I think it is. There won't be another one until 6am." She smiled at him as she looked at him. Her pupils dilated as she looked into his eyes. "Wow." She sighed heavily. "You are very handsome." Her voice was breathy and Dan could hear her heartbeat grow faster every second.

"Thank you." He said smiling at her. "Would you mind if I sat next to you?" She shook her head and he moved closer, keeping eye contact with her. It was this that had made her drop her usual defences. His black eyes could hold any soul captive once they had looked into them, and he very rarely let anyone go. She wasn't under any spell, she was just seeing a fantasy before her, a handsome man with his attention fully on her. "Do you not feel scared here on your own? There are no guards or ticket collectors at this time of night."

"I've been doing it for a few years now, I work at the hospital and my shift finishes at 12.30. I'm used to it now." She smiled, she felt comfortable in his presence, he did not seem threatening at all to her.

His suspicions had been right, this was the last night of her routine. "If I were your boyfriend, I wouldn't let you catch the train on your own." Dan said solemnly, knowing what he was going to do to her.

"Well I don't have a boyfriend, or a husband or a car. I don't have any choice." She sighed.

"Well, I can assure you I am not some kind of pervert trying to chat you up. I'm just trying to get home myself." Dan said graciously. He was beginning to feel the hunger growing inside him, but he contained his urges, just for a little longer.

"That's good to hear." She smiled. "Sorry I called you handsome, I just don't get to see many good looking guys these days, I work on a ward exclusively filled with old men, so seeing you was something of rare nicety in my daily life." She blushed, wondering why on earth she was telling him this; she was still mesmerized by him.

"Nothing to apologise for. But I can imagine seeing only old men all shift would become a little monotonous. Although there must be the odd son or grandson who is worth looking at!" Dan laughed as she blushed red. "Still, an admirable profession, a nurse I presume?"

"Yes. Still, age comes to us all." She smiled, her breathing intensifying.

"Indeed." Dan said, knowing that neither he nor this woman would reach old age. Her life was to end tonight, and his, well he didn't know when but even if it was in 500 years time, he would still look like the 28 year old man that he had been when he had become the vampire he was now. "My name is Daniel." He said, pulling himself from his thoughts of what was inevitably to come.

"Elaine." She said back, her eyes still fixed on his face.

Dan could hear her heart beating faster and faster in her chest, as he lent towards her. "You are quite beautiful." He whispered as his eyes darted to her bare neck. He was beginning to find it difficult not to just pounce on her now.

Elaine blushed an even darker red. "Thanks." She managed to whisper, she had no idea why she was feeling so overcome with attraction for him.

"How would you like to go for a drink one evening?" Dan said as he creped even closer to her. He had started to enthral her.

Elaine was spellbound by the handsome man who was sat so close to her, his black eyes almost penetrating into her soul. Something in him was calling to her and she began to feel like she was under his enchantment. His proximity was all encompassing and she was thrilled by the attention he was giving her. Every part of her body was humming with expectancy and nothing in the world would have stopped the wonderful feeling of being the object of his obsession. Even though she had no control over what he was doing to her, she accepted his thrall as if she did. She wanted to please him. Without even realizing what she was doing, she lifted her head in acceptance of his deadly kiss, her whole body ready to welcome death.

Seeing that she was now under his influence, Dan moved the last few inches and before accepting the offering of her neck to quench the hunger deep within him, he kissed it, and whispered 'Thank you' to her.

His fangs slowly descended into his jaw as they always did when he was about to feed. It was always a painful reminder of what he was about to do, as if they were making sure he was certain he wanted to feed. Feeling incapable of holding back any longer, Dan sunk his fangs into her neck and Elaine's body went limp in his arms.

His feeding was gentle, he did not want to drink her blood like the monster he had been at first, he was trying to be good......... even though he knew he was not. He gulped it down slowly, savouring the warmth of the red liquid that was quenching his hunger.

He could smell her skin beneath his face, the perfume that she had adorned her body with and it began to ring a small but significant bell in his memory. The musk undertones and the vanilla floral notes that his memory would always associate with Alanah.

And that was when his good intentions ended. He could no longer contain the beast that he was, he was desperate to feed from the woman in his arms, not gently remove her life force from her like he had wanted to.

His memories had been stirred, and although he was fully aware that he was not drinking Alanah's blood that did not matter to him, he had associated the smell of Elaine's perfume with the one that Alanah had always worn and it had triggered the desire he had for Alanah's blood – the blood that had helped convert him into a vampire, the blood he would always feel coursing through his body, and would always want fresh from the source. There was no composure left, no restraint, he was nothing but vampire and his feeding was fuelled by hunger and desire for what he knew he could not have, but would never stop wanting.

He removed his fangs from Elaine's throat, only to thrust them back into her neck a second time. All traces of humanity were gone; he was now a hunting demon, intent on gratifying his hunger above anything and everything else. There was the tiniest acknowledgement deep inside him that the woman he was feeding from was not Alanah, but every other part of his subconscious had taken over and provided him with the fantasy that he was feeding from his wife.

He was aroused at the desire of taking blood from Alanah, and this far outweighed the soul of Elaine that was beginning to flow into him. He was able to ignore the niggling thought that he was once again in the blood lust. Nothing else mattered, he was consumed by feeding from the woman before him.

As her final heartbeat dawned, Dan raised his bloody mouth from her decimated neck and savoured the rush of blood around his body. He closed his eyes and licked his lips, seeing nothing but Alanah's face in his mind. He was on a high and as he opened his eyes to look at the corpse in front of him. He came crashing down to earth in the realization of what he had done.

Panic encompassed his entire body, and he began to shake uncontrollably. 'What have I done?' He thought to himself as his body came tumbling back to reality. He had taken this woman's life, relishing in her as if she had been Alanah, his mind could not cope with what he had done. Everything became about self preservation, his body took over and his legs carried him fast from the train station, away from the scene of the crime.

It was less than a minute later that the train pulled up at the station and the alarm was raised.

It wasn't until Dan was safely away from the station that he allowed himself to feel the severity of what he had done, and what it really meant. If he was ever to drink from Alanah again, he knew he would kill her.

CHAPTER 3

'Woman Found Dead at Train Station – Mysterious Circumstances' Dan looked at the description of Elaine, the woman who he had killed the night before. The memory of what he had done was present constantly – Elaine's voice was in his head, hating him and reminding him that he had taken her life. He mourned for her more than he had anyone else he had taken, and it was because he had broken the deal he had made with her when he had enthralled her.

She had silently agreed to give her life to him willingly because she had believed he would be gentle with her, instead he had fed from her like a beast, decimating her neck with his eagerness to consume, taking away any dignity she may have had in death.

Dan knew he could not repeat what had happened with Elaine, he could not live with himself if he could only feed like a demon. He knew he had to take control of how he fed. He could not live with the guilt of taking every feed by force. It was bad enough to have to take their lives in the first place, but needs must as the devil serves.

He no longer felt any guilt for the lives he had taken, he knew he had no other choice but to consume them, and wallowing in guilt and hatred of himself was far from productive when the voices of the people he had killed were doing it for him already. Elaine was just the latest in a long line of voices in his head, one that would constantly grow.

But he did have the guilt. The guilt he was feeling stemmed from the desire and delight he had felt whilst feeding from her, the thoughts that this woman was Alanah. His heart hurt at the knowledge that given half an opportunity he would greedily feed from his wife and ultimately kill her. The thought sent a shiver through his already cold body. He could never let himself do this, everything would be lost if he killed her, everything being the human race and his son.

As much as he mourned for what he knew he could do to Alanah, had it been her, he was grateful for the fact that it wasn't her. He knew however that he had to be more careful with the corpses of his victims. Dan knew they would all be found, investigated and mourned, but for some reason almost all of them were never front page news. They seemed to disappear from the earth quietly, unlike the ones that he discarded during the blood lust. Those were the ones that were found by passer bys and reported in the newspapers. These were the ones he knew Alanah would hear about, and he hated that she would know every sordid detail of what he had done to Elaine.

He had been careless, letting his fantasy draw him in, making him loose all track of time and danger. He had had enough time and experience to realize the difference in how he fed – either carefully or fuelled by bloodlust. If his feeding had been clean, controlled and not painful to Elaine she would have been one of the ones who had gone quietly instead of plastered all over the newspapers the next day. A careful feed left a puzzle, but nothing more, a bloodlust feed left devastation and created a frenzy in the papers. His stupidity was blatantly obvious to him. There had been less than 60 seconds between him leaving the scene and Elaine's body being found. If he had not had that short time to escape he would have been caught feasting from her, exposing himself to the humans around him. He knew now he had no other choice but to heed Damian's warning and be careful with how he dealt with the newly dead.

-o-

Alanah's face drained of colour as she read the headlines. She was convinced Dan was the cause of this death, but nothing, not even this could stop her loving him. It wasn't as if he was killing for fun, to him this was how he got his food. She hated the act, not the man. It felt as if everything she had ever believed in had been blown apart. Everything she thought was real was not, and everything dark and foreboding was. She struggled with her feelings, she knew she should hate Dan – he was after all now a mass murderer.

But this wasn't through choice! How could he choose to save her from sacrifice, and then choose to kill every night without there being a good reason why! And there was a good reason why, even though she hated to admit it. Survival.

Without blood, without their deaths he could not exist and she couldn't decide how she felt about this. She hated the fact that he killed – the thought hurt her physically as if she had been stabbed through the heart every time it entered her head. But to lose him would be like death to her.

The child she was carrying in her womb was a part of Dan, and she knew she was carrying him for a purpose and that purpose involved all three of them. So as much as it hurt to think of him killing, if he did not kill (and retain the souls), the human race was over anyhow. Sacrifice would always be a part of her life, even if she wasn't the one being sacrificed.

Her body felt numb at the idea of what he was doing every night, remembering what she had seen him do the night she had escaped France with Damian. She had relived that memory so many times in her dreams over the last few months that she knew it would be seared into her memory forever. She shook as she remembered the look on his face of ecstasy as he relished the woman he had been feeding from. The wildness of his eyes, the rapture on his face was etched into her memory forever.

The words 'savagely mauled' had sprung out from the article and although she desperately tried not to, she could imagine this being something Dan could now do. The thought of his teeth piercing her neck flew involuntarily into her mind. Yes, he really could do that now. The slant of the article followed the line that it was more than likely an animal attack, but there was no other evidence to prove this. Equally, there was no evidence to disprove it either, the train station was small and had no CCTV cameras to catch whatever had happened. She was grateful for this. Alanah had no idea why she was grateful for this, but she thought it would have to have something to do with him being caught in the act. That would have been devastating to not only her and Dan, but to the human population – how would they cope if they found out that vampires were real? Well, she knew there would be anarchy.

It hurt knowing that he took at least one life every night, she was glad she had no real idea as to the numbers, one was enough in her eyes. She could never shift that guilt, and in a way she did not want to. It was his burden to carry, and she knew that, but although absent, he was an integral part of her life and she knew they would forever be entwined together in destiny. This she felt, made it her burden too. She knew this was irrational, she had never killed anyone, and could not foresee herself ever having cause to do this – she knew Dan would never turn her into a vampire, and although she knew she would make this sacrifice in a heartbeat to be with him, the prospect of taking a life herself was not one she could entertain on any level. She was always physically sick at the thought.

She missed every part of Dan. The warmth he had once been wrapped around her body, the vulnerability she had seen in his eyes when he didn't know if she trusted him yet, the strength he had always had when she had needed him to be strong. She even missed the coldness of his body when he had held her in the coffin. If she could just be held in his arms again by him, feel safe in his strong arms. Hear his slow heartbeat and his dulcet tones telling her everything would be alright. She knew if he hadn't fallen in love with her she would now be dead – her body lying god only knew where, decomposing...... Her family would have no idea where she was, and they would be worried sick – in fact they would spend the rest of their lives wondering where she was. She had to be grateful for the memories she had of him.

And that was after all, all she had left of him. Her dreams were peppered with his hands skimming over her body (it was never swollen with child in her dreams), setting it on fire in the wake of his touch. Sometimes he was the warm human he had once been, and other times it was the cold hands of the vampire he had become, raining a freezing heat over her skin and deep through her body.

But she always woke alone, always with tears in her eyes. She would give anything to see him again, but he was lost to her and Alanah knew it. She was still mourning his loss.
CHAPTER 4

Sekhmet stood watching Dan, hidden from view in the shadows of a building. It was the first time she had seen him as a vampire and she could not deny that she was fascinated. This was the reason she was here, to see firsthand what he was like on his own, to see the misery she knew he was in, and to try to understand it. She felt no misery in feeding – it was, to her a joy and although she knew he relished the blood as much as she did, he hated the hunt and kill. Tonight however she could see that every part that had been human seemed to have been washed away, he truly was a vampire.

She was fascinated by every little movement of his body, the way he approached his victims and the swiftness with which he fed. He was breathtaking and she longed to be able to hunt with him, but she would not allow herself to become entangled with him like that. He was the father to the Midnight Son and married to Alanah. He was not hers to be played with.

His current victim was a middle aged man and he had almost drained him to the point of death. He was completely in control of himself, and Sekhmet had to admit she was proud of what she was seeing. This was a vampire who had finally found out how he wanted to feed, and it was with a conscious, she could see he was not causing him any additional pain and discomfort. Sekhmet knew that would be something of a comfort to him. If she had been human, she would have been sickened at the sight she was watching, but as a vampire herself, she looked admirably on as he finished devouring his victim.

Once the man was dead, Dan placed him carefully on the floor, wiped his mouth and whispered quietly to him "Friend, I am sorry for the necessity to take your life." He walked away and didn't look back.

Sekhmet moved swiftly towards the dead man on the floor, expecting to see what she always saw when she had finished feeding from her victims, a drained corpse – clearly a violent death, but she didn't. The man was led quietly on the floor, his face serene as if he had died in his sleep. She was amazed, it was not something she had ever seen before. It was fascinating and she wished she had the control to feed as Dan did, but alas she didn't think she ever would.

She checked his neck where Dan had been feeding, but there were no signs of puncture marks. His body was still warm and his skin soft and plump, no signs that a vampire had fed from him, but he was clearly dead and she knew Dan had killed him.

It puzzled her as to why this had happened, how the man looked like he had fallen asleep and died rather than display the violent death that was present on most of her own victims. And then it dawned on her the reason why. Dan had learnt to kill compassionately and somehow this was shown in death.

The relief that flowed through her was immense, but she knew this would be of no real comfort to him, even though she hoped it would be, to Dan whether it was a compassionate killing, or a frenzied attack, it was still a killing and nothing she could say to him would change the way he would feel about that. But then he would never remember any conversation she had with him, she had seen to that the night she had had him marked with his destiny. Unless...

Running quickly and following his scent, she caught up with him. He was sat on a boulder by the lake in the park, looking into the water below. He looked deflated and depressed, and she wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him everything would be alright, but in her heart, Sekhmet knew it wouldn't be alright, she had no comfort to offer him, and she wished she could give him something to help him get through the next few years, but lying to him wouldn't work. He'd either forget everything she said when she left him, or he would remember her lies and be devastated when they didn't happen.

There was only one person who could comfort him, but he was too scared to visit Alanah. She would have to persuade him that he could safely visit her, and he would have to remember this conversation.

Covering her face and her head completely, save for her eyes, she walked towards him, not really knowing what to say to him. How could she convince him to trust her? He had to forget their every meeting, she couldn't have any lasting impact on any decisions he made. They had to be his own decisions.

Dan looked around at her, confusion crossing his face, wondering how he had not heard someone approach him. It had felt like forever since he had not heard every approaching footsteps. It unnerved him.

"Good evening Dan." Sekhmet said behind her veil.

"Who the hell are you?" He said jumping up from his boulder. Automatically he was on edge. He knew what she was and had no idea what she wanted. Was she there to fight him – to kill him even?

"We have met many times before, but you never remember me. I am Sekhmet, Mother of the Dead." She said quietly but clearly. Every tension in Dan's body was evident to her, and her intention was to remain neutral and unthreatening. If necessary she would remove her veil, but that would make what she was trying to do pointless, she hoped it would not come to that.

"Show me your face." Dan demanded.

"Alas, I cannot do that, for if you see me, you will forget all about this conversation, and this conversation is one that you need to remember."

"I don't believe you." Dan said walking towards her, intent on removing her scarf. But he stopped before he dared lift his hand to her face. He could feel power radiating from her, power and strength that he had never felt before. He hesitated.

"That in itself is the point. Do not believe you can just yank off my scarf, I am much stronger than you, and I do not wish to hurt you, I want to talk." She said determination in her Kohl rimmed black eyes.

Dan viewed her carefully, seeing that she was indeed more powerful than he was, he did not want to risk a fight, and he was curious, she was the first vampire excluding Anthony, Mary and Damian that he had met.

"So let's talk." He said relaxing his stance. He didn't know the rules when it came to meeting other vampires, especially ones that were clearly older and stronger than him.

Sekhmet sat on the boulder and gestured for Dan to sit next to her. "How are you?" She asked, genuinely interested, but not expecting him to give her an answer.

"I'm sorry, what concern is it of yours how I am?" Dan asked confused and defensive.

"You do know who I am, don't you?" Sekhmet asked cautiously. Had it registered in his mind who she was?

"You said you were the Mother of the Dead. I'm assuming that means you have something to do with the Family. Are you here to deliver a message or something from Anthony?" Dan asked defensively.

"I am not a messenger from the Family, I can assure you that. I am on your side. This is difficult, if I could show you my face you would know instantly that all I say is true, but equally you would forget me, and I can't have you do that now. You have no reason to trust me, but I ask you to do so, as I know you have asked others to do before. I can only ask the same of you."

"Alanah?" Dan asked, making the connection, he had asked her to trust him when she was at the Family. It was that trust that had saved her from sacrifice.

"Yes, you asked her to trust you, and she did. She is alive today because of that trust in you and no other reason than that. I also exist because of it."

"It was you who took me from the club; you took me to be tattooed?" Dan asked as he realized that she fit the description of the woman the tattooist had seen with him. Red dress, black eyes. If only he could remember what had happened that night. His memory was a total blank, just like when he had realized that Anthony and Mary were vampires, he had no idea how he had come to that conclusion, but he had known without any hesitation that he had been right.

"Yes, I did. You accepted it better than I thought you would." Sekhmet said, and Dan thought he could hear a smile in her voice.

"So does that mean you are the cause of everything I am going through? You predicted the Marked man, and you branded me. Is the hell I am going through all your fault?" Dan asked, anger flowing through his body. He felt it ripple through his arms and he clenched his fists.

"No, I'm as much a product of this myself." Sekhmet sighed audibly. "We are all part of a larger story than just what is happening now. You, Alanah and your unborn child are encompassed by the past, present and the future."

"So who is to blame?" Dan asked, wanting to rip whoever was to blame limb from limb.

"I don't think any one person is to blame. We find ourselves in something of a paradox, an amalgamation of people and circumstances has created where we are today, who we are right now. I've seen things I never thought possible, I've done things that are unforgivable, but they are part of the nature of being a vampire, and I can't change them. I don't have much choice in what I must do, because what I do I am doing for the man I love and for my children." Sekhmet sighed quietly, her body feeling numb as she thought of the people she had left behind.

"You have children? You were made a vampire after having children?" Dan asked, suddenly interested. He wanted to know if she could see them now, he so desperately wanted to see his child when he was born.

"Yes, I have two children, a girl and a boy. Neither of them are here in this time right now, they are both safely elsewhere, as is the man who loves me." Sekhmet nodded to herself, knowing they were, for the most part out of harm's way, for the time being at least.

"And your children, do they know you are a vampire?" Dan asked, the desire to know highly present in his voice.

"My eldest knows, but my little one is still a babe in arms." She said sadly.

"And the man you love?" Dan needed to know, could a human really love a vampire.

"He hates what I am, and I can't blame him for that." Her voice sounded like it would break. "But I think he still loves me. I know I love him unconditionally."

"I understand that. But there is no way Alanah can love me anymore. I'm a monster." There was self hate evident in his voice.

"I don't think you are giving her enough credit." Sekhmet almost laughed. "I've seen her, she is missing you so much."

"I can't give her anything. I don't have anything to give. I'll kill her." He whispered, his eyes closed as he remembered the taste of her exquisite blood... oh what he would do if he ever got to drink it again....

"Like the girl at the train station?" Sekhmet asked.

"You saw?" Dan asked dismayed. Caught in the act, devouring an innocent like the demon he was. Like so many innocent souls he had taken.

"I saw." Sekhmet nodded under her veil. He had indeed been a monster whilst he killed her.

"What a mess I made of that. One stray smell and I devoured her as if she was Lani." He was crestfallen and all his guilt tumbled into his words. He never wanted to kill like that again.

"Do you think you would hurt Alanah? Do you really think you would put her at risk?" Sekhmet asked, needing him to answer the question for himself.

"I'd like to think I wouldn't." Dan answered as truthfully as he could. "But honestly, I'd hate to put that to the test."

Sekhmet sighed. "You underestimate yourself as well Dan. Do you really think you would hurt her?"

"I've made her so many promises, and I seem to have broken them all. I intend to stick by the promise of never drinking from her again, and that means staying away from her. I can't put her life, or that of my son at risk." He was sure it was the only thing to do.

"And you think that's the best thing you can do, abandon her completely?" Sekhmet asked sternly.

"I can hardly move in and continue our marriage. I kill people nightly and sleep during the day, hardly an ideal situation to bring a baby into." Dan was exasperated.

"I can't tell you what to do, and I'm not here to, but don't desert her completely. You both need the other in your life. You are one, and to tear yourself away from each other is like cutting yourself in half. You both need each other, and you are both pining for your lost love." She touched his shoulder in sympathy. "I'm hungry, I must go and feed, there is less than an hour till sun up, and it's not good for me to go to sleep hungry, lest the people of this fair town get in my way tomorrow night." Sekhmet went to leave.

"How old are you? Your legend is thousands of years old, yet here you stand tonight having been through numerous Midnight Son rituals. Are you the reason vampires still exist?"

"My legend is old, but I am not. I have not, at this moment in time lived through the rituals, but I am the only vampire who knows what is to happen, but we are years from it, and I will not burden you with that knowledge yet. Till we meet again Mr Newman, I may reveal my true identity to you next time." And Sekhmet left Dan alone, leaving him to ponder their strange conversation. So much had been said, but he couldn't believe she had resolved any of his problems.

CHAPTER 5

Alanah couldn't help but smile at the little face on the screen, the one that was inside her and was being illuminated by cold gel and a paddle held in the sonographer's hand. Her little baby was almost ready to be born.

"I wish Dan could be here." Alanah sighed as her babies perfect face came onto the screen. his lips were pursing in a sucking movement. "He has Dan's lips. Look, he's waving at us!" Alanah giggled as the child moved its arm randomly up and down.

"I know sweetheart, I'm sure he wishes he could be here too. He would be if he could, we both know that." Jessie smiled at her reassuringly.

"He's missed out on everything. The kicking, the midwife appointments, my cravings, even shopping for furniture and the first ever clothes he'll be in." Alanah sighed. "Looking at the baby name books is heartbreaking, how do I choose a name for our son without him? I'm surrounded by people who love and care for me, but I feel so alone." Alanah let a single tear fall from her eyes.

Jessie just held her hand and squeezed, she already knew there was nothing else she could say to comfort her, she had spent the last 9 months telling her everything would be OK, and whilst on one level she believed this, a huge part of her wondered what the hell the future really held for Alanah and the little baby inside her.

Alanah lay on the table, her eyes closed, she hadn't had the best of nights sleep the night before and she wanted to rest her eyes for just a second whilst the sonographer checked a few things, and for the briefest of seconds she fell asleep ...

Dan, the human Dan that is, knocked gently on the door before opening it, smiling and walking to Alanah before kissing her cheek and taking her hand in his warm hand, he kissed the back of it before turning his attention to the monitor. The smile on his face was electrifying – so big and so happy, he was delighted and her heart soared at the look on his face.

She was delighted to see him so ecstatic and excited, and she was as happy as he was. Dan gently placed his hand on her tummy, and the baby inside kicked. Dan's smile somehow got bigger and brighter and Alanah's heart soared as her family was almost complete.

And then she woke up, still in the room with the sonographer and Jessie, but there was no Dan. She wanted to scream in frustration, but what use would that be? She couldn't have her dream, her human husband was no more, and in his place was a man of darkness. But she would have loved it if he could have seen the little face of their baby on the screen with her; it would have been a precious moment for the two of them to share.

Jessie looked so excited, although she was nervous about her ability to keep calm during the birth, she was so looking forward to being Auntie Jessie, and she knew Alanah would need all the help she could give her.

As they left the hospital, Alanah grasped the photos of her child they had taken during the scan. "Not long now my son and you will see the light of day instead of the darkness of my womb."

-o-

Dan could not settle down to rest. His whole body was buzzing with adrenaline and a need for blood, but he could not leave his flat, the sun was up. He could not understand why he was feeling so hungry; he had fed well before he had come back to his hiding place before the sun had started to rise.

His feeding that night had been controlled and dignified, he had left all three of his victims in a state of sleep-like death. Although only the bodies were peaceful right now – Dan now had an additional three voices to add to the cacophony of souls he was carrying around with him. The din inside his head was constantly deafening and he had to struggle to hear himself think. He had to suspend everything else to be able to make any decisions that did not involve hunting and feeding – they were instinctual.

He could understand why no other vampires retained the souls of their victims – if they did they would soon end their existence – it was tantamount to torture. He knew if he did not have Alanah and his unborn son he would have taken himself out into the midday sun to kill himself, but they kept him going, even from afar they were all he could think about.

This morning there was an unsettled feeling in his body that he could not explain, but whatever it was, it was it was making him unable to sleep. He paced his room, feeling trapped and isolated, but the voices in his head were very loud today, more so than usual.

There wasn't a moment of let up in the assault from the people he had killed, the total getting on for 500 now. Each and every one of them shouting at him, screaming and reminding him that he had taken their life. Some just cried – a constant noise of sobbing, mostly these were his recent victims, still coming to terms with their lives having been stolen from them. Others shouted at him, a torrent of abuse and profanities. Some just told him stories about the people they had left behind, children, partners, parents, friends. These were the most disturbing to him. He didn't know if they could hear each other, or indeed if they knew of each other's existence. He hoped they couldn't hear each other, he had already condemned them to death, he did not want to condemn them to hell with him. There was only one voice that spoke kindly to him some of the time, and that was Nicole, the woman he had taken as his first victim. He had no defence mechanism to protect himself from the noise of all the voices and he collapsed on the floor in agony. Whatever was making him hungry was making the voices louder too.

As he lay on the floor he began to think about Alanah, wishing she was here to comfort him. He would have given anything to feel her arms around him, whispering in his ear that everything would be ok. His memory began to picture her, and try as he could he couldn't quite see her in focus, and he desperately wanted to see her face. Through the hurt he was feeling he wondered if this was how she had seen him when she had been dreaming of him before she was taken to the Family. It hurt him terribly that he could no longer see his wife's face in his memory.

He could remember her, he knew he could, how could he forget her? Rising quickly and smoothly from the floor, he had a new determination he hadn't felt for a while, and one that distracted him from the voices in his head, he darted into one of the other rooms of the abandoned flat and retrieved the stash of paper that had been abandoned by a previous owner. He had spotted it a while ago, but never given a second thought. Taking the only drawing implements available to him, an assortment of children's chalks and charcoal, he sat on the floor and began to draw the woman he loved from memory.

He had no photos, he had abandoned all his human trappings when he had left France, so replaying everything he could remember about her as he drew he began to concentrate on the individual strokes that were making up the face on the paper. His first attempt was not good enough, he hadn't attempted to draw anything since he was at school, and then he hadn't been particularly good at it. Her eyes were all wrong, there was no soul in them, no spark. Ripping the page from the book he screwed it up and started again.

In his head, he heard a woman's voice speak to him in French. "You remember her don't you Daniel, she is your wife." He had begun to understand French since he was carrying the souls of French people with him. He had picked it up through the things they said to him. Almost all of it was hateful and unkind.

"But Nicole, I can't remember her eyes." He cried, talking to a nonexistent voice in his head.

"Concentrate Daniel, you will remember her eyes if you concentrate." The voice was calming and reassuring and Dan had no idea why she was so nice to him, but she was and he was grateful for the solitary voice of comfort in his head.

Taking a deep breath he took his time and began to reconstruct the face of the woman he adored. As he drew, the voices began to recede, his absorption in the drawing facilitating the much needed respite from the torture he endured at all times.

Dan had never attempted to draw a face when he was a human, it had not been something he had had a talent for, but right now, with his heightened eyes, and renewed memories of Alanah he had found a hidden gift and it was keeping him somewhere near sane. He felt a peace inside him that he had not felt since he had last held Alanah in his arms, but he knew it was not to last long.

It was nearing dusk when he finished adding chalk strokes to the face he had been minutely focusing on. He stood up; tacking it to the blank wall of the bare room he had been calling home for the last 8 ½ months. The face staring back at him was perfect in every way. Every chalk line had crafted the paper into the flawless replication of his wife.

He knew he was pining for her, and he knew that Sekhmet was right. He had no other choice but to go and see her.
CHAPTER 6

Dan stood silently over Alanah, looking down at her in awe. She was sleeping soundly. It felt like forever ago that he had last seen her, and his dead heart beat a little faster as his eyes studied her face. In her hand she grasped the photos from the scan of their baby. He gently pulled them from her fingers and gasped as he looked for the first time at the face of his child. It was a grainy photo, but he could none the less see the child that was his son.

"Perfect in every way." He smiled slightly, a tear falling from his eye. He placed one of the photos in his jacket pocket, putting the others on the pillow next to Alanah. He had to have something to look at even if he could never see his child in person, to know he existed was just about enough, though he'd be lying if he said it was enough.

He stood watching her sleep, taking in everything, reminding himself of all her features, wanting to touch them, to feel her skin beneath his finger tips, not for hunger gratification, he had satisfied himself enough already to be able to come to her, but to remember what it was like to touch her face and see her smile and laugh. Oh if he could see her smile! What an uplift that would give him, the strength to carry on alone. That was all he wanted from her, reassurance that everything would be OK.

His eyes rested on the scars that had been left from his first ever blood feed, he looked at them and his stony heart dropped. He relived the moment in his mind, the need that had driven him to drink from her and his body felt numb around him. That was the moment everything changed. Her blood was the first he had tasted as a vampire, and every part of him was craving it direct from the source. But equally, every part of him was somehow holding itself in check. As difficult as he knew it would be, he had no intention of feeding from her. She was safe from him, nothing would make him feed tonight.

Alanah's wedding ring was on her finger, and he could see the protection ring on her other hand. Nothing lifted his heart more than seeing she was protected and that she had not removed her wedding ring. It would have crushed him if she had removed the ring he had placed on her finger during their marriage. It would have meant she had given up on him, abandoned him, and to the world she would be a single woman, available to other men. That would have killed him. He looked down at his white hands and looked at his matching ring. He too had vowed never to remove it, and he stood fast by this decision, aware this was the only symbolic connection he would have with her for a life time.

Dan could see her bump under the covers and craved to see it. He had spent the months wondering what she looked like, how her body had changed, wondered how she felt about it. He wished he could have watched it grow, felt the first kick, laughed and joked about the footballer inside, but he had missed it all. He was father to the child inside his wife, but apart from conception, he had had no input into anything. He felt useless and would have given anything just to help choose his name. That would be enough, if that was all he could have. Slowly and gently he pulled the covers back and peered at her heaving belly. Dan stared at it in wonder, remembering how flat and toned it had been, knowing he had caused it to look like this.

As he stared at the round pink bump, he noticed something moving inside, then he saw what he thought was a foot pushing against Alanah's skin. He gasped in amazement as her belly moved with eerie independence. He couldn't believe it, how could the child do that? Dan could not resist touching the smooth skin that covered his child.

His cold hand touched the silky soft skin of Alanah's belly and Alanah twitched slightly, falling back into what he perceived to be a deep sleep moments later. Beneath her skin he could feel a wriggling child who had little space left to move around in, so instead was stretching outwards, trying to reach out to the world he would soon be part of.

Beneath Dan's hand he could feel something different beginning to push out towards him. He moved his hand out of the way and saw a small hand pushing out to him. It was only the slightest of indents in Alanah's skin, but it was plain to see that it was a hand. He had to steel himself from crying at the miracle that was happening inside his wife's womb.

Alanah lay still, feeling the hand on her skin and her child reaching out to feel it. She breathed as best she could, determined not to startle Dan and let him know she was awake, she was sure he would bolt if she opened her eyes. Feeling him so close to her made her want to reach up to him, but she did not want to scare him away. This was the closest he had been to her since he had left her in the chateau. She didn't want him to leave, but to acknowledge him would make him do just that.

Below his breath, he whispered to her. "Fate is fickle, nothing we ever do will be good enough for it and we have nothing left to live for except the future. Everything I have ever wanted has been taken from me. I can never stop loving you, it is my fate, my burden, and I know you carry the same one. Between us we are creating something bigger than we ever thought possible, out of our control, something we could not prevent. The child you carry inside you is part of both of us and we are destined to protect him and love him more than we ever thought possible. Every night I hunt, I feast and I kill. Every day I dream of you, I miss you more than I ever thought possible and I would give anything to lie next to you and hold you in my arms. My wife, my lover and my friend. I truly don't know if I can go on alone. I am lonely and need your love. Feasting can never come close to being with you and although I crave your blood, my love for you will always outweigh that yearning. It has to, because killing you would end everything and as selfish as I know I am now, I have enough clarity to know taking your life would take away the freedom of the human race forever, and I will not be the one that does that. I will spend my nights and days resisting taking your life source. To be with you would be the happiest moments of my dark life. But I know I will never have you again. All I can do is remember the past and hope the future is better than this living hell."

Dan pulled his hand away from her bump and tenderly kissed her forehead. "My love will never cease." He whispered his assurance to her and left the room. Leaving the house, he longed to stay and be with his impending family, but Dan knew now was not the time.

Alanah sat up. She had heard most of what Dan had said. She longed to call him back to her, to see his face, to kiss him and tell him she still loved him, because she knew he no longer believed that she did and she needed him to know this. But she knew he would be far away from the house by now and calling him back would not get back the man he used to be. She had done her best to cope without him, to rise above the hurt she constantly felt in her heart and she knew now that he too felt the same.

The sadness in his voice had been unbearable and made worse from the fact that she knew he was completely alone. She at least had Jessie, Damian and John to talk to, Dan had no one. She would have given anything to be able to take his isolation away from him. But alas it was his burden to carry.

She felt a dull pain in her womb and she heaved her heavy body up and out of bed. Making her way to the bathroom, she began to feel a dull ache at the bottom of her womb, it felt familiar, something she had had every month for years, but this time there was urgency to it, she could feel something bearing down. She knew she was at the beginning of labour and waddled towards the phone to call Jessie.

CHAPTER 7

Dan rushed into his decrepit basement flat and shut the door behind him just before the sun rose over the houses near him. He rested his back against the door and looked at the room before him. Dismissing the rundown space, he walked through to the bed room and fell onto the bed.

This was the one comfort he had afforded himself (the rest of the flat being desolate and cold), a pristine new bed that he could lie in and sleep, dreaming and reliving every murder he had committed the night before. His head was so full of souls that he had to fight to have a dreamless sleep; the one occasional luxury fate gave him. These were the days that made him believe that somewhere inside him, his soul was lurking, waiting to come to the surface and prove its worth.

There was a lightness in his heart this morning and for once he had to smile in delight. He had actually done it, he had visited Alanah and not hurt her. He hadn't felt this happy since he had slid the wedding ring onto her figure. Yes, he had actually been able to see her and not take her blood. It was a revelation to him, he had thought he would never be able to be in the same room as her again. It was a sense of relief, but he also knew it didn't really change a thing. Seperated they were, and separated they would remain.

He looked up to the drawing on the wall on the other side of the room. It had only been three days before that he had drawn the picture of Alanah, but the comfort he drew from having her likeness near him was palpable, a contentment he had not felt before. He wasn't sure he deserved contentment, but he knew he needed it, there was no other way he could get through what was being forced upon him without it. He had already created a ritual for himself every morning when he came in from the hunt. He lit a candle below the portrait and told it all he had done the night before, detailing the people he had killed and how he felt about it. He concluded that he had no one else to tell, save Damian and he had no intentions of sharing his inner most thoughts with him, so he told Alanah's portrait instead, feeling that in some small way he was sharing things with her.

On this particular morning, he placed the scan photo of their child next to Alanah's portrait and felt at peace. He'd spent the last 9 months wondering if what he had felt in the room at the chateau was real, he'd known instantly that it was, his then new senses had told him so, but doubt had crept into his mind as the weeks and months had flown by. But he now had confirmation, from the scan and his own eyes that Alanah was close to giving birth to his son.

His dead heart began to beat strangely, he could feel a second heart beat inside it and he knew instantly what it was. Dan knew Alanah had gone into labour and he sat on the end of the bed, desperate to be with her and support her, but knowing he could not go out during the day, or indeed what help he, a dead man could be to the woman who was going to give birth to their child in just a few hours time. He sat stunned and silent, unable to sleep and helpless.

The heartbeat of his son felt like the only living thing inside him, and he focused everything that he was onto that small thump thump. Every part of him felt numb, and even the cacophony of voices in his mind quietened. Everything felt peaceful for just a few minutes.

As the heartbeat remained, but became part of him, all his other senses came flooding back and he had control of himself again. The voices meandered back, quietly at first before becoming the deafening din he had started to become accustomed to.

His son was preparing to be born, and although he would have given anything to be by Alanah's side, he knew he was trapped here alone. He felt helpless and at the mercy of fate, unable to do anything to help at all.

He would have to wait the day out before he could even contemplate finding out how his wife and son were. It would be the longest day of his life.

-o-

Anthony awoke with a start. It had not been long since he had crawled into his coffin and settled down for a day's rest. But that rest seemed a long way off. Something inside him had awoken that he had not felt in a long time. He knew there was something happening, something happening relating to the Midnight Son. It was a hauntingly familiar feeling inside his body, one he had hoped he would never feel again. Alas he was.

The last time he had felt this unwanted surge through his body he was at the side of the woman giving birth to Damian seconds before he killed her outright. No feasting, no compassion just straight forward slaughter. And it had been that slaughter that had brought him to his present predicament, banned on pain of instant and irreversible death from interfering with the birth of the next Midnight Son.

And so he too knew that Alanah had gone into labour, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening. His hands were tied, and no matter how much he wanted to preserve his own existence, he knew there was a good possibility that his time was beginning to run out. He had to prepare, to sow the seeds of despair into the rituals, to make the new child that was about to be born into this world believe he had no influence to change the balance of power back into the hands of humans.

Could he really do that? Turn a child against its parents. Did he want to do that? In truth he did not know. He remembered the birth of his own child, the feelings of helplessness and despair he had felt when he had seen his baby for the first time. His love for his wife and child had kept him from taking their lives when the end of his had come, and he knew, even though his own heart was now black as the night he lived in that he could not turn a child against his mother.

Sliding the lid off the coffin he rose gracefully to his feet and walked to the coffin that housed Mary close by. Lacking any ceremony or pre warning he pulled the lid from Mary's coffin, causing a torrent of profanities to tumble from her lips.

"Damn it Anthony, I had just got to sleep." She scowled sitting up. "What the hell is the matter?" She looked at him with angry black eyes.

"Alanah has gone into labour. I can feel it." He said solemnly, expecting her to be amazed. Instead Mary burst into laughter.

"And how would you know that?" She laughed incredulously. She didn't believe one word of what he said.

"I have felt it before, and once again I feel a shift in the balance. He will be born tonight at midnight."

"If anyone's going to feel a shift in the balance of power it will be me, I am a blood relative. The brat she is carrying is my grandson after all, the product of my son mating with her. I can't believe my genes are involved in this! She sighed overdramatically. "Go back to sleep Anthony, if you really think she's in labour, send Paula to the hospital, she knows what to do once the brat is born. But don't blame me when she comes back empty handed. It's been a busy night and I just want to sleep the day away, I have my eye on a couple of the new recruits to feed from when dusk comes and I want to enjoy myself. Although I have immortality on my side, I still need my beauty sleep. That's something I never intend to give up. It refreshes the soul you know. Be a love and pop the lid back over me." She smiled at him and lay back down waiting for Anthony to oblige.

Anthony shook his head in annoyance. She was even lazier now they had come back to the Family. Ringing a bell he waited patiently for someone to come so that Paula could be sent to the hospital. He knew he wasn't imagining it, he knew the Midnight Son was just hours away from being born.
CHAPTER 8

"Alanah, we need to get you to the hospital!" Jessie panicked as she timed her friend's contractions. She had been dreading Alanah going into labour. Alanah was relying on her completely and she really didn't believe she would be up for the job. She had spent many sleepless nights wondering how she was going to be able to cope, but she knew she had to. Jessie had read everything she could get her hands on about being a birthing partner, and although she thought she was prepared, she did not really feel it now that the time had arrived.

"They are not close enough together yet, they'll only send me home." Alanah panted gently through the pain. She had no intention of going through labour without pain relief, she knew she could not cope with that, but she also wanted to stay in familiar surroundings for as long as she could. She didn't hate hospitals, and she knew it was the right place for her to be when the time came, but her own house was so much nicer than any hospital ever could be.

"But you are in pain; it's been eight hours since you called me." Jessie was worried that she could not cope with this on her own, and wanted the advice and care of a midwife for Alanah. Her biggest concern was that the child would come whilst they were getting to the hospital. She had spent the last nine months secretly worrying about this, knowing she'd freak if she had to deliver him herself, but kept it secret from Alanah, not wanting her to think she could not be there for her friend.

"This could last for hours yet. I've only been having proper contractions for a couple of hours, before that it was mostly just really bad PMT pain! At the moment, this is the best place for me." Alanah relaxed as the pain subsided. "At least I have the TENS machine, the pain would be much worse without it."

"I don't think I can do this." Jessie admitted guiltily. Her hands started shaking involuntarily.

Alanah looked at her friend, and saw a frightened little girl looking back at her. She looked just like she had the day her father came to get her from junior school to tell her that her grandfather had died. "Jess, all you have to do is be there for me. I'm the one in pain not you. Just rub my back when it's happening and tell me everything will be alright. We'll come out the other end soon and there will be a little baby boy leaving the hospital with us." Alanah spoke calmly to her friend. She could not blame Jessie, she knew she was scared of things like this, and she also knew that when the time came, Jessie would rise to the occasion and everything would be fine, she just had to convince Jessie she could do it.

"What if something goes wrong and we are not at the hospital?" She looked at Alanah scared, she saw liquid travel down her leg and on to the floor. "What's that?" She said flustered.

"I'm pretty sure my waters have broken. Now is the time to call the midwife and get to the hospital. Things have started happening!"

-o-

Alanah had been right to have faith in her. Jessie rose to the occasion. She didn't know how she did it, but somehow she was able to be exactly what Alanah needed. Everything from rubbing her back, to letting her squeeze her hand she was there for, and she didn't blanche once.

She watched her best friend breathe and wince in pain as the day went on, worried about her, but determined to be strong for her. Eventually Alanah relented and had an epidural, exhausted and in need of a respite from the pain.

After Alanah had managed to get an hour or so of sleep, she looked a lot better, the epidural had taken away all of her pain. Jessie was relieved to see Alanah looking much more comfortable and in control.

"Have you come up with any names yet?" Jessie asked.

"No, I've been thinking, but I can't decide. I quite like Luke and Ben, but I hate the idea of having to choose without Dan. He might just have to be called Baby Boy Newman." Alanah's head began to spin gently as she lay on the bed. She felt a little out of it on all the drugs in her system. If she hadn't been in labour, she could have sworn she was drunk!

By 11pm Alanah was fully dilated and ready to push. Jessie stood up from her awkward sleeping position on the couch and came to hold Alanah's hand.

With guidance and praise from the midwife and Jessie, Alanah pushed hard, trying to get her child out of its snug home, but after 30 minutes of pushing, Alanah was exhausted, and nothing was happening. Ruth, the midwife was getting a little concerned and went to obtain the advice of a doctor, who said the child's head was stuck. Alanah would need an assisted delivery. Her heart sank at the thought of the possibility of caesarean after going through labour.

After deliberating the best course of action, the doctor decided it would be best to deliver the child with a vontuse, a suction device as he seemed to be unwilling to come out on his own.

Alanah was relieved that she would not have an emergency caesarean; she had wanted to only concentrate on her child instead of worrying about surgery. The doctors prepared her for delivery and she held tightly onto Jessie's hand as she pushed for what seemed like forever.

At midnight exactly there was a scream from the small child that was helped out of Alanah's womb. She sighed in relief as the tiny red creature was placed on her chest. She let out a cry of happiness and kissed him on the forehead. The Midnight Son had been born.

As quickly as he had been placed on her chest he was removed and weighed, 7lb 4oz, a healthy baby boy. He was cleaned and a little blue hat placed on his head. Identity bracelets were placed around both ankles. Wrapped in a soft white blanket, he was handed back to his mother who received him with open arms and an exhausted smile.

Holding him close she took his small hand in hers and said "Hello, I'm your mummy." She shed a tear of happiness and held the small child close to her heart, knowing he was eternally inside it.

"Alanah, we need to take you to theatre, you have a very bad tear which we need to sew up." The doctor said coming up to her.

"But what about my baby? What will happen to him?" Alanah panicked.

"He'll be fine Lani, I'll look after him." Jessie smiled down at him.

"Will we be long?" Alanah asked the doctor.

"30 minutes at the most."

"Alright." Alanah handed her son to Jessie. "Aunty Jessie will take care of you." She smiled at him. She looked at Jessie. "Take care of him, don't let anyone take him away from you."

"It'll be fine Lani, I won't let him out of my arms."

Alanah was wheeled out of the delivery room and into a nearby operating theatre.

Jessie held tightly but gently onto the baby she and Alanah had been waiting months to meet. Her heart melted as she looked at his perfect little face.

"I don't know what I was so worried about; you are perfect, little man. I am your Auntie Jessie, and I promise I will always be here for you and your mummy. I will never fail either of you; you are both too precious to me. You can come to me for anything; I will always look after you." Jessie kissed the babies forehead, sealing in her promise, a promise she would keep many times over.

Sitting back in a chair, she held him close, never taking her eyes off of him.
CHAPTER 9

By the time the sun had set Dan was biting at the bit to go and see Alanah. He knew she would be in the hospital and was desperate to check she and the baby were OK. But he did not trust himself to be anywhere near his wife and his newborn baby before he fed and he wasn't prepared to skimp on that tonight. He had not settled at all during the day, he had spent every minute pacing up and down his room like the expectant father he was. He hated not being able to be with Alanah, wishing he could be in the one place he knew she was.

But sunlight prevented him from being able to get to her, and indeed he didn't trust himself enough to be there, not knowing if there would be any blood or not. Yet he knew when night fell that he would visit, just to make sure Alanah and the baby were OK.

It had been with a heavy heart that he left his hiding place the very moment the sun descended, knowing he would take more lives tonight that he usually did and this upset him greatly. He had been surviving on one person a night as much as possible, but this only tamed the thirst, not slaked it. He had been torturing himself nightly, not able to kill beyond taking the edge off the craving. Self gratification was not the way he wanted to take the lives of innocent people. But he knew tonight his feeding had to increase and he felt that selfishness he had been trying to avoid was the cause of death tonight.

His selfishness tonight came from his need to see his family and the necessity not to hurt them. He could not live with the knowledge that he had hurt them if he was not controlled enough to keep from desiring Alanah's blood. If he did anything stupid, their son would be an orphan, and the human race would be forfeit to the vampires. His selfishness was awful, but a necessity, tonight anyhow.

Dan was controlled in his feeding, unable to raise even a hint of malice in his attack. His mind was distracted by the knowledge that his son would be born this night. It was distracting to the point of almost losing a victim from his grasp. But his lightening reflexes caught him again and he efficiently ended the man's life quickly and without wasting any of his precious blood. His soul soon joined the others slinging abuse at him.

Four corpses later, Dan felt fuller than he ever had before, knowing he could not wait any longer before he checked on Alanah and his imminently born son.

-o-

Alanah was holding her son in her arms as he slept peacefully against her chest. She studied his tiny features, his eyelashes, button nose and red lips. She saw a halo of red hair at the back of his head and knew he was perfect in every way. She was so happy, but so tired.

She had never had these feelings before, that she would ferociously protect someone from anything she deemed to be evil, but at this moment she felt it and she shed a tear of happiness, that she had finally found her calling in life.

There was a knock at the door and a nurse entered. Alanah vaguely recognised her, but she had not treated her whilst she was in labour, or during her maternity care. She couldn't place her in any setting, and she was too tired to dwell on where she knew her from. She smiled at Alanah and crept quietly up to her, smiling at the sleeping babe in her arms.

"Hello, Mrs Newman? My name is Paula, Ruth has gone home, her shift has ended, she meant to take a photo for the picture wall in the staff room. Would you mind if I took your photo?" She smiled.

"Of course not, but I know I look a state!" Alanah laughed, feeling very grubby, wanting a shower, but not able to move yet courtesy of the epidural and not yet ready to let the baby lie in his plastic hospital cot.

"Not at all, you have the glow of new motherhood about you!" Paula stood back and took a photo of Alanah and her child with a digital camera. She took a look at the image she had taken, smiling happily that it was a good photo and then showed Alanah before leaving the room.

Alanah sat in the bed and quietly whispered to her son "You are my sunshine..."

-o-

"Steve? It's Jess. Lani's asked me to call to let you know she's safely delivered the baby." Jessie smiled down the phone at the man she was beginning to suspect she loved.

"She has? That's great! I'll let mum know as soon as she wakes up. She's still out of sorts from the jet lag, I won't wake her up. Everything went well? How much did he weigh?" Steve asked excitedly \- he was an uncle, and he couldn't believe it!

"He's 7lb 4oz. Steve he's beautiful, a halo of red hair around his head, a beautiful button nose. absolutely perfect." Jessie gushed.

"You sound smitten!" Steve laughed.

"I am! Never thought it would be possible to fall in love with someone else's baby so quickly." Jessie giggled.

"Yeah, but you're his Auntie, you were always destined to fall in love with him! Has Lani come up with any names, is she OK, how is she coping without Dan being there?" Steve asked.

"That's a lot of questions, sweetheart, I'll answer them in order if that's OK. No names yet, she's a bit stuck on that front, but she's only just met him, so give her a chance! She is fine, she had to have some stitches, baby got a little stuck on the way out, but she's fine. I think she's coping, she certainly seems OK, but I think time will tell. We just have to be there for her throughout whatever may come. She's going to need a lot of support." Jessie sighed, she was exhausted, but she knew the night wasn't over yet.

"Yeah, I know, we really need to be there for her. The baby is my flesh and blood, I'll be there for him always, and Lani can always depend on both of us, just make her understand that we'll help her in any way possible. I can't wait to meet him." Steve said enthusiastically.

"I'll email you over a photo, you'll fall in love with him straight away." Jessie giggled. "I'd better go. Lani is being moved up to a ward when a bed becomes available, I'd better make sure I know where they are going. Love you." She whispered, not wanting everyone in the hospital restaurant to hear her.

"I know, I love you too. See you when you get home."

-o-

Dan stood outside the delivery ward, wondering what to do. He was frantic to visit Alanah, but he could not help procrastinate over entering the labour ward. He could feel that Alanah had given birth and he urgently wanted to make sure they were both OK, but he couldn't bring himself to enter the ward. He played with a piece of paper in his hands, and stood in a quandary as to what to do.

The door opened and out walked a woman dressed in a nurse's uniform, the one who had introduced herself to Alanah as Paula. Dan recognised her instantly as one of the Family and he hid out of sight from her. He was sure she was there to report on Alanah to Anthony. In her hand she carried a plastic bag, and Dan could smell blood inside, but he knew it was not alive.

He knew he had to get to Alanah to make sure Paula hadn't hurt her or the baby. Before the door closed behind her Dan rushed inside and stood in the waiting room, the florescent white lights bearing down on him.

"Can I help you?" A nurse asked politely smiling at him, she knew a new father at a hundred paces - he had a look of shock all over his face.

"My wife was brought in, Alanah Newman." Dan managed to say.

"Yes of course, she has had the baby, she is in room 3, along the corridor and on the right." The nurse pointed.

Dan thanked her and walked slowly down the dimly lit corridor and stood outside room 3. On a small chalk board next to the door the name Alanah Newman was etched.

He composed himself before knocking and entering. Alanah was sat in the bed, singing to his son.

".....my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey..." She looked up and saw Dan at the door. Her heart quickened, she remembered the dream she had had at the beginning of her pregnancy and could not stop herself being scared for her son.

Dan, sensing the panic remained by the door and spoke. "He's wonderful." He whispered. "I'm not here to hurt either of you. I wanted to make sure you were both safe."

"How did you know I had had the baby?" Alanah asked not able to take her eyes off him.

"Your blood circles my veins every moment of every day; I felt you were in labour. I am glad you are both out of harm's way." Dan made to leave, he knew he shouldn't be here.

"Don't go." Alanah called after him. "You can't see him from there. Come closer." Her voice was soft and ever so inviting.

"Do you trust me?" Dan asked, he did not move from the spot he was stood on.

"You are the father of my son, of course I trust you." She forced a smile, feeling tired, but wanting him to see his son. Dan walked towards the bed, stopping at the end. "Come closer, I know you won't bite." She smiled as she realized the joke in those words.

Dan reluctantly obliged. He came close to his wife and looked down in amazement at his sleeping son. "Perfect in every way." He smiled sadly.

"I know. I wish you could have been here. Jessie was amazing, but I would have given anything for you to have been there. Still you are here now." Alanah said, looking at Dan's pale face for the first time in so long, part of her couldn't quite believe he was here.

"Not for long, the living dead have no place here." Dan said solemnly. He played frantically with the paper in his hand.

"My husband has every right to be here by my side." Alanah took his cold hand and squeezed. "I've missed you."

"Not as much as I have missed you. I'm sorry that my mother did this to me, took away my life and gave me death in its place." Dan looked at his son and longed to hold him.

"I don't know what to call him. I've been looking at him, but all the names I have come up with are meaningless without your help. Do you have any suggestions?"

Dan looked at him. "Samson." He said. "It means 'Child of the Sun'. He can walk in the sun and I can't. He is the Midnight Son, sent to restore the balance, to protect the light from darkness. It is an honourable and fitting name. If you are OK with it." Dan said, daring to stroke his son's tiny hand.

Alanah smiled. "Samson Daniel Newman, I like it. We can call him Sam for short."

"Daniel for a middle name?" Dan asked slightly embarrassed.

"His father's name - your name. In my family, the child's middle name is always that of its mother or father. If we were ever to have a daughter, we'd have to find a name that would go with Alanah!" She laughed, then stopped wondering if Sam would ever have a brother or sister. "But of course, we don't know what the future holds on that front." She regained her self-control.

Dan looked at his wife and his son and knew there was a divide between him and them he would never be able to cross. He was satisfied they were both safe and he felt now was the right time to leave them.

Sensing Dan was about to depart, and not wanting him to go, Alanah made an offer to him she knew he would find difficult to refuse. "Would you like to hold Sam?"

Dan looked at her in amazement. "I want nothing more than to hold him. Do you really trust me?"

"He is the Midnight Son, he is protected, we both know you can't hurt him, even if you wanted to, which you don't." She smiled at Dan and then held Sam up for him to take. "Be careful, make sure you support his head at all times."

Dan gingerly took his son in his arms, for what he was sure would be the first and last time in his life. He sat on the bed and stared at him.

Alanah grabbed her phone from the movable table next to her and captured a candid shot of Dan and his son, knowing it would more than likely be the only photo of them together that she would ever have.

"Don't worry, I promise you I won't show it to anyone. They'd never believe it anyway." She smiled angelically at him.

"Yes, they'd think I was a ghost!" Dan almost laughed. He knew she wouldn't show anyone, and he didn't begrudge her. "So perfect... so innocent. The only confirmation that I was ever human. You took the remains of my humanity my little one. Nothing can ever bring that back."

"Don't dwell on the past. We have to live for the next seven years in isolation from each other. Let us enjoy being a family while we can." Alanah picked up the piece of paper Dan had been playing with and glanced at a drawing of an Egyptian Ankh, the symbol for life. She turned her attention back to her husband and placed her hand on his cheek and looked him in the eye. "I miss you so much."

Dan melted into her touch, so desperate to be loved by her, but just sane enough to know it wasn't possible. "I know. Nothing prepares you for the loneliness. Despair has become my friend and will remain so until the Midnight Son is completed." He looked down at his son. "Sam, I may not be with you in person, but I will be watching over you and your mummy every night, I promise you I will keep you both safe." He kissed the sleeping babes head and gently passed him back to Alanah. "Thank you for that, it means more to me than you will ever know. Take care of him, I know you will. Tell him I was a good man, and that my love for the both of you keeps me away." Dan went to leave.

"Don't I get anything? A kiss, an embrace?" Alanah asked panicking.

"I'm scared to touch you." Dan confessed.

"You weren't scared the other night. I know you were there watching me. Please, let me hold you in my arms and feel you near me. I don't know when I will get the next opportunity." Alanah implored.

"But I don't want to hurt you." Dan protested.

"You'll hurt me more by leaving without touching me. You are not here for blood, you are here for love. We both know that."

"Letting myself love you is tearing me apart. I'm at a precipice, wondering whether to jump off and indulge myself completely. But you are holding me back, keeping me from being the whole I am now supposed to be. I think I am going mad." Dan looked at her green eyes and would have given anything to fall into her arms and be loved. "If I hold you I will be lost."

"But I've already lost you. Could it be that bad that you have to reject me?" Alanah began to cry.

"You have given me the most wonderful gift tonight and nothing will ever take that away from me. I love you for it and I would give anything to be a happy normal family, but we are both reasonable enough to know that will never happen. If I give you my love directly it will take forever to get over holding you and I suffer enough each night and day. Knowing we are not together, that you are far away from me and I can never be the man I once was. It is selfish I know, but that is what I am now, a selfish creature intent only in self gratification." Dan hung his head in shame.

"If that were true, you would have taken your fill of me by now. This may be the last time we see each other before..."

"I can't go on thinking about you, wondering what you are doing, if you have found yourself a new man. How can I exist with these fears and worries in my mind." Dan began to sob, he sat in the chair near the window and watched as the moon shone brightly in the sky. It was past two in the morning and he had much to do that night.

"It's ironic how you find the person you want to be with forever, and then forever seems too long when you can't be together. No one will ever replace you, you no one could. You never need to worry about losing me, I will always be yours. My love belongs to no one but you, however long we are apart, I will always be faithful to you, I give you my word on that." Alanah rested Sam into his cot and sat in the bed, desperate to get to Dan, but the epidural prevented her from moving. "Whatever pain we must go through individually, the shared pain we feel will outweigh everything else. One last embrace, is it too much to ask?" Tears fell down her pale face and she sat waiting for his answer.

Dan sat and looked at his wife. "You always manage to make me do the right thing." He stood and walked back to her bed. He hesitated before he leant forward and took Alanah in his arms. They were inseparable and held each other for a long time before finally parting and looking at each other. Dan held tightly onto Alanah's hand. "I was right, I am even more lost than I was before, but I think it's worth it. Take care of Sam, remember to tell him who I was, not who I am now." Dan kissed Alanah's hand, smiled at Sam and then left the room.

Alanah sat in silence, tears falling from her red eyes, desperate for sleep, which she finally succumbed to, sat awkwardly in the bed.

CHAPTER 10

Dan walked along the corridor, his thoughts scattered all over the place. He was feeling very hungry after his encounter with Alanah; her smell had been both delectable and strange due to the drugs coursing through her bloodstream. He took heart that the chemical smells had helped him keep his head when he was close to Alanah and baby Samson. Sam, the reason he would protect the human race. Alanah and Sam would be enough of a reason for him to somehow survive the next seven years as a vampire. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts of his newborn son that he walked with his head down and bumped into a woman coming towards him.

"Dan!" She cried in amazement. He flicked his head up instantly, his focus coming back to the here and now.

"Jessie." He looked at her. Someone who remembered him as a human, remembered the man he used to be. His heart sank. "Where did you spring from?" He scowled, wishing she had not seen him, he was ashamed of what he was.

"I went to get a cup of tea." Jessie was not sure what to say to him. She stood awkwardly, not sure if she should look at him, but she could not help sneak a look at his pale pained face, and her heart went out to him. Eventually to break the strained silence she asked. "Have you seen Alanah and the baby?"

"I've seen them." He smiled quickly and tersely. "They are both fine. I understand you were at the birth." Dan looked at her not knowing what else to say. He was getting twitchy, he needed to feed. Soon.

"I was, something I never thought I would see. But it was amazing." She smiled at him, but could feel he was not happy in her presence, and she suspected what the problem was. "I know you'd have been there if you could have been." She sympathised.

"I'm sure it was an amazing thing to witness. I would have given anything to be there if it had been possible. Alas, it was not." Dan muttered quietly. He looked at her hands and began to salivate. Even though human eyes could no longer see the wounds inflicted by Mary, Dan could see the scars with his eyes and he imagined what it would be like to feed from Jessie.....

Jessie had made a vow, it seemed such a long time ago, but she would stand by it. She would serve him in any way necessary and right now she guessed what he needed. She calmly held her hand out to him. She and Alanah had spoken about the fact that Dan had been able to read Alanah's thoughts and feelings, and she wanted Dan to be able to trust her. It seemed important.

Seeing the silent offer of her blood, and no longer able to contain the instinct that now guided his existence, Dan took it and sunk his teeth into her delicate, but scarred skin. Immediately he could feel her flowing through his veins. He could see nothing but total dedication and friendship. The relief of fresh blood coursing though his body was immediate and he was grateful for Jessie's sacrifice.

Guiltily he stopped drinking and let her hand go. "I'm sorry, I should not have done that." He ran past her and out of the ward. He was ashamed that he had drunk from the one person who he knew would understand how lonely he was more than anyone else.

He stopped, Jessie was the one person apart from Alanah who knew him, someone he trusted completely. They had been solace to each other at the Family whilst they awaited the day Alanah was delivered for sacrifice. Jessie was as close to him as if she had been a sister.

He needed someone to talk to, someone to connect with, someone who could know what he was without killing them instantly. He turned back and rushed to Jessie. "Can I see you? I need some sort of connection with Alanah and Sam. I can't think of anyone else who could tell me how they both are." He was humble, he knew he was asking a lot.

"I am always your servant." Jessie replied, she bowed her head and smiled in agreement. If he still needed her, she would be there for him. Jessie could see despair in him that sent a shiver throughout her body. He looked lost, and if she could be even just a small light in the darkness that surrounded him, she would be it.

"I will find you and we can talk." Dan nodded and left the ward once again.

Jessie walked back to Alanah's room, knowing intrinsically that telling her she had agreed to see Dan would hurt her heart, she decided to keep it secret. She was Alanah's best friend and her husband's solace. She was strong enough to council them both. She hoped.

-o-

Dan ran from the hospital, his whole being in a state of flux and confusion. His entire world had shifted, and he had not yet had a chance to adapt. His next mission for the night was to find the woman, Paula, from the Family who had been posing as a nurse. She was indeed a nurse as her day job, but he remembered seeing her feeding from others at the Family. She was a fully fledged member, loyal and dedicated and he was sure she would go back and he wanted to know what she would report.

He'd had a good whiff of her scent as she passed him by and he knew she was carrying something dead with her, so he knew it wouldn't be too difficult to find her. He was right, she was waiting impatiently at the bus stop. As the bus arrived, Dan sped onto the bus in front her and sat a small distance behind her, obscured by a young man listening to music which had a heavy beat to it.

Dan's thirst was growing again, and although he did not want to kill again tonight, he knew he needed more blood to keep going until morning. He had become quite adept at manipulating his victims, and he was feeding from the man in a blink of an eye, satisfying his needs with a short sharp intake of his blood.

Dan left him quietly after taking no more than a pint of his blood. The man sat dazed, but unaware of what had happened, he just felt tired and put it down to the lateness of the hour. He did however, wonder how he had missed almost a minute of the song he had been listening to, he was a little baffled.

Dan knew he was risking his life by following her, if he was caught, he would be tortured and probably left in the sun to rot, but even if he was not caught, if he was still out at sunrise he risked being burned to death. These were risks he had to take, he had to know why Paula had been watching Alanah and what she had in the bag with her, the smell of dead blood was pungent in the air.

The bus dropped them both about half a mile from the house and following her at a distance, Dan walked back voluntarily to the house he had spent his whole life trying to escape. Paula walked into the house and was directed towards the library where she was told she would meet Anthony and Mary.

Dan crept up the stairs, knowing there was an observation level on the floor above and the only place he could hear the whole conversation without making himself known. He rushed through the house as quietly as a mouse without alerting any human to his presence. He walked through the small wooden door and edged himself towards the edge. He could see his mother and Anthony talking with Paula.

"You have done well my child." Mary smiled at her. "The Midnight Son has been born and the mother and child are doing well." There was an acidic edge to her voice, Dan could tell that she was anything but pleased about the birth of his son.

"It's a pity her fingers didn't swell like the last one, it was such a pleasure being able to take the child from the mother so easily. Now we will have to wait until the rituals begin before we can break the cycle once again." Anthony was clearly upset.

"My darling, we shall have a wonderful seven years, preparation is essential when it comes to ruling the human race. If we do not prepare properly vampires will once again be relegated to foraging for food, something we both know you hate doing, and something I didn't sign up for when you made me." Mary's tone was soothing and she looked at Anthony with her dark but doe like eyes.

"This is your son's fault for falling in love with his sacrifice." Anthony raged. "Never in the history of the Family has that happened. I still don't know how it happened so quickly, it was like they had known each other before she came here. I should have seen it in his eyes, but somehow he hid it well. I really didn't believe he would desert us like he did. The father of the Midnight Son always comes from within the Family, but this is a first."

"We both know that Damian had a hand in that. Still, time was upon us and Daniel is the last surviving Newman son, it was inevitable it was going to be him and whoever he fell in love with. But you are right, I would never have thought it would be his sacrifice. I always thought he would fall in love with Sophie, I certainly tried to make that happen. If we can bring the rituals down, we can murder the line and there will be no more Midnight Son's, no more dreading the day that the army of souls comes to claim us as its victims. We can rule in darkness and no one can stop us." Mary smiled, her plan was in motion. As far as she was concerned, nothing could stand in her way. "But we have not found the site of the rituals yet, without prior knowledge of them we are at a disadvantage."

"From what I know about the workings of previous rituals, the location is immaterial until the time arrives, no one has an advantage. There are no monuments built specifically for the use of the Midnight Son, they will arrive and assemble at the time. It could happen anywhere and only the Midnight Son himself will know when the time comes. We shall have to keep close tabs on Alanah and her child near the time. We cannot afford to lose them. Don't forget my love, that child is your grandson." Anthony smiled.

"Don't remind me! That child reeks of mortality from here. Killing him will be the icing on the cake, the ritual I intend to carry out myself." She smiled.

Dan growled in his hiding place. His mother wanted to kill his son. He would not let that happen.

"I also brought the placenta as you asked. May I go now please?" Paula asked, she was feeling uncomfortable in the presence of the reincarnated leader. That had been an unexpected event a few months before. Anthony and Mary had just appeared and taken over as if they had never been gone. The atmosphere was unsettled.

"Paula, thank you so much for bringing this news to us, it has been incredibly helpful. The only problem is that if it leaves this room, there are going to be complications. Therefore, we have no choice but to kill you." Anthony smiled and pounced on her, biting hard down on her throat, stifling her screams with his hand. She had not a single second to realized she was about to give her life for what she had done for them.

Mary joined her partner in crime and crouched over Paula, helping Anthony to drain her of her blood. Dan led in his vantage point, drooling as they drank.

When Paula was limp and lying on the floor, Mary went to the bag and took out the placenta she had taken from the hospital. "So this is what has been keeping the child alive for the last 9 months. It shall be this that kills him. We must have it preserved, seven years is a long time to keep."

"I'll ask the priests to assist; they are as keen as us when it comes to irradiating the line of the Midnight Son. We'll have to get Alex to dispose of Paula, we can't have her hanging around here. As annoying as he is, he is incredibly useful for clearing up after our meals."

Dan quietly retreated. He was disgusted that Alanah's placenta had been taken. What significance it had, he had no idea, but to know the organ that had connected Sam to Alanah had been taken concerned him.

Mary smiled, she had felt the presence of her son close by, she knew he had been watching them and couldn't wait to see him dead with the rest of his family.

Dan began down the stairs only to be met by a familiar face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Daniel Newman." Came Alex's smug voice. "I didn't think I would see you popping up at the Family again." Alex had in fact hoped he would be dead by now, or at the very least feral. He was dismayed to see he still looked quite pulled together. To Alex, Dan was the obstacle to get to Alanah, and he was desperate to make her his own.

"I can't say I ever thought I would walk through the doors again, but here I am. Are you planning on raising the alarm?" Dan growled. He didn't really care, he was stronger than any human here, he just wanted to leave without a blood bath.

"Oh no, my position has been reclaimed, I am even higher now, I have taken the role of Next in Line. I've usurped even you, the precious marked heretic. Anthony said it was my destiny. I have nothing more to quarrel with you about. You taking my sacrifice has elevated me. I thank you. However, I'm sure your mother would be happy to see you again." Alex smiled.

"I somehow doubt that." Dan smiled back as friendly as he could, feeling nothing but thinly controlled hatred for him. He had after all assisted Mary and Anthony in his conversion from human to vampire. He hated him and he didn't trust him one bit.

"I hear congratulations are in order, you have a new son. Shame you won't see him grow up, take his first step, say his first words. Still, I'm sure you can watch him from a distance, mixing vampires and humans together is never a good idea. Usually results in the death of one side, and from what I can tell it's the humans who mostly bite the dust." Alex went to pat Dan's back but was stopped by a powerful grip.

Dan held Alex up against the wall, his fingers wrapped tightly around his neck. "If you're not careful I will take your life. It wouldn't take much to break your neck. If you know what you are really involved in, you should get out straight away, but no, you are too short sighted to see beyond the brainwashing that you have received over your life. You know there are vampires here, yet you mindlessly serve them as if they are masters over everything. You blindly believe any and every promise they make to you. Next in Line? Anthony will never relinquish the leadership to anyone let alone you. You believe everything these people tell you, you have no free will of your own." Dan placed his cold face next to Alex's and stared at him with his black eyes.

"Please, let me go." Alex whimpered in pain. His life couldn't end like this, not at Dan's hands, not after the promises Sekhmet had made.

"I'll let you go, but I'll send you off with a warning." Dan let go of Alex's neck and grabbed his wrist instead. He ripped into the flesh below his thumb with his teeth and left two large gashes in his wake. He spat the blood out. "Your blood has been soured by deception and malice. Mark my words Alex, the scars that these wounds leave will remind you of what the heretic did, how you managed to escape the blood thirsty marked man. You should get out whilst you can, before it's too late. But something tells me you won't. You are too loyal to the point of stupidity. I will rein a terrible revenge on those who still remain faithful to the Family when the Midnight Son reaches age. Make sure you pass that on." Dan let go of Alex and began to walk down the stairs, only to be stopped by Mary waiting patiently for him. She was blocking his way, and he had no choice but to stop and look her in the eye.

He knew this would be interesting.
CHAPTER 11

Dan stood stock still, as much as he would have liked to, he could not rush past his mother and make his escape, and he knew he had to face her whether he wanted to or not. There was however, one thing on his side, he knew she would not do anything to reveal to the Family what she was, she wouldn't jeopardise her position. He knew they would only talk.

She smiled at him acidly. "I vaguely recall telling you I would never show you any motherly love again. I still stand by that, so I do hope you have not come here expecting it. The offer of it has long expired and it will not be offered again." Her voice was haughty and condescending.

"Believe me, I will never make that request of you again. You may have carried me in your womb, but you never loved me, not even when you were human." Dan growled at the vampire that used to be his mother.

"I think we should take this conversation elsewhere, don't you?" Mary said smiling sweetly at him. "We are quite exposed here to eavesdroppers."

"I'd rather not have a conversation in the first place. I have things to do tonight which are far more important that talking to you." Dan said his eyes narrowing as they bore down on Mary.

"I'm sure you do, but equally I'm sure you have questions following what you heard from your badly concealed hiding place. You can't hide from me, I heard you salivating when we fed from Paula. I'm surprised you didn't join us in our feeding. You may as well ask your questions, save you pondering them for the next 7 years! Follow me." She said and walked back down the stairs, expecting Dan to follow.

Anger boiled up within him, but she was right, he did want answers.

Mary led him towards one of the small but comfortable communal sitting rooms. There were only three young girls present, who all jumped up as they saw who had entered. "If you don't mind, I would like some space for a discussion with my son, please vacate the room." She said with sickly sweetness to them, she was finding it difficult to hide her true nature tonight.

The three of them were out of the room in seconds, instincts telling them that Mary and Dan were dangerous, even though they did not understand why themselves.

Mary walked slowly to the largest of the comfy chairs and sat down gracefully, turning her attention back to Dan. She sat as if she were on a throne, resplendent and powerful, and if the girls had remained, that is what she would have been. Instead, the only person looking at her was the man she had once carried in her womb, the man who now hated her and held no reverence for her anymore. It made her look pathetic and power hungry in his eyes, and he had to laugh inside, she was pitching her position at the wrong vampire.

"There is only one question that I want an answer for. Why did you have the placenta taken from the hospital? How can that have a bearing on what is to come? It is a dead piece of flesh." His tone was gruff and uncompromising and he remained standing as he delivered his question.

"It is nothing more than what connected the child to its mother. The conduit through which nourishment was sent to your son. Call it an insurance policy, a way to gain an upper hand when the time comes." She smiled.

Dan laughed. "You know as much as we do about what is to happen seven years from tonight. You are working as blindly as I am, no writings, no rituals to follow. All we both know is that on that night, the baby that lies tonight in a cot next to the woman I love will rid the world of vampires, and I will gladly leave this world to get away from the nightmare you have put me into. And I promise, I will take your existence before I relinquish mine. You are not my mother, you are not my maker, you are the single most deadly creature I have ever encountered and I will not rest until you have been exterminated from this earth. You are more poisonous than Anthony and twice as devious."

"I take every one of those words as a complement. We are not as blind as you may think, there are writings to view, histories to review and contemplate. Do not underestimate Anthony; he is a powerful foe for you, one you haven't even begun to know properly, even I don't know how he has survived this long. He has hidden his talents well over the years, he is powerful and not to be trifled with. Don't think you can win just with your bravado, you are a vampire purely so that there are both points of view when it comes to the crucial moment. Can your love for your family outweigh the feelings you have every time you feed? Will you be able to relinquish your powers and sacrifice everything you have become to save the human race, or will you be so messed up and addicted to blood that you will sacrifice your wife and son? Only time will tell. Seven years is not an arbitrary amount of time, it is there for a reason, to give you the chance to embrace the life you now have. Make you question if you want to give it up. There will always be free choice, the Highest Authority cannot take that away from you. You have to make the ultimate decision, and don't automatically think you will choose to kill us off, there is a long wait for you to change your mind." Mary smiled at him smugly.

"Then I will take my leave of you. The sun will be rising soon." He bowed his head stiffly and made to leave. Arguing with her seemed futile. He knew there was nothing he could say that would change her mind. He had his point of view, she had hers – opposites for eternity.

"You are welcome to spend the day here if you are worried about getting somewhere safe before the sun rises." Mary said graciously.

"As kind an offer as that is, I cannot bring myself to accept it. Who knows what will happen to me during the day, I would be the proverbial sitting duck, and I doubt I would get much rest. I will take my chances outside."

"Suit yourself, although your early demise would defeat the whole object of the Midnight Son. I bid you good bye." And she watched him leave the room sitting, thinking about which of the lovely young girls who had vacated this room she would call back for a snack.

Dan raced from the house with the knowledge he did not have much time to find somewhere decent, he would have to take the first shelter he could find. He found an empty cellar on the outskirts of the town and settled down to rest. He remembered back to holding Sam, and for the first time in almost a year, he fell to sleep with a smile on his face.

CHAPTER 12

Alanah awoke on the maternity ward; she had been moved shortly after Dan had left her that night. In the shadows next to her, she could see a man sitting silently. "Dan?" She asked softly.

"No Alanah, it's me." The voice was gentle and warm and she was pleased to hear it.

"Damian." Alanah smiled, they had become friends during her pregnancy, he had been one of only three people who knew what was going on, and the friendship had come slowly but naturally, and she trusted him completely, he was after all the last Midnight Son child, even though he had not been able to fulfil the rituals. She often wondered how this had coloured his life, but had never had the courage to ask.

"You have a beautiful son, one to be proud of." He smiled and looked at Sam sleeping soundly in the cot next to the bed. So new into the world, and unaware of his destiny.

"Believe me I am. His name is Samson. Dan chose it; he came to visit last night." Alanah smiled down at the sleeping baby she loved completely.

"I thought he might. I knew he could not keep away. Samson, an unusual choice." Damian said contemplating the name. He liked it, he recalled a previous Midnight Son having the same name.

"I know, apparently it means 'Child of the Sun'. I'll call him Sam for short. It was good to have his input, and to see him again." Alanah smiled dozily. Damian nodded thoughtfully, somehow it seemed fitting.

"I know you miss him, but time will go quickly if you have fun." Damian was trying to be sympathetic, he could understand how completely abandoned Alanah must feel right now, but he knew she was strong enough to cope.

"That's easy for you to say, you have all the time in the world!" Alanah smiled sleepily.

"When can you go home?"

"Hopefully today, it will be nice to get home. I miss being there. Too much noise and babies crying throughout the night here, and Sam was one of them. Once one starts its hard to stop them all following! Peace and quiet is just what I need!" She sighed.

"I doubt you'll get that with Sam around!" Damian stroked Sam's cheek. "I had better go; I sneaked in without the nurses knowing. There will be hell to pay if they find me here."

"It would be even worse if they found out you were a vampire!" Alanah laughed gently, but quietly.

"I'll see you soon." Damian disappeared and Alanah sat up in bed looking around. In her ward were five other mothers and babies. She felt awful, thinking that the Family could have chosen any of these to be sacrifices in 21 years time. Sam began to cry and she gently lifted him up out of his cot and cradled him, letting him suckle at her breast.

By the time Alanah had herself been an hour old, she had been chosen by Mary for Dan. As she held Sam in her arms, she knew that she had the most important job possible, to raise the Midnight Son to help quash the hold vampires, in particular Anthony and Mary had over humans. If the child in her arms could help control the vampire population, she knew countless babies could be spared the attention of the Family at 21. There was nothing she could do to prevent any existing planned sacrifices from happening in the next 7 years, they were unfortunately out of her control. It would sit uneasy with her every day, but dwelling on it was not something she could do.

Putting these thoughts out of her mind, she concentrated on the amazing feeling of holding her new born babe in her arms.

-o-

Damian stood outside the hospital, looking up at the sky. The sun was close to rising, and the tell tale lightening in the sky told him all other vampires would be settled, ready for the day before them. He knew Dan would be safe somewhere, hopefully with a lighter heart, having seen his new born son.

Damian's heart was certainly lighter. Seven years from now, the Midnight Son would have happened, and hopefully he would be basking in the satisfaction that vampires had been prevented from rising up and controlling humans.

Seven whole years to live through. They could change everything, he didn't know quite how either Dan or Alanah would cope with this time without the other, and he had to admit he was very worried about the potential problems over the years.

Alanah had to deal with being alone, very few people knowing her true feelings and state. He had spent the last 9 months seeing nothing but sadness in her eyes, she had spent so much of the time pining for Dan, and he worried for her sanity. If Dan had really died, and was buried in the ground with a grave stone to mark his location, he knew Alanah would be able to cope with that far easier than knowing her husband was, in some way alive and walking this earth, killing to survive. She would have a lot to contend with in her heart, and in her mind she would have to reconcile everything inside herself and learn to cope with and adapt everything she was and would be. She would never stop loving Dan, that would never happen, they were two humans, separated by fate, but desperate for the other. Somehow she had to cope, and he would help her in any way possible.

But he couldn't help Dan. Dan wouldn't let him, he couldn't guide him and advise him on how to cope with what was happening to him. Damian had never met his own father, but he had heard stories of him as he grew up. Anthony had already quashed the Midnight Son he was supposed to be part of, but that didn't mean his father was free of his burden. He was still the father of the Midnight Son, and to that end he still collected souls inside him, and it drove him mad. The love of his life was dead, and apart from Damian, he had no one to love him. Anthony had made a point of keeping Damian away from his father, so he didn't even have a chance to meet him and bond with him in any way as he grew up. The seven years passed, and then another seven before he finally walked into the sun unable to cope with the noise in his head. He had embraced being a vampire and had killed indiscriminately and more often than he really had need to, and everything he had once been had been eroded and nothing was left but an overwhelmed soul that could take no more. Damian had felt the moment he had killed himself, felt the connection he had never known he had had with his father broken and fade away. He himself had gone into a depression following the demise of his father, and he worried about how Dan would cope.

It wasn't so much how he would cope alone that worried him, it was the temptation to indulge that worried him. If he started to love feeding and the benefits that went with it, how would he be in the right mind to chose to save humans? That was ultimately his choice, to decide who would be victorious.

But he had to trust him, if he couldn't guide him, he had to hope he trusted his instincts, and Damian had tried his best to instil into him, in difficult circumstances how important human values were. This would be the biggest trial of his life, and he knew Dan had to make his own choice and not one forced upon him. He could only hope it would be the right one.
CHAPTER 13

Remarkably Dan had slept well during the day considering where he was. It had been uncomfortable, and if he was honest he felt a little exposed in the unfamiliar basement, but he was lulled into a very human sleep fuelled by the new memories of baby Sam cradled in his arms.

For once the voices in his head left him alone and he awoke, albeit with a thirst, the happiest he had been since he had had his vampire life thrust upon him. Half of him wanted to visit Alanah and the baby, just to see them and pretend momentarily that he could be a real father to Sam, but he wasn't going to kid himself that that was a feasible option.

After a quick feed, and another soul to add to the ones he had already collected, he was determined to continue what he had started the night before. He clutched the scrappy piece of paper in his hand and made his way towards the city. The moon had risen and the night air was cool.

It didn't take him long to get to the shop where he had, unbeknownst to him at the time had his first tattoo done. This time however, he had made a choice to be here. Walking confidently into the shop, Dan smiled at the man reading a newspaper. "Anyone around for tattooing?"

"Yes, I can help you with that mate. What do you have in mind?" The large balding man stood up and looked at Dan assessing him. "I've done one on you before." He smiled as he recognised him. "You're the guy who came back claiming he couldn't remember anything. What brought you back for another?" He laughed. The man's bare arms were covered in colourful tattoos, the spoils of many hours sitting under the needle himself. He was a walking advertisement for his profession.

"My son was born last night. I want to commemorate his birth with this." Dan handed the man the piece of paper he had been carrying around with him.

The man took the design and looked at carefully. "Shouldn't be too difficult. Definitely not as complicated as the bird I put on your arm. Where do you want it?"

"Over my heart please, about 10cm long?" Dan replied solemnly.

"I'll get it ready, won't take a tick." The man went off to the back and returned a few minutes later to collect Dan who couldn't help be fascinated by what was to happen. This felt like his first time, even though he already had a very impressive and large piece on his upper arm. Dan walked into the clinical room surrounded by metal tables, needles and inks. If you had not known it was a tattoo studio, you could have mistaken it for an operating theatre. The man gestured to the chair and Dan sat down unbuttoning and removing his shirt in preparation for the needle. He sat there with an emotionless face waiting for the pain. At least he presumed he would feel pain.

The man took a disposable razor and made sure the skin over his heart was devoid of hair. Then taking an alcohol wipe, cleaned the area before placing the template onto the skin and smoothing it down. He removed the paper and asked Dan to check he was happy.

"Man, you've got cold skin." The man joked as he readied his machine.

"So would you if you were dead." Dan smiled at him, for some reason he wanted to share tonight.

The man laughed and got the machine ready to pierce Dan's skin with a needle. Dan sat motionless as the man etched black ink into his skin. He could feel the piercing pain, but he felt nothing in his black heart to make the pain real. It took the man forty minutes to complete the design. He sat back and looked at his work.

"Could you add yesterday's date to the bottom? I never want to forget." Dan asked looking down at his newly inked skin.

The man obliged and then sat back. "I've never seen anyone not flinch at least once when having a tattoo. You must not feel any pain mate!" He said impressed. He covered the tattoo with a dressing.

"I felt the pain, the dragging of the needle, the burning sensation. But none of it meant anything. Like I said before, I'm dead, so pain has a totally different meaning to me. How much do I owe you?" Dan smiled.

"£155." The man replied stunned.

Dan paid him the money and went to leave.

"You're not really dead are you? That would make you a zombie or a vampire or something." The man called after him. He couldn't believe it could be true.

"I can prove it if you like, but I respect your work much too much to drain you of blood. Yes, I am a vampire, but I'm trying to be good. It's not easy being dead in a world where being alive is the be all and end all. I've lost everything, I'll never get to see my son grow up and my wife cannot be allowed to love me. I am alone and very lonely. But they are my problems, not yours. Thank you very much for your services." And Dan nodded his head as he left the shop.

The man sat in total silence, his hands shaking slightly, he thought he must be going mad. He didn't believe in vampires, and yet, the man who he had just indelibly marked had had skin as cold as marble, and paler than he had ever marked before. Deciding that dwelling on this was madness, he decided he would close up for the night ... just in case he came back for a bite to eat!

CHAPTER 14

"Let me stay the night Lani, I don't like the thought of you all on your own tonight." Jessie protested as Alanah tried to make her leave. She was completely enamoured with Sam and she wasn't really ready to leave just yet, but Alanah seemed determined to try and cope on her own.

"Jess, it's me and Sam from now on, on our own. I know you will always be here to help and I'll always be grateful for that help. I know I won't be able to do without you, but you won't always stay the night, and neither should you, you have your own life to lead. I have to get used to being a single mother and there is no better time to start than today. Come again tomorrow, I know I will definitely need you by then, I'll need sleep by that point, but I must learn to do this all on my own. Besides, Steve has hardly seen you in the last three days; he deserves to see his girlfriend once in a while." Alanah was adamant.

"But Lani he can see me any time..." Jessie didn't want to leave her alone, it didn't seem right.

"And so can I. Please, I haven't been totally alone with Sam yet, and I'm desperate to have him all to myself." Alanah smiled at her friend, she was only trying to help, but Alanah didn't want to depend on her too much. Somehow it just didn't seem right.

"All right, but you must promise to call me if you need me?" Jessie said sternly.

"I promise I will, now go before you wake Sam!" Alanah ushered Jessie to the front door. "You do know I couldn't have got through this without you?" She asked earnestly.

"I know. Believe me, I would do it all again. You are the mother to a gorgeous little boy, and I'm lucky enough to be his Auntie. I will always be here for both of you. I'll call you in the morning." Jessie hugged Alanah and then left.

Alanah shut the door behind her and stood in her hallway. Peace – for the first time since Sam was born! It was an unfamiliar feeling, being alone with him, but she was determined to get used to it and love it as soon as possible. She sat, holding him feeling nothing but complete and encompassing love. She was, for the first time in what felt like a life time happy. Putting him down, she walked to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

It was almost as if he knew the cue, Sam began to cry in his Moses basket in the front room. Alanah went to feed and comfort him.

-o-

There had been three hours of crying when Alanah sat on the sofa about to call Jessie, she was shattered and needed help. She didn't want to admit defeat, but she was exhausted and needed someone to look after Sam, just for a few hours so she could get some sleep.

Hearing a knock at the door, she cradled Sam in her arms and opened the door to the one person she knew she could trust above anyone else.

"Mum!" She almost cried.

"Oh sweetheart!" Her mother replied. She looked at her daughter and took her in her arms, surrounding her with love.

Alanah burst into tears and held her mother tightly with her spare arm. "I'm so glad you are here." She said through tears, she hadn't been expecting her home until tomorrow.

"You should have let me come and helped you through your pregnancy. Your Dad could have coped without me. Grief at losing Dan and coping with being pregnant on your own is not something someone so young should have to deal with on their own." She held back the tears, wishing Alanah had taken the offer of help, but she respected her need to cope alone, they were as stubborn as each other. She had always promised herself that she would not be an interfering mother and she knew Alanah appreciated that. It had taken a lot for her to allow Alanah to stay in the UK for university, but although it had been difficult, she was pleased she had allowed Alanah the freedom to do it her way.

"I've not been alone, Jessie and Steve have been here. Besides, you know full well that Dad would not have coped without you. Can you imagine him working, keeping house and being a single dad to Paul, we both know it would have been a disaster! But boy am I glad you are here now."

Alanah's mother stood back and looked at the baby in her daughter's arms. "My god I'm a grandmother, and at 44!" She smiled, but she knew that Alanah needed a lot of help, and that she was too proud to ask for it – she had been the same when Steve had been born, but she had had support from Alanah's father. Her heart ached for her daughter, she had liked Dan, and she was sure he would have been a great dad if he hadn't died in a car accident.

"Oh mum, I wanted you to come, but I thought you would tell me I couldn't cope on my own and you would try and take over. I don't want that." Alanah admitted truthfully, but she wouldn't tell her that as well as mourning the death of Dan for the last 9 months, she had been adapting to him being a vampire. That could never be told to any of her family.

"I will always be your mum and nothing will ever change that. You will always be my baby even when you are 50! But Sam is your baby and I know you will look after him. I could never take your place and I would never try. But don't think for one moment that you can't ask for help. Sometimes the smartest thing someone can do is ask for help." She smiled at Alanah.

Alanah led her into the front room and they sat down to talk.

"I wish Dan had been able to see him. Do you think the baby looks like him?" Her mum asked.

"He does. He has the same blue eyes and pink lips." Alanah said quietly. She began to cry. Her mother could never know that the man she loved with all her heart had actually seen the baby she was holding in her arms, and although he was somewhere on this earth, he could never be part of their family. But she knew she could never tell her the truth, the truth sounded like insanity.

"Sweetheart!" Alanah's mother flung her arms around her daughter and held her tightly.

"Mum, I wish I could tell you everything, but I can't. Things are out of my control and getting you involved in everything would be wrong. Dan is dead and I am a single mother. Please don't hate me for not asking you to be here, but this is so much more complicated than you could understand." Alanah melted into her mother's safe embrace.

"I could never hate you, you are my child." She could see that something was clearly wrong with Alanah, but did not want to pry it out of her. "Tell me in your own time, whatever it is you think I won't understand. I won't push you. But let me have a look at my grandson." Alanah gently handed Sam over to her mother and they both sat staring at him. He had finally stopped crying and gone to sleep. "I will do whatever I can to help."

"I've just turned Jessie down on help, but I think I'm going to need all the help I can get. I don't know how to be a mum, and without a father figure, I can only hope Sam grows up well." Alanah signed, looking at her son. She wanted to do the best for him, whatever it took.

"Everything will turn out fine. I'll make sure of it. Besides, his grandfather will want to be in on the action!"

"Does that mean you are coming back to the UK for good?" Alanah asked her hopes up.

"His contract finishes in two months, and then he will be back home." She smiled. "Until then, I'm at your beck and call."

"Oh mum, I don't know what to do, how to calm him and make him happy." Alanah complained.

"That's what I'm here for. I'll help you sort your son out. All will be fine."

The two women sat on the sofa, talking. It had been a long time since they had seen each other and there was much to catch up on. But Alanah knew she could never tell the truth about Dan and the Midnight Son.
CHAPTER 15

Dan stood and watched her closely. She was sleeping soundly and she looked content. Alanah was led on her bed and she was flat out exhausted. Dan smiled as he looked at her, it was wonderful watching her, but painful knowing he was no longer really part of her life.

Her face was tranquil, but under her eyes he could see the evidence of the lack of sleep she had been suffering from. Her hair had begun to grow out again, and it easily brushed her shoulders, as she lay on her back. He could see her gently breathing, the rise and fall of her chest as prominent as if she was breathing heavily.

Dan ached to touch her. To see her with her eyes open, see them sparkling and laughing at her as they once had. If he could only hear her whisper the words 'I love you' he knew he could continue on this torturous solitary path. His nostrils were overwhelmed by the smell of blood, just inches from him. He wouldn't indulge – he would never do that. Instead he would torture himself with her proximity just to be able to see her.

Everything he had ever wanted in his human life had been taken from him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He had known her as a human, kissed her, made love to her, walked in the sun with her, only to lose it all before he had had the opportunity to realize that he had everything he had ever wanted. He wasn't an old vampire falling in love with a human woman, he was a human man torn away from his one true love, forced into a life of blood by fate itself.

Sam began crying in the cot next to her, and Alanah instantly woke up. She was on auto pilot as she got out of bed and went to see to Sam. Dan hid in the shadows of the corner, making himself as small as possible, although in truth she probably wouldn't have seen him if he stayed where he was. Dan wasn't even sure she had fully woken at all, she was literally performing on instinct.

"Hush little baby don't you cry..." She sang softly as she fed him, her eyes closing every now and then through exhaustion. Fully fed and burped, Sam settled back into his cot and fell back into a blissful sleep.

Dan watched patiently and reverently until Alanah had finished fussing around his son. She got back into bed and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep. It was a ritual he was not part of, could never be part of. He would have given anything to help ease the weight of being a lone new parent – he knew he never could, but he could wish. Tears wanted to erupt from his eyes as he realized completely that he was death here, and here was a new life that he could never be part of, worried he would extinguish it before his time.

He had spent the last few days reviewing the conversation he had had with her in the hospital, how he had so desperately wanted to hold her, but had been so scared to touch her. It weighed heavy on his heart. He couldn't believe that he had made her cry, he wanted to make it up to her, but not tonight, tonight he had to let her sleep. He would come the next night. Dan yearned for her to hold him in her arms, but he left unfulfilled in that task. He left to hunt, feeling thirst overcome him as soon as he left the house.

-o-

Damian had watched him from a distance. He was aware Dan would never be satisfied as the vampire he was and seven more years was a long time to wait.

Damian was worried. The look he had seen on Dan's face when he had left Alanah and Sam alone had been heartbreaking. He knew that Dan was a broken man, and he was no longer sure he could live up to the task at hand. Dan could so easily be seduced into embracing the life of a vampire as his course through the next few years, and he knew the consequences that would bring for the world. But there was a determination within Dan that Damian was impressed by. He knew that Dan would do everything in his power to maintain his humanness and Alanah was the key to him retaining his soul.

He remembered his first few years as a vampire, and he knew the hardship that it was. He could not take away the hurt that Dan was feeling, and although they had had a couple of conversations over the last few months, Dan would not allow him to help him and guide him, Damian knew Dan had to rely on everything he had spent 20 years teaching him. Damian was sure it was enough, it had to be.

Damian knew there was nothing he could do except allow Dan to make his own mistakes and hope that when the time came he would make the right decision. Seven years was a long time for him to waiver from the declaration that the human race needed him to make.

"Are you going to spend the next seven years following me around, or are you going to leave me alone at some point?" Dan asked from behind Damian.

"I don't intend to follow you, I know you are able to cope on your own if you trust yourself, but I can't help find you intriguing, you represent the father I never knew. I am drawn to you." Damian admitted turning round to face him.

"But I am not your father." Dan said sighing.

"I know, but you are the closest thing to him that I have. I am worried about you. Please, can't we talk just once or twice? There is plenty of information I can impart to you, if you will let me."

"Will you leave me alone if I come and see you just once?" Dan asked sighing, it seemed the lesser of two evils.

"Yes. I promise you I will." Damian said quietly.

"Then let me feed, I will come to your house and we can talk. I promise you, it will be the only conversation we have." Dan ran off into the dark.

One conversation, Damian knew he had to choose what he wanted to say carefully, he could not miss this opportunity.
CHAPTER 16

Sam was finally asleep and Alanah was relieved. It had been a long day, but she thought she was finally getting the hang of being a mother. Still it had only been 13 days, but she thought she could handle anything that life threw at her after the way the last year had turned out for her.

The evening was warm, and she opened the French windows in her bedroom to get some air flowing into the room and she walked out onto the small balcony and flinched as she realised there was someone waiting there for her. She knew instantly it was Dan.

"Hello Lani." He smiled at her gently. He kept his distance, not wanting to scare her anymore than he already had. He had seen the sadness in her eyes as she had realized who it was waiting for her on the balcony. He knew that by being there he was reminding her of what she had lost, what he had also lost. It was awkward and heartbreaking.

"You scared me." She said, taken aback, her heartbeat accelerating quickly, but she stood her ground. She wouldn't let anything in the world make him leave right now.

"I know, I can hear your heartbeat. It's beginning to calm down now though." He smiled at her again. He was silent for a moment. "I had to come, I hated how we left it at the hospital, I didn't play fair and I haven't been able to stop thinking about what I said to you. I can't believe how awful I was." His voice was contrite, he really did mean it.

"Do I need to invite you into the house?" Alanah asked, knowing full well she did not, but not wanting him to be aware that she knew he had been visiting her and Sam, she decided to pretend she did not know the protocol.

"I thought we could go onto the roof, it's a full moon tonight, and it's so hot, I thought you might like it. There is a lovely area up there we could sit on, big enough for a roof garden if you wanted." He said, keeping his voice as normal as possible, this needed to be on Alanah's terms, his apology.

"What about Sam?" Alanah asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I'll hear if he wakes up and you can come back down." Dan smiled again, so desperate to hide his loneliness.

"OK. How do we get up there?" Alanah asked, her heartbeat accelerating again.

Dan walked tentatively and slowly towards her and put his hands around her waist. What he did next defied every law of gravity that Alanah knew, but she was in the air and then on the roof within seconds and she was set back on her feet as if nothing had happened.

"I see, like that." She said catching her breath, unaware she had lost it in the first place. She stood and looked around, seeing the area she lived in from this height for the first time. "You can see for miles up here!" She gasped.

"Yes, I suppose you can." Dan said smiling to himself.

"Do you come here often?" Alanah asked hesitantly. It sounded cheesy, but she needed to know.

"I guess so, it's a safe enough distance from you to check up on both you and Sam, but it does break my heart every time I have to leave." He looked down at the floor. "And I always have to leave."

Alanah nodded, knowing that was true, he could never stay for the sun to rise. "So, why have you come to see me in person tonight, instead of just watching from afar?"

Dan hesitated before answering. "We haven't talked since I became what I am. I can't call the conversation we had in the hospital the talk that we need to have." He sighed, remembering the moment both fondly, and with heartache. "As much as I can't and won't be with you, I thought I owed it to you to answer any questions you may have. And knowing you, you probably have many."

"Well, yes I guess I do. But I really don't want you to be uncomfortable near me. I can see you clearly are." She looked at him, and they both knew what she meant.

"I'm not hungry." He shrugged.

"So you fed before you came here?" She could not help shudder, remembering what she had caught him doing.

"Yes." Dan replied, he knew it was pointless to lie to her.

"Right. Just let me process that." Alanah shut her eyes and did her best to keep calm, already knowing what he would have had to do to come here, or what he would do when he left. But the simple vocalisation of the word 'yes' took away all the speculating. She knew he had killed someone already tonight.

"It's useless me lying to you Lani, we both know what I have to do to survive." His voice was monotone, trying to keep the hatred he felt for himself out of his voice. Confessing this to his wife was harder than he had ever imagined, but he didn't have the luxury to lie to her, and he had to be truthful.

"I know." She paused, not knowing how to tackle this particular topic just yet. "Let's change the subject for a bit shall we?" Alanah said. She shivered even though it wasn't cold.

"What would you like to talk about?" He asked sitting down on a ledge not too far from her.

"How about Sam?" She asked, smiling as she thought of their son.

"Yes, I suppose we should talk about him. How is he?" Dan asked sadly, he so wished he could see for himself, but he just did not trust what he might try and do.

"Well, I'm his mother, so naturally I'm biased, but he is the most beautiful little baby in the world. Not sleeping through just yet, but at less than 2 weeks old, I don't suppose any baby sleeps through." She sighed. "He looks like you. He has your lips and your eyes."

"And your red hair." Dan laughed. "Glad we got some of the Moore genes in there too!"

"Yes, mum was quite pleased to see that, I can tell you." Alanah smiled.

"What have you told everyone, about me?" Dan asked looking up at her. It pained him that he had had to leave her alone in the world. He knew it was the right thing to do, but that didn't mean he had to like it, and he didn't, he hated it.

"Damian suggested we tell the truth, that you are dead." Alanah could not look him in the eye.

"So you are a widow?" Dan asked, he felt numb all over, hating the idea when he was right here next to her.

"Of course I'm not. I'm married to you." She said emphatically, she looked at him, seeing the hurt in his eyes at the thought of her being free to marry again. "But the world thinks you are dead, and I can hardly tell them the truth, they would cart me away to an asylum."

"I understand, we all have crosses we have to bear." He nodded solemnly.

"But in comparison, yours is larger than mine." Alanah took a step towards him. "Tell me what it's like?" She whispered to him.

"What exactly?" He said, raising his eyes to hers and locking them together.

"You are a vampire, no longer human. What are the differences?" She said, taking the last few steps towards him and sitting on the ledge next to him, but not daring to touching him, even though she desperately wanted to. His eyes followed her every movement. He was still completely enchanted by her.

"I don't even know where to start." He sighed. "Everything is different. You said earlier, when we got up here that you could see for miles up here, and that to me is the tip of the iceberg. I can see everything. Everything up to the horizon, and if I tried just a little bit more, I could see over the horizon. I can see every creature hiding in the trees, every breeze is visible, and it's not even as if it's night to me. Sure I don't see the blue sky, but I'm not having any problems seeing anything at all. It is like a veil has been lifted and I can only now see the true world, not the limited world human eyes can see. My hearing is incredible too, everything, every beat of your heart, every intake of breath, but at the same time, I can hear the cars on the road miles away, the beat of music in a night club, a hushed conversation ten miles away if I really cared to listen." He stopped and looked at her, wanting to gage her reaction.

"Anything else?" Alanah whispered, knowing now she would never need to talk to him again in anything but a whisper.

"My strength is insurmountable. You saw how easily I lifted you up here. Everything is that easy. There can be nothing in this world that would stop me from protecting you if you needed me. No prison could hold me; no shackles stop me from being here when you need me. My only weakness is sunlight, but that is when you are safe from those who would want to harm you, so I try not to think about that. But please understand, I remember the subtleties of being human, I understand how easy it would be to hurt you, and I will always be nothing but human around you."

"That leaves your sense of smell and taste." Alanah said almost hesitantly.

"And they are intrinsically linked after all." Dan smiled. This was the question he most wanted to answer honestly, but he was not sure if Alanah could take the honesty of his answer. "I have no option but to drink blood to survive. Without it, I am told I would go into a sort of coma, hibernation I suppose, from which I would not be able to come out of alone. I got close to it on the way back from France, but Dad had a backup plan and revived me before I got too close to that. He had a blood pack, which did the trick, but it wasn't what I need to survive properly, I need living blood. I did try to drink from animals, anything to try not to feed from humans. Cows, sheep, even deer in the wood - but it was disgusting. There was no spark in it, just a thick vile liquid that didn't even masquerade as human blood. My body is not built to accept it; it wants and needs only human blood. I was able to survive for less than 2 days and nights with animal blood before I had to resort to hunting humans." Dan was solemn.

"I see." Alanah said exhaling at the same time. She had to know the truth, but hearing it for real was nauseating to her.

"It seems that I need the blood from two humans every night to keep me alive. The blood makes my body work, muscles and brain functions and all that. Not only does it taste amazing, it gives me exactly what I need with no wastage at all. It gets burnt up as I go about my nightly business. If I were to be manic and decide to use my extra sophisticated senses as the norm, it would use up the blood supply quicker, and I would need further blood to get through the day before a blood lust descends on me, making me very dangerous the next night."

Alanah nodded, it made sense. "And your body – is it dead?" She asked nervously.

"I suppose so. It is animated by the demon that resides in everyone. I guess an angel and demon on your shoulders is the best way to describe it. In human form you are the proverbial angel, doing everything that you should, even if occasionally you listen to the demon. The demon resides in you throughout your life, it has always been there, and it is a part of you after all. But once you are transformed into a vampire, it takes over, sending the angel away, taking over and having fun in its place. It is the demon that keeps me alive, but the demon is me, there is no infestation, it's just the part of me that I have kept under control throughout my human life, but being a vampire releases it and you no longer have the angel, your conscience, to prevent it taking over. Does that make sense?" He asked, aware that what he was saying was very convoluted.

"I think so. Your inner demon gets the upper hand once you have become a vampire and it takes over your body, relishing in what you have to do to survive. But you didn't tell me if your body was dead or not?"

"Yes, and no. I have physically changed inside. Damian told me that Anthony did an experiment a few hundred years ago on a vampire he hated. He said that he tied the vampire to an altar next to a dead human, something that was easy to come by since they had just drank from it and killed him. He was the same sort of build and height as the vampire Anthony hated. A crude autopsy of sorts was carried out on both the human corpse and the vampire and Anthony was apparently thrilled to see that vampires were internally different to humans." He stopped, giving Alanah a moment to take that in. "The heart and the lungs remained, and so too did the stomach, but all other internal organs, the liver, kidneys and intestines had shrivelled and died within the vampire. The stomach had changed and blood vessels attached it to the veins and arteries to provide a blood supply throughout the body, turning it into a very effective blood sack. Anthony found that the blood was drawn directly into the veins of the vampire from the stomach, feeding the body, the blood went through the system and was pumped through the heart, meaning the body could function. Anything that was no longer needed was dead, meaning the vampire had changed completely from human to vampire and was no longer part of the human race." Dan said sadly, hating that he was no longer human.

"What happened to the vampire?" Alanah asked with morbid curiosity.

"He survived the autopsy, and is still around today." Dan said, not able to tell her that the vampire had actually been Damian; she didn't need to know that.

Alanah gulped in disbelief, unable to stop a shiver radiate over her body. "And your coldness?" Alanah asked, hesitantly stroking his hand, pleased when he did not pull away.

"I guess body heat is just unnecessary when it comes to vamps." He sighed; it was nice to feel Alanah touching him. The warmth of her skin sent desire through his body. He held tightly onto his determination not to hurt her.

"I guess it's not as if you can have a meaningful relationship with a human. Coldness isn't going to be a problem when you only touch them when feeding." Alanah said quietly, aware that she could never have the meaningful relationship with him that she was desperate to rekindle. "I just wish things could be different." She looked up into his black eyes, and she saw a very human longing in them.

"Lani, we can't ever be how we used to be, we both know that. It's not coldness that keeps us apart, it's everything else." Dan said forlornly.

"I know." Alanah sighed. "I just wish I could hold you, nothing else, I know I can have nothing else." She welled up with tears.

"I am here now, and if that is what you want, I am more than willing to hold you." He smiled slightly. It was one of his longings too, although if Alanah didn't want to be held by a vampire, he wouldn't force himself on her.

"Really?" Alanah asked, her eyes lighting up a little. "After what happened in the hospital, I thought..."

Dan engulfed her in his arms and held her gently to him. "That was stupid, what I said. I was just feeling very sorry for myself, that I would never see Sam grow up. If I could stand here and hold you forever I would." He had fed well before he had even dared to visit Alanah, he would never have allowed himself to be in any way irrational around her. He could of course smell her, but he was beginning to be able to control his feeding and now knew how to prevent the madness of the blood lust. He knew he was strong enough to resist her. He had to be.

"That would be wonderful." Alanah said relaxing into his strong embrace. She was exhausted, but she would not change this moment for anything in the world.

They just stood there in each other's arms, Alanah feeling the coldness of Dan wrapped around her, and Dan feeling the warmth of Alanah inside his arms. Nothing could feel better than this.

After a few minutes, Alanah moved her head from Dan's chest and remaining in his arms looked up at him and smiled sheepishly. "This is all we'll ever get now isn't it?"

"Yes. Although I'm sure we could still make love, that's something that still seems to work." Dan said quietly, he couldn't deny he still had those feelings.

"You haven't..." Alanah asked alarmed.

"Of course not. Why would I when my soul mate is you?" Dan said kissing her forehead, smelling her hair, taking in her scent and storing it in his memory.

"Well, you know what they say about vampires." Alanah said, her cheeks going red in embarrassment. Her heart beat a little faster as she remembered his cold hands over her body.

"Well not this one, only with you my love. But I think we know that it would tear both of our hearts to shreds if we tried to resume that part of our relationship."

"Yes, it would make things harder." Alanah said, a tear forming in her eyes. The thought of never being able to make love to him again hurt her heart to the point of breaking.

Dan didn't know what to do. "You do understand that I still love you, that will never change? I need you to know that." He couldn't bear the thought of her thinking he no longer loved or desired him.

"Yes, I know, I love you too. I just wish we could go back to that moment in the cottage, when we were about to go upstairs, before the bell rang."

Dan closed his eyes remembering. "The candles." He smiled.

"Everything was so perfect." Alanah sighed. "It would have been wonderful."

"I know. I dream about what might have happened if Alex hadn't come for us. But we can't live looking into the past all the time. It would send us both mad." Although he thought he had already begun to go a little loopy over the last few months.

"But I would love to feel you again, just one last time as the human you once were. I never got to say good bye, and Mary had spoilt our last moments together with the drugged wine. We never saw it coming." Alanah led her head against his chest again, hearing the slow beat of his heart only confirmed he was no longer the man he had once been. "Being here in your arms right now is both wonderful and sad."

"Just one more human kiss would be wonderful. I wish I could change what has happened."

"But you can't. And you are right; we can't live in the past." Alanah sighed, trying to be pragmatic.

Dan stood holding her, wishing he could do something to make her happy, to take away the heartache he had left behind. "You're future is going to be wonderful." He said, trying to sound as happy as he could. "You're a mummy, and you have the most gorgeous little boy in the world to play with and look after. That is what you must look towards now. Forget what will happen in the future, we can't change it. Sam is your source of happiness now."

"He is, you're right, and I love him with all my heart. But what about you, what is your source of happiness?" Alanah asked earnestly.

"Knowing that you are happy is enough for me." Dan said, not wanting to tell her that he didn't think he had the capacity for happiness any more.

"That's not enough."

"Well it's all I've got." He smiled at her, but he knew his smile looked false. There was only one thing that brought him close to happiness, even though in principle he hated it, and that was feeding from a human, and he was not going to tell her that.

Alanah looked into her vampire's eyes and knew he would tell her no more about his existence, and she knew it was an existence not a life. There was nothing she could do to help him, nothing she could say to give him hope. He was in his own personal hell and she could not extract him.

"No matter what we do, when we are apart we are both in hell." She whispered into his chest as she clung tightly to him.

"Don't say that, you have Sam to keep you from hell." He said his voice breaking.

"But every time I look into his beautiful little face, I see you. And I know you will never see what I see, never hold him, play with him, or read to him. He will always be your son, but you will never get to be his father. Not if you don't stay here with us." She didn't plead and she knew he would not stay, but Alanah knew it was true.

"I'm not going to talk about this, we have already had this conversation, and I'm not taking away your freedom and ruining Sam's life. We are both adults and know that is what would happen." He said quietly, but there was a determined force behind his words.

"You could at least visit?" Alanah suggested.

"Can you imagine what your parents would think if he started talking about me? They'd think he was talking to the dead." He said before a huge smile graced his face. "I guess that would be correct." His face and his voice returned to its previous solemn tone. "Seriously though, I can't be a part of his life."

"You can't be part of my life then can you?" Alanah asked, not daring to lift her head from his chest, her heart was beating so fast, desperate for him to deny the truth she knew he was going to confirm.

"I have nothing to give you. Nothing that...... Sam has just started to cry." He said, and Alanah removed her head from his chest, looking up at him sadly and expectantly. She needed to tend to her son. "I'll get you back down." He led her to the edge of the roof top and holding her gently by the waist jumped lithely over the side and they landed on the balcony together.

Quickly recovering herself Alanah looked at him, determination plain to see on his face. "You are not going yet." Alanah told him quietly but sternly, and taking his hand, she led him into her room and to Sam's cot.

Dan's feet could not help but follow her, everything rational within him was telling him it was a bad idea, what if he hurt him, what if he hurt Alanah, but his heart was leading him forward.

Alanah gently scooped the crying Sam up into her arms and held him gently. Dan smiled at the tiny baby. "He's grown a little."

"I know!" Alanah whispered, taking the tiny bundle to a rocking chair and sitting down. "Stay, please?" She asked without pleading.

Dan nodded, completely besotted by the baby before him. He didn't think he could leave even if he wanted to. The child before him was enchanting and every second he spent in his presence made him feel happy.

Alanah knew that she was putting in place the circumstances for her dream come true. She had to; she had to prove to him, and to the tiny bit of herself which was still haunted by the dream, that Dan was not a threat to Sam. She was shaking slightly as she held their baby to her.

Sam latched onto her breast, and Dan watched in amazement as he began to feed from Alanah. He could hear the quiet gulping as his son took in the nectar that was inside her. It seemed so ironic that at this moment in time Sam was surviving solely on her milk, when her blood had been the catalyst to him surviving the transformation into the creature he now was. He was fascinated by the complete look of satisfaction and tranquillity on his face as he gently sucked at the nipple.

Leaning forward, all thought and worry about feeding from Alanah or Sam erased from his mind, nothing but complete fascination remained. His hand was tantalisingly close to Sam and looking up briefly to check Alanah was happy, he moved the last few inches to touch his soft cheek with the back of his hand. Sam's skin was soft and warm below his fingers and he gasped in delight.

Expecting his son to be disturbed by the coldness of his fingers, he went to pull them away from him, but Sam's tiny hand had reached up and tightly grabbed hold of his index finger. Dan looked at the tiny hand, feeling a strong grip holding him to his family. Everything he felt right at that moment was a cacophony of emotions, happiness and sorrow warred with each other and he didn't know whether to cry or to laugh.

Alanah saw the look on Dan's face and smiled at him. She placed her free hand on his cheek and he looked up at her with tear filled eyes and a smile on his face. The touch of the woman he loved was bitter sweet, but it told him she still loved him. Her heart lifted before it broke in two and settled back into place. Neither of them needed to say a word, they both knew the significance of this moment. They were a family.

When Sam had had his fill and drifted off to sleep, Alanah placed a burp cloth over Dan's shoulder and gently handed Sam to his father, showing him how to ensure there was no wind in him. Once Dan had gotten over the shock of holding him, he began to enjoy gently stroking his back to make sure there was no risk of any milk coming back up.

Once Alanah was satisfied, and Dan was ready to let go of his son, he placed him tenderly into his cot and looked down at him.

"I could stand here and watch him forever." He said smiling.

"I know." Alanah said touching his arm. She did not know what else to say. As much as she wanted to, she refused to ask him to stay; she already knew he would say no. She stifled a yawn.

"I'd better go, you need your sleep." Dan said seeing the yawn as his cue to leave.

"I have a newborn baby, I'm always tired." She smiled at him. "I won't beg you, but I'd love nothing more than for you to stay for a little while longer."

Dan nodded, also reluctant to go. "A few minutes more." He walked out onto the small balcony and Alanah followed, standing a little way from him. Dan moved the short distance and enveloped her in his arms. "I miss you." He whispered into her hair. His mouth began to salivate and his fangs began to ache with the need to descend, he knew he had to go – he would not show her his fangs.

Alanah could find no words to speak, her eyes flooded with tears. She held onto him as tightly as she could, wishing she was able to hold him and never let him go.

"At least I got to hold Sam." He said sadly. "I know I will miss his growing up and I hate that, but to be able to memorise him as he is now will help."

Alanah looked at him, wanting to tell him something she had been thinking about for a while, hoping it would help him somehow. "Do you remember the time we went to the movies and saw the Phantom of the Opera?" She asked quietly, nuzzling her head into his chest.

"Yes, you cried at the end if I remember correctly." He chuckled. "Why?"

"Do you remember the part where Christine woke up and saw the Phantom writing music at his organ? She was curious as to who he was. At that moment she thought he was just hiding his identity behind his mask, not the disfigurement of his face."

"Lani, what are you saying?" Dan was confused. She had a habit of equating their situation to something she had seen before and she usually had a valid point.

"The moment she rips off his mask, it's the defining moment. The Phantom is distraught, his confidence fades, he tries his best to hide his monstrous side from Christine, ashamed of what he is. Christine has to make a decision. She is so scared, and doesn't want to look at his deformities that she hands him back the mask." She hugged him closer.

"Lani, there is a point to what you are saying, but I have no idea what it is." He said holding her gently in his arms.

"I watched it again a few weeks ago, and I couldn't get that moment out of my head, I dreamt about it, but you were the phantom and I was Christine. I had the choice to make." She lent up and kissed his cheek. "I didn't give you back the mask. I knew that if I truly loved you, I would have to love the part of you that you kept hidden from me, the vampire side of you. I can't love just one half of you, I have to love you as a whole. Christine made the wrong decision, at that point in the story, the phantom has only killed the man who kept him prisoner and displayed him in a circus. If she had had the courage to look upon him as a whole, and try to understand him, then maybe the story would have ended completely differently. I know I already love you completely, but I want you to know, that although I saw you in the middle of a bloodlust, I won't bury my head in the sand and make you hide that part of you. I love you completely."

Dan hugged her closer, realizing what she was saying. It was an acceptance of who he was now, and who he used to be. He thought he loved her a bit more at that moment, but he didn't know how he could love her any more than he already did.

"Thank you for coming. I'm glad you were able to talk to me about who you are now, and I know somewhere inside you, the Dan I fell in love with is still there." Alanah smiled at him as brightly as she could, wanting him to see that she was ok, when in truth her heart would always be broken.

"I truly hope you are right." Dan said, understanding the smile on her face. He knew she was trying to be brave.

"Will you come and see me again?" Alanah asked hopefully.

"Oh Lani, me being here is tearing us both apart. Do you really want to have to deal with my leaving again and again; we both know I can't stay."

"Seven years..." She whispered.

"Don't think of it like that. You have Sam to look after, nothing else matters but him, we both know that. We are where we should be, and although it hurts like hell, there is nothing we can do to change it."

Alanah nodded and looked into her husband's eyes. Dan smiled, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"I love you." He said, looking at her. He kissed her lips gently, feeling the warmth flow into his. "Never forget that."

Letting go of her, he backed away and jumped off the balcony, running away quickly. He needed to find some food.

Alanah walked back into her room and lay on the bed, her tears dried up. She looked at the sleeping baby, knowing she would never forget the wonderful moment she had had with her family.

CHAPTER 17

Alanah sat cradling Sam in her arms and listened to the other mothers bragging about how wonderful their baby was and how forward they were. She kept quiet, Sam was the youngest of the four of them, and she knew she would never be able to brag that he was the first to do something and she certainly couldn't tell them that he was the son of a vampire and his destiny was to save the human race on his seventh birthday, that wasn't a conversation she could have with her own mother, let alone a group of new friends. Instead, she just let them show off and kept her feelings to herself. This was quickly becoming her default setting; her feelings were too fragile to share.

"But of course, Jason is such a great Dad, he does all the night feeds and lets me sleep through, I don't know where I would be without him." Olivia said, then looked in horror at Alanah, she had forgotten that Alanah had told her that Dan was dead. "Oh Alanah, I'm so sorry, I forgot." She apologised.

"It's OK Olivia, it's not your fault Dan is dead. Don't sensor the conversation just because of me. I'm not here to make things awkward for you all. If that happens, then I will stop coming to people's houses." Alanah smiled at her new friend. "Besides, I'm sure Jason is a great father and you have every right to be proud of him! I know I would be." She couldn't believe she'd put her foot in it.

"Lani, you can't stop coming, I'd feel awful if you did." Olivia said feeling guilty.

"Then stop worrying about me. I'm fine, I might not have Dan, but I have plenty of support. Just because I am a single mum, doesn't mean I'm on my own. My parents and my friends help out. Everything is fine. I'm just glad that Dan has left something in this world and I'm not on my own. I have a reason to go on living." And she truly did mean that.

"You're not going to be the only single mum her Lani, Eric and I have split up." Kathy confessed. "I wasn't going to say anything until I had moved out, but things have hit rock bottom." She said despondently.

"Kath, that is terrible. I knew you were having problems, but I had no idea you had reached crisis point. Where are you going to live?" Maria asked concerned.

"I'm planning on living with my parents for the time being, before I can get settled somewhere." Kathy smiled.

"I feel so guilty that I am happily married." Olivia said going bright red.

"Don't be. What happens to us is not your fault. Things were going wrong for Eric and I before I even met you at anti-natal classes."

"Exactly, Dan died before he even knew I was pregnant. None of it is your fault." Alanah reiterated. It wasn't true, but it was just easier to say than anything else. Everything had to be a consistent story. Lying was horrible, but it kept everyone safe.

"Well, all we can do is stick together and we shall all be fine!" Maria said trying to be cheerful.

"Exactly, we have fun ahead of us; I wonder what these beautiful creatures will grow into?" Olivia asked speculatively.

"Teenagers!" Alanah laughed.

-o-

Dan threw his latest victim to the floor, discarding the dead body in front of him. He had been having strange feelings in his chest. He felt like he could still feel a second heartbeat beating alongside his dead one. He knew who the heartbeat belonged to. It was Sam's, a strong young fast beat that far outran his own black heart.

Dan was distracted by the unusual occurrence in his body, but he was so used to abnormal events that he tried to get on with things as best he could. It was not easy, and he found it disconcerting when he was feeding. Did his son know what he was doing? Could he feel Dan's heartbeat too?

There was something comforting about the extra beats in his heart, he felt like Sam was always with him, but it was a constant reminder of what he had lost and Dan tried his best to push his feelings for his son and his wife to the back of his mind. Alas, it very rarely worked.

He was becoming engrossed by the blood he drank, consumed by the souls that he took. There were times when he was not lucid, when he drank on in a haze, unaware of what he was doing.

The humanness that remained was draining away quickly. He tried to drown his sorrows, but it only made things worse. The only thing keeping him going was the little heartbeat in his chest. Without it, he would be lost.

-o-

Alex was exhausted. He had been at Anthony and Mary's beck and call for well over a year and he wasn't getting any real thanks for it at all. Sure he had been announced as Next in Line, but he also knew that meant absolutely nothing at all.

The problem was, no one at all knew that Mary and Anthony were vampires, they thought it was just a miracle that Anthony had come back from the dead. Alex was expected to cover for them whilst they slept, or make excuses for why someone hadn't returned from going to see them, or indeed if they came back changed, why they too suddenly left the normal every day existence of the Family.

Sekhmet hadn't been to visit him since they had returned from France six months before with much pomp and ceremony. Anthony and Mary had lorded over the Family who instantly fell to their knees in awe at their reincarnated leader. Alex had had to laugh at the look on the face of the man who had been the caretaker leader, he hadn't expected it and wasn't prepared for the takeover. He had been quietly dispatched by Anthony, and as usual, Alex had been the one to get rid of the body.

He had however been told of the private burial ground that Anthony had been using for hundreds and hundreds of years. It was well concealed in the grounds of the house and every time he had to take a body to dispose of it, he had had to walk through a mind field of bushes and traps to get to it. He didn't know how many bodies were in the bog that greeted him each time he arrived, with a pop of escaped gas from the bottom of the pit. He shuddered to even try and calculate, but somehow this bog always accepted the body he dumped within it without any hint of being full.

He was desperate to see Sekhmet. She had been the only person - well vampire, who he had ever been able to talk to about how much he hated being in the services of Anthony, but he had to admit she hadn't always been sympathetic. In truth, she hadn't been at all sympathetic, she had however told him how important his future would be and that he would be a vampire himself one day.

She confirmed to him that one day Alanah would indeed be his, but she had never said when or how or if Alanah would be his willingly or by force. He doubted it would be willingly, but he did hope it would be. It was the one thing that kept him awake (when he was able to actually lie in his bed to try to get some sleep). There was no way for him to contact Sekhmet, and even if he could, he had to admit he was scared of her. He couldn't wait to be her equal, and to have Alanah at his side, even if it was by force not choice.

His impatience was legendary, but it was growing bigger as time went by. He had been told he had to wait for his destiny but quite frankly he was willing to make his own fate, and he didn't care who or what got in his way.
CHAPTER 18

Alanah had plenty of time to think during the day whilst Sam was sleeping. She began to question what she was involved in, the reasons her son was the Midnight Son, and indeed what that really meant.

She had been told very little, enough to stop her asking too many questions, but it did not satisfy her curiosity. She would sit in front of the computer and surf the net, desperately trying to find information out about what the future held for her family. It was a fruitless search and somehow she always knew it would be. Entering the words 'Midnight Sun' brought up pages on Sweden. Apparently the east coast was known as the Midnight Sun coast, but there was no mention of vampires. It did however give her the beginnings of a theory.

She decided to see if she could find Dan's tattoo. Horus was an Egyptian God, and there was plenty for (she didn't consider using the word 'son', she had never seen it written down, and even if she had, nothing of any use would have been found, the internet did not hold the secrets of the Midnight Son), her to research, boiling down to the facts that he was god of the sky, but also the sun and the moon. The Eye of Ra was also easy to find, there were numerous Egyptian sites and it confirmed what she already knew, that it was for protection. This was some comfort to her.

Alanah learned that scholars believed there were two eyes, one black and one white. The right eye was white, and represented the sun, and the left eye was black, and represented the moon. Alanah stopped and thought. Dan's eye was white, his skin surrounded by the sun was tattooed, but the eye uncoloured, and hers was tattooed in black ink, the surrounding skin void of ink. Could they be representing the sun and the moon?

Dan was a night creature, he lived by the moonlight and she lived during the hours the sun was in the sky. They were opposites, rarely meeting except for the occasional eclipse....

It was then Alanah struck gold! Dan's tattoo showed the eye of Ra in front of the sun. Her tattoo represented the moon, and she had always felt that the white eye on Dan's arm was where her tattoo belonged, like a jigsaw puzzle piece. Could the two of them represent an eclipse? She read on, wanting to find if there would, could be an eclipse at midnight.

When the Earth's umbral shadow completely covers the Moon, the drama begins! The Moon darkens, but rather than vanishing totally, it turns a dark red or coppery-red colour. This is an amazing sight, and is caused by the refraction of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere; although the Sun is totally blocked from the Moon, this scattered light, filtered by the atmosphere, ensures that a total lunar eclipse is a sight worth seeing. (Quote from website http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/ )

Seven years was a long time to search through, especially since they were still to come, but she found it. On an academic looking website, she found the date she was looking for - the date of Sam's seventh birthday, written on the screen for her to see. A lunar eclipse was to happen. Now all she had to do was get through the next seven years to see what the future held for them all. Whatever was to happen during this midnight eclipse, the Midnight Son would take place. The fate of her family and the human race rested during the blood red moon. Somehow it seemed appropriate.

Alanah could now see things differently and she was beginning to piece things together. Everything seemed to point backwards towards Egypt. The eyes, Horus, the scarab beetle the woman in red had dropped in the room at the chateau. She had seen something like it before at the museum, her mother had done a degree in Egyptology when Alanah had been little, but the questions she needed to ask seemed inappropriate, so she did the next best thing; she called her mum's professor.

-o-

Sam was sound asleep in his pram as she opened the door to the museum, and she instantly felt right at home in the large hallway. This felt like her second home, somewhere she had spent a lot of time as a child. This is where her mother had studied Egyptology when she was a little girl. She had spent so much time walking the corridors of the museum that she felt she was part of the place.

Walking to the information desk she smiled at the woman sat behind the desk. "Good Morning, I have an appointment with Professor Hill, my name is Alanah Newman, and he's expecting me." She smiled.

The receptionist rang the Professors number and had a short conversation with him before turning back to Alanah. "He's on his way, it'll take him about 10 minutes to walk up here, he suggested meeting you in the Egyptian exhibition."

Alanah thanked the lady and pushed the sleeping Sam into the rooms that had been her childhood playground and instantly felt calm. The place hadn't changed at all.

Walking past two huge black basalt statues, one of Hathor, the Goddess associated with love and the sky, a beautiful woman, sitting with a sun disc on her head, straight hair flowing over her breasts. There was a table on her lap, and the museum had placed a lotus flower on it as an offering. The other statue was Sekhmet, the goddess associated with destruction, a woman's body with a lion's head, also with a sun disc on her head, the Ankh, the symbol of life in her hand. Alanah had passed these statues every time she had visited the museum, and she nodded her head ever so slightly to them, feeling as much affinity with them as she had when she was a child.

The galleries that housed the Egyptian collection were always warm and inviting, even though the exhibition contained five or six mummies and a mock up of an ancient tomb, the walls and lighting always made Alanah feel like she was indeed in Egypt, even though she had not yet had the chance to visit herself.

There were statues galore as she walked into the main room, and at the far end, the well respected mock up of an ancient tomb, just the burial room. The ceiling was a celestial blue with an intricate pattern of stars, the walls depicted scenes from the Book of the Dead, a colourful fresco that had always intrigued her as a child.

In the centre of the tomb there was a large sarcophagus where the Pharaoh's coffin would have been placed. She stood looking at the peaceful scene; it would have been a magical place to start the journey to the afterlife.

"Well, well, well, little Lani Moore all grown up!" Came a warm voice from behind her.

Alanah turned around and smiled at the grey haired man in front of her. "Roger!" She said, hugging him tightly. "All grown up and a mum to boot!" She giggled looking down at the peaceful Sam.

"Can't quite believe that! All I remember is you and your brothers running round here as if you owned the place! The number of times I had to tell you off for hiding in that sarcophagus!!" He laughed as he remembered the little red haired girl with a huge smile on her face. "It's been years since I last saw you; you said you needed my help?" He asked expectantly.

"Yes, but I don't quite know where to start." Alanah said, wondering how she could tell him how she came by the scarab beetle.

"You're not looking to intern here are you? I'd be delighted to have you, you always did have a penchant for the dead, just like your mother. You were always at home here."

"Not right now, thanks, got to focus on being a different type of mummy for a while." She smiled at him, but his remark about her affinity with the dead stung, but she couldn't tell him why. "I've been given something, by a friend, and it reminded me of something similar I used to see when I roamed these corridors as a feral child, I was hoping you could help me with it?"

"You didn't ask your mum? Surely she could have helped?" Roger asked confused.

"I'm quite sure she could, but I was hoping to give it to her as a birthday present, if it turns out to be something interesting." Alanah said, hating the lie, but she honestly didn't want her mother to see the amulet, not just yet anyhow, she was still trying to protect her from the insanity of her life.

"Intriguing!" Roger's eyes lit up. "I guess you had better show me then and I'll give you my professional opinion!"

Alanah pulled the amulet out of her pocket and handed it to him, holding her breath as she did, wondering what he would make of the small red beetle.

Ever the archaeologist, Roger took a small magnifying glass from his pocket, the type jewellers use to examine stones and began to inspect the scarab. "Lani, where did you get this?" He asked in awe.

"A friend gave it to me a few months ago, she didn't say where it came from." Alanah said. She reasoned with herself that although she had no idea who the woman dressed in red was, she had to be tantamount to a friend as she had saved Alanah from being attacked by Alex.

"Do you know what this is?" Roger asked excitedly, his eyes lighting up.

"No..... that's why I brought it to you." Alanah replied, not sure how to take his enthusiasm.

"I need to show you something." Roger said, he led Alanah and Sam through an employee's only door and towards a lift. He was like an excited school boy, and Alanah didn't know what he had to show her.

Roger led her into the storage vaults of the museum. Alanah had only ever been down here once before, and she had hated it, but she had been a child, now as an adult, the hidden Egyptian world was fascinating. Roger stopped by a wooden case and began to carefully search through the draws until he found what he was looking for. He pulled the draw out and placed it on a nearby desk before turning to Alanah.

"Have you ever heard of Sekhmet?" Roger asked.

"Well yes, I've passed a statue of her on the way into the Egyptology department; it's been there for years." Alanah replied, a little confused.

"And what can you tell me about her?" Roger asked smiling.

"Well I'm no expert, that's why I came to you, she was the Egyptian goddess of destruction, she protected the pharaohs during battle."

"She was a lot of things to a lot of people. She was sent by Ra to punish mankind for not following his laws and preserving justice and balance – they called it Ma'at. He plucked Hathor, Goddess of love from the Uraeus, the cobra on his brow, and sent her to earth in the form of a lion. She became Sekhmet, the 'Eye of Ra' and began her rampage, killing humans and drinking their blood."

"She drank blood?"Alanah asked interrupting him, she could not help be alarmed at this, in fact she felt a little sick.

"It's a myth Lani, I'm sure it never happened." He smiled at her thinking how sweet it was that she had been disturbed by the story. He continued. "Ra did not like what Sekhmet had done and ordered her to stop, but she was in a blood lust and did not listen. Ra tricked her into drinking 7,000 jugs of beer, in some stories it was the Nile that was stained to look like blood. She became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust was over, and humanity was saved." He was amused that she had found this slightly creepy.

"So how does Sekhmet relate to the amulet I have?" Alanah asked.

"The inscription inside the cartouche on the bottom translates to 'Mother of the Dead'. This was one of the names Sekhmet was known as."

"Oh." Alanah said, her whole body tingling all over. The Mother of the Dead was related to the Family. Her breathing became shallower as she asked her next question. "Sekhmet and the Mother of the Dead are one in the same?" She remembered the drawing she had seen on the secret stairwell as she and Dan had descended to the garden.

"Yes, she went by lots of names 'Powerful One', 'Lady of Terror', 'Lady of Life', 'The One Who Loves Ma´at and Who Detests Evil', 'The eye of Ra', the list goes on and on." He chuckled.

"The eye of Ra! She's know as the eye of Ra?!" Alanah asked unbelieving.

"Yes, the story about her being sent down by Ra is when she was considered to be the eye of Ra." Roger smiled at her, but he couldn't help notice she had gone white.

"So let's get this straight. Sekhmet was known as the Mother of the Dead, and the Eye of Ra. She was sent to kill people by Ra, and entered a blood lust whilst drinking their blood." Alanah stopped, connecting it all together. "She was a vampire." Alanah said shocked.

Roger chuckled. "You have a vivid imagination Lani I'll give you that. So, this scarab, you want to know more about it?"

"Of course." Alanah said, her concentration returning to her. She had to know as much as she could.

"I don't know where you got this from, it's immaculate, museum quality, not that I would ask you to give it to the museum, but it's unprecedented. What makes it more amazing, is that it matches these." He said directing her to the draw he had removed from the chest.

Alanah peered in and stopped breathing for half a second. "Are they the same?" Her voice was almost a whisper.

"I'd have to do some comparative tests, but I've studied these for years, I would recognise work by the same craftsman anywhere, and I'm sure this is by the same person." The things in question, were five scarab beetle amulets, all made of carnelian and all the same size as the one Alanah had brought in. There was one major difference between Alanah's amulet and the ones before her, her one was perfect, like it had only been carved recently, the others looked ancient, like someone had carried them round with them for years.

"Where did they come from?" Alanah asked amazed.

"They were found at one of the temples of Hathor in 1927. They are over 3,000 years old." Roger smiled enigmatically.

"And you think my one is from the same place, the same time?" Alanah asked disbelieving.

"It's the same carnelian, the same craftsman, I can see the same strokes in the carving of the scarab that I can see on the scarab's that have been in this museum for almost 100 years. The only difference is yours looks like it was made yesterday."

"So it could have been separated from the others and had a better state of preservation?" Alanah asked.

"That's the only possible explanation. I can't believe you have something so precious in your possession. Your friend, would she know where it was found?" He asked.

"I never got the chance to ask her." Alanah said distracted. "Do all the cartouches say 'Mother of the Dead on them?" Alanah asked.

"They all have different names in them, all relating to Sekhmet. I mentioned them earlier, 'Powerful One', 'Lady of Terror', 'Lady of Life', 'The One Who Loves Ma´at and Who Detests Evil', 'The Eye of Ra'."

"And would they have made up some piece of jewellery or something?" Alanah asked looking at them, they each had a hole drilled into them.

"Probably, though we can only speculate what. Probably a neck piece, or head piece of some kind, but we will never really know." Roger sighed.

"No, I suppose not." Alanah sighed in sympathy.

"Now that's not the only interesting thing you have come here with." Roger smiled.

"It's not?" Alanah asked confused.

"The key round your neck, that's made of Electrum." He said matter of factly.

"Electrum? I thought it was silver. What is Electrum?" Alanah said surprised.

"It's an alloy of gold and silver, and there is possibly a bit of copper in there too which would make it a good conductor of electricity. It looks silver because of the ratio of gold and silver in it. Ancient civilizations used to call it white gold. They used it to make coins and keys and the like as it was much harder than gold or silver on its own. May I see it?" Roger asked.

"Sure." Alanah said removing her necklace. "But it's not old, my husband gave it to me only a couple of years ago."

Roger examined the key, fascinated by every part of it. "Does it open anything?" He asked examining the teeth.

"The bottom set opens a small padlock, though I no longer have it. I don't know about the other set."

"I think it will open three things in total. The lower set opens the padlock, the upper set something else, and both sets of teeth together will open a third thing. I wonder if you will ever find out what they are?" He smiled at her. "The symbols, the ankh, lion head and eye, you know they all relate to Sekhmet, right?"

"Well I do now. I hadn't realized that before." Alanah said, her skin feeling clammy.

"I don't think it's old, if it is it's in mint condition and never been used for anything except the padlock before. But I wouldn't expect to see the teeth arranged like this, Egyptian keys were primitive to say the least. This is modern, but cast in an ancient material. The symbols were hand engraved, so someone took a lot of trouble over this. You are very lucky." He handed the key back to her.

Sam began to stir from his peaceful slumber and looking down into the pram, she smiled. "You've been a great help Roger, but I think this little one will be needing his mummy in about five minutes, I'd better go and feed him. Thanks ever so much for your help, it is very much appreciated." She smiled at him.

"You are most welcome." He leaned over his desk and pulled out a book. "You might find this interesting. A colleague of mine has been researching Sekhmet for some time now, this is his life's work." He smiled, handing her the book, placing her amulet on top.

"Thanks. When I've started getting full night's sleep again I'll give it a read!" She smiled, and almost on cue, Sam opened his eyes and began to cry. It was feeding time.
CHAPTER 19

Sam was crying uncontrollably, nothing Alanah did would comfort him, he was inconsolable and she was getting worried. He wasn't hungry, didn't need changing and he didn't have a temperature. He was 12 weeks old and giving his lungs a good work out! Alanah was stood by the window looking out at the dark sky. It was 4am and she was exhausted. The crying was nothing like anything she had heard before. There was urgency to it and she was getting worried.

"I could hear that brat crying from the end of the road, your neighbours must not be best pleased with you at the moment." Mary was stood in the doorway. Her tone was condescending and petulant.

"What do you want?" Alanah asked holding Sam tightly to her breast, she now understood Sam's crying, he had somehow known Mary was near. The last time she had seen Mary was in the chapel after Dan had been turned into a vampire and she had hoped never to see her again but deep in the pit of her stomach, Alanah had always known she would and it now filled her with dread.

"Well he is my grandson don't forget." Mary said walking towards him. "Such a shame he inherited his mothers hair." She looked at the baby who had stopped crying the instant Mary had entered the room. Sam's eyes were fixed on her. "I seem to have the knack with him, unlike you." She gloated meanly.

"He can sense I am scared of you, no wonder he stopped crying." Alanah stood her ground, she had nowhere else to go, and showing weakness wouldn't happen, she wouldn't give Mary that small victory. She had to stand up to the vampire who had taken Dan away from his family. To say she hated Mary was an understatement.

"You're scared of me! That's music to my ears! I can't even hurt either of you and you are scared!" Mary laughed in delight. "That really has made my night." Her face was alight with mischief. She could have real fun with this.

"I may be scared of you now but that doesn't mean I always will be. I do not know what is to come but I shall be prepared for it." Alanah said sternly but calmly, Sam was quiet and she knew he could hear her beating heart.

"I'll tell you what is to come. Blood, and lots of it flowing down over me and making me powerful. When Anthony and I prevent the ritual from happening we shall become rulers of the remains of this earth. We shall be all powerful and mortals will quake at our names. We shall be able to feast where we want and on anyone we want, the sky will be jet black and the world will be ours. I shall rule supreme and no one will be able to stop me." Mary shut her eyes as she imagined the blood bath that would be the future if she got her way.

"Dan will stop you." Alanah said calmly, even though her heart was racing. "I will stop you and the child I hold here in my arms will be the key to our locks. He will unlock whatever is needed from Dan and me and we shall prevent your sordid little fantasy becoming reality. Now leave my house. You can not harm us, so your presence is not necessary. You have had your look at your grandson and consider him a brat. You are not welcome here." Alanah pointed to the door.

Mary flew into a rage, seeing the baby that would in seven years time be the catalyst to the end of her existence if she could not prevent it. Forgetting, momentarily that both the Midnight Son and his mother were protected from the advance of vampires she went to lunge at her daughter in law ready to kill them both in an instance.

She could not get to them. No matter how hard she tried her body could get no closer than a couple of foot steps away. Her hands could not claw at Alanah's face as her mind wanted her to. She was paralyzed and no amount of effort on her part could move her to her goal. Alanah and Sam were protected by the Midnight Sun ring. It glistened on Alanah's finger as if it were taunting Mary. Her eyes seethed with anger, but Mary stood her ground.

"I suggest you oblige your daughter-in-laws request. Your presence is upsetting the baby." Damian said walking into the room. His voice was smooth, but menacing and Alanah was so pleased to hear it, she knew she was safe now he was here.

Mary scowled at him and left leaving behind her these words. "I will be watching your every move and when the night of the blood moon arrives your lives will be mine." Her voice was cold and calculating.

Damian took Alanah and Sam in his arms and held them close to him. Alanah was shaking and Sam was quiet, somehow knowing now was not a time to cry.

"I knew she could not hurt Sam or me. But she has violated my privacy by coming into my home." Alanah cried, she was so pleased Damian had saved her. Although she had known Mary could not hurt her, she was sure she would not have been able to make her leave on her own.

"She will not come again. She knows the consequence will be dire for her. Believe me, I will ensure the consequences will be the worst possible."

-o-

Damian left Alanah as soon as she was calm and baby Sam was sleeping soundly in his cot. Alanah's hands had taken forever to stop shaking and her breathing to return to normal.

Damian hadn't been this angry about anything in a very long time. In fact he couldn't quite remember the last time he had wanted to rip someone's head off just for the sake of it without wanting to consume their blood. All he wanted to do was kill Mary, but unfortunately he knew he had to restrain himself and he wasn't happy at that prospect.

The shock value that Mary had been aiming for had worked. She had rattled Alanah enough to unnerve her and Damian had to admit to himself that he was scared for what Alanah could do if Mary ever bothered her again.

It wasn't the fact that she could physically hurt her, the protection ring had been put to the test and everyone knew that Alanah was safe from harm provided she was wearing it, and he knew she always would, now she had seen that it could protect her. It was the mental torture that Mary could inflict on Alanah in a drip feed manner that really worried him.

She had already made her presence known to Alanah tonight and with the videos she had sent to her to remind her of her loss. Any more mind games that could torture Alanah's sanity could end any chance of the ceremonies completing in favour of humans and Alanah would be lost, meaning the Midnight Son would not, could not happen and Damian could not allow that to happen. Nothing could stop the Midnight Son completing, he had been waiting way too long to allow it to slip through his fingers. He had spent his whole vampire life working behind the scenes, watching his family grow before his eyes and end with Daniel and Sam, the father and son who were to prevent the dark blood moon from rising and never setting. He had always made a point of not telling either Dan or Alanah what would happen if the ceremonies favoured vampires, they both already had enough on their plates without adding to their burdens. He would only reveal that when it was absolutely necessary.

Alanah was one piece of the puzzle, a piece that could not be missing, and through her, Sam and Dan were to release the world from the grip of the night.

Damian knew he had no choice but to confront Mary about how she was treating Alanah.

Sunrise was imminent and Damian intended to use it to his advantage. He was an old vampire and his ability to smell Mary's unique odour allowed him to detect the direction she was heading in – she was on her way back to the Family.

Catching her up would not be a problem, his body could carry him at immense speed and within 5 minutes he could see her a few hundred feet in front of him.

Mary was less than half a mile from the Family, not hurrying, enjoying the mental victory she had had over Alanah, but confused at what had stopped her being able to physically hurt her.

Damian would like nothing more than to eliminate Mary permanently from the equation, but he knew everything had an order and it was not within his power to change it. But he would have loved to be able to make her face the sun. He had to restrain himself.

Silently Damian crept up to her and grabbed her around the shoulders, effortlessly dragging her off the main road into a field. Mary screamed in a monstrous rage, suddenly terrified she was so far from the Family, from safety.

Damian was undoubtedly stronger than Mary and she soon realized struggling was fruitless. He held her wrists in a vice-like grip and calmly began to talk to her. "Tic-toc, tic-toc, the sun will be up soon. You will fade into oblivion if I don't let you go." He smiled at her as he looked into her petrified eyes, he loved seeing her so terrified.

"Let me go!" She finally said, her voice small and Damian was so pleased she was getting a taste of her own medicine.

"Not until you understand one thing. If you EVER approach Alanah and the baby again, I will come after you like a hurricane and hold on to you until you are no more. It would be a great pleasure to be rid of you." Damian growled.

"So why don't you dispatch me now?" Mary asked, realizing she may live to see the next sun set.

"Because that honour belongs to someone else. That person shall do it the night darkness and light become one. You are to be witness to the miracles that take place that night and it is not up to me to deny you the honour of seeing your family triumph over you and prevent hell on earth from happening. However, I will if necessary take any punishment dealt to me for disobeying my orders. If you approach Alanah again before the Midnight Son, I will gladly see you cower at the sunlight before you disappear forever."

"But you can't do anything to me now, can you?" Mary smirked at him. She deftly removed her hands from his grasp and stood up straight. Trying her best to recover her dignity quickly.

"Can't I?" Damian smiled. "The sun is less than a minute from rising."

"But..." Mary began to panic, there was no way she could make it back to the Family in that short a time. "You've killed me."

"No, you will just have to spend an uncomfortable day in that old barn over there. Plenty of time to think over your feelings towards Alanah. Mark my words Mary, you have just one chance. Visit Alanah again and I will drag you kicking and screaming into the sunlight and you know there will be nothing Anthony can do to prevent me. I am the only living vampire who can walk in the sunlight. You'd better hurry if you want to survive today."

Mary scuttled off to the barn, scared and angry that Damian had condemned her to a day in a smelly old barn. She settled down as best she could, wondering how she would get through the day. She was so angry with Damian. Who was he to tell her how to have fun and fill her nights?

Yet she knew what he had done would prevent her from visiting Alanah again, she certainly had no desire to be incinerated. She would have to focus her energy elsewhere.

As the sun began to shine on a new day, Mary realized she would have to have her wits about her all throughout the day.... The barn was riddled with holes and the sunlight was shining through....
CHAPTER 20

Alanah walked into the shop and let the assistant know she was there. She sat waiting patiently until the man beckoned her towards him.

"What can I do for you my love?" He asked sitting down on his metal chair and gesturing to Alanah to sit. She did, clearing her throat.

"Can you tattoo over scars?" She asked nervously holding out her wrist, wondering what he would think of it. Like a pro he took hold of it and inspected it.

"Sure can. What did you have in mind?" He asked cheerfully.

Alanah handed him the sketch she had drawn. She had seen it at the hospital when Dan had been there, it was on the piece of paper he had been playing with and she had been thinking about it's meaning ever since. It seemed fitting.

"Egyptian Ankh." The man said staring at it. "Original." He was being sarcastic, but in a gentle way.

"The symbol of life. The birth of my son, death of my husband and the continuation of my life. I'd like it on the inside of my wrist, over my scar please." Alanah looked at the man.

"OK. It'll cost £120." He said calculating how long it would take. Not only had Alanah drawn the Ankh, she had incorporated the eye of Ra, a lion and a hieroglyph of a hawk into the design. It had been a doodle at first, but she had liked it and left them all in.

"Fine." Alanah agreed.

"You alright if I redraw this to make sure it's the best tattoo I can give you? This drawing's great, but I can make sure it's perfect?"

"Sure, that would be great." Alanah nodded in agreement. The man went to refine the drawing and make a template. Once he was happy he returned ready to tattoo her.

The man began to place the template on Alanah's wrist and asked. "So how did you get the scar?"

"It's a long complicated story." Alanah sighed. "And you probably wouldn't believe it."

"You'd be surprised. A few weeks ago I had a bloke in who said he was a vampire!" The man laughed nervously. "Ice cold and all, didn't flinch once. Said the tattoo was to commemorate the birth of his son."

"What did he look like?" Alanah asked urgently. Her whole body tingled in anticipation.

"Six foot, dark hair, I'd done one on him about a couple of years before. Funny thing was he couldn't remember getting that one done!"

"The one you did before, was it on his left arm, an Egyptian hawk with a sun disk over its head and an eye in it?" Alanah asked with baited breath.

"Yeah, do you know him?" The man asked surprised. He looked at her with a new respect.

"He's my husband." Alanah winced at the pain from the needle. "What did you put on him the second time?"

"Come to think of it, it was an Ankh too, and a date." The man continued with his work.

So Dan had had another tattoo done, and the same symbol that Alanah was having done right now. In some strange way this was comforting, a connection of some sort, however tenuous.

Alanah sat for over an hour as he expertly engraved her wrist. The man dressed it once he was finished and looked at her.

"He's your husband? It all fits, birth of son, death of husband. Is he a vampire?"

"You've touched his skin, seen him not flinch in pain, you tell me?" She handed him the money. "Thank you." She left him to ponder.

-o-

Alex had followed Alanah to the tattoo shop and he had every intention of abducting her as soon as she left the shop. It was almost midday, so he knew no vampire could interfere with his plans, and there were no humans who could stop him. He was a strong man, and he had come equipped with a knife and was prepared to use it if anyone tried to stop him taking his prize.

Alanah opened the shop door and stepped out, oblivious to anyone else, her wrist was throbbing slightly from the attack of the needle. She didn't notice Alex lurking down an alley. He walked behind her like a stalker intent on forcibly taking her.

He felt a searing pain in his arm and he was pulled from the road back into the alley he had been hiding in. He was looking straight at a very angry Sekhmet. Her eyes were black, surrounded by a red ring of fire and her fangs were fully in view. She was seething and he knew he was in trouble.

"Yes, I knew what you were going to do, I could feel your intent towards Alanah from a hundred miles away, I knew you intended to try and take her again." She hissed at him.

He swallowed nervously. "How can you be out in the daylight?"

"That's what you're worried about? How I can be out in the day?" She held tightly onto him. "If you ever try and approach Alanah again, I swear, regardless of any destiny you are supposed to have, I will kill you in a heartbeat." She snarled at him. "You have no patience, and that will be your downfall if you are not careful. Patience is the virtue that gets you what you want. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, but I have a crap life, I'm servant to a vindictive vampire, denied everything that should be mine. I'm lonely and desperate. So I want to be with Alanah, what concern of it is yours?" He replied angrily. He didn't care that she was the most powerful vampire he had ever met.

"Who do you want to rule this earth after the Midnight Son?" She smiled at him, a glint in her eye.

"Vampires of course, provided I am one of them." Alex replied.

"And what if it were you ruling the earth?" She asked casually.

"That would be ..... Most agreeable." He breathed heavily.

"So listen to my warnings and LEAVE ALANAH ALONE." She shouted at him. "Now, tell me, have you managed to find the book I told you to look for?"

"I think I know where it is, I can't lay my hands on it at the moment, it's in too prominent a position, but it won't be long before I can get it."

"Good. May I suggest you take position of it as soon as you can, and try to read it. It might need translating, so your earliest convenience would be best. I must go, but I swear I will kill you if you try to get to Alanah again." And she left, leaving a shaken Alex behind.

"Holy shit." He breathed as he lent against the wall. "I'm screwed."

CHAPTER 21

Dan felt numb inside. As if everything he had become was for nothing. He hated feeding, but he also loved it, and he was still struggling to reconcile the feelings he had when he took a human life due to drinking them dry.

The little baby he had held just twice was growing bigger every day and he was missing every second. He felt totally off kilt, like the greatest thing in his life was far from his grasp and he began to realize that along with Alanah, his son was the first thing he thought about every night when he woke and the last thing he thought about at night.

He could not deny it, he missed Sam. He missed Alanah too, but he had been able to close that longing off from everything else, as he knew seeing her would kill him a little more each time. But Sam, well he could not deny to himself any longer that he missed him. It hurt him to the core to know that the tiny baby he had held in his arms had begun to grow, and he didn't even know if he would recognise him anymore. It had been only a few months, but he knew it was almost the entirety of Sam's life, and he was desperate to know how he was.

There was only one way Dan could hear about Sam without seeing him or Alanah. He had to see them vicariously through someone else's eyes.

-o-

Jessie sat up in bed; she could hear a sound downstairs. Leaving Steve sleeping like the proverbial baby, she walked downstairs and entered her front room, brandishing a rolled up newspaper, it had been the nearest thing to a weapon she could find, she found Dan sifting through photo albums on the floor. He was sobbing his eyes out. Dan looked up when he saw her and sat there, he looked deflated and unhappy.

"Are you here to drink from me?" Jessie asked confidently, knowing deep in her heart that he was not.

"No." Dan wiped away his tears. "I should never have done it back in the hospital, I still feel very guilty about that. I'm not here to hurt you." He looked back at the photos and began to stand up. "How is Sam?" He asked, he stroked the photo of his son and looked at Jessie.

And it hit Jessie like a stone, Dan was in desperate need to know what was happening to his family even though he was in self imposed exile. She realised she could help.

"He's fine. He is perfect. He's 6 months old now. Lani has just started him on solids and he loves it. He is sitting up on his own now and he wants to move, but he keeps falling over every time he tries to get anywhere. He has a favourite toy, a dog Lani has called Sparkle. You can see from the photos he is going to take after Lani and have red hair, but he has your eyes, lips and nose." Jessie sat next to Dan. She wasn't afraid of him, he needed her help and she knew he wouldn't bite.

"Is Alanah happy?" He asked earnestly. He felt strangely comforted to be near Jessie. He hadn't had a conversation with someone human for so long. He mostly pounced on them before draining them and suffering their wrath afterwards.

Jessie sighed. She knew she had to be honest. "I don't know, but she loves being a mum. I've never seen her more happy than when she is with Sam. She was born to do it. But that is all she has in her life, Sam. She has no job, no hobbies, no husband. He is her only reason for continuing at the moment."

"Does she talk about me?" Dan asked hopefully.

"Of course she does. She makes up lots of stories about you and tells them to Sam, saying what a hero you are. She doesn't say much about you to me though. She is trying to hide her pain, but I can see through it."

"Things have to be this way for everyone's safety." Dan defended his absence.

"I know, and Lani knows it too, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. There is something you should see." Jessie went to the computer and fired it up, as soon as it was ready she opened a hidden folder and clicked on a video. Dan watched in horror as Mary and Anthony spoke of their intention to watch Alanah.

Once the video was complete, Jessie spoke quietly to Dan. "Alanah doesn't know I have this, she deleted it after she saw it. I took it out of the delete folder and copied it to a memory card, I hoped I would be able to show you. They sent Lani the memory card containing the photo's from your wedding, this was also on it. They frightened her, she thought they would try and take Sam, and she also thought they would hurt me. It's intimidated her, she said she will feel like someone is always watching her. This came about nine months ago, and she is looking over her shoulder, she is always on alert, never letting her guard down. She has made friends with other new mums, but she is holding back, she does not want to commit to a friendship, worried she may be confiding in someone who is from the Family. Lani knows Mary did this when she was a baby and at the moment she doesn't trust anyone. She won't talk about it, but she is affected by the constant thought of being watched."

"I've heard they had found her, they are trying to locate me too, trying to get me back into the fold, but it will never happen. Nothing, and I mean nothing would make me go back and be part of the Family. I will never succumb to the way they live their dark lives. I am to be alone. So Mary and Anthony are threatening her from afar. They know they can't touch either of them, but they will do their best at mental torture."

"Not only that, Mary visited Alanah in person when Sam was a few weeks old. She scared her witless even though she knew she was in no real danger, the ring was put to the test and Mary was unable to harm either of them."

"She what?" Dan fisted his hands, ready to punch out at something, but restraining himself in the fear of hurting Jessie or her possessions. "I want to kill her, to take away her demonic life, but I can't. Nothing but sunlight can take away her life." His whole body quivered in anger, but he pulled himself back from the precipice of no return. "They are the lowest of the low, scum of the earth. I will make them pay when the time comes." Dan kept his fury under control. Now was not the time to show it. He handed Jessie a key. "This is to the basement flat I am currently using as my home. It's 32 West Street, not far from here."

"I know the street." Jessie nodded, it wasn't too far away at all.

"Come to see me when you have news of Alanah and Samson. You are my only contact with them." Dan implored.

"I will." Jessie agreed to his request.

"Thank you." Dan took her hand and looking at it said. "I should never have added to your scars."

"You had to do it. You were in need of blood and trust is everything and you needed to know you could still trust me." Jessie smiled.

"Dan kissed her hand. "Come and see me soon." And he left the house, leaving Jessie to return to Steve.

Jessie lay in bed, knowing that she could not tell Alanah that Dan had asked her to visit, Alanah would be straight round there to see him, and that was not something either of them were prepared to go through.

Her loyalties were divided, but she would be loyal to them both. She was the only one who could do this. It was both an honour and a worry for her. Could she be what they both needed?
CHAPTER 22

Dan just ran! He was so angry and he knew he was going to do serious harm to someone, and he wanted to make sure that whoever it was deserved his wrath.

He felt like he couldn't protect his own family, that Mary and Anthony had the upper hand. To torture Alanah mentally was worse than what he was going through – he truly believed that. He was strong enough to face Mary now and he was beginning to understand that he had to face them, he had to put the fear into them. He knew he had to make them understand that he was still fighting for Alanah and Sam and nothing would change that.

Smelling a man who reeked of another's death he stopped and without even looking at him he sunk his teeth into his neck and drained him without any sympathy or compassion. The unnamed man died in pain, but seeing as he had just battered a man to death in a bar brawl, Dan reasoned that he didn't deserve an iota of sympathy or compassion. He dropped him to the floor as if he were a sack of potatoes.

"Your thirst for killing has returned tonight Daniel." Came a familiar voice from behind him.

Without turning around – he knew she would not allow it, he smiled to himself. "You always seem able to come to me when I am in a blood lust."

"Your blood lust proceeded you tonight. It is as if all good humans have scurried away from you. You are very dangerous." Sekhmet chuckled. "I will need to blindfold you." She said still standing behind him.

"This is becoming a habit, you hiding your face from me." Dan said gruffly, but allowed her none the less to tie a scarf around his eyes. "I am incredibly curious to know what you look like."

"I'm nothing special to look at, but I won't risk you taking a look, this will all be for nothing if you do."

"I don't like this, how you have control over me and since becoming a vampire, no one has had control over me." Dan confessed his vulnerability.

"Even without the blindfold you would feel my strength is more than yours. You can feel I am considerably more powerful even though you can't see me. I am here to help you. You can tell me anything, I have a vested interest in the success of the Midnight Son." Sekhmet said kindly.

"I wish you would tell me what this vested interest is, and then maybe I would understand your concerns. How do I know for sure you aren't on Anthony's side?"

Sekhmet stood close to Dan, he could smell everything about her, the stark vampire that she was and the lingering humanness that she had once been. Her hand gently touched his cheek and he drew in a deep breath as he felt her next to him. He felt sated and close to happy. He couldn't understand it, but he understood now as clearly as he ever could that Sekhmet was on the side of humans.

"You're vampire, why do you want my family to succeed?" He asked astonished.

"I became vampire to save my children. There was no other option, no one else could protect them. Like you I did not ask for this, but I am embracing what I have been given to protect them. I can never be human again, but I would never take away the free will of humanity from the earth, that is not my call. Now, tell me, why are you suffering from a blood lust tonight?"

"I visited a friend. She told me Mary had been hassling Alanah and my son. She is worried for Alanah's sanity and there is nothing I can do to protect them from mental torture. I feel helpless." Dan sighed.

"I see." Sekhmet contemplated Dan's words. "I am aware of Mary visiting Alanah and the baby a few months ago. Damian threatened Mary and I'm not aware of her visiting again." Sekhmet said, hoping it would calm Dan.

"But that is not the point. Tonight is the first time I have heard about it. I'm powerless to do anything about it. I'm an outcast from my own family." He said despondently.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sekhmet asked expectantly.

"If I had my way I'd kill my mother. But that's hardly practical. I think a few home truths to the Family are in order." He smiled wickedly.

"Then fulfil that need, and use Jessie as a go between if you are not comfortable visiting Alanah and the baby. You are an island, but that doesn't mean you cannot contact the main land. Your sanity is fragile and you must ensure you remember who you were. The future depends on you and you must never forget the man you were, he is still inside you somewhere."

"I wish I could feel him now."

"He's there, he's always there. I must go, but before I do, whatever you intend to do to the Family, understand that Anthony and Mary will never lose control over the people there, they need a lesson, but do not decimate them, most of them have no choice but to be there, they know no difference, and you must remember what it is like to be part of the Family, everything they do there felt right to you until you met Alanah in the nightclub. Until we meet again." And Sekhmet left.

Dan removed the blindfold and looked at the red scarf. He had to find more food, his blood lust wasn't quite sated yet.
CHAPTER 23

It was the following night before Dan was able to put his plan into action. The sun had set about an hour before Dan walked up the road towards the house the Family called home. He walked through the front door as if he were arriving home from work; no attention was paid to him by the Family members who were in the hallway.

He walked back to his old room and opened the door. He had no particular reason to go here, it wasn't his home anymore, but it was curiosity that drove him to see who had been given his old room.

He saw Helen, one of the priestess who had prepared both him and Alanah for the sacrifice on the eve of her 21st birthday. She was sitting at a table reading. The room hadn't changed much, although Helen had added a few homely touches Dan had never bothered with. It was clearly no longer his room.

Helen looked up, wondering who had entered her room. She was stunned when she realized who it was.

"Daniel. What are you doing here?" She asked getting up from her seat. He was the last person she ever thought she would see again.

"I'm afraid I have come to drink from you." Dan replied walking towards her.

"But you were never initiated, why would you want to drink from me?" Helen asked. Members of the Family would often arrive in each other's rooms and ask to take blood from others; it was seen as a bonding process, a want to get to know you better. It was seen as bad manners to refuse.

"I'm afraid I will be taking your life at the same time." Dan said as he took her hand. "Come with me."

Reluctantly, but not unwillingly – Dan had her under his influence, but he was letting her have an element of free will, she let Dan gently lead her from the room that was now hers.

"Dan, why are you doing this? You may take my blood willingly; you do not need to take my life." She said calmly. Whilst this might have been a strange and terrifying situation to most humans, to Helen and the Family members it was normality.

"Because it is time the members of the Family were made aware of what this cult is really all about."

They arrived in the cavernous hallway, and Dan stopped, still holding onto Helen's hand. He sunk his teeth into Helen and she slumped to the floor. "Anthony, I know you are still here. Show yourself to me." He bellowed at the top of his voice, his face covered in Helen's fresh blood.

Faces began to appear looking over the banister, and from doorways It didn't take long until he had 50 or more people staring down at him. Eventually Anthony and Mary appeared at the balcony and looked down at him.

"Have you decided to rejoin us son?" Mary asked graciously, smiling at him, aware she was being watched.

"I am here to show the Family they should be terrified of you both." He continued drinking; he was near to taking Helen's life.

"Whatever do you mean?" Anthony said. He began to descend the stair, trying to take control of the situation, although he had no idea how he would do that. Dan had him by the fangs; there were too many people present for him to be able to deny what was happening. He would have to tread carefully.

"This is what happens to every Family member who is summoned to you and does not return. They end up drained of their blood to satisfy your thirst."

"Daniel, you jest with these fine people. Do not scare them, they are vulnerable. Come back into the fold, you would be most welcome." Anthony purred smoothly, graciousness seemed the most appropriate course of action. He would play it cool even though he was seething with anger.

"I will never be a member of this Family again." Dan growled.

"But you will always be part of it, I am your mother and I shall never leave here. You will always be welcome." Mary smiled sweetly as she looked at Dan, but her eyes betrayed a different feeling. "Come and be with us, you must be lonely on your own, sleeping in a derelict flat, never seeing your wife and son. It must be driving you mad." She twisted her metaphorical knife in deeper. She loved playing with his sanity.

"You gave me this madness, this destiny and I have no option but to live with it." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the instruments of his personal hell. "This is a warning to all human members of the Family. The next time I set foot in this house; those who remain loyal to the abomination that is the Family of the Eternal Life will die at my hand." He finished feeding from Helen and laid her on the marble floor. "Remember me as the marked man who will change your existence forever."

"Now Dan...." Anthony began.

"And you two will keep away from my family and me. We may have to meet again on the night of the Midnight Son, but until then I don't want to see either of you or hear that you have visited Alanah or Sam. Mark my words; I want my family left alone. Alanah has enough to deal with, without you menacing her."

Dan walked out of the front door, but was quickly joined by Anthony who stood before him, his face stony and resolved.

"We need to talk." He said simply.

"About what exactly?" Dan asked holding his ground. He looked up at Anthony, and for the first time ever he saw something different in his adversary, but he couldn't place exactly what the problem was.

"You are suffering." He smiled gently. "I can help."

"Help? Why does everyone keep wanting to give me help? Damian wants to take me under his wing, Mary wants to mother me and you, how exactly can you help me?" Dan growled.

"I've been a vampire a long time Dan, seen everyone I love die and leave me alone. I see the bitterness inside you that hates me, hates Mary and hates yourself. I did not create the situation we find ourselves in, that was the fault of the Mother of the Dead. She made the decision on the destiny of the Newman family; she ultimately made you what you are today."

"You are just taking advantage of the situation I suppose, trying to prolong your existence, delighting in seeing me suffer in the way I am."

"I take no delight in your suffering, it is a necessary evil in the war that has spanned eternity. If it was not me behind your torment, it would be someone else. There is always someone else who wants the opposite of what you desire." He chuckled to himself.

"And you want to live in this altered state, killing every night, taking away the potential of the people you feed from?" Dan asked almost livid.

"I was once like you, idealistic and devastated when my human life was unceremoniously taken from me. I suffered too, never forget that. I didn't want this life at first, but I had no choice but to accept it just as you have. It's not about what you want, it's about what is right for the world. It's a difficult decision to make Dan, but in just a few years it will be yours to make. I can't offer you any advice, and even if I did I know you would refuse it, and rightly so."

Mary joined them at the door. "Satisfied are you? You've driven them into a panic that will take them weeks to recover from." She was angry.

"Just wanting to let them see what they are involved in. Make them feel uncomfortable in your presence, take away the lies you have told them. Make them see the truth."

"Oh don't worry, it won't change a thing, just makes things a little more fun for me!" She laughed.

"On the subject of fun, stay away from Alanah. She is not a source of entertainment for you." He said through gritted teeth.

"Playing fair is not part of my remit, Don't underestimate me Daniel I will do whatever is necessary to survive."

"I can see that, you sacrificed your own son to become this creature he despises, just so you can try to manipulate which side I will fight for."

"And therein lies the whole dilemma you face. You want to save the human race, but you are no longer part of them. You feed from them and kill them and you are still finding it hard to reconcile the two and become who you should be." She smiled at him. "But I do have a solution. Volunteers please make yourself known."

From inside the house, four Family members walked towards the three of them and stood next to Mary. There were three women, one no older than 20 and one man somewhere in his 40's. She smiled at them before turning back to Dan.

"They know what we are, what you are, and they are our usual source of food when we are prevented from hunting. There are a dozen others who have also been taken into our confidence, with the understanding we shall not drain them to the point of death and shall grant them an eternal existence before the Midnight Son." She moved to the closest woman and sunk her teeth into her neck eliciting a small moan from her. In a heartbeat she had made all four of them bleed and they stood patiently waiting for something to happen.

"No." Dan whispered, his mouth beginning to water as the smell of blood flooded his senses, four different notes colliding together to create an intoxicating elixir he knew he would soon find difficult to resist. He clenched his fists, doing everything he could to control his animalistic instincts.

"Can't you see this is the compromise you have been looking for? You can drink as much as you want, and you never have to kill again if you don't want to?" Mary smiled at him, watching him work through her offer in his mind.

The smell of the free flowing blood was becoming too much for Dan, his head began to sway at the closeness of the sustenance he needed. No more new souls to share his head with? No more souls to shout at him, to hate him, to demand release from the confines of his body. He could survive on the blood donated by these people... could live happily... could stop killing...

"No. He said resolutely. "As nice a thought as it is to never kill again, it's too easy and goes against the reason I have been given this existence. My destiny is to suffer, and to choose this option would be to deny that. I can't just sip from these brain-washed donors. I need to feed. This is an offer I cannot and will not accept." And Dan bolted from the Family house, knowing staying a second longer he would relent and feed. He would never go back into the fold of the Family. That was one thing he could guarantee for the future, he would never be one of them again.

CHAPTER 24

Neither Jessie or Alanah could believe it when Sam's first birthday came in what seemed like a very quick blur. It seemed almost impossible that he had reached his first milestone so quickly. He had become a cheeky little boy with a mop of curly red hair. His eyes were turning green just like Alanah's, but his features were Dan's. He was a very handsome young man.

Alanah knew that she could not have gotten through the madness of the last year without Jessie being there for her. Jessie had been everything she and Sam had needed. Someone for her to moan to, or laugh with, a great aunt to Sam and the only person Alanah could confide in.

Alanah hadn't been sure if she wanted to mark Sam's first birthday. She had mixed feelings about the significance of the date, knowing full well that six years later, the night of his 7th birthday the Midnight Son prophecy would be brought to fruition. Sam's birthday would always be a strange occurrence, and she knew she had to face it, it wouldn't be fair of Sam to never mark his birthday.

Jessie had persuaded her that not celebrating would be like not acknowledging his birth at all, and neither she nor Alanah wanted that to happen. Alanah knew she would die for Sam, so celebrating his life was the right thing to do.

Steve and Jessie organised the party, Jessie insisting on taking the reins. Balloons, cake, 20 little kids crawling around the house. The sun was shining brightly the day they celebrated Sam's birth, and Alanah could not deny that celebrating had been the best thing they could have done.

As Alanah sat with Sam on her knee, the large homemade birthday cake in front of them, the single candle lit, ready to help a bemused one year old blow out the candle as the obligatory 'happy birthday' was sung, Alanah could not help realize that there were two types of people standing there singing to her son.

The people who knew nothing about what had happened with Dan, who Sam was and what was to happen – her mum and dad, Steve, Paul, the other mums and babies, those lucky enough to be ignorant to the vampires who prowled the streets at night.

Then there were the people who knew. Jessie, Damian, John, Callum and Christina who all knew what had happened and what was to come. How she wished she didn't have to pretend. If only she could just be herself without having to tell everyone she was fine, for people to not enquire over the death of her husband, or the lonesomeness of having a vampire for a husband.

So she put her smile in place, knowing she had no choice but to pretend that everything was indeed OK. Even though she trusted Jessie completely, and confided in her all the time, she still carried nothing but numbness inside her, and she didn't know if that would ever leave her.

-o-

It was way past Sam's bed time when Alanah finally took him up to his room to put him to sleep in his cot. It had been a fun packed day, and he had fought with all his might to stay awake until everyone had gone. Sam had loved being the centre of attention, and ripping open all his new presents had been such a joy for him, if a little overwhelming!

Bathed and smelling of lavender, dressed in a new sleep suit that his grandmother had bought him, he looked sleepily up at Alanah. "Dada." He said in his cherub like voice.

Alanah gasped – it was his first proper word. Everything else had been gobeldy gook before. And then she felt the presence behind her. The comforting feeling of Sam's father. Turning around she saw him – it had been almost a year since she had last set eyes on him and he hadn't changed one bit.

In his hand Dan held a brown teddy bear, and a clutch of toy cars. Silently he placed the teddy next to Sam, and the cars on the dresser next to the cot. He stroked his son's cheek and smiled sadly at him. "Sleep well my little one." He whispered.

Turning to Alanah he looked at her, his eyes burning, his face tight with emotions. Taking Alanah in his arms he just held her gently, his whole body relaxing around her. Alanah held onto him with all her might, finding no words to say, silent tears rolling down her face. Silence seemed to be the only thing keeping them together, as if uttering a word would break the spell and Dan would have to go.

They stood wrapped in each other for what felt like forever, but both knew the time had to come to an end, and all too soon it did. It was a mutual agreement to pull away from each other, one neither wanted to do, but reality had to come back to them some time.

Dan wiped away all the traces of Alanah's tears before placing something around her neck. Alanah touched his cheek with her warm hand, feeling his coldness beneath it. Dan placed his cold hand over her warm one, gently holding hers to him. He sighed deeply at her touch, accepting it as a declaration of love. It felt wonderful. Taking hold of her chin, he gently kissed her lips, taking his time, feeling the warmth of her skin against his. It had been so long since he had touched her, and he was desperate to hold her all night, but his thirst was threatening to show itself.

Knowing he had to end the kiss, and leave her before he did something he would regret, he kissed her lips again, a little more urgently, moaning as she responded. It took great will power and strength to pull away from her. He looked her in the eye, seeing the understanding that he needed to be able to leave her here alone.

He gently pulled his arms from around her, leaning in for one last chaste kiss before leaving the room in an instant, leaving Alanah looking down at their sleeping son, wondering how he knew that Dan was his father.

Recovering herself, and not wanting to wake Sam with the crying she was sure would erupt from deep inside her, she checked he was OK before pulling the door to and walking to her room. She sat down on the bed, and started shaking. No tears came.

Remembering that he had placed something around her neck, she looked down and saw a locket hanging on a thick silver chain. It was a large oval locket, about the size of a small egg. It was a simple polished silver, which had been etched with a sun, the rays radiating out towards the edges of the front. Her hands shaking, she fumbled at the catch until she managed to open it. A piece of folded paper fell into her lap, but her eyes were drawn straight to the two drawings on either side of the locket.

Sam and Dan, father and son. They were exquisite little works of art, and Alanah couldn't help smile as she looked at the pictures. Both portraits were as life like as if she were looking at black and white photos. Sam as a new born baby, and Dan as the human man he had once been. She stared at the pictures for ages, memorising every stroke of penmanship Dan had used to create them. She was enthralled.

Finally she turned to the piece of paper and carefully unfolded it. Dan's handwriting flowed out of the page as she read his words.

My Dearest Alanah,

My plan for tonight was to drop off Sam's birthday presents and this locket for you and leave as quickly as I came. On many levels I hope I have managed to do that, and that I have not hurt either of you in any way. On another level, I hope I have had courage to, at the very least kiss you before leaving.

We are one year into our torturous ordeal, one year closer to completing whatever stands in our way to keep humanity safe. One year lived by the son we created together. He is so beautiful, and I wish I could see him in the light, and be the proud father I am desperate to be.

I hope you like the drawings I have done for you. I also hope you don't think I was being vain drawing myself, but there were places for two photos, and something told me you would rather have a picture of me than yourself, although I have to admit I have drawn a picture of you for me.

I miss you and I love you.

Dan
CHAPTER 25

As the months began to pass, Alanah began to get frustrated being at home all the time. She loved her son to pieces and would have done anything for him, but she felt she was half the person she used to be.

It finally got the better of her and she decided to speak to Damian, to tell him how she was feeling.

"Damian, I want to get a job." She finally managed to say to him one day.

"Why?" He asked, slightly amused. "You have no money worries."

"I know, you have provided for both of us very well, we want for absolutely nothing, and you know I am incredibly grateful, but I need to start to use my brain again! It feels like it has gone into hibernation."

"You are a bit cosseted here. But what about Sam?"

"Well, he does not have that much contact with other children, only when we go to play groups and I see the girls, so it would be good for him to be with other kids his age. There is a nursery along West Street that would be perfect. It is on the way into town and I could drop him off and pick him up on the way to and from work. I've been to visit and he loved being with the other children, he needs company, it's not like he is going to get a brother or sister in the near future."

"Sounds like you are set on the idea." Damian said brightly.

"I just need to find out who I am. My life has been on hold since my 21st birthday and I think I have forgotten how to be me. I've lost everything I was, the plans Dan and I had have been wiped away and I've spent so long stagnating, I need to figure out who I am and what I can offer the world apart from being part of a prophecy. Being mummy is wonderful and I wouldn't change him for the world, but having some time to be Alanah would be great. Besides, I have a degree and I have done little with it since I got it. It's time I went out to work." Alanah said, quietly adamant.

"Then go and find yourself a job." Damian smiled, having a sneaking suspicion she might have done so already.

"I start at Warner and Son's on Monday. I'm PA to the Marketing Director; he's French and needs someone to be able to translate his work."

-o-

Alanah could not deny that she was excited on her first day of work. It wasn't so much the fact that she was going to work that made her so happy, it was the fact that she could be the person she wanted to be. She did not have to be the widow of a vampire and act that way, and equally no one knew of her past or her destiny and she felt for the first time in a very long time that she could relax and be who she wanted to be.

The only issue was she had no idea who that was. Whilst she could not deny that going into a place where no one knew anything about her, was both exciting and nerve wracking, she knew if she so desired, she could invent a history for herself, but she knew she was shaped by everything that had been and everything that would be. She could not deny it, even though she could be anyone she wanted to be whilst she was there, she would always have to go home and be the person she really was.

So her decision was already made for her. She wouldn't lie and she wouldn't bring attention to the fact she was a 'widow'. She knew it would come up at some point, but she wouldn't raise it herself, she still wore her wedding ring – she had never taken it off and had no intention to do so.

In her bag was a photo of Sam she intended to place on her desk, she was proud of him and would not hide him away. She had so much to learn that first day, so she put on her new suit, blow dried her hair and put on a smile. Her first day was going to be nerve wracking.

Everyone seemed very nice, and she enjoyed being able to meet a lot of new people and find out about their lives as well as tell them about Sam – he was after all the one thing she was prepared to discuss relatively openly.

There were the obligatory discussions about her status – was she single, married, with someone and she reluctantly had to admit to them that she was a widow. She had hoped to be able to keep that quiet for a few weeks, but there were a few nosy people who seemed intent on finding out as much information on her as possible, straight away. This met with the expected sympathy, and the odd pair of eyes lighting up at the prospect of someone new and eligible in the business who could be pursued for dates.

None of this fazed her, she had expected it at some point, she was still only 23, but she was slightly unsettled at the attention this drew from a couple of the men. Still, she decided pretending she had not noticed this to be the best course of action, she had no intention of accepting any advances – she was still married after all and bringing down the wrath of her husband on any one of the people working here was not something she intended to do.

Alanah felt at home straight away, she had her own office in front of the directors and a lot of people visited and she was kept busy from minute one. The two men who showed a little too much attention spent too much time in her office and she did her best to discourage their lingering. She was successful with one of them, a young man called Greg who balked when Alanah spent 10 minutes talking about Sam's nappies and drooling!

But the other man, Frank, a man in his 30's seemed unperturbed. He would be more difficult to dissuade. There was the potential for him to be a problem.
CHAPTER 26

Steve had begun to realize something he never thought he would ever appreciate. How great it was to be an uncle! There was the fun, the playing, the peak-a-boo, the reading the same book over, and over and over again, not to mention the messy eating and playing in the mud – it was all fun not just for Sam, but for him too! The best thing of all was being able to hand Sam back at the end of the day and return to his semi-adult state as a carefree 20 something!

The moment he had first held Sam had been an important moment of his life. He had always kept away from babies as his default setting; they had always scared him, such a tiny new life in his hands, but holding Sam had been different. He had been family and he had felt such protection and love for him from that moment, he knew he was as smitten with him as Jessie had been.

Steve was determined to be a force for good in Sam's life. His father was dead, and he knew it would take a lot for Alanah to start dating again, he knew she had been totally in love with Dan, so Steve decided to take an active role in Sam's life and be the fatherly figure he knew he would need. It was true that he had two grandfathers and a great-uncle Damian, who came around from time to time, but they were grandfatherly figures, not fatherly and he decided to take on that mantle himself. Sam was his nephew after all and he loved him as much as he loved Alanah. They were blood.

It had been very strange for him at first, adjusting to holding him, and eventually stepping up and changing a nappy! He had been very proud of himself at his ability to cope with that particular event, and he even got praise from Alanah! Jessie had giggled at the look on his face; he looked like a little boy who had just been praised by his parents!

Once he got the hang of looking after Sam, he had quickly adapted and regressed to being a child again himself, it all seemed so natural, rolling on the floor, giggling, blowing bubbles on his tummy! Sam loved it, and idolised Steve. He became exactly what Sam needed, and Alanah and Jessie were proud of him.

It felt very strange to have a small child look up at him. Whilst it was true that he was a big brother himself, Alanah being a couple of years younger, and Paul seven years older, he had never had to 'father' them. In fact he had wanted very little to do with them the older he got! Looking back he did regret this, especially not being a great big brother to Paul. He had seen him as nothing more than an annoyance, and as soon as he had hit 13 he no longer played with him. He wished he could go back and redo his relationship with his siblings, but he knew he couldn't so he decided to make up for his lack of brotherly love, by showing Alanah that he could be a great uncle, and he was succeeding. He had been able to make up with Paul since he had grown up, and now that he was on the cusp of 20 they had a great relationship with each other, finally the brothers they should have been.

He did wonder what it would be like to have children of his own, and he had to admit he was beginning to believe he wanted them with Jessie. He hadn't broached the subject with her yet, to be honest he was a little embarrassed to voice this particular hope of his, partly because Jessie hadn't said that she wanted children yet, but she was certainly great with Sam, and he did imagine what it would be like to hold her baby in his arms and tell it he was their daddy.

He wanted to ask her to marry him before contemplating a family. He considered himself to be a stand up guy, and his parents had instilled into him the importance of a stable family life, and he wanted to ensure that any children he had, were loved by both parents. All he had to do was pluck up the courage, but he wasn't quite ready, not just yet, he felt a little too young to commit to marriage. He knew he would eventually, but it had to be on his terms and he wouldn't be rushed. Deep in his heart he knew he would spend the rest of his life with Jessie, and he would accept that life with open arms when he could reconcile all his fears.

It pleased him no end that Jessie was willing to play auntie to Sam, and do an excellent job at it too. He knew Alanah relied completely on her, and he wanted her to rely on him too. The look of love on her face towards his nephew was divine, and he could not deny that he loved Jessie a little bit more every time he saw her with Sam, and he knew that one day she would make a brilliant mum herself, and he hoped that it would be to his children.

Steve's enthusiasm for his duties as an uncle had not gone unnoticed by either Alanah or Jessie. Both could not help confide in the other as to how proud of him they were. Alanah had never thought she would see this side of her brother so prominent – he had always been so reticent and never shown an interest in children, so seeing him step up to the mark was heart-warming and made her love her big brother even more.

Jessie was intrigued as to his eagerness for Sam, and couldn't help question him, to which she received a very shy answer of "He's part of my family, he needs a man to be there for him. Women are great, but he's a boy." He had gone very beetroot red when he had admitted that he would be there for Sam through thick and thin.

CHAPTER 27

There was always a strained silence within the house that the Family resided in. It was filled with quiet terror and a need not to be noticed by either Mary or Anthony. Being noticed meant one of two things, being fed from or being changed, and for most people neither was a pleasant option, and even if they wanted to be changed, there was no guarantee they would be granted that wish, it was something of a game of Russian roulette, if they didn't think you were loyal enough or useful enough, you got fed from anyhow.

There was no fun, no happiness on any level and even pretence for any new recruit had evaporated. In fact, they were no longer considered new recruits; they were brought straight into the fold without the usual gentleness. As soon as their feet crossed the threshold they were caught – for life.

And their lives did not last long once they had set foot within the confines of the house, within a matter of weeks, and occasionally days, the Family were being told to recruit again. The members of the Family who had been born into and lived there all their lives knew they had no choice, it was either find new recruits, or become meals themselves for the vampires.

For of course they now knew vampires existed. It hadn't been a subtle telling either, Dan feasting from Helen before their eyes, their world shattered within those few minutes. It had been like realizing you had been living in a dream world for your whole life, only to find out it was really hell.

Mary had naturally taken well to being a dictator over everyone. She had relished the power she now possessed, knowing she no longer had to pretend otherwise. On so many levels she was grateful to Dan for revealing what they were to the Family; it took away the tiresomeness of having to pretend she was human. There was no fun in that at all.

She loved the scared looks she gleaned from them, the trepidation about being in her presence. She could pick and chose anyone she wanted to and she chose often and whoever took her fancy at that particular moment in time and she enjoyed the hunt.

Mary very rarely left the confines of the Family, she had very little necessity to do so any more, her food was always at hand and although she missed the hunt, the convenience of the Family made her somewhat lazy.

As much as she would have liked to torment Alanah, she had heeded Damian's warning and didn't dare approach her. Damian was older and stronger than her and able to withstand sunlight. If he kept his word, he would survive and she would disappear into the ether, never having the opportunity to take control of the world, and she wouldn't let anything stand in the way of her one and only opportunity to take control of the world. That was her ultimate dream.

Anthony on the other hand had become subdued. All of a sudden, his whole world had come crashing down around him, and the charade he had pulled off most convincingly for a thousand years was no longer necessary. He felt exposed in a way he never thought possible, and he had to admit he did not like it.

He didn't like the looks he got from the Family, the reverence from them that thinly veiled the complete terror they had when he was close. He had spent every second since he had rejoined the Family following his conversion to a vampire hiding his true nature. It has always been necessary and although it had been difficult at first, he had enjoyed the double life he had been able to lead. He had had the security of the Family for a quick bite to eat and been able to combine it with free hunting when desire struck him.

He had always garnered respect and been revered at the Family, his otherworldly but unknown quality had been partly responsible for this, along with his oratory skills and the ability to rouse them in times of need.

Whilst it was true that he had let the demon inside him out as often as he possibly could, and he could not deny he enjoyed what his demon did, he had taken a sort of comfort from the fact that for the most part he had had to hide it. It had given him an additional facet to his character; given him a veneer to cover the hideousness he knew he really was.

With that gone, the Family saw him for what he really was, and he did not like the scrutiny or the additional reverence they gave him. He had always enjoyed the subordination of the Family beneath his leadership, but it had been on his own terms, not someone else's and he had to admit, one way or another he was looking forward to the Midnight Son ceremony being over.

-o-

Anthony slumped in his chair resting his arms on his desk before him. He was exhausted. He chuckled to himself, he was a vampire, he shouldn't ever consider himself exhausted, and he had never had felt that way in his thousand years of death.

It had been a hell of an evening, and it had been all Mary's fault. She had taken the lives of 17 Family members who had been born into the Family - not recruited, in a lust for blood unlike anything he had ever seen before. It had taken all his strength to restrain her – he had feared she would decimate the Family, and he didn't want his livestock's numbers reduced to zero. He didn't want to have to go to the trouble of restocking – he had grown accustomed to the taste of the Family.

He had no idea what had made Mary so volatile, and he was anxious to find out what the cause had been. Mary had been quite reclusive over the previous three nights, rising earlier than him and not returning to her coffin until the last possible moment. It didn't bother him, he was beginning to become bored with her, and it had been quite a relief not to have to try and make conversation with her, it had become very tedious.

He had, however heard from Alex that she had been spending her time in the library with three new vampires she had personally created. Anthony didn't like the secrecy to what she was doing. He wouldn't say he was worried, but he did find it unsettling.

Anthony heard a familiar quite grinding behind him as the secret passage opened to let someone in.

"I could feel your melancholy from 20 miles away." Damian said as he closed the door to the entrance behind him.

"I'm not melancholy Damian, it's confusion." Anthony sighed.

"Confusion? In the 500 years I have had the misfortune to know you; I have never known you confused, or melancholy for that matter. Are you doubting your chosen path to destruction?"

"I cannot alter from the path I have chosen, to do so would mean certain death, and I will not accept the consequences that accompany that. I cannot go to hell, knowing my family are safely ensconced in heaven." Anthony knew this was his worst nightmare.

"But there is something wrong, I'm not an idiot Anthony, something immense is worrying you, and I think I know what the problem is." Damian wanted Anthony to admit what he already knew to be true.

"What could you possibly know about my problems? They are MY problems not yours!" He was angry, very angry and all his tiredness fled his body as adrenaline took over. He rose slowly to his feet and faced Damian when he was at full height. He was slightly shorter than Damian, but he was an imposing sight to behold. Damian however was not fazed by the older vampire.

"I may be dead to the Family, but you of all vampires know how transient death is to the Family. There are still those who see me as a leader, and they remain loyal to me, just as you had your spies within these walls in your times of absence. I know that Mary has been acting erratically, and I know how many she has killed tonight." Damian's tone was close to being sympathetic, but there was the slightest undertone of smugness at the fact he knew the root cause of Anthony's worries.

"So you know that Mary has killed 17 tonight, she is in need of blood, it's what vampires need to survive, you know that." Anthony spat his words out fiercely.

"But do you know who she has killed tonight? Who she has drunk from?" Damian growled back at him, his eyes boring into Anthony's. "Every one of them is of Newman blood, descended from the Midnight Son line, however distant their blood relationship may be. She was determined to drink them in."

Anthony's stance faltered momentarily as he took in what Damian's words actually meant.

"Your descendents ..."

"Yes, my descendents, your descendents. Anthony, she may have been married to John and carried Daniel in her womb, but she retains no Newman blood within her. Any remaining connection to the Midnight Son was lost the moment she died and was reborn as a vampire, and we both know, those who are not connected by blood to the Midnight Son may be present at the ceremony. That is why every other ceremony except for mine has completed successfully as outsiders are barred from the ceremony. The outcome has always been left solely on the shoulders of the child and his parents. Once the ceremony has started, no one else can influence it. That is how it has always been. You know this."

"What does it matter if she wants to crash the ceremony? I'm planning on doing it myself!" Anthony said calmly. "My very existence depends on the failure of the ceremony."

"That is a fair point, and you have spent the last 500 years reminding me that my vigil will be for nothing." Damian stopped, deciding to take a different approach. "There are varying degrees of evil Anthony, and your survival in this altered state is just one of them. Look at the bigger picture, study Mary, have her conversations monitored, there is an evilness to her I have never seen before and you may find yourself questioning her motives. Keep a tight rein on her, do not be led blindly into her trap, you may not be able to escape. She does not know the real Anthony, and it would probably be best if she never did. You have managed to keep your real history secret from everyone, and that has been a very wise move."

"And you know this 'real Anthony' do you?" He scoffed.

"You have never revealed your true self to me, but rumours of your life before you chose your current path are abundant if you know where to look. Once, you did good, before death took your family. Somewhere hidden, goodness remains." Damian made to leave.

"What did you expect to achieve by coming here?" Anthony asked.

"Nothing, there is nothing that I can gain from this visit. I don't know what the outcome of the ceremony will be, and you know where my loyalties lie. However, I am not master of destiny, and if destiny goes your way, your plan is to be in charge of the human race, but are you sure you will get that chance? Just be vigilant Anthony, there is a usurper in your midst. You wish to survive, she wants hell on earth." Damian left Antony to review his words, knowing that planting distrust in Mary was necessary to begin to breakdown the opposition to the Midnight Son.

Damian knew that Anthony had once been a good man and if he could be reminded of this, maybe he could change his allegiance. He was doubtful this could happen, but he could hope, just hope.
CHAPTER 28

It was the beginning of a cool November morning when Jessie slipped the key into the lock of Dan's hiding place. She walked straight through the hallway to the only room Dan had bothered to clear out. She never knew quite what she would find when she got there. She had seen him in a variety of moods from ecstatic for no reason at all, to suicidal, threatening to run into the mid day sun.

This morning she found a Dan somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, but she knew he was hiding his real feelings from her. To be honest, she thought that he was always hiding his true feelings from her.

"Only two last night, I only killed two people, and both had it coming to them, they were beating up a man in the street." He smiled at Jessie. He had recently showered and had put on a white T-shirt and black trousers, the bottom of his Horus tattoo peaking below the sleeve of his t-shirt.

"That's great." Jessie smiled slightly. She felt awkward as usual at the mention of who he had killed.

"Sorry, I always forget how you hate talking about what I've eaten." Dan apologised.

"It's not a problem, honest. I understand what you have to do to survive. I just try and block it out, but you do have a tendency to remind me."

"Well, you are the only human that I spend any time talking to without killing." He said soberly.

"Let's keep it that way OK?" Jessie giggled nervously.

"I'd never feed from you.... not again, I promised you that. I'm sorry I'll never mention feeding again." Dan was crestfallen.

"Dan, I will never abandon you, you know that. I promised you I would bring you news about Lani and Sam, and I will never fail you in that. I just wish you had the courage to go and see them yourself. I hate knowing that both of you are as miserable as the other, it breaks my heart."

"That can't happen, you know that." Dan said quietly, averting his eyes away from her. This was the one thing that hurt him to the core, the one thing he wanted above everything else.

"Well let's tell you what has been going on shall I.........."

Jessie told Dan about Alanah's new job, how she needed to do something whilst she waited for Sam's 7th birthday to come along. It seemed like such a small thing to tell, but Dan held on to Jessie's every word, desperate to know how she was and what her job entailed.

He loved hearing about Sam's time at nursery, and he was delighted when Jessie gave him a picture made out of his hand prints. But his heart would never stop aching for the son he would never know, and he carried this guilt with him always.

-o-

Alanah loved her job. Her old personality came flooding back, and the moths in her brain began to leave and she finally became the woman she knew she was meant to be.

Sam loved nursery, he ran from her in the morning and sat down with the other children to breakfast without a care that she was leaving him there on his own. He drew, painted (mostly himself!) and loved running around the garden and playing on the slides.

Alanah became indispensable to her boss and they had a very good working relationship. She could finally have conversations that did not include nappies and how advanced certain children were to others. Yet at 5pm every evening, she became mummy once again, a job she loved and was delighted to do every day. She was finally able to leave her worries behind – she had no time to worry about the future, the present was far too important to enjoy.

Life was as good as it could get, but she still hankered after Dan, and Sam was beginning to ask questions as to where his Daddy was. She did not want to tell him he was dead, like she had told everyone else, but if she said he was somewhere else, or indeed the living dead and he slipped up, there would be consequences that she could not deal with.

She dreaded the day he asked the question outright 'Where is my daddy?' She hoped it would never come. Until that day she told him stories of how great he was and how loving and kind he had always been to her. Alanah knew Sam would never understand the truth, but one day it would have to be told, and she knew the night of his seventh birthday would be the time it was answered one way or another.

The years began to slip by in a comfortable but frozen manner. Alanah knew she had no choice but to live her life, and let Sam grow up, he could not stay her baby forever. She loved him unconditionally, he was the light that kept her going, the person that woke her in the morning and also made her tired enough to sleep soundly most nights unhindered by darkness.

But occasionally darkness made itself known in her dreams. He never had a face, but she knew she was dreaming of Dan. Her body ached for him, and she had on numerous occasions called out for him as she was shaken from a nightmare. The nightmares were not about him, not about the man she loved, but he did feature heavily in them, the dark man he had become.

There was a mixture of despair and desperation in her dreams. She knew she would take the man she loved in whatever guise she could get him, and she would accept him in his altered state rather than not at all.

So she longed to be the wife and lover of the man she had lost, but although she knew he visited her regularly, she knew that if she opened her eyes and said hello he would be off and would never come back. It was better for her just to feel his presence rather than nothing at all.

-o-

Alanah was sleeping soundly as Dan stood watching her. It was midnight and their 4th wedding anniversary. He hadn't been to see her for a few weeks – he had been trying to wean himself off of watching her sleep, but tonight he could not resist.

Four years he had been separated from her due to the curse Mary had given him. Four years of hating himself and desperately wanting to hold her in his arms and kiss her. But he knew the kisses would turn into feeding, and the thought made him ill.

His head was hurting; there was too much noise and commotion going on inside him – the burden he had to carry for all of his feeding. He had long ago stopped hearing individual voices calling to him and cursing him for taking their soul from their body, instead all he heard was a cacophony of noise rushing through him at all times except when he was feeding.

Dan knew he was starting to go mad. He knew he could not keep up any semblance of normality for much longer, and he was worried about what was to come, and how he would be ready for the trials before him and his family. He knew he was resisting falling over the precipice and he had no idea how long he could keep from toppling.

Tears flooded his eyes as he remembered the day 4 years ago when he had married the woman who was sleeping soundly in the bed before him. She had been so beautiful and vibrant that day, looking forward to their future together, one they had never been able to enjoy. Their happily ever after had, he felt, been stolen from them.

Knowing he could not trust himself near her for much longer, he left his present, a diamond studded bracelet and a bouquet of white and red roses, the kind she had carried down the aisle on their wedding day.

Looking mournfully at her, Dan left, knowing he could never be a part of her life in the way he desperately wanted. He was dead after all.
CHAPTER 29

"Come on Mummy!" Sam called as Alanah followed him into the school grounds. Sam stopped and looked at Alanah, waiting for her to catch up.

It was Sam's first day at school and he was incredibly excited. Alanah finally caught up with him and he held his hand out to her eagerly.

"There is Tommy!" He said, waving at his friend from nursery. Sam ran to Tommy and the two of them ran back, closely followed by Tommy's mother.

"I've never seen Sam so excited! I wonder how enthusiastic he will be when he gets to 16! Somehow I can see him trying everything to get out of coming to school!"

"I couldn't agree more. All Tommy can talk about is making new friends. He hasn't grasped the concept of learning yet! Trouble is, when he does he won't want to!" Tommy's mother laughed.

"I guess we had better make the most of it whilst it lasts!" Alanah smiled, they walked into the school and into the class room that would be their home for the next year. Sam kissed Alanah good bye and went to talk to the other children he knew. Alanah left him safe in the knowledge he was happy. She was proud of him and smiled to herself, wondering if his teacher would be able to answer the million questions he had started asking her!

-o-

"You don't come and visit me without a reason Jessie, is there something wrong?" Damian asked as he let her into his house.

"Straight to the point as always." Jessie smiled at him nervously. She followed him into the front room. "I'm worried about Dan." She said almost bluntly.

"You are in contact with him?" Damian asked a little surprised. He had not considered this to be a possibility. As far as he knew, Dan was completely alone.

"He asked me to visit him so that he can know how Sam and Alanah are. I see him every couple of months, not too often, but enough to pass on how they are. No one knows I'm visiting him."

"I see. What makes you worry about him?" Damian asked kindly. This was an opportunity to glean some information as to how he was coping.

"He's starting to act a little odd. As if he is not all here anymore. I've caught him almost talking to someone who is not in the room, acting as if they were. His face goes blank for minutes on end, and I can't snap him out of it. What's even worse is he doesn't remember why he is blanking – he doesn't know he's done it. I've called him up on it and he doesn't believe me, he continues any conversation we may be having as if it never stopped." Jessie said, finally relieved to have been able to tell someone – there was no one else to tell, and she certainly wouldn't tell Alanah.

"Has he been violent towards you – threatened to drink from you?" Damian asked worried. Dan needed to drink, but the thought of him wanting to take Jessie's life disturbed him. Jessie was the best balm for both Dan and Alanah, and if Dan could not see that, she was at risk.

"No, he keeps promising over and over that he would never do that, and I believe him. He has never lashed out in any way – I've never seen him angry and he's never put a finger on me. I still trust him completely. I'm just worried about his sanity, he is all alone. I know he has chosen solitude, but it is changing him. Everything he used to be is gone, he is depressed and I don't know how to help him. He mourns for Alanah and Sam, but he won't see them, he's too scared he will hurt them, but I know he wouldn't, he's too much in love with Alanah to do that, and he's desperate to be Sam's father. He's stubborn and I think he is going slowly mad. Please, tell me what I can do to help him."

"I've never seen what happens to the father of the Midnight Son, my father was long estranged from me before the night I was supposed to take on the role myself – Anthony saw to it that we were never able to bond. He is different from every other vampire, he retains the souls of his victims inside himself, carrying their consciousness with him always. You're right, it sounds as if he is being sent slowly mad by them." Damian said soberly.

"But there is over 3 more years before..."

"I know Jess, but there is nothing we can do about it. This is his trial, his choice to make. I don't know of any ways for him to regain his sanity, if indeed he is losing it. I will contact the Council of Souls, see if they can recommend a course of action for us. But remember, somewhere inside, Dan will still be there. He just has to find himself again."

"I hate seeing him like this; it makes me feel so helpless." Jessie closed her eyes in exasperation.

"But in truth, you know you are helpless regardless. He is stronger than you, and you cannot help him be what he is supposed to be."

"That doesn't mean I don't want to. I hate all of this, the separation of Dan and Alanah, it's not fair on anyone, especially Sam - he's the one I feel most sorry for." Jessie said angrily.

"I know, it's always the innocent that suffer. You're doing a great job looking after everyone Jessie, but you can't solve all the problems, even though I know you want to. It's out of your hands my dear." He smiled at her gently.

"I know. But I'm trapped in the middle. Alanah is doing her best to cope, but deep down I think she is falling apart too. I'm not complaining, I'm not the one without the person I love, but I'm scared I am going to slip up and tell one of them about how the other is really feeling, which will make things worse."

"Jessie, we can't know for sure the way things will go. I thought you were doing an amazing job keeping Alanah's spirits up, now you tell me that you are there for Dan as well, I am in awe of you. Keep up what you are doing, it is obviously the right thing, but do not ever feel alone again. You must come to me and share your problems. You must not suffer alone, that is not your fate. I will always be here for you." Damian smiled at her.

For the first time in a couple of years, Jessie felt she might be able to make it through this nightmare herself in one piece.

CHAPTER 30

"Mummy, Mummy, there's a man at the door." Sam said running into the kitchen where Alanah was loading the washing machine. It was a Saturday morning and she was in home mummy mode.

"Sweetheart, I have told you to never open the door to anyone." She said hurrying into the hallway. The man had shut the door and was stood patiently waiting. "Sam, go upstairs and play sweetheart. Mummy needs to talk to this man by herself." Alanah put her body in-between Sam and the unwelcome visitor.

Sam, sensing that protesting would be a bad idea, obediently ran up the stairs and went into his bedroom. He was 4 years old, but as astute as any adult.

Alanah stood resolute. She would not let her son be hurt. The last time she had seen this man he had been trying to assault her.

"I'm not here to hurt you Red. No one knows I am here. I would be in a lot of trouble if they did." Alex said. He looked calmly at her, but equally he seemed nervous to be stood there. He was defying Sekhmet once again and after how she had stopped him last time he was worried she would come again. Was she watching him? He didn't know, but he had to find out if Alanah could be interested in him.

"So why are you here?" Alanah asked, not letting her guard down for one second

"I can't stop thinking about you." Alex replied simply. He shifted where he stood as if he wasn't happy saying that, but he had no choice but to say it.

"I'm fine thank you very much. You can report that to Anthony and Mary." Alanah looked around for something to use as a weapon, but there was only an umbrella close to hand. If it became necessary it would have to do.

"You don't understand. You should have been mine. My mother was there the day you were born along with Mary and Callum's mother. They each chose a baby girl and you were so close to being mine. Mary usurped my mother, using Dan's birthright as a reason to choose first, when in reality it should have been my mother's right. She had chosen you for me, but Mary stole you from me." There was sorrow in his voice.

Alanah looked at him in despair, she did not like him. "I belong to Dan because I love him, not because of any rituals that the Family may believe have power over me. What do you want from me?"

"You are alone, Dan was like a brother to me. I could be your companion." Alex suggested, a sly smile crossing his lips.

"You want to have sex with me, not be my companion. You've already tried to rape me. What in hells name made you think I would say yes to you in any capacity for anything at all? If Dan knew what you were proposing, he would kill you instantly." Alanah said, wishing it was not a bright sunny Saturday morning. She wished Dan was there to protect her, but of course that was why Alex was here now.

"If it is found out that I am here, Anthony or Mary will happily use me to feed from. I am here because I want to be, not because they have told me to come. They are both back at the Family, sleeping soundly in their coffins. You have been promised to me, and I am here to collect." Alex empathised as best he could.

"I'm a married woman, and I won't be collected by you." Alanah growled at him. "I saw the delight on your face as you tried to feed from Imogen – you would have done that to me if Dan had not saved me. You held a gun to my head on my wedding day. You helped Anthony and Mary take my husband away from me. If it hadn't been for the woman in red, you would have raped me. You have done nothing that would ever make me think you have anything but resentment and hatred towards me."

"You should have been mine. I was told that one day you would be mine." Alex almost pleaded with her.

"Who told you that?" Alanah scoffed; absolutely convinced she would never give herself to him.

"Sekhmet, the woman in red."

"She must have lied to you." Alanah was confused. She knew in her heart that Sekhmet was on her side – why else would she have saved her from Alex at the chateau? She was sure it was Sekhmet who had taken Dan to have his tattoo done, his protection tattoo. Alex had to be misinformed. Why had he been misinformed? What good would that do anyone?

"I've been promised the world and you will be part of it. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the chateau. I love you." He said going red. He took her hand in his.

Alanah remove her hand swiftly. "There is only one man that I love and that is my husband. You repulse me. You are almost as bad as Anthony. I shudder at your touch. We are worlds apart, and I doubt anything will ever bring us onto the same side." Alanah said bravely.

Alex took both her hands tightly and dragged her to him, pulling her body close to his; she could feel his manhood pressing against her. He held her tightly around the waist, forcing his lips on to hers. He held himself close to her.

Fighting for breath, Alanah had no choice but to kiss him back, wanting to bite him, but not getting the chance, moving herself so she could breathe through her nose. It was the worst experience she had ever had. But she had to consider Sam's safety, she knew if she screamed he would come running and she wouldn't risk him around Alex. He was volatile and she couldn't protect him against Alex, he was human.

"It's been a long time since someone kissed you like that." Alex said, holding her close, but releasing her lips. There was nothing loving in his stance. He was a predator.

"It's been a while, but I'm not complaining. Don't you understand, I feel nothing for you?" Alanah's heart was pumping fast and her breasts were heaving along with them.

Alex looked at them, and then looked her in the eye. "You are meant to be with me." He demanded. "I've seen things..." He was cut off by the front door opening.

"Hi Sweetie..." Jessie said, stopping as she saw Alex. Steve was behind her.

Alex withdrew from Alanah's personal space. "One day, you will be mine." He bowed graciously and walked past Jessie and Steve.

"Don't come back here, you are not wanted. I shall tell Damian that you visited, and you don't want to cross him." Alanah shouted after him. She slammed the door shut and looked at Jessie and Steve, regaining control over herself as quickly as she could. "What are you two doing here anyway?" Alanah asked relieved.

"Sweetie, you called us an hour ago and said to drop by for lunch?" Jessie said concerned.

"Yes.... yes, I did." Alanah said brightly. She hadn't phoned them and invited them over, but someone clearly had and she was very glad that they had.

"Who was that then?" Steve asked casually.

"It was nothing, an unwelcome suitor, that's all." Alanah brushed it off; secretly pleased he had been interrupted by them.

Steve knew nothing, and that was how Alanah wanted to keep it. She would confide in Jessie later.

CHAPTER 31

Alanah had been stood waiting for Steve outside the cinema for almost 35 minutes. He had a reputation of always being late, but this was getting ridiculous. The film started in 10 minutes and she didn't want to see it alone. Steve had been raving about it all week, he had said she would love it. He had not been picking up his phone and Alanah was becoming impatient. She didn't like being stood up. It appeared she wasn't the only one who was waiting for someone. Not too far away was a man, who seemed anxious and kept looking at his watch as if someone was late.

She smiled at him, out of courtesy more than anything. He approached her and began to speak.

"Are you Alanah?" He asked, his cheeks turning red.

"Yes." Alanah said sceptically, she was always wary of people approaching her nowadays, scared they could be from the Family, even though they never were. Her whole life seemed to be in a state of constant alert, always suspicious of anyone new.

"Your brother was right, you are beautiful." He smiled broadly. He was almost 6 foot tall with brown eyes and dirty blond hair which flopped over his eyes. He was handsome, but not Alanah's type. He was off somewhere killing people.

"I beg your pardon?" Alanah asked astonished. She couldn't believe her ears.

"Steve, your brother, he's set us up on a blind date. Didn't you know?" He asked crest fallen.

"No." Alanah replied sharply. "Steve has a habit of forgetting to mention things like that." She took a deep intake of breath, trying to hide her annoyance. "I'm sorry, I'm not currently looking for a man." She went to walk away.

"But you have nothing else to do tonight?" The man ventured unperturbed by Alanah's brush off.

"No, I'm going home to bed." Alanah walked away. The man caught up with her, stopping her in her tracks.

"My name is Henry. Look, I've never done anything like this before, but Steve said you were great and that we might get on. I know you've got a son, that you lost your husband a few years ago. I understand all that, it's not a problem at all. I'm a nice guy, please, give me a chance." He smiled at her.

It had been so long since Alanah had looked into a man's eyes and seen sincerity the way Dan had always looked at her. She smiled back. It felt nice to be the object of someone's eyes and not see pity in them. But a date was out of the question.

"There is a lot more to my circumstances than Steve has told you. It's not a good idea for you to get involved." She began to walk away.

"Look, let's go for a coffee, you can tell me everything. I can make my own mind up. I won't bite." Henry held out his arm for her and looked at her forlornly with his brown eyes.

But Alanah couldn't help but laugh at this. It was such a well used phrase that to everyone else it would have been just words, but to Alanah it meant so much more. She wanted one man in particular, and he had a tendency to bite.

Alanah felt so alone, so devoid of contact that after a moment's hesitation she took his arm and they walked down the road to a café. She wondered what she was doing, every bone in her body told her this was wrong, but she was intrigued and wanted to know what it would be like to talk to a man who knew nothing of her past or her future. Someone who could just see her.

Dan stood rigidly still. He had seen Alanah do what he had always been scared of her doing, she was with another man. He began to feel rage flowing through his body and followed after them in silent wrath. That man could easily lose his life tonight.

Alanah sat timidly opposite Henry, her heart was fluttering. She couldn't deny she was attracted to him. His conversation was scintillating, his smile appealing and she felt comfortable in his company. If Dan had truly been dead and Steve had set her up with Henry, she would have been kissing Steve's cheek in delight and thanking him for it, but instead she was shaking inside, scared Dan would find out what she was doing.

It felt like they had talked about everything the world had to offer. They had briefly touched on politics and films, the weather, their jobs (he was an architect like Steve), and where they saw themselves in 5 years (Alanah lied).

But eventually, the conversation came around to her. "So tell me about your complicated situation." Henry said taking a sip from his second coffee.

"You wouldn't believe it." Alanah sighed. She wasn't telling anyone the truth.

"Try me." Henry said. He sat forward putting his elbows on the table and his head on top of his hands.

"No seriously. You won't believe it." Alanah shut her eyes as she thought about everything.

"Well I get that you have a son who's four and his dad died before he knew you were expecting. What can be more complicated than that?" Henry took Alanah's hands in his and stroked them.

Behind Alanah's closed eyelids her memory recalled what she had caught Dan doing the night after their wedding. She could see his fangs dripping with blood and the look of ecstasy on his face. She had hated it when she had seen it happening and now it was all she could see. It scared her.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Alanah stood up quickly, knowing she had to leave fast, she couldn't do this. She felt that even talking to Henry meant that she was betraying Dan.

"Why not?" Henry asked standing up and looking into her eyes.

"Because if he finds out, I don't know what he will do to you." Alanah whispered. "I've got to go. Thank you for the coffee." She picked up her bag and rushed out of the café, she didn't want to be there a second longer.

Henry followed at speed, not sure why Alanah had bolted. "Let me walk you home." He said catching up with her. "I don't want you walking home alone in the dark. I'd never forgive myself if anything bad happened." He smiled, sincerity flooding out from his eyes.

"Thanks." Alanah said. Although she knew she was probably the safest lone woman on the streets at night, the act of chivalry was accepted with grace. She owed him that much.

It was a strange walk home. Alanah kept her hands in her pockets, and Henry stood comfortably close to her. For just a few minutes Alanah could believe she was on a real date and was being escorted home. It was an unsettling feeling realizing just how much she wished she could go on a real date, but alas, she was stuck in limbo.

As they walked up Alanah's pathway she wondered what to say. "I'm not safe to be around." She eventually said. It was the only truth, she could tell him, even if she couldn't explain why.

"You look perfectly safe to me." Henry smiled.

"It's not easy for me to move on from Dan. I guess you could say I'm stuck in limbo." She looked into his brown eyes, hoping he would understand.

Henry stood close to Alanah under the trellis of roses, the outside light shining above them. "I really like you Alanah. You are gorgeous." He bent forward and gently kissed her lips.

Alanah could smell his body and it smelt wonderful. She couldn't help it, she kissed his soft lips, wanting them to be Dan's, knowing they weren't. His body felt good against hers and she began to have feelings she had kept tightly under control for almost 6 years. She desired to be touched by this man but tears began to escape from her eyes as she knew that would never happen. She felt like a traitor and she knew she had put Henry's life in danger just by returning his kiss.

Alanah stood still. Her heart was split in two. For the first time ever she contemplated being unfaithful to Dan. Her heart beat uncontrollably, her lips had been un-kissed for so long. Her breath was shallow.

"I like you too, but you are in danger just being with me. Under any other circumstances, if I wasn't ruled by fate I would be asking for your number, but my husband will kill you if he finds you with me." Alanah pulled away, she unlocked the front door and made to enter the house.

"Don't you feel like it is destiny that we have met? I've never felt like this before." Henry said.

"Destiny is fickle. My husband once told me that. He didn't know I heard him, I was supposed to be asleep at the time. I believe in love at first sight. If I had seen you before I saw him things could be different I'm sure. He is dead, but he walks the earth at night and I am sure he is nearby watching. I promise you I am not crazy, but if I take this any further with you he will kill you. I made him a solemn promise that no one would ever take his place, and I will stand by that forever."

"I don't understand?" Henry's brow creased as he tried to fathom what Alanah was saying, it made no sense at all.

"It's best that you don't. Thank you for tonight. You have made me feel human, made me feel beautiful again. But you must go. There can never be anything between us. Your life is too precious for me to play with it. Get home as quickly as you can." Alanah kissed his cheek before leaving him on the doorstep alone.

Henry walked away from her house confused and unaware that Alanah had just saved his life from the fury of her husband.

Dan had been listening to their conversation from the garden. In Henry he could see himself as he had been, enthusiastic and instantly in love with Alanah. The rage he had felt subsided. He had been planning to rip Henry limb from limb, but he could not. He shared something with him, a longing for her, a need to feel her close.

His wife had been true to him, nothing more than a kiss and he could see how starved for true affection she was. He would have given anything for it to be him she had kissed.

Alanah had come back to the doorway; she sat on the door step looking up at the stars. She had wrapped herself in a thick cardigan and put her hair into a pony tail.

She began to whisper. "I know you're close Dan. I can feel you. Don't hurt him, don't take his life. He is guilty of nothing. But I am guilty of wanting something to happen." She sighed heavily and Dan could hear her voice breaking. " I am so alone, just like you. We both go to bed with no one beside us and all I want is to hold someone in my arms. I wish it could be you. I've broken my promise to you, for a brief second Henry meant the world to me. I wish I could see you. I can't go on for much longer alone." She began to cry, tears flowing down her face. "I'm sorry."

Alanah went back into the house and closed the door again.

Dan felt the rage grow inside him once again, but not focused on either Henry or Alanah, this time the rage was focused on himself and he needed to get rid of it.

He ran away to wallow in killing and take his vengeance out on someone who had sinned themselves that night. He was looking for a murderer, someone who had a black heart, someone who deserved to die horribly.

CHAPTER 32

"You're looking very smug darling, you look like the cat that got the cream!" Jessie said as she brought Steve a cup of tea.

"Oh you know, just feeling very happy with myself." He smiled knowingly at Jessie. He couldn't wait to spill the beans.

"Alright, what have you done?" Jessie asked, knowing how much he loved to gloat when he'd done something wonderful and unexpected.

"Just been an excellent brother and set Lani up on a blind date! She's meeting him at the cinema, although she thinks she is meeting me – it's a total surprise!" He smiled from ear to ear.

"YOU DID WHAT!" Jessie almost spat her tea out as she heard what he'd done.

"Oh come on Jess, Lani's been alone for almost 5 years, it's time she moved on from Dan. She can't keep moping around for the rest of her life. She needs to find someone to love and someone who will love her. Besides, Sam needs a father." He smiled at her, still smug and completely oblivious to Jessie's anger.

Jessie's mind was filled with what could happen, what Alanah would think, how Dan would react. She dreaded to think what he would do to the poor unsuspecting man who had been chosen to meet with Alanah.

"Who did you set her up with Steve, I need to know?" Jessie snapped at him.

"Henry Jackson, you met him at the office summer party a few months ago. He's a nice bloke, would suit Lani perfectly. He knows all about Sammy and Dan. Lani thinks she's meeting me to go to the movies, but it's Henry she'll have met!!" He smiled impishly.

"So that's why Sam is asleep upstairs. You not only tricked Lani, you tricked me too." Jessie was angry and Steve was beginning to realize it.

"Well you don't seem to be helping your best friend look for someone, so I decided to help my little sister instead. Anyone would think you were happy that she is still alone after all this time. You certainly don't seem to want her to be happy, and I can see, even though she does her best to hide it that she is lonely and would love to meet someone new." Steve was suddenly on the defensive.

"You've put Henry in danger. You have no idea what you've done." Jessie said angrily.

"Why do you always side with my sister? Why do you always put her before me?" Steve asked almost in despair.

"Because I know what she's going through. I see it every day, I know what it's like to have someone you love ripped away from you and there is nothing you can do to stop it or turn back time to prevent it happening. I know what it's like to see someone you love die." A stray tear ran down her face.

Steve sat mutely, contemplating his next words. "But it's been almost 5 years since Dan died...."

"And that makes now the right time to assume that she wants to meet someone new and move on?"

"Jess, she is 26 years old, she's wasting her twenties on mourning for someone she had for, what in truth was just a short time. She spend no more than a year with him before he died. She can't spend her whole life mourning him." Steve was exasperated.

"So how long would you mourn me if I died? A few weeks before you moved on to someone else?" Jessie couldn't tell the man that she loved that Dan was still walking this earth as a vampire, she knew how absurd it would sound. She would never have believed it herself if she hadn't seen him with her own eyes.

"Of course not, I love you it would take...."

"A life time to get over my death? A year, two?" Jessie asked staring him in the eye. "Come on Steve, quantify it for me? Exactly how long would you mourn my passing?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" He shouted, standing and walking to the window to look out at the night sky. "I don't know." He sighed. "I don't think I'd ever get over loosing you." He whispered.

"So now do you see how insensitive you have been setting Lani up on a blind date?"

"She's my little sister, I just want her to be happy." Steve said looking up at the stars.

"I know, but you need to discuss these things with her before you engage in stealth tactics to find her another man." Jessie stood and walked to him, taking him round the waist.

"But I hate seeing her all alone. She is struggling to hide her vulnerability, and she never wants to talk to me about it, just saying she is fine and that I should stop worrying, but I can't help it. I hate seeing her like this. I just want her to stop having to put a front on all the time and admit to me how she feels, but she doesn't. She keeps it all bottled in, or she tells you. I feel helpless."

"She is my best friend, she trusts me, and she knows I have been through it with Ruby, she saw me go slightly mad with it all."

"But I'm her brother, she should trust me too. I know I've never been through anything like this, but I want to be there for her too, I don't want to be shut out. I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what. It's frustrating." He wrapped his arms around Jessie and held her tight.

"Sweetie, she trusts you more than she trusts most people. We have often talked about you, and how great you are with Sam. She thinks you are doing a great job stepping up and being the male figure he needs in his life, and I know that's what you are doing. You take him to the park, to the cinema, crazy golf, all the things that Dan would do with him if he could." Jessie said sympathetically.

"Yeah, I'm a wonderful uncle, that's just great. But I want Lani to be happy too. Henry's a first-class guy, he earns good money and would be perfect for Lani...." Steve was interrupted by Jessie's mobile ringing.

"It's Alanah." Jessie said looking at the name on the screen. "I'll tell her you're on your way over to apologise."

"But..."

"You need to talk to her, don't back out of this, be the good big brother you are trying to be and talk to her." Jessie looked at him meaningfully as she answered the phone.

Sighing, Steve picked up his keys, put his jacket on and walked out the front door to face Alanah.

CHAPTER 33

"Please don't shout at me." Steve said as Alanah opened the door.

"Why ever would I shout at you?" Alanah sighed letting him in the door.

"I really mucked up didn't I?" He said sheepishly, handing her the bottle of red wine.

"Misguided brotherly love would be a more adequate description I think." She said taking the wine into the kitchen. "Do the honours will you while I get the glasses out?" She said reaching for them.

Once they both had a glass, and had taken them and the bottle into the front room, Steve spoke again. "Had a terrible row with Jess when I told her. Didn't expect that to happen."

"Well, I guess you expected a different outcome to the one that happened." Alanah sipped at the wine, it slipped down easily and she took another taste.

"Henry's a good bloke you know." He said half heartedly. He felt like a teenager again, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have.

"I know. I got that from talking to him. He's perfect for me." She smiled sadly.

"So you'll see him again....?" Steve asked hopefully.

"No Steve, he may be perfect, but he's not Dan. I only want Dan." She averted her eyes from him as tears welled in the corners, she wiped them away quickly.

"Lani...."

"I'm not stupid Steve, I know Dan is dead, I know I can never have him again, but that doesn't stop me wanting him, and I doubt it ever will."

"I just don't want you growing old alone. I can't stand the thought of you on your own, you have your whole life ahead of you, 50, 60 years alone. It breaks my heart to think of that." Steve said, suddenly realizing he had never vocalised this before.

"That is, without a shadow of any doubt the nicest thing you have ever said to me, and I wish Henry was what I am looking for, but he is not." Alanah sighed.

"So what are you looking for?" Steve asked quietly.

"I'm not looking for anything, or anyone, not at the moment." Alanah sipped her wine and closed her eyes as Dan's face popped into her head, he was after all what she wanted more than anything in the world right now.

"You can't waste your life mourning." Steve said, his voice close to moaning. "I hate to see you like this."

"Everything I had spent my life waiting for, everything that I had was taken away from me the night Dan died. My whole future stopped that night. Everything gone. It's not a case of standing up, dusting myself off and getting on with everything, because everything is gone." Alanah said, tears welling up in her eyes again.

'But you have Sam ..." Steve offered.

"Yes, I have Sam. The light in an otherwise dark world. He is my reason for living, without him ..." Alanah sobbed.

Steve wrapped his arms around his sister. She had never broken down like this. "Tell me everything." He said gently.

"I feel numb, all of the time, cut off from the world, as if I'm not really part of it anymore. I exist because I have to, because I have Sam to look after, and everything else means nothing. There is no joy for me anywhere."

"Harsh words. You really feel like that?" Steve asked, his eyes feeling wet with tears, he would never have believed how desperate Alanah had got.

"I don't know, sometimes, yes. Sometimes everything can be fine, and I can function as a human, without feeling so lost and alone, but alone I am, and I know it. It's what was meant to happen. But my heart hurts so much, like it's been ripped in two and there is no chance it will ever mend. I try my hardest not to let Sam see how sad I am sometimes, but he knows, I can see it in his eyes. I'd give anything for this to stop, for me to be able to love again, like I did when Dan was alive, but I can't and I won't pretend to anyone that I can. Henry was great, but I can't betray him like that, I can't pretend." She hugged Steve, her body shaking all over.

"You'll hate me for asking this, but do you think you should see a councillor?" Steve asked in trepidation.

Alanah laughed loudly. "There is nothing any amount of counselling can do to help me. They'd send me to a nut house, and then how could I protect Sam? Without Jessie, I think I may already have been committed to one, but she knows what it's like, and she has been the best therapy anyone could have asked for. She is my rock, and I don't know how I will ever repay her for that."

"You can rely on me too, you know." Steve smiled at her.

"I know. You are the man I turn to in times of need, and you always will be. Please, let me mourn for as long as I need. Don't set me up with anyone else, I hate being reminded of what I have lost, but I don't want to be touched by anyone else at the moment." She saw confusion on his face, so to soften the blow she added. "I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Steve nodded, taking it in. "So what do I tell Henry?"

"Tell him I think he's great, but it's too soon at the moment."

"Alright, I'll do it for you on one condition." Steve said looking Alanah in the eye.

"Which is?"

"You talk to me, I can help too. I'm here for you always." He looked at his little sister, and that was all he saw, a little girl lost, and desperate for someone to trust, and he would do anything she needed him to do, he had never seen her look so vulnerable before.

"I know you are, and I'll take you up on that, I promise." And Alanah hugged Steve, feeling someone next to her that she knew was there for comfort, and she knew she would take him up on his offer, when she had the confidence to do so. He was her big brother after all.

CHAPTER 34

Steve was confused. Alanah had never broken down like this before, she had always seemed so steadfast and in control, but for her to admit that she had felt nothing in 5 years, except for the love she had for Sam, he had to admit to himself that he was clueless how to help her. He loved his little sister, he would do anything for her, and he thought he had been doing something good when he had set her up with Henry, but evidently it hadn't be the best thing he could have done. He'd have to have another awkward conversation with him on Monday, make sure their friendship was still intact. He was sure it would be, but even so, he needed to be sure, Henry might feel like he had been made a fool, and that was the last thing he wanted to do to him.

Jessie had been so protective of Alanah, not just tonight, but ever since Dan had died. He was very grateful to her for caring so much about his sister. Without her, he wasn't sure if Alanah would be as strong as she was now. He loved her for everything she ever did for Alanah.

No, he loved her full stop. Jessie was wonderful in every way possible; she was beautiful, sexy, kind and funny, hardworking and patient and understanding. There were no other words for it, he loved her completely.

For the first time ever, he realized what a fool he would be if he ever let her slip through his fingers and he had been procrastinating for long enough.

It was time for him to ask her.

-o-

"Dan!" Jessie called as she entered Dan's little flat. She went straight through to the bedroom and saw him sat on the bed cleaning his face.

"Hi Jess, are you alright?" He asked relatively brightly.

"I'm good thanks and you?" She asked, doing a good job at ignoring the spots of blood on his face.

"As you would expect. What news do you have of my family?" He asked without flinching. He had grown used to not being part of their lives and existing only on the stories from Jessie.

"They are both well. Sam's having so much fun at school, he's really settled in well. He was bustling with stories when I saw him. He has a teacher called Miss Andrews and he said she is very nice. He loves getting up in the morning, but Alanah is convinced things will change the older he gets!" Jessie giggled.

"I can't believe he is four years old already. My little baby has grown into a young boy." Dan sighed. "Still, he sounds happy and that is all that matters. How is Alanah keeping? Any news on her?" He asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"She is well, although she had a cold last week, but she has shaken it off. As far as I know, her job is going well, although I think someone is hassling her, trying to get her to go out with him, I think his name is Frank. She is handling it well though. There is a chance she could travel to Paris in a few weeks for a conference, but apart from that there is no news."

"Apart from this Frank, has she mentioned anyone else?" He asked coolly.

"You mean Henry I presume?" Jessie looked at him as he nodded soulfully. "Yes, I can't believe that Steve set her up with him and she feels incredibly guilty about the kiss. I've berated him for it, but he can't understand what he did wrong, although he has apologised to her and things seem ok. But to him she is single and he's her older brother and wants her to be happy. You know she is faithful to you, you would feel it if she had fallen in love with anyone else. She remains as faithful to you as ever."

Dan nodded relieved. "Thank you. I saw the kiss and it sent me mad for a couple of days, but she is hurting too and I can't blame her for wanting to be touched, humans deserve to be touched and loved." Dan stopped; he didn't want to talk about it. Looking at Jessie he asked brightly. "What about you, how are you and Steve doing?"

"We are great, in fact better than great." She smiled, and revealed to Dan her reason for being happy.

-o-

"Steve proposed to me last night!" Jessie screamed in delight to Alanah the next morning.

"That is wonderful! Let me see the ring?" Alanah asked excitedly. Her eyes looked at the round diamond on Jessie's finger and hugged her friend in happiness. "My big brother has finally done the decent thing and asked you to marry him! He's taken his time! I couldn't be happier!"

"Lani, will you be my chief bridesmaid?" Jessie asked expectantly.

"Of course I will!" Alanah hugged her friend tighter.

"What do you think of Sam being the ring bearer – not to dress him up as a sailor or anything like that, just a little suit?"

"You'd better ask him yourself! He's old enough to know if he wants to do it or not, it would be so cute seeing him all dressed up, but you never know what his opinion will be. You might have to bribe him!" Alanah laughed.

"I'm prepared to do that! I'll have ask him closer to the day, he could change his mind several times between now and next December."

"A winter wedding, wouldn't it be wonderful if it snowed?"

"As long as it doesn't rain, that is all that matters to me! I'm going to ask Christina and Fay to be bridesmaids too."

"Well unfortunately I'll have to be Matron of honour, what with being married. Shame, I won't be able to cop off with the best man!" She laughed.

"What would Dan say!" Jessie said.

"I'm sure he would drain him of blood, just make sure he's not a close friend!" Alanah laughed thinking of how he would feel if it happened. "Still, we both know it won't so he has nothing to worry about. Now what about wedding dresses..." She changed the subject quickly.

CHAPTER 35

Alanah's head was feeling a little fuzzy and she put that down to the three glasses of wine she had had with her meal, and the two vodka and cokes she had downed in the last 30 minutes. In short, she was feeling pretty happy, all things considered and the office Christmas party was living up to its expected raucousness. It had, so far been an enjoyable evening, the alcohol helping her to let go of her troubles, letting her have a relaxed and good time.

She had to admit to herself that the people surrounding her this evening - even though she knew only a few of them well, were great company and she was thankful that there were people in the world she could talk to, people who knew nothing about the other side of her. It was a breath of fresh air.

Which unfortunately was quickly soured by the arrival of the only man at work who had been relentlessly pursuing her since she had started. Alanah had been quietly sat watching her colleagues making a fool of themselves on stage singing karaoke! She tapped her foot along to 'I will survive' as it was murdered by the office manager. She knew someone had put her name down as a joke, but she thought she may as well take part - she was drunk enough to think it was a good idea, but she also knew someone would probably film it and it would be dragged out at every possible point if it was as bad as she suspected it would be. Besides, refusing to partake would make her a party pooper and for once, she was in a partying mood. It was only the arrival of Frank that soured her mood.

"Hi Lani." He said sitting next to her. He had a bottle of beer in his hand and he looked very drunk, so much further gone than Alanah was, and his arrival had aided her sobering up considerably.

"Frank." Alanah acknowledged him, but cringed as he pulled his chair closer. This was the one person who was guaranteed to clear a dance floor of any eligible women, within a few seconds.

He had been trying to get her to go out with him since he had found out she was a widow. It was almost as if a light had gone on in his head and he pursued her, making passes at her every day. His intentions thinly veiled behind compliments, but his eyes always found their way to any exposed flesh, and it made Alanah shiver whenever he was near. She refused point blank to have a meeting with him on her own with the door shut. He worried her more than any vampire ever had. He was beginning to make going to work an ordeal, and Alanah hated him for it.

He was a balding man in his early forties who thought he was god's gift to women – if only he realised the truth! His body smell left people reeling when he left their side and his comments always made women shudder, he had no idea of boundaries when it came to women, and even his insinuations were beyond disgusting. In short, he was creepy and Alanah could not stand him being so close to her.

"So, what you doing sat here all on your own? Where you waiting for me?" He asked draping his arm around her, his beer breath close to her nose. Alanah had to stop herself shuddering at the combination of beer and BO.

"Leave me alone Frank, you are drunk." Alanah pushed his arm off her, wanting to be anywhere but near this disgusting man. She felt more scared of him than any vampire she had ever met, and that was most of Dan's family.

"What's the matter Lani? It's Christmas, lighten up, what have you got to go home to, you've been single as long as I have known you?" He sniggered unkindly.

"Get off me you bastard. I have plenty to go home for." Alanah stood, angry at his insinuations. A few people turned to look at them, wondering what the commotion was.

"You could wake up tomorrow morning next to me..." He began, his eyes glassy and unfocused.

"Next to you? I'd rather be dead than share a bed with you. Why would I want to wake up next to a fat balding idiot like you?" She made to leave.

"Because I can satisfy you." He followed menacingly, his eyes wondering hungrily over her body. "It's been a while since your husband died hasn't it? I can't remember you having had a boyfriend since you started with us, you must be gagging for it by now." His smile was lopsided, and Alanah swore she saw drool on his chin.

"That has nothing to do with you." Alanah growled. She had always been private about her personal life and she hated how Frank was using it against her now.

"Feisty, I like that in a woman." He smiled, he was enjoying the game.

"That is not the first time I have been called feisty. Know this, under no circumstances will I ever sleep with you. The only man I will ever sleep with is my husband and if that makes me frigid so be it. I will be celibate till the day I die."

"Where is the fun in that? Don't you miss the touch of a man's hand on your bare skin?" He laughed, running his hand up her leg, trying to get to the top of her thigh.

There was a thump on the table and Alanah shrieked as she saw an arm come out of the darkness and take hold of Frank as if he was no more than a piece of paper. Seconds later, Alanah was stood looking at nothing as Frank and the arm were missing. She didn't need to question what had happened. She knew Dan had taken him, and she didn't know what he would do with him. For the first time since she had met Frank, she felt worried for him.

Frank found himself in a dark service corridor, completely unaware how he had gotten there, it seemed almost impossible, the last thing he could remember, was propositioning Alanah Newman, but now .... now he knew he'd had too much to drink. His head thumped as tried to reconcile what had happened.

A voice came to him from somewhere to the left, it was jovial, almost amused.

"Was that Alanah Newman you were talking to?" The man asked.

"Yeah, she is a real looker her." Frank replied smiling, he couldn't quite make out the face, but there was a toothy grin that he could see. Nothing made sense and he swayed slightly in confusion.

"I couldn't agree more. Quite fancy her myself." The man laughed.

"Hands off, she is mine!" Frank laughed looking at the pale faced man as he came more into focus.

"I think you will find she is already mine. I'm her husband." Dan smiled coolly at the man.

Frank tried to take that in, but in his stooper, he didn't quite get the significance. "She is a widow, her husband is dead, how can you be her husband?" Frank asked confused.

"She is a widow, I am dead." Dan smiled innocently at him.

"But..." Frank started, his brain attempting to work and he tried to rectify what Dan had said.

"It's true, I am her dead husband. She hasn't lied to anyone about me being dead, and she's not interested in any other man, especially you, I already know that. The ironic thing is I'm still walking the earth, touch me, feel that I am real." Dan took Frank's hand in his and he recoiled at the coldness of his skin. Dan laughed quietly as he saw the shock on Frank's face

"What are you?" Frank asked, even through his drunken haze he was completely scared.

"I am one of the living dead, a vampire. I hunt and kill at night and if you do not stay away from my wife, I will hunt you and take great delight in taking your blood. You need to clean up your act, stop being a letch and become a proper man. You don't have a wife or a girlfriend because you can't see beyond the man you used to be. You were once good looking and had all the girls falling over you, but you grew complacent and had your fill. Well now you are a washed up drunk, determined to bed my wife, and I won't let that happen. I will kill you if you ever touch her again. Dry out, take a good look at yourself and move on from the past. Be warned, I will be watching you." He took his now obligatory bite of Frank's hand and left leaving a terrified Frank behind.

Frank sat staring at his bloody hand, wondering if what had happened had been real. He touched the wounds and winced in pain as he realized, that yes indeed they were real, which meant only one thing, what had happened had been real.

So Alanah's husband was a vampire, a fictitious creature you only see in books and on TV, yet clearly they were real as he had been bitten by one ...... Would he turn into one now? He wasn't with it enough to worry about that too much. He couldn't very well tell anyone what had happened, they would think he had had an accident and hurt himself whilst he was drunk, or worse send him away to a nut house if he insisted too much that he had been bitten by a vampire, and that the vampire was Alanah's husband who still walked the earth at night. It was too confusing to decide right now. But one thing was for sure, he had resolved to leave her alone and pretend none of this had happened.

Staggering back into the ball room that the party was taking place in, Frank found a table to sit at and nursed a glass of water, his head thumping as he realized he had a lot of things to think about, least of all the vampire who had brought home how miserable and lonesome he was. He resolved to do something about it.

Catching Alanah's eye, he raised his glass of water to her and nodded humbly at her. She smiled sadly back at him, both acknowledging the awkwardness between them was over. They were at the beginning of a new respect for one another, but they both knew they would never mention what had happened, to acknowledge it would be wrong.

Frank had a long journey ahead of him, but one that would see him right for the rest of his life.
CHAPTER 36

Alanah was so pleased that Frank was OK, she still didn't like him, but she was glad Dan hadn't hurt him in any way, she knew she would never stop feeling guilty if he had. She gave herself permission to relax just in time to hear her name called, she was next for karaoke.

Once she had heard that she had been set up to sing (and she didn't have a half bad voice, not that she sung much), she had ensured that she had chosen a song that she knew well (having belted it out often enough in the shower), so that she felt confident enough not to make a complete and utter fool of herself.

To the cheers of her work colleagues, she walked up onto the stage and stood, looking out over everyone, ready and prepared to sing. And then she saw him. It had been so long since she had seen him, Sam's first birthday to be exact and she shook with nerves as she began to sing her favourite ballad by P!nk, 'Glitter in the Air'.

There was almost silence as she began to sing, everyone wondering if she would be able to hold the notes, or make a huge mistake, and once they had realised that whilst she didn't have a perfect singing voice, that she could indeed sing, there was a round of applause as she kept singing.

Dan was mesmerised by the woman he loved up on stage and he was desperate to touch her. He wanted to close his eyes and listen to the words she was singing, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He let himself believe, for just half a second that he could hold her and look her in the eye and tell her that he loved her, but he couldn't believe that would ever be possible.

Alanah had got to the last verse, and it was almost as if the words had been written for them.

"Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight?"

And Dan had to admit to himself that he wished, above everything else that he could be with her forever, but he knew unequivocally, just as he always had, that he could not. It was the final nail in the coffin of his half-second fantasy. It was with a heavy heart that he listened to the end of the song and made to exit the party.

There was a huge round of applause as Alanah finished the song and she stood watching Dan walk from the room, her eyes filled with tears, but she knew he had heard how she really felt, she would give anything to spend a night with him.

It was about 30 minutes later, when everyone was bored with singing songs themselves and the DJ had started playing a mixture of classic Christmas songs and romantic ballads, perfect for smooching couples (of which there were a few). The atmosphere had begun to change, people were very drunk, some loud, others passed out (again there were a few!). It was very late and Alanah was feeling it was time for her to leave and go home, and take precautions against the hangover she knew she would have in the morning.

As she stood up to leave, a cold hand took hers and drew it gently to his mouth, kissing her fingers, leaving his cold breath behind. Dan looked at Alanah, placing a finger over his lips, and she nodded, understanding that talking right now would spoil the moment. Talking always seemed to make the parting so much more difficult.

Taking her by the hand, Dan led her onto the dance floor, holding her close as soon as they had found a free space. Alanah rested her head on his chest, holding his hand tightly, swaying gently to the music. She knew they had only one dance, and she wasn't going to waste a second on processing anything but the feeling of Dan wrapped around her.

Dan held her tightly, but gently, glad he had come back, they were both in need of comfort, and this moment, brief though it would be was what they both had been dreaming about for such a long time. If he could stand here with her in his arms for the rest of time he would, but impossible was the word that went with that dream.

The softness of her skin was exhilarating, and he felt every goose bump that covered her skin as he touched her, her breathing accelerated at his touch, and with it her heartbeat. Since he had left 30 minutes before, he had take the precaution of feeding, wanting to be able to look at her as the woman he adored and not look at her as a source of food.

Knowing there was not much longer left to the song, he gently brushed the hair from her face, smiling at her with nothing but love before he lent in and kissed her. Flames ignited in his lips as he felt her warmth radiate into him, he felt her body let go and begin to kiss him back, a quiet urgency to her response that he had expected, one he completely understood and reciprocated.

As the song finished, the kiss finished and Alanah stood, scared, knowing what was to come next, so instead of letting him be the one to leave, she turned to walk away from him, but he pulled her back impulsively, but gently, kissing her forehead once again.

Dan didn't want to leave, but staying wasn't ever an option. Holding her gently in his arms he whispered to her. "I love you." Before kissing her once again.

Alanah felt him leave, knowing she could feel one of two ways, devastated that he had gone, or thankful that he had held her tonight. She made the conscious choice to feel thankful, cherishing the feeling of him around her. In so many ways tonight had been amazing.

It was the following Monday when Alanah followed a link emailed to her by the office manager to the photos from the party that she found something amazing. Beautiful photos of her dancing with her husband. Her eyes welled up with tears - she had begun to believe she had imagined it. But now she knew the magical memory was real. For the first time in a long while, she felt somewhere close to happy.
CHAPTER 37

Dan couldn't stop thinking about how wonderful it had been to hold Alanah in his arms and dance with her. He still felt as if he could feel her warm body wrapped in his arms, and her plump pink lips against his.

Even after all this time, he knew he was still addicted to her and Alanah to him. There was nothing either of them could do about their feelings, they were all encompassing and neither of them had let them go, if anything they had grown with the distance of time. He was pining for her every second he was awake, and dreaming of her when he was asleep. It unnerved him how closely linked every fibre of his being was to her, and it disturbed him how much he still craved her blood. He had hoped distance and time would have dulled the memory of how it tasted, but instead it haunted every memory and he struggled to keep himself in check. So many times he had wanted to drink from her, but he had restrained himself. He wasn't sure if he could keep denying himself her life source for much longer.

He couldn't exist without her. They were opposites which needed to be together, needed to feel the other to feel whole, and without her he knew he was just a shell, and he suspected she was the same too. Opposite, but so alike, both suffering through a destiny imposed upon them by someone else, someone cold and callous.

Sure, they both wanted to ensure the human race was not enslaved by vampires, but that didn't mean they wanted to suffer the way they were. And Dan knew he would do anything to bring them together, but he knew he would be risking Alanah's life if he ever relented and went to her. He would never leave Sam motherless, and although he knew he had left him fatherless by his self imposed absence, he knew it was the lesser of two evils. Sam had the support of people who loved him, two grandfathers who would ensure he received the male guidance and authority that every male child needed, he also knew that Steve had stepped up to the mark, and if he could ever repay him with kindness at some point, he would, he knew he owed him a debt, even though Steve did not know it himself.

Seeing Alanah with Henry had driven him almost to destruction – of Henry. He had had a black out for almost two days and nights, and he didn't know what had happened, but when he woke in his bedroom his hate for him had subsided, and he had not killed him, which he had to admit he was grateful for, Alanah would surely have known he had killed him, and he would never be able to look at her again with the knowledge that he had killed through sheer jealousy and nothing else.

He had dealt with Frank the only way he had known how to without killing him – with threats and revealing what he really was. Even though he had been a vile man, Dan had seen something inside him that sparked a miniscule amount of sympathy. Kick starting his realization that sleazing on woman would get him nowhere in life, and reviewing the last 15 years of his life had been the only way to stop him being hated by everyone, and he hoped that he could keep up the changes that Jessie had reported to him. Apparently he had shaved his head, smartened up and was now acting like a gentleman rather than a sleaze. It was a vast improvement.

But this intrusion into Alanah's life meant that she now knew how much he still hovered in the background. He was ashamed of that, that he could watch from afar, but never be involved. But to cut her out of his life completely was not something he could willingly do. She was after all the reason he was willing to remain as a vampire and try to save the human race from slavery. Had he not had that responsibility, he knew he would have met the sun a long time ago, the voices in his head were driving him to insanity, and he was barely holding on by a thread. As much as it hurt him, he could not cut himself completely off from his family even if that meant he could only view them from afar. He knew that it hurt Alanah just as much as it hurt him. Separation was killing them both slowly, and he wasn't sure if either of them could last the remaining years until Sam's 7th birthday, but he knew they would both try.

He had to see her again, he couldn't stay away any longer. Dancing with her had reawakened the desire he had for her, and even if he could only see her sleeping, he would take it with open arms, better that than never see her again. He couldn't exist without seeing her.

CHAPTER 38

It was almost midnight when Alanah finally found her way to bed. She had been up most of the night writing a report for the following day and she was now exhausted. She had enjoyed writing it, but it had taken longer than expected, her eyes hurt and she was in need of sleep. She checked on Sam who was sleeping soundly in his bed, kissing him, she left him alone and crawled into bed falling asleep within minutes.

From the shadows in the corner of her room Dan emerged and sat on the bed to watch her. It had been a long time since he had watched her sleeping. He sat studying her breathing, watching her chest slowly heave and fall; he watched her turning occasionally and muttering every now and then. He knew she would not be disturbed by him being there, she was in a deep sleep and he was as quiet as a mouse, he was quite safe watching her without having to worry about scaring her if she woke. He smiled when she began to snore gently, remembering how she used to tell him indignantly to shut up in the middle of the night.

It was almost two in the morning when Dan heard Sam calling "Mummy" from his room. Dan quickly hid in the shadows once again expecting Alanah to rise and go into him. Alanah did not move. She lay in the bed fast asleep, not hearing Sam's calls, her evening's toil making her oblivious to him.

Dan's body took over and he walked into Sam's room and stared down at his son for the first time for too many years. A five year old child sat upright in his bed staring back at him.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Sam looked at his father and then smiled saying. "Hello Daddy. I've been waiting for you."

Dan was shocked. Sam had never seen him before, yet here he was talking to him, unafraid and happy to see him. Dan stood still unaware of how to act. Could he acknowledge he was his father? He wasn't sure he could. How could he confuse him like that, yet the look in Sam's eyes knew without a shadow of any doubt that he already knew.

Sam held his arms up for Dan, who silently knelt next to the bed. Sam flung his arms around him and hugged him tightly, unperturbed by his cold skin.

Dan melted at the contact from his son. He wrapped his arms around him and held him tight to himself looking down at his thick wavy red hair. Sam snuggled into him and looked up at his father.

"I'm glad you've come daddy. I've wanted to see you for a long time. Where have you been?" Sam asked innocently.

"I've been in your heart. Your mummy has told you all about me. She promised she would." Dan said holding him tightly. He could not believe how five years had changed the tiny baby he had held in his arms five years ago. His fleeting visit on Sam's 1st birthday didn't really count to him.

"Yes she has. You have been everywhere; I wish I could see what you have seen." Sam said. Alanah had made up stories to tell Sam, trying to keep Dan alive. Sam loved hearing how Dan saved people from certain death and how she had fallen in love with him. Dan was Sam's hero.

"One day I will tell you everything. But you need to sleep, you have school in the morning." Dan said looking at his angelic sleepy face.

"I know, but I had a nightmare, I dreamt that mummy was hurt and I couldn't help her. I'm scared." Sam held tightly onto Dan's jacket.

"She is fine, she is asleep in her room. I'll never let anything happen to either of you." Dan kissed Sam's forehead and lay him back down in his bed.

"Don't leave, stay with me until I am asleep?" Sam pleaded.

Dan obliged, holding Sam's hand and stroking his forehead. He led his head on the pillow and looked into Sam's tired eyes, watching him fall back asleep. Dan's eyes grew tired and his head was comfy on the pillow. Before he knew it, he had dozed off next to his son, telling himself he would rest a few minutes before going out to kill his first victim of the night. Little did he know he would be there for the night, snug and content next to his son.

-o-

The alarm began to sound and Alanah roused from her sleep. She reached over and turned the buzzer off, quickly pulling her arm back in from the cold, the heating had not yet started. She blinked her eyes, trying to focus on the LCD display of her clock. The time read 5:45. Forcing herself to sit up, she shook her head and ran her fingers through her matted curls. She would have given anything to have another hour, but trying to get herself ready with Sam running around was almost impossible! An extra hour to herself in the morning was worth its weight in gold, but after last night's late one, she did consider a lie in, but she knew she would regret it all too soon if she indulged! At least this way she got to shower, put make up on, dress and dry her hair in peace before getting Sam ready for school!

Today was the big presentation and she felt ready for the challenge. Swinging her legs to the ground she wrapped herself in her dressing gown. Making her way towards the bathroom, she poked her head around Sam's door and had the fright of her life.

Lying on the floor next to her son was her husband. Alanah stood in shock looking at the two people she adored more than anything and felt a cold tingly numb realisation that Dan was asleep next to Sam. She did not know what to do and stood in silence looking at the pair. They looked so peaceful and content and she did not want to wake them, she knew as soon as Dan woke, he would leave and she could not bear the thought. Her heart beat out of her chest in fear and trepidation, how would he react when he woke?

Dan's senses began to feel he was being watched and he opened his eyes and looked straight at Alanah. He began to panic, aware he had been there all night and worried he had hurt Sam. He looked to his sleeping son and saw he had not, and relief flooded through him. He looked back at Alanah and knew he had to leave quickly to avoid his vampire instincts raising their ugly heads. He was hungry.

He stood up, unaware of whether it was night or day, but hell bent on getting out of the house. He pushed past Alanah and ran down the stairs. Alanah followed as quickly as she could calling after him, imploring him to stay, but he knew he had to leave and get back to the flat. He opened the front door and ran out, praying the sun had not risen.

To his utter relief it was still dark, but he knew the sun was coming up, he could see the light to the east. Running down the path and out of the gate he left Alanah and her house behind him. He turned back momentarily and looked at Alanah standing forlornly at the door. His mouth began to water and he left before he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself from pouncing.

Alanah watched as Dan ran off, then turned and ran back up to Sam's room. She collected herself, not wanting to scare him and sat down on the bed to talk to him.

"Do you know who that was?" She asked her five year old son, trying her best not to let her nerves show in her voice.

"It was Daddy." Sam replied brightly. "He stayed here all night. I had a bad dream and he came and stayed with me till I fell to sleep." Sam smiled at Alanah. "It was nice to meet him."

"What did he say to you?" She asked, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"We talked about you. I asked him not to leave until I was asleep." Sam looked at Alanah with his big innocent green eyes and she hugged him tightly. She knew Dan was desperate to know his son, and Sam was beginning to ask questions. She hated the fact that destiny was keeping them from being father and son.

"Well I'm off to have my shower, you can have another hours sleep if you like." Alanah kissed Sam's forehead and left the room. She went back into her bedroom and called Jessie. "Jess." Alanah's voice quivered. "Dan was here, I found him in Sam's room this morning."

"Is everything OK?" Jessie asked alarmed.

"Everything is fine, but I am a little shaken up."

"I'm coming straight over. I'll see you in 20 minutes."

-o-

Alanah was waiting impatiently wringing her hands for Jessie to arrive. She had showered and was stood in her suit skirt and a shirt with her hair in a turban. Her face was bare and ashen, she was a nervous wreck.

"Lani, what happened?" Jessie asked rushing in, she hugged her tightly.

"He was in Sam's room when I went to check on him this morning. He ran when he saw me, he wouldn't even talk to me, he couldn't stand to be near me. Sam said nothing strange happened, but I don't know what to do. I'm out of my mind with worry. I'm never going to be able to do this presentation today."

"You have to calm down. It's just shock, try and relax." Jessie said taking her into the front room.

"How can I relax? He wouldn't speak to me, he never wants to speak to me, he left without saying a word, just like he always does. What is he going through? How is he coping, he has no one to talk to, to be friends with. He is on his own." Alanah began to cry.

Jessie looked at her friend, and although she had sworn to Dan never to tell her where he was, she knew Alanah would never recover from seeing him here in her house, she would always be wondering if he would come again. It would drive her insane. Through everything she had seen Alanah go through over the years, she had never seen her this shaken before.

"Lani, I've a confession to make. Please don't be angry, I made a promise never to reveal to you, but you need to know. Dan asked me to see him, to be his connection to you. I've been visiting him since Sam was six months old." Jessie reviled her guilty secret to her friend.

Alanah looked at her, her head felt like it was drifting away at the news, but she came back to earth with a bang. She looked at her friend, knowing she could not show her any ill will. These were unusual circumstances and she knew Dan needed her friendship as much, if not more than she did. If Jessie had been able to provide a little comfort to Dan, she could not scold her for it. Dan needed someone to help keep him sane, and Jessie was as best placed as anyone to do that. She could tell that the secret had been difficult for Jessie to keep, and guilt clearly accompanied it.

Alanah leant over and hugged her friend. "How is he?" She asked fighting back tears.

"How do you expect him to be? He has lost everything dear to him. He is torn between two worlds and you are the only thing keeping him anywhere near sane. The burden he carries is crippling him."

"I must see him. Jess, you have to tell me where he is."

"Lani, you are in no fit state to see him. Besides, what about the presentation?" Jessie asked, hoping she would see sense.

"That is of no consequence if I can see Dan." Alanah implored. She'd find someone to do it.

"What good can come from seeing him? He is not the man you fell in love with." Jessie protested.

"But he is the man I love. I'm not expecting a warm welcome with open arms, but I need to tell him he is still loved. Jess, for my sanity, please tell me where he is?" Alanah begged.

Jessie took a key from her handbag and placed it in Alanah's hand. "He is in the basement flat, West Street, Number 32." Jessie sighed. She had betrayed her allegiance to Dan, the one person who had cared for her when she was trapped at the Family, the only person to stand up for her, but saved the sanity of her best friend. She was in a catch 22 situation, she had to betray one to relieve the other. She could not help but feel incredibly remorseful.

Alanah hugged Jessie. "West St? I@ve been walking along that road every day, Sam went to nursery on that street. He's been so close all this time." She couldn't quite believe it. "I promise I will tell Dan I forced it out of you, you are in no way to blame for this. I'll take Sam to school and then go. Dan can hardly walk out on me, he'd be walking into certain death." Alanah's hand shook with anticipation and trepidation at the thought of being near Dan.

"What about work? The presentation?"

"I'll email it to Frank, he's been a darling recently, I'm sure he will cover for me. Nothing is more important than seeing my husband."

Jessie could not help laugh, Dan had told her how he had scared Frank to within an inch of his life. "Just remember, he is not the Daniel Newman you fell in love with anymore. Life in the dark has changed him."

-o-

Dan had not feasted that night and he was ravenous. He walked into his bedroom wishing he had not fallen asleep next to Sam, but also happy that he had. For a short time it had been father and son, and he would give anything for it to be like that all the time. Instead he was alone in his dingy flat and he was hungry. Not a good combination.

CHAPTER 39

Alanah stood outside the neglected building looking up at the crumbling multi coloured walls. The top floor was grey, leading down to powder blue, then baby pink then cream and lastly yellow at the bottom of the building. It looked like whoever had been painting it over the years had not bothered to paint to the top each time; the result was a pastel ice lolly that looked out of place to the other Victorian buildings. There were signs pinned on scaffolding around the building telling everyone in shouty letters 'KEEP OUT – UNSAFE BUILDING'. Yes, this was the perfect place for him to be hiding.

She had walked past the building for the last six years, walking to nursery and to work, the building had been anonymous until this moment, and now it would forever be burned into her memory. Little had she known that this was where Dan rested during the day. If she had known he was here, would she have come before? She could not answer that question, the thought of it made her shiver; he had been so close, and she hadn't even known it.

Clutching the key Jessie had given her tightly in her hand she boldly walked towards the resting place of her husband, wondering what she would find inside. Alanah imagined seeing a giant coffin, like the one Dan had been in at the Chateau.

Her hands shook, stomach churning as she slid the key into the lock and entered the basement flat. She walked straight into what would once have been a front room. Now the room was practically empty, wallpaper was falling off the walls and there was a musty damp smell. The windows had been blacked out by newspaper and the room was shadowy and unappealing. Dan was living in squalor and she felt sorry for him, she was living in a palace compared to him. Alanah felt uncomfortable, wondering whether to leave or stay and stand her ground.

Her heart pounding in her ears, she moved from the front room, through a dark dingy corridor into the bedroom. Jessie had already told her this was the only room Dan was using. She gasped as she saw the room. There were thousands of charcoal portraits on the walls, randomly pinned on top of each other in no particular sequence, men, women, old and young alike. The details were amazing; they had been created in a frenzied manner, long strokes of charcoal, no care over shading or real accuracy, yet the finished portrait was amazing. Alanah had never seen so many works of art in one place before, and they had all been done by the man she loved. Each of them had penetrating eyes, all looking down at her - at Dan. They each had a name, their age and a date under the picture, written in brash erratic script, she was both shocked and amazed at the same time. The sight was overwhelming.

On the wall opposite the bed there was a blank space where pinned to the wall was a perfect portrait of Alanah in her wedding dress. She knew he had drawn a portrait of her, she just didn't know how spectacular it would be. She was taken aback at the details in the drawing, amazed at how Dan had captured her to perfection. It was as if she was looking at a black and white photo of herself. She looked at the happiness in her eyes and wished she could be that person for a second time, wished she could have the last six years over again with Dan in her life. She heard movement in the next room.

Her heart was in her mouth when Dan walked from the doorway, he was towelling his hair, his pale toned torso was naked. Alanah looked at her husband, wondering what to say, if there was a good way to break the ice. She looked at his shoulder, at the tattoo she had seen every night in her dreams, she could see the new one over his heart, an Egyptian ankh, the symbol of life, just like hers. Below it was the date that was etched into her heart, the birth date of their son. She remembered seeing the exact design on the piece of paper Dan had been fiddling with at the hospital after she had given birth.

Dan did not look up. "Jessie is that you? I wasn't expecting..."

"Hello Dan." Alanah said, her voice was shaking, but she stood tall and confident looking at him, waiting for his reply.

Dan looked up and saw his wife standing before him, he instantly began to salivate. "Jessie has betrayed me." He finished drying his hair and stood squarely looking at Alanah. He didn't know what to do. Half of him wanted to rush to her and hug her forever, but the other half was certain he would sink his teeth into her and drain her before he realized what he was doing. It scared him and he knew there was no escape, he was trapped with the one meal he was desperate to consume. His heart was as hard as a rock, he was lusting the red liquid that flowed through her veins. "Please leave." He made to walk into the room he had come from.

"Jessie has not betrayed you, I badgered her till she gave in, she had no choice. She has been caught between a rock and a hard place, she is my best friend, the only person I can talk to about our destiny. She is Sam's aunt and your confidant. She saw how distraught I was after you had left this morning. She knew the only way I would recover from it was to see you, which is why she told me where you were. I will not leave until we talk." Alanah's voice was stronger; she refused to be sent away. It had been too long since they had actually talked to each other.

"What do we have to talk about?" Dan asked gruffly.

"How about the last six years. We have never been able to talk about Sam, to laugh with him, to play with him. To be the family that we should be instead of what we are, a vampire, his sacrifice and their son. There is nothing normal about us is there? Until last night, he hadn't seen his father since his 1st birthday."

"You know the reasons for not being part of your lives. I am one of the living dead, I would drink your blood given half the chance, I'm already yearning for it just stood here. Leave me alone, I don't want to be near you, it reminds me of what I have lost." Dan walked back through the door. He was fighting his craving. He clenched his fists, driving his finger nails into his palms, trying to make his desires fade away. If he had only feasted during the dark, he would be able to cope with Alanah being there better than he was. He felt miserable and raging with hunger.

Alanah was determined to talk to him, she would not let him fob her off. Regaining her composure quickly, she began to talk. "Then why have you been watching me at night? Left presents on my birthday, roses on our anniversary? You wouldn't have danced with me at the Christmas party if you felt that way. Surely you would have stayed as far away as possible if seeing me reminded you of what you have lost. I have lain awake, felt you brushing my face and stroking my hair. I heard the awe in your voice when you saw my belly heavy with Sam. I've heard the whispered words 'I love you'. I've spend six years crying when you leave, desperate to ask you to stay, craving body contact with you. Instead I've had to let you watch me and pretend to be asleep. Don't deny it. I should be happy, I have a gorgeous son who I will protect with my life, and I should have you as my husband. But I don't. You took my heart the day we married, and you will always carry that with you."

"I have nothing to give you but pain and misery." Dan looked his wife in the eye, his heart beginning to melt, but he was severely aware that he was still craving her blood and had done since he first tasted it. He was agitated, yearning for a feast, and regretting having neglected his hunger, although he knew favouring sleeping next to his son was as important to him as taking another life to curb his emptiness. For a short while he didn't feel lonely.

"I'll take it. I'm in misery without you. Pain is nothing compared to not having you. I'm dying inside without you. It's hard pretending to be happy for Sam, making everyone believe that I don't miss you the way I do. To my friends and family apart from those in the know I am a widow, my husband long dead. I've had to fight off several attempts at match making from well meaning friends. Even my brother is trying to set me up on dates. It's not exactly easy to tell them my husband is still walking around even though he is dead." Alanah looked him in the eye, she walked forward to him, wanting to stroke his bare arms, to touch him once again, but he pulled away.

"You didn't exactly put up a fight when Henry tried to kiss you." Dan was fighting back his anger.

"I knew you knew about that. I was so worried you were going to kill him. I am so glad you didn't, he wouldn't have deserved it. I haven't been the object of someone's desire for so long, I couldn't help it. I wanted to believe I could be loved by someone who didn't know about destiny. I broke my promise to you for a brief moment. I wanted to be kissed and I would have given anything for it to have been you." Alanah's eyes welled with tears.

"You don't really want me. The Dan you are searching for died on our wedding night." Dan said, he was trying to control his hunger, his fangs and more importantly his temper, something Alanah had never seen and he had no intention of showing her. He was miserable and wanted to be alone. Once again his wife was offering herself to him, and he hated her being subservient. Why was she always so willing? He knew she was making the first move, but how could he accept what she wanted him to have? It had been a struggle for him to take her virginity, and now she was willing to accept pain and misery. What had he done to deserve such a wonderful woman, someone who would do anything for him? As far as he was concerned he was nothing but a demon and he was not worthy of her.

Alanah could see he was using all his strength to keep the demon in. It was clear he did not want her to be there. She had to change his mind. "Dan, I know what you do and although I hate it, I love you with all my heart and that will never change. It can't, it's my fate to always love you. Believe me I've tried to block you out of my mind and get on with my life, but I never can. The sheets next to me have been cold since the day after our wedding and I can take it no longer. Damian told me that you will forever want my blood and I offer it to you once again. I can see the hunger in your eyes even though you are trying frantically to hide it from me. I've always been your sacrifice, and now is no exception. I know in my heart that you won't kill me. I surrender myself to you, I'm yours, take me." Alanah stood looking at him holding her hand out to him.

"I can't, it's not right..." Dan whispered, he sank to the floor in despair, he struggled to fight his urge to leap on her. He could be on her in less than a second if he let himself.

Although terrified, she knew this was the way things had to be if she wanted to feel him next to her, the cravings she had for him were driving her just as mad as the ones Dan had for her. "I'm the drug you're addicted to. Take it, I want to feel you near me again, and offering myself, my blood, is the only way that is ever going to happen." Her hand was steady, she was on a mission. Taking a pen knife from her pocket, she opened the blade and rested it on her wrist. Her heart was pounding frantically in her chest, she was resolved to give herself to him and fresh flowing blood was a sure fire way to get his attention.

Dan crumbled - his reserve to deny himself her flesh finally broken. "Don't use the knife, it will leave a terrible scar, you have enough of those." His voice broke, knowing he had been the cause of all of them. "It would be better for me to pierce your skin; my teeth will do less damage." He sprung forward pulling the knife away from her, dropping it to the floor. His teeth would do less damage if he could control himself, and he knew he had to. "I can't believe you are here offering yourself to me. I can't believe I am considering accepting." He could not look her in the eye, he felt so ashamed.

His hands were shaking, he could taste bile in his mouth, his yearning was at its peak. He had fanaticised every night how it would be to take Alanah's blood once again. He was disgusted at the thought, but he had always taken peace in the belief it would never be possible for the fantasy to come true, but here he was about to take her blood. His head was spinning in anticipation, he couldn't wait much longer. His fangs had already descended, feeding was now inevitable.

"You have offered yourself to me three times in the last seven years, your virginity to save your life, your blood to save mine and now you offer it to me again to quench my thirst, just so you can be with me. Let taking your blood be my doing and not yours, as I am the one who benefits from it, you gain nothing. I wish I did not want to do this." He fought back the urge to pounce and pin her to the floor, this was not like every other victim he had taken. This was his wife. He wanted to show her respect, something he wished he could do to all his other victims, he just didn't have the control to do so all the time.

"If it is the only way to feel you next to me, then it has to be done, that is my reward for giving my blood to you." Alanah was strong, she had to be for both of them.

Dan's body trembled in anticipation as he held her hand and led her to the bed, sitting her down on the edge. He gently took her left hand in his and he saw for the first time the tattoo covering her scar. "The symbol of life - the same as mine, but somehow different." He saw it straight away, tracing the ankh, but still seeing the scar that Anthony had made when he was validating her virginity. "Fate dealt you a bad hand, I wish I could take it away and give you normality, but neither of us has any control over what happens."

"Fate gave me you. Now drink, I cannot take the suspense any longer. Drink and give me back my husband, for I know you are somewhere inside this shell." She kissed his forehead and held out her wrist to him.

Dan sank to the floor and sat between her legs. He held her manicured hand in his and sunk his teeth into the plump skin below her thumb. Alanah jerked at the pain, but sat letting him drink from her. He felt an intensely exquisite sensation flow through his body, he moaned in pleasure, hating that it felt so amazing to be feeding from her. But he was in ecstasy and nothing could take the feeling away from him. He excitedly drank her in.

Dan was feeling his wife coursing around his body, once again her feelings and fears were prevalent and he hungered for every one of them, frantic to glean as much information from her as possible. He could feel the woman she had become, the mother that she was and knew that he missed her more than he had let himself believe, and he had believed he had missed her completely. One emotion was unchanged from the last time he had fed from her, she still loved him unconditionally.

Alanah sat in silence, she could hear Dan gulping down her life blood and she finally felt at peace. She had spent too many years mourning the loss of her husband, but now she was with him again. It had been a long time since she had last felt his naked body and she ran her hand down his shoulders and along his cold chest. She held him close to her body, overjoyed to be close to him. She opened herself up to him, everything she was, was there for him to feel.

Then it started to happen. She began to feel his emotions flowing into her, his disgust for himself, the hatred he had for Mary and Anthony, the loneliness and the hopelessness he felt. She knew this emanated from the souls on the walls around them, she could feel them all trying to get out, to get her attention. But there was more, she could feel her demon begin to stir inside her, flowing through her body with her blood. She could feel it wallowing inside her, somehow she was linked to Dan through his feeding and his feelings and memories had awakened it from its slumber. Dan was carrying the weight of the souls and his demon, and she wanted to take the burden of both from him, so instead of fighting it, she let the demon run free inside her. Deep down she could feel the love she knew Dan had for her. Alanah began to cry.

"Am I hurting you?" Dan asked alarmed, he knew the anaesthetic that usually kicked in had not done so; he knew Alanah must be in pain.

"No, I feel nothing but pleasure. My tears are of happiness." Alanah lied, not wanting him to know the truth, that she was feeling his soul's emotions and that her demon had risen. "Come up next to me."

Dan obliged, sitting next to her, his heart was beating fast with her blood and his cheeks were flushed pink.

Alanah led her head against his chest and looked at the tattoo over his heart. "Sam's birthday." She pointed to the date below the ankh. "You had this done after the night Sam was born." The ankh was perfect and intricately patterned. It was flawless and Alanah fell in love with it instantly. She kissed the black ink and asked: "Why did you choose the ankh?"

"It's the symbol of life. I thought it was a good representation of the life I lost, but that through the loss of my life, Sam's was created. It seemed appropriate. I was fully conscious when this one was being done. I may be dead, but I felt the needle and it was painful, although not as bad as when Mary turned me into a vampire. But I would have endured anything for Sam. It is the reminder I need when I feel at my lowest that some good has come out of my life. It reminds me I was human once." Dan finally looked Alanah in the eye.

He hadn't felt like this since he had been human, he hadn't felt Alanah's head against his chest, hadn't heard her breathing or felt her body against his except for a few stolen moments here and there. Her blood coursing though his body was the closest he had been to feeling human in what felt like forever. He could smell the sweetness of her perfume; feel the softness of her hair. For the first time in six years, he felt close to real happiness. But he knew it couldn't last and he wondered how much longer he could take the pain in his heart and the madness in his head.

He suddenly realised Alanah was kissing his neck. She ran her warm hands over his cold body, and he could feel his heart beat even faster thanks to her blood coursing through his veins. "I wish I could be with you forever. I wish I could have the dark life and be with you." She almost cried. Her demon was malevolent inside her, wanting to take permanent residence inside her.

"My answer will always be no to that request. Sam needs you, besides, I don't want to kill you and there is the little matter of the Midnight Son. We have destinies to fulfil." Dan said, looking at her with his sad black eyes.

"I need to be with you. For six years I have not rested without dreaming about you. I can't live a life without you. Forget destiny, take a chance." Her eyes pleaded with him.

Dan wanted her so badly. He wanted her body like he had when he was alive. He wanted to make love to her. "I cannot give you what you ask. I will not take away your mortal life. You are my son's mother and I cannot deny him you, he has already been denied a father, I will not take you away from him. Do you understand?" He asked earnestly.

"Of course I do, but I'm finding it difficult to live without you." She smiled at him, she removed one of her skinny neck scarf's from her neck, something she had worn in public since she had left France and Dan could see the scars of his earlier feast six years ago. He winced as he remembered the event vividly in his mind. "Drink from me, I know how much you have wanted my blood and I will not stop you from drinking."

Dan nodded; he gently led Alanah back on the bed and looked at her. "I've missed being able to look into your eyes. I've missed talking to you, making love to you and above all resting my head on your breast and falling asleep. I've missed my wife and my friend and it is hell without you. There have been many times I've wanted to walk into the sun and end it all, but I have kept myself going hoping that one day I would hold you again." He lowered his head to her neck.

Alanah could feel his cold lips resting on her décolletage, and then slowly he opened his mouth, and she could feel two sharp pricks, and warm blood trickling down her neck. She could hear Dan swallowing her blood with passion, and although he was taking the liquid that kept her alive, it was one of the most sensual and sexual experiences she had ever had. Her whole body tingled with anticipation, her senses were heightened, her head started spinning, and she was hurtling out of control. Alanah could see her whole life flashing before her eyes; she could feel a thousand emotions all in one go. Her body could not take the energy that was flowing through it without shivering in delight.

She took Dan around the neck, and held him tightly to her. He moved from her neck to her breast, ripping open her blouse and began to drink from it. Alanah wanted to cry out in agony and joy at the same time, it was the most intense experience she had ever been through. She was in heaven.

Dan sat back and watched her, he had taken his fill, and he knew it had taken its toll on her. He had tears in his eyes, feeling guilty for drinking from her, but feeling full and content in a way he had not felt for a very long time. His craving was gone and with it the demon. He was Dan Newman once again.

Dazed Alanah sat up. She felt different somehow, elevated and alive, a feeling she did not think possible after being consumed. She looked at Dan and wiped away his tears. "Dan?" She looked into his eyes. "There you are, I knew you were in there somewhere." Dan smiled at her shyly, he couldn't deny that he felt like the man he used to be, but he knew it came at a high price for Alanah.

She slid off the bed and looked around the room, her eyes resting on her portrait. "That was six years ago, our wedding day." She said pointing at the pencil strokes that made up her face. She was stood in her wedding dress, her face beaming. "You really caught the happiness of the moment. So much has happened since then. I am no longer the girl I was before, I am now a woman of 27, remember me as I was, not how I am now." Alanah was conscious of her figure since she had had Sam, she felt pregnancy had changed her body completely.

"You will always be nothing but beautiful to me." Dan smiled at her, he was the man she had fallen in love with.

"You are my Dan again." She beamed with happiness. "I have missed you so much." She hugged him, he was still cold, but it was the man she loved. His lust for her blood was sated and she knew without a shadow of doubt that giving him her blood had been the right thing to do, and feeling him hug her with his strong arms made it all worthwhile. She was finally content.

"I won't be here forever. The demon won't let me out to play for long." Dan was solemn.

Alanah looked down at her blood stained blouse, and her naked breast, the two puncture wounds were beginning to clot. Alanah focused her attention on Dan. He looked sad, and she knew why, but she could not help feel happy, finally she was with the only man she had ever loved. His chest was naked, and she slid her arms around his taught back.

"I've missed you, I need you Dan." She whispered in his ear. "Don't be sad. You've done something today, given me a part of you. You have awakened my demon, for today anyhow, I can feel something different inside me. Everything happens for a reason and we are meant to be together today. I've never felt so alive before, give me you, give me Dan Newman, the man I fell in love with all those years ago." She softly kissed his lips. Dan's hand slowly began to stroke her breast. Alanah peeled her blouse off and began to kiss his neck. This was what they had both been longing for since their wedding night.

Dan began to become excited and hungered for her body the way he used to, no longer after her blood. He pulled his flies open and hurriedly pulled his trousers down. He pulled Alanah to him and undid her skirt, pulling it to the floor quickly. He looked at his almost naked wife, who stood shyly covering herself as best she could, she felt self conscious, no one had seen her naked since she had had Sam. Dan smiled at her; he saw nothing but his stunning wife.

"Don't let anyone tell you that you are anything short of beautiful. You are perfect to me and always will be." He pulled her close and ran his fingers over her stomach, Alanah breathed in at the touch of his cold fingers. She smiled feeling happy again, her whole body reacting to his cold touch.

Alanah led Dan back to the bed and they lay down. She straddled him, kissing him, touching him, feeling him. Dan looked up at her and suddenly felt euphorically happy, it had been so long since he had felt like this. He rolled Alanah over and the two of them entwined themselves together, six years worth of sexual emotions came pouring out of both of them. "I've missed you so much." he cried. Alanah wrapped her legs around his naked body. There was so much energy in the room, if there had been a spark, the room would have gone up in fire.

Dan had dreamed of holding his wife in his arms and loving her, feeling her and caressing her. He had spend almost six years in total isolation, save for Jessie's visits. He raised himself up, Alanah led below him. He kissed her lips, felt the warmth of them against his cold cheek, he traced his fingers down her face, her neck between her breasts and down over her stomach. He was desperate to reacquaint himself with her body.

Alanah sat herself up, determined to be not far from his lips, she held gently onto his tight buttocks and raised her head to kiss his pale lips.

They both realized they needed full body contact, they lay back down and held each other close. The sensual feelings came from holding each other, from understanding that although they had not been together for six years, they both had deep unfaltering feelings for each other.

For Dan it was the first time he had been free of his demon and the souls that he carried within himself. He could feel happiness and excitement, desperation to stay as he was, but aware Alanah had provided this respite, he swore to himself he would carry his burden when it returned without feasting from her. It was his to carry, not Alanah's.

Alanah looked at the man she adored. His face tranquil and happy and she hadn't seen that look since they had sat under the tree at their wedding feast. That was the last time they had been happy and human together. She knew she had done this to him and she felt good about it. Her head swam with souls calling out to her far away, trying to get her attention. Her demon was relishing being set free, ready to wreak havoc, and for the first time Alanah craved blood in the way Dan did. She looked at Dan and began to see something else other than the man she dearly loved. She saw food.

"Am I a vampire?" She asked quietly, her voice tinged with worry.

"No." Dan asked surprised. He didn't understand where the question had come from. He had only fed from her, not changed her.

"Then why do I crave your blood?" She sat up scared.

"You said yourself your demon had been released. It must be craving blood." Dan let go of her and lay quietly next to her.

He felt complete and utter guilt, Alanah was only feeling like this because of his feeding. He had felt something different feeding from Alanah, it had felt completely different from anyone else he had ever fed from and he had thousands of people to compare this with.

Not only had he felt Alanah flowing into him, he had felt her open herself to him, and he had flowed into her and with it the souls he was carrying. He had to get them back before they consumed her. She hadn't been drained; she was not on the verge of death. He had to take back his burden, it was not hers to carry. He knew where this was leading and he was prepared for it.

"What do I do? If I am not a vampire, how can I crave blood?" She was panicking.

"It's not you that craves it." Dan said reassuringly.

"But I want to rip you open and drink from you. Is this how you feel?" Alanah asked alarmed.

"All the time." Dan replied calmly, he could not look her in the eye. If she was feeling half what he constantly felt, he knew she would be in pain.

"My god how do you cope?" Alanah was amazed.

Dan paused, choosing his words carefully. "It is my responsibility. I cope because I have to. But right now I am without burden. You are carrying it on your shoulders. You are not a vampire, you are still warm to the touch, still yourself. But there is only one way you can stop it hurting, you must take my blood, quench the demon's thirst. We have little time together, I won't be demonless for long and I refuse to let you take the responsibility alone." Dan slid off the bed and picked up the knife Alanah had dropped earlier and before she could stop him he had sliced through his neck and lay back waiting for her to come to him.

"Are you still a vampire?" Alanah asked.

"I am still damned." Dan looked at her, blood beginning to flow freely from his wound.

Alanah couldn't help salivate at the sight of his blood. She couldn't deny she was craving it. "Then let what has to happen, happen. Whatever comes from this union is our shared destiny and we must embrace it with open arms." Alanah crawled to her naked husband and crouched over him. She was salivating, craving the red that was flowing from him. She licked the blood from his neck and felt a tingling on her tongue which travelled down through her body engulfing her in the sensation. Her eyes rolled in her head in ecstasy. She groaned as the taste of her husband exploded in her mouth. Her teeth were not elongated and she had to lap the blood from the pool that was being created in the small of his neck.

The sensations began to flow through her body sending the tingling to her fingers and toes. She began to feel revived, strong and sexy once again, something that had been missing for six years.

Dan lay silently feeling light headed, wanting to quash Alanah's demon, to take back the burden from the woman he loved. The synergy between them became unbearable, Dan could feel everything and he wanted to give something back to Alanah and to take back that which she was not supposed to have.

He gently pushed her off him, stroking her face, telling himself this was fate. He raised himself up and over her gently resting himself against her body. Alanah held onto him and drank vigorously from his wound.

"I'm going to drink from you again." Dan whispered kissing her shoulder. "We must be as one, one blood flowing through both of us."

Alanah tore herself away from his neck, her face red with his blood. "We must always be as one." She placed his head next to her breast and continued drinking from his wound.

Dan opened his mouth and his teeth pierced Alanah's skin as if it was butter. The blood rushed through their bodies at speed, both feeling exquisite pain and incredible pleasure at the same time.

Their hearts and minds were melded together, their bodies as one. Dan wrapped his legs around Alanah and held her tightly in his arms. Since neither was draining the other, their strength did not begin to fail, their lust for each other was eternal and neither let up on the consumption of the other.

Without knowing how, they were somewhere else. Whilst their bodies and blood were entwined, their souls had left and disappeared from the small dank room. They were free and together. Walking hand in hand they passed into a garden. The grass was greener than they had ever seen, the flowers brighter and larger. The mellow sun shone above and there was happiness surrounding their walled enclosure. They were silent, confused as to how they had arrived here.

"Where are we?" Dan asked looking at a blue sky for the first time since he had been turned. He had forgotten what the world looked like bathed in sunlight and blue sky.

"Heaven?" Alanah asked.

"Surely I am supposed to go to hell after the lives I have taken?" Dan said looking around him and sighing. Everything looked and felt different. He knew they weren't on earth.

"Then maybe this is hell?" Alanah asked. She went to one of the walls and hauled herself up to look over it. Over the wall she could see the two of them intertwined together, naked and shaking both in delight and pain. She had never seen anything like it before, two people consuming and being consumed, but here they were in a garden away from their bodies. It was a very surreal experience. "We are above ourselves. We must be our souls." She climbed down and touched Dan's face. "You are warm, human." She smiled happily. It was all both of them wanted.

Dan looked at himself, he was indeed human. His skin was tanned, his eyes blue and his skin warm. He could feel his heart pumping his own blood around it. His heart lifted and he looked at his wife with utter joy on his face. "I am human!" He almost laughed. "I am in the sunlight! I am with you and I am more happy than I ever thought possible!" He picked Alanah up and she wrapped her naked legs around his naked body and held tightly onto him.

"Make love to me?" She whispered in his ear. It was an urgent request.

"With all my heart." Dan kissed her, feeling her lips as he was supposed to, no lengthened teeth in the way, no cold skin for her to have to pretend to like to kiss and touch. He took her to a grassy patch and gently lay her down.

There was need to their kisses, their touching and caressing, they knew they did not have much time here. Their hurriedness could not quash their feelings, they were hungry to gratify each other in the short time they had.

Six years of celibacy had created a desperate need in both of them to be loved and to prove their love for each other. Alanah had dreamt every night of Dan's touch, his delicate kisses and feeling him inside her, and she longed for that so much.

Dan was in seventh heaven, being able to touch Alanah with human hands without the distraction of wanting to feed on her blood. Her smooth skin felt like silk beneath his fingers and he let them roam over her body at their will, remembering the softness and curves of the body he adored, desperate to satisfy her in every way possible. Two souls together, far from the realities they had left far below them, in paradise for a short time together.

They were entwined as one and came as one. Both screamed in elation, only to feel pain as soon as it was over.

They were back on the bed in the dreary room. It was back to earth with a thud.

They looked at each other, moving from the wounds they had created. They were both stunned, wondering what had happened. Had it been real?

"Did you go to the garden, or was it all in my imagination?" Alanah asked.

"I was there. I was in the sun, I'll never forget the warmth on my face." Dan smiled. He touched the wound on his neck, it was already healed. He looked at Alanah's blood stained face, wondering what was going through her mind. He wasn't quite sure what he was thinking himself. He'd been human, it had been wonderful, but now things were back to how they should be. Alanah's wounds had stopped bleeding, her hands were shaking.

"What happened?" She whispered.

"We left the confines of the earth, our souls left our bodies and we went to heaven, or somewhere very close." Dan stood up. He went to the mirror and looked at himself. He was back to being the pale vampire he was used to looking at. Everything had flooded back to him. He could hear a distant cacophony of voices, getting closer to him, his torturers were back. He sighed as he realized his respite was over. And even worse, he could feel his demon taking over again. It wouldn't be long until he needed to feed again. Alanah needed to leave and soon. He couldn't feed from her again, it wasn't safe. His heart sunk. "We are back to ourselves again." He sat down.

"What do we do now?" Alanah asked, scared what the answer would be. The last few hours had been an amazing mixture of pain and pleasure, and she wasn't ready to let it be over yet.

"I go out and feast tonight. You go back to Sam." He couldn't look at her, he didn't want her to go, but he'd kill her if she stayed.

"But after what has happened? Dan, you can't be serious?" Alanah asked panicking. She couldn't lose him again.

"What do you expect us to do?" Dan asked glumly. He shut his eyes, his body wanting to hold her, but his heart and mind warning him how dangerous that would be.

"But after today, we must be..."

"Nothing has changed after today. I am still a vampire and you are still human. The demon is back in control and I'm fighting the urge to pounce you." He admitted sadly.

Alanah gulped, she now understood completely what he was saying, and she knew she should be scared, but she wasn't ready to leave just yet. "I feel different. Something has changed in me. I have taken a little bit of you with me."

"Then take it and go. We should never have done this. I need to be by myself." Dan said angrily, but the anger was aimed at him, not Alanah.

"What about my needs?" Alanah asked him, tears down her face. She couldn't think straight, all she wanted was Dan, to lie on the bed with him, holding each other close.

"I didn't ask you to come here." Dan whispered. He was falling apart inside, but he wouldn't let Alanah see. He didn't want her pity.

"No, you just want to watch me at night and brood over it during the day. What happened here today has been enlightening, I have never felt such happiness and misery. How can I go back, knowing you are here? Knowing I can lessen your burden?" Alanah was distraught.

"It's mine to carry, not yours. You must go. Sam will need picking up from school." Dan pulled his trousers on, his feelings were all messed up. He would have done anything for her to stay, but he had overstepped the mark by drinking from her and the subsequent mess they had got themselves into was playing on his mind.

"I will go. But I will be back." Alanah pulled her clothes on, her hands still shaking. "What we have been through today will haunt me forever. I have drunk blood, felt my demon take control. I've seen the souls in your head and I will worry about your sanity every second of every day. Today I have had a glimpse of the hell you live in and I pity you. I will never stop loving you." She picked up her bag and made to leave.

Dan called after her. "Six years of solitude, six years of hunger, six years of hell. You gave me back myself today, made me remember who I was and who I want to be. I will never forget the kindness you have shown me, the sacrifices you have made for me today. I won't be here when you come back. I can't stay here knowing you will find me. You gave me back my humanity for a short time, but it has once again been taken from me."

"I would willingly give it to you every day." Alanah smiled at him, he was distraught.

"It would kill you and I cannot have that on my conscious, it would send me over the edge. I will treasure what you have done for me today for all time. I shall remember it when I am at breaking point. I will remember your kindness and it shall keep me somewhere near sane." Dan handed her one of his shirts, he could not have her going out into the world covered in blood. Dan stood next to Alanah; he stroked her face, a tingling sensation flowed through his fingers. A coldness beneath her warm skin. He couldn't understand it. "You have taken something with you, I hope it is something good."

Alanah kissed his lips, the tingling passing between them. "Don't stop coming to see me, I'll always pretend to be asleep, talk to me, tell me you love me. Remember my love will be unfaltering until the day I die." They parted and Alanah left the flat, leaving her heart behind.

Dan stood, feeling empty as she left. He looked to the bed and saw the sheets stained red with their blood. He began to remove the drawings from his wall, knowing he would leave the dilapidated flat that had been his home for six years, wondering where he would rest his head when the sun began to rise the following morning.

-o-

Alanah stood in the room she and Dan had been in during the day. True to his word, he was gone and with him the drawings he had done. The bed had been stripped and there were a few small blood stains on the mattress, nothing that would cause alarm should anyone see it.

Pinned to the wall where Alanah's portrait had hung was a note. She pulled it down and sat on the bed to read it.

Lani,

I knew you would come back and you knew I wouldn't be here, but you still came.

I can't stop thinking about today, how wrong it was. But I can't thank you enough for what you did for me, it was wonderful to be human again, even though it was only for a few minutes somewhere otherworldly.

There is not too long now until Sam's 7th birthday, we can survive until then, we have to. Take care of him, take lots of photos of him for me. Let Jessie have them, she can pass them on to me. Tell her I forgive her and I will come to see her soon.

As for you my love, I cannot bring myself to watch you again. Knowing you have been awake whilst I have done it makes me feel like a dirty voyeur.

I will have to live with my memories.

Till we meet again when we are both awake.

Dan

Alanah had been prepared for this; she sat silently for a few minutes. She checked each room for anything he may have left behind. She could find only one thing. Under the bed she found the scan of Sam he had taken when she was pregnant. She put it in her bag deciding to make a photo album for him, something to help with his memories.

Dan stood watching her as she left the dilapidated building. He was out of sight, but Alanah felt him close. She could see him hiding and took the scan from her bag along with a photo of her and Sam that Jessie had taken only a week or so earlier.

She walked to him, willing him to stay where he was, grateful that he did. She handed him the photos and kissed his cheek. She left him stood alone and hurried off home to their son.

Dan stood clutching the photos unable to move, waiting for his body to react to his brain signals to move away from the place he had once again felt human.

CHAPTER 40

Sam was Alanah's pride and joy, and he was without a shadow of any doubt the light that kept her going. Since she had visited Dan in his run down flat, she had struggled to sleep, hoping against hope that he would visit her. Even if she did have to pretend that she was asleep, she would endure anything to feel him close again.

She was day dreaming about their encounter when Sam came and sat next to her. He had his home work book in his hand and the homework task he had for this week was to create a family tree. Her heart sunk as she realized this was the time when she would have to explain about Dan, and she didn't know where to start.

"We aren't a normal family are we mummy?" Sam said snuggling into her.

"Define 'normal' sweetheart?" Alanah asked quietly, wrapping her arms protectively around him.

"Well there are lots of normal. Benny's mum is on her own, Sarah has two dads. Dominic has a mummy and a daddy, but none of them are like us. Everyone thinks Daddy is dead, but he's not is he - not really?"

Alanah knew she had no choice but to tell him the truth. "No sweetheart, he's not dead, but he's not alive either. He's trying to save the world from a horrible fate, one that you will learn about soon enough." She wiped a tear away from her eye. On one level she was glad to have it out in the open and have Sam know the truth, but she did worry about the effects it would have on him.

"It's OK mum, I do know all about it. I know about the fate of the Newman family, and I know about my role in it too." He smiled at her reassuringly.

"You do?" Alanah asked in disbelief. "Who told you?"

"No one, I just know. I think it's my blood, I know things I shouldn't, but most of the time I forget it, like it's not really there. I know everything about what has happened, I know what Dad is, and I know what Grandpa Damian is too. They are vampires like Great Uncle Anthony." Sam said almost matter of factly.

"Anthony! What do you know about Anthony?" Alanah asked terrified.

"Great Uncle Anthony is not what he seems; he's much more like daddy than he lets on. He was part of the last ceremony, as well as beginning this one. He is an enigma."

Alanah's head was spinning, although Sam had not said a huge amount, what he had said bore great significance. "Just promise me, you won't mention this to anyone, you can't let them know what you know, they'll start to worry about you, and I can't let that happen." She smiled at him, trying to be reassuring so as not alarm him.

"Don't worry mummy, I don't remember it most of the time, everything will be fine, I promise." He smiled at her with a megawatt smile, and Alanah had to admit that she believed him.

-o-

Alanah had a lot to ponder. Anthony was like Dan? How in heaven's name could that be? An 'enigma', that was what Sam had said - such a big word for a five year old to use let alone understand. Could he really know more than his years allowed?

Alanah had never mentioned Anthony in the presence of Sam over the years, she had done her utmost never to speak or think of him at all, yet here he was, telling her about him, that he was more like Dan than anyone would have thought. What did it mean? How could he be like Dan? They were both vampire, true, but that was where the similarities ended. Dan was still fighting for humans, desperate to save them, and Anthony wanted the exact opposite. He wanted death and anarchy.

Yet something was niggling at the back of her memory, things he had said, and hadn't said.

"I remember my first meal. She was just like you. Seeing you lie here brings back all the memories, only this time I stand here, and Dan has my place." She remembered the words he had whispered when he had tied her up ready for Dan to feed from her. But there was more, she remembered how he had acted on the film that had been sent to her when she was pregnant.

Anthony had been controlled, dignified even, telling her that they thought she should have Dan's last human photos. "I advise you to take care of yourself and your child, you may have the protection of the Council of Souls and the Midnight Son ring, but that protects your physical self, not your resolve or your spirit." It had been a warning, but not a threat. Mary had been the threat on the video, Anthony had warned her never to take her ring off. Why would he do that?

And then she realized the reason. "Oh god, no, that can't be the reason."
CHAPTER 41

Alanah knew that what she was about to do, was probably the most stupid thing she had ever done. It was however the only thing she could do given what she was now sure she knew. She never thought she would come back to the Family, but here she was, stood outside the large double doors she had escaped from 7 years before.

How Sam could be right, she did not know, but equally she knew he was. When he had spoken, there was nothing about him that gave away his real age, he had seemed so grown up and sure of what he was saying. 'Of course, Great Uncle Anthony is not what he seems, he is more like daddy than he lets on.' Sam had said to her.

And it was beginning to make sense to her, in a warped kind of way. Yes, it was true, when he had fist met her he was a sadistic bastard, enjoying exploring whether she was a virgin or not. The whole ordeal at the Family had been in her nightmares ever since, and his face was always sinister when she remembered it.

But ever since, although he had not been kind or nice to her in any way, he had been respectful, as if he understood what she was going through. Sam's words kept playing in her head, if he wasn't the bastard he had been whilst Dan was still in the folds of the Family, what was he? She had to find out.

Safe in the knowledge that she could not be harmed courtesy of the protection ring on her finger, she knocked on the door and waited for a response. It was only moments later that the door was opened by a woman, who she realized almost instantly was Sophie, one of the priestesses who had prepared her for sacrifice.

"My name is Alanah Newman. I wish to see Anthony Newman immediately." She said with quiet authority in her voice.

"He is still sleeping, come back later." Sophie went to close the door.

"The sun will be setting in just a few minutes, it won't be long before he rises from his coffin. I'm not going anywhere." Alanah said confidently.

"You know what he is?" she asked wide eyed.

"Of course, my husband is a vampire too." Alanah laughed sourly.

"You are the wife of the Marked Man." Sophie said almost reverently.

"So it would seem. Now, can I please be taken to Anthony. And I don't want Mary to know I am here."

"I will ensure that she does not know you are here. Follow me." She bowed before leading Alanah through the hallway and towards the library, the room that led down to the green room where she should have been sacrificed. "Wait here, I will ensure Anthony is made aware that you are here as soon as he wakes." She left Alanah alone in the room.

It hadn't changed much in the six years since she had last been here. The walls were still crammed with books, which still had the same old book smell, the carpet was still the same sickly yellow it had been before. It was comforting in an unexpected way, like everything she remembered about her time here wasn't just a dream, it really had happen and she had the memories to prove it.

Alanah didn't have to wait long before Anthony walked into the room. He was completely alone, and he smiled at her genially as he walked to her and kissed her on both cheeks. This was unexpected and a little creepy, but Alanah held her head up and kept her cool. She wouldn't let him unnerve her.

"I didn't expect to see you before Sam's 7th birthday, this is an unexpected surprise, especially when Sophie told me you wanted to see me alone. To what do I owe this honour?" He asked standing next to Alanah, looking almost perplexed.

"I know what you are Anthony." She said quietly.

"I think we established that quite a while ago, don't you?" He smiled knowingly.

"No, I don't mean about your altered state - that goes without saying. I am talking about the fact that you, almost a thousand years ago were in Dan's position. I understand you completely. You were the father of the last successful Midnight Son."

Anthony looked at her, both crestfallen, and with utter delight, it was a strange concoction. "How did you find out?" He whispered.

"Sam said something that, at first made no sense at all, but when I put it together with other things that have happened over the years, things you said in person, on the video that you sent to me with the wedding photos, the lack of any real aggression from you, it all made sense, how you mourned your mortal family, how you couldn't turn back time and save them. It all made sense. You really are a Newman, not a usurper like Dan believes. You have a lot of explaining to do." Alanah said looking him straight in the eye.

"Shall we take a walk? It's going to be a lovely evening, and I've been cooped up inside all day."

"If you insist." Alanah said graciously accepting his arm. They walked from the library, out through doors which led directly out onto the extensive lawns which had seen the first long in-depth conversation between Dan and herself.

But Anthony did not want to sit and talk, he wanted to walk, slowly down the stairs, leading her towards a small stone building somewhere in the distance. He stopped and began to talk.

"You are right Alanah. I was part of the last successful Midnight Son. My wife Orla, and my son George were part of the rituals last time. We saved the human race from vampires." He said solemnly.

"So why are you fighting on the other side now?" Alanah asked horrified.

"Because I made the worst decision I could have ever made. I was offered the choice to stay here on earth as a vampire, or go to paradise. I chose to stay here, to be close to my family. I thought I would be happy, and that we could have some sort of life together, but I was wrong. Orla loved me, but we couldn't be together - how could we, you of all people know what it is like to love a vampire, and it won't work. It can't work. So although she loved me her whole life, we could not be together, and I watched her grow into an old woman and die, I watched my son die too, and then I was all alone."

"You didn't turn them into vampires?" Alanah asked curiously.

"How could I? They had helped me almost eradicate them from the earth, I was the last one alive. I couldn't do it to them, and I knew in my black heart that I had to let the blood line continue, at that point I hadn't chosen to live in the darkness as I do now. Back then, I was still on the side of humans, just not one of them. But once Orla and George were gone, I knew I was completely alone, and I didn't like that. It sent me over the edge, and I made my first companion, a man called Luke. It felt good to have someone look up to me, even though I regretted what I had done, I couldn't believe that I had brought someone over to the darkness with me. I had been so used to killing them and having their souls inside my head, but this had stopped following the ceremony and I had been completely alone. I had forgotten what it was like to talk to someone.

"I quickly made three more children. I couldn't help it, it felt good to be with my kind - the species I had created. We lived well for years, happy together. I felt like a king, even though I still mourned the loss of my wife and son. It hurt, but I was creating something new. The Family of the Eternal Life had been in existence for centuries, millennia even, and although there had not been a vampire at the helm for some time, it was incredibly easy for my vampire children and I to take over again, and within just a few years we had a tight reign over it again. The Newman family always seem to migrate back to the Family, even if they don't realize it's happening. Even though Orla and I had got out, we still had relatives within the Family, and I guess my grandson found them and the Newman's rejoined the Family once again. I could easily have said no, that I didn't want them to come back, but I guess I wanted to keep an eye on them. I knew I could never reveal who I was, I had made it clear to the vampires that they were never to reveal their true nature, so revealing to my grandson, and great grandchildren as the years went by was never an option.

"It seemed like a blink of an eye and Damian's father was born. I knew instantly what he was. He couldn't help himself, he was just different from everyone and everything. In him I saw the young man I had been, and I became scared. I didn't want to die, and I certainly didn't think I had had enough time on this earth, I still don't. Half my children had left to set up their own societies, you can hardly keep your children with you forever, and they had created their own children and so on and so forth. At that point in time there were about 2000 vampires, and I didn't want their deaths on my hands."

"But you had killed countless people over the time as a vampire, how could you justify that, knowing what the vampires were doing to survive? You had fought to rid the earth of them with Orla and George." Alanah asked, completely agog.

"I was king, I wanted to keep my subjects safe." He shrugged his shoulders as if this was an acceptable reason, but Alanah thought it was just an excuse. "After Damian's father had chosen to leave with one of the recruits, yes we did it even back then, always a good way to keep the food stock under control; I knew my time was short. I don't know how he became a vampire, he certainly wasn't sired by me, but he conceived a child with the woman and 9 month later Damian was born. I killed her as soon as he was free from her womb."

"Your own family." Alanah whispered in despair.

"She wasn't my family, she was just a vessel."

"Just like me." Alanah said soberly.

"Yes, just like you. Only she wasn't as clever as you, she removed her protection ring, and left herself open for attack. Like I said, it was self preservation for my children and me. Well Damian became my charge; I treated him as a son. He knew what I was, and he knew I had murdered his mother. Naturally he resented me, but I couldn't kill him. His mother may have been dead, but he was protected, and he knew it. He fought me at every turn, including taking a wife against my will and fathering a child, a girl if I remember correctly. I was given no option by the Council of Souls, I had to turn him into a vampire on his 35th birthday. He was to be the counterbalance to me, to what I had become. They couldn't believe what I had done, and although they are supposed to be all powerful, they cannot actually interfere in anything that happens within the confines of this world. But they could order Damian's transformation, on pain of my immediate death. I complied, and I've lived with the knowledge that I have to fight the next Midnight Son from the other side this time if I am to survive."

"Don't you want to be with your wife and your son? Why would you want to lead the life you have?"

"I'll never see them again. I was given a shot at paradise, and it was a onetime offer. If I give in and let the Midnight Son complete in favour of humans, I go to my death and go to hell. I don't want that. The biggest mistake I ever made in my life was not choosing to go to paradise, and I regret that every second that I am awake, and over 1000 years, that is a very long time."

"So you are prepared to keep on sacrificing the human race to keep your creations alive? You of all people should understand what you are putting Dan and me through? You are depriving Sam of his father, just so you can exist! You were in Dan's shoes, and Orla was in mine. Can you even remember what it was like to miss her, to want her so much?" Alanah asked not believing that he had been able to switch off his feelings so easily.

"I'm not the one keeping you and Dan apart. Blame the Mother of the Dead for that one. One day, if the ceremony goes your way you might understand exactly what it's like to be me, to be a vampire. If Dan stays here on earth, perhaps you can persuade him to turn you into one. I doubt he has told you even half of what it is really like, the battle he goes through every second of every day, trying his hardest to cope with the voices in his head, the hatred aimed just at him by the people he has killed, whether it is savagely or kindly. His job is to kill, to take away everything that his victim is and to leave noting but an empty shell behind, and from what I can gather he's doing a pretty damn good job of it. But when this is all over in a couple of years, those souls will no longer be part of who he is, they will have gone off either successfully, in which case I've lost, or drifted away off to wherever souls go when they are no longer trapped on the earth. Whichever is the outcome, Dan will no longer be the vampire he is now, and he certainly won't be human. What he will be is a vampire without a purpose, and if I'm gone and he chooses to stay here, his purpose will be to raise a new breed of vampires."

"Dan would never do that." Alanah said mortified.

"And I'm sure Orla would have said exactly the same thing if she would have been here today. I was once told by an ancient vampire that we cannot change the person we were, nor choose the person we will be in the future. And I believe this more every day. You are still alive because of decisions Dan made when he was human, he took his morals from Damian, he always knew that Dan would be the father, and he took measures to ingrain as much humanity into him as he could, in the hope that it would stand him in good sted when he was turned."

"And it will, I know it will." Alanah said holding back tears. This man, the man she had hated for years had once been like Dan, yet he was now able to dismiss humanity as if they were ants.

"We might only have a short time until your son's 7th birthday, but it only takes a second for him to make his decision, and it's that second, and that second only that matters. You know, if he chooses to save us vampires, I would be more than happy to turn you into a vampire. I think you would make an excellent specimen, and I'm sure Dan would appreciate it too! You have the scent of a vampire - only a hint mind you, but I'm sure it's a sign."

"I'd rather die than become a vampire." Alanah said quietly, but with confidence.

"Yes, that would happen, once Dan feels he no longer needs to keep you alive, and he is accepted wholeheartedly into the vampire community, he will eventually feed from you and kill you, it is after all what he is constantly preventing himself from doing. Even when he was human, he resisted all the teachings he had spent his life learning, turned his back on the Family."

"And I can't tell you how pleased I am he did that. It makes him a man." Alanah said proudly.

"Yes, but it was also the decision that led to him becoming a vampire."

"Forcibly, it wasn't his choice." Alanah hissed.

"True, but every decision he made from the moment he met you led to Mary being the catalyst to the Midnight Son. And I think it's time you saw the consequences of his decisions." Anthony stopped and looked directly at Alanah. "This is where you would be if you had been sacrificed." He gestured to the small building they had stopped next to. It was a mausoleum.

The building was a grey stone, shining slightly in the moonlight, well taken care of, but easily over 300 years old, probably considerably more. It was a rectangular building, about the size of a bus, and they were facing it head on. There was a double metal door, which had begun to turn green with age. Two pillars rose gracefully on either side of the doors, plain except for the lotus design at the top. Above the doors, on the top of the building were the outstretched wings of Horus. It was clearly inspired by ancient Egypt.

"This would have been your resting place." Anthony said almost smugly.

"No!" Alanah whispered in horror.

"You are in no danger here with me, you already know this, but you know you need to see what your fate might have been." Anthony looked her in the eye, and she knew he was right.

"I don't want to do this." She whispered, looking at the ominous doors.

"But equally, you know you have no choice." Anthony smiled at her sweetly.

"You are right, I don't have a choice. I already know the depravity of the Family, but you vampires have manipulated the humans who reside in the walls, and I need to see the depths you have delved to keep your secrets. You had better show me the place I would lie in for eternity if I had not had the good fortune to be Dan's sacrifice."

"I like the optimism of telling yourself being Dan's sacrifice was good fortune, I'm sure it makes everything more bearable." He opened the doors and nothing but silence flooded out. He walked into the dark building.

Taking a deep breath she entered the tomb which would have been hers had Dan not fallen in love. Within a few feet was a flight of stairs leading directly down. She walked down them, hearing Anthony below her. The place was dimly lit, but Anthony was ahead of her lighting candles. It didn't take long until there was enough light for her to be able to see everything inside.

"Oh my god!" She said, clasping her hands over her mouth to try and prevent herself being sick. It didn't work and she ran back up the stairs and threw up near the entrance. Anthony followed her and handed her a hanky from his pocket.

"Yes that's the usual response I get the first time I bring people here." He sighed as if resigned to it.

"Was this the reaction you got from Dan?" Alanah asked wiping her mouth on the hanky.

"Actually he's never been in here. It's not somewhere you are allowed to come if you are uninitiated, and as Dan never actually got to be initiated, he's never been here. I usually only bring them here once they have sacrificed, to view the body of the person they killed. You are privileged to be here."

"Privileged? Yeah right, more like I'm going to suffer from nightmares for the rest of my life." Alanah said, standing up straight, determined to, at the very least act controlled.

She walked back down the stairs, ready to take her first proper look at her surroundings, and had to work damn hard not to be sick again. The building above them, for they were now underground, was nothing more than the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Alanah was looking at a nacropolypse - a veritable city of the dead.

In the distance were small holes, each containing a decaying body, each in various states of decomposition, some were almost skeletons, others still appeared to still hold their human shape, covered in their shrouds to keep their modesty hidden.

There was a sickly sweet smell which Alanah could not place. She had expected death to smell rancid and vile, instead it smelled over perfumed by something trying to conceal the smell of decay.

"Two thousand years of Newman sacrifices. Almost 600 in total." Anthony said smiling. "My sacrifice is down there on the left next to my fathers." He pointed in the general direction.

"Orla wasn't your sacrifice?" Alanah asked stunned.

"No, Orla was a recruit. I fell in love with her at first sight, but we took our time to get to know each other before we left the Family. Your situation is unique. I'm not aware of any other sacrifice ending the way yours did. Every other union came from deep within the Family."

"Did you leave the Family when you fell in love?" Alanah asked, wanting to wring as much information from him as possible, she never knew when she would get another opportunity.

"She wasn't happy, she knew she had made a mistake, so I left with her under the cover of darkness, none of the explosive antics that accompanied your departure. At this point, I had no idea about my destiny, I was blissfully unaware of the existence of vampires. But they came for us, took me forcefully and turned me into a vampire. I managed to find Orla, having no idea what they had done to me, and we made love .... You can deduce the rest of it. Once we realized what I was, I left her and lived in the dark. I don't particularly wish to relive that part of my existence if you don't mind." He said haughtily.

"I suppose you don't want to discuss the actual ceremony either then?" Alanah asked bravely.

"In truth, I have no memory of what happened during the ceremony. It got wiped from my memory when I made my decision to stay on earth as a vampire. The Council of Souls told me it was a failsafe to prevent any tampering with the next ceremony. I vaguely remember laughing at that, but then I hadn't chosen the path of destruction at that point in time."

"It seems like you were able to tamper with the ceremony without the need for any memory."

"She just made it so easy, how could I not?" He asked without a trace of irony.

"And you no longer care about the human race. Your family mean nothing to you anymore?" Alanah asked angrily.

"My family are long dead." Anthony hissed at her.

"But your decedents are alive, and trying to save everyone, just like you once did. Do you have no remorse for what you are doing?"

"Modern science will confirm everything for you, they may share my DNA, but that is it, they are nothing to me, just as I am nothing to them." Anthony said in exasperation.

"You've never even given them a chance. Dan doesn't even know you are related, he just sees you as a threat."

"I am a threat. I want to enslave humanity and take away their rights. I want humans to be at my beck and call." He laughed deep in his throat.

"I don't believe you. I think you are just telling yourself that because you don't want to own up to the truth." Alanah said gently.

"And what, pray tell me is that?" Anthony asked gruffly.

"You've already told me. You regret your decision to stay here on earth as a vampire, and you don't want to go to hell. Anthony, you miss your family and you are punishing humans because of a decision you made a thousand years ago."

"Punishing? No I'm the one being punished. I'm not allowed to kill you. Do you understand?" Anthony said in a rage.

"Yes." Alanah said meekly.

Anthony walked into the crypt and stood before four black plinths. Three had corpses lying on them, each wrapped in green shrouds. The fourth plinth was empty. "This is where you should be laid out right now. Drained of blood from a wound on your neck, a ceremonial dagger wound through your heart. You would have laid here until the plinth was needed for a future sacrifice, then you would have been moved to join the rest of the sacrifices in your own little cubby hole. Laid out to rest for eternity as a testament to Dan's commitment to the Family - his allegiance to me. But no, he had to fall in love with you, a sacrifice, something that has never happened before, you had to be the love of his life and the catalyst to the ceremony that ruined my existence. This is where you should be, and if you will not join us when I am victorious, I promise you now you will lie here for eternity by my hand." He was angry, and Alanah no longer wanted to be anywhere near him.

She stared at the place her body would have been if it had not been for Dan, and knew she had to get out of the mausoleum as a matter of urgency. Her heart was pounding and she could feel the stench of death finally reach her nose, the sickly sweet smell no longer covering it. Turning from her final resting place, she walked calmly and controlled up the stairs and then out of the building.

Once outside, she took a deep breath of clean night air, glad to be out of the house of death. Her skin creped all over with what she had seen. Hundreds of dead bodies, and there was nothing she could do about it, she knew the Family reached deep within the police force, they would cover it up if she said anything. It was only now that she realized the mausoleum she had been in was one of eight. There were seven other houses of death in a circle around her.

"Oh god!" She gasped in horror and disbelief.

"I must apologize my dear, I have frightened you to the core, and I can assure you that was not my intention." Anthony came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder sympathetically.

"Oh yes it bloody well was!" Alanah growled at him. "I came back here to check if what my son was saying - my innocent son, was correct. I don't know how, but he was right. Now I have that information, it's time for me to go." Her voice shook with both anger and shock, but she refused to look him in the eye.

"Of course, I'll show you back to the house." He said offering her his arm which Alanah took only because she was sure she wouldn't make it back to the house otherwise.

"You're in no fit state to leave straight away Alanah." He said sympathetically.

"I'm not staying." Alanah growled at him again.

"I wasn't suggesting that you should, but I won't hear of you leaving until you are fit to drive."

"I'd have thought you would have been happy with that. It would have served your plans well, to lose me in a car accident." Alanah laughed.

"You can't die like that. This ceremony has to go ahead. It's not just vampires and humans who have interest in it this time, the world will end if it does not complete one way or another. I have been told that for sure. If you, Dan or Sam die before the ceremony, the earth is forfeit this time. The world is spinning out of control, and only the ceremony will prevent the Highest Authority ending everything."

"So you're quite happy to keep me alive for a while longer, until my usefulness is gone."

"In a word, yes. Currently you are a thorn in my side, along with the rest of the Newman's, but you will be useful to me at midnight on your son's birthday. I can only hope Dan chooses wisely, and chooses to stay alive."

They had arrived back at the house. The first person who Anthony set eyes upon was sent to find Sophie, and while they waited for her, they said their farewells.

"Your visit has been interesting." Anthony said graciously. "You have made me relive memories from my human life that I had tried to forget, and also from when I was father to George."

"It has been enlightening, that's for sure." Alanah nodded in agreement.

"I know showing you your resting place was uncomfortable, but I hope you understand how important it is to the Family, and how deeply Dan betrayed us by leaving with you."

"Death and destruction definitely seems to be a big part of your life. I think I will have nightmares for some time to come." Alanah shivered.

"You called for me sir?" Sophie asked making herself known at the door.

"Yes, I think Alanah could use a cup of tea before she leaves."

"Of course. I'll take you to my private rooms, there will be less intrusion from everyone else." Sophie agreed graciously.

"Good bye Alanah, I doubt we will see each other before the ceremony, so I wish you as pleasant a time as possible until then." He said, bowing to her before leaving before she had a chance to say anything in return.

CHAPTER 42

"That was unpleasant." Alanah said as she sat in the chair offered to her by Sophie.

"Meeting with Anthony?" Sophie asked, flicking the switch on the kettle.

"Naturally that, but more the fact that everyone else stared at me when you brought me here, like they were afraid of me."

"They are. You are the wife of the Marked man, that scares them a lot. He gave them the knowledge of what we are all involved in." She said sitting next to Alanah.

"I don't understand?"

"A few years ago, he came here and delivered a message to everyone. He killed Helen, and told them what he was, and what Mary and Anthony are. We've been living in fear ever since." Sophie said solemnly.

"You all know now?" Alanah asked amazed.

"We do yes, and believe me, most want to leave, but we are trapped. There are 20 vampire priests now, and they keep everyone in line. Those that have tried to escape have been brought straight back and fed from. These are desperate times, and I admire your courage to come here." She smiled at Alanah.

"You wished me dead." Alanah said bitterly.

"No my dear, I did not. I merely do what is asked of me, to prepare those chosen, but you are right, my duties include preparation of sacrifices." She smiled shyly. "I can't help the way I was brought up. I have hardly left this house since I was 18, since I became a priestess. The only times I leave is to recruit people, otherwise I'm here always."

"That's horrible!" Alanah said alarmed.

"I chose the life, I knew what I was letting myself in for when I took my oath."

"So you've missed out on life to be here forever. That's a travesty." Alanah said shaking her head, understanding how once trapped, you were forever in the service of the Family.

"I understood what I was agreeing to. But I didn't expect to see the Marked man in my life time, he was always supposed to be a myth."

"Dan doesn't believe he is the Marked man, besides, he has enough on his plate to deal with as it is." Alanah sighed.

"That is true, but let me tell you the myth of the Marked man." She poured the water into the mugs, and returned to place one in front of Alanah before continuing. "The Mother of the Dead, Sekhmet was the oldest of living vampires, she is still said to be living today, how, I don't know, but this story goes back almost three thousand years."

"Sekhmet was an ancient Egyptian goddess, I know that from my mother." Alanah said, suddenly becoming interested. Roger had mentioned her when she had taken the scarab beetle and key to him. She seemed integral to everything.

"That is correct. In our story, once she had been subdued, she made a decree, that one day a man, marked by her would reveal himself in a time of need to anyone who had followed the ways of blood. She said nothing else, except that he would take them to a new level, raise us above what we are and what we believe. The Marked man would deny that he was the man of legend, which Dan has always done, and he will come in our darkest hour."

"But I know all this, you told me when you were preparing me for sacrifice, when I fainted from the tightness of the corset."

"But I didn't tell you everything. The legend says that the Marked man will reside in the present, the future and the past. He is omnipresent, as is the Mother of the Dead."

"Then it definitely isn't Dan, he's only here."

"Sekhmet sacrificed her existence as a vampire to save her children, to prevent them becoming the end of everything. I don't know what she did, or what she was stopping, but whatever it was, it cost her everything."

"You said she was omnipresent, still here today, that contradicts everything."

"That's the problem, there are too many contradictions to all of this, and there is no way to rectify any of the legends, as they are just that, legends. All I can ask you to do is research this more, find out what is expected of Dan, what I can do to help. We are all dying here, slowly being stripped of our blood, and it's hell. I know I've killed, and I know most of us here have done so ourselves, but we did so because of what was forced upon us. We know now that evil resides in this place, and I can only hope that Dan can help free us. You have to ask him to help us." She almost pleaded.

"I don't see him, he's not really part of my life any more, he's in his own personal hell." Alanah's eyes flooded with tears.

"I know nothing about why you are what you are, and I know you have a young son, but I believe in my heart that you and Dan can help us. Do whatever is expected of you, your destiny is important, but please, I beg of you, you have to help us. We are all prisoners here now, we need someone to take up our cause, we need freedom." She turned away, tears rolling down her face.

"I hate the Family, I can't stand what it represents, and I've seen inside the Newman Mausoleum, and I know there are seven others. The amount of death associated with this place is insurmountable."

"Most of us were born into this place, we have had no choice, and as you know, those that join are trapped once they have pledged their oath. We are victims of circumstance, and we need outside help." She pleaded.

"If it is within my power, I will ask Dan to help. He is compassionate, and I'm sure he will try and help if he can." Alanah conceded.

"That is all I can ask." She said sighing with relief.

"I'd like to go home now please." Alanah said confidently, it was getting late, and she didn't want to be offered a room for the night, she wanted to get home to Sam.

"Of course, I just wish I could come with you, but alas, I know I am trapped here for a while longer, I can only hope you won't forget about us." She smiled weakly, before leading Alanah back to the main door.

Exceptionally pleased to be leaving, Alanah ran to her car and left the house that had haunted her dreams for years. She sighed with relief as she saw the house grow smaller in her rear view mirror. The only thought in her head at that moment in time was to somehow see Dan. All she wanted was to be held in his big strong arms, she needed him more than ever right now.

CHAPTER 43

Jessie stood in her hallway surrounded by a gaggle of girls. She blushed, all eyes on her. Alanah had finished pinning 'L' Plates onto her t-shirt, which read 'Boys, tonight is your last chance – I'm getting married in a week!'

Christina handed her a washing up brush and gloves and she was complete. "Perfect!" She giggled. "Just the look we were striving for!"

"Yes Hen Night chic is so now!" Jessie scowled playfully. "Dare I ask what you have planned for me?"

"That would be telling!" Fay said fanning out a set of cards containing dares. "Those of us who are single are going to have a field day!"

"Then we had better get a move on, the city waits for no woman!" Alanah laughed.

To say that Jessie had a whale of a time would be an understatement. She was taken to all the 'high class' cattle markets, sorry clubs, instructed to complete numerous dares, most of them involving men and underwear.

It was getting on for 11.30 when they arrived at 360, the club that had once been called The Maze. They all entered, laughing and joking, no one but Jessie realising the significance of the club to Alanah.

They danced the night away, happy, carefree and loud. They took over the dance floor laughing and drinking, Jessie being sent off every now and then to complete a dare. The whole evening had turned into complete hilarity and they were all getting completely drunk!

Dan sat watching them from the bar. The irony of what he was doing was not lost on him. He remembered back to the first time he had set eyes on her. He had been sat in the very spot he was now, albeit a new bar and staff. He thought back to that time, wishing he was there now, but he was sensible enough to know time could not repeat itself.

He watched Alanah with obedient eyes, watching every move she made, salivating for her blood. He left, safe in the knowledge that whilst drunk, she was safe, but he was resolved to make sure she got home safe.

Alanah had no knowledge that Dan had been watching her, she had been having too much fun to even contemplate he could be watching. It had been years since she had let her hair down and enjoy herself like this. She was out with people she had known for years, people who were unaware of what was happening to her, she was happy.

Jessie was extremely drunk by closing time and as her chief bridesmaid it was down to Alanah to get her home safely. The only problem was, she was so incredibly drunk herself that she was struggling to think straight enough to locate a taxi rank for them to get home safely.

Dan couldn't bear to see the two woman he cared most for in the world stumble around giggling and drunk, he knew the types of people who lurked around in dark streets, he was after all one of them. He had enough strength to pick both of them up over his shoulders and carry them both home as if they were nothing more than a couple of bags of potatoes. He couldn't very well leave either of them behind, he had to take control of the situation.

He took Jessie home first, ensuring she was safely on the sofa with a bucket by the side of her. He made as much noise as he could, hoping to wake Steve so he would come down and see to her. He left only when he heard him getting out of bed. Jessie would be fine now.

He gently led Alanah down on her bed, she was awake and looking at him in awe as he did so, dragging her fingers gently through his hair. He knew she was so drunk that she didn't really believe that he was there, and he thought this might be the best way to let her be, to believe she was seeing things. But he couldn't deny that feeling her fingers in his hair was amazing, it had been so long since he had been touched by the woman he loved. He sighed in contentment, although he knew his contentment was the product of Alanah's impending and very debilitating hangover. He wished he could take the hangover away from her. If he could have, he would. Instead, he would just make her as comfortable as possible.

Alanah held out her hand to him, grasping his as tightly as possible ... only to begin to heave and promptly be sick in the bucket Dan held for her. She groaned as she wiped her mouth.

"Here, drink some water, your body is dehydrated, and that mixed with alcohol and being sick is not a good combination." Dan said sternly, but he was angry with himself, not Alanah, even though he did think she had let her guard down too far. He wished he had intervened earlier, he could have stopped her being this bad. But he knew he couldn't interfere all the time, he had always made a point of only watching, he had only intervened when Frank had made his advances at the Christmas party because he saw real malice, and he knew she hadn't had any problems with him since then.

"Mr Bossy aren't you!" Alanah laughed at him, her head was spinning and she was trying desperately to focus on his face, but she was finding it very difficult. "Never here, but always controlling me from afar. I'm alone, and far from able to have you here to comfort me. You can live your vampire life and choose whoever you want to feed from, I have to be careful of who I talk to, in case you choose to feed from them. I have to choose my friends and acquaintances carefully." The alcohol was allowing her to say things she would normally have kept inside.

"That's not true, I'm not here, so you can live your life without me and not be smothered by what I am. I would never feed from your friends." Dan was heartbroken.

"The sane part of me believes that, but I won't take a risk, I won't put anyone in danger. I'm not living, I'm existing. I've done nothing but exist since the day you were taken from me. I hate it, I hate feeling like this. I can't go on much longer without you, I need you so much." She began to cry.

Dan held her in his arms, tears streaking his pale face, he knew there was nothing he could do and no real comfort he could offer her except hold her, so that was all he did, rocking her occasionally as she calmed down. He remembered how she had been at the Family, after she had had lessons in how to die as his sacrifice, and how he had held her then until she had fallen asleep. He knew now that he would stay until she slept. He couldn't leave her to wallow alone, he needed her to be happy not sad.

"Sweetheart, I'm gonna have to undress you, you have been sick everywhere." Dan said, wanting to make her comfortable. He didn't want her to wake up covered it in the morning, or whenever she eventually woke. Alanah nodded, she had no strength to do it herself.

Dan unzipped her boots and pulled them gently off of her, then realized he would have to undress her properly, he could sense she didn't have the co-ordination to do it, and he almost baulked at the thought of undressing her. She was in no state to be turned on by it, for which he was thankful, but he was scared he would be, and he was worried that it would lead to him craving her blood - he was keeping a tight lid on it, but he was none the less worried about what could happen. His hands shook, but he knew he had to be strong.

Taking a calming breath, he undid the button and zip on her jeans, hearing her murmur slightly from his cold touch. Being as gentle as he could, he pulled the jeans down over her legs, stopping to kiss a few times as he did. He could feel the blood flowing through her veins, and he did his best to ignore it, he wanted to focus on what he was doing. He had worshiped her legs in life, and right now he wanted to worship them again. Once her jeans were off, he helped her to sit up so he could pull her top off, and gently moved her hair off of her face before smiling at her.

"Your hair has all grown back!" He laughed. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and he had missed it from the very moment his mother had shorn it off. "It might even be longer than when I first met you."

"You admired it when I last had it; I wanted to have it again." She smiled up at him. "Can you grab me a t-shirt from the top draw, I'm cold."

Dan jumped up and located said draw retrieving a shirt for her. He turned back to her and she had removed her bra, he gulped as he saw her naked breasts. Alanah held her hand out for the t-shirt, apparently unaware of what she had revealed to him, and he put this down to her inebriation and resisted the urge to touch them, he would have given anything to touch them, but he was still a gentleman when it came to Alanah, and he intended to keep it that way. He handed her the t-shirt, and she struggled into it.

"Are you going now?" She asked looking up at him with big sleepy eyes. She was trying to keep awake, to believe that this was real and not a dream.

"I don't think you are in any state to be left alone just yet. Jessie has Steve, tonight you have me." He smiled at her and sat down on the end of the bed, intending to stay there.

"OK, I like that idea." She giggled, holding her hand out to him.

"Not gonna happen Lani, you're drunk beyond all reasonable levels, I'm here to make sure you don't choke or anything." He smiled rolling his eyes.

"Oh, that's not fair, you are my husband." She whined. "It wouldn't be wrong."

"Lani, not tonight." Dan said sternly. But half of him was desperate to hold her.

"But..." she pouted.

"I'm not taking advantage of you." He said, equally sternly, the other sensible half taking the moral high ground. "Now lie down, and try and sleep. I'll be here."

"Lie next to me?" Alanah asked quietly. "If nothing else, lie next to me? I'm not sure that you are really here. You seem like a guardian angel tonight."

"I'm no angel Alanah, but I am here to guard you from yourself." He smiled at her, and he couldn't refuse her, he loved her too much to do that. Alanah moved over in the bed and Dan, after taking off his shoes lay next to her, facing her and they looked into each other's eyes.

There was a few moments of total silence as they looked at each other. Alanah may have been completely inebriated, but she finally knew he was really there, looking after her, making her feel safe and secure. Tentatively she raised her hand and cupped his face with it, hearing a gentle murmur in Dan's throat. The tingling that had passed between them in his desolate flat returned, and she pulled back, worried about what he was thinking, she had enough sense to know how reigned in he was, she could still feel the power radiating from him.

"It's OK Lani, I'm here to protect you. Don't be scared of me. I'm here because I love you. You are safe, just remember that." Dan said, sensing the trepidation flowing through her. It hurt so much that she could go from looking at him lovingly; to begin scared of him in just a few seconds.

"I've dreamt of this, lying next to you, looking at you, feeling you." Alanah said reaching out her hand once again to touch his cold face. "My vampire, my husband, the man who has taken my heart." She yawned, her eyes closing.

"Sleep my love, I'll watch over you tonight." Dan said, his heart beat steady as he looked at his wife, she was still perfect in every way.

"But that's all you ever get to do, is watch me when I sleep." She yawned again.

"But I never get to lie next to you and watch. To know you are safe is the most important thing to me. Sleep, you are safe, I am here." To lie next to her like this was better than anything else, except for one thing, but he banished the thought of feeding from his mind, instead focusing only on the woman he loved, the woman he would have to leave before the sun rose.

And he wished he didn't have to.

CHAPTER 44

Alanah pulled the veil over Jessie's face and stood back smiling. "You look beautiful. Steve is one hell of a lucky guy. I keep telling him every time I see him. I think he has got the message!"

Jessie stood in her wedding dress. It was beautiful, a white duchess satin, embroidered with organza flowers. The bodice was strapless, with a full tulle skirt. She looked so happy, the perfect bride.

"I'm the lucky one." Jessie smiled happily.

"You sure are. I'd give anything to wear a dress like that. I'm very jealous!" Alanah admitted, but she couldn't help be happy for Jessie.

"Are you saying your bridesmaids dress isn't good enough?" Jessie asked, pretending to be hurt.

Alanah looked down at her dress smiling. She was stood in a golden ivory satin strapless dress. The top was beaded, the skirt ruched around her hips. "I couldn't feel any prettier than I do right now." She twirled one of her piled high curls around her fingers.

"Lani, I have a confession to make." Jessie said cautiously. She looked Alanah in the eye.

"What could you possibly have to confess on your wedding day?" Alanah asked surprised.

"It didn't twig when we first booked the wedding for December, the added bonus there would be for you. We always said we wanted a winter wedding, but it dawned on me a few weeks ago how it would benefit you. Look out of the window, there is no sun shining and night falls early in the winter. Dan is coming." Jessie said nervously.

"You never cease to surprise me." Alanah knew Jessie was still seeing Dan, and although it hurt, she knew Dan needed a link to his family and she tried to block it out of her mind. Jessie and Alanah never spoke about it and they both knew it was for the best. "Jess, today is your big day. Forget about Dan and me, you have to remember today as the day you become Mrs Moore, my sister-in-law."

"Lani, your happiness means everything to me. I am about to marry the man of my dreams, and you have seen yours only a few times in seven years. Dan is my friend and don't forget, I owe him my life, he saved me from punishment at the Family. I want him to be part of my happy day. Destiny is keeping you apart, but hopefully you can be mum and dad to Sam tonight and enjoy yourselves. Besides, you know full well you can't kiss the best man, so I thought I had better make sure your best man was here to fulfil that part of your position as maid of honour." Jessie smiled awkwardly.

Alanah could not help smile at her friend. "You have stuck with me throughout everything that has happened since my 21st birthday. You are a true friend. What would I do without you?" Alanah had never told Jessie what had happened when she had been to see Dan, and it appeared Dan had never revealed the sordid details either. That was between Alanah and Dan and too intimate for them to tell anyone.

"You'd get by, I'm not important in the big scheme of things, I'm a supporting player."

"You will always be important to Sam and me, and I'm sure Dan feels the same way. None of us could survive what is happening without you. I'm assuming he knows I'll be there?" Alanah asked.

"He knows. It took a little persuading for him to come, he didn't believe he would cope well in a crowd of people, he didn't trust himself, but he agreed in the end. I told him you would be in a beautiful dress and that sealed it. He's nervous, but he'll be there."

"Wow! I really didn't expect that." Alanah exhaled. She didn't know whether to be happy or nervous. In fact she thought she was both.

Jessie's father poked his head around the door. "You look beautiful love, its 3.40, we'd better make a move. The driver got Christina, Fay and Sam safely to the church. Apparently Sam is being very careful with his suit, he's scared of getting it dirty!"

"Great! I promised him a new bike if he kept himself clean and tidy! At this rate it's gonna be gold plated!" Alanah laughed, she was proud of her son.

Alanah picked up Jessie's cape and wrapped it round her shoulders. She picked her faux fur shawl up and wrapped herself in it before picking up Jessie's bouquet of lilies and handing it to her.

"Lani, thank you for doing this for me, no one else would be able to be chief bridesmaid like you. Come on, we must leave, or I'll be too late and Steve will start to worry!"

-o-

Alanah, Christina and Fay stood waiting for the music to start. Jessie linked arms with her father and Sam stood awkwardly with a pillow holding the rings.

Alanah bent down to him and whispered. "I'm proud of you, now don't be nervous, walk in front of me and everything will be OK." She kissed his cheek and then quickly wiped away the lipstick she left behind. Sam squirmed, embarrassed.

The wedding march began and Jessie and her father walked down the aisle, a sea of faces looking at them. Sam followed next, he walked proudly in his suit feeling grown up and important, then Alanah, Fay and Christina followed together.

Alanah glanced idly round the church, looking at the 70 or so people who had gathered to witness Jessie and Steve's wedding. She knew some of the faces, but most were strangers to her. To both her delight and horror she saw her husband sitting at the end of a pew. She couldn't believe he was actually there, a vampire surrounded by humans, it must have taken a huge amount of control for him to be there. She continued walking and sat in her designated seat next to Sam. Her hands began to shake and she held tightly onto her flowers, trying to concentrate on the ceremony rather than the vampire that sat a few pews from her.

-o-

The new Mr and Mrs Moore walked back up the aisle to a rapturous applause. The bridesmaids followed, Sam holding his mum's hand, smiling happily that he had completed his job and that he would soon have a new bike!

Alanah searched the crowd for Dan, and saw him hanging back in the church. She wanted to go to him, but she had duties to see to. She watched him from afar, he knelt and looked to be praying. She could tell he was trying to apologise for every wrong thing he had done, and she knew it would take a long time for him to detail them all. Taking Sam's hand they walked to the wedding party and began to have countless photos taken. She struggled to smile convincingly, her mind elsewhere.
CHAPTER 45

Alanah sat and watched Sam dancing with her mother and smiled as he ran, he was running rings around her, and he was enjoying himself immensely and quickly wearing himself out. Her mother looked to be in need of a gin and tonic and a sit down! Alas Sam wasn't going to let her sit down anytime soon.

Alanah had not seen Dan since the actual wedding and she assumed it was because he had spent almost an hour trapped in a church full of humans without being able to feed. She could understand how hungry he must be. She also knew he wouldn't want to feed on anyone at the wedding so he would have had to leave to quench his thirst. Alanah wasn't convinced he would come back.

Henry, the best man stood before the crowd with a microphone in his hand. "Ladies and gentleman, it gives me great pleasure to announce Mr and Mrs Moore's first dance as a married couple! They will be joined in the second dance by the bridesmaids, myself, the ushers and close family. After that, it's a free for all!"

Alanah and Sam sat watching Jessie and Steve dance slowly together, Jessie's dress swaying as Steve held her and camera flashes kept going off as the dance progressed. Jessie looked so happy, and Steve held her gently. Alanah was so pleased for her, it had taken Steve a while to ask her to marry him, but today they made a wonderful couple, so perfect for each other.

As the first dance finished, Henry approached Alanah and asked. "Would you care to dance with me?" He smiled at her shyly, he seemed nervous to be asking her, they hadn't seen each other since the failed blind date.

Knowing it was part of her duties she stood up and took his hand joining the others on the dance floor. She was pleased to see him, it meant more than she realised, but she knew it was just pleasure that Dan had not harmed him. She had no idea what to say to Henry, so she danced with him, her eyes shyly looking at his tie, unable to look him in the eye.

"It's nice to see you Alanah. I hope you're OK?" Henry finally asked through sheer necessity of conversation.

"I'm good thank you." Alanah said, daring to look him in the eye. "It's been a lovely day."

"It has, Steve has finally made an honest woman out of Jessie, about time too!" He laughed. "Is that your little boy sat over there?" He asked gesturing in the direction of Sam and her mother.

"Yep, that's my bundle of joy. Not quite so little any more, he's six. His name is Sam." She smiled proudly.

"Listen ... are you seeing anyone at the moment?" Henry asked going bright red.

"Henry I ..." Alanah blushed.

Dan was watching from the corner of the room in jealousy, he couldn't let Henry dance with her and ask her out to the song they were playing now. It was the song Alanah and he had always said they would have as 'their song', but never had the opportunity to use. Watching Alanah dance with the best man made him want to take her in his arms and dance with her himself and he had to rescue Alanah from the clutches of the man who had kissed her, he had to be gallant tonight.

He quickly walked onto the dance floor and tapped Henry on the shoulder. "May I interrupt?" He asked politely.

"Dan!" Alanah smiled happily. She had been stumbling over how to say no to a date with Henry. Dan was the perfect antidote to her word stumble.

"Would you prefer to dance with him?" Henry asked, his heart sinking as he realized how delighted Alanah was to see this man. He suddenly felt very embarrassed.

"Yes, if you don't mind." She smiled sheepishly.

Henry bowed out graciously and Dan and Alanah stood looking at each other.

"May I have this dance?" Dan asked hopefully.

"Of course." Alanah said breathlessly. Dan was wearing a blue suit and looked as handsome as he had on their wedding day. It had been almost 10 months since they had been together in his hiding place, and only a few days since he had looked after her when she was drunk, though she wasn't quite sure that had actually happened, she thought it could have been a dream.

Jessie looked over, happy that her plan had worked. She had on purpose chosen the second song for them. She continued dancing with her new husband.

"I don't need to say it, but I will. You look beautiful tonight, just as always." Dan smiled, feeling a little awkward.

"You have always known the right things to say. So much nicer than what you could have said." Alanah blushed.

"I don't know what you mean? It was quite wonderful seeing you naked the other night, even though you were inebriated to such an extent that you worried me to death, and that's saying something!" He laughed, but there was an air of discomfort between them.

"Shall we dance then?" Alanah asked.

"Of course." Dan said taking her hand. The tingling sensation that had passed between them before occurred once again and they looked into each other's eyes, remembering what had first caused them to react like this.

"I thought I'd dreamt you the other night, coming to my aid like that. Jessie doesn't remember a thing about how she got home, probably a good thing." Alanah blushed.

"Yes, I've never seen you like that before, it was quite enlightening!" He chuckled.

"Excruciatingly embarrassing for me looking back on it. But thank you so much for looking after me. It's been a very long time since I went out and got that drunk." She buried her head in his jacket, feeling the coolness of his body emanating through.

"I would not have left you alone for the world, you are too precious to me." He held her gently next to him, feeling her warm delicate body next to him was nothing short of heaven.

"I've missed you so much, since we spent time together in your flat. I don't feel the same any more, I feel connected to you in a different way, since I drank your bl ..."

"Shhh, not here, we can't let anyone know what I am, and everyone is looking at us, wondering who I am." He placed his cold finger over her lips. "I've changed too, I don't feel the same anymore." He couldn't explain it, but there had been a significant shift inside him.

Alanah nodded. She had changed in herself since they had shared their blood and she was a little concerned of it happening again. Dan took her by the waist and held her close, feeling as though he was going through the motions; he knew they were on show for everyone to see. He looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. Her neck was naked and he bent to kiss it, but she recoiled, scared.

"Things are different between us." Alanah said. She did not know why she had pulled away from him. She urgently wanted him close to her.

"You are frightened of what you have seen, what you became." Dan said solemnly, feeling foolish for trying to kiss her in such a vulnerable place.

"I am frightened of the demon inside you, not you. You know my feelings for you." Alanah took his hands and wrapped them around her waist again. "Hold me close." She whispered. "I won't be without you tonight."

Dan pulled her near and wrapped his arms around her. They moved gently to the music, both holding the object of their desire close to them.

"Daddy!" Sam called running towards Dan. He flung his arms around him and held on tightly.

Alanah's mother ran after him, she looked shocked. Dan was dead, yet here Sam was calling out to a man who looked incredibly like Dan. Could this man really be Sam's father? She walked to him, unsure of what to say.

Damian rushed to her side and took hold of Alanah's mothers arm and walked with her towards Dan, Alanah and Sam. Keeping hold of her arm, he started talking as if there wasn't a problem.

"Daniel, how good to see you, it's been a while?" He said jovially.

"Indeed." Dan agreed, uncomfortable in his presence, but he could see what he was doing. Playing along was the only thing he could do.

Alanah looked at her mother, she was looking straight at Dan, yet she wasn't asking any questions, she was just accepting what she was seeing. Her pupils were dilated, Damian had her under his spell.

Alanah looked back at Dan and her son. Dan had lifted Sam up in his arms and they were playing, Sam was tugging at Dan's nose and giggling. Dan was smiling and trying to miss the onslaught of pinching fingers heading his way.

Alanah's heart lifted at the sight, one that should have been the norm, it broke her heart, but Sam had been up for 18 hours and he was clearly tired, she lifted Sam from his father's arms and passed him to Damian. "It's time you went to bed young man, its past 10 already. Say good night."

"Good night Daddy, come and visit again soon." He leant forward and kissed Dan, then Alanah before yawning and snuggling back into Damian's arms in need of sleep, Damian still had hold of Alanah's mum's arm and they left without another glance at Dan. Alanah was a little spooked at the power vampires had over humans.

As Sam was carried away, Alanah and Dan looked at each other. "He is the most beautiful creature in the world. I am so proud of him and you for raising him alone. I wish I could be his father." Dan sighed wistfully.

"You are his father and always will be. Nothing can take that away from either of you." Alanah smiled at him and took his hand.

"You have done an amazing job." He took hold of her waist and held her close.

"I've had amazing people around me. Without my mum and dad, Jessie, Steve, Damian and John, I would never have been able to cope." She plucked up the courage and kissed his cheek.

They held each other and just stared into the others eyes, everyone else disappearing from the dance floor, to them they were alone. There was a reminiscence of the first time they had ever met, on the dance floor at the Maze night club. That was the night both their lives had changed, and never been the same again. The feelings were there, the desperation and the need and the acceptance that they would forever belong to the other.

Dan couldn't help but smile at his wife, she was as beautiful as the moment he had fist set eyes on her, possibly more so in the light of everything she had been through. Time had not taken away a single aspect of her beauty, and something told him it never would. He would be content to hold her in his arms and dance with her throughout eternity, which would be paradise to him.

Alanah looked at the man who had never deserted her, even though he had not been in her life. This was the father of her son, the man who hated his very existence, but existed in the hope of saving the human race from a fate that would ruin them. She loved him, and she was delighted to be in his arms tonight, the only man she had ever loved.

CHAPTER 46

"I would give anything to make love to you." Dan whispered. He wanted to remind himself of how her body felt.

Alanah's body tingled in anticipation and a nervous smile played on her face, she wanted this more than anything, to show him just how much she desired him and loved him. She silently took him by the hand and led him up the stairs to her hotel room; she could not ignore his or her need. They stood looking at each other, unsure what to do.

"Do you want to drink from me?" Alanah finally asked. Her heart beat fast and although she was scared, unsure if she could relive what they had done before, she knew she would overcome that fear to be able to hold him in her arms. If that was what he needed, she would give herself to him freely and completely.

"No, I will never drink from you again. Since we shared blood, my lust for it has waned, I no longer seem to need it as I did once. I have drunk from maybe one person a week and not always drained them." Dan said. It was true, he lusted blood less, but the cravings he had for her blood would never subside. He had promised himself he would never take it again. He had suffered greatly from guilt every minute he had been awake and the souls in his head had berated him for drinking from her. They knew what she was to him and they couldn't believe he had risked the success of the ceremony to share blood with Alanah. He knew he could not do it again.

"So do you have more humanity now?" Alanah asked hopefully.

"No, the demon is still in control of me, and I am still one of the living dead." He looked her in the eye. "Did I tell you that you looked beautiful?" He asked all of a sudden, wanting to make sure she knew quite how much he still loved her.

"Yes." Alanah blushed again. "It's good to see you in a suit. Actually it's good to see you again, I've been worried about you since I felt what you have to carry on your shoulders every day and night." She placed her hand on his cold cheek and he closed his eyes and sighed as he relaxed into it. To feel her touch took all of his troubles and sadness away. The simpleness of the gesture had always been calming and reassuring to him. He needed her so much, but he didn't want to admit it. He wanted her love not her sympathy. He didn't want sympathy from anyone.

"Let us not talk about destiny. Let us be husband and wife." He took her in his arms and kissed her lips, the tingling returning between them. They parted quickly. The sensation was overwhelming and encompassing, they felt connected once again. "How can we be so good for each other when we are always apart?" Dan asked. He kissed her lips, feeling her flow through him without the need for blood.

There was a raw passion between them that had always been there, but the new sensations that flowed between them made them realize that the sharing of their blood had changed them and they were now, even more than ever part of each other, one in the same. There was a silent recognition that they had somehow changed the rules that day in the tatty flat. They had no idea if it was for good or for the vampires, but they knew at some point they would have to deal with the consequences, but now was not the time, now was the time for passion and love.

"You are always with me in my heart." Alanah smiled. She began to pull at Dan's tie, desperate to remove his clothes and feel him close to her. That was the one thing she had always wanted, and she was frantic to feel his cold naked body next to her.

Dan turned her around and began to unfasten her dress, letting it drop to the floor. He was careful but his body was pumping borrowed blood round his body, he wouldn't have dared be this close to her without it. He was so elated to see her naked body that he was somehow able to shut off his vampire thirst, it was a huge relief to him, he could be free to love her as he wanted to. He still had his additional strength and ability to know what Alanah needed and wanted – he wanted it too.

Alanah trembled in expectation, remembering the first time he had undressed her with much decorum. This time however, he swiftly removed her bra and gently fondled her breasts softly between his fingers, eliciting a moan out of both Alanah and himself.

Alanah lent her body back against Dan's, feeling his hard icy body against her back. Her breathing was shallow and her breasts rose and fell with each quick breath she took.

Alanah turned her head and their lips met, kissing awkwardly. She guided his head to her neck and he began to tenderly kiss it, tickling it as he did. Alanah squirmed as she felt his lips brushing her neck, feeling shivers down her spine. He traced her body with his hands, stimulating her skin with his touch. She was close to heaven and they had only just started.

Dan effortlessly span her round and hastily began to undo his own clothes, throwing them in a pile on the floor. He took hold of her by her waist and led her to the bed sitting down on the edge looking up at her. Alanah sat over him, her legs straddling his, thrilled by what touched her leg, wondering what was to come.

Dan led back and let Alanah straddle him. She bent over him and he took her breasts in his hands smiling.

The world was forgotten as they locked eyes and held each other's gaze, knowing their stolen moments would be over too quickly.

Lying next to each other satisfied and happy they looked silently at the person they knew would soon be far away.

Dan was the first to speak. "When you wake I will be gone." His voice was sad and resigned to their parting.

"I know." Alanah looked away. She began to shake with cold, but didn't want to move away from Dan, she would rather be cold and next to him.

Dan sat up and wrapped the covers around her, holding them to her. He would rather she was warm than cold and he kissed her lips to prevent her complaining. "I won't have you led there with teeth chattering. We have little time together as it is. I won't have you uncomfortable." He kissed her lips again, ice meeting heat. "You shook with cold after the first time." He smiled sadly. "When I was human."

"It seems so long ago." Alanah held his hand. "I was so young." She sighed remembering their first union.

"If you had known how our lives were to pan out, that we would be separated in the way we are, that destiny was going to deal us the hand it did, would you have left for America on your own?" Dan asked nervously.

"If I had, Sam would never have been born. Our pride and joy would have remained an egg and a sperm and passed away never having had the chance of life." She kissed his forehead and snuggled close to him. "I've never told you this, but the morning we first made love, after you fell back to sleep, I almost did leave on my own. I thought about taking some of the money and getting away as quickly as I could, but I couldn't. I just couldn't bring myself to leave you. I watched you sleeping, saw the happiness on your face and I knew I had been searching for you since our first meeting. I knew I belonged to you. To have left you and disappeared would have ripped our hearts apart and I knew you were the man I was supposed to be with." She stroked his face and he sighed as the warmth flowed into him. "If I had known what was to happen, I would have been scared, but I would have stayed. I could never have left you. My life has never been mine alone, it has always belonged to someone else and I have always known it."

"You can't mean that. You belong to no one but yourself." Dan protested.

"Dan, I've been yours since the moment I was born. Our lives have been lived as they are supposed to, and we both know that destiny would follow us whatever happened. We ended up at the Chateau because we were meant to. We were to be separated and it happened." She smiled at Dan, wondering how to tell him that she was his alone. "I have been alone since our wedding night, loosing you to the darkness has taken me to places inside myself I never knew existed. I've experienced passion and pain I never thought possible." Alanah opened the palm of her hand and showed it to Dan. "The rose you left for me, I held onto it so tightly that I opened the skin and bled." She showed him the other hand. "Where you drank from me." She pulled the covers from herself and showed him the scars on her neck. "Where you took the blood that makes you crave me." She pointed to the scar near her breast. "Where you drank from me when I drank from you."

Dan turned from her, he couldn't believe how riddled with scars her body was, all of them caused by him. His heart felt pain for what he had done. Alanah pulled him back.

"My body belongs to you. It always has and it always will. The love we have for each other will eternally hurt us. The pain of being without you is hard to bear, but I bear it because of what we must do."

Dan looked at her, knowing that she too was in hell. "I have caused you more pain than anyone should have to take over a lifetime. I have killed thousands of people lusting for blood, yet you still say if you had known what was to happen you would have gone through with it? How can you feel that way?" He asked ashamed, tears threatened to erupt, but he held them in check.

"Because the moment I set eyes on you, I knew you were the only man for me. I had been saving myself for you. You are my reason for living. Love is the only thing keeping me going, my love for you and Sam. If I lost either of you I would die from a broken heart. To lose either of you to death would be the end of my life." She began to cry and Dan took her in his strong arms and held her tightly.

"I have no words to comfort you. I feel the same, to lose you or Sam would take away my very will to live in this altered state. But Sam is safe, he is guarded by angels, loved by higher beings and feared by all vampires. And you, you are safe with the protection ring. Me, I am as vulnerable as a new born baby when the sun shines, but I shall never see that again until I choose to end my dark life." Dan's voice was solemn.

"In a few short months it is Sam's 7th birthday, the night the Midnight Son ceremony happens. The night the three of us do something unknown that will apparently either save the human race or condemn them to be ruled over by vampires. Dan, if we can just get past that day, we can figure everything else out." Alanah held him tightly. She knew if he chose to fight for humans, he would be given the choice of paradise or remaining on earth as a vampire. She knew he had to choose paradise, being a vampire was his worst nightmare, and although she knew she couldn't influence his decision, she hoped he made the right choice. It might kill her inside, but Sam would help heal the pain of losing Dan for good. They huddled together silently, rejoicing in each other, remembering every detail of the other, wondering when they would see each other again.

Alanah fell asleep finally, exhausted by the day's exertions and the night's soul searching. Dan held her close, listening to her breathing, watching her peaceful face as he had done as often as he could since they had married. But this time he was holding her in his arms, he had made love to her and she knew he was there, her head rested on his shoulder. He brushed the hair from her eyes, the beauty of her face had grown in the last seven years, and he loved being so close to it. He couldn't resist kissing her every few minutes. He loved her completely.

Dan hated to leave, but the sun would soon be up. Sliding his arm out from under her he left the bed and dressed himself. Looking back at his sleeping beauty he left with a heavy heart.
CHAPTER 47

Dan was tired. Not just sleepy, dog tired, of the last seven years. He knocked on the door and waited for a response, he didn't have long to wait.

"Daniel, I didn't expect to see you before the ceremony. Come in, please." Damian said standing aside to let the young vampire in. He was instantly worried, but kept this hidden, not wanting to frighten Dan off.

"I didn't know where to go, and you said ..." Dan sighed. His eyes were hooded as he looked at the vampire he had spent his human life calling grandfather.

"And I've always meant it. You are welcome here, very welcome." Damian smiled at him. He stood aside to let him in. Before him he saw a vampire on the verge of giving in, and he knew that it would have taken a lot for him to swallow his pride and come to him. He would do everything within his power to make him feel welcome.

"I'm so tired. I just want to sleep." Dan smiled at him wearily. He had lost everything that had been keeping him going. He had left Alanah and suddenly nothing mattered anymore.

"Yes it is close to dawn. I'll show you to a room you can sleep in." He led Dan up the stairs. "It was nice to see you and Alanah together last night, you are both missing each other, and it's plain to see." He said sympathetically.

"Yes, we are both finding it difficult; we've been so long apart." He sighed.

"Not much longer now, just a few months." Damian reassured him. He could see the toll life as a vampire had had on Dan.

"Yes, but what happens after the ceremony? I can't continue as a vampire after it."

"You are tired, we can discuss it in more detail when the sun sets." He stopped outside a bedroom. "It's simple, but comfy. After where you have been sleeping the last year, it will feel like the Ritz. I'll see you when you wake." He left Dan and closed the door behind him.

Dan walked to the bed, disregarding everything else. He sat down on the mattress, taking out a photo of Alanah and Sam, he smiled and kissed both faces before standing it up against the lamp on the bedside table. Lying down on the bed, he looked at the faces of the people he loved and finally drifted off to sleep. He knew he was somewhere safe and would not be troubled. He began to relax in a way he had not done for a very long time.

-o-

"I'm worried Damian, it's been six weeks since he came here and he hasn't taken any blood at all, he hasn't moved." John said looking at Dan. He was still on the bed in the small room at Damian's house, wearing the same clothes that he had arrived in and nothing either Damian or John had tried to do, had woken him from his unnatural rest.

"I've never seen anything like this before, it's like he's given in, he's retreated inside himself, and if I'm honest, I have no idea how we can get him back." Damian said, worry evident on his face.

Is it not like the state vampires go into without blood – stasis?" John asked, remembering the way Dan had been on the ferry home from France.

No, blood brought him out of that easily. I've tried six different types to try and rouse him, but nothing has happened."

He had tried giving him blood from a donor bag, as John had done on the ferry back from France, and Damian had even brought a live donor for him, although he had not told John he had tried this, but nothing would stir him from his slumber. Damian had contemplated the need for vampire blood, and had offered his own blood, but not even this had worked.

"But without him?" John didn't need to voice the question, he already knew the answer.

"Without him the human race is lost. I can only hope that when the time comes, Alanah or Sam can get through to him, their connection will grow for the ceremony, and hopefully they will be able to cross his self imposed hibernation."

"Shall we tell Lani?"

"She is worried enough as it is. I can see it all over her face, she knows there are just a few months left until Sam's 7th birthday, and she does not know what is to come at the moment of the anniversary of his birth. I am the only creature on earth who has some semblance of a memory, the only other person had his memory erased when he chose to remain on earth as a vampire."

"You mean the last father chose to stay here - is he still a living vampire?" John asked amazed, he had never heard this.

"Yes, and you know him. It's Anthony." Damian said gruffly.

"Figures." John said, not at all surprised by Damian's admission. Anthony had always had an arrogance about him, and John had never quite understood it. But now, finally he did. "What do you suggest as our course of action?"

"The only thing we can do, monitor Dan on a daily basis and see if he changes. We must be vigilant, not let Alanah know, she can't take any more worry onto her shoulders."

"Right, we can only leave Dan's fate in his own hands. I just hope we can get him back in time for the Midnight Son."

CHAPTER 48

Anthony couldn't believe that he was spying on Mary, but here he was covertly watching her hold court with the priests she had made against his will. He hated to admit it, but Damian was right, Mary had plans she had not informed him of.

"Gentlemen, thank you for coming at such short notice, as you are aware, secrecy is of the utmost importance. We are now just days away from the ceremony that will elevate me to the highest possible rank here on earth. I will be Queen of the darkness, and you will be my loyal priests, no one but me will have power over you. I have chosen you because you have shown great loyalty to me and I believe you are the true custodians of the world that will be created following the ceremony."

"My lady, we are loyal to you and always will be. Please tell us how we may serve you and Lord Anthony." One of the vampire priests asked.

"Oh no my son, you do not serve Anthony, you obey no one but me. My words are the only ones you will listen to." Mary smiled at the four of them. "Make no mistake gentlemen, your loyalties are to me and to me alone. Are we understood?" She asked calmly but sternly.

"Yes my lady." They replied in unison.

"Excellent." Mary smiled wickedly. "This is the only time I will get to tell you what you are to do. You must make sure you listen carefully, there can be no loose ends and no mistakes. This ceremony must have the outcome of my choosing and no one else's. Anthony will brief you the night of the ceremony, but you must follow my instructions not his. He wants a vampire utopia, I want hell on earth. There is no fun in co-existing with humans, even if we are able to rule them, I want them to be in perpetual fear of me. Neither Anthony or Daniel must be victors and they both must die. You may kill Anthony at your leisure and as quickly or slowly as you please, but Daniel is mine. I brought him into this world, I will dispatch him from it." She smiled smugly anticipating and imagining the act itself.

"And we may do as we please with Anthony? Are you truly giving us permission to kill Anthony?" One of the priests asked unbelieving.

"No Max, I am not giving you permission to kill Anthony, I am ordering you to kill him. Understand gentlemen, killing Anthony is the only job you have to do during the ceremony. Killing him elevates you all to my direct reports. Above you will be me, and no one else. Do you understand?"

Mary proceeded to explain to them her plans as Anthony sat quietly seething as his death was plotted below him. He now knew he had no choice. Damian had been correct, Mary was a bigger threat than he had dared contemplate.

He had only a few days to come up with his own plan, and he had to admit, at that moment in time he had no idea what that plan would be, but he was sure it had to be unexpected and as devious as Mary's for him to be able to compete with her. He would not let on to her what he knew; pre arming her with that knowledge would cause her to change her plans.

Anthony was 1,000 years old, and he wasn't about to let her take away his existence. He had made her, he would destroy her. The battle was just beginning.
CHAPTER 49

"Good morning Lani!" Damian called as he walked into the hallway of her house.

"Morning Damian, how are you?" Alanah called from the kitchen. "We are making pancakes."

"Morning Grandpa Damian!" Sam called, he ran into the hallway, his hands covered in batter. "Mummy promised me pancakes for breakfast!"

"So I can see!" Damian was amused.

"Would you like one Grandpa?" Sam asked earnestly.

"No thank you Sam, I've already had breakfast. Go and clean yourself up, I need to talk to your mum. Why don't you go and play with your trains?"

Sam smiled and ran upstairs. He had loved the train set John had bought him a couple of Christmases ago and added to each birthday and subsequent Christmas.

Alanah came from the kitchen and she and Damian went into the living room leaving Sam to play.

"How are you?" Alanah asked sitting down.

"I'm fine thank you very much. What about you, how are you feeling?" Damian asked.

"In five days it is Sam's seventh birthday. To be honest, I feel physically sick every time I think about it." Alanah admitted.

"Everything will soon be over." Damian assured her.

"I'm sure it will, but what will be the outcome?" Alanah asked for the hundredth time since everything had begun.

Damian laughed, Alanah knew he could not answer the questions she put to him, and he didn't know the answers. No person, vampire or human had any memory of the Midnight Son ceremony, he was winging everything that had happened since he had been entrusted with seeing the next one was successful.

"Do you still have the dagger with Dan's human blood?" He asked. He knew it was important, he could feel it was needed, but he had no memory of its use.

"I do. What do I have to do with it?" Alanah asked.

"You'll know when the time comes." Was the only answer he could give.

"How will I know? Am I supposed to have some sort of telepathy? I have no idea what is to happen to any of us, and you, the person who is guiding me has no idea either. Sam's life has been leading up to this day and no one knows what is going to happen. It's a wonder I haven't gone mad with all the worry the last eight years have brought." Alanah sighed. She had had her outburst and felt better for it.

"Everything will turn out how it is supposed to. Just let destiny take its course."

"That's all that has ever happened in my life. Destiny has had hold of it since my mother brought me into this world. I can only hope Sam and I have quiet uneventful lives after this is over." She laughed bitterly, wondering what would become of her beloved husband once the sorry business was complete.

She didn't have too long to wait to find out the fate of her family.

THE END

Part 4 – DEATH will be out early 2014.

