A/N: Here's a short little Roswell/Blood Ties XO. If you're not familiar with the latter show (you should watch it), it's about a vampire (who we'll see) and a PI (who won't) and it is cheesy, sexy goodness. :-D For Blood Ties this can really be set anytime during the series, for Roswell figure sometime post season three, although not completely canon compliant. Liz and Henry POV.

No Escaping the Rabbit Hole

Toronto, home of the tallest building in the western hemisphere, the Maple Leafs (damn Michael for making her like hockey), Hollywood North, and at least one alien hybrid. If that was the right way to classify herself; despite her extensive vocabulary and scientific instincts, she wasn't quite sure how to categorize someone who was born human, and was no longer, thanks to a series of chance events and a rather unusual ex boyfriend. Freak worked, but made her wince, even when said in the silence of her own mind. But whatever you called what she had become, it was the reason she was in Toronto, a city as a far from her home and the people, both agents and aliens, who wanted her (for reasons she cared not to dwell on) as she was willing to go.

The alien abyss had been drowning her and so she had escaped before it could swallow the rest of her soul, eventually leaving the country when she realized that there wasn't anywhere in the States big enough or far enough to take away the feeling of suffocation. Toronto wasn't as far north as she'd originally been planning to go, but something about the city had felt like home.

So, new home found, she went about remaking herself as completely and thoroughly as she could. Liz Parker, science nerd, loyal daughter, and faithful friend, lived in Roswell then disappeared, never to be seen again. Claudia Alexander (the one bittersweet homage to her former life she allowed herself) would be unrecognizable as anything more likely than a distant cousin. Her hair was short and choppy with an auburn sheen it had never held naturally, although thanks to her 'gifts' she didn't need to use foul smelling chemicals to maintain the color. She wore fashionable, black rectangular glasses, prescription free since her vision was even better post alien alteration than her prior twenty-twenty, and her clothes had a certain alternative edge that would have made Maria proud if the blonde had had any idea where and who she was.

Claudia made a very comfortable living writing novels about werewolves and vampires and other denizens of the night that teetered on the edge between trashy and pure horror. Her agent called them erotic thrillers, Claudia thought she was insane, but happily praised her for finding people willing to buy them.

It was all as far from the bookish girl turned conspiracy theorist she'd been before as she could be, but somehow, even in this brand new life that was supposed to be free from her old life's problems, she'd picked up a stalker. She didn't think said stalker was related to Liz Parker or her former friends, or at least she desperately hoped he wasn't, but his presence still royally pissed her off. This was her fresh start, her stress free, slightly insane, fabulously freeing new life, and whoever it was, was threatening to ruin that. Something she intended to make them regret with a vengeance. No matter how good they were at remaining inconspicuous.

Someone normal probably wouldn't have noticed the shadowing presence, always just outside her range of sight, but she had enhanced, and extra, senses that were decidedly not normal, and whoever found her so fascinating was about to get a rude surprise. Liz Parker had never been shy of confrontation, and if anything Claudia was more aggressive, not to mention the fact that she was now in possession of some nifty powers to back up her bravado.

Her mystery shadow had been haunting her steps for several weeks, and she had finally hit her limit on waiting for them to make a bolder move. She wrote at a local coffee shop every night, reveling in the cliché and the delicious scents, and almost every other night she had been followed home, including that night. She had years of repressed rage and helpless frustration just itching to be unleashed on the poor bastard who thought her an easy target, and the deserted alley up on the left would be the perfect place to clue him into reality.

x

Henry had first caught her scent when he slipped into the large corner bookstore down the street from his apartment to look at his latest release, a habit that had led to several willing snacks slash bed partners over the years. She had been signing books for a small crowd of eager fans and out of curiosity he had picked up one of her novels, curiosity that quickly shifted into amusement when he discovered the subject matter. Joining the line waiting to greet her, he had been shocked when he got closer and detected something definitively not human in her scent. Who would have thought that someone besides himself would go with the hide in almost-plain-sight approach?

He couldn't tell what she was from her scent, although it made his mouth water and his teeth ache for a taste, just that she had power, power that didn't have the stench of magic, which would have killed his budding interest. Their eyes met and locked as he handed her the book to sign, and her friendly but professional smile faltered ever so slightly as the power in her recognized the predator in him. Fear, anger, and suspicion, had flicked through her dark chocolate eyes with lightning speed and intensity, but a bare second later, her mask had slipped flawlessly back into place. "Who should I sign it to?" she asked in a soft, husky voice that sent pleasant shivers down his spine.

"Henry Fitzroy," he replied with a charming smile, waiting for a flicker of recognition in her eyes, and finding himself both relieved and disappointed when it failed to appear. It pained his ego, and limited his means of furthering their conversation, but also prevented any preconceptions other than whatever she thought of him from first glance, something he found himself burningly curious about as she signed the first page with small, loopy spirals.

"Thank you for choosing my novel Mr. Fitzroy," she said with another empty, polite smile as she handed it back.

"Thank you, Miss Alexander. It was a pleasure to meet you," he replied, upping the warmth in his gaze and finding himself more amused than disappointed when she failed to notice or react. The young girl standing behind him had begun to shift restlessly, an annoyed mutter reaching his ears, and he had walked away after one more appraising glance; he was not done with the mystery of one Claudia Alexander, and he deeply looked forward to discovering the secrets behind those bottomless, espresso colored eyes.

Unfortunately, she proved to value her privacy as much he did, and without involving Vicky, something he had no intention of doing, there was little information to be found. He was able to discover where she lived, the places she frequented, the brief biography on her author website, but it was all a two dimensional picture, no hint of the real woman lurking beneath the surface, the woman who made him tingle with whatever power she possessed.

He was growing impatient with the game of cat and mouse, especially since he was quite sure that the mouse was aware she was being stalked, although he doubted she suspected him, the random stranger she'd met once, for less than five minutes, weeks ago. As he followed her home for the sixth night in a row, he contemplated his next move, wondering if he should go for the direct approach, or try to set up something through his agent, maybe suggest a collaboration? He froze suddenly as his quarry disappeared, slipping into an alley that he knew did not open into any other streets. What was she playing at?

Arching one aristocratic eyebrow, he shrugged and followed. Curiosity had already killed him once, and it had yet to cure him of his impulsive streak. Clearly the mouse had decided the game was to end, and he was more than willing to play along with whatever she had planned. Stepping into the mouth of the alley, it took him a moment to find her slight figure in the darkness. The moment his eyes locked onto hers, the shadows were chased away by lines of crackling, green light that slammed him against the wall. The power, her power, hummed through his body, painful, but oh-so-close to the line of something much more pleasant.

She stalked closer, eyeing him warily as he gasped for breath, and he saw the moment recognition lit her eyes. "Henry Fitzroy?"

He managed a shaky, but charming, smile. "At your service, Miss Alexander."

Her lips twitched for a moment, but the almost smile quickly faded into a glare. "Why in hell are you stalking me?"

Fascination, attraction, and the barest hint of anger swirled through him as he let his eyes shift to black. Ignoring her startled intake of breath, he bared his fangs. "You're the one who came to my city, Miss Alexander. I merely wanted to know what you are."

x

Taking a step back from the man who suddenly radiated with energy that rippled against her shields, she flashed back to their first meeting weeks ago, and to the sense of 'other' she'd felt then, but ignored, because it didn't have the all too familiar taint of alien energy. She'd thought her mind was playing tricks on her.

Now, faced with gleaming white fangs and obsidian eyes, she knew she shouldn't have dismissed what she'd sensed so easily, and felt hysteria began to bubble inside of her. "You first, Mr. Fitzroy."

He pulled away from the wall and straightened his clothes, in no way diminishing his predatory aura as he grinned at her, fangs still peeking out from behind his sensuous lips. "Surely I don't need to spell it out for you, Miss Alexander." She didn't reply, just glared, and he chuckled, a low sound that sent shivers down her spine. "Very well, I am Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of King Henry the Eighth, born in 1519, died in 1536." Cheekily baring his fangs once more, he winked. "I think you can fill in the blanks now, don't you?"

She could and she finally let the hysteria out, laughing for several moments until she cut herself off when his fangs disappeared and his eyes faded back to blue. "You have got to be kidding me."

Hadn't one life changing revelation that humans weren't alone on the planet been enough? Clearly the universe had it out for her, and ignoring his concerned and curious glance, she leaned back and flipped off the sky before looking back down and glaring at him again. "I am no threat to you Mr. Fitzroy, I am nothing you've ever heard of before, and I want no part of your life. Good bye."

He watched her walk away, small but vibrating with anger and power, and smiled. Vicky'd just gotten her wish, he'd found much more fascinating prey to stalk.