King woke up with that damn Pomeranian licking his face and chains binding him to the ground yet again but this time the only voice he heard was Jarko's deep gravely chuckle. He shooed the dog away and forced himself to get up, looking around for any others and found that he was indeed alone with the over grown animal lover with a sadistic side toward his enemies.

"How the fuck did you get off your leash!" He demanded but Danica had made sure when she chained him back up after the battle that it would be difficult for him to 'use his god damn smart mouth'.

"We're going to pretend, because I have such good humor, that you were talking to Fluffy."

"I suppose I should have expected a dumb fuck name like that from you!"

Jarko laughed and began to move forward, "Drake wants to see you, he has the girl and she's under his protection."

"What about Abby and Blade?"

The blonde began to pull King up roughly, the dog running around the small cell in excitement, and, as further proof that neither of the Talos siblings were around, he did not strike King, "The king has made sure that Abby will receive proper burials, I believe he plans to let you and the girl attend but don't hold me to that. Blade escaped and ran."

King was silent for a moment, trying to fight back the tears. They had lost, the virus had been destroyed and all it's research with it, and Blade was gone. Now it was just him and Zoe; he had to be strong for her and try to make sure she stayed alive, not matter the cost. He could feel himself shaking and was surprised when Jarko moved to drop the chains then shut the door in front of them.

"Let it go now, little brother. If either of them see your hurt, it will be the end of you, and her, despite the king's protection," Jarko told him.

King looked at the man for a moment, tears filling his eyes before he collapsed into the man's embrace. Despite the blonde's attitude when Danica or Asher were present, the vampire had taken care of King, sneaking him blood and helping him, the first time he'd been turned… well, at least when he'd been brought back to their hide out by the crazy siblings.

Of course, if anyone asked the vampire he would deny it, but after King had taken the cure and Zoe had been born, Jarko had cornered them one night and then let them go; only after he'd been introduced to his 'niece'. King had been set out to kill all those of the Talos line and any weak vampire he could find but he'd always planned to protect the animal lover.

Once King had cried himself out Jarko pulled him up again and they headed for the door. As they headed for the stairs King tensed and it did not go unnoticed by his ex-brother, who immediately took a detour to the elevator. He spotted the conference room through the surrounding glass, it was being cleaned, and Danica appeared to be in charge. All the bodies seemed to have been removed from the premises; King had no doubt that was Asher's doing.

"You still shoved up the pretentious ass' backside?" King asked as they arrived at the top floor.

Jarko laughed, "I never did understand how you were able to be so contradicting to Danica. Asher's my sire and I couldn't defy him unless it was to help my king."

"It's a bit more complicated then you were ever privy to understanding."

"I'll keep that in mind," the blonde said as the knocked on the door at the end of the hall, the last of four doors on the whole corridor.

"Come in," Drake's unmistakable voice called to them.

The door opened and the dog took off into the room first and King relaxed as he heard his daughter squeal happily, "FLUFFY!"

She picked up the dog, which started to lick her face, and King looked at Jarko, "That thing draws fang it'll drop thirty stories, so help me god, I'll find a fucking way!"

"Daddy!" Zoe shouted and suddenly she was jumping in his arms. Despite the fact that he was sure to have a few broken ribs, he bent down to catch her and picked her up so that she was held close to his chest. The god damn Pomeranian started to attack King's pant leg viciously, obviously offended that his play mate had abandoned him for the other human.

"Jarko, I've allowed that thing to live because it seems to amuse Zoe so much," came Drake's voice and King immediately zeroed in on him, lying on the bed with an open dress shirt on and cargo pants. He tried very hard not to be attracted to the vampire but he wasn't blind and so he just wrote it off as a natural reaction.

"While that maybe so, my patience is thin now and if you don't get it out of here, it won't last very long," he finished with a hiss and Zoe proceeded to lose her top, kicking away from King to try and get to the little creature, tears evident in her voice.

"No, not Fluffy! He's just playing and he'd just a puppy," She all but screamed in her hysterics, picking up the little creature and then looking back at Drake. Hannibal just about died of shock as he saw the king of fucking vampires melt for a little girl.

"Alright Zoe, he won't get hurt, but he does have to go now," Drake said. Zoe nodded and handed the dog over to Jarko, who offered his niece a small smile and a ruffle of her hair.

"Do I still get a kitty?" Zoe asked as Jarko turned to head for the door.

Again he smiled at her, "Of course Brat, we'll pick out one in a couple of days."

King was about to let a string of curses and objections fly but seeing his daughter so excited made him stop and glare at the back of Jarko's head. He jumped however when a deep voice called to the blonde from right behind him.

"Send a doctor to look at King's injuries."

"Yes, my lord."

Once the man was gone King turned to face the first vampire, his hand that was holding Zoe's grasped a little tighter. Drake seemed to read this movement and grabbed his other hand, pulling him toward the bed quickly, never leaving eye contact in case King was to move to flee. It was a moot point however because King was too busy trying to recall every story he'd heard about the vampire during childhood so that he could think of a way out of it.

"Don't be afraid of me, I could never harm you," Drake said to him as he pushed the young man down onto his bed. He was not surprised that Zoe stayed standing, trying to gage her position between the two men, "Zoe, why don't you go and get a movie to watch?"

"Okay!" She said as she took off across the hall.

King tried to bolt up but was held down by Drake, "Do not move or you will injure yourself further. Her room is directly across the hall and I could hear if anyone else were on this floor. It is just us, so she is perfectly safe."

"She is being held prisoner in a vampire fortress; that is not perfectly safe."

"I would never allow a child to be harmed if I were around," Drake said, "Your child I would die for."

"What do you want from me?"

"You've known the answer to that from the moment we saw one another in the doctor's office. I want you, all of you, everything."

"Why me?"

"You are my mate. That makes Zoe my daughter. I know that it is hard for you to accept and we will discuss your first time as a vampire but do not try to fight it, to fight me. I know that Danica was not a good experience but it will be a very different experience with me as your sire."

Looking into those eyes Hannibal almost let his anger fly and spilt his entire life story but realizing what he was about to do he looked away and buried those memories deep, deep, down. "You are not going in my head! I'm not becoming a vampire again! And I most certainly am not your mate, nor is she your daughter!"

Drake sighed, "My love, I know this is hard for you, and I do not expect you to accept this all at once. I will never force you to do something you do not want to do. I will never enter your head without permission or delve deeper than you would permit. I will earn your trust and make you want to be mine, but one thing I cannot allow is for there to be others; at least not until you have given yourself fully to me."

Before King could even begin to process what the vampire had just said, Zoe was running back in with her movie, Aladdin. Jarko arrived back with the doctor, Asher on his heels this time, and Zoe quickly moved away from the man. Hannibal had taught his daughter to stay away from Danica and Asher, and Jarko when anyone else was around.

"What do you want, Asher?" Hannibal was shocked to hear Drake growl at the other vampire as he picked up Zoe.

"My lord, Danica would like to know when her toy will be released?" Asher said with all the bravo of a laughing hyena but when Drake snarled viciously he backed down like one as well.

"If you ever refer to my mate that way again I will make your life hell! Now take your childe and leave or I will crucify you both!"

Asher scrambled away and Jarko followed him, although at a slower pace. The doctor remained still as Drake was still hissing threateningly and Zoe's whimpers seemed to fall on deaf ears. Trying to convince himself that he was only concerned for the well fare of his child, who was still cradled in the furious vampire's arms, King stepped forward.

He reached out and rubbed Drake's arm soothingly. Once the vampire had turned to face him, he noted that most of the anger seemed to die off, "Calm down, you're scaring Zoe."

Drake placed the young girl on the bed and then pushed King to lie down as well before he signaled for the doctor to join them. It took fifteen minutes and several curses for Hannibal's examination to be finished. He was confined to the bed not including the bathroom, for two weeks. After that he would only be allowed to move around provided that he didn't use the stairs and that his ribs remained bandaged.

This required several more curses, which luckily Zoe didn't hear because she was setting up her movie, along with the help of Fluffy. Apparently Jarko had forgotten the animal and Zoe was paranoid about Drake hurting him so she was guarding the dumb creature with her life.

"Are you ready Zoe?"

"Yep," She said as she came over to the bed with Fluffy under one arm and the remote in her other hand.

King had been propped back against the pillows, his dirty and bloody attire traded out for sleeping pants and bandages around his ribcage. He tried very hard not to tense when Drake laid down beside him on the bed and placed an arm around him, leaving enough room for Zoe to sit between them with the furry abomination.

As the movie played King pondered many things. He could not help but wonder what Danica hoped to accomplish by lying to Drake about their past and he wondered how long he could keep it a secret. Drake had promised not to enter his mind without permission but that was only a temporary fix, eventually it would come out, one way or another.

Zoe fell asleep right after Prince Ali came into town but they continued to watch, King almost thought it endearing that Drake found a movie, which was now considered old, to be so fascinating. He was looking at the vampire when 'A Whole New World' was playing and was caught off guard when he was suddenly looking into glowing amber eyes. He did not have to be a mind reader to understand the connection Drake had made to them and the song.

He glanced away and they finished watching the movie together, Zoe waking up near the end, refusing to admit to having fallen asleep. Once the movie was finished, the little girl moved to curl up in their bed, Drake's bed, but Hannibal set out to move her to what she was already referring to as 'her' room.

"No," Drake said as King moved to pick the little girl up, "You're not supposed to be out of bed but if you insist on 'tucking her in' the least you can do it let me carry her."

King was ready to protest but Zoe was already moving into Drake's waiting arms and he decided that it wasn't worth the pain it would cause his chest. Fluffy woke up at their movements and moved to follow his new friend, although Hannibal wasn't sure how he felt about that and Drake seemed to notice.

"Fluffy, go find Jarko," he said and then continued walking. The dog however just kept trailing along behind him and when he noticed this he released a fierce growl. Fluffy went running to the stairs and disappeared down them, causing Zoe to glare at Drake.

"He's just a puppy!" she maintained her argument from earlier.

"Zoe, I didn't want him sleeping in your room," King said, bringing his hand up to rub his chest absentmindedly. By this time they had arrived in Zoe's room and Drake was laying her underneath the covers.

"Drake said that he would let me decorate it any way I wanted!" Zoe told her dad in an excited voice that only a little girl could manage.

"That's awesome," King told his little doodlebug, not daring to sit on the bed for fear of the pain it would cause. He kissed her forehead before she lay down to minimize the friction on his ribs.

Zoe nodded, "I wish I had a girl to help me."

Suddenly an image of a girl dressed in white, with blonde hair and dread locks assaulted King before he could bury the memory. He looked away from Zoe for a moment, trying to keep the tears from assaulting him, before looking back at her, "Well, maybe you can blackmail Jarko into helping you since you saved Fluffy."

This seemed to excite the girl who burrowed underneath the covers and accepted the kiss from Drake good night as well. King tried very hard to ignore the warmth in his stomach, or pass it off as nausea. When the vampire placed a hand on his lower back and gently led him from the room, the feeling grew exponentially but Hannibal stuck to the same theory.

Once back in… Drake's room, the hunter found himself being tucked in as well. He tried to bury the part of him that wanted to snuggle with the vampire, along with all the other parts of himself that he had stored away.

"Relax, my love," Drake said as he pulled King gently to him, careful not to jostle the injured man. He could hear Zoe's heartbeat across the hall and was quick to settle his mate so that the man would be in the same deep sleep. Although he wanted his mate to rest and be well, there were a few things that he wanted to settle first, "Will you allow me to ask you a few questions?"

King knew that he was in no position to refuse but his instincts told him, as well as everything he'd ever heard or seen about vampire mates, that should he refuse, it would be honored, "Okay."

"What relationship do you have with Jarko?"

He almost lied, it would have been safer for his brother if he'd lied, but King could not bring himself to lie to Drake about this, it wasn't worth it, "Jarko took care of me when Danica had me before. He's the only reason I'm still alive and believe it or not, when he's not around the duo of crazy, he's not a bad guy. He even sees Zoe as his niece but Asher is his sire and he can't defy him when the bastard is near."

"Would you permit me to see what it was like? When you were with Danica?"

King froze, this was worth lying! This was worth trying to run and escape as far as he was concerned but Drake seemed to realize where his mind had gone and moved to soothe him immediately, "I will not force you to do so. You could just think of a memory and I will not go any deeper than that, it will be like a… what do you call it… time line and I will only see what you wish me to see."

Hannibal thought about this and thought about the day that Danica drug him back here, to vampire central, then he looked at Drake and nodded. Drake's probing wasn't a painful entry, like when Danica had done her own voodoo mind trick on him. Instead he still felt like he was in total control and Drake was just an observationist.

He showed the vampire king all the rape, the torture, the blood loss, and some of the verbal torment, but certainly not all. He also showed him Jarko's help and meeting the hunters, his need for revenge on the Talos siblings, though no specifics about when he took the cure or how he wanted to kill 'weak' vampires, and finally, although Drake hadn't actually asked to see it, he showed the vampire when Zoe was conceived, born, and when she met Jarko.

He cut Drake off then and looked away. He had never shared that much with anyone, not since Danica used him as her toy. He didn't have it in him to fight Drake when the man used a hand to pull his chin up and accepted the butterfly kiss shocked, "Thank-you for sharing with me. I promise you they will not get away with what they did to you."

Silently King moved to tuck his head into the vampire's neck and allowed the feeling of security to wash over him as Drake tightened his hold. He inhaled the scent and it made him freeze; red wine and magic, which was like an old mixture of citrus and dark chocolate. He tried to pull away quickly but his sudden terror had put Drake on edge and the vampire tightened his hold.

"Shh, it's alright. Calm down and tell me what's wrong," he encouraged, stroking his mate's hair, "I know that there is something you are hiding. Just tell me and I'll take care of it."

King shook his head, "It's nothing… it's nothing," he commented, evening out his breathing but not inhaling deeply. He started to doze quickly and barely heard Drake's reply.

"Soon you'll feel safe enough to tell me, and then, whatever it is, I'll fix it," He promised, kissing the top of Hannibal's head.

…

A/N: I know that I haven't uploaded a story in forever and a day. I hit this rut where I had great ideas but couldn't finish them to save my life! This story is ready to post however, so as I get reviews it will be uploaded! Let me know what you think; flames are nothing but a fire to make my s'mores with! I own absolutely nothing!