The rooms they were supplied with were simple but very clean and comfortable, there was even a bowl of fruit on the table in Arthur's. He was given a private room while he knights shared the one next door and after a few minutes he found himself bored. The council would not be meeting for an hour and he hardly planned to sit around here all that time.

Trying not to look like he was sneaking around he made his way back through the corridors and out into the courtyard again. There were a few more people up and about now, crossing the green grass and chatting quietly as night fell, all human.

Curiously he crossed over to the other side of the yard, nobody took any notice of him, and jumped up the stairs and into the door that Lancelot and Merlin had gone through. This part of the castle was the same, though he noticed the curtains that hung down from the windows were made from thick velvet, in the day time no light would get through those. Some human thralls were currently opening them to let in the light of the moon, again they ignored him.

Obviously they were not used to visitors, they probably didn't realize who he was.

"That was a stupid thing to do you know."

"I had my cape and veil, I was safe."

Those were the voices of the prince and his thrall, Arthur peaked round the corner, the voices were coming from a room with a door slightly ajar.

"You can't just go out during the day! What if your cape or veil had ripped? Your father would have my head!" Lancelot argued.

"It was evening, the sun was setting the whole time." Merlin retorted, "I was safe. Besides, you get to go outside once in a while, you don't know what it's like being stuck inside the castle all the time."

"So sneak out at night!"

"But I-oh...Lancelot I think we have a visitor."

Arthur froze.

Lancelot stepped outside and gave him a strange look.

"You should wait in your quarters, sire." he spoke.

"Ah, yes I just got a little bored and decided to walk around a bit, I didn't realize it would be a problem."

"The meeting will be starting soon I suggest you wait in your rooms until you are collected." Lancelot replied before swiftly closing the door.

The prince knew when he was not welcome and quickly made his way back to his room to await the meeting, idly wondering if the vampire prince would be joining them.

-oOo-

The council rooms were, much to Arthur's surprise, under the castle. Besides it's strange position however it seemed much the same as Camelot's own chambers, stone pillars and flags surrounding a large oak table lined with chairs. The knights glanced at one another, perhaps they, like he, had been expecting something more gothic, black velvet and candles made of skulls.

Most surprisingly of all there was food laid out for each of his knights as well as himself at the end of the long table. Roasted venison as well as carrots, potatoes and beans. The vampire's places held nothing.

They all looked much like the prince, pale skin that shined slightly like marble stone, pointed canines and eyes that seemed to glow and gleam like jewels. Arthur also noted their nails were filed to points, like claws. He'd not noticed if the prince's were the same, he was not present. What amazed Arthur was the sheer amount of variety in the councils appearances, some had hair dark as night, while others was practically snowy in appearance, one woman had hair so red he'd actually thought it aflame for a few moments.

Balinor was a large figure with dark hair and golden-brown eyes, his queen Hunith was much the same, though her eyes were green like the emeralds she wore around her neck.

"We thought you would appreciate dinner." Balinor greeted, indicating for them to sit and join them.

"Thank you." Arthur replied as politely as possible and then added bravely, "Are you not all hungry?"

If the group were surprised by his query they did not show it.

"We ate earlier," Hunith replied, "We thought our way of feeding would disturb you, as you are not used to it."

"That was very considerate of you." Arthur replied trying to swallow the food and rid his stomach of the queasiness that had taken over.

The meeting went smoothly enough. Balinor explained how they had tired of a solitary life on their island and wished to be able to travel without causing an uproar or war. There were close to four hundred vampires as well as hundreds of thralls within the walls of the castle and they were simply running out of room, they wished to be able to expand, build a new castle and have a coven move there so that they may all live comfortably.

"You wish to build this structure within Camelot?" Arthur questioned, his father would never stand for that.

"We would build it somewhere far from your own of course," Balinor continued, "Perhaps int he Valley of the Fallen Kings. Somewhere where we would not disturb your own government of trade."

"Camelot is not in the habit of relinquishing land." Arthur argued.

"We do not require much room, we desire no territory, simply enough room to build another castle of this size and permission to hunt in the surrounding area." Hunith corrected, "This castle may look small but there are three times as many levels below ground as above, the same would go for the new one. Vampire do not require the outdoors like you do, we are happy living within stone walls, however we will need to be able to hunt and gather for food for our human servants."

"I will discuss things with my knights." Arthur dismissed, "If you don't mind, we need to sleep."

"Of course." Balinor nodded, indicating that they should leave.

"I hate to say it sire," Leon whispered as they walked back to their rooms, "But they seem quite reasonable, they're not even asking for much."

"We need to be wary, it could be a trap." Elyan hushed, Arthur nodded.

He bayed the men goodnight and stepped into his room, only to freeze when he realized he wasn't on his own. The vampire prince from the boat was sitting at the desk idly inspecting his sword, the one that had been specially plated with silver for this very mission.

"Does Camelot always coat their weapons in precious metals?" Merlin asked idly, "That must take quite some time."

Arthur swallowed nervously.

Merlin chuckled, "It's alright, I understand your nervousness, normal swords wouldn't do half the damage to a vampire that this one would."

"So vampires really are harmed by silver?" Arthur blurted out, dammit that was too obvious!

"Oh yes" Merlin muttered tossing the sword to his other hand, "Just as humans are harmed by arsenic or mercury."

"Are you going to tell the other's we're carrying weapons capable of harming you?" Arthur asked reaching for the sword which Merlin handed to him casually.

"Not yet," he shrugged, "We're not going to give you a reason to use them."

He seemed sincere, smiling lightly and looking Arthur in the eye to convey honesty. Arthur blinked in surprise, the golden sheen was missing from the vampire's eyes, the blue was still bright but it had lost some of it's gleam.

"Your eyes." He muttered dumbly, not really knowing what else to say.

"Oh yes." Merlin chewed his lip, "I didn't mean to make you nervous, I'll go find Lancelot."

What?

The vampire hurried toward the door in a way that seemed almost, self conscious, as if he were mentally berating himself.

"No I mean, why are your eyes a different colour now?" Arthur asked.

"Oh you don't..." Merlin made a face that Arthur imagined would be blushing if he was able, "My eyes are darker because I haven't eaten yet tonight."

The princes pulse quickened, he had a hungry vampire in his room!

"Oh don't look so scared." Merlin laughed, "I'm barely peckish and I'm hardly going to drink from you!"

The vampire rolled his eyes.

"Humans."

And then he was gone.


Okay, WOW this story got WAY more attention that I thought it would. Hurray! If I get that many reviews all the time I'll be writing 24/7!

For those who were wondering, yes I will be doing chapters from Merlin's view, but not just yet.

As for vampire powers/weaknesses, I know exactly what they are going to be and will reveal them slowly throughout the story.