By the time Ulrich arrived I had showered and dressed and was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the lounge. I had been curled up in the chair for a while silently trying to keep control of my emotions. I had been so happy here that I was frankly terrified that Ulrich was coming to take me away for some reason. Worse, that he would hand me back to Lazlo! I was sure that Bill would fight to keep me but I knew that Ulrich was a very powerful vampire and Bill's opinion might not sway him if he had already made a decision.

We heard a car draw up in the driveway and Bill went to the door, I heard him greet Vincent, Ulrich's security guard who remained stationed at the front door and then he, Ulrich and another guard walked into the lounge.

I had not seen him since he had brought me to Carmillas that night and as he turned to look at me I thought he looked rather embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Bill" he said, looking around again and nodding to Alex. "But some problems have developed with our case against Lazlo.

"What?" said Bill. "After everything we've told you about him. Starting with our encounter in the 1930's!"

Ulrich moved to the sofa and sat down "think about it Bill" he said with a sigh So, he killed humans, his servants. Most vampires don't actually have a problem with that!"

Bill's voice had turned cold and angry. I could hear that he was saying something to Ulrich, listing Lazlo's crimes, but somehow everything sounded muffled. I tried to concentrate on Bill but all I could think about was Lazlo. I couldn't believe that Ulrich was actually suggesting that what he had done could possibly be considered acceptable. Did most vampires really think like this? Was Bill so very different? I felt a powerful anger beginning to build up inside me. These other vampires had probably never known Lazlo, what right did they have to judge his actions?

To his credit Ulrich was looking extremely uncomfortable. "Charles yes, we can charge him for that. You too Bill, and possibly for attacking Alex if he knew that she was yours, but as for Azaria" he turned to look at me for a moment. "Most vampires believe that they have a right to discipline their progeny."

"Discipline!" said Bill furiously "She spent nearly six hundred years locked in that coffin, surrounded with silver! A punishment that even The Authority has never inflicted on anyone, and she had done nothing to deserve it, nothing but express a wish to stay with her people!"

I sat curled in the chair, frozen with shock and felt the anger build up until I could almost feel the pressure of it on my skin. All the hatred and disgust I felt for him seemed to bubble up in my mind and overflow all at once. I felt my fangs snap down as I stared at Ulrich. He was suggesting that Lazlo had had a right to brutalize me the way he had, to rape me, to betray me to the priests of the old religion, and all because I was his "progeny" a fate which he himself had inflicted on me against my will.

Suddenly I felt it again...the agony of the silver setting a fire in my flesh. The horror of being locked into the darkness with only the pain for company I still don't remember actually getting up from the armchair. The next thing I recall was Ulrich's

security guard moving to block my path. He barely glanced at me, his confidence that he could protect his master against a small slim girl evident in his every movement. He was unaware that, being a member of a warrior race, in my youth I had spent many hours training with my father's guards whose skill in unarmed combat was renowned throughout the kingdom.

He stepped in front of me and leaned down to stop me. Hardly even thinking about what I was doing, I reached for his wrist and pulled him off balance, using his weight and momentum against him as I had been taught all those centuries ago. I had intended merely to throw him aside out of my way but I had failed to anticipate one of the effects of my long confinement. Although Bill had explained to me that vampires grow stronger with age, somehow I had not applied this knowledge to myself. I did not consider myself to be "old". However, when I twisted my body to throw the guard away from me, to my surprise he flew across the room and through the closed window onto the terrace!

I stared at the broken window for a moment and then turned back to Ulrich.

"Azaria!"

Bill's calm, quiet voice stopped me instantly in my tracks and I turned to look at him.

"Now you know we don't do that kind of thing in my house!" he glanced at the broken glass on the carpet. "You're going to have to pay for that window!"

I gave him a sheepish little smile and said "I'm sorry Bill, but I..."

"Yes, I understand." he said beckoning me over to him.

I walked across the room to him, Ulrich stepping rather hurriedly out of my way, and he took me in his arms and kissed me gently on the forehead. "We will do everything we can to see that he's punished, trust me. But if we fail, then it will not affect you, he has no power over you any longer. Do you understand?" I nodded and smiled up at him.

Bill turned back to Ulrich, his arm around my shoulders. "So what's happened exactly?" he asked. "The last time we spoke you were preparing a case against him. Gerry tells me that you called him in and made Lazlo release him so that he could give evidence."

"It appears that a backlash is building up in his favour. Some friend of his has arrived from the US claiming he's been victimised by The Authority, that he's being used as a scapegoat to appease the human public."

"When both Gerry and Azaria, his own progeny, are prepared to give evidence against him? Who is this?" asked Bill angrily, taking his arm from my shoulders. I moved back quietly to the armchair, watching Bill carefully.

"I don't know him myself, though other members of The Authority apparently do. A Viking, calls himself Northman."

Bill suddenly looked absolutely furious.

"Eric?"

"You know him?" asked Ulrich, looking surprised.

"Oh yes, I know him. I didn't know that he knew Lazlo but somehow I'm not surprised! Well ladies," he said turning to us "it appears that we're going to London to join the fight against Lazlo."

Ulrich sighed... "I'm sorry Bill, I know how much this means to you and Azaria but I'm afraid there is no fight against Lazlo."

I watched as Bill's lips curled into one of the most dangerous looking smiles I have ever seen, his brilliant blue eyes blazing with fury and I knew that if there was no fight before, there certainly was now!

I'm going to start one! He hissed.