Chapter 4

"Ripper? We are doing the right thing, aren't we?" Tony asked softly, his voice worried. He huddled closer to his… surrogate Sire was the closest he could come to describing the way he felt about the older Aurelian.

"I don't think we really had much of a choice, Tony," the other admitted with a sigh as he let his arms tighten around his younger companion.

They had been escorted back to their quarters the previous evening by Spike, who had stayed with them for most of the night. The provided game room had been well equipped with a modern sound system, a large flat-screen TV, and an extensive video library. There were also pool tables, darts, cards and chips—even a variety of board games was available. Partway through the night, a selection of snack foods was brought in, on the off chance that some of these vampires still ate human foods—Spike dived on the popcorn, claiming it for himself. Several bags of whole blood, along with cans of soda, were in a small refrigerator, and there was even a microwave to heat up the blood.

For Ripper and Tony, the night had been a good one, and they had kept themselves occupied, playing poker with Spike, for pretzels in lieu of actual cash, enabling them not to think about their situation. They had tumbled into bed after their morning serving of blood—their own beds, in their own quarters, but that didn't last. Tony was soon at the connecting doorway into Ripper's quarters, asking if he could sleep in there, "just for the day." He was able to sleep, finally, as Ripper cradled him in his arms and started to purr. If he had any doubts, the older vampire didn't let on.

Now, though, it was late the next afternoon. Spike was gone on his recruiting trip, and they were alone, at the mercy of the military, should this all prove to be a ruse. Again Ripper sighed softly. "We were going to have to move on sooner or later, Tony; Lucretia was getting more erratic and paranoid. And wherever we ended up next, it would have been pretty much the same, unless we went to one of the really big courts, like DC, or New York, or Chicago. I don't know about you, but after dealing with old Heinrich, I've had enough of that ceremonial BS. I think that this is our best bet, but even unlife is a gamble, Tony. Especially now that there are so many Slayers out in the world. No matter where we went, the chances were good that we'd run into one, and I'm not that great a fighter, boy. Neither are you."

"Yeah, I know," Tony admitted morosely, then suddenly perked up. "Hey, maybe we can learn to fight better here, huh? I mean, they train their Special Forces to fight, an' we're supposed to be like that, sorta…"

Ripper laughed and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, something like that," he agreed, but added cautiously, "They may not want to risk playing that rough with us; they might be afraid of being bitten. So if you want that training, we'd best have them chip you, Tony. They'll land a hit wrong, and you'll lose your temper; you're… Hell, we're both too used to thinking of the humans as just food, as not mattering. You don't have good enough control yet, but that might help you learn it."

Tony's eyes flashed yellow briefly as he scowled, but he kept from going completely into gameface. "You're probably right," he finally admitted unhappily. "Master Spike survived the experience; I guess I can, too."

"Good boy," Ripper praised him, for he hadn't wanted to force this on his younger brother. "I'll say something to Fielding when I see him next. Come on, though; chow time. I hear humans coming, and I smell human blood. Get your clothes on; too many humans have a weird attitude about nudity, I've noticed, and we have no need to shock the poor creatures."

Laughing, Tony rose from the bed and headed into his own quarters just as someone knocked on the closed glass front of Ripper's room. With the curtains to both front entrances closed, no one could see in, fortunately. Within moments, both vampires were dressed and looking out into the hallway. A young, tough-looking sergeant stood there, carefully balancing a tray with two very large, covered mugs.

"Ah, dinner has arrivved," Ripper quipped, intentionally mispronouncing the word as he accepted the tray. "Thanks. We appreciate it getting here still warm."

"Not a problem, sir," the soldier replied, a twitch of the lips indicating an aborted grin. "Major says, just ring if you need anything else—except alcohol. That's off-limits for now, he said. I'll bring your breakfast by, come morning. Have a good night, sir."

Tony looked on in amusement from his room. "Sir, huh? Who died and made you an officer?"

Ripper looked over at him and smirked. "Before I died, you mean. They made me an officer back in 1914—I was a captain in the Artillery Corps. I guess someone looked up my old records and decided to carry the commission forward."

"Geez, that's not fair," Tony grumbled playfully. "I just made PFC before I got turned. Bummer." He watched, contented, as Ripper laughed once more before passing over one of the mugs of warm blood. "You never said anything about that before," Tony added, sobering somewhat.

The older vampire just shrugged. "It wasn't relevant before now," he said, then drank some of his blood. Swallowing, he looked at the mug in surprise. "Hey, this is fresh," he said, tasting no chemicals in it. "Drink up, before it coagulates!" He followed his own advice, chugging down the mugful quickly, as Tony did likewise.

"I don't think we should count on a treat like this every day," Ripper cautioned once he'd finished his meal. "They promised human, true, but they said bagged, and this blood never saw the inside of a plastic bag."

"Maybe not, Rip, but I won't complain about getting the occasional fresh offering," Tony answered, feeling a warm glow of satisfaction. "At least they seem willing to let us be vampires, an' not some kind of glorified watchdog." He grinned at his companion. "So, what are we gonna do tonight?"

~oOo~

They amused themselves once more in the dayroom, but Ripper could see that, by morning, Tony was looking a little restless. That same sergeant brought them more blood for their breakfast, as he called it, although it was more like dinner to the vampires. Then they were left alone once more.

Tony didn't even pretend to stay in his own bed that day. He stripped down and washed up, then crawled under the covers with Ripper. He was restless and nervous, and desperately needed the comfort he could draw only from being close to his senior. He needed to know that he was valued, was wanted.

Slowly Ripper stroked the younger vampire, understanding what the other needed only too well. Yes, he was a Master now himself, but there were still times that he very much missed their Sire, times he wished for just such solace as he gave to Tony. At last the younger vampire fell asleep, but Ripper was worried. He would have to find some way to let him burn off all this extra energy. He really had to talk to Fielding, and sooner rather than later.

~oOo~

"I need to talk to the major, Sergeant," Ripper calmly announced when their blood was brought in, late the next afternoon.

"Certainly, sir," the young human said, passing over the tray with its burden of mugs. "I'll let him know immediately."

"Thank you. What's your name, soldier? You seem to be our designated… what, handler? Orderly?" Ripper asked, not sure how to refer to him.

"Downey, Benjamin B., sir," the man answered, keeping a straight face. "I'm not sure I know what you mean by 'handler,' sir," he added, sounding somewhat confused. "The major assigned me to see that you had what you needed—meals and such—until the training program started, sir. He did mention that others of your people would be coming, but I don't think that I'm one of your designated companions. Those guys hang pretty much by themselves, sir."

"So they've already selected the humans to work with us," Ripper mused quietly, watching the waiting soldier thoughtfully. "Did they tell you what we are, Sergeant?" he asked, keeping his voice carefully level.

"Kinda hard to miss, sir, considering…" he waved a hand slightly in the direction of the tray of blood and grinned. "Major swore that I wasn't gonna be on the menu, so it's cool, sir."

Ripper snorted. "Yeah, you're not on the menu. Just be careful around the Childer, though; they haven't as good control as a Master does."

"Yes, sir; man-eating tigers," he replied, still calm. "I was told, sir, to deal primarily with you. Master Spike said basically the same thing—only more British, and a lot more colorful." The laughter was clear in his voice as he remembered exactly how the English vampire had explained the situation. "I'd best go, sir, and find Major Fielding for you."

"Thank you," Ripper said, finally allowing the human to walk away.

"Fielding, huh?" Tony commented softly. "Gonna get me chipped?"

"I'm going to see that you stay out of trouble," Ripper corrected gently as he passed over one mug of blood. "Here; eat your breakfast before it gets cold. It's human, but bagged —I can smell the plastic."

"That's fine," Tony answered as he accepted his mug to take a sip. "It's what we were told we'd get. At least it's warm. I wonder what the assigned humans will be like?" he mused thoughtfully, lowering his mug. "I kinda like that Downey guy."

"He is comfortable around us," Ripper agreed, finishing his own blood. "We'll just have to wait and see. Right now, I have to talk to the Major, so go keep yourself occupied, okay? Keep out of trouble; enough will find us, once there are more of us here."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Tony laughed at Ripper, ducking the blow the latter playfully aimed at his head. He was still chuckling as he watched the older vampire leave with his escort, to go and talk to Fielding.

~oOo~

"What can I do for you, Master Ripper?" Fielding said after the vampire had been shown into his office. "Close the door; talk to me. You getting enough blood?"

"The blood is fine, although there could be a bit more, especially once we're more active, sir," Ripper said, striving to remember the manners he'd learned when he'd been alive. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." He settled into the chair across the desk from the major, although he hadn't been invited to sit. The human said nothing about the breach of courtesy, but just politely waited for his visitor to continue.

"We're… In some respects we're a lot like wild animals, Major; we're not used to being caged. We're out nearly every night, roaming around our home turf, even if we're not actively hunting. Any confinement is hard, especially on younger vampires; they're still reveling in their new power and heightened senses. I guess what I'm trying tell you—or ask, rather—is if there's somewhere we can get out to 'play' tonight. I'm feeling constrained, and Tony is getting downright antsy.

"This is a base; do you have a training area here? An obstacle course, maybe?" If he'd needed to breathe, Ripper would have been holding his breath, waiting to see how restricted they would be.

Fielding laughed. "We train Rangers here, among other personnel; of course we have an obstacle course. I don't see why you two can't go run it—you don't need lights, do you? There's only minimal lighting in that area…"

Ripper laughed back. "Creatures of the night, here," he replied. "Of course, you'll see our eyes glowing in the dark, since we'll most likely be in gameface."

"Gameface?" Fielding asked, then gasped as the vampire demonstrated. "Oooo…kay," he said, regaining his composure. He'd seen it before after all, on Master Spike, but hadn't known what they referred to that form as. "Not something I'd like to run into on a dark night in a deserted alley, Master Ripper. There won't be any problem with self-control for Tony, will there? I've heard that he made some of the doctors quite nervous during his physical, snarling at them."

"Yeah," Ripper admitted with a sigh. "That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I think you'd best chip Tony, just until this training of yours is finished. His control is still just a bit too shaky, and I don't want him to get too used to me being what he relies on to prevent mistakes. In fact, I'd suggest you chip all the Childer that Master Spike sends you. I don't know them, or who their Sires might be. Or even if their Sires will be here with them. I hate having to say this, but I promised Master Spike that we would do our best to make this work, for the honor of our Clan. You do realize that Spike isn't just a Master, but the most senior Aurelian Master in the US, right? Angel doesn't count; he didn't want to be Master of Aurelius; his soul interferes too much."

Fielding paused thoughtfully at Ripper's words. "I get the impression that your bloodlines and clan connections are a lot more important than we were previously led to believe. We're gonna have to pay attention to that, aren't we?"

"Unless you want fighting and/or bloodshed, yes," Ripper said, nodding his head emphatically. "Tony and I are Aurelian, but not the direct line. Our Sire was Franklin, who was Childe of Josephus, who was Childe of Luke, who was Childe of the Master Heinrich's—He was Master of Aurelius before Spike—Master Heinrich's lesser-known and much weaker 'sibling,' Irena. So we're a minor line, but our clan is very old, as old as Clan Dracul. I have no idea what other lines and clans will be coming here, but they will be juggling for position and status, secondary to Tony and me. We will help you any way we can, to smooth things out, but you will have to help maintain precedence by not showing too much undeserved favor to lower-status lines."

"Most of the personnel you'll be working with may not understand the significance," Fielding said, almost to himself, before looking back at Ripper searchingly. "Is there some way we can indicate status? Maybe some way to mark your quarters? It's not that unusual to have name-plates on barracks-room doors for permanent-party occupants. The practice varies by base. Perhaps we could do something like that for all incoming vampires and their handlers?"

Ripper's brow lowered as he thought this over. Finally he spoke, his words still slow and pensive. "The important facts would be Sire and Clan. How would you propose to indicate that?"

Fielding had been thinking hard. "Hell, you're… Ripper, do you have another name? A personal name?"

"Richard, although no one uses it anymore, since my sire, Franklin, dusted," the vampire answered, his voice showing his distaste at his old human name.

Fielding nodded his head now. "Well, what I would suggest would be something like, 'Richard, called Ripper, Childe of Franklin, clan Aurelius.' It would fit on three lines on a nameplate… No?" he asked at the vampire's frown.

"No," Ripper answered definitively. "You still haven't addressed the issue of status. I'm a Master… The rest is unwieldy. So, I would suggest it go, 'Master Ripper,' then below that, 'Richard, Childe of Franklin,' then last line, just 'of Aurelius;' we know our own clan standing. A minion wouldn't have 'Childe' in his designation, though, in case you get some here eventually, but you'd still have to indicate who turned him or her. Who Sired them, yes?"

"We usually abbreviate rank on nameplates," the major mused, then grinned. "How about this for you?" he said, jotting something on a piece of paper and handing it to Ripper.

Master Ripper (Richard)
Chi-Franklin of Aurelius

"One who just goes by a former name would still be able to put it in a standard format," Fielding added as Ripper looked at the paper.

"Ah. So we would then have 'Tony (Anthony), chi-Franklin of Aurelius,' and the very fact that there is no 'Master' posted is telling in and of itself," Ripper said, pleased now. "Do you shorten 'Sired by' to simply 'Si-'?"

"We could do that," Fielding said with a chuckle.

"Good; that's settled, then," Ripper announced. "Now, about our run tonight…"

~oOo~

Times changed, as did obstacle courses over the years, providing a more challenging workout to reflect better training techniques. Major Fielding sent for Sergeant Downey to have him demonstrate the approved technique for negotiating the Rangers' course, although he had to do it much slower than usual because of what for him was poor lighting. Tony and Ripper were thrilled with the course, changing into gameface and throwing themselves into it with a passion. They broad-jumped the water obstacle instead of using the rope to swing across, and went over the six-foot wall in a single leap; the twenty-foot tower required Tony to touch a foot to it once on the way up. The humans goggled at the vampires' speed; their stamina was incredible as they went around the course three times before stopping, and didn't seem tired in the least by their exertions.

"Will all of your people be able to perform like that?" Fielding asked in awe, realizing now just what an asset these vampires could be in the field.

"They should," Ripper confirmed, watching a happy Tony go over the tires again, just because he could. "He's got a lot of extra energy to burn; you've been getting very fresh blood for us, even if it is bagged. Higher-quality food can make a big difference, and not just in how fast our injuries heal."

"So I see," Fielding responded, then started to turn away, but paused. "I'm gonna sack out for a bit; we're expecting our first intake of recruits sometime this morning. Master Spike called to say he was sending two or three down from New Jersey. I would be honored if you would be there with me to meet them, Master Ripper." The Major had had quite a long conversation with the bleached-blond when he'd called to arrange transport for his recruits, and Fielding was in full agreement that it would be better for everyone if Ripper was seen to be the vampire in charge of this unit. The Aurelians seemed to have a vested interest in making the project work, and what good was it to have a consultant on tap if you weren't going to listen to him when he had suggestions? Spike's clan was old and honored; he had a cooperative Master Vampire already in place and another of the direct line was doing the recruiting. So this unit would be an Aurelian nest, as suggested by Spike, with Ripper as Master of the mixed Court to be established there. Ripper would lay down all laws, and uphold them, among these military vampires, and Fielding would see to it that he was supported in any way necessary. And then they would see what could be accomplished to justify this excursion into the supernatural.

He jumped as Tony suddenly appeared behind him, and a puff of air hit his ear as the young vampire whispered, "Boo!" before spinning away with a laugh. Yes, they would definitely need more exercise, he realized and sighed once more.