9.

So, let's see. Here I was riding across town with THE (all caps, italicized, even when spoken) master vampire, and I felt like crying. Was it proper etiquette for the co-leader of the X-men, the mistress of the elements, the big bad vampire hunter herself to cry? I mean, if I cried right at this moment, was there any chance of me salvaging my reputation as a certified bad ass? I did work hard for this reputation, after all, so surely one little teardrop wouldn't jeopardize that. Right? Maybe if Vega wasn't in the car it wouldn't.

Vega was smug, too smug. My ego was taking a real blow. I had nothing better to do than go searching for prostitutes. I should be allowed one good cry. I would feel better, but I wouldn't cry if it meant taking myself down a notch. Okay, maybe it wasn't as bad as all that, but Vega was sitting in my car, and he's convinced that we have some deep soulful connection. I admit it. He's my main problem. He's making my life hell, though!

I was trying to convince myself that this wasn't bad, but Vega made me nervous. I expected him to blabber until my ears bled. He's good at that type of thing, y'know, and I actually might've felt a little better if did talk until my head started to throb. He didn't talk, though, and I had to look at him every few seconds to make sure that he really was sitting beside me. I didn't like quiet vampires, especially not quiet master vampires. When master vampires weren't prattling on about themselves; that meant they were up to no good. No good always meant I was probably going to have to kick somebody's ass. I didn't feel like kicking anybody's ass right now. I felt like crying. Give me a break.

"Comfy?" I asked. Yeah, I just had to break the silence. Forget all those rules about whoever breaks the silence first loses the advantage. I needed him to say something, and I needed him to say it now.

"You care?"

I didn't have to look at him to see that smug "why-don't-you-smack-me-I-might-like-it" grin. Touché, Mr. Vampire.

"No, not particularly, just making small talk." Since I have to be stuck in a car with you and there are a thousand bad ways this could end just because you're here, I wanted to add. But I'm a woman of decorum, but if he said small talk was for mortals, I was going to pull off the road. I'd been called "mortal" instead of Ororo enough times by preternaturals to think it was my name. They liked to point out they had an advantage over you, and it wasn't just limited to vampires. I had to give Vega that, though. He never called me mortal. Small miracle.

"You are nervous, mi belleza," he said. Never a question, always an assumption. I just shook my head and let out an aggravated snort.

See, I've been working on that with Logan. Kill 'em with attitude. I wonder what Logan's doing right now. I hope he wasn't worrying about me. He doesn't know what I'm up to, and I've been telling him everything lately. He's going to be mad with me. Why was I thinking about Logan when I had a hooker to track? I'm getting the fuzzies.

"Mi belleza is not my name," I said mimicking his accent as badly as I could. I hope he hated it. I hope it made him wince. I hope it made him want to get out the car. I didn't like being called mortal, but I wasn't fond of "mi belleza" either. I wasn't his anything.

And oh goddess, Vega was touching my hand. He traced a light blue vein barely visible through my skin. His fingers were smooth, cold like ice. His touch was gentle, almost seductive. I swallowed hard, thinking about how those fingers might feel on other parts of my anatomy. I'm supposed to be pissed at him, but I'm getting the fuzzies again. This time they're for Vega. Oh, gross… well, not really…

"STOP TOUCHING ME!" I yelled nearly veering off the road in a mad effort to cover. My cheeks were flaming, and I hoped he didn't notice. Of course, he noticed. He noticed everything. Whether he chose to give me a hard time or not about it was entirely up to him. I wouldn't look at him, but I kept expecting some witty reply about how much I wanted it. He seemed to like pointing out that one fact.

Silence.

"For someone who had a lot to say earlier, you sure are quiet now."

More silence.

I hate that.

Wait, was he offended that I yelled at him? Well, maybe I don't hate that.

He was back to the ghost act. He started changing the damn radio stations without my permission, and goddess, he's stuck in the sixties. I hate him. Why won't he just die already? Wait, maybe, I shouldn't want him to die because I might die. We haven't really discussed that, but I would remember to bring that up soon.

Other than bothering my radio, he was so… still… Normal people aren't that still. Non-vampires fidget. We shake our legs, make stupid facial expression, pick at lint. You catch my drift. It's one of the rules of life. He didn't move one inch, and it made me nervous. And I felt like poking him one good time to make him do something. Okay, I had to calm down or I was going to do something stupid. Whether stupid included trying to stake him or trying to jump in his lap, I couldn't tell you—maybe both.

We were silent as we entered the district. He made me edgy, but I was controlling it. I turned my attention instead to the freakshow outside. Everywhere someone was selling something, whether it was with a bright pink neon sign screaming, "XXX!" or if it was some woman in bright pink shorts trying to throw a little leg your way. This was not somewhere I wanted to be. I wasn't comfortable here. I didn't have a right to judge anyone, but the desperation that lined these streets made me uneasy.

When I parked (between some "massage parlor" and Madame Esmeralda's psychic friends with a "live nude girls show"), I glanced over at Vega who'd rested his head against the windshield. His eyes were closed tightly, and his chest was heaving like an asthma sufferer having an attack. He was having a damn vampire heart attack in my frigging car! Oh hell no! "Vega!" I said, hoping I didn't sound as panicky as I was feeling. I'd never seen him do that. Maybe he was allergic to neon lights.

He opened his eyes slowly, tilting his head slightly to look at me. "Yes?" he said. He looked a little pale now in the light, and his eyes weren't glowing as brightly as they had at the club. He looked sort of vulnerable, actually, almost needy. What in the world was going on with him?

"What is wrong with you?" I asked, hoping he didn't say something like his chest felt tight. If he passed out, could I even do CPR on him? An asthmatic vampire, that was almost funny.

"I can just feel a lot of life here," he answered, looking back to the streets. "There's a lot of pain here. There are a lot of people searching for something they'll never find here."

Thank you, Father Vega, for that rousing sermon. He looked over at me again, and I felt my senses start to tingle. I'm telling you ol' Spidey has nothing on me when it comes to vampires. I have a second sense when it comes to preternaturals. I guess it's part of "the gift" of being able to raise the dead.

I shrank away from his gaze a little, as my grip tightened on the wheel. "You haven't fed tonight, have you?" I asked, just as my pulse decided to throb in my neck. I was just hoping it wasn't telling him it was feeding time. How do I always get myself in these positions? Why didn't I notice this before now? Probably because Vega was good at illusion, and I was too busy being attracted and angry with him at the same time to really notice.

"You tell me."

"Smartassery is not one of your attractive traits." Sweet goddess, I had a starving vampire on my hands. Now, I didn't know if I was going to have to protect myself from the denizens here or if I was going to have to beat him off some poor person's neck while he gnawed on it like a hambone. "You cannot feed here, Vega. You cannot. You cannot!"

Yes, I was repeating myself, but I wanted to make sure he knew that I wasn't going to let that happen on my watch. Already a million horror scenarios were playing in my head. All of them involved Vega wreaking havoc on the people in this area. How could I be so stupid to think I could actually bring someone like Vega anywhere?

"You forbid me to hunt?" he asked. I could hear the amusement in his voice, but only because he let me. That was the thing with vampires. They let you in on just enough for you to want to kill them. Right now, I was wondering if he'd like it if I wrapped all that pretty hair around his throat. Too bad he wasn't human.

"I know you have to feed, just don't do it here, and don't do it in front of me," I said with a roll of my eyes. Couldn't he see that he was being unreasonable? Of course, he did. He knew what I was, what I did. Was he trying to see how far he could push my hand? Hell yes.

"And why not?"

Oh, damn him. "Because I asked you to come with me. I didn't force you here. You knew you needed to feed. You should've stayed where you were. And it's illegal for you to hunt unwilling victims."

"So it is. Punishable by death, correct?"

He knew the rules as well as I did. Who did he think he was playing? I'll play along for right now.

"Yes."

"By your hand."

"If you push me."

"And you care about these people? They're scum. Who will miss them? You?" He sounded snotty and all-knowing, a very different Vega from moments ago who actually sounded sorry for these people.

I was about to bitch slap a master vampire, and he was probably going to hit me back. I could feel my hand just itching to slap the smug out of him. But I can contain myself. Really. "That's not for you to decide. Others may fall at your feet in worship, but I do mind you playing god. You have no right."

"So, all life, no matter how depraved means something."

He was challenging me. I didn't like it.

"Yes, it does. All life carries meaning, and that meaning isn't yours to decide."

"And who should decide if not me? You?"

"I do what I have to do to protect others."

"For the greater good you can take lives?"

"Why are you asking me all these questions? Can't you just sniff them right out of me or something?"

"Sadly, I gave that up when I marked you."

Why did he tell me that? Shouldn't he try to withhold as much as vampirely possibly to use to his advantage. This was a war after all, and he was giving me the advantage. "Let's not talk about this. Look, don't do anything unless someone attacks us first. Got it?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. I guess it was pretty funny that a human was trying to give orders to a master vampire. I might've laughed, but he was hungry. I had to do what I had to do and get him the hell away from here. Let's go team!

Loud music (apparently every establishment on this strip of concrete had a preference—none of it the same) blared at us. Every other sign had a "topless woman" or the "man of your dreams" usually with leather somewhere adjacent to the exclamation. I don't know whose idea it was to stroll hand in hand like a real couple, maybe it just happened, but I made a good point of gawking at every store window, just so I wouldn't have to look at his self-satisfied smile.

When I turned around, a hard body bumped into me. I steadied myself against the chest of a boy. He wasn't much taller than me, and he couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen. Short blonde hair did little to mature his young face. He didn't come equipped with fishnet stockings and barely there shorts, but he did have on a fishnet shirt under a threadbare jacket. A red, white, and blue scarf hung around his neck and jeans rode too low on his hips. I couldn't believe he was out here selling himself. Poor baby. I just wanted to take him home and feed him. I hated this place.

He put on a come-hither smile. "Which one of ya does it, and which one of ya watches?" he asked. Vega and I look at each other. Vega smiled a Cheshire grin. I can only imagine how horrified I must've looked. I hate to see children forced into these conditions. I already witnessed so much with mutant children and the abuse they had to endure.

I pulled it together, though, and managed to say, "We're looking for a prostitute named Sugar."

"Don't know any Sugar, but I can do anythin' this Sugar can do and better," he said. And was this kid touching my cheek? Oh my goddess, he was trying to seduce me? Maybe if I pinched myself, this would be a dream.

I didn't get much a chance to think about that before Vega removed the boy's hand, gaining his attention from me. He stepped into Vega as if some kind of spell lured him. He was enthralled. "You're the doer," the boy said to him, melting into him. His voice was a bit throatier, the kind of voice you used in the bedroom. All I could think was, 'Please don't let Vega bite the boy.'

The boy smiled a little brighter for Vega, and I wasn't sure what to make of it all. I didn't think Vega was trying to thrall him, but it was happening all the same. His fingers found their way to the "v" of Vega's shirt. "What are you doing? I told you not to do this on my time," I said through clenched teeth.

"This is not the one you seek?"

"No, he's just a child. We're looking for an adult woman."

He grabbed the boy's arms and pushed him away, but the boy started clawing to get closer to him. Vega held him at arm's length like a child taunting another. "I'll do you for free," the boy said. That gained the boy a unimpressed look from Vega.

"What did you do to that boy?" I asked him quietly.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug.

"You call this nothing?" I swept my hand at the boy. The boy was desperately trying to get to him. If Vega had been a normal man, there was no way he would've held the boy back, but if Vega had been a normal man, he wouldn't have prostitutes begging to do him for free. Then, the boy started in on a litany of sexual promises. I couldn't take much more of this.

"Hush. Be still."

"Who are you talking to like that?" I said loudly.

I turned to look at the kid who was completely motionless, slack-jawed. So, that's who he was talking to. Silly me. The kid looked dazed, though, and that worried me a little. "Um… hey kid. Hello?" I said, waving my hand in front of his face. I turned back to Vega. "What did you do to him?"

Vega grabbed my arm and escorted me around the boy. I couldn't help turning to look back at the boy who was still motionless in the street. He couldn't just leave him like that. And just as if he'd heard my thoughts the boy pulled in a deep breath like he'd just learned to breathe. He turned around, eyes scanning the street. He looked at us, but I could tell he didn't recognize us.

"What did you do?" I asked again, snatching my arm away from him.

"It was an accident. My powers are stronger when you are around. I did not mean to bespell him. It just happened."

"You're a piss-poor liar," I said. I didn't want to believe what he was saying because that would mean that would mean I'd need to take this human servant act a little more serious than I wanted. "Okay, whatever. Whatever power we happen to be sharing, IF we're sharing any power. Let's keep it between us, okay?"

"I'll try."

"You'd damn well better!"

His lips curved; he was laughing at me. Great. "Yes, mi belleza." I hated his sarcasm. I stared at him, hard, giving him my best "I-mean-business" look. "What's wrong, Ororo?"

I was sick of this half-condescending bullshit, and I intended to let him know.

"Let's get something straight here. I asked you down here for one reason. This doesn't mean we're friends. This doesn't mean we might be lovers. If you keep pushing me, eventually, I'm going to push back. And when I do, one of us isn't going to make it. Don't keep pushing me."

This town ain't big enough for both of us.

He nodded, serious this time. "I believe you, but whatever hurts me, hurts. I could survive the strain of your death, but do you think you can survive mine?" he said. He was playing on my worst fear. I was afraid that something like this would be part of the deal.

"You know what?" I said, putting my finger in his face. "So be it."

I walked away from, pushing my way deeper into the depths of that place. I brought him down there. I knew he'd give me nothing but grief. What had I been thinking? I thought he would at least be civilized for three seconds. That was so stupid of me. Maybe I took too much stock into that who "protection" spiel he'd given me. Ugh.

I bumped into two more teenaged boys. Heartwrenching. "You interested?" one asked. He had on just a vest and torn jeans.

"We don't see many women down here," the other one said. His voice was soft and almost feminine. He was much smaller than the boy with the vest. He looked like a sweet-faced chorus boy. I had to get away from here.

"I bet. Do either of you know a prostitute named Sugar?" I asked.

"Maybe, it depends on who's asking?" the one with the vest said. I pull a twenty out of my pocket. I knew it was awful, but maybe they'd take it and get a warm meal instead of pulling off with the next wanting customer. "She's down the street in front of the Tenderloin."

I handed the boy the money, just as my senses started tingling. I turned to see Vega parting the crowd like a messiah. Everyone looked at him with adoration in his eyes. He was like the pied piper whose mice were prostitutes. I had to get away from him. I was starting to feel like one of those women in a thriller movie who—no matter how fast they ran—could never get away from their assailant.

"Are ya sure there's nothing we can do for you?" the sweet-faced boy said. I couldn't do anything, but pat him on the cheek before I pushed through more of the crowd.

When I spotted Sugar, I paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to approach her. She looked about my height, as pretty as her picture. She was leaning against the wall smoking. She was dressed a little more decently than the other prostitute in this area. She wore a long skirt and a cropped shirt with long sleeves.

"That is her?" Vega asked beside me.

I barely glanced at him as I answered, "Yeah." She turned and saw us looking. She dropped her cigarette not bothering to stub it. She smiled at us, as she started walking toward us.

"Hi," she said when she got close to us.

"Hello," I said. "Are you Sugar?"

"Sure am," she said adding a pretty smile.

"I need to talk to you for a couple of hours. I'll pay you whatever your going rate is," I said. She told me her rate, and I nearly choked on my tongue. Maybe I was in the wrong profession. Okay, joke.

"You gotta room?" she asked. I couldn't help looking at her like a second head was going to pop out of her shoulder. I thought she was supposed to have a room or whatever.

"We can go to my apartment." I said, hoping I wasn't going to have to kick myself for this, too. Of course I was. I was about to take Vega and some prostitute to my apartment. What wasn't there to kick myself about?

Vega was charming on the ride to my apartment. Show off. He spent most of the ride talking to Sugar who was a pretty smart woman. I wondered what happened to her to make her feel like she had to be a prostitute. I believed all people could succeed at whatever they wanted to do, and I know she had to want more than just a quick buck to lay with someone… or maybe she didn't. When we got to my apartment, Sugar made herself comfortable on the couch while I nearly slammed the door in Vega's face.

"Why are you just standing there?" I asked.

"You are some vampire expert," he scoffed.

Oh yeah, right. I had to invite him in. Maybe I'd just feel better slamming the door in his face. It would save me the trouble of having to undo the invite later. "You may enter my apartment." Yeah, I know I would probably regret that one later, too.

He leaned against the wall, taking everything in, while I went to the fridge and pulled out two "Water?" I asked, walking toward her, offering her a bottle. She took it with a nod. "Do you need a glass?"

"No, thank you," she said. I sat beside her on the couch.

"I don't need one either," Vega said. He wasn't looking at me. Instead, he'd tilted his head to inspect a painting I had on my wall called "Flowers of Africa."

More smartassery. "Don't be cute, Vega."

"Too late." He turned to look at me and offered a smile with a hint of fang. Now, why in the hell was I smiling back at him? My brain must be broken. He actually looked pleased that I smiled back. Vega wandered off toward the bedroom and the bathroom, disappearing from our view.

"He's a vampire," Sugar said, tensing up.

"Yeah." I could try to explain that it wasn't like that. He was just some vampire that I happened to bring along with me, but that would take up too much time. And I didn't have a lot of it to spare.

"I don't know what you heard lady, but I'm not coffin-bait?" She took another sip of her water.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"I don't do vampires," she explained slowly. Well, that was a new one on me. Not the not doing vampires part but the "coffin-bait" part.

"Good because I don't do whores." His voice floated bodiless into the room.

"Don't listen to him. He won't bother you," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand in the direction he'd disappeared to.

"So, you and me then…"

"No. No. No. I just need to talk to you like I said."

"You want me to talk about doing it with other people while you do him."

Geez. My face actually warmed over, and I heard Vega laugh from… where the hell was he? He'd better not be poking through my underwear drawer or so help me goddess. "No, we're just going to talk."

"It's your dime, so it's whatever you want."

And I knew she meant that. "I heard you used to date Webber Torque." I was tired of skirting around the question. It was now or never.

She shrugged at me, but her face tensed even tighter. "Never heard of him."

"Yes, you have. I know you dated him."

"Look, I'll do you. The bloodsucker can watch. I'll talk dirty to you. But I don't know any Webber." There was a hint of desperation in her voice. I knew she didn't want to talk about this, but we had to.

"I'm not a reporter. I'm not one of his lackeys. He'll never know we talked unless you tell him," I assured her using my gentlest voice. That one usually got me good results, but it wasn't working so well with her.

She stood up, and I quickly stood up, too. "Who are you? I don't have to listen to this." I wonder if she'd actually attempt to hit me. She had the stance of an aggressor. Her look said, "I will kick your ass."

"My dime, right?" I said.

Vega materialized out of nowhere. I hated vampire games. "Trouble?" he asked. He had an eager look on his face like this was the moment he's been waiting for. If he thought I was going to tell him to bite her, he was wrong.

"She's being stubborn." I said.

He walked over to her, put his hands on her shoulders. "Sit," he said. And like a docile child she did. Not more of that. I thought I told him to keep that to himself… or to ourselves… or whatever.

"He'll hurt me," she said to Vega.

"He is not here, but I am." Vega sat next to her on the couch, and put his lips so close to her ear. I could see him speaking, but I couldn't hear him. Sugar's eyes widened as tears formed in her eyes. She trembled against him, and he slid one arm around her shoulder to steady her. What was he doing now? This night was just getting worst and worst.

She turned her eyes toward me. "Please. Please, don't let him," she pleaded.

And she definitely was not talking about Webber. She sniffled once, twice, and before I could swallow, she was bawling. I think we both caught our breath when we looked at Vega again. He was back to the scary stuff. His face, though still perfectly natural, was a mask of evil. Malevolence darkened his features and actually made sweat start down my spine.

"Leave her alone, Vega," I said through clenched teeth. Yeah, I was scared of him at that moment, but I wasn't about to back down. Yeah, he could probably slap my head off, but I wasn't going to let him torture someone physically or verbally in front of me. I hadn't given up my morals just because I needed information.

"I do love the taste of terror." A wicked laugh escaped his lips, and I could see that Sugar was terrified.

"You're supposed to have better control than that." He was a master vampire after all. He had to have some kind of restraint.

"I do, but it is not infinite."

"Just leave her alone." He stood from his seat and I walked over to her. He started pacing the floor. Violence threatening to escape. What was I supposed to do? He was with me. What kind of monster did that make me in her eyes? I reached for her hand, and she willingly let me hold it. I wanted her to feel my honest and reassurance. "I won't let him hurt you. Webber is threatening me. That's why I need information."

She didn't speak. She only watched Vega, pacing back and forth. Yeah, that made me nervous, too. "Vega, can you leave us alone for a second? Go to the bedroom." Just don't go in my stuff, I added silently.

"Of course." Ever the gracious gentleman, gone with the twinkle of an eye.

Once Vega was out of the room, she looked at me. "You're really not going to let him hurt me."

"No, just tell me about Webber," I said.

"Did he send Puddin' or Zack after you?" she asked.

"Zack." I still wanted to kick his face in.

"What happened?"

"I told him to tell Webber I'd start sending his men home in body bags." I meant that in the nicest possible way. If they threatened my life, threatened the life of those I love, someone had to go down.

She smiled a little. "What did you do to make Webber mad?"

"It's something I refuse to do that's pissing him off."

"Can't be sex. You're too smart, and I don't think you'd pull the dumb act."

She had that right. "How did you meet him?"

"I was in college, and he was donating money to the school."

"Funny, I thought he liked his women dumb."

"Well, what can I say? I'm a good actress. Anyhow, he asked me out. It stopped being great when I dropped out of college and started living. I figured playing dumb for the rest of my life for that couldn't be all so bad, but he's a sick man." Fresh tears started out of her eyes, and she gripped my hand tighter. "He replaced me with that blonde girl."

"Tina?"

"You've met her."

"Once."

"She's as sick as him. She gets off on torturing people. We used to be a threesome I guess you can say until shit got ridiculous. I can't tell you anything about his business. He kept me out of that."

Of course, he would. Wouldn't want a prostitute blackmailing you?

"That's okay. Did he talk about anything else… outside of sex?"

She closed her eyes for a minute. "His family. He was a bastard, and he's obsessed with his father's family. They were old money. His mom was a hooker. His dad's family just pretended it never happened. The rich have that luxury."

"Who's his family?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me, but I knew he wasn't lying. He was too passionate about them. I think he made his money to be as rich as they were, so he could do something to hurt them in the end. Webber told me that his father's people got rich from being river pirates down in Mississippi and Louisiana. He talked about buried treasure and all that. He said that meant his dad's family were no better than thieves and whores, yet they had the audacity to treat his mother like they did."

Oh, this was getting good.

"He found where some of them were buried… his ancestors. He talked about getting a voodoo priest to raise them," she continued.

"That bastard!" He wanted me to raise his damn dead ancestors. But why would he ask me? Why wouldn't he ask someone like Joanna? She would take the money and give him what he wanted.

"Did that help?" she asked. She didn't know how much she'd just helped.

"Yes, it did. Did he mention any names as far as the voodoo priests or priestesses were concerned?" I asked, hoping he'd mentioned Joanna.

"No, but I don't understand how that can help you."

"Trust me," I said, "you don't want to know."

"Okay," she said quietly.

"Is there anywhere you can go? Can I buy you a ticket somewhere?" I asked. I really wanted to keep her safe now that she'd told me everything she knew.

"Don't be silly, love. You're not a man. You don't like women. Why should you help me? I know people here. I can get by," she said.

"With help from your friends."

"Whores don't have friends."

"He made you a whore. You don't have to be one."

She just shook her head at me like I was clueless. "Hey, I'm tired. Can I call a taxi?"

Vega and I stood outside with her until she left. I don't need to tell you how uncomfortable that was. I pretty much played the buffer between.

"I must go now. Time is short," Vega said, as soon as Sugar was gone.

"You're going to feed, aren't you?" I asked you. I hope I sounded disapproving. I was a little tired, and I couldn't get my best "lecture voice" going for me. I'd probably crash here tonight.

"Despite any laws man may pass, there will always be the hunters and the hunted. That is the only law this world has ever abided by. Since the beginning of time, this is the only thing that has remained the same, the predators and the prey. And if you are not the predator, Ororo, that means you are the prey."

He was looking deeply into my eyes, and I had to blink to break the spell. "Just go away, Vega. I'm tired." That was my best defense.

"As you wish."

I swear I blinked once and he was gone with the rustling of the leaves. Show off.

xXx

Author's Notes: Thought I had forgotten about this one didn't you. No way, and I do plan to keep going with the series. This one is close to being done. Excuse the mistakes. They'll slowly get fixed. Thanks for reading and emailing me about this story.