Aaron's Muse
Chapter 10
Monday
11:00 am
The door to her office burst open to reveal a very agitated and angry Detective Ellison. "Where is he…where's Knight?"
"What? What's going on?" Natalie asked in startled surprise.
"They're gone!" He growled out, grabbing her arms.
"Who? Who's gone?"
"Blair and Brian. They're gone! When I woke up they aren't anywhere to be found. Where's Knight?" Jim ground out.
"Calm down, detective," Natalie said.
"Calm down! How in the hell I'm I supposed to calm down…I've got two men missing! I need Knight on this one, where is he," Jim yelled, as he paced the room in agitation. "We were supposed to have until tonight…but they're gone!"
"Come on," Natalie said, grabbing up her stuff.
The twenty-minute drive to Nick's loft was made in tense silence.
Without preamble, Natalie produced a key and let them in, calling to Nick as she set foot in the apartment, "Nick! Nick, are you awake…."
"I am now," Called a sleepy voice from the next room, followed a moment later by a bedraggled looking Nick standing in his bedroom doorway.
"Blair and Brian are missing," Jim said succinctly. "I thought this wouldn't happen? I thought we'd have until this evening?"
"They're gone?" Nick said in confusion.
"What? Am I not speaking English here…they're gone! I woke to find their beds empty," Jim raged. "They were nowhere in the whole damn building."
"How did you sleep?" Nick asked suddenly.
"What?" Jim snapped out impatiently, sending an angry scowl towards the other man, "How did I sleep? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Last morning...you didn't hear anything, you didn't see anything…?" Nick pressed, a knowing look in his eyes.
"No. No, I slept very heavy, don't even remember any dreams…" Jim said, shaking his head in confusion, "Real hard to wake up as a matter of fact."
"Damn," Nick cursed. "This was not part of the plan."
"No shit Sherlock. What in the hell are we supposed to do now; Alyssa could have them anywhere," Jim raged.
"Not anywhere…not if she took Brian too. Remember what Cassie said…it wouldn't be like Alyssa to leave without letting her know who beat her," Nick mused aloud. "Remember, when Alyssa killed the real Brandon she did it in front of Cassie…"
"So, what, you think Alyssa would go to the club?" Jim said in confusion.
"Right now the only thing we have to go on is her extreme illogic and hatred of Cassie. To Alyssa, this has, no doubt, just been one big game of one upmanship…" Nick surmised. "Besides, she doesn't know about us."
"So we go to the club," Jim said, heading towards the door.
"It's not that simple," Nick said waving towards the window. "And besides I have a stop to make."
Cassie was roused from her 'slumber' by hands on her shoulders shaking her roughly.
"What the hell!" She exclaimed groggily, opening her eyes. "How in the hell did you get in here? Who the hell are you anyway?"
"The mistress requests an audience with you." One of the ghouls said.
"Oh, damn!"
"What the hell is going on Knight? We've been here for over two hours! Why in the hell are we standing in the cargo warehouse of the airport?" Jim complained.
"We're waiting for that," Nick pointed to the large cargo crate being brought into the warehouse.
When the forklift driver got close enough Nick pointed to the far end of the warehouse to unload the large crate.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jim asked as Nick began to pry open the top of the crate. "We don't have time-what the hell?"
Inside the crate, Jim saw a smaller box…an ornate casket.
Ignoring Jim's questions, Nick jumped inside the crate and carefully opened the lid to the casket, revealing a tall, dark haired gentleman, "Prince Loden."
The man suddenly opened his eyes, "Detective Knight I presume?"
"Sire, I'm sorry for the rushed travel arrangements but things began moving more quickly than anticipated. We cannot wait until nightfall," Nick explained urgently.
"Not the best way to travel but it is expedient and time was not something we had in great supply I understand," Loden assured the younger vampire. "Have you found her; where is she?"
"We are not sure, but we believe she has gone to confront Cassie," Nick said.
"You're not sure?" Loden questioned.
"Knight, what the hell is going on? Who is this?" Jim finally said, his impatience evident in his tone.
Loden glanced over at Jim, catching and holding the human in his gaze, "A human? Why is he here?"
"He is helping with the case."
"Helping? Why?" Loden snapped.
"It is all very complicated, sire. His friend was attacked by Alyssa, his investigation lead them here, and then to Cassie La Fay…" Nick started to explain
"And this makes things complicated because?" Loden's questioned.
"Remember, I told you about the investigation…about everything that was involved," Nick said evenly.
"Listen, can we play politics later, right now I've got two missing men who are in danger…" Jim snapped as he tore his gaze away from the elder vampire and looked at Nick impatiently.
Loden too turned to Nick with a raised eyebrow and a nod of his head, "Complicated, I see."
Nick helped the older vampire from the coffin, "We should go sire; time is of the essence."
"Yes, we should go. You can fill me in on the details as we drive," Loden said. "I assume you secured adequate transportation."
"Yes sire," Nick said, turning to Jim he said. "The van. Drive it around to the back entrance and pull it up flush with the building."
"Van. Right. One van coming right up," Jim grumbled as he turned and left the warehouse.
On the ride to the club, Nick finished filling Prince Loden in on the investigation, and of the activities of his 'daughter ' over the last ten months.
Club Waydown
As the young vampire was pulled roughly from her bed and dragged unceremoniously up the stairs, Cassie noted the unnatural strength of her three 'human' attackers, suggesting to her that they were ghouls: and with that thought came the realization that her plight had taken a significant turn for the worse. None of them, least of all Cassie, expected and attack in the middle of the day.
Coming out into the bar area Cassie blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness and shadows.
Struggling vainly against the three ghouls that held her, Cassie yelled into the darkness. "I know you're here Alyssa…show yourself. Stop playing games and face me."
A voice drifted through the darkness, its tone condescending, "Sorry to wake you little one, but I couldn't let us part ways without saying goodbye."
The stage spots suddenly flashed on to reveal Blair and Brian sitting dazedly on the stage.
"Damn it Alyssa…face me! What in the hell are you afraid of," Cassie demanded angrily.
"Afraid? Of you?" A sing-song voice drifted out, "I don't think so. I try to be friendly, show there are no hard feelings, and this is the welcome I get?"
"You want to be friendly, call off your ghouls...let's settle this once and for all," Cassie said evenly, still struggling against those holding her. "This isn't about Aaron anymore, or even what you did to Brandon; this is about you and me...and your jealousy."
The diminutive vampire came out from behind a stage curtain, her eyes flashing, as she spat out, "Jealous, of you?"
"I had the band. Serenade even had the support of your sire. And I had Brandon, but more importantly, I had what you wanted most…that all your sire's power and money couldn't buy you; I. Had. Aaron…" Cassie said evenly. "I held his soul, his spirit…you never understood, that for him, it wasn't about the money or the fame. For him, it was about the music…and the life and the soul that only *I* could give his music."
"No. No, you tricked him! You're nothing but a whoring Toreador poser! You bewitched him…kept him from me!" Alyssa raged as she came down off the stage and stormed over to Cassie, her eyes flashing with madness as she hissed, "I should have been me…I could have been his muse."
"He didn't want you…he wanted me!" Cassie snapped back, "Is that why you tried to blood bond him…tried to destroy him…?"
"Destroy him? I loved him…" Alyssa said, stepping back in surprise.
"You call what you did to him love? Is that why he left?" Cassie threw back.
"Shut up! Shut up, I won't listen to any more of your lies," Alyssa said angrily, slapping the younger vampire.
Cassie licked the blood from her lips and shook her head, "You've lost Alyssa. Don't you get it, we've both lost. Aaron… he's not coming back; not to you…not to me…."
"You're wrong," Alyssa screamed as she slapped Cassie again. "He did come back. He knew I needed him, knew I wouldn't stop looking. He came back where he knew I would find him…"
"No, Alyssa, he didn't come back," Cassie said. She knew it was a big risk trying to convince Alyssa that the two men on the stage were not who she thought they were, but equally certain, she knew she couldn't take the chance of Alyssa leaving with them.
"He's mine, you will not take him from me again…" Alyssa raged smashing her fists down on a table and splintering it before reaching down to grab a piece of the table leg. "I'm afraid the tour has been cancelled."
Cassie struggled desperately against the hold of the ghouls as Alyssa raised the wooden stake above her head to deliver the paralyzing blow.
"Alyssa. Stop, now." A deep voice boomed in the semi-darkness.
Alyssa was startled by the voice, but was only distracted from her intended target for a mere moment, before the stake continued on its downward arc towards her victim.
"Alyssa, I command you; stop…" The voice commanded again.
The downward thrust was halted and Alyssa looked into the darkness at the three shapes coming towards her, her voice a harsh whisper, "Sire? Father?"
"Yes, childe, it is I," The man said as he came fully into view.
Cassie breathed a sigh of relief as she muttered, "Loden? Never thought I'd be happy to see you again."
Loden glared at the younger vampire, "Shut up pup."
"I found him father. I found Aaron. We can finally be together," Alyssa said in an excited, child-like voice. "She tried…she tried to take him away from me, but I showed her. I showed her that she couldn't take what is ours. I am the prince's daughter…"
Alyssa again raised the stake over her head, "She has to pay for taking him from me."
"Yes, she does my childe…" Loden began only to be interrupted by a cacophony of protests.
"What? Hey, now Loden…come on…" Cassie began, looking at her former prince in wild-eyed disbelief and renewing her struggle to free herself from the steely grip of the ghouls.
"What the hell..." Jim ground out, Nick's hand coming down firmly on his shoulder when he attempted to take several steps forward to intercede between Cassie and Alyssa.
"Sire? Surely you don't mean to allow…" Nick gasped,
Loden held up a staying hand to his protesters, his eyes never leaving his childe, "But *not* like this."
Loden gently took the stake from his Alyssa's grasp, "Call to him, feel him through your bond. If he is truly yours he will come to you and she has lost."
"But…" Alyssa started to protest.
"Call to him," Loden demanded gently, giving his childe a small push towards the stage.
"But she has Blair and Brian in some sort of trance, of course they'll listen to her voice," Jim protested as Alyssa made her way to the stage. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Call to him," Loden said simply.
"What?"
Loden smirked in annoyance "Do I not speak plain English? Call to your guide…the bond that connects Sentinel and Guide is more powerful than Alyssa's presence."
"What? How did...you told him?" Jim's tone was angry and accusatory as he looked over at Nick. "What about Brian?"
"My childe has no interest in the other mortal, only with the one she perceives as Aaron. When he is safe, so won't the other also be safe," Loden explained.
"You better be right about this," Jim muttered, quickly going to the stage.
"Aaron. Aaron, I'm here. It's time to go no," Alyssa whispered.
"Hey, chief it's over…come on back now, let's get you and Brian out of here," Jim said quietly, a little nervous and unsure about how the insane vampire would react to his presence.
When Alyssa cocked her head and looked at him, Jim was surprised to see sadness behind the insanity in the vampire's eyes, "Have you lost someone too?"
"Uhm…yes, I have. I'm trying to find a very good friend of mine," Jim answered quietly.
Alyssa just nodded and turned to walk up the stairs at the side of the stage.
Jim jumped up on the stage to intervene between the vampire and his friends.
"Chief, this would be a real good time to snap out of it…" Jim hissed loudly, giving his guide a sideways glance; keeping most of his attention on the approaching vampire.
"You're still here," Alyssa said, her voice quiet but accusatory. "Why?"
"Because my friends are here, and I need to take them home," Jim answered.
Alyssa looked past Jim to the two men sitting quietly on the stage, finally pointing to Brian, "He can be your friend."
Jim nodded. "Brian is my friend…and so isn't Blair."
"Blair?"
Jim took several steps backwards to stand between Brian and Blair, placing a hand on each man's shoulder, "These men…they aren't who you think they are."
"Don't be silly," Alyssa giggled.
"Look at them. Really look at them, this isn't Brandon...and this, this isn't Aaron," Jim said urgently, indicating first Brian them Blair.
"Why are you saying these things?" Alyssa said with angry petulance, pointing to Brain she continued, "I told you, you could be his friend. I don't like him…"
"I'm his friend. But I'm also his friend, too," Jim said, looking down at Blair. "His name is Blair."
Alyssa pushed Jim aside, "No! No, you're wrong…!"
Jim stumbled backwards over Brian, causing them both to land in a tangled heap on the floor as Alyssa bent down in front of Blair, her hand gently caressing his face, "Aaron. Aaron, my sweet, it's over, I'm here."
Jim was horrified to see Blair responding to the vampire's touch and jumped up with a yell, "No! Blair snap out of it! Blair…!"
Pushing the startled vampire aside, Jim bent down and grabbed Blair by the arms. Pulling him to a standing position to look him in the eyes.
"Blair! Blair, buddy, look at me! Come on it's me…its Jim. I need you to listen to me…" Jim said urgently, giving Blair a shake.
By now Alyssa was up and advancing towards the two men, anger and insanity gleaming in her eyes, "He's mine, you can't have him..."
Shaking his friend more forcefully, Jim said frantically. "If you don't snap out of it and convince our vampire friend here that you're not Aaron you're Sentinel is a goner…"
The fog slowly lifted as Blair slowly lifted his head and began looking around the room, his voice a hoarse whisper, "Sentinel? Sentinel…Jim? Jim…?"
"That's it…come on Blair..." Jim said with relief, dragging his disoriented Guide with him as he backed away from Alyssa. He would have preferred to pull Blair clear off the stage and away from the enraged vampire but feared leaving Brian unprotected.
"Huh…what? What, Jim…what's going on?" Blair said with a shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders as he tried to break out of Jim's grasp and stand upright on his own.
"Aaron, come to me," Alyssa demanded.
"That's what's going on," Jim said, nodding toward Alyssa.
"She…she's here?" turning, Blair yelped in surprise, his eyes wide and flying around the room, as he attempted to back-pedal away from the vampire, tripping over a stirring Brian in the process, "We're here? Why are we here, Jim?"
"Brian! Brian, man are you all right?" Blair said in startled surprise as he crawled to his friend.
His inquiry was met with only a groan.
Jim moved quickly to stand between his downed friends and the enraged vampire.
"You…" Alyssa screeched as she leapt at Jim, knocking them both to the floor.
Fear for his Sentinel's safety over riding any fear he had of the insane vampire, Blair scrambled over and knocked Alyssa off of Jim, grabbing her shoulders to look her in the eyes, "Give it up nutcase! I'm not Aaron, Aaron is gone, and no one took him away from you, you drove him away yourself..."
"No! No, you're wrong. You love me…" Alyssa cried, reaching to caress Blair's cheek.
Yanking himself away from her touch, Blair said forcefully, "No I don't, because I'm. Not. Aaron! I'm Blair! Do you hear me...my name is Blair," shaking the vampire's shoulders for emphasis.
The vampire looked at Blair blankly for a moment, bloody tears welling up in her eyes, "You...you, don't mean that Aaron, you love me..."
Blair again batted Alyssa's hand away, "No. I'm not Aaron. It's Blair…"
Alyssa stumbled backwards, her tears replaced by renewed anger, "She did this. She's turned you against!"
Before anyone could draw their next breath, Alyssa turned from her intended victims and fled from the stage, grabbing up a splintered piece of wood as she went.
"You did this…" Alyssa screamed, as she made her way towards Cassie, "you poisoned him against me…" the wooden stake suddenly slamming into Cassie's chest.
Cassie gasped in surprise as she looked down at the stake in her chest and then into the twisted features of Alyssa, "Bitch!"
The ghouls exchanged startled looks then dropped the limp body to the floor, breaking everyone from their shocked stupor.
Loden moved up and grabbed his childe, who was now staring mesmerized by the body on the floor; hysterical giggles shaking her small frame.
"I win. I win. I win…" the deranged vampire chanted over and over again.
Jim leapt from the stage and moved with Nick to kneel beside Cassie's unmoving body, while Blair shook his head sadly and moved to help Brian up.
"I trust you can take care of this?" Loden said impassively, looking down at the body on the floor. "I will take my childe away from here."
"Yes. Yes, sire, I can take care of the rest of it," Nick said distractedly.
As Loden turned to leave with his charge Jim jumped up, looking back and forth between Loden and Nick, "What? What the hell's going on here? She murdered five people, and she just…she just put a stake in Cassie's chest for Christ's sake; and now we're just supposed to let her walk out of here?"
"We can, and we will," Nick said looking up at the angry detective. "It's over."
Loden nodded at Nick and commanding the three ghouls to follow, left the club with his still giggling childe.
Jim just shook his head in disbelief as he went to help Blair maneuver a still unsteady Brian to a nearby chair,
"Is she…dead?" Blair asked hesitantly, his eyes glued to the staked woman on the floor.
"So what now?" Jim asked Nick as he came over and stooped down next to the body.
With a deep sigh and a wince Nick said, "This."
With his hand wrapped tightly around the splintered wood, he pulled the stake out of the young vampire.
Jim, Blair and Brian stared dumbfounded as Cassie's body lurched and she gave a sudden gasp. "Gods, I forgot how much that hurts!"
"Been staked often?" Nick asked sarcastically.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Cassie growled out hoarsely, groaning loudly as her hands ghosted over her wound and blood-soaked clothes, "damn it…this shit takes forever to heal…!"
Nick couldn't help a small grin, offering, "I can always run out and pick you something up….help with that…"
"Yeah, right…" Cassie snarked, "don't do cold and dead…" raising a brow, she said, "now, if you're offering something a little warmer…"
Seeing he detective shake his head, she grumbled, "no thanks…I'll manage."
Both men offered their assistance as she slowly make her way to a sitting position on the floor. Cassie's eyes trailed around the bar and she ranted lightly, "Don't tell me the bitch got away?"
"Not exactly; Loden took her away," Nick said.
"Damn!" Cassie hissed, her head dropping in her hands.
"He won't let her escape again. She has caused much damage, and even he knows he cannot protect her from the Justicar's if there should ever be a next time," Nick said.
"Are you all right?" Blair asked as he came to stand by the huddled group.
"Yeah, just great. It feels wonderful to have a table leg rammed through your chest," She shot back sarcastically, looking over at Nick she asked impatiently. "Help me up."
Jim and Nick helped Cassie to her feet, their hands immediately coming back to offer support when the young vampire swayed.
"How can we help?" Jim asked, helping her to sit down.
Cassie smiled at him, "Spare a pint or two."
"What?" Jim said in surprise, taking a step away from the young vampire.
Blair couldn't help but laugh out loud at the look that came over Jim's face, "A young lady asks you for dinner and you turn her down."
"For dinner or to be dinner?" Jim groused.
With a wince of pain Cassie looked over at Nick, "All kidding aside here, I don't feel well and really need to…uhm, well, if this is going to heal all the way I'm going to need a little sustenance, you know."
/./././././
Between the injury and the daylight, Cassie was soon asleep in the windowless van. Nick himself was bleary-eyed.
"Is she really going to be all right?" Blair again asked. "She looks…well...dead!"
"Blair…she is dead," Nick offered succinctly. "And as soon as she has fed she will be fine. She is young and the call of the eternal sleep is strong for the young ones during the day light hours. That is perhaps why Alyssa chose to strike when she did, when Cassie would be at her weakest."
"But you're fine…and that other guy..." Blair started to ask.
"We are…much older," Nick said with a smile, holding up a hand to stave off the questions he knew was coming. "It's not nice to ask your elders their age."
Once at Nick's apartment, he settled the sleeping woman in the darkened room.
"It would be best if you stayed here and rested, come nightfall we can work out the details for closing this case," Nick said before he himself retired for the day.
/./././././
Towards evening, the three detectives were roused from their naps by a petulant voice from the bedroom. "Ah, you have got to be kidding! This is disgusting…come on, at least get something human…"
The three men just exchanged confused and warily looks as Brian mouthed, 'Get something human?'
The voice continued to complain, "You could always go the blood bank…"
"Just drink it. You're worse than a child taking medicine," Came Nick's exasperated tone. "You don't drink it, you won't heal…you don't heal, you won't have enough strength to leave here and hunt. You getting the picture here?"
"Fine! Give it to me. God's that is sooooo disgusting…yuck! Why don't you just open the window and let the sun fry me," the voice continued its complaints as Nick came out of the bedroom to see three startled faces.
"She's not happy with her dinner," Nick said with a sheepish shrug.
"What exactly are you feeding her?" Blair asked.
"Cow's blood."
"No wonder she's complaining." Blair said with a shudder and a face. "Ah, what does she normally eat?"
Nick set Blair with a curious look, "Do you really want me to answer that?"
"No!" Brain said quickly. "While Cassie gets her dinner…how about the rest of us? I'd prefer my cow to have a little more substance. I'm starving!"
"There is a take-out place just down the street; you could order in and we can wrap up this case," Nick suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Jim said.
Epilogue
Cascade PD
Jim, Blair and Brian sat quietly in Simon's office as the captain read over the report that wrapped up the case.
"So, this wraps up the case?" he asked the three men, dropping the file on his desk. "And this is all of it?"
"Well, yeah, Captain. Detective Knight and I wrapped up the case and since it was his jurisdiction he filed the final report," Jim said innocently. "Why, is something wrong?"
"And this is all there is to it? This is everything that happened?" Simon asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I think we pretty much covered everything," Jim said innocently as he looked over at Blair and Brian.
"Yeah, Captain, that report pretty much covers everything," Brian said quickly.
Simon reached for the file, giving it another cursory look, "Just seems a little…incomplete to me, gentlemen?"
"Incomplete, sir?" Jim asked.
Simon sat back in his chair, steepling his hands in front of him, his brow raised in curiosity, "Gentlemen?"
The three men merely exchanged sheepish looks; Jim shot Blair a pleading look.
"Okay, Simon…uh, Captain. It all started with that missing persons report, then we found out that dead people don't, well actually it was me who didn't know, that dead people don't leave fingerprints; and then Jim and Detective Knight had this argument…"
"Jim not working and playing well with others; why does that not surprise me," Simon interrupted.
"He had good reason," Blair defended the detective, "Knight keeping things from us and all…"
Suddenly concerned, Simon sat forward in his seat, "Do we have a problem? Was this detective withholding evidence, Jim?"
"No, nothing like that Simon," Blair was quick to interject. "Actually it was Jim withholding information…"
When Simon fixed him with a glare, Blair looked back and forth between the two detectives, "You know, some help here would be nice."
"Hey, don't look at me I was just the bait, remember; cause I sure as hell don't!" Brain shot back, hands raised defensively.
"Bait? Are you all right detective?" Simon asked with concern.
"Fine, sir."
Simon sat back, waiting expectantly for his detectives to continue the tale.
"Well you know one vampire might have been something we could…" Blair began again.
"Wait! Hold it right there; did you just say vampire, Sandburg?" Simon interrupted.
"Well, yeah, that's what made this case so tricky and all…" Blair replied with a nod of his head.
"Vampires? Vampires made this case *tricky*?" Simon reiterated slowly.
The three men exchanged sheepish looks before looking at their captain.
"Vampires?" Simon asked again.
The three men nodded.
Giving a sigh, Simon reached out and signed the report in front of him and shoved it across the desk, "Signed and closed. You have cases piling up on your desks."
"You don't want to hear the rest of it?" Blair asked innocently.
"Out!" Simon ordered, pointing to his door.
"But..." Blair tried again.
"Out. Now." Simon said again, more forcefully, still pointing to his door.
"You heard the man, let's go," Jim said quickly, rising from his chair, followed quickly by Blair and Brian.
/ THE SENTINEL /
DEFINITIONS:
Masquerade: the 'face' the vampire community shows to the mortal world…protecting and shielding all that is what it is to be vampyre!
Clan: in White Wolf there are nine established clans or family groups, so to speak, each one has their own code of conduct and own unique abilities.
Toreador: the vampire clan that has a love for the arts and music's and all things beautiful. Cassie is in this clan.
Poser: a toreador vampire who only pretends to have any gifts or talents.
Malkalvian: the 'unbalanced' ones…they are just plain nuts, melodramatic and crazy!
Sabbat: there is evil and then there is evil and then there is the Sabbat…they sire new vampires by turning them and then burying them in a grave…if they can dig themselves out before sun up there in…if not, oh well! **Cassie was turned by the Sabbat and buried, but was rescued by a Toreador.
Blood bond: a way for one vampire to enthrall/control another vampire.
Justicar: there is justice then there are the Justicar's (never confuse the two), they are the final word on vampire justice (and there are no appeals in the world of darkness). They are judge, jury and more often than not executioner to any vampire who breaks the masquerade. They had similar "beings" in and episode of Forever Knight.
Ghoul: a human who is under a vampire's thrall but has not been turned.
Katif: a vampire that is an 'orphan', so to speak, and is not claimed by a sire or a clan and has more difficulty in learning vampire skills/arts.
Diablerie: when a vampire kills another vampire by not just draining their blood but taking in what is left of their essence/soul. Considered a "high crime" in the world of vampires (Casssie has done it about three times in the game, she takes her vengeance against the Sabbat who turned her very seriously; it's also how vampires can become higher generation and gain more power.
Also a point of note, in the RPG, vampires are not killed by a stake to the heart, merely paralyzed and put into a state of suspended animation called torpor.
The song, "As Good As She", is track #4 from the Sentinel CD soundtrack.