The Raith family home on the Citadel very much matched the mental image that I had of the Raiths as a collective whole. It was a very large, very ostentatious place, with masterful old Earth architecture that seemed like some sort of throwback to an era that loved bright, pale stonework and pillars. Maybe Ancient Greece or something.

Anyhow, the property itself was large, easily able to fit multiple apartment buildings if one were to pack them tight enough. A large, intimidating wall surrounded the perimeter of the lot, the tops of which were covered in barbed wire, with any corner of a sharp turn having a damn gargoyle- snarling mouth, flared wings, long claw-tipped hands- pointed towards the street, as though the Raiths were dead set on making the place seem both as cultured and intimidating as possible. The wall was easily over fifteen feet, and just beyond it we could still see at least five stories of the Raith house over the edge of it.

The front gate, of which the gang and I could see from our spot at the transit parking spot, looked heavy and thick, with a little structure that was too small to be a shed but too sturdy to be one of those little guard kiosk things was sat in front and a little to the left of the gate itself. Seated in a chair just off to the side of the little structure's entrance was a hired guard, a turian, who seemed both old enough to have seen some shit and young and spry enough to effectively kick your teeth in should he need to. There was also, just above and to the left of the heavy metal gate, a small glassy bulb that I knew was the covering of a security camera. I knew that we were in no way out of the little device's sight, only a half a football field away like we were.

"So," I heard Garrus mumble behind me. "You mind telling us just what we're doing in front of the mansion of one of the wealthiest families on the Citadel?"

I stopped scanning the giant wall to look at the ex-cop for a moment, then went back to looking around the properties perimeter. "If the ghoul was right, and I've no reason to think that it was lying, then Shepard is in there."

"Um," I heard Liara start from behind me. "I'm sorry, but… Just who lives here?"

"The Raiths," I replied promptly.

There was a pause. One might have even called it an annoyed pause. When Liara spoke again, there was something vaguely irritated in her voice that supported such a claim. "And just who are the Raiths?"

I furrowed my brows to consider the question. "Officially," I said after a moment, "they're… A family who are all famous in the entertainment industry for one reason or another."

Ashley snorted. "Yeah? What kind of entertainment?"

"Film."

"Oh yeah? I see any of their work?"

I shrugged. "Depends. You seen anything from Silverlight Studios?"

There was a pause of silence, and I didn't have to look back at her to know that there was probably a look of unrecognition on her face.

It was Kaidan who broke the silence. "Wait. Silverlight Studios? You mean the porno company?"

I blinked and turned to face the biotic, giving him an odd look and a raised eyebrow. "Yeah. Exactly. How do you know that?"

For half a second, I swear to the Gods, the lieutenant almost looked embarrassed. He recovered gracefully enough, but I, and everyone else, had seen the very brief flush on his face. "How do you?" He shot back.

"Because," I said. "Unofficially, the Raiths are White Court vampires."

Tali threw in her two cents. "What's a 'White Court vampire', exactly?"

I tilted my head in though for a moment, then said, "In the supernatural community, there are three vampire courts: the Reds, the Blacks, and the Whites. I know all of you, aside from Wrex here, have seen a Black Court vamp- ugly, emaciated reanimated corpse? Super strong, ungodly fast, sounds like a cat being choked when it speaks?"

Apart from Wrex, I saw a shiver run its way through the entire group. Some were better at hiding it than others, but it was most definitely there.

I let out something that tasted bitter and sounded only vaguely like a laugh. "Yeah. You remember." I then gestured at the three other men in the group. "And I know I've told you gents about the Reds. Leathery skinned, bat faced, feeds on blood, and the like."

They nodded.

"Right," I went on. "Well, the Whites are the last in that trifecta of horror. And they're probably the scariest."

Kaidan's brow furrowed. "What makes you say that? That… That corpse back in that alley seemed pretty bad."

I slowly nodded. "It was. But… At least with a Black Court vampire, you know that it isn't something normal, that it's something that wants to kill you. With the White Court…" I shook my head. "You can't tell."

Ashley's eyes narrowed at me. "The Hell do you mean?"

"I mean, with White Court vampires, you can't tell if they're a vampire. They're too... Human for you to tell, outside of seeing them doing something overtly vampity. White Court vampires blend in. You wouldn't be able to tell a vampire from a normal human being just by looking at them. Hell, if push came to shove, and you were in a situation that forced you to pick a side between the vamp and the vanilla mortal, you'd be more likely to side with the vamp, simply because they've evolved to not only blend, but also unconsciously make you want then."

"Um," Tali said after I paused for breath. "What do you mean by 'want'?"

My brow knitted together. "That's another reason the Whites are so dangerous, actually. When I say 'want', I mean that in the sense that you're probably thinking. Simply being around them makes you want them in the most primal, physical sense you can possibly conceive. Sex is what they're good at. It's what they feed off of.

"The Reds and Blacks drink blood, but the Whites consume pure life energy, and they get it by making so horny you barely remember how to speak, fucking you so hard into the ground that the only thing you can feel, in every literal sense possible, is only ecstasy, and then eating you while they do it. And that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that they make you want it to happen to you. They make you want to be their food, because it just feels so damn good. The victims become addicts, and the vamps hardly even need to try after a while, because you'd just keep coming back."

Various looks of surprise and quiet horror adorned the faces of everyone on the ground team. Some, like Wrex, were limited to the equivalent of a raised eyebrow and a thoughtful look on their face, as though considering the possibilities of potential harm that such a being could do. Others, like Liara, were openly agape at this, the asari having raised her hand to her mouth to try to conceal some of her dread at the prospect of such a creature. Everyone else had reactions that ranged anywhere in between the scale set by those two.

"Spirits…" Garrus muttered. "That's… Bad."

I gave him a brief flat, yet amused look. The guy was a master of understatement. "Yeah," I said dryly. "Bad." Then I sucked in a breath and steeled myself for the inevitable reaction that I was to garner when I said, "Which is why I'm going in alone."

There was a brief lull as everyone took that in, then they all exploded in… Well, they weren't quite shouts of disapproval, but it was certainly a bit too loud to be their inside voices.

The din of noise, perpetuated by all save Wrex, who simply folded his arms and looked amused, continued for a few moments, until I got sick of it and put my fingers to my mouth, letting out a sharp whistle to bring everyone to silence. They all shut their mouths and gave me looks varying from irritation, to consternation, to simple stubborn refusal to be left behind.

"I'm going in there alone," I told them. Christ, how did Shepard deal with these people, let alone lead them? "There isn't a thing you can do about it."

"And why the Hell not?" Ashley barked at me. "Shepard is one of ours, our commander, even. We should bring everything we've got against whoever or whatever took her, to Hell with their supernatural sex or whatever."

I rolled my eyes and gestured to the massive fortified wall that surrounded the Raith house. "If you wanna storm that place, be my guest. But I can promise you that you wouldn't survive the attempt. Leave alone the fact, for a minute, that you'd have the personal household guards to deal with, of whom outnumber us and are more than likely equal, if not better in skill and are no doubt better armed than us. Let's also not touch the fact that, if you were to try and if you were, by some miracle, able to survive and beat the Raith's mini army, I've no doubt that the vast majority of the C-Sec officers that are assigned this area to patrol are in the Raith's pocket, and would be more than glad to hunt you down and kill you if they called. Let's ignore all those things. That still leaves us with the fact that the Raith's are fucking vampires. Even if they are only of the White Court, the least physically inclined of the courts, that still means that you're likely to be absolutely eviscerated, rather than just crushed or ripped in half. You haven't got what it takes to storm that place. You'd die before you even got to the front door."

Ashley's face turned red with anger and made to take a step towards me, but Kaidan but a hand on her shoulder to stop her, though he looked no less upset at my executive decision to go at it alone. "Right," the woman spat. "You're the wizard here, yeah? You're going to go in there, storm the place alone, that it? Because you're so much better than all of us?"

I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to hold back my own anger, of which came back full force, more than ready- Hell, wanting, even- to go for her throat. I lifted my chin at her, saying, "I am better than you, but I'm not going to storm the place either. I'm going to walk in there, and try to convince them to just give me Shepard."

Ashley huffed out a breath and looked like she had more to say, but Kaidan's hand squeezed, and she looked back at him. He gave her an imploring look, and she back down, though her face was just as flushed with pissed-offed-ness.

Kaidan stepped up. "Michael, didn't you just say that these White vampire things can kinda get into your mind? And you're just going to walk in alone? Without anyone to back you up?"

I stared hard at the woman who had taken a backseat in the conversation, took a deep breath, and let my anger simmer down. Then I turned to the biotic addressing me. "Influence your thoughts, yes. But get into your mind? Not without physical contact."

He gave me a confused look. "What's the difference?"

I sighed, and looked back over at the large gate leading to the Raith home. The guard stationed outside the little structure in front of the gate had certainly taken a notice of the large group of people loitering in front of the household, but had otherwise hadn't moved. Though, I noticed an assault rifle resting against the wall of the little shed within easy reach that hadn't been there before. Shepard was in that den of demons, and the longer that we stayed out here arguing over who got to go save her, the greater the chance that there wouldn't be anything left to save.

So, I turned back to Kaidan, and instead of giving a long explanation like I normally would, I just shook my head at him and said, "It's the difference between compulsions and suggestions. Think on the difference between the words, and then add some things up. You're smart, I'm sure you can figure it out." I turned to face the group as a whole, most of whom looked like they wanted to keep this argument going.

Had to nip this in the bud, now, so I could get going.

"Look, guys," I told them. "A vampire can push your thoughts in a certain direction just by making eye contact with you. I, however, have the training and discipline to resist such things, should they even try. Not to mention the fact that there are etiquettes and obligations that supernatural entities need to abide when entering the home of a fellow freak. The old school rules and roles of host and guest still very much hold weight in the spook crowd, and something tells me that none of you guys know even the beginnings of the knowledge of the formalities that you'd need. Without them, you might say or do something that would make the host well within their rights to kill you, with little to no repercussions. "

I looked around at all of them each, taking time to get the point of how I was not backing down from this across to them. "Simply put, ladies and gents, I'm the best chance we got at getting Shepard out of there not only in one piece, but with as few casualties as possible."

There was a moment of silence as Kaidan and the rest tried to come up with some sort of argument to come along with me. If they came up with one, they never got the chance to say it, as there was a snort of amusement over in the direction of Wrex, and he lumbered up to me, saying, "Just go, pyjak. Not like any of them could stop you if they wanted."

Everyone gave Wrex various forms of an indignant look at that. The miniature dinosaur was unperturbed. He simply shrugged. "It's true." Then he turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you still here? Go. Any of these whelps follow- well. They'd have a few hundred pounds of krogan to go through."

I stared at Wrex for a moment, slightly confused, though no less grateful. What I didn't get was why he was doing this for me, not that I was complaining any. Until now, he had been completely passive and impartial to all the decision making. I'd have to ask him at a later date.

Never the less, I nodded at him, started to make my way over to the gate, then stopped. I looked down at myself, sighed, and started to strip out of my blood covered long coat. I turned and tossed it at Garrus, who caught it, looked down at it, then squinted his eyes in question at me.

I gave him a wry look, saying, "Gotta look at least a little bit presentable. I'm going to visit royalty."


"'bout time," the turian guard muttered at me as I stepped up to the gate. He stood up from his seated position, took up his assault rifle in his hands, and put himself between me and the gate itself. "Was wondering when one of you would gather the courage to actually step up here. You were just standing there for however long, shouting at each other."

I looked back at the group, who were all standing where I had left them, looking none too pleased at being left behind, but clearly didn't want to push the issue now that they knew Wrex was on my side. Then I looked back at the guard. "Normals can be like that."

He didn't look like he understood just what I meant when I said 'normals', but he also didn't look like he cared. He simply replied, "What's your business at house Raith?"

"I'm looking to speak to the Lord or Lady of the house, if they are in," I told him.

"Lady Raith currently has guests, sir. Unless given the word otherwise, I've been told to turn away anyone who she hasn't been expecting. If you'll give me your name, I can check to see if you're on the guest list."

I pursed my lips in thought, knowing damn well that I wasn't on any list that he might check. "I'm not on any list of yours," I told him. "But the Lady of the house will want to see me."

The turian shook his head. "Sorry, sir, but if you're not on the list then I can't let you in."

I tilted my head at him, considering my words. "Perhaps," I began after a moment, "you should let the Lady decide that. My name is Michael Blackstone."

The guard stared at me for a moment, thoughts clearly whipping around in his head. Then he asked, "Michael Blackstone, you said, sir?"

I nodded. "The one and only."

The guard considered me for another moment, before he said, "Wait here, sir." Then he strode over to the little structure off to the side. I saw him step inside it, punch a few buttons on a console, then brought a talon up to the turian equivalent of his ear. He spoke a few words I couldn't hear, listened to the response on the other end of what was obviously a communicator, and said a few short words back. He then dropped his hand to his side and stepped out of the shed to step back up to me.

"Sir," he said to me. "The Lady will be waiting for you in the main dining hall. When you get inside, a guard will show you the way."

My brow knitted together at that. Honestly, I hadn't expected my name to really be worth much to the guard, let alone be a fast pass straight into the manor itself. Actually, thinking on it, the guy had immediately recognised my name, without having to even go look it up. That freaked me a little. The Raith family not only knew about me (not that I'm very subtle, mind), but also made their guards remember my name so that they would be able to recognise me on sight. They were that keen on knowing whether or not I showed up to one of their houses.

I had a very bad feeling that I was about to step into a figurative, Hell, damn near literal lion's den.

Still. I had a job to do, and I'd be damned if I let a little fact like how the Raith's were practically waiting for me slow me down.

So I nodded at the guard, who opened his omni-tool, flicked his talons across it's surface for a moment, then closed it down. The gate behind him slowly started to open up, and he motioned for one of the guards on the other side, whose entire purpose for being there seemed to be either a guide to the house or one first one to see someone who might burst their way through the gate.

That guard led me through the front courtyard. The artificial sun the Citadel always emitted shone overhead, almost convincing me that I might have been on a real planet, bathing in a real sun. The freshly cut grass of the large yards on either side of the walkway the guard led me down added to the illusion, and the faint babbling of a freaking koi pond some yards away distantly made me want to just stop and stay awhile and bask in the gentle heat of the false sun. It was all very calming, very zen, and I was immediately sure that it was a perfectly constructed lie to aid in the disarming of any prey that might step into the predator's lair.

The guard led me up to the front steps of the mansion, gestured for me to go up, and said, "One of the house's staff will show you to the dining hall."

The dining hall for a succubus. Doesn't that just make it a bedroom?

I said nothing to the guard, just nodding and stepping up the stairs. I reached to top of the porch that overlooked the beautiful front yard, made for the door, and heard a distant thudding sound as the front gate behind me shut. It was a much more distinctive, final sound, much more so than the noise that it made when it was fully opened, that almost seemed to say, "You're in our house, now." Yet another subtle gesture that Raith's use to subvert any sort food that might willingly walk into their territory. This time, however, it was meant to intimidate, not calm and disarm.

My hand almost reached the door handle, when the door swung open of it's own accord, a woman in what was clearly a maid uniform on the other side. Something I noticed about the uniform, though, was that it was a bit too revealing to be considered formal enough to be used anywhere but the home of a family of monsters that feed on the energy of sex.

I also noticed that she filled out said uniform very well, and that I was staring.

I looked at the woman's face (of whom, was very pretty; blue eyes, full lips, a heart shaped face, strawberry blond hair that framed her lovely face), and saw that she was not at all disturbed by my staring. In fact, she seemed to have a faint smile on her face, her eyes sparkling with vague amusement.

I made no attempt to cover the fact that I had been staring. I simply asked, "Might I come in?"

The woman bows her head a little and replied, "Of course, sir. So long as you accept Lady Raith's invitation as guest within her household."

That was a more loaded request than most people would assume it to be. See, by and large, most of the supernatural community lived by an old form of etiquette and conduct, most of which dated back to when kings were the main rulers of lands and stoning was considered a humane form of execution. It probably had something to do with how most paranormal entities who enforce such conduct have been alive long enough to remember what they themselves were doing back then.

These codes of conduct were put in place mostly for the sake of other supernatural powers. They are the guiding rules, most of which were lined out by the Unseelie Accords, what was essentially the Geneva Conventions of the spooky side. The Accords stated that when one signatory of the Accords interacts with another, they must abide by a strict series of decorum to ensure that talks about any number of things can proceed without useless violence. Not to say that fellow signatories can't go to war with one another, but when they do, it's the Accords that ensure that the rest of the preternatural world doesn't get needlessly dragged into the fray.

The pretty maid in front of me was asking me to abide by one of the more important rules of the supernatural realm, that of the obligations between host and guest. When a host invites someone into their home as a guest, that host is obligated to do a certain number of things; among which are that should the guest come to any harm while in the host's home, it is considered the hosts' fault for not being able to thoroughly protect those within their own home. It is their duty as host to protect their guest while the guest is in their house, and to fail would be considered a massive lose of face (which means a great deal more on the spooky side than it does to mortals).

Likewise, guests have an obligation of be gracious to their host, and to abide by any and all laws and rules placed on them by the host. If they tell you that there's a room you aren't allowed to enter, then you don't, and anything that happens to you as a consequence of ignoring that is entirely your fault, and the host is cleared of blame. A guest also, for example, isn't allowed to burst through the front door and start lighting shit on fire, as some (not naming any names) are want to do.

The maid, in giving me an official invitation into the household, was ensuring that I wasn't here to cause trouble, and that even if I was, there would be little trouble I could cause without making it absolutely clear to any theoretical signatories that came to investigate my disappearing that I was the one to instigate it (which would be a massive lose of face on my part, and Lady Raith would be cleared of any repercussions for killing me, outside the immediate effects).

These were the etiquettes that I was talking about back with the ground team. They don't know about them,, and if they unknowlingly broke them, Lady Raith would be well within her rights to reprimand them, most likely to the extreme.

The invitation the maid extended to me was not at all unexpected, and when she asked, I wasted no time in giving her a little bow and saying, "Of course. I have heard much of the Lady's hospitality. I will be interested to see if the truth of it matches with what I have heard."

The maid smiled prettily at me, opened the front door all the way, and gave me a small curtsy, saying, "Then, please, step inside."

I walked in.


A/N: Blam! New chapter! Yeah! We should be reaching the end of this little 'missing Shepard' arch next chapter, the one after at the latest. Then, it's back to saving the galaxy and the like.

Also, interesting little fact: in two days, July 19th, it will be the one year anniversary of this story's publishing. Happy first birthday, Michael and Co.!

Although, I'm a bit irked at myself that I'm a year in to writing this story and I've only made eleven chapters. If you had asked me a year ago how long it would take for me to write that many chapters, I would not have said a year. I mean, sure, I'm nearing 100,000 words (the longest story I've ever written, by the way), but only eleven? Geez.

But it is what it is. C'est la vie and all that.

And now we've reached the obligatory point in the Author's Notes where I ask you to leave a review or two. You all know how I feel about those by now. (In case you don't, or are just particularly thick, I'm saying that you should leave them, 'cause, you know, I like them.)

And as always,

Thanks For Reading!

~ThatBlueScreenGuy