Chapter Eleven:

The vampire surveyed us as we approached our house. She did not appear frightened, or cautious, but rather she seemed almost satisfied, like she had been expecting us. That alone put me on alert.

She had been standing on the lower steps as she waited for Eric and me to arrive, but she moved up to the doors as we closer to the house, brushing invisible dirt from her full skirts. She smiled at us, but did not move away from the doors, letting us know that if we wanted to get inside, we would have to go through her.

"My, my," she said, and her voice tinkled like glass chimes. It was beautiful, disconcertingly so. "You two are quite the handsome fellows, aren't you? Much more so than the others." Her eyebrows twitched as she took in my state of relative undress. "That is quite the delicious outfit," she said to me, her words spiked with sarcasm mixed with seduction.

Eric and I glanced at each other quickly, but kept silent. The others? She smiled again, and dropped a very small curtsy. "I am Gabrielle."

After a long moment, I inclined my head towards her and held my hand over my heart. "I am Godric, and he is Eric."

Her eyes flicked up the immense shape of Eric, then to me. "Pleased to meet you."

"What are you doing here?" I candidly asked. I had no desire to start in with the pleasantries.

Her smile widened, and it felt like more of a smirk to me. A condescending smirk. "May I come inside?" she inquired, ignoring my question, and gestured towards the oak doors at her back.

"That would depend on why you are here," I answered crisply, irritated with her presumptuous attitude.

"Oh, do not worry," she said, waving her hand as if to ward off the worry. "I am here on business matters. I only wish to talk."

Surprised, I repeated, "Business?" I had no idea of what she was referring to.

"Yes." She stomped her feet impatiently. "Can we please go inside, so we can discuss this in private?" She glanced up to the windows of the next house, and though they were dark, it appeared she did not want to take any chance of someone seeing or overhearing us.

I was wary of her, of letting her into my house, but she posed little threat to Eric and me together. I went around her and opened a door, and held it for her and Eric to pass through.

When I closed the door behind me, I bolted it shut, wanting to make sure no one would enter the house while Gabrielle, Eric, and I were talking. As I clanged the iron bolt into place, Eric cautiously watched Gabrielle as she spun about, examining the hall.

"This is nice, isn't it?" She ran her fingers over the oak-panelled walls, her shoes clacking on the gold-veined black marble flooring as she walked to the massive, white marble fireplace at the far end of the hall, and then back again. "The stairs are lovely," she burbled as she came to the beautiful structure of rich, red-brown oak set in the centre of the hall.

"You said you wanted to talk," I reminded her, my voice reverberating in the lofty hall.

She spun towards me, her eyes glittering curiously. "Yes," she affirmed, and walked to me and Eric. "Is there somewhere we can sit?"

I nodded, and led her out of the hall into another room. This was the drawing room, a small room filled with scattered maple wood chairs, small couches, a short, round oak table inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a narrow bookshelf, and a fortepiano in a corner. The floor was the same marble as the hall, but was strewn with colourfully woven carpets. The walls were white plaster with floral designs, and the two large, benched windows that faced the street were covered with heavy velvet drapes of deep blue with gold tassels; and between the windows was an elegant stone chess table with two sturdy, but comfortable, cushioned chairs.

Gabrielle took a seat in one of the maple wood chairs, and Eric and I sat opposite her on a couch. I had not paid attention before, outside on the steps, but she really was very pretty. Her dark auburn hair was in a mass of curls piled atop her head, with tiny, twinkling jewels pinned in it. Her skin was very pale, nearly translucent, and seemed to glow in the dim lighting of the drawing room, and her blue-green eyes were very quick and took in every minute detail of her surroundings. Her body looked soft and voluptuous. She wore a full-skirted, low-necked, pale blue gown trimmed with white lace, and with ivory beads and silver stitching on the bodice and skirts. A simple gold necklace with a small, decorative cross hung from her neck. She looked to be no older than eighteen.

"What is it you wished to discuss?" I asked of Gabrielle after she had taken her seat.

Gabrielle settled her skirts around her, and then folded her delicate hands in her lap. When she looked up at me, she was no longer smiling. Her eyes were like the stormy sea, and bore right into me.

"You are in my territory," she announced plainly, no longer having to hide her reasons for coming for fear of being overheard by others.

"What?"

"You are in my territory," she repeated.

Eric leaned over and whispered into my ear, "What is she talking about?"

I shrugged, and he slanted away from me, back to his original position. "I am sorry," I said to Gabrielle, "but I do not understand what you are saying."

She sighed. "Are you being deliberately stupid? It is not that hard to figure out: you...are...in...my...territory."

"Vampires do not have territories."

"Yes, they do. Some are starting to, at least. They are mostly in Asia, however, from what I understand, with only a few here in Western Europe. I have claimed London for myself."

I shifted stiffly on the couch. Eric stretched his arm across the back of the couch and touched his fingers to the back of my head in a mollifying gesture. "What does that have to do with us?" I wanted to know.

Gabrielle noted Eric's touch, and her lips curled contemplatively. "In order to maintain my authority in London, I keep track of any and all vampires who enter here, however briefly. You have been here for nearly a month, but I have not had the chance to meet with you. I have been rather busy, you see." She absently patted the back of her hair. "If any vampire stays within London for any length of time, they must pay me a price and give me their guarantee that they will not create trouble within my territory."

"And if we do not agree to do so?"

"You will be punished according to the circumstances. Typically it is eviction, other times torture, and sometimes...sometimes it's even execution." She said it as easily as if she were talking about the weather.

A low rumble started in Eric's chest, building to a distinctly aggressive sound. I turned on him and put my hand on his chest. "Eric, stop," I commanded. "She has made no threat to me, only a statement." The rumble died, and Eric relaxed; but his eyes shot icy daggers towards Gabrielle, who only seemed amused by all this.

"Does he talk at all, or is he a mute?"

Eric did not open his mouth, so I had to answer. "He does talk. Most of the time quite a lot, just apparently not now."

Gabrielle laughed a tinkling laugh, and it sent shivers up my spine. I think Eric could feel me react, because he gave me a penetrating look.

"Oh, poor me," Gabrielle moaned, feigning sorrow. "But it is no matter: you are the one I must talk to anyways."

A clock rang in one of the other rooms of the house. It sounded out three tolls: three in the morning. I waited for it to finish before I spoke to Gabrielle. "Why? Because I am older than you?" I could feel Gabrielle's power and knew that she was younger than me, but older than Eric.

She nodded. "I do not get many vampires close to my age, let alone older, in my territory."

"But I am certain you have some sort of safeguard in case I decide to be disobedient, am I correct?" I gave her a knowing smile, which she returned.

"I do. Though you are older, you are only one. Two at the most," she conceded with an inclination to Eric. "I have a nest of eleven, all of them older than your friend here, if not you, and with them I could deal with you quite easily."

"He is my child," I said automatically.

"I thought so," she said, bobbing her head up and down absentmindedly. She pinched her bottom lip between her fingers as she mused over something.

"What is the price?" I asked her when she had been silent for some time.

"Hmm?" Her eyes darkened. "Oh, the price. Yes. I have to think about it." She sounded troubled about something.

"You do not have a set price for this sort of thing?"

She shook her head. "No, I determine the price based on the vampire. I think it only fair, rather than setting a single price that is too much for a young vampire, but not enough for an old vampire."

"So it is based upon power?" They were the first words Eric had spoken to Gabrielle since she had arrived.

A slow grin grew on her face, showing off perfect, pearly white teeth. I admired them: it was not often one saw such flawless teeth, especially among older vampires. "He speaks!" she enthused sardonically, even going so far as to clap her hands together. Eric gave her a dark glower and closed his mouth again. She eyed him speculatively before answering his question.

"In part it is based upon power. But it is also based upon how much I like the other vampire."

That perplexed me. "Do you mean to say that if you like the vampire, the price is easier to pay than if you dislike them?"

"Usually, unless there are certain other factors affecting my decision," she answered, seeming troubled again.

"Well, that is...interesting."

She shrugged elegantly. "I do not want everyone to hate me; I just need them to know who is the authority here."

In a way, I could understand her. She wanted power, and was willing to do what she must for it, yet she also appreciated the fact that, sometimes, it is easier to charm others into giving you power and authority rather than taking it by force.

Gabrielle suddenly got up from her chair. "Well boys, that is all I have to say for tonight."

I stood up with her, and Eric followed more slowly after. "But you have not yet named your price," I said.

She gave me a shrewd perusal. "I need to think about certain things. I will return tomorrow night to lay down my terms." She headed for the open door to the hall, but stopped in the doorway and turned back to us. "Oh, and do not think of trying to leave before I return tomorrow. I demand recompense for the time you have already spent here in London, and I will have it. I cannot have you marring my reputation by fleeing my territory before I obtain your payment. I will know where you go if you try to run, and I will hunt you down if need be, which can only make things worse for you." Her tone had become so frigid, it would have made me shiver, and not from pleasure this time, had I been a lesser being. She stood in the doorway, staring sharply at me and Eric to make sure we understood her, and then started to walk away again.

"Gabrielle," I called out, stalling her, "I have just one more question: why do you do it?"

"What, claim a territory?"

I nodded.

She wrinkled her nose, before she replied, "Because I am a forward thinker. I fear that, unless vampires are controlled by a force greater than our individual selves, we will eventually harm the humans irreparably, which will speak disaster for us vampires who must survive off them. I am trying to insure that this does not happen in London." She paused, then went on, almost dreamily, "Someday, I do believe that the entire world will be split into official vampire territories in order to control the activities of all vampires, and I will have secured for myself a large piece of territory. I will be set for eternity."

"You cannot know that," I stated.

"No, but better safe than sorry. I think I can show myself out," she said, and tossed us one last parting smile before exiting the drawing room.

After I heard her lift the bolt on the main doors, and then open and close the doors, I dropped back onto the couch. Eric sat down next to me again.

"She is very avaricious," Eric declared once we had satisfied ourselves that she was truly gone. "And her personality is all over the place, from flirtatious to authoritative to biting cold and back again."

"I think she is quite insightful," I said.

"Really?" He sounded dumbstruck.

I pulled up my legs and curled them beneath me as I turned towards Eric. "Think about it: what she said makes sense. Our population is growing quickly, and if we are not careful then we could either alert the humans to our existence and frighten them into organizing massive hunts to execute us, or we could eventually extinguish our food supply if there are no measures to prevent moronic vampires from gorging themselves on blood or to stop them from turning too many humans into vampires. By claiming a territory, and having the power to enforce regulatory measures, she ensures herself a steady food supply, and forces other vampires who enter here to adjust their behaviours and blood consumption accordingly, so as to protect that food supply; or, if they refuse to, she either expels them or kills them."

"So why does she force vampires to pay a price, then, if her goal is really regulation? Why not just silently observe visiting vampires to make sure they are not causing any disruptions, instead of taking the time to speak with each individually and asking for remuneration?"

"The price is a means of asserting her authority, or of swiftly weaning out those who will disobey her rules. By coming here," I said as I brandished my hand in the air to signify our house, "and demanding payment, she has shown us that she has the power to know where we are and to make demands of us. And if we refuse to pay, it would likely mean that we would also refuse to follow her rules and intended to disrupt the balance she has created, thereby giving her the right to dispatch us in any way she sees fit."

Eric shook his head and drew a knee to his chest. "It all seems more convoluted than it is worth. I mean, why would anyone wish to spend their entire immortal existence in one place? That seems extremely boring to me."

"I agree with you, but others think differently." I rested an elbow on the couch back and cradled my jaw between my thumb and forefinger. "For some, power is everything," I said, pensive.

"What do you think she will ask from us?"

I frowned thoughtfully, wondering on the exact same thing. "I have absolutely no idea." The way that she appeared troubled whenever I mentioned price had me worried.

Eric grunted, acknowledging that he, too, was clueless as to what she wanted from us. "Why do you think she did not come to us when we first arrived here?" he asked after a pause. "Do you really think she was just too busy to meet with two new vampires who had intruded into her territory?"

"I do not know," I answered. "It could be as she said, that she really was busy. But I doubt that she did not at least have someone watching us at all times. Perhaps she did not come sooner because she saw that we have no desire to create anarchy within London. We keep our blood-drinking to a minimum, and always take astute care with any dead bodies we might end up with. And we have not tried to turn any humans. We are as careful with and around humans as she could want us to be."

The clock ticked steadily in the other room. Eric and I both listened to it mutely. "Do you want to play a game of chess?" I asked him when it had been too quiet for too long.

After whiling away a couple of hours playing multiple rounds of chess, the majority of which I won, we remained seated at the chess table and Eric twitched aside the velvet drape closest to him to look out the window. The sky was taking on a greenish tinge, announcing the coming arrival of the morning sun.

"You know, I think she likes you," Eric said out-of-the-blue, still staring out the window.

"What are you talking about?"

Eric dropped the drape back into place and swivelled to look at me, skepticism written on his face. "You mean you did not notice?"

"Notice what?" I riposted, puzzled by what Eric was trying to get at.

"Gabrielle likes you. Or, at least she is intrigued by you. She kept her big, doe eyes on you the whole time." As he said this, he fluttered his eyelashes at me in a mocking way.

I laughed at him. "That is only because you would not talk to her, and because I am older than her."

"I think it was more than that," he muttered, and suddenly he sounded bitter. But why would he be bitter? Then I understood.

"Do you like her? I did not think you did. You can have her, if she will have you," I told him. "She is not really my type."

Eric gave me a hard glare. "Godric, she is very much your type. I could feel how she affected you, even if you try to ignore it."

Instead of saying something in response, I got up from the chess table and walked away, out of the drawing room. I was not mad at Eric, and he knew it, I just could not think of what to say. He was partially correct, even if I had a hard time admitting it to myself. Gabrielle did have an effect on me, though not as much as I think Eric would like to believe. She merely interested me. I liked her voice.

I climbed up the stairs to the second level of the house, to my bedroom. It was a large room, though not the largest, and I kept everything in it to a bare minimum. There were no decorations in it: no pictures, no paintings, no flowers, carpets, figurines, anything, except for a full-length mirror placed against one wall. The walls were stuccoed white plaster. There was a wide, four-poster oak bed, stripped of its curtains‒I did not like anything obstructing my vision‒, and with a cotton-stuffed mattress. There was a small, simple, wooden bedside table that held a candle holder, with a lit candle, and a book ‒Paradise Lost‒; and there were the velvet drapes over the one floor-to-ceiling window, in a deep red, pulled tight against the sun's rays.

Once I had closed the bedroom door after me, I began taking off my clothes. I undid the laces at the neck of my cotton shirt and slipped it off, dropping it to the ground. I began to undo my breeches while walking towards the bed, and I inadvertently caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and had to stop and stare.

What I saw reflected in the silver surface was a small, pale, little boy, wearing the breeches of an English gentleman, but with the jarring tattoos of a wild man on his chest. I picked up my shirt off the floor and held it over my torso, so the reflection showed only my head and my civilized English clothing. I lowered the shirt to cover my legs, and all I saw staring back at me was a barbarian, with the markings of a fighter, a killer. But the boy in the mirror looked delicate and weak, like a porcelain doll that would crack if it was dropped, that those markings looked like a joke. How could someone so fragile, so gentlemanly, possibly have the strength and will to fight and kill?

I was two opposing forces, bound together in one body.

I tossed the shirt over the mirror, hiding my reflection, and stripped off my breeches. Enough pointless thinking, I thought to myself.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, and I instinctively went to answer it, though I was only wearing my drawers. It could only be one person, anyways.

"Let me guess why you are here."

Eric stepped past me into the room without a word. I sighed and closed the door, and flicked the catch into place.

"You have your own room, you do realize," I said to his retreating back as he pulled off his clothes and left it in a trail on the floor that led to my bed. He crawled naked into the bed and slipped under the covers. I stared at him for a long minute before joining him, still wearing my drawers.

As I lay down, Eric curled his long body around me and pulled me close to him. He did this quite often, actually. He liked to sleep with me; he seemed to find contentment in it. Eric may not look it, with his icy, piercing eyes and intimidating stature, but he really was a very affectionate person ‒ with certain people.

"Are you worried about tomorrow night?" I asked him, while watching the candle's flame flicker on the bedside table.

"No," he mumbled, his voice smothered by my hair. His body quaked with a short laugh as he corrected himself. "Yes."

"Do not worry." I patted the hand at my waist encouragingly. "We will deal with it when the time comes. We can handle it. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now go to sleep." I shifted forward and blew out the candle, then nestled my head deeper into my pillow.