Chapter Twelve

Ianto held her in his arms as they lay together. The sun would rise shortly and she would sleep. She was almost asleep anyway and the events of the evening had left him tired also, but he didn't want this night to end. True, he had been truly horrified to see Kayla in the state she was in and to see her in pain was agonising, but after that ... she had fed from him. She had taken his blood into her own, and it was the most incredible feeling that he had ever experienced. He now felt so close to her, closer than he had ever been to another person, and he wasn't willing to let go of that just yet.

He knew that he had to get her back to The Hub before sunrise. Jack had forbidden Kayla to be away from the team for too long and had made Ianto promise to make her sleep in the vaults, safe from danger and away the sun. But for the moment, it was just the two of them, alone and together. Ianto wanted to know everything about her and this strange new life that he had found himself inexplicably drawn into. He played mindlessly with her hair as she rested her head on his chest and recounted stories of her life.

"All vampires are innately linked," she explained. "Our blood-lines are very closely interwoven. But we are unable to reproduce like humans, sexually I mean." Kayla smiled to herself as she heard Ianto's heart skip lightly. "We've lost the ability to produce others; at least I thought we had."

"What does that mean?" he asked, stroking her back languidly with his fingers.

Kayla turned carefully onto her side to face him. Her wound, now almost healed, was deep and it was going to take a while to mend completely.

"It means, as far as I know, we can no longer turn humans into vampires."

Ianto felt a strange twinge of emotion deep within him, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Why not?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know; I can only guess it's something to do with the evolution of human DNA, or stronger immune systems that can fight the change maybe, who knows? Either way, when one of us dies, we are not replaced. There's not many of us left now, I can feel our numbers decreasing every year."

Ianto took hold of her hand and kissed her fingers. Kayla reached up smoothed Ianto's forehead tenderly and stroked his cheek.

"I'm sorry if I scared you earlier Ianto. I couldn't help it I -"

"Ssh." Ianto whispered putting his finger gently to her lips. "You didn't scare me. How could I ever be scared of you?" He kissed her gently but saw a look in her eyes, a look he couldn't quite fathom. "Are you scared Kayla?" he asked her quietly.

She lay silently for moment, looking deep into Ianto's eyes, as though she were looking into his soul. And in that instance she knew. "No. I'm not scared in the slightest." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

As she pulled away from him, Ianto was suddenly intrigued. "Why aren't there many vampires left now?" he asked, snuggling back down under the duvet beside her.

Kayla sighed heavily. "I've travelled a long way, across many countries and cities, trying to find more of my kind. Thanks to people like Professor Coughlin, the hunter became the hunted. These are the first I've come across in almost fifty years."

Ianto frowned slightly and then smiled gently. "Just how old are you?!"

Kayla laughed. "Let's just say that your mother probably wouldn't approve! I'm so old now I choose not to count anymore."

She stretched her body and sighed as the memories of a hundred lifetimes glanced across her mind. "I've seen so much Ianto. I've danced at the court of Versailles and met King Louis XV ..." She laughed out loud. "I almost gave Madame de Pompadour a run for her money I can tell you!"

"You didn't?" Ianto looked at her incredulously. "With the King of France?!"

"Relax my lovely jealous Ianto Jones," she laughed and kissed his lips gently. "He wasn't a patch on you!"

- T – T – T -

Jack pulled his coat tighter around him as they stood alone in the dark on the boardwalk overlooking the Bay. The reflected lights from Mermaid Quay danced and fluttered across its inky surface as the waves lapped gently against the wooden beams. A chill wind was beginning to pick up in the air. Gwen shivered slightly as she passed him the photograph of Kayla and the dead body on the common.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked him flicking her hair from her face.

His heart sank as he stared at the photograph.

"Where did she go?" he asked disappointedly.

"I don't know. She crawled off into the dark, I couldn't quite see. That's when I called you."

"OK," Jack sighed and passed the image back to her. "She'll probably make her way back to the Hub before long. We'll confront her there. Ianto needs to see this. I think he may be in danger and he can't even see it."