Chapter 12: A Darker Side

"Let's go over this again," the rather rough man told Tanis. "How do you know that Lucian is dead?"

"I never saw his body," the historian told his questioner, while marveling at the similarities between this interrogation and the one in the New World Coven. "Both Selene and this character she was with, Michael, told me that he was dead."

"And you took their words at face value?"

"When they handed me my ass, I wasn't about to argue," Tanis told him. "After Marcus nearly drained me, I wasn't about to stick around dear old Hungary long enough to find out."

"What has this 'Michael' person become?"

"I'm not sure," Tanis told him. "I do know that he has lycan strength and the ability to withstand sunlight. I honestly can't tell you how he reacts to silver. He also seems to have a great deal of control over his transformations and…frightening…strength for one so new to immortality." Tanis looked at his questioner closely, "he also seems quite devoted to Selene."

It was small and discrete, but the man, the lycan, questioning Tanis flinched. "So Selene's reputation has crossed the Atlantic before her," Tanis mused. "This may prove beneficial."

"Going on, you said that you had contact with Lucian," it was a comment, not a question but Tanis decided the man expected him to expand on it.

"Yes," he answered. "I knew him when he wore Victor's collar. I kept some of his…indiscretions…secret. He realized that I could be trusted to act in my own self-interest, so he maintained intermittent contact with me, after Victor banished me."

"So you're not entirely on the lycan side of this conflict?"

"Side?" Tanis had to honestly laugh at that. "I'm my own side! Like I told you, I fled to the New World Coven to save myself! When Selene showed up, I decided it was time to leave there. Since I suspected that you had a little group out here somewhere, I came looking for you."

"For what purpose?"

"To save my skin, of course," Tanis shook his head in amazement. "Haven't you figured out yet that I'm a weasel? I'd sell out my own mother, if she were still alive, to save my own skin!"

"And you'll sell us out, as well?" The man prompted.

"Of course," Tanis snapped at him. "If it's in my self interest. I'm a very untrustworthy sort, I make no claims to the contrary."

"So how can we trust you?"

"You can trust me to act in my own self interest! Haven't you been listening to what I've been telling you? I'm a scoundrel! It's the honorable folks you have to worry about; you never know when one of them will turn on you. I'm not that way, you know that I'll turn on you whenever I can gain something from it."

Jerry, the man questioning Tanis, rubbed his temples and hid a smile. He had to admire his captive, even if he was a blood. Jerry had never fought a vampire, but he had trailed and observed them. He had observed bloods poaching and searching for rogue lycans, but he had never seen them actually try to contact and communicate with the pack. This self-proclaimed historian was an enigma, all right, but the pack would figure out how to get his secrets. Someone with his experience and knowledge was a treasure, even if he was a blood. They would have to be careful, but they had planned for this possibility.

First of all, the pack owned three ranches in the area. The main headquarters was about an hour and a half, by vehicle, away from where they now held Erika and Tanis. Their 'front' ranch was a half-hour away, in the opposite direction. The pack had taken the two vampires' possessions and vehicle, and kept them at this location. He wondered how Lee was doing, questioning Erika, before restarting the conversation.

"I get the message," he said. "You're a scoundrel. Of course, you realize that that very admission makes your claims suspect."

"Indeed," Tanis agreed. "Perhaps I can voice some of your concerns. First of all, you're anxious that I'm some sort of scout, looking for your stronghold so that the rest of my coven can move in and eliminate it. As such, you suspect that there may be some sort of tracking devices in my vehicle, amongst my possessions or even in my person."

"So far, so good," Jerry nodded.

"Secondly, you're concerned that if I am what I claim; a refugee from the New World Coven, I could have pursuers behind me. Such pursuers, should they track me down, will discover your presence. I'm every bit as concerned about this as you are." Tanis decided to test how much of a reputation Selene had amongst the New World lycans. "If Selene catches up to me…" he let the statement hang.

His questioner flinched, telling Tanis that somehow, stories of the implacable death dealer must have reached even this remote location.

"Finally, you're wondering how I managed to locate you," Tanis concluded. "After all, if an European historian can manage to locate your cov…er…pack, in a few weeks, another party, perhaps a Death Dealer, will be able to do it. You want to know how I found you, so that you can eliminate the trail you left behind."

"For the guy in the hot seat, you're certainly providing a lot of information without any prompting," Jerry commented.

"I have nothing to lose," Tanis told him. "Why don't we cut through the customary threats and denials? I'll tell you how I deduced your location, in return for sanctuary."

"What kind of sanctuary terms are you talking about?"

"You keep me sheltered, fed, and safe from outside forces," Tanis told him. "In return, I provide what assistance I am able. I have an intimate knowledge of coven activity. This knowledge will provide you with a unique insight into the vampires' efforts to eradicate you. Can you afford to turn up such an opportunity?"

"There are other ways to acquire this information," Jerry suggested, with an ominous tone.

"You're referring to both torture and blood memories," Tanis answered him. "Of course, both are rather suspect. I really wish you wouldn't try either one, as I'm not fond of pain. If you torture me, you run the risk that you'll wind up telling me what to say. I'll do just about anything to avoid agony, after all, so any information you gain will be very questionable."

"Then there's the blood memories issue," Tanis continued. "There are two problems with that route. First, blood memories tend to be fragmented and incomplete, while you want to gain specific information. Unless you have an elder with you, you can't be assured of gaining complete information. Of course, even with an elder, the information may be suspect. Compounding this issue is the fact that a lycan's bite will be fatal to me. The only way the memories transfer is by a direct bite. Simply extracting some of my blood, via needle, will do you no good."

"Oh, we have one way of hedging our bet," Jerry told the man.

"What?" Tanis asked.

"You don't need to know that, at least right now," Jerry informed him. "Now, why don't we show you to your room? It's just about dawn and this house isn't shielded against the sun."

"Is my cell adequately protected?" Tanis demanded. While he didn't want to die under any circumstances, death by sunlight absolutely terrified him.

"I can't say for sure," Jerry smiled. "It's well under ground, so it should be good enough."

"What if it isn't?"

"You'll be the first to know. It won't hurt me one bit."

"Are you sure about this?" Michael asked his companion.

"Not at all, but I don't think we have any choice," Selene answered. "This is where Tanis's trail leads. We might find him, we might find an ambush that he's set for us, who knows."

"Yet you insisted that we do this during daylight," Michael's remark was more a comment than a question.

"I want to prove that we aren't vampires," Selene told him. "If we are running into a lycan pack, I want to guarantee that they'll be curious, rather than hostile."

"Somehow, I think we're missing something," Michael informed her.

"We probably are. Tanis might be a treacherous coward, but he is both clever and knowledgeable. He probably found some pattern, in the coven's records, that he felt was worth pursuing." She gave her companion a fond smile. "Don't let it bother you, this is what he's been doing for centuries. He knows how to broker information."

"But what could he be looking for?" Michael asked. "Money? Mortals to turn? What?"

"I'd say safety and sanctuary would be his first motivation," Selene mused. "All of the wealth and servants in the world won't do you any good if you're dead. He thinks that someone, or something, out here can provide him with shelter and this is the path he followed."

"So who, or what, could he be looking for?"

"We'll be more likely to find out by knocking on that door, than by sitting here speculating," Selene informed him, with a gesture at the distant farmhouse. "Hopefully, someone will be home. This is a working ranch, so the rancher himself is probably away from the house, hard at work."

"You'd know better than me," Michael confessed. His companion gave him an odd look.

"For all that this is my home country, I've always been a city kid," he explained. "All I know is the stereotypes; that the farmer is out before dawn and doesn't get back before dark."

"That's pretty accurate," Selene told him. "But if anyone's at the house, they can direct us to him."

The two immortals climbed back into their vehicle and drove the two miles to the farmyard. Once there they climbed out and approached the house. A sign on the door said 'I'm working in the south field'. Selene knocked anyway, and received no answer.

"So, what now?" Michael asked.

"We go to the south field," Selene stated, heading back to the car.

"Where's that?"

"I don't know, but I'm assuming south of here," she informed him, with a smile on her face.

Michael muttered to himself as he climbed into the car. Selene quickly turned onto a dirt trail running alongside a fence line and started to drive. High grass on one side, and the fence along the other, didn't allow them to see to either side.

"So you even have a solid sense of direction," Michael commented. "I don't even know which way is south."

"We were driving west on an east/west highway," Selene informed him. "Turn left when you're facing west, and you're heading south." She waited a moment while Michael chastised himself for not paying attention before continuing. "That, and the car has a built in GPS, with a compass."

Michael managed to look like he was feeling a little better about himself. A few minutes later, the high grass to their left vanished, to be replaced with an open field. A large tractor was moving in the center of the field.

"He's cutting hay," Selene told her companion. "He'll reach this side of the field in a few minutes. We'll wait for him."

"How does a vampire know so much about agriculture?" He asked.

"Back when I was a little girl, my family was fairly wealthy," she explained. "Back then, wealth meant land and land meant agriculture. Even though my father was a sort of combination architect and engineer, he owned land and took me along when he watched his servants working it. The equipment might change but the tasks don't. That rancher is doing the same thing his predecessors have done for millennia; he's just doing it more efficiently."

Selene spotted where the man would drive his tractor and drove the car to near that point. The two immortals climbed out of the car and waited, trying to look nonchalant and non-threatening.

"What do we do if he claims he hasn't seen Tanis or Erika?" Michael asked, pulling out a picture of the vampire historian.

"We make use of your nose to poke around town," She answered. "His trail leads here and the town isn't that large. You should be able to pick up his scent."

"If he actually came here," Michael pointed out. "And this isn't just a false trail."

Selene simply nodded her understanding as the rancher stopped his tractor and climbed out of the cab. The man gave the two a polite nod as he approached them, and then his eyes flew open for a moment. Still, he regained his composure and approached the two. As he reached out to shake hands, Michael's eyes widened for a moment, as well.

It was at that moment that Selene realized that the rancher had approached from downwind.

Selene began her spiel, showing the man pictures of Tanis and Erika. She held to the cover story that the two were spoiled, high society youngsters who were out on a joyride across the country and that she and her companion were trying to track them down. The man denied having seen them.

"Why don't we be honest?" Michael interrupted. "Look, I know what you are and you have at least a guess about what we are. We don't know how you've gotten tangled up into all of this and we really don't care. Just tell us what you know about them and we're gone, you'll never have to worry about us again."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the man insisted, turning back to his tractor. "It seems kind of odd that I get visitors from New Orleans out here. Tell you what, since I don't want you to waste all the time you spent coming out here, why don't you stick around town for a few days? The town doesn't look like much, but interesting things seem to happen, if you stay awhile."

With that, the man climbed back into his tractor and returned to his chores. Michael and Selene stood for a few moments, wondering what to do, before climbing into their car and driving off.

"Lycan?" Selene asked. It was really more requesting confirmation than asking.

"Oh yes," Michael confirmed. "I couldn't catch Tanis's scent, but he might not have been in that field. So, what do we do?"

"We return to town, of course," she informed him. "And we wait for something interesting to happen."

"I kind of guessed that," Michael informed her. "What I meant to say was, what do we do while waiting for something interesting to happen?"

"A small town like this is certain to have a shooting range nearby. We can spend our time wisely, with marksmanship training and sparring. In addition, we had best report to Mr. Lecoq."

"That's something I have to think over before I call him," Michael told her.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"If I tell Lecoq that we found a lycan, living the life of a simple, Montana rancher, what's he going to do?"

"Send death dealers to eliminate him," Selene answered, as a mater of fact. A moment later, she gasped in horror. "There was another murder you nearly committed."

"Exactly," he nodded. "I don't want that man killed just for being what he is. If he's out hunting humans, I'll take him down but the townsfolk sure don't act like they're being hunted."

"Okay, don't tell Lecoq that he's a lycan," Selene instructed her companion. "Tell him that we found the man Tanis had shown interest in, that he's denying he saw Tanis and Erika, and that we suspect he knows more than he's telling us. Tell him that we're going to stay here and try to find out more."

"That'll work," Michael pulled out his cell phone.

Mr. Lecoq awoke that evening to another report from Selene and Michael. He read it carefully before summoning Madame Carreras and his deputy Death Dealer to his office. He would have met with Gary, his head Death Dealer, but that man had insisted on accompanying his team into the unknown. After a moment of thought, he informed his technical expert to stand by. Once his two advisors had seated themselves and read Michael's message, he asked for opinions.

"This information, in and of itself, does not tell us anything," Madame Carreras told him. "How do we know that they are actually where they claim to be."

"I will ascertain that in a few minutes," Lecoq informed his advisors, before calling the technical expert into the office.

"Sharon," Lecoq instructed the…relative to the others…young vampire who answered his call. "I want you to track the locations of Selene's vehicle and Michael's cell phone, over the last twenty-four hours."

"At once, regent," she complied. Lecoq moved away from his computer terminal, and the expert quickly went to work. Minutes later, she hit a control, which caused a large, flat screen to come to life on one of Lecoq's walls. This screen showed a map of the United States, upon which a red dot moved.

"As you can see, regent," she reported. "The cell phone, and the vehicle, have been within feet of each other the entire time. Roughly twenty-four hours ago, both were in Tennessee. They have traveled northwest, to Montana. Upon reaching a small town in the north-central region, they traveled out of town for a short time before returning, then left town again. Currently, they are a few miles out of town, stationary, with the cell phone about thirty feet from the car."

"Very well," Lecoq nodded his tanks. "You're dismissed."

"At your pleasure, regent," she bowed before leaving.

"So Michael is at least honest about where they are located," Madame Carreras said, as soon as Sharon left. "But we still do not know if they are honest about why they are there."

"I tend to believe that they visited the rancher," Lecoq told her. "According to the log, they were at their first out-of-town location when he called. This could very well be the ranch in question."

"And his report gives them a very convenient excuse to stay there for a few days," Carreras suggested.

"For what purpose?" Lecoq demanded.

"Several possibilities," she replied. "They may be meeting with Tanis, right now. They may have found what Tanis was searching for. Indeed, they could be doing what they claim. That is why I suggested sending the team."

Lecoq looked at his Death Dealer.

"The team is some thirty miles away," he reported. "I agree with Madame Carreras. We can have this team investigate the ranch, without Selene and Michael being aware that we are second-guessing them."

"Issue the instructions," Lecoq told him. "And monitor the cell phone's location. If they return to the ranch, I want the team out of there before Selene knows that they were in the area."

"Selene, Tanis has been through here," Michael informed his companion.

Selene knew better than to question Michael. Instead, she reminded herself how handy it was to have a lycan's senses available. After some marksmanship training, which had confirmed to both of them that Michael would be better off using his hybrid strength to fight during confrontations, the two decided to unwind in town's park. Upon relaxing on a shady bench, Michael's nostrils had started to twitch.

"What all can you tell?"

"Not much," he admitted. "The scent is weak. I'll be able to tell more if I change form."

Selene contemplated the western horizon, where the sun had just set. "Maybe we'll have the privacy to do that, tonight," she mused. "In the meantime, perhaps we could take a stroll around the park and find out where they entered and exited the place."

The two stood up, linking arms like a pair of young lovers, and strolled around the park's perimeter. As they reached the point where the small river flowed onto the park's grounds, Michael crouched down and retied his shoe. A moment later, Selene realized that this move gave him an excuse to get his face closer to the ground.

"The dirt trail holds a scent better than the sidewalks," he reported. "They passed by this way. I don't know if they left here, entered here, or left then came back."

Selene looked around again and contemplated the path following the river. Clearly, it wasn't unusual for people to leave the path by this route.

"Let's follow, as best we can," she told him. "Once we're alone, you can alter form. The only thing we have to watch out for will be teenagers who may be up this way, looking for a little privacy."

Michael smirked and led the way up the river. After perhaps a quarter mile, they were fairly sure that they were alone. Michael removed his shirt and shifted form. He sniffed around while Selene stuffed his shirt into her satchel. Soon, the hybrid picked up the scent.

"How old, less than a day?" Selene asked. Michael responded by nodding, then shrugging his shoulders. Michael's shallow muzzle and fangs made it impossible for him to speak clearly, while in hybrid form. Selene knew that he meant that he thought so, but wasn't sure.

"Lead on," she told him, gripping a pistol under her jacket. The hunt was on!

"What's going on here?" Erika demanded of the woman, the lycan, who walked into her cell. "Where's Tanis? What are you going to do to me?"

"What's going on, is I'm keeping my pack safe from the bloods," the woman informed her. "As for your companion, you'll be seeing him in a little bit. As for what we're going to do to you, something very unpleasant, but not something I would do, if I had a choice."

These words caused Erika to back up against the wall, as far as she could from the woman. She looked at her captor with an appraising eye. The lycan, for she had to be a lycan, was a tall, full-bodied brunette. She was pretty, there was no getting around the fact, but it wasn't the actress/model kind of pretty. It was the fit, athletic, active kind of pretty. This was bad news for Erika, who wasn't sizing up a potential rival. She was performing the unfamiliar task of sizing up an enemy combatant.

"I want you to know that, if it were up to me, I'd simply eliminate you, quick, efficient and as painless as possible. After all, you've never done anything to me, personally, and I don't know if you've ever done anything to my kin. You don't look like a fighter but we both know how deceiving looks can be."

Erika set her feet under her and prepared to spring. While she was no fighter, the coven's policy had been to force everybody to undergo regular, hand-to-hand combat drills. The story had been that Victor had once lost most of his court, more than a dozen vampire nobles, when two lycans had broken into the council chambers. The coven's leader had sworn that his charges would never again be lambs awaiting a slaughter. Unfortunately, the coven's adherence to this policy had waned with Victor's hibernation. Erika had skipped as many sessions as she possibly could, and had slacked off during the ones she had been forced to endure.

She prayed that she would live long enough to regret her folly.

"The men around here are strange," the woman continued, looking at the vampire with hatred and…pity? "They can handle almost any hardship that comes their way, without much in the way of complaints. They can do a whole lot of disagreeable tasks, but there's a few things they just can't bring themselves to do, and one of those things is to inflict pain on a woman."

That was it! There was no way that Erika was going to just stand there and let this…animal…torture her. The blonde launched herself forward with all of her vampire strength, lashing out with both her right fist and desperate hope. She had no idea how many lycans were in this building, but if she could get out of her cell, maybe she could locate Tanis and the two of them could flee.

Yet, the woman slid out of the blonde's path. Erika's fist only managed a glancing blow on the lycan's shoulder, which still managed to spin her around. The brunette extended a foot and tripped the vampire, causing Erika to plow headfirst into the closed door. The blonde fell to the floor, stunned.

"I'm glad you did that," the woman snarled, her voice growing deeper and turning into more of a growl even as she spoke. "It will make what I have to do so much easier!"

Erika pulled herself to her feet and spun to face her opponent, just in time so see her complete her transformation. This was the first time that Erika had seen a female lycan in werewolf form. She observed that her opponent was almost indistinguishable from a male lycan, merely a little smaller and more slender. Cornered, the vampire pushed these thoughts aside and lunged forward with her mouth open. Erika was no fool, she knew that the odds were against her but she also knew that her fangs, small when compared to her adversary's, would still be lethal.

Unfortunately for the vampire, her opponent must have paid better attention to her training. Belying her size, the lycan lashed out with a hind leg and raked Erika across her abdomen, smashing her back against the door before her fangs could make contact. Lights flashed behind Erika's eyelids as she forced her hands up in front of her body. The lycan came forward, lashing out with her forepaws. Erika managed to block both slashes, at the cost of having both of her forearms opened to the bone. She silently thanked Tanis for insisting on frequent feedings as she felt her body healing her wounds.

The lycan gave Erika no respite, lashing with her claws once again. Erika again attempted to block the blows, confused by her opponent's behavior. All of her instructors had told her that a lycan's greatest weapon was its fangs and that a lycan would lash forward with that great maw. Erika was hoping to land a strike to her adversary's skull or neck. Still, this lycan simply used her claws, keeping her head and throat away from the vampire.

Erika blocked one of the slashes, taking another deep wound to her arm. The other paw, however, sunk its claws into her chest. Before she could react the lycan yanked, pulling her away from the door and sending her sprawling onto her belly. The beast was on top of her before she could regain her feet.

The lycan's hind legs entangled her legs and one great paw crushed down on the back of her head, pinning her to the floor. She could only flail, impotently as she felt a claw cut into her flank, forcing her to screech in agony. Another claw tore open her thigh. Through her agony, she was confused. Weren't captors supposed to ask you questions when they tortured you?

"It's good to see that this cellar gave you enough shelter from the sunlight," Jerry told Tanis, as the lycan strode into the vampire's cell. Jerry had a large, plastic tumbler full of what smelled like beef blood, which he placed on a table next to the vampire.

"You're nowhere near as happy as I am," Tanis drawled back, looking at the blood with a great deal of suspicion. "Just how certain were you that I would survive?"

"We were pretty sure," Jerry admitted, with a humorless smile. "I can change forms down here, even at high noon. I guessed that if this place is shielded enough for me to change, it would be shielded enough to keep you alive. Of course, you were the first test subject."

"I guess I might as well broach the subject," Tanis sighed. "What are your intentions towards me and my companion?"

"Information, like you guessed," Jerry replied. "We need to know everything you know, and what your former companions know."

"Which takes us back to the deal I offered, sanctuary for information."

"Yeah, which takes us back to my dilemma; if I give you sanctuary, have I just brought a wolf into the fold?" Jerry grinned, "an odd metaphor, given the circumstances."

"I guess this puts you in quite the quandary," Tanis told him, all false sympathy. "If I may ask, where is my companion?"

"She's nearby," Jerry suddenly had a dark glint in his eyes. "And she's about to perform the task we've decided to give her." A loud scream sounded from the other side of the cell's door, causing Tanis's hair to stand on end.

"That's Erika!" He snarled. "What are you doing to her?"

"What we have to," Jerry replied, in a low grating tone. Another scream echoed through the building.

"Animal!" Tanis snarled, throwing himself at the lycan.

It was a stupid move, and Tanis quickly came to the conclusion that his tormentor was the lycan version of a Death Dealer. The lycan shrugged off the punch Tanis landed on his jaw and drove his shoulder into the vampire's stomach. The air rushed out of Tanis's lungs as the lycan tackled him, driving forward and slamming the historian to the ground. Tanis's head bounced off of the floor, stunning him momentarily. By the time he retained his wits, the lycan had shackled him to a couple of rings set in the concrete floor.

"What are you doing to her?" Tanis demanded, tugging futilely at his confining chains. He could only lie on his back and glare at his tormentor.

"What we need to do," the lycan grumbled back, picking up the glass of blood and leaving the small chamber. The next several minutes, which were spent with the sound of Erika's screams in his ears, were the longest in Tanis's centuries of existence.

Pain and weakness, that's what Erika's existence her, and weakness from her blood-loss. Her wounds were no longer mending had become. Pain from the multiple slashes the lycan had inflicted upon, as her body no longer had the blood, and the strength that the blood imparted, to heal them. She was barely aware that the last of her life was leaking out upon the floor and completely unaware that her tormentor remained in the room.

The lycan reached down, scooped the vampire into her arms and carried her like a child to Tanis's cell. Erika wasn't capable of comprehending that her mortal enemy was carrying her. She sensed blood and strength nearby but before she could turn and feed, the lycan set her down in the cell.

Near the bound and helpless Tanis.

Tanis didn't know if he should be relieved or scared when Erika's agonized screams fell silent. He shocked himself by roaring in anger and defiance, challenging any and all that could hear him to face him, fang to fang. Moments later, his tormentor stepped out of the cell's doorway to make way for a lycan to enter. This lycan set Erika's abused and battered form near him before walking away. At first, Tanis suspected that they were torturing him by displaying his lover's dead body but then Erika stirred and turned her head to face him. There was no recognition in her expression.

Only hunger.

A horrifying realization came over the historian as the blonde slithered towards him and sunk her fangs into his flesh. He surprised himself by not minding that she was feeding upon him.

"Take my strength," he silently urged her. "I give it to you, willingly."

He felt himself weaken as he watched her wounds close. She grew stronger, steadier until at some point, she realized how badly she must be have been draining him.

"Tanis!" She gasped, with a horrified expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"Hush," he whispered to her, his voice was weak but still gentle. "You've never been battered that badly. It wasn't your fault, it was our hosts'."

He sought to comfort her even more, but the two lycans, one in human form and the other in beast form, entered and interrupted him.

"Back to your cell, girl," Jerry commanded Erika, even though his voice was gentle and regretful. "He'll be fine."

Jerry replaced the tumbler on the table as the female lycan shoved Erika out of the cell. The blonde vampire made a token effort to struggle, but she was still weak from her wounding and no match for her opponent even at her best. Soon she was once more locked up, alone, in her cell. She collapsed onto her cot before realizing that her captors had left a large tumbler of beef blood for her. She thought for a moment before realizing that whatever happened to her, she would face it best if she were fully healed. She guzzled her meal and lay back on the cot, contemplating her revenge.

After his companion herded Erika out of the cell, Jerry released Tanis and hauled him up to sit on the cot. He shoved the blood into the weakened vampire's hands. Tanis drank his offering out of reflex and need, rather than conscious thought.

"So what kind of sick crap was that little performance?" He demanded. "Was that supposed to be some sort of psychological torture? Do you think I'm going to turn on her because you forced her to drain me? Or maybe you wanted her to kill me, and become an emotional wreck because of it. I'm delighted to disappoint you on both scores."

"I'm sorry, but it isn't anything that complicated," Jerry told him. "I'm sure you realize that she just absorbed a whole lot of your memories, along with your strength. She may be young, and the memories she picked up are probably a confused jumble, but now they're in that pretty little head of hers."

"Yesterday, you made sure to point out that we only had one chance to take your memories," Jerry continued, his expression deadly serious. "Erika just became our insurance policy. If we think you're holding back information, or lying, our elder will take her. I didn't enjoy doing that to her and my companion didn't care for it either, but it was something we had to do."

"I'll let you recover until tomorrow night," Jerry informed him, getting up and leaving the cell. "I think you might want to think about the fact that you've just become a lot less indispensable."

With that, the lycan locked Tanis in his cell, leaving the vampire with thoughts as dark as the room.

A/N: Well, we're getting towards the end. I think that there's only going to be three chapters left before I bring this one to an end. I've really appreciated the number of people who have read this tale.

Again, my fondest thanks go to Joe Stoppinghem, for beta reading.

Until my next update, best wishes:

daccu65