Author's note: Once again, thank you Inu-midoriko for all your help! I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far! We hope that this chapter was worth the wait.
Later that night, blood dripped off his hands as he carried King over one shoulder and Zoë on the other. He stuck close to the walls of the streets, not wanting to be seen by passersby. He couldn't get Nadia out of his mind. Damn her! He sneered and kicked the wall he was currently walking alongside. She just had to go and make things more complicated for him didn't she? The dragon lord growled. Well damn her, because after tonight, he wouldn't need her anymore.
He grinned, after tonight, after he killed Blade, all the Nightstalkers with him, there would be nothing standing in his way of the blood sacrifice ceremony he was holding…, and his guest star was indeed his little hell fire, Nadia. Although he had feelings for the redhead, he was growing quite tired of her continued refusals. To that end, he was planning to reawake his lover from centuries ago and he was going to use Nadia's blood to do it. He'd kill Galen if he had to, to ensure nothing and no one stood in his way. If Nadia didn't want to be his queen, then he'd make his own and there was nothing that was going to change his mind.
Drake stormed back to the tower. Once he was inside, Danica and Asher greeted him. "Take this one. The kid comes with me." Danica nodded and grabbed King by his hair as Asher took the rest of his body.
Once they were gone, he made his way up the stairs to his room and kicked the door open. He glanced at Nadia for a mere few seconds and then took the still unconscious Zoë to the cupboard to grab a chain and put it around her foot. He then took her to a poll in the middle of his room and wrapped the chain securely around it.
When Nadia saw exactly who Drake had brought in, not to mention that his mouth and chin were covered in blood, her face paled alarmingly and she swallowed hard. The redhead had no doubt in her mind that some of her friends had just died tonight. Taking a deep breath, she carefully wiggled off the bed, ignoring the pain in her legs. Once she had dropped to the floor she half crawled, half dragged herself over to Zoë. Her pale face made her eyes look more vulnerable as she carefully checked over the child. Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't have spoken to Drake.
"Relax, she's fine. I didn't bite her. After all, what fun would I have if I drained the precious bait?" Drake growled and then grinned. "Her mother wasn't so lucky."
The look she shot him would have killed a lesser man on the spot, but she didn't bother saying anything. However, her heart was pounding in her chest.
"You wouldn't believe where her mother sent her to hide. It was the most ridiculous place I've ever seen." he chuckled to himself. "The vents." yes, he enjoyed watching Nadia send him death glares and writhe under his descriptions.
Nadia's eyes darkened in utter hatred, and she bit her lip very hard, ignoring the blood that beaded on her lower lip. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she closed them for a little to regain control of herself once again. "Bastard." This tight whisper finally emerged from her lips.
"Yes, I do believe I am. Too bad you won't be here much longer to make any more insults."
She laughed harshly. "I told you it wouldn't last, I'm just grateful that I'm not gonna bare your children."
Drake grinned. "I thought you might think that way, which is why I will be shedding your blood and reviving my love, Akasha with it. She will bear my children with traces of your blood in them."
"She won't be happy about that. I know I wouldn't be in her place. Why don't you just make it easier on yourself and use Danica's blood? At least then they'll be good looking." She snapped, not looking at him as she spoke.
"You're wrong Nadia. As long as she can come back, she won't care whose blood it is. You do not know Akasha like I."
The redhead shook her head. "Funny thing about payback is that it's a real whopper. Use someone who at the very least desires you." Touching Zoë's cheek, she moved toward the closet that held her wheelchair, trying not to puke.
Drake grinned. "Your blood is exactly what Akasha would want." without another word he walked over to the now stirring Zoe. "Hello little girl."
"Why?" Nadia asked, turning her body around and putting herself between Zoë and Drake. "Why did you bother with me in the first place? Danica is more of what you want then me."
Drake sneered. "I need pure blood and you just so happen to be pure."
This backward comment made the redhead snort, however she didn't move from her protective position in front of Zoë. "Pure? After what you did to me, I doubt that." Even as she knelt helpless on the floor, Nadia still stood her own ground.
Drake smirked. "That kind of pure isn't what I meant. You have not been tainted with vampire blood such as Danica." his smirk broadened. "And as I recall, you did nothing to try and stop me."
"You ambushed me, I was nearly completely asleep." She shot back. "Besides, from the sound of it, you got exactly what you wanted." Nadia's eyes all but glowed in her anger, trying NOT to remember what had happened that stormy night.
Drake smiled. "Well my dear, you won't have to worry much longer. Soon, after I kill Blade, the ritual will be nearly complete and you will be sacrificed."
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You are a coward to the last. Why don't you go back to Danica, I hear her calling for you."
Drake's eyes darkened. He walked over to Nadia and cast her aside. He took Zoë, who was now conscious and headed for the door.
Only when Drake left did Nadia's strength give out, and her face hit the floor. She'd only started getting her balance back when Drake returned.
Drake walked in without Zoë in his arms. "Hello my princess." He walked over to Nadia and knelt down as he kissed her forcefully on the mouth. "Don't worry, you're little Zoë is safe in another room."
Nadia tasted the blood on his mouth, and paled even more. She was grateful that she was already on the floor. "Why do you call me that?" She asked, trying not to puke.
"Because I want to." he then went to his bed and retrieved his weapons. "I'll be back for you my dear." he then left without another word.
The redhead smiled to herself. "He forgot his armor. The dragon's gonna die." She said, amused even as she scrubbed the blood off her mouth.
Drake then barged back in. He picked Nadia up off the floor, put her back on his bed and kissed her once more. "Mmm, that tastes good on you." He then pulled back and shrugged into his armor. "You enjoy my attentions don't you? Tell me you enjoy it and I'll let you live and have you instead of Akasha."
"I'll admit you are a good kisser." She said grudgingly, shaking her head to clear it. This was the truth, but she hadn't liked admitting it. The redhead devoutly hoped more than anything else that Blade would come though, but if not, someone had to continue the fight if he failed. Nadia was the first to admit that she wasn't a fighter, but she had her brother to think about. When it came right down to it, Akasha sounded worse than Drake; how could she not, when you considered that Drake was all but crawling back to her. Swallowing the urge to get sick again, she wiped the blood away with a hand that shook as she watched the vampire lord.
Drake smirked. "I knew you wouldn't be able to deny that." He walked a little closer, his eyes burning with pleasure and triumph. "What else do you like?" The question was spoken softly, almost lovingly as he tried to coax more information from her.
Nadia narrowed her eyes. "Your head is swelling, or is that your horns popping out? I can't tell."
Drake glared at her. "Too bad you won't have time to polish up on your humor."
"It keeps you from exploding with self-importance. You should be grateful." She replied, trying to remain calm and hoping her heart wouldn't explode in panic.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You're just too funny."
She swallowed, wishing he would leave. Nadia was trying to buy Blade as much time as possible to arrive.
Drake grinned slyly and fisted his hand in her flame colored hair. "If there were time left, I'd make you prove what you just said. As it is, when I return, you may yet be crowned a queen." he then gave her one last final kiss before letting her go roughly and leaving the room.
Galen moved fast though the streets still a vampire. Moving towards the docks, his undead heart pounding hard as he hoped Blade was still there.
The dark skinned man sat casually in one of his chairs, going through his weapons, making sure they were all in tact and ready to kill Vampire Lord's ass.
"Blade!" the elder redhead called raging tension ringing in his voice.
Blade, recognizing the voice, didn't turn around. "What?" he called.
"He's got Nadia."
Blade frowned. "Drake has Nadia?"
"Yeah. She never came home, and she's not answering her cell phone." Galen's fangs kept sliding in and out of his mouth.
Blade frowned harder. "Damn it." he cursed. "Come on, we leave now." Raising his voice, he called to Abby, who was nearby. "Whistler! We're leaving! Drake's got Nadia!"
Abby let loose a nasty word. "I've got the Daystar, let's go."
"I'll meet you there." Galen answered, slipping into the shadows.
Blade nodded and rushed out with Abby close on his heels.
One there, Galen went inside. Ignoring the chaos going on behind him, he bolted up the stairs. He had to get his 'Dia out of here before Daystar went off, almost running into the armored Drake, who'd been heading towards the meeting room to confront Blade.
Drake grinned at Galen as he made his way up the stairs. "Evening Galen. I hope you're having a fun time." he reached for his sword.
"I will later, once you are dead." Galen said in a low angry voice, hatred burning in his emerald depths.
Drake pouted. "Aw Galen, you should know by now that I can't die. And I won't be killed by a Halfling such as Blade."
"Maybe, maybe not." He snapped back, his nostrils flaring as he looked for his sister's scent.
"Nadia's been having a great time. We shared a passionate kiss before I departed from her small frame. It seems she's going miss me inserted in her while I'm gone for a while."
"Somehow I doubt that. She's very good at self-preservation." Her older brother said coldly.
Drake smirked. "I dunno, she was pretty open for me the night I visited her."
Galen growled. "You raped her, not loved her. I've known her a lot longer than you have."
"I never raped her, my dear Galen." he took a step closer to the red haired man. "She never resisted."
"If a woman says no, it's rape." Galen answered
"Until she becomes putty in your arms and she encourages everything you do with small sweet moans." he chuckled. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? You've never experienced the warmth of a woman under your body."
"I've never wanted one." He snapped. "My twin is more enough company for me and I for her." With that, he made as though to continue his way up the stairs.
"Suit yourself Galen." he then made his way towards Blade's scent.
Galen's feet pounded his feet up the stairs, ignoring the fighting and screaming below.
Blade walked into the dimly lit room with an unreadable expression on his face. As he came further into the room, he could make out Drake's silhouette behind a long brown table lined with chairs on either side. As he stepped in further, he could make out Drake's form. The armor he was wearing, which was probably unnecessarily heavy and the smug smirk upon his face.
"Blade." he said his name calmly, as if he would be the one to come out of this battle alive. "Ready to die?"
Blade merely took out his sword, ignoring his comment, and cracked his neck side to side. "I was born ready mother fucker." he hissed, indicating he was in no mood for games.
"Mother fucker…" Drake let the words sink in before grinning just a bit wider. "I like that." the vampire lord stood onto the table and dashed across it, screaming out his battle cry as he swung his sword at Blade.
Blade in turn, deflected the attack and took a step further away from the madly grinning vampire. He took off his jacket and let it fall to the floor.
The battle began.
Meanwhile, Galen bounded up the stairs and burst into Drake's bedroom, making a beeline for his little sister. "Nadia are you hurt? Where's your chair? We've got to get out of here before the fireworks go off, or you'll be out one big brother honey."
"My chair's in the closet, I think. He might have locked the door though." Sitting up as fast as she could. "Why in the underworld didn't you take the cure that I left in your room?" The younger redhead demanded of her older brother, suddenly irate with Galen in spite of the current circumstances.
Looking over his shoulder, Galen couldn't help but grin at his twin as he twisted off the closet door and got her power chair out into the room. "Don't worry about it honey, I'll take it as soon as this is all over. Let's get you outta here first." He said walking over to the bed and picking her up, he shifted her for a minute of cuddling before dropping her in her wheelchair.
Nadia smiled back and joined her brother in the mad dashing for the exit; both of them ignored the screaming and dying going on around them as they made their way towards the nearest elevator, hoping desperately that they were still running…
Blade and Drake swung their swords at the same time, causing their blades to stop each other's attack in mid air. They repeated this action a few more times before Drake got tired of the constant deflecting, and swung faster, harder- advancing on Blade.
Blade made a move to pierce his heart but it was stopped by Drake's sword.
A few times, they had to resort to their fists to unlock each other from the sword-lock they put themselves in.
Drake's frustration almost reached its peek and he swung his sword down hard. If Blade hadn't moved, he'd have been sliced in two, but instead Drake sliced the railing. Noticing another failed attempt at slicing him in half, he got angry and cried out his frustration. Finally loosing his temper, Drake swung his sword uncontrollably at Blade.
The dark skinned man couldn't help but be amused at Drake's tantrum but kept his emotion hidden under a blank facade.
Pissed off, the vampire lord picked up the innocent couch sitting next to the wall and threw it at Blade, only to miss by a long shot. He flipped onto the table and landed on his feet like the graceful feline he portrayed. Noticing Blade wasn't exactly on the table with him, he jumped down and the two of them went into another swing-deflecting contest until Blade kicked Drake in the chest and made him slam into the table's edge.
Neither of the two noticed Asher on the top floor, smirking and snickering down at Blade with a gun in his hand.
Just as Asher was about to shoot Blade, Whistler's daughter shot him square in the chest and turned him to ash.
Drake almost tore through Blade's jugular a couple times but the vampire slayer was much more skilled and merely moved his head out of the way to avoid getting his head taken off.
Drake's anger rose and he swung more vigorously, once almost taking off Blade's feet. He kept on advancing on Blade, completely unaware Whistler was on the same floor Asher had been on, ready to shoot him with the only thing that could destroy him.
As the two men fought, Whistler tried to get a better view of Drake, not realizing that a certain vampire whore was watching her every move.
When she got too close to the right spot to hit Drake, however, Danica held up her machine gun and shot at her. She ran to avoid the bullets but it soon stopped when King came into the room and tackled Danica to the floor.
The two men kept fighting until Blade got frustrated and tried punching Drake's stomach. When that had no effect, Drake took his shot, and kicked Blade into the air. As retaliation, Blade kicked Drake, sending him flying through the layers of glass windows until he got to the last one, which didn't break.
Drake's vampire within him stirred, and Blade looked alarmed for just a moment until the vampire came at him again. Blade decided to go for him as well, and they both ended up grabbing each other and sending one another down to the third floor.
Blade's sword slipped from his hand, giving Drake the upper hand he needed to finish off Blade.
The dark skinned slayer, however, wasn't to be taken lightly even with no weapon, and punched Drake continuously to the face and prevented Drake from swinging his sword at him by merely ramming his triceps with his bicep. Blade then grabbed Drake and thrust them both through the glass window, down to the second floor.
Drake, now also without a weapon, took off his armor and the two men charged at one another. Drake, being the stronger of the two, sent them both to the last floor and used Blade as a pillow to help prevent the force of the impact on him but made sure Blade's back absorbed the blow.
He sat up and started changing into his true form, fed up with this game with Blade, and eager to return to the young woman he'd left upstairs.
Blade looked on in disgust before being picked up by the now transformed Drake, feeling his tongue graze against his cheek and then found himself being thrown through the air and slam into the horizontal pole connecting from one wall to the other, down to the next and then flat on his back again on the same level as Drake.
Drake walked towards Blade, causing Blade to come back to earth from the minor dizziness and stand up. He tried punching him numerous times in the gut but Drake's abs were literally like steel and nothing Blade did to them had any effect.
Drake took Blade's shoulders and head butted him, causing him to fall back down on his back.
'Damn it Whistler, hurry the fuck up!' he screamed in his mind but refused to show his lack of patience and desperation to the likes of Drake.
Speaking of the Dragon Lord, he took Blade's foot, dragged him a few feet, intending to throw him, but Blade was faster and got out of his grip and stood back up. This angered Drake and he walked up to Blade once again. When the Daywalker threw himself at the vampire lord, Drake moved out of the way and pushed Blade further into the air, making him, once again land flat on his back.
Drake laughed. "Give up Blade. You can't win. I have the upper hand and all you seem to be doing is laying on you back." He walked closer to Blade, who gave no answer.
Whistler lowered herself on onto a pillar and took out the arrow she had to use to destroy Drake, who picked up his sword and stood over Blade.
"Are you ready to die, mother fucker?" the vampire asked and with a look as smug as before raised his blade to strike.
Whistler was faster, however, and released her arrow but Drake's brilliant senses had caught on to what was happening behind him and as he whipped around, he stopped the arrow before it could hit him.
Drake, his attention now on Whistler, dropped the arrow in front of Blade, who saw it, picked it up, and rammed it right into his heart.
Just before the arrow pierced Drake's flesh, Nadia and Galen bolted across the causeway behind Abby Whistler. Nadia looked over her shoulder for just a second. A smile of satisfaction flickered across her lips as her blue eyes briefly met the doomed Drake's before continuing on their way.
The poison spread through him and he became weaker, so weak he had to lie down across from where Blade collapsed and the particles within him, spread throughout the sanctuary and destroyed the rest of the vampires in his home.
'Good bye Nadia, my Queen.' he said softly in his mind as he watched the only woman he loved leave him forever. In that moment, he realized he'd never intended to sacrifice her. He knew his phantom heart wouldn't let him do it. If he had had the tears to cry, he would. He'd cry out for the woman he wanted to spend eternity with, the one he wanted to bear his child. All he ever wanted from Nadia was her love. He sighed and settled for defeat, knowing no matter how hard he tried, he knew he never got it from her.
Now in his human form, sneered at the residue of the floor on his skin and wiped it off before he looked at Blade.
"Funny isn't it? All this time my people were trying to create a new kind of vampire," the look on his was no longer of smugness but of truce, acceptance to the fact he had been beat. "When one already existed." his breathing became more erratic as his time grew nearer. Blade just looked at him, listening to what he had to say. "I don't need to survive. The future of our race rests with you." He smiled at Blade but his expression soon became more serious. "You fought with honor, I respect that." Blade was thrown off by him but still kept quiet. "Allow me a parting gift, but remember this," a hint of his grin came back and his voice turned into a loud whisper. "The thirst always wins." A pained expression passed over his face and his veins became visible through his flesh as he now laid down and quietly left the world to venture into another eternal sleep.
The twins just barely made it out in time, but Galen slipped into the shadows to flee towards their home before the sun rose.
Left alone, Nadia looked back, waiting for the others. Absently resting one hand on her belly, a strange sort of peace swept over her. Whatever happened now was up to fate, she only hoped that she was up to the challenge. Seeing Abby and King come out with Zoe, she smiled and led them to their home until Blade woke up again…
End notes: That's a wrap! Thanks again to everyone that has read this fanfic. Inu-midoriko and I had a lot of fun working on this piece. We were considering writing a sequel, but decided to let our fans decide. If you would like to see a sequel then please leave a review and let us know!