The town still slept as morning began to dawn, a lone carriage rolling slowly through the low fog that the night had brought. The figure within pulled back the shade to look up at the house they stopped in front of, calling forward to the driver, "This is the house of Mister Henry Sturges, yes?"

Henry's eyes snapped awake as a sharp knock came upon the front door, knowing that it was much too early for visitors. Another demanding knock followed the first and he got out of bed, pulling on a pair of pants and his robe before continuing onto the door.

"Who is there," he questioned, hearing a quiet sigh from the other side.

"If you do not open this door at once, I will put my fist through it Henry."

He flung open the door and took in the slender, dark-haired woman before him, seeing her blood-red lips quirk up in a smile. "Well, are you not going to invite me in, old friend," the woman asked less than politely, looking back over her shoulder at the rising sun. Henry, however, stood where he was, looking at her with teeth bared, "What are you doing here Sybilla?"

"I heard about your marriage; my apologies for missing the festivities- I had to handle business in the old country and I have only just gotten back."

Henry looked at the coming sunrise and exhaled before moving to allow her entrance, closing the door behind him. The curious newcomer took off her jacket and set down her small suitcase, taking a deep breath to acquaint herself with her surroundings. He knew exactly what she smelled and moved to pull his bedroom door closed, Sybilla standing in front of him, "Move out of my way-I want to see the human that occupies your marital bed!"

"Keep your voice down," Henry said through his teeth, forcing her to back away. "My wife is sleeping."

"Look at you, the one who once refused to even be in the company of a woman for a night for fear of not being able to resist your urges and now bedding a wife. Does she even know about you- I should not think so. What woman in their right mind would willingly lay with a vampire," Sybilla questioned, seeming amused with the entire situation. She flipped her loose curls over her shoulder as Henry looked back at his bedroom, hearing Laure's deep, even breaths as confirmation that she was still sleeping, undisturbed. Henry met Sybilla's eyes and she leaned against the back of the loveseat, folding her arms across her chest. She smirked, red-tinted lips quirked upwards, "I suppose you are going to tell me that you love her."

He looked at her, unashamed as the older vampire- though her face was much younger than his own- sighed and shook her head, "Henry, I know that you are not one prone to dalliances, but my friend, this girl you have married is just that. What is twenty or thirty years to a vampire anyway? It is a dalliance and nothing more-"

"She knows of what I am and she has decided willingly to join me in this life… and she carries my child Sybilla," Henry murmured, seeing eyes as blue as his own search his face.

Sybilla had been like Henry's mentor when he had first sought out others of his own kind, changed in the 12th-century by a Hungarian warlord intent on creating a harem of undead women. However, they revolted and Sybilla had gone off on her own, coming across Henry with his teeth in a screaming victim. She had quickly snapped the man's neck and looked at Henry, her teeth bared, "Did your mother never tell you not to play with your food?" She had known him long before he had found himself again and they were good friends- but Sybilla had wanted more for them then, to become the masters of their own coven, even when Henry told her he had had no want for power. They had left on bad terms then, but over the years that anger had waned until it was all but gone and if he had to call anyone a friend- other than Laure, of course- it would be her.

"Your child," Sybilla repeated slowly, as if the words were unfamiliar. "Your child…"

Henry looked over his shoulder at where he could hear Laure starting to stir, murmuring to Sybilla so as not to alarm her any. "You will stay here and sit on that couch- do not move an inch until I come out of this room or I will rip your very head from your shoulders. Is that disagreeable to you?"

"Not at the moment."

Laure was just pulling herself into a sitting position as Henry opened the door, brushing her hair out of her face before running a hand over her stomach. "I was just about to come out to join you- I heard you speaking to someone in the living room. Is everything okay? Has someone been hurt?"

"Everything is fine, my love. However, we have an unexpected… guest- one of my friends from days past," Henry replied, moving over to kneel at her side of the bed. He ran his hand over her stomach, feeling how firm it was underneath his hand and sighing. She had reached the very middle of her pregnancy, but everyone kept telling her that she was looking more and more like she was nearing the end, something that made her blush. His child moved underneath his touch and Laure half-smiled, looking down at Henry, "He only does that when you touch my stomach, love- the boy is very stubborn with anyone else… Should I get up and get dressed now?"

Henry nodded and moved to change his clothes quickly, making himself presentable for the day. It was understandable that Laure was taking longer to get ready and so he went out to keep Sybilla comfortable, seeing her sitting like a stone statue on the couch. "Would you like tea," he questioned, the woman turning to look at him briefly before glancing back at the bedroom door.

"I will have whatever the missus will be having…"

When Laure emerged from the bedroom, her eyes immediately went to the woman who looked to be about her age, taking stock of how she looked with Henry standing next to her as he poured their morning tea. Her hair was just as dark as his, full curves unbound as was the fashion of times past, fair-skinned and blue eyes. She was pale, even though her cheeks were stained pink, her lips looking unnaturally red against her fair skin. The woman was dressed elegantly, but not finely- as if she held wealth she did not want to allude to. To be honest, she and Henry could have claimed to been cut from the same stock, and no one would have been the wiser.

The woman seemed to examine Laure as well, before half-smiling and looking at Henry, "Very pretty…"

"Sybilla, I would like you to meet my lovely wife, Laurelie Sturges. Laure, please meet my old friend Sybilla atte Welle-"

"It is Sybilla van Tolle now, Mister Le Folur," Sybilla said as he regarded her with a smile. Laure seemed to miss the inside joke and Henry looked at her as he finished plating some of the breakfast bread, encouraging her to sit. "We have to assume names to keep with anonymity- but since so many years have passed, I thought that I would go back to my birth name. Our child shall have his rightfully given name, no worries there," Henry assured her as Laure sat across from Sybilla, looking at her over the coffee table.

Careful blue eyes looked from Henry to his wife's stomach, the vampire female clearing her throat as Laure moved to cradle her belly within her hands. "I must admit that I am not partial to you staring at my stomach in such a manner Miss Sybilla."

"My apologies young one," the woman replied graciously, reaching up to tuck her a few wayward strands behind her ear. "But you must understand that it is not often that our kind can conduct themselves in a manner to take a human spouse; very difficult to manage with the bloodlust, you see. As well, we lack quite a bit of patience when it comes to humans, though that topic is another matter entirely… What makes me marvel over you, however, is the fact I have only heard of two cases of a human woman carrying a vampire's seed- one lost the child and the other lost her life. It is a very peculiar happening, indeed. We tend to keep to our own kind, sire children of full blood, or rather, venom-"

Henry interrupted her then, wondering of her knowledge, "Full blood? You mean completely vampiric children?"

"We live, breathe, feed, bleed and love as humans," she challenged, looking at Laure. "Why not procreate?"

"I want to know everything, all of it," Laure whispered- she needed to be absolutely prepared for her impending death… and the life she would have after it. "Tell me everything about being a vampire."

Sybilla and Laure got out of their carriage at Hertsford Park, both shielding themselves under parasols as they began to walk around the lake. They spent their company in silence for long moments before Laure finally spoke, her hand on her stomach, "I believe that it says something profound that Henry trusts you, enough to tell our secrets- to let me out of his sight with you."

"Henry is a man of very good breeding and composition and besides, he knows that I will not harm neither you or the babe," the woman replied wryly, easing Laure's apprehension as she rested a gloved hand on her rounded torso. "My bloodlust is sated and in check and I have no reason to cause you harm- as well, I would not anger a man like your husband."

"He told me much of his past Sybilla, but Henry never mentioned you," Laure noted, looking down at the shorter woman. She only smirked and rolled her eyes, removing her hand from his wife, "It is only to have been expected. See, he and I had a bit of a falling out, almost two hundred years ago now… I wished to build a coven with him- a vampire family of sorts- but Henry refused to turn any of the women that I brought him; very stubborn one, he was. Anyway, I became angered and sought to take it out on Henry physically. However, I did not account for him being one of the strongest and fastest vampires I had ever encountered…"

She was quiet then, seeming as if she were reminiscing about the situation, shaking her head. "Your husband sensed me about to attack his unprotected back and as I lunged, he allowed me to fly head first into the fireplace- which was lit- and as I crawled out, Henry ripped off my arms and told me that I would be of no good use for giving orders when I had no hands. Needless to say after that event, we had not been on good terms."

Laure looked at her then and shook her head, smirking. "Two hundred years of animosity," she chuckled, the vampire looking at her with humor in her eyes. "You sweet little humans have a belief that time heals all things, wounds and bad blood… but what is time to a person such as Henry or myself? Mere seconds, my dear, seconds." The conversation between them lulled for a moment before the curious woman began to question her again, her suspicions rising within her, "What has brought you to our home now, of all times?"

"Thomas Hurst."

The sound of that murderer's name made Laure's blood run cold and then boil immediately after, the young woman refusing to walk any further. "You have encountered him in your travels?" Sybilla looked at her evenly, nodding and pausing before her, "Yes, I have; he is the one who spoke of Henry and encouraged me to visit."

Laure told Sybilla of her history with Thomas Hurst and of the score she sought to settle, the older woman taking on a sympathetic air.

"Laurelie, I am afraid that Thomas does not plan on returning to Madison or this country any time soon."