Vampire University

Chapter 3

They both took showers and Kate noticed this time that Alexis skipped eating breakfast. She, however, had sipped her blood a little. Thankfully while she might be a vampire and admittedly had never wished to be anything other than a vampire, she didn't really need to drink all that much or all that often.

Since they had gas all they had to do was hop on and start driving after Alexis brought up Key West on her navigation system.

"So what kind of boat?" Kate yelled so she could be heard. Being out here meant they heard road noise and it wasn't the noise they generated; it was all the cars and trucks around them.

Kate was also noticing that Alexis drove just as fast as most of the cars and passed the really big trucks easily.

"I don't really know. A powered boat might be easier on us but that means maintenance and buying gas. I don't have any training on how to sail a boat with sails. I guess we wait and see." It was the best she had. There was one thing she knew. They were going to need to help them find one and that help was in the form of a laptop. They'd have to stop and buy a laptop somewhere and gain access to the Internet.

\0/ V-V \0/

Rick had been summoned and he knew this was it. His job was about to get more difficult. He was even beginning to create his own exit route before he was overwhelmed and captured or killed.

Worse he knew the Queen could order his execution and perhaps even have him kill himself.

Rick stepped off the elevator since he was in the basement. It was only one floor down but this section was meant only for Royals. It was a separate section of this basement. Now he just needed to find her.

Much like the rest of this level of the basement it was broken up into separate cubicles that used hanging white sheets to achieve this. Eventually found her. She was doing what everyone else down here was doing.

There was a human dressed in backless gown sitting in a chair. His Queen was sitting next to her and was biting her arm and sucking blood out of her.

Rick knew they had a herd of these humans. None of them were ever sucked dry and the vast majority of them had been down here for years. They fed them and marginally tried to keep them alive. When one died it went into the incinerator and was turned into ash. Then a team went out to replace him or her.

Rick stood there at attention and waited for her to finish. When she did she had blood on her lips. She wiped it off using her hand and then licked her hand clean.

"You summoned me, my Queen." Rick bowed toward her since while he had power she was the ultimate power here. As Queens went she was rather young, barely older than he was if that old. It was also rumored that she had more than one Vampire that serviced her sexually. Thankfully Rick hadn't been selected for that task.

"Yes, I have learned that Katherine Beckett is not in this University. Also your daughter, her protector, assigned directly and personally by you is also missing." She wanted answers and if he didn't provide them she would have him executed.

Rick pointed out the obvious. "Alexis is assigned to protect her no matter where she goes. That is her job. If Kate decided to go out camping on University grounds or even off the grounds she would be required to go with her to keep her safe."

"Yes." The Queen considered his answer. It didn't tell her where Kate was but it did explain where his daughter was.

"It is not unheard of for a person to leave University grounds. That is why we have cars and protectors for everyone that chooses to leave for any reason."

The Queen considered this as well. "Are there any cars missing at this time?" she inquired, waiting for him to respond.

"I do not know at this time, my Queen. One moment." Rick stepped away and used his wrist communicator to contact Control in the Security Tower and questioned them regarding whether any cars were in use by anyone.

Rick got his answer and returned to his Queen. "There are presently two cars checked out of the motor pool. Neither of them were signed out by Katherine Beckett. However, it is possible that she is a passenger. I would need to review video footage to determine if she is actually in one of them." Rick needed to buy them as much time as he could give them.

"Why have you not used your communicator to contact your daughter?" the Queen questioned him.

"I respectfully remind my Queen that you know the wrist bands have a limited range. It does not exceed the University grounds."

"Yes." So far he had a logical answer for each question and he just might be right. "Then you have a task, Castle. Review the video tapes. If Katherine or your daughter are not seen on those tapes you will begin an investigation to find both of them. Katherine is the last of her bloodline. It will reflect badly on our University if we were to lose a bloodline. Be it she was killed or she defected to another University in which case I would order her execution for her betrayal."

"Yes, my Queen. I will begin immediately." Rick bowed deeply and hurried away before she asked him any more questions or gave him another order.

He could easily drag this out for a while but eventually she would become unhappy with the lack of progress. She would start wondering if Kate had defected and his daughter had gone with her because protecting her was her job.

If she did that it would make anything he could do nearly impossible. Even after Kate and his daughter returned because he had found the spies and eliminated them she might still order Kate executed and that order would include his daughter. It would lead to all three of them ending up dead or on the run for their very lives.

\0/ V-V \0/

Kate watched as they stopped at another convenience store and all Alexis did was buy another Gatorade bottle. She drank it down in one go followed by following her into yet another stinky restroom. Then they were back on the road again. She didn't even bother with getting gas.

Alexis located a hotel that would work. It looked okay. Certainly not amazingly expensive but not that cheap. She didn't as yet know what this boat idea was going to cost them.

Kate took off her helmet and sat there after Alexis got off and removed her helmet.

There was one thing about letting Alexis talk her out of using a really big backpack and using these little ones instead. It made it easier for her to wrap her arms around Alexis during their ride. Though she had found that she had handles she could hold onto instead and was actually using them.

"What are these buttons here?" Kate queried since she was only just now noticing them. However, pressing them without the bike running got her nothing. "So where are we now?"

"West Palm Beach. Basically Miami. Tomorrow will be Key West," Alexis replied.

Kate was happy for that. She wasn't sure she was cut out for motorcycle riding. She had always sat in the back seat of a car being driven by someone else. She was a Princess, damn it! But she was on the run for her life so she was willing to make allowances.

\0/ V-V \0/

The room in this hotel pretty much looked like all the others they had been in so far. It was still mostly just the color difference. With one exception this time. This time Kate walked outside onto the deck on the 16th floor and saw that they had a view of the ocean and the beach below.

"Okay, this place is definitely better," Kate announced.

"Good, come with me I'm starving." Alexis took her outside without their helmets since she planned to find something close that they could walk to.

"This will do." Alexis liked the name since it suggested STEAKS to her.

The second they entered Kate smelled it. The smell of meat cooking somewhere. The air was thick with it. Kate naturally declined anything to eat or drink.

"I'll have the New York Strip Steak, medium rare, baked potato with sour cream, and the salad with Italian dressing." Alexis handed her the menu. "Oh and a glass of milk. …It's full of vitamins," Alexis whispered to Kate.

Kate soon watched Alexis devour her salad and then sat back and waited.

"Any further thoughts after we get there?" Kate asked her.

"One or two. I'm pretty sure getting a job is out. Neither of us have a history. However, maybe volunteer work. We won't get paid but at least it will keep us a little busy. Sitting around on or in our boat sounds far too boring for me." She wouldn't be training with her father or anyone else. Wouldn't be taking any classes.

BORED was the word that was screaming at her!

"As for doing what and where, I guess we'll wait and see. Dad sprung this surprise on me so I'm doing the best I can." Alexis was just glad she had her dad take her off grounds and teach her something about what was on the outside or they both would've been as good as dead.

"You're doing great, Alexis. I'd be dead without you." Kate owed Alexis her life and yet somehow that didn't seem like enough to her.

Kate raised an eyebrow at what their waitress brought Alexis. She wasn't actually going to eat all that, was she? Kate even raised her eyebrow again when Alexis dug in, cutting and eating like she was starving to death.

"Damn, I love a good steak. Maybe we should stay here another day." Alexis thought it and rejected as soon as she said it. She wanted to get where she felt safe and this place wasn't it.

\0/ V-V \0/

They were both showered and while Kate was dressed since she had gone first, Alexis was still in her towel looking for something to wear and realized she was running out of clean clothes. Which meant Kate had to be as well. "We need to do laundry tomorrow. What we need in Key West is one of those extended stay places. A mini kitchen and access to a washer and dryer." Alexis pulled out her last clean pair of panties.

"I'm out of clean clothes," Kate admitted. She had a topic she wanted to talk about but was a little scared to bring it up. "Alexis?" Kate sat down on her bed.

"What's up?" Alexis dropped her towel, put on her panties, and put on her bra. She only had two. Two tops and two pairs of blue jeans. A few panties and a few pairs of socks, and the one pair of shoes. She hadn't even brought her precious boots that she loved so much, let alone her jet black outfit that she thought was killer.

"You're aware of our age difference." Kate was stating it, not questioning her.

"Acutely," Alexis answered and hooked her bra into place.

"Since we'll be going everywhere together because you have to protect me, everyone who sees us is going to assume I'm your mother and that you're my daughter despite our different hair colors." Kate was trying to get to the point. Her hair was brown and Alexis had started letting her orange hair grow long. It wasn't yet as long as hers but it was getting there.

Alexis sat down on her bed and faced Kate. "You want me to call you mom?" Color her shocked because she was. Kate was Royalty. She had no business calling Kate her mother.

"Nobody here knows who we are. I'm just another body here. You don't have to, you know. I just thought..." Kate trailed off since Alexis wasn't talking.

"Do you know my history?" Alexis questioned her and watched her shake her head.

"Dad isn't my biological father." Alexis began there and watched Kate snap her head up and look at her in surprise at that.

"Dad – and he is my dad – was doing his job and was scouting at the edge of a rival University. The one in Mexico City to be precise. He was just there to scout it. Not go inside and not to have an encounter with anyone. Just get the overall size of the place and maybe guess how many people it held.

"That was when he found me. Well, technically he heard me since I was wailing away and very unhappy. He found me naked, newly born, and in a closed up inside a cardboard box." Now Alexis only learned this because Rick had decided she was old enough to understand it.

"Good God!" Kate felt her heart go out to her. If she didn't already feel something for her she certainly did now.

"Dad aborted his mission and came home with me. He fed me, raised me, trained me, loved me. I love him like a daughter should, make no mistake. Neither of us have any idea who my biological mother really is. Dampire, obviously, but beyond that, nothing." Alexis was basically done with her history.

Kate couldn't stop herself and truth be told didn't want to even try. She was up and sat down next to Alexis and put an arm around her and held her close. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I understand now."

"You really want me to call you mom?" Alexis asked since this was going to be really strange. All she had was a dad even if he wasn't her biological father.

"I want you to do what you're comfortable with doing," Kate told her. "People are going to see us and maybe question us. Maybe we should be ready for that."

\0/ V-V \0/

In the end Alexis hadn't said yes and she hadn't said no. However, they were dressed with backpacks and down by the bike getting ready to leave and head for Key West.

"Hop on, Mom. You're going to love this." Alexis knew all about the road they would be driving on and Kate wasn't going to like it one bit.

Alexis didn't see Kate's smile get wider as she got in her seat and waited for Alexis to sit in front of her. The second she did Kate wrapped her arms around her a little tighter than normal and had no plans to let go of her.

Alexis didn't have a mother and maybe she wasn't mother material but that didn't stop her from wishing.

\0/ V-V \0/

Alexis eventually felt Kate ease up on her strangle hold on her till they reached the first bridge to Key West. Little by little it got tighter and tighter again.

"ALEXIS!?" All Kate saw was this scrawny little two lane bridge that occasionally got a little wider but never more than just two lanes.

"It's just a bridge...MOM!" They were perfectly safe. Unless some idiot sideswiped them and sent them over the side. Then they would be in trouble.

"A-L-E-X-I-S!" Kate screamed. They were both dead. She was going to drown and no one was going to need to kill her to put an end to her bloodline. Death by drowning instead of Death by Murder.

\0/ V-V \0/

Kate finally did calm down some. Especially when she saw it was mostly just bridge after bridge to get from one island to another followed by another. It was just that it lasted for nearly forever.

There was one thing since Kate was a lot more calm now. She let go of Alexis with one hand and started playing with the buttons back there. She soon learned she had control over the radio!

Eventually they were riding down the road, well, bridge technically, with music that Kate liked blaring nice and loud so everyone around them could hear it. Alexis, though, was getting ready to puke. A short time later, however, Kate lost her station and Alexis turned the damn thing OFF!

\0/ V-V \0/

Alexis found a parking lot and parked but left the bike running and took off her helmet getting Kate to do the same. "Welcome to Key West."

Kate had to admit they were on dry land. There were palm trees everywhere and the architecture of the buildings had changed dramatically. It was nice. Different, but nice. Not up to her high standards maybe, but still nice.

"We need to find a hotel and a gas station." Alexis pressed the buttons on her screen instead of using the toggles on her left handle. It was just easier.

\0/ V-V \0/

"Santa Maria Beach Resort." Kate had seen the sign as they pulled in. Soon she was with Alexis in the elevator headed for the third floor to find their room. "How long are we staying here?" Because so far this place was a lot nicer than the previous hotels Alexis had stuck them with.

"It depends on how long it takes us to buy a boat." Alexis stopped, inserted her key and pulled it back out, and opened the door.

They were both now walking around looking it over. "Daughter, you did well this time." Kate liked it. It was more up to her high standards.

Alexis walked into the kitchen. It had a sink in an island, a dishwasher, range top, oven, microwave, coffeemaker, toaster. There was even a bowl of fresh oranges in it.

Two bedrooms, one on either side of the room, each with their own bathroom with double bowl sinks, walk-in shower, towels, and a big bed.

"How long are we staying here again?" Kate thought it could use a little work but it wasn't those dives they had been staying in.

"Drop your backpack and grab your helmet. We need to go buy a laptop and get connected so we can begin searching for boats to buy. This place is $500 a night so don't get too comfortable. We only have just so much money." Alexis had every intention of being a penny pincher.

\0/ V-V \0/

The front desk wasn't all that helpful but they did have yellow pages so Alexis wrote down an address and eventually punched it into her navigation unit on the bike.

"Why Apple?" Kate saw lots and lots of laptops for her to choose from.

"Viruses." Except Alexis was torn. 13-inch screen or 15-inch screen. The 13-inch screen didn't cost as much so that made her decision for her.

"Computers can get a virus?" Kate was once again glad she had Alexis as her protector. She would never survive out here without her.

\0/ V-V \0/

"Here, hold this and don't drop it. I spent too much money on it." Alexis handed the laptop to Kate after she got on the bike and found her way back to their hotel.

Now while the kitchen was big, the living area was not. The table Alexis would be eating at was minuscule. It barely ranked being called a table. The sofa almost didn't fit both of them as Alexis plugged in the laptop. She turned it on and input the password to access the hotel's WiFi.

Side by side Alexis went looking. "Let's see what we've got here. Did you put your blood in the refrigerator?" Alexis watched her jump up to do just that and was soon back.

"We need a boat that's for sale in Key West, preferably one that's used. We don't have the money for a new one." Alexis got started.

"What's Google?" Kate saw that was all that was on the screen. Alexis shook her head while her fingers flew over the keyboard. Her new, temporary mother could be so clueless sometimes.