Author's Note: I give this story about two to three more chapters max before the end. Then I'll be able to focus on Name of God and Brothers Grim. I know I'm taking forever with Brothers, forgive me! Let's see, I'll give a cookie whoever can tell me who Norman Rockwell is. Egahs people, I feel so old if nobody knows this. Also, there's a small indirect allusion to "The First to be Eaten" by Hyphen which is the only Marauder writer outside of my friends (Who force them on me) I read. R/R

Chapter Nine: The Children

Gabriel stifled a yawn as he entered the lounge, trying unsuccessfully to blink out the sleep and shrug off the weariness of too much sleep. He yawned again and rubbed his eyes, before fully realizing the scene before him. And granted, once he did, he slumped against the doorframe and watched for a moment in silence. There were seven in the room, excluding him, and five of them were on the floor, Kuso, Simon and Remus included. Before each were piles of poker chips of various heights along with stacks of various sorts of cookies. Kuso even had two brownies and an éclair looking very pleased with himself and the hand he had been dealt. Remus had a small stack of chips and was eating a brownie. Irvan was reclining with his familiar drink, and a book, glancing over at them in disgust every so often. Beside him in another chair was a small woman who also was engrossed in a book, eating the cookies that Kuso would slip to her every once in a while.

"It's like a fucked up Norman Rockwell." Gabriel mused to himself.

"Gabriel! You're up, finally!" Remus called, looking up. "Help me! This Goth-wannabe is kicking my ass!"

"He's cheating!" Called one of the other poker players. She looked barely out of her teens with wild black hair spiked at all angles, dressed in torn blue jeans that were scribbled at all ends with permanent markers, and a black sweater that hung off her shoulders. She looked up, smirking at Gabriel and revealing her small fangs over her black lipstick. "Tell him he can't cheat!"

"I'm not cheating." Kuso said, "I'm an old hand at this game."

"You're a old hand at everything!" The girl whined playfully as she pulled out a solid red lollipop and popped it in her mouth. She looked up at him, smugly. "After this, I'm dragging your butt out to play Hackeysack!"

"Or Yo-Yos." Remus said, grinning. He scooted over a little and motioned to the rug with a grand gesture. He looked up, with a cold demeanor and grandiose voice meant to over dramatize things. "Come on, Gabriel…join the Dark Side. Come keep company with all us nefarious evil doers."

"Oh, oh yeah…" Simon said offhandedly as he put down two cards and tapped them. The Goth girl, the dealer, took them and replaced them with two others that from Simon's expression didn't help at all. "We're plotting the end of mankind as we speak."

"Attacking virgins, burning villagers…" Said other yet-as-unnamed Vampire. He looked up, shaking his head at the dealer, and brought his cards closer to his chest. "Singing show tunes."

"Now that's just cruel." Remus admonished.

Gabriel turned to Irvan who seemed the most likely to answer the question with least amount of jeers and jests. "Where's Isaiah?"

"Boo!" Came a chorus from the floor. Simon was glaring playfully, whist the unnamed girl and boy were making hissing noises and jeering. The girl kept referring to Isaiah as the Old Man, with the boy bringing up the rear calling him Papa Smurf. It was Kuso who waved a hand over them to quiet them. He looked up at Gabriel, grimly as if he had been at the mercy of these creatures for some time.

"Isaiah disappeared a while ago, about an hour or two after you went to sleep." He answered. He laid down the cards he was holding deftly and smiled smugly. "And Ari took off shortly afterwards, probably checking up with her contacts to find out anything about Dracula's whereabouts." He looked up, "Come on, Stella, stop drooling over Irvan and play your hand."

The girl in the torn jeans, now known as Stella, jumped nervously and against her will looked up at Irvan to see his reaction. The elder Vampire looked up, his eyes lingered on her for a while; brow arched like one would consider a strange insect before returning his attention to his book without a second glance. Gabriel felt his heart ache a little as Stella's face showed hurt and laid her cards down unceremoniously.

The other boy on the floor leaned over and nudged her playfully. "Don't worry, Stella. I still love you."

"Thanks Zachary." She murmured.

"Come here Stella." The other female called. She had set her book down, smiling at her. "I want to play with your hair."

Stella folded the cards and handed them to Remus before scooting over to replace Kuso by the woman's chair.

Gabriel was stuck about how innocent it all seemed. He glanced at a window, to look at the almost full moon as it retreated slowly under the horizon and the sky became purple with morning. He grimly remembered the nights before his Transformation, and winced from the memory of the pain that traveled through his fingers and joints. Against his will, he shuttered and looked at Remus.

He was started when he saw that Remus was watching him too. The werewolf tilted his head lazily and smiled gently. "It doesn't hurt that much after all these years." He offered. "But it's the restlessness that gets you."

"Tell me about it." Zach whined. He reclined in his place, resting on the balls of his fists. "We didn't get to eat tonight and I'm famished. Where are the others?"

"They'll come. You have to be patient." Simon answered. He looked up, smirking at Gabriel's curious frown. "Our harvesters haven't returned yet."

"Harvesters?"

"Their hunters." Irvan said, never looking up. "Isaiah has jobs allotted to different members of his clan. He has six hunters in charge of finding fresh blood."

Gabriel made a motion.

"He didn't say human. Just fresh." Stella whispered. Gabriel turned and saw there was a look of fear on her face as her eyes ran over the weaponry Gabriel had. Gingerly, Gabriel drew his trench coat over his frame, to hide the tools of his trade and regretting that he had frightened the young Vampire.

And a moment later, Gabriel's heart rebelled. He was a Knight of the Holy Order, and for him to have sympathy for such a monster; however young and fragile they appeared, would allow room for a weakness that could lead to his demise. He inhaled angrily. He was getting too attached to these Vampires. He was forgetting his purpose.

No, he thought to himself, it's not them he was attached to. He stopped short of actually thinking her name; afraid that once he did, it would cement something that could not be possible.

"Six Harvesters, Isaiah's your leader and what are you?

"They're the young." Simon called. "That's why they're left behind when everyone leaves like this."

"Everyone's gone?"

"Yeah, Ari said it probably wasn't safe for everyone to be congregated and asked for us to spread out for a while but Isaiah wanted the kids near, and I was stuck as the babysitter."

"I'm the oldest." Zachary chirped, proudly. "Forty." He shrunk down when he heard Irvan and Kuso chuckle. Looking at them, he blinked, and continued in a whisper devoid of his earlier pride. "Anyone under fifty is considered children in our clan."

"Clan." Irvan said, annoyed. "Hardly."

The children exchanged looks, and it was finally Simon that spoke, ignoring Irvan's dirty looks altogether and speaking with a soft, fatherly tone. "I'm sorry, I should probably warn you you're not exactly in High born country."

"You've been thrown into the backwaters of Wonderland." Stella purred, pulling her knees to her chest and folding her arms over her knees. The way she and the other children perked up looked like students getting ready for story time.

"We're mutts." Zachary called.

The girl in the chair smiled. "Vermin."

Remus looked over and gave the most useful description. "Mixed bloods."

"What?"

Kuso laughed. "They're products of a diluted bloodline, making them much weaker then those like myself and nonexistent to those like Irvan here." He made a motion to Irvan that the children caught and reacted to by huddling up together in the corner and casting shifty eyes at Irvan.

Gabriel bit down laughter as he heard words like the Big Cheese and Big Kahuna spoken in reference to Irvan and his superior bloodline.

Irvan put his book down, glaring at the kids and barely containing whatever statement was on the tip of tongue. He gave Simon a look telling him to contain his scourge. But to Irvan's dismay, it was not Simon who heeded the warning but Stella.

"Knock it off, guys." She said, punching Zachary's shoulder. "Irvan's a important man and doesn't need our sass."

Zach grinned, leaning closer to her. "And you have just what he needs, don't you?"

Simon rose and clapped his hands together. "Come on, guys. Let's go visit Delphi for a while."

The kids shuffled to their feet, groaning and talking amongst themselves. Zach turned to Remus. "Coming Fuzzball?"

"Naw, I got to stay here." Remus said, softly. "Delphi doesn't like me that much."

"It's cause you get furry. But hey, we're still cool." Zach walked out. "See ya!"

"Go on," Gabriel heard the other girl whisper to Stella. "I dare you."

Stella blinked at this serious adolescent challenge, nodded and then turned back. She walked briskly to Irvan's chair, staring at his book and muttering. "Goodnight, Chuckles." She whispered and before anyone knew it, she had leaned down and kissed his cheek.

She was out of the room, laughing with the other girl before Gabriel had drawn his next breath. Kuso was holding in his laughter but his body was beginning to shake. Remus, not so genteel, was rolling on the floor his face bright red from the laughter.

Gabriel looked over at Irvan and in all seriousness, touched his cheek. "You got some lipstick…right there…"

Remus sat up, drying his eyes and smiling at Irvan. "Sorry, sir." He muttered rolling his back. "Its just Stella and Andrea were talking about that all day, and it's sweet that she finally got her kiss."

Gabriel laughed again and moved to the chair vacated by Andrea. He collapsed into it with a groan. He was about to say something when a shrill, sharp scream broke through his mind. He was on his feet and out the door before anyone else and regardless of what his heart said; he felt nothing but sheer horror at the scene he greeted.

On the floor, lying prone and awkward was Stella. A deep red pool was flowing around her slender body and her face was turned upward, with a look of utter shock still frozen onto her features.

"Stella…" Gabriel heard Irvan whisper beside him.

"I'm sorry." Called a voice from above them. "Did she mean something to you?"

Gabriel looked up on the wall where two women were crawling downward like spiders. They jumped away from the wall and curled into each other embrace, arms overlapping around their backs and favoring him, Irvan, Kuso and Remus with coy, unnatural smiles. He gritted his teeth, hands falling to his guns. "Dracula's brides?"

"Prefect." Kuso retorted under his breath. "How are you on fighting without the fur, Remus?"

Remus swallowed, nodding. "But there was nothing about Brides in the contract."

"Sorry."

"No problem. I just expect pie."

"Shut up, all of you." Irvan demanded, turning to the Brides. "Where are the other children?"

The stronger of the Brides smiled. "The Angel took them."

Gabriel felt his stomach seize up. No, he screamed in his head. Let it be some twisted ploy, let it be some game anything but the truth. Do not let it be so, he prayed, do not let Fate had damned another.

"You should have heard them screaming." Whispered a voice as the shadows retreated and revealed Erised walking towards them.

It was her but at the same time something foreign and unfamiliar. Gabriel wondered briefly if it was another of her skins that she would shed any moment now. But somehow, someway he knew it would not be true. She had changed, utterly and completely. She was lost now.

And he had failed her.

"You bitch." Irvan whispered once more, before throwing himself towards her.

Ari was not prepared for the assault and she was thrown under him, sliding across the carpet and screaming as she used all her might to force him away from her. Irvan would allow no release. He growled, part in frustration and righteous anger and lifted her from the floor to throw her against the wall.

He would have gone after her again, had he not been thrown from his place as the blond Bride took flight and grabbed Remus to use him as projectile. The young wolf howled, jumping back up and charging after the black Bride.

Ari had gotten to feet by now. She pulled her wand, and was watching the scene with interest for a moment before shouting. "Fallon, take the man, Tale, the boy and the vampire."

Gabriel barely had time to duck as the blond Vampire swept towards him, digging her talons into his shoulders. He cried out and fired wildly.
"Remus, watch out!" Kuso yelled. "Those are silver."

"Clever boy." Ari said, advancing on Kuso. She tucked her wand into the back of her hand and bowed slightly. "But you shouldn't ruin my game!" She shouted and charged.

Kuso stumbled back from the first punch, and then returned the favor. Gabriel heard something snap in Ari's body and winced. Ari howled in pain, and threw a fierce swipe at him. Surprisingly, Gabriel heard Kuso's pain voice and turned just in time to see the glint of Ari's dagger. She had taken a light swipe at him, grazing his chest just enough to tear the cloth. Ari smiled a slight manic grin.

"Come on, my beautiful boy." She purred. "I love it rough."

Kuso narrowed his eyes, reaching out and grabbing Erised with one massive hand by the throat. He squeezed until Erised gasped in pain, and then threw her against the wall to pin her there, steadily.

And in the second, Kuso could have used to break her neck. He faltered.

Fallon shrieked and flew back towards Kuso and Ari, intent on saving her newest sister. Gabriel took aim, breathed and fired. She screeched and swooped lower. Switching weapons, he took his crossbow and fired four arrows in rapid succession. Each met its mark, tearing through the membrane of Fallon's wings and forcing her to land, and return to her human form. She fell to her knees, cradling her bleeding stomach.

Tale had Irvan at bay with her grip firmly around Remus' neck. On her cold, serious face was a grim, smug smile. She had her cheek pressed close to Remus' and the smile grew as her eyes slid close. "So warm…such a tasty meal."

"Trust me. You don't want me." Remus coaxed, swallowing. "I'm stringy. I do have a friend however who has more muscle…James Potter. I can introduce you two sometime."

"Perhaps later." Tale whispered. "We're leaving." She threw him forward, towards Irvan and took flight. Swooping down to pick up Fallon, Tale rose to the heavens and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

When Gabriel turned around again, Erised had gotten free of Kuso. Gabriel was certain for a moment that she would change herself into one of damned creatures and forever destroy herself. Instead, she merely looked at him with a distant, unfamiliar gaze and took steps backwards, purposely dropping the dagger she held in her hand and disappearing.

"She Apparated." Remus whispered. "I don't understand. Why didn't she just fly?"

"Because she's not a Vampire." Kuso said, as he walked over to the dagger and picked it up with a cloth. He folded it in the white handkerchief and held it out for Gabriel. "Not yet at least."

"I don't understand." Gabriel whispered, softly. "I thought she was immune."

"She is. To the pull, I never said she was incapable of becoming a Vampire." He looked away, as if trying to understand the situation as much as Gabriel was. He bowed his head and touched one of his scars thoughtfully. "We're running out time."

"We can't do anything until tonight." Remus said, motioning to the sun. "Sun's just come up. I'm of no use to anyone."

"But we can figure out where to go." Gabriel said. He turned to Kuso. "Are you in?"

"Do you even have to ask that question?" The Vampire asked before turning to walk out the front door. "Irvan, let's go…" he stopped and turned. "Irvan?"

Irvan was squatting down before Stella's prone body, watching it intently. For a long time no one moved or spoke as he studied the body at rest. Gingerly, he reached over and touched Stella's cheek with the tip of his fingers, brushing the corner of her mouth and tilting his head.

Then, without ever uttering a word, Irvan stood, ignoring the others, and walked silently out. The others exchanged glances before they followed suit.