Note: I never put notes at the beginning of a chapter, anymore, but I want it to be noted that there are some changes on chapter 12 for those who read it in its original format, but not many (in my opinion). I deleted the dream sequence from the last chapter and reworked it into this. :) Enjoy. Thanks for hanging in there. To Sparkle: Damn you to hell and back for being such a heavy influence on this chapter. K, I love you, bye-bye!

13.

The table was lavishly decorated with its pristine, white tablecloth lined in gold. Black candelabras glowed with a dim light, barely illuminating the large room. It was all stone and wood. Food filled the table. There was everything from strawberries to pizza. I couldn't help but frown at the sight of the pizza. Nearly everything on the table was something I had consumed in the last twenty-four hours. I was in some kind of noble dining hall; it looked like a scene straight out of a medieval movie if you factored out the pizza. Quaint.

Vega sat at the head of the table in an ornately decorated chair. He sat in the chair, leisurely, with all the élan of a brat prince. Above his head, on the wall, were the words Justus et Pius. I just didn't get it. I still didn't understand what that phrase had to do with him, and I may never know what it meant in regards to him. Did it really mean anything, or was it just a trick of my mind? He stood then, and I could see that he was dressed in 15th century garb. On any other man, that would have been banal. On him, it was living poetry… or not-so-living poetry. Oh, never mind.

I wouldn't let his beauty thwart my plans to find out what was going on. Why was he contacting me in my dreams? How was he getting into my dreams in the first place? Why me, period? I'm sure there were plenty of women in this city who would love to be the object of his fascination. I, however, was not one of them. "Where the hell are you? What are you doing to me? What's going on? Why is Sakura mad at me? What did I do to deserve this?" I asked angrily, slamming my fists on the table, standing up in righteous indignation.

"Strawberries were my favorite delicacy when I was alive," he said, as he picked up one of the strawberries, ignoring my questions. Wrapping his lips around it sensuously, obviously enjoying the fruit. I couldn't help giving him a questioning look. Vampires didn't eat solid food. They were on a pretty strict diet. Well, they could eat solid foods, but they couldn't taste it. It could even be quite disgusting to them. However, from the way Vega was tonguing that strawberry, one would think he could taste it.

"Please, sit, Ororo." Vega said with a languid tone. Despite its calmness, his voice still had a lot of command. I sat hesitantly. "You know, I'm the second strongest vampire in this city, now."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise at this statement. "How is that even possible? Sakura said you were the third strongest vampire, and I haven't heard of any other master vampires being murdered."

"And you never will. The body hasn't been found by the police, and according to the information I gathered, it never will be found by them." He said with a shrug. How does one go about gathering information while they're trapped in a casket? I nearly asked. I wanted to ask, but it might seem impudent. I probably didn't really want to know, anyway.

I didn't know what to say. Vega seemed quite pleased about this revelation, and he should be. There was only one person standing in the way of him being the strongest vampire in the city, but what if the murderer targeted him next? Was he even considering that as he gloated about his new status in the vampire community? He didn't seem too worried about his welfare. So, why should I worry about his life?

"But let's not worry ourselves with such matters. The night is young, and so are we." He picked up his bowl of strawberries and walked toward me. I bristled in my seat. Not strawberries. Anything, but the goddamn strawberries. I'd even eat the pizza.

"You? Young? By whose definition?" He was pushing 500-years-old, and he still considered himself young. Well, I guess if I looked that good at 500-years-old… what was I thinking?

I could feel the dread swelling in my stomach, as he neared me. Our dream meetings have been very bittersweet at best. Vega was like a snake – beautiful, yet dangerous. I never knew what to expect of these meetings. Maybe he would try to kill me in this dream. Ooh kinky. I looked at him warily when he stopped beside my chair.

He placed the bowl on the table and kneeled beside me, placing a hand on my knee. I tried to discreetly move my leg away from his touch, but it wasn't working. He looked into my eyes. I almost looked away out of habit, but I held his gaze. He was giving me the soulful eyes. Goddess, not the soulful eyes. I didn't even know vampires could give those kinds of humane looks. I looked away from him at the sign above his chair.

"Do you want me to?" he asked. My eyes found his again, and I searched them for a clue. What was he talking about?

"Want you to do what?" I asked with all the naïveté of a newborn lamb.

"Kill you." He said smoothly.

What? I pushed the chair back with a hard shove. "If you so much as try, I swear I will resist you with everything I have." I spat at him. I would fight him to the death if… Laughter rang throughout the room. Was he laughing at me? This was no laughing matter. He just asked me if I wanted him to kill me.

"I only asked because you thought it." He said.

Goddess, he was somehow reading my mind. "Get out of my head, Vega." I said, imagining brick walls and electric fences – mental blocks. Rudimentary, but it worked sometime. I had to be more careful.

"Just enjoying it while it lasted." He said with a shrug. Vampires, everything was a game with them. He stood again and picked up the bowl. "Sakura will kill us both." He said a little happily. I wasn't particularly happy about the idea of Sakura killing me. "We have to stop her."

"We? What do you mean we" I was the one putting in all the damn worked while he went on an extended vacation in a coffin. Granted, I'd rather take a beating than be in a coffin, but still, I was doing the work. He was just taking a long nap.

He offered me a strawberry. It was dipped in something drippy and red. I gagged. Blood. I took the bowl from him. All of the strawberries were covered in blood. "Drink up. It will give you strength." He laughed. I wasn't falling for that one. I threw the bowl toward the wall. It smashed. I woke up. I was not getting this at all. What was going on? And Sakura's question rang in ears.

Who did it?

Just once, I would like to wake up to a normal morning. I would like someone to bring me breakfast in bed, allow me to read the morning paper. I should get to scratch my unmentionables and think about turning over and going back to sleep. I shouldn't have to wake up to meet with Scott. Scott should not be the first thing a person sees in a morning unless your name is Jean Grey. That goes double for Scott in command mode.

So, guess what I was doing this morning?

Scott stood before Jean and me with his hands on his hips. He was in command mode. You could tell from his tone, his stance. I popped a Sun Chip (yes, I was eating Sun Chips this early in the morning) in my mouth and sighed, still thinking about that perfect morning and all the reasons why I would never be able to obtain it unless I changed my name and moved to Aruba.

I wonder what the weather in Aruba was like this time of year. What did it matter to me, anyway? I could tolerate the weather anywhere, but if it wasn't warm, I wouldn't get to see all the eye candy in their swimsuits. I wonder what Logan would look like on the beach in Aruba in a Speedo. What about Vega? Like Vega would ever be caught dead at the beach. Haha, caught dead, get it? Okay, I know that wasn't funny. Ooh, Logan and Vega in Speedos. Bad thoughts. Very bad thoughts. Speedos are more evil than vampires, anyway.

"Ororo, are you listening to me?" Scott asked, cutting through my thoughts. Dammit, can't a girl have any fun around here?

I put on my best diplomatic look. "Yes, Scott. I'm sure this is a very important matter, and you have my undivided attention." Half of it, anyway, I added silently.

"I don't know why you felt the need to hide this from the team. How long did you think you could hide your conditions? And Jean, why would you want to hide something this important from me?"

Oh Goddess, did he know about the vampires? Had Logan betrayed my confidence? No, he wouldn't do that. Then, how did Scott know?

"Scott, I…" I trailed trying to find my words, to tell him that Jean didn't know her memory had been altered. I was the only one to be blamed here. I had gotten us all into this mess. Wait… did he say "conditions"? What did he mean "conditions"?

"Conditions? What are you talking about, Scott?" Jean asked on cue, rummaging through my bag of Sun Chips. Greedy heifer and I say that with the most loving conviction possible.

"There's no need to pretend, anymore, you two. I know you're in a difficult stage, right now." Goddess, if I didn't know any better, I would think Scott was giving us "the talk".

"I must side with Jean on this one, Scott, what are you talking about?" I asked, shaking my head. What was going on here? Scott was on a totally different plane right now.

"It's obvious you two are pregnant, and I'm disappointed you two were trying to hide this." He said.

Jean started choking on a chip beside me. That's exactly how I felt, but fortunately for me, I wasn't stuffing my face with chips. I patted Jean on the back. "Pregnant!" she managed to say between her coughing fits.

"The sickness, the weird cravings, the fatigue –"

"Scott, I assure you that I'm not pregnant." Jean interrupted, still trying to suppress her cough.

"Nor am I." I added. I couldn't be angry with Scott. We had been exhibiting some pretty weird habits as of late. Yesterday, I saw Jean looking at the ice cream and chips. I remember hoping desperately she wasn't about to try what I thought she was. I left the kitchen. I just couldn't watch.

"But–"

"Scott, I'm about as pregnant as you are." I said and smirked at him when his cheeks reddened slightly.

"Ororo, that's not funny." He frowned. Nothing ever is with you, Scott. I wanted to say, but I didn't. Why would I say something so spiteful to Scott anyway?

I stood from my seat. "There's nothing else to discuss here. I know there have been some weird things going on lately, but we've dealt with worse, right? I'm not pregnant, and Jean says she isn't as well. That's all that can be said. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to." I said firmly before I left the room.

I had other things to worry about like what was I going to do about Ken? I know he wasn't a first priority, but he was killing people. Those who won't be missed. Who exactly would that be? What if he was killing runaways, or homeless people, or even mutants?

This was getting ridiculous, not to mention complicated. Why couldn't they have picked someone else for this job? There had to be more agreeable people out there to work with than me. Besides, they weren't necessarily going out of their way to help me either. I mean, they hire… No, that isn't right. They coerce me into taking this job, but they don't even try to help me. Don't they even care what's coming after them? If they didn't care, why the hell should I?

During most of my classes, I was preoccupied, which made the children happy. When I was preoccupied, that meant reading time, better known to them as bullshit time. They whispered to each other and passed notes, believing that I was completely oblivious. I tried to focus on them. I really did. I hated when work interfered with my teaching, but there were a million different thought running through my head.

Ken was the dominant thought at the moment. I had heard of all kinds of things, but what kind of power granted that kind of immortality? What bothered me even more is I didn't know what he was giving it. Who else knew about this? Had he gone back to his wife? How had he explained that one to her? I didn't have any proof to give to the police, so I couldn't turn him in. Sneaky bastard. I gripped my pencil tightly as a thought pressed urgently on my mind. I might have to kill Ken. The pencil broke in my grasp.

The hushed whispers of the children silenced for a moment. Curious eyes turned toward me, and I smiled tightly at them, quickly putting the broken pencil in my desk drawer. My pager vibrated against my hip, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I couldn't keep going like this. Something had to give. I took a few deep breaths before looking at the page. It was an unknown number, but I had my suspicions on who it might be.

I called the number back after my class. "This is Ryu," a voice said on the other end. Ryu? He must be doing Sakura's bidding. It wasn't exactly as if she could come out and enjoy the sunshine herself, and she was probably still angry with me about the events of the previous night. Ryu didn't seem like a bad guy, though; he seem level-headed considering who his master was. Besides, I stood a better chance of living if Ryu decided to attack me. Sure, he was a human companion, but he was still human. Therefore, he was much easier to kill if I had to.

We met on neutral ground, a populated café. He was already there when I arrived. Punctuality, had to like that in a man. I expected him to give me some terse message from the devil herself, but I was pleasantly surprised when offered to buy me a mocha. He didn't talk about a lot of anything. He told me a little about history; he didn't delve too much into how he met Sakura. I think he could tell that I didn't really want to talk about her, especially with the way things have been going lately.

It was just a nice chat. I think he was hungry for real human companionship. Look at the people he had to put up with. Christie, the bitch. Sakura, the psycho bitch. Vega, the bastard. Ken, the living dead bastard who killed to stay alive. If I were in his situation, I would want some real human friends, too. Before we parted, he covered my hands with his own. I could tell he wasn't trying to flirt. Quite the contrary, he was trying to be sincere. "Ororo, there will come a time when you'll have to choose. Promise me you won't hesitate."

"I don't think I follow you," I said.

"I can't go into much detail. I don't want to give her more ammunition to use against you. Do whatever you have to do, tap into whatever little darkness there is in your heart and…" He trailed off. He stood up suddenly.

"Ryu? I don't understand." I said standing, following him as he walked out the café. "Talk to me!"

He stopped and put his hands on my shoulders. "Ororo, I can't tell you anymore than that. Please, try to understand." He continued to wherever it was he was going, and this time I just watched him go. All these cryptic messages, how did they expect me to keep up with them all?

We are one.

Who did it?

Don't hesitate.

One ring to rule them all.

Oops, last one doesn't apply to me. Fine! I'll stop making corny jokes now. Where is all this corny sense of humor coming from? But I digress. Seriously, the baddies in my life were way too vague for me to follow. As I started to make my way home, my pager went off again. This time it was Bayman. I called him from a payphone.

"Bayman!" he barked into the phone. Tension lined his voice. I felt my own heart drop. This couldn't be good. I could tell from his tone.

"It's Munroe." I said. I braced myself for whatever it was he was going to spring on me.

"Munroe, get down here, now. There's been another murder."

A/N: Short I know, but this is really a filler chapter. Another update will be coming very soon, as in the next couple of hours. It shouldn't take longer than a couple of days at the most. I have a lot of time, now, so look for more from me. As always, excuse my mistakes. I had a beta reader, but I haven't contacted her in months due to my own busy schedule. If you're still out there and willing to read, I promise to keep you busy. -Tempest