Well, I decided to upload two chapters together, so anyone who's read the first chapter can get a good idea of where it's going. I've put a lot of work and thought into the plot, so reviews will be VERY appreciated. This is not going to stay just a fic about Remy and Rogue, although those two will remain the core. This is a world I've created, and I'm going to make sure you all know all the main players in it. Oh, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a mail. I can't seem to post up an e-mail address here, so you'll have to dig it out of my profile if you want to, though.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
In Paris the next night, Remus made his way through the castle. The castle was one of many scattered across Europe, appearing ruined and desolate on the outside, but comfortably furnished on the inside. It was not situated in Paris per se, but was close enough to refer to its location as being in Paris.
He walked into the deepest part of the castle. This was a place even the servant vampires did not come to clean unless they were sure the person who lived there was away. He was going to meet his coven leader, one of the oldest vampires alive, as far as Remus knew; he was about three thousand, five hundred years old. He was the one who had created Magnus. He was the vampire who had discovered the birth of the Insane Cable, and chained the Immortal Cyclops to a stake and left him in the sun to try and kill him.
Alexander.
His brain suppressed an involuntary shudder at the name. As coven master, Alexander was allowed to kill any one in his coven, if he felt it necessary. Remus the vampire was confident that Alexander would be pleased with the recovery of the artifact; Remus the man, the thief, used to changes of hearts and double-crosses, was not so sure.
Remus stopped before the massive steel gates leading to the inner chamber. He knocked lightly, slightly denting the two inch thick doors.
"Come in, Remus."
He pushed the doors open, and it took most of his considerable strength to get them open as he had to break three or four bolts four inches in diameter, to do so.
Alexander was sitting by his fireplace, sipping from a delicate wine glass filled with blood. Vampire blood. Someone had displeased Alexander.
The vampire who had incurred Alexander's anger was lying on the floor, moaning softly. Remus recognized the bald head, and the wheelchair. The firstborn of Magnus, the peace loving Francis.
He was a joke among vampires, the same way that the Immortal Cyclops was a legend. In the early days of Magnus's quest to find people who hated him, he had made his childhood friend Francis a vampire. Francis had been crippled as a child – some said by Magnus himself, and Magnus had asserted he had converted Francis to heal him. Francis, however, had never killed anyone as a human, and he wasn't going to start just because he was undead now. Therefore, his legs had never healed. In the twenty-five hundred years he had existed, he had never drunk once, except from Magnus when he was Born to Darkness. Consequently, he was weaker than a vampire only a few days old. He survived the years because only the sun or a very strong fire could kill vampires, but it was no secret that he wished to die. The problem was that he was too weak to wheel his chair out in the sun. Remus's brain had often idly wondered how powerful Francis would be if he drunk, since a vampires' power increased noticeably if he drunk after merely a month of starvation. And twenty-five hundred years was a hell of a time to starve.
He stopped thinking consciously when he got near Alexander; he knew Alexander could read his mind without even thinking about it. Alexander looked up as he approached, and nodded, kicking Francis out of the way and motioning for Remus to sit down. His long pale blonde hair accentuated the dark blood drooling from his lips.
"Remus."
"Alexander." Remus replied as he sat down opposite Alexander, his brain making sure he avoided the pool of blood on the floor.
"Francis here was just telling me how he did not want to drink blood. Not a newborn infants' blood, and not mine. I was just explaining to Francis how disrespected I felt when he refused my generosity."
"I brought the artifact." Remus said, wishing to leave the proximity of one of the most volatile vampires living as soon as he could.
"A day late." Alexander said, rising so fast Remus could not see the transition.
"I reached here seconds before dawn."
"Because you wished to save a mortal woman."
"I-"Remus broke off, not wishing that the coven leader discover his schizophrenia. But he was not a coven leader for nothing.
"For five hundred years I have seen you struggle to put to death the man you once were. And, had I been coven leader before that, I would have seen it earlier as well. At first it was merely amusing for me, but now you lose control and let the man take over you." Alexander grabbed Remus by the throat, forcing him to rise. He had crossed the length of the room in the blink of an eye.
"You are not allowed to make mistakes, Remus, not in this coven. Not while I lead." He snarled, normally cerulean eyes flashing a complex myriad of shades the way all vampire eyes did.
"I try to control myself, Alexander. You can read my mind and you know it to be true."
Abruptly Alexander let go of Remus, his eyes softening.
"I know you try to control it, Remus. I wish I could tell you how to kill the human inside you entirely, but such secrets are not known to me. I am sorry for grabbing your neck, but I have always been impulsive." He laughed mirthlessly. "Perhaps that is why I chained Cyclops to the castle gates. I know that is what you think, Remus."
His eyes were hard again.
"But if you are a threat to my coven, I will not hesitate to crush you down, whether the fault is that of Remus the vampire, or of Remus the man."
He laughed then, and clapped Remus's shoulder, and politely motioned for him to sit. Remus the man was mentally gibbering on the floor in terror, knowing that Alexander might have impulsively decided to kill him. Remus the vampire's composure had also cracked a little bit.
"Now come, and tell me of this mysterious artifact you found. How does it fulfill the prophecies?" Alexander asked, his voice mellow, like he had not been shouting a few moments before.
"The prophecies concerning the rise of Nur?" Remus asked, as a time delaying device while he regained his poise. Alexander nodded, his eyes taking on a fanatic gleam.
"Nur. Our creator. The one who will lead our kind to glory!"
In a quiet voice, Remus explained the connection of the mysterious object he had stolen with the prophecies. Alexander's smile grew steadily more deranged as Remus talked on. Eventually he let out a triumphant cackle.
"Excellent, Remus. Though you may not have used your natural talent as a thief, preferring brute strength, you have done your job well. Now we are but a short time away from scourging the planet."
He stood up, indicating that the interview was at an end. Wordlessly Remus handed him the artifact.
"Excellent, Remus. Now, why don't you take a few weeks off from the duties of the coven and find out where you stand. I wouldn't want to exile you needlessly, you know. You have served me well, so don't disappoint me now." He paused for a moment, then said, indicating Francis, "wheel him out when you leave. He's reached the point where he can barely roll his eyes, let alone leave a room." With those words, he left the room.
When Remus wheeled out Francis, the wheelchair bound man looked at him, and, being a telepath, implanted a single word in his head.
'Dangerous.'
He then slumped in his seat, unconscious and weak from blood loss.
"Mon ami," Remus muttered as he reached Francis's room, "Y' don' t'ink I know dat?"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"So, ya think you're in love, but ya dunno why?"
James was not taking the news too seriously. He had been arguing with Jessica for a whole day over it, refusing to believe she could have made up her mind about a man she hardly knew.
"No one can explain love, James. It just happens."
"After all the blonde football jocks ya dated, the ones whose brains were stuffed in their armpits, ya think you're in love with a skinny guy who seems too intelligent to be allowed to live. An' a skinny guy with serious issues at that."
"You hardly got a glimpse of him. What would you- what issues?"
James pointed to his eyes. "These can spot a rabbit from the top of the Empire state. Did you notice he was wearin' sunglasses at 'bout three in the mornin'? If that ain't havin' an issue, I dunno what is."
Jessica pointed to her own eyes. "These might not be good at spotting rabbits, but they can see sunglasses well enough. And for your information, he said it was an eye infection or something that he had. And I think I'm old enough to know when I really like a man. The football jocks were just pastimes."
"Well, if he ever comes again, I'm gonna have a nice long chat with him. Like you did with Maddie."
"Just as long as you don't threaten his life."
"Afraid I'll hurt him, darlin'?"
"Actually, for some reason I'm afraid he'll hurt you. I don't know why I think you'll be the one to get hurt if you two fight."
James hesitated. He seemed to hover for a moment or two on the edge of indecision before taking the plunge.
"Actually, darlin', I got that impression too."
Jessica tried to keep her eyes from popping out.
"You're serious James? Even with your- your-?" She stopped, right on the edge of a subject he had made her swear she would never talk about. James, however, decided to barge right into it, silently releasing her from her agreement.
Snikt.
"Even these couldn't stop him, darlin'." James said, looking at the bone protruding from his hands. Jessica had never seen the claws before, except on that night so long ago when he had made her swear she would never talk about them. And when she had made him swear he would never talk about her power. Now was the time to break that pact as well.
"God help me, if everything goes the way I want it to, you'll be best man at the wedding, instead of a brawler in another fight. But, do you think, do you think he and I could, we could have, you know.."
She paused, her eyes wide open, a deep emerald green. James patiently waited.
"A baby?"
"Darlin'," he began, wondering how to avoid being his usual rude and callous self. Right now Jessica needed words of encouragement. "darlin', I know he has more power than me, an' I'm not bein' egotistical or anythin', but that means he has ta be a mutant. At least, I think that's why he was hidin' his eyes, for that matter."
She was waiting for him to finish speaking, and he knew her belief in finally being able to have a normal life hinged on his next few words.
"Darlin', I don't pretend to know what different powers different mutants have, but I'm pretty sure there's some way to counter yours. God willin', if this is the man yer destined ta be with, then he must have a way ta get close ta you." James paused, hoping his words had the desired effect. With no little surprise, he realized he was staring at the floor. He looked up at Jessica's face, to see her eyes brimming with tears.
"James," she said, hugging him, "that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Or to anyone, darlin'," James said as he returned the hug. "An' I didn' abuse once."
She grinned as she pulled away from him. "Now we can go."
"Go where, darlin'?" James asked as he followed her to her room, where she began taking out clothes from her closet.
"Pack your bags, and pick up 'Maddie', James, we're going to Paris."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Remus burst from his coffin the next day. It was the first day of his sabbatical, and was going to have a new coffin when he returned. He could go anywhere he wished, but would have to return If Alexander called. His brain was excited, viewing the break Alexander had given him as freedom, while his vampire self knew that he had always been as free as he was now.
He stretched, feeling his bones creak. Suddenly he stiffened. He could hear the touchdown of planes in Paris. He could hear her! She had come to Paris, and he did not have to read her mind to know that it was for him. Suddenly Remus the vampire was reduced to a tiny little fragment of Remus the man, who took over completely. Remus the man cursed the woman he loved for being so foolish as to come to Paris without warning. Paris was home to one of the largest populations of vampires, and if Alexander found out he was there, he would have her killed, so that Remus the vampire may triumph over Remus the man. He would have to guard her.
While Remus the man was making feverish calculations, Remus the vampire was pounding on the door of the cell he had been thrown into, and was screaming to be let out.
Remus jumped straight upwards, from the dungeons of the castle, to the roof, breaking four levels of stone floors in the process with such a strength as he had never known before. He centred on the city of Paris, and flew towards it.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
From a window, Alexander watched Remus fly towards Paris. He knew what Remus was doing, and he laughed at the futility of it. If Alexander wanted to, he could kill the girl from where he stood. Possibly Remus also. Alexander knew only two vampires powerful enough to withstand the heat of the sun, himself and his brother. Killing two or three people anywhere within a hundred miles was easy for him, but he was experiencing a curiosity he hadn't known in twenty-five hundred years. He wanted to know whether Jessica could have a child. He wanted to see if Remus would admit to having his genitalia still. So he would wait. And see. And if Jessica had a child, they would both die, of course. In the mean time, he had more important matters to attend to.
He walked to a table where the artefact Remus had stolen lay. He picked it up, went to Francis's room and grabbed him by an arm, then left for the airport to catch his flight to the Middle East. A new race was emerging to take over the world, and he, Alexander, was going to be the harbinger.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Jessica had come out from the airport with James and a very confused Madeline in tow. She was about to call for a taxi when a low slung silver Mercedes pulled up, and out stepped the man whose face she had seen in her dreams since she had met him.
So she was being melodramatic. Who cared? It wasn't like he could read her mind.
A cool wind blew, ruffling his brown hair. He looked good in a form fitting light grey sweater and black jeans. The wind blew around her and her friends, seemingly not affecting James, in a brown bomber jacket, but making Madeline, clad in a thin pink blouse and short skirt, cling to James for shelter.
"Rogue, cherie," he said, his voice as husky as she had remembered it.
"How did you know I – we were coming?" she asked, when what she really wanted to say was, 'I want you like I have never wanted anyone in my life. Take me in your arms, whisper-' her train of thought was mercifully interrupted on its way to becoming an excerpt from a cheesy romance novel when he spoke.
"Y' called, didn' y', cherie?" he was still wearing sunglasses, although it was well past dusk.
She paused, thinking she had called him, sometime. She seemed to remember fragments of a conversation. Indecisive, she turned to James for confirmation. James nodded.
"Ah guess Ah did," she said, looking back at Remy and noting with irritation that her accent was back. Then she slapped her forehead. "Sorry, please forgive my bad manners. I must introduce you people." She turned to Remy.
"Remy, this is my best friend, James. And this is his girlfriend, Madeline. James, Maddy, meet Remy."
The men shook hands, and then Remy reached to take Madeline's hand, presumably to kiss it. Suddenly he paused, and looked carefully at Madeline, who looked back, slightly apprehensive.
"How far back can you trace your family tree, Madeline?" his voice was soft, but the expression on his face was intent. His skin seemed unnaturally smooth and white at that moment.
"For a hundred years or so," Madeline replied with a nervous laugh. She was clearly unsure of what to make of Remy. Jessica was confused as well at Remy's questioning.
"Would you know an ancestor of yours, called Jean?" Even through his sunglasses his eyes seemed to bore into Madeline's.
"I do, actually. We have named at least one child every two generations 'Jean' for as long as our family can remember. The tradition was started a long time ago, and is supposed to bring our family luck. Er, is there any reason?"
Remy laughed an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, it was nothing. You see, one of my great grandfathers' dearest friends was a woman called Jean. There used to be a portrait of a family dinner at my place, and Lady Jean was present at it. You looked remarkably like her, and so I had to ask. My apologies if I startled you."
"Oh, that's alright," Madeline said, smiling, "I was just a little surprised, that's all."
"An' now, I drop y' people off at de hotel."
"Er, Remy," Jessica asked, a trifle hesitant, "You live here, don't you?"
"Oui, petite. My house is currently being renovated. I reminded y' o' dat on de phone, didn' I?"
"I think you did, actually. I'm sorry, my memory seems to be a bit off lately."
They all squeezed into the Merc, getting the luggage in with some difficulty.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
While Remus the man drove and suffered from a fit of depression at using his vampire powers to fool the poor girl into thinking they had talked on the phone, as well as noting the incredible telepathic power the woman called Madeline had, Remus the vampire scanned the minds of the workers he had hired an hour or so earlier, to fix his house.
His house..
It had been nearly ten years since he had gone to visit it, and that trip had lasted for a few seconds. It wasn't exactly a house, more like a huge dilapidated mansion, and at the moment, two of the three floors had fallen through, and the walls were inundated with seepage from the corroding pipes. The roof was mostly broken, the fields outside the mansion had been abandoned since the time of Louis the Sun King, and the garden was so full of weeds and overgrown bushes that a path was not discernable. There was no door to speak of, and most windows were missing panes, or had broken ones. It was more run down than the ideal concept of a haunted house.
Since Remus the vampire could do nothing to retake control of the body, he resigned himself to ordering the poor mortals to finish the house as quickly as possible. He did not care if they worked themselves to death; he wanted three mortals sleeping in the same remote location as him as soon as possible.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
At the hotel, Remus the man showed Jessica and her friends the suites he had arranged for them.
"I'm sorry, I didn' know Madeline would be comin', so I only asked for two rooms," He lied glibly, having arranged this so James and Madeline would leave him and Jessica the hell alone. "I can arrange anot'er room, but I don' know if it will be a suite. I doubt it, though."
"It's quite alright bub," James said, barely taking his eyes off Madeline, who was jumping around the room in glee, and a very short skirt. "Maddy an' I'll get along in one room somehow."
Satisfied that one part of the plan was working, Remus turned to Jessica, who was standing with her arms folded across her reddish brown turtleneck sweater, and was examining in turn, the four poster bed, the huge wallscreen TV, and the Jacuzzi which was out on the big terrace.
"Jessie," He said, softly. She didn't notice. "Jess?" no response. "Hey, Rogue!" she turned around, puzzled, then smiled when she realized he had called her. She had worn her hair straight, and Remus noticed the beginning of dimples in her smile. As he was staring at her, thoughts frozen for a second or two, she frowned.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses?" she asked, her tone indicating that she knew he was hiding something. Remus the man, the born liar, decided to go down fighting. From a thousand years of experience he knew that if a woman, mortal or vampire, knew the truth about you, there was no way in hell you could hide it.
"I tol' y', cherie, eye problems."
"Remy, why are you wearing sunglasses?" her tone was beguilingly patient. He wasn't fooled for a minute though. One vampire power was that of reading minds, after all.
"De color of my eyes, it doesn't match dis grey sweater I have on."
"Take them off." It was not a request in any sense of the word. If he wasn't low on blood, he might have flushed at the thought of one of the most powerful vampires in the world being whipped by a young mortal woman not even his girlfriend yet.
"Cherie, y' don' wan' I do dat." She advanced on him grimly. He backed away until he suddenly fell backwards on the bed, stunned for a second at the failure of his vampire senses.
She came atop him, straddling him, and then she sat on his stomach. She reached with both hands to remove the glasses and then she simply stared into his eyes. Stared deep into them. He was too confused to even mindscan her to learn what she was thinking. The absurdity of the situation fully struck home as he realized he was getting an erection. Something was getting him aroused and he couldn't put his finger on it. Well, actually, he could put his finger on it, but James and Madeline were in the room. Besides he hardly knew Jessica well enough to do such a thing. What would she say? A groan escaped his lips as he realized he wasn't even thinking coherently anymore.
From somewhere deep inside his mind, Remus the vampire seemed to snicker.
"So," Jessica said, her voice not betraying whatever emotion she felt. "Ya're a mutant."
"Oui. I know I should've tol' y' before, but I didn' want t' lose you. Rogue, amour, is't over?" he was speaking too fast, letting his nervousness show. He realized his life hinged on her next few words.
"Remy." Her eyes were inches from his. They were a colour of green he had never seen.
"Oui?"
"I'm a mutant also!" she cried gleefully, and hugged him. As he smelt her hair, he could only think about how wonderful life was.
"Smooth, Jess." James growled, as Remus's face managed a pale blush when he remembered there were others in the room. Then someone else spoke.
"Oh, get over it already." The vampire inside him was talking to him. He nearly jerked off the bed. He had to be careful about that; with his strength, Jessica would have gone through the ceiling of the room. Dimly, he realized Jessica was off him now, smoothing her hair and looking at him with complete serenity. He decided now would be a good time to leave.
"Jess, I havet' be goin' now." He noticed with a twitch of irritation that Madeline gave a slight smile, though she suppressed it quickly.
"When will you come?" Jessica asked him.
"My whole day'll be spent wit' de workers at de house. I'll have t' come by evening."
"We won't be able to see the Louvre?" Madeline said, looking like she would cry.
"I'm sorry, but my days are not mine to order about. My nights, however, are yours. I can arrange for a chauffeur, but I won't be wit' y' people, sadly." Because, he added silently, I'll be burnt to a cinder if I am.
Jessica was still expressionless, but he knew she understood the reasons he had given.
He kissed Madeline's hand; shook hands with James, then kissed Jessica full on the lips, grabbing her shoulders to prevent her from pulling away. It was a sort of an experiment.
He was witnessing a sensation he had never felt before. It was like his soul was being sucked through his mouth into Jessica. Being a vampire with the power of nearly a thousand years behind him, he could have touched her for a whole day without falling catatonic. But letting her drain him was not necessary as he realized with glee that he knew how to counter her deadly touch. And it was a simple matter to plant memories of an imaginary life in her head, and making sure she did not absorb his real memories. Life was good.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Jessica had struggled for a few seconds, not wanting to hurt him. His grip was too strong, however, and eventually she realized he wasn't getting hurt. Then she closed her eyes and kissed him with real abandon. Her first real kiss.
She barely noticed James and Madeline sneak into the adjoining room so she and Remy could have privacy. Their kiss lasted a long time, but it was marred by the fact that she kept opening her eyes to check if he was getting hurt. Well, there was always time for perfection next time. And the next, and the next, and..
She let out a sigh as Remy moved away.
"I'll see y' tomorrow, cherie." Nearly twenty four hours? She wasn't sure she could last that long without looking at him.
"Take me with you," she said, impulsively.
"Que?" he asked, startled.
"I'll sleep where you sleep, and I can go visit the house with you in the morning."
"Jessie, petite," he said, taking her by the shoulders, eyes a soft muted ruby glow, "it can't be done. I'm stayin' at a friends place." He bent on one knee, still looking at her, "it pains me as much as it pains you when we part, but it cannot be helped. I have to go, but I will return; nothing can stop me from doing so. And this house business, it's only for a few days. My love for y' will last for much longer, cherie, much much longer. I have to reach the house at dawn and stay till dusk, but my entire night will be wit' y'. I won't sleep if you want. I'll stay as long as de stars shine, but let me go before de dawn." he stood up, leaving her at a loss for words.
"An' now, cherie, let us part before I change my mind and lock myself in de room wit' y', and swallow de key."
They kissed again, briefly. Then he was gone, a lingering fragrance the only indication that he had ever been there.
Jessica considered going over to James' and Madeline's room and discussing how she had finally touched another person for the first time since adolescence, but the sounds coming from there room were as effective as a 'do not disturb' sign. Madeline sure was loud.
Jessica unpacked her bags, changed into a nightdress, and lay in her bed with a book in hand. Within five minutes she was asleep, and thoughts of Remy filled her head.
