Thanks truly for the reviews everybody, I'm touched. And I totally agree with Keep Me In The Shadows and Embrace-The-Darkness (except about the ass part, I'm female) but DMC 2 and Lucia as a character aretoo often ruled off as being crap. I wanted to see how the characters worked given a chance in my twisted little world. It's another chapter and i promise no more critique on ice-cream. In this one you get a little explanation as to just where in the hell it's all going. On with the show, Skaye.

The dreary music and dancing continued for over an hour and for all of it, Dante leaned against the wall surrounded on three sides by graceful figures all in red velvet with the same gold jewellery. Many of the women gave him little smiles or glances of admiration but on the whole he was politely avoided like a vague guest of honour. Miri, the little dark-haired woman he'd spoken to earlier came up to him and bowed with a new respect.

"Our Lady Genevieve comes. She would speak to you after she has addressed the court. I take it you are having an enjoyable time?"

Dante was nettled a little by the joke in her tone but didn't let it show; he just stretched, yawned and said with full sincerity;

"Best party I've been to in a long time. Tell my host kudos on the music. I just must get the name of that song that seems to have been playing over and over for the last hour."

She smiled sweetly and said nothing further, just walked back through the crowd of dancers to the dais near to where the string orchestra played. She signalled them to stop and then held up her hands to get the attention of the room which instantly fell silent.

"My Lords and Ladies," she began, "it is my honour to present to you this

sublime evening our gracious Lady Genevieve."

There was polite muted applause and an obviously mortal woman in a dress of pure and shimmering gold threads steeped up to the dais. She bowed slightly to the assembled vampires and looked straight at Dante bowing her head. He felt like he was in the middle of some stoned satanic Halloween party. And considering his profession it was surprising how rarely he thought such things. The woman on the dais was speaking;

"I humbly thank you. And I must extend my gratitude on behalf of all of us for the presence of our guest tonight. Dante, the Son of Sparda."

The vampires turned to look at him and he tried hard not to think of how ridiculous all of this was. Like a mixture between a carnival, a fanatic religious service and a Bram Stoker cosplayer convention. He managed to look sincere.

He walked through the gap in the crowd up to the dais and stood beside Genevieve who bowed again. She was as beautiful as any of the vampire women but showed signs of aging and there was a distinct strain in her placid expression; she was worried. She spoke again;

"If you will please, Dante, I would speak to you in private. I desperately beseech you for your help in a matter of great importance both to me personally and to my beloved coven."

Dante could see from the looks she gave the vampires as she said this that they were far from beloved to her. She was afraid and repulsed. She hated them but she stayed. Dante was faintly interested in spite of himself as well as being drawn in just by the strangeness of it all. He shrugged and found words;

"I'll have to ask you what it is you want before I sign anything but if I can I'll help."

The smile she gave him was one of genuine relief.

"The Son of Sparda agrees to lend us his aid." More applause. "We will retire now and I will inform him of our desperate situation.

She took him by the arm leading him off the little stage with a wave to the quartet to play on.

She led him out of the ballroom and down a flight of stairs he hadn't seen previously. They led all the way down to a small parlour blessedly not decorated in the same lurid red and gold. This room was a simple deep green with dark wooden furniture, fairly simple and plain.

"My quarters," Genevieve explained, "I can't honestly stand all that red and gold. It turns my stomach. Especially as I know what they do up there." She shuddered.

Dante felt sorry for her and appreciated the simplicity of the room and her less formal manner. She gestured to a chair and waited for him to sit before sitting herself down opposite him looking intensely at him with a plea in her eyes.

"I apologise for the way you were summoned here, Dante, but there was no other way. They don't do things any other way. It just isn't done."

She ran her hands over her face in exhaustion. Dante guessed she didn't sleep much. He cut straight to the point.

"What do you want from me?"

She looked baleful and, taking a deep breath, began her story;

"You'll have heard the stories of Lord Rahovart; the vampire leader of this horrid coven. I ran into him when my circle were trying to exorcise a church. We thought it was demon possessed. We never once suspected vampires but that was what we found. We were unprepared, didn't stand a chance. They massacred most of us simply for our impertinence. I was only 21 then but already a powerful Priestess. Rahovart couldn't kill me so he kept me and soon I suppose he took a fancy to me. It would be untrue to say he loved me, I was an entirely different species, fundamentally below him, you understand. But he grew fond of me. We had a child, a lovely daughter named Madeline. She was so beautiful and so very alive. She was vivid and aware, a little light. She wanted to see everything, hear everything and feel everything all at once. I adored her. Even Rahovart couldn't help loving her. it didn't last, it rarely does as you've experienced."

Dante thought briefly of Trish leaving, of Lucia leaving in the same way. He nodded. Genevieve sighed and continued;

"Rahovart grew restless or perhaps just bored and he left. He returned here without a word. I was left alone to bring up Madeline. I never stopped looking for him though. Years later when Madeline was in her 18th year, a cheerful energetic girl with no odd powers or freakish habits as one might expect from the child of a vampire, I got news of the court on the islands of Dis. I came here at once desperate to find Rahovart, to present Madeline to him as the beautiful young woman she was. I got here alright during the day and the two of us settled down to await the vampires awakening. It was a disaster. The remnant of my old circle with some new allies and a lot of powerful demon hunters followed Madeline and I. They attacked Rahovart and killed him in his daylight sleep. There was nothing I could do to stop it. At that moment he died my Madeline collapsed as well bleeding as he did though she had no wounds. She fell at last into a deathly sleep in which she has remained since. I was automatically crowned as the new Lady of the Court as Rahovart's consort. That was ten years ago and ever since I have searched for a way to cure Madeline. I am now almost 50, I don't have long to live and I want to see my daughter breathe again, I want it to be Rahovart's child that assumes the leadership of this grotesque band after me."

Dante listened with an odd mixture of pity, bewilderment and slight disgust for vampire tradition and human stupidity. Finally he nodded;

"I feel for you, Genevieve, now please tell me what it is you think I can do that won't make this worse."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes now. She was tired to the bone and worn down with grief and loneliness. It took her a moment to form the words but eventually she did speak;

"Dante, there is a way you can cure my daughter. I need you to give her some of your blood. The blood of a demon will boost her natural power and heal her, I know this for certain. Please, I beg you, will you give a little of your blood to save my Madeline?"