Phil stood be the window once again looking out across the countryside. He heard Tara stir in the wine chamber next to his office. The young vampire he found about to take her own life in the graveyard not too long ago. She had settled in quite well, though her creator was still unknown and Phil had to keep her hidden. She would be put down if she was found due to the fact that she would be considered legally un uitable for immortality and the fact that she was unauthorised.

She slept well throughout the day, and Phil knew this because he had not. He was tormented by a new dream. In this he saw small demonic lycanthropes clawing all over him climbing around him, and he couldn't shake them off. In the dream he focused all his rage on them and they burst into flames. He then suddenly woke to find all his clothes burning softly like the end of cigarettes when one sucked the other sides. At first he thought he was attacked but then realised that this was his doing. His powers had once again taken a step up. He also was lucky that this didn't kill him.

When a vampire develops a new power, it is very rare for him to realise it himself in a conscious state. Phil had this power for a while, but only a little and inside him. In sleep when the strength of the attack had built up, it was released. Fortunately, he only released enough to singe his clothes, and not enough to hurt him seriously or to kill him. A shame really….

They were very nice clothes…

Phil's reflections on the night before and lamentations of the loss of his Pyjamas were cut short when he heard the door to the cellar open. A red haired, young vampire emerged wearing the face of a child who was in a new interesting place. She was taking everything in. The colours, the air, her own lithe movements that she loved so much. A true child of the night.

"Hey Philip" said the voice which sounded older than the throat that made it.

"Good evening, Tara. Sleep well?" Phil replied with the usual slick classiness that he addressed others with. Except for Ryan and Conor, according to Phil's secretary, the only other immortal that knew of Tara (as far as Tara knew). She answered with a copy of the smirk Phil used when he asked her the question. It was hard to ever tell what was going on behind that smirk. You'd like to think he was a good guy because of his kindness and hospitality, but you couldn't ignore the decadence or the sinister air he put forward. Nobody that classy is a good guy. He was exactly what Tara had imagined a vampire to be.

Phil turned around to face the great outdoors through his exceptionally large window, while Tara moved into the "bedroom". It was more of a personal living space. A room that was perfectly suited for its owner. The purple walls were lined with musical instruments from all ages. Everything from a lyre to an electric guitar. She moved towards the incense table in the middle of the room. An herbal mix was already ground in the bowl. After lighting it up she took the electric guitar from the wall stand, plugged it in and began to play. As a mortal, she learned to play the guitar, but since the age of ten she had no motivation to right her own music. There was no point. But now with her newly adapted senses, everything she played seemed beautiful.

Through the distorted psycadelic noises from the room next door, Phil listened to the night. Something was happening. Moving closer. Then he saw it. Lycans were moving swiftly towards the castle, armed to the teeth with intention to do harm. He looked into the mind of one of the lycans who looked of a higher rank to find out that he was the target. Phil could only smile. He walked casually into the bedroom and told Tara what was happening. While she fled into the cellar, he stuck out his hand to draw towards him the only weapon on the wall. A large staff with four thin, curved silver blades that met at the top, where there was a long sharp spike, on each end glided from its wall props into his pale hands. He concentrated on the blackened naphtha drenched rags at each end and within seconds they burst into flames.

Taking his custom made weapon he climbed out the window of his office and scaled the walls with lithe movements until he reached the battlements. He'd take the advantage of height. He sent a telepathic message to his secretary to put the manor on high alert and to arm all the security within the mansion. From his vantage point he saw thick steal bars erect themselves from the ground at the gate of the manor. This stopped four trucks from entering, but one had got in before the security alert was given. He was driving rapidly towards the manor. Closely behind the truck were a squad of seven lycans. None of whom were carrying any long ranged weapons. A quick reading of the mind of the driver revealed that the truck was packed full of c4. Enough to blow half of the mansion to shreds. For the first time in a while, Phil began to worry. He concentrated as hard as he could on the fuel tank of the truck. Sure enough, the truck caught fire. The lycans who were behind the truck immediately turned to flee, but for two of them it was too late. The explosion scattered they're remains all over Phil's beloved Lawn. This upset him greatly. Not to mention the huge crater in his driveway. The squad quickly recovered and restarted their charge, oblivious to the squad of vampires who were moving towards the trucks that were piled up outside the gate. Phil stood up straight on the very edge of the wall of the battlements and looked down at the five lycans that just started to climb the walls of the castle towards him. When they were half way up, Phil ran down to meet them. It was almost comical. The lycans were dashing towards him on all fours, while ran at a ninety degree angle with the wall as if he was running on a horizontal plain. The first one he met, he kicked under the chin and sent him flying out into the night. The second, he hurled directly upwards. Then something almost surprised him. He dodged a bullet that would have hit him in the head. Then another bullet. and another. There were snipers out there. But of course, that was no reason to be distracted from the job at hand. The third lycan he intercepted got the silver spike of Phil's staff imbedded deep in his brain. The fourth was smoothly decapitated by one of the blades on the staff. Phil decided on having a bit of fun with the fifth. He slammed the beasts head onto the wall with the sides of two of the blades holding him there while the flames began to burn his skull. The lycan was going into fits, before going unconscious. Leaving the burning body drop, Phil suddenly remembered something. He stretched his arm out ready to catch something. Down it came. The second lycan he intercepted. He looked into its eyes. The beast in Phil was now unleashed. The lycan could see the madness in his victors' eyes. There was no hope now. Fear overcame her. She began to change back to a human, against her will. It was the fear. The vampire Cracked the most sinister grin imaginable before shredding the woman in two and feasting on her insides and the blood that sprayed out. This, for him, was rapture. Until he remembered who he was. And realised what he had done. With blood and shock on his face he began to fall…

He picked himself up off the ground when he heard the footsteps of one of his security people approaching in the distance. He placed the distorted body of the woman into the bushes, and greeted the guard when he came.

The snipers had fled the area after the security dispatched everyone. The siege was won by the besieged. An out and out victory really. Nobody on the winning side was harmed. Six prisoners were taken. All the damage done was superficial. The dented gates, the crater in driveway, the broken window of Phil's room, all easily repaired.

Phil returned to his office through the broken window, but was overcome with horror when he saw Tara lying on the floor by the window in a pool of blood that was coming from her chest. He was the only one who could help her, because her existence was still a secret. There was only one place where he had the recourses to help her in the mansion. Swallowing his fear, he picked her up and took her to the forbidden wing.

ooo THE FORBIDDEN WING! What horrors will lie there? Will Tara survive? And what went on in Phil's head back there? All will be revealed… EVENTUALLY!