Disclaimer – I do not own Teen Titans, Eragon, BloodRayne, Deltora Quest, Soul Reaver, Dark Stalkers, The Legend of Dragoon, or any of the other things that I took little tidbits from.

Hi everyone! This is your LAST CHANCE to vote and tell me you want me to continue. I will NOT be posting any more chapters after this IF no one votes. The story will then resume when school starts again. I JUST NEED A FEW YES'S AND THEN I WILL KEEP UP THE STORY! But seriously…Reviews one of the few things that keep me writing…If I don't get enough votes and I feel like writing one day I MIGHT post another chapter but more likely I will go back and redo The Phoenix and the Black Bird so it is not as repetitive. I may also go back and fix some of the other chapters in THIS story and fix some of my oneshots. I will do this anyway if you vote yes but I will do it a lot faster the more reviews I get.


Chapter 12: Red Wine

The War

Cri quickly mounted her horse and rode off. The only way she could find Alkoroth is to follow the faint trail of magic left behind by his dark unicorn. She had no idea where the Peacekeepers Stronghold was, and neither did anyone else she had talked to inside the human or vampiric base camp. It puzzled her that so few people had even known it existed. 'It must be a far better guarded secret than I originally presumed it to be.' She thought silently to herself. 'I better make haste, this trail of magic is fading fast, and I will never find the base if the trail completely fades before I get there.'

After a full hour of riding, Cri slowly approached the Peacekeepers Stronghold. She had decided to accept their offer but she would need to tell them that she wouldn't be able to actually 'help' with any of their missions until her child was born. She laid her hand softly on her stomach. She was beginning to show signs of pregnancy and she knew she could no longer fight. She sighed heavily. 'I hope they understand…' She lifted the heavy door knocker and dropped it a few times. After a few moments, the door swung inward without a sound and she entered the stronghold, the doors shutting loudly behind her.

The Tower

The Titans, accompanied by Taylor, Spike, and Nightingale, rushed to the T-Car. Of course, there wasn't enough room for all of them, Cyborg had promised to put in more seats to make it more like an SUV. Cri had cringed at the thought. Raven had volunteered to teleport anyone who couldn't fit inside the T-Car and soon they were all on their way to the scene of the crime. They quickly arrived on the scene, regrouping within a few minutes after arrival. Robin ran up to the chief of police. "What's the problem?" He asked quickly. The chief of police tuned to him. "One of those vampires got into the tunnel and destroyed the gas main!"

Cri walked silently up to the guard her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Those vampire zombies' minds are far too rotted away to be able to do anything other than walk and feed. It's probably a full blooded daywalker." The chief of police looked at her strangely. "How would you know? Are you an expert or something?" Cri smiled sweetly at him, her fangs shining. "You could say I'm an expert of sorts. I am a dhampiric warrior and a daywalker from birth and my recommendation is that you have your men back off before they get seriously hurt." The chief's eyes widened and he backed up slowly immediately calling off his men with a small walkie-talkie.

Cri motioned to Raven. "Alright…Time to learn something new. Close your eyes and focus on seeing thermal heat and a person's aura. This is called aura sense and will allow you too see in the dark." Raven shrugged and did as she was told. "Now open your eyes and if you're seeing thermal glowing around everyone's body we can go…If you don't then try again until you do." It took Raven a few tries but after her fourth try she opened her eyes and gasped. Everything seemed to be glowing. Cri nodded and smiled. "Let's go." She quickly entered the dark tunnel with Raven and Spike following close behind her.

It didn't take long to find the pile of rubble. Cri examined it closely. "There is something inside of it." Cri turned to Raven. The dark girl could easily see her aura was a deep red/orange. "We should excavate carefully…We might trigger another collapse." The empath nodded. "Tell me which rocks to move."

Over a period of the next half hour Spike, Cri and Raven slowly moved the larger of the rubble. A small amount of movement caught Cri's attention and she watched the rubble carefully. A figure rose up, dust cascading down from it. The trio just stared at the figure for a moment before Cri ran up and embraced it tightly. "Soto! You made it! I missed you so much!" The figure returned Cri's embrace, his deep black aura wrapping around her. "Let's go back to the tower then you can tell me what happened." Cri motioned for Spike and Raven to follow her and began walking down the tunnel to the exit, hand in hand with her husband.

Soto was tackled to the ground the second he exited the tunnel. The culprit was Nightingale. "Yay! Daddy! You're here! You're here! I missed you so much daddy! Can we play a game soon? Huh? Can we!" The Titans had never seen this side of Nightingale before. It reminded them of when Cyborg dared Cri to drink 3 Red Bulls in one sitting. Oh none of them would forget that chaotic day. There are still burn marks on the walls from that particular incident.

Soto chuckled softly and sat up slowly. He climbed to his feet smiling down at Nightingale. The young girl immediately grabbed onto his leg and sat on his foot refusing to let go. To the Titans, this newcomer looked like their worst nightmare come to life. He had short ebony black hair and bleach white skin. He was dressed completely in black and dark grey making him look like someone out of a black and white movie. In fact that the only part of his body that had any color was his eyes which were a deep crimson that seemed to burn with hellfire. "Good evening…I have looked forward to meeting you all from the day that Cri arrived. She has told so many things about you that I wish to ask you about." He smiled, showing a pair of lethal ivory white fangs. "Oh yes…I have been looking forward to this."

The War

Cri winced as the doors shut. Something like that happening in a movie was usually a bad sign. Cri looked around activating her Aura sense. She could see figures around her but of course couldn't see detail. She deactivated it just as a spotlight fell upon her. She called out into the darkness. "Hello? I was asked to join the peacekeepers? I'm here to accept…" Before she could finish three cloaked figures entered the spotlight out of the darkness. "Welcome Cri…We have been expecting you. We hope you can begin helping us as soon as you finish the training session…"

Cri blushed slightly. "Well…I'm not gonna be able to start the training session any time soon…You see…I'm expecting a child in a few months…" As she finished her cheeks were burning and she looked down at her feet. The hooded figures seemed surprised and one took a small step back. "I know I know…You were expecting me to start immediately…But I was pregnant even before you offered. I'm only accepting because I know that the council of the peacekeepers doesn't like to wait. So…" One of the hooded figures raised its hand to silence her. "We understand how you feel young dhampir…But as soon as you feel you can start the training session we suggest you do. This will be difficult explaining to the council but I believe that this will pose no hindrance to our plans in the future. You are dismissed."

Cri smiled and bowed slightly to the hooded figures. "I thank you for your kindness and I promise that I will train hard as soon as I can. After which I would like to spend time with my baby before reviewing the progress of the laws passed and then retiring to my bed." She smiled weakly. "This is going to be a rough year."

Cri quickly rode back to the vampire base camp. No sooner had she walked inside the gates that Soto embraced her. "Hello my little dhampir. How did it go?" Cri smiled and kneed him in the stomach bringing one of her armblades to the back of his neck, nibbling at it affectionately. "It went fine…They are cutting me a few months until I have recovered." Soto swept her off her feet in one quick movement and kissed her softly on the forehead. "That's good news my love. Come, we must check on these human laws you have passed, although I have never really understood human politics." Cri shrugged, "neither do I. I just wrote a bunch of rules down on a piece of paper and used big important words…That seemed to do the trick." They both chuckled softly before Soto brought her inside his main quarters to begin the long and boring task of reviewing the progress of the new passed law.

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