Mr Compton's Children

by Templarlady

Bill becomes an adoptive maker to Azaria and Lazlo is brought to trial.

4. Chapter 4

When Ulrich arrived we were all sitting in the lounge waiting. I'd had a shower and freshened up a bit, trying to forget about my problems for a while. Azaria was dressed in her favourite worn jeans and a t-shirt and was sitting nervously in an armchair with her feet drawn up under her.

We heard a car draw up in the driveway and Bill went to the door, we listened as he greeted Vincent, Ulrich's security guard who remained stationed at the front door and then he, Ulrich and another guard walked into the lounge.

"I'm sorry Bill" he said, looking around and nodding to me and Azaria. "But some problems have developed with our case against Lazlo.

"What?" said Bill. "After everything we've told you about him. Starting with our encounter in the 1930's!"

Ulrich sat down and said patiently "think about it Bill. So, he killed humans, his servants. Most vampires don't actually have a problem with that!"

Bill's voice had turned cold and angry "He killed a lot of humans! And if that is somehow okay with them, he attacked Charles and myself, he tried to feed from Alex when he knew she belonged to me. Damn it, he bit her in Azaria's crypt and threatened to kill her, you witnessed that yourself! He raped Azaria, turned her against her will and then, as soon as she showed the slightest defiance, he betrayed and abandoned her. He left her to suffer for hundreds of years Ulrich! Did you know that he knew the location of her temple? He knew where she was all that time and he did nothing!" He turned to me "The more I learn about him the more I wish you'd hit him a little harder with that pan and taken his head off with it!"

To his credit Ulrich was looking extremely uncomfortable. "Charles yes, we can charge him for that. You too and possibly for attacking Alex if he knew that she was yours, but as for Azaria" he turned to look at her for a moment. "Most vampires believe that they have a right to discipline their progeny."

"Discipline!" said Bill furiously "She spent nearly six hundred years locked in that coffin, surrounded with silver! A punishment that even The Authority has never inflicted on anyone, and she had done nothing to deserve it, nothing but express a wish to stay with her people!"

Ulrich gave a helpless little shrug and I saw Azaria get up from her armchair and walk towards him. His security guard moved confidently to position himself between them, barely glancing at Azaria as she reached forward and grasped his wrist. I watched, astonished, as she twisted her slim figure, pulling the huge guard off his feet and tossing him, effortlessly through the closed window onto the terrace.

Ulrich gasped as she took a step towards him, all the anger and disgust she felt for Lazlo written clearly on her face.

"Azaria!"

Bill's voice was calm and quiet but she stopped instantly and turned to look at him.

"Now you know we don't do that kind of thing in my house!" he glanced at the broken glass on the carpet. "You're going to have to pay for that window!"

She gave him a sheepish little smile and said "I'm sorry Bill, but I..."

"Yes, I understand." he said beckoning her over to him.

She walked to him, Ulrich stepping rather hurriedly out of her way, and he took her in his arms and kissed her gently on the forehead. "We will do everything we can to see that he's punished, trust me. But if we fail, then it will not affect you, he has no power over you any longer. Do you understand?" She nodded and smiled up at him.

Bill turned back to Ulrich. "So what's happened exactly?" he asked. "The last time we spoke you were preparing a case against him. Gerry tells me that you called him in and made Lazlo release him so that he could give evidence."

"It appears that a backlash is building up in his favour. Some friend of his has arrived from the US claiming he's been victimised by The Authority, that he's being used as a scapegoat to appease the human public."

"When both Gerry and Azaria, his own progeny, are prepared to give evidence against him? Who is this?" asked Bill angrily.

"I don't know him myself, though other members of The Authority apparently do. A Viking, calls himself Northman."

I was shocked at the extent of the anger which flared up in Bill's eyes.

"Eric?"

"You know him?" asked Ulrich, looking surprised.

"Oh yes, I know him. I didn't know that he knew Lazlo but somehow I'm not surprised! Well ladies," he said turning to us "it appears that we're going to London to join the fight against Lazlo."

Ulrich sighed... "I'm sorry Bill, I know how much this means to you and Azaria but I'm afraid there is no fight against Lazlo."

Bill glanced over at Azaria, who had gone back to the armchair in the corner of the lounge looking pale and shocked. He turned back to Ulrich with one of the most dangerous looking smiles I have ever seen, his brilliant blue eyes blazing with fury.

I'm going to start one! He hissed.

It was only a few days later that we were in London for the hearing against Lazlo. Bill, Azaria and I were staying at The Authority's headquarters as, to my annoyance, were Eric and Sookie.

We had arrived in Paddington at dusk and Bill and Azaria had disembarked from their travel pods on the train for the taxi ride. Azaria was excited by this new experience. She had never seen, or even imagined something like the Anubis travel pods before and she was fascinated. However the thought of having to face Lazlo again was seriously upsetting her. She couldn't seem to decide whether to be frightened of him or furious with him and so, when we met Claudia at the Headquarters building and she suggested we all go for a meal together, Bill and I jumped at the chance to take her mind off the hearing. We agreed to meet up at the restaurant she suggested in an hour and went inside to unpack.

I was stunned to discover that The Vampire Authority's headquarters in London were situated in the City, beneath the offices of a firm of stockbrokers! However, when I thought about it I realised that it was probably quite fitting really. We went in through the main entrance on Lombard Street and were directed to a small room with a pair of sliding doors and an elaborate marble floor. I was trying to decipher the pattern when I realised that the entire room was moving downwards. It was a giant lift!

In a few moments the lift stopped moving and the doors opened on what appeared to be the reception area of a smart Hotel or office building. We were given a large suite with an extra room for Azaria and, as soon as we had unpacked and changed we headed out to meet Claudia at the restaurant. It was not far away and when we arrived we found not only Claudia but Chris, Gerry, Susie and another man who looked vaguely familiar and was introduced as Dan, Chris's brother.

Susie was delighted to see me again and explained that she and Gerry had been seeing each other ever since they returned from Egypt. Bill introduced Azaria and Chris introduced Dan and we were soon having a great time on a table for eight in the corner of the room. The only drawback was that, since the restaurant was so close to Headquarters, most of the Authority was also there and Eric and Sookie were at the next table. I noticed that Sookie wasn't looking particularly happy since Eric was ignoring her and chatting to the Authority members instead. I saw her glance over at Bill a few times, particularly on those occasions when a burst of laughter came from our table. I also noticed that Azaria was being paid a considerable amount of attention by Dan and that she appeared to be enjoying it temendously. Well, I thought, since his brother had been dating Claudia for some time he must know what he was doing. However I did wonder how Bill would take it in his role as doting father figure!

We returned well before dawn and Bill decided that he wanted a shower before he slept. Azaria and I went to take a look at the boutique in Reception and said we would see him shortly.

---

I got out of the shower and dried myself off, pulling on one of the towelling gowns provided in the suite. As I was drying my hair I heard a knock at the door and went to open it.

"Spent any more of my money then ladies?" I asked as I opened the door.

To my surprise Sookie was standing in the corridor outside. "Hi Bill. Can I come in for a moment?" she asked quietly.

I stood back to let her enter and closed the door behind her.

"I guessed you'd be alone since I've just seen your new lady friend in Reception" she said.

"You mean Alex." I said sharply.

"Alex? That's the same girl who was with you in Amsterdam isn't it? Eric thought she was a call girl that you'd hired for the weekend."

I ground my teeth. "Eric is a misogynistic idiot. He believes that everyone thinks the same way he does."

"I noticed that she had your credit card" she snapped.

"As a matter of fact she's my business partner." I said stiffly.

"Business partner? Is that what you call it now?"

"Whatever is between Alex and me is none of your business Sookie." I really did not want to be doing this. "You shouldn't be here. Eric will be wondering where you are!"

"He doesn't care where I am" she said miserably. "The only time he ever comes round is when he wants sex. Other than that he just sends a lackey for me when he wants to show me off to someone!"

"I'm sorry Sookie..."

She ignored me. "She healed you didn't she?" she said "her blood healed you."

"Yes," I answered calmly "She was generous enough to give me her blood, although she hardly knew me at the time. And it healed me as yours would have, as I told you it would."

Sookie looked down at her feet, unable to meet my eyes. "I...I couldn't Bill, you know I couldn't...Eric..."

"Eric!"

Suddenly all the anger, frustration and bitterness that I had felt when she turned from me that night seemed to rise up in my mind and pour out of me in a torrent. "Eric wasn't there though was he? Eric wasn't the one who found you! He wasn't the one who was bitten and poisoned! He wasn't the one who spent years wandering the world, hiding from his own kind, until everyone he had ever known believed that he had met the true death!" I hissed. "Including you I might add, when you eventually bothered to ask! How long did it take Sookie?" I asked angrily "How long was it before you even noticed that I was gone? Weeks? Months?"

"He gave me his blood afterwards, to heal me." She said defensively.

"If it weren't for Niall and I there would have been no "afterwards" don't you understand that?" I struggled to calm myself.

"Where was he Sookie? Where was he when you needed him? Did he even bother to explain?"

"He was with Felipe de Castro, he couldn't get away, he could feel that I was in trouble but he couldn't get away."

"Oh I see!" I snapped " Like I couldn't get away when Lorena held me in Dallas you mean. Funny how that excuse never seemed to work for me!"

"I'm sorry Bill, I didn't understand then." She looked up at me helplessly and I sighed.

"It's too late for that now. You're bonded to him, married to him in fact, if what I hear is true!"

"That's not fair!" she cried "I didn't know what it meant! He just told me to bring the box and hand it to him!"

I actually laughed at this. "What, and you simply obeyed him without question! And he tricked you, again! What a surprise!" I heaved a sigh "Oh Sookie, you have no idea how much it hurt me to have to watch you dealing with him. I saw you put up with things from him that I knew you would never have allowed from me. Can you imagine how that felt? How it tore at whatever was left of my heart?"

"But it's different now" she said "Now that I know..."

"Now that you know what? That he's a lying, devious, manipulative bully? He always has been! I told you that from the very start, but as soon as he tricked you into taking his blood you started questioning my motives."

I blinked, feeling the bloody tears running from my eyes and said softly. "I'm sorry if you're not happy with your choice, but it was a choice you made, not me. I waited for you Sookie, I would have waited a lifetime for you if I thought there was any hope, but there wasn't was there? When you turned away from me that night I knew there was no hope left for me. I loved you Sookie, I always did. Everything I did, I did for you, I had never loved anyone as I loved you. You were my whole existence. I would have given my life for you, in fact I very nearly did. For a long time I thought it would have been better if I had. At least then I wouldn't have had to suffer the pain of knowing that you probably never loved me at all!

But you chose Eric. You fell in love with a man who never really existed, a man with no memories of who he was or who he had been. A man who had nothing in the world but you. But that's not who he is Sookie, you must have known that! He never was that person, and he never will be again."

As I turned away from her the door flew open and Alex burst in.

"Bill, honey! Are you okay? What's wrong?" She turned and saw Sookie.

"Oh!" she said, stopping dead in her tracks. "I see!"

"You see what?" I asked, without turning around.

She stood silently watching me for a moment. "I see why you're so upset" she said quietly. "I could feel it."

I turned and moved over to the couch. Of course, I thought, the blood bond. She could feel my anger, my frustration, my pain. I sat down on the couch and held out my hands to her, looking up. Her eyes widened as she saw the bloody tears on my cheeks but she said nothing, just took my hands and sat beside me. Azaria had followed her into the room and stood to one side, uncertain as to what was happening.

Suddenly Sookie seemed to realise what had happened.

"Oh no, the bond!" she said and ran to the door. Just as she reached it the door opened again and Eric strode in looking furious.

"What the devil's going on here?" he snarled, glaring at Sookie. "What are you doing in Compton's room?"

"I just wanted to talk to him Eric" she said, sounding totally defeated.

"You have nothing to talk about! Go back to our room!" he ordered, taking a step towards me. Azaria moved between us and Eric burst out laughing. "Oh look!" he said. "Compton's got himself an attack puppy!"

I stood up and put my hand on Azaria's shoulder. "I guess this must be Lazlo's child?" he said. "Don't worry my dear, you'll soon be back with your Maker." He gave her a smile and hustled Sookie out of the room.

I kissed Azaria gently on the forehead and gave her a little push in the direction of her room. She went without protest and I went into the main bedroom, undressed and got into bed in silence. After a while I felt Alex get in beside me and put her arms around me. I gave a sigh and rolled over into her arms, burying my head between her breasts until the dawn took me under.

---

Once I was sure that Bill was asleep I got up and went into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the long mirror on the wall, staring at the two streaks of blood on my breasts from Bill's tears. Then I washed myself and headed back to bed.

I slept for a few hours and then woke, tossing restlessly until I decided to get up and go for a walk.

I dressed and left the Headquarters building, picking up a takeaway cup of coffee and heading towards a small park I had noticed when we went to the restaurant the previous night. I found a bench set against a high wall and was sitting and relaxing in the sun looking up at the trees when a voice spoke beside me.

"Hello!"

I could feel a presence sitting on the bench next to me and the hairs began to stand up on the back of my neck. How could someone have approached and sat down without me seeing them? I turned my head slowly, there was a girl sitting beside me. She was wearing a plain cotton skirt and a flowered top but somehow, she didn't look quite right. She turned her head and looked at me and my mouth fell open. She had pale flawless skin, long wavy blond hair and blue eyes. Totally blue eyes. Her entire eyeball was a pale, china blue with a vertical slit for the pupil, like a cat.

"Um...hello?" I said warily.

She smiled at me. "Please don't be afraid."

"Okay" I said, sounding somewhat unconvinced even to me. "Who are you?"

She gave me a brilliant smile. "I am called Aislynn" she said.

I sat and waited for some more information but it didn't seem to be forthcoming.

"Well, hello Aislynn." I said. "What are you?"

She reached out and put her hand on my arm. "Don't you know?" she asked. As she touched me I felt a tingling warmth flow into me, spreading throughout my body and I realised that I did know.

"You're a faery?" I asked incredulously. There must be an explanation for this, I thought, perhaps someone had slipped something into my coffee!

"I am of the fae yes." She said with another brilliant smile. "As are you Alexandra. You have our blood, I have been sent to help you."

"Please don't tell me you're my faery godmother!" I exclaimed. "Even a hallucination couldn't be that clichéd!"

She gave what is usually described as a tinkling laugh and I swear I could actually hear little bells. Jeez I had to stop watching those Disney cartoons!

I made an effort to pull myself together and ask some sensible questions. "Sent by whom?" I asked, "to help me with what?"

"I was sent by Mab, the Winter Queen, The Queen of Air and Darkness" she said. "As to why I was sent. Many centuries ago, our Queen bore a child by a human, a girl who could travel between the worlds. For five hundred years she walked the earth and the realm of Faery until she fell in love with a mortal, a king of your people. She begged her mother to allow her to stay with him and Mab agreed, gifting her with a human life. She married her king and lived with him as his Queen for one of your lifetimes and she gave him a daughter who was also part fae, she was Mab's granddaughter. The child grew to be a beautiful young woman, destined to become a queen of her people. But then..."

Aislynn paused and looked away for a moment. She turned back to me and said sadly "She was taken by a monster, one of that race who drove us from this world, a vampire. He was drawn to her as he also had our blood. Long ago there were many more like her, like you. But he betrayed her and she disappeared from the world and all of Mab's hopes for her were lost."

She turned to me with a look on her beautiful face which was somehow quite frightening. "You know this vampire. He calls himself Lazlo, Lazlo Petrovic or Laurence Peterson."

"Yes, I know him" I said "you're talking about Azaria."

Aislynn sighed "She threw her life away, the foolish child!"

"That's a little unfair" I said. "She didn't know who he was, what he was. She thought he loved her!"

Aislynn turned back to me looking surprised "How could you possibly know this?" she asked.

"Well, she told me!" I said equally surprised.

The temperature suddenly dropped by about five degrees and Aislynn's face began to change slightly. Her skin took on a greyish tinge and a chill seemed to pour out of her. For the first time I could easily believe that she had been sent by the Winter Queen. She leaned towards me and I flinched.

"She lives?"

The whisper was hardly audible. Like the sighing of a cool breeze on my skin.

"Well, not technically but, yes. We found her, Bill and I and released her. Didn't you know? Isn't that why you're here?" I asked, confused.

"I was sent to help you see that Lazlo was punished!" she said, pulling herself together slightly so that the chill in the air began to dissipate. "We do not monitor the human realm as we used to. We had no idea... my Queen must learn of this!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" I cried, but I was too late. There was a flicker of blue light and a slight "pop" and she was gone.

Oh no! I thought. What have I done now!

I sat for a while waiting just in case Aislynn received further instructions and came back but there was no further sign of her and with the hearing tonight I needed to get some sleep. After an hour or so I gave up and returned to the suite and got back into bed beside Bill's still form.

At dusk we got up and began to get ready for the hearing. I showered and dressed in a smart business suit which I had bought in anticipation of representing Bill as his new business partner. I put on a thin gold bracelet and my great grandmother's opal necklace whilst trying to explain to Bill what had happened in the park earlier.

"She was one of the Fae? Are you sure?" he asked.

Well, unless she was wearing some crazy contact lenses she sure wasn't human!" I answered. "But I have no idea what, if anything, she wanted from me!"

We all braced ourselves and headed to the hearing.

The three of us walked into the council chamber of the Authority and looked around. It was a spacious room with a platform at one end. There was a long table on the platform with three chairs behind it. On the wall behind the table was a tapestry. It appeared to be very old but not ancient, and yet I thought I recognised the picture. The tapestry depicted a young woman on her knees wearing a full length, fitted white cotton dress. She was facing to the left with both arms stretched out before her, one above the other. From each arm fell a fan of feathers from her shoulders to her fingertips. Her long black hair was held in a circlet of gold in which was fastened a tall feather.

I nudged Bill. "Isn't that Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice?" I whispered.

"Yes that's right. She represents balance and order." he explained. "However I think she's going to have a tough time of it tonight.

As I was looking around the door opened and Ulrich walked in followed by another man and a woman, both vampires, and then Eric and Sookie.

"What's she doing here?" I whispered to Bill. "I thought only those involved in the case were to be present?"

"Eric must have persuaded the Magister to allow her in. He probably thinks he can use her telepathy somehow to help his case." Bill frowned. "He's very proud of her ability, sees it as part of his power over humans."

The doors opened again and Lazlo was brought in escorted by two guards and taken to a large chair beside the platform. He sat down and a bar was locked across the chair with a silver chain, holding him in.

At this point the male vampire came over to us and nodded to Bill, he turned to Azaria and me and said "Good evening ladies, I am Olivier Bertrand the Magister for Europe. I will be one of your Judges. The other two will be Ulrich, representing The Authority and Lydia, who represents the EVL."

He turned to Bill. "Mr Compton. I understand that you will present the case against Mr Petrovic and you Mr Northman" turning to Eric "will be defending him." He turned back to me and said "If you would like to take your seats?" and gestured to a row of seats to one side where Charles and Gerry were already sitting. Gerry grinned at me and pulled out a chair for me.

I turned towards him and as I did so Eric turned to look at me and stopped in his tracks. He was staring at my throat as if he could not believe the evidence of his eyes and I stepped back. I heard the Magister say "Mr Northman?" and I heard Bill's voice say something as well but Eric ignored them both and advanced on me, his fangs out. I backed away until I bumped into Charles who had stood up and come forward. Ulrich and the Magister both placed a hand on Eric's shoulders but he shook them off and reached for me again. He put his hand on my throat and slipped his fingers under the thin gold chain of the opal necklace.

"Where did you get this?" he whispered, looking shocked.

"It belonged to my great grandmother!" I said.

Bill shouldered Eric out of the way and stood in front of me. "What do you think you're doing? How dare you lay a hand on her!" he said, glaring at Eric furiously. He turned to me "You didn't have that necklace in Amsterdam did you? How can you have seen it before Eric?"

Suddenly he gave a gasp and said "Of course! It was you wasn't it?" He glanced at Gerry, "You gave Daisy the necklace, you were the man who told her you would come back for her. That you would marry her and take her to America with you!"

Eric appeared to have got over his shock and said carelessly "Oh come on Bill, you know I didn't mean it! When you want to get a girl into bed with you, you say what you think she wants to hear!"

Bill glanced up at Sookie who was sitting on one of the benches with a completely blank expression on her face. I thought I detected a trace of sympathy in Bill's eyes but at the time I was too shocked by Eric's actions to notice much. Charles put an arm around me and helped me into a seat.

"Is this relevant?" asked the Magister.

"In a way yes" said Bill. "Daisy, the girl Eric gave the necklace to, was killed by Lazlo."

"So how could she be her great grandmother?" asked Eric.

"Because I took the necklace from her body and gave it to her friend Edith. Edith was Alex's great grandmother." explained Bill.

"Edith?" said Eric looking thoughtful for a moment. "Oh yes, she was the boring one!"

"She was the one who survived!" snapped Bill.

"Right, we need to hear about this officially, not like this." said Ulrich, taking charge. He waved his arm at the two guards who were now standing on either side of the doors and they opened to admit a crowd of vampires who flooded in and filled the seating area.

For the next hour and a half Bill outlined our complaints against Lazlo. He told the story of the opal necklace and how Lazlo had attacked Charles and himself and tried to attack me.

Gerry filled in a lot of detail of the parties Lazlo had held at his house in Belgravia in the 1930's.

Bill described what had happened to me in the crypt of the little church in the Pyrenees.

And finally Azaria, haltingly explained her story. How she had met Lazlo and become fascinated by him. How he had raped her and turned her and then, when she refused to obey him, betrayed and abandoned her.

When she had finished Eric stood up from where he had been lounging in a chair, looking bored. "Almost everything of which Lazlo is accused comes down to crimes against humans" he said. "Yes, he attacked Bill, but then" he gave a little smile, "who hasn't?" There was a little ripple of laughter in the room.

"He attacked Mr Montague." He turned to Charles who was glaring at him furiously, "for which I'm sure he will apologise. Finally, he disciplined his own Progeny, is that a crime?" He looked around the silent audience. "The punishment may have been a little harsh, but who is to say that it was not justified? Times were different then."

He spread his hands out in a helpless little gesture, "Other than that...he killed humans! Isn't that what we do?"

Bill stood up. "Not any more!" he said.

Eric laughed "I'm happy to play the businessman to get their money, but we have always killed and fed on humans and we always will." he said. "Whatever you and your friends might think."

Bill looked at him calmly. "Eric, you are over one thousand years old. I can't believe that you can have survived for so long and still be so stupid."

Eric glared at him, his fangs out "We've lived like that among humans for generations" he snarled "we got away with it then, so why not now?"

"We got away with it because they didn't know! Because very few humans ever believed we existed. It's different now." There was a little ripple of discontent in the audience and Bill turned to them. "I know that many of you think that the Revelation was a mistake, but whatever you think it doesn't matter any more, we're out in the open now whether you like it or not and if we want to survive we must moderate our behaviour."

"Are you saying that you're afraid of them" asked Eric with a sneer. "Any one of us, even the youngest, is far stronger than any human!"

"Yes, I'm sure that you're much stronger than any human Eric, than any ten humans perhaps. But how about a hundred, a thousand. There are many more of them than there are of us. They know our strengths and, more importantly, they know our weaknesses. They always had the advantage of numbers, any one vampire was always vulnerable to a mob, you know this. But now …... now they won't come armed with flaming torches and pitchforks, but with crossbows with wooden arrows, wooden bullets, silver, flamethrowers. Think about this Eric, you saw the arsenal that the Fellowship of the Sun had in Dallas. How many of us do you think it would take to stand up to that kind of firepower. And it's so unnecessary when we can live alongside them in peace."

"Why should we have to! They could never defeat us!" growled Eric.

"Only a fool would believe that Eric. Do you seriously think that the people who invented the atomic bomb and put a man on the moon wouldn't be able to think up some way to wipe us out if they felt they had to? Of course they could!"

The Magister had been listening to this exchange with an interested expression but now he stood up and said "Enough! We seem to have moved away from our purpose here tonight. I think we have heard enough. It is time to pronounce our judgement. Lydia, would you speak first?"

Bill and Eric both turned to the platform and looked up at the single woman behind the table.

"Although I have much sympathy for Mr Compton's argument I have to say that I agree with Mr Northman." She said. "Mr Petrovic's failings seem to be in the field of human relations and therefore should not be of concern to this court."

The Magister turned to Ulrich. "Ulrich, what is your judgement?" he asked.

"I cannot agree I'm afraid. Mr Compton is right. We do have to consider the effect of our actions on humans. Mr Petrovic is a danger to them and is only likely to bring trouble upon us. He would be better kept out of harms way."

"Then the decision is mine" said the Magister. He sighed and said "Although I too have much sympathy with Mr Compton's position I have to agree with Lydia. Other than the attacks on Mr Compton and Mr Montague, for which a large fine will be levied, we have no authority to punish Mr Petrovic for attacks on humans. I feel we have no alternative than to free him."

Eric smiled at Bill and stood up. "Lazlo" he called, holding out his hand. Lazlo grinned at him as the guard unbolted the bar from the chair and he stood up.

"I have a request to make" he said. "Since I am now free, I should like to have my Progeny returned to me."

Bill snarled. "No! Absolutely not!"

As I watched him I felt a sudden chill in the room. I looked around and saw a faint blue light appear in the air in front of where Bill was standing with Azaria beside him. I had just enough time to wonder what was happening before what appeared to be a blue curtain formed in the air and a woman stepped out into the council chamber.

She was without a doubt the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She wore a long white gown shot through with shimmering blues and greens. Glittering jewels in the same colours sparkled at her throat and wrists, the colours seeming to shift constantly and as she turned I saw that her eyes were of the same irridescent colours shifting to match her jewels. They were like Aislynn's eyes coloured across the whole eyeball and slit vertically like a cat's, and her lips were the colour of frozen blood. The dress left her arms and shoulders bare and her pure white skin made the vampires look positively healthy. Her long silver hair flowed down her back and seemed to blend into the gown at her waist.

Eric moved towards her at once, fangs bared. She made a tiny gesture with her hand and Eric was flung up into the air, thrown the length of the chamber and slammed into the far wall where he fell in a crumpled heap and lay still. The two vampire guards stationed at the main doors stepped forwards and she raised her hand.

The guards froze. I don't mean that in any metaphorical sense. I could see the glistening layer of ice on their skin.

She turned to the platform and looked up at the Magister.

"Who are you?" he asked "and what do you want with us?"

"I am Mab, the Winter Queen, the Queen of Air and Darkness" she said, the sound of her voice making the hairs stand up on my arms. "I have come to claim my granddaughter Azaria."

"She is mine" snarled Lazlo.

Bill put his arm around Azaria's shoulders and said "she may be your kin Madam but she is vampire now. She belongs with us."

Mab looked at Azaria, who appeared to be trying to hide behind Bill. "It appears that you have a choice to make child. To come with me or to stay with one of these two."

Azaria didn't hesitate for a second. "I want to stay with Bill" she said.

Mab walked forward and regarded Bill with a new interest. "Who are you, vampire?" she asked. "Are you her Maker? do you care for her?"

"I am not her Maker, but yes, I care for her" said Bill quietly.

"I am her Maker!" said Lazlo. "She will come with me. I shall decide what she does in future. Anything you have to say should be said to me!"

Mab turned and examined him carefully. "Very well" she said. "Yes, indeed you are. You made her what she is, and you shall receive your reward."

As she spoke I noticed a kind of fuzzy haze in the air behind Lazlo like smoke, or perhaps steam. As I watched two creatures stepped out behind him. At first I thought they were human, at least they were human shaped, but something was not quite right about them. As the haze began to clear I could see what it was. They appeared unformed, like clay figures made by a child. Their faces were blank, and I don't mean their features were blank of expression. I mean that they had no features. It was as though they had been created for one purpose and would be discarded after that purpose was accomplished.

They each reached forward and took Lazlo by an arm. He gave a shriek and tried to pull away but he was unable to move. Where they held him the flesh began to steam. The smoke had appeared again behind them and they stepped back in unison pulling Lazlo effortlessly with them. When the smoke cleared again all three had vanished.

There was a shocked silence. "What happened to him?" asked Bill.

"I believe he found the touch of my servants was …... a little cold for his liking" said Mab. She stepped forwards towards Bill and stretched out her hand to his face. I saw him tense but he didn't move. Azaria stood slightly behind him, her small hand on his waist.

"And what will happen to him now?" he asked.

She gave that cold smile again. "Your colleagues here have decided that, as a vampire, he has done nothing wrong. He will find me to be a harsher judge!"

She reached out again and her irridescent fingernails just brushed Bill's brow. A few flakes of what appeared to be ice formed in his hair but he stood his ground. She regarded him for a moment with her head on one side and then turned to Azaria. "This one has a soldier's courage child. It is easy to be brave when you think you are the stronger" she glanced down at Eric who had remained on the floor in the corner. "But to be brave when you know you are the weaker? To stand before your friends to defend them when you know that you will lose …... that is true courage."

She smiled again and this time I thought I detected a faint trace of warmth. "You chose well!"

She stepped back and nodded to Bill. There was a flash of irridescent blue and green light and she was gone.

There were a few moments of silence and then pandemonium broke out in the council chamber. I jumped up and ran across to Bill and Azaria. I saw Eric get up and walk a little unsteadily over to the platform. Charles and Gerry came over to congratulate us, Charles grumbling slightly that he would probably never see the fine Lazlo had levied against him.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" asked Azaria a little hesitantly.

"Somehow I don't think so." I said. "I suspect that Queen Mab intends to keep him for a while at least!"

Bill put an arm around Azaria and I and gave us each a fierce hug.

"Let's go home" he said.