Whew. It has been a long time since I updated this. I apologize for the wait and I extend continuous thanks to everyone reviewing this. I've been way too busy with essays for school lately to get back to writing this. However, I think I'm close to the end here - a couple more chapters, maybe. Exciting. I'm already planning the sequel.

"I have heard of your beauty
Pursue me, beckon me
to cast the stones from my throat
in the earth's dark entrails
My glazed eyes close forever
My eyes will see If my spirit lives"
- Virgin Black, "Of Your Beauty"

VI. Peace

Arms folded over her chest, eyes locked on Red's wounded body in front of her without really seeing anything, Vanja chewed on her bottom lip. She could think this over and over, but nothing would ever be solved. Now was the time for action. To stop thinking and do something. But what?

Blood seeped into Vanja's mouth from her abused lip, and while it startled her at first, it soon became soothing. She let the liquid pool in her mouth, settle on her tongue. She let the flavor linger while her mind raced through the options and possible outcomes.

The steady, lulling beep of the ECG suddenly spiked and Red thrashed and groaned in pain. Snapped out of her concentration, Vanja's eyes focused on Red, Liz, and Abe. She swallowed the blood she'd been holding in her mouth. "Jesus, Abe! Pull the damn thing out!" Liz screamed, sounding on the verge of tears.

"I…I cannot. Every time I touch it, every time I come close to it…it moves closer to his heart. I don't know what else to do. The wound will not heal until the spear is removed," he explained. "We're running out of time."

"Then we go after the prince," Liz stated, determined, "and we make him take it out."

Abe moved away from the couple, toward Vanja. He touched her arm lightly as he walked past her, and she followed him out into the hall, giving Liz and Red a moment.

"What are you going to do?" Abe whispered, his tone both concerned and conspiratorial.

Habitually, Vanja bit her lip again, feeling a little trickle of blood hit her tongue.

"I don't know," she told him, shaking her head.

"I'm going to give him the crown piece," Abe told her.

"You know where it is?" Vanja asked, a little too loudly. Abe made a gesture with his hands for her to keep her voice down.

"I have a good idea."

Vanja nodded, thinking this over.

"I need you to make sure he's not going to try to kill us," Abe threw in.

Vanja sighed with mixed feelings. "I would never let him hurt any of you."

But Vanja wondered just what Abe thought Nuada wanted the crown for. If he was going to give Nuada the last piece, surely Abe realized what that meant. And Vanja slowly realized that maybe none of them really harbored the burning desire to protect humanity any more. Maybe they were all ready to give up the BPRD. To try for something better. To be selfish for once.

***

Sitting in the plane, bound for Antrim, the sun breaking through the clouds over the Irish countryside, Vanja was deep in her thoughts once again. She glanced around the plane. Liz and HB back with her, Abe and Krauss in the cockpit. Her heart felt heavy. What if something happened to them…any of them? Liz and Red were so fragile, Liz pregnant and Red wounded, and Abe, who had always seemed so frail to Vanja that she constantly resisted the need to protect him in the rare instances that they actually went into battle. She was already feeling disgustingly guilty about Red's injury. If she hadn't held back from Nuada for so long, could she have prevented it from happening?

She hadn't felt guilt or concern like this in…years…not since the massacre of her coven. The deaths she should have prevented. The attacks by Kalevi's demons that she should have seen coming. Should have understood. She let so many die because she was unwilling to accept that Kalevi was trying to kill her, to kill her family. She let them all die…because for so long she couldn't bring herself to kill her brother. Vanja closed her eyes, bowing her head. When she opened them again, looking down at her hands, she could almost see the blood on them. Could almost feel it.

Vanja wondered if this was how Nuala felt. Unable to kill her sibling, allowing so much death for the preservation of one life. But for Vanja, it was all for naught. Because she did kill him, just not at all soon enough. Kalevi's blood on her hands, watching the fire in his Demonic eyes simmer and die. Her mother's sword, she never used it again after that. And his death meant nothing. Because he had already wreaked his havoc, had already destroyed her world.

Vanja groaned. She didn't need the memories. Not now.

She brushed her hands through her hair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Please, don't let it be like that again. Let this work. Somehow.

Vanja jumped down out of the plane, following the others. She took in a lungful of the clean Irish breeze, smiling. Vanja hadn't been to Ireland since…. Her mind roamed. 1752...? She squinted into the sun. Yeah. 1752. Jesus. How the hell has it been so long? And I always loved this country….

"You were right, huh?"

Vanja jumped a little at the sound of Red's tired voice.

"What?" she asked.

"About the sun thing."

"Oh. Yeah. Hell of a way to test a theory, though," she replied, trying to be jovial.

Over the time she'd spent with the BPRD, Vanja had talked a lot with the others about everything she'd learned about vampiric nature. The longer a vampire lives, the more powers he accumulates. In theory, a vampire could grow powerful enough to establish an immunity to the sun. Abe was the only one who knew the real reason behind Vanja's ability to walk in the day. But Abe and Vanja had to keep each other's secrets right now.

Vanja had been stunned that no one had said anything about the living traits she'd been displaying. Her new beating heart sounded so loud to her that she knew someone would notice. But no one did. And she assumed the lively color of her skin probably very much resembled the way she looked after a meal. Nothing to make anyone suspicious. But the walking in the sun part, she'd just gotten lucky with that.

She followed the others as Abe tried to work with the map. Finally, they stopped where Abe said the map indicated, but they found nothing but rocks.

"Hallo there!"

A legless goblin, his torso anchored to a cart full of miscellaneous not-quite-valuable items, no doubt scavenged and collected over years, rolled up to meet them.

"I bid you welcome, strangers. How can I be of assistance?"

"We seek safe passage to Bethmoora," Liz told the goblin without missing a beat. As if she saw goblins everyday.

Liz explained their plight, and briefly bartered with the goblin over the price of his guidance. The goblin's eye fell on the spear fragment under Red's bandages and he offered to find someone to take the spearhead out, so long as he could keep it afterward. With Liz in agreement to this, the goblin raised a whistle to his lips, letting out a short, slightly musical call.

They all stared in wonder as the rocks around them were pulled out of the earth, rising and forming a giant humanoid structure. In the chest of the giant was a tall, narrow passage way. Stepping through, the group found themselves immediately stranded on a tall ledge, looking out over the seemingly endless labyrinthine ruins of Bethmoora.

"You should have seen this city when it was alive," the goblin muttered, his rough voice punctuated randomly by the clatter of the items in his cart as he drug himself along behind the others.

"What happened to it?" Abe asked.

"Curse," the goblin replied so quickly that his answer overlapped Abe's question. "Soon as the Golden Army was stored here, a plague of silence and death befell us. The world left us behind."

So this was why it seemed so important to everyone that the Golden Army not awaken. But strangely, the proof of the warning did nothing to deter Vanja. She still wished to see her prince triumphant. Because if he couldn't have his Army, then what else did he have? He had her. But Vanja knew that wouldn't be enough. Nuada needed a cause. Nuada needed to rule. That's what he was born to do.

And what pulled Vanja's heart much more than the idea of the genocide of all humanity, was the thought of all the remnants of ancient races that were barely hanging on in the 21st century. All the creatures of other worlds, old worlds, forgotten worlds. She couldn't stand the thought that, if humans remained the force they now were, that all those mysterious creatures would forever remain a mystery. Stripped of their former glory, as Nuada's people were, banished, damned to stories and myths. She wouldn't let that happen. Wouldn't let the last ones of so many races just die.

They followed the goblin through the maze of the ruined city, Vanja trying desperately to imagine what the city must have looked like when it was flourishing.

"Uuhhhh…" Vanja groaned as the Hunger hit her, hard and sudden.

"You okay, Van?" Abe asked, touching her arm lightly as if to support her as she doubled over with the abrupt pain.

"Yeah, I'll be alright…"

Just give it a minute. It'll go away, she coached herself. The pain was so much more potent than human hunger pains. The Hunger attacked the entire body with agony until it was sated. She was mentally kicking herself. It had been days since she'd gotten a proper vampire's meal, and what she took from Nuada certainly hadn't been enough to keep the Hunger away for very long. She immediately had the selfish wish that she could see him now. She tried to remember how he tasted. At the time his taste had been overwhelming. Now she thought she'd give anything to taste him again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Abe, I'm fine, really." Vanja tried to keep her voice patient. Eventually the pain died down to an uncomfortable but manageable ache.

They followed the goblin until he stopped in front of a building that looked very much like all the others except that it was tinted a dull red. The goblin instructed Liz and Hellboy inside, but the others to wait outside.

Vanja followed the events inside the building by tapping into Liz's and HB's minds alternately, though Red was understandably little help to her eavesdropping, considering he was in great pain and eventually passed out. Vanja was struck by Liz's decision when the Angel told her of Red's destiny. It wasn't surprising, but Vanja was impacted by the fact that everyone was being so selfish. Abe with his plan to give the crown piece to Nuada to try to save Nuala, Liz choosing HB's life over the fate of the world.

Vanja had a glimmer of hope that, after these decisions, maybe her friends wouldn't put up so much of a fight. Sure, they'd put up a fight, that's what they excelled in, especially Red. But she could only hope that maybe their hearts wouldn't really be in it. Hoped that perhaps she could make them understand that by now, saving the human world was just habit. She hoped she could make them see.

A relieved-looking Liz and a fully-healed Hellboy followed the goblin out of the room where they'd met with the Angel of Death, and the entire group continued toward the Golden Army's chamber. The goblin left them at the stairs that ascended to a large platform, presumably where Nuada was. Vanja's heart raced. Part of her was as excited as a teenager with a crush, dying to see the object of her affection after what felt like so long. Another part of her was terrified, because her decision had been made, and now was the moment for her action.

The suspense of the climb up the steps was excruciating. But when they all finally reached their destination, and Vanja heard that voice again, waves of a strange nervous relief washed over her.

"You are here. So I assume you've brought the remaining piece."

Vanja gasped when she saw him. He looked so different, seemed so different. It was not only his dress and his surroundings that made him seem different, but the way he was so close to achieving his goals that he nearly glowed with confidence…he was truly a king now. For a dizzying moment, Nuada reminded Vanja strongly of her sire, Vasek. A superficial but strong pain flared up at the memory of her deceased maker, but a deeper pain was soothed by the love Vanja felt for Nuada. She wanted to run to him now and embrace him, but she had to wait a little longer.

"No, we didn't, but we should discuss-"

"I'm not addressing you, tin man," Nuada interrupted Krauss and Vanja suppressed a grin at Nuada's hostility.

"Abraham," Nuada offered a small smile and extended his hand.

"Abraham?" Red wondered as Abe stepped in front of him.

"My sister is well, as I promised. So…" Nuada prompted.

Abe raised the final crown piece.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Red shouted.

"You would do the exact same for Liz," Abe pointed out, turning only briefly to address HB, then turning back to Nuada and his sister.

"Agent Sapien, don't!" Krauss attempted futilely - the piece had already left Abe's hand and was shimmering through the air, destined for Nuada.

As the crown piece landed in Nuada's hand, as if of its own will, relief spread over Nuada's face. Vanja wished she could be near him, near enough that she could sense the change in his heartbeat and in the heat of his body as that relief and excitement flowed through him. She knew that longing showed on her face.

Vanja and Nuada watched with the same satisfaction and anxiety as Nuada slipped the last piece into place, and the crown accepted it, the delicate little clockwork parts all sliding together to form the whole. The two lovers displayed the same smile, each from opposite sides of the cavernous room, as Nuada raised the crown to his head.

"I am Prince Nuada Silverlance, leader of the Golden Army."

Vanja's stomach turned and her heart fluttered as Nuada's perfect voice resounded with absolute authority through the chamber. Liz and Red moved hands to their weapons.

"Is there anyone here who would dispute my right?" Anger now overwhelmed the pride in Nuada's voice, clearly indicative as to what the fate of anyone foolish enough to dispute him would be.

There was a second of silence, then the huge gears in the center of the room began to turn. The entire chamber came alive. The others looked around, watching the clockwork turn and the mechanical soldiers awaken. But Vanja stared at Nuada.

Finally, a smile broke over his face. His head tilted slightly to one side, and he held his hand out. There was a warmth that engulfed him when he let the kingly façade go enough to acknowledge his love.

"My queen," he whispered, low enough that no one but Vanja could hear.

And even over the clamor of the rising army, Vanja did hear.

Unable to contain her bursting emotions any longer, she ran to him, putting her vampiric speed into her movements. To the eyes of the four BPRD agents, it was as if she'd teleported to the other end of the room. Vanja was already held tightly in Nuada's arms and deep in a passionate kiss before the others even realized she was no longer among them. Vanja ignored the clamor of the others shouting her name or exclaiming, "what are you doing?!" When Nuada pulled away from her, he held her face in his hands and his intoxicating breath caressed her skin.

"I've missed you," he told her, the pain in his voice letting her know that it was true.

Vanja let her eyelids flutter, near closing, and inhaled deeply the scent of his blood. She was so hungry… She couldn't help letting her hands wander over his neck, her fingers resting lightly on his pulse. Feeling the temptation, the need.

Nuada sighed, faking exasperation. "I leave you alone for a few hours…you can't even feed yourself," he scolded her playfully.

Vanja smiled blissfully. Just to be near him again…

But their moment was over. It was time to get back to business. The soldiers were all awake now and had ascended the stairs, overflowing onto the large platform.

"Here," Nuada backed away from her a step and handed her the sheathed longsword.

She accepted the sword now. The time was right. Vanja strapped the weapon on, rolling her shoulders and adjusting the position of the scabbard until the sword was comfortable on her back. Nuada stood a distance from her, but kept one hand on her waist.

"Kill them!" he commanded the army.

Nuala struggled against him, begging him not to do it. Nuada silenced her, holding her arm forcefully and giving her a look of pure hatred.

"Vanja?!" Abe cried out to her, and she flinched.

She'd promised Abe she wouldn't let Nuada hurt them.

"C'mon, Red. Think!" she whispered.

She knew that between Red and Krauss, the soldiers could be held off for a while. But Red had to remember. Had to remember that he could challenge Nuada. That was the only way that this could end. Vanja felt confident that if she let the boys fight it out for a while, she could manage to call a truce. But if the Army just battled them into exhaustion, she wouldn't be able to save them.

Nuada's hand still gripping his sister's arm, his free hand wrapped around Vanja's waist, pulling her closer. He inclined his head close to hers. For a few seconds she could forget her friends fighting the Army for their lives, so lost was she in her love for Nuada, in the overwhelming pleasure of his breath, his eyes, the scent of his blood.

Nuada gave her a strange grin, something she hadn't quite seen from him before. It was too arrogant in a bluntly suggestive way to ever be something that seemed normal on his regal features. Nuada's mind sent his feelings to her, emotions and images and words. Of his plans for their future, of his love, and especially his lust, for her. The timing was so inappropriate but also so pleasing because of the inappropriateness, that Vanja blushed, then could barely believe that she'd been moved to blushing. She laughed quietly and Nuada, smiling, kissed her forehead.

Then, finally, Red's voice rang out.

"I challenge Prince Nuada for the right to command this army!"

Nuada looked disgusted. "You challenge me? Who are you to challenge me, you are nobody!"

Nuada's anger carried him a step away from Vanja, his hand falling away from her body, but his other hand of course unable to let go of his sister. Nuala still struggled in his grip.

"You are not royalty!"

"Yes! Yes!" Nuala exclaimed, wrenching her arm from her brother's grasp and stepping back. "He is Anung un Rama, son of the Fallen One! He has the right. The challenge must be answered."

Rage spread over Nuada's face. He turned to Vanja. She hung her head.

"It's true," she whispered, nodding.

"Very well, then," Nuada finally conceded, with a 'let's get it over with' air.

Brushing past Vanja, Nuada stopped to take her hand in his. His eyes bore into hers. As he brought her hand to his lips in a chivalrous gesture, his mind whispered to Vanja, 'watch her.' Vanja nodded, understanding.

'Be careful,' her mind whispered back to his. This made him smile arrogantly. 'Don't underestimate him!' she warned Nuada mentally as he turned his back to her.

As soon as Nuada had descended to the platforms of clockwork gears, Vanja stepped over to Nuala. She took the elf's arm in her hand, jerking Nuala toward her unceremoniously.

"Excuse me, milady," Vanja kept her voice even as Nuala's frightened eyes stared at her. Vanja slipped a hand into the sash wrapped around Nuala's waist, pulling a simple dagger from the folds of the fabric. She secured the dagger in her own belt. Nuala looked dumbfounded.

Vanja chuckled. "You don't really think I trust you, do you?"

She kept Nuala's slender arm in an iron grip as she turned her eyes to Nuada and Red. Vanja took a deep breath. She wasn't necessarily worried about either party, but she couldn't keep the anxiety away. She herself would make sure that Nuada was the victor, if it came to that, but then what? Would the destruction begin today, in mere moments, once this battle was done? Would Nuada simply march his new army out of these ruins and into the human world?

Of course he would.

Vanja cleared her mind. She focused intently on the battle before her. She drew in a sharp, terrified breath when she saw Nuada's face betray pain, his hand straying to his arm. Vanja glanced at Nuala. But she didn't need to look. She could already feel the elf's blood, warm and wet on her hand where she gripped Nuala's arm. Vanja's breath quickened, deepened. She gritted her teeth against the call of the Hunger. It felt like electricity in her veins. She fought the compulsion with all the strength she had, a low growl rising in her throat. Vanja turned her eyes back to Nuada, trying to make him the center of her world. Focusing on him to distract her from the Hunger. Trying to imagine her love for him as something concrete and tangible, something she could hold onto in her mind. Something she could use to weather the storm of her desires.

Hellboy fought well. But there were times when she worried for him, moments when she thought Nuada had him. After everything Nuada had told her, promising his love, devotion, and fairness to her, would he still kill her friends? Would he even try to hold back?

Dodging Nuada's spear, Red disappeared under the gears in the center of the room. Nuada waited, weapon at the ready and never looking more like a hunter, for Red to surface again.

"Behind you!" Vanja shouted, using their newly established mental link.

The fact that she was not the first to give the warning in the last few hours was not lost on Vanja.

Even as she said it, it was too late. Nuada turned in time, but Red was too close. He grabbed Nuada's throat. Vanja leaned forward, ready to move in. Her grip tightened unconsciously around Nuala's wounded arm, causing the elf to whimper in pain. Hearing her, Vanja immediately released Nuala's arm altogether, knowing the pain was also Nuada's.

Red threw Nuada to the floor, obtaining his spear in the process. In a moment so unlikely and so wrong that it made Vanja's vision blur in anger, Red was standing over Nuada, holding the Prince's own weapon to his throat.

"Kill me," Nuada's shuddering breath was more hatred and surprise than defeat. "You must. For I will not stop. I cannot."

"Sorry, pal. I win. You live."

Hellboy reached for Nuada's crown. He was interrupted by Vanja, holding Nuala's stolen dagger to his throat.

Vanja didn't have to say a word. Red looked at her with disbelief on his face at first, but once he saw the burning rage in her eyes - whites bloodshot and irises darkened from prolongation of the Hunger - and the way her chest heaved with determined breath, and how her hand was like stone; not a single tremble of doubt as she held the blade, he understood.

Love.

Truth be told, even Red was a little scared of Vanja in that moment. Perturbed by how out-of-control she seemed. She looked absolutely ravenous; wild. He'd never seen her like that before. None of the BPRD had. After three hundred years, Vanja was usually the epitome of control. She held her thirst in check, and she rarely got worked up about anything. Around HQ, Vanja was actually the peace keeper. She'd certainly settled many an argument between Red and Liz.

Looking at Vanja, HB knew that he must look just as crazed whenever Liz was in danger.

"I'm not gonna kill him, Van," Red told her, his words slow and emphatic.

"You're not gonna touch that crown," Vanja specified, her tone an exact match to Hellboy's.

"Vanja!" Red gasped, "think about what you're saying!"

"I know what it means as well as you do, HB."

Vanja felt the shot before she heard it. Her mind felt it coming. Without a conscious decision, her hand unsheathed the Elven sword on her back. As soon as she drew the weapon, she knew exactly where to hold it. The bullet ricocheted off the dark metal. Vanja felt a surge of power, partly from the acute awareness her vampiric senses afforded her - an awareness that was wholly refreshing after being given so many human traits - and partly, she knew, from the new weapon she wielded. It was so powerful it was like a living being. She felt the sword's power the same way she had felt the Eye - it spoke to her. This blade would become a part of her now, same as the Eye.

"Please don't be stupid, Liz," Vanja scolded, not even needing to look at Liz to know the shock on the woman's face, or the way her hands must be shaking around that gun.

Vanja's distraction of Liz and HB was all Nuada needed. One second, Vanja's eyes were locked on Hellboy's, the next, he was being pulled forward as Nuada jerked violently on his spear in Red's hands, bringing Red's weight down on top of him. And on the dagger in his hand. Hellboy groaned in pain, and Vanja felt a stab of pity for Liz.

Throwing Red's body off him, Nuada scooped up his spear and stood. Vanja leaned a little closer to him, though her eyes and mind were still on Red's again-wounded body and her concern for the long-suffering couple. Nuada's dagger had found almost the same place that his spear had a few hours earlier. Adding a final insult to injury, Nuada bent over Red and removed his dagger from Red's torso.

Nuada wrapped his arm around Vanja as a screaming Liz slid down to the floor next to Red.

"Seize them," he ordered, the Army instantly following his command and roughly grabbing up each of the BPRD agents, as well as Nuala. "Refrain from killing them, but be sure they do not interfere. Take them below."

Vanja forced herself to turn a deaf ear to the cries, screams, curses, and pleas of her friends. She could help them later. But right now Nuada and herself were the only ones she had to help.

"Move out," Nuada continued, pride and strength restored to his perfect voice. "Kill every human in your way."

When the room was empty, Nuada turned to offer a smile to his queen. Seeing her famished appearance, the suggestion of dark veins beginning to appear around the sides of her face, he sighed.

"By Corellon…" he muttered, shaking his head and appearing scolding, like he couldn't believe her irresponsibility.

But he never discarded his smile, even as he offered her his wrist. Vanja grinned, eyes wide, exhaling excitement. She took his wrist in her hand and met his eyes. Vanja brushed her nose against Nuada's vein, savoring the scent of his blood before she bit into his skin. A deep, ragged moan of obvious pleasure tore from Nuada's throat, and his arm around her waist seemed impossibly strong to Vanja, lost in the bliss of his taste. He held her as close as possible, his cheek pressed against her hair, his invigorating breath against her face. His blood was like the liquid form of his breath - sweet and pure, but sinisterly intoxicating.

It seemed she spent an eternity in the euphoria of Nuada - the heat of his body; the harsh, uneven inhales and exhales of his breath; the strong, taut muscles of his arm that her fingers traced and caressed as she consumed him. Finally, she heard his voice.

"Stop," his tone was firm, but the whisper in which he spoke was weak and quiet.

Vanja pulled her mouth from his wrist, but licked the wound clean until it healed. When she looked at Nuada again, he might as well have had "love" written on his face for all the warmth he was starting at her with. She smiled to think that watching such an act could move him so. Nuada brushed his fingers through her hair.

"I must go now," he told her, "and you should see to your friends. It will be easier to keep them if you explain. And the blood will heal him."

Vanja nodded. She had many questions for Nuada, concerning the future, but she trusted his judgment enough not to ask a single one. This was his future. He had earned it.

"Any requests?" Nuada asked happily, seeing the contemplation on her face, for sure.

Vanja looked a little sheepish. "Spare the artists?"

Nuada laughed boisterously, the musical sound echoing in the gigantic chamber. But he nodded. He hugged her tightly and gave her the usual kiss on her forehead.

"Amin naa tualle, A'maelamin." I am your servant, my beloved.

Nuada began to pull away from her, but Vanja clutched at his hand. She didn't want him to leave. Her eyes roamed his face, as if the visage wasn't already burned into her memory.

"I will be back, my love," Nuada chuckled. "Soon. And I'll bring you a meal."

Vanja smiled, releasing his hand. It was beautiful to see him in such good spirits. Now she had to let him go. War was in his veins, in his heart. It was where he belonged. And it wasn't as though she feared him not coming back. She simply wanted more time. The hours without him had dragged into eternity, but the hours with him were more like seconds.