Standing in front of the large ornate doors to Iason's council Chamber, Katze started to fidget.
When the door open he jumped; Raoul chuckled, "It will be all right Katze. I'll be there with you the entire time."
"And why doesn't that make me feel more comfortable?" Katze mumbled. He took a deep breath to calmed himself, and don his usual calm detached demeanor. He and Raoul followed one of Iason's servants down the bioluminescent corridors. Katze admired the intricate designs the glowing lichen on the walls created, Vampiric Seals, he belatedly realized. There was power running through these corridors Katze could feel it now, tugging at his vampiric nature. His fangs started to descend, he could feel his finger nails start to grow and sharpen, and he knew by the way his gaze had sharpened that his irises had begun to glow around his now slit pupils.
"Raoul!" Katze exclaimed, his voice layered in the mesmeric quality of a true Ancient, "What is ha-happening?"
"Oh Katze..." Raoul replied his tone sounding almost reverent, "It is your true form revealing itself, the runes in this chambers are ones of truth, so none may speak lies while within them, nor hide their true nature."
"Bu-but this feels different.. like more, somehow", Katze said, trying to calm himself and adjust to the new sensations he was feeling, like Raoul's renewed arousal. "Raoul!".
Chuckling again Roual replied, "I am sorry Katze you are just so beautiful like this."
"Am I interrupting something." A cool voice said from behind them. Just then Katze realized that they had come to an ornately decorated chamber with a large stone table in the center that looked like it was carved directly out of the rock floor. The glowing patterns from the walls in the corridor extended to the ceiling and floor of this chamber and all seemed to cut a path directly to the center of the stone table. Where the lines connected in the center of the table it sloped downwards into a bowl like indentation and was filled with a strange luminescent silver liquid that seemed to be the source of the strange power.
"No of course not, Iason" Raoul's voice brought Katze's focus back to the tall pale blonde figure now standing next to him.
Katze saw quick rush of memories of Iason through his bond with Raoul, but they didn't do Ancient vampire justice. His very presence held an almost overwhelming command, sending a thrill of fear down Kate's spine.
It's amazing, Katze thought - suddenly grateful that Raoul was there with him, that so much power can be contained in such an elegant form.
Iason's icey blue eyes took in Katze's vampiric form with interest, "You must be Katze. Raoul has told me so much about you."
Looking into those feral eyes, Katze felt the fear rising to choke him, stopping any words he might have said. This is an apex predator, he thought, the leader of the most powerful race on Amoi.
"Now Iason, no need to intimidate him," Raoul said with a sharp, fang filled, smile and a subtle growl to his words. He moved his body slightly in front of Katze's in what was a blatant protective gesture. Katze felt Raoul's possessive instincts rise at Iason's predatory gaze.
Iason smiled, his demeanor shifting into to something slightly less than threatening
"So Katze tell me how you came to be in that graveyard.'
"I was hunting", he replied trying to quell his nervousness.
"Hunting…..what exactly?" asked Iason.
"Vampires," Katze answered.
"Why were you hunting the particular vampire?" Iason raised a pale eyebrow.
"Because it was a product of the sick experiments done in Guardian. They are no better than beasts driven mad by their hunger," Katze replied with disgust clear in his voice.
"Guardian!" Raoul raged, "Is that where these abominations are coming from?"
"Calm yourself Raoul," Iason said in a cool voice, "Tell us more of this Guardian, Katze, and how you came to know of it."
"I was looking for a particular scientist and I followed his trail to a secret facility deep in the woods far away from any civilization. I was able to infiltrate it and saw the experiments happening. They were trying to make Vampire-Were hybrids but they were all going terribly wrong. The scientist I was looking for was the key to their experiments. They were starting to see some successes and I knew I had to stop it but by the time I got there the scientist was gone; so I sabotage their work and burnt the facility to the ground with all of its Abominations inside."
Suddenly the glowing seals on the walls pulsed with new light. Katze clutched his head in pain.
"It seems there's something you are not telling us Katze," Iason said raising an eyebrow curiously. "Perhaps you would like to share the truth, the whole truth. This room will not allow you to do anything else and neither will I."
Katze thought frantically, They cannot find out about Riki. If they knew of him they would surely kill him on sight. A being such as him they would not be allowed to live. He should not exist.
"I cannot tell you any more than that," he said, steeling himself against Iason's penetrating stare.
Raoul could feel Katze's conflicting emotions, fear and indecision. He spoke up before Iason could make any threats. "Katze, I can tell that this is troubling you, but you can trust are one of us now. You are my mate and I would never do anything to hurt you."
Katze could feel the warm feelings that Raoul was sending his way. He knew that he was telling the truth. With a defeated sigh Katze spoke. "One of the experiments survived. He was the last and most successful but they hadn't quite figured out how to stably combine Were DNA with Vampire DNA. After reading the research I knew the combination of the human and the Were DNA was causing the substandard Vampire DNA to be subsumed. So I... gave him the blood of a Human/Ancient Hybrid. My blood. It allowed the Were DNA to pair with the Ancient, to heal him, to complete what they had done. And save his life."
"Katze how could you give precious Ancient blood to such an abomination." Raoul questioned furiously, "It cannot live! If the other Creatures of the Night found out about this, about him, they would rise up against us. Although we are powerful, we are few and with their greater numbers they could overwhelm us. Turning all order to chaos. Many lives would be lost in this battle that would last an eternity."
"The Great Goddess Jupiter would not allow such a thing and neither can I," Iason said his voice, turning cold. His power becoming palpable in the room, the veins of light pulsing with his barely contained rage. "Under our laws Katze you would suffer the same fate as your abomination but since you were unaware and are Raoul's Fated One I will allow this to pass."
Katze let out a sigh of relief.
"Provided of course," Iason continued, "that you lead us to the abomination so that it may be…disposed of.
"I would never betray Riki to you, he is like a son to me, I have cared for him for years!" Katze exclaimed vehemently. suddenly grabbed his head in pain again. He could feel strong emotions, someone else's emotions. Fear, anger, frustration and complete and utter despair. But these were not his own emotions they were…. Ricky's. "He drank the blood" Katze gasped as images started coming through the bond and flashing before his eyes.
Riki desperately fighting for his life against what looked like feral Vampires and strange half formed Were creatures. Riki was knocked on to his back and Katze could see the dark burnt outline of Guardian's spires.
No Riki!, Katze thought as his knees buckled under the onslaught of information.
Raoul caught Katze as he started to fall, bracing him against his chest in a loving embrace.
"Iason," Raoul questioned, "I can feel someone else with a link to Katze, I can see images through their eyes. What is this we can only have one life mate!"
Iason steepled his fingers deep in thought, "I believe our dear Katze has made a Childer bond with this abomination of his and it seems but it has been reactivated. We must find this Riki and destroy him…"
"Guardian, Iason, that is where all our answers lie, and now," Raoul said looking down at Katze in his arms, "I know exactly where it is…"
A/N: Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! :D Happy late Halloween!