Dyanasty Artemis: Welcome and I'm so psyched you loved my story so much! It helped me push on with getting this chapter out.

Maggie 56: I'm inching my way back into things. I hope to catch up on my reviews of some of my favorite stories soon.

Soaring hawk: There will be a description of the castle layout and the training in the next chapter. I'm really sorry this took so long. Writing with a broken heart is just as hard as waking up with one as it turns out. Erika make trouble? Hehe of course.

midnight84118: Welcome. I'm going to keep working on this as long as the story keeps coming.

blueangelsvntn: Well some hints will be reveled soon and others, not so much, but there's lots more to come.

A/N: I'm sorry this took forever. Those of you reading my profile know that I had personal hell that got in the way. I'm still extricating myself from said hell, but I plan to keep working on this as much as I can. I've barely written all summer since the descent into hell (if anyone really wants to know what happened check out my profile). I hope you enjoy and I wish this chapter hadn't taken so bloody long to polish up. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Chapter 13: Bloodlines

[Becoming One with the People/Legend of the Seeker, Braveheart, & Robin Hood Soundtracks]

Aleeria slept through the remainder of the night and through the next day until shortly before sunset. She was pleasantly exhausted from the long day before and her dreams were filled with Sabas. Aleeria had no desire to leave them as he was doing such wonderful things to her in them, but her internal clock told her it was time. While she slowly drifted into awareness, she swore she could still smell him in the room, could still feel Sabas's presence from the night before when he'd secured her home, making sure she would sleep in safety. She looked out her window at the yard below. Aleeria could see Lycans working hard to construct a new central building for the castle with an elaborate underground crypt. A wistful pang struck her knowing that Sabas would not be among them. She wouldn't be able to see him so easily or discretely until his training was complete. She wondered where he was. It was still light out and so Sabas could not be training with Khan yet.

Aleeria laughed to herself as she woke fully and calculated the hour by the angle of the sun. She could not believe she'd slept so long. Her protector had certainly tired her out thoroughly. She could only imagine how skillfully he would do so without the limitation of restrains between them. If their all too brief interlude just after she'd unchained him was any indication, Sabas was capable of so much more than she could even imagine.

She took a cloth and poured a pitcher of water into a basin that sat near her bed and ran the damp cloth over herself, wiping away the scent of her straw pallet and sleep. After she dressed, Aleeria was about to go downstairs to walk back to Sabine's rooms, when there was a knock on her door. She glanced through a knothole in the door and saw Lucian. Hoping Sabas was with him, Aleeria rapidly opened her door. However, when she threw open the door, only Lucian stood before her. Aleeria looked past him hopefully, but they were alone on the rampart. Lucian saw her eyes dim as she realized he was unaccompanied.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Aleeria. It's only me. Sabine sent a message before she retired yesterday for me to escort you through your duties until she awoke."

Aleeria nodded. "I am ready."

"I will take you to get your breakfast and then you can begin your chores."

Aleeria nodded mutely. She wanted to ask him about Sabas's whereabouts, but she thought it strange that Lucian hadn't explained already, so she kept her questions to herself, experience reminding her to be cautious about asking questions.

Lucian smiled at her, seeing her mind working so busily behind her eyes, he answered the questions she was obviously trying not to ask. "He wanted to come but Sabine did not ask him, so we felt it best to follow the spirit of her request. I assure you that nothing less than my warnings kept him from being here now."

Aleeria smiled warmly back at him, trying to conceal her pleasure at his words. "Thank you Lucian. I had wondered. Clearly, my wonderings were misplaced."

Lucian smiled, roguishly letting her know he'd been teasing her by not telling her about Sabas's absence immediately. He recalled all too well how moments stretched to hours in those heady first days of connection. "Come on. Let's get you some food before your Mistress awakens." In truth, he'd delayed slightly, in telling her of Sabas's absence to test her as much as to tease her to see how she'd react. Her reaction didn't disappoint him as he could see the longing in her eyes and that fact made him glad for his friend.

"Give me a moment to make sure my candles are out," she asked as she turned back into her tower. In truth, she wanted a moment to bury her feelings back under her features where they would not be seen. What she felt for Sabas was private and she wanted neither to share those feelings with the undeserving nor to endanger she and Sabas both with carelessness. When she felt her features relax and her pulse slow, she returned to where Lucian still stood, waiting. If he noticed anything different about her after she had concealed her emotions, he didn't let on.

They headed down to the kitchens. Aleeria usually ate down in the kitchen with the other human slaves. The vampires tended to eat only once a day and usually as their mid-night meal. Aleeria was kept far from such things of course. Even Sabine did not eat in front of her. When Aleeria woke early enough, she often ate with Erika before watching the Death Dealers mount up from the ramparts of the castle. She was grateful that she'd slept in far too long to catch Erika this morning. Aleeria had wanted to revel in the pleasant afterglow of her dreams for awhile longer even if she had to make sure none of it was outwardly visible. There would be time enough for Erika's prattle soon enough.

Aleeria ate in silence with Lucian. There was nothing of importance that could be discussed openly in the kitchens and neither of them had anything unimportant to discuss as their thoughts were filled with persons not in their immediate company. After their plates were cleared, Lucian took back Aleeria upstairs. Once they were in the relative privacy of the hallways, Lucian murmured a request he'd been rolling around in his mind since the night before.

"Aleeria, could you do us a favor and find out what you can about the punishment of those guards from last night and tell me when next I see you. Laughing over their fate will be a fun story to entertain us." He didn't to explain who "us" was. Aleeria knew Lucian referred to himself and Sabas.

Aleeria smiled, catlike, "consider it done."

Lucian nodded and escorted her back to Sabine's side and then took his leave.

Aleeria watched him leave wistfully, feeling a loss when he'd gone. It wasn't so much the loss of his company; so much as it was that when she was around Lucian now, she felt that much closer to Sabas, because Lucian was his friend. More than that, Lucian was the only other person who had any idea that she had that sort of regard for Sabas and that shared secret also made Sabas feel nearer when Lucian was there.

She shook her head. She was in trouble indeed if she was already so desperate for Sabas's company that Lucian's company could ease it. It would be a very long separation indeed at this rate. Thinking about this and her thought the night before to weave blankets for Sabas and Lucian, she turned to Sabine, who was practicing her calligraphy at a large oak desk. "Mistress, I was thinking that I need to find an activity to keep myself occupied while I spend more of my time inside our quarters. Would it be all right if I wove some blankets to keep myself busy?"

Sabine smiled sympathetically. "Of course you may. It would be good for you to keep your hands busy while you're cooped up."

Aleeria thanked her and then went up to her tower to gather her drawing tools. She spent an hour or so sketching out her design in her notebook and then selecting the yard colors that would bring the image to life. It was far easier than she'd thought to visualize the perfect image: the thick pine forests at night with the stars winking and the moon full, wolves running through the trees and howling. She hoped it would comfort them when they could not run outside and remind them of the piece of them that was always strong and free.

She worked carefully as she threaded the loom. Aleeria hadn't worked with it for several months and it wasn't as intuitive a process to set up as it was to actually create with. Generally, she only worked at the loom when it was too cold to sit in the tower all day, away from the fire. Winters were long and bitter in Hungry and it was always difficult being able to see Sabas for only brief snatches of time during those months. She would watch him for minutes only, any longer and she risked illness, which would keep her from seeing him at all and that she could not allow.

Soon, Aleeria told herself, over and over again. Soon, Sabas would be the one to guard her all through the day and then it would not matter if she were sick or the weather cold and miserable. She would see him every day regardless. No longer would she have to be content to see him at a distance, he would be near and vivid, close enough to touch and touch she would. And someday he would be closer still. Her mate.

Only if he chooses that path, a sly voice in her head taunted. She ignored it as best she could, but it was insidious, particularly because it spoke truth. Sabas would have to want to be her chosen just as she would have to want to choose him and there were many months between then and now, perhaps more than a year. Aleeria understood well enough how fast things could change between now and then and even more so, she understood how much could go wrong.

She was so lost in these dark musings that she tangled the warp so hopelessly she could not even rethread it as she had after the first two attempts and was forced to cut the threads from the loom entirely. Aleeria shook away her tangled musings as she threw the knotted threads into the fire in her frustration. She was grateful to be a human because if she'd been a Lycan already, she was certain the loom would be splinters by now and then how would she make a blanket for her protectors?

With renewed focus, Aleeria started again, forcing her thoughts to stay only on what she was doing and no farther. At last, the warp was threaded and Aleeria began to wind dyed wool around the shuttle.

While Aleeria worked, Sabine watched her carefully. She could see Aleeria carefully keeping her thoughts focused on the task at hand, since cutting the warp out and starting for scratch again, that is. It was rather charming, Sabine reflected, how hard Aleeria was working to distract herself from not getting to watch Sabas toil in the yard with the other Lycans. She assumed that was the source of Aleeria's restlessness that she was trying hard to conceal. Certainly, Aleeria's likely concerns over Sabas's welfare while he trained probably added to it as well. Still, Sabine had a heart, even if it rarely beat. When Aleeria paused in her work for some water, Sabine asked her to have one of the guards bring Khan in to see her. Sabine was certain Aleeria would be anxious to hear something of what would occupy Sabas's time. She had no doubt Sabas would be equally curious as to Aleeria's activities and she would allow him to learn of them when it pleased her through Lucian's occasional chaperoning of Aleeria or when she took time to watch the training herself with Aleeria at her side.

When Khan stood before her, Sabine noted the way Aleeria pointedly did not watch the door for Sabas and Lucian to follow even though she plainly wanted to as indicated from the way Aleeria's watchful gaze took in every other part of the room. Sabine acknowledged Khan with a regal nod. "Khan, I trust Vakko and Tristan were disciplined appropriately?" She did so enjoy hearing the details of such punishment and the behavior of two of her guard the night before had certainly merited it.

"Yes, My Lady. They secured the outer gates, in place of the Lycans costing them a full minute of exposure." Khan's voice was neutral, giving no indication of the significance of the statement. For a vampire, when a second of sunlight cost scorched flesh, a minute seemed like an eternity burning flesh down to the bone in places, particularly on less fleshy areas like hands and faces. The price of such lengthy exposure often meant a full day or two of painful recovery if they were not given blood shortly thereafter.

"Excellent," Sabine replied, concealing none of her delight, "And where are they now?"

"Confined, My Lady for the next three days without sustenance," he replied in the same professional tone.

Sabine's eyes glittered in keen pleasure, "They certainly will have time to contemplate their behavior," she approved. "When they are fed, make sure you bring the livestock into their cells. It wouldn't do for them to get into more trouble because of an empty stomach by feeding from the servants."

"Yes, My Lady."

"And Khan," Sabine added, her voice taking on a sharp, frosty edge, "remind them that another offense will cost them more permanently next time. They might, for example, be castrated with sunlight next time."

Khan forced himself not to wince at the thought. "I shall relay the warning in full, My Lady." Khan understood that for Sabine it was as much about demanding total loyalty as it was about her determination to have her gender treated in a more respectful manner, but beyond that, Khan knew it was about Aleeria.

Khan knew Aleeria only selectively. He knew that Sabine had affection for the girl, but he had started to suspect it went beyond the affection of a master for a favorite pet. He knew Aleeria and the other servant girl, the blond one whose name he could never recall, often watched the Death Dealers depart the castle for their patrols, but as many females of the castle did so, it hardly was an informative observation. He could see plainly enough that there was something striking about Aleeria, perhaps it was the sharp contrast of her light eyes framed by her dark hair or perhaps it was the way those large eyes seemed to see right into the soul of a person. Regardless he wasn't fool enough to try and determine what quality Aleeria possessed that was so significant to Sabine. Sabine had made it clear enough that anyone who so much looked at the human in a manner she did not approve of would be punished severely and punishing two of his men that very morning was a forceful reminder. He still had the scent of their burnt flesh in his nose.

"Good," Sabine approved, her voice warmer again. "Now, let's discuss your training of the Lycans. I want you to train them from the ground up like any other member of the Death Dealers. After all, if Lucian is to hunt as a daylight guardian of our borders, he must be trained to have a chance of survival and likewise if Sabas is to be an effective guard against the wild Lycans within the castle he must be similarly trained. I would say to start with hand to hand, they most certainly have a basic grasp of wrestling with another person as that's all they seem to do in their holding cages when they're not eating or sleeping. Therefore more efficient hand to hand combat would be far more useful."

Khan nodded. He'd been thinking along the same lines once Sabine had made him aware of this assignment. "I agree My Lady. That is my plan as well. Shall I collect them as soon as the sun has fully set?"

Sabine considered a moment, glancing out the window. "Make sure they get something into their belly now so it can settle bit before the training begins. Then take them outside to train as soon as the sun goes down and after the Death Dealers ride out."

"As you will, My Lady," Khan replied. He turned to go, but Sabine's voice halted him in his tracks and he turned back to her.

"One more thing Khan, don't damage the Lycans. They are both in my good graces for now and they're no good to me if they can't fight. Be sure anyone else that will have contact with either of them is aware of my edict, particularly Kostas. He needs to know they are no longer under his whip, but mine." Her eyes narrowed at her last word and Khan could feel the sting in her tone. He sincerely hoped he would never have cause to cross her.

Khan gave his assurances and left the room to see to it Sabine's wishes were carried out scrupulously. Though he knew she favored him, he also knew she would not shrink from sending him to seal the gates at dawn if anything were to happen that indicated he had not dispersed her orders thoroughly.

Aleeria listened to all the exchange with rapt attention, noting once more, her Mistress's strange new protectiveness towards the Lycans. She wanted to believe it was for her sake, but she'd lived in Sabine's house far too long to believe that. The questions about Sabine's attitude towards her and the Lycans rose to the forefront of her thoughts. When Khan left, Aleeria began to gather her courage to speak with Sabine about these matters. She continued to move the shuttle back and forth across the warp of the loom, going over her questions and trying to find the right words to frame them so they would not sound impertinent or disrespectful.

Sabine could almost feel the room vibrating with unspoken words and so she expected Aleeria would soon begin to ask about the things she needed to understand. Sabine moved to her vertical tapestry frame, which sat near the broad loom Aleeria worked at, hoping the gesture would ease Aleeria's obvious nerves.

Sabine was working on a tapestry depicting the history of her family, the line of Markus, before the first of their line was turned. She felt it was important to remember that they had once been part of the human race. She had done a similar one of her own human ancestry long ago and it hung in her quarters as a reminder of what she had gained and lost and how it remained an inescapable foundation for everything she was now. Sabine was so consumed by her train of thought she forgot why she had originally chosen to work on her tapestry again now and so Aleeria's soft voice startled her slightly.

Aleeria's voice was soft and reverent, "Mistress, I have some questions I want to voice and I beg your forgiveness if they are out of line."

Sabine smiled at her, "Fear not, child. I will listen to your questions. I may not answer all of them, but I will listen."

Aleeria nodded, knowing that was far more fair than she should have expected. "I don't understand why you have Lucian watch my tower or accompany me when I travel through the castle, or why you want to have another Lycan trained to guard me by day. I understand that you are fond of me, but really, if I were killed couldn't I be replaced easily enough?"

Sabine paused, she was a little surprised by the question, but she supposed she shouldn't have been. Aleeria was very intelligent and observant. It was quite unusual, even unheard of, for an immortal to care so much for a mortal that they were not planning to turn. Still, it was not the question she had been expecting.

Finally, she turned her eyes to Aleeria's and replied, "For immortals like myself there is so little that is beyond our power to possess. Individuals are unique though and when those of us who will not die have lost others to death, we seek, perhaps unwisely, to replace them, to try and fill that void. When I was alive, I had a daughter. She was killed before I met my second husband, as was her father. She never had a chance to be turned. When you were a little girl, you looked so much like her. Now, as a woman, I imagine you look as she would have. You give me a second chance to have my little girl with me. If I could be certain that you would survive it, I would change you into a vampire and adopt you formally, but because of what happened to your mother, I cannot take that risk. That leaves me only with the option to have you changed into a Lycan."

Aleeria considered all of this. "Is that why you want to elevate the status of Lycans? So my life will be more like it could have been if my blood could handle the change?"

Sabine grinned, my she was bright. "That is one of the reasons, yes. I want to see the Lycans as allies not enemies. If we keep them downtrodden for too long, they might turn on us, but if we give them a chance to prove themselves to not be animals, then they can be better assets to us."

Sabine turned and indicated her loom, "Look at this tapestry I am weaving, Aleeria. It shows the Covinus bloodline from the beginning, before even Alexander Corvinus. It also shows the history of his village from before he was born until their extinction by a plague."

Aleeria stood and walked over to study the images and the lines that ran beneath and around them showing the Corvinus bloodline. "So Markus was the first vampire?"

Sabine hesitated. "Yes, he is. If anything were to happen to him, the rest of our vampire coven would perish. All the rest of us have been turned by him, by others he has turned or born to those who were turned. My husband Arkkon, Markus's son, was born a vampire like Markus and he turned me."

"When were you turned?" Aleeria asked, curious.

Sabine sighed, thinking back. "My first husband was a nobleman and he and I were traveling with our daughter to give Markus our tribute when we were set upon by Lycans. There were not so many then, so there were fewer precautions than there are now. If there had been more Death Dealers, particularly those who could guard in the daylight, we would have been safe. They tore my husband out through the carriage door. My daughter and I tried to cower in the center of the carriage, but the Lycans began to pry open the sides and one of them tore a claw through her. Fortunately, the creature struck her with such force that she died instantly, her body too ruined to turn. I was grateful for that. If she had turned, she would have had to be killed and I couldn't bear that. It was hard enough watching my husband turn and then beheaded and burned, but there was no help for it. He was lost to me the moment the wild Lycan tore into his flesh."

Aleeria's eyes filled with remorse and pity, hearing the story that was not so different from how she lost her own family. She wondered how many more families had been destroyed by the wild Lycans and their unchecked violence and brutality. "How did you survive it?"

"Arkkon rode out with the Death Dealers. They saw our peril from the castle gates, but could not ride out until the sun set. Fortunately, the sun was nearly down when the attack began or there would have been no survivors. He led the other Death Dealers to us and managed to save me and a handful of others. I had nothing to go back to and asked to stay in the castle. He invited me to stay forever and I accepted."

A wistful sigh escaped Aleeria's lips. "Horrible though the rest of that night was, the ending certainly is romantic," she commented.

Sabine smiled a small sad smile. "Yes, that part was very romantic." She paused, her emotions torn between a sense of loss and the powerful memory of Arkkon riding up to her rescue astride a towering black charger. "I hope Arkkon and I have children one day," She continued, her voice more steady. "I would like to have children again, but we're still determining what circumstances allow some turned vampires to conceive and not others."

As Sabine well knew, so far, only born vampires could breed easily and even then there were certain conditions that had to be met. Only a blood-bonded pair could conceive and then only after they had been bonded exclusively for a year. The suspicion was that they each needed a certain amount of each other's blood in their veins to make sure the hereditary material would allow for conception without rejection.

Aleeria stared back at the tapestry. She traced the line from Alexander Corvinus to his wife, Helena and their three sons. She gasped as she read the first two names, twin boys: Markus and William. "William is Markus's brother?" She gaped.

Sabine hesitated again. "Yes. He is. When William was bitten by a wolf as a teenager, his body shapeshifted into the first true werewolf. He could never take human form again. Markus was bitten around the same time by a bat that was trying to drink blood from the animals in his family stables. Markus could take human form again and his offspring did not turn into bats certainly, but he did retain the need for blood and sensitivity to light, though his sensitivity is certainly more extreme than a bat's."

Aleeria rolled this new information around in her mind. "So if William was the first werewolf, then if he was killed, all the wild Lycans would die?"

"Probably, but Markus could never kill his own brother. William cannot return to his body the way Markus can. I'm sure the frustration of it must drive him half mad and his werewolf form does the rest. He is so consumed by overactive instincts to hunt and feed and guard his territory that there is no room for his humanity."

"Poor William. It must be awful for him and poor Markus, unable to help him." Aleeria murmured. "He lost his family to the werewolves too in a way."

"Yes, I suppose he did."

Aleeria shifted wondering if she should ask her next question, but she had to know, for Sabas's sake. "Do you think Lycans should be treated as equals because they are also immortals of the Corvinus bloodline?"

Sabine paused, considering how much to say. "I do not know about treating them as equals. I do know that direct descendants of Williams' line are purely monsters like William, driven mad by their overwhelming animalistic urges. Lucian is the first exception to that and the only child we know of to survive being born from a wild Lycan. All the other Lycans are ones he turned himself or those turned by those he has bitten. I know that many of Lucian's descendants can behave like animals, but we treat them that way and most of them were the dregs of human society before they were turned. Lycans like Lucian and Sabas make me think that they could become something more.

Lycans can take human form again and that makes them different on a basic level. Humans can evolve, change. There is dignity inherent to some of the Lycans and I want to elevate those that possess those qualities and cultivate it. I want to see what their potential is. A warrior with their power choosing to fight for us would be much more valuable if the wild Lycans or werewolves ever mounted a real attack. Their numbers grow faster than we can cope with it and we need more allies. I'm not sure the Lycans are our equals, because I think that those driven by animal instincts cannot reason as well as those of us not burdened by such things. However, I will allow that they might prove to be less driven by such things than their wild cousins. I am willing, because of their lineage to give them that chance."

"Mistress, if we killed William, would all the Lycans die too?"

"It's likely that could happen, yes. That's another reason we don't want to kill William, only his wild pack."

Aleeria sat in silence for a little while then, considering. Finally, she piped up, "How long have you thought the Lycans could be more than our slaves?"

Sabine smiled at Aleeria affectionately. "Since Sabas saved your life. You're quite right. He had no reason to save you, but he showed the instincts of a great man reacting the way he did."

Aleeria flushed thinking of him and those wonderful moments he carried her to safety in his arms. "You know I was thinking today that to convince the others of the coven of the civility in the Lycans, it would help if they were given some basic instruction in etiquette and hygiene and so forth."

"I do believe that is an excellent idea. Once Khan has trained Sabas and Lucian in combat, you can help them learn how to behave as a member of our house. Lucian is taking Sabas to the waterfall in the caves after training each day though. It won't be as thorough as your work, but at least it will wash the worst of the dirt and stench off."

Aleeria hid her face behind the beater on the loom to conceal her expression as she pictured Sabas naked and under the powerful wash of the waterfall. It was such a glorious image and she didn't want Sabine to know she was entertaining it. Sabine's voice interrupted the daydream all too soon.

"You know Aleeria, I think there is a concealed stone ledge in that cavern that you could observe them, just to make sure they are going about cleaning themselves properly. If they're not, then you'll know it's something you'll need to cover in your instruction." Sabine's voice was quite serious, but if Aleeria had been able to look up, she would have seen the conspiratorial gleam of feminine mischief in her eyes.

Aleeria couldn't see that though. Her thoughts were consumed with the opportunity to see Sabas bathing himself while he was unaware of her presence just as she and Sabas had joked about the day before.

"Later this week, if Sabas performs well in his training sessions with Khan, thus proving that he will be continuing with them, you can go and see for yourself," Sabine concluded.

Aleeria grinned broadly, unable to hide it and she and Sabine shared a moment of conspiratorial female laughter. She had no doubt that Sabas would perform well in the training arena, which meant she had some very enjoyable observations to look forward to.

Aleeria continued to weave uninterrupted for the next several hours. Sabine's words gave Aleeria much to consider. While on one hand, Sabine had as good as admitted she wanted to breed a high quality of Lycan servants the way one might breed horses, on the other hand, she seemed to have a certain level of respect for them. And really, when Aleeria considered it, Lycans only existed because Viktor had taken a chance with Lucian to see if anything that stemmed from William's bloodline could be salvaged. Perhaps good could come from this as well.

A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter focusing on Sabas and Lucian training. I hope you enjoy this latest installment.