Note: The human woman that is knocked out and kidnapped by a vampire, always always wakes up in a strange room with really nice shit and they are always asleep on silk or satin sheets. I don't care who you are, I know you've read or written a scene like that. It's cliché, but so correct, and so fitting. I love it.

If anyone has seen Dracula II: Ascension (2002), the Dracula in that movie is /so/ Luke's twin brother. Haha. My lol moment of the week was when the asian priest came at the end to kill Dracula and Dracula was like "Bitchplz. -steals black trench coat-" And then that asian priest was all "Oh no you did not just steal my gothic apparel. -kicks shit out of Dracula with a jabby-metal whip-"
Sad part was that poor white boy lost the love of his life because she got turned into a vampire by Drac. And then in the third Dracula, (Which they kept changing actors for Dracula throughout this entire movie series) the white boy is searching for her finds her in a room full of twenty-five vampire women having a gigantic blood-sucking orgy. Every woman was naked and high on blood and ecstasy or something...and the white boy is still only looking for her in a room full of all of these beautiful naked women totally subdued and ready for some action! That's true love right there. He deserves a Klondike bar.

Chapter 11 – Deal or Death

If heaven and cloud nine existed, I was sleeping on it now. My thoughts floated with a gentle rhythm; there was no buzzing in my head, no throbbing or whirring. I was completely at ease on top of silk sheets, I believe, as my hand ran over them. My body was wrapped in the softest material I had ever touched; I felt as if I were dreaming and I was having the most fantastic rest of my entire life. My eyes didn't want to open and end this sensation of perfect serenity, but the one thought that broke the rhythm of my mind was "Where am I?"

And when I open my sapphire eyes to look at the foreign room around me, the throbbing and buzzing returned as my heart sped up in pace. I couldn't figure out where I was besides a room, and my eyes flicked around the golden walls and maroon drapes and mahogany furniture until they settled on a person sitting in a chair right next to the queen sized bed my body was sprawled so perfectly on top of. A familiar woman with pale skin and long orange hair flowing down her backside sat perfectly straight and perfectly still, staring at me. The nice secretary outfit she pulled off might have convinced me she was human, but she was not.

As soon as I realized who she was, I recalled the events prior to my waking up in this unknown room. I was going to see Tom, but Taylor and another vampire, this woman before me, were in the room when I walked in and had kidnapped me from there... With a jacket over my head I didn't see where I was being taken and I had passed out, my last thoughts being "Crap, what if this drowsiness is suffocation and I die like this?"

If vampires existed in heaven, I was dead. Or the alternative, I was in hell. But hell I imagined a little differently than an elegant room. Another choice I was that still alive. I decided that one was pleasant for the moment. The next, I shot a glare up at the woman and her bright emerald eyes.

She smiled politely and cupped her hands together. "Good, you're awake. You slept longer than I calculated, you must have been exhausted to sleep all day." she started. My frustration melted at her kind words. How odd, I was still trying to glare at her but I could only gaze admirably. She rose from her seat, like a statue coming to life, and she seemed to dance as she walked over in front of the window showing a night sky. "But no matter. I'll just put a rush on you. Get up!" she demanded in an impatient but still kindly tone. I was obliged to do what she said and I jumped down from the bed.

What on earth was she talking about? Another question: Why did these vampires need me besides to kill me, and if not, why not kill me already? And why could I not let out a frustrated sigh or grunt?

The vampiress clapped her hands twice and only seconds later the wooden door to the room burst open and several women, young human women wearing maid-like outfits, accumulated into the room holding an assortment of clothing and hair products and make-up and accessories. My eyes went wide as the orange-headed vampire pointed at me and told the maids to bath me and then dress me for the ball.

"My name is Julie, these women are the servants who are going to assist you in getting ready. You have half an hour sharp, my dear. Taylor does not like tardiness."

As soon as she turned to leave, two of the servants grabbed me and guided me towards the bathroom. All of them started talking, but it seemed in pairs they each had a duty and worked together perfectly. The pair who guided me to the very large marble bathroom began to undress me and get a tub of hot water ready. I had several protests and tried to battle them off but something inside told me to comply in order to figure out what was going on.

Never shall one understand the pure awkwardness of being bathed non-sexually by another woman until one has experienced it themselves. I tried asking questions while they handled their tasks, like "Do you know what that Julie woman is?" or "Could you tell me where I am?" or "Who do you work for?" But each of them would ignore my question and tell me about what they were readying me for. A ball. Yeah, I figured that much out awhile ago yet they insisted on repeating it. Humans could be quite annoying. The least they could do was tell me why vampires wanted me dressed me up for a ball rather than putting an end to my life.

After the five minute bath, they dried me quickly and two new woman startled handling my hair. I was desperately trying to hold a towel against my body as they set parts of my hair in curlers while drying other parts. Other servants were arguing over what color dress would look best with my darker golden hair color, bickering about perfume, and nagging about how little time they had to complete me like I was some kind of project.

Finished with the hair, I moved onto a makeup couple who were told by the dressing couple I was going to be in a dress that matched my eyes. Figured. Apparently I looked the best in deep blue colors according to Lucy and these crazy servants.

They probably had every idea of who they worked for, vampires, but were too mind-washed with their duties, and probably the pay, to know or care about the difference. I thought of this as different shadows and liners and powders started getting painted onto my face. Vaguely this reminded me of the night Lucy was dressing me for my birthday party; I smiled when remembering her threat to "beat me if I blinked my eyes one more time" as she attempted eyeliner on me.

I stopped zoning out when I realized I had been moved from make-up to the two who were going to dress me. Lord forbid they had a very extravagant royal blue and black lace-lined dress from centuries ago waiting to put on me, complete with the ridiculously tight corset piece that wouldn't allow me to breath. The two women started cursing at me in French, which I could understand, when I wouldn't suck in enough; but finally the contraption called a dress and shoes was on me and when they turned a full length mirror in my direction, I gasped when not recognizing the being inside.

She had powder white skin from forehead to cleavage and shoulder to fingers, the gorgeous dress allowed her movement to be ghostlike and graceful, and her entire form was exactly how any lover would wish to see. Her golden hair draped like waterfall curls over her shoulder, some of it was pinned up with an assortment of hair accessories. But her face; her face held flaunting dark lips over that white powder. Lips pleading to be taken and were just as beautiful as the deep sapphire eyes sparkling with anticipation, bewilderment, everything I was feeling now inside this strange house or mansion.

Before I could gander at the lady in the mirror another second, I was taken away by the two maids who'd dressed me. "Down the stairs and to the left is the ballroom! Keep your eyes down, they will be staring!"

"They?" I asked. But I knew. So these maids did know who they worked for after all. And they seemed terrified when they mentioned it. My heels clicked on the marble floors and thudded on carpet as they led me out of the room and down several corridors to the large staircase making way to the lower floor.

When I stepped onto the stairs, the hands of the servants had left my arms. "Do not let them seduce you!" I stopped and turned, my eyes instantly drew to the servant's neck. Scars from bite marks. I was very silent as I nodded my head and continued down the stairs, and to the left. Two human doormen waited next to the entrance to a ballroom where jubilant orchestra music was within.

"Welcome, madam." one of the doormen said to me and let me pass. I still wished to know why I was here, for what purpose I was brought to this event in this way.

I entered the large and grand ballroom to see a large sum of people, couples dancing, others standing around with a drink, chatting. The orchestra was settled on the stage; they were perfect in their rhythms and the sound was glorious. I moved to the drinks, hoping for wine. I found a drink of a blood red color; and as I looked closer, the man behind the table hissed and exposed his fangs. Blood. It was blood. "Not for the pretty little human." he said in a threatening tease of pure amusement. I gasped and backed off.

I turned and looked out at everyone else in the room. Pale skin on every one of them and I'm sure I was the only one who had powder. So here I was, trapped in a vampire's ball. I sighed apprehensively and noticed Julie coming towards me from the crowd. Compared to the human-like appearance she had half an hour ago, now she was all dressed up and proper and she looked like a fair-headed goddess. The green dress also matched the stunning emerald eyes of hers; the red lips curled into a wide smile as she approached me and took my hand. "Right on time, deary. Come this way."

I felt the need to comply, but it didn't seem like my own mind had given that need; something about the woman just made me give in to her commands rather than be stubborn about this entire situation. My warm hand gripped tightly unto her cold one as I followed her through the bodies I felt were not human. She stopped me behind the back of a tall gentleman with black hair slicked back nicely to correspond with the black suit. "Mr. Halling." she whispered in his ear as she tapped lightly on his shoulder. He turned, ever so gracefully, and after he set his coal eyes on me he smiled a little too widely and ignored the group he was speaking to only a moment ago.

"Wonderful, Julie." he told her, now taking my hand from her. His cold pale lips pressed a kiss on the top and I shuddered only slightly when literally feeling my pulse under his stone mouth. With his smile I held my breath and vowed I would get a grip and stay calm during this entire event. They were surely playing civilized, I could do it too. "Taylor Halling." he started. "A pleasure to finally meet you when Lucas isn't protecting you like a precious jewel." I didn't like his taunting tone.

I had decided it was best to reveal my true identity, counting on the fact he probably knew who I was already anyway. I let out the breath and felt a more ambitious side of me release as I smiled rather cheekily. "Allison Lockett. A pleasure to meet you when you aren't suggested to kill or kidnap me."

He chuckled and led me towards the dance floor. "I have to admit, you are quite a difficult one to pin to a crime. I never found out you were behind the posters while they were on city walls until I went to the printing shop they came from and asked, and I didn't figure you were behind the newspaper article with the pictures until I gave your dear Thomas a visit."

So that's why he and Julie were at Tom's office close to dawn. They were on a man-hunt to exterminate the one trying to expose vampires. "Last I checked, posters and pictures were not against the law." I told him. Harmless, I thought to myself. I simply wanted to draw vampires out of their hiding places. Looking at Taylor's expression, I understood this was no harmless prank.

"For mortals, maybe. But for immortals, secrecy is the number one law, above all."

I had heard that from Luke too... It would make sense vampires needed secrecy above blood to survive. The public would never allow for vampires to just do what they pleased. It was a wonder vampires had stayed a secret from the most of society over the centuries, but I suppose it was thanks to perfect covers Taylor and others created that the idea of vampires never truly became real to humans.

"Honor me with a dance." the vampire commanded, not suggested. His entire stature, his humored personality and frivolous way of speech; it was insulting and misleading. He seemed nice enough, but I had a feeling that's what he played at. Going for the nice guy when really he has a poison apple ready to hand out to the victim.

I did as he said and followed his flawless steps into a place on the marble dance floor where other couples were already in a waltz with the music. I sighed inwardly; the past always caught up with a person and right now it was for me. Everything I learned about dance during my childhood back at home for the events like this came flooding back to me. As Taylor set his hands where they were supposed to be and made the first step into the rhythm of the music, I instantly followed with a daring pace to keep up with his impeccable movement.

It took a time or two, but I got the hang of the dance quickly and could concentrate on something else. I looked up to Taylor's face with a new non-reluctant personality and my tone grew just as demanding as his had. Finally I was in a position to find out what I'd been wondering. "Please, tell me why I'm here." But I was still polite considering I was the underdog here.

Taylor blinked and the pleasant smile lifted on his thin face again. "You've already figured out that I am tracking down Courtney." he started. Yes, I had figured at the first night I saw Taylor and he said they needed to contain her. She sounded familiar... "Once we capture her, she will be killed since she has committed several crimes against vampire law. The only problem is we cannot get a lead to track her down. We don't know where she hides or what her intention is to everything she has done."

"And just what has she done and how does it apply to me?" I asked, missing the point if there was one. Taylor paused his explanation to spin me out as the waltz commanded. Once I was facing him again, he continued.

"You needn't worry what she's done, only about how you can help us; the coven here."

I closed my mouth and let him continue. His eyes closed and his dark brows fumbled as he thought about what he was going to say and probably decide on what tone to speak in. He chose a low tone, still light enough not to startle me but still deep enough to capture my attention and know he was dead serious. Dark eyes traveled over me and I could feel his hand clenching unto mine harder and then softer again. "You can help us to get to Courtney through Lucas Hawthorn."

I was almost speechless and my first instinct was to deny a relationship between him and I. "I don't see how that would work. Why doesn't Luke just tell you himself?"

"Now that, I cannot tell you. He simply won't comply in our hunt for Courtney, nor will he help us dispose of her once we catch her. But your blood practically screams for him. Your desire for each other feigns strong even for us who do not sense thoughts or emotions."

Now I was speechless, and I stopped our dance. My eyes were wide and they locked to Taylor's coal colored ones with an uncertainty and loathing for speaking that aloud. The stubborn Lockett side of me wanted to deny every word of what he said but I knew it was true; Luke was not just a vampire, but a man. A man with a desire for me, and a returned desire from myself.

Taylor was a genius for figuring that much out and wanting to use me to get to him through that passion.

"Lucas Hawthorn has a strong interest and desire to keep you alive, my dear. It wouldn't be difficult at all for you to get a sample of his blood." Taylor said as he led me to the side of the dancers.

"And why would you need Luke's blood?" I asked.

"Blood holds knowledge and secrets. For example, where she is and what her intent is. There are other ways than a sample of his blood; maybe he has her location recorded somewhere; or perhaps you could get him to tell you. It doesn't matter how, we just want the information."

"...How would Luke know these things?" My memories flickered back to the night at the movie; Luke and Courtney had known each other. And he had a hint of desire in his eyes for her I didn't miss...A very hostile desire.

Taylor scented the air in front of me, closed his eyes, then sighed and opened them again. "Ah, well, let's just say he has relations with her."

I was defeated, inwardly. I knew Taylor wasn't lying to me but I didn't want it to be true, and I didn't know why I wanted that. What did it matter to me if Luke had 'relations' with another vampire? A vampire who looked familiar and oddly enough, sounded familiar since the first time Luke told me her name... Shaking my silly emotions from my head, I looked back up to Taylor and concentrated on something else. "Vampires have special abilities, correct?"

His dark hair didn't shift as he nodded his head and replied "The ability, whatever it is, develops with age of the vampire."

I nodded in return and smiled as light heartedly as I could. "I think I may know what yours is."

"Enlighten me." he said with a fang-filled smile. My smile grew nervous, but I wasn't speechless. "Scent. Just a moment ago you scented the air, and I'm sure it wasn't to get a whiff of this already too-strong French perfume. I'm going to guess... Envisioning by scent?"

"Correct." He chuckled; it didn't help me relax. "I simply smell the different scents on you and I can see what you've done and where you've been, who you've been around..."

I thought about the alleyway that one night with Felicia. Taylor saw who killed her because he'd smelt the air and saw the event in his head. "That's a convenient talent for an investigator such as yourself."

"Yes." he said simply, and led us back to the dance floor. On the way he grabbed a wine glass off of a tray from one of the many pale-skinned waiters walking around with drinks. Red blood drained into his mouth and he let out a quenched sigh after setting the glass back down. I gulped when thinking it was challenging for him to talk to me if he was thirsty and the dress didn't exactly cover my neck, or shoulders, or cleavage.

His eyes never drew lower than my chin, however, as any gentlemen with a larger goal than woman on the mind would. This made me just a tiny bit more comfortable in the arms of the hunter. The orchestra began playing a new song and Taylor glanced behind me and my eyes followed; Julie was watching from afar. I turned back to him and he led me into a dance once again.

"The woman with orange hair, Julie, her ability is...manipulation?" I asked.

He looked beyond me, I assumed at her, and laughed out loud, but then his gaze lowered back to my eyes as I expected clarification. "Not quite. It is, to an extent. She has the ability to manipulate your body into submission; in simpler terms, agreement. It can be overcome, since she is young, or else we'd have what we want from Luke already."

I sat thoughtfully on this. That was why I felt the need to comply to what she said. "And Luke?"

Taylor held my waist and I had to lean back and rely on my partner to hold my weight for this part of the dance. He smirked as his face hovered over mine. "A sort of mind reading, telepathy, but instead of reading thoughts he sees and can project images, memories, and certain emotions evoked with those pictures."

I smiled inwardly as our bodies straightened again and the dance continued. I had guessed that! The excitement died after I figured why he was freely telling me these things after he just mentioned secrecy being vampire's number one law. His darker plan behind the toothy grin was...well, how does a human stay quiet for good? He was telling me anything I asked because the end was near.

"Why should I help you?" I asked politely, but the dislike was still caught on my tongue.

Taylor smiled shallowly and replied, "You don't exactly have a choice."

A sudden uplift in the music called for each male to pick up their partner and spin them gracefully in the air; I followed through with the lift and touched gracefully back to the ground, then the regular harmony of the dance resumed.

"If you do comply, your life will be extended to however long our intentions reach. If you do not, you are still a human who has threatened the vampire laws of secrecy. And those terms are punishable by death, to both vampires and mortals." My curly wheat colored hair switched over my shoulder as Taylor held my hand and spun my body under his arched arm.

As the room rushed around in my turn and I was stopped in my partner's grasp again, I clearly saw it now. Every other couple in the elegant room was indeed one of pale skin and deep gazes; a vampire's ball and I was the only human present. "I see." I managed to tell him, swallowing a lump that was trying to choke me.

"Is that your consent?" he asked, stopping our movement from the rhythm of the orchestra.

I took in a slow breath, searching his eyes for some sort of lie, or deceit. I found none and made my decision.

"I will help you to use Luke and lead a way to my family's killer, Taylor. If it ensures her to be contained and stopped from ever harming anybody again, you have my word." My gaze held strong with his because a nervous misplacement was building since I was the only human in the room.

Relief still didn't come as he grinned with satisfaction to my answer. "Good."

I swallowed hard and finished the rest of the dance mulling over my decision. Yes, I was deceiving Luke by doing this, but it was only right I told the churning feeling in my gut. Even if I didn't want to, I shared Taylor's outlook on the situation. Whatever Courtney was, she had to be stopped. She murdered my mother, and for that I would do everything I could to make sure she was killed. I knew I couldn't kill her on my own, so if I had to rely on Taylor and other vampires to take care of her for me, so be it.

The song ended some time later and the dance finished with each partner bowing towards each other. When I raised my head from looking at the marble floor, Julie was there next to Taylor, and the both of them began to lead me out of the room, each of my hands entwined with their ivory fingers. Every pair of vampire eyes watched us as we exited.

"Why a ball?" I suddenly asked them both as the three of us entered the otherwise empty grand lobby. The doormen closed the doors to the ballroom and the orchestra became a hum behind the walls.

"We like formal events." They said together at once. Speechless, I thought that this suggested the two of them were authority-like figures here, however a vampire coven worked with ranks.

"Now that this has been decided, there's one other variable we must address." Julie began.

"This event. Luke is an older vampire than any here; he will see this meeting from your mind. You must concentrate your thoughts on something else not related to this in anyway, and that is what Luke shall see if he uses his telepathy on you." the male vampire explained to me carefully. "But I have no doubt you're a wonderful actress considering you've fooled every mortal around you into believing you are someone you are not. Do not give him a reason to search your mind for it when you see him tonight."

I took a note of what Taylor said, was annoyed when he added that bit about being an actress to spite me, but I caught that he reminded me I was supposed to be meeting Luke tonight! Not to mention work; if I was inside this mansion for an entire day, I missed work! My sapphire eyes were wide with realization but Taylor pulled me toward the pillars next to the staircase and gained my attention again with his hand placed around my throat. His soft expressions hardened into cold hearted seriousness, and I was pressed against the pillar in a more threatening way than I'd seen all night.

"If you try and run out on our deal, we'll have a dozen or more trackers on your before you have a chance to get out of state. And they are trained to kill without leaving so much as a single drop of blood for evidence to the precious human authority."

I nodded my head as my eyes darted back and forth from Taylor to Julie. "I understand, I've already agreed. Why terrify a woman further?" I replied to them. They smirked when hearing the shaky fear in my otherwise strong voice. Taylor's hand moved from my neck.

"Just making sure you're not going to back out of our agreement. And the justice you seek from us will never be realized." I was had nothing left to say to the vampire Taylor and Julie shuffled me up the stairs as Taylor returned to the ballroom. She instructed me to change out of the dress and clean up before going home or to Luke's or wherever I was supposed to be going next. I followed this order quickly and I was half-running out of the mansion before the clock said eleven. Fresh clothes were on my body and hardly a trace of mascara was left on my face. I waited on the street for a cab and glanced back at the mansion.

It was a gorgeous white stone exterior, but in a more inviting perspective than Luke's because there was not a forest of trees and vines aiding the age of the stone. The mansion of the vampires, I would call this place, since vampires seemed to be giving orders to humans and living in and running the household. Perhaps this was some sort of central meeting place for the largest covens in the city. I wouldn't know and right now it was irrelevant; there was something that kept drawing back to the top of my mind. Something that struck me as odd or familiar when I heard the name Courtney mentioned around vampires...

I had to hurry back to my apartment and check on something before I did anything else. I half hoped that what I hypothesized was wrong, and half hoped I was correct.

When a cab came and went and I was darting up the stairs to my apartment, I opened the unlocked door and saw one of the last sights I wanted and expected to see.

Lucy was in my living room with her nose buried into my vampire research journal. Several other documents about my country and my family were open and out of their place. No, I thought. Her expression was that of horror and disbelief, like she couldn't believe what she was reading. And then her trembling aqua eyes looked up to me and the sparkle of them returned when she recognized who I was.

"Ally..." Her tone was a mixture of happiness, relief and concern; and then her smile fell as she realized I didn't want her looking through my things, at all.

"Lucy?! What the hell are you doing here?" I was angry and flustered and it showed in my voice and my face. No, I thought again. Three years I'd kept a great cover for my name and heritage! And it all crashed down to one person reading a single sentence on a page.

Lucy's face fell, and she was innocent so she resembled a child with her hand in the cookie jar. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have looked through your stuff..."

"That wasn't the question." I returned sharply, taking the book from her hands. I think I tore something. I was too angry to care.

She cringed at the sharpness of my words, but she was still obviously worried about me, even a little scared by my actions. "You didn't come into work today... Everyone was worried, especially after Felicia's disappearance, we didn't know what to think. Daniel has a little search party out looking for you but I told him I'd stay here in case you came back."

I turned away from her and set the papers on the table. I couldn't be angry with her; she was only trying to help. But I didn't want her snooping into my interest with vampires! It would only cause more complications, questions and worry from her and Daniel. If she really wanted to 'help' she would probably recommend me to a professional every week or end up questioning my identity and my history. How could she accept that her friend believed in vampires and searched for them? I didn't need any of that, not now.

"I'm fine." I told her a little more calmly. "I'll talk to the boss tomorrow and tell him this was all a misunderstanding."

"He would have fired you today but I told him you had reasons, with the drive-in movie and everything. I told him you were probably still overwhelmed with seeing people murdered in front of your eyes."

"Thanks." It was only half-hearted. I felt sick the more I wondered what was really going through her mind. "What did you read." I didn't exactly ask, I wanted an answer. Oh God, what if she read in my notebook that Luke was a vampire?

"I only saw the newspaper articles about the Lockett queen and her daughter going missing, with leads that they were in America. And the article about police finding the queen, murdered, her daughter still missing. And only a couple of your notes about vampires and covens of them in the city."

Good. She hadn't read anything on Luke or any names of anyone who was a vampire. But now I wondered if she suspected who I was, really. Knowing Lucy, she was smart. She was much more intelligent than Daniel at times and would be able to piece everything together and figure it out.

"I'm really sorry I looked, I was just..."

"Curious. I understand. I would have done the same." my tone was sharp, my answer was very simple. She paused and waited until my mood relaxed a little more and she could get a whole phrase in without me cutting her off.

"I'm not here to judge you, Ally. If you don't want me to question why you have all of this stuff, I won't. I'll just wait until you're ready to tell me."

Shit. I felt my anger completely subsided and it was replaced with guilt; I felt terrible with the way I snapped at her. I looked at her, and that truthful and loyal look in her eyes, hit a vessel within me. She knew how to speak to the human soul, she did. Lucy was definitely some sort of human angel; very rare and I suddenly felt very fortunate to have her as a friend in my life. I knew that if I did tell her anything, and whatever I told her, she'd still accept me and I could trust her with the knowledge. But right now was not the time.

"Thank you." I said to her now, much more genuinely than before. I tried to smile, but my lips only twitched and the next thing I knew Lucy was in my arms, returning a tight and very warm hug. "I'm sorry, now. Don't worry about it, really. Just...call Daniel and tell him I'm alright."

She separated from me and nodded her head, her sparkling aqua eyes were glistening with tears but she didn't let one escape.

"I'll explain everything to you, but some other time." I promised her.

She nodded, wiping her eyes before pulling out her phone. As she made the call, I walked toward my room. Inside, in the box under the bed with several trinkets from Allison's Lockett's life was a fairytale book. A fairytale book complete with my country's beliefs and legends. And inside this book, which I opened and was pending for the moment of truth, is the story of Sir Stephan and the vampire Courtney.