The guests sleeping in the next room were ideal, they seemed fairly young and healthy.

His procedure was always flawless. His early medical training combined with decades of experience had allowed him to perfect the process.

When he was at his New York apartment, or his cottage in France, it was different. Blood wasn't that difficult to acquire if one knew where to look, and his years of involvement in the pharmaceutical industry left him with more than enough connections to get a steady supply of that which he needed to remain strong. Hunting was unnecessary.

But traveling was another story. Blood could not be brought along on a trip, being highly perishable, and there was nothing more disgusting than spoiled blood. It tasted like death and decay.

Traveling made it necessary to find temporary resources.

Solomon silently entered their room holding a small black briefcase. He carefully put on a pair of latex gloves as he knelt by the bed and opened the briefcase. He slowly pulled back the covers and with the lightest touch possible, positioned the sleeping man's arm so it was lying straight beside him, elbow down.

Never from children, or the sick or the elderly. He almost never took from women either, he was raised at a time when women were generally thought to be physically fragile. He knew that this out-dated notion had little basis in fact, but nevertheless, he still felt that to prey upon women was bad form.

Solomon pulled an individually wrapped anti-septic wipe from his coat and warmed it between his hands for a moment before swiping it across the pit of the man's elbow.

He knew that some of his brothers, mainly Carl and Amshel, got off on feeding directly from the neck of a live victim, but Solomon had always found it somewhat distasteful. He gave up the practice not long after his transformation, and developed his own method of acquiring sustenance.

He licked his lips in concentration as he slid the needle into the man's arm, hitting the vein dead on. The blood immediately began flowing through the tube and into the collection bag as the man continued to sleep peacefully.

He always siphoned exactly four hundred milliliters, less than a blood bank would take. This would be more than enough to keep Solomon in top form for the next few days, assuming he did not get seriously injured. For a disciplined vampire, a little blood went a long way. However, like humans, some chiropterans, Diva for example, seemed prone to the vampiric equivalent of binge eating, and at the other end of the spectrum, there was Haji, whose feeding behavior was quite clearly comparable to that of a human anorexic.

He removed the needle, placed a small square of gauze on the tiny wound and folded the man's arm back, pinching the gauze in the pit of his elbow. In the morning, that man would have no idea it ever even happened.

Solomon pulled out a small plastic box labeled 'biohazard: sharps" and placed the soiled needle inside before slipping out of the room.

He retired to the roof of the hotel with his quarry, having emptied the contents of the bag into a wineglass. After only a sip, he felt his mind become clearer and the subtle fatigue faded from his body.

He placed the glass on the pink stucco railing at the edge of the tarnished-copper green roof and soon became too lost in thought to enjoy the view that he had gone up there to take in. To his left, a view of the Pacific Ocean, which seemed as infinite as the night sky it mirrored, and to his right, the glistening lights of Kalakaua Avenue. Consumed by his thoughts, he gazed off into the night, until he heard someone approaching him from behind.

"Well, well, just look at you. Standing on the rooftop, staring off into space and pining for your beloved Saya. You're turning into Haji."

Half of Solomon's face tightened into a slight smile. "Hello Nathan."

"Boy do you ever owe me," Nathan said smugly.

Solomon turned. "What are you talking about?"

"So nice of you to give Haji head start with her, very sportsmen like. If you ask me, Saya has always been fair game, it's not your fault that Haji wouldn't get off his ass and slip her the tongue."

Solomon ignored the comment.

"Nathan, what did you want to tell me?"

"I have explained the bats and the bees to Saya."

"Did you? What did she say when you told her?"

"Not much, by the time I had explained everything, she was speechlessly pissed at Haji."

"Please tell me you didn't tell her about -"

"And what if I did? I'm surprised you didn't tell her yourself in order to weaken the competition."

Solomon looked at his shoes. "I admit, the thought did occur to me." His eyes returned to Nathan, with a subtle note of anger in his expression. "But I would never stoop to doing something that childish and manipulative."

"My lord! I think he's judging me!" Nathan said to his invisible audience, then addressed Solomon once more. "This coming from you! Your past actions suggest that you believe killing Haji to be acceptable, but according to what you just said, tattling on him is not. You always did have an interesting view of morality."

"Nathan, will you please just get to the point."

"No, I don't think I will. So Solomon, when was it that you were made a Chevalier?"

"1917. What does that have to do with -"

"So then you were around for the World War II years."

"Brother, please just drop it," said Solomon, with a tinge of annoyance in his tranquil tone.

"Back when Amshel had you all paling around with the Nazis. I wonder what your moral compass told you then."

"I was not directly involved with that aspect of his plans," Solomon's tone was becoming increasingly defensive.

"Did you do anything to stop them?"

"I was just following orders," he retorted.

"Spoken like a true old-school Nazi. They must have just loved you, blondie."

"Go to hell Nathan! I was never a goddamn Nazi!" he shouted, having actually lost his composure. "I was the one that killed Martin and I'll have you know that -" Solomon suddenly stopped and was silent for a moment before he began to shake his head, chuckling softly in spite of himself. "I can't believe I actually fell for it. You're just baiting me."

"Mmm hmm, I know I took it a little far, but it's so hard to get a rise out of you, and this time I actually got you to curse a little! Good for me!" Nathan said with large smile of self-satisfaction. "I still can't seem to get you to really swear though."

"I gave up swearing after I got out of the army."
"Oooo! Is that a challenge?"

"Certainly not!" Solomon laughed again. "I never thought I would say it, but I guess there is one way that I actually miss James, when he was around, all your malicious teasing went to him."

"Ah, how I loved to torture him, and he just had to put up with it ever since that time I kicked that sweet ass of his, come to think of it, that was the only sweet thing about him," said Nathan. "But seriously Solomon, don't bother trying to guilt me over telling Saya about Project 973, or anything else for that matter. I'll do what I have to do to ensure our kind doesn't just slip into oblivion. I already went through a lot of trouble cultivating Diva's liking for Kai so she would make him her Chevalier and then he could sire Saya's children, lord knows that wasn't that far fetched, but that didn't work out now did it? Now the only chance for a new pair of Queens lies with you and Saya and I'll gladly be a manipulative bitch to make that happen."

"God help anyone who gets in the way of your schemes," Solomon groaned.

"Damn straight," Nathan said in his demonic voice.

There was a brief pause before Nathan resumed the conversation in his ordinary human tone.

"Anyway, the real reason I came here was to inform you that Saya has cordially invited you to be the father of her daughters."

Solomon was speechless, gaping at Nathan with his mouth slightly ajar.

"And I hope she asks to get it done sooner rather than later, or poor Haji will just waste away and die if he has to wait much longer to finally get his katana in her saya."

"Brother, what a crass thing to say!" Solomon chided.

"Oh c'mon, everybody's thinking it!" exclaimed Nathan. "Oh, and Solomon, as your elder-brother, I feel I must give you some advice on women: generally they prefer to find themselves naked in a man's bed of their own accord."

Solomon instantly became defensive. "I told you, that was only so I could treat her injuries."

"Yeah right, I'm sure that was the only reason," Nathan said as he rolled his eyes. "If she hadn't gone into hibernation, I would have said you'd already done the job, but I suppose you love her to much to take advantage of her. Either way, the whole naked-kidnapping thing is creepy. Don't screw up this time. Just screw. Oh, and by the way, Dave is most likely in the process of becoming a Chevalier at this very moment," Nathan said as he turned to leave.

Solomon furrowed his brows in confusion. "But Ruka would never do that unless he was mortally wounded."

"Looked mortal to me."

"What happened?"

"I stabbed him," Nathan replied with a casual shrug.

"Nathan! How could you do such a terrible thing!" Solomon exclaimed in shock.

"Sometimes you have to light a fire to get someone off their ass. I would have done young Joel too, but I don't think things between him and Aka have progressed enough."

"Nathan, they will never forgive you!"

"Forgiveness is for people who can die, so it doesn't interest me. Like I said before, I will do what I have to do to make sure our kind survives." Nathan looked down at a non-existent watch. "Oh! Look at the time, I have a flight to catch. My plans are taking me to Bordeaux next. In case I don't see you, have a nice eternity, Solomon. Tah!"

Nathan smirked as he took his leave.

"On to the main event," he quietly narrated.