Ulrich took over the questioning at this point. It appeared that the intruder had assistance from what the security chief called a "creature" but he had been unable to get any information out of it.

"Creature?" he asked. "What kind of creature?"

Angelo shrugged again. "No idea! I've never seen anything like it before. It's in the cells downstairs."

Ulrich looked across at William. "What do you think?"

"Can't do any harm to take a look!" he said. He turned to Alex. "Would you rather stay here?"

"I'd rather stay with you if that's okay" she said nervously.

William seemed a little reluctant to take her with him but she seemed adamant.

"I think I'd rather stay with you if you don't mind" she said.

"Okay" he said. "But keep behind me." She nodded solemnly, her grey eyes wide with fright.

"If you'd like to come this way?" Angelo led us to a narrow staircase and we headed down into the darkness.

At the bottom of the narrow staircase there were cells similar to those in Darius' house and inside one of the cells was...well, a creature. To my complete shock I recognised it! It was a Sabiru. These were guardians of the lands of the Fae. I had not seen one of these creatures on earth for centuries. I simply could not imagine how it had got here. It was naked and its skin was a greyish colour. It appeared to be basically humanoid but its hands and feet were grotesquely elongated and its head looked more like that of a dog with long jaws full of jagged looking teeth. It was crouched in a corner against the dirty brick wall, as far away from the bars as it could get. There was a metal collar around its neck and the skin around it looked reddened and blistered. It turned its head as we entered and I saw that there was a line of burn scars all down one side of its body. There was silence in the dingy basement as we stared at the creature in astonishment.

"What the hell is that?" asked Russell. William turned and I saw that the others had followed us down the stairs.

"We have no idea" answered Angelo but it was with Diana and she left it behind when she fled. We've tried to get information out of it but we don't even know if it's intelligent enough to understand what we want from it. Or if it even understands what's happening." He took a step towards the bars and the Sabiru flinched back, its eyes, a curious shade of pale silvery grey, following him.

I could feel William's disgust at the treatment meted out to this creature. He had no idea what it was, or what it was capable of, but he saw that it was suffering and felt compassion for it.

"Oh, I think it understands all right!" he said, not bothering to hide his disapproval.

The creature turned its head towards us and spoke. The language was harsh and guttural and I could see that, to everyone else, it was completely incomprehensible but I understood it. It was asking us for help!

Angelo's eyebrows shot up. "It's never done that before!" he said, obviously surprised. He reached towards the bars and picked up a chain which was attached to the metal collar. He hauled on the chain and the Sabiru was dragged across the floor. It let out a high pitched sound of distress and began to scrabble at the floor with its long claws, trying to stop its inexorable slide towards the bars.

William was instantly furious. "Let go of that chain!" he hissed.

Angelo let go in shock. It had obviously not occurred to him that anyone other than his Queen would dare to speak to him in that tone of voice.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's obviously terrified of us! I wonder why that could be?" asked William sarcastically. As he spoke Alex stepped forward towards the bars. William snatched her back in a panic. "Careful Alex!" he whispered "you know nothing about this thing."

She gazed through the bars, William's arm around her shoulders. "Oh I think I might do actually" she said softly. "Look at its neck Bill, the collar's burnt it!" She wriggled out of his arms and stepped carefully forward. The Sabiru was squatting on the concrete floor staring at her with equal fascination. As I watched, it leaned forward and sniffed at the air like a large bald hunting dog. It stared up at her without a trace of fear in its eyes, only a strange curiosity and I began to wonder what it could sense about her that interested it enough to ignore it's current predicament.

"That iron collar has burned its flesh" she said. It's not afraid of us! It's afraid of the bars! of the iron! It's a faerie!"

For a moment I was unable to even think straight. I knew it! I had known there was more to her than met the eye. How on earth could she possibly have known that!. These creatures had not been seen on this plane for thousands of years! I knew that mortals had many myths and legends about the Fae. That could explain how she knew about the iron and, now that I looked more carefully, I could see that she was correct. The skin of its neck was blistered where the collar had rubbed against it. Perhaps she was simply very observant? But somehow I knew there was more to it than this.

There was a lot of laughter from the vampires and jokes about finding it at the bottom of the garden but I was fascinated by this new revelation of Alex's intelligence.

Alex turned and glared at them angrily. "Not a fairy…I mean it comes from faerie…the realm of faerie. Oh…" she gave William a frustrated look. "When I was talking to Aislynn, you remember, she told me about Azaria? Well she said that Azaria's mother, Mab's daughter, could "walk between the worlds". I think this is what she meant Bill!" She was looking up at him, her eyes shining with excitement. "You remember how Mab appeared in the Authority's courtroom? She did the same sort of thing when she visited us at the Mill House. There was a shimmering in the air and she just walked through it…as if she had come through from another realm, another reality. I think that's what faerie is. And that's where this creature is from."

They all stared at her in silence.

"Well, I'm impressed! Very impressed! She has more intelligence than the rest of you put together!"

"You mean she's right?"

"She is absolutely correct! This poor creature is no threat to you my friend, it only wants to go home. It is called a Sabiru and it is one of the guardians of Faerie."

"How would you know that?"

"I've seen them before of course, long ago."

"No, I meant how would you know what it wants?"

"It just said so, it is trapped here."

"The poor thing…wait! You understood it?"

"Curiously enough yes, it appears to be speaking a language from the area around Babylon, for some reason….in ancient times creatures from other realms were much more common than they are today. They almost never come here now…..so much for your progress!"

William smiled to himself.

"Can you translate for me?"

"Why of course! Speak to it William and I shall translate your words between your mind and your tongue. Then I shall do the same for its replies."

He turned to Angelo "You! Open that door now!"

Angelo stared at William but didn't move.

"Guess you'll have to do it yourself!"

"Very well."

William raised his hand and pointed at the lock which held the barred gate to the cell closed.

"Feel for the power William, draw it out."

He pushed power out towards the lock and watched as a film of ice formed over the metal. With a slight effort of will he broke the cold brittle iron apart and the lock fell in pieces to the floor.

"Very nicely done William. You're learning fast!"

"You concentrate on the translation."

He took hold of Angelo by the collar and pushed him ahead of him into the cell.

He crouched down before the Sabiru and began to say "It's okay, I won't let him hurt you."

I sensed what he was about to say and intercepted his words, translating them into the harsh sounds of the Babylonian tongue. It had been so long since I had heard this language spoken that I was not entirely sure that the Sabiru would even understand me. However it turned its head towards him in surprise, the movement rubbing its neck against the collar. It gave another high pitched cry and said "please my Lord, help me….the pain….."

"Get that collar off!" said William harshly.

"Are you insane!" Angelo was staring at him as if he had gone mad.

I glared up at him, my anger burning out through William's bright blue eyes.

"Would you like to find out?" I growled.

Angelo appeared to decide that it would be safer to humour him and began fumbling in a pocket for the key. The creature flinched as he approached it and he reached out a hand to it. "Don't be afraid, I won't let him hurt you again."

Angelo warily unfastened the collar and backed away as he carefully removed it from the raw burned flesh of the creature's throat. It gave a little sigh of relief and looked up at him. "Please…..I was not my intention to harm anyone. I was brought here against my will." The Sabiru was speaking the same language, which I understood was incomprehensible to the group of vampires who were now clustered outside the cell, but now I could sense that William understood it as I did. He stood up and held out his hand. The creature took it and stood up in front of him. When fully upright it was about a foot taller than him but stood slightly stooped with its head lowered.

"Are you saying that you can understand that thing? You can speak its language?" asked Russell in astonishment.

"No" he smiled, "but Lilith can."

"So I get the credit! Thank you!"

He turned back to the creature. "How did you get here?" he asked.

It turned its head and looked around at the assembled vampires. "I was brought here with two others of my kind by a powerful sorcerer. She was able to cast a spell to force us to obey her. When she fled from your people my brothers escaped but I….." he glanced at Angelo. "I was captured."

"William! If she can coerce these creatures to her will she must be powerful indeed!"

"Who is she?" he asked. "And what does she want from us? We were told that she is a necromancer, that she has power over death."

"No, this is not true. She is an old spirit and very powerful, yet she is not immortal. She cheats death by moving from her body to another. In this way she has moved through time, always leaving one body as it ages and finding another, younger one. She is known as the corpsetaker."

"Should we fear her then? If she has no power over the dead then she cannot harm us can she?"

The creature looked into his eyes and said "I think you should fear her my Lord. She has been looking for one of your kind, a blood drinker. She knows that your bodies are stronger, more resilient than normal humans. She has taken one of the Queen's servants, but recently she has heard of one…..one who has the powers of a God. Would this be you my Lord?"

William sighed. "I guess so!" "You never cease to cause me problems do you Lily?"

"Hey! I'm helping out here aren't I?"

"Then it is you that she seeks. You should take care."

He turned back to the others. "It appears that your necromancer is a body snatcher. She moves from one to another to escape death." He turned back to his new friend. "Does she do this often? How easy is it for her?"

"It is not easy" he said. "She does not move to a new body lightly. The circumstances have to be right and she will wait until she is quite sure of her choice."

"What happens to...the original occupant?" he asked curiously.

"They will be transferred into her old body. If they do not die from the shock of the transfer then she usually kills them herself."

William thought for a moment. "Is there any other help you can give us?" he asked.

The creature looked down sadly, "I will help you all I can. If you need me, I will be here."

"We don't want to keep you here. Please...you can leave. No-one will stop you" he said.

"Where would I go?" he asked helplessly. "I have nowhere."

"Can you not go home?" he asked.

The creature gave a little sigh. "I know how to open a portal, but I have not the strength...not alone."

"Is there some way we can help you?"

He looked up and stared into Williams eyes for a moment as if trying to judge if he were genuinely willing to help him. Then he moved forward and reached out to place his elongated fingers on his chest. "Yes" he said, a slight glimmer of hope appearing in his strange silvery eyes. "You could help me. You have Mab's power, I can feel it. Your strength could help me open the way."

"Lily? Is that possible?"

"Indeed you could William. It will not harm you. Interesting that he can sense the Fae power, it will return I promise you."

"Are you sure?" I thought, suspiciously.

"I am inside your mind William! As you cannot lie to me, so I cannot lie to you."

He nodded. "Very well, I will help you if I can."

The creature straightened up suddenly, towering over us and began to sniff the air. "Not here" he said. "Upstairs, at the level of the earth."

William gestured to the door and the Sabiru walked out of the cell, ducking his head slightly to get under the bars and taking care not to allow them to touch his skin. William turned back to Alex who was smiling gently at him, I could see that she was pleased with his decision to help the poor creature.

We followed it up the stairs and down the corridor, watching with interest as it sniffed the air, searching, I supposed, for a suitable place to open the portal. It stopped outside two double doors and placed a hand on one, pushing it open gently. The room beyond was large, a ballroom and a great empty space opened up around the entrance as the occupants backed away from it. The rest of the room was packed with vampires, those who had been in the drawing room and others of the court who had heard what was happening. Ulrich slipped in behind us and stood beside the doorway.

"What has it told you?" he asked, eyeing the creature warily.

"It looks like our information was partially correct" said William. "The sorcerer is looking for vampires, me in particular. But she is not a necromancer, she does not have control over the dead, she uses the bodies of others to escape her own death."

"So why does she want us?" he asked.

"Because our bodies are stronger and more resilient than those of mortals. And mine contains the power of a God!"

"You must be careful William! She must not be allowed to get near you!"

"Do you think she could be a danger to you?"

"I'm not sure, but if she can bind Sabiri to her will then she must have considerable skill, they are powerful creatures. Don't be misled by the fact that this one appears weak, it has simply been drained by the iron. It would be safer not to find out don't you think?"

"I see!" Ulrich looked very serious and glanced around, checking on his security detail. "What's happening now? What does it want?"

I smiled. "What we all want Ulrich, he wants to go home!"

We watched as the creature sniffed around for a moment until it appeared to find the right spot. He held out a hand to William and he walked over to him. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

The creature placed a hand on William's shoulder and looked down into his eyes. "Share your power with me my Lord" he said. He closed his eyes and began to speak quietly. I concentrated, trying to make out what he was saying but it was in a tongue even I had never heard before. As he spoke I could feel William relaxing and a flood of cold power began to flow up into the Sabiru's hand. To my surprise it appeared to bypass me completely and I realised that this was nothing to do with me, this was faery power! His eyes flew open and he waved a hand before us. The air before us seemed to blur, then a patch of air in front of us had become opaque and shimmered like a silk curtain. In front of the assembled crowd of vampires the Sabiru knelt before William. "Thank you my Lord" he said. "I will not soon forget your kindness." Then he rose smoothly, stepped into the shimmering patch of air and disappeared.

I glanced around to see that William stood alone in the centre of the open space left in the middle of the ballroom. For a long moment no-one made any attempt to approach him.

"Well...I don't think anyone will doubt your power now William dear!" I said with some considerable satisfaction.