(Thank you so VERY MUCH to all those that have slogged out 40 chapters with me and this story. Thank you for your support and comments. Don't worry there will be more to come so I haven't finished yet. In fact its just getting interesting. I will try and spead up on the updates again as well. Thanks Precious)
Lyric nibbled and kissed down Abby's pale neck making her shiver with delight from his cool touch. He secretly grinned over her shoulder as she leaned into his touch. Foolish girl. The time had come. Everything was in place.
Weeks had passed and finally he had asked if he could meet her friends, Tim especially. He had read Abby's mind and discovered where Tim now spent most of his time and where Dante lived. She had innocently answered all his questions, dazed with a sort of lust and desire he was able to induce in her with his touch.
Abby of course had been delighted at Lyric asking to meet her friends. There was a part of her that hated having to hide their relationship. Hated having to scrub herself clean after every visit in case Tim could smell him on her. A soft moan escaped her mouth as Lyric dragged his teeth across the sensitive spot at the base of her neck. Part of her wished Lyric would bite down into her neck and join them together. He had promised her it would be soon but he wanted to be certain she was fully prepared as becoming a Companion to a Vampire was a lifetime commitment.
Abby never thought she would ever yearn for a lifetime commitment. Normally it was something that sent her screaming for the hills but the excitement and thrill that coursed through her veins whenever Lyric even looked at her assured her that their relationship would never be conventional.
"So you remember what I said about tomorrow?" Lyric pulled back and looked deeply into her eyes trying to impress on her the importance of it.
"Yes of course" Abby smiled and stroked his strong cool hand.
"The timing must be perfect. I would like to meet your friends but it would be best if I could do it at a time when I appear most human."
"I'm sure it will be fine. Gibbs has already met Dante."
"Yes my dearest but he is centuries older than I am and far stronger in his powers. I would not wish to frighten them"
Lyric attempted to be humble and concerned even as his lip twitched into a snarl. Dante would not be stronger than him for long.
Abby sighed not really listening as her heart thrummed with the excitement Lyric always seemed to induce in her.
"Tomorrow. Don't worry. I will invite them down to my lab after work so it's nice and private. Then you can come in afterwards and met them. All very friendly and casual. I'm just warning you though Gibbs will want to give you the third degree. He's very protective of me and I haven't been very successful at picking men in the past. I seem to be attracted to the crazies"
Lyric smiled, flashing his fangs and making his dark stormy eyes burn.
"Really? I never would have guessed"
Abby laughed. "Oh but you're crazy in just the right way!"
Lyric pulled Abby delightedly into his arms and contemplated draining the blood from her until he could taste her death on his lips. He would feel so free when he threw her lifeless frail corpse aside and walked away.
Soon.
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Abby looked around nervously as Gibbs, Tony, McGee and Ziva stood standing in her lab, curiously waiting to see what she had called them down for.
"Um well ok guys. You have probably noticed that I have been kind of quiet lately, not coming to drinks after work and that sort of thing. There is someone that has become quite important to me lately and I would really like for you to meet him."
Gibbs smiled indulgently. He knew she had been seeing someone. It was kind of sweet that she was so nervous, eager for the approval of the team that meant so much to her.
Three men wearing standard issue NCIS cleaner's uniforms efficiently trundled into the lab and shut the door behind them. Abby initially frowned and then returned to her happy and polite personality.
"I'm sorry, you must be new around here. The cleaners don't normally start until after hours and I'm trying to have a bit of a personal meeting here. Could you come back later?"
One of the men looked at Tim, his eyes strained.
"I'm sorry. I can't seem to stop it"
Tim smiled in a sort of confusion "Stop what?"
The man reached down into the large hamper of towels and cleaning products they had brought with them and pulled out a semi automatic rifle.
Gibbs's eyes flew open and he was already moving quickly across the room in an effort to stop them.
"No!"
Tim stood frozen in shock as round after round of bullets decimated his soft flesh. The reverberation of the multiple gunshots off the hard surfaces of the room was deafening. It could be heard even above Abby's screaming.
The other men swung their guns around and faced Abby, Tony, Gibbs and Ziva calmly, their faces blank and free of emotion.
Tim, his eyes wide in shock threw back his head and screamed in pain as he staggered back and then crumpled to the floor. His clothes were shredded with dozens of tiny tears and rapidly becoming stained with bright blood as he lay staring at the ceiling, clutching uselessly at his chest. He gasped, already struggling for breath and blood bubbled out of his mouth staining his cheeks and chin in rich scarlet.
"No! Tim No!" Abby screamed, tears already running down her face in distress as she tried to reach towards Tim and was restrained by one of the intruders.
"You will have to stay here."
"No. He needs help. We have to get him to a hospital." Gibbs was furious, his eyes ablaze with anger. How dare they hurt one of his team?
"I'm sorry but he needs to die." The man seemed somehow vacant. Polite but blank eyed.
Tony stepped up next to Gibbs, alarmed at the rapidly growing pool of red blood spreading across the white floor from Tim's body. What the hell was going on? The three armed men seemed to form a wall between them and where Tim lay, twitching and groaning as he struggled to breathe through his own blood.
"No! Are you crazy? You are in NCIS headquarters! What do you want? Are you taking us hostage? Do you want some sort of trade? Whatever it is you need to let us know and you need to let us help him!"
"I told you what we needed to do. He needs to die"
His voice was quiet but firm and it created a sort of horror in its certainty.
Gibbs stepped towards them again and the man smiled kindly and pointed his rifle at him.
"I really am sorry about this. We don't seem to have a choice. Please don't make us kill you as well."
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The foreman looked at his watch. The instructions had been very specific. They had to be fast and they had to be finished and through to the basement with ten minutes before sundown.
"Ok boys"
The foreman gave the nod and the jackhammers and sledgehammers started pounding through the ancient bricks and mortar quickly digging deep through the old mansions foundations. Others stood ready and waiting with the specially constructed wide mirrored pipes to shove down deep into the basement.
"Strange job huh Boss?"
"Yeah. Some old eccentric I suppose wants to have a greenhouse in his basement. Still with the amount he's paying I don't particularly care what he wants to do down there."
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Dante's eyes flew open at the rumble of destructive sound above him. What on earth was that?
Suddenly pain the like of which he had never even imagined ripped through him and he heard the scream of his Beloved tear through his mind.
Timothy?
NO!
An image of Timothy on the floor in Abby's lab came unbidden to his mind. Pain. Overwhelming pain. Men. Strange men. Guns. Help Abby. Others. Gibbs, Tony, Ziva.
Help me! Please Dante! I can't…I can't breathe!
Blood red washed over his vision and Dante could feel himself, no Timothy draining out onto the cold floor. His beloved was dying.
NO! I am coming!
With several small crashes, large piles of dust and rubble fell into Dante's beautiful basement lair and then with a loud metallic shriek the pipes were shoved forcefully down the holes. Suddenly the intimate darkness of the underground basement was shattered with bright reflected sunlight flooding the room.
Dante quickly pushed open the lid of his coffin and then screamed in rage as the sunlight burned into him. He slammed the heavy lid back down as the horrible realization became apparent. He was trapped. Trapped and forced to listen to Timothy cry for him and die slowly, helplessly.
Raking his claws along the inside of his coffin as he twisted, transformed and raged, tiny slivers of sunlight burning him as he tried to resist the impulse to throw open the lid of his coffin and fly to Timothy's side.
He couldn't help him if he was ashes.
But still the pain inside of him burned more than the destructive kiss of the sun on his pale flesh. He could feel the slowing beat of Timothy's heart as it gallantly continued to pump his blood out of the dozens of holes piercing his body. He could feel his Beloved's panic and pain as he writhed on the cold blood slick floor of Abby's lab.
Dante? Please help me? PLEASE!
Dante poured every ounce of strength he could through their bond to try and sustain his Companion but it achieved little when strength alone couldn't continue to oxygenate his blood. He screamed out his pain and frustration and shredded the stone and timber surrounding him.
TIMOTHY!!!!
Dante's screams of anguish and pain rippled out across the cool evening air. Ancients stirred in their forgotten lairs for the first time in centuries as they felt the echo of his rage. Somewhere a powerful vampire was experiencing the slow death of their bonded mortal companion. He was being slowly tortured and driven to near insanity as he felt trapped in the pain and terror of impending final death.
Lyric smiled, safe in his own personal darkness as he listened to Dante's weak human loving soul tearing itself into a thousand tattered pieces. Really this was even better than he imagined. By the time he confronted Dante the once almost invincible Vampire would be pathetic in his own defense. Hopefully even half mad. He could then take what strength and powers Dante had left to him and he would show the world what a vampire with a real motivation for destruction could do.
Slowly the sun sank in the sky and quietly withdrew her rays as a chorus of voices raised themselves in anguished despair.