CH33
Use Google maps to find Vörösmarty Square in Budapest. It is at the end of Váci Street or Váci Utca (local). You will find a building on the right with a Harley Davidson Motorcycle dealership behind it. That is the building (their new home) in question here. Yes, I do research. All of the homes that I put Kate and Rick into are real places that are actually for sale on a real estate website and it was listed at 3.75 million Euros. Kate will end up paying more than 4 million by the time they move in.
XXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXxxxxxX
Kate couldn't help but notice that Irene was smiling as they walked down the street going from shop to shop. "I take it you like shopping or is it shopping in Budapest?" Kate asked as they left still another shop. Kate had three bags while Irene already had five bags.
Irene kept her smile. "Both! …And did you notice our new home is on this same street? We can go walking to go shopping." Irene walked for the next store with Kate following.
Kate had just found something when her cell phone rang.
XXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXxxxXXxxXxXxXx
Sirene didn't have a copier or a printer so the four of them only got to see the floor plan on the laptop screen and use paper and pens to draw rough sketches of potential changes.
What they didn't know was that except for the movie theater room, they were all pretty close to thinking the same thing. "Our old house had an emergency exit in the basement. This place starts on the third floor. How do we include an emergency exit here?" Alexis wondered looking at everyone.
That had everyone sitting back to think about it. "If you can't go down, you go up." Rick suggested.
"Out into the sunlight?" Paige was skeptical.
"You can't, no vampire can. The second the sun comes up, you die. Basement or no, it wouldn't work." Rick countered.
"Up to the roof and do what?" Paige testily replied. "Vampires don't fly and unless Alexis isn't telling me something, we can't transform into bats and fly away like in the movies or cartoons."
"Then we need something that any human can do to get away. … Sixth floor, not really high enough for those batman flying suits. Not high enough for hang gliders either." Rick sighed and tried to think.
"Maybe one of those ultra-lights. The one where you use a parachute with a fan hanging on your back." Rick offered.
"Okay...anyone have ideas?" Rick saw the look on everyone's face listening to his suggestions.
Problem was no one did and then the doorbell rang, getting everyone to jump up and start searching for weapons.
Rick opened the door after everyone nodded indicating that they were ready. "I'm going to stop coming here if this is the reception I keep getting." Hunt was smiling, telling everyone he was kidding.
"My Lord, it is good to see you. How long can you stay?" Sirene inquired.
"We have lot to talk about so I was planning on staying the day if you don't mind."
"Of course you can stay Lord. I only have 2 beds and those are taken."
"That will be fine I don't need a bed."
"I presume Kate and …Irene are still in Budapest." Hunt was going to get her name right if it killed him.
"They think they have found a house for all of us and are going to be staying for at least another week," Sirene spoke for all of them.
"Budapest is a nice city, I'm sure you will love it there."
"You can come with us Lord. Stop wandering around all alone."
"I'll think about it, thank you," Hunt replied. "That was a yes," Paige translated, earning her a glare from Hunt.
"I have a lot to go over with you." He pulled out a large manilla envelope, sat on the floor, and placed it on the coffee table, getting the others to sit around the coffee table with him.
"Is this your new place?" Hunt held up one of the drawing someone had made.
Sirene placed the laptop on the coffee table and showed him the on-line listing and the floor plan that Irene had sent them.
"I know that square, I've even been there standing in that small park. This whole street is lined with little shops on both sides. Kate and Irene have good taste. …We'll go over this later."
"I have blood tests results of your blood Richard and I must say I've never seen anything like this in my life. My friend who did them has never seen anything like it either and has no idea how this is possible."
"You and Katherine are unique Richard. You two are a first," Hunt told them and opened his envelope that was filled with color pictures.
"This first picture is a photo of normal human blood like Irene's. Note these places here." Hunt pointed and pushed it to one side of the coffee table.
"This picture is a photo of a standard vampire's blood just like you three." Hunt pointed at Sirene, Alexis and Paige. "Note that in this picture none of these look the same as in a normal human. They have mutated for lack of a better word. All of a vampire's internal organs are the same as a human's. Some of them are dormant though still alive, just changed to accept vampire blood. Kidneys, liver, bladder, reproductive organs for example," Hunt paused to allow every to take a good look at the picture.
"Now this picture is one of a standard Lycan's blood. Note that like a human, they have these things in their blood, however they also have this flowing through their blood. It is surmised that during a full moon or when the person chooses, these Lycan traits take over the body and convert it to wolf form, suppressing the human traits until reverting back to human form."
"Note that the human pieces are not mutated like in a vampire, they co-mingle together without trouble." Hunt gave all of them a chance to look at each picture again.
"Now this is your blood, Richard, and I can only guess it will be Katherine's also." He placed the picture on the coffee table.
"Here is the human blood, here is the mutated blood and here are the Lycan traits floating amongst all of the others. And if that wasn't enough there are these guys." Hunt pointed to each one.
"I have no idea what these guys are, I just know what they are doing. Well, we think this is what they are doing. We're calling these guys the police or military terms, peacekeepers. We watched as some of the mutated vampire blood try to convert the human blood only to watch these little guys come along and prevent it."
"In turn we watched the mutated vampire blood try and attack the Lycan traits only to have these little guys come along and prevent it. We watched it happen over and over again. These little guys keep the peace." Hunt looked up at all of them, especially Richard.
"So I have my human blood, vampire blood and Lycan blood in my system with policemen to keep the peace?" Rick tried to dumb it down.
"Essentially correct."
"I don't understand Lord. Humans don't have these police units and we both know that the Lycan and vampire traits should be annihilating each other taking the body they are in with them."
"It gets better. We took human blood and injected Lycan and vampire blood and watched the results. In each and every case the two fought taking the human blood cells with them. All 18 times. My friend is still studying more test results and told me he would update me with what he finds. He's got another 24 dishes that he is watching. This time he has human blood from 24 different donors. The only constant is the same vampire and Lycan blood that is being used."
"So what is Rick and what is Kitty?" Sirene was ready to cry. Just what had Kate done to herself?
Hunt inhaled and let out a deep breath. "Richard and likely Katherine are now unique, essentially a different life form, and I don't mean an alien from outer space. The best way to think of it, as we can see it, is that Richard and Katherine are now Hybrids. They are part human, part vampire and part Lycan."
"It's highly probable that you two will find that you still need blood to drink because of the vampire part of you. The human and Lycan parts of you will plausibly allow you to be exposed to sunlight without flash frying into ash. The odds are that you will find that you can't stay out in the sun for that long. Maybe 2 or 3 hours in a row at best. After that…" Hunt shrugged his shoulders.
"That explains mom having a sunburn," Alexis said and brought up the picture of her mom on the laptop.
"Wow! I'll bet that stings." Hunt saw that Kate's face, arms, neck and ears were all red. "That might be because her body hasn't been out in the sun for close to on 600 years. She will likely adapt and be able to stay out in the sun longer as she grows accustomed to being out in the sun." Hunt studied the picture of the new Katherine. "What have you done Katherine?" He was still worried about her.
"Does this mean I can turn into a wolf at the first full moon and go on a killing spree?" Rick was back to thinking he was mostly Lycan and didn't want to be.
"We don't think so. At least not a complete change from human into wolf that can walk on 2 feet. Our opinion is that you will change a little. Grow more hair, your nails will grow, your canines will become even more prominent. It is likely your skin color will darken some, your face will take on a few Lycan traits. If you haven't noticed yet, your human strength has already probably increased. When you show your Lycan traits, your strength will only increase."
"We also surmise that your eating habits will change. You will need food to satisfy your human and Lycan traits, while you will need to drink blood to satisfy your vampire traits. You will also likely find that some if not all of your dormant internal organs are no longer dormant. You will have reason to use the bathroom that vampires have no need for now."
"Mom and dad have already eaten a steak. Mom had another one earlier today even."
"That makes sense. You will both find that you have no reason to eat exactly like a human, meaning three times a day. And because of your vampire traits, you may be limited to what you can tolerate what you eat and when you need to eat."
"Mom and dad didn't like the baked potato and green beans that Irene had gotten them in addition to the steaks," Alexis added as Hunt nodded his head.
"So we're both freaks." Rick still hated himself.
"You're a Hybrid life form Richard, not a freak. A freak would be a human body with the head of a fly or a fly with the tiny head of a human. Think more Spiderman who was bitten by a heavily irradiated spider and gained some of its powers."
"Like a real life superhero." Rick was smiling wide. He had always wanted super powers.
"You have to do super things first dad to be a superhero." Alexis tried to deflate his bubble.
"I can do super things, I have super powers. …Can I fly?" Rick looked at Hunt who shook his head. "I'm still going to need a costume and a mask to hide my true identity." Rick was suddenly loving this change.
Paige hit Alexis in her arm and stared at her. This was all her fault. Castle wouldn't be going off on this tangent if she had just kept her mouth shut.
"I don't have a sewing machine Castle and unless you know how to sew your own costume, you're going to have to do without. And do you really think your Mistress is going to allow this?" Sirene made her move to shut Rick down.
Rick deflated as Sirene poured "Mistress Kate" cold water over him. "I can still give myself a superhero name." Rick sat up straight again. His Mistress couldn't stop that. …Could she? He deflated again since she probably could. He could dream up a name and keep it to himself! A secret identity name that only he knew. He sat up straight again.
"So what happens to Rick and Kate when they come across other vampires or Lycans?" Sirene questioned.
"That will vary greatly. Some will, on each side, hate them instantly because they have the enemy gene inside them, while others will accept them because they do have at least one gene inside them."
"Like how accepting Paige was to me when she was human and how accepting Irene is to Sirene."
"Very much so, yes."
"And yourself my Lord?"
"My case? Well, for starters there is no way in hell I'm doing anything to Katherine. She had chosen Richard so by extension he is included. Besides I liked him when I got him into the CIA. I don't know how or if he even knows that he did, but he sniffed out the mole. So I owe him."
"MY BOOK!" Rick fell back into his chair. "I was almost done when the house was attacked by Lycans," he moaned. "It was on one of my laptops that was in the house."
"Sorry dad."
"The house attack has made the international news. They are still counting all of the dead bodies and trying to identify them. Inside the house, in the building next door and the people and police out in the street."
"In the street?" Alexis questioned.
"It would appear that they had one or two teams outside of the building to intercept any police units that approached so that the Lycans could attack without human interference."
"Geez." Alexis sat back in her chair.
"It's a good thing you four are here and thinking of moving to another country. New York City and the State and a little bit of the US as a whole is on the hunt for who owned that building and who attacked it. Let alone who attacked the police units."
"Speaking of which who did own that building?" Hunt could try and protect them if it was traced to them.
"Her name was Elizabeth Cane Stanton. Mom found her on one of the Civil War battle fields, injured and dying. Mom tried to convert her to a vampire but failed. She was the first woman mom failed to convert so she kept the name."
"A lot of our bank accounts and IDs are based off of women that mom tried to convert but failed."
Hunt started chuckling. "There are times when Katherine truly surprises me. I suggest you keep those names, it will make it hard for the authorities to ID you properly. I'll see what I can do about getting all of you proper IDs for Hungary including passports. I just need to know what names you want to go by," Hunt told them and tossed the paper that was on the coffee table to Sirene to start off with.
Alexis however wanted something and since she didn't need to wait until it was dark in Budapest. "HI MOM!" Alexis placed the phone on speaker.
"Alexis, sweetie, how are you doing?" Kate asked as she was walking with Irene to the next store that interested them.
"Hunt is here mom and he has blood results on Castle and likely you as well. Where are you? Can you talk?"
Kate stopped dead. "We're out shopping for clothes and over things since we don't have much. In daylight! Can you believe that? Do you know how long it's been since I've seen the sun?" She still couldn't believe it. "What did he say and is Castle there?" Kate turned serious in an instant.
"I'm here Mistress. I haven't tried going out into the sun yet. If it doesn't work for me there is no one to pull me back in or even awake for that matter." Rick pointed out a flaw in this plan.
"I have Irene and you don't. What did he say Castle?"
"Try to stay out of the sun as much as you can Katherine. Your system needs time to adjust." Hunt warned her.
"We'll stop at the next store and see if we have enough yet and take a taxi back to the hotel. Now what did you find?"
"Your blood, well Richard's blood has a little of everything. He has vampire, human, and Lycan blood in him. Along with a new cell that we've never seen before. We're calling it a peacekeeper. It keeps the vampire blood from mutating the human blood and also prevents the Lycan blood from attacking the vampire blood and the human blood."
"You, well Richard, since I haven't been able to run tests on your blood, but I see no reason why the two would be different. You and Richard are Hybrids Katherine. A little human, a little vampire and a little Lycan. The human and Lycan part of you allows you to survive in the sun for a time before adverse effects occur. You will need to drink blood to satisfy the vampire part of you and eat something to satisfy the human and Lycan part of you."
"You two are also likely to change partially into a Lycan wolf form at the first full moon which is when?" Hunt looked at Alexis.
"You and dad have 4 days mom."
"You will likely grow extra hair, your fangs will become more pronounced, your strength will increase, run faster, lose your ability to jump, your skin color will likely change as well. To what I have no idea. Best guess would be something darker than what you are now. Also your facial features will likely change. Become more Lycan/wolf looking."
"And Katherine your internal organs are likely no longer dormant. You will likely find that you have a new reason to use the bathroom."
Her head whipped around and she looked at Irene who was snickering with her hand over her mouth. It did help explain the light pain she was feeling down there.
"Katherine there is one more thing that you need to make plans for. A Lycan in wolf form is more primal in nature than when in human form. It's why they rip people to pieces instead of just biting them. Something I'm sure both of you are well aware of. I'm not saying that you will lose your mind and go on a killing spree, but there will be forces that you can't control that will give you the urge to attack and kill."
"Katherine and Richard, it would be best if you were locked up somewhere until the event passes. Over time you will learn to control it, but for now…" Hunt trailed off.
Irene wasn't snickering anymore, now she looked worried for Kate. "Anything else?" Kate asked. A "Rip the damn bandage off and get it over with" kind of thinking.
"Just keep drinking blood, keep eating a steak every couple of days, limit your time in the sun, …and lock yourself in somewhere in 4 days."
"I'm told you're in a hotel that has a kitchen," Hunt tried to confirm. "Yes." Kate replied.
"Good, have Irene go shopping and buy you a number of steaks and put them in the refrigerator. Get her to cook them a little or eat them raw. I presume that the cleaning staff will look into your refrigerator?"
Irene nodded her head. "Most likely," Kate passed on.
"Have her buy a mini fridge and put your blood bags in it. Hopefully they will only clean theirs and not yours. You do have blood bags?"
"I need to do research and send it to mom so she can go get some."
"You have a lot of work to do out there. I suggest you two get cracking. Oh, and for the record I like your new place. You do need to figure out an escape plan immediately. And may I suggest that you have the outer shutters painted on the outside so that when you close them they look like open windows. Do the same on the outside of the interior shutters and have reflective drapes on the window side that are blackout drapes in the inside," Hunt suggested as Alexis scrambled for a pen and paper to write all of it down.
"Thank you my Lord, I owe you." Kate ended the call and didn't hear. "You owe me nothing Katherine."
"I think our shopping trip just came to an end, and I'm sorry Irene but your shopping trip has just been increased." Kate hated heaping all of this on Irene; she deserved better.