Lucien Lachance looked to his companion with an impatient stare. His chestnut brown eyes had regained a little of their sheen but he remained pale and drawn. Whilst Lucien was pale the Imperial male with him was bordering on translucent, his skin was a ghostly white, so pallid it bore a blue sheen from the veins that were prominent through it. The man, and Lucien was starting to think that was a loose term to describe his companion, was acting as if he had all the time in the world. The assassin supposed that he did but the girl lying unconscious on the bed and staining its fine velvet covers with her blood most certainly did not.

Lucien wondered at his choice. Had he really had a choice? 'Well yes,' he thought to himself coolly, 'let her bleed out, end her life myself or this.' What kind of a choice was this though? He knew Sera would never forgive him for it and strangely that thought bothered him just a little. This had never been a part of his plan after all, yes he wanted her secured in the Brotherhood and yes he needed her alive to ensure her use as a pawn against the Gray Fox but was this living?

"Can you get on with it?" Lucien quipped sharply.

Two glowing red pinpricks of light were suddenly focused on him almost swallowing him up in their crimson flames. The assassin pinched one of his open wounds on his right arm drawing a gasp of pain from him but ending the spell.

"You ask that like it is a matter to be taken lightly," came the cold response. "As if it is as trivial as measuring the girl for a dress."

"She'll bleed out," Lucien grumbled. He wondered how the man managed to restrain himself with so much free blood around, Lucien was bleeding as well after all.

"Maybe that would be for the best," the man retorted, his voice still cold.

"That's not an option," Lucien growled back threateningly.

"This is not an easy matter," the man murmured. He stepped up to the girl and peered down at her critically. "It may cause harm in the long run."

"And it may not," Lucien snarled.

"It is not her choice."

"No, it's mine so let me deal with the consequences and the blame."

The red fiery gaze was upon him again but this time there was no power in it only anger. "Who are you to make this choice for her?" the man snarled, showing a flash of fangs as he did. "Who even is she that you bring her to be my offspring? A woman I know nothing about!"

"For the last time Hassildor I am a man who knows your secret, a man belonging to a Brotherhood you owe a large debt to. Now see it paid and change her before she bleeds out."

"You are neither mother nor listener," the man scorned, "who are you to clear my debt?"

"I will see it done!" Lucien snapped back, his irritation filling his voice. Another time he might have considered charm but he was exhausted and aching all over and Sera had no more time to waste. Truthfully he didn't know how the blonde had made it this long.

The man turned back to the blonde at last. He stroked her brow gently with his right hand and sighed. "Poor woman," he sympathised, "I don't know you and now I must make you family. Tell me her name assassin."

"Seraphina Polita," Lucien retorted.

The man leaned down putting his face closer to hers. "No, that is not it," he said in dismay. "That name is a lie."

Lucien shrugged. "Well it's the only name I know for her so it's all I can tell you."

The man sighed. "I am Count Janus Hassildor," he addressed her, "currently of Skingrad. If you go by Seraphina so be it, then that is what I shall call you. Sweet Seraphina, come now and answer the call of blood and the night."

Sera's body tensed as two fangs pressed deep into her neck. In her sleep she screamed as she felt the agony of her blood being sucked away but to Lucien she made no sound. It took only a couple of minutes for the burning to fade but to Sera in her dreams it seemed like far longer. When the calmness of oblivion came she embraced it and went willingly into the cool darkness and away from the burning and the bleeding.

Janus pulled back and licked her blood from his lips with an odd look. He had tasted the blood of many races over many years but he had never tasted blood like hers. Something had tainted her blood, something that felt old and powerful but he could not be sure what it was.

"Is it done?" Lucien queried tiredly.

Janus nodded. "For now. She has three days for the disease to do its work, either it will kill her or she will turn. I suggest you leave her as she is during that time and stay as guests of my castle."

Lucien nodded as he cast a tired gaze about the room. Sera occupied the only bed but tired as he was he did not wish to leave her.

Janus seemed to guess at the assassin's thoughts as he followed his stare. "I will have my steward Hal-Liurz attend upon you, see that she brings you and Seraphina fresh blankets and pillows."

"Thanks," Lucien retorted dismissively.

Janus frowned at back at him. "Do not thank me, you know very well my aid was unwilling. Vampirism is rarely ever seen as a gift and I would never have chosen to grant it upon someone unknowingly like this." The count shuddered in his self-revulsion. "What you have made me do, it is a violation."

"You're being dramatic," Lucien scorned unkindly, "and it is done now, there is no undoing it."

"Killing her now before the three days pass would undo it," Janus retorted frostily. He stalked out of the room before Lucien could answer him.

Blood. Pain. Hunger. Darkness. Thirst. She ran through a rainstorm unsure of what she was seeking. She had been imprisoned, restrained, hands upon her wrists, weak hands. She had almost broken those hands. Flesh bubbling and cracking, a corpse bloated, swollen and purple, full of blood, ripe and ready for tasting.

She halted in the street and tensed. There was blood in the air, fresh, warm and so tantalising close.

A pair of icy sky blue eyes froze upon her. They tried to take her in but she moved too quickly.

The Gray Fox found himself falling back hard to the pavement with a loud splash as the woman's weight carried him down. His vision flashed red as he felt two sharp objects pierce through his neck. A rare moment of panic overtook him as he tried and failed to process what was going on.

The moment the blood touched her lips was horrifying and glorious all at once. She sucked a mouthful past her lips and down her throat, it was hot, thick and sticky. Just as suddenly as she had attacked she drew back with a look of disgust and started retching.

The Gray Fox seized his opportunity to push his assailant back. He forced her off with both hands, sending her reeling to the ground in a fit of coughing. The coughing turned to a snarl quickly as her eyes burned red and she moved for him again.

"Alexandra stop!" he cried out pleadingly.

She tensed once more as if petrified by his words, her open maw just inches from his throat.

He let out a series of short, sharp gasps. His heart was pounding hard and fast against its ribcage, a horrid temptation to the demonic woman before him. "Alexandra what happened to you?" he queried softly.

She shook her head at him as her eyes budded with tears. She didn't have an answer. There had been blood and pain, blackness and a fever, blurred days and nights of sweats and shivers and then this confused bloodlust.

She turned suddenly hearing footsteps hitting off puddles and cobblestones. Two men appeared round the corner blocking off the path she had come down. One was swarthy, cloaked in black and almost out of breath. The second looked out of place in the rundown damp streets, he was hooded and robed like his companion but there was no hiding the proud way he carried himself, he had to be nobility.

"By Sithis it's him!" Lucien Lachance, the figure cloaked in black, hissed out as his keen brown eyes fell upon the alarmed Gray Fox. He couldn't believe it, the fabled thief was here in the flesh and even more surprising, he was vulnerable! The assassin didn't know what to do, he had not been anticipating a meeting with the thief lord until later and it did not bode well for the Gray Fox to see that Seraphina wasn't exactly in Lucien's clutches anymore.

Lucien's companion, Count Janus Hassildor, kept his focus on the blonde. His fiery red eyes pulled her stare in, urging her closer and closer. "Seraphina," he called to her, his voice quiet in the air, almost inaudible against the rain and yet in her mind it was almost a shout, "come to me Seraphina."

She shook her head and a sob choked out of her. Her head moved back and forth suddenly as her gaze darted from the vampire to the bleeding thief behind her. All she could smell was the blood, it was all she could think of, all she wanted. Her vision burned red and she moved to the thief again.

The Gray Fox jerked back sharply with a cry of alarm.

"SERAPHINA STOP!" Janus' roar cut through the night air almost deafening Lucien and the Gray Fox. It caused Seraphina to fall to her knees, mewling like a cat and quivering as she clutched her hands against her ears.

The Gray Fox looked down from her to the two beings behind her. His eyes widened as he realised how close they had come without him even noticing. They were only a couple of feet away. He blinked at the count in confusion before his stare fell on Lucien. "Assassin!" he snarled hatefully. "What did you do to her?"

Lucien looked down at the thief in surprise. "Have we met?" he queried coldly.

Janus looked to the thief too, his predatory gaze at once suspicious. He cocked his head slightly as his crimson gaze pierced through the Gray Fox's wary blue stare. "We have," he stated it matter of factly, his voice leaving no room for doubt.

The Gray Fox's stare returned to the count, his eyes growing bulbous as he noticed how the count's gaze had bled to red. 'He's a vampire!' he thought in horror. 'How long has this been? But then...'

"Was it you?" he croaked hoarsely. "Did you do this to her?" He gestured with both hands to the trembling blonde before him.

"I'm so thirsty," she moaned, "it hurts."

The count frowned and his gaze darted about the shadowy streets. "We need to go," he said sternly, "others are coming."

"Where?" Lucien demanded.

"Back to the castle."

"And him?" Lucien gestured down to the thief with his left hand.

"What does it matter?" the count quipped coldly. He leaned down, reaching to Seraphina with both hands.

"No, no, no!" The blonde started to shriek as the count's iron like grasp took hold of her, pulling her to her feet and away from the blood.

"Stop it!" the Gray Fox snapped. He stood upright rapidly and found himself stumbling forward as his vision blurred at the edges.

"That's a deep wound," Lucien commented mockingly as he looked to the bite mark with a dark gaze.

"I don't know your connection to the woman thief but right now she is dangerous, I need to get her off the streets," the count explained. "I will take her back to my castle and see her bloodlust satiated there in a controlled and safe environment."

"Controlled? Safe?" the thief sneered. "What have you done to her Janus? What have you done?!" the thief cried out. He looked up to the count with anger and grief.

Lucien glanced from one to the other, his dark brows furrowing together as he wondered at their familiarity.

The count scowled and bristled slightly before casting an ugly stare upon Lucien. "Let the assassin explain it if he can do so without lies but for now we go, no more delay. Come if you wish thief." He pressed his head down against Seraphina, his lips almost brushing against her right ear. She had gone still against him, her hungry gaze focused solely on the thief's bloody wound. "Seraphina," he murmured to her softly, "come now."

The count drew himself upright and pulled back from Seraphina, letting his hands slide down her shoulders until he held her by one hand. His grasp appeared deceptively loose but within a half-second it could become like iron if necessary. He stared to walk and the blonde moved with him, trance like as she matched his swift pace.

Lucien and the Gray Fox exchanged a wary glower. "What is it you want that could be worth all this?" the thief growled.

Lucien sighed before pulling his dark hood tighter against his face. "This was not a part of my plan," he confessed. "Your sweet Seraphina was on the brink of death and my options were limited. I made a choice, time will tell if it was the right one."

"And who put her on the brink of death?" the thief snapped.

"She made that choice herself," Lucien answered with a mocking smile. "A grim story she can tell you herself. Now, will you risk walking into the city castle, thief lord?" He gestured in the direction the vampires had gone.

The Gray Fox looked ahead, unsure what to do. He was injured and starting to feel dizzy from blood loss, it would be foolish to go and have himself at the mercy of a vampire and an assassin and yet how could he let her slip away yet again? She had looked so afraid even as she had looked frightening, both a monster and a scared little girl. He couldn't let that sorrowful pleading stare down again. He swallowed hard and fixed a stern gaze on the assassin. "Do not think to catch me at a disadvantage assassin," he warned. "If you try you will pay."

Lucien's grin widened. "I have your sweet Seraphina bound to me, that is all I need. We can be civil thief, perhaps we can even talk and I can tell you why I took Seraphina from the thieves."

"I do not think you have her anymore," the Gray Fox growled back. He stared to move then as he spied the glow of torches highlighting the walls in yellow. He knew the guards of the city were finally nearing.

The Gray Fox did not know what to think. A large part of him was itching to take off his mask and welcome the safety of anonymity but a voice in his head told him that it wouldn't be fair to her. His blue eyes darted about the large room purposely avoiding one section of it, just before him and to the right. If he was careful he could keep the sight just at the corner of his eye, a blur he could ignore.

Lucien Lachance chose to revel in the sight, gawking with wide brown eyes full of fascination. Sera was on her hands and knees, head shaking as blood dripped down her chin and she murmured feverishly. "I hate the undead, I hate them, I can't...blood...blood..."

The count of Skingrad, who stood beside the woman, looked to her sympathetically. "It will get easier with time," he murmured.

Sera looked up at him savagely with crimson eyes. "I don't want it to! Why did you this to me? Why?! I'm a monster!"

Janus looked from the blonde to Lucien accusingly. The assassin winced slightly when the count pointed to him with one finger. "Because he willed it," Janus stated coldly.

Sera looked then to Lucien hatefully. "I save you and you repay me with this?" she snapped at him. "You allow me to be violated like this! Why?" She shook her head in despair. "Hadn't you done enough?"

"You were dying Sera," Lucien informed her calmly, "and your time and my options were limited."

"I'd rather you let me die," she croaked out, "the undead are unnatural beasts, they shouldn't exist! I'm an abomination now!"

The Gray Fox frowned at the conversation as he wondered how and why Sera had almost died. He was too concerned for her to ponder much about her confession that she had saved Lucien. 'Is this better than her dying?' the thief wondered. 'I...I don't know...'

When the blonde started to cry the thief moved. A familial instinct kicked in as he headed to her, arms slightly parted and a look of sympathy and comfort on his face. She moved suddenly in reaction to his movements, her head snapping to attention to face him with bared fangs and a fiery red gaze.

"She's fed," Janus remarked icily, "but this is first night so be cautious thief lord especially with your wound."

The Gray Fox's vibrant blue stare flickered up to Janus briefly to give the count an accusing glare before it returned to Sera. He still could not believe Janus Hassildor was a vampire. 'How long has he been this way?' the thief wondered. 'I knew he was reclusive but this! Was I so blind? So ignorant?'

The thief dropped to a crouch putting his tender stare almost level with Sera's.

The blonde looked to the thief sadly before shaking her head and turning away. "Why did you have to be here?" she queried sorrowfully as bloody tears stained her cheeks pink. "Why must you see this?"

"I'm here for you Sera," he answered softly, "that's all that matters."