After meeting with the Queen, Leo and Piper returned back to their chambers. "When the Queen walks the earth, nothing will stop us from killing Prue," Leo told Piper with a kiss as they undressed and slipped into bed.
"Us?" said Piper. "I don't think so. You promised me that I would be the only one who finally shuts her up for good"
"Of course," said Leo. "As long as the Halliwell line will be extinguished. Blown out as easily as a candle's flame."
Even in the dark, Leo felt Piper eye him strangely. "And why do you want our line 'extinguished'?"
"Because I'll have turned the greatest chances for light and good in the world to darkness." Leo began to run his hands along Piper's hips, kissing her neck. "Do you know how good that feels? To corrupt someone? To watch them give into their greatest temptations?"
"No," she said, but it was really more of an exhalation.
He whispered into the curve of her neck, "I highly recommend it…"
Later, as Leo and Piper fell asleep, slick and satisfied, Leo felt himself drifting into visions he wasn't eager to relive. As Piper recalled a life that still had ties to the mortal world, Leo dreamed of a life that he'd left behind long ago.
-transition-
Leopold Christopher was born in rural England, September 1724. He didn't know the exact day; his parents were illiterate. He was the son of a farmer and his young wife, the fifth of ten children, four of whom lived past the age of five. His mother died in childbirth along with baby number ten, her body exhausted beyond repair.
Leopold's father turned to wine and women in his grief, and seemed to forget about the children in his household. Leaving his father, Leopold came to live in his eldest sister's house for a time, but her husband took after their father in his drinking. Leopold spent his time making money by digging ditches or caring for animals, and was often found sleeping under the bridge into the village or in a neighbor's garden. A kind pastor took pity upon him, collected funds from other villagers, and sent young Leopold to seminary.
There he learned to read and write. A new world suddenly opened, Leopold devoted himself to the Bible and its teachings. After years of study, Leopold became a pastor himself. He was sent to a small fishing community on the eastern coast. Leopold was a commendable priest, and each day, he promised to love God until his heart stopped beating.
Many years in the future, when Leo told this story to Piper and a nun they later devoured, he swore that he had kept his word.
-transition-
England, 1750
Leopold closed the church door behind him. He went to his study and lit a candle, intending to do some reading before going home and preparing the same meager supper he had every night. But just as he picked up his book, he heard noise coming from the chapel.
Leopold walked through the halls to the chapel, where a hooded figure sat in the first pew. Even though Leopold could not see her face, he found himself entranced. A sweet smell emanated from the woman, her pale hands clasped in her lap. He found himself wishing to sit in her lap and push back her hood– and found himself just as suddenly disgusted with these thoughts. "Can I help you?"
"I wish to confess my sins," she said. Her voice had an accent he didn't recognize; then again, Leopold had never been more than an hour away from where he was born.
"I am not a priest, and the hour is late," he said. "In the morning, I can–"
"But I must confess, or God will damn me!" she hissed fearfully. "The things I have done…" She lowered her hood.
Ebony hair hung in loose ringlets past her shoulders, cradling a Spaniard's olive complexion. Her face was of ageless beauty. Despite her face, her eyes were so dark– almost the perfect shade of black– Leopold thought she was a demon masquerading as a seraph. He drew a quick breath, trying to ignore her obvious beauty.
"Will you listen to my sins?"
He swallowed painfully, trying to push past the lust attempting to invade his heart. "Yes, good woman," he said, settling in the same pew as her but giving her a wide berth. "Tell me what troubles you."
Her radiant face grew grave. "I have killed a man."
Leopold didn't know what to say; he'd never met a murderer before. The woman went on. "Not just one man. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Perhaps… even thousands."
Stunned, he could only say, "Why?" Leopold had been angry and frustrated at times, but he did not understand what could push a person to take another's life. And not just one but thousands… How could that be? Was this woman insane?
She was silent for a moment as she considered Leopold's question. "Hunger," she said, sounding disinterested and not all like the God-fearing woman from moments ago. "Passion. Rage. The desire to inflict pain."
The pastor shook his head in wonder. "Why would you desire to hurt others?" he asked.
"It's hard to explain," she told him, her eyes bright with an emotion Leopold was unfamiliar with. "I'll have to show you." Her front teeth lengthened. The demoness drew him close and swiftly covered his mouth.
"I've never tasted a man of God before," she said. Leopold tried to scream, but could not. Our Father who art in Heaven! he repeated over and over in his mind. Yet God seemed to not hear his pleas. His vision grew darker and darker. He felt her incisors lift out of him, and then nothing but darkness.
Leo awoke slowly, letting his weak body and blank mind become adjusted to the surroundings. His eyes told him he was underground; the ceiling and walls were made of stone. Leo had no idea how he'd come to be there, or any recollection of what had happened before he had awoken.
A bat flew into the chamber; it shuddered with energy as it landed beside Leo, taking the shape of a woman. Her face seemed familiar, but Leo couldn't place it.
"Who are you?"
She smiled. "You don't remember?" He shook his head. "Don't worry, it will return."
She hadn't answered his question. "Who are you?"
"Your Queen."
"And who am I?"
"You are Leo, my faithful servant." She touched his cheek tenderly. "You will be a fine addition to my family."
"I don't understand."
"Of course not, my sweetling." The woman pulled her hand back. "But you will feed, and then you shall understand what you are meant to be." Leo watched as she became a bat once more and flew from the room. He lay back on the bed of granite and closed his eyes.
Leo felt a soft hand grasp his, and he was instantly awake. The Queen had returned.
"I have brought you a meal," she said with a smile. Leo sat up. His eyes widened when he saw a girl bound and gagged at the Queen's feet. The vampiress raised up the easy prey by the ropes. Leo could hear the blood flowing through the girl's veins, just as easily he heard her heart pound away.
The Queen thrust the girl into his arms. "Feed."
The girl looked up at Leo and started to cry. She smelled better than anything he'd ever inhaled before, and a sudden pain filled his gums. He ran his tongue along them, feeling his fangs sharpen and slide out.
Leo gave into his urges. Without another thought he plunged his teeth into the girl's neck.
Sweet, hot blood ran over his tongue and down his throat. Any hesitation Leo felt was replaced by pure pleasure. His strength returned to him tenfold. He looked down at the girl, and saw her eyes were wide and staring into Death's kingdom. Leo remembered who he was, and dropped her body in horror. "I killed her."
The Queen clapped. "What a good boy."
Leo ran to her, impossibly fast, and grabbed the Queen by the collar of her shirt. He slammed her against the wall. "No!" he growled at her. "It's wrong! This killing, it's sinful!" Scrambled thoughts of piety filled his mind. "It's against God!"
The Queen pushed him off of her– hard enough to throw him across the room and to the ground. "You are a still child, so I make allowances for these… outbursts. For now," she said. "But you must understand, Leo. You were a pious man in your mortal life, what the humans call 'a good man'. Chaste. Humble. Impoverished. And to what end? If there was a God, would He not have saved your life? You wasted your years serving a book of fairy tales and ideas of righteousness. Your God never did anything for you, but I did. I gave you eternal life, and the opportunity to bend only to your own will, and your own desires."
"I won't kill anyone to live!" he said. The Queen's face hardened and became cruel.
"If you wish to survive, you will kill." Leo had lost the sense to speak, still shaking his head and backing away from the vampiress. The Queen's eyes smoldered with rage. "In exchange for this eternal life, all I ask for is your loyalty."
She sauntered over to him, dark eyes fixed on his, and Leo felt his anger begin to evaporate, replaced with lust. "Yes, good reverend, doesn't it feel good? The blood pumping in your veins. You'll come to learn very soon that the undead body exists purely for pleasure. So many things you denied yourself in your life…" The Queen ran her hand over Leo's chest, up his neck to cradle his cheek. She pressed her body up against his; he gasped. "So much to taste in death."
-transition-
San Francisco, 1924
Leo sauntered into the crowded speakeasy. Most of the fools there were drunk, dancing around the piano and gossiping as they sipped their bootleg booze. Simple pleasures for the simple-minded, he thought, rolling his eyes.
He looked across the room; there was his Pearl. A beautiful witch, the owner of this speakeasy…with a controlling husband, Gordon, and two meddling cousins.
Gordon was at the piano; he glanced up from his sheet music, and looked through Leo as if he weren't there. Leo ignored him in turn. They both knew that Gordon had forbidden Pearl from ever speaking to him again.
Across the room Pearl caught Leo's eye. Leo waited for a smile, a sign of recognition from her, but she quickly brought her attention back to her cousin Phyllis. "If you'll excuse me," he heard her say to Phyllis. Pearl walked straight towards Leo, not meeting his eyes as she swept past him. "In the foyer. Now."
Leo followed. Pearl leaned against the wall, her beaded fringed skirt swinging back and forth. "Thought you'd stop by and see me between kills?"
Leo tried to hide his amusement. Witch blood had just been spilled on the other side of town, on the Queen's orders. "Now, Pearl, that's not fair."
"I told you not to come here again."
"But I miss you, sweetheart," he said, stroking her face. She pulled away. "You're not meant to live your life serving bathtub gin and performing magic tricks." He glanced over at the other cousin, Paulette; she pretended she could read a crystal ball in the sunroom for an eager crowd.
"Leo, I would love to see the world," said Pearl. "But I have responsibilities."
"Your cousins can brew potions without you," Leo said as he moved closer to Pearl. She stiffened slightly as Leo placed his hands on her shoulders. "You deserve better."
"If I don't stay here, there will be no Charmed Ones. The line continues with my family," Pearl insisted. "My children, my children's children…"
"The Charmed Ones," Leo muttered, his anger flaring up. "Who cares about a couple of little girls who haven't even been born yet?"
"Don't raise your voice," she snapped, looking nervous. "Gordon might hear you."
"I hope he does," he said. "We'll give him a show." He began to play with the straps of Pearl's flapper dress. Leo pressed his mouth to her shoulder, working up to her neck.
"You shouldn't do this…" she said, but Pearl gave in. Their mouths met softly, then passionately. Leo could feel her heartbeat as he started to pull down Pearl's dress straps. His teeth lengthened. Her pulse throbbed under his lips. Leo wondered–
"Pearl!"
Leo pulled himself away. Phyllis stood behind them, hands on her hips, brimming with disapproval. "What if Gordon saw you?" Phyllis's voice dropped as she leaned towards her cousin. "We have to take care of Paulette. She and Anton are planning something."
"I'll be right there," Pearl said. She and Leo watched Phyllis return to the drawing room.
"Your witch duties will always come first," Leo sneered.
"What about your Queen?"
"That's different."
Pearl shook her head. "You need to leave… and never come back."
"I can take you away from all of this," Leo promised her. "I can give you a new life."
"Don't. Come. Back," Pearl said.
Leo watched Pearl walk away, before walking out of the manor himself. Let Pearl rot, surrounded by her little witch children, studying their magics, Leo thought furiously as he transformed and took to the night skies. I'll make sure they get their education in vampires.
-transition-
Leo awoke and rolled over to look at Piper. She wasn't the exact replica of Pearl, no, but her spirit… he smiled, very pleased. It made sense that the closest he ever came to turning a human was the soul he'd end up siring seventy years later. He stroked Piper's cheek softly; how strange it was, the way souls became entangled in this world.
Leo, the Vampire Queen called to him. I need you.
He sighed. Unfortunately the Queen could no longer differentiate between her wants and needs, which meant that Leo had very little time to get her to her chambers before she started breaking things. He moved to get dressed.
-transition-
San Francisco, 1888
Three-year-old Cole was awoken by voices. It sounded like his mother was screaming, so he climbed down from bed and toddled towards her bedroom, dragging his blanket behind him.
The door to his parents' bedroom was ajar; he stood just at the crack, peeking inside. His mother Elizabeth was in her dressing gown, hair loose around her head. Cole knew she only dressed like that when the family didn't have company. But there was a man in his mother's room he did not recognize.
"–he bound her with an enchantment like I've never seen," he said. "It forced her underground, into her chambers… for now."
"You were certain the Queen would destroy him!" said Elizabeth, wagging her finger in the face of a blond man. "Damn you, you promised me–"
"I don't remember promising you a thing," he replied, batting her finger away. "Don't get hysterical; go underground, bide your time. The Source will forget all about this after a decade or two–"
"Are you insane? He has a long memory for betrayal, Leo. I've already pushed him enough, asking him to raise my son in the mortal world with his father." Elizabeth's lip began to tremble, and she backed away from Leo. "He'll never forgive me."
Leo threw on his coat. "Do what you need to. Get on your knees. Grovel and beg for forgiveness. Flirt if you have to; I've heard he likes that. I know I did."
Elizabeth grabbed a bottle of perfume from her vanity and hurled it at Leo. He darted out of the way. "Losing your temper now will do you no good," he said.
When Cole watched his mother burst into tears, he started to cry himself. Suddenly the bedroom quieted down, and the door swung open. Cole looked up into Leo's light blue eyes, pale and devoid of empathy even as he smiled at the boy. "There there, little one," said the vampire, giving Cole a pat on the head. "No need to cry."
That only made little Cole wail more. Elizabeth ran to him, scooping him into her arms. Cole lay his head on her shoulder; she stroked his hair. "My husband will be home soon," said Elizabeth. Her voice was calmer, resolute, but tinged with fury. "Get out."
"As you wish," said Leo. "Best of luck to you, Elizabeth." Cole turned his head just in time to see him shapeshift into a bat and fly out the open window–
-transition-
–before waking up in his own bed, in the Underworld, over a hundred years later with a start.
Belthazor rubbed his eyes. It hadn't been his intention to relive the past, but what the hell: why not get revenge if given the opportunity?
-transition-
After servicing the Queen, Leo kissed her. Beside her bed on a mahogany night table sat a bottle of wine and two glasses. He rolled over and poured himself some. "More wine, my Queen?"
"No, thank you," she said breathily. Her hair was a dark tangle; there was as much of a flush to her cheeks as a vampire could have; and she smiled like she had a secret. This was the Vampire Queen as undone as Leo saw her, or had ever seen her.
It was a privilege to be here, with the Queen, Leo reminded himself. At the same time, he wondered: how much of a privilege could it be if he needed to give him that constant reassurance?
Leo had taken lovers over the years, but none that interfered with his relationship with the Queen. It wasn't until Piper came into the picture that Leo had felt any unease. It was an unspoken secret that lived in the dark glares Piper gave him before and after the Queen summoned him. Something to look forward to as he went back to his chambers, he thought wryly.
Leo drank his glass of wine in one gulp, and set it aside to get dressed. "Leo," said the Queen, "are you in a hurry?"
"No, my Queen," he said, sitting back down on the bed. Without looking he felt the Queen sit up, put her arms around his shoulders and kiss his neck. Leo did his best to glance at the grandfather clock in the corner without the Queen seeing him–
"Do you have an appointment, Leo?"
Her voice was razor sharp, and her patience was just as thin; clearly Leo had not done his best. "What do you mean?"
"Are you worried about your lover? I can't imagine why," she said, her mouth inches from his ear. "She can take care of herself."
"I like taking care of her," Leo said without thinking, and was thrown out of bed for it.
He thankfully landed on his back. The Queen hovered over Leo, uninterested in human standards of decency but somehow in black stilettos. "You're welcome to take care of whomever you wish," said the Queen sweetly, melodiously. She stepped on his chest. If her heel had been made of wood, she could've stamped Leo out of existence. "But not on my time. Do you understand?" Leo nodded.
When he returned to his chambers, he found Piper awake, and unhappy. "I don't want to hear it," she warned him.
"I don't want to say it, so we're even," he said. He undressed and slid into bed. "What you don't understand is–"
"Oh, please, explain it to me in a way I can understand–"
"I love you," said Leo. "If my heart could beat, it would beat for you."
"Don't be gross."
"Come on," said Leo, giving her a lopsided smile. Piper rolled her eyes. "That's the story the good guys tell each other, right? 'Evil can't love'? If that's so… do you love me?"
"Of course I do," said Piper, even if she was partially irritated when she said it. Leo lay back in bed; she placed her head on his chest. "What are you saying, we don't know what we're feeling?"
"No, never. But there's a reason vampires can love, and demons and warlocks can't. The first vampires weren't demons who sprung up from the goo like the rest of the underworld. They were originally human. Witches."
"Really?"
Leo nodded. "About five hundred years ago, an illness passed through a Romanian village. There was a witch who lived there and managed not to get sick, but her children did. In an attempt to save them, she made a potion that would preserve them in death. The witch used the blood of an innocent human to make the potion: the children's father. He was willing to sacrifice his life for his children, but the witch didn't realize that her spell would bind her children to an eternity of drinking blood."
Piper couldn't help but shudder. "I can't imagine they were happy with what Mommy and Daddy did."
"Not at all," said Leo. "Now as living dead, unable to walk in the daylight, they forced their mother to alter the spell as much as she could. The witch couldn't restore them to life, but she gave them strength, speed, the ability to shapeshift and fly… then they murdered her. That's why witch powers don't work on vampires."
"And the Queen? She was…"
"One of the original children, yes. They're spread out now: one in New York, London, Tokyo, and the last one in New Orleans, of course, cliches come from somewhere–"
"Leo," Piper said patiently, "why are you telling me all of this?"
"So you understand that it was the father's sacrifice, his act of love, that allows vampires to feel and love. It binds us to their sires, especially those sired by the Queen. It keeps us together in a way the rest of the underworld could only dream of."
"So we'll never be free of her."
"What do you want, Piper? You want the Queen dead?" Leo moved to look Piper in the eye. "If the Queen dies, we all go with her. Is that what you want?"
"Of course not!" said Piper. "I love you. I want another hundred years with you. I would wade through a sea of bodies with you. But I feel like we can't have what we truly want…"
"I know," said Leo. He held her close, stroking her hair. "I know. Don't worry, my love. We'll figure out a way."
