Of Blades and Fangs - A New Covenant

by Pozzo89

In an alternate timeline of the Marvel Multiverse, this work is set to show what would happen if one major moment in the movie Blade II occurred differently. What if Blade arrived in time to prevent Nyssa from being bitten by Nomak? This fanfiction aims to explore the possibilities offered by canon divergence and personal interpretation.

3. Chapter 3 - Deep into Caliban's Bowels

As soon as Blade and Nyssa were out Whistler's sight, she let his hand go and turned to look at the Daywalker, since he had stopped.

"I think that's enough joking around before your mentor, for now".

Behind those shades of his, she could not tell if he was surprised, relieved or disappointed: perhaps, it was a bit of all three. Thus, the Damaskinos heiress gave him a brief smile before she resumed her pace and swiftly crossed the ER automatic door and headed towards the end of the corridor. The vampire slayer followed suit.

"Where are we going?".

Nyssa lifted her eyes to look at an electronic wall clock standing over a bulletin board and a wall planner, beside one closed door on their right.

"Mm, since have about five or six hours before the Cabinet meeting…".

They quickly arrived before the lift, and she pushed the button to open the doors.

"…I'd suggest we use that time to freshen up and plan our next move".

Eric entered right after her, so that she had him in front of her when she turned to press the button and reach the upper floors.

"Are you saying that's better if I'd take a shower?".

Nyssa took a moment to look at herself, then at Blade.

"Actually, both of us. I've been beaten up and thrown around like a rag doll by Nomak, and you didn't get a kinder treatment… I think we deserve a clean and healthy shower, at the very least".

Although her supernatural, vampiric healing factor was already kicking in and healing her injuries, it did nothing to numb the pain. Nyssa was still sore in places she did not know she had, whilst some of her tattered clothes were stained by blood or covered in dirt and thus the idea of a warm, relaxing shower sounded very enticing. Somewhere in the back of her head, a thought of Eric and her having a hot, steamy shower together cropped up: and it was more than enticing.

Nyssa briefly flashed to a sudden and stirring mental picture of herself, in her own spacious and steamy bath. Hot water was pouring down on her, washing away the grime and sweat from the fight. She wiped her wet hair from her face as a pair of manly, firm and strong hands slowly caressed her thighs, resting on her hips. A delicious shiver of pleasure ran through her whole body when she felt the man's tongue and pencil-moustached lips pressing into her private, tender recesses.

She had to shut her eyes and mouth to keep herself from moaning.

'Oh, bugger… take a hold of yourself, woman!'.

As she tried to fight back that thought, she could do nothing but reveal it.

"Besides… the blood you told me you drenched yourself in is starting to affect those around you".

Upon hearing her own words, the vampire princess closed her eyes again to hide her embarrassment. When she opened them again, the hunter's shades let her see only his right eyebrow arching with suspicion, as he took a step closer: unbearably closer.

"Mm? You're saying that I smell?".

Nyssa's only answer was ogling him. She took a good look of his solid and broad shoulders, and her left hand found itself a way to his armour vest, where her fingers traced the contours of his Kevlar breast plate. Just a few layers of strong, heat-resistant synthetic fibre separated her from his wide, well-defined chest. The Damaskinos heiress traced a pattern down the Stalker's vest with her fingers until they arrived at the buckle of his belt, whilst some of her broken nails scraped against it. To her great delight, in matter of seconds his erection became apparent and pitched a tent in his trousers.

'That's more like it! I'm the one who makes people react, not the other way round'.

Nonetheless, Eric's visibly stirring manhood brought back some pleasant memories.

Lots of memories came to Nyssa, like the one of her lying on his tatami mats whilst he engulfed her with his size and strength, overwhelming her senses in every possible way. There, he pounded her in a powerful, measured and relentless rhythm, to give her no time to think: only feel. Nonetheless, their coupling became more frantic and savage, as she clutched greedily at Blade and scratched his bare back with her nails. In the throes of passion, the urge to bite got intolerable for both of them and they hungrily bit each other's throat. To Nyssa his blood felt like rocket fuel, propelling her into a dreamlike world of both pleasure and pain where she truly felt alive. That sensation alone brought her over the edge, causing her core to seize tight against his loins whilst a sharp gasp escaped her lips and her head turned to one side: her mind completely blank.

"Princess? You all right?".

The Daywalker's words jolted Nyssa out of her reverie. In spite of her low body temperature, she felt her own cheeks grow warm, due either to that vivid recollection or to the embarrassed feeling of having been caught gawking.

'Dash it!'.

In an attempt to regain some composure, Nyssa passed her left hand over her face and used it to hold her chin. Then, she fixed her gaze on the Daywalker's shades.

"Look at it this way: if you wake up one morning particularly hungry, and you go to the kitchen where someone's already prepared your favourite pancakes soaked in your favourite maple syrup, would you be able to focus on the Lex column of the Financial Times?".

She sensed Blade returning her gaze, even though devoid of any expression or emotion.

"Nyssa… I'm not Canadian nor from Vermont, and I surely don't read the Financial Times".

At first, the Damaskinos heiress blinked in astonishment, then she groaned out loud in frustration, whilst a chagrined expression appeared on her face.

'Is he being deliberately obtuse, or what? Have I been messing about with a dim-witted killer?'.

Nyssa was about to throw her hands in the air to vent out her dismay, when the Daywalker caught her by the wrists.

"Okay! Bad joke. I made a bad joke. Witty humour isn't my strong suit".

Although his shades prevented her from peering directly into his eyes, Eric's clenched teeth, raised eyebrows and wrinkled forehead told Nyssa he actually might be sorry. Trying to let her annoyance go, she closed her eyes and turned the head to her right side.

"Please, refrain from any other attempt at humour. At least, for the immediate future".

Blade quickly answered.

"As you wish, princess".

She gradually opened the eyes and turned her head to face the Daywalker.

"Good. Now, you can let go my wrists".

He didn't move.

"Back on the previous topic… admittedly, I share your concerns and I too think that a shower will surely be of help".

As if he were not enough close, the vampire slayer took a further step closer. Only a few centimetres separated them.

"Even though, in my case, a cold shower might be more appropriate".

The Daywalker's nearness was starting to affect her senses: especially, her olfaction. It was like some master perfumer had been concocting an alluring fragrance, singular notes of human-compatible pheromones which harmonised together to make up a heady, rough and charming composition. Every note had a purpose and evoked a feeling. As her nostrils flared with every breath, they caught hints of Eric's own damp and hot breath, headnotes of the strong smell of his sweat and heart notes of his dirty and manly musk. But far more importantly, there were base notes of another scent, which had been making Nyssa feel dizzy since the lift doors closed behind the pair of them: the pungent, irrepressible and metallic scent of blood.

"For the last hour, I've been finding increasingly difficult to resist the urge to jump you… again".

Finally, Blade let the hold of her wrists go. However, he did not exactly let her loose. Instead, his hands gradually moved to her elbows. Even through the black leather of her jacket, Nyssa felt the man's touch as his fingers trailed her sleeves, sending sparks of electricity through her arms.

'Oh, to hell with traditions and customs'.

In the blink of an eye, the vampire princess sprang to close the already minimal distance between her lips and the Daywalker's, pressing her mouth decisively against his. Opting to keep her eyes open, she stared at his shades with the hope to find something other her own reflection. In response, Eric caught her bottom lip with his teeth and bit faintly. Goose pimples went all over her skin, her nipples hardened against her corselette and her toes curled involuntarily in her boots. To better her grip, Nyssa shifted her arms over the slayer's neck and drove her hips against his, feeling his hands rest on her waist. Her right leg began to rub over his left one: black natural leather against black synthetic fibre. She then ventured her tongue into the Stalker's mouth, searching, teasing and brushing sinuously against his teeth. With that, the vampire hunter leant in and began to move his mouth against the Damaskinos heiress', plying it open. Her thin lips curved into a smile as his tongue darted into her mouth.

'Then again, we've been breaking rules since night one'.

The vampire princess and the slayer pressed their mouths against one another's. Next, they quickly retreated and tilted their faces to one side, breathed shortly and then hurried to repeat the whole cycle again. She moved her hands behind Blade's head to angle his mouth and take the kiss deeper. The Damaskinos heiress sensed the hunter loosening his strong jaw up until their intimacy was nothing but a slow and wet slide. Their exchanges seemed to have no end, and Nyssa could only hear the loud beat of blood in her hears. With a heavy sigh Eric tried to pull back, prompting her to grab him by the scruff of the neck. Then she eased him back into the snogging session, this time deeper and wetter. Every time their lips met, she felt her nerve endings crackling. With every touch of tongue, she felt a new heaviness between her legs. From all the blood he had probably drunk in the Eugenics Chamber, the Daywalker's mouth still tasted like copper and, to a vampire like Nyssa, it was something akin to sweet ambrosia, so she sucked on his tongue: again and again, as if her life depended on it. In the heat of the passion she nipped his lower lip, urging him closer against her, body hard, warming her everywhere they connect. As their teeth chinked together, Eric retreated slightly to talk, still pressed against her lips though.

"It seems that we've got the same idea… about making good use of this elevator".

He could say that. If something or someone was not going to stop Nyssa, the intimate moment they had been sharing would have been bound to escalate dramatically. Bumping against the lift walls, trousers flying, her bodice torn open and her feet desperately trying to get out of her boots: been there, done that.

Unexpectedly, Eric pulled back once more and rested his front against hers, putting some distance between their mouths. Nyssa looked deep into the hunter's black shades, trying to search for an explanation to that sudden change.

"However, I fear that this elevator—".

The realisation dawned on her as he spoke.

"It's too bloody fast" she said, completing the sentence for him.

As if on cue, the lift dinged and the doors opened to a hub from which multiple corridors projected. A smirk appeared on Blade's usually deadpan face.

"Saved by the bell".

At that, Nyssa's right hand fell from the vampire Stalker's shoulder whilst her left one slowly and playfully slapped his face, slightly pushing the man away. All that previous, emotional and physical intimacy disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"Daywalker! We're not in Los Angeles, and this isn't a High School".

The hunter stepped back, raising his hands in the air with a mocking expression.

"Hey! Can't fault me for trying to keep up with what the kids are watching nowadays".

It was Nyssa's turn to show a sarcastic smile.

"Eric… I fear that you're ten years late, already".

Cautiously getting out of the lift, Blade extended the side of his right hand to the vampire princess.

"Pot…".

Then, he placed it on his chest.

"…meet kettle".

She squinted angrily at him.

'Oh, you're not going there'.

Without giving Eric the moment to blink, Nyssa dashed off the lift and stopped right in front of the slayer. She placed the back of her right hand over his throat, the ring and little finger bent to touch the thumb as her index and middle finger extended to press directly on the jugular vein. With no great exertion of will, the chipped and broken nails of those two fingers protruded into razor-sharp, dangerous claws.

"Daywalker… I've to admit that I'm a little self-conscious about my age, and I don't react well to jokes and humour".

She did not intend to stick them that much in the Stalker's neck, just enough to scrape a few layers of skin off: and to send a message.

"So… be careful when wisecracking at my expense".

Nyssa expected Blade to answer, but he uttered no words. With the screen of his sunglasses and stiffness of his lips, the hunter's expression appeared unreadable. A few seconds later, though, an almost imperceptible movement of the head of the humerus on his right side was enough to telegraph his intention to the vampire. So, when his right hand quickly rose up to catch her wrist, lowering her fingers and moving those claws of hers away from his neck, she countered with her left one. With his right side now open and vulnerable, at lightning speed the vampire princess thrust her free hand up to his jugular, the sharp nails of her left index and middle finger sticking onto his throat, again. The slayer's stiff, closed lips curved into a slight smirk, his expression otherwise unfazed by her counterattack.

"You're good".

With an impressive amount of force, the Daywalker pulled Nyssa by her right wrist to make her swing sharply around.

"But not that good".

The Damaskinos heiress found herself entrapped and unable to move, her back against his chest and her hands entangled in his arms.

"Don't get upset, princess. I was only teasing".

She felt him getting closer, his warm breath against her left ear.

"Besides… I've yet to see a woman who could handle me".

Eric nibbled her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

"Or maybe, I was just looking for her in the wrong places?".

Nyssa closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths, trying to maintain her composure: whatever little composure she might still have.

'This man's going to be the death of me'.

The vampire princess was thinking about some way to free herself, maybe off-balancing him by putting one foot behind the hunter's calf, when Blade suddenly let her go.

"Someone's coming".

Indeed. Without the slayer breathing nonsense right into her ear, she too was now able to hear footsteps nearing them. By the time the vampire princess conveniently distanced herself from Eric and composed finally regained her composure, the tall gangling figure of the ifrit Philipp Allen came out of a secondary corridor and headed their way, calling her in a polite but raised voice.

"My lady Nyssa!".

The Damaskinos heiress waited for the man to stop before them, then she calmly asked.

"Allen. Have I not told you and the other ghouls to go calling the members of the Shadow Cabinet, have I?".

The familiar slight bowed his head in respect and replied, more quietly.

"Of course. I've reached Niklaus Karsten and, upon hearing the demise of the Overlord, he's immediately asked for a meeting. He's said he would have taken v plném proudu, the Underway, to be here as soon as he can".

She stiffened visibly at those words.

"He wants to meet, here and now? Did you tell him we're currently on lockdown?".

Allen immediately replied.

"Of course, my lady, but Karsten didn't stand for it and said he's already on his way here. I've repeatedly tried to get in touch with you to have your authorisation and let him in, but it seems your phone isn't working, so I've come all the way back to the infirmary to personally inform you".

At those words, Nyssa widened her eyes in surprise as she instantly went for the inner pocket of her jacket, looking for her phone.

Since the Digital Revolution in the latter half of the 20th century, vampires had to devise new methods to keep their world secret from the prying eyes and ears of humans: by extension, away from the poking noses and deadly hands of potential witch-hunters. As per usual, piggybacking on existing or emerging technologies had been the most successful way to provide kindred with a secure communications network. It all began in the late Eighties with Motorola, which board had long been infiltrated into, by courtesy of Gitano Dragonetti and his clan's contacts in the US, which in turn allowed the Vampire Nation to extend its influence over the National Security Agency. Thus, having gained access to all the NSA-approved encryption systems, it was only a matter of time before a few years later an all-encompassing telecommunications network finally came into existence. Such an apparatus had been known since then as FIDES, Fromkin Intel Daily Exchange System, from Victoria Fromkin: the familiar-then-turned-vampire who led and managed the project since its inception. One of the first practical applications of FIDES was a bespoke version of the Motorola V120c, a handheld GSM mobile phone with built-in encryption facilities.

Said phone was the one Nyssa was looking for. When her fingers finally wrapped around something, they pulled out a badly damaged Motorola. The fixed antenna had cracked, the screen was coming apart from the candy-bar body and many buttons had simply come off: no wonder Allen was not able to reach her.

"Oh, bugger".

Heaving an inward sigh, the vampire princess temporarily put the phone back into the inner pocket, with the intention to dispose of it once she got to her quarters. Nyssa pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to help herself think. Then, she quickly turned to the ifrit.

"Thank you, Allen. Once Karsten gets inside the complex, please usher him to my study. In the meanwhile, I'm going to my quarters to make myself presentable before the Hlavní Předseda arrives".

The bespectacled man quickly nodded, and then set off at a steady pace towards another corridor, whilst the Damaskinos heiress and the vampire hunter remained in the hub near the lift. The pair of them remained quite for some moments, since Nyssa appeared lost in thought, before Blade decided to break the silence.

"So, is it bad news or good news?".

The vampire princess blinked and stared in response to the Daywalker.

"Good ones, I suppose. The faster I get a fair hearing with the Head of the Féma, the faster I can have his support… hopefully".

Without giving Eric any chance to reply, she swung around and marched away towards the main corridor.

"Come, Daywalker. I'll explain as we go".

After a few steps, the vampire Stalker reached her.

"My Upírský is not that good. What have I just heard? Do vampires really have a judiciary system?".

Nyssa briefly turned to face the man whilst her eyes went upwards in sort of thoughtful expression, as though she were trying to find the right words to explain the issue to an outsider like him.

"Something like that… since the Oaths of Antioch, with the subsequent reorganisation of the Vampire Nation into a feudal monarchy and the partition of power between the Damaskinos and the other rebellious clans to Varnae's tyranny, every ruling clan-chief was originally charged with adjudicating matters of the Traditions within the lands of his or her jurisdiction, the Velkoknížectví. Hundreds of years later though, mirroring the gradual centralisation of authority into the House of Erebus and the Overlord, the need for a unified judicature led to the institution of the Fémový soud, modelled upon the Vehmic courts, a tribunal system in Germany during the late Middle Ages".

Walking beside her, Blade shook slightly his head and looked at her with his brows furrowed.

"You sound like a schoolteacher reading aloud a K-12 textbook".

Looking rather offended, Nyssa abruptly turned her head to the looming end of the large corridor they were walking down.

"You asked, I answered".

The slayer quickly noted.

"Didn't ask for some history lesson".

Every now and then, some steel door appeared on one side of the wall or the other, respectively.

"Daywalker… I'm keeping you around because I need your help, not your smart-arse remarks. Remember that".

The vampire slayer quickly raised his hands in apology.

"As you wish, princess".

Still upset, the Damaskinos heiress jutted her chin proudly.

'Arsehole'.

They walked quietly for a few seconds, before Eric asked her with renewed interest.

"So… you were saying?".

Nyssa turned quickly to eye him with contempt.

"As I was saying, before being so rudely interrupted… Niklaus Karsten is the incumbent Hlavní Předseda of the Féma, the head of our judiciary. He has been chosen for life by my father Eli from among the Obvodní Soudci, who formed the great body of the judges of the Vampire Nation. In turn, he appoints a Předseda for each one of the eleven clans' fiefdoms, where they oversee the activity of the various, lower circuits or Obvody".

Out of the corner of her eye, Nyssa noticed the Stalker's expression growing sceptical, even behind the screen of his shades.

"In all my years of hunting your kind, I've never seen anything that led me to believe there's a vampire judge who settles disputes between other bloodsuckers in a legal and civilized manner".

The vampire princess smirked to herself as she continued walking.

"Unsurprising. Soudci are not a very sociable lot and even when off-duty most of them rarely ventured out of their seats, the Soudní Budovy, which are typically located in the most secluded areas of a city. Besides, only a few crimes deemed of national security significance fall within their jurisdiction, but their reputation and reach are so fearsome that the very name Féma is whispered in awe and terror among kindred. The only punishment the courts can inflict is death which is customarily carried out, by the very same judge who passes the sentence, in a fashion so cruel and yet so efficient that even the most lawless and bloodthirsty vampires have come to fear the judges. That's why they're not a subject which often crops up in the casual conversations a vampire hunter like you might've eavesdropped whilst stalking his next target".

Blade still sounded unconvinced when he interjected.

"Are you trying to say that, out there, there are some kind of powerful and scary Street Judges even I should be fearful of? Are they your insurance against me, in case I double cross you?".

Nyssa passed a hand over her face in a weary gesture.

"That's… not, the point. What I'm trying to make you understand is they're a force not to be underestimated and that their leader, as an ex officio member of the Shadow Cabinet, is a major player in vampire politics. It'll be good to have them on board for this plan of ours".

Blades suddenly stopped and spun to face her.

"Since when your plan has become this plan of ours?".

The Damaskinos heiress halted, and gradually turned to face the slayer. Her right eyebrow raised in suspicion.

'Don't tell me you're having second thoughts. Don't you fucking dare!'.

Again, the expression on the man's face had become unreadable. Behind those black sunglasses of his, the vampire princess was not able discern his intentions, so she proceeded to test the waters, firstly by reminding him his promise.

"Officially, since when you publicly endorsed it, right after your mentor. Unofficially, when you said that I'll have your support for as long as I need it".

Then, she helped him recall the circumstances of his pledge.

"It was shortly before we started snogging… does it ring a bell?".

For a few, interminable seconds the slayer remained silent. Suddenly, and for the first time since Nyssa had known the Daywalker, Blade gave a hearty and warm laugh which echoed through the large, long corridor.

"Damn, you got me! I guess it serves me right for being such a tease".

Once again, she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

'I'm not sure I'm ever going to understand this fool'.

With eyes threatening to mist over, whether from frustration, exhaustion or fear, the vampire princess closed the distance between them and placed her right hand on the hunter's chest: right on his heart.

"I'm serious right now… I'm taking an awful risk, Eric, involving a hunter like you on such a high level in the workings of the Vampire Nation. The plan had better work, or I'm going to share the same fate of Getas the Accursed, with my body destroyed and my soul banished to the Flickering Realms, where it would never feel anything but pain and suffering, as the Dark God himself rips me apart over and over for the rest of eternity".

This time, Eric was quicker to take his shades off, whilst putting his left hand over her right one and giving it a firm squeeze.

"Whomever that dude might've been, you're not going to end like him: not on my watch".

Nyssa closed her eyes in quiet contentment, as her face creased into a smile and a weary sigh escaped her, reverberating through her body. She would have jumped him if not for the thought of her ancestor Getas, which crept back up on her, making her recall all the risks, threats and dangers looming ahead of her: ahead of them. Instead, the vampire princess opted for taking the Daywalker by the hand and leading him through the few meters that separated them from the end of the corridor, where two large, steel security doors stood: as per usual for important or high-sensitive rooms. She then moved right next to the doors' frame, towards a little instrument panel on which several vampire glyphs were engraved. The Damaskinos heiress nonchalantly pressed some of those engraved buttons in a specific order and, after that, she laid her right hand on an attached biometric lock.

"No blood sampling to enter here?".

She turned her head to face Eric, who was standing by the entrance of the room, with his eyeglasses back on.

"That's only for the Overlord's personal quarters, and I've not reached my father's levels of paranoia".

As she said that, the device beeped and the doors began to open with a hiss. Nyssa then went round the Daywalker and quickly entered her quarters.

When her father chose to take up residence in the Caliban Complex to personally oversee the final stages of the Ambrosia Project Nyssa had been working on for years, part of the housing wing was assigned to the Damaskinos heiress. The first room of that fairly large space had been set aside for private study, from where the vampire princess could easily manage the various operations Eli tasked her with, when her presence was not required in the research laboratories or the Bloodpack's training rooms, also located in the building.

At the moment, the study was dimly lighted by red LEDs which had been wisely placed on the ceiling, walls and floor, thus allowing people to orient themselves in the vast, windowless chamber. The vampire princess confidently walked her way to the outline of an imposing, L-shaped computer desk, where she pushed an engraved button on a small, metallic keypad. Rapidly, the gloomy red light transitioned to cool white whilst other light fittings came to life, giving Eric a far better chance to look around the room. As the vampire hunter finally took a step inside, Nyssa noticed his gaze wandering throughout the chamber, starting from the two huge flat LCD screens mounted against each side of the dark grey walls, on the right and on the left of the door entrance. Beneath them, there were two long, black sets of cabinets with three doors and one drawer each, all topped with a light grey coated steel surface, upon which a few items were scattered: a newly bought batch of CDs, an opened, empty cardboard box and other seemingly low-tech gadgets. She followed the man's gaze moving towards his left, where several high-end audio and video components had been built in one system, directly encased in the wall, after which there were two black and grey sets of filing cabinets with five drawers each. The otherwise long line of wall was interrupted by one big black desk surface, upon which a large, flat computer monitor and a keyboard were set. The black desk had been arranged perpendicular to another exact model, where only a desk pad and the engraved, metallic keypad were placed, which extended into the middle of the room and gave the piece its L-shape. Apart from the aforementioned devices and office essentials, both desks were clear and tidy. On the wall behind the desk Nyssa was leaning against as she eyed up Blade, a black, plain noticeboard was hanging. A good range of features, colour action and other sorts of photographs had been pinned to the painted cork, showing the princess in different moments of her life, together with many different people: family, friends and past relationships.

'Damn, I really need to get rid of some of those photos'.

Near the board, there was a sword rack made from black-lacquered hardwood, which held the Damaskinos heiress' famous twin wakizashi and the mounting of other various Japanese swords. The first tier held a long, carmine tachi mounting decorated with black maki-e and metal carving of the Damaskinos' glyph, whilst on the second tier a more practical and plainly decorated katana was displayed and, finally, the lower tiers held a set of tantō knives.

The vampire princess earned those blades over the years, after some long and painful training sojourns in Hakodate, as a student and guest of the Kobejitsu, the traditional rulers of Japan. Although by the time of her first stay most the clan had already returned to the ancestral seat in Nara, following the long-awaited demise of the usurper Muzan Kibutsuji, many kindred still remained on the Hokkaido Island. There, they manned the network of safe houses and hideouts in the Oshima Peninsula which together formed the Oshima-ryū, the school where a particular version of ninjutsu unique to the Kobejitsu clan was studied and taught. During her second journey, the Damaskinos heiress made friends with Takino Goemon, also known as Snowman, who at the time was the master instructor, the Shihan, of the Oshima-ryū. On her last visit in 1983, with the blessing of clan-chief Kao Kobejitsu, Nyssa persuaded the swordsman to come with her back in Prague, to serve as her personal bodyguard. Years later, when the Overlord put her in command of the Bloodpack, she made sure that Asad and Snowman were on team, so that she could have at least two capable men to rely upon. Nyssa knew she could trust them with her life, as they would have likely trusted her with theirs: and her father had her leading them to certain death.

'Father, how could you'.

Nyssa closed her eyes to try chasing away the pain the thought of Eli's betrayal was giving her.

In the meanwhile, the slayer had walked to the centre of the room, at a short distance from the vampire princess. Her attention was diverted away from her thoughts of grief and hame by the man standing there, on the large, light grey metal slabs that made the floor. Oblivious to her inner reasoning, Blade had the gaze focused on his right, where an impressive yet unadorned library stood, which steel shelves stretched from one side of the room to the other. An uncountable number of books and documents were stored behind the glass cases, ranging from working papers and files through medical and biology textbooks to some old hardbacks, on which spines vampire glyphs were engraved. In front of the central part of the library, on a relatively large, long and grey carpet, there were one black, leathery, minimalist armchair and a pair of two-seater sofas in the same style, which were placed around a low-slung coffee table, lacquered in shades of red, black and grey.

Then, Eric made a show of looking around, giving a short snort of laughter as he turned to face Nyssa.

"Mm… cozy".

It seemed the room was to the Daywalker's liking. Giving the the stark, minimalist style of his sleeping area, the Damaskinos heiress did not really expected some of his snarky remarks. She simply folded the arms whilst her shoulders lifted in a vague shrug.

"Since I was going to practically live here at work, it would have been sensible to make myself more at home".

Saying no more, the vampire princess got up from the desk and turned to make a few steps towards the Aeron chair before the computer. She sat and pushed a button on the computer tower beneath the desk, turning the device on.

"What you're doing?".

Nyssa heard the Stalker walking in her general direction, although from the reflection of the computer monitor she saw he was drifting towards the two cantilever chairs on the opposite side of the desk.

"Uh-uh! Don't you dare sit on those chairs, whilst you're still that grubby".

Eric raised his hands in an overly dramatic gesture of defeat.

"Your house, your rules".

He then adjusted his route and reached the Damaskinos heiress sitting at the swivel chair, stopping at right side. By the time he got there, her personal computer had finally turned on and the operating system was up and running. After logging in, she poked around in the computer, checking databases, logs, messages, files and networks.

"If I'll have to spar with Karsten, I want to do it standing safely away from the ropes… I'm looking for the closed-circuit television tapes of the Eugenics Chamber, which contain my father's revelation about the Reaper strain, all its ramifications and consequences. I'm also searching for the tapes of the lobby, for good measure".

The vampire hunter approached her, as the shadow of suspicion loomed once again over his otherwise unreadable face.

"Do you intend to erase or alter the tape? So that the good judge won't find any unpleasant, incriminating evidence that the dutiful daughter is not behind the Overlord's death?".

Nyssa swivelled the chair around to face him.

"No. I admit the idea crossed my mind, though. It would facilitate the proceedings in the upcoming meeting and, generally speaking, it would make things easier in the short period".

She noticed Eric stiffening almost imperceptibly his muscles, so that the vampire princess hardened her stare as she finished her sentence.

'Will he always doubt me at every crossroads we meet?'.

Thus, her voice took a stern tone.

"Nevertheless, you can rest assured that I've not choose to live, and to accept all the hassle that's bound to happen once I succeed my father, only to perpetuate this seemingly endless cycle of lies and deception".

She paused for a beat, then worded her intention.

"I won't keep my actions hidden from the Cabinet. My fault concludes but what the law should end, my own father's life".

At that, Blade's shoulders relaxed visibly and an audible sigh escaped him.

"Let's just hope they won't banish you to Mantua".

As the slayer caught her reference, Nyssa failed to stifle a bitter chuckle.

"Vampire laws are fewer but much more draconian than humans': usually, punishment it's either death or… a fate way worse than death".

The Daywalker tilted his head to the side and looked down at her with a noticeable, uncertain expression.

"Do you expect complications?".

She absentmindedly moved her gaze from Blade to one of last glass cases of the library, on the far right, where a modern copy and translation of the Book of Erebus, the Kniha, was on display.

Even though an arriviste and power-seeking turned-blood like Deacon Frost might have been engrossed with many of the Book's chapters, especially the ones which dealt with the mythical, mystical and magical aspects of kindred culture, in the contemporary, secular yet traditionalist vampire society the Book was still revered as both a religious text and a code of law. The system of oral laws and blood feud which had permeated the legendary Varnae-era world, when each Ancient was a law unto itself and any other vampire was a potential enemy, had been replaced since the Rebellion by a new set of teachings, written in the very same Book, and the correlated literature of successive interpretations. The core tenets of such a new world order were framed in the triad of respect, obedience and loyalty, which were due to your blood-parent or vampire sire, to the clan you belonged and, far more importantly, to your elders and chiefs. If or how long those moral obligations had worked along the centuries, it was not Nyssa's place to tell since she was not a historian nor a sociologist, but what the vampire princess had painfully come to know was that, to ambitious, scheming and power-hungry kindred, those customs were now simply reduced to the mere rules of a game: some of those rules could be bent, whilst others might have to be broken.

"There's always that possibility".

With that, the Damaskinos heiress simply swivelled back to her PC.

"Political or actual infighting within the Vampire Nation is not uncommon, as it's not uncommon in human communities. Nonetheless, in all our history from Erebus' time, for 1800 years or so, there have been only two instances of Overlords who were assassinated in conspiracies led by, or at least likely traced back to their immediate successors: Getas and his brother Hazael, Archelaus and his son Herod".

The explanation ended somehow abruptly, as she proceeded to burn onto a CD-R the video-files from the CCTV tapes.

"However, there's an uncountable number of plots which earned their participants only some grim deaths. In the end, even the few known plotters who actually succeeded in assassinating four Damaskinos throughout history had won nothing but a pierced heart, a severed head or a first-row seat for watching the sun rise".

With a click of the computer mouse, the authoring software started to create the video CD. Once again, silence fell as the vampire princess wearily rubbed a hand over her face.

"Those tapes will help me get a place beside those successful conspirators, and far away from the losers' lot. Hopefully".

Waiting for the program to finish, Nyssa leant on her chair which reclined to a more comfortable sloping position. Unexpectedly, Eric drew closer to gently lay his left hand over her right shoulder.

"Well… good things always come in threes" he broke in.

Without turning to look at the vampire hunter, her right hand reached up to squeeze his and a small smile played on her lips.

'I'll never understand this man'.

Somewhat unconsciously at first, her thumb began to stroke circles on the dark, hard and rough skin at the back of his hand. Their silent and affectionate exchange stopped when all of a sudden, a few words in Upírský resounded loudly and sharply through the room.

"Ew! I think I'm gonna get sick".

Both of them quickly separated, as if the mere contact of their hands had suddenly become intolerable, like trying to hold some white-hot coal.

They then immediately turned to the entrance doors, on which threshold a woman stood, clearly horrified. She was about Nyssa's height, and her fair complexion was in stark contrast with her neon blue hair, scraped back in a loose ponytail, and an eccentric set of goth clothes that made her look like she had just got out of a Siouxsie and the Banshees' concert. Her natural light brown eyes were shadowed by a dark eyeliner and an eyeshadow matching the same blueish hue of her hair, whilst her full lips were on the contrary coloured with a darker shade of midnight blue. The woman was loosely wearing a very dark grey parka, decorated with onyx's metal rivets and sets of crescents, along with a big hood trimmed with light grey faux fur. Her coat was gaping open, so it could reveal a black and leathery choker with small steel spikes around the woman's neck, and a close-fitting charcoal black t-shirt with a Bela Lugosi's Dead EP cover printed on it. Three thin, different leather belts in various shades of blue were worn around her waist, holding up a short, onyx black jacquard skirt that fell halfway her thighs, and was detailed with some faux leather cord lacing through eyelets and triangular rings. Most of the skin the skirt might have shown was covered by two long, black and blue striped socks that ran up past her knees, as the rest of her legs filled a pair of hunting black boots, which Nyssa opted to think were the main reason why the woman had successfully sneaked up on them.

"Elle!".

An embarrassed grin crept across her face, as the vampire princess rose up from the chair and rushed with her arms wide open to meet the woman, who had in turn begun to cautiously walk inside the chamber. The Damaskinos heiress warmly embraced and held her tight.

"You're the first friendly face I've seen all night!".

The other woman unconvincingly returned her affectionate hug and tentatively placed the hands on her friend's back.

"I'm sure you have…".

Once Nyssa let go of her friend, still having the hands resting on her shoulders, she took half a step back and began to badger her.

"Listen! I've got the greatest favour to ask of you: I need you, Miri and Sam to go to Ifrit Karel Kounen's house and sift through the place for any kind of information and documents regarding the Reaper strain. If memory serves me, his house should be in the Vinohrady district: more precisely, it— L-Leah?".

The princess had been too caught up in her explanation and subsequent request for noticing the other woman had probably paid her no attention, since her gaze had progressively shifted from the Damaskinos heiress to the Daywalker. Even through the fur lining of her coat, Nyssa felt Elle's shoulder muscles stiffening whilst she began to change position, as if the woman were readying herself for a fight. Only then it dawned on her, that one thing was forcing her familiars or subordinates to accept Eric's presence, and another completely different thing was trying to reconcile her associates or friends with the prospect of having someone like him among them.

With hindsight, it should also have been obvious to Nyssa that she had to firstly, and very delicately, introduce a vampire Stalker like Blade and her friend Leah, if anything because four years ago the hunter had killed the latter's sister: Raquel.

'Shit'.

Desperately aware that she had then to run damage control to prevent the situation from escalating, especially considering how the Daywalker's first encounter with the Bloodpack went, the Damaskinos heiress hastened present him to her friend in a civilised manner, and possibly without any bloodshed. Realising also that the pair of them had till then conversed in Czech vampiric dialect, Nyssa switched to English to help Eric understand them.

"Blade! I'm so sorry for keeping you out of our chit-chat!".

She wheeled around to show the other woman.

"Meet a very dear friend of mine: Leah Sulyma".

The vampire hunter, who had stayed beside her chair and seemed slightly puzzled by Elle. He then tilted his head to the side and asked.

"Didn't I kill you already?".

Hearing that, Nyssa gaped at Blade in shock.

'Did he just say that!? Seriously?'.

She would have facepalmed if she had the time but, as she shot a sidelong glance to gauge her friend's reaction, Leah was already retorting in his language.

"THAT WAS MY SISTER!".

The vampire princess had the chance to just turned to face her friend, since Elle flicked out a concealed bo-shuriken from her left sleeve and hurled it at the Stalker, screaming hideously. The Daywalker managed to dodge in time the steel spike, which whistled past his ear and hit the wall behind him, clattering harmlessly on the floor. In reaction, Blade bared his teeth and growled menacingly at Leah, stepping forward in their direction. As reported in his file, that the Bloodpack had studied ad nauseam, Nyssa saw the hunter hooking a finger through a metal ring from the hem of his armour vest, pulling out a retractable strangle-wire which she knew he would have proficiently used to kill her friend.

'Shit, shit'.

The Damaskinos heiress noticed Elle assuming a defensive position, as she began to fall back to doors. She also detected the other woman drawing out another shuriken, this time from her right sleeve, to throw at the vampire slayer.

'Shit, shit, shit'.

Desperately trying to prevent Eric and Leah from killing each other, Nyssa launch herself towards her friend to catch hold of the latter's right wrist and to also shield her from the Daywalker's murderous rage: hopefully, he would not have charged at her. As she managed to grab the other woman and pin her safely behind her back, the vampire princess held out her left hand to stop the man.

"Eric! Stop! Please!".

Surprisingly enough, the vampire Stalker actually froze in his tracks, although the straight upper fangs were threateningly shown through his clenched teeth and his lips were trembling with fury, signalling that he had difficulty controlling himself. However, after a few moments the man seemed to master his rage and finally unhooked the ring to let the wire retract itself back into his vest. Although the hunter's strong features were still distorted with wrath and fierce anger, Nyssa sighed audibly in relief.

"Phew".

Behind her, Elle was struggling to free herself from the tight grasp the Damaskinos heiress had on her wrist, but she did not press on with her attacks against the slayer: that was somewhat encouraging. Now, Nyssa had to quickly think up some way to defuse the situation, keep tempers from flaring and possibly get the parties talking rather trying to kill each other. However, the chance to speak was blown when she heard two different voices, again in her own vampiric language, coming from the entrance doors.

"Wow! Nyx has really tamed the bogeyman! Did you see that!?".

"I've always told you: the girl has a weird choice of men…".

She immediately let Leah loose, hoping that her friend would not strike Eric again, and swung back on her heels to face the new intrusion. Leaning on the doors' frame, there were two women clad in black, shiny armour suits which closely resembled the one the vampire princess herself wore during their suicide mission in the sewers, just a few hours before. On the right side of the doorway, looking astounded but nonetheless threateningly pointing a Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle at Blade, was a woman of colour with long, straight and jet-black hair which had been pulled back into a high, tight ponytail. She was of middle height and had a distinctive piercing on her left eyebrow, coupled with various stainless-steel hoops on each of her ears. Nonetheless, her most striking feature was a pair of gold eyes that shone in the cool, white light of the room, which were also a dead giveaway of her ancestry: a pureblood from the Lobishomen clan, like Asad and Lighthammer. Standing on the left side of the entrance, instead, there was another, slightly shorter woman who held an FN P90 submachine gun menacingly aimed at the Daywalker, her finger caressing the trigger. The woman's pitch-dark hair was tied back in a long, thick plait whilst a few stray strands hung loose around her amber-coloured face, where two almond-shaped eyes with sapphire blue irises had been looking coldly at the whole scene.

"Miri, Sam! What are you doing here!?".

The latter's cold expression became even colder.

"We were about to tuck in for the day when all the alarms went off, alerting us that the C complex was under attack. Little Leah there didn't even bother to suit up and left home as she was, running like her arse was on fire".

The aforementioned vampire had walked to prop herself against the far end long, black cabinet set on Nyssa's left, where she began massaging her wrist. Hearing her name, the woman looked up to Sam and chimed in.

"Yeah! And once I entered the building, everyone told me the emergency was now under control and that Nyx was in her quarters, safe and sound".

Leah turned the head to stare at Blade.

"You can't imagine my shock when I've got here, to see our beloved princess and my sister's murderer caressing each other's hands, like a pair of dorky losers. Believe me, it was one of the most hideous experien—".

It was now the slayer's turn to chip in.

"Hey, you think I don't get what you're saying!? I'm sick of your blabbering, punk, just cut it out!".

Cautiously away from the Damaskinos heiress, the punk vampire drew swiftly out a throwing knife from an inner pocket of her park and switched to English to angrily taunt the man.

"Or what, you homicidal maniac!? Are you going to kill me? Like you did with Raquel?".

From her angle, Nyssa finally noticed the Daywalker's eyes, behind his shades, flickering over her.

"No… I've made a promise".

Then, he fixed his gaze back on Leah.

"But I'm gonna use your own knife to cut that forked tongue of yours out, if you don't keep it behind your teeth".

As the slayer grimly took a step in the vampire's direction, a red dot appeared on his chest, over his heart: a telltale sign of a laser from the sight of Miri's G36. The black vampire also changed over to his language.

"Make a move and you're dead, Stalker".

Even Sam swapped for Blade's English to cut in, as she adjusted the aim of her submachine gun too.

"How come those dumb fuckers from the Bloodpack weren't able to take him out? No offence, Nyx…".

Nyssa felt a mounting dismay at the prospect of her friends ganging up on Eric.

'I'm tired of this crap'.

"The Bloodpack!? They're dead, they're all dead! The Overlord sent us in the sewers to die!".

Whilst she loudly voiced her discomfort, the vampire princess stalked off towards the Daywalker. Once she got in front of him, she whirled back to stare at her friends with a hard, set face. Careful not to hurt her friend as she shielded the hunter, Sam lowered her weapon immediately and Miri followed suit. Of the three vampires, only Elle still held her throwing knife threateningly, ready to strike: her delicate features were distorted by her anger.

"What the hell are you saying, Nyx!?".

The Damaskinos heiress turned slightly to her left, to face the punk vampire.

"Let me explain".

She paused for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of revealing her father's conspiracy in all its detail to her friends, then and there.

"No, there's too much. Let me sum up. You know the Reaper strain we've all been debriefed on about five nights ago? It turns out that the carrier Jared Nomak was a brother of mine I've never heard of. Above all, I've found out that my father was behind all of this mess! Now, the Reapers have been dealt with, but the Overlord's gone, and just in a few hours I've a meeting with the Cabinet to give evidence and formalise my accession".

Her revelation was met with a stunned silence.

"Wow…th-th—".

"This is heavy".

"…".

Since even the begrudging Leah remained silent, it seemed that all her three friends realised the gravity of the situation which urged acting as quickly and thoroughly as possible upon the vampire princess. Otherwise, this could be the undoing of all her hard work and sacrifice for her people, to ensure their safety and security. On a further and more personal note, if those carefully laid plans of hers went awry, it could also spell her doom and probably that of all her close friends, known associates and simple followers.

"That is why I was asking Leah to get you and go asap to Kounen's home and comb the place for any clues that can help me in proving a strong, direct connection between the Overlord and the Reapers".

Whilst Nyssa said her piece, the vampire duo had finally entered the room, where they went to lean against each cabinet set as they listened intently. Much to her relief, the Damaskinos heiress noticed that the two women were keeping the weapons pointed safely to the floor, and their fingers were resting alongside the frame, off the trigger. Then, Sam enquired.

"What about the Daywalker? Why he's still here?".

The vampire princess met her friend's gaze and held it unblinkingly.

"He's already proven himself an invaluable asset, and further down the line I'm going to need him again. I've brought him here to plot strategy and think out loud about the coming challenges".

Leah took the chance to question her in a mocking tone.

"And what kind of strategy did you two draw up, exactly? That holding your hands, looking into each other's eyes and smiling like idiots may actually help you carry the night?".

Before she had the time to retort and put the punk vampire in her place, Miri commented.

"Aw… wouldn't it be just adorable?".

The woman of colour spoke in a sweeter and warmer tone, seemingly breaking character, though Nyssa knew her friend was just being condescending, which she did not like at all. Sadly, Sam decided it was the right moment to add her insightful yet unnecessary remark.

"I fear Nyx is going to need something more useful than the support of the bogeyman when she meets with the Cabinet: that cesspit of backstabbing pricks and petty schemers".

More or less consciously, the Damaskinos heiress had placed herself before the two vampires, glaring at them with her arms akimbo.

"Argh! That's precisely the reason I want you—".

Her annoyed answer was interrupted by the two women.

"You know, I'm rather curious, Nyx: why did you draw the Daywalker so deeply into our world?".

"Yeah, me too: what's made you change your mind about him?".

Inwardly Nyssa was seething frustration as her dear but nosy friends began to badger her about her relationship with Eric, instead of doing what she asked them to do.

'This is not going as I hoped it would'.

To make matters worse, Elle thought it was a good moment to drop a bomb into their laps.

"What did the man do, Nyx? Did he single-handedly wipe all the Reapers out? Or did he simply give you a good fuck when you needed the most?".

The vampire princess' eyes came out on stalks, upon hearing what her friend just dared to say. Her reaction betrayed what she had been unsuccessfully trying to put off until some more convenient time: the nature of her so-called relationship with the Daywalker, a slayer of her kind.

"No way… that's beyond kinky, even for my tastes!".

"Wow… what Verlaine texted us was true, then!".

Elle's words, which were blunt to the point of rudeness, had the Damaskinos heiress stunned. Together with Miri and Sam, Leah had been one of her close friends, if not the closest one. Nyssa wondered if it could really be so difficult for her friend to accept the intimacy, however deep or strong or lasting it might be, between the vampire princess and the vampire hunter. Even worse, what really troubled her was the outright hostility towards the Stalker many kindred had displayed. Commanding the Bloodpack members to put with Blade's presence had come relatively easy to her: would persuading her peers and powerful lords come just as easy?

Granted, she might not fully understand what the punk vampire was going through, but Elle had not been the only kindred to lose someone in the thousand years-long conflict with witch-hunters, being them lonely individuals seeking for some personal revenge or large, well-funded organisations usually having government ties. Apart from the unexpected Nomak, the only blood-brother she had truly known had been indeed ambushed and slain by witch-hunters in Adrianople during the First Balkan War: Arsakes. Although Nyssa could not in all honesty tell that she had ever felt brotherly love for her much older, vicious and ruthless sibling, she deeply cared for their mother Metztli and, giving the gruesome fate her assassins had suffered at hands of the Damaskinos heiress, she herself had been no stranger to wreaking vengeance on those who harmed her dear ones. Admittedly, Nyssa had no history with Eric until she and Asad broke into the Daywalker's warehouse, but she did not dare to think what she would have done that time, if there was someone dear to her to avenge. Knowing herself, in the uncertain event she had actually succeeded in slaying him, she would have most likely ripped the Stalker limb by limb and then thrown his remains to be eaten by Lupines or other savage beasts.

Nonetheless there she was, struggling to succeed her accursed father in the Vampire Nation as smoothly as possible, trying to salvage what good was possible from the Ambrosia Project and attempting to broker a peace deal between kindred and witch-hunters. The Damaskinos heiress had deemed the Daywalker instrumental in achieving those goals, though she had realised as well that she could ill afford to alienate any potential supporters by allowing him amongst kindred and, at the same time, trampling on all those who had a personal vendetta against Blade, like her friend Leah. Nyssa knew she had to tread lightly in handling that issue, though: firm and immovable, but also conciliating and tactful.

"That's enough!".

She shouted in a shrill tone, and the babbling of voices ceased at once.

"This is not the place, and certainly not the time, to talk about the nature of my—relationship with the Daywalker".

The vampire princess alternated her apprehensive gaze between the two women before her and the one on her far left, who was still standing by herself against the end of the long, black cabinet case.

"As of now, I'm in dire need of help and I've hoped the Banshees would lend me a hand, as we've all had each others' backs".

A meaningful look passed between Miri and Sam, who then turned to Nyssa to voice their support.

"As always…".

Elle, who had remained silent, took instead a few steps towards the Damaskinos heiress, shooting baleful glares at Blade.

"You can't ask me to forgive and forget my sister's murder… you can't!".

The punk vampire yelled out at her like she was in pain, whilst angry tears welled up her eyes. Nyssa hurried to close the distance between them and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders.

"I know I can't, and I won't…".

Softening her gaze, she rubbed the upset woman's shoulders in reassurance and adopted a warmer tone to try calm her down.

"All I'm asking you is to set aside your revenge, for now".

The vampire princess then fixed Leah with a penetrating stare.

"Once I've secured my position and ascended the Basalt Throne, if you still want to exact revenge on the Stalker… I will gladly be your second".

That seemed to win her over, since Elle closed the eyes and jumped to hug her tightly.

"Can I count on you for that?".

The punk vampire whispered in her ears, and the Damaskinos heiress affectionately squeezed her friend, whispering back.

"Friends for life, remember?".

Leah chuckled in her reply.

"If you fall, I'll always be there to pick you up... as soon as I stop laughing".

As their embrace ended and Nyssa pulled away, though, she noticed Elle glowering at Eric.

"Consider yourself lucky, Daywalker… your girlfriend here has just bought you some time".

Then, the woman moved backwards so that her gaze could encompass the vampires and the hunter.

"But bear this in mind, all of you: I demand satisfaction for the death of my sister, and that I will fight the Daywalker at the first opportunity, after the princess is enthroned. Or by Erebus I'll chase you down like a lupine!".

The Damaskinos heiress shot a sideways glance at the Stalker, worrying that he might say something to make Leah's blood boil again. On the contrary, he stood quietly where he was, near her L-shaped desk, with his arms folded across his chest and replied only with a shrug of his shoulders and a few words.

"Fine with me".

She saw the punk vampire's eyes narrowing into slits but, fortunately, her friend did not retort and turned instead her attention to Nyssa, pointing her forefinger right under her chin.

"You owe me!".

After saying that, Leah moved past her and walked towards their two friends near the entrance doors.

"Come on, Banshees, we're going to play CSI!".

Once she reached Miri and Sam, Elle did not stop her pace but continued her walking until she went outside the study. From the corridor, they all heard the punk vampire last words.

"I'll wait for you, by the Underway Gate".

Becoming aware of the quick shift in the atmosphere of the room, the vampire duo exchanged a knowing look, nodded at each other's and then both sighed deeply in relief. As Miri moved away from the cabinets set and turned to go for the doors, Sam suddenly caught her friend by the right forearm and stopped her.

"Tsk tsk! Not so quick, Miri…".

The vampire then moved her gaze from Miri to Nyssa, staring at the Damaskinos heiress intently with her almond-shaped, sapphire eyes.

'Oh, no'.

If the princess knew her friend, that gaze did not bode well for the one on the receiving end of it.

"Didn't you notice that, in all the commotion, our little Nyx here has failed to introduce the poor two of us to her sweetheart?".

Miri turned slowly around to face the vampire princess, grinning impishly.

'Oh, no no'.

Those two could really be a handful, to put it mildly, if they chose so.

"Indeed, Sam: what a poor host…".

Then, the black vampire called out to Blade.

"Daywalker!".

The hunter had propped himself against her desk and was probably minding his own business before Miri drew his attention.

'Oh, no no no'.

The Stalker looked up to see what the matter was.

"Since our beloved princess wouldn't do the honours, it seems we've to present ourselves…".

With her left hand, free from holding the rifle, she gestured vaguely at herself and the amber-skinned vampire beside her.

"I'm Mihrimah Karaosmanoğlu, and this is my counterpart Samur Girai".

The Stalker mutely nodded a greeting to the vampire duo.

"Together with Leah Sulyma, we're the Dvorní dámy, ladies-in-waiting to princess Nyssa".

Sam interjected.

"But you may call us Banshees, for short: if Nyx allows it".

Miri added, winking at her.

"Now, if you're really going to stick with us for the foreseeable future, we've got to tell you something about your inamorata".

Eager to steer the conversation away from potentially risky topics, the Damaskinos heiress chimed in.

"Good! Now that introductions are out of the way, could you—".

The black vampire interrupted her.

"Pro tip, hunter: Nyx loves a clitoral orgasm as much as a vaginal one".

Her eyes bulged in their sockets from the horror. For his part, the Daywalker managed to keep his composure, even though his sunglasses could not hide his eyebrows arching quizzically. Nyssa frantically rushed to her friends, instead, hoping to clamp her hand over the vampire's mouth before any more atrocities came out.

"So, when in private you see her getting annoyed, frustrated or simply tire—".

She got her hands over Miri's mouth. Unfortunately, Sam completed the sentence for her friend.

"Be a dear and go down on her: that should cheer her up. Believe me".

Nyssa glared furiously at Sam.

The vampire princess loved to unwind with her three friends, playing silly games or fooling about or simply making fun of one another's. However, there was a time and place for everything, and that early morning in her study room was certainly not suitable for that sort of jokes.

Probably sensing she was under the Damaskinos heiress' angry gaze, the amber-skinned vampire turned the head to face her. She showed no remorse and was looking at her with a puzzled expression instead, like she had no idea why Nyssa was so upset.

As if on clue, her sapphire blue eyes rounded in surprise, like she just remembered something important. She then turned to Blade and added.

"Ah! Only if privacy permits itself, of course".

Nyssa felt her heart sink.

'I'm done'.

As her arms dropped to her sides, her hands left Miri's mouth, who took the chance to speak again.

"Yeah… we've been reckless in the past, and Nyx has got us on a tight lead ever since".

The vampire princess closed her eyes in resignation.

'I think I'm dying of embarrassment'.

Finally, Eric came to her aid and attempted to change the subject.

"Uh, yeah… thanks. I'll keep that in mind".

She reopened her eyes to see him unfolding his arms and standing up.

"But it seems we're all on the clock, here".

Moving away from the desk, he took a few steps in their direction.

"And I don't want to hold you up".

The hunter clapped his hands together and began to rub them.

"So…".

At last, it seemed Sam realised what Blade, in a surprisingly civil manner, was trying to say. With her gaze just apparently fixed on the Stalker, because Nyssa caught the amber-skinned vampire glancing at her, she approached the woman of colour and said to her ear.

"Come on, Miri, he's right: we've done enough damage for today".

Miri answered by winking in exaggerated fashion at the Damaskinos heiress, then slung the rifle over her right shoulder and slowly turned around.

"Bye for now, Blade. Be gentle with our Nyx!".

Sam shot one last glare at the Daywalker and said ominously.

"Or I'll hear about it".

Then, she spun on her heel and made eye contact with the noticeably horrified vampire princess.

"Still a prude".

Shaking her head and muttering that remark, the vampire with almond-shaped eyes walked out of the study, joining her counterpart into the corridor.

"…all the same, we love you. Bye".

Nyssa followed the pair closely, extremely keen to see them go. Standing by the doors' frame, the vampire princess watched the duo as they went along their way to the Underway Gate, and she did not drop her gaze until her friends finally disappeared behind a corner. As if a great weight was finally off her shoulders, she sighed happily and turned back to face Eric, who had gone back to lean against her desk.

"The terror is over now, it has passed".

The slayer looked up at her.

"Indeed… are all of your friends that, intense?".

She smiled reassuringly.

"Fortunately, just those three… we all grew up together, we all experienced everything together from going to school to adolescence, boys, music, being in a death squad... it goes way back".

The vampire hunter furrowed his eyebrows questioningly.

"So the slack you cut them doesn't translate to anybody, does it?".

The Damaskinos heiress shook her head and looked away pensively.

"In any way…".

As a matter of fact, since Erebus sacrificed himself to free all kindred from Varne's yoke, his descendants had been held in high esteem. In spite of the pleading, scheming and fighting that Cleon, the son of the founder of their civilisation, went through all of his life to prevent kindred to fall into anarchy and sectarian strife after the annihilation of the Ancients, it was only his own son Amyntas, Erebus's nephew, who managed to successfully leverage those sentiments of recognition and prestige, becoming the first Overlord of a Vampire Nation that encompassed the whole world. In due time, with the progressive concentration of power in the hands of both the House of Erebus and the Overlord, lese-majesty or even lack of respect to a Damaskinos came to be considered something akin to an offence, and punished as such. For his part, since her infancy Eli had duly inculcated into Nyssa the thought that overlordship commanded respect due to the office itself and, in case she succeeded him, she should have expected others to respect her. Nevertheless, her father's actions in the last few hours were making the vampire princess reconsider her whole worldview, including her own pretensions about the homage and awe she had always thought to expect and demand, apart from her inner circle.

'A custom more honoured in the breach than the observance'.

Blade's further comment stopped her from lapsing into silence.

"So, Whistler and I have surely made an impression if you're willing to put up with the two of us".

Again, the Damaskinos heiress smiled up at the Stalker.

"Admittedly, both of you surpassed all my expectations".

She began to walk towards her desk, which the hunter was leaning against with his arms crossed.

"In spite of our differences, contrasts and enmity, not only you managed to live through the fight against our common threat, the Reapers, but you also agreed to help me in brokering a peace between kindred and kine".

The vampire princess stopped before him and placed her right hand on his left forearm.

"I'm willing to capitalise on this experience and see where it takes us".

Eric snorted with a laughter.

"You've just arranged for a duel between me and that chick with the blue hair, have you already forgotten?".

Nyssa retracted her hand, looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and then scoffed.

"First, what I've done is preventing Leah Sulyma from getting any further, random chance to kill you".

She paused deliberately, her eyes holding his.

"Instead of letting the two of you try to kill each other at every turn, I've demeaned myself by coaxing and cajoling my own best friend into challenging you to a Suboj, a Monomachy: that is, a duel. Starting today, she's going to refrain from taking any chances to ambush you because, now, she looks forward to the moment when she'll make you bite the dust. In front of a live audience as wide as possible. Knowing her, it'll be in the splendour of the Revír, our arena underneath the city, with the rapturous applause of scores of pure-bloods".

At that, Blade retorted.

"I'm sorry, should I be grateful or something? 'Cause I fail to see the connection between being roped into a duel with some crazy, shuriken-throwing vamp and something to thank you for".

Nyssa could not conceal her annoyance at Eric's abysmal lack of will to read meaning into her words.

"Maybe you're used to constantly looking over your shoulder but here, in our world, we play on a totally new, different level. If kindred like any of those three friends of mine bears a grudge against you, incidents like the one we've just went through are bound to happen, at the least convenient time for you: when you're relieving yourself in the bathroom, or when you're finally collapsing on your tatami, dead tired after a night long hunt… are you ready to play Jeremiah Johnson?".

Behind the screen of his shades, the Daywalker did not seem particularly affected by the Damaskinos heiress' mocking question, so she kept at it.

"Believe it or not, Monomachy was originally introduced as the privileged method for honourably handling grievances among vampires, especially young, hotheaded and violent pure-bloods. In short, it allows kindred to challenge each other in highly ritualised, but not so often to-the-death duels to settle their differences".

With a stern expression on his face, the Stalker detached himself from the desk and approached her, leaving only a few centimetres from their noses.

"And how's that exactly helping?".

Ignoring the tingle of excitement caused by Eric's entering her personal space, the vampire princess gave him a dirty look.

"That's my second point! As Leah quite brashly put it, I've bought you some time. During that time, she'll have the chance to see you fight, to know you and to empathise with you".

A tired sigh interrupted her speech.

"Who knows, after my enthronement, maybe I could convince her to resolve this dispute upon terms acceptable to both parties and thus avoiding a fight?".

She widened her arms and her gaze momentarily went upwards, revealing that the Damaskinos heiress herself could not take into account all the possible, unknown variables related to her best friend's volatile personality.

"Should this fail, I can always try to make her agree on terms for the duel that would limit the chance of a fatal outcome, consistent with the rules written in the Sarlian Codex".

A frown creased the slayer's forehead.

"The what?".

Nyssa rubbed a hand across her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"A code duello written by Sarlio Lemure in the 11th century, which is still being used to regulate Monomachy and prevent personal grievances from degenerating into family feuds. It ensures that non-violent means of reaching agreement are exhausted and that harm is reduced by limiting the terms of engagement. Also, it ensures that the proceedings have a number of witnesses who could assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel, and could help provide testimony if the steward in charge of the city or a judge become involved".

The Daywalker sighed in an exaggerated fashion.

"Here comes again the history teacher".

Again, his voice was heavy with sarcasm and that made Nyssa snap. Faster than the time outside the lift, she delivered Eric a hard slap across his face that sent his sunglasses flying. True to his reputation, the rest of the hunter's body did not flinch and he stood still. As he twisted his head back to face her, she could finally gaze into his sardonic eyes.

"I've warned you!".

Whilst the vampire princess raised her right hand and pointed it at him, a wry smile tugged at the corner of the slayer's mouth.

"Wow… that was some mean slap!".

The Stalker unfolded his arms and lifted one hand to massage his left cheek, where her slap had just left a few fresh scratches and caused some blood dripping from his lower lip. Still quietly fuming about his remarks, Nyssa drew near the man.

"And there's more to come, if you keep acting an idiot".

The Damaskinos heiress laid both her hands on the slayer's shoulders and slowly brought her thin lips close to his right ear, whilst ominously placing her right leg between his.

"I could ram my knee into your groin so hard that you would be pissing through a Bonanno catheter for a year".

For the second time since Nyssa had known him, Eric burst into a good laugh that made him look completely out of character. Even though witnessing the bogeyman laughing a warm, hearty laugh was still a weird, bordering on bizarre experience, it nonetheless revealed another side of his personality that she never knew existed.

The dossier on Blade the Bloodpack members had been given said he was a cynical individual, known to be stoic and cold: a lone wolf with a nasty temper. Like many other witch-hunters, the man held a deep grudge against kindred, mainly because of the loss of his mother: Vanessa Brooks, née Cross. However, despite his cold demeanour the Stalker did not seem without a heart, since he saved Dr. Karen Jenson, a haematologist at Los Angeles General Medical Center, when she was bitten by Frost's henchman, Peter Quinn, and later took her in as a partner. According to his file, the slayer held a tremendous amount of respect for his mentor, weapon-smith and father-figure, Abraham Whistler, and Nyssa herself had seen their peculiar relationship of silent support and brash banter. His friendship and loyalty to the old hunter was so strong that the Daywalker spent the last two years on both sides of the Atlantic, relentlessly hunting down the nomadic pack, or družina, that had discovered and kidnapped the already turned Whistler. Although emotionless most of the time, Eric did smile and joke, as she had noticed during the meeting with the other Bloodpack members when he goaded Reinhardt into a fight or at the beginning of the autopsy she performed on the blood bank guard-turned-Reaper, when he made fun of Scud. More recently, she firsthand experienced some of Blade's teasing which both amused and annoyed her deeply, in a way that only her closest friends had managed to do: and apart from another vampire whom Nyssa had chosen to forget.

The recollection of a tall, white devil with blonde hair and icy blue eyes was pushed back deep in her mind as she moved slightly back from the hunter's ear who, oblivious to her reasoning, ceased laughing and relaxed.

"Aw… knock it off, you're not mad".

Brought back to the present, Nyssa gasped in astonishment at Eric's boldness.

"No!?".

The Stalker let his arms rest on the desk he was leaning against, fearlessly giving the vampire princess ample room to aim her knee. A dry smile of amusement lingered on his unshaded face as he looked at her with a slight twinkle of mischief in those brown-green eyes of his.

"Nope, you like the way I do things".

The Damaskinos heiress scowled fiercely at the slayer, her knee still ready to strike.

"You're lucky I don't do things the same way. Otherwise, you'd still be sucking the floor of my lobby".

Granted, the vampire princess was still crossed at him, but not that crossed she would have hammered his crotch. Instead, she gave his right shin a more or less hard kick and then spun on her heel to walk towards the armchair by the library, away from the slayer. Faster than a snake, though, Blade grasped her left wrist and whirled her back to face him. Then, it was he who seemed to wear an expression of anxiety on his face.

"Hey, do you think I don't know what's going on here? Since I've met you I've nearly been sliced in half, shot at, bled dry and almost drowned in a blood cask. I know, we're caught in the middle of a power vacuum you need to fill as soon as you can: big deal. I've given you my word to help you, okay, but I think I'm getting more than I would've bargained for and until we're done with this thing, I am going to continue to do things the way I think they should be done".

Suddenly, Eric kissed her long and hard on the mouth. His hands were all over her, the right one sliding its way up to her elbow and the left one reaching out to feel the exposed skin between the waistband of her trousers and her bodice. It took all the willpower she could muster to resist the urge to moan when his hand slithered past her right hip and then lunged upwards along her back. When he broke the kiss to take a short breath, Nyssa got a chance to pull back from his clutch.

'No. Not now. There's no time'.

She tried her best not to look horny and instead gave him the most baleful glare she had.

"How dare you kiss me, now!?".

The Damaskinos heiress was able to sustain her own angry glower for only a couple of seconds. Her eyes momentarily turned down to glance at his pencil-moustached lips that made her tickle every time they shared a kiss. She could brush, peck and kiss them for hours, if not nights. Just, he better keep that naughty tongue of his behind them: or put it to better uses.

'Oh, to hell with it'.

In the blink of an eye, Nyssa threw her hands around the Stalker's neck and squeezed, pulling him in back for another kiss. Her arousal skyrocketed as she immediately pushed her tongue inside his mouth and tangled it with his. Eventually, the man tore his mouth away from her and breathed for air, pushing the vampire slightly away.

"Don't flatter yourself, princess, I still resent your kind".

Then, the make-out session resumed with greater urgency. The Daywalker assaulted her neck, sucking and nipping along the curve of her right shoulder, whilst the Damaskinos heiress nibbled on his earlobe and slid her tongue down the back of his ear, eliciting a deep groan of pleasure from the slayer's chest.

"And I can't stand arrogant, uncouth men".

All of a sudden, Eric caught her by her thighs and flung her on the desk, showering her neck and collarbone with hungry kisses. That was not enough for Nyssa, so she cupped his face in her hands and jerked it up, towards her lips. The woman opened her mouth to welcome his thrusting tongue, which began to dance with hers in a series of feverish strokes. Probably due to Blade's blood still circulating through her veins, heat quickly built in her core and filled her body, radiating outward until it encompassed her sex, stomach, and breasts. Her bosom rose and fell, growing warm as the Stalker's hands undid zip of her jacket and started to explore her bodice. Squirming in excitement, she bumped with her bottom the small, metallic keypad on the desk and the study rapidly descended into darkness. The gloomy room became dimly lightened by the faint glimmer of some red LEDs here and there, allowing her to discern only the outline of the man's shape. Unperturbed, she clenched her legs tightly around his waist and her fingers searched for the two metal buckles fastening his armour vest. Whilst the vampire princess frantically tried to unclip them, the hunter broke away from their snog and traced the contour of her face with small pecks, murmuring something to himself.

"Ahh, Prague".