LIANNDRA

Lianndra studied him for a moment. The boy that he had known was almost entirely gone, yet at the same time there was something so touchingly human about the young vampire. He still had all the mannerisms of his mortal life, and with the color in his hair he might have been mortal in truth. The only difference in him from what he had been before was the loss of innocence reflected in his eyes. There was something rather sad about that.

Still, he looked rather nice as he walked with his back straight and tall. His brown hair was blowing in the slight breeze that whipped the sparse trees into dropping their leaves. It was rather sad that the color in his hair and skin couldn’t be permanent, but color doesn’t last long on vampires. That was why most vampires didn’t bother to dye their hair--it was just too much of a bother having to do it all the time and magical spells only lasted a few years at the most. Only the really stubborn vampires kept their hair colored all the time. For everyone else it was just too much trouble.

Lianndra felt the urge to touch Chris’ head and feel the slight roughness of mortal hair, but he knew that it wouldn’t be like that, no matter that the boy looked incredibly mortal at the moment. The hair wouldn’t have the slight roughness or brightness that mortal hair had; it would be silky soft the way vampire hair always was, even when it was dirty and blood encrusted.

He sighed again. "We’re going to Gregor’s house to ask him about where the Queen’s lair is."

Chris looked at him for a second, but asked no more questions. He seemed to sense what kind of mood Lianndra was in and knew that now would not be a good time to go into it and to ask questions that would answer themselves soon enough. Lianndra was glad of that. He could appreciate the way that Chris seemed to know the appropriate time to say certain things and when to just keep his questions and comments to himself. There’s a time for everything, and the time for questions was not yet here.

They walked along in silence, the three vampires that looked so very mortal, but who at the same time didn’t. There was something ironic about people that gave up their humanity for immortality only to pretend to be completely human afterward. It was so ironic that sometimes he felt like crying.

It took them half an hour to get to Tacoma where Gregor lived in an apartment duplex that he shared with three other guys and a dog.

Few people knew it, but the dog, Bingie, was a bitch that thought she was dominant to Gregor, so she always tried to order him around. He liked to take her to the beach and play Frisbee with her. The only problem with their relationship was that whenever Bingie went into heat, he had to send her to a kennel for a week before and a week after, otherwise she would bring out the wolf in him. Meaning he would feel the need to Change and mate with her. It was a rather awkward situation to say the least. Especially when she had a litter of puppies that looked more wolf than dog--highly intelligent puppies.

Lianndra prepped Chris and Dezi in the car. Even though Dezi had been to see Gregor before, he still felt the need to make sure she was fully prepared and wouldn’t make any mistakes.

"Remember, no remarks about the puppies, don’t even mention Bingie if you can avoid it. Let me do the talking, don’t say anything unless either he or I ask you a question, okay?" Lianndra said. They nodded agreement, even though Chris had an unhappy look in his eyes.

They reached Gregor’s apartment building and Lianndra rang the buzzer. "Who is it?" a muzzy voice asked through the intercom.

"We are looking for Gregor Steinbridge, is he at home?" Lianndra asked.

There was a moment of silence. "Uh, yeah. Can I ask who wants to see him?"

Lianndra grimaced. "Tell him that it’s an old friend, one that he hasn’t seen since France 1970. Also tell him that he owes me a cup of fine café au lait and that I won’t wait out here forever."

There was a long moment of silence, then Gregor himself spoke through the intercom: "Come on up, Lianndra. I’ve been expecting you."

"Come on," Lianndra said, opening the now unlocked door. They followed him up the narrow, rat-marked stairs to the apartment that he knew to be Gregor’s. He could tell it was his by the faint scent of fresh blood that emanated from within.

"Remember, I do the talking," he whispered over his shoulder, opening the door without bothering to knock.

The sight that greeted them was about what he had expected, the usual scene of lascivious hedonism. Gregor was lying across the couch wearing nothing but his blue and white boxers and a worried look. Next to him lay a nude, handsome young man that was drinking a soda and laughing as a young black man sucked his penis, his head going up and down methodically. Another man, an older man with gray in his hair, watched with a slight-smile twisting his lips as he touched

himself.

"Lianndra," Gregor said, managing to look ashamed yet at the same time hedonistic to the supreme. He could have been Bacchus lounging on his velvet eating-couch.

The men stopped in their acts and turned to look at the door. The older man jerked up out of the recliner he was sitting in and leaped toward a pile of clothes on the floor. He dressed with quick jerks and snaps. "I can’t believe you let little kids in here, Greg!" he shouted.

Gregor laughed and rolled his eyes toward Lianndra. "Meet Jeremy Hatfield, secret lover of men." He turned toward the other man, his eyes mocking. "Maybe you should go back home to your wife, Jeremy, since you can’t take the time out of your life to hang out with your… friends."

The man flushed bright red and continued buckling his belt. He was a rather striking man in retrospect, what with his dignified silver hair, his patrician nose and straight-planed face. It was only when one was in the same vicinity with him that a sort of uncomfortable feeling transferred itself from him onto those around him. There was something vaguely unsettling about the man, something that just wasn’t quite right. Even Lianndra felt it, and he was a vampire, about as "not right" as they come. There was just something about the man, something that made people think of bugs crawling all over their skin, or a dingy room filled with squirming and defecating rats. It was rather disgusting.

"Come on, Greg," the man suddenly whined, his face no longer filled with righteous indignation. "You know I don’t play with little kids, not since that one time…"

Gregor shot out a short bark of laughter. "You think… you think that you’re in a league to play with Lianndra? If you think that… well, he would just eat you alive."

Lianndra smiled slightly at that one. If pushed, he would eat the man alive. That was the best way to eat ones food after all, alive and squirming, trying to escape until the very last drop.

The man practically raced for the door, and Lianndra’s smile widened, delighted. He was glad that the man was gone. He could only stand so much temptation for destruction before he cracked.

His smile froze on his face when one of the young men got up off the couch--it was the naked man--and walked over to Chris. The man placed his hands firmly on Chris’ shoulders and began to lick the boy’s flinching face.

"Gregor!" Lianndra snapped.

The werewolf looked to see what his compatriot had gotten himself into and gave a low growl deep in his throat. The young man stilled and whined, looking at the alpha male that was telling him that what he was doing was wrong. "Why?" the one word was filled with anguished need.

"Because he is Lianndra’s and you know that we don’t go against what Lianndra wishes," Gregor said.

"Why?" The man flicked a look at Lianndra, seeing only a little boy dressed all in black with skin that was just a little too pale. His nose twitched and wrinkled; he smelled something strange about these three, but he didn’t have the experience to even begin to understand what he was smelling. He had been only recently Changed and was still adapting to his new life.

While the man had been looking at Lianndra, Gregor had crossed the room to stand right behind him. "Listen to me and listen well. Remember the master that I have been telling you about?" Nod of a fair head. "That is Lianndra."

"But he’s too young!" the man protested, looking from Lianndra to Gregor with disbelieving eyes.

"Age is in the eye of the beholder. To you I am a child, but to the eye of time, I have lived for over two centuries," Lianndra said, giving no indication that it was only a little bit over two centuries, barely enough to really count.

The man left Chris and crossed the spanning space between him and Lianndra with the flowing and preternatural grace of his kind.

He was a rather good-looking young man with a full head of fair hair, large blue eyes, high cheekbones, long and slenderly graceful hands, a touchingly innocent chin and a leanly muscled physique. He had one of those androgynous faces and figures that made both men and women look at him lustfully. Adding to the almost femininity about him was the fact that he was only about five foot five. He was taller than Lianndra, but Chris towered over him.

"What are you?" he asked, his guileless blue eyes locked on Lianndra’s face. Even though his eyes were innocent, his mouth was wanton and his constantly moving hands touched himself even as he spoke.

Lianndra looked at him with disgust for a second before turning his head to look at Gregor. "Really, Gregor, you would actually Change a creature like this?"

Gregor shrugged with a smile. "Who cares what he’s like? Just look at him, isn’t he absolutely the most delicious thing you’ve ever seen?"

Lianndra looked back at the young man and couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips. He didn’t know that the smile was cruel, didn’t notice when the young man in front of him twitched slightly in something like nervousness. "Actually, you’re right. I wouldn’t mind a little taste myself. Would you really mind?" He looked at the alpha werewolf with his head tilted to one side and his eyes filled with his question.

Gregor laughed and waved a hand negligently. "Of course, if you want you can have a little taste right now. Just remember: he’s my entertainment for the next century, and I really don’t want to miss out on any of the fun we might have. Don’t drink too much. Remember last time?"

"That wasn’t my fault!" Lianndra complained. "You’re the one that didn’t tell me he was anemic."

Gregor snorted derisively and they both laughed.

The naked young man put out a hand to touch Lianndra’s cheek. When he felt the chill of the boy’s skin, he hurriedly drew back his hand. "What are you?" he asked again. This time there was the scent of fear about him as he looked at what was obviously not a normal boy.

Lianndra smiled. "Kneel before me and accept the gift of your master." As he spoke, he looked right into the werewolf’s eyes. The young man made a mewling sound deep in his throat and went down on his knees before Lianndra, his head tilted back as he looked into the glowing blue eyes of his new master.

Lianndra tilted the man’s head to one side with the first two fingers of his right hand. He bent his head forward and allowed his needle sharp fangs to prick the delicate skin there. Blood welled up, and he sucked it up through his fangs like a straw. His mouth latched onto the man’s neck and his left arm went around the man’s shoulder, his right under the man’s arm.

At first the man tried to push him away, then the feeling registered in his mind and he clasped Lianndra, trying to pull him even closer. He moaned and nuzzled his face into Lianndra’s neck, placing kisses up and down Lianndra’s own small neck, pressing suddenly needle-sharp teeth against the pulse but not daring to bite down.

"Yes, yes, ohhhh," the man moaned, holding Lianndra so tightly that if he had been mortal his bones would have cracked.

Lianndra Fed until the edge was off his Hunger, then raised one foot, and bracing it against the man’s stomach, shoved him away. The man screamed as the connection was broken and he landed sprawled on his back on the floor.

"No, no, please, more. You can drink me dry, just don’t leave me!" he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. He crawled across the floor to clasp his arms around Lianndra’s knees, his face tilted back, his eyes pleading.

"Poor little creature, why don’t you go and play with your little friend," Lianndra said, gesturing at the man that had been watching the whole drama unfold with a sort of stunned curiosity. He hadn’t bothered to cover himself; he just relaxed back on the couch, his eyes wide in his dark face.

When Lianndra brought attention to him, he sat up and wiped his still damp mouth. He whined like a much-abused animal and tried to move to the end of the couch.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Lianndra asked Gregor, his mouth twisting in disgust. He didn’t like it when people abused their underlings.

"You know how it is," the alpha male said. "We have to break them before they make good pets, and sometimes one or two will take longer to pull themselves together than others. Poor Ralphie, he just never quite regained that spark that drew me to him in the first place." He said it offhandedly, as if the breaking of another person’s spirit was just something that happened every day and didn’t really matter. He reminded Lianndra why he had never really liked Gregor as a close friend, more as someone that he occasionally went hunting with.

"Please, drink more, please," the sobbing voice asked tremulously from near the floor.

Lianndra sighed. He hated when things like this happened, which was why he usually killed the ones he didn’t change into vampires or servants. It was kinder than leaving them to suffer the affects of withdrawal, never to feel his Kiss again. They usually ended up wasting the rest of their lives trying to find the wonder they had had and lost.

"Gregor, take care of your… friend. He needs you now. You remember how it is," he said, sighing heavily.

Back when Gregor had been mortal he had tried to pick up a little boy that went by the name of Lyan, only to get a rather unpleasant surprise. The bite he received that night haunted him for the next four years until he ran across a werewolf that found him to be interesting prey. Ten years later he had come seeking Lianndra and took him as his master, vowing to serve the vampire boy for all of eternity, or at least for as long as he lived.

Gregor became just another link in Lianndra’s information chain. Just another gatherer of the secrets Lianndra used to run his little empire.

Sometimes they met and hunted together, Gregor always choosing to go after young and attractive men, enticing them over to Lianndra who would Feed after Gregor had his fun. They were the perfect hunters, the only problem being the way Gregor treated his prey, the way he broke their spirits before releasing them.

It wasn’t so hard to believe the fact that Gregor was one of the world’s leading psychologists, especially since he had studied directly under Sigmund Freud. He had learned psychoanalysis from the best the world had to offer, and over time he had studied under many other psychologists and had furthered his own skills to the point where he could do things with peoples’ minds that most thought impossible.

That didn’t mean he himself had changed his inner nature. He was still the same man that had lived for so very long. The same rather depraved man that had tortured and controlled humans for so long that he was no longer completely of their number. There had always been a streak of cruelty in him and that streak had only been strengthened by his Change into a werewolf--a predator.

It was funny, but wolves were known for the way they balked at killing needlessly, the way that they only killed when they were hungered or threatened. Yet here was Gregor, a man that turned into a wolf at will, and he enjoyed the stalking and torturing of mortals. He didn’t seem like a wolf at all; he just didn’t have the right kind of mentality for it. He was more like a jackal.

Barking broke into Lianndra’s thoughts. He turned his head and looked toward the darkened hall that led out of the living space.

Bingie came running, her long legs eating up the ground. She growled low and dangerous as she leaped through the air and hit him hard in the chest. Unfortunately for her, she had never run across a vampire, so was not prepared for the immovable wall that she smashed into.

She fell to the floor whining. Behind her came the five dark streaks that were her puppies, giving high-pitched yelping barks as they came across their mother lying on the floor. One of them--one that was almost completely black except for the twin stripes of light gray that circled his muzzle--didn’t bark. All of the other puppies were plain gray, but Lianndra could tell that this one was special.

He sat on his haunches and held open his arms. The little puppy with its intelligent black eyes leaped into his arms and began to lick his face.

~hello pet, what’s you’re name?~ Lianndra asked, not really expecting an answer.

~i’m daniel ryan steinbridge,~ the concise little voice said into his mind, causing him to almost drop the puppy.

Lianndra raised his eyes to meet Gregor’s and saw the shame there. Gregor had done something that he shouldn’t have. His mating with Bingie had just been a rumor, but here, in this little puppy, was the proof. There was a human intelligence in this werewolf/dog.

"What have you done?" Lianndra asked, though he knew full well what had happened.

Gregor bit his lip. "Oh God, now you know what I’ve become. I’ve become like an animal. I couldn’t resist, she kept coming to me, urging me, then she came into heat unexpectedly, and you know how I am when I’m in my other form. I couldn’t resist her, and in my mind at that time it didn’t really seem to matter. She was female and she was ready."

"So, this is your son. What about the others, they seem different, lesser?"

"Yes, it has to do with my being human. Most humans only have one child, and these would be considered quintuplets. Only Daniel is human, the others are just puppies," Gregor looked at his son with sadness and regret in his eyes.

The puppy squirmed until he could lift a paw and touch Lianndra’s face. ~i like you, you’re different from these others. even papa isn’t like you,~ the little voice was sweet and the puppy face looked so intelligent that Lianndra had to hug Daniel close.

"Yes, you are a smart little boy, aren’t you," Lianndra murmured into the small and uplifted ears. The puppy wriggled happily.

As he was holding the little body he felt something strange begin to happen beneath his hands. It was a squirming-shifting feeling that felt vaguely like worms moving over his skin. He looked down in shock to watch the puppy’s eyes go impossibly wide and its face begin to contort.

In the sudden silence of the room, there was the sound of popping joints, tearing skin and the harsh breathing of a creature in pain. The little puppy’s whine rose until it became a howl that changed midway through to become a scream. Daniel had Changed for the first time.

Lianndra stared at what he now held. His arms immediately changed placement, and he cradled the human child close. Daniel looked to be about two or three years old, which about equaled his five months as a puppy.

"Hewo," Daniel said, looking up at Lianndra with his human eyes. Reflected in his eyes was an intelligence that his young human self could not express. Not even as a puppy could he express the ideas and thoughts that filled his mind. Someday, when he was an adult and wore the form of a man, only then would he be able to explain the things that drove him. Until then he could only hold them inside and try his hardest to make people understand the little that they ever would.

He was not human, and he was not a wolf or a dog. He was a new species, a crossbreed that should never have been born, but which strange occurrence had brought about. As people said, nature would find a way, and it had.

"My God! Daniel! Is that really you?" Gregor came running across the room to scoop the boy out of Lianndra’s grasp.

The little boy laughed as he was swooped up through the air, then hugged his father. "Hewo Papa, are you happy?"

"Yes, oh yes, baby, I’m happy." Tears streamed from Gregor’s eyes.

"Good Papa, I want you to be happy."

"Why didn’t you ever Change before? I thought you were going to be a dog forever," Gregor said, cradling the small body close to his much bigger one.

There was a faint resemblance between the two, but not quite as much of one as would be expected. Gregor had light brown hair while Daniel had black. Gregor’s eyes were gray while Daniel’s were black. Gregor was so skinny that he either looked like a skeleton or a scarecrow. Daniel was a rather handsome little boy with black hair, black eyes, a childishly round face that would someday be sharply defined and handsome what with his good bone structure and high cheekbones. Daniel was going to be a handsome man, the kind of man that would be able to get anything he wanted from life. He sort of reminded Lianndra of himself, only with the chance to grow up that Lianndra had never really had.

"How come you never Changed before?" Gregor asked.

Daniel smiled. "I couldn’t. It was on’y when I was near him," he pointed a pudgy finger at Lianndra, "that I had the power, the energy to Change. Do you un’erstand?" His babyish mouth couldn’t form the words properly, but it was easy to see that he knew the words in his mind.

Gregor nodded slowly, sadly. "Yes, there’s a power in him. Do you know what it means?" Daniel shook his head, puzzled. "You can’t Change back because you don’t have the power. The only time you can Change is when you’re near Lianndra."

Daniel’s face crumpled and he began to cry like the child he was. "But Mama won’t know me anymo’e!" He began to howl and kick his feet. His face was contorted horribly by his grief.

Gregor looked like he didn’t really know what to do, but he clutched Daniel close to himself.

Gregor looked at Lianndra with pleading eyes. "I love him more than I love anything in this world," he said. "Will you take him with you when you leave? Bingie and I will visit, but he deserves the right to live in both his natural forms."

Daniel lifted his head and leaned back. His eyes were wide and his mouth drooped sadly. "You weally wan’ me to go wit’ Liannd’a?"

Gregor smiled slightly, sadly. "Yes, I want you to go and be all that you can be. Lianndra can help you do that, not to mention he can put you through school in a way that I can’t."

Daniel’s little face was sad, but that ultra-human intelligence was at work. "Okay, I’ll go wit’ him, but you ha’e to visi’ and I’ll visi’ you, okay? You and Mama?"

Gregor grinned. "Of course. I’ll be there for you always, and you can visit anytime that you want." It was true, Gregor would always be there, he was a werewolf and would never die. Lianndra held his tongue about something he feared about Daniel. There was no reason to bring it up and worry everyone; it might not really happen. He could hope that his suspicions were unfounded.

"Okay, I’ll take him with me, but only after I come back, and you have to tell me where Tispith is. I’m going to destroy her."

Gregor looked at him in disbelief. "Why? I mean, she’s evil and all that, but what could she do that was all that bad? You’re talking about breaking the Laws."

Lianndra’s face firmed, taking on the countenance of a stone idol. "She’s been killing us one by one and I can’t let her do that any longer. I have to stop her, Queen or no Queen."

Gregor grimaced. "Whatever. I would really think that you would thank her, because some of the older vampires are real pricks. Well, whatever your reasoning, she’s living in a peach-colored mansion at the end of the area of houses up the hill from Central Market in Poulsbo, the ones near the road that leads straight to the elementary school. She thinks it’s neat that she can jump onto school buses going by and snatch kids right out through the window and no one sees it happening."

Lianndra made a face. "Wonderful. She’s eating small children. Oh well, what’s the number on the front?"

Gregor thought for a second. "23947, though she operates mostly out of an old abandoned church about a mile away from the house. I don’t know the street number, but the church is fairly easy to find. You remember where that big maple tree is?"

Lianndra nodded. "The church is near there," Gregor said. "Tispith uses the mansion for her resting-place, but she plays with her victims out at the church. Your best bet for tracking her down would be to get her at the church during one of her ‘entertainments.’"

"Thank you Gregor, I won’t forget that you helped me track her down and end her reign of terror," Lianndra said. He was honestly thankful for the help. "I’m going to leave Dezi and Chris here with you when I go. Don’t let them get into trouble."

"That’s not fair, we want to go too!" Chris protested.

Dezi put a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t aggravate him. He doesn’t want to worry about us when he gets there. Besides, we have other things to do."

Lianndra smiled at her; she had served him for a long time and recognized his moods. There was a time to complain and a time to just take it--this was not a time to fight him.

"Can I go with you?" the blond man asked, begging.

Lianndra looked at him: almost beautifully handsome with innocent blue eyes, a wanton mouth and an air of sex about him.

"No," Lianndra said monotonously. He didn’t really want an oversexed werewolf that didn’t have the intellect to know what he was supposed to do and not do.

The man’s lip quivered and he looked like he was about to cry like an abandoned child. Still, Lianndra knew what he wanted in his outfit and what he didn’t. "Why don’t you like me?" the man asked brokenly.

"Look… what’s your name?"

"Bran Williams."

"Look Bran, I don’t particularly want an oversexed idiot hanging around messing things up, understand? I’m sure that you’re a nice person, but what can you really do?"

The man, boy really, he was only about nineteen when Lianndra looked closer, smiled weakly. "Well, I’m an accomplished hacker that goes by the name of Iceman. Have you heard of me?" Lianndra had. The man was a legend; he had broken into more systems than any other hacker in history. "Also, I have an IQ of one hundred and sixty-five, I graduated from Stanford when I was twelve, then spent a year at Harvard, another year at Yale and six months at Cal Tech; I graduated from them all. I’ve ghostwritten six books that have gone number one, three songs that went platinum and a couple of textbooks and sociology manuals. I made jewelry and hats for a little while, and I’m a world class cook that can host parties and banquets."

Lianndra looked at Gregor in disbelief, and the man nodded slowly, smiling. Gregor knew that he might lose his lover, but with his good-looks he’d have another in a week. Besides, he still had Ralphie, poor guy.

"Okay, I’ll take you too, but I also get Ralphie. How ‘bout it Gregor? Can I have them?" Lianndra asked.

Gregor frowned. "Okay, but I really don’t think that it’s fair. Still, they would have gotten broken anyway, and you want to use them for something productive. Take them and be damned, okay?"

"Thank you Gregor," Lianndra said, smiling. Sometimes Gregor was a real sweetheart, not very often, but sometimes.

"Before you go and fight the Queen, can I have a Kiss?" Gregor asked pleadingly.

Lianndra thought a moment then nodded slowly. There was a chance that he was never coming back, and Gregor should have something for his loyalty. "All right."

Gregor grinned and set Daniel on the floor. The boy toddled over to his mother and began to play with her and the puppies. She nuzzled his hair with her nose.

"We’re going to spend the day here. You guys be good and Sleep in the spare room, okay?" Lianndra said over his shoulder to Dezi and Chris.

Gregor and Lianndra went into another room--Gregor’s bedroom--and closed the door carefully, locking it behind them. Lianndra crossed the room to Gregor who towered over his own four foot two. Gregor opened his arms and Lianndra came into them, his chill flesh warmed by the blood he had just drunk. He was more like a real human after he Fed than at any other time.

"Please, fill yourself and be welcome," Gregor murmured softly into his ear as he bent close.

Lianndra smiled. "Don’t worry, I always drink my fill, whether I’m welcome or not." He pressed his fangs against Gregor’s throat and delicately nipped the flesh, liking the way the blood instantly welled up to fill his mouth.

He sighed, like a connoisseur coming across a vintage wine. He pressed his lips against the wound and began to relax into the Feed. Dimly he heard Gregor moan and call his name, begging for him to never stop. This was better than anything mortals could ever feel. This was a closeness, a bond that they would never be able to match with any of their weak and mortal ties to each other. This went deeper than mere emotions. This was a soul tie.

He was master here, his word was law, yet at the same time he was the servant and slave to those that Fed him. He protected them, and they gave him what he needed to survive. It was a true symbiosis of the spirit; it was something that could never be broken. He owned Gregor, body and soul.

He laughed a wickedly low laugh and drank deep, filling himself with the strength that Gregor offered so freely.

In his mind he could hear the voices and memories like a dream floating past. Gregor’s life was his life. In this one moment in time, they were a single entity, and he would always have a bit of Gregor inside of him to be called upon at need. He sighed again and tightened his hold on Gregor, feeling something leave himself and enter into the werewolf, something that was returned to him strengthened ten fold.

He laughed again, life was good, not to mention tasty fresh.