"Cassandra, you wanted to see me?" asked Lucard as he stepped into her office.

"Yes father, my project is complete. Are you ready for your first press photo?" she said, pointing to her computer screen.

Alexander looked at the screen and saw himself, a perfect picture, speaking in front of a microphone. She changed photos and he saw pictures of him walking to his car, sitting at his desk, and having dinner with other businessmen. She clicked on something with her mouse and hit a few buttons; the first photo was back, but it was moving; Lucard began to speak, and a perfect copy of his voice resounded from the speakers, then stopped in sync with the movie. "Cassandra, this is perfect! The first half of our plan is complete."

"Yes, and I’m ready for the second half to be complete as well," she said as she looked up at him.

"Soon, my dear...soon. I do think it’s time for Miss Drake to meet her boss, don’t you?" he said as he stepped away from the desk. "I know the perfect place; now we just have to make sure someone sees you with me. You dear little Max will want to protect you every minute after he sees you with me!"

"I know," she said with a laugh. "Hmm, I think I’ll see if Sophie is available for lunch. Sound good to you?"

"Wonderful, just make sure you are at the café early enough for her to walk in on you meeting Mr. Lucard."

"Oh yes, I can just see it. ‘That was Alexander Lucard? He didn’t seem like a vampire, very different from the ones I’ve seen.’" She began to laugh again before picking up the phone to place a call.

Sophie walked up to the café and asked for Cassie Drake’s table. The hostess pointed to the corner table and Sophie stopped, staring, when she saw Cassandra talking to Lucard. She debated about running up to the table but thought if Lucard knew they were friends he could easily figure out that Cassie was stealing memos...if he hadn’t already. She stood near a column and watched as Lucard shook her hand and left the table. Sophie waited until he left before she went up to the table.

"Sophie," said Cassandra. "So glad you could make it."

"Cassie, that man you were talking to, do you realize who that was? Did he tell you?"

"He just said he worked at Lucard Industries as an assistant to the vice president of something. You think he’s one of Lucard’s spies, don’t you?"

"Cassie, he’s not an assistant to anyone. That was Alexander Lucard."

Cassandra looked shocked. "Really? He’s Lucard: vampire, rich executive?"

"Yep, that’s him."

"Are you sure? He said he just started a while ago and noticed me a few times; he saw me leave for lunch and wanted to meet me. You think he knows about me? I mean, why wouldn’t he just introduce himself as Lucard otherwise? You guys said he could be charming and stuff."

"That’s strange of Lucard, he is a little vain. He loves to say, ‘Please call me Alexander.’"

Cassandra laughed. "He always says that? He didn’t even tell me his name."

Sophie smiled. "Lucard probably knows you’re on to him, knows we’ve warned you about him, so why would he introduce himself to you? He knows you’d tell us."

"Yup, and now you know. But I just can’t quit; my father would be upset. He wants to give me his company one day, but if I quit the mail room, he may not even want to speak to me."

"Your father sounds pretty mean. You think it would upset him that much?"

"I know it would. He’s been grooming me for his company since I was born—the best private schools and colleges, but he won’t hand it to me on a silver platter. I have to earn his respect."

"Your father must know Lucard."

"Who knows? I remember he had dozens of parties and dinners with all kinds of men, but I never was allowed to really sit in."

"Well that’s rude of him. He wants you to run his company one day but won’t even let you meet his friends," Sophie said as she smiled at the waiter before ordering her lunch. "I do have interesting news to tell you. We think Lucard may have a wife or some new female friend that he spends time with."

"Oh, really? Nothing about a wife in any of my papers. Does she have a name?"

"All Max found was an envelope in her car with the name C. Lucard written on it."

"He found it in her car? What did he do, break in?"

"She drives a black convertible Mercedes. She had the top down when she left it at Lucard’s castle. And, we know she’s a blond."

"Well I haven’t seen anyone driving a black convertible around LI, but I don’t exactly spy in the parking garage."

"Yeah...Max’s theory is she’s his girlfriend, but something else did cross my mind and Chris thought of it, as impossible as it may sound."

"What is that?" asked Cassandra as she took a sip of her water.

"Miss Lucard, if that’s her last name, could be a family member of Lucard. Maybe a descendant that he found, or maybe a vampire that he made long ago from one of his own family."

"You mean like that book where the vampire made his mom one?"

Sophie laughed, "Yeah, that’s where Chris got the idea."

"It is kinda way out there. Do you think Lucard would even have any family?"

"That is what I think, so I came up with an even crazier theory. Uncle Gustav told me about a legend of a band of gypsies that could produce a vampire child. It’s just legend, but I know Gustav has a book on it somewhere in his library. Gypsies have always had a strange history and connection to vampires. Bram Stoker wrote about gypsies protecting Dracula in his book."

Cassandra started to laugh. "I’m sorry Sophie, but that is truly ridiculous. Vampires are dead creatures. To be able to...well...you know, to produce a child?"

"I told you, it’s just legend. I want to see if I can find out about it anyway though."

"Let me know how your search goes, for laughs."

"Okay. Will you come over after work? Just stay with us for now, maybe even call in sick tomorrow. We can get you a doctor’s note."

"Sure, I’d love to see if you even find any books on vampire children."

"Okay," said Sophie as she took a bite into the salad brought to her. "It may be fun, and it’d be a way for you to learn more about vampires.

Cassandra smiled back at her. "Yes, fun."

Alexander was speaking to the owner of an oil company when Cassandra ran into his office. "Father, we’ve got to talk," she said running up to his desk.

Lucard held up his finger to hint to her it would be a minute and told Mr. Azir that he would have to call him back because something just came up. "Cassandra, what is it? I was on the phone."

"We have a problem, and her name is Sophie," she said as she lounged in one of the chairs.

"What has dear Sophie done now?"

"She’s believing this crazy theory that vampires might be able to have children with gypsies."

"How did she come up with this crazy theory?"

"Apparently when I drove up to the castle before we left for the ballet, Max was riding his bike nearby. He told Sophie about his mysterious blonde and she compared notes to when she saw me at the jewelry store. And to make matters worse, your dear little Max snuck into my car and found a note marked ‘C. Lucard’. Max thinks I’m your wife."

Lucard laughed. "I have to give Max some credit, he does make a fine spy. I have to give Sophie a little credit, too, I never though in a million years she would even look into such a theory. Gustav yes, but not Sophie."

"Well, Miss Metternich wants me to call in sick tomorrow and work with her in her uncle’s library. Seeing you with me today has her worried about Miss Drake."

"Then your cover is still good and there is nothing to worry about. Your mother is dead; anyone who knew about your birth is dead except me. Even if Sophie finds some evidence of a vampire’s child being born, that can’t link you to the legend, or you to me. I’ve kept all your records under the Drake family name; every time we visited each other while you were in school, I had you with me and even I was under the Drake name as your brother. You know Gustav lost track of me for a few years...while he was raising his family, I was doing the same."

"Father, I think Gustav may have seen me as a child once when we were at a toy store. Sophie told me today that he has been having dreams of a child sitting in a car with blue eyes that scared him half to death. She says he dropped his bags and ran off... I do remember a man looking at me when I was sitting in one of our cars waiting, and I just glowered at him, and he dropped a bag of groceries and ran off as if he had seen a ghost."

"Oh really? I like this; you can drive old Helsing insane! If you can stir up enough of the memory maybe you can frighten him again, this time causing his poor heart to go out...but I won’t let him die just yet. I want him to know it was my own daughter he saw that day in the car."

"Father, I do like this plan. Let them all figure out who I am; by the time they do, Max will be ours and the rest will die knowing the secret you kept for twenty-eight years. As long as I keep Max believing every word I say, I will have no problem getting rid of the rest of the family. I even thought of how we can end their miserable lives, and just who to blame."

"Cassandra, my dear, tell daddy everything," Lucard said as he leaned forward on his desk.

"Okay Sophie," said Cassandra as she drank her Snapple, "I’m ready to begin," she said walking into the library.

"Great! I sent the boys off to get a few things and run other errands, otherwise we’d never get any peace. Max’s crush on you has got to be getting on your nerves by now."

"Nope, I think it’s very sweet. Besides, I think Max might grow up to be very smart and handsome someday."

"Don’t let him hear you say that," said Sophie as she started reading different books on the shelves. "Let’s look for a book about vampires and gypsies, I know it has to be in one of those."

"I’ll start on this end," said Cassandra as she fixed her glasses on her face. She read over titles, amazed at how many books the Helsings had collected on vampires. Some were just books of fiction; others were diaries of other Helsing family members. "Hey how about this one?" she said, pulling a book off the shelf.

Sophie looked at the cover. "Blood Ties: Vampires and Gypsies Over the Years, yeah that does sound good."

They both sat at the desk and looked through the pages. "Hmm, so far it’s just about how vampires have used gypsies over the years to help hide them and work for them like slaves."

"Is there an index?" asked Cassandra as she flipped to the back of the book. She read through the various subjects. "I think I found our topic," she said pointing to the words "sexual relations" and laughing.

"What’s so funny?" asked Sophie.

"Just, you never think of vampires having sex. They’re dead, after all."

"Yeah, but you never know. After all, they are undead, and appear just like everyday mortals. They can eat food and stuff."

"Well let’s turn to the page and find out."

Cassandra listened as Sophie began to read about a band of gypsies who served a very powerful vampire; he had let them drink his blood, but not enough to become vampires or zombies, in hopes of creating more powerful vampires with them. The legend told of how he had tried to breed, but for the few women who did get pregnant, the baby would usually die before birth or shortly after, taking the mother’s life as well.

"It doesn’t say if any vampires were been successful at having a child, but that the children and grandchildren of the gypsies still had the vampire blood in their system and could still get pregnant by a vampire," said Sophie as she turned the page.

"But no record of a child actually living."

"Yeah but listen to this, ‘Although no record of a birth being successful was ever recorded, it may be due to the fact that the vampire, or relatives of the mother, would have kept it a secret. A child half-vampire and half-gypsy could have the strength of both worlds. It could one day turn into a vampire, but have magical capabilities that no regular vampire could possess."

"Good reason to keep it hidden from the vampire," said Cassandra. "That child could be very powerful."

"No kidding, and with Lucard, very powerful indeed."

"But Gustav has been tracking Lucard since he was little, right? Wouldn’t he know if Lucard had a child?"

"Lucard’s a great magician when it comes to disappearing. There’d be years where nothing could be found about him, then next thing you know he’s running a large corporation. And as for keeping secrets, Lucard’s one of the best."

"But the way you guys talk about Lucard, he loves his power. Why would he ever want to share it with anyone? Didn’t he try to do that with Klaus Helsing?"

"Yes, and I think he learned his lesson."

"And," Cassandra said as she sat up, "he’s immortal. It’s not like he’s going to die and want to leave his empire to a child."

"Unless he plans on disappearing a bit and letting someone else handle his company; someone that he could trust," said Sophie as she closed the book.

"Just seems weird to me," said Cassandra. "I wanna go make some coffee, you want a cup?"

"Sure," Sophie said as she put the book back on the shelf.

Cassandra walked into the kitchen and saw Gustav walking near by. As she got the water for the coffee she began to sing, faintly "In the night, when the seas are rolling in," she glanced over at Gustav as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped and looked at her.

"Cassie, that song," he said looking at her. "I know it."

"Really? It was a lullaby I heard when I was little," she looked at his face and could tell he had to be remembering his dream. She knew Sophie was far enough away to not see her talking to Gustav. She took off her glasses and looked at Gustav, transforming herself in an instant to Cassandra Lucard. She smiled at him, the same smile her father gave him a dozen times and saw the look of shock and fear on his face. She put the glasses back on and transformed back even before Gustav fell back against the kitchen table.

Max walked into the room and saw Gustav fall onto the floor. "Uncle Gustav?" he said.

"Oh my god, is he having a heart attack?!" asked Cassandra as she looked at him. "Sophie come quick!" she yelled out.

Sophie and Chris both ran into the room. "Uncle Gustav!" said Sophie. "Chris, get on the phone. We need a doctor."

Sophie and Max placed a pillow under Gustav’s head, but noticed that he kept looking at Cassandra. "Cassie, did something happen?"

"I was singing a song and he came in to ask what it was. It was just an old lullaby I was taught, and then he got this blank look on his face, as if his mind was somewhere else and the next thing I know, he’s falling down. This is awful!"

"Lu....Lu...card," gasped Gustav as he lay on the floor.

"What about Lucard?" asked Max. "Was he here? Did he try and come in or something? Did you see him outside?"

Gustav lifted his finger and pointed right at Cassandra. "Lucard," he said.

"Oh no, he must be seeing things," Cassandra said worriedly before looking right at him giving him her same evil smirk, making sure no one else was looking.

The ambulance arrived and everyone but Cassandra went with him. "Cassie, you stay here. Lucard can’t come inside this house and it is not safe for you to go out," said Max as he hugged her before leaving with the others.

Cassandra watched as they left and called Lucard’s office on her cell phone. "Father, I’m afraid I have bad news about Gustav Helsing. I think he may be having a heart attack, or worse a stroke!"

"Cassandra, my dearest, you didn’t videotape it for me, did you?" said Lucard, laughing,

"Oh I wish, father. It was a glorious moment."

"Tell daddy everything, in detail."

"With pleasure, father," she said, laughing as she glanced over to the kitchen floor where Gustav had fallen.