Blueblood

Story: Blueblood: Dracula

Chapter 4 Iustina and Repetate

Author: Eric McQueen (mcqueen.richarderic@gmail.com)

Adult Readers, Sexual Situations, Sex

Freedom of expression is precious. To do that Nifty needs help. Your donation is greatly desired.

Dragon introduces two special vampires and Devon starts a new task.

Iustina and Repetate

"You said if Lucian told the truth," Colin said. "What has Lucian said to this Dragon?"

Gaius shrugged. "I can only guess, but Lucian doesn't see what we are as a curse. To him, it's a blessing."

"It is no blessing," George said. "Not from any god, at least."

Gaius nodded. "Not to you, but to Lucian, it is." He sighed. "In his past, he was not...well...he was pushed around by others who were bigger, stronger and in more power. Sometimes they were all of the above. When he was bitten, that changed. He was put into a situation where he was the one pushing, occasionally...especially after feeding, stronger and it put him in a position of power."

Stan walked closer to Gaius. "Would he or Dragon hurt Mark?" His main focus was Mark, as it should be.

"Until what is desired is given, no." Gaius shook his head. "Lucian would see having them as a place of power. You have to negotiate for his release."

Stan moaned. "As a person in a business where safety comes first and negotiating is part of that, I know that once they get what they want, there's nothing stopping Lucian or Dragon from placing a statement, saying what they want is more important by killing Mark and Burke."

Colin nodded and put a hand on Stan's back. "But for now, Mark and Burke are alive. That's something for now." He looked back at Gaius. "What technology does either of them have and use?"

Gaius looked at Colin. "Hardly any, I know of."

Colin nodded. "They would have no way of knowing that we know where Mark and Burke are being held?"

Gaius looked a little surprised that we did know. "I don't see how. You know where they are?"

Stan nodded. "Yes, we do."

George moved forward. "We have to get to Nicolae! He needs protection."

Gaius looked a little alarmed. "Why?"

"I think..." George said looking at Colin and me. "I think he carries the beginnings of our cure."

All of us with the VUN looked astonished at George. Comments like, why didn't you say so, and how can he and what is it about him?

George waved them to silence in an effort to answer all their questions. "I've tested his blood. He has the venom, but he isn't a vampire. He has properties of his father and mother. The part of his blood that has the venom is a little weak, but allowed him to make a clear antivenin and an antibody for the venom and changes the venom makes." He explained quickly. "I was testing Nicolae's blood with some of my venom, but the serum sort of prevented his antibodies and the antivenin from working. I need a batch of venom with no serum in it." He said hurried. "I believe this....antivenin and antibody could be made stronger and could probably reverse the venom's effects."

Again, we all started speaking at once and George held his hands up again.

"Stop!" George said loud. "Listen, I don't have all the answers...yet, but a working theory." He sighed. "A quick explanation: you know all those commercials about cleansers that kill 99.9% of germs?" He looked at me when he asked that.

"Oh," I grinned. "Because I watch movies and TV you look at me."

"Well, you do," George said grinning. "The point is...even if it does kill almost all germs, the ones that survive is made stronger and that's how we get super-germs. What I want to do, is get some blood without the serum for the antivenin and antibodies to develop more...eventually, I'd like to get the venom of an Old One after I build up the immunity of Nicolae's antivenin and antibody. I have to work carefully and extract the antivenin and antibody that survives, and I think...at least, I hope it will help create a strong enough antivenin and antibody to reverse the venom. Nicolae has lived a while with venom in his body for decades, but this immunity has kept him from becoming a vampire...which should not happen."

Colin turned to Gaius. "Where does Nicolae and his family live?"

Gaius told us quickly. "You didn't tell Lucian this, did you?" He asked George.

"They were just after the serum," George said. "I didn't mention a word about Nicolae." He looked at everyone. "Now, this will probably work." He said holding his hands out again. "Probably, but know this, creating this super antivenin and antibody takes time. I won't have it next week. It may take a few months to a year or two or even longer. It's a start."

I nodded. "Let's get Nicolae," I said to Colin and the others. I looked at George. "An antivenin works one way and the antibody works another. We can't produce a more powerful antivenin, can we?"

George nodded. "Somehow, Nicolae's antivenin and antibodies are working together. Because the antivenin is natural it works in tandem with the antibody. I believe if I can strengthen his antibodies, we'll strengthen the antivenin." He shrugged and added quickly. "Theoretically."

"That sounds logical." I nodded.

"Eventually, if I get this antivenin and antibody to a point, I'd love to try it on the venom of an Old One," George said. "If it works reversing that, we are really looking at a cure."

I nodded. "Which means, we need to find an Old One."

We sent Chuck, Stan, Shelly, Wayne, Gabriella, Alex, Amir, Mom, and Willie to Nicolae's home to keep him secure. Amasis and George insisted he is included when we confronted Dragon and Lucian. I agreed with Amasis, as a former leader of a people, he might reach this Dragon more readily. Stan had wanted to come, too, but his expertise with the computer was needed and we'd be in contact with the earpieces. We looked at Gaius.

"We promised you a sunrise," Colin said as we escorted him out of the bunker. It was still night. "And you'll see it, but we need to get you secure as well. I trust Nicolae's house has a room not that bright. You shouldn't be harmed, but it will tingle a bit until we insert the disc."

"Disc?" Gaius asked.

"It's a highly concentrated form of the serum," George explained. "I insert it under the skin and you have a monthly dose of the serum given that dissolves over time."

Gaius nodded. "And no more pain?"

I nodded with a chuckle. "No more pain."

"Do Nicolae or you have passports?" George asked.

Gaius looked surprised. "I'm a vampire. You think I'd be issued a passport?"

George nodded sadly. "I'd love to have Nicolae in my lab back in Manhattan." He said thinking again. "I have more sophisticated equipment there."

"And Buddy." Colin nodded.

George nodded. "And Buddy." He shrugged. "Buddy can be replaced. We can get another CPU here with some equipment." He looked around the area. "I'd prefer somewhere more..." he looked at Gaius. "Sorry, but...more sterile...and has electric power."

Colin shrugged. "We'll just have to bring those things here." He said. "I'm sure we can rent a place to do what you need."

George nodded. "Which we can do..." he frowned... "after we get Burke back...and Mark."

I was pleased to hear he had the right priorities. "You need to tell that to Burke when you see him." I put a hand on George's shoulder. "We will get them back."

George nodded. "I do have a tendency to become tunneled with my attention. I've neglected Burke."

I nodded with a smile. "And Burke understands that, but he would like to hear that he is at least, more important."

George nodded. "You're right." He sighed.

Colin didn't think an armed assault would be their thing to get us what we wanted, so Colin, Gaius, George, and I followed the computer's guidance to where it said Burke and Mark were to another part of town. It was still a few hours before sunrise as we walked.

The area around Transylvania had both developed and undeveloped parts. The many wars and conflicts in this part of Europe left a lot of places for people to hide. The thick forest that made up the foliage of Transylvania was naturally spooky in the daytime and it was even more so at night. This time as I sensed we were being followed. I sensed it now, but I knew it wasn't wolves that were following us this time, but vampires. I was a vampire and that fact creeped me out. These creatures could kill even if they didn't want my blood.

I held the computer and pointed. "There has to be an entrance," I said to Colin, Gaius, and George. "We're practically on top of them."

Colin nodded and took my hand. "Close the laptop."

I looked at him wondering, but then I felt it. The feeling like I got from Gaius...now I felt it again, but much more powerful...and just...dark. I closed the laptop and we followed Gaius as he took the lead. The feeling just got wo rse with every step we took. Gaius made a turn at some outcropped rock and entered a crack in the hillside. Above us was nothing but rock and some vegetation. What through this crack in the hillside was spreading out before us were steps. Stone steps that led down. There were torches lit and showed the way as we wound down to a floor, also stone that spread out to a corridor.

Colin squeezed my hand. "Now I'm hearing the dark creepy music."

"Nah," I said smiling. "Gaius had a song in minor keys playing, but this is symphony playing requiem like from Wagner, or like in the movie Excalibur in the beginning. Slow, creeping music that just gets darker." I smiled, but I didn't feel the lightness to do it. "I'm rubbing off on you," I said, but wasn't feeling the humor right now. "This music now is one of those dark menacing songs and darker. Menacing and creepy and very powerful."

As with Amasis and we entered what could only be a throne room. Through an opening we entered a massive room with a single person sitting on what I saw had to be a throne. There were torches and these tall containers I saw must have oil in them as they burned to give the cavernous room light by the flames. There were men gathered around him by the dozen and we were being followed by the ones that had followed us. They all wore some form of black. They did not speak to us and did not stop, but joined the others before the throne. One I knew to be Iilya and beside him was a man that had been turned in his mid-thirties, but he had white hair, but it was thick but well cut. I mean his hair completely white. I didn't believe it was because he was grey due to age, but that was his natural color.

"Why have you entered my domain?" A deep, powerful voice asked and because we were underground and any sound here would echo, it sounded much more...sinister. "It is near sunrise, Gaius."

"My days of hiding from the sun are coming to an end," Gaius said and bowed.

"Hear him?" The white-haired man shouted, which wasn't necessary as his voice echoed loud. "His days are ending!" He said pointing at us. "He even senses different now."

"Silence, Lucian." The man on the throne said in a low voice, but much more quietly, but it still echoed. The man who was on this throne was dark haired and had the eyes of a vampire. He rose and walked forward. He was Dragon. No one had to tell us, we all just knew it. That overwhelming presence I felt with Gaius was now a hundred times more powerful. The man, Dragon, just oozed authority, and darkness that seemed to radiate from his very being. "I do sense you are different, Gaius. You don't give off the same...vibration from you."

"I am being treated for my condition," Gaius said waving at us. "These men have found a way for us to move in the day time now. I've eaten food instead of drinking blood."

Whatever Dragon had been told; he wasn't expecting this. "You ate food?" He came even closer and this darkness of presence seemed like it would swallow us as he did. "How can you do that?"

"Lies!!" Lucian shouted again. "It's all lies! They want to destroy us!"

This time, Dragon turned to Lucian and without a word spoken, Lucian whimpered and hid his eyes from Dragon's gaze and literally cowered down. Then Dragon turned again to us. "Do you wish to destroy us?"

George shook his head and swallowed, then came forward. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I took an oath to do no harm. I want to help us." George said the pleading in his voice as he spoke quietly. "I never wanted to be a vampire. I came up with a treatment that keeps the vampire inside quiet and allows us to lead somewhat normal lives." He motioned toward Gaius. "In a few more days, Gaius will be able to walk in the sun, enjoy a good meal of food. He can travel where he wants to go...just as we do." He motioned to Colin, me and Amasis. "This man..." he took Amasis by the shoulder, "was a pharaoh in Egypt thousands of years, trapped by the sun and now goes out in the sun and enjoys a meal." He touched Colin. "This man was born over two hundred years ago, but now has married and enjoys food almost too much. He's a bottomless pit."

"Lies!!" Lucian claimed again.

"Lucian!" Dragon now said loud and the name was almost a gunshot as it hit the walls and the thunderous sound bounced back and forth. "I have no qualms ending lives. Do that again and I will end yours."

I was really not comfortable with it, but I stepped forward. "Excuse me," I said not wanting to have this Dragon's wrath, but I had to say something. "I've never met Lucian, nor has he ever met us." I began softly. At least I tried to be softer than the acoustics here allowed. "How does he know what we planned? We said it up front what our goals were and they were posted on the Internet."

"The Internet." Dragon nodded and looked at Lucian again. "You said they wanted to kill us."

"They admitted it themselves," Lucian said pointing at us. "They want to end us."

I nodded. "We do," I said causing Dragon to turn to look at us. "End our torment," I explained. "We want to end this life of hiding from the sun, existing only on blood." I nodded. "Lucian is right, we do want to end that part of our lives, but we most definitely don't want to kill anyone. We are trying to prevent innocent people from dying."

This man, Dragon looked at me and inched closer to me. "You are different." He said quietly. "Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what you mean."

Dragon came closer, but I didn't back away as he looked at me with the eyes of a vampire, but sniffed lightly. "I can sense no trauma. You smell...off."

I heard Colin move closer to me as if to protect me somehow. I held my hand out to stop him.

Dragon looked at my hand and Colin. "I see." He said simply. "He was the one that turned you."

I nodded. "But he never harmed me."

"I do sense fear in you." Dragon said.

I nodded. "Sure." I agreed. "I am scared," I admitted. "You are who I know you are, you ruled using fear to protect your people. You did it very well. Fear is what you want, isn't it?"

Dragon smiled. I say it was a smile, but it was a smile that really didn't have a lot of humor in it. "I use fear. It is an effective tool."

I pointed at Lucian. "He's using fear as well; on you."

Dragon looked at Lucian and frowned. "How so?" He asked and turned back to me.

"Fear of the unknown," I said. "He has told you we want to end the vampires' existence. We do, but we don't want to end any lives. Not yours, his or ours. We want to give you a life!" I waved at Gaius. "You sense Gaius is different now...he is. He's not the vampire he was. He is changing, but he still has that part of himself that is a vampire. You should sense that."

Dragon shook his head. "This is confusing."

George came closer. "What we have is a condition...an illness...sort of." He then told Dragon about the vampires and the Old Ones and the venom. "I developed a serum that adheres to the venom and causes it not to work. We are allowed freedom to pursue other things."

"Lies!" Lucian said again.

Dragon turned so quickly, even I was startled as he grabbed Lucian by the neck and literally lifted him off his feet and held him a foot off the ground. Vampires still had to breathe and Lucian was now gasping. "I warned you."

"Don't kill him!" I said quickly.

Dragon looked at me surprised. "You're asking me not to kill him?"

"Of course, I am!" I said. "There are times when you have to kill, but it shouldn't be the first thing. He just doesn't understand!"

"There are people that were taken from us," George said quickly. "They are here. One is a vampire like we are, the other human, but you won't want his blood."

Dragon's eyes widened. "I know of no..." he looked back at Lucian. "What have you done?" I didn't have to see it, but I heard Dragon's hand tighten around Lucian's throat.

"If he dies, you'll never find out!" I said. "I know, from what I've read, you do whatever it takes to protect your people. We are protecting ours." I said touching Dragon's arm and pulling his arm and Lucian to the ground. "We can prove what we're saying is true. If you don't believe us, use your senses. We are vampires! We don't feed on blood."

Gaius nodded. "I'll eat in front of you! You've known me for hundreds of years. I don't lie! We fought side by side. We were even turned at the same time. They tell the truth." He pointed at Iilya. "I used him to find out about these people and to threaten them. They are what they say they are."

Iilya nodded. "I have seen this treatment. It does work." He said coming forward.

"How do you know these men are here?" Dragon asked.

I opened the laptop and pointed to the blinking indicators on the screen. "They are in this..." I looked and waved around the cavernous chamber. "Whatever you call this place."

Dragon's eyes widened again as he saw the blinking lights. "What manner of..."

"It's technology," Colin said. "Science. We can find out where our people are and if they are healthy." He looked at the blinking lights and the readout being displayed. "As of now, they are fine. One is a little frightened, but he's fine."

"Some people are afraid of what they will lose," I said pointing at Lucian. "Not thinking about what they will gain."

Dragon released Lucian who collapsed on the ground as he gasped for air. "This will end our existence."

I nodded. "End our existence as vampires, yes, but you'll have a life."

George nodded. "In spite of people that ransacked my lab, I found some things here that could even cure us."

"Cure us?" Dragon asked, and now his voice didn't sound as ominous as it had. "You can make us human again?"

"I think I can." George nodded. "Now, can we get our people back?"

Dragon turned to Lucian. "Where are they?"

Lucian was still coughing as he tried to breath. "I put them in with the other two odd vampires."

Dragon frowned. "You did what!?" His eyes widened. "Did they attack these men?"

Lucian shook his head. "I thought they had just been fed. They didn't."

"Odd vampires?" I asked and quickly pulled up Wayne's drawing on the screen. "Like these?"

Again, Dragon was surprised at what he saw but nodded. "Those are the ones we have."

George shook his head. "They won't feed on either of my friends, one is already a vampire." He said. "The other takes something that makes his blood unusable...for a while. He needs more soon."

"Where are they?" Colin asked again.

Dragon looked at Colin. "I am trusting you to do what you say?"

"I know trust is difficult for us, but we have to trust each other to get anywhere!" Colin said urgently. "Trust me!"

Without a word, Dragon looked at some of the vampires and they scattered to go somewhere. He looked at Lucian. "You remain here!" He instructed having no doubt what he said would be obeyed. He turned and started walking away. "Follow me." All that was missing was the flowing black cape! Again, he wasn't looking to confirm we were doing what he instructed, he expected we would do as he asked.

We followed him through a series of tunnels and finally came on a holding area where there were cages, but old cages. The bars were heavy iron and shaped to fit the openings. Behind one set of these bars was Burke and Mark, Burke standing in front of Mark to prevent two of the Old Ones from even thinking of attacking them both as they shared a cell. The Old Ones were looking at Burke and Mark curiously as they tried to understand what these two people were that was sharing their cell. One they knew was a vampire and other wasn't appetizing at all. Burke looked at us approaching and smiled.

"It's about time you got here." He grinned. "We've been playing with the boys here. Keep away."

George hurried to the door of the cell and of course, it was locked. A vampire came over from Dragon and took a key and unlocked the door.

"Be careful." This new vampire said. "They try to get out when they can." He pointed to the Old Ones.

I nodded and walked forward. "I've dealt with one before." I looked back at Dragon. "Have you tried to speak with them?"

"They can't speak." Dragon said.

I nodded. "Gizmo couldn't either." I smiled. "That's what I named the other Old One I knew. He was one of them." Like Gizmo had been, they were naked, bald and had no genitalia or anus. "But they aren't stupid." I looked at Dragon. "Please tell me you feed them."

Dragon nodded. "We do. They are not like us."

George nodded but only looking at Burke. "They are our creators." He said going in when the door opened and brought Burke into a hug.

"They are?" Dragon asked.

We explained about the writings we found and had pretty much translated now. The origins and who these Old Ones were.

"We should kill them." Dragon decided and looked as if he was going to do it right at that moment. He reached for the vampire near him and pulled a sword from the vampire's sheath.

I turned and raised my hands. "No!! Don't!!" I said standing between the Old Ones and Dragon. "They also hold our cure!"

Dragon looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "You say they made us what we are! How is keeping them going to cure us?"

George let Burke go a little. "The venom in these two is pure. If what I have works, that venom could be the answer."

"They aren't evil!" I said waving at the two Old Ones. "They are what they were created to be." The two Old Ones were looking at me uncertain what to do. "Remember what we said about them. They were being used to make the populous weak by attacking people around the world to prepare them to be conquered. They are not scouts, but they were being used. They were created from humans." I turned to Mark. "First, you need to speak with someone and tell them you're alright," I said and took my earpiece off and handed it to Mark.

Mark nodded and took the earpiece.

Dragon looked at what we were doing and didn't understand what was happening.

Amasis came up to Dragon. "They did that with me, as well." He said to Dragon. "My people didn't keep up that much with the way the world changed. It was only when a man, who is now my son, told me about them." He said. "We need to change to keep up with the world. We didn't. It was frightening to me at first, and I didn't feel like I belonged, but it took time and I am fitting in better."

Dragon looked at Amasis carefully. "You were a pharaoh?"

Amasis nodded. "I was a god!" He said smiling. "But not anymore."

Dragon nodded. "I read about what you had then, but how do you deal with this...new world?" He asked as he waved at my computer and us.

Amasis grinned and shrugged. "They will help you. I promise that, but the treatments do work. You'll see."

Dragon shook his head. "I don't understand. Why does he protect these...things?" He asked Amasis as he waved at the Old Ones.

Amasis smiled and nodded. "Devon is a unique person. He has compassion for everyone." He waved at the Old Ones, "including these creatures."

"But they aren't human." Dragon said.

As a vampire, I had acute hearing and I walked over. "Yes, they are. George told you, there were creatures made for men using something to change them into something they can use. Their mothers and fathers were human." I corrected. "But why did you not kill them when you found them when you found them?"

Dragon was not prepared for this question. "I wanted to understand them." He said slowly.

"Were you keeping them alive to use?" I asked. "They are formidable killers."

Dragon frowned. "Perhaps to humans, but they threatened the people and I had to do something and stop their killing. They are no threat to me or the rest of us. Why would I kill them?"

I nodded. "Were they ever used to kill any people for you?"

Dragon gave as a shrug and nod. "Not any locals, but...there were a few...they claimed to be soldiers of another power. They were a threat. I questioned them and they didn't tell me the truth. I did what I said I would."

I nodded. "You had to follow through."

"Yes." Dragon nodded. "I'm nothing if I'm not a man of my word."

I smiled. "The enemy is very much like a child. You must be firm, but unyielding."

Dragon looked puzzled. "You understand what I did and why?"

I nodded. "And from what I've read, I know why." I waved toward Gaius. "At first, I thought he was..." I looked at Dragon, "...well...you!"

Dragon nodded. "Our paths were the same in the past." He looked at Gaius. "He was one of my military leaders. His brother was taken by the Sultan as well, just like my brother was."

I nodded. "Radu."

Dragon nodded. "You know of him?"

"What's recorded in history; yes," I said.

He looked away. "When we were faced with the Ottoman forces, Gaius stood by my side and fought. We were united for Wallachia against these brutes."

I nodded again as I got closer to Dragon. He was now less intimidating. In fact, I could see he had a charm; a powerful draw to himself. "You have this...presence I felt." The picture I saw of Vlad Dracul was crude and done before artists got many of the features right. He and Gaius did look similar, dark hair, which on Dragon was a little longer than I liked on men, but he was clearly a warrior in his build. Was he handsome? He was appealing, but I had Colin and there was no comparison.

Dragon nodded with a chuckle. "It is a talent I possess. I was told my father had it and I always had it and I taught a little of it to Gaius."

"Which is why I thought he was you." I smiled.

"This...Inter...net fascinates me." Dragon pointed to my laptop I had folded under my arm. "Can anyone learn to use this...magic?"

I held the computer up. "It's for everyone," I said simply and nodded. "Anyone can access and use it," I said. "It's not magic. It's science. I'd be happy to show you how to use it, there are cautions I should explain, but it's pretty easy. Almost anything you want to know is in here. Only, there are people that lie on it, just like everyone can." This version of Dracula didn't have the techno-savvy other characters who portrayed him possessed.

Dragon smiled. "They always do." He nodded but looked at me. "Do you lie?"

I shook my head. "I never do on purpose. Unless they ask me something I don't think they need to know. I normally just don't answer their questions or tell them I won't answer. Lies are hard, you have to keep up with what you said to whom and keep it straight. Truth doesn't require that much effort. It just is." I shrugged. "To lie you have to keep up with it..."

Dragon chuckled and looked over at George who was talking with Burke privately. "Can he..." he looked at me, "...cure us?"

I looked at Dragon. "If anyone can, he can. He's a very smart man."

Amasis nodded and came closer to us. "Devon is correct. George is very smart. The world changed the millennia that passed for me. I know it did for you. Our problem is we haven't changed. To go forward, we have to be willing to change."

Dragon shook his head. "You have the means, why not just do what you need to? Why do you come to me?"

"You don't know who you are?" I smiled at him.

"I most certainly know who I am." He said asking me as if to ask how dense did I think he was.

"You know who you are." I chuckled. "I meant; do you know who you are to the world? What you are?"

Dragon nodded. "I know there are stories out there about me. That Irishman...Bram Whatever...and that wrote that book that was supposed to be me, but wasn't."

I tapped some keys and brought up a bunch of websites on Dracula. "But you have been linked with this story. You became something of a legend because of it; a myth."

Site after site began to come up, showing various sites to see and read information about both Vlad Dracul and Dracula.

"What technology are you familiar with?" I asked Dragon.

"I know of electricity and I was told about telephones and those moving pictures," Dragon said.

"You have a lot of catch-up learning to do." I chuckled. "What language do you feel the most comfortable with?"

Dragon frowned. "I speak several, I can speak English."

"Of course, you can, but just speak to me in the language you prefer." I pointed my computer as I hit the key for the Delkenzie program and activated the program. "He will translate this to a language you prefer."

"He?" Dragon looked uncertain at the computer but did as I asked and spoke several paragraphs of conversation. I looked at the screen as it went through its languages. Dragon watched as the screen changed and became a language I did not know as the text on the screen changed. I divided the screen so I could read it in English.

I nodded. "You speak a form of Old Romanian..." I grinned reading what the Delkenzie program worked out. "...no, it's saying that it is Balkan Latin..." I shrugged. "...That's Vulgar Latin. Daco-Romanian?"

Dragon watched as his eyes widened as he watched the computer work and came up with a language that he could easily read. He backed away a little frightened. "This is magic!"

I held my hand up and took his arm to stop him from backing away. "In a way...yes...it's the magic of science. There are reasons for everything you see and read. You know about telephones...is it magic for you to be able to speak here and be heard by someone else somewhere else, be it another house or even another country as you speak and they hear you like you're standing next to them?" I frowned. "You are a smart man and I'm treating you like a smart man. You've been out of this cave haven't you?"

Dragon nodded. "At night."

"The houses and streets are lit; there are cars and things that fly now. You've seen them, haven't you?"

Dragon nodded. "I didn't understand any of it, but yes."

I thought quickly how to explain this. "Well...the best explanation is...you've seen lightning during a storm."

Dragon nodded. "Of course."

I tapped the computer. "We have a way now of using the power of that lightning to have this..." There was no other word I could think of that he'd understand, "...magic. It is science, not magic and there is a lengthy explanation I can give, but trust me...it's not black magic. It just works. I'd be happy to help you through all of it to understand, but right now..." I said looking at him. "Using this power, we have this." I held the computer up. "It is what George uses to research and help find the cure for us. This is a device we use to keep things straight and in order. It won't harm you. It is a tool." I said. "Understand?"

Dragon nodded and came a little closer again, but not really certain.

Colin walked up to us. "That was another reason I thought we should get together. We have to!" He said putting his hand on my shoulder. "We were forced to go into the darkness...to hide." He waved at his earpiece and then the computer. "So much has changed in the world. If we don't find a way to stay together and be a part of this world, we will be left behind...we will die. I want more for us."

I pulled the computer up again. "There are many places to find information and there are so many that followed...other stories by other writers about vampires and other stories that are just fanciful and full of things we are supposed to be able to do..." I looked at Dragon. "You can't disappear in a cloud of smoke can you? Or defy gravity as you climb walls or be upside down on a ceiling or change into a wolf, can you?"

"No. Of course, I can't." Then his eyes narrowed. "Now, I understand." He was beginning to get a little angry, but not at us. "Lucian was always asking about the things we can do. He wanted me to teach him our ways...I never knew just what he was talking about." He waved at a site page. "Can I read this one?" He pointed to a headline.

I pulled it up and handed Dragon the computer. "To read more, push this button," I said.

Dragon read and did what I said. It was a few minutes to an hour more and he was getting angrier the more he read. He handed me the computer again. "These are all just stories!" He claimed as he thought. "It is so much nonsense!" He waved again at the computer. "Even the parts I read about what I did that supposed to be part of history...a lot of things are not remotely what I did!"

"History has a tendency to be biased on the side of the victor. It's like the tale of the fish you almost caught. It gets bigger with the telling of the story." Colin said.

Dragon nodded as he was now starting to understand more. "I thought Lucian was not telling the whole truth about you."

Colin frowned. "What do you mean?"

Dragon waved back at the chamber he'd left Lucian and Iilya in. "He wanted me to kill you." Dragon said looking at us. "He said you were a threat to us." Dragon waved his arms out as he thought. "I have no problem killing anyone, but..." he turned quickly to us, "I kill for a reason! Every man I have killed was for a reason!"

Colin nodded. "And killing us would be for no reason?"

"Maybe there was a reason, but not one I understood." Dragon said. "I'm not going kill because someone said to!"

"But you left Lucian and Iilya out there," I said pointing the chamber we left. "You said to remain there...do you think they are?"

Dragon was suddenly in motion and headed back to where we'd come from. The other vampires there with us stood back and let him pass just staring at him.

Colin motioned for Mark and Burke to follow. "We'd better check on this."

George nodded and looked to the other vampires. "Please don't let these two Old Ones go. They hold the secret to us becoming human again." He said quickly and followed us as we went back.

We got to the chamber and neither Lucian nor Iilya were still there. Dragon was standing as his breathing had gotten faster and he seemed like he was fuming. He was barking something in a language the Delkenzie Program translated as questions about where Lucian and Iilya were and how long they had been gone. The two vampires there relayed what they knew, saying they had both left a while ago, almost as soon as Dragon led us to the Old Ones and our men.

Dragon turned and even with his vampire eyes, he was indeed very angry. I have to say, now he was scary. "They defied ME!?"

Colin walked over toward Dragon. "It's after sunrise. Where would they go?" He asked. "They haven't gotten the serum yet so they can't be out."

Dragon thought and shook his head. "There are numerous caves and military bunkers to use. They could be anywhere." He looked at Gaius. "You can't be in the sun yet, can you?"

Gaius shook his head. "I have a few more doses to get."

Colin looked at Dragon's angry face. "We have two like Devon and I...my daughter is one that can track. If we have a scent, we can follow them."

George shrugged. "Fortunately, I hid some and have your next dose here, Gaius." He said holding up a vial. "It's late, but we can still give it."

I looked at Dragon. "We can go in the sun," I said. "He'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the sunrise, but we can get him on schedule. You can see what we intend to do. We'll find them."

Dragon was still angry but nodded. "Fine."

We gave Gaius his dose and now that was observed by Dragon. Even he had a reaction to Gaius' pain.

"It hurts each time?" Dragon asked.

George nodded. "But only for a while." He explained. "A few more doses and I insert a form of concentrated serum under the skin. There is no pain then." He looked at Colin. "What about Nicolae?"

Colin looked at George. "Does Lucian know about Nicolae? I mean, does he know that Gaius has a son?"

George shrugged. "He probably knows Gaius has a son, but I never told Lucian about the possible antivenin or antibody. I need to study more about that antibody." He sighed. "I just know Nicolae's the key!"

Colin nodded at what George told him. "I'll let Stan know." He looked at Mark. "When we go back, we will go to Nicolae's house first, but he should be okay. We've got a small army to protect him and his family."

Mark nodded. "I'll bet Stan has bitten all his nails down worrying about me." He smiled. "I told him I was fine."

I grinned. "Telling him is one thing. Seeing you is another. He'll be better when he sees for himself you are fine."

Dragon had been watching us. "So, he is with this man? This Stan?"

I turned and nodded. "He is." I wondered how he would receive this news.

"And you are with Colin? George is with the man you call Burke?" Dragon asked as he sorted it out in his head.

Colin nodded putting his arm around my shoulders. "Is that a problem?"

Dragon shook his head. "No, not for me...but...the world must really have changed. You two are married?" He pointed to me and Colin.

"We are." Colin nodded.

"There is a problem," I said to Dragon.

Dragon shrugged. "As long as I've lived, it's nothing new. Don't misunderstand. I don't care. Men have often loved men in the past and as far as I have read from history, they always have...few, but they are." He shrugged. "They just don't marry, but you are."

I nodded with a smile. "It's been a long uphill battle and not every country lets us marry, but where we're from, it's allowed and there are countries that allow it," I remembered what I'd read about his brother. "He didn't seduce me as a child if you're worried about that. Like the Sultan did with Radu if that's what you're wondering about."

Dragon frowned but nodded. "The problem with that was Radu had no choice, but giving in the Sultan was...just done."

"Pedophilia is a problem today, as well," I said. "Some humans can have twisted desires and always will."

George was watching as Gaius went through his pain. "What do Lucian and Iilya want? What is it that they think they can do with being a vampire?"

"Power." Dragon said simply.

I knew what they were after. "They want what the movies and stories said we are to have. We aren't the undead. I'm not dead and neither are you." I said to Dragon and shrugged. "They want that ability to change into the smoke and defy gravity. They want to have that hypnotic effect that Dragon has naturally."

"Hypnotic?" Dragon asked.

"It's done by others that aren't vampires," I explained. "You do have charisma like many leaders have." I chuckled. "They don't have anything as powerful as you do, but you have it."

Dragon thought. "What can I do?" He didn't understand what I meant.

"It's not a bad thing," I said. "It's a talent you have that causes people to give in to what you say. They want to be with you and follow your words."

Dragon nodded as he understood now. "Vraja."

The translator told me he used a word for magic spell in Romanian. I nodded. "Yes, it is kind of a magic spell. Regular people have that ability and leaders, in particular, can do it very well." I frowned. "Hitler had it."

"I know this name." Dragon literally spat the name. "The soldiers for this leader are the men I gave to those odd ones. The ones you call the Old Ones. They became a vampire I didn't want to keep from the Old Ones' bite."

"Anyone else?" Colin asked.

"Others like Iilya." Dragon said shrugging. "Very sure of the fact they were superior to everyone else...Russian...KGB?"

I nodded. "This was a few decades ago?"

Dragon nodded. "Four or five. They became something wild, unable to speak and...just wild."

"Who really bit Iilya?" Colin asked.

"Lucian." Dragon said grumbling. "He claimed that Iilya was bitten in defense, he was protecting himself and Iilya's survival was an accident."

"Now you don't think it was an accident?" I asked.

"I think Lucian was creating followers of his own." Dragon said. "I have for a while."

Colin looked at his watch. "Gaius will be waking soon." He turned to George. "You need to take Burke and Mark back. Get something from Eva for Gaius to eat and bring it back. We'll do the sunrise thing tomorrow morning."

"We gave Eva the day off," George said.

"We gave her the day off yesterday." Colin corrected with a grin. "She should be there now. We'll get another CPU and get a place with more power and you, George, can start again with the serum and this antibody thing."

George nodded with a smile. "Well, I have others with the venom in their blood and no serum. That will help." He looked at Dragon. "I can have some of your blood, can't I?"

Dragon looked puzzled but nodded. "If it helps."

George nodded and slapped Dragon on the arm. "It will!" He looked at me. "And you need to start working on those Old Ones." He grinned. "You got Gizmo to like you; maybe you can get those two to like you, too!"

I found out that Dragon had caught one of the Old Ones almost a century and a half ago. The second one about forty or fifty years ago; both were found in the woods. I asked again why he kept them.

Dragon shrugged. "To keep the people safe." Then he smiled. "Okay, they were kind of pets for me."

I grinned. "Pets?" I nodded. "I can see that. Gizmo was very personable." And I hurried on to prove I understood. "He was dangerous, but not to me and so I guess those two weren't dangerous to you. They didn't attack me. I understand. Have you tried to talk to them? Do they understand you?"

Dragon nodded. "Sure. They know what certain signs mean and will do what I ask. Like the sign I gave for killing those...Nazis and KGB..."

"They knew that they weren't just feeding on them, but killing them?" I clarified.

"Yes."

"You won't tell them to kill me, right?"

Dragon smiled. "Not without a reason." His eyebrows waggled, but I didn't worry. He was kidding. Wasn't he?

"Do you have names for them?" I asked.

"Yes!" Dragon smiled. "The first one I caught nearly a century ago I named Iustina."

The translator told me Earless. "Iustina?" I asked.

Dragon nodded and pointed to his own left ear. "He was in a fight apparently. He's missing this ear. It was cut off before he came here to me."

I nodded chuckling. "Okay, and the other?"

"Repetate."

I chuckled again. "Because he was repeated after Iustina?" I shrugged. "It makes sense. Do you let them out?"

Dragon nodded. "With me, yes. Not many of the others have really bonded with them."

I grinned. "But you did?"

Dragon grinned and nodded. "They really are affectionate to me."

"Gizmo was to me," I said. "You didn't kill them, that's great!"

Dragon shook his head. "You approve?"

"As you said, killing should be for a reason," I said. "They are what they were created to be."

"And you won't kill them either?" Dragon asked.

"I don't want to," I said. "I'll get to know them and once they see I'm not a threat or on the menu, we should get along fine, but they do have that strain of venom that is pure. If George wants to reverse the effects, he'll need them."

"I'm going with you," Colin said. "You think they'd like me?"

I grinned at Colin. "They'll love you!"

We went back down to the cell where they were being held and Dragon opened the lock. I held my hand up to Colin to stop. There were human differences in the two bald and naked Old Ones. The one that had his left ear cut off, Iustina was an inch or two taller than Repetate, but both were looking puzzled at me.

I smiled at him. "Hello, Iustina." I looked at the other. "That means you're Repetate. Hello, Repetate." That got them to look at me more puzzled, but they were both sniffing the air. "Yes, I am a vampire, so no dining on me," I said lightly and looked around and found a stool nearby and brought it over and sat. "My name is Devon." I said pointing at myself. I did the names again pointing at each and myself again. "I hope we will become friends," I said. "I knew another like you. I named him Gizmo. He was a special person. I liked him very much. I'm hoping I will you, too." When I didn't see understanding in them, I looked back at Dragon. "What language did you use with them?"

"Romanian." Dragon said.

I nodded and held up my device with the speaker on it and said it again in Romanian. Say what you will about these Old Ones, they were human, as my device fascinated them. Their eyes grew wide as it translated what I said to a language they knew and inched a little closer to understand how and what it was but still wasn't sure about me yet. They were like I described Gizmo, almost like children. Translating what I said they were getting closer. "I won't hurt you." I said and it translated. Fear was going away as they tried to understand what was going on and even to the point, Repetate touched the device. I grinned; this was a way I could win their confidence. Colin was even smiling at what he saw. They were no threat to me. This was going to work!

Dragon grinned as he watched Repetate and Iustina was so caught up in the fact that I was saying something, yet heard what they understood from my translator. I heard him comment to Colin. "Amasis was correct. Your husband does have compassion for all creatures." He waved at the two Old Ones. "Even them."

Colin nodded. "He does. He's almost reckless sometimes, but he can also get through to almost anyone. He's trusted."

Dragon looked again at the computer but wasn't scared to touch it now, but still wasn't comfortable doing that. "I don't care what you say about this lightening thing and all that..." he opened the laptop carefully and looked at the many sites still up. "This is truly magical."

"Devon was right," Colin explained. "It's a simple tool. He's used an example to explain it before. You're handed a blade, you can use it to cut vegetables, chop wood or kill another human being. It's not the blade's fault it killed, but the user. Just like with a blade, this can be used to hurt people. You need to be careful."

Dragon nodded. "I always am, but I listen to people that have been in this world and I haven't." He shook his head. "I know it seems glamorous to most to live as long as we do, but you're really isolated."

"Which is another reason I knew I had to do something about it." Colin nodded.

"What do you want with me?" Dragon asked. "I'm not that person on those..." he waved at the computer, "...that Inter...net."

"I need you to understand what we're trying to do," Colin said. "Our numbers are in the thousands, perhaps a millions worldwide, but we are so isolated, we can't do anything. Together, we can return to the world. I'd like to have your support."

Dragon nodded as he thought. "I'll do what I can, but this really isn't my world anymore." He said sadly.

"You have more power than you realize," Colin said urgently. "Like it or not, people see you as Dracula!"

Dragon looked up suddenly and shook his head. "But I'm not! Dracula was fiction!"

"I know," Colin said quickly and shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He took a deep breath. "This may seem...odd...to you, but you have more power than you know you have. Vampires don't trust. I know that, but if you urge them to go with this...they might open up more." Colin explained. "We number in the thousands...perhaps a million or more, but the world has become smaller as more of us are on the Internet and connected through that."

"I can't be everywhere." Dragon said simply.

"That's the beauty of this Internet." Colin nodded. "You can." He waved at the computer. "Through this, you can reach out and touch every one of them with your voice." He waved at the computer. "We can do this however you want, but it would help us if you did."

Dragon looked uncertain but nodded. "I'll consider your words."

I smiled having overheard all they talked about. Whatever talent Dragon had, his very presence with us would mean a lot. My time with Repetate and Iustina was to win their trust. The goal was simply to get them to volunteer their venom. They were both entertaining and though simple as many would see...if they weren't hunting you, that is. Gaius and Cragen completed their treatments and had discs inserted in them. The transformation of those two was like the others, nothing but spectacular. Gaius had that horrible disfigurement over his eye, but a simple eyepatch covered that and his one good eye had the moisture needed and he looked very handsome. Their coming into the sunrise was delayed a day, but once we got them to that point, their reaction was like others. They just knew they'd never see another one without dying. Seeing it was nothing short of miraculous.

We told Dragon and the other vampires we were giving the serum to them, but George needed their blood as it was now to begin again making headway with finding a cure. I've said it often, so you know vampires may not trust easily, but they had learned patience and none them were worried about waiting a few more days.

We needed a space for George to work and Stan to continue his work. The new CPU was being sent, along with the supplies George needed to make more serum. We were also working to broaden the language database for the Delkenzie Translation Program which was growing quickly. The real trick was looking for a place to work in that had the power we needed in this part of the world. It needed to be secure as well as have access to the needed power. This part of the world was beautiful; if seen from above, but almost all of our time here had been spent underground. A cave is a cave, is a cave.

Most of these vampires were like others we met like Burke who had bred sheep for the purpose of consuming their blood instead of hunting and killing people. The vampires in Transylvania had bred cows and goats for their consumption of blood. Several families that had vampires in their families had a few choice livestock to provide the vampires with the needed blood. It was at the house we rented that Gabriella and Alex let us know about what they found out about Lucian and Iilya.

"The problem is..." Alex was explaining to the others gathered to compare notes. "...they are clever."

Gabriella nodded. "They crisscross their paths." She explained. "Tracking vampires, I mean vampires that can track is apparently not new to them. They know how to..." she thought for a word.

Alex was nodding. "...how to blur their tracks." He completed for his wife.

"Iilya has remained hidden," Gabriella said. "I know his scent, but this crisscrossing of his tracks causes problems and this Lucian is an unknown to us. Iilya traveled with several vampires so we can't pinpoint a single vampire by scent."

George nodded and let out a frustrated grunt. "Damn it." He stood up and started to pace as he thought. "We are just so close to a solution, I know it!"

Burke smiled at George. "And it will be here again, we just need some equipment. It will be fine, George."

George looked at Burke and nodded. "It's just so..."

"Frustrating," Burke said smiling he said taking George's hand. "I know."

George sighed and sat down again. "There is something..." he started, "...so different about Nicolae's blood. He should be a vampire, but he isn't. He's aging normally and has children of his own! The answer is there, but I need my notes and research I did."

Colin got up and hugged George. "And it will be there when we get the new CPU." He looked at Stan. "What have you found out about a secure location to work out of?"

Stan grinned. "Well, the problem isn't the power, it is the location." He reached down and pulled up his laptop. "There are locations that were used during the Cold War..." he looked up. "...I was in diapers back then."

"Ten years ago?" Mark asked innocently.

Stan put his hand on Mark's face and shoved him lightly and said. "Shaddup." He said almost absently. "The Soviet Union had bases around here. There's one not far if we get permission to use it." He said.

"Can I ask a stupid question?" Shelly began almost too quietly.

Colin looked at Shelly. "Sure."

"Why are you doing this?" Shelly asked.

Colin smiled and gave his shrug and nod. "That's not a stupid question."

Shelly sat forward. "I mean, why cure yourselves? You have what most people want." She said simply. "You're young, full of life and you won't die." She looked at Colin. "I joined this group to hunt vampires that prey on people." She put in. "I'm all for that, but the idea that you could add a few decades or even a century or even..." she waved at Amasis. "...a couple of thousand years is amazing."

Amasis nodded and he smiled at Shelly. "But we're cut off from the human race. We can't...or didn't know we could until we found Gaius and found out we could...but we can't have children." He looked at Shelly. "You enter a whole different subject with loved ones and people that mean something to you that you will lose."

"Being a vampire means losing people," George said.

"But you aren't." Shelly pointed to George. "You have Burke now." She waved at Colin. "You have Gabriella and Devon." She waved at my mother. "Betty became a vampire to stay with Willie and her son. I think Betty and Devon have the best as vampires...someone that will love them for a long, long time. They are losing no one."

"But that doesn't mean we won't die." Colin corrected. "We can be killed by guns or even hit by a car."

"Could die," Shelly said. "Not will die. There's a huge difference. You could lose them, but not will lose them." She shook her head. "I have a mother and father who are doing pretty well, but they are getting older. I will lose them one day. We're raised knowing that." She smiled. "I have a sister that has two kids." She chuckled at a memory. "I can only imagine what their lives will be like and I hope I see a lot of that life. I wouldn't mind having a child of my own one day." She shook her head and looked at us. "There's no solution, but I will hunt the vampires that kill people, but don't be in such a hurry to become human again. Enjoy knowing that you might live a damned long time!" She waved at George. "The things he's contributed to science and medicine is just mind-blowing. Imagine what he'll find in another century! He's brilliant, but he can work on a problem for decades...if not indefinitely! The breakthroughs he will make..." she waved her head like it was impossible to believe, "I can't begin to comprehend."

"But the world won't see us as Human," Gabriella said.

Shelly shook her head. "Why not? I do." She held her hands out. "You're right. We will be entering a new world if we have people that can just live indefinitely." She smiled again. "I would love to, but not without my sister, her kids, and my parents. You see what happened to after you were bitten as a curse." She nodded. "It was...until now? George found a way to stop the venom from working and now you have a life, enjoying meals and travel and anything you like. Don't rush this whole...cure thing."

Chuck nodded. "She's right." He added. "Let's stop these vampires here like Iilya and Lucian from doing...whatever they are doing." He nodded. "I've considered what it would be like to be one of you and..." he grinned. "That would be sweet, but like Shelly said. If I do this, I would want my father to be included, but he never would now that Mom's gone." He smiled. "However, you have what a lot of people want. Enjoy it."

It was later when both Colin and I were exhausted and decided to go to bed a while and rest. As Colin slid in next to me, I was feeling a little guilty about my feelings. It must have been on my face, for as Colin was leaning closer to me, he stopped.

"What?" Colin asked.

I grinned at him and nodded. "We're married. You can read me."

"I was there." Colin grinned. "I read you very well, but what are you thinking about?"

I frowned. "You won't like it."

Colin frowned, too. "Oh?"

I nodded. "I like being a vampire." There, I said it.

"What!?" Colin asked in disbelief as he sat up more.

I waved at him. "See? You don't like it. I knew you wouldn't." I held my hands up to stop him. "Just...hear me out."

Colin laid down a bit more. "Okay."

"I never had the horrible things you experienced," I explained. "I never had to worry about avoiding the sun for any other reason that I would get sunburn easily when I was human." I sat up to face him. "I don't feel any different than I did when I was human! I've never hungered but that one time right after you bit me and when I showed Amasis what we are. I've never looked at a human being and seen a target to feed off of. You came in like this...knight and brought me into your world and..." I laughed, "...this world is pretty sweet. You're rich, you're generous and you're smart."

"But if George didn't come up with the serum...it would be miserable!"

I nodded. "But he did! I have had no pains after the introduction of the serum. Your life had almost nothing but pain; mine didn't." I nodded. "I knew...after we first met, I knew I would be a vampire."

Colin shook his head. "I didn't want that life for you."

"You didn't do anything to me, Colin." I looked in his emerald-colored eyes. "I secretly thank Burke for making it impossible for you not to make me a vampire. You had to feed and I was the target. I knew you would never hurt me. You loved me. You hated what you were for so long...you can't see it any other way." I looked away. "I'm not sorry I became a vampire, Colin." I looked again. "If this changes you're opinion of me...well, we've always been honest. I'm being honest. I saw how glad you were to be in a relationship with me and I never wanted to leave you."

Colin heard me, but he was looking in my eyes. "Okay, I'll be honest, too." He took a deep breath. "I wanted to make you a vampire almost from that first day."

My eyes widened. "You did not."

Colin nodded. "I did. Of course, you found the evidence of who I was and I really didn't fight you by not telling you the truth, but I wanted to make you vampire...well, you didn't run away; I didn't scare you, so I wanted you to stay," he shrugged, "but I was on the serum, I couldn't make you a vampire, so..."

"If you could have, you'd have done it?" I asked. "For love?"

Colin gave a shrug. "Lust at that point, but...yes. That was very selfish of me."

I got up and pushed him back. "No, it wasn't!" I was on top of him at this point. "It was human. We're social creatures, we're not meant to be alone. You were!"

"Yes, but making you like me wasn't the answer!" Colin protested weakly.

I nodded. "But you didn't, well...you did, but with George's serum I'm not like you were." I settled on top of him. "Are you mad at me for liking what I am?"

"Are you mad at me because of who I am and my wanting to keep you with me?" Colin asked.

I shook my head. "Not a bit."

Colin smiled. "I'm not mad at you."

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked.

"The problem was, we can't have children...normally." He smiled. "But replenishing the Earth isn't that essential if we live as long as we do."

"But we can die." I pointed out. "We'll need to have children because we can, and will die; eventually."

"That's one of the reasons George is looking for a cure."

"Shelly's right; we shouldn't be worrying about a cure," I said. "We now know a vampire can have children; we have Nicolae as proof."

"Without the serum, we will become those bloodsuckers again," Colin said.

I nodded. "George said the components to make the serum isn't hard to find."

"But complicated to make, he says," Colin said.

"So, we make sure George has what he needs and passes it on. This Lucian seems to be under the impression that we are supposed to be the undead or like the character Bram Stoker wrote about." I said. "He, right now, is the danger and we need to find him. My kidnapping when we were in Egypt told us that there are men out there that will want what we have to become this all-powerful vampire."

Colin nodded. "Vampires are just people that don't have a time limit; that's scary to people." He said. "There are good vampires and bad vampires. We just need to deal with the bad ones and keep the good ones safe."

I nodded. "But the more we're out there and the more people know about us...we will be found out."

Colin sighed. "If that happens, I can see another of your movies scenarios where there is a raging horde of angry villagers with pitchforks and torches assaulting the castle."

"The world isn't ready for us." I nodded.

"But we are here now," Colin said. "What do we do?"

"We've become aliens on our own planet," I said quietly. "I wish we were from another planet; we'd have a home to go back to."

"What we need..." Colin said quietly. "Is a place on the world where we can be free to be what we are; like those men that took you...governments will try to use us for whatever. People will want us to make them into vampires or just kill us."

I nodded. "There's really no place left here on the world to go to find a country of our own. Even Antarctica is getting crowded now."

Colin smiled. "Well, maybe there's a country...struggling that would welcome us." He grinned. "Imagine, a country that's struggling and we come in. We have doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, and politicians with centuries of experience...George could open a hospital. We could add to the economy of that country and make it prosper."

"If we can get the other vampires to talk to us..." I said. "We can't form a country without them."

"All this is premature anyway, we need to find Lucian and get Dragon on our side," Colin said as he grinned at me. "We have been so busy..." he said, "...you've told me, but...do you still love me?"

I smiled down at him. "There, since we're baring our souls to each other...no. You have to know the truth; I don't love you at all."

Colin chuckled. "Yes, I agree. It's truth time. I don't love you, either."

"See!?" I said kissing him. "We've been together so long; I can read you, too. I know better."

"You can't lie to me either," Colin said rolling us so he was on top. "I know you do."

I pulled Colin closer. "I know you do."

We had not one, but two CPUs arrive from Manhattan along with things George needed to make up his lab so he could continue with his research. Now the issue was with the government of Romania.

Stan found there was an unused Soviet Base in the town of Barsov a little northeast of where we were. We had to deal with the mayor there who was also called George. George Scriparu who was dark headed about fifty. Colin, Stan, Mark, and I went to negotiate with him to let us use it.

"I don't understand." The Mayor said from behind his desk in English. "Why do you wish to use this base?" He asked for clarification. Language issues?

"Because of what we're doing," Colin said and touched his translator and spoke in his earpiece microphone. "Suntem crearea unui program pentru calculator să ajute cu traducerea şi avem nevoie de un loc sigur. Casa pe care am închiriat a fost vandalizat şi am nevoie de undeva mai sigure." He said saying we were creating the program to translate and we had been our equipment vandalized while we had it at the house we rented. "Ne veţi plăti pentru costul şi securitate. Chiar şi pentru orice actualizări de putere s-ar putea nevoie. Avem nevoie doar de aprobarea dumneavoastră." Colin said we'd pay for the use and provide the security and even upgrade the power as needed.

Now the mayor was standing as he looked in disbelief looking at the device on Colin's shoulder. "Asta a fost in limba romana."

My earpiece told me he had said what Colin and said was in Romanian.

Colin nodded. "Acum, poate intelegeti mai bine?" Colin said now he may understand better.

(The rest I will write in English, but we were all speaking Romanian and English.)

"We need our equipment to be secure as we move around the country gathering needed information," Colin said and turned to Stan and Mark. "Stan is brilliant with the computer...he can watch it while there..."

Stan grinned and nodded. "Thanks, Boss."

Colin rolled his eyes and waved at Mark. "Mark is part of our security. So, we won't be unprotected, though you may need to explain what is allowed and not allowed in this part of the world."

Mark's eyes were slits when he looked at Colin. "Gee, thanks." He muttered in English.

We got permission to use it, with the understanding that we were to use a security firm from Romania for the outside security. We were not allowed to have guns here, but Colin agreed to hire this firm, which we found out later was a relative that ran it. Of course, Mark, Stan, Shelly, and Chuck had their guns with them and could protect our stuff from inside the base.

The whole transition took a few days, but we got set up and found ourselves to be secure and George went back to his research. The man that had okayed our bringing our things into Romania was the same man that had let us in the first time and loved his translator! I could kiss Mitch for letting us use it. That program was providing the perfect cover! We were investors, but were really adding to his language database and therefore not a lie. Every member of our team carried one and all conversations were entered in and translated, making it easier as we went through the various towns.

We still patrolled for Lucian and Iilya and finding they had made others that were still remaining hidden. We interviewed Gaius, Cragen, and Dragon. Now that George had his equipment, he took samples of Dragon's blood and took Nicolae's again and started doing research again.

Gaius sat as his son got his blood drawn again. Gaius was enjoying being out during the day with his family.

"Tell me," George said to Gaius as he prepared Nicolae's blood to test. "The vampire that bit you...you were wild after the bite because he was?"

Gaius nodded. "I was." He frowned. "Memories are a little foggy during those couple of centuries." He grunted as he tried to remember some of it. "I remember I fought myself..." he tapped his own head in the memory of the frustration he'd gone through, "in here. I found it hard to think and recall anything."

"And Dragon?" George asked.

"We were bitten by two separate vampires." Gaius frowned at a memory. "There were several during that battle when were both turned. They wandered around in these...packs...like wolves."

George nodded. "But you came back." He said. "Do you remember how much time had passed before you could think clearly again?"

"I don't really..." Gaius began. "It was a couple of centuries I know. I remember having to hide all the time..."

"You said..." I began coming closer to the man. "...you were afraid to face God with what you did," I said quietly. "You're speaking of that period, or when you were with Dragon?"

"Both," Gaius said bitterly. "I remember what I did with or for Dragon, but not when I was out of my head. I know I probably hunted humans."

"You weren't yourself," I said calmly. "The venom was driving you then and took away your humanity. What you did with Dragon..."

"Was horrible!" Gaius spat. "He did it! I did it...there were others that did it!"

I nodded. "Okay, I'm not offering any absolution about that, but...if someone threatened Nicolae or your grandchildren and there was no other choice..."

"I ran poles up men's asses that made the shafts come out the neck or chest! I gouged out eyes and cut off their man parts while they were alive!!" He said as he began rocking back and forth to shield what he now clearly could remember.

"To stop them." I reminded him as I put my hand on his shoulder as he rocked. "Was there any other way?"

He was crying now as he shook his head. "I don't know." He said in sorrow and regret. "Dragon...you know he is Vlad, but he...did it himself as well...but he couldn't do it alone. I had to help."

I nodded and touched his other shoulder and made him look up at me with his good eye. "I figured that out a while ago." He shut his good eye. "Gaius," I said and he looked at me. "Willie...my stepfather...has some horrors he remembers when he fought in a war. It's a terrible thing, war. I've dealt with the injuries of soldiers and one of those injuries is in your mind. You remember what happened. You'll never forget. I don't forget the things I saw, but I'll help you if you want."

"How? You can't take it away." Gaius said sobbing.

I shook my head. "No, I can't, but there is one thing I can do. I can listen...maybe give some perspective."

Gaius shook his head. "I can't! I can't talk about what I did!!"

I nodded again, still speaking softly to him. "What you're going through is Post Traumatic Depression, it is a real diagnosis."

George smiled at Gaius. "Listen to him, Gaius. He's helped Willie and others."

"I can see it bothers you," I said. "That's better than you not giving it another thought. You regret what happened and it's tearing you up inside. If you don't talk to me, you'll never be able to deal with it. Your brain want to deal with it, but you're not letting it." I made sure he was looking at me. "I'm not saying it will be an easy thing to do, but you have to if you want to get better."

"I don't want to remember."

I nodded again. "I know, but you can't have any release if you don't. Talking will help your mind accept what you had to do. Then you may be able to forgive yourself and talk with God. He will forgive. The problem is...we don't forgive ourselves."

Colin smiled as I hugged Gaius, who grabbed me and held on tight.

Next: More Discoveries about the Antibody and Antivenin