Carried into the backseat of a black suburban James traveled out of the city to a large house on Long Island. By the time the vehicle came to a stop, James was deep asleep. Still when Logan lifted him back into his arms, James opened his eyes slightly and wrapped his arms around the man's thick neck.
On entering the house, a thin man with curly blond hair walked over to Logan and kissed him on the cheek. "Enjoy your little adventure?"
"Someone was poaching in our territory Michael. Something had to be done. I did not forget my other commitments." The big man grunted as he carried James into a large sitting room.
"And who was it this time... the Drake's, the Cestmir's, the..." Michael asked.
"Vox." Logan replied, as he lowered James down on a large chair.
A small frown grew on Michael's face. "Vox? Anyone in particular?"
"Alex." Logan replied, his eyes not leaving James' face.
"Alex Vox! You took the chosen prey of the head of the Vox family!"
"The Bronx is our territory... not even the head of that family has the right to feed on our land."
"Tell me Logan... please tell me that Alex does not knows you took this boy."
Logan brushed a lock of light brown hair from the boy's forehead. "He didn't see me. Alex was too busy being entertained by his new bride."
"You better hope so Logan. It is never wise to anger the original House."
"As leader of my own House I will take responsibility for my actions."
"As you wish Logan," Michael said, bowing his head. "What are your plans for the boy?"
Logan remained silent with his eyes closed. When he opened them they were a fiery red. "I want to keep him."
"Why? He is too young for the blood kiss and too small to feed off of. Does he not have a family?"
"No, his father is dead, killed by his mother, Alex's new bride."
"And you think this boy will be safer here my love?"
"Much safer than in the arms of Alex's Vox!" Logan spat.
"Today maybe... but when the boy grows and enters manhood will you still be able to control yourself? Do you have the will to watch as he grows old and one day die?"
"Are you telling me not to protect this boy?"
"I am telling you not to fall in love with him beloved. We are creatures that feed off passion. Love, hate, fear, joy, they are as much our food as the blood we drink. If you take this boy into your household you will smell his love for you in his blood, filling your nostrils with its potent stench. Awake, asleep it will call out to you, begging you to taste it."
"Don't you see I want to be normal Michael? Can't a damned man even try to raise a family?"
"You do have a family... a very large one. You are the leader of House Worth. Under your leadership we have become one of the strongest Houses on the East Coast. Over the past hundred years you have had dozen of children... all of whom love you greatly."
"I want a child Michael... a human child," Logan insisted.
"Humans should live with humans... that is the way of things. The only purpose they serve is as our cattle or our mates."
"Like you Michael?" Logan chuckled as he ran a thick, long finger down the other man's narrow face.
"Don't think that flirting with me is going to get me to agree with this." Michael said even as a small smile grew on his face.
Logan pouted his lips. "But if you love me..."
Michael felt himself lifted off his feet, pinned against the dark stained wood panel walls as he was assaulted with a dozen kisses. "This will only lead to tragedy."
"That has yet to be determined." Logan insisted as he ripped off Michael's clothing.
Lifting James up from the chair that he had curled up on, Logan carried the boy to one of the many guest rooms. Placing him down on the bed, Logan went to a closet and pulled out a soft black robe.
As he busied himself changing the boy's clothes Logan wondered if he was right in keeping secrets from his lover. For the past two months he had been watching James and his mother... watching as Tara became lured by Alex's promises.
As was well known among the other Houses, the Brox was Logan's territory, not much happened without him finding out about it. That was especially true when a man like Alex Vox began poaching in it.
At first Logan thought of it only as a game... a way of annoying the Lord of all Houses. But as he passed the nights watching James survive under the hardship of his mother's condition Logan could not help but pity the boy.
That was what led Logan to stealing Alex's prey away from him. After watching James struggle day after day, Logan would not see the boy's efforts come to an end from Alex Vox's insatiable hunger.
Covering James underneath a thick blanket, Logan placed a kiss on the boy's head. "Sleep well."
Before he could turn away, Logan felt a small hand grab hold of three of his fingers. Turning back to face James he saw the boy looking up at him with his blue eyes. "Thank you," he whispered.
Going down to his knees, Logan took hold of the boy's face with both hands. "Your safe now James. From this day forth all you will know will be happiness. The night will be your playground."
With that Logan kissed both of the tears running down James' face before letting the boy's head fall back down on the pillow. As he left, his nose picked up a peculiar scent, a smell that wet his mouth.
After listening to her constant berating voice for several days, Alex had Tara chained to a wall beneath his house in Boston. "Now Tara... have you finally calmed down." Alex asked on his nightly visit.
"Where is my son Alex. You promised you would protect him!" Tara demanded as she tried to free herself.
"I really wish I knew. Just like you I have become vexed by his disappearance. I am sure given enough time that we will indeed find him. Your tantrum tantrums are doing nothing to speed the search along however."
Filled with grief, Tara broke down, shedding red tears. "My son."
"You are a confusing woman... for the past several years your only concern has been feeding your own addictions. But now... now that I have made you one of us, you are suddenly filled with the moral insight that the world is really larger than yourself. Considering the names you have been calling me lately... I now wonder how you see humans." Alex chuckled.
Tara opened her mouth as if to protest but quickly closed it, turning her face away from Alex.
"I'm sorry... I was being offensive. Most people would assume I would have learned good manners by now considering how long I have been around. I apologize."
Tara turned her eye back on Alex and spoke in a much calmer voice. "Find me my son... please."
"I will Tara. I promise," Alex smiled, his sharp teeth exposed. "Until then, I have brought you a gift."
Looking past Alex, Tara saw an elderly woman sitting in a wheel chair. She was pale and incredibly thin, age spots dotting her face.
"Where did you find this one?" Tara asked, her nose picking up the heavy scent of fear.
Alex wheeled the chair forward. "I did not have to go looking for this one. "Through several of the corporations our family runs, we control several hospice centers. We are really doing a community service... ending these poor people's suffering. Or, if you can't bring yourself to take such a moral stance, look at it as culling the herd of the sick," he chuckled.
Tara reached over and touched the old woman's trembling face. "Do not worry... I promise you will feel a joy you have never experienced."
"Demons of hell you will never have my soul." The woman spat.
"Hahahahahaha... do humans consume the soul of the flesh they consume? Do not worry old woman. Your soul is of no interest to me." Tara said as she leaned down and kissed the woman on the lips, biting the skin until they bled.
The old woman tried to pull away but she was now frozen, her eyes trapped by Tara's red eyes as the vampire sucked on her bloodied lip.
Drinking the woman's fear as much as she was her blood, the small taste only triggered a deeper hunger in Tara. Lifting the woman up from her chair, Tara embraced her, letting the fear in the old woman grow until her heart was on the brink of being ripped apart by it. Sinking her teeth into the old woman's thin skin, Tara drained it away with the woman's blood. As her life was drained away, the woman became calm. The look of terror left her face, giving her a serene expression.
After the old woman was dead, Tara carefully placed her back in her wheelchair, giving her a gentle parting kiss on her forehead.
Sated, Tara let a content smile grow on her face. "Find me my son Alex."
"As you wish my dear," Alex chuckled as he wheeled the corpse out of the room.
"Good evening James." Logan greeted on entering the dining room.
"Hello Logan." James smiled, leaving his dinner to run over to hug the large man.
It had not taken long for James to get used to sleeping during most of the day so that he could spend his nights with Logan and his friends. It had taken a little longer for him to not shiver on touching their cold skin however. Even now, as he hugged Logan tightly, James could not stop a shiver from running down his back.
After the embrace had lasted for a while Logan let go and patted James on the head. "Go now and finish your supper now."
"Alright." James smiled, running back to the table.
"What did Michael cook for you this time?" Logan asked as he sat next to James.
"Not sushi this time." James said as he lifted up a thick hamburger."
"I'm sure it is rare though." Logan chuckled, peaking at the red center of the meat patty.
Unlike what most humans assumed, Logan's people had no problem consuming food, they just found it did not satisfy their hunger. So, except to experience its taste, most of Logan's people did not eat. For Logan, as head of House Worth, to let anything other than human blood past his lips would cause a scandal among the other Houses.
Still while human food was of little interest to Logan's people, they did share common tastes in enjoying their food raw. For Michael, having to cook for a human child proved to be a challenge for James showed no interest in the raw slivers of beef he offered no matter how expensive the cut. He had even turned his nose against the raw fish Michael had offered, even though it was all the fad. So... against his finer sense of taste, Michael had been forced to do something he had not done in years... turn on a stove.
As Logan watched James eat, he breathed through his mouth least his nose pick up the sweet smell of love. Still even the weaker sense taste picked up James' scent, causing his mouth to water.
"What are we going to do today?" James asked as he ate.
"I am going into the city to take care of some business. You have school." Logan chuckled.
"Can I go to the city with you?"
"No... this time I have adult business to take care of. You will have more fun with your teachers." Logan insisted.
"Will I see you before bedtime?" James asked hopefully after he finished his last bite.
"Yes... I will be back well before dawn." Logan promised.
After seeing James off to his private tutors Logan let Michael dive him to the tall office building in the city. Taking the elevator to the top floor, he found four people were already there, waiting for him.
"So you've come Lord Worth... good. We can get started then," an elderly bearded man said.
"I am sorry if I am late Lord Samuel. There were things I needed to see to."
"Nothing that could not have waited," a tall pale woman with bright yellow hair sighed.
"Lady Eriksson." Logan bowed.
"Foolish business really... why we should be wasting our time here discussing it baffles me." A young looking man with curly brown hair chuckled.
"Lord Thomas... true stupidity would be to ignore Lord Vox, not matter what his request is."
"What is this about?" Logan asked.
"It seems that Alex has been poaching outside his territory again. Not unheard of for a Vox. They think the entire world should be their feeding ground, treaty or no." Lord Samuel said as he took a seat at a conference table.
"What mess did he leave this time?" Thomas asked.
"Two dead, a woman turned, and a boy missing." Samuel replied.
"Not much to clean up then. I'm sure we can find some vagrant to frame," Eriksson said.
"That is not the problem." Samuel grunted. "Alex wants the missing boy... as an amusement for his new bride he claims. As the boy was last seen in our territories... yours specifically Lord Worth, he is `asking' for our permission to search for him."
"Asking?" Logan chuckled. "I've never known him to ask for anything."
"That is why we should really consider giving him this favor." Samuel insisted. "House Vox has always been the strongest of all Houses. They always pay their debts as generously as they give out their revenge. Better to have them as a friend than to incur their wrath."
"But why do they need our permission in the first place?" Eriksson asked. "Why owe a debt when they have the strength to just take?"
"Because my dear Alex plans on sending hundreds of his hungry children here to the search. With so may in our territories Alex needs access to our resources to keep them fed and sated... that is unless you wish to have to clean up the mess so many would leave." Samuel explained.
"And how long will we be expected to play host?" Thomas asked.
"Until the child is found," Samuel replied.
"Why does he not leave the search for us then... save all of us the trouble?" Eriksson demanded.
"I think that is all part of his plan... why have only one House searching when he can have five. With so many of his people here we would be hard pressed to keep them and our own people fed at the same time. Take a week of his fruitless searching and we will all be searching for the boy... just to get rid of his people," Logan guessed.
"That's the shape of it." Samuel nodded.
"And how does Lord Vox plan to repay us for this favor?" Thomas asked.
"House Vox has certain assets that all of us have wanted at one time or another. If we help him and the boy is found, he will be willing to part with a few of them. To you Lord Thomas he is offering a twenty percent stake of the main blood bank. To you Lady Eriksson he will give control of three hotels. As for you Lord Worth, he is willing to return the west coast territories your predecessor lost in the last conflict."
"And you Lord Samuel?" Logan asked.
"He has agreed to not interfere in the selection of my successor." Samuel replied.
"That's all?" Thomas said, surprised.
"My House once controlled all of New York. Now all we control is a small but expensive island. As we are small in number, we have long depended on alliances with larger Houses for survival. Such alliances have their cost however. A hundred years ago I was forced into an agreement with House Vox. They would recognize and protect our claim to Manhattan. In return I agreed that in a hundred years I would retire and let them pick my successor."
"But that goes against our basic laws. The independence of every Houses must be respected... even by House Vox," Thomas said.
"The laws are only as powerful as the ones who enforce them. No House is in position to oppose Alex Vox. Even if every House united to fight against House Vox I am unsure who the victor would be. I do know that House Vox would still be standing when the dust settles however." Samuel insisted. "All that a House can do is make the best bargain they can with the first of all Houses."
One by one each of the other lords nodded their heads in agreement... including Logan. With the meeting finished, Logan prepared to leave when Samuel took hold of his arm. "Yes Lord Samuel?"
"Lord Vox wanted me to give you this, since the boy was from your territory." Samuel said as he handed Logan a small picture.
Logan did not even have to look at it to know what the picture showed. Still he gave it a quick glance, seeing James' wide grinning smile.
"I know there is almost no chance that you recognize the boy but Alex wanted me to ask. Have you seen him?"
"No... can't say that I have." Logan said without a blink. "Can I keep this picture... I will show it to my people and see if they recognize him?"
"Yes... you do that Lord Worth." Samuel nodded.
Feeling a headache growing in his head, Logan quickly excused himself. Once Lord Samuel was alone, a door opened and a man stepped out. "He's lying." The man said in a deep voice.
"Are you sure Lord Vox. I could not sense it," Samuel said nervously.
"I am certain he is. He barely looked at that picture but even so he could not hide that brief smile from his face. He has the boy."
"The boy was from his territory. By all rights..." Samuel started to argue, only to feel a crushing hand grab his throat.
"As you said yourself... the law is only as strong as the ones who enforce it. Are you saying you wish to impose the rule of law on me?"
"No Lord Vox," Samuel struggled.
"Then you will seek out the truth for me. Go to wherever Logan is keeping himself these days and find me the boy I desire." Alex said before letting go.
"As you wish Lord," Samuel said, bowing his head in submission.