- “Yes, the one who made you,” Vincent said, “I would have thought that he would have accompanied you here?”

- “He is gone” Derek said flatly

- “Gone? He just made you and left?” Vincent asked.

- “Yes – he stayed for a few days to show me some things but one night I awoke and he was gone.” Derek said.

- “Hmmm”  Vincent said as he turned around and slowly walked back to the chair at the head of the table.  He sat down and looked back at Derek,  he tilted his head to the side and said, “how odd – what did he tell you about us?” he asked Derek.

- “He said he made me, that I was Ventrue, and he taught me how to hunt Deer.” Derek said feeling confident in what he was saying because he wasn’t technically lying.

- “I see.” Vincent said looking at him, “You wouldn’t be lying to me, now, would you?” He said looking at Derek intently.  Derek could tell he was trying to do something but Derek couldn’t tell what.  He stared back at Vincent for a while, feeling like the man was trying to intimidate him.  He more he felt that, the angrier Derek got and the more resolute he was that he would not be bullied or intimidated by this man no matter what he did.  The staredown between the two of them went on for about two to three minutes, in complete silence.  Finally it was broken by Vincent bursting in laughter.

- “Haha!” He said, “I am glad to see another Ventrue with spirit!” he said with a smile.

Derek was getting tired of these games.  All he wanted to do is leave and go home before Vincent’s meal arrived, but this man continued to try his patience.

- “So your sire has left you – so you are on your own now – what have your learned about your abilities so far?” Vincent asked.

Derek felt he was on dangerous ground.  Claude’s words kept echoing in his mind about how other Kindred would covet his blood for his power.  This Kindred was trying to size him up almost like one would a meal or a piece of property.

- “I have not had time to meddle with such things,” Derek said, ” As you can imagine, after the tragedy that fell upon my family, I have had to take on responsibilities that I did not have before, and this alone has been been difficult.  I am sure once I am able to settle into my new life so to speak, I will have more time to discover such things.” He said to Vincent in an aggravated tone.

Vincent gave Derek a broad smile which made Derek even more upset.  This man was toying with him – every question was nothing more than a test to gage his reaction.  He was quickly reaching the point of just telling the man he was leaving and he did not care what else there was to it.  Derek could feel his anger boiling up inside and he did his best to contain it.  The last thing he needed was to lose his temper here.

- “So what killed your family?” Vincent said, “I have a feeling the story I heard of a plague is not based on facts?”

- “No.” Derek said, keeping his anger in check now was getting more and more difficult, “I am told that it was a group of vampires – much like you and me – who tore through my lands, slaughtered my family and everyone in my household.  And from the rumors I heard on my way to London, I believe that my lands were not the only ones hit.” Derek said with a clenched fist at his side.

Vincent saw the complete change in body language from the boy.  The anger that welled inside of him as he spoke of his family’s death was apparent.  Vincent recognized the hatred and the drive for revenge that the child would probably have.  This amused him – young angry Kindred were always amusing to say the least.

- “Ahh yes, I take it you heard of our young Prince Edward then?” Vincent said, “a pity really, for I had planned to take him as my own childe but someone killed him before I could.”

- “Yes.” Derek said between gritting his teeth, ” I heard about Edward.”

- “And you wish for revenge now?” Vincent said in playful tone with a smile, “For your family and for your friend?”

- “Yes.” Derek said angrily, “I will have justice and those guilty will pay.”

- “That is bold statement for one as young as you,” Vincent said still smiling, “how do you plan to achieve this justice?”

- “I do not know yet,” Derek said trying to calm down – he knew the man was goading him into getting angry – although being aware of this and not falling into the trap were two separate things. “I plan to learn about my abilities – as you put them – first.  Then I plan to track them down and kill them”

Vincent raised an eyebrow at Derek.  It was obvious that this kindred knew very little of Kindred society and of their ways and this amused Vincent even more.  It had been a long time since he had seen a childe abandoned by their sire, and he wanted to watch in delight as he stumbled through centuries of protocols and customs.

- “Well, I wish you luck in your endeavor, my young Lord.”  Vincent said with a smile.  Just then the door in the back of the room opened and Phillip arrived with a palace guard.  The guard had a young peasant girl in chains that he dragged into the room.  The girl was wearing a simple white cotton dress, she had long brownish hair and big blue eyes.  Derek put her age around 17 or 18.  She was struggling against the guard, who upon dragging her inside the room, slapped her so hard and in so doing, knocker her to the ground.  Derek’s rage exploded and he rushed to the girl’s side to help her up.

- “STOP!” Derek said as he yelled at the guard.  The young guard looked back at him and Derek could see pure terror in the man’s face who dropped the girl and ran out of the room screaming as he ran back the way he had come in.  Derek bent down and helped the girl to her feet.  She looked up at him and smiled and for a minute Derek forgot the purpose of why she had been brought here.  Derek heard a clap from behind him and got a sinking feeling in his stomach.  He turned around to see Vincent mockingly clapping at him.

- “For someone who has not been working on their abilities, you surely seem to have some natural talent!” Vincent said smiling at Derek, “You are very much like your father, my young lord. always concerned of the welfare of others.  It is a noble sentiment.”

Derek managed a weak smile, “Thank you, My Lord – that means a lot coming from someone who knew my father. Now, I really must go and I should leave you to your… meal.”

Vincent felt this meeting had been very informative.  He smiled at Derek and looked at Phillip and said, “Please, Phillip, escort our Young Earl of Kent out.” he said and then turned to Derek, “I expect to see you here again tomorrow, for the second half of the council’s meeting.”

Derek smiled and nodded.  He would have done anything and agreed to anything just to get out of there.  He nodded at Vincent, turned around and followed Phillip out of the room.  Once they were out of the room, he took a deep breath and immediately started to feel himself calming down.  They started to walk down the large stone hallway and Derek remembered the hatred he had seen in Phillip’s eyes.

- “Phillip, why are you here?” He asked Phillip as they started to walk out, “why are you acting as a servant?”

Phillip looked at Derek with disdain.  He stopped in the middle of the hallway and finally said, “I was chosen – it is a great honor to serve here.”

- “Honor? What honor is there in serving the needs of creatures like this?” Derek said.

- “Like this? You mean like you?” He asked Derek, “My reward is that I will one day, be like you – I will be gifted with the power of Kindred if I do my job well.  It is well worth the sacrifices I make now.  The gift you so casually dismiss is what I am hoping to attain one day.”

Derek was stunned.  The boy actually wanted to become a monster – he wanted to be a vampire.  Derek at first thought that he was out of his mind and then he became angry with the boy.

- “You wish to kill people to survive? You want to become a monster?” Derek asked angrily.

- “They are only peasants, and there are plenty more where they came from,” Phillip said to Derek, “the real question is why do YOU care?”

The boy’s casual attitude towards killing peasants upset Derek more than he thought possible.  His instinct took over for a split second, and he grabbed Phillip by the throat and slammed him against the stone wall in the castle.  The boy was gagging at Derek’s grip around his neck, which was quickly tightening.  The thought he would have killed Phillip made him snap out of it.  He loosed his grip but got really close to the boy and and said in a very low and angry tone, “They are people and they do not deserve to die – you are an embarrassment to your family.”

Derek finally let go of Phillip and who fell to the ground coughing and gagging.  He stood up and looked at Derek and now instead of hatred and disdain, Derek saw fear.  Derek felt remorse when he saw he had gripped the boy so tight, that he left the mark of his hand on the boy’s neck.  He didn’t know what to do – every time he saw a display of his own power, it scared him.

- “Go” he said to Phillip, “I do not need an escort.”

Phillip  reached up to his own neck with hand hand rubbing the area that Derek had grabbed trying to sooth his cough.  Derek couldn’t even bear the sight of the boy.

- “GO NOW” Derek yelled at the boy and pointed back the way they had come.  Phillip turned around and started to run back.  Derek’s thoughts were racing.  Claude was right – coming here was a bad idea – Kindred were terrible people and he had no desire to return here ever.  He did not care what he told Vincent – he would not come back.

He managed to walk back to the front of the castle.  Once he was there the stable boy brought his horse back to him.  On the way back to his family’s house, Derek was lost in thought.  He wanted to leave London as soon as possible and go back to the countryside.  There was nothing left for him here – he knew this now.

He arrived back at his house, put the horse in the stables, brushed him down and gave him some feed.  As he turned around to go inside, he saw Claude standing at the doors to the stables.

- “So, you are still alive – that is a good sign,” Claude said to Derek with a smile.

- “Yes.” Derek said and pushed past Claude into the house.  Claude came up behind him.

- “So how did it go? What happened?” He asked Derek.

Without looking back at Claude Derek walked into the house and up the stairs.

- “I do not wish to discuss it – we leave tomorrow to return to Kent.” he said as he disappeared upstairs.

Edward who was sitting in the library reading, came out and looked at Claude, “So he wasn’t burned or dismembered – what happened?”

- “I do not know, Lad” Claude said, “But we should leave him be for tonight.”

———————————————————

Phillip’s neck was sore as he made his way back to his master’s room.  Derek could have broken his neck easily and that only made him hate that uptight ass even more.  Phillip’s father had always told him that the Kent’s would bring problems – they gave the people ideas – and now – it seemed that Derek had been handed the gift that Phillip was working so hard for, with absolutely no effort.  Oh how he hated the Kents!   He had heard the whole lot of them were dead, he was sorry to see that one had survived.

Not only that, but it seemed that Vincent had taken a liking to Derek, which upset Phillip even more.  It seemed that the more time he spent with Vincent, the more he wanted Vincent’s attention for himself only – and the thought of sharing it with someone – especially with a Kent, made his stomach turn.  He walked back into the room to see Vincent dropping the body of the dead girl on the floor, after draining her.  Phillip couldn’t help but smile when he saw that – to know that he would one day have this power, made him feel as if his insides were warm and glowing.

- “So, Phillip, what did you think of our Young Lord Kent?” Vincent asked with a twinkle in his eye.  He had seen the hatred in Phillip’s face and couldn’t help but to toy with the boy.

- “I think he is an arrogant ass, My Lord – just like his father.” Phillip responded as he walked up to Vincent.

Vincent saw the marks on Phillip’s neck and pulled the boy closer to him by the shoulder to get a better look. “Did he do that to you?” , Vincent asked Phillip with a grin.

- “Yes,” Phillip said flatly.

- “Why? What did you say to him?” Vincent asked – this was probably going to be better than he had expected.

- “He was upset that said I said something about feeding on peasants.  He is a madman – you should kill him and take his power before it grows, My Lord.” Phillip said – he could feel the hatred welling up inside of him.

Vincent’s smile quickly turned sour and he grabbed Phillip by the neck, pretty much the same way that Derek had earlier, and pulled the boy close to him.  His fangs came down and he stared into Phillip’s eyes stirring fear in the boy.

- “You are a servant in my house – do not presume to tell me what to do.”  Vincent said to Phillip between gritted teeth.   Then dropped the boy on the floor and walked away from him for a moment towards the table and took his seat at the head of the table once again.  He could hear Phillip coughing and gagging behind him.  That made him smile once more.

- “You are young and foolish, Phillip” Vincent started, “that is why I brought you here, to teach you” he said without looking back at the boy, “Derek is may be young and new but his blood is old, powerful – I could sense it – I could feel it.  He was not afraid of me, this tells me he has spent time with a kindred more powerful than I – most likely the one that made him.   His sire would not have left him out in the open all alone.  Even if the story he tells me is true – which of course, I do not believe – even if his sire abandoned him, he still watches from the shadows.  Of that I am sure.”

Vincent turned around to look at Phillip who was slowly getting to his feet.  His choices for new kindred as of late had become worse than they used to be and this child was hardly worth his time.  Unfortunately he was the best of what the latest crop of Lords had to offer.  He had considered going to France to make his choice but felt that the trip would hardly be worth it – the quality of their crops were probably just as bad.  The new dutch royalty that had moved into the castle was even worse than the nobles.  He had waited too long to take Prince Edward and he missed his opportunity – which was regrettable.  But now he wondered, if Derek was not dead, perhaps Edward and the others may possibly be still alive.  If so, he would take one and bind it to him and get rid of this useless child in front of him.

- “What you fail to understand, Phillip, is that young kindred are foolish like you – they make mistakes.  This one has a powerful sire watching over him, so all I have to do is wait for him to make a mistake and create a situation where his sire will have no choice but to come out of the shadows to save him.  Considering his temper and pride, this should be too difficult.  To bring a kindred this old into the light will earn me great prestige within the clan,” Vincent said with a dreamy look in his eye, “and to have a boon from such an old kindred, will be even better.”

Phillip hated Derek even more now.  Not only was he given the gift without having to work for it – but apparently the one that gave it to him was more powerful than Vincent.  Phillip couldn’t wait until he was embraced as well so that he could put that Kent in his place once and for all.  He could not understand why his master would allow Derek to live.  If his blood was that powerful, surely it was worth more than prestige and a boon. Surely.

- “And how exactly do you plan to trap him into making a mistake, My Lord?” Phillip asked with a raspy voice.

- “Me?” Vincent asked with a laugh, “I will not have to do anything, lad – Young Lord Kent is a volcano waiting to explode – all I have to do is be there when he does …” Vincent said with a broad grin.

———————————————————————————–

Derek awoke and came downstairs eager to be out of London.  He went into the stables, hoping to see Claude already half-packed.  If they were quick, they could be out of the city within the hour.  He found the horses in the stables as they had been left the night before – nothing was packed or ready.  He remembered quite clearly telling Claude they were leaving.  He didn’t particularly like having to repeat himself – especially in the mood he was in.  Derek closed the door to the stables and stomped back inside looking for Claude.  He found Claude reading in the library.

- “Why Are we not packed yet?” Derek said angrily, “I thought I was quite clear last night, we are leaving London.”

Claude looked up from his book – he saw the anger in the child’s eyes looking back at him.

- “What happened last night, Lad?” Claude asked.

- “Nothing that I wish to discuss” Derek said, “now we must pack and go.”

- “Not until you tell me why you wish to leave.” Claude said calmly.

- “I will not justify myself to you or anyone else.” Derek said angrily, “We are leaving and that is final.” he turned around and started to walk out of the room.

Claude moved quickly and stood in the doorway in front of Derek.  He knew this would anger the boy more, but he needed to know why the boy had decided to leave the city so quickly.  This young one may not understand how kindred society works, but Claude did and he was afraid that the boy may have started something and leaving so quickly would make things worse.

- “Lad,” Claude said, “I know you are angry and upset – but I need to know what happened for your safety and ours.” He continued, “You wanted to come to London and present yourself – and so you have.  There are protocols that must be followed, there are customs that you do  not know about or understand and leaving in a fit of rage can end up making whatever situation you encountered, worse.” He stared at Derek intently for a while, “now, tell me what happened.”

Derek stared back at Claude, and saw genuine concern in his eyes.  He did not want to talk about what happened – he just wanted to forget that kindred existed and go back to his castle in Kent and live out the rest of his life in peace away from all of this.  He should have listened to Claude before, and stayed away from Kindred society.  He would never admit to Claude that he was wrong to come to London, of course – but now that he had met Kindred and seen that Claude was not wrong, he valued his opinions a little more.  Derek sighed – nothing was working out the way he had wanted it to.

- “Fine.” Derek said finally and walked over to the chair behind the large Oak desk.  He sat down and with a resigned look in his face, told Claude everything that happened the night before.

- “He was horrible, Claude – and Phillip – there is something wrong with that boy.” Derek said after he finished telling what happened the night before.

Claude started to pace and think in the room.  So the trap had worked – he was sure that Vincent was going to try to bait Claude out of hiding now.  In order to do that, he needed for Derek to stay alive.  In the end, it was all about keeping the child alive and he was relieved the Ventrue took the bait.

- “Alright and so he said he expected to see you there tonight then?” Claude asked.

- “Yes,” Derek replied, “But I am not going – I am not going back ever, Claude.”

-”You must, Lad” Claude said, “If nothing else, to keep up appearances.  One more night cannot hurt – and then we can go home.”

- “Why?” Derek said, “what appearances am I keeping up?”

- “He is the regent of this area, Derek – which means this is his domain and he runs it however he wishes.  You are part of his domain – not going would be a large act of disrespect that could prompt him to come after you to kill you or give him rights to imprison you.” Claude said.

Derek sighed, “Fine” he said, “I will go one more night – but we leave tomorrow.”

And so today was the important day – they were planning to go to the castle, so that Derek could let the House of Lords know that he would be taking over his father’s affairs.  Although Derek was nervous and worried, he did feel better that Edward was coming as well – Edward was not only more comfortable around large groups of people than Derek was, but he knew more about Noble behavior than Derek did.  Derek came down to the library, eager to see what Edward had managed to scrounge up to make himself look like a servant.  He walked in and saw Edward and Claude sitting across from each other and Edward was still dressed in his father’s clothing, which was far from looking like a servant.

- “Why are you not ready?” Derek asked sounding annoyed.

- “Ask your pal Brutus here, ” Edward said pointing to Claude, “he said I can’t go.”

- “You have to go” Derek said almost in a panic – he looked over to Claude, “He has to go!”

- “He cannot go, lad” Claude replied, “the castle will be full of Kindred – they will see another kindred coming a mile away – he will not pass as your servant.  It is safer if he does not go.”

Derek looked back and forth from Claude to Edward, the panic in eyes was visible, “But I do not know where to go – I do not know where anything is! There has to be a way!”

- “I’m sorry, Lad” Claude said, “you have to do this alone.”

Derek made an attempt to hide his panic and walked over to the window, to look at the people outside.  He was going to walk into a castle full of Kindred, without any idea of where to go, what to do or even who to talk to.  He tried hard to keep his panic under control – he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hands both fisted at his sides.

- “See I told you he would be scared to go alone, ” Derek heard Edward remarking to Claude behind him.  His fear quickly turned to anger and he swung around and glared at Edward.

- “I am NOT scared,” he said, “I simply had not planned for this.  But it is fine,” he said, “I will be fine, just tell me where to go.”

Edward proceeded to give Derek a detailed description of where the Great Hall was where meetings generally took place.  He was actually amazed at himself for remembering everything in such detail.  He offered to draw Derek a map, but the angry look in Derek’s eyes made him quickly put his quill down and look away.

- “Now one thing you need to remember,” Edward said, “all that this meeting is, is like a whole bunch of posturing.  Everyone talking about how great they are and how rich and how much they squeeze out of their people.  There is never anything really decided in these things – its just a bunch of talk.” he explained.  He then thought for a minute, the idea of Derek in the midst of all of this was almost ludicrous.  He was sorry he was not going to be there to see it unfold “and if you just sit in the corner and shut up – you should be fine.” he said to Derek finally.

Derek seemed to take Edward’s advice to heart and listened intently.  Although he was intimidated by the entire prospect he was determined not to let it show.  The idea that Edward would think that he was afraid of anything, was all the motivation he needed right now to keep from panicking at the whole situation.  He kept telling himself, he was here to put his father’s affairs in order and that is exactly what he intended to do and one little meeting of Lords couldn’t possibly be all that bad.

- “Alright”, Derek said, “good evening then” he said and started to walk out of the room.

- “Not so fast, Lad” Claude said, “You are going to meet kindred there too – probably Ventrue – more from our clan.  They are going to ask you all kinds of things, what are you going to tell them?”

- “The truth,” Derek said, “I plan to tell them the truth”

- “No” Claude said, “you can’t do that, lad”

- “Why not?”

- “Remember when I told you about blood – and age of blood? Remember when I told you your blood is old and how other Kindred will covet this? You remember when I told you that other Kindred can never know about me? Do you remember any of that?” Claude asked.

- “Yes I do” Derek said, “but what does that have to do with anything?”

- “You will tell them that your Sire,” Claude said, “me” he pointed to himself, “ran off.  You will tell them that I saved you, I made you and I ran off.”

- “I still do not understand why” Derek said, “how are they even going to know the age of my blood just by looking at me?”

- “Because this is your best chance to make it out of there alive.  You can tell them everything else, but do not tell them I am here,” Claude said, “you must tell them I ran off and you have not seen me since.   Different kindred have different gifts, Derek – you do not know what powers they have – they may be able to tell your age just by looking at you. You must tell them that you do not know where your Sire is. You must promise me this.”

- “Ok, if Vampires in the castle are like you two,” Edward started pointing at the two of them, “then won’t they be able to read minds like you two can do and know that Derek is lying? Won’t they be pissed to be lied to and then like burn or dismember him or something?”  Edward asked.

- “No” Claude said, “Derek can keep his thoughts private – he has a gift”

- “What gift?” Edward asked quizzically looking at Derek.

Derek sighed, he didn’t like the idea of lying – even if the other kindred would not be able to read his thoughts, he knew that he was never particularly good at it and it always made him feel dirty.  His father had always told him that they were nobles – and lying was beneath them.

- “I can steel my mind so to speak,”  Derek said to Edward, “trust me, I have practiced it plenty.”

- “Ok” Edward said, “even so – you are TERRIBLE at lying – anytime you lie everyone can tell – how is that going to work?” He said looking back at Claude.

Claude sighed at both the boys in front of him.  He had over one thousand years of experience in this and yet everything he said was always questioned.  Sometimes he wondered if he had not taken a more direct approach as kindred of old if he wouldn’t have saved himself some aggravation.  And now he had not only one but two young clueless kindred questioning everything he told them.

- “Just trust me on this, lad” he said to Derek, “You MUST promise me – give me your word.  Have I lied to you or led you wrong so far?” he asked.

- “No.” Derek said flatly, “you have been said disturbing things, but you so far have always been right.  Therefore, I will do as you say – I give you my word.  Now, excuse me, I must go” he said as he walked out of the room before he could even notice the look of shock and surprise in Claude’s eyes from his statement.

Once Derek was out of the room, Edward looked back at Claude and raised an eyebrow at him, “You know they are going to kill him right?”

- “Not if they are as greedy as I think they are – and if there is one thing I have learned over the years, Lad,” Claude continued, ” its to never underestimate the greed and lust for power in the heart of every Ventrue.”

—————————————————————————————————–

Derek went into his father’s room, to find his Letters Patent – the documents issued to his family over a century ago from the king,  that granted them their title, land and rights as British nobles.  At first he couldn’t find them, since his mind was mostly on dreading what was about to happen at the castle.  But he finally found them.  He was dressed in his best and most proper clothing, which was uncomfortable to say the least.  He often preferred his riding pants and boots, but for this he would need all the help he could get.

Armed with his Letters Patent, he went back downstairs, through the kitchen and to the stables once again.  He mounted his horse and was ready to be on his way when he say Claude standing there at the doorway.

- “Remember your promise,” Claude said.

- “Yes,” Derek said sounding annoyed, “I am not stupid, you only have to tell me once.  And I keep my word so back off.” he said angrily.

Claude smiled broadly at the boy – he was trying not to show any concern because the child didn’t need anything right now to shake his confidence.  ”Good luck, Lad” he said to Derek and watched as the boy moved past him and into the streets.  As soon as Derek was out of sight, Edward stepped up behind him.

- “So if he doesn’t come back we know they killed him right?” Edward asked.

- “Stay here, Child” Claude said angrily, “I will make sure he comes back.”

- “Wait,” Edward said raising his hand at Claude, “I thought you said that they would spot a vampire just by looking at him and that’s why I couldn’t go – won’t they know what you are then?”

- “They will not see me,” Claude said grinning, “like you, I also have gifts – now wait here and cause no problems.”

Claude slipped out of the stables and into the street.  Edward walked up and looked up the street where Claude had gone and he apparently managed to just disappear into the night.

- “Why do I always have to stay here – bored for eternity – what a great life…” Edward mumbled to himself as he went back inside.

——————————————————————————-

Derek made his way to the Palace of Westminster per Edward’s directions.  He moved across the river and arrived at the Thorney Island where he saw the large fortified wooden gates guarded by men in Royal uniform.  This palace was fairly new and from the stories that Edward told him, he knew it had been his brother’s pride and joy.

He moved in towards the gates, and a guard stood in front of it.  The guard didn’t say anything but Derek knew he was waiting for some type of identification.

- “I am the Earl of Kent,” Derek said, “come to join the council for their meeting.”

The guard, a young man probably not much older than Derek,  looked him up and down, and walked over to him.  Derek could tell that although he did not recognize him, he did recognize Derek’s clothing as being of some station and was not about to question it.

- “The guards inside will need to see you papers, My lord” the guard said to Derek.  Derek nodded at the young man.  The guard turned around and waved at someone at the top of the gates, where Derek could see a small platform where guards walked back and forth.  One of the guards at the top of the gate, waved to someone behind the gate and after about a minute, Derek said the huge doors slowly start to open.

Derek rode past the gates slowly, he saw many more guards inside, all staring at him as he moved past them.  He kept his attention focused forward – he was an Earl – all of these guards were beneath him.  He moved past the castle’s courtyards to the front entrance, where another guard, dressed more richly than those at the gates, approached him.  The guard walked quickly towards Derek, who dismounted his horse and stood by it.  The guard bowed once he reached Derek.

- “My Lord, welcome to Palace of Westminster” he said, “with all due respect, my lord, I must request to see your papers.” he said to Derek.  Derek handed him is Letters Patent and watched as the guard closely inspected them.  He rolled them back up and handed them back to Derek.

- “Thank you so much, My Lord,” he said, “please follow me inside and I will have one of the heralds announce you to the council.”

Derek said nothing to the man, who  motioned to someone behind Derek with his left hand.  A few seconds later, Derek saw a young boy, no more than 13 or 14 come running out to take the reigns of his horse.  Derek inspected the boy who was bowing deeply at him, and finally handed him the reigns.  As the boy took his horse away, he started to follow the guard inside.

The castle was mostly built out of stone and the corridors lit by torches.  As they walked in, Derek saw an inner courtyard, with flowers of all types, benches and paths.  They walked past the courtyard into the main castle building where he saw another man come out to meet them.  He could tell this man was not a soldier like the other – he was dressed in a red and gold uniform.  He bowed to the guard that Derek had followed, and the guard turned around, bowed to Derek and walked out.  The man in front of him – the Herald, Derek assumed – looked to be in his early 30’s perhaps, with blond hair and big blue eyes.

- “This way, My Lord” the herald said.  Derek followed him.

They went further into the castle, through stone hallways and corridors, and more doors that Derek could possibly imagine.  As he walked he kept thinking that all of this – was rightfully Edward’s.  Actually had he not suffered the same tragic fate that Derek had, he would now be King and Derek would be visiting him here just the same.  His thoughts distracted him from how intimidated he was by the size of this palace of by the meeting he was dreading which laid just beyond one of the large wooden doors.  He thought about what it would be like to see Edward walking these halls, telling everyone what to do but before he got too far into his daydream, they Herald reached for one the large wooden double doors on the left and turned around to face Derek.  He could hear loud talking and multiple voices coming from inside the room.

- “Are you ready, My Lord?” the herald asked.

- “Yes.” Derek replied.

The herald opened the large wooden doors and stood inside.  The room quieted and Derek stepped in behind him.  The room was large, with a large fireplace on the left side, which was lit and a heavy wooden table running across the center of the room.  He saw over two dozen men sitting around the table, all richly dressed some drinking and some eating.  He saw faces he somewhat recognized from years back and some he had not seen before.  However, all of them were now looking back at him expectantly.

- “My Lords,”  the herald said, “I give you the Earl of Kent” and he bowed at everyone.  He then turned around and bowed deeply at Derek and motioned for him to come inside.  Derek’s legs felt like they were made of pure stone and he had a difficult time moving them inside.  There were murmurs, and stares – some friendly and some not – all in all too many people for Derek to focus on.  He decided to just look straight ahead and keep his head high and walk in.

- “Young Lord Kent!” a man said from the back of the room room.  Derek searched the room to see where the voice was coming from.  He saw a man who was actually at the head of the table.  He had graying hair, properly trimmed and was dressed in very noble attire.  Derek recognized the man from one of his trips to England when he was young, but he could not place his name of title.  The man was staring at Derek intently with his steel gray eyes and dark eyebrows.  Derek managed a meek smile at the man.

The man stood up and motioned for Derek to come to him.  Derek gave him another nervous smile and walked past all of the other nobles, fairly slowly to arrive at the very end of the table.  The man smiled broadly at Derek, and motioned for him to sit at empty chain next to him.

- “I heard about the tragedy at your estate, and I am deeply sorry – I see that I was misinformed as I was told that you had perished as well.  I am glad to see that was not the case,” he said and as Derek sat down nervously, the man sat down as well, “you do not remember me, do you? I knew your father, probably not as well as I should have, but I knew him. I am Vincent, Earl of Hereford.”

Derek could tell by the way that the others were looking at him and at Vincent that he must somehow be in charge.  The looks he got in the room now varied from amusement to jealousy.  The entire was room was now silent, waiting for Derek’s response to what Vincent had said.  Derek wasn’t sure what else he needed to say, as his first instinct was to bolt out of that chair and make a run for it.  He smiled at Vincent and at everyone in the room.

- “Thank you, My Lord,” Derek said to Vincent, “I was very young the last time I was in London, so all of this” Derek motioned around the room, “is new to me.  I did not mean to interrupt your discussions.” he said looking back at everyone in the room.

Vincent smiled at Derek and looked over at everyone else and waved his hands at them, “well, you heard him – continue!” he said.  Derek was thankful that the first part of this was over.  Now – according to what Edward had told him – all he had to do is sit quietly in this chair for the remainder of the meeting and not draw attention to himself.

As the meeting progressed, Derek thought more and more that this was an absolute waste of time.  The men argued over things that seemed very silly to him, ranging from the borders of their lands, to how many dresses their wives and mistresses bought to other things that Derek did not understand.  The meeting was made even more uneasy by the fact that Vincent kept staring at him and smiling.  It was innerving to say the least.  Derek looked back at him a few times, managed a weak smile and went back to staring at the room and the discussions around the table.  Even when he was not looking at the man, he could feel the man looking back at him.  All he hoped for now was for this meeting to be over.

Suddenly, and without warning, he felt someone trying to enter his mind – he realized it was Vincent.  Derek was used to Claude’s intrusions which seemed much stronger to him.  Blocking the intrusion from Vincent was barely a challenge.  He looked over to Vincent who continued to smile at him and continued to try to enter his mind.  So this was the kindred – if Vincent had not tried this – Derek would never have known his true nature.  Claude had told him that Kindred could identify other kindred, but this was a task that obviously Derek had not learned to master yet.  He started to wonder how many more of the nobles at the table were also Kindred.  After about 15 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to enter Derek’s mind, Vincent finally stopped.  Derek was now aggravated more than anything – even though Vincent had not gotten in, it was still incredibly rude.  Vincent smiled at Derek who stared back at him with flat look – after this man’s rudeness he did not feel the need to smile and be civil.

- “Fascinating!” Vincent said finally looking at Derek.  He began to laugh, “absolutely fascinating!” he said in delight.

Derek didn’t find anything fascinating about this intrusion – not at all.

—————————————————-

Derek sat in the room for almost two hours, having to endure the endless chatter of the nobles as well as Vincent’s constant stares.  After two hours, a wave of relief washed over him when Vincent finally got up and announced that the meeting was over.  All of the nobles immediately became quiet and looked up at him.

- “Thank you, My Lords for your presence and participation here tonight, but I grow tired and must retire for the night – we shall continue tomorrow evening.”

The nobles stood up and bowed to Vincent.  Derek saw this as his queue to make his own getaway, so he stood and bowed as well.  As the mass of nobles started to make their way out, Derek quickly started to follow the group – if he could at that moment, he would have bolted up past all of them all the way back to the stables.  However an exit like that would draw too much attention, so he walked slowly behind the mass of Nobles leaving the room.

- “My Lord Kent,” Derek heard from behind him, “I wish to speak with you further, so if you would stay and give me the pleasure of your company for a few more minutes, I would greatly appreciate it.” Vincent said.

Derek felt a chill run down his spine.  The last thing he wanted now was to speak with this Kindred – and even worse – to be alone with this Kindred with all the Nobles gone.  He stopped, took a deep breath and braced himself – and he turned around to face Vincent.

- “As much as I would enjoy your company, My Lord” Derek said, “As you can imagine with the recent tragedy in my family, I have many things to tend to, so I must take my leave.” he said with a smile.

- “I promise not to take up too much of your time, my young Lord,” Vincent said, “please, I insist”

Derek knew that if he left now at the very least it would be rude, at the most he would not make it to the front gates, so he decided to play along for now and see how far Vincent would take this.  He was starting to really dislike the man – or Vampire or whatever he was.

- “Of course, My Lord,” Derek said, “It would be my pleasure” he forced a smile.

- “Excellent!” Vincent said getting to his feet.  He walked over the doorway in the back of the room and called out, “Phillip!” a few moments later, a young blond boy, looking about the same age as Derek stepped out.

- “Yes, My Lord?” The boy asked.  Derek recognized this boy – he was the son of the Earl of Cornwall but Derek hadn’t seen Phillip for years now.  Derek wondered what the boy was doing here – acting as servant nonetheless.  His family’s lands were quite vast and prestigious, Derek couldn’t think of any reason why he would be here acting this way.

- “Bring me something to eat Phillip.” Vincent said and looked at Derek and asked, “have you eaten tonight, would like something as well?”

Derek could feel the panic welling up inside him.  He had a feeling this man was planning to ‘eat’ in front of him and he was afraid of how horrific this would be.  He wasn’t sure if he could watch it – but he knew he couldn’t leave.  Derek felt trapped.

- “No, thank you – I already dined” Derek managed to say without sounding squeamish.

- “Very well then – just for me, and make haste, Phillip” Vincent said to Phillip.

Phillip looked at Derek and seemed to recognize him as well. The look of hatred and jealousy on the boy’s face upon seeing Derek was undisguisable.  Derek wasn’t sure why that was.  He quickly searched his memories of the boy to try to remember if he had done something in the past that was rude or that could have generated that level of hatred he saw in the boy’s eyes.  He couldn’t even remember seeing the boy more than two or three times in his life – and all times they were formal settings where he did not even have a chance to interact with him.  Nothing he could remember of the boy justified the hatred he saw directed at him now.

- “Yes, My Lord” Phillip replied as he left the room.

Vincent turned to Derek once again, and walked back towards the table where Derek was standing.

- “So, young Lord,”  Vincent said, “where is your sire?”

Derek felt like all of the blood had drained from his face.

Edward followed Derek inside the house from the stables.

- “So, it has been 3 days and you have yet to answer my question”, Edward complained.

- “Which question is it today?” Derek said, “you seem to have an infinite supply of them”

- “Ha, funny – you know you are funnier now than when you were alive – you have never really had a sense of humor” Edward snapped, “my question was, what are we going to do about me? How are we going to explain me” Edward sighed, “or am I to never leave the house again? I am really bored, I am not sure I can just stay here indefinitely.”

They moved inside the house past the kitchen, the great hall and into the library finally.  Derek was silent and Edward followed him awaiting his reply.

- “Well?” Edward asked as Derek walked into the room and sat down at his father’s desk.  Edward stood in front of the desk looking at Derek intently.

Derek’s plan of ignoring Edward hoping that he would stop bothering him had not worked, which had annoyed Derek even more.  This plan had worked in the past, where Edward would eventually get bored and go find something else to amuse himself with.  However, now that was very little else to draw his attention away and Derek was stuck having to deal with thing he did not wish to deal with.

Edward waved his hand in front of Derek’s eyes, “Hello? Can you hear me or are you off in your own little world again?” He asked.  Derek looked up at Edward, looking quite annoyed but said nothing.  Edward looked like he was not about to be put off by Derek’s annoyed look, “Derek?”

- “I DO NOT KNOW!!” He finally yelled at Edward, “MUST YOU CONTINUE TO PRESS ME ON THIS? And why must I be the one to decide what YOU should do? Can you not decide that for yourself?”

Edward looked surprised at the response he got from his friend, “Well first of all, you don’t need to yell – I am standing right here” he said, “second” he continued, “you seem to be the one with all the plans – all ‘do this’ and ‘we’re doing that’ and all that crap.  If you don’t want me around then fine – I will go and do my own thing then.  Bye. ”  Edward turned around and started to walk out of the room.

Derek felt first a wave of guilt for letting his temper get the better of him, and second a wave of panic, for he knew that Edward’s judgement was questionable at the most – even in the best of circumstances.

- “Wait, Edward”, Derek stood up and stepped around from behind the large oak desk, “I should not have snapped at you, I apologize.” he said, “I do not wish you to go.”

Edward stopped at the door and turned around to look at his friend, “God you’re moody – you didn’t used to be this bad – what happened to you?”

- “I haven’t been locked in a house with you for this long – ever”

- “What?” Edward looked back in surprise, “You came to visit me many times and stayed much longer than 3 days – I remember you brooding at times but never this bad”

Derek smiled, “I am sorry” he said.  What he really wanted to tell Edward was to go away and stop asking all of these questions that Derek had no answer to yet, but he knew that if he truly wanted Edward to leave him alone, he needed to come up with something else for him to focus on, so he decided against saying anything of the sort to Edward, “I am in a bad mood because I am not looking forward to dealing with my father’s affairs” he said, “I do not even know where to go to present myself at the house of Lords”

- “Well,” Edward replied, “If you would actually ASK someone, instead  just walking around pouting, someone like , say… oh … ME… – maybe I could help you?” He continued, “I am the prince after all – I know where all that palace crap is.” he said

- “You are not the prince anymore.” Derek replied, “they crowned your cousin” Derek said with a smirk.

- “I know,” Edward said, “I even went to the palace to see – it’s like some long lost dutch relative I didn’t even know I had – its crazy” he said, “but it’s for the best, you know I didn’t want to be king anyway”

- “I know”

- “Ok so I can go with you the day after tomorrow to the House of Lords – they will be in session again”

- “How can you go – will they not recognize you?”

- I will go disguised as your servant” Edward replied and as he saw Derek start to smile he quickly corrected himself, “I am not REALLY your servant – it’s just pretend” he said as Derek continued to smile, “No, don’t smile like that – It’s just make believe” Derek started to laugh and walked out of the room, “Wait – no – Derek – why are you smiling – you don’t smile – you never smile – and you REALLY don’t laugh – now you are scaring me – this is just pretend you know that right…”

As they walked down the hall, all that could be heard was Derek’s laughter and Edward’s pleas. Claude who was in the other room had to step out to see for himself what was happening.  He had never heard Derek laugh until now, not since all of the time he had known the boy – he did not believe that it was even  possible.  If he had not seen it with own eyes, he would never have believed that it had actually happened.

—————————————————————————————————-

Edward now seemed to have a purpose which suited Derek just fine. He spent most of the day brooding in his father’s library and Edward was off somewhere doing whatever he did on his spare time which was great so long as he was away from Derek.  He sat in his father’s chair, looking out of the window for most of the night, thinking about what to do.  He began to realize that perhaps it would have been a good idea to pay attention when his father had asked him to. Unfortunately, business and politics rarely interested him and he never imagined that he would have to deal with both at the same time and with both this soon.

He heard Claude walk into the room behind him – and he didn’t bother to turn around and kept looking out of the window – at the carriages that passed by, at the people walking down the street and going about their normal lives – at all of the normal things that people did – things that he had taken for granted for so long – things that he longed for now.

- “You need to feed” he heard Claude say behind him, “it has been almost 5 nights since we have been in the city and you have yet to feed.”

Derek knew this – yet another thing he had been dreading over the last couple of days.   There were no animals to feed on here, unless they rode out of town and that would take a while.  Up until last night it he had not even thought about it – but when he rose tonight, he knew that if he did not find food over the next couple of days, things would become dangerous.

- “I know” he said

- “You need to feed before you go to see the others – you will need to be at your full strength or they will see the weakness within you.” Claude said

Derek closed his eyes, he dreaded this – but he knew that this day would come.  He had decided to stop fighting Claude on all things Kindred and just do what he needed to do to learn how to survive.  He got up from the chair and turned around to face Claude.

- “Very well,” he said, “where do I go – what do I do?”

Claude had braced himself for an argument even before he entered the library.  The response the child presented him now was the last thing he expected to hear and it caught him off-guard.

- “Erm, ok? You mean you will go without argument?” Claude asked.

- “Yes”, Derek said, “do not sound so surprised – I told you I would do what I needed to do and I know I must do this.  So let us do it.”

- “Do what?” Edward said from the doorway, “What are you both going to do?”

- “Feed”, Claude replied turning around to look at Edward who was leaning against the doorway with the same smirk he always had on his face.

- “Great!” Edward said, “I’m hungry – let’s go!”

- “Wait” Derek said, “why are you so happy about this?”

Edward looked at Claude and then turned around to see if anyone was standing behind him – because in his mind Derek couldn’t possibly be asking him that stupid question, “Uhm – who you talking to? Me?”

- “Yes, you” Derek said.

- “You want to know why I am happy not to starve to death since its been almost a week since I ate?” Edward asked as he walked into the room, “Is it me or is that like a dumb question?”

- “It is not a dumb question,” Derek said in an aggravated tone, “you do understand that for us to feed someone else will have to be harmed in the process? Why are you happy about that?”

Edward looked confused and walked up to the two men and looked at Claude, “Did he by chance fall down and hit his head in the way into town? Because I don’t recall him being this much of a whiner.”  Claude smiled and looked at Derek with an eyebrow raised.

- “Derek,” Edward continued, “I do not recall you complaining for the life of the deer, or chicken or cow in the past before you ate their meat? Ok, so we eat people now – its no different – the key, my friend – is to pick those people who deserve to die.” he said proudly with a smile on his face.

- “Deserve to die?” Derek said angrily, “No one deserves to die, Edward – no matter what they did – it is not our place to pass judgment on anyone.”

- “Well good, because we’re not” Edward said, “last I checked, we were eating not putting on magister’s robes and handing down sentences,” he continued, “look you can feel all guilty if you want – but bottom line – its either us or them – either we starve and kill some innocent bystander when the hunger takes over, or we pick who we are going to kill and make sure its at least someone who deserves it in some way.” he looked at Derek in the eye, “you can feel all guilty if you want, Derek – but I won’t.  I didn’t pick this – I didn’t choose to be like this – it happened – it was forced on me – and I refuse to punish myself for the rest of my life for something that is out of my control.  So instead, I will just deal with it and try to do best I can with it.  You can sit here all wracked with guilt if you want – but by the end of the night you will still have an empty belly.”

- “Boys,” Claude said, “if I may” he said as he walked up to the two boys who looked like they were about to start arguing, “no one needs to die.”

Both Edward and Derek looked back at Claude with a puzzled look, “I won’t eat rats” Edward said finally, “so if that is your plan you can forget it.”

- “We can survive on rats?” Derek asked in a hopeful tone.

- “No” Claude said with a chuckle, “no rats” he turned to Derek, “You may be able to survive on rats, but trust me you will need dozens and dozens of rats every night – so if you wish to spend all of your time hunting rats you MAY be able to survive on that alone.”

- “First they are disgusting,” Edward said as he looked at Derek, “trust me, I have eaten rats and its gross and they hardly have any blood at all” he said as he looked back at Claude, “sorry to interrupt but I just saw that ‘Oh I want to eat rats’ look in his eye.” he said pointing to Derek.

- “As I was saying,” Claude continued, “it is possible to feed on humans without killing them,” Claude said, “you just have to be careful and not take too much blood as to cause them to die.” he said.

- “Ok genius – so then what – they bleed to death after?” Edward said sarcastically looking at Claude.

- “Did your sire not teach you how to feed in the city?” Claude asked Edward.

- “First I don’t know what a Sire is, and second, I have been feeding in the city for the last 6 months so I know how to feed here thank you.” Edward said to Claude in an annoyed tone.

- “If you lick the wound once you are done feeding, it will close so long as the human is still alive,” Claude explained.

Both Derek and Edward gasped – although the idea seemed ludicrous to Derek he had decided to stop questioning insane notions until he actually tried them.

- “Lick the wound,” Derek asked, “you are sure this will work?”

- “Wait,” Edward said, “that sounds too stupid to work …”

Claude sighed – the last thing he needed now that Derek was finally being cooperative was to take on another child to question everything he said.  He ignored Edward for a moment and looked back at Derek, “yes it will work,” he said, “you can use your power of the mind to have them come to you, drink a little, then close the wound and make them forget you even did anything.” he said.

- “That sounds simple enough,” Derek said

- “The difficult part will be stopping after a just a little bit so you do not kill them,” Claude said, “I will not lie to you – you may end up killing your prey the first few times, but eventually with practice you can do it.” he said.

- “That is a risk I am willing to take, if it means I will not have to kill every time I feed for the rest of eternity” Derek said, “we must try this tonight then.” he said grinning back at Claude.

- “Wait,” Edward said, “what mind powers?” he asked, “I don’t have any mind powers…” he said looking at Claude and then turned to look at Derek, “and eternity – could you be more dramatic?”

- “You cannot control the thoughts of others?” Derek asked Edward with a puzzled look, “I thought this was something all vampires could do.” he continued, “And I am not being dramatic – you do know we live forever right?”

- “I told you Derek,” Claude interrupted, “Each kindred will have different gifts.  I am sure Edward’s gifts are different than yours,” he said as he looked at Edward, “what have you been able to master so far, Edward?”

- “Yeah, I have gifts,” he said looking annoyed at Derek, “lots of cool things I can do,” Edward said looking back at Claude, “I am fast, I can hear stuff far away and see in complete darkness, and I sometimes can see where things have been or what happened to them when I touch them” he said, “but I didn’t know mind control was part of the whole vampire thing.”

- “The gifts we each have are based on you and your bloodline.” Claude said, “the one who made you,” he continued as he looked at Edward, “did he or she tell you what your bloodline or clan is?”

- “She didn’t tell me anything,” Edward said, “but hey – I can adjust – are you sure this licking thing will work?” he said changing the subject.

- “Yes” Claude said, “quite sure.”

- “So how fast are you?” Derek asked Edward.

Edward looked back at Derek and grinned, “really fast” he said and disappeared from the room before Derek could even reply.  Derek was sure that Edward had moved even faster than even he thought Claude could move.  He looked back at Claude who was grinning back at him, “Impressive,” Claude said, “and he is faster than you – perhaps you can learn from him.”

- “Great”, Derek said with a sigh, “bloody lovely.”

—————————————————————————-

As they debated where to go, they decided that the best place would be one of the higher quality taverns in the city.  Most of the taverns of ill-repute in the city would most likely recognize Edward right off the bat.  Although Claude did not believe this was the best of plans, he did not really see many alternatives if Edward was to come along.

They arrived at the Fleur-de-lis, a Tavern well known as a good meeting place for some of the Nobles in the city when they were not at parties.  As they came in, they asked for a table in the corner, away from the rest of the guests.

- “Great, now what?”, Edward asked.

- “Find your prey,” Claude replied

- “Well shouldn’t we get a room or something in case things go bad? You said it would be bad at the start,” Edward noted.

- “That is probably a good idea,” Claude said, “Derek you should go and request a room.”

Derek got up and spoke to one of the tavern maidens who directed him to a man in the back.  He spoke to this man for a bit and then came back to his table with a key.

- “Alright,” he said, “we have a room – what do we do now?”

Edward looked at Derek, “have you not been to any Inns lately? We go to the room, go upstairs and ask them to send a bar maiden upstairs to bring us ’something’ then we go from there – at least I would assume so? I mean, if this licking thing will work?” he told Derek.

Derek looked at Claude for confirmation.  Suddenly it occurred to him that he was taking advice from Edward – there was something terribly wrong with this picture.  Claude looked back at him in agreement and they all made their way upstairs to the room.  On the way up, Derek stopped and spoke to the man and asked to have his dinner brought up – and the Innkeeper agreed.

The three of them were sitting in this room, trying very hard not to stare at one another.  This entire situation made Derek uncomfortable – right now, the idea of hunting down dozens of rats did not appear that bad.

- “Alright,” Edward said, “who goes first?”

Edward and Derek looked at each other for a moment and then both looked at Claude.  Before Claude could reply, there was a knock on the door.

- “So?” Edward asked in a whisper, “who goes first?”

- “You go first,” Derek whispered back and opened the door.

The bar maiden smiled at bowed at Derek.  She entered the room and put the plate of food on the table for them.  Once she saw the three men in the same room, she looked concerned.

- “My lord, I apologize, they did not tell me you had guests”  she said, “I will bring meals for your guests as well, I am very sorry, My Lord,” she said bowing to Derek.

- “That is alright,” Derek said and looked up at Edward waiting for him to do something, “they are not hungry”  he said.

- “Yes, My Lord” she said and started towards the door.  Derek looked at Edward and motioned for him to do something.  Edward just stood there staring back at Derek wondering what he could possibly do to stop the girl from leaving.

- “Wait,” Edward said and she stopped at the door.  He walked up to her, and took her hand.  She looked back at the three men and gave them a very nervous smile.

- “Would you like me to bring you something, My Lord? ” she asked Edward.

He smiled back at her, and without even thinking, his fangs came out, “you already did” he said.  She looked horrified to see and looked like she was about to scream.  As she opened her mouth to scream, within the blink of an eye, Edward moved behind her and grabbed her putting his hand over her mouth.  She started to cry and struggle against him.  He looked at Derek and Claude, a bit confused, “A little help here?” he asked.

Claude stood up and walked up to him and the girl.  He looked at her and smiled, and as soon as he did, she stopped struggling.  He pulled Edward’s hand away from her mouth as she continued to stare at him.  He gently took her by the arm, and brought her to the bed, “Sit down” he said to her and she did, “good girl, now lay down and close your eyes, my dear” he continued,  and she did.

Edward was stunned at what he saw – he had never seen a vampire do anything like that – not that he had met that many vampires to begin with – but still it was very impressive.

- “Since you cannot dominate, it would probably be a good idea not to scare your prey before you feed” Claude said to Edward.

- “Sorry,” Edward said, “I didn’t mean to do that – it was an accident.”

- “You need to control yourself better” Claude said, “accidents like this would have resulted in you killing your prey if you were alone, which is what I thought we were trying to avoid?”

- “I know,” Edward said, “Like I said, I am sorry – I am not used to this – I have hunted… differently,” he said sounding a bit annoyed, “how long will she stay that way?” he asked Claude.

- “As long as I wish it,” Claude said, “but there is no need to dawdle, so go ahead” he said to Edward.

Edward nodded and sat on the bed next to the girl.  It would be a relief to know that he could feed and not kill someone.  He felt his teeth come out and he bent down at the girl, trying to be gentle.  As he got close, the smell of her blood was intoxicating, and he could feel the hunger taking over.  The struggle for control was so difficult that he backed off for a moment.  He took a deep breath to clear his head and tried again.  He bent down and bit into the girl’s neck.  The taste of her blood was sweet and innocent.  He was used to the very palpable taste of fear in his prey’s blood and immediately he knew that he liked this better – a lot better.  As he began to drink, more and more, the taste drew him in and the rest of the world seem to fall away.  He heard Claude’s voice in the background, telling him to stop, but it seemed so far away, like he was yelling at him across a field in a rainy day.  He could hear something being said, but he could not make out the words.

He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, pull him back and jerk him away from the intoxicating blood that was so freely flowing into his mouth.  He turned around to hiss, but the further he got from the girl, the more of himself he was able to recognize and get back.  Claude’s words were finally making sense and he blinked at Claude for a moment and then looked down at the girl.  He saw the small bite marks on her neck, and he was surprised at how little blood was pouring out of the wounds.

- “Is she still alive?” Edward asked Claude.

- “Yes” Claude said, “now seal the wound”

Edward suddenly remembered the licking thing which sounded so stupid to him.  He bent down towards the girl, but the closer he got he once again felt the smell of her blood trying to pull him in.  He pulled back and looked back at Claude, “I cannot” he said under his breath, “I may kill her.”

- “You will not,” Claude said, “Now close the wound before she starts to bleed out onto her gown”

Edward bent down again, steeled his mind and decided to do it fast.  He quickly leaned in licked the wound and pulled back.  He stood up looking at her and there, before his very eyes, he saw the wound close.

- “I’ll be dammed,” he said.

- “Now,” Claude said to Edward, “clean yourself up” he said as he threw a cloth at him.  Edward wiped his mouth down, and his neck.  He looked in the mirror to make sure he didn’t miss anything.  He handed the cloth back to Claude who wiped the girl’s neck down with it as well.

- “Ok now what?” Edward asked.

Claude walked over to the table and knocked the food that she had brought in to the floor.  He then approached the girl, and sat down on the bed next to her.  He gently grabbed her shoulders and whispered something in her ear.  She opened her eyes and slowly sat up on the bed.

- “My dear, are you alright?” He said, “you just fainted.”

- “Oh” she said looking at the three men in the room nervously.  Then she looked to the left and saw the food on the floor and started to blush, “I am so sorry, My Lord, I am not sure what came over me.”  She got up from the bed and tried to quickly run over to the mess on the floor, but lost her footing as she stood up.  Claude grabbed her and helped to steady her.

- “You are still weak child,” he said, “leave that, and have the Innkeeper send someone else up – you are not well, you need to rest” Claude said to her with a smile, “perhaps you have been working too hard.” he said.

She smiled nervously back at him, her face was now bright red with embarrassment, “I am so sorry, sir, truly,” she said, “thank you for your kindness, My Lord”.

- “It’s alright”, Claude said, “I will help you downstairs so you do not fall” he said.

- “No, I am alright, My Lord” she said nervously, “I have inconvenienced you enough for tonight” she said as she tried to pull away.

- “I will not take no for an answer,” he said to her, “wait here, My Lord” he said to Derek, “I shall return shortly, I will just help her downstairs” he said.

Derek did not say anything, he just looked at her and at Claude – the entire situation began to sink in to him and he realized that once he got the hang of things, this would not be so bad.  He would be easily able to do that, and there would be no need to harm anyone.  A wave a relief washed over him.  Soon Claude was out of the room and the door closed again, and Derek sighed with relief.

- “That was bloody brilliant!” Edward said and walked up to Derek with a broad smile, “I guess since I do not have mind tricks, I will have to use my charm instead” he said, “It is a good thing you can dominate – because if you had to rely on your charms you would be in trouble.”

Derek smiled back at Edward.  He was so relived with the whole situation that even Edward’s annoying and sarcastic comments were not about to ruin his enjoyment of this realization.  It took about 10 minutes for Claude to return to the room – he walked in slowly and closed the door behind him.

- “The Innkeeper is sending someone else up, to clean this mess,”  Claude said to Derek, “I hope you have seen enough to understand what you are supposed to do since it is your turn now” .

- “Yes, I believe so.” he said with a smile just when there was a knock on the door.

Derek had not been to London probably in about 3-4 years.  Thankfully he still kind of recalled where his fathers house was.  They started to make their way there.  The city had grown although not overly much and Derek did manage to get turned around a couple of times.  It was good that they made it to city well before midnight, because Derek was starting to think that he would perhaps need most of the night to find the place again.  He wished he had paid more attention on his previous trips instead of just being annoyed in the back of the carriage.  They were on horseback this time and thanfully after midnight there were only a few people about and thus the streets looked emptier and were easier to manage.

Derek felt like he was seeing a different side of the city.  He heard literally everything – the mice scurrying in the alleyways, bumbs rummaging through trash, even the giggles of prostitutes as they faded into the dark corners of the city.  He was even able to hear private conversations from some of the houses as he passed by them – mothers singing their babies to sleep, husbands making love to their wives and even two brothers whispering to each other tales of their earlier adventures.  It was a lot of information and Derek tried hard to block most of it out.  The houses in London were so close to each other that it was difficult to block all sounds – it felt like as soon as he was able to block one conversation, another one just popped to fill its place.  It was disconcerting to say the least and it was making it difficult to try to focus on the streets and remember which path he needed to take to find his father’s house.

All of a sudden he heard a hissing sound.  Not the sound from a dog or cat – or an animal even, but the same sound he had heard himself make at times when he was close to loosing control.  The sound of a vampire ready to attack.  He stopped.

- “Did you hear that?” he asked Claude.

- “Yes” Claude replied, he lowered his voice and leaned in towards Derek, “We must keep going, we cannot linger – there are many of our kind here who will not be friendly.” he said.

They continued on, slowly, Derek now was doing his best to try to pin point where the sound was coming from.  He heard the hissing again, followed by muffled sobbing – all he could tell is that it sounded like a woman’s sobs.

- “Again” he said to Claude, as he stopped once again and looked around frantically to try to see where the noise was coming from.

- “This is not our business” Claude said, “We must continue and find this house quickly.”

Derek started the horse back up again, moving slowly.  He was fairly certain now that the sound was coming from the alleyway on the right side.  It was dark and although he tried to look into it – from this far away he was not able to see much.

“AAARRRGGG… NOOOOO”  he heard from the alleyway – this was the sound of man this time, followed by more hissing and now a deep throaty growl.  He leapt from his horse and headed into the alleyway.

- “DEREK, NO” Claude yelled at him but it was too late – he had dissappeared into the alley.  Claude jumped off his horse and followed him in.

Derek ran into the dark alley the deeper he got the more he could see.  He saw on the wall to the left of the alley was a woman, crouching down on the floor, sobbing.  At the far end of the alley, was a man, with a figure just above him, leaning over on top of him – Derek knew it was another Vampire – he could sense it – and it was feeding.  He ran to the woman, knelt down next to her , “Are you alright?” he asked her.

- “Yes” she said, her voice was shaking.  From the way she was dressed, Derek could tell she was a prostitute.  She looked afraid and was gasping at the horrific scene in front of her. “That man – my customer – attacked me, and then” she said, “that thing – jumped out of the shadows and attacked him.” she said.

Derek helped up to her feet – the vampire at the end of the alley was still feeding it looked like.  Derek knew too well the feeling that came over each vampire when it fed – it was as if the entire world had fallen away and nothing but your prey existed. He started to back out of the alley with holding the woman and after a few steps he turned to her and said, “Now go – get out of here.”  He did not have to tell her twice.

She ran out of the alleyway past Claude, who was running up to Derek.  Claude grabbed Derek’s arm and tried to pull him away, but Derek did not move.  Derek was just watching in amazement.  It was clear that the Vampire was done feeding, and he dropped the body of the dead man to the ground.  Derek was mesmerized – horrified and jealous at the same time.

The vampire looked up at Derek after a few seconds, Derek could barely see his face in the darkness all he saw were bright green eyes looking at him.  He stared back at the vampire, there was something familiar about him.  The vampire stood up, and started to  move up towards Derek.  Claude grabbed Derek and pulled him back behind him.  Derek heard hissing from Claude and saw he had his fangs and claws out and was standing firm as the other Vampire approached.  As the Vampire came closer, Derek was able to make out more of his face, he was dirty, filthy really.  His hair was matted, he had bloodstains running down his face, but Derek would have recognized that face anywhere – even under all of the dirt.  As Claude got ready to lunge at him, Derek grabbed Claude’s arm and tugged at him.

- “No” he said to Claude, “I know him” he said.  Derek approached the Vampire, slowly, trying to make himself  look non-threatening.  Claude stopped for a minute but still looked ‘battle-ready’.  The vampire started to hiss at him, and he saw his fangs come out.  Derek kept on, he finally said, “Edward?”

The Vampire stopped hissing at him and looked puzzled for a minute.  He tilted his head to the side, and Derek saw his fangs dissappear and after a few seconds of looking at Derek, he finally said, “Derek?”

Edward approached Derek to get a better look at him, “but, you are dead – they killed you they said they did… how is this..?” he asked in amazement.

- “They?” Derek asked, “they who? You know the ones that killed my family? How do you know them?”

Edward looked at Derek for a while, and then smiled “I thought I was alone,” he said and proceeded to laugh, “what are the chances of this happening? I mean look at you – here?”  At this time he finally noticed the rather large man standing behind them, although the man did not look threatening, Edward recognized that he was just as monstrous as those that had taken him.  He felt his fangs come out and he hissed at the man, getting in a crouching position ready to attack.

- “EDWARD NO” Derek yelled at him, “This is Claude – he is a friend”

Edward stopped but with fangs still out and looked Claude up and down and then back at Derek, “He is not a friend – none of them are – they are all nothing more than monsters” he said with disdain in his voice.

- “No – he saved me – he is the reason why I am here today” Derek said, “trust me, he is a friend”

Edward looked at Derek, now that he was standing close to his friend he felt the same cold presence about him that he had felt from the others that had done this to him.  He knew that Derek was one of them too, “No…” he said, “They got to you too”, Edward took several steps back and looked back and forth from Claude to Derek, “Oh god, will this never end?” he said and started to back away from them towards the end of the alley.

- “Edward I am still your friend – nothing has changed,” Derek said, “well” he corrected himself, “of course some things have changed, but not our friendship.  I was worried about you – I heard that you had died – that everyone in your household had died.”

- “I did”, Edward said admist a giggle. Being covered in dirt, looking confused, Derek could have easily mistaken him for one of the lunatics that roamed the alleys.

- “We must go” Claude said, “as I said, we CANNOT linger here” he looked at Derek.

- “I will not leave him” Derek replied, “not like this” he said feeling sorry for his friend.   He saw no sign of the strong, sarcastic and even at times, annoying friend that he was so fond of.  Right now he saw a man at the brink of madness and this terrified Derek.  At that moment, he realized that this could have easily been him.  If Claude had not been around to explain things to him, to teach him, to keep him company, it could be him now in the alleyway, behaving like an animal.  For once, since this entire nightmare had started, he was grateful for Claude’s company and help.

He approached Edward again, slowly, “Edward – you must come with me” he said, “I cannot leave you like this here – come with me to my father’s house – we will get you cleaned up, we will talk about what has happened and figure out what to do next. Please come with me.”

Edward looked up at Derek for a while and said nothing.  Derek could tell he was thinking about it and after a minute or so of silence he finally spoke, “alright - because you said please”, he giggled and continued, “But there is no one at your father’s house – I have been staying there in the back – no one is there.  And one more thing,” he said, “you may have been my friend when you were alive – but now – you are a monster – just like me.  You try anything and I will kill you.”  He had stopped giggling.

- “That is fine” Derek replied with a look of pity in his eyes.

Edward looked at Claude as well then past them towards the street, “Your friend is right – you cannot linger in any one place here or they find you.  We have to go” he starts walking out of the alley towards the way they came.

- “Edward we have horses first of all,” Derek said, “and second, my father’s house is that way” he pointed in the opposite direction.

Edward stopped at the horses on the street, looked both ways to make sure no one was coming, “Fine - we can ride” he said, “but dead or alive, you still have no sense of direction.  Its that way” he pointed back to the way they had come from.  Claude tried very hard to hold back a laugh and Derek looked annoyed.

- “Not one word” he said to Claude.

Both men walked back towards the horses, leaving the dead body of Edward’s prey behind them.  Claude got on his horse and Derek offered to let Edward ride with him.  Although the ride was fairly short, it seemed infinite.  Derek had a very difficult time dealing with his new sense of smell – the stench that came off Edward right was almost unbearable.

As they arrived, the house was darkened.  Derek was unsure why this was as his father had a retainer in town that generally looked after the house.  He must have heard news that his family had died and decided to lock the house and leave.  They dismounted, tied their horses in the back and made their way towards the house.  There was a door that lead into the foundation of the house, and this is where Edward started to walk towards.

Derek got out, pulled out his keys and said, “No, we go inside.”

Edward stopped and looked at both of the monsters with him. “No,” he said, “It is not safe”

- “Of course it is safe” Derek said, “this is MY house”

Edward looked at the house and looked at Derek.  This was the Derek he remembered, arrogant and at times, oblivious to the world around him.  He pointed up towards the sky, “It is almost dawn” he said, “and no one knows you are alive.  Once we are inside and the house appears occupied, constables will come here to see what is happening – they have been walking by here several times each night and I can only assume in the day as well.  We will be asleep and vulnerable” he said, “we will be dead” he continued, “We stay in the foundation tonight, where I have been staying, then in the evening, you can make your presence known – constables will come by and you can show you them you are alive and then – then – we will be safe in the house.” he said.

“I agree” Claude said, astonished at the wisdom of the young kindred in his presence. “it is safer to be down here for the day” he said.

Derek sighed, “very well” he said, “into the filth of the foundation we go – just bloody lovely” he said

Edward looked at himself and then at Derek, “are you honestly complaining about having to sleep here for one day?” he asked and pointed at his own tattered clothes, “honestly?”

Claude had a feeling he was going to like this child.

————————————————————————————–

They spent the day in the foundations of the house.  It was dark, filthy and smelled bad.  Derek thought he would have a hard time falling asleep but once daybreak came, sleep took him as normal.   They awoke at nightfall, Edward and Claude both seemed to already be awake once Derek got up.

They got up and took care of the horses.  After they were done, they moved inside.  The house apparently had been abandoned for at least a few months.    They came inside, light candles in most rooms and started to get settled.  Derek insisted that Edward take a bath and with Claude’s help, they were able to fill the tub and Edward got cleaned up.  He had no clothes of his own so he borrowed some clothes that belonged to Derek’s father.

A few hours after they were inside, there was a knock on the door.  In order to keep up appearances, Claude answered and Edward hid upstairs.

- “Yes?” Claude opened the door.  There was a constable at the door.  He looked Claude up and down and finally replied, “This is the home of the Lord of Kent.  Word has reached us that he and his family have unfortunately passed.  Who are you who has taken over his home?” he asked.

- “I have not taken over his home,” Claude replied with a smile, “I am here in service of the young Lord of Kent – Sir Derek, who is expecting you, Sir.” he said as he stood aside and motioned for the Constable to come inside.  The constable was a very heavy set man who barely fit through the door.  Claude escorted him past the foyer and to the door to the sitting room.  He turned around to face the Constable, “Please wait here Sir, while announce your arrival.”

The constable waited as Claude went inside.  Derek was waiting facing the window.

-”There is a constable here” Claude said, “only one – he looks like someone in charge.”

- “That’s fine - send him in.” Derek said.  As Claude was turning around to leave, Derek started, “Wait.” he said, “I have not been to London in about 3 years.  What if they do not recognize me?” he asked.

- “Then use your power” Claude said.

- “I have only done that a few times… I am not sure I can do it just like that,” Derek said reluctantly.

Claude smiled and turned around and started to walk back towards the door, “Well then you surely need the practice, lad” he said as he walked out of the room.   He went back into the sitting room and opened the doors, “My Lord will see you now” he said to the constable.  The large man got up.  Claude escorted him past the foyer again and into the library where Derek waited, facing the window outside.

- “My Lord,” Claude said to Derek, “the constable is here to see you” .

- “Leave us”, Derek replied flatly.

Claude turned around, walked out of the room and closed the large double doors.  Derek turned around and smiled at the constable and pointed to one of the large leather chairs by the fire, “Please, sit” he said.

- ” I hear that your men have been keeping an eye on our house here and I wanted to thank you for that.”  Derek said to the constable.

- “Well,” the constable said, with an awkward smile, “but with all due respect, sir, we received word that your family was killed,” he said, “your ENTIRE family,  and it has been years since I have seen you – last time I saw you with your father you were but a young lad, and I am sure you understand that I need some way to verify that you are indeed the son of Lord Kent.” he said.

- “I see” Derek replied.  He thought for a moment if there was anything he could do to prove to this man that he was indeed his father’s son.  The idea of having to prove to someone that he was himself seemed insane to him, but nevertheless this was the position he found himself in at the moment.  If he allowed the constable to make a formal inquiry, he may discover what had really happened to him, he may even discover Derek’s true nature.  He feared that he would have no choice but to do as Claude had suggested and use his power to make the man believe him.  If this constable believed him, then there would be no other inquiry.

Derek knew he needed eye contact, and he thought back to the training session at the village tavern with the bar maiden.  He turned away from the constable for a moment, closed his eyes and tried to focus his will in a single thought, “I am the Lord of Kent and you know me”.  Once he had the thought firmly in his mind, he looked back at the man sitting on the chair, who was sitting up looking nothing if not arrogant.  He walked up closer to the man, and looked him in the eye.

- “I am sure you remember me, Constable, I am the Lord of Kent – I am my father’s son” he said and tried as hard as he could to manipulate the man’s mind as he had done to the bar maiden before.  Derek could feel the man’s mind, he could feel the doubt in his thoughts but he focused his will and tried to push past all of that.  He said to the constable again, “You know me, you remember me” he said.

Derek could feel the man’s mind giving in to his will – he could feel the doubts he had dissipate and was able to sense the recognition that had kicked in through sheer force of will.

- “My Lord, Kent,” the constable said, “Of course I remember you!” he said looking a bit embarrassed and smiled weakly at Derek.

Derek smiled back at him and stepped back away from him towards the window, “I am glad you remember me” he said as he walked back towards the window.  This entire exercise had taken a lot of out Derek and he felt drained.  He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind again, to regain some kind of composure so that he could carry on a conversation with the man.

- “I am so sorry about your family” the constable said, “horrible tragedy, you have my condolences, My Lord”

- “Thank you, Constable,” he said, “you are too kind and as I said before, I appreciate the care and attention you and your men have given our London home” he said.

The constable smiled and got up, “No a problem, Sir” he said, “Well, I will not take up anymore of your time, if you need anything, My Lord – anything at all, please do not hesitate to let me know.  I will let the magistrate know that you here as well so that you are not disturbed” he said.

Derek finally had regained enough of himself to be able to turn around and face the constable again, “Thank you, Constable” he said, “I would appreciate that – I am here to settle my family’s affairs and I would appreciate your discretion.”

The man nodded at Derek, “I will see myself out, My Lord” he said as he turned around and walked out of the room.  A few minutes later, Claude came in and looked at Derek, who plopped down on one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, looking depressed which had become a familiar sight by now.

- “That seemed to go well,” Claude said.

- “He called me Lord Kent, Claude.” Derek said, “That was my father’s title, he is really gone.” he said

- “Yes, Lad,” Claude said, “I am sorry”

Claude felt sorry for the boy – he knew that this child felt everything deeply and just being in the city would be difficult for him.  An uncomfortable silence had fallen between the two of them in the room which was suddenly broken by Edward walking in.

- “First of all – wearing your father’s clothing is odd to say the least – if you weren’t so short I would wear some of your clothes, but you had to be short just to spite me I’m sure”, Edward said as he strutted in the room, “second, how are you planning to explain me – or am I expected to still live with the rats? I mean, I’m a dead prince, I can’t exactly use the same excuse that you used,” he proceeded in a sarcastic tone mocking Derek in a high pitched tone, “Oh, I am just kidding, I didn’t REALLY die, it was all just pretend …” he said, “That won’t work for me.”

Derek looked annoyed – he recalled now that out of all the people he knew, no one could annoy him quite as much as Edward could, “I know,” he said, “until we think of something you will remain out of sight,” he continued, “and believe me when I tell you the idea of you wearing my father’s clothing does not appeal to me either” he said angrily and stormed out of the room.

Edward looked at Claude, “What’s his problem? What did I do?” he asked.  Claude smiled back at the boy.

- “I am sorry”, Claude started, “I truly am.  I was not thinking very clearly when I did this, and I know now it was not fair and I should not have done it.” he said, “I guess you reminded me of my son, he was like you – stubborn and strong – and I have been alone for so long, that I suppose part of me wanted some company – so I felt that I was helping you when all I really was doing was probably helping myself.” Claude looked down on the floor and said almost in a whisper, “You have every right to be upset with me – and if it is your wish, I will leave you.”

Derek was a bit taken by surprise with Claude’s attitude.  The man who was generally very stoic, almost to the point where Derek even wondered if he felt anything at all, was for the first time showing some kind of feeling.  He was showing regret for what he had done.  Derek understood too well, feeling alone – trying to regain something once lost and taken from you.  He was not sure what to do – he did not forgive the man for what he had done, but he also knew that if Claude had not done what he did, he would have been dead just like the rest of his family.  Although he would be unable to avenge his family’s death, he would also not be feeling as bad as he felt now – as he felt everyday.

Derek turned around to face the window again, “I do not wish for you to leave” he said, “you did this to  me and now you will help me to become strong enough to kill those that murdered my family.  Once that is done, then you can go if you wish.  You owe me this.” He said without even looking at Claude.

- “Yes” Claude said, almost relieved, “there are things about your new existance that are unsavory.” Claude said, “I guess I have been kindred for so long, I have forgotten the shock of transition, and at times I take certain things for granted.” He explained, “However, if you wish to be strong enough to obtain the justice you so seek, you will need to learn everything about Kindred life – including things that upset you – and you will need to embrace them.  Only then can you grow to the full potential within your blood” Claude said, “do you understand me?”

Derek turned around to face Claude.  He knew he was right, he knew that if he wanted to find the man who did this, he would have to at some point do all of the things he needed to do.  As usual, he was not sure how he felt about all of this – so instead of allowing himself to feel anything, he just felt angry.  Angry about what happened, about his situation, about Claude, about having to go to London, even angry about being alive – or at least as alive as he could be given these circumstances.

- “Yes” Derek said flatly, “I understand” he said, “I will deal with whatever comes, you do not need to worry.” he said

- “I am sure you will” Claude said, “but your training would progress faster if you were not to fight me on everything I try to teach you.”

- “I already said I understand” Derek said with an angry tone, “Do not worry about me” he could feel the anger coming to the surface, “I do not wish to speak of this anymore.  Tomorrow we leave for London” he said, “I have things that must be done before I go.” He said as he started to walk out of the room.

Claude started to say something but thought better of it.  At least he child had not sent him away, and of this he was relieved.  He knew that alone, this little one would not survive long among Kindred soceity.  This was new for Claude – his sire had been a horrible terrible vampire who taught Claude next to nothing.  He knew nothing of how the relationship of Childe and sire was supposed to take place.  All he knew is that he did not wish to be like Marius – he did not wish to be that kindred – he wanted to be something better.  He had no idea how to teach someone to be kindred – most of what he knew he learned on his own.  The kindred society he had been brought into was a horrible nightmarish place and he certainly did not wish to teach Derek of it.  And as much as he hated to admit it, he had taken a liking to the boy, and felt a strong need to protect him and keep him safe whether he wanted to or not.  Sometimes children were too naive to understand what was best for them – and it was the job of the parent to do what was necessary to keep them safe.  Claude knew at this moment that he would never be able to allow any harm to come to this child.  He did not want to get tied down to anyone or anything – but at this point, it was too late – he found himself already comitted.

—————————————————————————————————–

It was early morning in the fall, towards the end of the social season.  Edward sat back by the stables and watched as carriage after carriage of guests arrived.  This same ritual repeated every year, twice a year.  He always hosted the first party of the season and the last one, as was expected being that he was the King’s brother.  He had just yesterday received word that his brother was ill.  Perhaps if he had known his brother and actually grown up around him, he would have felt bad - but since he was a boy he was sent to live in the country with a host of servants – completly cut off from the rest of his family.  His brother had always said, that it was for his “protection”.  Indeed.  As a result of all of this protection, the news of his brother’s illness had not upset him in the least.  He was not even planning to go to London to visit him.

Regardless of why he had been banished to the countryside, Edward made the most of his time.  He spent most of his days chasing women in the village and when he did go to London he mostly visited the establishments with lower reputation.  And now Harold had been telling him, that his brother was seriously sick – and that at any moment, he could be called up to do his duty and take his seat as heir.  He wanted no part of it.

He looked in the back of the stables and saw his childhood friend standing there brushing the horses down.  Derek spent more time with horses than with people these days.  The two boys had been very good friends since Edward could remember.  His father was one of the few nobles that his brother had trusted and allowed to visit him in the country.  As a result, Derek often stayed at Edward’s estate when his father had business in London.  He walked back towards his friend.

- “It is before noon – what are you doing up this early?” Edward asked

Derek grinned, “I am just spending some time with the horses,” Derek replied, “I like horses – you know that.”

- “Yeah, yeah” Edward said, “Well are you ready for this party? Its supposed to be bigger than the one at Spring according to Harold” Edward commented, “And all of these women are going to be chasing after me, specially since my brother is sick.” Edward said with a smile.

- “You can have them” Derek said without even looking up from the horse, “noble women are annoying and demanding and I am too young to worry about them anyway” Derek said.

- “Too young? You’re only 2 years younger than me – so not that young” Edward said, “And I heard your father talking – he wants you to find a match soon.”

Derek looked up at Edward, who he knew was trying to provoke him by bringing up the issue of his father and marriage.  Derek had no desire to find a wife anytime soon and his father had kept pushing the issue which had ended in arguments between the two of them several times.  Derek smiled at his friend, “trust me, there is nothing that a noble woman can do for me that I cannot get from a bar wench without the aggravation.” Derek said.

Edward raised an eyebrow at him, “Don’t let your father hear that!”  he said, “Perhaps I should tell him? After all is that not why he sent you here this week?”

- “I am sure it is,” Derek replied, “just because I am here it does not mean I have to participate.” he said

- “Oh come on now, Derek” Edward said, “there will be plenty for both of us – plus I do not intent to be bored all by myself” Edward looked at Derek with an amused grin, “Are you planning to spend the whole week here with the horses? I mean, the women are boring, I know – but the horses?’

Derek smiled at Edward and looked out to the long line of arriving carriages.  He knew that was exactly why his father had sent him there, and he was determined not to find anyone.  He would find his own bride when he wanted to – on his own time instead of beind forced to by his father.  He had already decided that.  He finished brushing down the horse and put it in its stable, with Edward trying to convince him to at least make an appearance.  They closed the stable doors and started to walk together towards the main house.  It was then that Derek saw her for the first time.

A beautiful woman, with long reddish blond hair, in a blue gown getting out of a carriage.  Derek stood there, staring at her.  She moved gracefully out of the carriage and took the arm of a much older man, who Derek assumed to be her father and started towards the house.  Edward continued walking and it took him a few steps to realize his friend had stopped.  He stopped turned around and looked at Derek, “What?” he asked.  There was no reply.  He walked back towards him and waved his hand in front of Derek’s face for a moment, “Hello? anyone there?”  Derek blinked and looked at Eward, “What?”

- “Who are you staring at?” Edward asked, “I mean you just stood there like an idiot.”

- “Who is she?” he pointed towards the girl in the blue gown, “she is beautiful” he said.

Edward looked in the direction that Derek was pointing.  “Oh her,” Edward said, “Ashley something” he said, “Her father is some Irish big shot from what I understand – this is her first season out.” He said, “Wait – are you interested in her?”

Derek replied without even looking at Edward, “Yes” he said, “she is beautiful – you must introduce me to her” he said.

- “Wait, Derek,” Edward said “Whatever happened to ‘I get everything I want from a bar wench’? he asked mimicing Derek’s tone.

- “That was before I saw her” Derek said

- “Ok, well – let me point out a few things that you may not know” Edward said, stopping and actually standing in front of Derek to block his view from the woman, “did I mention she is Irish?” he said.

- “Yes you did, why does it matter?” Derek asked

- “Bitch” Edward said, “She’s a bitch – she’s full of herself and all that – trust me – you don’t want Irish”

- “No, I do not want Irish,” Derek replied, “I want her” he said with a smile.

- “Did you not hear me?” Edward said almost annoyed now, “Irish – annoying, full of herself and oh yeah – bitch!”

- “You will not speak of her in that tone, Edward” Derek said sounding very annoyed himself.

Edward raised an eyebrow looked back at the house and at his friend, “You don’t even know her – why are you getting all mad?”

- “You will introduce me” Derek said and started walking towards the house.

- “Wait” Edward said running up behind his friend, “STOP” he yelled at Derek who finally stopped and looked back at Eward.  “Fine, I can introduce you – but remember that I warned you” he said, “plus you may want to change or something?”

- “Why?” Derek asked

Edward reached over and pulled piece of hay from Derek’s shirt and hair, “You look like crap and you smell like horse manure?” he asked.

Derek smiled and broke into a run towards the house “give me 30 minutes” he yelled back to his friend as he ran.

————————————————————————————————

Derek woke up gasping – which was strange in itself since he did not need to breathe.  His daydreams were getting more and more vivid.  Actually they were not daydreams – it was more like memories.  Poor Edward is all he kept thinking.  The poor bastard probably didn’t even know had hit him.  He had been Derek’s best friend – more like his only friend, as Derek had enjoyed spending most of his time training in the ways of swordfighting or spending time with his horses.   That old life was faded and gone now.

He got up, got dressed and went looking for Thomas.  They were due to leave soon – he wanted to make sure everything was in order.  Thomas seemed to have been settling in well and Derek felt confident he would be able to handle everything until he got back.   He went out into the stables and found both horses already packed and ready for the trip.  Claude was there fastening the last of the bags to them – it would be a three day trip to London.  They would have to stop at villages during the day to sleep – Derek was not sure how well this would work but he had no desire to speak to Claude at all, so they both kept quiet.  Once everything was packed, and ready, Derek bid Thomas farewell, who looked at him sideways, since he was probably wondering why they would leave at night for such a trip instead of in the morning, but thought better of asking.  Derek was glad – he hated to lie – he preferred the uncomfortable silence and shifting glance to having to come up with a story to tell him.

They were quiet for most of the night.  They arrived in Canterbury around 4AM.  The town was darkened and they went to an Inn close to the outskirt borders of the town.  Derek was not sure what to do so he allowed Claude to take the lead.  They knocked on the door for several minutes, until finally, an older man opened the door and poked his head out.  He was balding, and not exactly the cleanest, and he had with him a candlestick.

- “Do you know what time it is?” He man said

- “Yes” Claude replied, “I apologize but we have just arrived here from Dover and we are very tired.  Do you happen to have a room we can rent for the day?”

The man looked both Claude and Derek up and down, and finally said, “Well, I do but it will cost more for getting me out of bed in the middle of the night.”

Claude looked at Derek who nodded to him – in preparing for this trip, Derek had come to realize that Claude had no money.   Although it seemed odd, Derek had finally come to realize that there was little that creatures such as them would need with money anyway, especially if they avoided populated areas.  It was strange, but Derek could understand it.

- “Very well,” Claude said, “we have disturbed you and we will gladly compensate you for it – but we wish a private room.  We are exhausted and will need to rest for most of the day and do not wish to be disturbed.”

The man looked at Claude quizzically, and finally said, “I want no trouble with the law – so if yer running, then you can go now because if the guards come lookin’ fer you I will turn you in”.

-”No” Claude said reassuringly, “We are not wanted by the law” he said, “We are just very tired and in need of rest – that is all”

- “Ok then” the man said as he opened the door wider, “You can put yer horses in the stables over there – it will cost extra to keep em for you during the day and then come in – I have ya a room.”

Derek and Claude walked to the stables and placed the horses in there, they secured them in stalls and made sure there was feed nearby.  Then each in turn, quietly unpacked their backpacks and began gathering their things.

- “We are going to stay in the same room?” Derek asked

-”Yes” Claude said without even looking at him, “it is safer that way.   We are already in great danger being here during the day – if we were on foot I would say we would be safer staying in the woods.  But with the horses, this close to town, they may get stolen while we sleep so we will do what we must.”

Derek didn’t question it further, he just picked up his things and walked out of the stables and into the Inn.  The Innkeeper was waiting for them at what looked like a small raggedy dining room.

- “I have two rooms with 2 beds – one upstairs and one in the back – which do you want? He asked them.

- “The back room is fine,” Claude replied.

The man led them past the kitchen, down a dark hallway which ended in 2 doors.  He opened the door on the left to reveal a fairly small room with 2 beds packed into it – there was barely enough room to move about.

- “The room accross the hall is empty so you are alone back here – breakfast is at 8,” the innkeeper said.

- “Thank you- you are kind” Claude said, “But we have our own rations – we just wish to rest for the day.”

- “Suit yourself” the man said, “but it still costs the same, ” and before he turned to walk away, Claude grabbed his arm and looked at him for a bit.  The man had panicked look on his face which was quickly replaced by a blank stare.

- “What are you doing?” Derek asked.

- “We wish to not be disturbed during the day,” Claude said to the man, “We are not dangerous, and you will tell no one that we are here” he continued, “We are of no consequence.  Now go upstairs and return to your rest.”

The man nodded and smiled at them both and turned around and walked out.  Claude pushed past Derek into the room and took the bed on the left side.  Derek walked in and tossed his things on the right side of the room and looked at Claude who was unpacking some things as if nothing had happened.

- “Was that really necessary?” Derek asked

- “Yes” Claude said, “Innkeepers talk and we do not wish that.”

Derek looked around the room – this entire place was beneath him.  He was not sure why Claude did not pick one of the better Inns in the town.  Derek had the money to cover it, it is not like they could not afford it. Claude had a staff with him which he pinned to the door in such a way that the staff would have to be broken in order for someone to open the door.  He examined it for a while, moved it a few times and when he was satisfied that it looked secure enough he turned back and looked at Derek was sitting on the bed watching him.

- “Rest” he said to Derek, “We have a long journey ahead tomorrow night.”

- “What good will that do?” Derek asked pointing to the staff, “If someone breaks in here we won’t wake anyway.”

- “You will not wake – for you are too young still,” Claude said, “But I will.  Now rest.”

- “Hello Richard,” Derek said

- “Good Evening, My Lord,” the man said from behind the counter, ” I heard of what happened at your estate and I offer my condolences, Sire.  Your father was a great man” he said.

- “Yes he was,” Derek said quickly trying to change the subject, “But as you know, we lost many servants in that.  I will have to travel to London in 2 weeks.  I need someone to come to work at my Estate now and someone I can trust to keep things in order once I leave”.

_ “Oh yes Sir,” the man said with a smile, “I understand Tom was looking for work, Sire and I am sure he would be delighted to work for you.  Shall I send him to see you tomorrow morning?” He asked.

- “Yes”, Derek said with a smile almost without thinking.  He looked up at Claude who had a raised eyebrow at him and then he realized that this would not work. “Erm no.” He said, smiling, “I will be out tomorrow during the day, please have him come late afternoon – after 6PM”.

- “Very well, Sire,” he said, “and if there is anything you need Sire, during this difficult time, please ask – I am glad to serve your family as always, My Lord”.

- “Thank you, Richard” he said, “But this is all I require for now” he said.

Derek and Claude both left the establishment and started back towards the horses.  Claude stopped halfway through and said, “You know, this is an excellent time for you to learn to hunt in the city” he said. 

- “Hunt in the city? But this is a village” Derek said

- “Yes, but its better to learn here before we go to London.  You will need to know this before we go there, Derek.”

A wave of panic came over Derek.  Claude was talking about hunting people – drinking human blood.  Derek felt sick, “No thank you” is all that he managed to say back to Claude, as he turned around and started to mount his horse.

- “Derek”, Claude reached up and touched his arm, “I know this is difficult, but you must learn it”

- “Another time, Claude” Derek said trying to hide the panic in his voice, “I think I have learned enough for one night, don’t you?”

Claude smiled at him, he could see the panic in the boy’s eyes.  Yes, he had made some strides tonight, although he was still afraid the boy would not be ready to go to London in 2 weeks, but perhaps he had done enough for one day.  “Alright, he said – if you are sure?”

- “Yes,” Derek said almost immediately, “I am more than sure – I am extremely sure – as sure as I can ever be of anything” he said, almost rambling, “Now, let us go”.

Claude laughed and mounted his horse.  Derek was already halfway down the path, trying to get out of the village as fast as possible before Claude changed his mind.

————————————————————————————–

The next evening, as promised, Thomas came to call.  Derek had not seen Thomas since he was a young boy and now he had a wife and a child with him.  Derek got them settled in one of the servant cottages on the outside of the Castle.  He told Thomas at this time, he did not want anyone but himself living in the castle.  He explained to Thomas that he had many matters to tend to during the day and would not be about. 

- “Well this is going to be a problem,” Derek said to Claude when he came back into the house.

Claude was sitting by the table in the kitchen, with all the weapons out that they were planning to use for the night.  He was finishing up polishing one of the swords.

- “Why?” Claude asked

- “Well,” Derek said as he approached the table and sat down accross from Claude,”I sleep in dungeon right – what am I going to tell them when I rise in the evening from there?  They may not ask, but they will wonder why that is.” Derek said.

- “Well,” Claude said, “We can do one of two things.” he continued, “We can dig out an exit that leads from under the castle to outside,” he hesitated for a moment, “or you can ghoul them”.

Derek looked confused, “Ghoul them? Whatever that is, it sounds horrible.” he said.

- “Well”, he said, “it is one way that Kindred interract with mortals who help them.” Claude said, “If you trust them, to work for you and to tell them what you really are, there is a reward in it for them.” He said.

- “What kind of reward?” Derek asked

- “Well,” Claude responded, “so long as they remain in your service as a ghoul, they will not age, they will not get sick and they may in time – only after a very long time – even start to develop some powers themselves.”

- “Do they have to drink blood too and do they burn in the sunlight?” Derek asked

- “No” Claude continued, “They are still human, Derek.  They are just ‘in your service’ so to speak”, Claude explained.

Derek paused for a moment, “Well, that does not sound too bad,” he said finally, “but I would have to tell them what I really am – that I am a vampire?  What if they become scared? Can I just not tell them?”

- “They will not be scared – they will accept it without fear” Claude said, “and they will know Derek.”  Claude stood up and started to pace, “you see the thing is,” he said, “in order for them to be a ghoul in your service,” he looked at Derek hesitantly, “well,” he said… “they have to drink your blood” he said finally.

- “WHAT?” Derek asked in complete shock, “but you said they wouldn’t need blood to survive!”

- “That is correct” Claude said, “they do not need blood to survive, but they need your blood about once every moon cycle in order to maintain the bond with you.”

Derek got up and started to pace, “that is the most horrible thing I have ever heard – and this is in a long line of horrible things I have heard and seen – at least so far.” He sounded frustrated, “I am going to have to MAKE them drink my blood? Because I highly doubt that anyone would do that on their own.” He said.

- “Yes” Claude said, “you can use your powers of domination of the mind to make them drink.  Once they drink from you, they are bound to you.  They will never betray you, they will do everything you ask them to do and they will give their life if needed to protect you.” Claude said, “if you plan to live among mortal soceity, you will eventually need the service of Ghouls to assist you with tasks you cannot complete during the day.” Claude said.

Derek felt sick.  The more he learned about his new “condition” the more it made him ill.  He looked at Claude after a long while, and said, “very well” he said, “we dig a tunnel entrance then.  I am not making anyone drink my blood.” he said.

- “Derek,” Claude said in a fatherly tone, “it really is not that bad, and you must start getting used to things such as these, and furthermore,”

- “NO” Derek interrupted him, “No, Claude.  There are some things that I will not get used to – and this is one of them.” he said as he started to make his way out of the room.  “I will tell Thomas to get settled and to not come up to the castle until next week.  That will give us a few days to dig – do you believe that will be enough?” He asked with his back to Claude.

Claude sighed, “Yes, that should be plenty, but you know we will have to find a way to…”

- “Then its settled,” Derek interrupted him, “tomorrow night we dig again” he said as he walked out of the room.  Derek just couldn’t bring himself to look Claude in the eye right now.

—————————————-

The next night Derek told Thomas to go get settled.  He said for him to come in to work the following monday.  Thomas had a wife and child to get settled into their new cottage and appreciated the time – he saw it as a gesture of kindness from his new lord.  In the meantime, Derek and Claude dug every night in silence.  They created a tunnel that led out from under the castle and disguised it with some vegetation.  Claude was concerned as for him, this was a point of vulnerability.  They had dug in silence for 3 days now.

- “Alright, I understand you are upset with me, but I am sure I do not have to tell you that this tunnel is far from ideal,” Claude said to Derek as they worked to disguise the tunnel entrance.

- “I know” Derek replied flatly

- “I will leave you vulenerable during the day, Derek” Claude said

Derek had not been able to look him in the eye for the last 3 days.  There was no training, no conversaiton just digging.  Derek thought about everything that had happened to him – about this creature he had become and he wished now that he had died along with his family.  He thought about how alone he would be – how different than eveyone else.  How he would never have a family or do any of the normal things that people were expected to do.  Even a trip to London had taken them over a month to prepare for it.  He had a feeling that things would get worse from here on instead of better.  And it was all because of Claude – because Claude thought he had saved him.  He did not.  He had dammed him forever is what he had done, and right now at this very moment, Derek hated him for it.

-” I do not care”, Derek said without looking at Claude, “it is better than the alternative” he said.

- “Derek, I know you are upset right now, but just think about it for a moment,” Claude started to say.

Derek threw his shovel down and looked at Claude in anger.

-” Think about it for a moment?” He asked in a quiet and angry voice, “Did YOU think about it for a moment before you did this to me? Or did you just do it to make yourself feel better?” He screamed, “LOOK AT ME!” he said, “I am a monster thanks to you – I feed on the blood of others, I create ghouls and I do God only knows what else! ALL THANKS TO YOU!” He screamed, “THIS IS YOUR FAULT YOU BASTARD – ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? DO YOU FEEL BETTER? WHAT IS THERE TO THINK ABOUT?”

Claude just stared at Derek with a blank look on his face.  The child was right – everything he said was right.  Claude did create him probably out of guilt – for feeling guilty that he arrived too late to save any of them.  For feeling that he had somehow brought this evil upon his family.  That maybe he had missed his own family and he had been tired of being alone and wanted some company.  All of the reasons that Claude had been afraid to face, the child knew and the threw them back at him.   This boy was so angry with him and he had good reason to be.  Claude remembered how he felt when he was turned – the anger and the feeling that something had been stolen from him.  He felt violated – and he had now done that to another person.  He had truly become the monster he had hated and despised for so long.  There was nothing he could say back to the boy – he was right – everything he had said was right.

- “You are right” Claude said to him finally, “and I am sorry.” he said quietly and he walked past Derek, picked up the shovel that he had thrown down and looked back up at him, “I am truly sorry” he said again, “I will finish here – why don’t you go inside and get settled for the day.” He said and he started to finish the work they had started to conceal the entrance.

Derek turned around and started to walk towards the castle.  He was so angry, although thankfully the skills he had learned from Claude helped him to keep his anger in check and not the rage control him.  Even through his anger, he felt a little bad about the look he saw in Claude’s eyes.  A look of a father deeply hurt by the words of his son.  He wasn’t sure how to react to that.

———————————————————————————————-

The next couple of days were spent in silence.  Claude kept to himself and Derek couldn’t bear his company.  Claude finished the outside tunnel on his own and Derek spent most of his nights either in his room or tending to the horses.  It was not only days before they were due to leave for London.  Derek checked on Thomas and made sure he was settled in.  He gave him a list of duties started to make preparations to leave.  He told Thomas he was expected to be in London for a month at least.

- ‘No need to worry, Sire – everything here will be taken care of – I will see to it” he said.

- “Thank you Thomas,” Derek replied, “I appreciate your work during this difficult time”

- “And the large man, will he be going with you or will he be staying here?” Thomas asked

- “Unfortunately, he is coming with me, Thomas – once I am gone the castle will be solely in your hands” Derek explained.

- “No problem Sir, I take care of everything for you.”

Derek walked upstairs to his old room.  The room felt larger than before and Derek started to pack some of his city clothes.  Normally he would have had a servant to do that for him, but now there was no one.  He was not even sure what to pack, since he had never given this a second though.  He stood at the window of his room looking out – thinking about all of things that had changed in his life up until this point.  He thought about all the people he would see in London – about how they were all going to ask questions, tell him how sorry they were, and bring up the subject of his family’s death over and over again.  He was in pain just at the thought of it – but he knew he owed it to his father to put his family’s affairs in order.

- “We need to talk before we leave” Claude said from behind him, “this cannot go on, Derek”.

Derek turned around to face him, “Alright then – talk” he said.

- “I got you that time – come on admit it!” the boy on the left said with his wooden sword raised high up above his head.

- “I will never admit it, because you didn’t get me – and you can’t prove it!” the other boy said, lunging at him with his wooden sword.

The first boy dodged and rolled on the ground, and popped back up amidst the flowers, sword in hand, leaping at the other boy in a fit of laughter and determination.

- “I will not stop until you admit it!” he said, “Edward you have to admit it! I won!” The boy said again.

Edward stopped jumping and lowered his sword, “Is it really that important to you that I admit it - I mean these aren’t REAL swords, and we aren’t REALLY fighting…”

- “Yes,” the boy said, “fair is fair and I got you fair and square!” he said and pointed his wooden sword directly at the Edward, in a challenging pose.

- “Alright! alright!” Edward said, “I, Edward, future King of all of England, have been beaten by Derek of Kent,” he said giggling, “who is not now or never will be king!” Edward said, “satisfied?” he asked

- “Well you could have left that last bit out”, Derek said, “there’s no need to be cheeky,” he continued, “plus father said you are not the future King of England, you are only going to be King if someone kills your brother” Derek said.

- “Well,” Edward said walking slowly towards Derek, “Harold says that the men in our family don’t live very long anyway, so chances are I will die before I ever become King,” he said, “but I can still pretend!”

- “Why would you want to be King anyway?” Derek asked, “seems like a boring and stuffy thing to do having people all over you all the time.”

Edward shrugged, “I don’t know – everyone wants to be King, Harold said, so if everyone wants to be King then I do too!” he said, “and Kings can tell people what to do and that seems like it would be kind of fun” he said with a smile.

The boys both picked up their coats and started to walk back towards the house.  Edward looked at Derek and asked, “how long are you staying this time?”

- “I do not know” Derek said, “father said I could stay until his business in London is finished and that could take up to a month.” He looked up at Edward with a happy smile, “You want to go riding now? I bet Walker is not at the stables we could sneak in” he said to Edward expectantly.

- “No,” Edward said, “I’m hungry” he continued, “let’s go see what cook has – I want some honey cakes” he said.  He looked up at Derek with a twinkle in his eye, “I bet I can beat you to the house!” he said.

Derek bit his lip and looked at the house and back at Edward, “No way” he said, “No way you can beat me!” he said

The two boys dropped their wooden swords and coats and began running towards the house.   Between gasps and giggles they both made it back at the same time.

————————————————————————————–

Derek woke up startled.  The dream had been so vivid that for a moment he was right back there with Edward.  Poor Edward – he had heard from the Abbot that Edward had been killed by the same “plague” that had hit his own family.  These kindred were a disease – he was convinced that nothing good would ever come of them – of him.  He shook his head as he sat up in bed and tried to get rid of the last vestiges of the memory still in his mind.  How much simpler things were back then.

As usual the sun had already set by the time Derek woke, got dressed and came upstairs.  He was strangely hungry again – he thought it odd that hunger did not affect him like it once did.  His stomach did not grown, he didn’t feel that emptyness inside of him.  This was more like a gnawing, a burning.  The knowledge that he hunger was there – he could not control it – all he could hope for was to quench it before it became unbearable.  Claude was already upstairs in field tending to their horses.  It seems another one of their horses had managed to return.

- “So she is back too?” Derek asked, “Is she alright?” he asked looking at the mare.

- “Yes”, Claude replied, “she came back last night on her own – when I woke this morning she was grazing.  She has an injury to her front leg but she should recover.”

- “Good” Derek said, “that’s good” his voice trailed off…

- “What’s wrong with you?” Claude asked him.

- “Nothing” Derek replied

Claude walked up to Derek and took his chin with his hand, much like a father would do to a son, he looked Derek straight in the eye, “You need to feed” he said, “Go, when you get back we will get started”, he said.

Derek  looked up at him in surprise. “You mean…” he said, “… alone? You wish me to go alone? To hunt alone?”

- “Yes,” Claude said, “I have helped you enough in that area, it’s time you stand on your own.” he said, “now go and don’t dawdle – we need the time”

Derek nodded to Claude and walked off into the woods.  This was the first time he would be hunting alone.  Every other time Claude had gone with him to make sure he was ok.  This time he was on his own.  He was scared – not of what he would find – but of himself.  With Claude he knew that if he lost control somehow, Claude would bring him back with that strange mind thing he did.  But now, alone, who would bring him back if the beast took over?

It didn’t take long – perhaps a couple of hours and Derek walked back out with color back in his cheeks.  Being able to hunt on his own made Derek feel empowered.  He knew that he could go out and hunt on his own – and keep complete control of himself.  This was reassuring.

He came back to the castle in time to see that Claude had once again laid all of the weapons out.  They spent the night training, working on speed more so than strength this time around.  Derek had a very difficult time keeping up with Claude, and tried tapping into his own supernatural speed with very little success.  He found it much easier to tap into strength instead of speed.  They worked on it for the rest of the week, and although Derek felt his body strengthen every night, he just couldn’t find a way to speed himself up like Claude did.

After a week of training, Claude added mind games once again.  At first Derek was caught by surprise, but it wasn’t long until he was able to easily put up his mental defenses and keep them up even while he was focusing on physical feats.  Another week of training went by and although Claude told Derek that he was improving, Derek did not think it was so.  He still felt slow and inadequate compared to Claude.

They were 2 weeks away from the deadline that Derek had given Claude for going to London, and although he told Claude he would not change his plans, secretly he began to wonder if he was ready.  With every night of training, he saw more and more of what Claude could do and he felt that Claude was holding back.  He couldn’t even imagine, how superior to him Claude would be if he was tapping into all of his vampire powers.  And the tought of running into not one but several of these kindred in London, was terrifying to Derek – but the fact that he was afraid to go, made him want to go even more.  His father had always told him that the only way to overcome your fears was to face them and stand up to them – head on – and Derek planned on doing just that.

———————————————————————————————–

Derek and Claude decided to go into the village nearby to find more servants – after all, they needed to leave someone behind at the castle taking care of things while they were in London.  Claude also said that this would be a good time for Derek to work on his mental capacity and to learn to hunt among humans.  Derek was scared that he would lose control  – hunting animals, was one thing – but hunting humans was something else entirely.

The Village was about 3 hours away from the Kent castle.  They rode hard and were able to make it there in 2 hours.  The first thing they did was go to the local Tavern where Derek and his family were well known by the townspeople.  His father had always been very generous and was generally well liked by the villagers.  Upon arriving, they realized that news of the tragedy at his estate had already spread – they suspected by the Abbot – since they received condolences from most villagers, saying how sorry they were that Derek’s family had died to the plague.  The Abbot was right, several other towns had been “hit” by this same plague, although the story now was that some of the territories affected by the plague had also been attacked by wild wolves, since some of the bodies were discovered mauled.

Derek and Claude came into the tavern and took a table at the far end of the large room.  Claude looked at Derek and whispered in a low tone, “Reach out to that girl with your mind, tell her to come here”, he said.  Derek looked at Claude a bit confused.

- “What do you mean? Should I call her here?” Derek whispered back.

- “No”, Claude explained, “Use your mind, the same way that I enter your  mind, reach out to her with your  mind – try to tell her from your mind to hers, to come here.” he said.

- “I will not do that” Derek said, “that is a terrible intrusion” he stated.

Claude looked visibly annoyed and looked at Derek with a very stern look, “You are here to learn, now” he said, “all you are doing is calling her to come here using your mind instead of your voice.” he said, “I do not wish to argue this with you – just do it”, Claude stated.

- “No” Derek said

- “Do you want to go London in 2 weeks or not?” Claude asked

Derek though about it for a  minute and sighed, “Fine” he said, “You win”.  He looked at the girl, and tried to focus his mind.  He tried to reach out to her, trying to gently ask her, “please come here”.  He had no successs.

- “This is useless” he said to Claude, “I cannot do this – it does not work.”

- “You are not trying,” Claude said, “You must command her” he said, “There can be no doubt in your mind as to what you wish for her to do – you must believe it entirely with every fiber of your being.  You must know that she has no choice but you obey you.  You cannot be unsure – you must be completely sure.”

Derek sighed, closed his eyes and got his mind set on what he wanted to do.  He thought of his father, he thought about the revenge he wanted to take and how everything he was learning now brought him closer to that goal.  He felt the rage inside of himself again, and he focused all of his strength in controlling that rage.  He used that rage, focused it and opened his eyes looking at the girl. “Come here”, the though originated in his mind and he tried to reach out to her.  The girl was wiping down a table, she put the cloth she was using down, and walked over to the table that Derek and Claude were sitting at.  She just stood there looking at them, with a bit of a dazed look on her face.

Claude looked at the girl, smiled and said to her, “You may go” and she smiled back and went back to wiping down the table like nothing happened.

- “Do you understand it now?” He asked Derek

Derek sat in disbelief.  He had done that – he had made someone do something.   Every time he learned just how much power he had, it scared him.  It scared him that others would also have this power and god only knows what they would be using it for.

- “The vampires in London, Claude” he asked, “Can they do this? Can they command people and make them do whatever they wish?”  There was a twinge of panic in his voice.

- “Yes” Claude said in a very matter-of-fact tone, “This and more, lad” he said.  “Now, again” he said to Derek.

Derek looked up at him with eyes open wide, “What? What do you mean again? I have done enough.” He said.

Claude sighed, “Derek, need I remind you of London? Do you still wish to go in 2 weeks or not?” He asked – his frustration was obvious in his tone of voice.  “Do you really want to go to London to take care of your father’s affairs or is all of that just talk? Because if you wish to go – you MUST learn this, ” he continued, “there is no way around it.  Either you learn it or you do not go.” He said with a tone of finality in his voice.

Derek raised an eyebrown at him, “I will go if I so wish and you cannot stop me” he said in definance.

Claude leaned in towards him,  looking extremely annoyed and said in a very low and angry tone, “Do you really believe, that I cannot stop you?” He asked.  He sat back in his chair, looked at Derek in the eye again, and repeated, “Now, again”.

This was the first time that Derek had known Claude that he had appeared angry.  He just had taken for granted up until now that he could do whatever he wanted and Claude would simply never be upset.  He wasn’t sure how to react to this – he wasn’t afraid, of course – he knew somehow that Claude would never do anything to hurt him, but he knew – after seeing all of Claude’s power, that he was no match for Claude.  Admitting that – even if only to himself, was more difficult than all of the training he had done up until now.  Derek thought about it and convinced himself that he would learn this because he WANTED to learn it – not because Claude had asked him.

- “Fine.” he said, and looked at the girl one more time.  He managed to wrestle up all of the frustration inside him, channel it and once again, with his mind he reached out to her, “Come here”.  Once again, the girl dropped her cloth and walked over to the table, and once again, Claude smiled at her, and said, “You may go”.  Once again, she went back to wiping down the table.

Claude looked at Derek, “Again”.

The next few days were very difficult for Derek.  The thoughts of what he had done that animal haunted his every waking moment.  The thought that he was capable now of doing that to a human being scared him even more.  Claude tried to talk to him but Derek was not up for any sort of talk.  Every day they worked in the bowels of the castle digging out more and more area.  They had now dug out what looked like a large room with three small rooms coming off the sides.  Claude finally stopped the digging,

- “Well, I believe this is enough” he said.

Derek threw down his shovel and went upstairs to get some fresh air.  He went to his parent’s gravesite, which Claude has covered in rocks instead of grass so that the effects of Derek’s presence there would not be so obvious.  Derek sat at his father’s grave for most of the night, thinking about what to do next.  What would his father do? If this had happened to him, instead of Derek, how would his father react? Derek had no idea – it was impossible.  What had happened to him was unimagineable.   There were so many questions in his mind about what his new life would be like, questions he was afraid to ask because he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know the answer.   Like would he ever be able to see a sunrise again? Or would he be able to marry – and have a family?   Would humans ever be safe around him? And most of all, what was vampire soceity like? He was almost afraid – he imagined these beastial creatures sitting around a fire with blood dripping down their mouths hissing at one another.  He did not wish to have this fate.  He thought about Claude – and he wondered how long had he been a vampire? Would Derek eventually lose enough of himself so that like Claude, he wouldn’t be horrified at the thought of killing another creature and drinking its blood?

The questions floated in his head and he had, over the last few days, come close to actually asking Claude to answer a few of them – but he had stopped himself.  He knew he wasn’t ready to learn the truth – at least not yet.

- “It gets easier, you know…” he heard Claude’s voice behind him

- “Is that suppsoed to comfort me? That it gets easier to kill?” Derek asked.

- “Well, you killed before did you not? You ate meat – you hunted – you just did it differently than now.  This is the same thing, but you are now just consuming a different part of the animal.” Claude explained

- “The difference is,” Derek said, “that before I was in complete control of myself – I have never felt drawn to kill an animal like this – and I certainly had never felt drawn to kill another human!” He said

-” Well,” Claude replied, “You can control this.  You felt drawn Derek because you were hungry.” he said, “If you anticipate your cravings and keep yourself satisfied, you will not feel this pull.” he continued, “You need to learn to anticipate your cravings, and drink before you are near a state of Frenzy.”

Derek looked up at him with a hopeful look, “and what about humans?” he asked.

Claude walked up to where Derek was sitting and calmly sat down next to him.

- “With humans its different” he said, “You do not have to drink human blood, but if you decide to live in the city, it is fairly convenient.” he continued “there are ways to drink human blood – just a little bit at a time – and not kill the human.  As a matter of fact,” he said with a smile, “the power that flows in your blood, will help you to do it without the human even knowing that you are doing it.”

Derek looked confused, “That makes no sense – how can someone not know that there is another person sucking the blood right out of them?” he asked.

Claude grinned at Derek, “You need to learn that just because things do not make sense, it does not mean that they cannot be so” he said.

Derek nodded, and looked down at his father’s grave again.  Deep in his heart he began to accept his new fate – he began to accept, that maybe there was a chance that he would never be able to walk in his father’s footsteps.   He decided right then  and there, that if his destiny was to indeed become this monster, then he would be the most human monster he could be.

-”Come” Claude said as he got up and started towards the house, “lets work some mind tricks next” he said.

Derek got up and went after him towards the castle.  With each step he felt more confident, if there was a way to turn this around, to make sure that he was in charge of his own fate, not this monster inside him, he would find it.  Of that, he was sure.

————————————————————————————

For the next few days they worked on “mind tricks” as Claude called them.  This basically entailed Claude trying to enter Derek’s mind with his and Derek having to block it.  He found he had a knack for it .  Most of this training had taken place in the library, with Derek and Claude sitting accross from each other and the fire roaring in the background.

- “What you have is a gift that very few of us have, Derek” Claude said – “the way that our bloodlines work, sometimes the powers that your sire has will be passed down to you – sometimes they will not.”

- “Sire?” Derek asked

- “The sire is the person that makes you a vampire.  I am your sire in this case.” Claude replied, “Which means some of powers in my blood may have been passed down to you just as some of the powers in my Sire’s blood were passed down to me.” Claude said, “Sometimes, it can skip a generation – for I have gifts that my Sire’s sire had but that my Sire did not have, and my Sire had gifts that were never passed to me”

- “Well, how do I know what gifts you passed on to me then?” Derek was curious

-” You will not know until you use them – we can try to see if you can tap into them in training, but you may not know.  And some gifts may not present themselves until your blood has had a chance to age some more.”

- “I see – so this gift – of protecting my thoughts – you have it too?” Derek asked

- “Yes, I do” Claude replied, “My sire did not have it however, but his sire did – I was not sure you would have it – but it is a powerful gift and it is the first gift you must learn to master”, Claude continued, “you see, Derek, Vampire soceity is made up of vicious politicians who will not think twice before barging into your mind and taking as much as they can.  There are no limits in Vampire soceity – what you can take is yours.  If you can protect yourself, you survive – if you cannot – eventually you die.  The strong survive while the weak get used and discarded.” Claude explained

- “How can they live like that? They sound like they are no better than animals” Derek said in shock, “Where is your sire, Claude? Do you still see him from time to time?”

For the first time Derek caught Claude off-guard and he could see it in his face.  Claude noticed this and quickly recovered, “My sire is dead, lad” he replied.

- “How did he die?” Derek asked

- “That is a very long story and one that I am not keen to tell right now – perhaps one day – but for now we must concentrate on your training – since you are only to give me 6 weeks we have much to accomplish” Claude said, “you must train until you can block your thoughts without thinking about it – without focusing on it.  Think of it as a shield, one that you are always armed with.  Kindred will come at you from every direction, at times when you may be unprepared – but MUST be able to keep your mind protected at all times.  Our bloodline in particular is well known for its ability to enter the minds of others and manipulate thoughts.  You must always be on alert.”

- “Alright, I get it” Derek said in a frustrated way, “Its getting easier you know,” he continued “I can sense you trying to come in to my head.” he said

- “That is not enough, Derek” Claude said, “Your mind must be like a fortress – whether you see me coming or not, the gates must always be closed.”

- “Ok well, ” Derek said, “I am not sure what else you want me to do – I am doing everything that I can – considering the fact that you have given me very little explanation as to how this works – I am kind of having to find it out on my own while you try to bully your way in to my head” Derek said in a frustrated tone.

-”Hmmm” Claude got up and walked towards the window, “Tomorrow, during the day, while you sleep, I will try to enter your thoughts.  Perhaps this will help.” He said turning around to look at Derek with a very satisfied look on his face.

-”Oh that is just wonderful” Derek said in a resigned tone, “Now I have no break even during the day – just great…”

Claude’s smile faded and he looked at Derek with a look of concern, “Kindred will give you no breaks, my lad – none.” He said in a very somber tone.

They both got up and headed down to the “dungeon” as Derek liked to call it.  Over the last few days, they had moved some items in there – a bed for Derek – some rugs, chairs, it looked very spartan.  Although Claude was attempting to make it very comfortable for Derek, it still felt like a dug out hole in ground.  However, Derek felt safe.  There were no windows and once they closed the trap door that they had built, one could not even tell where the entrance to the dungeon was.  Claude was sleeping in one of the other hollowed out rooms – but with no furnishings.  Derek had meant to ask him why he did not want a bed, but decided against it.  This was another one of those questions to which he did not want to know the answer.

They both moved down and retired for the night.  Derek had brought some books with him and he was able to read until he fell asleep early in the morning.  It wasn’t long after he was asleep that he felt Claude’s presence in his mind.  He pushed him out, but Claude kept coming back at him again and again – all day.  By the time sunset came once more, Derek felt like he had not rested at all.

Over the next week, they worked both during the night and day until finally, Derek learned to keep his mind shield up at all times no matter what.  It had become second nature to him – he did not even have to think about.  Just like breathing was – when he was alive that is.  Claude was pleased and finally told him it was time to move on to something new.  Derek was glad to do that.

Small Battles