the aftermath Essay Samples

the aftermath

...ing, she would have been silly to invite anyone more attractive than she. Not that the other women weren’t beautiful in their own right, but it was hard to compete with Thurston Toole’s only child. There is an inherent problem in all men. The average man has an incredible knack for devoting himself entirely to a task. If they strive to be the best at something, then they will work at it until they achieve their goal or prove it cannot be done. Women often call this stubbornness, but for a man it is called determination. As a result it is more often than not men who become the leaders in their community. They are the ones with the inventions and the marketable skills. The problem arises when they try to devote themselves to more than one thing at a time. Women are great at this. Men stink at it. The men Thurston invited to this party were single for a reason. They had devoted their lives to their craft. They had gone to school or trained as an apprentice or learned from their father and they had devoted all of their energies toward their goals and had immerged successful. It was not as if they hadn’t noticed women, but they just hadn’t had time. There were men that devoted themselves exclusively to the pursuit of women. These were the ones that came into the fabric shop to flirt with Christine. These were the ones that whistled at girls on the street or went to bars to work on their pick up lines. These were the types that Christine and her friends were trying to avoid. The women knew all this and were prepared for it. They were thus willing to put forth the effort to bring these men out of their shells. If they had to initiate conversation then they would do it if it meant they had a chance to land a husband whose primary skill was not belching the alphabet (and belching it out of order, as Christine had heard some do). So as the women made it to the floor, and approached the herd of men, they were not surprised when, instead of stepping up to meet them, they stepped aside to let the women walk by, as if they were just passing through. So the women began to break off, walking right up to their pick, often cornering them against the wall and then dragging them onto the dance floor. Christine had moved to the center of her friends, scanning the crowd for her first ‘victim’ of the night. All the eyes she met looked away quickly, or were too timid to even meet her gaze in the first place. She was determined to find someone that had at least some level of confidence. After a few anxious moments, she did find someone and moved toward him. The few friends who were in front of Christine continued to plow ahead, and the crowd parted for them like water around the hull of a ship. They too wanted to find a man who was not scared of a little lace and perfume. They found him toward the back. The crowd had parted, but this man had not moved an inch. He stood in the middle of the room and the crowd seemed to hush as they looked at him. He was lean, just a hair over six feet. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect posture. His lips smiled revealing white teeth inside dimpled cheeks. The women at the front of the pack swooned, and Fredrick smiled even more. He had only been a vampire for a few days, but already could feel the changes in his body. All the fat had disappeared, any hint of acne was gone, his hairline would never recede any further, scars had disappeared, and even his teeth had gotten whiter. Alececarr had told him that his outward appearance would conform to his inner strengths. Well, right now he felt he was the sexiest man alive, and none of the women were going to argue with him. The three women in front of Christine practically elbowed each other as they raced forward, trying to snag this tasty treat. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said before any of them could think of an opening line. He politely pushed through them, touching two of them gently on their bare skin. His cold touch sent chills through their bodies. Christine saw him coming toward her and stopped. This was not the man she had picked out earlier, and she didn’t know what to think about him. Fredrick looked at all the other women with only one thing on his mind, and that is what they felt, but when he looked at Christine, the object of his hunt, there was power mixed with his desire. Christine was both excited and frightened by this young man. His face seemed very familiar, but as a cold crept into her lungs as he drew near, she knew she would have remembered if she had seen him before. “You are surely the fairest flower in this bouquet of feminine beauty,” he said. “Would you honor me with a dance?” Now Christine was the timid one. Her body yearned to say yes but her mind screamed a warning. The way he looked at her made her feel weak and afraid. He caressed her body with his eyes, making her feel violated inside. There was nothing calm or peaceful about this man, but something inside her didn’t care. Suddenly the words romance and chivalry were just silly notions of a romance novel. Power and lust were what pumped blood through a person’s body. Her mind screamed no, but her body screamed yes, and in a moment her body was going to win. But the moment took too long. “Perhaps another time then,” he said, turning away from her when he saw the inner turmoil inside her was nearly won. This was a hunt, and he would be patient. Before the time came she would beg at his feet. “I . . .” she started, but Fredrick was already in the hands of one of her friends, whisking away to the dance floor. She looked after them for a while, but with his presence and gaze departed, she shook the chill from her spine and continued on. Entreri had been the only one in the room confident enough to return Christine’s gaze. As she approached, she took full stock of the man. He was likely one of the oldest ones here, but he had aged well, unlike some of the much younger men, who were getting a little thick in the middle and thin on top. He held himself with an air of confidence that was very much lacking in the other men. He actually reminded her of her father. “Would you care to dance?” she asked. Entreri took a moment to register her words. His mind was still on the confrontation he had just witnessed. Something had happened that was not natural. The veteran of the realms had seen too much magic and too many powerful creatures not to recognize that there was more to this strange young man than met the eye. “Ah, my lady, I would greatly wish to dance with you but for these two left feet I have,” Entreri said eloquently. “Perhaps my friend could assist you to make up for my inadequacy.” They both turned to John who was currently trying peer over the crowd to see if there was more cheese dip on the table across the room. He felt them looking at him and turned to see. “Excuse me?” “This lady is in need of a dance partner. Would you be kind enough to assist her?” John briefly scowled at Entreri and then smiled at Christine. “Of course.” They walked to the dance floor, and Entreri sought out Christine’s mysterious suitor. The assassin watched for the next few minutes as Fredrick changed partners several times, but always had his eyes on Christine. She kept casting nervous glances at him over John’s shoulder, but always looked away when she met his eyes. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore, thanked John at the end of the song, and left the dance floor. She walked past Entreri without a word, went through the living room, and then out on the deck. Entreri stayed where he was, munching on a few appetizers and watching Fredrick’s reaction. When John came back he looked flush. “Are you okay?” Entreri asked. “Yes I’m fine, thank you. I’d like some wine.” Entreri motioned to a waiter, and he brought each man a glass. John downed his quickly and then went back to work on the food. “Do you know who that is?” Entreri asked, motioning to the dance floor in Fredrick’s direction. John looked and shook his head. “No, I don’t. If he is a merchant in the city, then he has never had need of the city guard.” Entreri didn’t think John would be much help, but he though he would try anyway. On the dance floor, Fredrick was trying to pry himself away from the women and follow Christine. He slipped neatly into a crowd of dancers, and then slipped out the other side and made his way through the dining room. Once the women saw he had escaped, they turned to the other men. The vampire passed within four feet of Entreri as he made his way to the living room and then undoubtedly the deck. As he walked by, the hairs on the back of Entreri’s neck stood up, and an unconscious chill went through him. He waited a few moments and then followed. Christine was the only one on the deck. She leaned on the railing with her elbows, looking out over the peaceful river. She just needed some fresh air. She wasn’t sure who that mysterious stranger was, but she had to get him out of her mind. While he was definitely one of the more attractive men here tonight, that wasn’t all she was after. She wanted someone confident and smart and sure of themselves. The only quality this stranger exuded was danger, and that wasn’t good. John had seemed like a nice man. He was tall, strong, and a little unsure of himself in a social setting, but he was more than capable of handling himself in a variety of other situations. There were probably lots of other men just like him in there. She needed to go find one. The bad boy image wasn’t healthy. “You remember me, don’t you?” The voice was unmistakable. Christine fought with the desire to run away from this man, but curiosity overcame her suddenly. “Yes,” she replied hesitantly, “I mean I think so. Uh, I don’t know.” Fredrick leaned his elbows against the railing, mimicking her pose and also looking out over the river. “I’ve always been with you. I always will be with you.” “Who are you?” she asked, turning to look at him. He was still looking forward and his silhouette was outlined by the moon. She gasped. He was gorgeous. Her mind recognized his face, but it had changed slightly in the past few days, and there was no way she was going to place him as one of the men who came into her shop all the time. That boy, for that is what she thought of them, was rash, lewd, and immature. This was someone else. When she looked at him all she got was a very intense feeling of déjà vu. “I’ve dreamt about you, haven’t I?” She had many dreams. She had dreamed of this night for that is where she got her idea for the dress. She had danced in her dream. Who had she danced with? Was it this man? Is that why he was so familiar? “You have dreamed of me every night, just as I have dreamed of you,” he said slowly. “While this is our first meeting, we are not strangers.” “I want to know you,” she said without thinking and then bit her lip and looked back at the river, wishing to pull back those words. “You already know me,” he replied. He finally turned to look at her, leaning over to whisper in her ear. “Look deep inside your heart. There you will find me pumping through you.” He quickly flicked her ear with his tongue and then left before she could respond. Entreri was standing by the door, and as Fredrick walked away from his prey, Entreri turned and started to walk, as if he was on his way to the deck instead of just standing there. The two men exchanged looks and time froze for a moment. It was not a casual glance, but an exchange between two rivals. Entreri had seen Drizzt look at him like that many times, only the dark elf never had a fraction of the glib indifference that Fredrick showed. He saw Entreri as a fly circling his food. They were both after the same thing, but the vampire did not feel threatened. They locked eyes, and then the moment passed and both continued on as if nothing had happened. Fredrick went back to the dance floor, and Entreri out onto the deck. “Did you hear that?” Christine asked when she turned and saw Entreri behind her. “Hear what?” he lied. “I just wanted to apologize for not taking you up on your previous offer.” He smiled at her and offered her his glass of wine. “Thank you.” She took the drink and sipped it. They lapsed into silence. Christine waited past the point of embarrassment and then spoke, “Is there something you wanted to say?” Entreri had forgotten where he was for a moment, his mind going back to his battles with Drizzt and his confusion about this new potential enemy. But did he really want to fight him for Christine? He was never one to avoid conflict, but to engage himself in this situation didn’t make any sense. “Huh,” he responded. “I didn’t think so,” she said and walked past him back into the house. Entreri sighed and suddenly wished he had never come. He could be back in his restaurant right now instead of fighting some imaginary battle with some mysterious stranger over a woman he had no interest in. Entreri sighed again, tried to take a sip of wine, realized he had just given his glass away, and then went inside to get another. ________________________________________ Alececarr was sitting in The Dragon’s Lair. While the atmosphere of the restaurant was still far below his usual standards, it was the nicest he had seen so far. He understood from Fredrick that almost all of the restaurants in the south were at least this good or better, but he also understood that the city guards patrolled the streets down south and every potential victim was a son or a daughter or a wife or a father. In short, their feeding would not go unnoticed. Alececarr needed to set up some roots in this city. The north was his only option, and a bar or restaurant seemed like the best choice. This was the nicest place available, so Alececarr was very interested in meeting management. “Good evening sir, may I start you off with something to drink?” The waiter was polite and direct, though it looked like he hadn’t bathed in quite some time. “A wine list, please,” the vampire responded, “and I was wondering if I could talk to the owner.” The waiter had expected as much. This guest was quite obviously not a northerner, and it seemed like everyone who came from the south wanted to speak with the boss. The young man produced a wine list and placed it on the table. “I will see if the owner is available.” Alececarr looked over the wine list and was mildly impressed. A few moments later another man came to the table. “Good evening sir, my name is Dorin Fletch. I’m afraid Mr. Entreri is not here at the moment. Is there something I can help you with?” “Entreri is the owner?” “Yes, sir.” Dorin was a bit taken aback. He had asked for the owner, how could he not know who that was? “I am the foreman for Borgain Construction, and I run the restaurant in his absence.” “I see,” Alececarr replied. “When will he return?” “He did not say, only that he would be gone tonight on personal business. If you would like to leave a message for him-” “No, no, that will be okay.” The vampire wanted to turn Entreri into a vampire and take over this establishment. It was tough to leave that in message form. “I will return another night.” “Can I get you something to eat anyway?” “I believe I’ll just have a glass of your red wine tonight, thank you.” “Nothing to eat?” Dorin asked again, taking the wine list and motioning to a waiter to bring the drink. “I’ll let you know if I see anything I like.” Dorin took the drink from the waiter and set it on the table. “Of course,” he replied and walked away. Alececarr sipped his wine and looked around at the other guests in the restaurant, trying to see if there was anything he liked. ________________________________________ The rest of the night at the Toole home was relatively uneventful. Fredrick had left. Both Entreri and Christine had looked for him after their brief meeting on the deck, but he was gone. Christine tried to continue with the rest of the night as planned, but her mind was elsewhere. Fredrick had turned into a curse on her mind. He was like a song stuck in her head, and she didn’t even know his name. By the end of the night she hadn’t gotten to know anyone else, despite efforts to socialize. She had almost convinced herself that he was psycho, and that she didn’t know him at all, and her mind was just playing tricks with her. But it wasn’t true, and she knew it. Entreri had significantly more luck. When Fredrick had disappeared, he stopped thinking about him. If he wanted Christine and was casting some kind of spell on her, then more power to him. Instead, the up-an-coming businessman spent the rest of his night talking with other merchants. By the end of the night, he had found two more dealers who could turn his dragon gems into usable currency, had found a discount dealer for nails and fasteners for his ships, and struck a deal with a local printer to get color menus for his restaurant. Everyone he talked to also promised to come and visit his restaurant, but he didn’t put too much weight behind that. People didn’t just casually make trips through the northern section of town. As the people began to file out Christine tried to salvage the night, meeting them at the door to thank them for coming. As the men filed past, she realized she hadn’t met half of them, and couldn’t remember the other half’s names. She had danced with a few, and hoped they would call on her in a few days, but she was sure she had come off as being largely disinterested due to her distraction. She smiled as she finally came to someone she remembered, though she didn’t even know his name. “We were never properly introduced,” she said as he started to leave. “My apologies,” he replied. “My name is Artemis Entreri.” Entreri didn’t know what to say next. He wanted to leave and go home, but felt there was probably something else he should say. Christine smiled at the silence. “Is there something you wanted to say?” she asked, repeating her question from earlier that night. “Your dress is beautiful,” he settled with. “Thank you,” she responded. Many people had said she was beautiful that night, but no one had commented on her dress. “You’re welcome. The seamstress did an excellent job.” “I made it myself,” Christine replied, beaming quite noticeably. “My compliment stands,” Entreri smiled, tipped his hat in a bow, and walked out of the house, letting out a long sigh as he did. He hoped he wouldn’t have to do that again for a long while. Behind him men continued to file out, and Christine said good night. She was interrupted as one of her friends came rushing up to her. “Hi, Sarah, did you have a good time?” “It was a great party, Christy, thanks for inviting us, but have you seen Betty? She and I came here together, but I can’t find her anywhere. She wouldn’t leave without me, would she?” “I wouldn’t think so,” Christine replied, nodding to two more departing guests. “I’ll let you know if I see her.” ________________________________________ “Freddy! Freddy, stop! Slow down!” Betty screamed. Fredrick brought the horse under control and slowed him to a trot. “Aw, come on. You have to live a little.” “I think we’ve lived quite a bit tonight already, don’t you?” Fredrick turned on the horse to look at her. “You don’t want to quite now, do you?” he gave her a wink. “If you put it that way . . .” she smiled. “Good. Let’s go!” He kicked the horse into a gallop. “Freddy!” she screamed again but just decided to hold on tight and enjoy it. They were a mile south of town on a horse Fredrick had stolen from the Toole stable, though he had said it was his. They were riding along the road about fifty feet away from the river. The road was well traveled, but it was late and they hadn’t seen anyone yet. After a minute of fast riding, Fredrick yanked the reins to the right, and they dove off the road into the grass and trees along the bank. Betty wanted to scream again, but she was too scared. The ground fell away near the river, and her stomach was suddenly in her throat. Then as quickly as it had started, Fredrick brought the horse to a halt in a large level clearing right next to the river. “How was that?” he asked, turning in the saddle to look her in the eye. Betty had a very difficult time catching her breath. “It . . . (pant) . . . it was . . . (pant) . . .” But Fredrick kissed her before she could finish her thought. It was a long, slow kiss, and Betty’s breathing reduced dramatically, but her heart rate only increased. Fredrick broke it off suddenly and slipped off the horse. “It was what?” Though she no longer gasped for air, her chest still rose and fell from her heavy breathing and her eyes were lost somewhere in space. Words wouldn’t come to her. Fredrick smiled as he pulled her off the horse. She fell into his arms, and drew toward him for more, but he pushed her away for now. “This is a great spot,” he said, walking to the middle of the clearing as he kicked off his boots and socks. “The river comes into this spot right here and there is virtually no current.” He took off his jacket and shirt and jumped in the water. Fredrick swum out a ways and turned back to look at his date. She was frowning. “I’m not going in the water.” “Why not?” “I’m wearing a dress, silly boy.” “Then take it off.” It was as if the idea had never occurred to her. She looked around for a moment, to see if anyone was watching, but obviously no one was. She started to reach back for the zipper, but stopped. “I don’t know.” Fredrick stood up in a shallow part of the river, water running down his muscular chest, his cotton pants clinging to his legs. “You’ll enjoy it.” That was all the encouragement she needed. She unzipped the back, slid it over her head, and hung the dress on a tree branch. She walked to the edge of the water and kicked off her shoes. She hesitated a moment, standing there in a corset and underwear. Fredrick leaped out of the water, faster than she could have imagined, and pulled her in. She screamed, but quickly shut her mouth as they both went under. They surfaced, wrestled briefly, and ended the session with another kiss. “See,” Fredrick said, their faces only a few inches apart, “I said you would enjoy it.” “Yes, but why did we have to come way out here? There are lots of places to swim closer to town.” “True,” Fredrick admitted, “but down here, no one will hear you scream.” She pushed away and playfully splashed him in the face. “Oh, Freddy, you’re awful,” she laughed, misunderstanding what he was really talking about. With a smile on his face, Fredrick pulled her close again and showed her what he was really talking about. She did scream. No one heard her. ________________________________________ Not surprisingly, Christine couldn’t sleep that night. She tossed and turned in her bed. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Fredrick’s face. She still didn’t have a name for him, and he was just “Him.” She feared what her dreams would be like if she ever got to sleep. That He would be in them was not in question, but what role would he play? Long lost friend? Lover? Tormenter? Savior? All of the above? She sat up in bed. The curtains to her balcony were blowing in the wind. She thought she remembered closing the door. She looked around the room. He was sitting on a chair a few feet from the balcony door. She wasn’t frightened and moved to light her oil lamp. “No. Don’t do that. Leave the light off. I am not really here. I am just a dream.” Christine smirked despite the situation. “That’s a good thing, because my father would kill you if you had actually sneaked into my room at night.” “You are a grown woman, Christine. Your father does not tell you what you can or cannot do anymore. You must think for yourself now.” He paused. “What do you want?” Christine struggled with the question. She wanted a store. She wanted a family. She wanted a nice young man. She wanted Him. She wanted everything. “It is not such a difficult question,” he said after she remained silent. “Not if you have all the answers,” she bit back. “Fair enough, what do I know that you don’t?” She paused. “I want to know your name?” Somehow, even though his face was cloaked in shadow, she could “hear” him smile. “Tonight you will dream, and you will give me a name.” He let her think about that for a while. “You do know that you will dream about me?” “Yes,” she admitted. They lapsed into silence. “Do you want to see me again?” “I don’t know,” Christine replied honestly. “Think about your dreams this night. What will they be about? How will you feel when you wake up? What will your memories of me be?” Christine knew the answers to these questions but did not say them out loud. Instead she answered his first question. “Yes, I do want to see you again.” He smiled again. “Good,” he said, getting up from his chair and stepping over to the curtains. “When will I see you again?” she asked a bit too eagerly. “When the time is right and all your uncertainties are answered. Now, lie down and go to sleep. Sweet dreams, my love.” He walked through the curtains, and when they blew apart again a few seconds later, the balcony was empty. Feeling more at ease, Christine lay down, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep. -------------------------------------- All of you who have read so far and had been patient with me, thank you. The next chapter has lots of Entreri in it. I’ve been told that people do not like original characters, but I’ve also been told that fanfiction doesn’t have enough well-developed original characters. For this story to work, Entreri needs the characters of Fredrick, Christine, Thurston Toole, and Alececarr to be well developed. Maybe this wasn’t nearly as frustrating to read as I’m making it out to be and everyone has enjoyed the past three chapters, though my brother has already asked, “Why is Entreri even there? It seems like he is just there for filler.” Trust me, he isn’t. All will become clear. Please let me know if I go too far with Entreri’s character. He is going to do some pretty radical stuff. The cologne is just the beginning. :) Oh, and I haven’t completely settled on a new name for Fredrick. If Angel wasn’t taken, that would have been perfect. I’m still debating between a few others, but I’m not really happy with any of them. Suggestions are welcome. Chapter 4 “The Negotiation” Entreri woke the next morning at dawn with a smile on his face. Today was going to be a good day. Entreri was excited about the business opportunities he had found last night at the Toole party. He had scheduled three meetings today, and since no one in their right mind would go into the north for a short meeting, Entreri had to go see them. The assassin didn’t mind. He was used to a busy schedule and traveling all over town in his old job. Only now he didn’t have to creep along the rooftops or slink through the sewers. It felt good to walk openly down the street for a change. Entreri was not a social butterfly. He didn’t have friends and didn’t play well with others, but so far there had been one thing that he had sorely missed from his days back in Calimport: competition. His rivalry with every other rogue in Calimport – and in fact the whole Sword Coast – was what had driven him to greatness. So far his days as a businessman had been spent alone, making his own decisions, and ignoring the businesses around him. Now he understood that in order to play the game correctly, you had to reach out to others and get involved. He didn’t need to make friends. He didn’t need to socialize, but he did need to work with others. And the time he had spent at the party last night had been surprisingly enjoyable. He still had an edge though. He had been quoted prices last night that he had no intention of paying. When he entered negotiations with a company, he was not going to be friendly. He had perfected his deadly stare over the past 30 years, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste now. At the same time, he wanted to make sure that everyone that signed on with his business profited from it. If word got around that doing business with him was a sure way to bankrupt your company, then he would be out on his own. Toole had been right. There was enough financial elbow-room and growth potential in this city for everyone to do well. So while Entreri was interested in seeing everyone succeed, he planed on staying a little ahead of the curve. All the planning was great, but before he could get started, Entreri needed to take care of matters at home first. “Good morning sir,” Dorin, Entreri’s foreman, greeted him as he walked into the office. “We have a problem.” Entreri listened patiently as Dorin explained. Allen and Chancey hadn’t shown up this morning. They were probably Entreri’s two best employees. They were respectable men who had been cheated out of business down south and had then been forced to move to the north. The only reason Entreri had not promoted one of them to foreman was because he knew in a few months, once they had earned enough money, they would be heading back south to try again. Dorin had already sent Entreri’s messenger boy to the men’s homes to see why they hadn’t shown up. As the two men waited for the youth’s return, Entreri tried to think of how to salvage this situation should the news be worst case. Allen and Chancey were replaceable, and Entreri had realized they would have to be if they left, but the few men he was grooming to take their place, weren’t nearly ready yet. Entreri would have to hire someone else. A few minutes later, Sam, the runner, came back to say he had found both men lying dead in their homes, but the boy didn’t know what had killed them. “It was very strange, sir,” he reported. “They didn’t have any knife wounds or blood or anything on them. Nothing was broken or anything like that. It was just like they fell over dead.” Entreri thought in silence for a while. His two best men had just died mysteriously. Was he under attack from someone? This was obviously no coincidence. He glanced at his pocket watch. He had four hours to straighten this whole thing out before he needed to be at Edgar’s Metal Shop for his first meeting of the day. “I have to go look at this,” he told Dorin. The foreman nodded. “You need to find someone to fill in for them till we can sort this out.” With that, Entreri followed Sam out of his office. He didn’t know where his men lived, so the boy led him quickly through the dirty streets of the northern neighborhoods. Fifteen minutes later they were looking at Allen. The man was as the boy had said, dead without any sign of violence. Entreri really did not like this. This was magic or something similar, and it was aimed at him. Someone had observed his business long enough to figure out the two most prominent, yet vulnerable men in his business and then had taken them out without leaving a trace. No, Entreri thought, no one leaves without a trace. He walked over to the body to get a closer look. It didn’t take long. Two pinpricks were visible on his neck. A vampire. There was a vampire loose in the city, and for some reason he was picking on Entreri. Or was he? What if the vampire had just gotten sick of feeding on drunks and prostitutes? Only a creature that wanted to be discovered would feed in the south, so if they wanted a good meal, Entreri’s restaurant was the most logical place. And if they were looking for the two best men, Allen and Chancey were on the short list. Entreri stood slowly. Maybe this was a chance encounter. Sam asked if he wanted to see the other body too, but Entreri shook his head. He already knew what he was going to find. Hunting down a vampire was going to clog up his schedule considerably. He thought about bringing John into the hunt but not for long. The captain was a capable enough fighter, but he had no experience with vampires, and Entreri didn’t need a novice to mess things up for him. If his leads dried up, he might turn to the captain for information, but he would try it on his own for now. Back at the office, Entreri filled Dorin in on the situation and then had a few questions for the foreman, but he answered them before Entreri had a chance to ask. “Oh, and another thing,” he said after the bad news, “there was a man here last night looking for you. He was a strange fellow with an odd accent. He said he was looking for the owner, but he didn’t know your name. He didn’t give his name, but said he would come back.” “Did he eat anything?” Entreri asked, hoping for his first lead. “He had a glass of wine.” “Did he consume any food?” Entreri rephrased his question, adding an impatient tone to his voice. Dorin shook his head. “Not that I saw. He had a glass of wine, sat there for half an hour, and left. Where you expecting someone?” Entreri shook his head. “No, but that is usually when they tend to show up.” “Who?” Entreri thought about explaining things to him, but there was no point in it. Dorin, like the rest of the people in this city, did not understand that there was a supernatural force awakening in their land. Magic was resurfacing. Evil was waking up. Things would get very interesting in the next few years. The people would not understand any explanation. Instead, they were going to have to see it for themselves. Entreri ignored the question and got down to business. The two of them spent a full hour discussing their options for filling the two vacated positions and what decisions needed to be made while Entreri was away to his meetings. Things had suddenly gotten a lot more complicated. This was not going to be a good day. ________________________________________ Entreri waited at the bar, his eyes intent on the door to his restaurant. It had been a bad day. After the excitement of the morning, he had barely made the meetings he had to go to. They had gone poorly. Two of them fell through, and the third ended with Entreri signing a contract for much more than he had anticipated. His mind was on other things, and he couldn’t focus. Entreri realized he had a long way to go before he could claim his current venture a success. His problems were not unique. Problems arose all the time in the business world. Sure, vampire attacks were not common, but there were a lot more mundane things that happened. Fire, weather, competition, employee strikes, bad publicity, and many other things happened to businesses all the time. The successful men handled them efficiently and kept going. Entreri had not done a good job of that today. He wasn’t trained for that. There was one thing was trained for. It was something he was very well equipped to handle. It was something in which he had all the confidence in the world. He sat at the bar, waiting for the vampire to show up. Alececarr walked into The Dragon’s Lair shortly after sunset. Entreri spotted him right away. Even without the description he had gotten from Dorin or knowledge that this man was a vampire, Entreri hoped he would have picked him out immediately. He had been away from Calimport for a long time, and there had not been much need of his skills. But the assassin had to believe that it would be a long time, if ever, before his instincts deteriorated enough to let a man like this walk by without every alarm going off in his head. The sensation that this vampire produced reminded him of the strange man from last night’s party, but this creature was far more powerful. Entreri started to play with the idea that the man from last night was a vampire. That would explain a lot and would- Entreri shook his head. He could worry about that later. Alececarr took the same seat he had last night, and Entreri moved to serve him before the waiter in the area had the chance. He moved as unassumingly as possible, but just like Entreri had spotted him immediately, Alececarr also knew a man of power when he saw one. He could not know of Entreri’s skill or past, but he was obviously one to be reckoned with. If he was the owner, to turn him would be an incredible asset. “Good evening, sir,” Entreri said, a bottle of red wine in his hand. Without asking he poured a glass and placed it before the vampire. “Thank you,” Alececarr replied, reaching for the glass and sipping it slowly. “Would you be the owner of this fine establishment?” Entreri nodded. “I am. My name is Artemis Entreri. Can I get you anything?” “A menu is all,” he said, “and perhaps your company at this table, if you are not too busy. My name is Alec.” “Of course,” Entreri replied and motioned to a waiter he had spoken with earlier. He took a seat at the table. “What brings you to my restaurant this evening?” “A business proposal,” Alececarr replied, taking another sip of wine. “I want to buy your restaurant.” Entreri didn’t blink. This was actually good news. It meant this vampire was still looking for a home in the city. He was not established and likely did not have many followers yet. “I don’t remember putting it up for sale.” Alecearr smiled back at him. “I’m quite confident I could make you an offer you can’t refuse. If we could move to your office, or somewhere more private, I could show you.” Entreri could feel the spell of the vampire coming over him, but he shrugged it off easily. He would not follow this creature into a dark room like a puppy dog. “We can talk here,” Entreri replied. “No one will be listening to us. Besides, I don’t like to negotiate on an empty stomach.” The waiter Entreri had called came by with the menu and handed it to his employer. Entreri took a brief look at the menu before he passed it across the table. “I’m sure you’ll find that we have the best selection in the north.” Alececarr put on a fake smile and took the menu. “I’m sure you do.” He wasn’t hungry. At least not for the type of food served in this restaurant. He looked at the menu anyway. His fake smile turned to one of confusion. “This doesn’t appear to be a menu,” he said, looking up at Entreri. “This looks like an employee listing.” “Yes,” Entreri agreed. “If I may be so bold as to make a recommendation, Geoff has kept himself in excellent shape, and I can see that he is loosing a lot of weight. He drinks a bit too much beer, but most of them do, I’m afraid. Though Gene has been sampling our wines lately, and has restricted his diet to vegetables and fish. You are probably looking for someone who eats more red meat. If that’s the case, I recommend that you-” “Excuse me,” Alececarr tried to appear appalled, even though his mouth had begun to water, “are you suggesting that I eat your employees?” “You are a vampire,” Entreri replied matter-of-factly, “I thought it would only be hospitable to offer you something you like. Though, you might want to cross off the top two people on that list. I believe you ate them last night.” Alececarr tried to look insulted. “How dare you! What in all the realms would possess you to say such things?” “Your hand does not make a reflection in your wine glass,” the assassin said plainly. Alececarr picked up his wine glass and looked at it. He could see the fine bubbles filtering their way through the deep red liquid, but that was all he could see. He put the glass down. “Yes, I suppose you are right.” All acting was over at this point, and both men were poised for action. “Do you still want to go somewhere so we can discuss the sale of this restaurant?” Entreri asked. “Yes.” “Perhaps we can ‘negotiate’ outside,” Entreri offered. “That seems suitable to me. We wouldn’t want to interrupt your customers.” Entreri stood slowly and deliberately, his jacket pulled aside so his hand could rest visibly on the pommel of his frost blade. “After you.” Alececarr took another long sip of the wine before getting up and moving to the door. He didn’t have any trouble placing this man to his back. He had met few mortals who could challenge him in combat, and they had all been elves. He stepped quickly through the door to the outside, and it swung back shut before Entreri got there. The assassin pushed the door open and stopped. The boardwalk in front of his restaurant was empty. He took a deep breath, pulled Cicle from its sheath, and stepped through the door. He paused for a moment, and then dove forward off the boardwalk, somersaulted to his back, and raised his weapon. Alececarr was descending from the roof, slashing his claws back and forth viciously. At the last second, Entreri realized the vampire was willing to take a hit in order to score half a dozen on the assassin. He swept his blade to the side at the last second, rolling out of the way. The vampire avoided the block and landed just to the right of where his target had been. Entreri had rolled to the left and came up fast, just faster than Alececarr. Entreri drew his dagger as well and created a steel shield in front of him. The vampire tested the barrier for a few seconds and almost lost a finger. He decided to change strategies. The vampire leaped into the air over Entreri, and the assassin reacted quickly, stabbing out behind him, and then dropping into a crouch, turning, and slicing Cicle at waist height. Alececarr wasn’t there. Entreri paused just long enough for his enemy to finally land, lash out with a claw, and then take to the air again. Entreri watched, not trying to guess again, but this time it was quick, the vampire landing right back where he had been, kicking out at the assassin’s head. Entreri rolled to the side, swiping out at the offered leg, but he was gone again. A flicker of movement to his side had him swiping at air, then back to his other side. Alececarr landed only long enough to laugh and then jumped again. Entreri was getting sick of this quickly. Entreri faked in one direction and then stabbed out with each weapon in opposite directions. He finally guessed right. The vampire came down on Entreri’s left, and the dagger bit hard. Alececarr didn’t seem to mind, and pulled on Entreri’s left arm with the dagger still in his side, spinning him around, and bringing his neck into range. Entreri used the momentum of the spin, to bring Cicle in fast. The vampire was too close and inside the blade of the weapon, but as Alececarr barred his teeth at Entreri’s neck, the rapier’s hilt came crashing into the demon’s face. Alececarr stumbled backward, and Entreri pulled away, just then realizing that his dagger had been in flesh the whole time. He had felt no surge of energy and then ridiculed himself for even wearing the weapon tonight. How was a vampiric blade going to work on a vampire? There was no life to suck from an undead creature. He sheathed the dagger and pulled his dirk. He wasn’t as used to fighting with two long weapons as Drizzt, but he was more than capable. As Alececarr’s hand came back down from feeling the wound on his face that Entreri had just given him, his eyes stared death at Entreri. For the first time in a long time, the assassin felt out matched. The vampire was stronger, faster, and had several more centuries of experience. Entreri could deal with the strength; he had fought against countless enemies that had been stronger than him, but he was used to being quicker than his opponent. He had to take speed out of the equation. The boardwalk in front of his restaurant continued to the edge of the lake and turned into a pier that led to the entrance of his shipyard. Entreri turned and ran down the pier. “You won’t escape that way,” the vampire called to him. He tensed his legs and leaped after the assassin. The pier was well lit, and Entreri saw the shadow at his feet, pulled up short at the last second, and then dove forward a second later as Alececarr came down in front of him. The vampire ducked, and Entreri flew over him, rolling back to his feet and turning to meet his enemy. Entreri’s blades were swirling again, but much harder to dodge now with each weapon almost three feet in length. Alececarr was up to the task, seeing each move almost before it happened, and still having time to get out of the way of the ones he didn’t see coming. Entreri was just warming up. The assassin lunged to the left, forcing Alececarr to hop to the right, and Entreri filled the void. Now the two fighters squared off on the narrow pier perpendicular to its length. Predictably, the vampire rushed, trying to bowl Entreri off the wooden planks and into the water. Only the fact that Entreri had set this up allowed him to get out of the way of the lightening fast charge. Even then, he felt a claw scrape against his chest, but his dirk did likewise against Alececarr’s thigh. Entreri turned to see the vampire smiling at him. He held the dagger. Entreri clutched at his side where he had sheathed it, already knowing it wouldn’t be there. The swipe against his chest had not been random. Entreri just realized that the vampire might be playing with him. He didn’t like it. He came on with renewed fervor, and Alececarr met him. It was two blades against one. A dirk and a rapier against a foot- long dagger. Statistically the dagger didn’t have a chance. Still, it kept up. Entreri had never seen anything like it, and would have loved to just watch, but he was too involved to appreciate it fully. His strikes came faster than he had thought himself possible and truly wished that Drizzt could be on the receiving end, for he felt not even the drow could keep up. Yet here this vampire was keeping pace with just one blade. Entreri did not discourage, instead he increased his rhythm, hacking and slashing from every angle. He had the creature playing his game. This was Entreri’s strength, and if he did not find the vampire’s weakness here, then he would not find it. It was there. It was a hitch in his motion, a movement that fought against natural momentum. His blocks did not always flow into one another. It was the result of someone relying on their strength and speed and not caring about technique. It wasn’t that Alececarr was a novice, far from it. He had fought against some of the realms most powerful fighters including humans, dwarves, and elves. He had seen every style and had emulated the ones he liked. But like an elementary school teacher, Alececarr never found the need to elevate his level of knowledge, because to him, he was dealing with children. Mortals did not posses enough skill to overcome his strength and speed. Or so he thought. It took a while for Entreri to see the hitch, but only a moment to expose it. It was just a matter of making him break rhythm twice in a row in opposite directions, his arm went up, then down, out and then almost back in, but Entreri’s dirk kept it out as Cicle plunged into his chest. The move was done so perfectly in rhythm that to any observers (there were a few) it would have looked too easy, or as if the two fighters had rehearsed the move over and over. Alececarr cried out. It was the cry of someone who had thought himself a god and realized it wasn’t true. The dirk and dagger were still locked in a block, and the Vampire heaved his arm around, throwing Entreri back. The assassin flew 20 feet, landing hard on his back, his dirk flying from his hand and skittering backwards on the pier. He didn’t go after it right away but watched instead. Alececarr stared at the frost blade in his chest with a mixture of pain and awe. He had been bested! It hadn’t been fair, but that had never mattered before. He had always won. It didn’t matter the odds he faced or the skill of his opponent. He always won. While Alececarr contemplated the impossible that had just happened, Entreri counted the seconds the blade stayed in the vampire’s chest, waiting for the crackling sound that would signify the freezing of his foe. It never came. As Alececarr slowly pulled the rapier from his chest, screaming as he did, Entreri realized his second mistake of the night. Just like the vampire had no life for his dagger to steal, likewise he had no body heat for his frost blade to steal. And Cicle only stuck to living flesh. Still, the wound he had given to the vampire, while not lethal to an undead creature, would slow him considerably. Entreri had found the hole in his technique at full speed; he could easily find it at half speed. But as Alececarr slowly walked toward him, the dagger in one hand, and Cicle in the other, the assassin realized that while he could beat the vampire, he would need a weapon to do it. Entreri scrambled to his feet and turned to race up the pier. His dirk glinted in the moonlight. It was only 15 feet away, then 10, then – a shadow passed over him. Entreri dove, his hand closed on the handle, and Alececarr’s foot came down on the blade. Entreri should have let go, but he tugged stubbornly as the vampire’s other foot kicked him under the chin. He flew almost back to where he had started. When he turned to look back now, Alececarr stood between him and his dirk. Entreri stood slowly, no weapon in either hand to meet the vampire, who held the two most powerful weapons south of the great range. The assassin still felt he had a chance. Alececarr attacked, and Entreri could immediately see that if he had a weapon, any weapon, he could pick this creature apart. He didn’t and he was reduced to dodging. The dance didn’t last long, as Alececarr grew frustrated and threw the dagger at the elusive assassin. It missed and thunked into the pier behind him. The vampire hadn’t missed as much as he just wanted to free one of his hands. As Entreri turned to chase after his weapon, the stronger fighter grabbed at the human’s belt, stopping him short and hauling him back in. Entreri braced to feel Cicle in between his shoulder blades, but as he felt his belt rip, he realized the vampire was after something else: Cicle’s sheath. As his belt came off, Entreri turned to grapple with the vampire, but he elbowed Entreri in the head, sending the weaker man staggering back. Alececarr smiled as he swung the frost blade at Entreri’s head, but he was staggering and tripped off the edge of the pier, the rapier passing just over his head as Entreri splashed down in the water. The two fighters looked at each other for a few moments. Alececarr still grimacing from his wound and Entreri treading water. The vampire had stripped the assassin of his weapons and had him floating in the lake, but somehow, the ancient creature still felt like he had lost. If Entreri hadn’t lost his dirk, Alececarr would probably be a pile of dust. He was over 1,000 years old and the idea that he had almost lost to a human brought great concern to his psyche. For that reason he left Entreri there, gathered the weapons, ran off the pier, and into the small crowd. No one tried to stop him. Entreri couldn’t follow. His head still spun from the elbow, and it would take him a full minute to get out of the water. By then Alececarr would be long gone. Entreri felt beaten. He had lost all his weapons and a good deal of his pride. He knew he had made stupid mistakes, over- estimating the strength of his weapons against a very powerful foe. He would not make that mistake again, but he also knew that Alec, as he had called himself, would be very wary of the assassin, and had a huge advantage with Cicle and the dagger. As Entreri swam over to the dock and pulled himself up onto the pier, he thought about what he could do now. He needed to get his weapons back. That wasn’t even a question. He just needed to know how. He couldn’t wait for the vampire to come back to him. Alec would wait until he had a host of minions and attack Entreri on his terms. No, Entreri had to bring the fight to him. He needed to know where he was staying during the day. He needed to know how big his army was. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed John’s help. The captain would know if there had been any weird deaths or missing person reports. John would also be able to get him a few serviceable weapons until he could get his back. Right now Entreri was tired. Alec wouldn’t come for him tonight. That wound would need a night or two and several feedings before it healed fully. Entreri walked down the pier to his shipyard, ignored the looks of those who had gathered (most of whom were his employees), went up the stairs to his office, and then to the back room where he slept. He’d pay John a visit in the morning. ________________________________________ Christine looked at the clock on her nightstand and then back out the window. He had not come back tonight. It was 2 am and she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She had been trying to think of other things all day, but she couldn’t concentrate. She had to leave work early and skipped dinner. She wasn’t hungry. She had heard about the “Can’t eat, can’t sleep, madly in love” symptoms before, but that wasn’t her. Was it? She didn’t love this man. Did she? He was playing her, and she knew it, and she didn’t really care. When you played keep away from a child, they might scream and yell at you, knowing you are making fun of them, but for some reason, they keep playing. In Choraston where she had gone to school she had tasted chocolate for the first time. It had been like nothing she had ever had before. When she had asked what was in it, halfway through her fourth piece, she stopped. If you ate chocolate all day long, you would die. She enjoyed being healthy, she liked her figure, she didn’t want any skin problems, but the chocolate was so good. Was she in love with the chocolate, obviously not, but she craved it in a way she couldn’t explain, despite the fact that she knew it was bad for her. Was this stranger bad for her? She knew he was not a nice, simple, hardworking young man like she had been looking for. And thinking of him all day long, like eating chocolate all the time, was destroying her life, but was that his fault? She was going through withdrawal, if he was here, would she be able to focus? She shook her head. In the few instances when he had been close her heart had skipped and her breath had faltered. No, to have him close would drive her even more insane. Still, there was something about him that tugged at her. She desired him on an unconscious level. Chocolate in small doses wouldn’t kill you. He couldn’t be all bad, was he? Christine shook her head in frustration. She didn’t know what to think. All she knew was that it was 2:15 and she needed to go to bed. As she turned away from the window, a bird called outside, and she spun back around. Was that him, was he coming? She didn’t see him. She looked back at the clock. It was only 2:15; she could wait a little while longer. ________________________________________ The Ruddy Mary did good business. It was owned by Edward and Steven Ruddy, men who could have done anything they wanted, but decided to keep the restaurant their mother had opened 50 years ago, back when there hadn’t been a difference between the northern and southern halves of Garrilport. At least not a very big difference. It had never been an upscale restaurant, and its clientele today was a far cry from its patronage from 50 years ago, but it was one of the nicer places in the north. Ed and Steve were able to keep the ruffians out of their tavern for the most part, and soon it was pretty clear that if you wanted to spend the night drinking and fighting, there were better places to do it than at the Ruddy Mary. The two brothers never started the fights, but they always finished them. In the past few days, the brothers had been even more wary of their customers than before. A cook and a barmaid had been killed in the storeroom four nights ago, and they were at a loss as to what had happened. The tavern’s name was an obvious reference to the popular drink and the fact that their mother’s name had been Mary, but the two brothers had been proud to keep the “bloody” aspect of most of the other northern taverns out of their business. True to form, the two dead women had not had a drop of blood on them. The barmaid had been mostly dressed, so rape did not seem likely. Neither woman had any money on them, and nothing was missing from the storeroom. The only thing they found were small bite marks on the women’s necks. Had their blood been sucked out? Was there some strange animal roaming the streets? Or was someone playing an awful joke on them? Whatever the case, the brothers were now very careful about who they let into their tavern. So when Alececarr came stumbling in, a vicious wound on his chest, clutching a dagger in one hand, both brothers acted immediately. They raced up to the injured visitor, and quickly carried him out of the building. “You don’t want to go in there,” Steve said. “This isn’t the right place for you.” “We don’t want your trouble,” Ed continued. “You take your problems elsewhere.” Alececarr slumped into Ed’s arms. “I just need-” “You just need to keep on moving,” Ed cut him off, hoisting him up a bit so his head was resting on his shoulder. “Just keep on-” Alececarr bit hard into the sturdy man’s neck. Neither brother drank much anymore since the two women had died, and the vampire sucked hungrily, glad for the alcohol free blood. Steve saw what was happening, and quickly put two and two together. The bite marks on the women suddenly made sense, and he moved to pull this creature off his brother. The dagger in Alececarr’s left hand intercepted the attack, striking hard into the big man’s gut. Alececarr felt the rush and could barely control himself. He fed off both of the powerful men at the same time, all of his incredible strength returning to him in an instant. With one great heave he threw the men up against the outside wall of their tavern. They were each only half conscious as the vampire walked toward them. “Your establishment has just come under new ownership. But I have good news for you two,” he said as he stepped before them. Both of their eyes were almost closed, and they were slowly sliding down the wall as their bodies went limp. “You get to keep your jobs.” Alececarr slashed his new dagger across his wrists and held them up for the men to drink. They sucked hungrily, as Alececarr threw his head back and laughed. Chapter 5 “The Investigation” John looked at the fat, grotesque body realizing it probably hadn’t always looked like that. It had been soaking in the river for a couple days at least. A few fish and turtles had decided to take a bite or two, and the insects had found a new home. The skin was pale, whiter than John had seen before, almost as if it were an albino. The flesh was bloated having been soaking in water and lying in direct sunlight. It didn’t smell very good either. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but John had the feeling that before this young woman had taken her ill advised swim, she had been quiet lovely. The idea that the corset that now strangled her midsection had once fit seemed laughable, but also suggested that she had possessed a very attractive figure at one time. Now it looked like the straps on the back were kneading dough. John had seen enough. “Cut her clothes off and cover her body with a sheet,” he said. As his men did as they were told, he stepped away from the scene, wondering for the hundredth time why he did this job. A man had come to the guardhouse shortly after dawn saying that he and his son had gone south on the river to fish and had found a body. John had come down with them and examined the scene. He didn’t get many drownings, and when he did, the body was rarely found. This one seemed to have avoided the swift current in the middle of the river and had stayed close to shore, finally getting caught up among the reeds. He already had a guess as to who this young woman was. Gregory Traft had come to him yesterday afternoon saying that his daughter Betty was missing. She had not returned from the Toole party two nights ago now. John had obviously been at that party, but he did not recognize this girl. That wasn’t surprising with as much as her body had changed in the river and with the fact that John had spent most of that night looking at food and not women. But this was most likely her. Betty had probably left the party having had too much to drink, went swimming, and drowned. It wasn’t common, but it happened. John did not like bringing young girls back to their fathers wrapped in a sheet. “Sir, there is something else over here you need to see.” John followed one of his men up river a ways to another clearing. There, hanging on a tree was a dress, and on the grass next to the river was a pair of shoes. “Why would she get undressed here?” John’s man asked. “Good question,” John replied. There was a small inlet here, where the water was relatively calm. It was actually a very safe place to go swimming, as long as you didn’t go too far out into the middle of the river. But the water could have only been four feet deep here. You’d have to be pretty drunk to drown in four feet of water. The more likely way to drown would be to have ventured too far out and get caught in the current, but if that were the case, then there was almost no way that the body would have washed back to shore only a few hundred feet down river. Now if she had managed to drown in this shallow section, then her body would have slowly moved down river, bouncing off the shore until it became tangled in the reeds. But this still didn’t make sense, because there was a much better swimming hole right on the edge of town that lots of people used. The only reason to come this far south would be for privacy. John knew that there had been a lot of available men at the party. That meant she had probably not come here alone. So either there was another body to be found, or the captain had a potential murder on his hands. John heard the horse coming a few seconds before one of his men spoke up. “Sir, someone is coming.” The road was a good 100 feet away from the river, so someone had left it and was coming to them. John felt suddenly protective of the scene, realizing that it was a little more complicated than a simple drowning. With that added complication, he wasn’t surprised to see who came walking through the trees to meet him. “Artemis, what brings you this far south so early in the morning?” “You found a body?” Entreri asked, not bothering with a greeting. Most would be upset with the intrusion, but Entreri obviously had an agenda here, and since John had no leads, he didn’t hide anything. “Yes I did. She is down this way.” Before following the captain, Entreri scanned this clearing, seeing the dress, shoes, and inlet. John figured that the assassin had probably reasoned everything that he had and in just a few quick glances. “Why the interest in this body?” John asked. “And how did you know it was here?” “I didn’t,” Entreri replied, following John through the brush along the shore of the river to the body down stream. “I went to the guard house looking for you. They said you were down here because someone found a body in the river.” “And why were you looking for me?” “You have another killer loose in the city,” Entreri said plainly. Great, John thought, more fun. “Worse than Drizzit, or whatever his name was?” Entreri hadn’t thought of it like that yet. “Depends,” he responded, not sure he knew the answer to the question. John waited for an explanation, but didn’t get one. “So why the concern over this new killer? I thought you didn’t care about what happens in this city.” “I don’t,” Entreri replied humorlessly, “but he killed two of my men two nights ago, and he attacked again last night.” “Well, I don’t think this is your man.” They walked out of the trees into the second clearing. The men had finished cutting off her clothes and had put a sheet over her. One of them had left to go get a wagon to carry her back to town. “She was killed two nights ago as well,” John continued. “In fact, she was at our party. So if your killer was up by your place, I don’t know why he would come back down here to kill her. Besides, it looks like she just drowned.” Entreri didn’t reply verbally to that comment, but threw the captain a sarcastic look. John was right; Entreri had gathered all the evidence from the other clearing. Instead of talking, Entreri walked up to the body, squatted next to it, and peeled back the sheet a little bit. The bite mark stood out clearly on the bloated skin. John watched him, and could now see he was deep in thought. “What is it?” John asked as he walked up beside him. “You are half right,” Entreri started, wondering how much to tell the captain. If he told John everything, then he would have city guards at every street corner. While it might be good for the safety of the city, the vampires wouldn’t come out and play, and Entreri would never find them. They would very slowly build their army and not come out until they felt strong enough to overcome anything. Entreri didn’t want to wait that long. He knew there were at least two vampires. If he waited till there were 20, he would never get his weapons back. He needed to flush them out now, and he needed to do it without the “help” of the city guard. “I am half right?” John prompted, for Entreri had lapsed into several moments of silence. “This wasn’t my killer, at least not directly.” Entreri just decided to come out with it. He stood and spoke so that only John could hear. “You have vampires in your city.” “Come again?” Entreri pointed at the neck of the body. “A vampire did that.” “How do you know it wasn’t insects?” Entreri pulled the sheet further, exposing more of the naked body. “What is wrong with this body?” John could think of lots of things, but kept his mouth shut. “When a body gets bloated like this, aren’t the veins usually visible through the skin?” John nodded slowly. That was why the body looked so white. The veins weren’t there. “It’s not that the veins aren’t there,” Entreri continued, practically reading the captain’s mind, “but there is no blood in them. A vampire sucks all the blood and life from its victims. Insects don’t do that.” “So a vampire is a creature that sucks blood.” “Yes. They appear human. They only come out at night. And they can multiply. When they feed on someone they can leave them for dead, or turn them into a vampire. Once turned, they are more demon than human. They care nothing of their former life and live only to kill and obey the one who turned them. They have supernatural strength and speed and are impervious to normal weapons.” “These things are walking my streets?” John was obviously not happy. Entreri tried to calm him. “Right now there are two, the one who attacked me, who I believe is the leader, and the one who killed this girl. He was at the party. I know what he looks like.” Entreri could see the wheels turning in John’s head as to how he was going to fix this problem and hunt down these creatures. “You have to let me handle this,” Entreri said. “Like hell I do,” he replied. He was about to turn to his men, but Entreri grabbed his arm. “Listen to me!” he said in a harsh whisper. “If your men go up against vampires they will die. Remember what happened with Drizzt?” “I remember what happened, you sat on your ass and he killed half a dozen of my men.” “Yes, well, I am not sitting on my ass now, and a lot more than half a dozen of your men will die. Look, if you come out in force, the vampires will retreat and stay hidden.” “Good, then they won’t be killing anyone.” Entreri shook his head. “Yes they will, only they will be much more careful about it and we won’t catch them. They will wait until they have an army and then they will attack. “Look, right now they are not killing in bunches. They are laying low. I’m guessing they are only feeding in the north. We were supposed to think this girl drowned. And outside of you and me, who else would have seen through this rouse?” John conceded that point. “But they are still killing, and northerners are people just like anyone else. I don’t value life like you do.” “If you do what you want, it will be as if you don’t value life at all! Look, you have to trust me on this. I know everything about vampires; you know nothing. You have to let me handle this.” “Why should I trust you? Every time I have come to you asking for help, you have refused. Why are you suddenly so charitable now?” Entreri took a deep breath. “In the past you have asked me to join in a fight that wasn’t mine. You wanted me to risk my life for the sake of your city. I don’t have a badge on my lapel. I don’t work for the city. I’m not asking you to help me build ships, so why should I help you with your job. This is different. This vampire has already attacked me. By business has been hurt. It will continue to suffer as long as the vampires feed. I will handle this.” John paused in thought, thinking there was more to this than Entreri was letting on. He also wondered if what Entreri said was right. Maybe the assassin was the best way to solve this. He wasn’t finished yet. “Remember what happened with the goblins? You walked into that mountain range with an army and you were slaughtered. Then you and I walked in alone, and we killed everything. The solution to everything is not force. I will handle this.” John slowly nodded. “You do realize that if the mayor finds out about this, I will lose my job. And if anything else happens, if any more of my townspeople are killed, I will respond. Finish this quickly.” Entreri nodded, accepting the arrangement. John looked down at Betty. “As far as anyone else is concerned, this girl drowned.” “Thank you,” Entreri said. “Is there anything I can do?” John asked. Entreri nodded. “You can give me a lead.” “What?” John almost laughed. “I thought you were the one who knew everything about vampires.” “True, but you are the one with your finger on the pulse of the city. Has anything happened in the past week that has seemed odd? Was there anything that when you heard the report you thought to yourself, ‘They had to have gotten that wrong?’ Think. There had to be something.” John remembered Craig’s story quite well. “Yes, there is something.” ________________________________________ John had told the two diggers to take a break for a while so that he and Entreri could have the tunnel to themselves. On the way back to the city, John had told Entreri Craig’s story about how a creature and risen from a coffin and bitten Fredrick. Entreri got a brief description from what John could remember of what Fredrick was supposed to look like (he had never met him) and Entreri satisfied his curiosity that it was the same person that was trying to seduce Christine. He tried to get John to remember him from the party, but the captain honestly didn’t remember. The two men walked down the torch lit tunnel with John pointing out any items of interest, such as where the cave in had been, how they had never found the missing wheelbarrows and pick axes, and how there was no trace of any coffin or blood or anything. Entreri nodded as he heard the facts, looking everything over for himself. He paused halfway into the tunnel looking at the wall. “There is a hole here,” he said. He turned and looked to see a matching hole on the opposite wall just beneath the torch. In fact there were holes under each torch proceeding down the tunnel. Each hole was a little lower than the one before. “The torches had been hung too low,” John replied. “I had the men take them out and put them back in at the proper height.” “Why had they been hung to low?” Entreri said, looking closely at each one and measuring the rate of decent of each successive hole. John paused, realizing that his initial assessment of the situation might have been wrong. “At the time I saw them, I thought it was fatigue. I mean Craig had just told me an unbelievable story, so I figured the men had been half asleep to dream up that kind of tale.” Entreri crouched down, almost putting his cheek on the dirt as he looked down the tunnel and then back up it. He got up quickly. “The torches weren’t hung low. Someone raised the floor.” “What? Why?” Entreri turned to the captain. “You said that the coffin had fallen from the ceiling. That would have left a large rectangular hole in the top of the tunnel. It is quite impossible to lift dirt back to that hole to fill it in, so they instead removed dirt from the ceiling to level it out. The coffin was probably two and a half feet tall, so they removed that from the ceiling gradually tapering it back to normal. The result was that they added that dirt to the floor. The ceiling went up and the floor went up, but the torches never moved. John nodded, understanding the reasoning clearly. He crouched down too and could just make out the slight slope in the floor. They walked to the last hole in the wall and looked up. “This is where the coffin fell. They reshaped the tunnel to match this height, and since then your men have been digging ahead at this level.” John shook his head, feeling stupid. Entreri decided to throw in an editorial. “You thought Craig was lying, or at least got the story wrong. So you looked for evidence to support your theory. Times are changing. The next time someone comes to you saying they’ve seen a monster. Believe them.” John nodded, accepting the criticism, knowing that Entreri was right. “Okay, but where is the coffin now? It looks like our vampires sealed themselves inside, but when we dug through the cave in, this is what we found.” “Give me your sword,” Entreri said, as he walked back up the tunnel. John unsheathed it slowly. “Where’s yours?” he asked, noticing for the first time that Entreri wasn’t wearing a weapon. It wasn’t odd for the assassin to walk around town unarmed, but since they were hunting vampires, John would have guessed he would bring along some weapons. Entreri took the two-handed sword without answering the captain’s question. After they had walked back to about where the torches had been moved, Entreri thrust the sword into the dirt wall. The blade went in a foot and a half and stopped. He turned around and thrust into the opposite wall with the same result. “What are you doing?” John asked. “I mean besides dulling my blade.” “Trying to find out where they hid,” he replied. Entreri kept up the routine, moving up the wall slowly. Finally he found what he was looking for. He thrust forward and lost his balance as the blade sunk into the wall to its hilt. John understood immediately. He whistled up the tunnel and the two workers came running down. John took one of the pickaxes and went to work. Within a minute he had the fake wall down, revealing a dark tunnel beyond. John looked at Entreri. “Do we go in?” Entreri nodded. He handed the captain back his sword and traded it for the pickaxe. He then reached for a torch with the other hand and cautiously led the captain down the tunnel. If Alec were here now, he would probably be sleeping. It was daytime, so if this was where they lived, they should both be here. In these tight quarters, Entreri felt he had the advantage. Fredrick would not be a problem, and Alec would be too cautious to engage Entreri when he held a torch. No one was home. The tunnel led to a small cave. Inside were the two pickaxes and wheelbarrows. There was a large rectangular indentation in the floor where the coffin had been, but other than the tools, the room was empty. Entreri swore. “I guess they found a new home.” There were two tunnels leading out of the room. Down one they could hear water trickling and could tell it led to the sewer. The other one offered no clues. Entreri held the torch high as they made their way down the second passageway. It ended 30 feet later with stone protruding into the tunnel. “It looks like the foundation of a house,” John said. He reached up to the stone tiles and found one of them was loose. “Which house is this? They could get in whenever they wanted?” “If I had to guess,” Entreri replied. “I’d say this is the Toole home. Fredrick has a thing for the daughter.” “What do you mean by that?” John asked, not liking the way it sounded. “Vampires are known to hunt their prey. They pick out someone, usually someone who has scorned them in their previous life, and they stalk them. They draw it out as long as possible, torturing the poor soul until they finally end it.” “We need to warn Thurston and his daughter about this.” Entreri figured that would be his response. He shook his head. “No, they can’t know. We will collapse these tunnels and take the digging equipment back. If you start alerting people to the vampires, everyone will know, and I won’t be able to find them. I will protect Thurston’s daughter.” “How?” John asked. Entreri didn’t answer right away. Right now Christine Toole was his only link to the vampires. From the sewers, they could get anywhere in the city. They had found a new home and were beginning to build an army, no doubt. Entreri was running out of time. He needed a plan. He needed more information. He needed a lot of things. “I need some weapons,” Entreri told John. Despite the situation, John managed a smirk. Entreri had fought with this head vampire and had lost his weapons. While much of this man was a mystery, his pride was obvious. He now had even more confidence that Entreri would finish this thing quickly. “I think we have a few extra a the guardhouse.” Entreri nodded and followed John back out of the tunnel and to the guardhouse, a look of determination on his face. It was late morning. He had the rest of the day to put together his plan. He needed to act tonight. Chapter 6 “The Research” Alececarr lay in his coffin in the basement of the Ruddy Mary. With a bit of digging, he, Fredrick, and the Ruddy brothers had been able to connect the sewer to the tavern and then hide the entrance. Alececarr had instructed his growing army to sit tight for now and go about business as usual. He would tell them when it was time to act. Right now he was meditating. The body that lay in the coffin had once belonged to a man. He had possessed a life, a family, a soul, and a name. The name had been Elias. None of that could be remembered now. Alececarr was the name of the demon that inhabited him. It was an old demon, and he had not been diluted over time. Alececarr had inhabited Elias over 1,000 years ago. Even the demon could not remember the exact length of time. The vampire had spawned many others, and they had multiplied, but at the end of every campaign those spawn were killed. Alececarr remained. Other vampires feed and multiplied over and over, such that the personality of the original demon was lost over time. All that remained was a nameless spirit and access to the abyssal planes that brought power and long life. Those vampires did not commune with their spirits except to understand their hunger and thirst for power. They were therefore reduced to primal animals with little thought or reason put into anything. Alececarr was refined. He had all the same desires and cravings, but he tempered them with reason and knowledge. He used that now. With his body dormant, he left enough of a presence to sustain it, and went in search of answers. Other demons and denizens traditionally looked down upon vampires because they were only half-breeds, with no real demonic consciousness. Alececarr was different. He was held in some regard in the lower planes, and when he asked questions, he got answers. There were no interviews or interrogations. Spirits did not meet face to face for the obvious reason that they lacked heads. Instead Alececarr “floated” his question into the planes. His question was a name: Artemis Entreri. The response did not take long. He received answers from all corners. Servants of Tempus, Lloth, Mielikki, and several human gods, both good an evil all had something to say about the assassin. Followers of these deities had all met Entreri in battle and all said the same thing. Among humans, there was no one equal in skill or one-on-one combat. If you have a conflict with this man, break it off and leave. Victory was not worth the risk of failure, the second being the far more likely outcome. Having gotten his answer, Alececarr removed his consciousness from the plane and returned to his body in the realm. The human mind, limited as it was, was far better designed for reasoning since it could only deal with one concept at a time as was bounded by time and space. What should he do? Alececarr had never run from an enemy before, but the information he had just gotten was not vague in anyway. Entreri should be avoided. More confusing than what to do, though, was the man himself. Why was he here? While Alececarr had toured very little of the city, he had gotten a lot of information from Fredrick. This was a land without magic. Humans were the only race Fredrick had ever heard of outside of fairy tales. It was information that pleased Alececarr, for it was a land ripe for the taking, but Entreri should not be here. What was the realms most powerful human fighter doing in this small city running a restaurant in the rough section of town? For a moment Alececarr wondered if there were two Artemis Entreris. It was a possibility for sure, and there almost assuredly was another human named such in the vast population of the realm, but for another of the same name to posses such skill, was not likely. Even if there was another of the same name elsewhere who was more powerful (though it was highly unlikely) Alececarr knew that the man he had fought last night was to be avoided. However, the vampire would not allow the assassin’s presence to deter him from his course of action. One man could not stop his rise to power. What could one man do against an army of vampires? If this was the greatest fighter, the only explanation that made sense for his presence in this worthless city was that he was hiding. He had not seemed young to Alececarr, and the deeds of his past that the spirits had talked about might be a decade old at least. If he was here to retire and hide, for a man such as that must have left behind countless enemies, then the vampire hoped that if he left the human alone, Entreri would return the favor. Alececarr smiled to himself. This was just a bump in the road. He had found a home, had a growing army, and was in a city that would not be able to repel him. There were no mages or priests to worry about. He now possessed the only magical weapons in the city. Nothing would stop him. ________________________________________ 3rd Moon of Autumn, Day 10, 2035 AC The demon has killed my sister. I have been writing these entries as a scribe for the council, to record the events of our village, but since the demon has come into our midst, I have forwarded these writings to a separate journal hoping that after we are gone, someone will read them and learn from our mistakes. It has become grave indeed. Last night’s attack did not go well. We lost 13 of our number. We only recovered six, among them Elaina, my sister. We fear those we could not find were turned. Though their souls be with Ehlonna, we fear their bodies have not yet found rest and won’t until the demon can be vanquished. Those we recovered have been put to flame to ensure they will not rise again. Our numbers have dwindled and we do not think we will survive another assault. The next new moon will assuredly welcome another attack from the creatures, and we have no means of defense. We have sent word to our brothers and sisters from the eastern woods, requesting their aid, but the delay in their response does not bode well. In the event that a portion of these records is lost, allow me to recount the history of our dealings with the demon. He has no name that we know, only that he is a vampire of such a level that none of our priestly magic has any effect on him or his followers of first or second generation. Further than that we can see some effect, but these are by nature the weaker vampires, and they are losses the demon is willing to take. Two moons ago, we began to lose a few of our number. This vampire can invade our homes without an invitation, so too can his spawn. We had no defense against such an attack. When we raised arms against them, they retreated to the caves that we dare not enter. After that the attacks tapered, but did not cease. We lost a member of the village every other night, and no amount of guard seemed to stem the flow. Soon the demon had built an army worthy of a frontal attack against our forces and we took heavy losses. I write now after the third such confrontation. This vampire has so overwhelmed us that we know not what to do. Many have decided to leave, but those who wish to see their loved ones put to rest will not go until the last vampire is reduced to dust. ________________________________________ Entreri put the scroll down for a moment of contemplation. He had searched through his dragon treasure many times, each time finding something he had not noticed before. He was yet to find a weapon that suited him better than those he had. A dragon only kept the weapons of the adventures he had slain, and few attacked a dragon with a short sword. There were broad and bastard swords too heavy for Entreri to lift, and there were halberds and spears taller than he was. There were several axes, but they too were too heavy for him to wield comfortably. In the end, he decided to settle with the non-magical weapons John had given him. The one thing that the treasure did contain that peaked Entreri’s interest were dozens and dozens of old tomes that told the history of this land. He was reading such a tome now. The vampire had called himself Alec, and he had found a vampire named Alecearr in a later entry of this tome and had backtracked to the beginning to catch the whole story in context. The writer of this journal was an elf named Elenain. He was a member of a village in the north woods, probably not far from Karenstoch, which would explain how this journal had found its way into his dragon cave. Elliorn had said there were elves in the area, though this journal far predated her time. What he had learned so far explained a lot of questions Entreri had. Fredrick had entered the Toole house without an invitation, something vampires were not supposed to be able to do. He was the first spawn that Alececarr had turned, and therefore had much of the same power that his master had. If Fredrick ever turned anyone (assuming he hadn’t already) they would be a bit weaker, and so forth. Homes in the city were not safe. Entreri should tell John, but it would only cause panic and rioting, something that vampires loved. Entreri just knew that he had to formulate a plan quickly. He continued reading. ________________________________________ 3rd Moon of Autumn, Day 14, 2035 AC Aid has arrived! Two score elven warriors have arrived from Strilliun in the east. With them they have brought Treeal, a mage who has dabbled in necromancy. Though his dark past brings us caution, he swears allegiance to Ehlonna and is well represented by our reinforcements. Though he no longer practices necromancy, he will use his knowledge to help us. Many fear though, and I am among them, that his plan is as evil as the creatures we face. Tonight is a new moon and will likely bring an attack from our enemies. We will lose many elves tonight, some will be turned and some not. Treeal wishes to take a few of those we reclaim from the battle field and - Ehlonna forgive us - raise them up again as undead creatures under his control. As undead, he claims that they will be able to mingle with the vampires without detection. Once inside, they will wait until day and then, while the vampires are sleeping, they will start fires. We know the creatures have wood in their caves, for they have raped the forest outside of their cave, and have likely made furnishings for themselves. They will be driven out of the caves into the sunlight where they will perish. Many elders do not like this plan, and fear that we will be dishonoring our fallen elves for no gain. For how can a cave burn? Treeal assures that his magic will take care of it. There is talk of oil and burning potions, but I did not understand everything. I only pray to our goddess that things will go well. 3rd moon of Autmun, Day 15, 2035 AC Victory! Treeal’s plan worked, but at what cost? Our brothers and sisters came screaming out of the cave into the sunlight, their beautiful elvish faces contorted into demonic snarls. They burst into flames one after the other, crumpling into piles of dust until it looked like someone had poured a portion of the desert into our forest. The area they had cleared of trees worked against them, and none of them could find shade. So they each ran in every direction at once, their flaming limbs clawing and grasping for the cover of the trees from which we watched. These had been our friends, our family, our lovers, and now the same sun that brought life to our forest was burning them to ash. I could not bare the sight. Soon it was over, or so we thought. Smoke billowed out of the cave and we could hear the crackle of the flames inside. Surely nothing else could survive in there. Those who had explored the caves before the arrival of the demon swore there was no way out. Finally the chief vampire emerged. He walked slowly out of the flame and smoke and into the sunlight. I watched eagerly now, for this was the demon that had started it all. Nothing happened. He squinted into the sun, and his pale skin began to tan, but though his clothes smoked from the fire he had walked through, he did not burn. He raised his arms to the sun and laughed. He then cursed us all using every foul name from the abyss. We raised our bows, to drive two dozen wooden arrows through his heart, but Treeal stopped us. The mage showed no fear and walked right up to the vampire. He must have been able to exercise some power over the creature, for the vampire was unable to move. The mage placed his hand on the creature’s head and announced the name of the demon inside: Alececarr. He declared that the demon was too powerful to be killed here with our weapons. Argument then broke out that I fear will last several days. It has gotten repetitive so I have left the meeting to update this journal. The vampire’s sarcophagus was recovered from the cave, and Alececarr has been placed inside and sealed. Treeal assures us that he will not be able to escape from the inside. He also insists that if we destroy this body, the demon will not die with it. It will escape and be allowed to roam free. Our village has fought against vampires before, and the elders do not believe him. I believe, as do some of the other younger members of the village, that the elders want to enact vengeance against the creature that stole their families from them. I cannot blame them, but I also see the wisdom in Treeal’s counsel. We should not in our foolish revenge, release this demon so he can wreak havoc on another land. It is our duty as elves to protect this land. While this demon is trapped in his body, we must make every effort to destroy it. I only hope that the elders will see this. I also hope that a way will be found to destroy the demon. Our priestly magic has had no effect on it. I will continue to update this journal until we find an answer. ________________________________________ Entreri skipped ahead a bit as the elf went into a litany of the elves who had died and included great detail of the ceremonies that were held in their honor. The rest of the story Entreri could almost guess at, but he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything that might help him. ________________________________________ 4th moon of Winter, Day 9, 2035 AC We have received word back from our brothers in the south. They have a temple there and their priests would like to see Alececarr. It was discussed that we should ask them to come up to us, but the two trips would take longer than we wished to keep this demon in our woods. Also, it was likely that the southern priests would need their temple to perform the exorcism. I have been elected to travel south with four others, Treeal included. We will have to traverse the entire continent, but I believe it is the wisest course of action. There is still a contingent within the elders that wishes to kill the vampire here. That is where he killed, so that is where he should be killed. I share some of that sentiment, for I did lose a sister, but we would be dishonoring our vows to nature if we accidentally released this demon on the land. I am going along on the trip to document it for the village. I will update this journal periodically, for this is how I shall honor those we have lost. I will tell of the last days of Alececarr! ________________________________________ The next few entries dealt with the farms and towns they stopped at along their route south. It told of the weather, the food, and anything else the verbose elf felt like talking about. Entreri skipped to the last entry. ________________________________________ 2nd moon of Spring, Day 23, 2036 AC Disaster! As I had mentioned in my previous entry, it was decided to take the river south. With the spring waters running full, it would be a swift trip, and the temple we sought lay on the river, several hundred miles to the south. We could not know that the rapids would become too much! The water swallowed the raft we had made. I escaped with my pack, but only Rentwin made it to shore with me. The sarcophagus with Alececarr sealed inside has been lost to the bottom of a raging river. Treeal drowned, and without his magic, we have no way to retrieve the demon. The heavy stone will likely sink deep into the soft river bottom, and may it be buried, never to found again. Those who read this may wish to recover what was lost, but we urge you not to. Let the demon lay at the bottom of the river forever, he kept our people from finding peace by stealing their bodies so let him never find peace, trapped forever in his stone tomb. We will head back north to our home. I hope the elders will not make us return to retrieve that which we have lost. Not only will we not find it, but I truly believe that the wisest course of action is to just let it lie. This expedition was cursed from the start. I will not write of this again. ________________________________________ Entreri rolled the scroll and replaced it in a chest. That was all the information he could have hoped to find. Alececarr could not be killed by sunlight, though it surly must weaken him. And he was not as flammable as most vampire tended to be. Entreri was encouraged to find that his spawn were susceptible to these things. Stakes and crosses were not mentioned, but Entreri didn’t fancy himself using wooden weapons anytime soon. Now that he had all his information, he still needed a plan. He only had one way to get to Alececarr. He had to go through Christine to get to Fredrick, and then he would go through Fredrick to get to Alececarr. And he had to do it quickly. He expected Alececarr to act now as he had in the past with the elves. He would attack slowly, stealing one or two people at a time. Then, once he had enough for an army, he would attack in waves, not committing himself fully until he was assured victory. This town would be destroyed unless Entreri did something quickly. Entreri pulled out a piece of parchment and a pen and began to write. He started over several times, wasting a lot of ink and paper until he finally had something he was satisfied with. He rang the bell for his messenger boy to come up to his office, and Sam appeared within seconds. “Do you know where Thurston Toole lives?” he asked the boy. Sam nodded. “Good,” he said, handing the message to him. “Bring this to his house. You might get a response right away, if so, bring it back to me, otherwise, wait until they are ready to respond. Go.” The boy ran out of the office and Entreri leaned back and sighed. This was going to be interesting. Chapter 7 The First Date Christine paced in her room. It was midday, and she was still wearing her nightgown. She had called off work for the second day in a row. The dreams last night had not been the same. Before they had been passionate and sensual; now they were nightmares. He had been lost to her. It happened in a variety of ways, but the end result had always been that he would never return. He had been killed, lost, rejected, lured away by someone else, and in each case Christine had awoken screaming for him to come back. She couldn’t explain it. Since she had awoken for good, she had convinced herself that she hated him. He was no good. He was chocolate. He was brash and bold and exciting, but he was bad for her. She needed something to get him off her mind. She had tried everything. Christine fancied herself something of a musician, but after struggling with her harpsichord for half an hour, she gave up. She had tried sewing, but her stitching was off and she couldn’t focus. She tried reading, but she imagined him in every story, and she had to stop. Something needed to happen to take her mind off of him. There was a knock on her door. “Yes?” “There is a message for you miss.” It was the housemaid. Christine quickly wrapped a robe around herself, not wanting the maid to know she hadn’t dressed yet and opened the door. The maid held out a rolled note with a ribbon around the center. “A young boy brought this. His employer asks if you would be kind enough to give a response.” “Thank you, Miriam,” Christine answered. She took the note and opened it. She read it three times. When she finally looked up, there was a smile on her face. Miriam returned the smile, knowing that the young woman had locked herself in her room for two days. “You can tell the boy to tell his employer that I would be delighted to accept his offer.” “I will do so at once,” the maid replied, nodding to the lady of the house, and quickly retreating down the hall to the front door. Christine closed her door and tossed the note on her bed. This would definitely help take her mind off of . . . She stopped herself. She had almost thought of his name. He hadn’t given it to her. He had told her she would dream of it herself. Had she? She almost thought of it again but stopped herself. Had he a name in her dreams? Christine shook her head. No. She would deal with real men only tonight, not fantasies that flew in and out of windows and dreams. She walked over to her dresser where the box with the dress that her father had given her lay. She held the dress up for examination and smiled. This would be a good night. ________________________________________ The carriage pulled up in front of the Toole house at 6pm sharp. Artemis Entreri stepped out of his new toy and walked boldly up to the front door of the mansion. Christine opened the door before he got there. Entreri stopped on the steps and stared. The assassin had grown up in Calimport. He had seen prostitutes walking the streets, and when he had gotten older, he had been propositioned several times before the women realized he was not going to let down his guard. He had been in harems and through whorehouses. To say it bluntly, he had seen a lot of skin in his life. Now before him there was actually very little skin. What he looked at now he had never seen before. He saw true beauty. Christine was young, vibrant, and glowing. She had a smile on her face and a glint in her eyes. Entreri had never seen anything like it. He paused, sorting out his feelings. Entreri did not desire her, for he felt something like this could never really be taken in the first place. It had to be given, and Christine would never give it to him. Instead, he viewed her as a microcosm for the city. The city was relatively young and full of potential. It had riches that Entreri wanted, but he now realized that he could not take those riches. They had to be given to him. They would not be given freely though. He would first have to protect this city. Alec wanted to devour Garrilport, Entreri needed to stop that. Likewise, Fredrick wished to devour this young woman. Entreri wasn’t one for too much symbolism, but he knew that in order to save the city, he was going to have to start with Christine. “You look lovely this evening,” Entreri said, kneeling on the last step and extending his hand up to her. She took it gently and stepped forward. “Thank you. And how do you like my dress tonight?” Entreri looked at her dress, realizing he was being tested. “It does you justice.” She raised her eyebrows at the odd phrasing. “Justice?” “You wish for me to compare it to the dress you wore when we first met,” he replied, leading her down the stairs. “In that respect it is not as glamorous as the other, but it still holds its own allure.” Christine accepted that answer for now, but she still had a few questions for this man. She waited until he had helped her into the carriage and had seated himself from the other side. The driver got under way, and she turned to him. “This dress cost a fortune, or at least it must have for my father bought it, while I had made the other dress myself out of 15 coins worth of fabric. Yet you are to have me believe that you find this dress inferior. You are trying to flatter me.” Then take the flattery and shut up, Entreri thought but wisely didn’t say. “I complimented you on your dress the other night before you told me you had made it, yet said nothing of this one until you prompted me. Does not that show my true feelings on the matter?” Christine smiled at him, letting her suitor know that he had passed the test, but the questions weren’t over. “Someone had told you that I had made the first one.” “No one told me.” “But you knew.” Entreri nodded. “How?” He took a deep breath. “Your first dress did not have a hem but a lace trim around the bottom, meaning it could not have been lengthened after it was made. You are a tall woman, and in order for that dress to fit you in the torso and be the proper length, it must have been custom made.” “But that still doesn’t mean that I made it,” she argued. Entreri was quiet under her gaze. She turned in her seat to look directly at him. “Oh, no. I won’t have that. You will tell me how you knew I had made the dress or . . .” “Or what?” Entreri asked. He could tell she was playing with him and didn’t really fear the answer. “Or I will tell the driver to turn around.” Entreri pretended like he was considering offer, and Christine slapped him playfully on the arm. “Tell me.” “On the left side of your bodice, you missed a seam on your first pass and had to pull the threads to try again. It was a small mistake and barely noticeable, but I do not believe a professional seamstress would have made that mistake.” Christine had a look of humility and amazement on her face. She turned back around and leaned against the seat again. Yes, she had gone over that seam twice, but how had he seen that? Before she could wrap her mind around this revelation, Entreri continued. “This dress, while more ornately decorated and made out of a finer fabric, does not fit you as well as your first dress. It is tighter around the hips and bodice, and while that might negate the need of a corset, which you aren’t wearing, it also skews your natural figure, a figure that is far more attractive that that of the mannequin this dress was designed to fit.” “Uh, thank you, I think,” Christine replied, completely blown away by what this man had said. No, he was not just flattering her, he was being more honest and knowledgeable than any man she had ever met. Christine almost wished for the immature boys that came into the fabric shop. While they just said she was gorgeous and stared at her chest, she could at least understand them. She felt that if she asked this man if she was fat, he would actually reply honestly. For a moment that scared her. But isn’t that what she wanted? Her night stalker was a mystery. She couldn’t really trust anything he said. This man was completely honest with her. She didn’t have to worry about him. That should bring her relief, but for some reason it frightened her as well. “Was I out of line?” Entreri asked after several moments of silence. “No,” Christine replied quickly. She then relaxed and chuckled. “No, not at all. I just . . . I mean . . . How do you know so much about women’s clothing?” After being so honest with her, Entreri wondered if he should continue. Basadoni had made him study women’s fashions when he had been trained. “Men are straight forward,” he had said. “If they are going to kill you, they will come at you with a knife in their hand and hatred in their eyes. Women, on the other hand, will lure you with seduction and smiles. They can go to a ball in the finest gown and have ten weapons hidden underneath without anyone knowing. They will flash their eyes and flash their skin at you. They will take you to bed and then kill you in your sleep. If you are going to survive in this city, you will have to learn everything about them.” “I have traveled to different cities and understand fashions,” Entreri replied. “I try not to be ignorant of things regardless how little they might apply to my life. One never knows what tomorrow will bring.” “No,” Christine agreed, “one never knows.” She was happy with this answer and smiled. “So what do you do for a living?” “I run a ship construction yard and own a restaurant.” “Well,” she replied, “I guess that makes the decisions of where to go to dinner an easy one.” “Not exactly,” Entreri replied. “My restaurant is next to the ship yard. They are in the northern half of the city.” “Really?” Instead of the prejudice Entreri expected, Christine seemed genuinely intrigued by this. “What is it like up there? Is it really as bad as people say?” Entreri could see this woman had a wild streak in her. It was kind of a necessity when being courted by a vampire and an assassin at the same time, but he could see it went deeper than that, especially since she didn’t know the true identities of either man. She would not turn away from excitement. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would refuse to get her hands dirty or do her own work. That was evident enough in the fact that she made her own clothes. “Yes and no,” Entreri answered her question. “Most of the people up there want nothing more than to come south and live like you do. Because of financial reasons, they can’t, so they are forced to work like dogs until they get an opportunity. Others have lost hope, and their self-destructive life styles bring the rest of the population down with them.” “So why do you live and work up there?” “Because that is where the industry is,” Entreri replied. “The industry owners are all too happy to offer minimal wages and poor working conditions to their employees as long as they can sell their product down south for an inflated amount. In the process they degrade their most valuable resource, their workers, and find it difficult to churn out a high quality product. “My ships are the best money can buy and their price reflects that. Once the traders in the south realize that, my business will grow and my competitors will have to offer their workers the same stable lifestyle I do, or continue to let their product suffer and go out of business. It will take a while, but eventually they will realize that the only thing keeping them from living like the southerners do is themselves.” “Very well put,” Christine replied. This man had vision. He knew what he was doing and how to do it. He could also see into the future and could be the driving force in rebuilding half the city. If the northern section of town could be reinvented like Entreri said, the potential for Garrilport was unlimited. Entreri was a far smarter choice than . . . His name was on the tip of her mind and she stopped. No! She wasn’t going to think about him tonight. Tonight was her escape from that nightmare of a relationship. Tonight she was with Artemis, a man who would treat her with honesty and respect, something that . . . No! She would not think of his name. Struggling with herself, Christine didn’t say a word until they reached the restaurant, and Entreri appreciated the silence. ________________________________________ Fredrick found Christine’s room empty. The vampire figured she had just gone to the bathroom or to the kitchen for dinner and waited for her. He sat in the quiet, dark room for 45 minutes. She did not return. Fredrick got up and started walking around the room, looking at her personal items and trying to figure out where she could be. There was an empty box on the dresser with a dress receipt inside but no dress. Had she gone to another party? Fredrick looked around the room again and noticed a piece of paper on the bed. He walked over, picked up the note, and read it very slowly. Dear Christine, If I may be so bold, I would like to request your presence this evening at a small dinner party I am having for two. I understand the lateness of this request, and if you are otherwise engaged or disinclined to accept my invitation, I will understand. I fear that both of us were otherwise distracted the other night and our brief encounters reflected this. I hopped that in a more relaxed environment with fewer distractions we might be able to have a conversation that lasted more than a few carefully selected words. I look forward to seeing you this evening, and if your answer is “Yes,” then I will arrive in front of your home at 6’oclock in the evening. AE Fredrick read the note three times. Each time it felt like his body temperature rose another 50 degrees. She was out with another man. It was someone whom she had probably met at the party. He had asked her to dinner, and she had accepted. Fredrick wanted to tear the note apart, but decided not to destroy the evidence. He wasn’t doing a very good job of entrancing his prey. He was obviously new at this game, and now some idiot had stepped in and taken Christine from him. Fredrick smiled. They hadn’t taken Christine; they had merely borrowed her for the evening. He was confident she would come back to him, and if this other man posed any type of threat, Fredrick would just have to kill him. Fredrick remained confident as he sat down in one of the chairs in the corner of the dark room and waited. ________________________________________ Dinner went by quickly. Entreri took Christine to the nicest restaurant in the south. Entreri ordered for her, confident that she wasn’t going to be a picky eater and the discussion was sparse. Entreri could tell she was dealing with a lot of inner turmoil, and it didn’t take much of an imagination to figure out why. Entreri tried to bring up topics about her school and what the southern cities were like. This was something she knew a lot about, and it was information that could help Entreri down the road, but Christine found it hard to focus on anything. She smiled and answered his questions, but her heart wasn’t in it. Entreri paid for the meal, and the two of them got back in the carriage after the valet brought it around. “I’m sorry I’m not much of a conversationalist tonight,” she said after a few quiet moments.” “I thought I was supposed to be the shy one,” he replied with a grin. She laughed at that. “It’s just that I have a lot of things going on right now in my life, and it is difficult to sort them all out.” Entreri drew back at this. “If I am in any way intruding in your life, please, let me know and I will back off.” “No, no,” she said quickly. “It’s not that, it’s just . . .” “Is there someone else? Did someone else from the party call on you? I find it hard to believe that I was the only one.” Christine paused. She was about to say “Yes,” and then about to say “No,” and then just sighed. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. You seem very nice, but I am just confused right now.” They were both silent for a few moments. “If you want to take me home now, I will understand.” Entreri shook his head. “No, I want to show you something.” “What?” she asked, but Entreri had leaned out the window to give instruction to his driver. When he came back she looked at him expectantly, repeating the question with her eyes. He just smiled. “You’ll see.” They rode for 10 minutes until the carriage stopped. Entreri opened the door and helped Christine out without saying a word. She stepped out of the carriage and looked around. They were by the river next to the southern portion of the wall that separated the two halves of the city. It wasn’t really a wall, for the city officials didn’t want to make it that obvious they were trying to keep the northern half out, but it was a line of brick buildings without gaps between them. Occasionally there was a dead end alleyway in between two buildings, but for the most part, the barrier was well hidden. “What are we doing here?” Christine asked. Entreri didn’t answer but walked up to the last building before the river and used a key in his pocket to open the door. Christine rushed up to him, casting a look over her shoulder down the dark street. “What are you doing?” she asked in a harsh whisper. “We can’t go in there?” “Sure we can,” Entreri responded. “I know the owner.” He opened the door and motioned for Christine to enter first. Something about this whole activity felt criminal. It seemed like they were breaking into a building. Her pulse quickened and for the first time that night she was not thinking about someone else. Entreri closed the door and locked it behind him. They were in a small, dark foyer with a counter and chairs. Off to one side was a small office and washroom, to the other side, toward the river, was another closed door. Entreri walked to it. Christine didn’t ask any more questions but picked up her dress and hurried after him. The next room was filled with tools. They were the largest wrenches and mallets and crowbars Christine had ever seen. They almost looked like hand tools for giants. She didn’t know how anyone could use anything that big. The next room made her gasp in awe. It was a huge room, long and narrow. She understood they were right next to the river now, and along that wall was the biggest collection of gears she had ever seen. Her university had a clock tower that she had toured, but this was far more than that. None of the gears were moving at the moment but each one was as tall as a man with teeth that could chew apart a horse. They seemed to be stacked on top of each other in a chaotic way, but as her eyes went from one to another, she could almost follow the path of motion. The room’s floor fell away under the gears, and she leaned against a metal railing to pear down into the hole to see how far down it went. It was too dark to see the bottom, but Entreri quickly lit a torch and brought it over to her. The gears went down at least 20 feet. “This is amazing,” she finally said. “I had no idea this was here. I don’t even know where we are.” “These are the locks,” Entreri replied. “This is the heart of our city. Without this room and the mammoth locks outside, this city would not exist. These make shipments down the river possible. Without them, the gentle river that flows past your house would be a raging rapids half the year, and barely more than a creek the other half.” “How do they work?” she asked. Entreri smiled, happy that he had made her think about something else. “Follow me.” He led her through another door, and they were outside. She gaped again. The river made a slight bend when it came down the locks such that they were tough to see down river unless you were in the middle of the river. The only way to see them from land was from the side. Since they went down, the view from the lake wasn’t very good either. “It looks like a staircase in the river, but, but, but it’s so big.” “It is a staircase,” Entreri replied, “only each step is 10 feet tall and over 50 feet wide.” He let her stand and soak it in a bit more before continuing. “Follow me, but watch out for the paint.” Christine saw the empty paint buckets and glistening wooden planks and avoided them accordingly, lifting her dress up so she could take careful steps. “They are always painting these things to keep the wood sealed.” Entreri explained as he ducked under some scaffolding and moved to the edge of the wooden deck. Christine followed cautiously, her eyes on the scaffolding, buckets of paint, and other assorted obstacles that littered the wooden deck all while she gathered her dress around her, glad that it wasn’t of the ruffled style that many of the girls from the southern cities wore. It wasn’t until she had finished the mini-obstacle course that she realized where Entreri was headed. Her suitor stood at the edge of the deck right next to one of the middle locks. The wooden barrier was massive, 6 feet wide, at least 60 feet long, and who knows how deep since it disappeared into the water. The top of the lock wall had a railing on either side, but Christine shook her head. “I don’t think so.” Entreri pleaded with her. “Please. I promise you will be safe. You have to trust me.” She didn’t look convinced, but as Entreri extended his hand, she took it and walked cautiously out onto the narrow wall. Entreri lead her along slowly until they were in the middle of the river standing on the seam between the two huge doors. Christine had been watching her feet the whole trip out, but now Entreri motioned for her to look down river. She did and smiled. “It’s beautiful.” The moon and stars were out tonight, and the houses along the river were lit up with their own lights. The reflections danced in the smooth current of the river adding depth to the coastline. “It’s like we are standing in the river.” She had sailed on ships south before, but from a ship, the view is not the same. There were so many riggings on a ship, and the hull was so big, that you always knew where you were. Out here, she looked over the railing and could see nothing but water and lights. Plus, on a ship you boarded much further down river and missed seeing the city from this vantage point. Entreri tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around. The lake was just as spectacular. She was actually looking up at the lake, which was very odd experience in and of itself. The glassy surface was 30 feet above her, but far enough away, that she could still see the buildings that surrounded it. “How does it work?” she asked again. “It is a very simple concept,” Entreri explained, “but the parts of the machine have to be huge to accomplish it. There are many large pipes connecting each one of the sections that are divided by these walls. Each pipe has a valve. They open the first valve, filling the first section with water until it is the same level as the lake. They then open the massive door and the ship floats into that section. They then close the door behind it and open the second valve, draining the second section into the third section until they are the same level. “It keeps going like that until the ship reaches the last section and they lower it to the level of the river. The whole system lowers the ship 40 feet, which might not sound like much, but before these locks were here, that forty foot drop over the course of 200 feet would tear apart any ship that crossed it.” Entreri thought back to the raft that had carried Alec down this river. Too bad the locks weren’t in place back then. “How do they open the doors though?” Christine asked. “They must weigh thousands of pounds.” “They do,” Entreri agreed. “That is what the gear room is for. They tie a team of horses up to a turnstile and use the gears to create a mechanical advantage. It is an incredible sight to see. I’ve sent several ships down these locks in the past month.” Christine didn’t have anything else to say for a while. The idea that this engineering marvel was in her city only a few blocks from her house amazed her. How had she never taken the time to look at it before? She wondered how many other things in this city had escaped her attention. She wondered if Artemis would show them to her. She took her eyes away from the river for a moment and turned them on the man she was with. His profile was very striking in the moonlight. He had a strong jaw and a gentle mouth. His skin was without a wrinkle or other blemish, but he had to be close to 40. He held himself like a fighter. She had known a few young men who had been boxers down south, and Artemis moved with the same efficient confidence they had. And there was something in his eyes. They were turned away from her now, but she remembered them from dinner. They held a depth that reminded her of the river. The river was a flat surface, but by reflecting the lights above, it gained the depth of the entire sky. Artemis’s eyes had held that same depth as if he had seen many lifetimes, and they reflected through his eyes. Christine thought about reaching up to his face to turn his eyes toward her, but instead looked off in the direction they were pointed. On the northern side of the gear house, a small man was staggering toward the edge of the dock. He would not be able to get to the southern part of the city without a key to pass through the gear house, but he didn’t need to in order to heckle them. “Hello ‘der lovers,” he cried out to them, obviously drunk. “How’s about a little kissy wissy for me to watch.” He took a swig from the bottle he was holding. “You are lovely people.” “I’m sorry about this,” Entreri whispered. As the man kept jabbering at them, Entreri looked down and saw a small rock about half the size of his palm on the walkway. He picked it up and threw it toward the drunk. “Hey, man, watch it, I-” he stopped talking as he saw the rock miss him badly and rattle up in the scaffolding a dozen feet above his head. “Ah ha,” he laughed. “You couldn’t hit a-” but his voice disappeared as a half full bucket of paint fell on his head. He dropped his bottle, breaking it on the deck and yanked the bucket off his head. His face and shoulders were pure white and he spit out a mouth full of paint. Without another word, he tuned and ran. Christine gasped with her hand over her mouth when she saw the bucket fall and turned to Entreri. He just smirked and shrugged. She burst out laughing. “You tried to do that? But how?” “I just aimed at the bucket and gravity did the rest,” he said casually. “That was the funniest . . .” but she burst out laughing again. ________________________________________ Two hours later Entreri walked Christine to her front door. She was still laughing. In fact, after the lock, she had been in a good mood all night without one thought toward her other suitor. “Thank you for a wonderful evening, Artemis,” she said as they stood in the doorway to her house. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.” “The pleasure was all mine,” Entreri bowed slightly. “When can I see you again?” she asked, being very forward. “If you are available, there is another section of the city I would like to show you tomorrow.” Christine looked at him curiously. “What should I wear?” “If you wear a dress, do not make it as fancy as this one.” Christine nodded, understandingly completely. “Then, I wish you a good night, Artemis Entreri.” “An a good night to you Miss Toole.” With that, they turned away from each other. Entreri trotted down the short stairway to the circle drive where his carriage was waiting. At the door, he finally let out a sigh he had been holding all night. “I hope this works.” He knew that the only way to beat these vampires was to make them play his game. In order to get them in that situation though, he first needed to play their game. He hoped he was doing it right. ________________________________________ Christine practically floated up the stairs. It was almost midnight, so she did not meet anyone on her way to her room. Her father had thought about staying up for her, but the whole point of scouting out each man he had invited to the party first was to ensure that if any of them did end up courting his daughter, there would be nothing for him to worry about. Besides, he had to remind himself that she wasn’t his little girl anymore. Christine opened the door to her room and was met with darkness. Familiar with the layout of her room, she easily made her way over to the lamp next to her bed. She lighted it with a match and then reached back to undo her dress. She had asked Miriam to help her into the dress, but she did not want wake the maid now. It was closed in the back with five bows, and it should be far easier to untie them by herself than it would have been the other way around. Her hand snaked around to her lower back, and she easily undid the bottom bow. Her hand worked its way up slowly, finding the appropriate length of ribbon and pulling gently. It wasn’t until there was one left at the top that she had problems. It was the tightest one, and just out of reach. She readjusted her arms, going over the top of her shoulder instead. “Let me help you,” a voice spoke from the shadows behind her, and the bow came suddenly undone. Christine shrieked, spun around and stepped back suddenly. She bumped her nightstand hard, and as the lamp began to fall, so did her dress. She quickly decided on the dress, clutching at the straps with clenched hands under her chin, hugging her forearms tightly to her chest. The lamp thudded onto a thick rug next her bed. It didn’t break, but it went out, casting the room into darkness. “You,” she said breathlessly. The only light came from the bedroom window, the drapes were blown about by a cool night breeze casting eerie shadows across the room, but Fredrick’s face seemed to be cast in a soft glow. The light came from his eyes, and those eyes stared into her now. Though her body was completely covered from the front, the idea that all she had to do was let go of her dress and she would be standing in front of this man in nothing but her britches, brought her extreme discomfort. This man had just broken into her room, frightened her to death, and had been torturing her mind for the past three days, yet something about him made her want to let go. Just as Entreri had been able to make her feel safe, this man made her scared, but there was some primal urge in her that wanted to be hurt, that needed to be frightened. She fought those urges now and held on to the dress. “I’ve been waiting here for you all night, my sweet. Where have you been?” “I . . . I was out,” she replied defensively. “With whom?” “Nobody.” Fredrick looked over to her bed, and she followed his glance. In the faint light she could see Entreri’s note lying on her bed. She turned back to Fredrick, and he lurched at her. He moved the six feet that had separated them in a heartbeat and clutched fiercely at Christine’s arms. She let go of the dress with her hands, but continued to clutch it to her chest. “What is his name?” Fredrick asked, his eyes three inches from hers. “Entreri,” she squeaked. “Artemis Entreri.” “Who is he?” “Just some northerner.” “Why?” “Because you weren’t here!” she spat back, finding some hidden courage. Fredrick laughed in her face. “I am here now, my love. What did you want to do?” Christine didn’t answer. Christine didn’t know the answer. She wanted so many things. She wanted to talk, to make love, to lash out at him, to kiss him, to have Entreri burst in and drop a bucket of paint on him. She didn’t know what she wanted. “What do you want to do, my lovely?” he asked again, tugging on her arms. Her dress slipped down a ways, revealing an inch of cleavage before she pulled back. Fredrick laughed again, seeing the conflicting emotions inside her. Christine missed Entreri. With him, she had been doing the laughing. She didn’t like it the other way around. “I don’t even know you,” she finally replied. “Don’t you though, my dear? Have you not dreamed of me every night? Have you not thought of me every minute of the past days? Even tonight, as your handsome Art led you around town, was not your every thought, your every desire focused on me?” He let her think about that for a while. Though she had escaped his hold on her mind for a couple hours at the end, they seemed a distant memory compared to the constant presence he had had in her mind before. “What is my name?” Christine did not answer right away and Fredrick shook her. “What is my name? I know you have dreamed of me each night. Surely you have screamed my name during your dreams. Tell me. What is my name?” “Domina-” she started to shout, but caught herself. “Dominick,” she said in a whisper. “Your name is Dominick.” Fredrick had heard what she had started to say first: Dominate. He smiled broadly. Dominick would do just fine. He suddenly pulled her arms away from her body and hugged her close before the dress could fall even an inch more. His hands caressed her bare skin from her shoulders down to her lower back. He reached around her, his hands feeling under her dress, along her side, and over her hips. “Don’t worry, my love. I will never leave you again.” Christine trembled in his arms, but she did not fight him. He turned her toward the bed and leaned her back away from him, supporting her with his strong arms. He looked upon her perfect skin, illuminated by the moonlight from outside. Her neck was bare, and it throbbed at him, but he fought back the urge, instead taking in the rest of her features. “You are truly the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.” Dominick laid her down on the bed completely, her dress still hanging on barely. “I can not stay with you tonight - not yet - but I will be back tomorrow night, and I shall show you the city like you have never seen before. Now sleep my child.” He bent down and kissed her forehead. With that, the vampire turned and fled the room, disappearing behind the drapes and off the edge of the balcony. Christine lay on her bed underneath her wrinkled dress. She lay there with a thousand emotions running through her. She lay there and wept. Chapter 8 "The Double Date" The sun was just setting outside as Alececarr came upstairs. He looked over the tavern expectantly and wasn't disappointed. The Ruddy Mary was doing good business tonight. The two brothers had gone about their business as usual. Neither of them had left the tavern much before, so the fact that they were never seen in sunlight now was not noticed. During the day the drapes were pulled on the windows, but there were always lanterns lit, and the place did not suffer for loss of light. Alececarr was tired of waiting and was prepared to survey the crowd for new recruits when he noticed his first recruit. Dominick (he had informed Alec that he had changed his name – a sign that had shown the old vampire that he was maturing) was sitting at a table by himself instead of mingling with the large female crowd in the tavern like he usually did. From all outward indications, Dominick's hunt was going well. By his report, Christine was not sleeping well, did not rebuff his advances, and had been the one to give him his new name. Yet Alec could tell there was something wrong with the situation that Dominick did not want to talk about. Last night he had returned in a sour mood. Alececarr was after the city, but he understood that a mature Dominick would greatly aid him in his conquest, and he was not going to deny his spawn the right of the first hunt. Dominick did not look up as his master sat across from him. He just stared down into his drink, frustrated that since blood no longer pumped to his brain, it was much harder to get drunk. "Explain your problem," Alec said, cutting to the chase. "Christine was with another man last night," Dominick replied. "He spent the night in her bedchamber?" Alec asked. Dominick shook his head, looking up from his drink. "I don't think he's even seen her bed." "Then what is the problem?" Dominick didn't know what the problem was. He just knew it didn't sit right with him. "Why is she seeing other men? Shouldn't she be focused on me?" "She is confused. She doesn't know what she wants. She is rebelling against you, yes, that much is true, but it is not an indication that she isn't also completely taken with you. Is this man a valid rival?" "I have not seen him," Dominick admitted. "He is a northerner she met at the party." "I thought you said that the party was for prominent single men in the city. What was a northerner doing there?" "The same thing I was?" Dominick offered. He did not know. "You have two choices, you can either win her back by showing her that you are the only one for her, or you can take her back by removing this other man from the picture. Teach her that she is yours, and there is no room for anyone else. Assert yourself and force her to respect you for it." It was pretty clear which avenue Alec wanted his pupil to take. Dominick smiled broadly. He would kill this man, and he would make Christine watch. Alec could tell the thoughts that were going through his head. "Be careful," he warned. "If this man is one of prominence, you must not create a trail that will bring the city down on us. If you are to kill him, use this." Alec unbuckled the dirk he had taken from Entreri and placed it on the table. Dominick looked at the weapon still in its sheath, but did not pick it up right away. "I am not skilled with a sword." "You will not need to be," Alec insisted. Though Cicle was by far the more powerful weapon, this dirk was magically balanced and bladed. "With your strength and speed no one in the city will be able to stand against you. And remember, this suitor is just a businessman. He has likely never picked up a weapon in his life." Alec hesitated then, remembering the businessman had taken this weapon from in the first place, but shook his head. That would be too big of a coincidence. Dominick picked up the weapon and unsheathed it. He admired the green blade before resheathing it and placing on his side. His face was much brighter than it had been a few moments ago. "Tonight I will take back that which is mine," he said confidently. Alec wasn't paying any attention anymore though. Instead he was looking over Dominick's shoulder. The younger vampire turned to look. An older couple, maybe 40 years old had just walked in. The man was in good shape, and the woman had kept her figure. "I'm sorry," Alec said, rising from his chair, "but dinner has just arrived." Dominick understood completely. He was getting hungry too. His dinner wasn't quite ready, though. She was going to take a little bit more seasoning first. He looked toward the door and as it opened for another patron saw that the sun had finally set. He got up, downed the rest of his drink, and left. ________________________________________ Christine stood in front of the mirror, giving her outfit one last look. She was wearing a riding dress. It hung close to her legs, but had wide pleats that allowed it to expand considerably. It was designed to allow a woman to ride a horse without going sidesaddle yet not show too much leg. Her blouse was modest with a wide neckline, and she wore an open vest over top. It was flattering yet simple. But was it flattering enough? Christine tugged on the neckline a little, trying to get it to plunge. When that didn't work, she tried buttoning the vest to draw it tight across her chest, but the blouse was longer than the vest, and it looked silly sticking out the bottom. She looked over to her bed where an array of brassieres and corsets lay. Some of them could do some amazing things with a woman's upper body. She had picked them up down south and hadn't used them much. She looked back at the mirror and sighed in frustration. She didn't know why she was so concerned about her body when her date didn't appear to be. She had gained a knack for following a man's eyes when they looked at her. Over the years she had found it curious, then flattering, and finally degrading. She wanted a man to look her in the face and care about who she was as much as what she looked like. Artemis had done that. She had never once caught him checking her out, save when he picked her up and she asked for his opinion of the dress. So now she was standing in front of the mirror trying to figure out how she could get him to stare at her. For the first time that day she began to question her commitment to this course of action. Both Artemis and Dominick had told her they would take her out. Without hesitation she had chosen Artemis. But why? If she was standing here in front of the mirror trying to figure out how to make her simple clothes more sexually attractive, then that must be something she wanted. Why not go with the sure thing? Dominick left no doubt in her mind what was foremost on his. Artemis on the other hand was a mystery. What would a relationship be like with him? Why was he interested in her? Was he getting older and wanted to snag a wife before his looks faded? Was he after her father's inheritance? Was he attracted to her, but just did a really good job of hiding it? Or was this a gentleman's agreement with her father to make sure she didn't get too old without finding a husband? She didn't know. Christine did know why Dominick was after her, and there was a part of her that appreciated the straightforward nature of it. He had been mysterious at first as to how she knew him and his true identity, but his need for her was never in doubt. In her dreams she enjoyed that need. He was passionate and sensual. If Christine weren't so inquisitive, she would be dressing for him tonight. But she wasn't. She was dressing for Artemis. And since he wasn't interested in looking at her body, then she would just have to nudge him along a bit. She walked over to the bed, removed the vest and peeled off the shirt. She picked one of the less complicated support pieces and put it on. She walked back to the mirror to check it out. "I liked you better without it." Christine spun around, her voice in her throat. Dominick stood behind her grinning lewdly. How had he sneaked up on her? She cast a glance back over her shoulder at the mirror and saw only herself. She looked back and forth between Dominick and his absent reflection, and she went pale. "What are you?" "I'm your savior," he replied, walking toward her. Christine backed up until she bumped into her vanity. Dominick didn't stop until he was almost pressing up against her. "You look delicious." Christine fought against her feelings. Would Artemis say she looked delicious? Or would he turn away in modesty until she was properly dressed? She knew the answer. If she wanted a sexual relationship, here it was. She didn't need to worry about perfume or support wires or white lace or anything like that. Dominick would take her as she was and not require anything more. His gaze went up and down her body, caressing her skin with his eyes. "As good as you look, you will probably draw too much attention to yourself if you went out like this. You might want to put your shirt back on." He backed away from her, opening a path to her bed. She quickly scurried over to the bed and put her blouse and vest back on. Before she turned around she got her breathing under control and decided what she was going to do. "Are you ready to go?" he asked her. "I'm not going with you," she said as she turned to face him. "What?" Dominick had watched her get ready from the balcony. He had taken an interest in how she was concerned with her appearance and took it as a good sign of her feelings toward him. "I'm going out with Artemis." Dominick's face changed momentarily as anger flashed through him, but he got his features back under control quickly. Christine saw the demonic visage briefly and took an unconscious step back. As he walked toward her slowly, she noticed for the first time that he was wearing a sword. "He is probably downstairs waiting for me right now," she said quickly. Why had she said that? Did she want a confrontation between the two men? Who did she want to win? "Look deep inside." Dominick said when he got close. "I can see the struggle inside you. You desire me. I see it in the way you look at me. Your feelings for me are so strong they frighten you, so you fight against them. You don't need to do this." "I . . . I . . ." she started, but Dominick put a finger on her lips. "Don't. I understand your struggle. I will not force you to choose between us right now. If you think this other man can satisfy your needs, then go. You and I both know he will not. When you are ready to return to me, I will be waiting for you. Now go." Christine didn't move. She didn't want to leave anymore. She wanted to stay right here with this man. She wanted his hands on her and she couldn't think of anything else. Dominick saw this in her eyes but did not act. She had chosen the other man, so he would force her to be with him tonight. He was not worried that he would lose her. The look in her eyes told him as much. She would crawl back to him begging forgiveness, and then he would kill this Artemis fellow to make sure he did not bother them anymore. "Go," he said again, pointing toward her bedroom door. "Your man is waiting for you downstairs." "I don't . . ." she whimpered. "You have made your decision," Dominick replied, an edge creeping into his voice. "Now go." A tear rolled down her cheek. "But-" "Go!" Christine turned, opened the door, and ran down the hallway. Dominick smiled to himself. She would come back to him. He was confident of that. Still, he would follow her tonight. He wanted to watch this Artemis. He did not fear him as a rival, but he had taken Christine once, and if he had a way of winning her over, then it would be good for Dominick to learn his methods. The vampire left out the balcony, climbed over the roof, and watched the front courtyard, waiting to follow. ________________________________________ Entreri was waiting patiently downstairs. He had not been met at the door this time, and he wasn't sure how to take that. Christine had been eager the night before, and Entreri had thought he had made a good impression on her, but now she was making him wait. Entreri pulled a pocket watch out of his vest and glanced at it. She was ten minutes late so far. "I'm sorry she's keeping you." Entreri looked up, startled somewhat. It had been a long time since someone had startled him. It just showed how out of his element he was right now. It was the man of the house. "I could have someone go tell her you're here," Thurston Toole said. Entreri shook his head. One of the servants had already offered to do so. Entreri could only think of a couple reasons she would be late. Either she didn't know what to wear, which was a good sign, or Fredrick was bothering her, which increased the chances Entreri would meet him tonight. "I don't want to rush her," Entreri said. The father nodded. "What do you want?" he asked. He had tried desperately to stay our of his daughter's social life, now that she had one, relying on reports from his servants as to what she was doing and with whom, but he was still curious. Entreri was hoping he wouldn't ask that question. The two men were about 10 years apart in age, but Entreri suddenly felt a lot younger, almost as if he were a teenage boy. "I want to show your daughter a good time," he replied, choosing his words carefully. "She seems a very spirited young woman, and I would like to get to know her better." Toole nodded, but Entreri could see he wanted more. He was fighting between being a protective father who was watching his only daughter spend time in the company of another man or being a father who wanted his daughter to be independent. He wanted to ask what they had done last night. Had he kissed her? Where had he touched her? What did he plan on doing with her tonight? But he didn't. His daughter was an adult now; he would treat her as such. Still . . . They heard quick footsteps from upstairs. "She knows she's late," Toole said. Sure enough, a few moments, Christine appeared at the top of the stairs. Entreri could see immediately that she had been crying. Her eyes were not that red, but there was a tiny smudge on her make-up. Her father didn't notice. "You've kept Mr. Entreri waiting, dear. That's not a good way to make an impression." "It's okay," Entreri started, but Christine cut him off. "Only because he has kept me waiting, Father," she said, a sly tone in her voice. "He's been in this city a year and I've only just met him." Toole looked startled she would say such a thing, but Entreri produced a chuckle, to let the older man know it was taken as a joke. Entreri really took it as nervous humor. Something had scared her a moment ago. Entreri wasn't so sure that her hurried footsteps upstairs weren't her running away from something rather than running toward something. "Are you ready to go?" Entreri asked, extending his elbow. "Yes I am," she said, taking the arm and walking with Entreri toward the front door. Toole just stood there, watching his daughter go. He wanted to say something. "Don't stay out too late." "Be careful." "Be good." But he didn't say anything. He just stood there watching as his daughter left the house. There was no carriage waiting for them this time but two fine horses. Entreri had ridden his own horse, and then had asked the Toole's stable boy which one was Christine's. "It's a good thing I wore a riding dress," Christine said. "I wasn't really sure what to wear, but this should work out. You guys have it easy. You always just wear pants, and dark ones at that. You don't even have to worry about colors that much. It's much harder to dress when you're a woman. Where are we going?" Entreri almost took a step back from her. She hadn't even taken a breath. She had been so quiet last night, obviously thinking about something else. If Entreri was right in his thinking, she was thinking about the same thing now but was trying a little harder to redirect her thoughts. "We are going west," Entreri answered. "There is a very entertaining place I know of, but it is on the other side of the city and makes for a long walk." They walked up to the horses. "You got my horse!" she said, a little too excited. "My father bought this horse for me when I was twelve. I was scared to death of it, even though it was just a small thing back then. But he made me ride it and now . . ." Entreri helped her into the saddle while she kept talking. He kept half an ear to his yammering date, but as they left the courtyard of the mansion, he kept the rest of his senses on the rooftops and alleyways they passed. It didn't take long from him to notice they were being followed. The ride across town took 10 minutes, and Christine talked for most of it. Entreri encouraged her talkative mood, asking detailed questions and faking intense interest in each topic she brought up. He wanted to take her mind off of Fredrick, but he realized it would have to wait until the got to their destination. The eastern border of Garrilport was the river. The city didn't exactly have a western border. The expensive real estate with paved streets and sewers tapered into wooden homes on dirt streets and then into shacks. This was where Entreri's home was, though he spent almost all of his time at the shipyard now. The wall that separated the north from the south also tapered off as it went west. Trees began to outnumber houses and the wall ended in a large building that housed the offices for the city's lumberyard. Anyone from the north that wanted to go south and didn't want to have to walk past the guard house could go around the western edge of the wall, but they would have to walk two miles to the edge of town and then skirt the vast property of the lumberyard for there was a fence enclosing their property. All told it would be a 4-mile trip one-way, and most thieves weren't that ambitious. Plus, the western section of the city, even south of the wall, was not a desirable area, and there were a few satellite guard posts to keep it in check. Entreri had not been the first business owner to provide a place for his employees to eat. While just about anyone could pound a nail into a board or clean the scales off a fish, it took a special man to fell a tree in a profitable time. If the lumberyard lost men to the rough bars of the north, it would suffer more than most other businesses. This restaurant was not as upscale as Entreri's, but it was far more entertaining. It was built into the wall along with the offices and there were entrances on both sides of the wall. Entreri dismounted first while Christine, who was suddenly quiet, looked about hesitantly. Though she was raised rich, she was not as stuck up as most who lived on the river. Still, this was the poorest section of the city. What could possibly be out here that would be worthy of a date? "Please," Entreri said, offering his hand to help her off her horse. "I promise you will be safe. You have to trust me." It was the same thing he had said when he had led her out onto the lock the previous night. He had been right then, so she took his hand now. Entreri tied up both horses at the empty hitching rail, flipping the boy who stood watch a gold piece. It was more money than he would earn in a week, and Entreri was pretty sure the horses would be there when they were ready to leave. The first room inside was empty save washrooms to either side and an unmanned podium where a host should have been standing. For once, it was the south that rarely had the money to attend this restaurant this far west, so there was no one to greet them. Entreri had been here before and was not deterred. Christine could hear what sounded like an angry mob coming from ahead of them. As they drew closer it got louder and louder. Entreri stepped past the podium and pushed open the double doors behind it. Christine followed him and froze. Huge could not describe the size of the room. She had been in smaller concert halls at her university. Granted, this room lacked the elaborate wall decorations and plush seating, but it was no less impressive. The room opened up below them like an enormous staircase. Each step was a dozen feet wide and arched around the room in a semi circle. The center aisle was clear, as well as secondary aisles spaced equally on either side, while the rest of the room was filled with tables. It was like a vast dinner theater. Men sat everywhere (Christine was one of very few women in attendance) drinking beer and shouting down at the stage below. The stage was also not what Christine was used to. Instead of a raised platform filled with musicians or play props, there was a large dirt arena filled with horses and armor clad men. Right now two knights were involved in a jousting match. The horses raced toward each other, each knight trying to keep his lance as steady as possible. At the last moment, one knight lunged and the other flinched. The bolder one's lance exploded into the second's chest and flipped him off his horse. The crowd went crazy, clanging their mugs together in cheers. Half the ale slopped out of the mugs, and then they downed the other half. Bar maids wearing denim skirts, laced up white bodices, and showing enough cleavage to make a priest deny his faith raced around to the tables, refilling the mugs before the next match. One of the women noticed Entreri standing there and came up to him. "Welcome back Artemis," she said with a toothy smile, each hand holding three mugs. "I believe your regular table is empty. Will you be participating tonight?" she asked, glancing at Christine. Christine had been looking down at her own chest, trying not to feel inadequate, but looked up at this question. "Participate?" Entreri shook his head. "No, could we have one of the private tables in the corner." The maid's smile grew larger. "Of course," she motioned to a few empty tables, "take your pick." With that, she went about her delivery of drinks. The couple moved along the top level of the auditorium to the corner where a few secluded tables sat on a raised step away from the ruckus of the main floor. Along the way, they dodged two more well-endowed maids loaded down with frothy drinks. Christine's eyes followed each one of them as they bounced past, a frown on her face. "They stuff their shirts," Entreri said to her, drawing her attention away from the last maid. "Huh?" she said, turning her attention back to her date. "The women," he explained, "they take stockings and stuff their blouses to make them look bigger." "Ahh," Christine said, a light going on in her head as she watched another maid pass. "Clever." Her face changed suddenly. "How do you know?" Entreri dodged the question and motioned to the arena below. "Look, the next match is starting." Christine playfully slugged him in the arm, but didn't press the point. They arrived at their table, and Entreri pulled out a chair for her. They both sat on the same side so they could watch the joust below. A maid appeared moments later, plopping a mug down in front of Entreri and then pausing. She had three more mugs, but looked at Christine wondering what she wanted to drink. The young woman looked around the room, slowly assimilating the mood of the crowd. She looked to the maid and nodded. She got a mug too. The maid then produced two menus from a large pocket in her skirt. "I'll be back in a moment to take your order," she said. "Enjoy the show." "This place is incredible," Christine commented once the maid had left. "I had no-" "No idea a place like this was in your city?" Entreri interrupted. It was the same thing she had said about the locks. Christine nodded. "You just need to get out more." Christine watched the joust below as one of the knights took a shot in the helmet from a lance. "Isn't it a bit dangerous though?" "No more dangerous than dropping huge trees for a living," Entreri said, momentarily avoiding the question. "No, the lances are blunted and made of pine. No one has ever been seriously hurt." "What about the food?" she asked. "The owner's brother runs the cattle yard up north. Any of the beef meals are very good. If you want, I can order for you." Christine nodded and turned her attention to the arena. The jousts were over, and as the maid came back to their table and received Entreri's order the men below were assembling into to large groups at either side of the dirt stage. One of the men not wearing any armor climbed onto a short platform at the corner of the stage and began speaking. The rest of the men grew quiet, but the speaker had a big voice and didn't need too much help. "There is a legend that says this land used to be overrun with all kinds of horrible monsters." Behind him a few costumed performers wearing masks and horns began snarling and jumping around like lunatics. "These monsters terrorized the small villages and towns for many years." A couple of the maids appeared on stage and the "monsters" chased them around for a while. One of the creatures reached out and grabbed at the back of one of the women's bodices. The thin material ripped, and the maid screamed has her top fell down. She clutched her hands to her chest as she scampered off the stage to the hoots and hollers of the men, but not before Christine caught a brief glimpse of a rolled up pair of stockings. She turned to Entreri with a disapproving look on her face. Entreri looked as innocent as possible. "What?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders. Christine couldn't keep a straight face and punched him in the shoulder again. "Finally a few brave men rose up to meet these monsters in battle," the speaker from below continued. A few of the knights came out with their swords and overwhelmed the monsters. They used wooden swords, but Christine winced at the very lifelike action. One of the knights struck down the creature that had torn the shirt off the maid, picked up the white material, smelled it, and walked about in a daze, drawing laughter from the crowd. "But the monsters were not so easily defeated. They were driven back, but among them there rose a leader." A huge man dressed in a monster costume walked about on stage. "And he led a host of creatures against the brave men who had driven them back." The monsters attacked again with their leader at the head, and the knights fled. "But the brave knights also had a leader among them. Chorim Amadaian would not see his men be defeated, and so one day, long ago, the two armies met in battle." The narrator stepped down now and the main action began. Almost 4-dozen men screamed and fought on stage, half of them monsters and half knights. It was pure chaos, and the men in the crowd cheered them on. Entreri had ordered ribs for the two of them, but Christine barely noticed when they arrived. Her eyes were glued to the stage below, following each strike and parry. She cried out when a knight fell, and cheered when each monster hit the dirt. Soon the crowd of combatants thinned and in the middle of the mayhem, a clearing was created. Chorim Amadaian faced off against the monsters' leader. They swung their weapons to and fro in an impressive (but rehearsed) display, each move coming faster and faster. The battle swayed back and forth, neither fighter gaining an advantage until the monster made a very aggressing attack, knocking the sword out of Chorim's hand and knocking the hero to the dirt. "No!" Christine cried, suddenly standing. A few other members of the crowd who had not seen this performance before also cried out. The monster stalked around the fallen knight playing up the crowd, and receiving several "Boos" for it. Finally he stood over the fallen man and swung down to kill him. Chorim rolled to the side at the last second and kicked out at the monster's legs. The creature stumbled, and Chorim hopped to his feet. The monster tried to attack, but the human was too close and he grabbed the hilt of the sword as it came around. The two engaged in an intense battle of strength as they wrestled over the weapon. Chorim won (of course), and his opponent stumbled backwards. The hero spun around completely and struck at the monster's head with the stolen sword. The head of the creature went flying. Despite the apparent death, the crowd cheered loudly. Even Christine was happy to see the head go spinning into the dirt. After soaking up the glory for a while, Chorim took a deep bow. The fallen monster got up as well, removing the large costume he had worn on his shoulders that had supported the fake head, and took a bow. "Chorim and his men routed the monsters," the narrator was back on his platform. "For years, Chorim led his men into battle and he was never beaten. He fought against giants and trolls, ogres and goblins and never found his equal. But maybe here, tonight, he might find a challenger to bring him down. Does anyone wish to face the mighty Chorim in battle?" Alcohol has long been the leading cause of stupidity in men and several in the crowd proved this point by raising their hands. One by one they were led onto the stage, fitted with some safety padding, and given a wooden sword. Christine sat down now and noticed that there was food. The ribs were barbequed and covered in sauce, but for once in her life, she didn't care about making a mess. She picked up the meet with her bare hands and tore into it pausing occasionally to shout at the fighters or to take a drink from her mug. After the third fighter fell to Chorim, Christine turned to Entreri. "They are all worthless. They aren't going to beat Chorim, are they?" Entreri shook his head. "I doubt it." Suddenly a light went on in Christine's eyes. "Could you beat him? When we got here, that maid asked you if you were going to participate tonight. Will you beat him?" "I don't know," Entreri said cautiously, having planned all this ahead of time. "He looks pretty big." "Come on," Christine chided, "do it for me." "If I must," Entreri said, taking one last swig from his mug and wiping his hands on his napkin. "I shall be your champion," he said with false bravado, getting a laugh from his date. The second leading cause for stupidity in men is women. The last volunteer had just fallen, clutching his right arm in pain, and the speaker was calling for any more "brave souls" who might want to challenge the hero. While there had been many who had wanted to fight originally, watching what had happened to each of the men before them was very sobering. The speaker was just about to give up, when he saw Entreri trotting down the stairs. "We do have one last challenger. Let's give him a cheer!" Though Entreri did participate in the show on occasion, he usually tried the joust or entered in the grand melees they had. He avoided one-on-one battles because they didn't give him much of a challenge. Plus, he was a friend of the owner, and he didn't want to ruin the performance by defeating the hero of the show. The crowd was mostly made of lumberjacks, men with arms as big as Entreri's legs, and they scoffed him as much as they cheered him while he made his way to the stage. Entreri took the wooden sword offered him, but declined the padding. The crowd grew quiet then as they saw Entreri, with no protection, walk up against Chorim, an armor-clad man who stood half a head taller than Entreri and 50 pounds heavier. "You?" Chorim asked. The "hero" was really Alex Torin, the son of the lumberyard's owner. He knew Entreri quite well. "What are you doing up here, trying to embarrass me?" He spoke so only Entreri would hear. "I have a lady in the crowd," Entreri said, lifting his sword to the ready. "I won't be too hard on you." Alex charged with a shout. Instead of sidestepping the charge and tripping the big man to the ground, Entreri met the charge and pushed back. Alex was good, but there were many just in the city guard who could take him down. The reason he never lost was because he only fought against drunks. Entreri worked him up and down, pushing him beyond his limits. Alex was encumbered by armor, and he struggled to keep up, breathing faster and faster. With just a dull wooden sword, there wasn't too much Entreri could do against his opponent's armor. He wasn't wearing a helmet, but any attack on his head would cause a serious wound. Besides, Entreri wasn't so sure he wanted to defeat this man. It wouldn't be good for business. Entreri paused in his attacks, giving the knight a huge opening that he didn't miss. He struck back, very little strength left in him, but it put Entreri off balance, and as he stumbled, Alex struck again from the side. Entreri angled his body, and absorbed the blow with his left arm, rolling it up to his shoulder as he struck out with his own sword. Suddenly both men stopped short, they each held a sword at the other man's neck. They looked at each other briefly, and Entreri offered him a draw. Alex took it. They dropped their weapons and shook hands. The crowd cheered, happy that Entreri had been a worthy challenger and that their hero had remained undefeated. Entreri found Christine in the crowd and saw her standing tall, cheering as hard as anyone. The assassin's eyes then went to the opposite side of the auditorium. Dominick was seated in the shadows watching Christine with cold eyes. The woman who two hours ago had been willing to give herself to him, now was cheering on another man. Entreri had watched Dominick enter the building shortly after they had, and had been careful in this battle not to show too much skill, else he would scare off any encounter the vampire might be planning. As Dominick slowly turned his gaze back to Entreri, the assassin was quick to adjust his eyes away, though not before he caught the look of cold hatred. They would meet tonight. ________________________________________ The rest of the night went smoothly with Entreri and Christine enjoying both the entertainment and the food. An hour went by, and then two. Finally Entreri was able to pry Christine away from the table and the two of them walked out of the auditorium. The couple left the way they had come in and were met outside by the sound of applause. "Bravo, bravo. That was a good show." "Dominick!" Christine shrieked. The young woman suddenly clung to Entreri's arm. The assassin's eyes went from the frightened woman to the vampire. She had called him Dominick while John had said the man's name was Fredrick. Vampires often changed their names and Entreri didn't pay too much attention to the discrepancy. Instead he took stock his enemy. Dominick was leaning against the city wall casually, a familiar dirk hanging from his side. His posture was relaxed, but Entreri could detect a restlessness that this vampire was barely containing. The feeling was directed at both Entreri and Christine, though for entirely different reasons. Entreri had several priorities in this encounter. Most importantly he wanted to find and kill Alececarr. That would give him his weapons back, which was his second priority. The third was to keep Christine safe. He did not need Thurston Toole as an enemy, especially if he wanted to be on the merchant council some day. "Go," Entreri shoved Christine away from him and toward her horse. "Ride away from here and don't look back." "No," Dominick drew his sword and pointed at Christine. The confused woman stood between Entreri and her horse, the eyes of the vampire holding her still. "I want you to watch this. You chose him over me," Dominick switched the sword to Entreri. "I do not know why. I believe you yourself do not know why. You are just rebelling against your heart. Tonight, I will make the decision for you." Entreri looked at the foe in front of him, as Dominick sent him an evil grin. He was holding the sword wrong, his feet were out of position, and he was too close to the wall. Alececarr had been a trained warrior. He had fought against many skilled opponents and had mimicked their style. Entreri didn't think Dominick had ever held a sword before in his life. "You have stuck your nose where it does not belong," the vampire said sternly, his attention squarely on Entreri. "I should let you walk away as long as you promise never to come near her again, but I am not feeling charitable." "I am," Entreri replied. He needed to find Alececarr. If he killed Dominick now, he would be no closer to finding the head vampire than before, and he would have lost his only lead. He needed Dominick to run away. "As long as you promise never to think of Christine again, I shall let you walk away. Drop the sword, turn around, and I will let you live." Dominick laughed, but it was forced. There was something in Entreri's voice that let the vampire know this was not the first threat he had ever given. Christine heard it too, and she took another step away from Entreri, her eyes shifting back and forth between the two men in front of her. "You forget which one of us is armed," Dominick said, waggling the sword in front of him. "I will have that sword in my hand in five seconds and then in your chest in two," Entreri said plainly. "You are insane," Dominick laughed. "Why I shall have you-" Entreri exploded forward, and Dominick was on his heels. He swung the dirk in front of him, but Entreri dropped into a crouch, and the blade hit only air until it rudely clanged into the wall. Entreri sprang straight up with tremendous force, the heel of his palm striking the vampire under his chin. Though Dominick was much stronger than he had been, he was no heavier, and he flew backwards into the air. Entreri grabbed the loosely held sword, as his foe toppled backwards, reversed the grip, and then plunged it down after Dominick's descending chest. The vampire's back hit the packed dirt of the street and the dirk impaled him a second later. Christine cried out when she saw the violent attack and raced forward. Entreri was backing away from the vampire and raised his left arm to catch the charging woman. ...

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