"I have found that to be so," he said, nodding.

"The rest of the clan's founders weren't so free with their names, so they're know by the clans' names.? There's the Malkavians, the Ventrue, Tremere, Lasombra, and Tzimisce."

"So many clans.? Are they very different from each other?"

"Yes, very different from each other.? The Toreadors love art and beauty.? They sponsor painters and sculptors and responsible for most of the cathedrals in Europe.? The Malkavians are all insane.? The Nosferatu are hideous, ugly beasts who skulk about in sewers."? She smirked.? "The Ravnos are tricksters, thieves, and liars."

"All of them?? You haven't been lying to me."? At least, he didn't think she had been.? Maybe he just couldn't tell.?

"Well...most other Cainites don't take kindly to being tricked and having their pockets picked, so they slander us."? She shrugged and looked ahead into the distance.? There was a ramshackle building ahead.? "Is that the lodge?"

He looked over and nodded.? "Oui, that is it.? The inside is nicer than the out."? He tugged gently on her hand, speeding up his pace towards the building.? "Tell me about the powers of Cainites."

She chuckled.? "So eager to learn, my childe."

He smiled.? "So I have been all of my life."? Then his smile vanished.? "It has landed me in trouble many times."

"No more, Luc.? Now knowledge is what will keep you out of trouble."? She followed him until they were about fifteen yards from the lodge.? She halted there and using the grip she had on his hand, tucked him protectively behind her.? "Stay quiet and stay still for a moment."

He liked the sound of that; knowledge had always been his great passion.? He halted obediently at her command, crouching down in the underbrush and making himself hard to see with the skills he had learned living in the wild and guiding Continental soldiers around British patrols.

She closed her eyes and drew on her blood-borne powers, heightening her senses.? She Listened intently for sounds of human habitation, Smelled for any scents of their presence in or around the lodge.? Finding none, she nodded.? "It is safe.? There is no one around.? Let's go inside before the dawn comes."

He rose from his concealment and went to the door of the lodge, slipping it open and holding it for her.? "After you, ma chere."

She curtsied and slipped inside, looking around immediately for the darkest, most out of the way corner of the place. The inside of the lodge was, as Luc has said, nicer than the outside.? While there wasn't much in the way of furniture other than a small table and a pair of chairs, there was a very soft-looking bear skin serving as a rug on the floor.? Luc pointed to it.? "I have slept upon that bear many times.? He makes a good bed."? The walls were adorned with various trophies and other skins were laid over racks.? The walls were thick and sturdy, as was the ceiling and floor.?

She glanced at the bear skin and smiled.? "Boris?" she asked with a grin and then turned to look at the door.? "Can we bar this?" she asked, indicating the door with a nod.

In one corner of the room was a fireplace, as well, which Luc headed for, intending to prepare a fire to warm the building.? "I call him Henri," he answered, laughing.? Then he looked to the door.? "There should be a bar on the floor near it."

She nodded and found the bar, setting it firmly into place and then went to all the windows, covering them with their shutters and making sure they were locked tightly as well.? Then she moved to Boris/Henri's side and dragged him into the farthest corner from the door, directly across from the hearth.? Carefully removing her boots and setting them side by side at the edge of one of the bear's great paws, she sat down on the skin and waited for Luc to join her.

Soon, he had a crackling fire going, throwing its warmth out in the room.? He set his boots next to hers and threw himself upon Henri, stretching out to his full length with a sigh.? "Henri, you feel differently now," he said, chuckling.? "Have you been to the barber?"

"Everything will feel differently to you now, mon cher."? She laid down next to him, cuddling against his side with her head pillowed in the hollow of his shoulder.? "You want to know about Cainite powers, ne c'est pas?"

He curled his arm around her and nodded.? "Oui, I do."? Then a pained expression crossed his face suddenly.? "I am very hungry suddenly," he said.

"Oh, Mon Dieu.? I am so sorry, Luc."? She sat up and bit into her wrist, holding out for him.? "Boire, s'il-vous-plait." His nostrils flared as the scent of blood reached them, and he felt a great need to taste that blood.? He grabbed her arm with a convulsive movement, pulling it to his mouth and sucking greedily at the wound, soft sounds of pleasure escaping as he drank. She let him drink deeply for a few moments, until she judged that he'd had enough and then tried to pry her wrist out of his grip gently.

He resisted for a moment, clutching her wrist harder to his mouth.? Then his head cleared, and he realized what he was doing.? He let go immediately, lifting one hand to touch the crimson stain on his mouth.? "Does...does it hurt you when I do that?"

She shook her head.? "No.? It is...pleasurable."? She leaned over him, kissing and licking at his bloody mouth, before lying down once more and snuggling against his side.? "The dawn is coming, mon cher.? Can you feel it?"

He slid his arm around her again, pressing close against her.? "I feel something.? Like a weight pressing down upon me.? Is that it?"

"Yes.? Exactly it.? Close your eyes, Luc.? I will watch over you until I can no longer.? You will be safe here. In the evening, I will tell you of the powers of the vampyri."

His eyes slid closed, and he nodded gently.? "I trust you, ma chere," he said very softly. She hugged him tightly and then held him as he died for the day.? She felt the flare of the sun as it rose above the horizon and then felt no more.

"There are three kinds.? Those that affect your mind, those that affect your body, and those that affect other things outside yourself - humans, animals, inanimate objects."? She paused to see if he was understanding her. He nodded encouragingly and squeezed her hand, keeping pace with her. She frowned softly, ordering her thoughts before continuing.? "Most of my own powers affect my mind, or allow me to affect the minds of others.? I can create illusions that seem real, make others do what I want, think what I want, remember what I want.? I can make them fall in love with me or fear me."

He looked over at her, a pensive expression forming on his face.? "Those powers...you used them on me, did you not?? That is why my leg didn't hurt like it should have, and why I felt so comfortable talking to you.? Are those powers the reason I like being near you?"

"Maybe at first, but they've worn off by now.? They're not permanent and the only reason they worked so well was because your defenses were low."? She didn't seem at all apologetic for the fact that she'd Entranced him.

"Are you still using them on me?"

She shook her head.? "Non, mon cher.? I am not."

He believed her.? In the back of his mind, he realized he could be believing her because she was using them, and he would never know.? That would mean everything she'd done and said so far was falsehood, though, and he didn't want to believe that.? He couldn't believe that she would let him lie with her, would make him into a vampire like her, if she didn't have some genuine feeling for him.? "Do these powers work only on normal people, or can they be used on another vampyre, as well?"

Instead of answering him, she stopped walking for a moment.? Suddenly in the woods ahead of them, appeared a unicorn, a beautiful, sleek pearly white horse with a single, silver, spiraling horn sprouting from the middle of its head.? The mythical equine pawed at the snowy ground, shook its head and whinnied. He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide and fixed on the unicorn.? He lifted one shaking hand in its direction.? "Do...do you see that?"? He took a step forward involuntarily, feeling as though he had to nearer to the magnificent creature.

She chuckled and the beast disappeared into the thin air she'd used to conjure it.? "Does that answer your question, chere?"

He blinked, and rubbed his eyes.? "That...you made that?"

She nodded.? "Oui, c'est vrai.? You believed you were seeing a unicorn, weren't you?"

He nodded, too.? "It looked as real as anything I have ever seen."

"It is one of the things that Ravnos excel at - creating illusions, showing reality to be the...falsehood that it is."? She began walking again, moving more slowly than normal to give Luc time to recover and catch her up.

He was still for a moment, staring at the place where the unicorn had stood.? Then he shook himself and hurried after her.? "So I will be able to do this, too?" he asked once he caught up to her.

"You are my childe; I would be very disappointed if you could not."? She gave him a smile and reached for his hand, remembering how nice it had been the previous night to walk through the woods hand-in-hand with him.

He took her hand, surprised anew by the smooth, cool skin.? "So when you make another vampyre, he is called your childe.? Does that mean I should call you mother?" he asked, giving her a teasing grin.

"If you like, though the term is usually 'sire'.? Do you want to try making something?? An illusion?? You should be able to manage something seen but not heard or smelled or felt when touched."

He shook his head.? "I could not call you mother, not after last night.? A man does not lie with his mother."? He was very interested in the thought of trying to make an illusion himself.? "What must I do to create an illusion?"

"You must concentrate on what you want to create, see it in minute detail, feel it perfectly, smell it so strongly that it brings memories of the first time you smelled it.? Then you must reach inside and find the blood that sustains you and use just a tiny bit of it to bring the illusion to life."

He tried, closing his eyes and concentrating on the image of the first deer he'd ever killed.? It seemed appropriate, here in the woods.? He pictured the way it had stood next to a tree, frozen for a moment in time before he fired his musket.? The large black eyes, the upright ears, proud antlers, everything about it.? When he had the image fixed in his mind, he tried the second part, reaching inside himself for the blood.? To his surprise, it wasn't hard at all to find.? It seemed to him like a glowing pool of power, radiating heat and light.? He touched that power, willing it to make the deer appear. There was suddenly a deer standing not too far from them.? It did not move, not even to breath, and certainly did not smell of anything.? Still, it looked exactly like a deer.? "Tres bien, cher," she whispered, trying not to break his concentration.? "Open your eyes and see what you've created."

Slowly, he opened his eyes, finding the deer almost immediately.? A slow smile curved his lips as he saw it looked exactly like the deer in his mind.? "Oh," he said, "Il est excellent.? Just like in my mind."? Speaking was enough to break his concentration, though, and the deer vanished.? With it went a large portion of the glowing pool inside him, and he felt the pangs of hunger again.?

"You will soon be able to make your illusions affect more than one sense, and then give them movement and then permanency.? You might even be able to do as I did with the unicorn, and give it an attraction or the ability to frighten others away."? She began walking again, oblivious to his Hunger.

"It seems very hard to do," he said, following her.? "That took much of my strength."?

She nodded.? "You are a baby, Luc.? Your strength and your skill will grow as you age and practice and become more familiar with your nature."

He nodded.? "Then I must practice diligently, for I wish to learn it all.? What other powers do vampyres have?"

"Some can make their skin hard as marble.? Some can withstand sunlight or fire.? Some can talk to animals."? She frowned softly.? "Maybe you can do that.? It is a...hallmark of Ravnos, just as creating illusions is."

"Talk to animals?? What would they have to say?"

"Oh, I would imagine lots of things.? They can tell you whether there are men with muskets hiding in a building you want to seek shelter in for the day, for example."

"Oh," he answered, surprised.? "That would be very helpful indeed.? How do I do it?"

She shrugged.? "I've never seen it done; Gaius did not have the ability, nor have any of the other Kindred I have come across in my travels."

It felt good to run after having to limp around on crutches or with a cane for those weeks before.? He pushed himself hard, and found that his muscles responded with ease.? There was no hint of fatigue to be found, his legs just kept pumping like a clockwork device.? He found he couldn't run much faster than he had been able to before the Embrace, but his stamina was far greater.

She allowed him to set their pace and dictate when they stopped to take breaks.? She could have run all night long without suffering any ill-effects, but her childe wasn't so gifted...yet.? Her childe...the thought made her smile.? This beautiful, green-eyed man at her side would be her legacy, even if the Elixir proved to be only a faerie tale.

He glanced over at her, seeing that smile, and though he didn't know what the cause was, it nonetheless sparked a smile of his own in return.? "Is there more about being vampyre you want to tell me?" he asked, finding that he could speak easily while running.

"Too much, I'm afraid.? There are so many tricks to this existence that I couldn't possibly catalog them all for you.? You will learn on your own; you will adapt and make your own way, regardless of that I tell you.? All I can hope to do is to give you enough knowledge to keep you safe."

"Is it very dangerous for new Cainites?"

She nodded.? "Especially for one with as much potential power as you.? There are many weaker fledglings who would take your blood for the promise of power it holds."

"Potential power?" he asked.? "What do you mean?"

"Each new vampyri presents a new generation.? Cain, obviously, was the first; his childer were the second, the clan's leaders the third, and so on and so forth."? She paused for a moment and looked over at him.? "Gaius was fifth generation and I sixth when he made me.? When I...Diablerized him, I became fifth generation."

He followed that logic easily enough.? "So that makes me of the sixth generation?"

She shook her head.? "Five years ago, in Romania, I found a fourth generation vampyri in torpor.? I...I took his power, too.? You are fifth."

"What is torpor?"?

"The closest we get to the Final Death without actually dying.? It's what happens when we're staked or go too long without blood.? Some of the Elders even choose it, sleeping in the Earth for millennium."

"Some sort of hibernation, then?"

"Yes, exactly.? And like bears, when we come out of it, we are ravenous beasts with little regard for anything but feeding."

"And you...found a hibernating fourth generation, and...drained his blood to become more powerful?"

"Yes."? She said it with such fierceness and absolutely no apology.? "To survive, you see?? To be able to outmaneuver my hunters."

"I understand," he said quietly.? "I cannot say that I would have done differently."? Some part of him was bothered by that admission, but it was buried by the larger, more practical part of him that was used to doing things he didn't always like in the name of survival.

"You mustn't, Luc.? Not until you are much, much stronger than you are now."? She stopped and reached for him, the expression on her face underscoring her seriousness.

He took her hands, nodding.? "I believe you.? I have seen some of what you are capable of, and know that I could not possibly defeat someone as strong as you."? He smiled.? "I have so much to learn about what you have already given me.? You don't need to tell me any more for now." He ran alongside her, turning over several thoughts in his mind.? One was the hunger that continued to burn steadily inside him.? Then there was her admission of committing not one, but two acts of Diablerie, which she had explained as a serious crime.? He still couldn't blame her for the first and understood the second. He couldn't help but worry, though, about her being hunted down in retaliation and what would happen to him if she was.? Finally, and more pleasantly, he wondered about the many powers she'd spoken of, and mused on which he might gain.

Dannika realized that she would have to tell him eventually why she chose him, though she'd let him broach the subject first.? She could feel the dawn threatening and slowed her pace a bit.? "Do you know these woods, cher?? The dawn is not too far off.? We need to seek shelter for the day."

He looked around and nodded.? "Oui, I know them, though not as well as where we came from.? I do not know of any cabins or lodges in the area, but I do know there are many caves in this area, and I believe one is not so far away."? He took her hand and lead her in the direction he thought the cave to be.

She followed him, glad once more that she'd chosen him.? She might have been sleeping in the Earth if not for his knowledge.? "Have you ever been to Europe?"

He shook his head.? "I have never had the privilege.? It is too expensive."

"Would you like to go, cher?? We have the entire world laid out before us; we can go anywhere you'd like."

He gave her a delighted smile, nodding.? "I have often dreamed of visiting the great libraries in Europe, and seeing the birthplaces of the so-called heretical scholars who knew so much about the real world."

"The 'real world'?"? She smirked.? "The 'real world' is what you make of it and only what you make of it.? Remember that.? Come, let's bed down for the day.? I wish to be close to you again."? She gave him a soft, though heated smile.

"I need no urging to accept such an offer," he replied, returning her smile and leading her to the mouth of the cave, which was almost exactly where he'd thought it would be.? Having a good memory for landmarks was essential for a guide, and he'd learned the lesson well.? The cave mouth was only big enough for one person to pass through at a time, and the passage he led her to was curved and twisted.? "It will be darker than the darkest night back there," he warned.

"I can see in the dark.? You? might be able to, as well.? Close your eyes and concentrate. Imagine what the world looks like on a starry night with a full moon. That is what you will see."? She did as she instructed him, closing her eyes for some five minutes.? When she opened them once more, she could see into the stark blackness of the cave as if it were a night exactly as she'd described to him.? Her eyes glowed red, like the chatoyance of a cat's.

He tried as hard as he could, willing himself to see in the dark, but when he opened them again, all he could see was the ruby-red glow of her eyes, a sight which startled him enough that he took a hurried step back and ended up cracking his head against a low-hanging stalactite.? It hurt enough that he cursed out loud and reached up to discern if he was bleeding. She tried to smother the giggle that threatened and just barely succeeded.? She could not, however, keep its presence out of her voice.? "Oh, mon cher.? I should have warned you about the glowing eyes.? Do you not have the ability then?"

For a moment, he was annoyed at the laughter in her voice, then the humor of the situation penetrated his annoyance, and he laughed, still feeling his head for damage.? There was none, a fact which surprised him; he felt as though he'd struck the rock hard enough to break the skin.? "It would seem I do not," he said.? He took a moment to study her glowing eyes, and concluded that the sight remained unnerving.?

Dannika woke soon after sunset and lay still in Luc's arms, watching as the life flowed back into his body. When he opened his eyes, she could see the Hunger lurking in them, the thin wall between his Humanity and the Beast. She frowned unhappily and said gently, "You should have told me, Luc."

"I...I thought I could withstand it," he said slowly, fighting to get the words out. His mind seemed wrapped in cotton, making it hard to think about anything but the hunger burning inside of him. He felt a great need to attack and kill something, consume it. It was only with great effort that he forced those feelings down.

"You're not strong enough, Luc." Her words were harsh, full of anger and annoyance. She bit into her own wrist and shoved it against his lips forcefully. "We will have to hunt tonight." The sight and smell of the blood drove any possible reply from his mind, overwhelmed by the hunger. He grabbed her wrist in both hands and drank deeply from the wound, swallowing her blood as fast he could. When she felt he'd had enough to sate the Hunger and sublimate the Beast at least a little, she struggled to pull her wrist away from him. He fought to keep his mouth locked on her wrist, still drinking from it. His eyes were wild, and he was growling softly, deep in his throat.

"Luc! Vous allez me tuer!" You'll kill me! She swung her free hand at his head, a hard, open-handed slap against his temple. "Arr?ter!" Stop! The blow rocked his head to the side, breaking his grip on her wrist and knocking him to the floor. He blinked once, and sanity flooded back into his eyes. He sat, raising his hand first to his bloody lips, then to the side of his head where he'd been struck.

She scuttled backwards, hissing like a scalded cat at him. "This is why you tell me when you feel the Hunger!"

Her anger and disappointment hit him harder than her hand had moments before. He hung his head in shame, bloody tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please forgive me, ma chere." His hands rose, trying to cover the sight of his tears from her.

The sight of his tears melted her stern facade and she went to his side, kneeling next to him and gently prying his hands from his face. She leaned in and gently kissed the tears from his cheeks. "I am sorry, too. But please, mon cher, it is too important. You must tell me when the Hunger is so great." She put her hand beneath his chin and forced his head up, forced him to meet her eyes. "Do you promise?"

"I swear," he said, looking into her eyes. "I did not understand what the Hunger would do to me. I won't let it happen again." He looked down at her bloody wrist sadly. "Did I hurt you, mon coeur?" He closed his eyes so he wouldn't see the wound anymore, feeling terribly ashamed of himself.

She kissed both of his eyelids then and said softly, "Non, it did not hurt. But you could have drained me, Luc." She stood and reached down for his hands. "Come. We should hunt."

His eyes slid open after the cool softness of her lips brushed them, and he took her hands, standing. "Yes, I must learn to feed myself, so this never happens again. I cannot bear the thought of hurting you."

She smirked. "It will take you a long, long time before you can hurt me, Luc. Maybe one day you'll be strong enough."

"I will never hurt you," he promised vehemently.

"We will see, ne c'est pas? Come, before it gets too late." She led them carefully out of the cave and into the comparatively bright night. No more snow had fallen, and their tracks were still obvious in the unmelted snow. "Is there a village or something close by?" she asked, turning to look up at Luc as he emerged from the cave.

He nodded. "Yes, there is a tiny village, not far at all. Rumors say the people there are Royalists." He pointed off to the east.

"Bon. It will make things easier, I hope. You will let me do the talking?"

"Of course," he answered immediately, giving her a tentative smile.

"Smile, Luc. Everything is all right. I'm not angry with you anymore, mon cher. I was just...worried."

It was like a great weight lifted from him when she told him she was not angry with him. His smile grew to its normal proportions for a moment. "I am sorry for worrying you, ma chere."

She chuckled. "Quit apologising, b?te." Taking his hand once more, she led them in the easterly direction he'd pointed her in. Soon, they were moving swiftly through the trees, the nearly-full moon making their passage easy. The woods were silent, not even animals made any sounds as the Kindred passed by. "Do you have more questions for me?" she asked.

"Have you known many other vampires? What are they like?" He was already adept at moving silently through the wilderness and that ability seemed to have grown even more after his Embrace.

"Not many. I have been running from other Kindred since I Diablerized Gaius, you remember. I did meet a Toreador Prince in Paris. He was...interesting."

"A Prince?"

"Not a mortal prince. A vampyri Prince, the ruler of a city."

"There are cities ruled by a vampyre?" he asked, surprised enough that he stopped and turned to face her.

She laughed and grinned at him. "Yes, Kindred society is very much like mortal society. There are Princes and Churches and businesses, just like what you're used to."

"And they all remain hidden from the mortals?"

"Well, the fact that they are Kindred, yes. They themselves don't necessarily hide away."

He shook his head and smiled wryly. "It is a complicated world I have become part of."

"No more complicated than the one you've left behind." She picked up their pace again and spotted smoke curling from chimneys in the distance. "We're close now."

He stayed close to her, falling silent when he too saw the smoke, and letting her edge ahead a little.

She slowed their pace to a walk, trying not to draw attention to them. Most of the people in the little village were behind doors and shuttered windows, but there were a few still moving around. She stepped closer to Luc and whispered, "We should present ourselves as husband and wife, traveling to tend to sick family in Quebec. Our horses were spooked and ran off, leaving us to travel by foot."

He nodded in agreement, squeezing her hand briefly. "Won't they find it strange if I do not talk, though?" he whispered back.

"Speak if spoken to and remember the Masquerade," she replied and then squared her shoulders confidently. She cast off the Dannika that he had known for the past month and became someone entirely different, someone friendlier, more out-spoken and out-going, as she approached a middle-aged man leading a horse. "Excuse me, sir? Is there a public house in this village?" she asked. Her transformation was remarkable, she seemed like a new person, someone he barely knew. He reflected that keeping his true nature hidden would probably require him to develop a different personality as well, and found the thought to be somewhat disturbing.

The man gave Luc a quick once-over and then turned to face Danni. As soon as he met her eyes, his face went slack, eyes glazed over, mouth fell open a bit. "No, ma'am. There ain't nothing like that 'round here. You and your...husband?" Danni nodded encouragingly and the man continued, "You in need of something?"

"Yes, we lost our horses this afternoon. Something spooked them and they ran off. We've been walking for ages and we're thirsty and hungry," Danni said.

It had been about five minutes since Dannika ran off, and he knew that she could be miles away already at the speed she ran. He felt like she had take a piece of his spirit away with her; he could hardly bring himself to start moving again, and when he did, it was only at a slow walk. He'd only known her for a month or so, but he was quite sure he was in love with her. Maybe if he kept moving south, she'd forgive him and come back. There was enough moonlight for him to see by tonight, fortunately, so he was able to keep on their path, paralleling a nearby road, yet off in the forest far enough to avoid being seen.

Dannika ran for about fifteen minutes before she came to a halt. She realized that she'd been a fool, running off and leaving her childe alone like that, and not only for that, but also for shouting at him the way she had. She'd treated him as if he wasn't just a fledgling vampire. She'd acted as if he knew how to hunt, how to restrain himself when the Hunger was upon him. She'd treated him abysmally and unfairly and all her promises to herself that when it came time to make her own childe that she wouldn't behave as Gaius had were broken. She turned back and began moving to the place she'd left Luc behind.

Luc trudged along among the trees, only looking up from the ground once every few minutes to make sure he was keeping even with the road. His mind kept going back to that moment in the barn when he struck, sinking his fangs into the farmer. It had been like there was another person in his body, controlling it...or like a reflex, something his muscles knew to do without the need for input from his brain. And then, the anger in Dannika's eyes when she'd seen what he did. He felt like a child after a scolding. She had to think he was an imbecile to keep making mistakes like that.

She spotted him ahead and slowed down so she wouldn't spook him. Leaning against a tree, she waited until he noticed her, running through what she wanted to say to him, making sure it didn't sound too much like an angry mother scolding her child.

With his head down, he was only a foot or two away from her before he looked up to check his position alongside the road, and saw her there, smooth, pale skin shining in the moonlight. He froze, staring at her. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating.

She gave him a soft, contrite smile,. "Luc, I'm... I apologize for running off and shouting at you. It wasn't fair of me to expect you to be able to control the Beast or even to know how to hunt and feed without killing."

Almost as soon as she spoke, the instant he heard the apologetic tone in her voice, he flung himself to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed his head against her stomach and whispered. "I'm so sorry, Dannika, mon coeur." He tried to keep his voice steady, but a tremble ran through it anyway as he continued. "I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop. Please tell me you forgive me."

She hooked her hands underneath his arms and dragged him bodily to his feet. "Stop grovelling. You couldn't help yourself. I have to remember what it was like to be a new vampyri and not be so harsh with you." She stood on tip-toe and brushed a kiss against his cheek and then smoothed back the rumpled hair from his brow. "Of course, I forgive you, cher. Don't be silly."

"I...I was afraid you weren't going to come back," he said, looking down into her eyes. Now that she was there with him, he felt so much better that it made him wonder if this wasn't part of being vampyre, too. Maybe all new Cainites felt like this about their sires.

"I almost didn't," she admitted softly. She tucked her arm through his and turned around so that they were headed south again. "But then I realised that I was acting too much like my own sire, something I promised I would never do when I made my own childe."

"It felt like part of me was torn away and left with you when you ran off. Is that normal?"

She sighed heavily and shook her head. "Not unless a childe is Blood Bound to his sire."

"Blood Bound? What is that?"

"It's like...well...it's like falling in love. True, deep love." She glanced sidelong at him watching his face for reactions.

Had he still been able to blush, he would have at that moment. "That's what I feel for you," he said very softly.

She frowned and said softly, "It's my blood in your veins, Luc. You've drunk of me three times. You are my thrall now."

"In your thrall? I am your slave?" Part of his mind - the part that still thought of itself as human - was horrified by that thought. The rest of his mind, a much larger part, didn't mind the idea that much.

She nodded. "Yes, in a way, you are my slave." She frowned; the way he said that make her feel unclean.

"I...did you know this would happen if I kept drinking from you?"

"Yes." Her voice was tiny and she refused to look at him.

He was silent for a long time, turning the idea over and over in his mind. Finally, he spoke again. "I think I understand. Your sire was a terrible, cruel creature, and you killed him to be free from his cruelty. Your experience, naturally, leads you to worry that the same might happen to you. So you took this step, this Blood Bond, to remove that possibility."

She nodded slowly, realizing that what he was saying rang true. "Yes, I think you are right. But..." and here she stopped and looked up at him, her face serious, eyes sober. "I swear to you that I will not be like Gaius with you, Luc. I would rather seek the Final Death than to hurt you as he hurt me."

"I believe you," he said immediately, then paused. "Is that the Bond speaking, I wonder?" He seemed less bothered by the thought than interested in it. His thirst for knowledge was coming to the fore again. He shook his head, though, pushing that thought away. "No, it is just me. I believe you. I trust you."

She smiled and hugged him fiercely, a little shocked by the gesture and the depth of feeling behind it. "Would you...would you want me to reciprocate?" she asked hesitantly. After all, the Blood Oath worked both ways.

He thought that through as he held her. "It would be like getting married, oui?"

She blinked and then smiled. "Oui, I believe so." She found she rather liked that idea.

"Is this something you would like?" he asked. Her smile made him think that the answer was yes, but he had to be sure.

"I... Yes. I would. Very much."

He smiled happily, feeling almost giddily pleased. He had been worried that she didn't feel for him the way he felt for her, but surely she wouldn't offer something like this if that were true, or at least wholly true. "Then it would please me greatly," he said to her.

After waking the next night in their rented bed in Montpelier, VT, and after Dannika had drunk of Luc's blood for the second night in a row, they took a late supper in the tavern's commons room. Mr Pinter, the tavern owner, waved away any payment that Dannika tried to foist on him and led them to his best table, a quiet, out of the way spot near the windows that looked out over the main street of the tiny hamlet. Dannika thanked Pinter effusively and poured Luc and herself a glass of wine each and then settled back in her chair, giving Luc a very careful once-over.

Luc was quite impressed at how well Pinter seemed to like Dannika. It didn't even seem as though she was using any of her powers on him; he'd begun to get a feel for when she employed her vampiric abilities. When they sat, the look she gave him made him look down at himself, wondering if he'd spilled something on shirt. When he didn't see anything amiss, he looked back up at her. "Why are you looking at me so, ma chere?"

She smiled and shrugged a little. "I was Bound to Gaius...but I hated him with a passion usually reserved for mortal enemies. It didn't feel...anything like this," she said and looked away, suddenly very shy in Luc's presence.

"I think it must be like love," he said. "Love spurned or repaid with cruelty can turn to hatred all to easily. It would be logical to assume this Bond echoes that. You hated Gaius because of his cruelties. Had he treated you well, perhaps you would have loved him."

"Maybe." She mimed taking a sip of the wine and then glanced back at Luc. "Let me tell you a story, all right? A story of antiquity, ancient blood, and the search for Heaven."

He imitated her action, still trying to perfect his ability to pass as human. Then he regarded her with interest. "Please do."

"You'll remember the litany of Antediluvian? The third generation of Kindred who founded the clans?"

He nodded immediately. "I remember well. Is this tale about them?"

"In a way, yes. It's mostly about Gaius, though. He was Embraced in Rome, in 39 AD. He was a wine merchant who drew the attention of a Cainite who had a penchant for merchants. Gaius's sire stayed with him for about ten years before leaving him to his own devices."

"That seems a very short time for an immortal."

"Some are like that. They make childer, stay with them long enough to teach them, and then move on to their next victim." She shrugged and leaned forward to take his hand gently in her own. "Gaius was alone for a long time after that. He wandered Europe for some time, 1400 years or so, until he came to Venice."

He pretended to take another sip of his wine, holding her hand and leaning forward as well, beginning to get caught up in the story.

"Now, Venice at that time was in the middle of its gloried time. It was rich, powerful, the center of civilized Italy. It was also ruled by very important men, merchants, in fact." She paused and looked around the room, wondering if anyone was paying too much attention to them. The rest of the tavern's patrons seemed to be ignoring her and Luc, so she continued. "Gaius met a Kindred called Augustus Giovanni, the head of a very powerful family."

"And Gaius, being a merchant himself, befriended him?"

"Yes, of course. Well, it seemed that Giovanni was being controlled by an ancient Cainite of his own Clan, a creature called Lameth. Lameth was using Giovanni to track down their shared sire, Cappadocius, and Diablerize him, thus freeing them both."

"Did they succeed?"

"Yes, they did. And in the following years, Giovanni, perhaps with Lameth and Gaius's help, managed to obliterate the rest of the Cappadocian line, and in so doing, created his own clan, the Giovanni." She took a sip of her wine and leaned forward again, her eyes intense now. "It seemed that with his sire gone, Lameth became somewhat of a braggart. He told Gaius a story about the cure for the Beast."

"So this Lameth is the source of the cure?" Their heads were almost close enough to touch now, as Luc's interest in the story grew stronger and stronger. An observer would no doubt think them a pair of young lovers murmuring pleasantries to each other.

"He is. You see, Lameth in his mortal life was a powerful sorcerer and alchemist. And he was one of Cappadocious's first childer. Rumours even hint at him not being a human at all, but an Atlantean." She paused for a moment, ordering her thoughts and giving him a chance to react to that bit of Kindred gossip.

His eyes widened in response to this tidbit, a delighted gleam coming into them as he contemplated this idea. "A sorcerer from the fabled Lost City," he breathed. "C'est incroyable!"

She smiled at his excitement and nodded. "Lameth took a lover, a Princess of the Second City, in fact. Anis, Queen of the Night, she was called. She, too, manipulated someone into Diablerizing their shared sire, freeing them both." She smirked a little smugly at this and then shook her head. "Somehow, through his magic and his alchemy, Lameth created the cure, the Elixir of Golcanda he called it, and made two doses. One he took himself, and the other he gave to Anis."

"What happened to them?"

"They gained amazing powers through the Elixir, most importantly the ability to control humans and use them as cat's paws. These humans even have access to some of their Kindred disciplines. I do not know what happened to Anis, but I do know that Lameth bragged to Gaius about the Elixir, telling him the process used to make it and even listed the ingredients."

"Why would he do such a thing? I would guard that secret most jealously."

"Because the Elixir was first made so many thousands of years ago, many of the ingredients have disappeared. I think he felt safe in telling Gaius about it because he knew it could not be replicated."

"But you believe it can be?"

"Gaius did. He spent the next two hundred years doing nothing but searching for ingredients, experimenting with different combinations, researching... He was obsessed, Luc. And I think it's because he knew somehow that he could replicate the Elixir."

"I assume that he never actually succeeded in replicating the cure."

She shook her head and sat back, a sad little sigh escaping bee-stung lips. "Non, he did not. But then..." She smiled, perhaps a little wickedly. "He did not have you."

He looked down at the table, a little embarrassed by her faith in him. "I hope that I can live up to your expectations," he whispered, squeezing her hand a little harder.

"Oh, but you have already, cher. You can read and you have knowledge of herbs and using them in medicines and the like." She raised his hand to her mouth and turned it over, kissing his wrist gently above his pulse point.

He held as still as stone when her cool lips pressed against his wrist. The desire to beg her to sink her teeth into his flesh flared up inside him like a bonfire. It was so strong that he felt his own fangs descend, forcing him to raise his other than to cover his mouth for fear that one of the other patrons might notice.

She, too, felt the desire to drink of him and shoved it away as she carefully lowered his hand. She took a deep breath and sat back, crossing her arms loosely over her chest and looked away from him, out the window and over the street, giving them both time to recover.

Slowly, after several long moments, he regained enough control over himself to speak again, returning both hands to the table. "How did you learn of Gaius' obsession. I cannot imagine that he spoke of it openly."

"When I...killed him, I took the information from his mind," she answered as she sat forward once more, remembering to pretend to drink the wine on the table in front of her. "The memories were as clear as day, as if he'd just experienced it all just moments before."

He shook his head; not because her act repulsed or disturbed him, but because he couldn't imagine what it must be like to have the memories of another in your head. "Does he remain in your mind?"

She nodded. "Yes, sometimes I can feel him in there, pushing at me. Marikasha, too."

"Marikasha...is the one whom you found in torpor? I cannot imagine what that must be like, to have another's thoughts within your own."

"Yes, the Toreador who was slumbering under a mountain in northern Africa." She nodded and then made a thoughtful moue. "It is...disconcerting. I remember things that I couldn't possibly have experienced. And when I am weak, they try to take over, control me."

His eyes widened again, but this time in concern. "Control you? Like being possessed by a demon?"

"In a way, yes. Demon is a very good word for it." She looked around the room, seeing that it had cleared out. "We should go, Luc. Boston is only three nights away now."

He nodded and stood, reaching for her hand again. "You will tell me more as we travel?" he asked hopefully. Everything she had told him so far had been fascinating, if occasionally disturbing.

Standing next to him, she fished in her pack with her free hand and dropped a gold coin on the table. She gave Luc a slightly embarrassed look and said defensively, "The man will not take my money, so I leave it for him when I go." Then she started to the door, calling out a farewell to Pinter as she and Luc left. "Yes, cher. I will tell you whatever you want to know."

He smiled at her action, and the explanation for it. Once again, he reflected that the Church had to be wrong about souls. That simple act of kindness refuted their assertion that a being like her...and himself...having no soul. She had a soul, and he loved her for it. "Then let us be on our way," he said, leading her to the door and opening it for her. He waved a farewell to Pinter before they walked out.

The night's run went quickly, but Dannika was worried that she had allowed them to tarry too long at Pinter's tavern. She could feel the dawn pressing down on them when they were still some distance from Walpole, NH, the next stop on their flight south to Boston. She glanced aside at Luc, and pushed them even faster. With only 10 minutes to spare, she finally located an abandoned barn on the outskirts of the town and found a protected corner of the building. Pushing Luc in ahead of her, she quickly joined him in the Earth, blocking him from as much of the pinking sky with her body as possible. And then she knew no more.