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Police sirens could be heard approaching from the distance. Vlad and his men stepped back.
"Another time." Vlad growled, "Humans cannot be involved in this."
"Why another time/" Andrew asked. "So you can try to ambush us? I don't think so. Either surrender yourselves now or get ready to defend yourselves. You have ten seconds."
"Andrew!" Gloria said urgently, "You can't be seen by the cops, they know you."
"We'll finish this after the cops leave." Vlad hissed and started to walk away.
Susan finally spoke.
"As interesting as it was to see the Barnes' in action, it's over. The four of them are under the personal protection of Charles Black. One thing though, if I were you, I'd thank Charles for saving your life."
Vlad gave her a disbelieving stare before replying.
"You have a lot of faith in these parvulus."
Susan smirked.
"First, you forgot about my first Gloria but these are the ones who took out Victor and most of his men."
Susan turned to Andrew and Amelia.
"Please become invisible, we don't need anymore headaches."
The police showed up a couple of minutes later and asked about the gunfire. When everyone insisted that it had come from somewhere else, they left. Susan led the group to a private room in the club and gave them a chance to order their drinks and settle down. When they were all situated, she turned her attention to Scott.
"How long ago were you turned and who and where is your sire?"
Scott sighed and looked into his drink,
"My sire is Flora and I don't know where she is. She stayed with me for four days after she turned me and then we traveled her from Mississippi. The first night that we got here, she took me to a club on Monroe Street and then went to the hotel. When I woke up, she was gone but left me a note saying that it was fun but that I was a waste of her time. She left me three-hundred dollars and four units of blood in the freezer. That was four days ago."
"Do you know her last name?" Susan asked.
"No ma'am I don't." Scott replied, "But I'm pretty sure that it started with a T. she was wearing a necklace with the initials FT on it. Is there anyway that I can get blood without killing anyone?" he asked.
"I have a company that sells blood but it's expensive." Susan replied. "The only thing that I can do is to see if I can find someone who is willing to take you in and who will be willing to teach you all that you need to know in order to survive. The only thing is this, if someone takes you in you will have to become their servant and since you aren't of their line, you would be subservient to those who are."
"He can stay with us." Catherine said, "We'll help him."
Andrew shrugged. "I have no objections especially since he was brave enough to face that asshole Demidov and as long as he realizes that we will be traveling."
Amelia noticed Catherine's less than subtle interest in Scott. "As long as Scott has no objections he's more than welcome to come with us and we can all learn together." Amelia said.
Scott was surprised at how easily they accepted him, a stranger, into their company and wondered what they wanted in exchange especially after what Susan told him. He decided that the best thing to do was to be honest.
"I appreciate the offer but before I accept, I want to know what it is you want in return. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than willing to work and to carry my share of the load but I refuse to be a slave or anyone's whipping boy."
Andrew smiled at Scott's straightforwardness.
"We're not offering you a job." Andrew said. "We're offering you a place to live and to do what the rest of us are doing... learning to survive as vampires. We haven't been vampires much longer than you have and we're still trying to figure out how to fit in."
Gloria and Susan laughed at the last comment.
"You might try going for more than a week without picking a fight with someone." Gloria suggested. "It isn't bad enough that you picked a fight but it had to be with either the head of a family or their first." she added
"I didn't start that fight." Andrew replied. "What was I supposed to do? Let them kill him?"
The look on their faces told Andrew all that he needed to know. That was exactly what they thought he should have done. Scott was both shocked and angry.
"Are you saying that you would have let that slimy bastard rape that woman? You would have let him get away?"
"Scott, "Susan said sympathetically, "you have to understand that its part of out physiology. We become aroused when we feed so rape isn't a crime in our society. It is a byproduct of who we are."
Andrew was incensed as he replied, "All I can say is this, if I see someone raping, I'm going to tear their heads off."
Amelia was appalled, her expression showed shock and disgust.
"You have to be kidding me! What the fuck kind of bullshit is this?" she asked as she looked at Susan. "With places like yours, there should be no need to hunt humans."
"I understand how you feel and how you see it as revolting." Gloria said, "But you have to understand that when we go to our base level, we operate purely in instinct. Amelia that's why you attacked Catherine and why you Andrew, killed that female vampire. Blood laced with fear has a much sweeter taste and when a person is raped, the level of fear rises. Part of our instinct is to make our victims fear us.
When we orgasm, we release a toxin in our saliva that paralyzes out victim. When we bite, we release venom that is an anticoagulant. We can survive on bagged blood but the blood from a frightened victim is so much better. The difference between the two would be like having hamburger versus prime rib for dinner. I know that this is hard but you have to turn a blind eye to certain things."
"Another thing," Susan added, "Charles can only cover you for so much and if you don't stop, you're going to become a detriment to him. Victor was necessary but it wasn't necessary to fry Demidov's brain. Vlad, the last vampire that you tried to pick a fight with is a member of the Ubertas Venator. They act as bounty hunters for the various enforcers. He is one of the best and the only reason that you got him was because he underestimated your speed. The only reason that I said what I did was to deter him from hunting you.
Amelia, I would suggest that you watch the use of your powers. It will draw unwanted attention and there are those who will be able to resists you... look at what happened with Catherine. I want the four of you to settle down and I'm going to have Gloria tutor you on the things that you need to know. She will contact you with a time that is convenient for her and unless you want to find out how much of a bitch I can be... I would suggest that you listen to her."
Susan had stopped suppressing her power. The whole room seemed to be filled with electricity. The hair of the seven occupants at the table stood up on end as if they had touched a Van De Graff Generator. As quickly as she had released her power, she reined it back in. A few minutes later, things had gone back to normal People who had been staring at their table went back to their drinks and conversations.
"I didn't do that to threaten you." Susan said, "But you have to realize that ours is a dangerous world. Most newly turned vampires don't survive past fifty years even with the help of their sire. At the rate that you're going, you'll be dead in three months. Andrew and Amelia, I know that because of your previous line of work that the rape thing is a hard pill too swallow but it is a part of our world. You're going to have to find a way to deal with it. If you can't let me know and I'll tell Charles that you're a lost cause. I'm sorry to be so harsh but you've caused much too much trouble in such a short period of time."
Andrew took a moment to gather his thoughts before replying.
"I know that we've been a major headache to you and for that I apologize. We only intervened because there were three of them beating him to death. Catherine saw it as well."
"It wasn't so much that you intervened to help Scott, even Gregori took that in stride." Susan said, "It was all the shouting about rape and that Amelia fried Demidov's brain. I would have kept Scott safe by using my authority to take him into my custody but Amelia didn't give me the chance. The attack on Vlad was beyond stupid and Gloria can tell you that he isn't one to trifle with. I hope that he decides to drop it.
Andrew blew out a frustrated breath. Who would have thought that this would have been so complicated? He wondered.
"I would appreciate any help that Gloria can give us and working around her schedule is no problem." Andrew said. "And... I promise that we'll try to stay out of trouble." he added.
"By the way," Amelia said, "I don't fry their minds, I just erased them."
Gloria had never seen a power like Amelia's and was curious about it.
"Could you undo it?" she asked.
"I don't think so." Amelia replied. "I think that I can implant memories but undo the erasure? I'm pretty sure that I can't."
"Are you saying that they can be re-taught?" Susan asked.
Amelia's confusion was evident as she replied, "I think so but I don't know how. I don't know very much about the power."
"Amelia," Susan said, "It is part of the gift of power. You always know what your powers do, not what they appear to do. I find the information that you just shared intriguing and I'll ask Charles to look into it.
Scott sat quietly trying to remain inconspicuous as possible. He had no abilities that he knew of. He had seen Flora go invisible but he hadn't been able to do it. She explained to him that all vampires had the gift of compulsion and invisibility and laughed at him when he failed. When he tried to live feed, the thought of killing a human kept him from biting. It was then that Flora declared him a mongrel with no hopes of surviving.
He hoped that they continued to ignore him. His fear was that if they discovered that he was a substandard vampire, that they would want no parts of him. He had been so deep in thought that he didn't realize that Catherine was talking to him until she nudged him.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought for a minute." he said sheepishly.
"I was wondering if you would dance with me." Catherine said.
Scott was enamored with her. He loved how her shoulder length blonde hair framed her face and how her jade green eyes sparkled with mischief. Her full lips had a slight smile on them as she waited for him to answer her. Catherine was about five inches shorter than his five feet-eleven-inch frame and he thought her to be the prettiest woman that he had ever seen. The next thing that he noticed was her scent. It reminded him of lying in a field of wild honeysuckle.
As they got to the dance floor, the DJ began to play 'My Heart Will Go On'. As they danced Scott began to relax and enjoyed the feeling of having Catherine in his arms.
As soon as the young couple was out of earshot, Denise spoke.
"Something is bothering him, he's ashamed of himself. Something has shattered his confidence and he's going to need careful guidance to rebuild his self-esteem."
"It was his sire." Amelia said while nodding her agreement. "She called him a mongrel and a waste of her time because of his reluctance to live feed. To make matters worse, he hasn't discovered his abilities so he feels substandard."
"You are doing well with your abilities." Susan said to Amelia with a smile. "I'm also glad that you're taking him in. From what I can read, he's a good kid but a bad candidate for vampirism. I also doubt that he will ever be able to bring himself to live feed. You do realize what he is to Catherine don't you?"
"He's her mate." Amelia replied.
The song ended with an announcement by the DJ.
"The next hour is for all of you lovers so grab your mate or significant other and get out on the floor. I will be spinning some of the best slow-dance hits ever. I will start and end this segment with 'Endless Love'.
Mark and Denise excused themselves and made their way to the dance floor. Amelia ordered another round of drinks for everyone still at the table and enjoyed listening to the first couple of selections. When the DJ started playing 'When You Say Nothing At All', Amelia led Andrew to the dance floor and kept him there for the remainder of the hour.
Everyone, Susan and Gloria included was having a good time until a drunk human tried to cut in on Scott. Even though both Scott and Catherine told him no, the human became insistent and then belligerent. He threw a punch and was restrained by Scott and Susan who to their credit did nothing to harm the man. The vampire who he came with, a rather attractive South-American woman thanked them for not killing him and dragged him out of the club.
It was well after two when the group left the club. Scott was silent during the ride back to the house. He had enjoyed his evening with Catherine and didn't understand why he felt so drawn to her.
The next afternoon Gloria called to arrange a time to meet with them for the tutoring sessions. Mark called an hour after she did asking what they wanted to do about Scott as far as identification and finances.
"I'll call you back." Andrew said.
Andrew went to Scott who was mowing the lawn.
"We need to talk about what you want to do." Andrew said.
"What do you mean?" Scott asked confused.
"What are your plans for the future?" Andrew asked. "I know that you're concerned about not being able to use your abilities but don't worry about that, we can help you. We can also teach you how to defend yourself better."
"Why would you help a substandard vampire like me?" Scott asked visibly confused.
"Who in the hell gave you the idea that you were substandard?" Andrew asked. "You certainly don't lack for guts! You went up against three vampires who were much bigger and older than you are in defense of a woman that you didn't know. For that alone you've earned our respect. Scott, you do know that Catherine cares about you don't you?"
"I know," Scott said looking away, "but she's too good for me."
"Probably." Andrew replied laughing, "But that's not going to stop her. But you still haven't told me why you think that you're substandard."
Scott blushed but began to answer the question.
"Flora was the first woman that I had ever been with. She told me that I was lacking but that she thought that she could teach me how to please a woman. After she turned me, she called me a mongrel and told me that more than likely; I would be dead in a few weeks since I couldn't use my gifts. When I couldn't bring myself to kill so that I could feed, she called me a pussy and told me that I either needed to man up or she would leave me to die."
"First," Andrew said, "let me give you a little bit of wisdom about sex. No one does it right their first time. It's a learning experience and what works on one woman may not work on another. Secondly, if Susan is right about you being Catherine's mate, she'll kill you before she lets you leave. About the mongrel thing, it isn't true and I'm positive that I can teach you how to become invisible. Susan told me that it could take as long as a year for all of your abilities to manifest. But Scott, even if you never develop a power, you're welcome here or wherever we may be. We rarely live feed and when we do it's on those who are scum."
Scott couldn't believe how nice they were being to him. They took him in and were willing to keep him around even if he was a mongrel.
"Thank you." he said softly. "You've all been so nice to me and I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you."
Andrew shook his head as he replied.
"There's no repayment. You are now one of our strange little group. The only real rule that we have is that we take care of us first. I'll have Mark set you up with new identification and access to money. The next thing is that we need to go shopping and get you clothes that fit. While I'm making the call, why don't you finish cutting the grass and I'll send Catherine out with something to drink. By the way, do you have a preference on last names?"
"Not really." Scott replied, "Just so it isn't anything hideous."
"So I guess latrine is out?" Andrew asked laughing.
"Yes," Scott replied laughing, "I would prefer something else but I guess that would be better than shithouse."
Andrew walked away still laughing to make the call to Mark. He dialed the now familiar number and Denise answered the phone.
"Allen and Associates, how may I direct your call?"
"Denise, its Andrew, is Mark available?"
"Hey Andrew!" she replied. "Mark's on the other line, can you hold?"
"Sure, how's the house hunting going?" he asked.
"Do we really want to go there?" Denise asked with a sigh.
Andrew smiled as an idea hit him.
"Denise, why don't you and Mark swing by later? I have something that I want to run past you."
"Depends on what you have in mind." Denise replied teasingly.
"I guess you'll have to use your imagination." Andrew replied in a husky voice.
At this point, Mark cut in his voice angry but Andrew could tell that he was trying not to laugh.
"That's enough! Stop propositioning my mate!" he growled and then started to laugh. "What do you need?"
"Damn!" Denise said just before hanging up, "just when it was getting interesting. Would seven be ok for tonight?"
"That's perfect." Andrew replied. "Bring Johnny too; he can play in the playroom while we talk business. Mark, I was just getting back to you about Scott. He isn't picky about a last name as long as it isn't something hideous. He'll need a full set of identification including driver's license and credit cards. As far as money, give him the same limits as Catherine."
"Got it." Mark replied as he made notes. "I'll bring his identification and banking information with me tonight. The credit cards will take a day or two but I'll put ten-thousand dollars in his account for now. I think I'll give him the last name of Hawkins, how does that sound?"
"Sounds good." Andrew replied, "We'll see you later."
Andrew waited until Scott had finished cutting the grass before asking everyone to come into the kitchen.
"I was talking to Denise about the search for a house and I came up with something that I want to run by all of you. According to her, the search isn't going well and I thought that maybe we could let them have this place as long as we could store a few things here. Thoughts?" he asked.
Amelia was the first to speak.
"Mark has helped us so much and we won't be coming back this way any time soon, so yes. This place would be perfect for them especially with a kid."
"Catherine?" Andrew asked.
"I think that it's a great idea. I agree with Amelia, he has helped us and the house would just sit empty. What do you think Scott?"
"Why are you asking me?" Scott asked surprised. "Give him the house if you want to, it's yours not mine."
"Scott," Amelia said, "when you came home with us you became a part of this family. That means that you have a say in whatever decisions are being made. Now what do you think?"
Scott hesitated before speaking, "well, if he's helped you as much as you say he has and you all seem to be friends, then why not?"
"It seems as if we are all in agreement so on to the next piece of business." Andrew said. "Scott, I'm going to teach you how to become invisible. Close your eyes and imagine that you are a piece of glass."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked confused.
"Listen to him." Amelia advised. "It helped me when I couldn't become invisible."
"You had trouble going invisible?" he asked shocked.
"I sure did." Amelia replied. "And just think, I woke up naked in a morgue!" she added laughing.
"I would like to see him like that." Catherine said with a faraway look in her eyes.
