Slayers: The Aurora Part 2

"Come in, its open." a m.u.f.fled voice called from inside the room. Toby entered placing the tray on the bedside table. "Thanks, I'll be dressed in a moment." She called from inside the bathroom.

Crossing the room and standing close to the bathroom door, so he didn't have to yell, Toby call out. "I wanted to let you know that the king wants you to be ready at nine fifteen. You should know that you may experience some dizziness or weakness in the morning, but you should not be concerned. Although, if you are its perfectly normal. Lucian will not take much blood normally, but lately he has been too busy to seek blood as often as he should. He may take a little more than normal tonight, this will possibly leave you feeling dizzy and weak tomorrow. Otherwise, you should be fine." He spoke in a bored tone. He thought, it was wise to let her know what to expect if his sire took a little too much blood, it was likely to happen with his sire's pale appearance.

"Thanks, Toby. I understand and it's no problem. He wouldn't hurt me, I know that." Liza came out of the bathroom in a cream silk bathrobe, a towel in her hand drying her wet hair. She really was a beauty, Toby thought. He could see why his sire was unable to resist her. She went to the table holding the tray, lifting the lid on the plate he had brought her. Seeing the steamed vegetables, potatoes and steak, she smiled at Toby. Picking up a green bean and popping it into her mouth.

"Yep, just as good as I remember." She murmured, taking another bite.

"Very well, Liza. If there is nothing else you need I will leave you to prepare." Toby began exit the room, but paused as in the doorway. "It is good to have you back, Liza. Maria asked for me to tell you that she would like you to visit her in the morning if you wish."

"Maria's still here." she asked in excitement. Maria was part of the reason she'd spent so much time at the manor in her childhood. "Tell her nothing could stop me. I'll visit at breakfast." She stopped drying her hair, dropping the towel. She sat down at the table where he'd placed the tray and began eating.

"Very good I will tell her. She has missed you greatly. Goodnight" Toby exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

Liza felt slightly guilty for not coming to the manor to visit Maria. Maria had been a blood slave when she'd first began to spend time at the king's home. She had been older than any of the others. Lucian usually sent away slaves after they reached thirty years. Maria had been twenty nine when she first met her. Since they were also there to serve as blood slaves to the other vampires who lived at the manor after Lucian tired of them, many of them stayed. Maria had been with the king for about five years when she'd first arrived.

She'd been like a mother to Liza. She was the reason that Liza had been staying at the manor so often. She had stayed with Maria whenever she came to the manor for nearly a year. When she turned thirty, Liza had feared that Lucian would make her leave. She remembered the nights, she had spent crying herself to sleep. She had been afraid that she might lose another mother. She could remember how Lucian had held her one night. It had been late and he had pa.s.sed her room while returning to his rooms after visiting a slave to feed. He walked by her room to find her crying, he had asked her what was wrong. Tearfully, she had confessed that she couldn't bear for Maria to leave her.

Two weeks later, Dominick had asked Maria to stay on and look after the children. Liza had been so relived. Hence why, she felt so guilty now that she hadn't called or visited Maria since the vampire ball, two years ago. She knew that Maria thought of her as a daughter, as much as she thought of her as a mother. So, the feeling of guilt was warranted, she should have contacted her sooner.

She'd just finished eating when a knock sounded on the connecting door. She looked at the bedside clock. Huh, he was ten minutes early. Lucian didn't wait for her to tell him to enter. He just opened the door and stepped inside, he was still in the tight black leather pants and white s.h.i.+rt he'd worn in the study earlier. Not that she was complaining. His thick muscular thighs filled the leather pants out perfectly. She'd also noticed the way they clung to his tight b.u.t.t, and hugged his thick manhood. She was just surprised that he was still clothed, she had thought he would undress before coming to her room.

He stopped dead in the middle of the room and stared at her with longing in his eyes. Lucian thought he'd been prepared for this moment, but seeing her there in only a robe, he wanted to pounce. He had been wrong. His body had hardened to the point of pain instantly, and his eyes were already eating up every bit of creamy skin the robe she was wearing showed. Her legs were amazing, he could imagine them wrapped around him while he pounded into her wet sheath. It was all he could do not to grab her and throw her onto the bed, and take her. His teeth ached, from the need he could feel growing inside him.

He could smell her desire, and knew that she was ready to take him. If he were to make her his in every way possible tonight, she would be wet and ready for him. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted another woman. Only he would not allow himself to take her, to use her. It could not happen.

"Do you want me to lie on the bed or sit?" She asked, breathlessly.

"Just lean back against the head board, and I will lay beside you." He watched her move to the bed, setting a pillow against the head board. Her movements were sensual as she bent forward to plump the pillow. Her silky white robe rose another sensual inch revealing more of her creamy thighs, causing him to growl low and deep in need. His body was on fire with it, and he was having a hard time not blurring to her side. He moved forward slowly a few shuffling steps, unable to prevent himself from moving closer to her. Close enough to touch.

It took all his strength not to reach forward and take what he wanted from her. She climbed onto the bed breaking his l.u.s.tful trance. When she was settled he moved to sit beside her, and he gently pushed her hair away, baring her neck, the creamy unscarred side it. His hand cupped the other side, and he could feel the slight ridges there, frowning at the scars. He had never liked them, and she had refused to tell him how she had gotten them. His breath caressed her neck and she s.h.i.+vered.

"Will it hurt?" she asked in a small voice. Anxiety, suddenly over coming her desires. After all, she hadn't been bitten since Thomas had tried to rip out her throat.

He pulled back looking at her with a slight frown. "No, why should you think that? You have told me you have shared a vampire's bite. A vampire lover." The last word was more of an angry rumble than a word. The thought of her in another man's arm enraged him to an almost mindless point.

"Umm...he attacked me, Lucian." she whispered, in such a small voice that if his hearing had not been acute, he would not have heard her. She was afraid to tell him, only her fear of the act was over riding that.

"What! You should have told me, and I would have killed him slowly, with much joy." His words were tight, almost cold, and his eyes flooded blood red. He watched her squirm and felt her try to pull away. He did not allow her to move burying his hand in her hair. He held her close, not allowing her to put any s.p.a.ce between them. He tilted her head, revealing the scars his hand had covered. When she did not respond, he demanded again through clenched teeth.

"You did not tell Dominick. Or Me. Why?" Then he remembered when he had first seen these scars on her throat, and a white hot rage filled his mind causing a slight ringing in his ears. "Wait, you've had these scars since you were sixteen."

He stared at them. He remembered her leaving for ten months, when she had turned sixteen. She had returned with these scars, claiming it was an accident while she was staying with her cousin at the farm her uncle owned. Maria had come to him saying that there was more to those scars than what Liza was telling them. She had told him that Liza awakened screaming, several times holding her neck and trembling in fear. He had brushed it aside because he'd been too busy trying not to allow his race to commit genocide. Everyone had secrets, let her keep hers he had told Maria, as he rushed out to stop yet another dispute over territory. Now, he was angry with his own disinterest. She had been hurt, and he had done nothing to protect her.

"Yes. He was Dominick's best friend, Lucian. I was just a human. He would never have believed me. He might have tried to get you to ban me from the house. I wouldn't have been able to see Maria or- ." She told him in a quiet voice.

"He could have scanned your memory, Liza. d.a.m.n it, I would have believed you had you told me!" He roared, causing her to flinch slightly. How could he have been too busy to care enough to dig deeper when Thomas had begun acting strangely those last two years before his death. Worse how would she trust him now, when he had not even cared enough to ask about the scars before today?

"Stop, you weren't here you were in Spain, and I have a natural barrier, Lucian. He couldn't have scanned my mind, and you were too busy with the war, which was more important. It was such a small matter." She tried to put some s.p.a.ce between them again. He did not allow her to move away. He could not bear s.p.a.ce between them when he felt as if he had failed to protect her.

He stared down at her with red eyes. Then he spoke, "He died a few months after you came back. We searched, but never found his murder and I always wondered if it was a slayer who killed him. His heart was pierced with his own blade, and he lay in his own blood. I wonder, now if it was not someone he had tried to hurt, like he hurt you." He watched her closely for a few moments, as if searching her face for signs of distress.

"Maybe," she calmly replied, though she was still trying not to reveal the truth. Her face frozen to keep the fear from reaching her eyes, hoping the racing of her heart would seem like a fearful reaction to the subject, not the fact that she was the murder. In the vampire culture, a human killing a vampire was punished with death.

She'd been so afraid someone would discover it was her who'd killed Thomas. In her nightmares, she still saw the blade, she'd been practicing with sliding into his heart. The blood that had covered it running down the hilt, as she'd stared dumb founded at the weapon she'd used to kill him. It had been shocking to know that he could never hurt her again that the torture he had rained down on her for so long was finally done She'd had nightmares for months after that night that he was alive, and had invaded her room to attack her again.

That night her first thought had been to return to the manor, intended to find Lucian and tell him of Thomas's attack. But when she had looked down at her blood covered hands and clothes. She had realized what the vampires might think if she showed up covered in Thomas's blood. Removing her blade from his chest she had taken his placing it in the very same spot. Lucian and Dominick both knew her knife. She been afraid that Dominick would not believe her.

Thomas had never been cruel when anyone else was around them, always when he found her alone. He would hiss or call her a wh.o.r.e among other names, and on several occasions he had punched or pushed her. Never hard enough to cause bruises, just enough to hurt. The vampires were sure to think it was her who had attacked him instead, and she hadn't know what they would do to her, after all she was only a lowly human. They would never believe that their brother in arms had attacked her. So, after retrieving her knife she had ran to her home.

She hadn't stopped until, she was inside. She'd washed herself with the lye soap with the strongest odor. Scrubbing her skin until it was almost raw. Hoping that the vampires would not be able to smell their friend's blood on her. She put the b.l.o.o.d.y clothes into an air tight bag, and scrubbed again to get off the scent. Then she'd walked with her b.l.o.o.d.y clothes for miles until she was completely exhausted. Trembling in fear sure that at any moment, Lucian or one of his men would show up and rip her throat out. She'd buried the blood soaked clothes in the woods.

She could still remember stumbling back to the house at five am, blurry eyed and dirty. She'd heard the yelling and shouting from the woods on the other side of the wall. With her heart beating fast in terror, she'd known they'd found his body. She'd stumbled inside to her bedroom sure that she would be dragged from her bed, and her throat would be ripped out at any moment. The next morning, she awaked surprised they hadn't come for her, and spoke with her father, insisting she needed go to her aunts to think. She had never told anyone about that night, and she was not going to tell Lucian now.

"Tonight there will be only pleasure when I drink from you." His whisper pulling her back from the past. He was tilting her head, reveling the unblemished side of her neck. "I can wait no longer." His voice a deep growl.

His mouth caressed the skin of her neck, his tongue sliding over her pulse before his sharp teeth sank deep. There was a slight piercing pain then the fire of ecstasy filled her body, causing her to moan. She pressed closer to his mouth, wanting more of that fire. Lucian heard her moans and they filled him with satisfaction. He growled. He'd never tasted anything so sweet. Her blood ripped through him like a wildfire. He reached into her robe feeling her bare breast, running his fingers over her tight nipple as he drank. He growled, in pleasure.

Mine was all he could think. He would never allow her to be touched by another. Never. She was his. The sharing of blood allowed a vampire to feel some of his donor's emotions. He felt her pleasure and her joy as he fed from her, it was such a heady sensation that he was unable to give up. Wanting to hold onto that connection to her even when he knew he should stop, he continued to feed. He was taking too much blood, but he needed to be closer to her. Connected with her.

Finally, he managed to force his mouth from her neck. Worried that he had taken too much from her. He would die before he harmed her, but her taste was so sweet, and the power that filled him from the exchange was incredible. With great reluctance he closed the wounds, with a lingering flick of his tongue. He kept his face buried in her neck, inhaling her sweet scent of wildflowers and suns.h.i.+ne for several moments. Wanting to rip off her robe and sink inside her. Unable to pull his hand from where it still caressed her smooth flesh beneath the robe. He growled, nuzzling her neck powerless to stop himself from enjoying the heavy weight of her filling his hand, as he ran his thumb across her nipple, lovingly.

Liza felt Lucian's hand cupping her breast as he fed, his fingers sliding across her nipple in a seductive caress. She pushed against his hand feeling the pleasure of this moment fill her up, she made mewling sounds, pressing herself against him. They were connected in a way she had never felt before with any other man. She could feel his pleasure, and it made her heart pound with joy. He was enjoying this as much as she was. She reveled in the possessiveness, she could feel from him as he fed.

She felt his tongue slide against her neck erotically, he was pulling away from her vein. He continued to nuzzle her neck, his fingers pulling on her hard nipples. His growl, caused her body to flood with antic.i.p.ation of the pleasure to come. He would take her tonight, finally. After years of need and want, she was thrilled. She would know what it was like to be made love to by Lucian. She knew that he would never love her, but at least she could have this much of him. Only she felt him pulling his hand away from her breast, and the other untangled from where it was buried in her hair. She felt him rise from the bed, quietly. She blinked at him, and he stood beside the bed looking down at her for a moment.

"I will feed from you again tomorrow night. You should rest." He turned, quickly escaping from the room through the connecting door. She stared at the door, pain spreading through her like an icy shower. She was such a fool. She had forced his hand she should not be surprised that the man still didn't want her. Tears filled her eyes, as she turned over pressing her face into the pillow beside her, to m.u.f.fle the sobs. He had rejected her, again.

Lucian stood pressing his hands against the door where he could hear the m.u.f.fled sobs coming from the other room. It took everything he had not to rip the door open, and go back, taking her in his arms to ease her tears away with kisses and caresses. His mind roared in agony, and his body demanding he return to finish what he had begun. He could not touch her, it was wrong to use her in such a way, and she deserved so much better. It was bad enough that he had taken her as a blood slave. He could not take any more from her.

She continued to sob as if her heart were breaking for almost half an hour. While he leaned against the door in agony, his chest squeezing in an odd manner. His head pressed to the wooden barrier between them unwilling to leave her alone in her misery. She was his slave, he told himself he need not care why she cried. Only that thought made him feel even more violent. He couldn't use her as he had the other humans that he had made blood slaves. He was unable to bear even the thought of exploiting her in such a way, but he could not bear the thought of never touching her sweet body while feeding again either. He should have taken from her wrist, only he was unable to stop his own desire to take from her neck. To kiss and nuzzle and hold her beneath him.

When she finally fell into an exhausted sleep, he entered her room again, seeing her lying on her side with her hand under her cheek. She had covered herself with the heavy comforter, her hair fell in a heavy cascade covering her face. He reached out moving her hair from her face to find it was red and puffy from her tears. He watched her breaths coming deep and even and was unable to stop himself from slowly touching his fingers to her puffy lips. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, even with her face puffy and swollen.

Leaning forward, he bushed her temple with his lips softly. His Liza, he thought, pus.h.i.+ng her hair back to reveal the mark he had left on her neck. His body went hard and filled with need at the sight of that mark. He knew he should not have left a mark of possession on her even as he had made it, but he had been unable to resist the urge to warn every other male away from her.

He should close the wounds, and allow her to remain unmarked as he had with all of his other slaves. Even as he thought to remove those marks, his baser jealous self refused. She was his, and he wanted everyone to know it. He wanted to climb into that bed and make love to her for hours until his scent marked every inch of her, so that everyone would know who she belonged to. Only he wouldn't allow himself to do that to her, she deserved to be respected. In his world, vampires did not respect human property. He was trying to change this, but he had so far been unsuccessful.

Incapable of leaving her so soon, he watched her sleep for several hours before he returned to his own room. Lying down on the bed after removing his clothes, he felt the need that throbbed in his thick d.i.c.k. Taking it out he held it, moaning as he thought of the taste that still lingered on his lips. Liza's taste. He began to slowly work his hand up and down his d.i.c.k, thinking of her soft sweetness beneath him on the bed. He imaged it was her hand squeezing his thick member. Closing his eyes he began to build the fantasy. She would rise above him in the bed and her creamy b.r.e.a.s.t.s would be bare, as she slid her sweet slickness over his throbbing d.i.c.k.

He could see her green eyes s.h.i.+ning with pa.s.sion as she moved up and down on his member. Her tight pa.s.sage gripping his thick d.i.c.k, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bouncing in time to her thrusts. He would lean forward taking a pink nipple into his mouth, his hands holding her hips to guide her. He growled, knowing he was close. As he began to come, he thought of her sweet taste flooding his mouth, as their emotions connected. She would come apart then, screaming his name. He moaned, getting up to clean himself before dressing and heading down to his office. Even though what he really wanted was to return to Liza and take her over and over again, for hours.

Chapter 5.

Liza awakened at twelve the next day. She stretched, then forcing herself to get up she headed to the bathroom. Staring at her puffy bloodshot eyes looking back at her form the mirror. She sighed deeply, shrugging in dissatisfaction, then filled the tub with hot water. Removing her nightgown and climbing over the marble edge, she sat in the hot water, sighing again. This time in pleasure. Soaking in the hot water seemed to help her aching heart to feel better.

She realized that although Lucian had rejected her last night, she was still determined to be with him. Several years ago, she'd decided that it was hopeless to want him. Only she had dated several men since deciding to leave the manor, and none of them had made her forget Lucian. It was a truth that she had faced two months ago when this plan had begun to form in her mind. Now, she just needed to convince him to take her, so that maybe she could get over this need that made her want to rip her clothes off every time she saw the man.

Twenty minutes later, she exited her room in a pair of jeans and a red tank top. She headed for the kitchens to see Maria. Feeling better, she was smiling when she reached the kitchen. She entered, seeing Maria standing by a large industrial size stove. She was speaking with two other women about preparations for the Vampire ball, which was next month. Maria turned to look who had entered her domain, smiling upon seeing Liza, she bustled over to her.

"You have been a very bad, mi Chica. I have not heard from you in two years." She wrapped her arms around Liza in a tight hug, even as she spoke a quick reprimand in rapid Spanish. Liza smiled, as she heard Maria's triad. She still felt guilty for not calling the women, she considered a second mother.

"I know, Maria. I have missed you as well. I should have called more, I'm sorry." Liza's words caused the rapid fire triad stop. Maria's face creased into a smile, as she pulled away from the embrace. She placed her wrinkled hands on her ample hips and gave Liza a once over.

"You have not been eating well. Much too thin, you are. A man wants a woman, not a thin rail. Come sit, you will eat." She stepped back from the door walking to the island, pulling out a stool. Motioning for Liza to sit. "Sit."

"Yes, Madre." Liza laughed, moving to sit. Maria moved to the refrigerator pulling out eggs and bacon.

"The two of you can come back later. Now, I must feed, mi Nina. Shoo." She told the other women, as she began to crack the eggs in the bowl that she'd pulled from a cabinet near the stove. "Now, you tell me all about your life. Tell me, what kept you so busy you could not call, mi Nina?"

"I have been working in the city at the library. They needed someone to run their human resources dept. I have been using all those organizational skills you taught me." Liza replied, watching as Maria bustled around the stove scrambling eggs for her breakfast. She remembered many mornings just like this one as a child, Maria making breakfast for her and the other women while she and some of the other children sat talking. "I have also been working with the children. Reading to them."

"And this has made you happy, Chica?" Maria moved the eggs onto a plate and started frying the bacon. "I was not very proud of Lucian's treatment of you the last time you were here, but he is being a man. It is not right to send you away like he did and it is not good for, mi Nina." She turned from the stove with the eggs and bacon on a plate placing it in front of Liza.

"Maria, Lucian did not send me away! I decided to go away for a while." Shock had caused her mouth to drop open. Lucian had allowed Maria to believe that he had sent her away. Why? To spare Maria's feelings. That was just like Lucian always protecting her by taking the blame on his broad shoulders.

"Well, I'm glad that boy has better sense than I thought. How could he send mi Nina away? She is beautiful and so talented." Maria turned to the door from the hall as it opened. Lucas entered smiling impishly at her and Maria.

"How's the beautiful cook today? Is there any of the triple layer chocolate cake left?" He winked at Liza, as he walked to the island dropping onto the stool next to her. He reached over stealing a piece of bacon from her plate.

"Watch it, Vampire! That's my breakfast. You're supposed to be on a liquid diet anyway." Liza said, smacking his hand away. With a laugh he popped the bacon in his mouth.

"Ha, you know that isn't all we eat. In order to grow muscle we need food. We just can't make our own plasma." He tried for another piece of her bacon, but she lifted the plate away snapping her teeth at him playfully.

"Get your own breakfast!"

"You are a scamp. Here is your food. No cake for you, until you eat this." Maria muttered, plopping a plate overflowing with bacon and eggs in front of Lucas. He grabbed a fork and dug in.

"What are you doing today?" He asked Liza between bites, wagging his eyebrows in question. "Want to watch me at sword practice? It'll be like old times. I can even take off my s.h.i.+rt, so you can ogle my huge muscles. I know you'll be jealous of course. Cause all you get to look at now is Lucian's old body." Liza laughed at his foolish bragging. They had grown up together. She knew he might tease, but he'd never felt anything, but brotherly affection for her.

"Hmmm... that's a hard decision I mean watch you get your a.s.s handed to you, or watch the Nanny marathon playing on lifetime today. I'm not sure which one I would enjoy more?" Liza watched as he grabbed his heart dramatically as if she'd stabbed him.

"You have wounded me, deeply. I will have to thrust myself upon my sword to deal with your horrid rejection of my heart." Lucas laughed at his own joke as he continued to clutch his chest.

"Hump... Such a dramatic boy. I think you should grow up, you are a man now, act like it. You need to stop with the jokes and play acting. You should find yourself a nice vampire girl to settle down with." Maria said as she turned away from them, returning to cleaning the pans she'd cooked in. Lucas rolled his eyes heaven ward, and Liza suspected it was not the first time he'd heard this lecture. Her laughter continued as his discomfort became more obvious. He s.h.i.+fted in his chair as Maria continued to talk of how he needed to be settled and making little vampires with the woman he'd chosen. He began to eat rapidly; Maria had worked up to telling him that he needed at least six vampire babies by the time he took his last bite.

"Ummm... I think I should really get going to the practice yard. Colton said we needed to start earlier because there could be an attack at any time. We need to be ready to deal with our dampened gifts in a fight. Thanks for the meal Maria. See ya later, Liza" He shoveled the last of the eggs in his mouth and was out the door with barely a glance behind him. Forgetting all about the cake he had come in looking for.

"Ha, I was always good at scaring that scamp off." Maria turned with a huge grin on her face, making Liza to burst out laughing.

"You should have seen him turn green when you said he needed at least six babies. He was freaking out!" Laughing right along with her, Maria removed her ap.r.o.n.

"Serves him right. Last week Joan, one of the vampire guards, was heartbroken when he dumped her after one night." Maria hung her ap.r.o.n on the hook by the stove. "I'll be right back. I have pictures of Cousin Marta's new baby to show you."

Maria slipped out the door, returning with several photos. She handed them to Liza. Liza looked at the perfect little baby girl with longing in her heart. If only things were different. This could be her child she was showing Maria pictures of. Instead, her life had lead her down a different path.

"She's so beautiful. I know that Marta must be so happy. Has Travis gotten settled in the new job? I guess it's not really a new job anymore he's had it for nearly two years now, huh." Liza's heart turned over with shame. She really should have called more to check on her family. Maria, Marta and Travis were as close to a family as she'd had since her father died when she was nineteen.

"Nina, you should not beat yourself up for moving on with your life. If you couldn't bear to call us, we understand. I know that your heart is with us even when you are away. You have always tried to be too strong for your family, even as a child you were forever taking care of the other children and you father." There was still no reason she should have allowed herself not to call to at least check on her family.

She was still berating herself forty minutes later, when she walked out of the kitchen headed to the TV room to watch her Nanny marathon. As she walked down the hall, she saw Dominick leaning against the wall across from the training center. She felt a buzzing in her ears, as she pa.s.sed him.

"Not now, Why does this keep happening when I have something I want to do?" she whispered. She didn't notice Dominick frown behind her, nor did she see him follow her down the hall. She walked turned down the hall leading to the study and the media room entering the first room she came to.

Dominick watched Liza walk by him, he had been watching the training of the younger vampires. Trying to spot weaknesses within their ranks, so that he could work with them to improve. He watched her seem to pause then heard her muttering to herself. He was already suspicious of her, could she really be plotting to take Lucian off his throne. He waited until she turned down the hall leading to the office and the media room, then he began to follow her. He stopped at the bend and peeked around the corner to see her enter Lucian's office. His first thought was to burst into the room and take her down to the cages and have her beaten as a traitor. Only he decided to see what whoever had sent her was after, if he gave her a moment to find whatever she was looking for then he would know.

He waited in the hall for a moment, then burst through the door. Expecting to find her leafing through security papers, which littered the desktop, or using the computer to find out what the progress on the investigation into the recent disappearances of the high council of demons. Instead the room was empty. Shocked, he looked around seeing the door on the opposite wall. Walking to it, he opened it looking into the hall. He saw the open french doors across the hall and decided that she must have went into the gardens using the office as a short cut. He felt ridiculous for thinking she would betray them on her first day in the manor. She knew the house as well as he did, and knew what rooms cut a few turns off her trip.

He went to the French doors, standing in the midday sun he looked around. Nothing, not a single sign of her anywhere. He walked out, walking around the garden for several moments. Then decided she must have gone back into the manor and he'd missed her entering another room by waiting in the hallway. Since those rooms were a TV room, a sun room and two bathrooms, he didn't feel the need to search more diligently for her inside. He locked the office doors before he resumed his position on the wall beside the open training courtyard, and began to watch the palace guards run through their training.

Chapter 6.

The Aurora blinked in behind the Kelpie demon.

"Jack, Jack, Jack...shame on you!" Shaking her head, she moved around preparing for an attack. "I warned you the last time we met not to continue dabbling in the dark arts. I said you'd end up taking a slayers sword if you didn't listen, and here we are a slayer and a Kelpie demon. Tsk, Tsk."

She moved closer to the demon in the dark subway tunnel. The smell of the demon filled the air with a rancid scent. He smelled like a sewer, there was no doubt that was because he'd been living in one, but the smell of death, clung to him as well.

He turned from the dead Trogon demon behind him. She barely spared a glance for the pitiful creature lying there with its heart torn out. She would take it to its family after she'd taken care of Jack. Now, she must remain alert for Jacks attack. Slayers were natural deflectors of dark spells, but some of the effects could still slow them down. He hissed when he saw her standing in the tunnel behind him, the still beating heart in his hand. Blood coated his entire arm, the demon calmly put the heart into the pouch hanging from his belt.

"I have only killed demons so you cannot touch me little slayer. I have been finding the parts to do my spells work better when they are from demons anyway. I know that slayers only kill the demons who kill humans, so you are going to have to let me go." The hissing sound of his voice disturbed the Aurora's sensitive ears. He took a step back from her, he didn't bother to wipe the blood from his arm, or from dingy white s.h.i.+rt. Her eyes burned a neon green in the darkness.

"See, there is a little problem with your logic, Jack. Slayers can see the darkness of your soul, they see for instance that your last kill was a child. Not a human child, but it stained your soul with a blood red aura. I also they see that the Trogon demon, who is a vegetarian, did not attack you before you chased it here to kill it for its heart. They unlike you, Jack are a n.o.ble race. They rarely become tainted by the evil that fills you, and are trained from birth to protect, no matter what race of demon or human. So, tonight you will die for taking innocent life." Her swords appeared in her hands as she prepared for the battle she would be facing.

Not waiting for the words she'd just said to sink in, she blinked closer to him, ready to stab his heart. Only he moved quickly flinging out a magical barrier, which smacked into her painfully as he tried to get back to the entrance of the next tunnel. d.a.m.n, she did not want to follow him. Trying to stop him before he got too far away, she jerked her knife from her boot, and threw it at his ankle taking him to the ground with a hissing cry of pain. The only way to kill the Kelpie was to stab him in the heart directly. So, she blinked in next to him, but before she could reach him, he rolled getting unsteadily to his feet. He tossed another spell towards her with alarming accuracy for a kelpie demon. He was fast, but she was faster, blinking again she was in front of him.

"I warned you, Jack" The Aurora growled, thrusting the sword into his heart.

As the demons eyes met hers, he hissed, "But I didn't kill humans. Why?"

"Because an innocent life is an innocent life, Jack. Be it human or demon. I warned you." She watched as life faded from his eyes. Then she sent her swords away, wanting to get back to the Trogon demon. Reaching down she pulled the pouch with the heart from the demons belt. Trogon demons had to have all the parts to bury their dead. She went back inside the tunnel kneeling beside the dead demon. That was when she realized, he was the child killed in Jack's aura. d.a.m.n, she thought, tears teasing at her lashes.

She hated when a child was killed. Lifting the young demon into her arms she began carrying him through the subway tunnels. She finally reached her destination about twenty minutes later. She used her foot to knock on the steel door. She waited, the door was opened. A man stood there, he took in the body she held and his eyes clouding with pain.