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"We have a house in Westchester. It's on the water. The little girl and the old lady take care of it during the day, or at least they will once things settle down some. We've got it mostly furnished, but Mary is still playing around with some things.

"On a negative note, we had the pleasure of meeting Mina."

"The one who runs the whore house?" Elizabeth asked, interrupting Sol.

"Yes, the very one. She broke into our home to great us to the neighborhood. She brought five friends with her, but Sabastian made sure that she only left with four. I think we have something of a truce, but I'm not quite certain yet."

"Do not trust Mina," Elizabeth said.

"I don't know much about her, except that Thomas was always very tentative around her," Sol said.

"With good reason. She is from the four. Thomas always believed she was sent to keep an eye on him. He never knew what for, but he always kept her at arm's length," Elizabeth responded.

"Interesting. Mary recently spent an evening with Mina. Perhaps I should be extra careful from here on out," Sol said.

"Do you know how Mina attacks her victims?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, Mary outlined the process."

"Well, Mina is very powerful, she can control vampires just as readily as she can humans. Take great care with her."

"I will, but she seemed afraid of Sabastian. That seems odd for an ancient. And, now that I think of it, I didn't get the feeling that she was an ancient when I met her," Sol said.

"She guards herself even better than you, Sol. As for Sabastin, only a fool wouldn't fear him. He has no idea how powerful he truly is. I believe it would take a true blood hunt to kill him.

"From the way Thomas described the end of Tobias Smithson, an ancient himself, I believe Sabastian could easily handle Mina,” Elizabeth continued. “I love Sabastian, but I fear the day he realizes just how powerful he has become.

"Most of us would have been driven insane if we took Tobias' blood. I saw Sabastian just after he killed him, it was like nothing had happened.”

“I’ve been with him since it happened, I can tell you that he is no different now than before,” Sol said.

"As you well know, the blood we drink comes with the curse of memories. They haunt us. Think how many souls are swimming inside Sabastian. And he has killed ancients before. There could be hundreds of thousands of souls inside of him,” Elizabeth said.

"Insanity normally overcomes our kind after a few hundred years, if not sooner. The few that can handle the torment become ancients. Eventually they no longer need to feed. So, for the most part, the problem stops for them. But, normally, they recede from daily life when they no longer need to feed. They become recluses. That is what I assumed happened to Thomas. It is what happened to Sabastian until very recently.

"The Four have, supposedly, managed to live with the bloodlust, but they are lost to us. We don't really know what they have become or where they are. They have their loyal followers, such as Mina, but other than a select few, no one knows anything about them anymore. And they like to keep it that way.”

"And then there is Sabastian," said Sol.

"Yes, and each time he takes another of our kind his power increases,” Elizabeth said. “Do you know how many of our kind he has taken through just the recent events? I can’t even imagine how many souls he has taken on himself.”

"Do you think he is here for a purpose?"

"That's an odd question to ask. I don't think Sabastian wants anything but to be left alone. But I don't think he has an ulterior motive in anything he does."

"Perhaps his actions don't serve his motives," Sol suggested.

"You have spent too much time with John Paul. I already told you his prophecy is a fool’s drivel. Bah, I'm tired of being serious. Come," Elizabeth said, "help me pick something to wear."

She stood up and offered her hand to Sol.


[Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006. All rights reserved.]