Maurice Ch 07

I didn't say anything when Micah came into his office and found me sitting at his desk quite comfortably I might add. His anger was palpable; I could feel it from across the room even from where I sat.

"What's the matter Micah? Did you lose something? Or should I say someone?" I asked not moving from my spot.

I half expected him to come rushing in demanding to know where Regina was but he didn't, probably because he already knew. He walked up to the desk, looked at me for a moment and then sat down in the chair across from me. To anyone not aware of what was happening, it would have looked like two perfectly reasonable men having a friendly chat except that the atmosphere was tense.

I should tell you that prior that meeting I had never met Micah or any of the Lannisters before so part of what was happening was us sizing the other up. As of yet Micah hadn't made the mistake that so many others did- he didn't underestimate me. Part of the reason was because he knew of me and if he didn't believe half of what he heard about me before, he believed it now. I was sure that he knew how many of his vampires had already died in trying to keep me out and if he didn't I was about to inform him.

"So finally we meet." I said with a smile.

He didn't reply or smile back at me.

"How many guards did you have here?" I asked as I finished my drink, "I know that I myself disposed of thirty, Edward and Daniel took care of those guarding Regina, how many Gremlin disposed of I don't know."

"Bastard!" he hissed at me.

"Yes well, I've been called much worse and by better." I replied and then waited.

*******

Micah

Regina was gone along with her brothers and Gremlin. Most of the guards I had were either dead or they ran when they heard that Delgado and Gremlin were both here. Remember when I said that I didn't believe half of what I heard about Delgado? I found myself wishing to the gods that I had listened more closely to the stories, I would have doubled or even tripled my guards and I would have moved Regina as soon as I arrived but you know what they say about hindsight.

So here I sit in my office with Delgado who has made himself at home with a drink and his feet propped up on my desk as if he belonged there. I had two options, I could leave and go to my family in disgrace or I could stay and fight. If I fought and won, I would still have time to find and marry Regina, there would be Saint Germaine to deal with but I would have my family's backing on that. If I lost then well, I would either be dead or considered to be dead and Regina would be forever out of my reach. And if that were the case, then I would just as soon die, being killed by one such as Delgado would bring a certain amount of honor to me and my family.

I didn't bother to ask where Regina was, I already knew, she was back at the Royal Sonesta in the safe room; it's where I would have taken her had I been in Delgado's position. That also meant that Gremlin would go unpunished for his betrayal as well, Annie was also out of my reach and even if we had her, every one of Gremlin's kind would come after her.

How is it possible that things got so fucked up? Delgado is why, had he not been here and met Regina, this wouldn't be happening but that is neither here nor there, there is only now.

"Yes, finally we meet." I said as I made myself comfortable in my chair. I was sizing him up, he wasn't nearly as big as I was but if he could kill thirty vampires and not even look tired then I was in for a fight.

"Is it true that you are related to Saint Germaine?" I asked trying to buy myself some time.

"It's true." he replied, "Stop stalling," was the next thing that he said, "it doesn't become you."

I resisted the urge to fly out of my chair and strangle him. What stopped me? I heard that he could kill without touching his victim and after tonight I didn't want to find out. If I was going to die, it was going to be fighting him and I was going to make him work for it. In the meantime, I had to keep him talking until I could formulate a plan.

"So Regina is your mate." I said.

He didn't answer, he just looked at me with a bored but amused expression on his face, he wasn't fooled. He was having a good time watching me make a fool of myself and he knew exactly what I was doing.

******

He was stalling, I don't know why because he was a dead man no matter how long he stalled but who was I to deny him his last few minutes of life? But then again, I did have other things to attend to namely Regina and I was tired of his trying to buy time.

I was going to make Micah an offer that I rarely made; I was going to let him choose how he was going to die. Why did I do that? I took into account who he was, he wasn't some lowlife although that depended on one's point of view but at any rate, he came from a very high ranking family and deserved to choose the manner of his death.

Before I offered him the choice, I had some questions first; they were questions that I was sure that Regina would want the answers to.

"I already know why you chose Regina or should I say why you feel that she belonged to you but why did her parents agree to let you have her?" I asked.

"As I was telling Regina before you arrived, my father made her parents an offer that they couldn't refuse." he replied.

"And what was the offer?" I asked

He hesitated and I think I knew what the offer was, they would have lost no matter what they did except had things gone as planned they wouldn't have been killed.

"They had the choice of giving Regina to us voluntarily or we would kill the boys as they watched and then they would have been forced to watch our wedding." he replied.

"And you call me a bastard?" I asked. "Did you feel nothing for Regina at all?"

Micah shrugged and smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes, that was all that I needed to know.

********

Edward

Our sister! I knew that we should have known her! I still don't remember much about her but I supposed that the memories would come back once Micah's influence wore off. He was still alive, I could feel him in the back of my brain but he wasn't trying to control me, I had the feeling that he other things to worry about.

I looked over at the woman, Regina I mean, she was still asleep draped over Daniel's shoulder then I looked over at the other.... Whatever he was. Micah had told us about his kind and until tonight I had never seen one like him. He was part vampire and something else but according to Micah no one knew what the something else was which made him extremely dangerous.

I looked back to be sure that we weren't being followed as neither Daniel or.... I don't even know his name seemed to be concerned.

"We are not being followed." he said in a raspy voice that grated on my ears.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am called Gremlin; I am an ally to Delgado and mate to Annie."

Annie.... it was another name that I should know.

I looked over at Daniel, he had been listening and ha that scrunched up look on his face when he was thinking hard, he knew the name Annie too.

*******

Daniel

So Eddie was right, we knew this woman. Not only that, we were related to her, I was beginning to understand a few things, we didn't remember her because Micah didn't want us to. He used us to keep tabs on her and he was planning to kill us one at a time. I was supposed to kill Eddie tonight and then Micah would either kill me himself or have someone else do it; the latter was more like it.

Micah was a cold hearted son of a bitch but he didn't like to get his hands dirty, if he could find someone else to kill me, then he would. I adjusted Regina on my shoulder and compelled her back to sleep when I felt her stirring; I didn't want her waking up kicking and screaming an end up dropping her.

I could feel Micah in the back of my head but ignored him concentrating on getting back to the hotel safely. I don't know about Eddie but I was having little snippets of memories like Annie, I know her, I think that she is related to us somehow. How? I didn't know. I was also beginning to wonder about our parents, I know that they died but did they die the way the Lannisters told us they did? So many questions and only Micah knew the answers to all of them.

I looked over at the slightly green colored being flying on the other side of Eddie and was glad that he was a friend and not an enemy, we wouldn't have stood a snowballs chance in hell against him. I was also glad that Delgado stopped me from killing Eddie and I would have because he wouldn't have tried to stop me. As I said before, he hated this life whereas I accepted and learned to love it.

********

Annie

I tried to talk with Olivia to pass the time; Chatty Cathy she wasn't and when she did speak it was in one word answers. Finally giving up, I took out my lap top and then I had her full and undivided attention.

"Do you play games?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

"Sure, what do you want to play?"

"I like solitaire if that is agreeable with you." she replied.

So this was Gremlin's cousin I thought as I gave her the laptop. I wondered if the rest of them were as chatty as she was, come top think of it, Gremlin wasn't all that chatty either. Thinking about him made my heart hurt, I was scared for him, Delgado and Reggie. What if they were dead and I just didn't know it? But I would know wouldn't I? We exchanged blood and made love before he left.

I couldn't help but feel responsible for bringing Reggie here no matter what Gremlin said....

"He lives and will be here soon. Olivia said, "If he had died, you would have felt it."

"Can he die?" I asked.

"No, he cannot, he can be injured and weakened but not killed, none of our kind can die."

"What are you exactly?"

"A little of this, a little of that." she replied.

"Are you vampires?" I asked realizing that I had no idea of what I had mated with.

"Yes we are vampire among other things."

"What other things?" I asked.

"That is for Gremlin to tell you, he will be here soon with the others."

Others? Did that mean Reggie and Delgado? Several minutes later I had my answer. Gremlin came through the window first, then Danny carrying Regina and finally Eddie.

I ran to Gremlin and hugged him letting out a sigh of relief when I felt him hug me back and then pick me up.

"You're alright!" I said kissing his face.

"I am unhurt." he replied as he returned the kiss and set me down on my feet but not letting me go.

I looked at Regina who was sound asleep and then at Eddie and Danny. They didn't remember me; I could see it in their faces.

"I'm Annie, your cousin." I said by way of introduction, "I used to come over to your house everyday and play with Reggie after school and on the weekends."

As I talked I saw a little glimmer of recognition in Eddie's eyes so I kept talking.

"I used to follow you around the house just to piss you off, remember?"

"Pink bicycle with a pink basket." Danny murmured.

"That's right." I said, "What else do you remember?"

"Not much." Danny replied as he looked at Regina.

Suddenly, his whole demeanor changed, I can't explain it exactly but it was as if the lights went out and whatever memory he was having was gone. All of a sudden, he was in full vampire attack mode.

*******

Something was happening, I could feel it.... Gremlin, he was alarmed. I looked over at Micah who had a smug grin on his face. The son of a bitch booby trapped one of the brothers and if I had to guess, I would say Daniel, he had just sent him on a suicide mission but something wasn't adding up, why let them make it all the way to the Royal Sonesta?

But not only that, they were in the safe room....which the brothers would be safe in because it was originally meant for them. I stared at Micah; he was speaking to Daniel telepathically.

"What are you saying to him?" I asked calmly.

He feigned innocence.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he said still smiling.

I stood up, my good humor and my patience was gone.

"I suppose that you think that Daniel has succeeded in killing Regina." I said.

The smile left his face.

"I have just received word that she and Daniel still live. Do you have anything to say?"

*******

I had just played my last card and failed, Delgado wasn't lying when he said that Regina and Daniel were still alive, and Delgado was furious but if I could evade him for long enough, I could still beat him. I vanished from where I sat and went to the far side of the house where I kept a variety weapons none of which I knew for sure to be effective against him. I bypassed the standards such as the wooden stakes because I didn't think that I would get close enough to use it but I grabbed the crossbow with the poison tipped arrows, the dart gun that had darts dipped in another kind of poison and an a revolver that had exploding bullets. One of these had to work didn't it?

I quickly armed myself really believing myself to be at an advantage because he was in my home and I was armed whereas he wasn't. I became confident that everything would turn out right and by the evening, Regina would be in my bed, both of her brothers would be dead and Annie I could care less about.

I could hear Delgado as he went from room to room looking for me but I wasn't fooled, he knew exactly where I was and was trying to lull me into a false sense of security, but I had already done that to myself. I vanished from the room and into my bedroom where I leapt out of the window and headed toward the deepest part of the woods. I wanted him to come after me.

*******

He can't be serious, hide go seek? Really? Apparently he had chosen to die slowly. I took my time in going after him, now that I knew that Regina was safe, I had time. I made sure that he knew I was coming, unlike him, I believed in fairness. I knew that he had weapons, Edward told me about the weapons room the question was which ones had he chosen? Which one would I have chosen if I had been him? I would have chosen something that didn't require me to be close to my enemy, guns and bows, things like that.

He was in the other part of the house, I felt him leave and head toward the woods, he was so damned cocky thinking that he would come out of this alive. I chose to let him believe that, his arrogance is what was going to get him killed.

I jumped from the nearest window and headed toward the woods. I could hear him to my left making much more noise than he should have but then I realized that it wasn't him. He still had a few guards who stuck around hoping to kill me and be rewarded for the deed. I moved toward the noise and ended up standing beside the vampire making the racket.

"Shhh!" I said, "Delgado will hear you!"

The startled vampire looked at me and reached toward me, he was dead before his arm left his side. I had to wonder how many others were in the woods but it really didn't matter, if they didn't leave they would be as dead as the vampire lying on the ground.

"Micah!" I called out. "I'm coming for you!"

*******

Daniel

I was fine one minute and then..... It was as if my mind went blank except for one thing, I was supposed to kill the woman even if I died doing it. I remembered moving toward the bed where she lay still under compulsion and then I was tackled from behind and from the side by Gremlin and Eddie. I heard Annie scream but it sounded as if it was far away. There were arms around me and I knew that it wasn't Eddie, it was Gremlin but damn he was strong! I fought against him but it was pointless. I heard Eddie calling my name and gradually my head cleared, "I'm ok" I said but Gremlin wouldn't let me go.

Edward

Was this ever going to be over? I saw Danny move toward the bed but so did Gremlin, he grabbed Danny from behind while I came at him from the side. Micah still had some control over Danny; he was trying to make him kill Regina. Thank god Gremlin was there because I would have been hard put to stop him, it took several minutes before the fight went out of Danny, Micah must have let him go but even so, Gremlin held on to him until he was convinced that he was no longer a threat. By unspoken communication, his cousin Olivia placed herself between Regina and Danny. Gremlin motioned to Annie who moved behind him out of reach of Danny and myself, Regina continued to sleep which was probably just as well.

"You will not be completely free of Micah Lannister until he is dead and as of this moment he still lives." Gremlin said. "For the safety of Regina and Annie, I am going to put both of you to sleep."

We didn't even have a chance to protest before we felt ourselves landing on the floor where we stood.

******

Micah

I was surprised to find a few of my guards scattered here and there, I promised each of them an astronomical amount of money if they could bring me Delgado's head. Even among immortals money talks! I counted ten that I could see-ten left out of one hundred and thirty guards! That should have given me pause but it didn't, I had the gun, the darts and the crossbow remember? And on top of that ten guards. How could I not kill him?

I could hear him calling out to me as if I were a child that he was playing a game with; little did I know that that was exactly how he saw me except that this was one child that he meant to kill. I didn't respond to his calls but kept moving. Every so often I would hear a cry of pain and then him calling out to me.

"Ten little vampires now there are nine! Ten little vampires and now there are eight! Ten little vampires....."

When he got down to two, I knew that I was in deep shit. My first line of defense had failed miserably soon it would be just me and him but even so my confidence remained high.

*******

I went through the woods killing every vampire that I came across, one of them told me that there were about ten of them and I had already killed three by that time. Micah was moving deeper into the woods to where he considered himself to be safe then for just a few moments I lost track of him. When I stopped to take stock of where I was, I felt a sting and then a burning in my left arm. I plucked out the dart and smelled it, poison but not one that could hurt me anymore than it had.

"Come now Micah, surely you can do better than that!" I called out as I continued on my way. Suddenly, I was tired of the game and wanted it over so I issued a challenge.

"I am tired of playing children's games!" I shouted, "show yourself and let's be done with this unless you are too afraid to meet your death as a vampire should!" I added.

*******

Micah

I had no more guards left, they were all dead all by the hand of Delgado. I managed to shoot a dart at him, of the weapons that I had, it was coated with the most powerful poison and it hadn't fazed him at all. I threw down my weapons when he issued the challenge; it was time to meet him face to face. It was time for the fight to the death and the winner would have Regina.

*******

Annie

I looked at the three sleeping forms, I wondered if we shouldn't wake Reggie up to give her a chance to get used to the fact that her brothers were here and were vampires. I was going to suggest it but apparently Gremlin had the same idea.

"Annie, go sit with her, she will need a familiar face." Gremlin told me.

I sat on the bed next to Reggie and took her hand in mine. I looked at Gremlin and nodded, seconds later Reggie was awake but disoriented. She looked around the room and saw Gremlin, Olivia, Eddie and then Danny, she opened her mouth to scream but Gremlin silenced her with a word.

"Reggie, it's alright, you're safe." I said.

"Wh... who are they?" she asked looking at Olivia and Gremlin, "they're vampires!" she whispered.

"Yes, they are but they won't hurt you." I assured her.