Twenty minutes later, Sarah was sitting upon one of the stools surrounding the large butcher-block island in the kitchen. She’d just removed a small pizza from the oven and was practically drooling as it sat in front of her cooling. The scent seemed to draw every vampire in the house out of the woodwork and they all converged around the room. Some were laughing at her, some were intrigued, probably never having smelled any real food cooking in their leader’s kitchen for obvious reasons.

Alex came through the throng and Sarah was immediately on alert. She wondered if she’d somehow irritated him by drawing so much attention. He ventured closer, one of the plastic bags of blood from the fridge clutched tightly in one hand. He ripped the seal off with his teeth and drank deeply from it before speaking to her.

"What do you think you’re doing, Sarah?"

"Making my supper. What does it look like? I’m not on the all-hemoglobin diet like you guys are yet."

"Ah, but you soon will be. Then you won’t have to eat this swill any longer," he commented dryly taking a second disgusted look at the food before her. "Think of how much more exciting mealtime will be once you switch to the all-you-can-eat human buffet," he smiled and soft laughter broke out around them. He took another swig of the dark, thick liquid from the bag and some of it dripped down the sides of his mouth causing Sarah’s stomach to turn. She tried not to look away knowing he was testing her.

"For the moment, microwave pizza will do just fine," she challenged back. Alex looked at her calmly a long moment, as if studying her for holes in her resolve then relinquished the stare down.

"Suit yourself. I’m going out to eat," he finally gave in laughing and pushed himself away from the counter. Several audience members left with him and she was thankful for it.

Sarah noticed a couple of females join in the group that was left. The older of the two looked exactly as one would expect a female vampire to look with straight shoulder length black hair, dark, deep-set eyes and refined features. A younger, more mod Morticia Adams. She fit the stereotype all too well. Almost to the point where it was humorous. Her counterpart was much fairer with light brown hair and softer features. She looked quite a bit younger as well. Fresh out of high school as a matter of fact. Sarah could just imagine her as the type to be the head cheerleader, editor of the school newspaper and class valedictorian all without breaking a sweat. A real Marsha Brady wanna-be. Innocent as pie with a heart for killing. Female vamps no matter what they looked like, left no doubt what they were and that they were proud of it. The haughty attitudes and the daring clothing that often bordered on the extreme gave them away instantly and these two were no exception. After all, where else but in the vampire world were women exactly equal to men in strength, in cunning and in cruelty. They had a right to be smug about that.

The pair were giving Sarah much more than a once over and she mentally attempted to block them out. She couldn’t let them know they were getting the better of her. Suddenly they broke from the others and what Sarah hoped wouldn’t happen did. They approached. "Morticia" leaning on the counter to her left and "Marsha" to her right. They both looked at the pizza, the bolder of the two reaching out to trail one long blood red fingernail about the rim of the pan hypnotically.

"Well, the sauce looks appetizing at least," "Morticia" commented casually. "It’s almost the same color and consistency as our food. As time goes on and you grow closer to being brought over completely, you’ll find yourself craving things that remind you of the blood more and more, until finally one day you’ll be drinking straight from Alex’s personal supply just like the rest of us."

"And then, straight from the neck," her friend stressed smiling. "You’ll be Nicky’s first," she added off handedly. Sarah couldn’t help let her interest show.

"Well, not quite," she was corrected. "There was that other girl that he tried to bring across last year. I can’t recall her name. Christy? Sherry? Cherise? Something like that." Her focus fixed on Sarah suddenly, driving home the morbid impact of her next words. "With each bite, the vampire has to take more and more blood from the victim. The final bite is the trickiest. Take too little and the person may become a combination of human and vampire and weaker than either. Not good. Take too much, they die. Poor Nickolas couldn’t help himself. He was too eager. He drained nearly every last drop from that girl. I don’t think he ever quite got over it." Sarah’s eyes grew wide making her surprise and amazement evident without a word ever being spoken. The female made a feeble attempt to reassure her. "Don’t look so worried, honey. I’m sure he’ll do much better this time," she smiled subtly, just enough to allow a hint of fang to show. The words left Sarah feeling less than comforted. She’d taken the bait hook, line and sinker.

"Nick’s new to this, but he’s improved a lot this past year," the younger one defended softly.

"Actually, he’s improved in a lot of areas," "Morticia" hinted, fighting the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "He’s turned into a real heartbreaker. Its almost worth the risk with him."

"You should know, Tess."

"Shut up, Monica!"

"At least I don’t make my second home in his room!" her partner fought back. "Whenever Alex asks me where you’re at, all I have to say is ‘she’s into Chaos’ and he knows exactly what that means." Both women laughed on and on as Sarah stared at them confused. She inquired about the name and they ignored her. It was irritating the hell out of her and she resisted the temptation to grab them both by the hair and slam their heads together to get their attention.

"What’s ‘Chaos’?" she repeated once again.

"Oh, I forgot. That was before your time. I guess Nick hasn’t told you that about himself yet. I probably shouldn’t be the one to let the cat out of the bag," Tessa intrigued, turning away from her slightly.

"I want to know," Sarah insisted, her eyes searching those of the woman next to her desperately. She recognized she was playing right into the female vamp’s hands but had little other choice at this point with her curiosity driving her.

Tess paused a significant moment then leaned in conspiratorially looking around to make sure the coast was clear. "Chaos is Nick’s nickname. Alex gave it to him," she informed in a low voice.

"And he lives up to it, doesn’t he, Tess?" Monica teased.

A slow, dangerous smile crawled across the female’s lips in answer. Her gaze abruptly locked with Sarah’s and she drew out the words with significance. "You wouldn’t believe some of the things he’s done. There are times he made Alex look good. Nicky can be a very wicked vamp when he wants to be. I certainly wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. Give him a few centuries to get some significant kills under his belt and he may be kicking Alex’s ass right off the throne. Don’t tell either I said that though," she added sheepishly.

Sarah shook her head. "No, no, of course not," she responded distractedly. "Thanks for letting me know." She uttered the words as if they were foreign to her. Her mind was racing. She didn’t really know Nick. She didn’t know anything about him at all and she was just coming to terms with that fact.

"Hey, shush up! The guys are coming," Monica warned. Both women smoothly moved away from her as if nothing happened and Sarah wished it hadn’t. She made a motion to brush the hair from her face but she was actually wiping the tears out of the way. She recognized Nick’s voice and she was instantly on guard, abruptly realizing she was now having the same reaction around him as she did the other vampires. All sense of security was gone.

"Oh wow, is that pizza I smell!" Nick exclaimed excitedly, a grin of delight transforming his face as he came around to Sarah’s side of the counter to take up residence on the stool next to her. "Double cheese at that. What I wouldn’t give to be able to taste it just one more time. It’s one of the few things I really miss."

"Have some," she offered halfheartedly, serving him a slice. "I think I just lost my appetite."

He quickly pushed it away looking at her strangely. "You know I can’t have that. Eating human food does some really awful things to our insides. Angela must have told you that about us."

"Right, right, I probably just forgot. Sorry," she apologized carelessly.

"Yeah, dontcha know that Nicky’s on an all liquid diet," Tessa joked growling seductively and leaned over to playfully bite his neck. Jealousy tugged relentlessly at Sarah’s stomach. She knew it wore badly on her and if she’d have had a stake in her hand at this very moment, there wouldn’t have been a vampire left standing in the room. Nick included. Right now, she hated them all.

"Tessa, what the hell are you doing?" Nick remarked uncomfortably as he was being forced to physically remove the woman from having draped herself all over him. "Why don’t you go wait in the car? Why don’t you all go wait in the car," he stressed laughing and threw the car keys to one of the others. "I’ll be out in a minute."

Once it was quiet and they were alone, Sarah knew Nick sensed for certain there was something up. She was mentally blocking him on purpose and he couldn’t get so much as a single image to come through. She was getting good at that. He appeared to realize it wouldn’t do him much good to ask about it.

"Brian, Kevin, the girls and I and a few others are going out for a little while. You know why. I won’t try to hide it from you. I never will. Will you be alright here alone for a bit?" Sarah nodded and he went on. "There’s not a vampire alive that would dare enter Alex’s house without invitation. They know the consequences and it is watched. We all have our keys so you can lock everything up tight after we leave. If it makes you feel better, you can secure yourself in your room or mine. Don’t go into any of the others though. They’re all pretty possessive about their space. We travel light so the few things we do have, we cherish." A car horn suddenly blared loudly from the driveway. Nick slipped off the stool and came up close, facing her once more apologetically as his hand trailed up her back lightly. It was all Sarah could do to stifle the shiver it caused. "I’ve got to go. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?"

She nodded, subtly averting her gaze from his. Nick pressed a kiss to her cheek and hugged her body to his briefly as he passed. Her body stiffened within the embrace. "I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?" Sarah made no move to acknowledge him this time and simply sat still staring straight ahead. She could sense that he was having second thoughts about going, but hoped he wouldn’t change his plans. She wasn’t up to confronting him with this at the moment.

She dumped the rest of the pizza in the trash, all sense of craving for it gone. She secured the front and back doors and was on her way back to the kitchen when the huge staircase that led up to the second floor caught her eye. It was like something out of Gone With the Wind. What was up there? she wondered. She never really knew. Alex’s bedroom she was sure. Perhaps Tessa’s and Monica’s as well. Maybe Kevin’s.

She ascended the steps and cautiously wandered the length of the expansive hallway. Surprisingly most of the doors to the bedrooms were unlocked. She went in and out of each enjoying the fact that she was defying Nick’s directions outright by doing so. To hell with him! To hell with all of them! She was angry and hurting. Vampires got to take out that hostility on their victims. Sometimes even on each other. Maybe she would take it out on their belongings. Unfortunately she wasn’t finding much to help her in that quest at the moment. What Nick had said held true--they didn’t have a great deal and most of their rooms were just as sparse and without signs of personalization as her own. She supposed it made it all the easier for them to think of human beings merely as a food source if they had nothing that still connected them with humanity.

At the end of the hall, a set of double doors led into a much larger, more opulent suite and Sarah knew this must be Alex’s. The oversize furnishings and flagrant style of decor matched his personality at least. She searched around not really knowing what she was looking for. Maybe a stake to use on him. Perhaps a gun to use on herself. She checked the dresser drawers and searched the walk-in closet from top to bottom finding nothing but tons of clothes and accessories. Boy, did this guy like to shop.

Just as she was about to give up, one of the boxes on the top shelf caught her eye. She’d found most of them to be filled with hats, but this one was a bit smaller. Too much so for a hat to fit. She pushed back the lid to discover it filled almost halfway to the top with photographs. Obviously from a much different time when Alex had been a family man, a loving husband, even a doting father. The photos were scratched and faded, their edges worn badly and for some reason she just couldn’t destroy them as she had intended to do. A few newer ones caught her eye and she nearly dropped the box when she recognized the faces of the people in them. These were taken not more than ten years back and showed images of a man and woman happy, laughing, having the time of their lives. First at a club of some kind then in front of what looked to be a fireworks display with a carnival in the background. What garnered her attention most and caused her breath to catch was the people in the photos were unmistakably Alex and Angela!

Oh my God! her mind reeled. They’d once been together? Sarah automatically flipped the photo over looking for a date stamp. She could barely make it out the ink was so faint, but it looked like 1986. It would make sense. It was the year that stood out in her mind as being the best for slayers and vampires alike. Vamp activity was at an all time low. Almost as if they’d ceased to exist. Slayers were able to get in more training time. In fact, there’d been so much extra time, Sarah had actually been able to get an idea of what being a normal teenager was all about for awhile. She’d loved that year. It made her wonder. What would have happened to the slayers and the vampires if Angela and Alex had been able to make it? If only their differences wouldn’t have driven them apart? Yesterday’s war might never have been fought. Angela may have been alive today. Since he still carried these pictures with him, it was clear Alex still held some feelings for her. Sarah could only imagine how deeply it must have affected him to be the cause of her demise.

Wait! What was she doing? Giving feelings to a vampire?! Vampires didn’t have feelings. Sarah might have denied that to herself earlier tonight after her talk with Nick, but not now. He was no better than the rest. As heartless and cruel and selfish. She was in this on her own and she had to start looking out for herself more. She took one of the photos and shoved it into her pocket returning the rest of the pictures to the box and placing it neatly back on the shelf. One was all she needed. It was all the proof that was necessary. She was going to bring down Alex’s reign in a way he would least expect. Not with weapons. With truth.

Sarah returned to her room and hid the photo quickly and well. If anyone were to find out she had it, she’d be dead before she could speak a word of it. At this point she couldn’t even trust Nick and she was sorry about that most of all.

She took a shower and changed into some looser clothing she could sleep in. She could feel sleep tugging at her. It was very early morning and she still hadn’t made a complete changeover from human sleep patterns to vampire ones. She figured Nick and the others would be home shortly so she gave into it and lay on her back on the bed. Her eyelids were growing heavy even as she waited to hear the sounds of their return and before long she was off to dreamland.