I hoped that Anita could be revived this time.  I hoped it didn't take
all evening.  I was cold.  I was weakened.  I was sore.  I was
miserable...

And I was terrified that Vlad would rise and revisit me before Asher
could arrive.  I didn't think I'd survive another night of his ardeur. 
It would either kill me or break my mind.  If he decided to bleed me, I
was SURE I would die before the next dawn.  I was too drained to
recuperate from something like that, even with my master's strength to
draw on.

I dozed again, without meaning to.  The exhaustion.

Hands were stroking my skin.  Soft caresses.  Tender touches.  Gentle. 
Silken lips brushing along my cheek, down my throat.  The wetness of a
tongue, seeking my pulse....

"Asher?" I mumbled, struggling up from sleep.  I could feel fangs
hovering just above the skin of my neck, poised to strike.  Why?  
Surely
my master knew I was too weak for that?

"Nein, liebchen," came the response, bringing me fully awake.  Even
though I knew it was a dangerous thing to do and might goad him on to
feed, I screamed.  I couldn't help it.

"No, no, nononononononononononono!!" I was sobbing, head tossing from
side to side, trying to get away.  Vlad held me pinned in an iron
embrace.  But at least he had pulled away from the pulse in my throat. 
He wouldn't feed...at least not on blood.

Vlad rocked me, shushing, until I finally calmed down some.  "Mein 
Gott,
you are nearly as cold to the touch as I am at rising, liebchen.  
Perhaps
I WAS a bit too...enthusiastic last night."  He vanished suddenly,
returning moments later with a blanket.

I eyed him warily.  Asher had told me to play along, let him think he'd
broken me.  It wasn't going to be much of an act.  

Vlad moved towards me with the blanket, and I was torn between terror 
and
lust.  That was the problem with the ardeur, at least what I understood
of it...it was addictive.  He must have sensed the response.  He smiled
as he draped the thing over me.  Sitting on the bed, he made sure the
blanket was wrapped around me securely, then pulled me into his lap as 
if
I were a small child.

I sighed, leaning my face into his hand as he brushed the hair back 
from
my face, a single tear sliding down my cheek.  "Why are you doing 
this?"
I whispered.

"You are of no use to me dead, liebchen," he replied.  Deliberately, he
began lightly tracing fingertips along the planes of my face.  I tried 
to
remain as motionless as possible, but my body betrayed me, responding 
to
his touch as if I craved it.  Much to my chagrin, that seemed to please
him.  "Ah, I see that already you hunger for my caresses, liebchen.  By
tomorrow night, you will be my willing slave."

"No," it came out as a hoarse whisper, void of hope.

"Oh...ja," Vlad breathed into my mouth.  Against my will, I returned 
his
kiss, allowing him to possess me.  My body went completely
submissive...no act.  

My mind was still my own...for now.  I could sense Asher at the back of
my mind, but he seemed withdrawn...distracted.  I didn't reach out to
him.  I didn't want to jinx whatever was going on back at the Circus.  
I
was starting not to really care if I was rescued or not.  Vlad was 
there
for me now.  He would take care of me.  All I had to do was...what DID 
he
want me to do?

"Vlad?  Why do you need me?  What do you want me to do for you?"
 
Vlad looked at me a moment, as if debating what or how much to tell me. 
Finally, he spoke.  "You are the key to holding your master's city."

I gave him a puzzled frown.  "But, you are my master now."

He smiled, leaning down to touch noses with me.  "Ja, that is right,
liebchen.  I am your master now.  Do not forget it."

"Never."  I raised up just enough to kiss him, one hand worming free of
the blanket to tangle in his hair.

Eventually, Vlad pulled back from the kiss.  He laid back on the
mattress, cradling me against him.  He idly played with my hair while
staring at the ceiling.  "However, you are still bound to Asher.  He 
will
not want to lose you.  He would not survive it this time.  Merely 
holding
you hostage, however, would not be sufficient to control him.  That is
why I must have your loyalty, liebchen.  If you give me unquestioning
obedience, Asher will bow to me to keep you from abandoning him."

"But why do you need Asher's city, master?"  I snuggled into him a 
little
more as I asked it.

He gave a small, satisfied sounding laugh.  "It sounds good to hear you
call me master, liebchen...but I will never truly be a master vampire. 
My son, however, WILL be a true master.  I need only hold the city, 
using
you, until he comes into his power...THEN...then he can avenge me for 
the
wrongs I have suffered."  He grew gradually more agitated sounding as 
he
continued.  "Especially from my sire...the old fool.  None of this 
would
be necessary if he had only taken THIS city when he had the chance.  
But
nein, he does not even try to challenge that pampered, foppish, fool 
that
calls himself Master of the City.  I still cannot believe he could
abandon our Dark Mistress like that.  He is almost as big a fool as my
sire.  I do have to admit that at least Jean-Claude did not follow 
after
that damned eunuch."

I was still confused.  Who was Vlad's sire, who had him so riled up?  
And
what eunuch?  It didn't make any sense to me.  The only thing that 
really
began to register was that once this son of Vlad's came into his power,
he wouldn't need me anymore.

That was very frightening.

My voice quivered with the fear that was building in me.  "Master, what
will you do with me when your son becomes a master?  Will you throw me
away?"

"Shhh.  Hush, liebchen," he reassured me.  "I will not send you away if
you do not wish to leave.  I will even grant Asher his freedom if you
wish.  However, he will have to swear loyalty to my son if he wishes to
remain within our territory."  He was silent for a moment.  "I do not
wish to kill your Asher, liebchen.  He did me a great service in
destroying one of my tormentors."

"Gunthor?"

"Ja...Gunthor."  

I felt the ardeur begin to rise in him again.  Oddly enough, I didn't
feel frightened by it this time.  Had he bespelled me?  Or was I truly
becoming his slave?  

"I wish this time to be more gentle, liebchen," he caressed me with his
voice, even as his hands traveled down my form.  "I shall unshackle you
tonight.  It will prevent further discomfort."

There was some reason why I shouldn't want him to remove the shackle 
from
my ankle...but what was it?  I couldn't concentrate past Vlad's ardeur.

Suddenly he was snarling up at me...angry...the ardeur gone in a flash. 
"You bitch!"  In a flash he had me pinned to the bed, his fangs bared 
and
eyes glowing like copper fire.  I screamed.

"How long has he been listening to us?"

"Who?" I squeaked.

"Asher...your master, bitch."  I struggled futilely against his grip 
and
the entangling blankets.  "That's answer enough.  He knows now.  I WILL
make you my slave, woman.  I will not be thwarted by your treachery!"  
He
struck, taking me where shoulder and neck met.

"NO!!!!!!"  Oh God, it hurt.  He hadn't rolled me.  He meant for it to
hurt.  But if he fed too long it would kill me.  It was too soon after
Jean-Claude's attack.  I couldn't afford to lose this blood.

The pain was rapidly ebbing, being replaced by a spreading numbness.  
The
world was going fuzzy around the edges, color draining away to reduce 
my
vision to the quality of a grainy black and white photo.  

>From down a long tunnel, I heard Asher's voice.  "Ma rose!  No!"  He
sounded so muffled.  I wasn't even sure if I heard him with my ears or 
in
my mind.

"I'm sorry Asher," I whispered in my head.  "I didn't mean to break my
promise to stay.  Forgive m........"

I was swallowed in a cool, peaceful nothingness.