Of Wine and Roses

Chapter 4 The First Night

Kale hardly slept. Like D, she\'d doze off for a bit, only to wake, unsettling dreams refusing to leave her be. She remained in the chair next tot eh window, watching the sun fade over the horizon behind the house. Just as the last rays of the sun died behind the hills, a flash of gold inside the room caught her eye.

She knelt in front of the bookcase and scanned the book spines till she found a small one that had gold lettering, and pulled it out. \'The Happy Prince\'. It was strange that this book would be here, more so that souldould find it now. It was her favorite story when she was a child, and had said at times; before the war, that she\'d like to read it to her children. Until now, she\'d never even thought of the book.

D strode to the door at the sound of the knock, and admitted the purple mutant, carrying a tray with food and drink. \"Good evening. I\'ve brought you something,\" he placed the tray on the table. \"I shall return to inform you when the counsel resumes.\" He then noticed Kale with the book. \"Is something wrong miss?\"

\"Where did your master get this?\" she asked distantly.

\"The master has many artifact from before the great war. They were part of his line\'s treasures. They were left to him upon his maker\'s death.\"

\"Who was his maker?\"

\"I\'m not sure. But I do know he was one of the oldest on the Far Shore. I\'ll leave you to your meals.\"

\"One moment,\" she placed the book on a side table next to the chairs. \"Can I have a book of blank paper, and something to write with?\"

\"I shall bring them on my return.\"

\"Thank you.\"

\"What are you going to do?\" D asked as the door closed behind the mutant.

\"I\'m going to write out that story. It was a favorite of mine when I was small. I\'d like for Aceline to know it too.\" D only nodded.

There were now four circles on the floor. The main one in the middle, still lighted from above, and three smaller ones. One to the right and left of the main one, and one directly in front. Each smaller circle had a loveseat in it, and currently only the seat in the forward circle was occupied, by Logan and Aceline. The little girl tried to get up, to run to Kale, but Logan put a gentle hand on her shoulder and slowly shook his head \'no\'. Frustrated she sat back.

Kale felt the same way. The moment she laid eyes on the child she wanted to hold her, but D held her back too, gently whispering, \"You can\'t love. They won\'t allow it.\" She\'d wanted to protest, but that would have ruined their chances of keeping her, at least she thought so. As she sat down, Aceline made the signals Kale had taught her, Kale smiled and both she and D nodded to her. Her little face brightened as she sat back on her seat, facing both sides of the dispute.

\"Where is Lord Hailmann?\" asked one of the counsel members. Just then the doors burst open, and Hailmann, walked so smoothly that it looas tas though he drifted into the room on a gust of wind.

\"You\'re late!\" said Dracula.

\"Apologies, gcouncounsel, but as you all know, one cannot rush the blood from one\'s meal. It sours the taste.\" Aceline clutched her arms across her stomach, making a sour look on her face. \"Don\'t worry little one, you will soon desire the experience as much as the rest of us.\"

Kale stepped to the center circle as Dracula tapperockrock to a small pedestal before him. \"Yay say speak Kale. But only to us.\"

\"I object to his remarks,\" she stated curtly. \"He\'s acting as though the decision has already been made in his favor, and treating this whole thing like some kind of game. We are here to discuss what is best for a child! And that, you have not decided yet.\"

\"You\'re right Mrs. Tepes,\" Dracula commented. \"Lord Hailmann and yourselves will refrain from any comments to the child. Understood Lord Hailmann?\"

\"The child is of mixed blood, and as yet only been exposed to the human side, a human\'s way of living. Wh to to say that she would not rather live as a Vampire? She\'s never been exposed to our way of life. Perhaps she\'d like that better.\"

\"I think she\'s already made her choice,\" Kale stated calmly. \"I think you\'ll all be surprised just how grown up, this little five year old really is.\" Kale returned to her seat, as Hailmann tried, and failed, to come up with some remark to embarrass her.

\"Sit down, Hailmann!\" Reluctantly he did so. \"D, take the circle.\" D looked much smaller than he did the night before, he\'d left his cloak, armor and hat in the bedroom, finding no real need of it. \"The counsel has decided to hear from you first,\" said nearest right to Dracula. \"We know that you are a hunter, and that you come from a good family. The question of financial support for the child need not be answered. However, we would like to know, where you intend to live? You have no permanent home.\"

\"Furthermore,\" continued third left. \"You are a hunter, which causes you to travel the world at length, and place yourself in dangerous situations. What kind of stability is that for a child?\"

\"Your response D,\" Dracula commanded, tapping the rock on its pedestal.

\"It is true that I do not live in a home like you or my sire, but as yet I have not had the need to. Of course I will seek a residence for my family, it iit is not the dwelling that will make it a suitable home, but the quality of life she experiences there, that will make it home. Before she was in a dwelling where only one loved her, but she was not totally protected from dangers, both in and outside of the home. Now she will be. She has both my wife, and myself and we love her very much. Kale has already demonstrated to this vampire,\" he pointed to Hailmann. \"that she will not tolerate anyone harming her child. She knew there dan danger on our first meeting, and removed her from the area, and that left me to deal with it. Which I was quite capable of doing. She stood up to, and took our child from her previous guardians. And I\'m sure that if you watch her closely, she will do the same here. She is a good mother, and she has much love to give this child. Can Hailmann say the same?

\"As for my occupation, it is quite apparent that Kale will keep Aceline home, where she is safe. Many in the past had a parent, one or the other, who worked away from the home at great lengths of time, and they made their families work. Kale and I will do the same. For we have what they had, what Hailmann cannot say he does. We love each other, and we are a family, even now.\"

\"Are you saying,\" asked second from left, \"That Lord Hailmann would not provide a good home for the child?\"

\"If he truly wanted her, as a grandchild, he would not have reached inside her and pull her powers to the surfance nce more.\" Kale watched with odd satisfaction, as Hailmann squirmed under the shocked glances from those who sat above him, but as she turned her gaze back to D, she couldn\'t help but notice Aceline. It wasn\'t just because she wanted to hold the child, but because she seemed upset. She curled up closer to Logan, wrapping her self tighter in her cloak. Something didn\'t seem right somehow.

\"The first night he met us,\" D continued, \"I had to force Aceline into a coma, just to survive the forces he unleashed. We all know full well the dangers of a child Dhampire gaining their powers too soon. Or need I remind everyone about Dominick?\"

\"No, D,\" Dracula insisted. \"That won\'t be necessary.\"

\"My point exactly. It took Lord Dracula\'s power to lock Aceline\'s abilities away. If Hailmann wanted to raise her, he should not have approached us as an enemy.\" D noticed Aceline huddled closer to Logan, and her complexion paled considerably. Before he could call attention to it, Kale brushed passé him and at once started to examine her brow.

\"Sire!\" Screamed Hailmann, \"I object!\"

\"Be silent Hailmann,\" D shouted. \"Lords, ladies, a moment please.\"

\"For what!?\" demanded a lady counsel member.

\"There is something wrong here. If you allow mmomemoment, we\'ll all know.\"

Carefully, Kale ran her hand over Aceline\'s face, finding her exceptionally feverish. \"Mommy...\" Aceliallealled softly, her eyes near tearing. \"My stomach hurts.\"

Kale pulled her into her arms. \"What did she eat?\" she asked Logan.

\"Only what they brought us.\" He replied.

\"This is Ludicrous!\" Hailmann shouted.

Kale went o him with Aceline. \"You look after her then.\" Hailmann scoffed and turned away. She then went to the center circle. \"Sirs, ladies,\" she said, allowing D to take Aceline. \"She\'s ill. I\'d like to ask for a recess to tend her.\"

\"Very well,\" Dracula said, not giving the counsel a chance to decline. \"I would not be good to have the young one perish before these proceedings are ended. Go now, but be aware, we will be watching.\"

The counsel had follwed Kale to Aceline\'s room. wanting to observ what happened. Hailmann reluctantly agreed to follow, but only after he took care of something first.

There wasn\'t anything really odd about Aceline\'s dinner, at least not that she could see from what was left. Roasted mean, vegetables, mashed potatoes, much the same as what she and D had been served. \"She wasn\'t\' very hungry,\" Logan said. \"She\'s been worried about what\'s been happening.\"

\"D, could you come here?\"

D left the little girl on the bed, securing the covers over her shoulders before he joined his woman at the small table. \"What\'s wrong?\"

\"This is her dinner. She had to have eaten something to make her this ill. See if you can figure it out. Logan, did she drink anything?\"

\"Milk. But I had some too, from the same pitcher. I feel fine.\"

\"Mommy...\" Kale went over and sat next to Aceline. Her temperature was still climbing, and she shivered as though se were cold. \"My stomach hurts.\"

\"I know baby, I know.\"

\"Does no one know hoe to treat a Dhampire child!\" huffed Hailmann, finally joining them in the little one\'s room. \"Here, give her this.\"

Kale eyed the cup with its rebstabstance. \"That would work,\" she said, \"If Dracula had not locked her powers away. The way I understand it, when a vampire\'s powers are dominant, the body works differently to support them. For all intents and purposes, she\'s human.\"

\"ACK!!!\"

\"D! What\'s wrong?\"

\"Garlic!\" he hissed, \"Her dinner is lace with garlic!\"

\"Regal!\"

\"No ma\'am, there has never been garlic used in cooking in this house.\"

\"The only garlic,\" said his twin, \"is that which you had as part of your weapons arsenal.\"

\"We\'ll check the lock up.\" Dracula announced. \"I hold the only key, and the lock is one I brought with me. For now, what can we do for the girl?\"

\"Regal,\" Kale continued, holding Aceline closer to her breast. \"I want you to do exactly as I tell you.\"

\"Yes. Miss Kale.\"

\"Bring me a glass of cold milk. Then return to the kitchen and in a cup; combine boiled water, 1/8th cup lemon juice, and a heaping tablespoon of honey. Now go!\"

\"Yes miss.\"

\"Dracula, am I correct in my assumption of Aceline\'s powers?\"

\"That Aceline is human now, yes.\"

\"Good.\"

\"Mommy...\"

\"Easy baby. You\'ll be ok.\"

\"Hailmann, you best drink that yourself.\"

At once Kale grabbed the cup, and smelled the contents. She could only smell the near metallic scent of the blood. But there was something about this whole mess that didn\'t sit right with her. \"D? I know blo blood. But could you smell this, and tell me what you find?\"

Steeling himself he too the cup and raised it to his nose. With effort he handed it back, tuning from her with quickened breath. \"I can\'t tell,\" he said hoarsely. \"The blood is too strong.\"

She nodded and turned to his father. \"Dracula. Could you please? Your senses are far more acute than D\'s or mine.\" \"Very well,\" Dracula raised the cup, and in hailed slightly the delicious aroma of the blood. But it wasn\'t\' just blood he detected. Abruptly he pushed the cup back into her hands, trying to suppress a fit of coughs. \"Garlic!\" he stammered. \"All through it!\"

\"I thought as much.\"

\"The woman downstairs probably had garlic to eat earlier,\" Hailmann defended, as all eyes in the room turned to him. \"Not likely,\" said Regal, returning with a glass of milk as requested. \"The woman downstairs is well known to my master. She visits often and never touches anything with garlic, to better appease my maser.\" He handed Kale the glass. \"My brother is making ready the other drink.\"

\"Good. Hailmann, did you draw the blood yourself?\" she asked as she held the cup to Aceline\'s lips.

\"No. My servant, Tow, did that.\"

\"We will question him later,\" Dracula concluded. \"Kale, don\'t\' think I\'m trying to but in but, wont milk only make her worse?\"

\"In a way. Trust me baby please?\" the little girl nodded and continued to drink. \"Milk on an upset stomach will make one sick, and right now that\'s what we need.\"

\"You see!!\" snapped Hailmann. \"What kind of mother makes a child sick!\"

\"Let her finish!\" Teargos snapped back.

\"Thank you, counsel member.\" Kale rinsed the glass and filled it with water, sitting it on the counter in the lav and returned to the girl. \"The body protects itself from ailments as best it can. Right now, the potatoes with the garlic, are sitting heavy in her stomach, eventually she will get sick on her own, but we can help it along a little to lessen the suffering. It\'s best to let the body through up naturally, rather than us chemicals or drastic procedures to induce vomiting.\"

\"MOMMY!!!\" Quickly Kale took Aceline from the bed, and sealed them both in the lav. About twenty minutes later, she carried the scared child from the lav, and laid her back on the bed.

D pulled the covers over his little girl, as eh politely refused to take any more water form the glass Dracula had offered. A moment later, the twin mutant arrived with a steaming cup. Kale took it and held it to Aceline\'s lips. \"Sip it slow honey, it\'s hot.\"

\"And what will this concoction do?!\" Hailmann huffed.

\"Lemon juice is a long time medicine for all kinds of ails. The honey will coat her throat and help ease the raw feeling from...well, you get the idea, and the hot water will help it all go down, help drive away the chills, and help her sleep. Any more questions?\"

\"How do you know this? \" asked one of the counsel ladies. \"These things are unheard of, even in the cities.\"

\"Its what I was given when I was sick as a child, and continued to take when ill as an adult, for colds, and flues. My mother and father taught it to me, and I will teach it to my children.\"

\"I suggest,\" said Dracula, \"That we locate the servant Tow, and question him about the cup of blood. Then we should adjourn for the evening. Continue this all tomorrow night. I know it is early,\" he said waving down the woman who wanted to speak. \"But the child must rest. We will all be watching you. Kale. So please. Be careful of what you say to her. When she is better, please return to your own room.\"

\"Thank you, good night counsel.\"