Of Wine and Roses

Chapter 6 The Third Night

Finally relaxed, Kale had drifted off to sleep on her own, she was so tired. He doubted that she slept the night before, nor much through the day either. She\'d handled herself quite well, but there was still one more voice that needed to be heard. Silently he left her side, and closed their room door, striding to the banister, his nighthawk gaze seeking out thor tor to his father\'s temporary chamber. \'Father, assemble the counsel,\" he called.

\'D? Why? Is there more Kale wishes to say?\'

\'No. But there is one more that needs to be heard.\'

\'D! You can\'t be serious!\'

\'I am. He is. You MUST!\'

\'Alright,\' Dracula left his room, pulling his shirt closed as he looked to the stairs above him.

\'Only Hailmann is to be in attendance. And HE MUST NOT repeat what he learns in this part of the proceedings.\'

\'I will see to it.\'

Within an hour, the counsel members retook their seats, Hailmann seated in his circle, was not the least bit impressed he\'d been recalled from hightight of hunting. \"Alright D,\" said one of the members. \"What is this all about?\"

\"You have said that you will hear the voice of all those concerned in this matter. There is one voice you have not heard from yet. It is now you will listen.\"

\"Ladies and gentlemen,\" Dracula began. \"I had already had words with Hailmann about this, now I will say to you. What you are about to witness, you will not repeat, to ANYONE. If you do, I will personally end your lives. Is that fully understood!?\" The counsel members all nodded, some of them, drawing their hands to their lips or throats. Whatever was about to happen, it was big. Big enough to draw the High King\'s anger if it ever got out. \"You may begin.\" D nodded and stepped back slightly, raising his left hand to face the counsel.

The syme pue pushed through its veil of invisibility, pulling what little of it\'s physical form out of D\'s arm and wrist, to the forefront of his hand. It took control of the hand then and stretched, spreading the fingers wide. Then with a satisfied exhale of breath, it addressed the gathering. \"Honored King of Vampires, Noble counsel,\" it turned slightly to the right to where Hailmann sat, a shocked expression across his face, \"Scumbag. Good evening.\"

\"What the hell is this!?\" Hailmann barked. \"Is this some kind of joke!?\"

\"No joke,\" the sym address. \"I am a demon who shares D\'s physical form for survival. It has been this way for thousands of years, and will continue to be so. The circumstances behind my being here, are not for discussion, for it is not why we are here. We are here tonight, and over the next two or three, to decide the fate of a little girl. Ladies and gentlemen, I am perhaps the only one who knows D better than he knows himself. So...ask away.\"

The counsel members looked back and forth to one another for a time, trying to make sense of what this thing was, then finally the vampire to Dracula\'s immediate right spoke up. \"Does Kale and Aceline know of you?\"

\"No, and maybe,\" it said cryptically. \"When D first found Kale, there was already and understanding that I remain silent, whenever possible, in the presence of strangers. As time went on, and D formed a deep bond with her, I found D unwilling to disclose my presence to her. And quite frankly, I don\'t think I want her to know I\'m here. Before Kale, D was...and please understand D, I\'m trying to be gentle about this...a complete and total bore. Monks of the old days got more action than he \" \"

\"Demon!\" D whispered.

\"D please, its is my turn to speak. This resulted in a lot of pent up frustration, which turned to anger, which he tried to berry, and sought out work as a hunter to forget his loneliness. I honestly thought we\'d die on many occasions. Then, when he found Kale, even before he realized it, he formed a bond with her. And I have tried, in my own subtle way, to encourage that feeling.\"

\"You call that subtle?\"

\"Until finally,\" the sym continued, ignoring D\'s remark. \"D didn\'t need my encouragement any longer. Then a few years ago, they became temporary guardians to a little baby, whom they thought the parents were dead. They had decided to keep the baby, only later to learn the parents were very much alive, and had to return the child to them. What I experienced when that happened, I pray I never feel again.

\"After that there was a kind of hole in their lives, I could see it in Kale\'s eyesnevenever she looked at someone with a child, or when she was near little ones at any time. Then came Aceline. D and I could feel the child\'s special heritage right at first sight. But she had a family, a disgusting father perhaps, and we were not in the position of taking the little girl with us at that time. Though I could tell on returning, we both wished we had.

\"When Aceline reached out for help, Kale and D both returned to her residence to find her. When D went to Kale upon hearing her scream in the family\'s barn, I thought I\'d chew through D\'s hand to cry out myself. I had never before seen a child so badly beaten. And I did see what D tried not to...what Kale had seen. The child had been assaulted. In a way NO child has been in a long time, or at least not that we know about. The kid was terrified. There was no one around to help her. She knew something about herself was different, she had to know. It\'s the only explanation there could be that she would pull her powers out of dormancy to call for help. And she knew exactly who she wanted to help her.
and and Kale took to her the moment they had her in their arms. And they were a family starting at that moment. If you take that away now, you\'ll destroy all of them. And I won\'t be a very happy demon. And YOU!\" the sym turned its hollow dark eyes to Hailmann, \"You are the w per person to even think of taking a child, I hope you don\'t father any. You think you are so smart, \'raise her as a vampire\'; well I have news for you bub. She aint no vampire. And who best to educate a Dhampire on being one, than D himself. He\'s over 10,000 years old. I think that counts for something don\'t you?\"

\"Demon!\" D hushed, forcing his had to turn back to the counsel.

\"Sorry. I\'ve been a good demon till now, I\'ve wanted to say my piece. Please, ask another question.\"

\"You say you saw Kale, and yet she does not know you are present. How is this possible?\"

\"A little outside the topic, but I\'ll answer. I can see the world through D\'s eyes. Next?\"

“What kind of protection or comfort can you possibly give Aceline, when she doesn’t even know about you?”

“A very special kind. I can help D survive in his battles. I can revive him when he’s wounded. And more. NEXT!”

\"Will you allow Miss Kale, and the child, to know of your presence?\" asked a woman.

\"No. Not just because D doesn\'t believe she\'d understand, but also, I kind of like this arrangement. Though I promise D this, I will do everything in my power to make sure he comes home to them alive. The little one already has some idea that I\'m here, but D and I will make sure she doesn\'t find out. I for one would like to be the \'unknown uncle\' so to speak, and watch over everyone.\"

\"Uncle? Now you\'re pushing it.\"

\"The point is. These three are a family, you cant\' just split them up willy nilly, I can\'t believe I just said that, all over one vampire\'s desire to have a Dhampire kid of his own. If he\'s that desperate for one, he should go out and fall for a human woman on his own. I think you\'ll really like that.\"

\"Enough!\"

\"D, please, the counsel is listenen....mmmmfffffmmmmfff!!\" D pressed his hands together, forcing the sym toish ish back into his hand.

\"Please excuse him, he\'s lost his tiny mind. I think that is really all you need to hear from him anyway. Suffice to say, what he will not, is that he too will miss the child, if you send her to Hailmann.\"

\"DAMN STRAIGHT!\" they sym shouted, wrestling free of D\'s grip. \"They\'re a family now and always, SO SAYS ME! AAAKKK!!!!\"

\"That will be all,\" Dracula said, suppressing a chuckle. \"You may go.\"

\"I can\'t believe you said those things!\" D huffed as he headed back to his room, where Kale still lay sleeping.

\"Hey, they asked, I was obligated to give my honest heart felt opinion,\" they sym retorted.

\"What heart?\"

\"We share it. Remember?\"

\"Excuse me please,\" D turned to see Logan transforming from wolf to human, coming down the hall. \"Is everything alright?\"

D narrowed his eyes to the changeling. \"What is it?\"

\"I thought I heard a noise. I came to look. Did the mutant servants find Tow?\"

\"Not that I know of.\"

\"Thank you. Good night.\"

\"DADDY!!!!\" D\'s heart nearly stopped at his daughter\'s cry. Even though the counsel had not decreed it so yet, regardless, she was his little girl.

\"ACELINE!!!\" The two charged back down the hall, and up the stairs to the third floor. D was the first to reach the door, and threw his shoulder to its surface. The door gave way at once, and Aceline ran to his side. \"Aceline, what\'s wrong?\"

\"A man, he was standing over me when I woke up!\"

\"Did he have blue hair?\" he asked her, taking her off the floor.

\"Yes.\"

\"Where did he go?\"

\"Out the window.\"

\"I\'m on it Dark One!\" Logan shouted, leaping over the railing of the stairs, his paws striking the floor first as he ran down the hall.

\"Come on. You\'ll stay with me till this passes.\"

\"What about your daddy? Didn\'t he say you couldn\'t?\"

\"Like he-er-well...I\'ll talk to him later.\"

\"Did you find him?\" Kale demanded, sitting with Aceline in her lap on the bed in their room. D stood near the window, scanning the brightening grounds as far as he could see. When D had lain the girl down on the bed, Kale woke immediately. He told her Tow had been in her room, but that he\'d escaped down the trellis outside her window. Kale held the girl close the rest of the night, hoping her own presence would help in relieving the little one\'s fears. Dracula had joined them upon seeing Logan scramble down the stairs, and crash through one of the windows next to the front door. He\'d sought out D and learned what happened. The counsel didn\'t mind that the girl stay with Kale and D, as long as Hailmann was there too. Again the vampire didn\'t seem too happy to be drawn out of his hunt yet again, only to sit and wait for a human in wolf\'s fur to return to them.

\"Nothing yet,\" Dracula had answered, as Teargos called to him to inform him of his servants\' progress. The look on his face was what drew Kale\'s conclusion of an internal discussion with someone. \"They will let us know, when they find him, don\'t worry.\"

\"Why?\" she asked. \"Why is he trying to hurt her? She\'s only a baby!\"

\"Please,\" Hailmann scoffed. \"The girl is a natural hunter. Nurture her vampire side and she will never have to fear anyone, because she can kill without much effort. But you! No. You will raise her to be WEAK! Like a little lamb waiting for the slaughter!\"

\"Be STILL!\" Dracula commanded. \"A child is to be cared for, nurtured as a mother and father should in their own way. You are not filling me with confidence of your suitability for that position.\"

\"It is not you, Lord Dracula, that I must impress. It is the six vampires, that sit to your left and right.\"

\"He\'s right Dracula. You have to abide by what they decide. Just let him rant and rave all he likes. He\'s not doing himself any good.\"

\"So you say. I am showing strength! Where you show weakness. Codling her, when you should be enforcing pride and power over her heritage! You would fail as mothmother! And you! Well let me just say...\"

\"Be careful Hailmann,\" D warned.

\"...You would be better off raising a cat!\"

\"Lord Dracula!\" shouted one of the house servants. \"We found him! Logan has him pinned down in the back of the garden shed.\"

\"Good. Bring him in, I\'ll convene an emergency meeting of the counsel.\"

\"Mommy, Daddy, don\'t leave me please!\"

\"You should take her back to her own room. It is safe now. The two of you may stay with her if you wish.\"

\"Thank you Dracula. Here sweetie. We can read more of your story.\"

\"I will...\"

\"No you will not Hailmann,\" Dracula intervened. \"He is your servant. You will be there yourself to hear his pleas. Come.\" He pushed the vampire out the door ahead of him as Kale carried Aceline back to her room, D trailing behind them carrying her blanket and book.

\"DID YOU LACE THE BLOOD!!!!\" Dracula demanded again, wrapping the servant in an energy field, his last resort to gain information from uncooperative people. \"It is the last time I will ask. If you do not answer by the time I count to seven, I will rip into your puny little mind to find the answers we seek! I won\'t promise the experience will be pleasant.\"

Tow screamed as the energy he was held in rippled through his body, wrinkling his flesh as it\'s passing. \"Master Dracula, please!!!\"

\"Answer Lord Dracula Tow! You shame me by not doing so!\"

\"Forgive me, Lord Dracula,\" he forced his gaze back to the counsel. \"I will answer. Please. Just release me!\" Dracula nodded and the energy disappeared, but he was still held off the floor. \"Yes. I did put the garlic in the blood. I can change my shape to fit under the door to the weapons lock up. I took one of the eight vials of garlic juice. I poured some of it on the food, but thas sus supposed to go to D. I wanted my master to hear from Kale first. Not your son. But when I saw D leaving the counsel chambers with the girl in his arms, I deduced that the girl had gotten the tainted food.

\"If she fell ill, my master wouldn\'t know how to treat her, and you\'d all see a mother, a true mother and father, care for their sick child. Blood, to my master, is the answer to everything. He doesn\'t want the child as a grandfather should...\"

\"Enough Tow!\"

\"...He wants someone with Vampire traits to protect him during the day, and be his mate at night...\"

\"SHUT UP TOW!!\"

\"...As a Vampire he sees lowering himself to mate with a human to produce a child of his own, distasteful, and he cannot perform. That is why he sought out Dhampire children. It isn\'t because he felt Aceline\'s presence. He\'d been searching for years, and like a fool I obeyed him.

\"What I did, I did to help the hunters win the child. I am sorry that the girl was harmed in the process. I tainted the blood, knowing that she would refuse it, and my master drink it instead, thereby killing him, and the hunters succeed by default. But that didn\'t happen, I\'m sorry. And it wasn\'t till after the blood was taken up, that I realized that the blame for my master\'s death would fall upon the hunters somehow. So I thought that if I disappeared, you would think I were trying to harm the child, and instead killed my master. The blame would be mine to bear and the hunters would have their daughter. I was worried about the girl though, I snuck back the the house to see how she was doing. I\'d no idea she\'d recovered so quickly. Nor that she would wake just from me standing there. I\'m sorry I frightened her.\"

\"You are most fortunate that Miss Kale is tending to the child, or you\'d be in greater danger than you are now. Your punishment will be decided at a later time. For now you will be detained under guard. Regal.\" the purple mutant took hold of the man as he dropped to the floor, and took him to the side. \"Hailmann, if you believe you can overcome his accusations, by all means do so.\"

He confidently stepped to the lighted circle and faced the counsel, clearing his throat as he met Dracula\'s stern gaze. \"You have heard much from these two,\" he began, referring to D, who was quietly watching from his seat, and the absent woman that was his. \"But the fact remains. They will not raise her to embrace her Vampire heritage. Most likely they will suppress her attempts to explore that side of her life. I ask you once more to give her to me. She will be raised as the noble she is. Nothing will be with held from her. Whatever she desires will be provided. She will find that the life of the noble Vampire is far better than the weakling life of the human these two will teach her.\" Hailmann retook his seat, after bowing to the counsel, a strange smirk across his face.

\"If that is all, we will adjourn. Tomorrow night, we will hear from Aceline herself, as per Kale\'s request.\"

\"Are you serious?\" Hailmann scoffed.

\"It was per Kale\'s request, the least we can do, is honor her request. Besides. It is the child that must endure what we decide.

The weather had turned for the worse through the day, as the drizzle turned to all out rain, then to thunderstorms. Logan watched as the darkening sky danced with the lightning across behind the clouds, the dark gray sheets of puff turning from near black to light gray, to white and then dark again. He turned when he saw Aceline\'s reflection, rise on the bed. \"Its alright little Dark One. It is only the maker,\" he said.

\"I want mommy!\"

\"I\'m sorry, she can\'t come to you now,\" he sat down next to her, as she cried. \"Listen to me little Dark One. There is nothing to fear. The dark is just the sleeping side of the world. There is nothing there that isn\'t there in the day.\"

\"But the noise!\" she cried as the thunder boomed overhead.

\"That is only the maker clapping. You see. In the beginning, the maker made both light and dark. Then he maid the world. He shared the world with both sides, but he wanted to always watch over his creations, and sometimes when he cannot see, so he asks the light to toss its brilliance into the dark from time to time to make sure his creations were alright. The maker applauds his creations progress, each time he catches a glimpse of them in the darkness. And it pleases him so much that he cries, which makes the rain. That is all that the thunder and lightning are. The maker watching over his creation, just like your parents trust me to watch over you when they cannot.\"

\"You really think so?\"

\"Yes. The maker has made all, and would not harm its own. Just as your mother and father would not harm you, just as I will not. Now refor for now, they have yet to bring our dinners. You have a big night tonight. Perhaps the most important there ever will be.\" He looked up at the door opening, and smiled as the tall purple servant of the house stepped in carrying the dinner tray.

\"There,\" she said, closing both books on the bed.

\"Finished?\" D asked, setting the plates on the tray he the table.

\"Yeah. She hasn\'t heard the rest of the story yet, so we\'ll read it when this is all over. Regardless of the outcome.\"

\"I wouldn\'t worry love. Hailmann has pretty much...what is it that people use to say...crashed and bu. Th. There\'s no chance in hell they\'ll grant Hailmann guardianship over Aceline. He has no background for it. No support. Nothing.\"

\"He has one thing we don\'t.\"

\"And that would be?\"

\"Being a Vampire. They can rule on that alone.\"

\"Why do you say that?\"

\"You\'ve told me once, that Vampires are proud creatures. They think of themselves as nobles, and all that. What if the counsel believes that a Dhampire and his nearly human wife shouldn\'t raise a child like Aceline? What if they want to stop the way of life for Dhampires all together, by having them raised as Vampires? They could take her from us just to spite us.\"

\"They wouldn\'t do that.\"

\"Why? Cause Dracula sits as mediator? He has to go by what they decide woe won\'t force them to change. Nor will he over rule their decision. Vampire Law, remember.\"

Logan straightened the little jacket around her shoulders, and made sure it hung well. He\'d styled her little pigtails, braided, into loops off the back of her head. She then turned and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. The dress was one her parents had bought her, parents meaning Kale and D. It was tan brown, with a white shirt. The jacket was a little too long in the sleeves, and a little roomy, but she\'d grow into it in time. She hadn\'t had the need to wear it till now, and hoped they would like it on her as well as being presentable to the counsel. \"I\'m scared,\" she said. \"What if they make me go with him?\"

Logan nodded, as he straightened his own hair. \"Tell them what is in your heart, little Dark One. Be as honest with them as to yourself. Speak to them as though you\'d speak to your parents. For that is what will sway them.\"

\"Do you really think so?\"

\"Only the maker can say for sure. But it never hurts to be honest.\"

\"Ok.\"

Logan led the girl out of the room, through the hall, and down the stairs, all the while feeling like eyes were watching their every move. He pushed the doors open to the counsel hall, and nodded to Kale and D, who locked their gaze to the pair, the moment they saw it was them. \'Be brave,\' she remembered D had told her, and she tried. She took a deep breath, straightened up to her full four-foot height; or rather 3 3/4 feet tall; and took her seat in the center circle.

Dracula smiled down at her. She reminded him of D at her age, sitting before him for his school lessons. He chuckled slightly, that was so long ago. \"Aceline,\" called one of the male members. \"It was Kale\'s request that we hear you, so we\'ve prepared some questions for you. Are you ready?\"

\"Yes,\" her little voice echoed.

\"Very well. Tell us what you thought and how you felt, when you first saw Kale & D.\"

\"Well. It wasn\'t when I saw them last year at my home. It was before that, in Chesapeake Bay,\" Kale and D exchanged glances but listened intently as she continued. \"Mr. C., the boss my family worked for, took us there on business. We were at the docks when I saw daddy carry mommy out of one of the buildings. He is really strong. And he rode into town. I was in the way at the docks, so I followed them.\"

\"They didn\'t mind?\" asked a woman
\"
\"They didn\'t know. I think mommy was sleeping. She didn\'t look good. Maybe sick.\"

\"Alright. What happened after that?\"

\"I followed them to a pretty place called Delilah\'s Tearoom. Daddy stopped at other places, but I guess he didn\'t like them. That\'s when Mr. C found me, and I went with him for lunch and stuff. Montel, my mother\'s husband, found me later with Mr. C, and got real mad. He beat me that afternoon for bothering him. My brother Peter bandaged my cuts that night.\"

\"Aceline has remarkable recall,\" Kale whispered to D.

\"Dhampire children often do. Even before their power\'s emergence.\"

\"Next day, I woke up in our wagon in a train yard. I saw mommy and daddy together there, and mommy looked much better. I tried to go over and say hi, but there were too many people, and they moved on. Montel started calling for me, and I got scared. When he couldn\'t see, I snuck onto the train. I wasn\'t scared though. Mommy and daddy were there.\"

\"They didn\'t know you were following them. How did you know they wouldn\'t brush you off?\"

\"I don\'t know. I just knew they wouldn\'t. And I had to follow them. I just had to. I don\'t know why. Then, when the train stopped, they got off and rode away, and I followed again.\"

\"On foot?!\" She nodded. \"Didn\'t they see you?\"

\"No. But I kept falling asleep when I caught up, before I could say hi. Then I fell in a hole and a man grabbed me. When I woke up again, he had me all tied up in my cloak. I had to bite his arm to get him to let me go.\"

\"You bit him even then with your fangs?\" asked a male, astonished.

\"No. I didn\'t have them then. But he let me go, and I fell and hit the ground real hard. When I looked up some time later, my lips were all swollen and bleeding, and I couldn\'t see mommy or daddy anywhere. I knew then I had to go home. So I started walking.

\"A man in a village picked me up and took me to a doctor. He was nice, but not as nice as mommy and daddy. Then Peter and Mr. C. came and took me home.\"

\"Wasn\'t your true mother happy you were home?\'

\"No. And my sister took my birthday dress that Mr. C. had made for me. Mother and Montel even said she could. I stayed close to Peter after that, or I hid in the attic to stay out of the way. Then the weather machines got turned off and it snowed really bad. Peter and me found mommy in a snowstorm just outside our house! She was almost blue! We took her inside and she got better. Then she left. But she never said good-bye.

\"Daddy wasn\'t with her, so I had to try and find a way to let him know where she was going. So I made sure I remembered everything she\'d said. And I traded her a newer blanket for her old one. So when daddy came, he\'d know I\'d seen her, and he\'d listen to me.

\"He did come by a few days later, and I SAW HIM!! He helped me after he had a nap. We talked, I told him what mommy had said, of where she was going. And he said that mommy never says goodbye \'cause she could always see that person again one day.

\"AND HE WAS RIGHT!!! He found mommy, and they came back for me! AND I WONT GO WITH HIM! \'Cause he\'s MEAN!!!!\"

\"Calm down little one please,\" Dracula laughed, though inwardly he agreed about Hailmann being full of himself.

\"Sorry. I don\'t want to leave mommy and daddy. They love me, and I love them. If you make me go, I\'ll run away, back to THEM!!!\"

\"Hailmann, hold your tongue!\" Dracula ordered, seeing him about to speak.

\"Aceline,\" asked one of the other women. \"At any time, did you think that Kale and D wouldn\'t want you? Be honest.\"

\"A couple times...\" she whispered, \"But then I\'d remember how he looked at her in Chesapeake. If they didn\'t love each other that much, then they wouldn\'t want me. But daddy and mommy did, and so they would love me. I just knew.\"

\"Child,\" called a male. \"I\'m curious. When you followed these two across the countryside, were you not scared that if you did meet them face to face, that they would not just send you back home, or take you home themselves?\"

\"No.\"

\"Why not?\"

\"I don\'t know. I just wasn\'t.\"

\"Perhaps,\" Dracula offered. \"The girl was somehow affected by the events in Barbarois at the same time, which would explain her unusual determination to follow Kale and D.\" The counsel nodded in agreement.

\"Aceline. Would you not prefer to be raised as a vampire, and not a human?\"

\"No. Daddy said that in order for me to get better faster, I\'d need blood to drink. He used these pills in my teacup, and it was yucky. I don\'t want to do that. Besides all I\'ve heard is that vampires hurt people. And I\'m not a vampire. Daddy says I\'m a Damper. Whatever that is. So why should I want to be something I\'m not?\"

\"But they\'ll raise you as a human.\"

\"I never heard them say that. Did you?\"

Dracula nodded. \'Very good child. Very good.\'

\"Mommy and daddy will raise me as I should be, as their little girl. After all, that\'s what I am. And if in the future I have questions, daddy is there, and so will you be, daddy\'s daddy.\"

\"Yes...I suppose I would be.\"

\"So I don\'t see why I\'d have to go with him anyway.\" The counsel laughed as Aceline promptly crossed her arms and turned her gaze from them all, but what really made them chuckle, was her \'so there\' tone in her voice.

\"If the counsel would permit,\" Hailmann began. \"I have a question for the girl.\"

\"Make it brief,\" said Dracula.

Hailmann strode over and faced the little girl. \"Aceline. What happened to you before Kale and D returned for you? You don\'t have to answer...that is not what I wish to know. But just think about that as I ask you this, and this you must answer. What makes you believe, that D will not repeat that event?\"

Aceline\'s heart had begun to race, and her breath quickened. But when the second question was asked, she seemed to calm down considerably. She got up from her seat, went over to D, took his hand and pulled him back, so that he was standing next to Hailmann. She then stood on the love seat, and had them both step closer to her. She looked each in the eye very carefully. First Hailmann, then D, and smiled. \"Because he wont,\" she said happily. Then turned to Hailmann. \"But you would...you have Montel\'s eyes. You\'d do it. Without thinking twice, as I\'ve heard people say.\" Hailmann huffed, as she gave D a hug, before he returned to Kale. \"I would trust you, as much as I trusted my family, not including Peter, which wasn\'t one bit.\" She sat down by dropping to the seat, rather satisfied with herself. \"Anything else you want to know?\"

Hailmann returned to his seat, being waved aside by Dracula. \"Little one,\" asked the younger woman. \"What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you want to do what they do?\"

\"I don\'t know what they do, and I don\'t know what I want to do. I\'m only five and a half. Did you know what you wanted to do when you were like me?\"

\"No,\" she smiled. \"I suppose not. Kale and D are hunters. D is the one who killed your natural Vampire father. How do you feel knowing this?\"

\"He must have done something really bad, cause I know, my daddy wouldn\'t hurt anybody unless they did something bad.\"

\"He kills for money.\"

\"Yeah, but only those that do something bad.\"

\"And you know this...how?\"

\"The same way I knew the answer to his questions,\" she said, pointing to Hailmann. \"I don\'t see it in his eyes. You can tell a lot about something by someone\'s eyes.\"

\"Really?\" Aceline nodded. The woman got up, and went to Aceline, kneeling on the floor in front of her. \"Look imy emy eyes and tell me what you see.\" She leaned forward and locked eyes with her. They were silent for a long time, Aceline turning her head at different angles as she searched the woman\'s eyes. Then she sat back. \"Well?\"

\"You are younger than my daddy. MUCH younger.\"

\"Yes I am. But...\"

\"And you want to do the right thing, but you aren\'t sure what that is. You don\'t\' have all you need to know. You are looking with your head. Try and look with your heart, and see what that tells you.\"

\"Vampires don\'t have hearts like that,\" Hailmann laughed.

\"Yes they do,\" Aceline smiled. \"If they didn\'t, daddy\'s daddy wouldn\'t be going through all this, now would he?\"

\'Bright child,\' Dracula thought. \'Follow the path of your own heart, it will never fail you. Without even knowing it, Kale and D have already taught you the most important lesson you can learn. Bravo.\'

\"Do what your heart tells you. You won\'t be disappointed.\"

The woman returned to her seat, her mind alive with conflicting thoughts, allegiances, loyalties, duties. None of it made any sense any more. \"Are there any more questions for the child?\" Dracula asked. No one spoke up. \"Very well. We will adjourn, to allow you to...\"

\"No...that won\'t be necessary,\" called one of the males. \"I believe we can conclude these proceedings tonight. Allow us a few minutes, but do not leave this room.\" The counsel members gathered behind Dracula and began whispering amongst themselves.

The minutes ticked by like hours. The members jostled for position amongst telveelves for better perches to talk quietly. Knowing full well that Dracula was keeping everyone from hearing what they were saying. Aceline stayed in her seat, anxiously waiting for the members to finish. She pulled at the buttons on her leggings, meant really for decoration than anything else. Then the members stopped whispering. The eerie silence sliced the room and raised the hairs on the back of all their necks. All accept Hailmann. The man sat there confidently smirking, absently checking his fingernails for dirt.

The members gathered around Dracula, whispering in his ear. Then one by one, they all retook their seats.