"How long do you think it will take?"

"Could be weeks, most likely months...Not more than a year I'm sure, but it still doesn't seem like much time to me."

Karl drummed his fingers on the table slowly.

"And the letter?"

"The Council is meeting in roughly two weeks, Louisiana. How much they know is going to be the draw-line. I hope Daniel has run into Jason already, because if he knows, he will go just to stand for himself."

"And what of Lestat's mentality?"

"Scared shitless really. If Daniel goes, Dagmantis will follow..."

"So he doesn't freely attend?"

"He never has. He's been occupied with more pressing matters than humoring Lestat. I have a feeling that he is planning as well."

Lee thumbed through the letter again, a signature in blood gracing the final page.

"Still, depending on what they plan to do, things could get drastically out of control. One Wolfbainian, two Pyraids, and La Magre could turn it into a massacre."

Karl shrugged absently.

"So, don't go...There, problem solved."

"I can't do that. Australia has to be represented, or power will shift again. Dag's killed the leaders from Europe, Asia, and Africa once already, and things have been tossed around a lot."

"What could be the worst to happen?"

"Let's just say that I don't enforce a fraction of the rule that I have."

**

Jason sat confused as a sudden thought occurred to him. It had been light when he had returned, so it should have been impossible for Drantille to even be there. But he had been, sitting in the kitchen, demanding that he hand his father and now brother into the grasp of the Council.

"Damn it all, what is going on!?"

His mind raced back over the conversation, trying to pick out anything unusual at all.

"I've met him before, once at the last gathering...But that's because the last European was found dead..."

He thought harder, looking at mannerisms.

"He was livid about gaining Darren and Daniel, even lost his temper over it...Oh Christ, that's it!"

He stood suddenly, heading back for the door.

"His eyes were too dark, and he never raised fangs. He's mortal...He's a damned spy!"

**

Darren was startled awake as a pound came to the door. Jason came bursting in, falling into a chair as Daniel closed his book.

"What's wrong Jason?"

"A member of the Council was waiting when I got home. He was livid about me handing you over to him..."

"In the daylight?"

"Yes. His name is Drantille, and he's only been there for a few weeks. The last European fell to Dagmantis a short while ago."

Dan ran a hand through his gain.

"But in the light?"

"Dark eyes and no fangs. He's mortal Dan, I just didn't notice it before."

"Why would Lestat put power on him without him being of the blood?"

"Here is my theory. It may be completely off, but it was all I could come up with. Edmond, the last Euro rep, was found just before Lestat left for Australia. Faced with having to choose another out of haste, he found a moral who he could bend to his needs rather than a pure blood who could turn at any moment. Lestat made the vow that if Drantille brought you two to him, he would be granted the immortality that he is already trying to visibly flaunt before he has it. But more than anything, he is a spy...One that can almost keep up with us."

Darren's eyes were wide, fighting himself for any solid thought.

"You mean Lestat wants to kill us? But I thought he was trying to help? I mean, he came with us, and he stood by us..."

Daniel sighed deeply, closing his eyes.

"Darren, life isn't like the books you've read...He isn't as innocent as he comes across, and that's something we're going to have to look out for. It's the power that he's after, and it's going to take a force greater than God to make him turn back."

"What do we do then? Wait and let them come?"

"No Dazza, I think it's time to teach you to fight our way...Jason, we're going to the battle grounds."

**

Paris was still the city of love, whether or not Dag was pissed at the whole concept. He raged down the streets, engulfed in a fit of anger he couldn't quite shake.

"She won't open up and see...She can't go back, things can't change, no looking back."

He continued on, turning and stopping on a side road, memories flooding over him.

*He was taking a late night walk to clear his mind when he had found himself on a darkened sideway. Not being bothered, he pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders against a faint chill. Walking on, he became aware that he was being followed from a distance, being watched and felt up.

He glanced quickly around him, finding no one in the alley to be giving him the feelings tugging at him.

"Who dare play these games with the hunter!? Who would follow a bringer of death!?"

The silence became suddenly thick as the air stood still. He turned, taking a step back towards the light when his feet were suddenly taken out from under him, landing him hard on the ground. Strong hands grabbed his shoulders, flipping him over onto his back as he felt fangs digging into his neck. A soft whisper crawled into his mind as he struggled against the form.

"Who dare? Only I..."

He tried to fight back again, but a hand struck his head back, knocking him unconscious, taking for the darkness.*

Dag's lip trembled, his eyes glinting against the light as he walked on, pausing and kneeling down about halfway in. He passed a hand over the cobblestone, the on that had sentenced him to what he would forever be.

"He should have finished it! No angel born in hell can break this evil spell. No warmth in that voice, no kindness when he knew who I was. It's an endless circle that I won't let die, and it's all my bloody fault. We save and then we cross, it never stops and no one is ever safe from its grasp."

He sat down, pulling his knees to his chest, quietly sobbing in the alley of sighs.

**

Ben slipped out the door and down the street to some clubs that were still pulsing at that hour. Fading into the crowd, he didn't expect to be recognized, by he wasn't so lucky. As soon as he stopped in a quiet corner, he found himself in company of a dark figure who stood away in the shadows.

"Mr. Carey? I'd have hoped for better conditions to meet you, but it seems that you came to find me."

Ben wrinkled his nose slightly.

"I didn't come to find anyone, much less anyone who would be looking for me. This city is not mine, I merely walk in it. Besides, who would want anything to do with me?"

"Lestat deLioncourt has sent for you. He sends you this as proof."

The figure produced an envelope which Ben took, pocketing it quickly.

"So, does this messenger have a name?"

He took a step from the shadows, his violet eyes dancing in the dim lighting.

"Douglas...They call me Douglas."

"No last name, Douglas?"

"No Mr. Carey. Lestat doesn't consider me important enough to carry a last name. In fact, I imagine, well besides you, that the only ones with full names to him are the Seven, and the unspeakables."

"Unspeakables?"

"Yes, Jones, Frost, and Kacrona. You know, the power holders."

"Ah yes...I see. I must be off now, a letter is of great importance in this day and age."

He turned to leave, but stopped as Douglas took a nervous step towards him.

"Douglas, forgive me...Come, I'll take you to a sleeping place."

**

"Have the letters been delivered?"

"Yes, to all but the three, but one to Mr. Carey has just arrived."

"What took so long?"

"He's traveling. My Lord, he's in Los Angeles."

"Who sent him?"

"We think Novak, but Kacrona is shaking things up all over. Jones and Frost are now in Berlin, as is Drantille. Kacrona is waiting in Paris for something."

"Has Drantille found them yet?"

"We haven't heard back yet, though I will say he's not the most dependable being you've ever sent. Who knows what he may do..."

"Shut up, Armand."

"Yes Lestat..."

**

Night fell in a roar as the youth sped towards the all-night districts. A guard stood solemnly at a sunken door on some side street. He grumbled as three men approached, talking amongst themselves.

"They watch people coming and going out of the gates. We go underground and no one will notice."

Jason stopped in front of the guard, flashing a card.

"Names?"

"Frost, Jones, Hayes."

"Alright...Pass through quick and no stopping in the club...Drantille will pitch a fit."

"It's a little too late for that..."

The ducked inside, Jason taking them straight to a tunnel that would lead them to a land of bloodstained nightmares. Daniel convinced himself that Darren had to know, had to learn, had to realize what was going on around him.

Moonlight flooded into the grass as they exited the caves and came out into a wide plain. Darren took a sudden breath.

"This is where it happened? The last battle?"

"This is where they had camped, where they had lived, and where they fell. All but one shed their life on this ground, and that one has been the last of his kind since that day."

Daniel dropped down, running his hand through the soil.

"His father fell here, the last king of kings. He brought them together to fight, and they died together in a bloody flash of fur and fangs. It wasn't a fair fight by any means. They suffered a surprise attack, and none of them were prepared. Darren, I came to warn them, but I was too late, Magnus had already slaughtered them, and his blade was raised against Dagmantis. I stopped him, but Dag thinks he's paying the penalty for it."

Darren sat down, looking at Daniel for a long while.

"So what do I learn?"

Frost leaned over his shoulder, dropping a knife into his hands.

"You learn knife fighting...Easy to conceal, harder to fight against."

"Why a knife? Wouldn't there be something more ummm...substantial?"

Daniel turned his gaze to the stars, watching them intently.

"That whole mess with me in Paris was all because of a knife. You could kill an army with just a knife if you knew what you were doing."