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Review This Story || Author: Veronica Leigh Marquette

The New Beginning - Dark Love 4

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Azrael, just chuckled, shaking his head at an off the mark comment by one of the many Rogues that were now living in his lair. All in all there were eleven, Lerion and Derrik who had been the first. And were still living there, plus nine others. The truly surprising and wonderful thing was that of the eleven, starting first with Lerion and Derrick, there were three couples. A total of six of the Rogue children in his keep that he didn't have to stay on continuously not to sire any more young until they were ready, better trained, and had his leave. Oh, he would welcome any Childe they sired, not before they were ready. True in Harris and Doc's case as well as Forest and Rain's. They were Sire and Childe already. But at least, they were together, the natural instinct to dominate and submit, were taken care of.

Even more surprising than the fact that six were well on the way to being at peace with the rules of his lair, was the fact that Forest and Rain were not the only two Kin that were women that had come to the summons. None of these children were old enough to have ever had to hunt, ever. That was true, for all of them. That was how they had come to be Kin. It would seem that the keeping of pets had softened the nature of the brethren somewhat, so that now, more and more of the gentler sex were being seen among them. Of the eleven, not including Forest and her Chile/wife Rain, there were three other sisters of the night staying with him in his Covenstead. Cerberus has growled more than once that it just simply wasn't right. He had been running his Covenstead, the Warlock's for over a hundred years, and still only had nine women in it, where as Azrael had not even run his for seven and already had over half that number.

Of the eleven, other than Lerion and Derrick, who had been with him the longest, and Harris and his Childe, who were marginally well trained. None of the rest had more than just the most rudimentary training. Keeping him up well into the daylight hours more than once to undo some of the mistakes they had made as they fumbled along trying to survive.

The presence of Harris and Doc, in his lair was one that still amazed him. He had thought himself lucky beyond all imagining when he had stumbled upon Torin and later Sapphire and William. Mages were so hard to come by in this day and age. But with the coming of these two particular Rogues, Azrael was again able to start training Kin in the arts. True neither of them were anywhere near as bright and quick as his two lost ones had been, but they were still Magi, and with time, would do not only their Kin, but the arts, proud.

"Hi, Azrael." Topaz threw herself into his lap, kissing him. "How ya doing tonight, Daddy." She giggled as he nipped at her nose.

"Just sitting back, and trying very hard to not feel too overly pleased with myself." He smiled with gentle tolerance at his youngest Fledgling. "So, do you and that boy of yours have plans for the evening, or are my beloved and I actually going to be keeping you here with us tonight?"

Topaz looked down at him, pouting. "Not fair, first you practically steal Zeph from Cerberus to keep me company while you and Loki heal, and now, you are complaining that he and I are just too close. Come on Daddy; make up your mind. Either you want Zeph and I to see each other, or not."

Azrael just chuckled at her. "Oh, I have no problem with the two of you as lovers. Quite the opposite, it eases my heart and soul to know that after all that I failed to do with you, that you have come through this all so well."

Topaz growled at him. "That's not fair either, Azrael. Don't you think I missed Tori and Sapphire, and they weren't even my family yet, I happen to agree with Cerberus on this, I would have been a whole lot more worried if you didn't just kinda shove me at Zeph while you and Loki mourned. I know I am loved, I know you will never, or at least not until my hundred years are up, ever throw me out. So quit worrying about me." She kissed him again. "And as to the answer to your question. Zeph and I were already planning on staying in tonight. His Sire is getting almost grumpy with us because he almost never sees Zeph without me anymore. And though he says he loves me almost as much as if I were his own, I'm not and he is a little tired of looking at my face all the time."

Azrael threw his head back laughing. "Well, I would never put my feelings to the boy quite that way, but I too would like to see you without him latched to your arm for a while. I think Loki and I would very much like to have you join Selene with us at light, I have missed you Childe."

She giggled. "As Gabriel's man, would say, 'twist my arm' ."

Maria just laughed, shaking her head. "I'm going out to get the mail, Azrael. Topaz is waiting for the knife she ordered to arrive."

"I know, that has been all she has talked about since she ordered it. What I do not understand is why, if the blade is not sharp, would she want it so badly."

"Because it's pretty." Topaz moved to sit up higher in her sire's lap. "Hi, Maria," she kissed her. "And besides, it's not only pretty, but I can always sharpen it and ask you to set the edge."

Maria just chuckled to herself. "If it came dear, I will make sure you get it, posthaste." She leaned down and kissed her, again. "Do me a favor, love, try talking our Master into letting me stay with you both tonight."

Topaz just giggled as Maria left the room. "You are slacking up again Azrael. Better watch yourself or not even Loki will be able to revive you."

"Then, I, will die a happy man, Childe, then I will, indeed, die a happy man."

* * *

The tires squealed trying to hold to the road as the car skidded, gravel spraying as it spun into the driveway. Rachel was out of the car even before it had come to a full and complete stop. "Maria!" She screamed as the woman closed the door to the realm. "Don't open that box!" But even as the words left her, she was knocked back with the heat of the blast as the realm exploded.

* * *

Azrael came back to himself at both Selene's and Megel's cries of horrified pain. "What?" He pulled himself up, easing Topaz off his chest. "Are you all right precious?" He immediately grabbed her. "Are you well?"

Topaz went to answer him, even as he felt the emptiness. He was on his feet and tearing away a portion of the wall from where his beloved husband lay, Loki was, dying. He pulled his love, his life, close as the pain overtook him and he wept.

"Azrael," a soft, pain filled whisper.

"Yes, beloved." Azrael looked down, into Loki's face.

"Selene, let me speak to my Childe.

Selene struggled to crawl over the broken plaster and glass. "Loki." She grabbed his hand. "Father." She carefully lifted his head, gasping as she felt the stickiness of blood on her hand. "Oh, no." She began to weep. "Oh, no."

"Let me go, I am dying Selene, let me go." He touched her cheek. "Make Azrael live, don't let him follow me, and don't you follow either."

Azrael grabbed his hand. "No, you cannot die, you will not leave me." He forced his wrist against Loki's lips. "Live for me, beloved, live."

Loki only lay there, his most, precious, of all loves wrist against his mouth. "Let me go brother, Husband. It is time, let me die." He kissed the wrist pressed against his lips. "Free me Azrael, free me and live. Promise me, you will not follow me. Find love, again, keep living. As long as you live, I do, too. Live for me, keeper of my heart."

Azrael just knelt there, holding his hand, weeping. Could he do it, he depended on Loki, so much, he loved him, loved him with strength that surpassed all love for him, other than that of his Sire. So could he do it? Give his promise to the, only, reason he had for living that he would go on without him. He sighed. 'Yes' , he loved his husband that much. He would go on. "I promise you, my most beloved of all loves. I will live, if for nothing more than to let you continue to live in me."

He nodded as he blindly reached for a sharp piece of metal. "Thank you. Now please let me speak to my Childe, Azrael."

Selene moved forward again. "Don't leave me Father. Please don't leave me alone a second time."

Loki just graced her with a soft, sad, smile. "I don't really have much of a choice in this Selene. But I will not leave you orphaned. I can't offer you much, my darling, but I can mark you as an adult. Your hundred years are forfeit. When you walk away from me, it will be as an adult," he reached up, pulling her blouse from his mark so that he could finish it. But he didn't have the strength. "Azrael." He looked to where the man knelt beside him. "Help me. I can't leave her like this, help me."

A rustle behind him had him turning to watch in fear as Megel and Shadow pulled masonry from a body "No." He finished Loki's mark on Selene before he went to help free the body. "Not Cain as well." He watched as Shadow huddled beside him, weeping. "Oh Megel."

Megel looked over the broken body of his Childe. "Cain?" He whispered, trying to call his Childe back to the land of the living. *Childe , answer me. * His Childe was so close to death, so very close.

*Father? * A faltering touch as Cain struggled against what was happening. He hurt so much, was so cold . *Help me, Father. *

Megel closed his eyes at the pain and terror that he knew his Childe was feeling. *Ssshh, Cain, I know, love, I know. Just go to sleep . Everything will be fine. Just go to sleep. * He would lose his Childe, true Cain was not his true First-Born, but, Born or, Made he had been his first Childe. And now he would lose him.

*I'm cold, Megel. Why am I so cold? *

Megel pulled him even closer, trying to warm him, knowing that no amount of heat would ever again reach his Childe. * Ssshh, I am with you Cain, go to sleep, I am with you. *

There was silence for the longest time. Megel began to believe that his Childe had slipped into slumber, escaping the ugliness that was all around him.

*I'm dying. * It was not a question. *Father; don't let me die, please, I'm afraid. *

*You have nothing to be afraid of Childe. You have family there, three uncles, a Great Grand-Sire and countless Kin there, that will watch over you as you sleep. Don't be afraid, please, baby, don't be afraid. Just go to sleep hold, my, love to your heart as you slumber, know I will be with you one day. *

Again a moment of silence, then, *Vincent, I see him. He's dead too isn't he? *

Megel could hear Christian and Anna crying over David's body. *Yes, Cain, go I release you, go back to your first Sire. Hold him, as you sleep. Goodbye my loved and cherished Childe. * He knew that Cain would fight to the end to keep from dying. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right. The Childe had only had such a short time. *Cain, can you hear me, Childe? *

Almost too distant for him to hear , *I'm dying, let me go Father, please, let me go. *

*Yes, I know, but Childe you have been with me for such a short time. I will miss you. Always know I love you, and will continue to love you, always. * He lowered his head, teeth sinking into Cain's throat . *I release you my Childe, go with all my love. *

Shadow just huddled against Megel as his Sire bid his brother safe sleep. "He's dead, isn't he?" He just put his head in his hands and began to sob even harder as Megel looked up, a terrible pain in his eyes. "He's dead." Shadow just couldn't believe it. Cain was dead, the same man that had just beat him at chess for the millionth time, and he was dead. "Jules," he looked up, frantic to find his pet. "Where is Julian?" No, fate couldn't be that cruel, he couldn't lose both Cain and Julian in one night.

"Master?" A soft, frightened and confused voice. As a thin frail looking, boy pulled himself, up out of the pile of rubble that had landed on him. To move painfully to where Shadow knelt by Megel. "What happened?"

"The end of innocents, love. The end of innocents." Megel pulled him close as he held Shadow, weeping.

* * *

Selene looked up from where Loki had finished her mark. She was now a Fledgling no more, but adult Kin. "Thank you, Father." She lay against him, crying.

"Release me Selene, help me to die." He knew that he could not block the pain much longer, and he didn't want to die, knowing that the two most important people in his life had to watch him suffer. "I can't fade. And I can't live like I am, so release me Selene, if you love me at all. Kill me. Don't make me ask it of Azrael. Only his, promise, and Topaz are keeping him from following me. Kill me, and have him remake you as his. Give me your word. You will live Childe. Knowing that it will in no way alter my Gift of adulthood. Promise me, you will do as I ask." He coughed, blood on his lips. "Promise me you will make you both live."

Selene lay against him, sobbing. She would have to kill him. He was right. There was no way that Azrael could give him his request without going to follow him in his sleep. *I release you, Father. * She went to give him what he had begged for. His, death, *take my love with you, Sire. Hold it to your heart as you sleep. *

*Always, goodbye my cherished Childe. I see your sister Sapphire. She is waiting for me. Go on and live, knowing that I will always love you. *

And the link died with him, as Selene, weeping, snapped his neck. "I'm sorry, Father, so sorry." She kissed his lips. "I love you." Her fangs sank into the now dead flesh, going to fully release Loki's soul with the draining of his body.

She watched as Azrael took his lifemate into his arms. "Release him Azrael." She so wanted to take her Father back into her arms, just one more time before she had to let him go. "Please, release my Father."

It was even harder than it had been with Torin, making himself sink his fangs into the lifeless flesh. *Fare well, keeper of my heart. Sleep, I will do as you have asked. I will live, if only so you may live on in my life. Kiss our two, for me, and, sleep safe. * He choked *beloved. *

* * *

*Gabriel, please wake up. * William ignored the blood that was running down his arm. He was much too concerned for the man he held . *Please, oh please, don't die on me. *

He couldn't live if he did. He had lost so much so far and in far too, short, a time that if Gabriel died. He'd just quit living and die too.

Gabriel moaned, trying to get his wits back again. "Will?" He looked up at his Chosen and husband. "Beloved, what happened?"

"I don't know. I think the place exploded." He was so happy just to hear Gabriel's voice. "I thought I was going to lose you, so many are dead, I thought." He broke then, throwing himself against Gabriel's chest. "I thought you were dead, I thought I was alone again." He just lay there sobbing against him.

Gabriel looked at him, and then around the room. "Gods," he whispered, as he took in all the death and destruction around him. "Azrael?"

"He's okay." He pulled up, to look down at his lover. "But, Gabriel, Cain is dead, Vincent is dead, and," he bit back a sob, "Loki too. So many are dead." Finally, knowing that Gabriel was alive, knowing that his worst nightmare that he would lose the one man he loved more than life, was over. But how to, deal with all the other nightmares that, were coming true for so many this night.

All around them, others lay, either in grief or in death. Harris just held his husband to him, resting against the remains of a wall, trying to convince him to live, that he was still with him. He didn't even look up as Lerion crawled over to sit beside him, cradling the shattered body of Derrick against his chest a lost and confused look on his face

Selene sat, watching as Azrael bid his love goodbye. But Megel's sobs made her look up. He was holding Amber and Ben to him, even as Shadow wrapped his arms around Denise and Evelyn's mangled bodies. She moved, trying to find Casey, Kell, and Willow. She had to know if they still lived. "Casey?" She struggled over the wreckage. "Kell, Willow?"

A whimper alerted her to life, but her momentary joy was dashed as she watched Willow crawl from beneath two bodies. Kell and Casey had shielded Willow from the blast, had protected her life, Kell was dead, and Casey, oh Casey was so hurt, so close to death, himself. Selene reached down, crying in denial as she pulled Casey to her. "Baby," she whispered, stroking his cheek. "Casey?" She can't lose him. He was all she had. "Please baby, here, drink, live." She forced her bloody wrist against his mouth. "Please, baby, don't leave me."

Willow begun to cry. "Kell is dead, Mistress. He's dead." She tried to wipe the blood from the side of Kell's face.

"Please, baby." Selene held Casey to her. Rubbing his throat encouraging his body to swallow, as, she ripped her wrist open again and let the blood flow into his mouth. "Live, damn you, 'live' ." She was sobbing.

Casey, didn't want to drink, to live, he just wanted to sleep. "No," he gasped for air, trying to spit the blood from his mouth. But there was too much, blood to breathe, he had to drink. He was so tired. "What, what happened?" His body hurt so badly.

Selene kept tearing at her wrist and forcing him to drink. "Ssshh," she rocked him against her body. She thanked God as she cried. Loki, her Sire, was dead, she had had to kill her Father, but Casey still lived. "There was an explosion, baby." She stroked his cheek, trying to smile at him. "So many are dead," she fought down a sob. "Casey." She swallowed back the painful lump. "Honey, Loki, my Father," she began to cry again. "He's dead, Kell, he's dead, Cain and Vincent as well. So many of the others are dead."

Casey just looked up at her, refusing to believe what he had just heard. Surely Selene was wrong. Loki had become almost as important to him, as Selene was. "Don't leave me." Death had hit too much in his life, first his father, then Torin, and now Loki and Kell too. "Please, Mistress, Selene, please don't leave me."

She wiped the tears from his cheeks. "I won't, baby, I promise, I won't." She squeezed his softly. "Hush, baby." She soothed him as he moaned in pain. "You're legs are broke, love. Go to sleep for now, later I promise, I'll see you good as new." And she lay him down gently, willing him to sleep. "Go on, precious, sleep." She looked up to where; Willow sat, in tears, rocking Kell back and forth. "Willow?"

"He saved my life." She whispered. "They both did, but," she began to sob even harder. "Mistress, he's dead."

* * *

Topaz pulled away from Loki, she had bid him farewell, but it hurt so much. She didn't know how Azrael was going to be able to hold up, or Megel and Shadow, when Torin had died, yes it had hurt so much, but she hadn't been Kin yet, still only Chosen. So the pain wasn't anything like what she was feeling now, and Megel and Shadow, her once brother, now nephew. Cain had been his brother. They shared a Sire. * Zeph, please, I need you. * She was so afraid, so many were dead, so much violence, and of those that remained, she was so afraid that some of them would fade. Lilith and Christian, how could they live, with Vincent gone? And Gabriel, she only hoped that he was okay, because if he wasn't, then she knew that not even all the power her Sire had at his disposal would keep William from dying. "Azrael?" She looked up at him. "Daddy, we have got to look for other survivors."

Azrael pulled away from Loki, just long enough to look at her with such pain in his eyes, that she couldn't meet his gaze. "There are not any Childe. Look around you, any that still live are in this room, the rest in this realm, all my darlings, they are dead."

"But." She just couldn't believe that everyone was dead. What exploded, how could it have killed everyone?

The cold of the Paths filled the room as Zephyr came at a near run. Topaz was in pain. The agony she was feeling had been felt in her summons. "Holy shit." He just looked around the room at the destruction . *Father! * He blindly reached for his Sire as he gathered Topaz to him, stroking her hair as she cried against him.

This time, Cerberus didn't answer him; instead he came at once. Something had frightened his Childe, and nothing frightened this particular Fledgling of his. But as he stepped in from the Dark Paths, and took in all that was around him, he understood why his Childe called him. "Merciful Gods." He swore as he looked around. The place was in shambles, there were bodies lying all over the place. So many dead, "what happened?" He looked to Azrael who stood, by Willow, over the body of his Grand-Childe. "Uncle?" Cerberus laid a hand on Azrael's shoulder. "What happened?"

"It was an explosion, what and how, I do not know. But it has killed my Husband." Azrael looked down to the sleeping figure that Selene still huddled against. "He is dead, Cerberus."

Cerberus didn't know what to say. How could one possibly come up with the words to ease the pain he knew his uncle was feeling. "Is there anything I can do for you, uncle?"

"Can you return what is lost to me? No, Childe, there is nothing and no one that can help me now. I am alone, completely alone again, and I will have to live with it."

* * *

Megel knelt by David's body. "I know he is free, Cain saw him as he died, but," he gathered the body to him. *Watch over our Childe, my friend, please, watch over our Childe. * There was almost no blood. David had been so hurt, before he died. Megel, fighting back sobs as he gently pulled the metal shard that had embedded itself in the younger Kin's forehead, from him. Touching his face power forcing the wound closed. The tattered remains of David's arm, he straightened it as best as he could, before forging it back into wholeness. He would not have any that slept with any of those he loved to be left with such horrid marks of violence. He closed his eyes. There was one thing left for him to do . *Sharra, * he would summon his Sire, share the grief that only one Sire to another can ever fully understand. *Come, your Childe's Childe needs you now. *

Again, the almost immediate coldness of the Paths as Sharra came at once. She had felt the pain, the emptiness as her son had died. But she would never, not even in the pain she felt, intrude, at once. "Vincent?" She almost ripped her Childe from Megel. "Oh, no, baby." She just wept.

"There was an explosion." Megel gathered her and her Childe to him. "Grieve, Sharra, feel the pain that only a Sire can feel. I lost my son this night as well."

"An explosion? What happened? My son was well last I spoke to him, what killed him?"

"The realm, it just blew up. Then Davy," Wolf so wanted to die now. He believed in his heart, he would, anyway, when it came time for him to feed from David again. He didn't think he could ever feed from another. Could the pain of starvation be any greater that his loss? He didn't know, and he didn't want to know. He just wanted to die. He just wanted to be with his master again.

"'NO'!" Both Sharra and Megel reacted as one. "No, child." Sharra brushed David's cheek. "Enough death, your dying will not solve anything. Vincent is forever beyond you. Not even death will give him back to you. You are mortal child. No mortal can go where my son has traveled."

"No, Wolf can't follow my Sire, Christian either. But Grandmother, please, release me. I am his First-Born, and without him, I have no life. Please, Sharra, do not force me to live as an orphan. Let me die." Anna looked up. "Please, Vincent is gone, so is Cain, Billy and Mat as well. I have no reason left to live. Please let me join them in their sleep."

Sharra looked at her, with pain and understanding in her eyes. "You would leave me too?" She motioned to David's body. "You are all I have left that was souly his. You would leave me?"

Anna looked from her to Christian and Wolf. "Please, understand. He made me his Childe, his First, and though I always knew that after Cain, he went out of his way to always make Christian and Wolf feel loved and wanted, the boys too. But I was his first. Cain sacrificed himself for Wolf and me. So I was always his first. Please Grandmother, do not ask me to live, I can't. I just can't see a day without my Sire. Please, release me after I fade. I only want to be with him, with Cain, let me, be, please, let me." Had she been alone, she would have faded, and never reached him, but now, with so many, she could go, and go knowing that she was heading into his arms once again.

Azrael looked up from where he had been holding Loki's still body in his arms. "No. Girl, your Sire was mine. He is gone now. Both you and Christian owe me your lives. I forbid you to fade. Do you not think that there has been enough death today, enough to last for the next several millennia? You would ask me to watch you fade, me, do you not think losing Loki was enough for me, do you really expect me to sit back and watch another in my domain die?" Then to Sharra his eyes windows to a soul that bled. "Do not grant her release. If she fades, she does so knowing that no one will free her soul. I have lost so many, today. My beloved, is, gone from me. Too many have perished. I will not lose another." Then to Christian, "Childe, you still owe me a life. I, was the one that freed Shiva's soul, remember? Do not think to fade. I will not allow any others in my keep to die. Hate me if you must, but I will not release either of you."

Anna looked from him to Sharra and back to him. "Master, my Sire is dead, you would force me to live, knowing I have no life without him. Hate you? What ever did my Sire do to you that you hate him so that you would force his Childe to suffer like this?"

Azrael shook his head, weeping over his love. "I never hated Vincent. He was bound to me. I loved him. It is that continued love for your Sire that leads me to forbid your fading. Vincent would not have wanted you, either of you, to fade and die. No Childe, I am going to have to leave enough in my Sire's, keep. Do not ask me to leave you as well. You either go with your Grand-Sire and be willing to go on, or you stay here with me, either way, you will go on, and you will live."

"Listen to Azrael, Lilith." Sharra reached to pull her precious Grand-Childe close. "You are all I have left of my Childe, stay with me. Do not leave me. There is no place for you where my son is. Let the dead rest and continue living." She kissed the sobbing youngster gently. "Come, Lilith, let's take Vincent lair. See that he rests with those of his Line."

"No, please, Lady, Elder." Megel couldn't let her take him. Not with as much as he knew that both David and Cain needed to be together in their slumber. "I lost my Childe as well tonight. Let Vincent remain with Cain, please, I cannot fade to be with him. I not only have an infant that needs me, but my Sire does as well. Please, let him slumber with my Childe."

Sharra looked up at him. "And his other Childe, and Chosen, what is to come of them? Lilith I will take, she is all I have left that was solely my sons. But what of Christian and Wolf, what is to come of them? I have no need for the boy that my, son had Chosen and I am not sure if I can give my other Grand-Childe what he needs to live. What will happen to them? If they can not die or fade to be with my son, what will be asked of them? How much more can such young children be asked to bear?"

Azrael nodded, looking first to Christian and then to Wolf. "Rest easy old friend. I will not ask them to give anymore. All I want is, for, there to be no more death in my domain. The Childe, if he is still too shy of me, I will see he is remade by another here, who still lives with his First-Born and husband, and the boy, if I can only convince Lerion to live, perhaps he will become Chosen no more but Childe in truth."

"We can talk about this when we get back, but I need to see to my son. See that he is placed with the rest of my brothers and Grand-Sire. Please Sharra, let Vincent rest with him." Megel bent to gather Cain close, dreading the time that would come all too soon that he would have to leave the first of his Brood in slumber.

Sharra just nodded, hushing Anna as she began to weep even harder. "First, I must know, what fate awaits Christian and Wolf. Before I take Lilith from here, I must know, my, son's, Childe, and, Chosen will be well."

Azrael looked from Christian to Harris, who still hovered over his Childe. "Harris?"

"Master?" The young Mageling Kin looked up at him.

"I know that I had forbid you from making anymore children, but that was before this tragedy. If I give Christian into your keeping, will you do right by him? Or is the tie between you and your son still too fresh?"

The young Kin only smiled sadly. "Vincent was a friend of mine, any Childe or Chosen of his will always find a lair with Doc and I."

"No, his Chosen I have for another purpose, but will you take Christian, and remake him as your son. He is much too young to be asked to stand alone."

"Yes, Coven Master, I thought I had already said that. If the boy is willing to try to live again, I will see to it that he isn't alone, never alone."

Azrael looked to Christian who stood there looking so lost and confused. He had lost his Sire again, and again he would be forced to go on and live, to give his heart and body to another. "Childe? I would much rather see you live. If the prospect of becoming my pupils Childe is not one that you can live with, I will make you mine."

Christian looked at him. "Again, I am to go on alone again? But what of Lilith, my Grand-Sire, am I to lose them as I lost my Father?"

"Leave him be, Azrael. I will never turn any Childe that was my son's from, my heart, or my realm. The boy, I can't help, but Christian is my Grand-Childe. He has as much right to my love and protection as Lilith does." She held out a hand to Christian. "Come on little one. I won't let any take you from me."

Azrael nodded, comforted by the knowledge that there would be no more to die in his realm, at least not today. "So be it." Then he looked to Wolf. "Child, come here. You must live, for to die now would only see to it that you never saw your old master again. Come and help me save another in my keep." He gently squeezed Aaron's hand. "Lerion, Childe, are you still with me?"

"I have no choice, Elder, I released my husband, he waits for me, but if I can't get the same from any of you, I will never see him again."

"You will see your husband one day. Remember that time has no meaning where he is now. Eternity can be like a day, and a day can be like eternity. But, this boy, he was Vincent's Chosen, without another Master, he will sicken and die, a slow and hideous death of starvation." Azrael didn't correct Aaron's misconception. If he believed that without Vincent, he would die, so be it. "Again, I say this to you. I retract my ban on the making of a Childe, as long as you take this one and place him in your protection and care. I am well aware that you are still a Childe yourself, but better for a Childe to Sire a Childe that this boy die."

"I never thought that I would ever have to decide to chose between making a mortal my First-Born or watching them die. But you are right. No amount of blood will keep him from pining away. Yes, Elder, I will take him and place him in the safest place I know. He will be my Childe, my First-Born, and I will see to it that he heals, as he sees to it that I do as well."

Azrael nodded the smile on his face never touching his eyes. It bothered him that he would have to sacrifice the life of this boy so that he could keep them both from dying. But he would, he would do anything to stop the death in his realm. "Thank you Lerion. When you take him as your Childe, You become not only my student, but also adopted

son. Derrick will sleep with all the others that have come and gone in my life. I will place him under the watchful eye of my Sire. So that when the day comes that you seek him in his resting place, you will know that he has waited not alone, but with those that will care for him in your absence."

Lerion fought back the tears as he gathered his friend, lover and husband in his arms. "Thank you Azrael, you will never know how much that means to me."

"Now, can we go now? The sooner I entrust my son to my brother's and Grand-Sire, the sooner I can begin to heal both my heart and that of Shadow's." Megel was near hysterical. All he wanted to do was see that his lost one was given a place, and he come back and try to help undo the pain he saw in his own First-Born's eyes.

"Yes, Megel, we go now." Azrael looked to Cerberus. "There is not much left of my lair to guard, but, still I leave it in your hands to guard and protect while I am gone."

"Go on Uncle, I will stay, I don't think I could pry my boy away from your girl right now, not even with a crowbar. Not that, I, would ever try. Not with what has happened here. Go, I will see to yours, just give my love to

Azrael nodded once then gathered all those around him, with their silent remains and stepped back on the Paths, seeking a place both loved and hated by him. The place where all those in his heart and keep slumbered.


Review This Story || Author: Veronica Leigh Marquette
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