Chapter Two: A Strange Enchantress

Dominick’s apartment was very small. He only slept in it a few nights every year, mostly when he needed to do some research on some new animal, climate, or vampire. Right now he slept there because he still had no idea what to do. Arrine, when he had returned that morning for an explanation of her bizarre behavior the previous night, had vacated the premises. The door had been unlocked, however; and Dominick’s curiosity had gotten the better of him. He went inside and searched for her. He found no clothing in the oaken drawers, and all of her favorite possessions were gone.

"No," he amended himself, "not all." All of the food had been left in the house, left to rot in her overly large kitchen. "If she were leaving," he thought to himself, "surely she would have taken the food?" Three knocks at his door disturbed his reflections. When he opened the door, he nearly gasped. Now, at this point it would be very on-topic to mention that the women of London did not approve of Dominick. They thought he was a ruthless hunter, one who hunted for nothing more then his personal satisfaction.

So, they pretended to ignore him. That made Dominick perplexed to see an absolutely beautiful woman standing before him, as though in some long-standing arrangement.

"Hello," He said, blinking a few times in a vain attempt to clear the sleep from his eyes, "How may I help you, miss--?"

"I am Melena Renwa," she said in an arrogant Prima Donna's voice, as if the name should mean something to Dominick. (It did not, he had never heard of her.) "I am here because I, the fabled seer of London, have a vision for..." She cast a distinguished eye on Dominick's ragged hunting coat, "...you." At this point, the hunter wondered if there was a single sentence that came out of this lovely ladies' mouth that did not involve the letter 'I.' Even though she had lingered in the chill air of the morning for only a sparse moment, she tapped her foot with impatience.

"Well?" She snapped at him, "Are you not going to invite us inside? I-- we, that is-- have not the time waste on sitting on your doorstep, catching a cold! We have work to do, you know!"

Now, Dominick had already had one bad experience with a woman in the last twenty-four hours, and he was not all that excited to begin another. He was about to say he was sorry, but he had other businesses to attend to, when something Melena had said caught in his memory.

"We?" He asked, his brown eyes sweeping the area behind her. He, after a moment, saw a second woman. She, unlike the beautifully flashy Melena, was in a plain blue dress and cloak. A silver butterfly broach clasped it together, and she nodded a silent introduction. This woman had long, clean hair that was so blond it seemed silver in the rising sun of morning. Her skin was pale as snow. So pale, in fact, that Dominick was about to ask her if she was feeling all right before he noted a faint blush on her cheeks.

By far, though, the most beautiful thing about her was her eyes. A deep, startlingly dark green, they were filled with all the shadows of the world.

"Forgive me," he said, stepping backward into a deep bow, "My name is--"

"Dominick *Dhampir, the Liberator," the first woman said in a shy, musical voice.

"Quiet, Lilith!" Melena ordered harshly. Ignoring Dominick's casualties and Lilith both, she briskly walked inside. Dominick looked stunned for a moment, more by her lack of civility then anything else, until he heard Lilith's silent chuckle.

"I am glad you are taking this in stride, Mr.Dhampir," she said, a smile forming on her face, "She started a bar fight last time."

***

Arrine felt weak, as though she had not eaten in many days, even though she had eaten well and heartily the previous night.

"Arrine?" A strong voice said, and Arrine looked up to see an old friend.

She smiled warmly and replied, "Dr.Howard!" Doctor Howard had white hair, and aged brown eyes. He wore his favorite white coat, and a kindly smile made his patients feel at ease.

"Arrine... do you have any recollection of what happened to you last night?" Well, Doctor Howard had never been one to eat around the bush. Arrine frowned, but her normally excellent memory brought nothing to light.

"No," she said, "No, I can remember nothing." The Doctor nodded knowingly.

"Ah, post traumatic stress disorder," he nodded to confirm his own words, over confidant as always, "I have seen it far too many times."

"Do we know what happened to me?" She asked casually, even though she feared the answer.

"That b*****d-- oh, forgive me-- Dominick pushed you down a flight of stairs," Dr. Howard's fists were clenched in anger, and his normally tranquil voice shook. "If Wolfe had not come to investigate, Miss Arrine, I fear you would be dead." Seeing her look of doubt, he added, "Mr. Wolfe has no reason to lie about such things."

***

"So you saw... what, precisely?" Dominick asked, for what seemed the hundredth time.

"Blood," Melena said dramatically, "Blood everywhere, with a woman's head on a pike!"

The liberator sighed. "Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. What does this have to do with me?" Melena opened her eyes wide, as though she forgotten something important. She looked at Lilith, and sat back, fuming.

"The woman was not important," Lilith said, she did not seem sheepish as she had before. There was a growing edge of confidence in her voice; one that could not be trampled even by the nasty looks Melena gave her. "Yes, I saw the woman's heart on a pike, but that is not important. The heart was still beating, still... alive. Merely there, set aside, as though for protection. Considering your occupation, that information should be interesting enough a fact alone. You were weeping near the heart, which is the other reason we dared to intrude." Dominick’s' eyes lit from recognition.

"Ah," he said, glad to finally understand, "a vampire!"

"The setting confused me," Lilith continued, "It was a rather large castle for the area, I did not recognize it... Ah. Speaking of 'recognizing, you should know something."

"What?" Dominick said vaguely, hardly listening, thinking about the castle.

"Arrine has been bitten, and she will join the nosferatu by tomorrow night."

Everyone reacted differently to this. Melena laughed; realizing 'they' were talking about vampires in a complete stranger's house, Dominick looked as though someone had slapped him. Only Lilith seemed undaunted by what had transpired.

"When?" He hissed, "How?"

"Wolfe paid her to lie to you as a distraction, and then when she stormed inside he bit her. She does not remember what happened, though, so you do not need to worry." Dominick sighed with relief as he heard the last statement.

"Thank you for telling me all of this," he responded in a gallant voice, a miserable attempt at a heroic effect that did not reach his eyes, "But I must ask you both to leave now. This is very difficult for me to take in all at once."

Melena smirked. "Saving a damsel in distress?"

"He thinks so," Lilith answered, shaking her head sadly, "Never mind that he would never have known or found Arrine if not for us. We saved him, no matter what rescues he may yet attempt this day." And then they left, arm in arm, leaving Dominick more confused then before they had come.

***

Arrine awoke at about two in the morning, drenched in sweat. Thoughts whirled around in her head, and they were so insanely simplistic she felt an unexplained desire to write them down. Rising shakily, still in her nightdress, she made her way to the charming desk, removed both pen and ink, and wrote: "Betrayal." After that, a strange feeling of drowsiness came over her, and she lay her head upon the desk and slept. The pen was still clasped in her pale, spidery hand.

A quiet chuckle, one that sounded similar to a harp's purest note, rang in the large hospital suite. A shadow on the wall began to move; the windows rattled nosily as moonlight peeked through the curtains. The shadow grew to a dark cloud of smoke, and from it a tall silhouette stepped forward into the room.

"A valiant effort," Wolfe spoke more to the power over his victim then anything else. At even these few words Arrine's eyes flew open, and she sat up and faced him.

"An effort at...?" She began the inquiry biting at her tongue, and then she saw the red eyes. Her eyes opened wider still; evidentially this was possible, and she swayed unsteadily, as though she were about to go into a swoon. Wolfe stepped forth and bent to bite her tender neck once more, but he stopped.

"No attempts at chicken tonight, Arrine?" He said, grinning to reveal the fangs that with which he would take much life. The reply was not was he had expected, indeed, it did not even come close.

"Monster, I hope your heart is as cold as my hatred for you."

***

By far, Dominick's favorite possession was his hunting coat. It was gray and adorned with patterns of striking similarity to a spider's web, and he wore it over his normal shirt and trousers. It was the second day since Arrine's disappearance, although Lilith and Melena had helped him narrow the field a great deal. Now he rode east, towards the larger and older estates of London. He hoped Arrine would be there, if only because many of the upper-classed properties were "Castle-like" in nature. He did realize that he was relying entirely on the word of a fake-seeing seer, but he had little else with which to guide him.

By night fall, every available tenant had allowed their home to be searched. Dominick did find some strange things, things like a dead woman, some wicked-looking instruments Dominick did not ask, spell books he was sure were illegal, guides to bonding with nature, and a bathtub in the lady Elizabeth's house whose contents looked suspiciously like blood. Every house had something to hide, but few things had been at all useful in Dominick's dying expedition. He frequently called Arrine's name, and wished that she had somehow warned him of this.

He decided eventually that he should not complain. Perhaps it was Lilith's dire warning, but he felt ill at ease when he thought of where Arrine could be. He needed to find her, before he grew annoyed at anyone, even himself. He could not shake the feeling that something had gone wrong, that a vampire really had found Arrine, and maybe even...

The hunter shook himself from such thoughts, and turned around to find himself surrounded by a group of fully armed men.

***

Melena had always known that her sister was different. How she had persisted on the impossible and failed on the possible. How her dreams were sent as warnings--from some untapped force-- and how her beauty was ''nearly passable'' in comparison to Melena's own. Melena did not realize, however, that she had always forced Lilith to hide her talents. Lilith had always been so quiet; she never seemed to truly mind. Today, though, Melena was beginning to see a change in her normally meek sister.

Lilith had grown louder in her arguments to help, with some things she should not be helping with. Heck, some things she should not even know about! Dangerous, laborious tasks that Melena worried her fragile sister could not accomplish...

"Melena!" Lilith called, "I am going to help Mr.Dhampir now!" Melena had barely processed what her sister had told her before she heard the sound of the door slamming behind her.

"I bet its his fault," She muttered to herself nervously, "That accursed Mr. Dhampir.."

***

"Are you Dominick Dhampir, the Liberator?" The head armed man said, striding pride fully through the sea of single-shot Winchesters and knives.

"Yes, sir, how may I help you?" The courteous tones of the conversation were cutting, and it hit the silence in an odd way.

"I am the head Marshall of the justice system in London," the man said reaching into a fine black waistcoat and withdrawing a silver badge, "I am afraid you will have to come with us."

Although Dominick knew his tone left no room for argument, he responded, "For what crime?" The Marshall glared at Mr.Dhampir, as though he should already know.

"For the attempted murder of Arrine Hermal." Dominick's angry eye's narrowed, and a blush brushed against his face, all the way to his well-trimmed whiskers. He blushed whenever he heard her name. Normally, this would have lifted official eye from him, but it only increased the Marshall's suspicions.

"I think not," said Dominick casually, "I have business to complete this day... you know of my business, I trust?"

"Yes, your business will have to wait. I am aware of just how valued you... excursions are to this city, but that does not place you above the law." Why, this idiot has no idea who I am if he thinks I'll just stand here and be locked away! The Liberator thought to himself, a simple plan beginning to form.

"Yes, officer, I understand... You need not fear, good sir, I will come quietly."

The Marshall looked impressed that 'The Liberator' had agreed so easily. "Really?" He said, his thick eyebrows shooting up. Dominick looked at the man before replying.

"No." He said, punching the Marshall in the stomach and drawing his golden blade.

 

Doing a back flip over the hordes of awe-struck men, he began to run.