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“Tobias, I said into the phone, feeling a bit better about things because I'd made him get up when he usually slept. “We've found the problem.”

He sounded a bit more awake. “And you couldn't wait till morning to tell me this?

“You woke me up when I usually sleep to complain about the problem.” I reminded him. “And I told you that I'd find out what it was and get back to you once I had.”

Revenge can be so sweet, especially when how one gets it is justified by circumstances.

“And?” He asked, still annoyed, which amused me for some reason.

“It's a male of our kind who just wandered into town.” I answered, carefully keeping the amusement out of my voice. “My daughters are chasing him down now. I don't think he'll have time to feed tonight even if we don't catch him.”

“And if you don't?” Tobias questioned irratably. “Catch him tonight, I mean.”

“Then there will be tomorrow night.” I answered with a smirk he couldn't see. Fortunate because that would have enraged the man. “He won't feed tonight, he tried it on one of my daughters and she was in hysterics by the time we got there.”

“If one of yours was hysterical after meeting this one, that doesn't bode well, Carmilla.”

“Oh, I did forget to mention that she was laughing so hard she couldn't do anything, didn't I?” I sweetly put in. “The fellow is, in modern terms, a dork. We'll find him, and keep him too busy to feed until we do.”

“See that you do.” He told me.

“Yes, dear.” I answered then closed the connection, knowing that last answer would infuriate him but unable to resist saying it anyway.

My phone started buzzing within a few seconds of my closing the connection. I looked at the number calling and didn't answer it. That was a dangerous game with a family as powerful as the Lockes, but then again that family and I have enjoyed a very amicable and profitable relationship for many years. It would survive a temper tantrum from their patriarch, since others in the family would hold him back.

Especially since his dislike of me was based on false assumptions that the rest of his family were aware of.

“It's your fault!” A furious teenager screamed at me while I was attending a Locke family function on the Fourth of July.

“What is my fault?” I asked a red faced Tobias Locke, though I thought I knew what he was going to say.

“My mother left because of you!” He screamed. “You were messing around with Dad and she left because of that!”

I had never done a thing but do business with his father, tempting as that might have been. Emotional attachments like that were detrimental to the well being of the delicately balanced agreements I'd managed to forge since we had come to Ravencrest. “I did no such thing.”

“Yes you did!” He shouted, making a scene that people were having a hard time ignoring. “I've seen how he looks at you, and how you look at him! I'm not stupid!”

The truth was that his mother couldn't deal with who and what the Lockes were. I had heard rumors for the reason but was still wondering why a clan of Weres would take human women as mates, but Tobias' father and I had never coupled. His mother just was unable to handle the realities of the family she had married into.

But Tobias wasn't sixteen yet, and from tradition, and biology, the boy didn't yet know what his family truly was and I couldn't tell him.

For one thing, it wasn't my place, and for another, he wasn't old enough to know that kind of thing.

Even after he came of age, Tobias still quite stubbornly insisted that I was the reason his mother had left him.

Hard headed and reluctant to give up on a long held idea, like all his family, that man.

Still, I was as fond of him as I had been of his father and grand fathers. Even if he did get annoying at times.

Shaking myself out of that memory, I started going over some paperwork and online information regarding my investments outside of Ravencrest. After all, that money kept the sorority funded, still endowed the college, and was available to make getting out on their own much easier for my daughters, and Wisteria's, who left to see the wider world.

A knock on my door pulled my attention away from that and I called out. “Come in!”

“We caught him, mother.” Josephine told me once she'd entered.

“Give you much trouble?” I asked.

“He's good at dodging and hiding, but not good enough.” My oldest daughter smirked. “He also seemed shocked then outraged at the idea of 'mere' females running him down. His words, not mine.”

“Why doesn't that surprise me?” I shook my head and stood up after saving my work and shutting down the computer. “May as well get this over with, I think. Take me to him.”

Less than a minute later I was led into one of our 'interview' rooms to see a rather disheveled male seated in a chair with Dani and another of my children flanking him.

“Another woman.” He sighed then actually sneered. Honestly I'd never seen anyone do that before. It was a twist of his lip, a combination of raising one side of his mouth like with a grin and lowering the other like in a frown. “Where is the one in charge here?”

“I'm in charge.” I looked at him and shook my head. My name is Carmilla Dulac. Yours is?”

“Drago Tepes.” He told me with a completely straight face.

“Your real name.” I shrugged and gave him a cold smile. “The one you were born with?”

“I told you my name, girl.” He shot back with an arrogance that was at best offensive and at worst almost deriding.

“Suit yourself.” I shrugged and gave him a nasty little smile. “But you will keep a civil respectful tongue in your mouth if you want to keep it.”

With I that I moved forward with the speed my kind was known for and had said part of his body between fingers and thumb while watching his eyes widen in shock and fear.

“Now that we have that part out in the open,” I tilted my head and looked at him. “Do you think you can do that now?”

He nodded which was about all he could do since had a nice firm grip on his tongue.

“Good.” I let him go and walked a few paces away before turning to look at him again and shaking my head. “You could have gotten away with this in just about any other town or city, you know. But not here.”

“What makes this town different than any other?” He asked and the arrogance was coming back.

“Because in Ravencrest,” I looked at him and shrugged, “people will kill you for doing what you've been doing.

“Not that I care about that.” I again used my speed to move forward and tightly gripped his chin while giving it a little squeeze. “There are forces in this town that you have no conception of. Draining and leaving dead bodies behind you has made things a bit troublesome for me.

“There are some very delicate agreements in place here, and you have violated every one of them that I made, with people who could end you without even working hard to do it.

“Worse.” I ran a fingernail down his cheek, drawing blood and watching how quickly, or slowly, it healed. “You've managed to get me in trouble with those people. You have no idea what you're dealing with here, Drago.”

“I am untouchable.” He responded, which earned him a nice hard slap to the cheek.

“No one is untouchable.” I looked at him and shook my head. “Even a well prepared mortal could kill you, or any one of us under the right conditions. I, on the other hand, don't need to prepare, or wait for favorable conditions. Give me any more blustering and trouble and I'll kill you. Right here, right now.”

“You wouldn't dare.” He growled trying to stand up, but restrained by Dani and Josephine, which seemed to surprise him.

“When it comes to the welfare of my children,” I picked up a wooden tent peg, ran a hand over it and looked at him, “I would dare a lot. Killing you would be nothing to some of things I've had to do. Get that through your thick skull right now, child. Posturing, threatening, blustering, don't impress me at all.

“So.” I still held the sharpened stake of oak and gave him a smile. “Which would you prefer? Talking, with a chance at survival, or this?”

“You females are out of your proper place.” He grimaced as I lifted the stake, then held out his hands. “I'm a male, every female I made has deferred to me.”

“That,” I shrugged, “is not because of you being male, but because you are their maker. You have children? Like us?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Where are they?” I asked, worried that even more 'rogue' vampires were loose in town.

“I don't know, I left them behind when I moved on.”

My hand was around his throat before I even realized I'd moved. “You made children then abandoned them? Did your own maker not teach you better?”

He was uncomfortable with my grip and I could tell it hurt him. He tried knocking my hand away, then twisting to get out of the grip, but I just held on, staring at him with more contempt than I'd felt for anything, anyone in my life.

“They were useless to me.” He answered.

My grip on his throat tightened and I actually lifted him out of the chair for a moment and enjoyed watching his legs kick and him trying to pry my hand loose from his throat.

“You don't, you never ever Make another of us and just leave them.” I snarled and threw him against the wall. “If you want them dead, just drain them, don't give them your blood.

“Don't move, don't twitch, don't even lift an eyebrow.” I told him then held two fingers up like I was holding something very small. “I'm this close to killing you now so you would do well to sit there and keep that mouth of yours shut unless you need to answer a question. Clear?”

He nodded, still a bit dazed from hitting a stone wall.

“Better.” I told him, then gestured to the chair. “Get up and sit down, only that and no tries at tricks. I would much prefer to keep this discussion at least half way civilized if possible.”

He got the message and gingerly got to his feet then made a shaky progress back to the chair he'd been seated in without so much as a word.

“Better.” I watched him for a moment, noticing that he was very nervous about more than simply having been caught by other vampires who didn't seem all that friendly towards him.

“Is something bothering you?” I asked. “Besides the obvious, I mean.”

“My coffin.” He weakly answered. “I have to get back to my coffin.”

“Coffin.” I drew in a breath and shook my head wondering just where the guy had gotten his knowledge about being one of our kind. “Why?”

“I need to lie on my native earth.” He answered as if I should have understood that from the start.

“Native earth, coffins...” I closed my eyes for a moment then looked at him again. “Did your Maker teach you anything about being one of us? We sleep in beds, not coffins, and sleeping on dirt is not something most of us like to do at the worst of times. What did your Maker teach you?”

“Nothing.” He spat out then began to look a bit forlorn. “She was killed several days after she changed me. I've been on my own since then.”

'Well then.” I was actually starting to feel sorry for the guy. “I can see that you need to learn some of the basics at least, if you'll let us teach you. Trust me, Bram Stoker was an idiot who simply made things up and used them because they sounded good, and all those vampire movies? Pure foolishness.

“You might just survive your visit to Ravencrest, if you listen to us and pay attention to the things we tell you. If not, you'll die. If not here, then somewhere else because there are humans who know about us and are dedicated to killing us. Your choice, but no one other than you can make that decision.” I told him a much gentler voice than I'd used up to then. A tyro, days old, left on his own. It was a wonder that he had survived at all.

“You're serious?” He asked, forgetting what I'd told him about speaking without being asked, but given what I'd just learned, I was a bit more inclined to show some mercy.

Dani patted his shoulder gently and grimaced. “Oh yeah. Believe me, the idea of sleeping in a coffin is creepy enough, but on dirt? Eww. I've never slept in anything but a bed in either of my lives and no one else here has either. Except for you. Okay maybe I've slept on a floor when I had a really bad day. Things happen, you know.”

“You're serious, aren't you?” He looked at Dani, Josephine, then me with a puzzled look on his face.

“I have been a vampire since the 1790's.” I answered then kind of smirked. “And never once have even sat in a coffin, though I have slept on the ground a few times. But I've never had a need to carry around dirt from where I was born, and neither have any others here, or elsewhere. That would be awkward, expensive, and very annoying, actually.”

“It is kind of a bitch.” He gave a small nod. “But you really expect me to believe all this? Just on your word?”

I looked at the time and gave him a look. “Have you seen a sunrise since you were Made?”

“No.” He answered and horror started to show in his expression as he thought about what I'd said.

“Get the sunscreen, Josie, and let's show him.” I stood up while gesturing at the door.

“That will kill me!” He gasped out, clearly terrified.

“Well, if it kills you, it'll kill us too.” Dani cheerfully told him, then confided. “I really like watching the sun come up.”

“We'll be right there with you.” I told him with some amusement. Okay, he didn't know anything at all about being one of us other than the blood drinking, but he had caused me more than a little trouble, so making him squirm wasn't something that bothered me all that much. And yes, I know I'm a bitch, so don't say it. “So if the sun kills you, it will kill us, too.”

It took Dani, Josephine, and me to drag him outside, then tie him to a bench that faced the east. As the sky lightened, Josie winked at him and Dani got out a pair of sunglasses. Before she put them on, she offered them to him. “Kind of girly, I know, but they'll help if you haven't been out in daylight for awhile.”

He refused them and it took all three of us to hold him down on the bench as the sun started to show on the horizon. He started to scream, but Dani, with her speed, clamped a hand over his mouth as the sun slowly rose over the mountains to bathe us all in warm, yellow/red light.

Once it was fully up I lifted an eyebrow and grinned at him. “Hmm. You didn't burn to ash and neither did we. How about that? Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, too.”

He was shaking, then incredulous, then just watched us and other things for a few minutes through squinted eyes before turning to Dani and asking. “Umm, could I borrow those sunglasses now?”

We sat there watching the day start and the stirrings of life that daylight brought with it. Oh, the night has its own share of life and a rich one, but the creatures of the day were different.

“Five years.” He sighed. “It's been five years since I've seen this.”

“Then I take it you're at least willing to listen to us about the other things?” I questioned.

“Yeah.” He nodded, then said. “Lewis Donovan.”

“Who is that?” I asked.

“Me.” He gave an embarrassed little shrug and a sheepish smile. “I thought vampires had to have impressive, scary names.”

“We can.” I nodded then shrugged myself. “It's just easier to use the names we already had, or to simply change them to fit the area and situation.

“Hello, Lewis Donovan.” I gave him a smile and gestured to the house. “Are you ready to go back in yet?”

He wasn't, so we just sat on that bench for another half an hour as he soaked in the sunlight, and the activities of a kind of life he hadn't seen for years.

Lewis stayed with us for a bit more than two weeks. In that time he actually learned restraint in his feedings, and that bottled, or bagged blood would sustain him, too. Though that lesson was more than a little amusing all by itself.

“It tastes like plastic!” He grimaced after biting into the bag of blood I'd given him.

“That's because you just bit into a plastic bag.” I pointed out. “Drink the blood, it does taste a bit odd, but it will sustain you in a pinch.”

“It's cold.” He complained once he had emptied the bag.

“That's what microwave ovens are for.” I grinned at him. “With a good one you can even set what temperature you prefer for your food.”

He put the next bag I gave him into the microwave and was much happier with the results.

“All this?” He looked at the cash, and the cash card I had given him. It amounted to around five thousand dollars and really wasn't all that much but I nodded.

“Everyone deserves a chance to start over.” I shrugged. “That really won't last long, but bright as you are, I'm sure you'll be able to get more when you need it.”

“Yeah, I supposed I could.” He answered thoughtfully.

“That business major you were doing doesn't seem like such a waste now, does it?”

“No.”

“Now go find your daughters, Lewis.” I told him. “Teach them the right way, the safe way, to do things and survive.”

“What if they don't want to learn?” He asked, appearing a little worried about that. “I just left them and to be honest, they were the more headstrong girls I'd run into.”

“Show them.” I grinned. “Like we showed you.”

“If that doesn't work?”

“Children don't always work out well.” I sighed and gave him a sad look.

“I hope mine are smarter than that.” He told me, knowing what I was implying without saying it. He'd seen me end a daughter who couldn't get past her blood lust. “If any of them are still alive, that is.”

“You have told me that your daughters were stubborn, and smart.” I smiled at him. “I'm sure they have managed to survive. After all, you did for five years even laboring under those ridiculous beliefs about what you were and had to do.”

I'd prefer to forget about that.” He grinned back. “But point taken. I'll find them, then do what needs to be done.”

“Good.” I stood up and gave him a hug. “Your bus is ready to leave now. You have my number, and address, so stay in touch. I almost feel as if you are one my own, Lewis.”

“You were the second mother I never had.” He hugged back. “Thanks.”

“Go on, you'll miss your bus.” I frowned at him then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Be well, Lewis Donovan and be careful.”

“I will, Mother.” He kissed my cheek, picked up his backpack and boarded the bus without another look back. Until the bus started pulling out of the station.

All in all, I thought he was going to do well out in the world, now that he really understood how things worked.

And I felt like he was one of my children.

“You just let him go?!!” Tobias looked outraged at the luncheon we had arranged to finish the affair. “I'm not sure I like that, and the witches won't either.”

“The witches like or dislike whatever they chose.” I shrugged. They were dangerous, yes, but these days I was not without allies. Two Were families, my own and Wisteria's daughters, and a pair of others that were most disturbing though I never mentioned them in any conversation. Trust me, it is much safer that way. “I'll deal with their displeasure if I have to.”

“What about mine?” He glared at me.

“Tobias.” I gave him a gentle smile. “What would happen if one of your own, or any other kind of were came into their heritage alone? Without family and friends to guide them, show them the way, and support them?”

“It has happened in the past.” He stopped his own tirade and answered my question with a thoughtful nod. “I never has come out well.”

“Well, this one,” I took a delicate bite of the smoked salmon on my plate and savored the flavor before going on, “was like a sponge with what we taught him. It wasn't his fault that the one who would have taught him died within days of his making. He had no path other than his own fantasies and a bunch of ridiculous stories to follow. He has learned, and accepted that learning. He deserves a chance, like everyone else does, though I will admit that I came very close to killing him at first.”

“You should have.” Tobias shot back. “Things would be much simpler if you had.”

“Do you kill children just because they don't know any better?” I glared back at him, and he let out a sigh and shook his head. To his credit. Tobias didn't like me at all, for several reasons, but he wasn't a person to kill indiscriminately or to just make life easier.

“You know I don't.”

“Neither do I.” I told him then took a sip of the very fine white Zinfandel I was having with my salmon.

“But he is gone?” Tobias gave me a severe look.

“Of course he is.” I laughed, which got my table mate angry again, but he quelled that. “I don't lie to people, Tobias, you know that. He is gone and if he ever does come back, he will be much more circumspect about it.”

“So you say.” He snorted.

“Exactly.” I agreed.

He wanted to argue, to lash out about that. But he also knew that I kept my word, always. And that in truly serious situations I never lied. Misdirect a bit, yes, but I couldn't do outright bald faced lies about anything.

“I guess I can accept that.” He nodded. “The council probably will, too.”

“Good.” I gave him a dazzling smile. “Thank you for the wonderful luncheon, but I have other things to take care of now. If you have any other questions or doubts, or problems with the council, I know you'll tell me about them.”

“Never doubt it.” He answered with another glare, though this one wasn't as forceful as the others I'd gotten so far in this meeting.

“Oh, no.” I kissed his cheek and left before he could react or say anything.

On the no lying thing. I wasn't about to tell him that I had a dinner date with his son Terrance.

That would just have caused another fight and recently, I'd had enough of those to last me for a while.