The next evening, Clarisse led them down to the cells as soon as they had dressed, and the two of them feasted on their prisoners. They each took about a pint, leaving the men slightly spaced out but alive.

She and Rachel each interrogated the survivors to confirm what they had been told previously by the men’s commander. Nothing of any use was learned, other than to find out that he had not told them any lies.

Clarisse decided that the men could stay in her cells for now, and left orders with her staff to feed them.
Clarisse and Rachel then went in search of Corwin Atkins, who they found in the kitchen snacking on some ice cream.

“It is my weakness, my lady. Your cook was kind enough to offer some and I could not resist!” he exclaimed.
Clarisse giggled and assured him that he could have all that he wanted and then went on to more pressing matters.

“Corwin, I would like you to have your men riddle the first SUV out there with bullet holes. Not a ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ thing but a good handful? Then, toss a grenade in it and let it burn for a bit before you put it out.”

Atkins looked puzzled at the order but answered immediately. “It shall be done my lady, at once. Do you have any further tasks for my men tonight, beyond their keeping watch? We are all at your disposal for as long as you need us, I hope you know.”

“No, not at the moment, Corwin, you may all do as you need to do. I wish to thank you and all of your men for such an excellent job of defending my home yesterday. All of you have earned a special gift that I shall bestow on you all before you leave my home.”

Atkins started protesting that they were only doing their duty and that no gifts or remuneration was required when she silenced him with a quick kiss on the lips. “That will be enough arguing, Corwin. I like to bestow gifts on those who serve me well, or do something special for me. So, no more of that, off you go to start your evening!”

Having been dismissed, he offered her a short bow and headed off to have his men trash an SUV.

“Care to share your master plan with us slower folks, Clarisse?” Rachel asked with a smirk. She was trying to work out what the devious woman was up to and coming up blank.

“Oh, I should let you percolate all evening trying to figure this one out!” she said impishly, offering a giggle. “But I will not do that to you. I think that we need to lure this Arkady here, and I want him to see a warzone when he arrives. I want him to come in here as a prideful conqueror and leave here as our pet, at the least.”

Maria nodded and Rachel could tell she’d worked it out, just as Rachel had. “Yes, we have our prisoner call Arkady and tell him that we are in chains and they do not have enough working vehicles. Hopefully he will rush here to claim his prizes. Yes, I like this plan, Clarisse. I think it has potential. What are your thoughts, Rachel?”

Rachel considered their situation for a few moments and then brought up one possible flaw in the plan. “What if he brings one or even two more carloads of thugs with him? If he’s the cautious sort, I am sure he would?”

Clarisse raised an eyebrow, as she had not considered that as of yet. “Very good, Rachel, you thought of that before I did. We will make a good vampire out of you, certainly!”

She pondered for just a moment. “First, we post two of his men at the gate, with weapons, to help convince him that he controls my estate. That should at least somewhat relax him. We need to find out if Arkady knows all of them well. If he does not, we slip in one of our soldiers to make sure the ruse goes well.”

“If he does know them well, we shall just have to trust to our control and try to cover every contingency. If he is as eager to get us as I think, he will not waste much time talking to them, anyway. He will rush to the manor and want to claim us both as soon as possible.”

She led them to her favorite parlor, the same one they’d been in several times. The décor was from the twenties, a time she’d mentioned more than once that was her favorite era. She reclined in her favorite spot and put her cigarette holder to use as they continued to plot.

Maria had some additional things to offer. “We must question this commander deeply and make sure that we get him to completely fool his boss. I wish that we could find out how many men he will bring without raising his suspicion.”

Rachel said, “First off, we tell him only one casualty, and that the rest of his men are all safe and well. At least he will count them as usable troops that way, and maybe he won’t bring as many?”

“That is very good, Rachel. But, let us plan for the worst, shall we? Let us say that he still brings, oh, a dozen men. How shall we handle that, Rachel? Clarisse?”

Clarisse and Rachel both frowned, as they reached the conclusion that if he brought that many men it could lead to a bloodbath among their troops. While they considered that, Maria walked over to the bar and poured herself some red wine. She was quite fond of the taste of wine, and always had been.

Clarisse spoke up first. “We need to have our meeting with him deep in the basement levels of the manor. That, at least, would thin their ranks somewhat, I believe. He would post some of his men as guards outside the manor and perhaps a few more on the way, no?”

Rachel nodded. “Could we pick a room where that, once he comes in, we could have Sergeant Atkins men in rooms close by so that they could close in and trap him there?”

Clarisse beamed at Rachel and nodded eagerly. “I have just the room in mind for that. That was an excellent idea Rachel!”

“There’s a saying that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and I think we’ve planned about as far as we can, don’t you?” Rachel said, as she was eager to get moving and finish things off with Arkady.

Clarisse was in agreement as was Maria, so they headed to the smaller garage to visit with their prisoner.
Vasily was still sitting in the chair they had tied him to the morning before, but they knew their soldiers had taken him to the bathroom twice and also fed him. He was still somewhat entranced but Clarisse could tell it had worn off, slightly. Vexed, she held his head and used her power on him again and soon he was pliant.

“Vasily, if I have you call Arkady and tell him that you and your men captured us, and have us locked up, would he believe you? And would he come here himself? Think carefully and give me your honest answer.”

Vasily sat quietly for a moment, obviously he was thinking it through. “Yes, I think that he would believe me, he has no reason not to. And he would come here if he felt it safe.”

Rachel smiled, knowing that their plan had a chance. “How many of his men do you think that he’d bring along if he came?”

“There would be at least three or four. He never travels alone. His chief lieutenant, Lucas, would be with him certainly.”

“Do you think that he’d bring more than that?”

“Probably not. We do not have that many men here in England.”

Clarisse paced around for a moment before asking her next question. “Can you make him believe you, Vasily, when you say that we are your prisoners? Will he want to speak to one of your men to verify that fact?”

“Yes, I can. And I doubt that he would do that, he would just come here quickly.”

“All right. I am going to give you your phone and headset and I want you to call him. Talk to him as you always would. Tell him that you captured us and that we are imprisoned in the basement in a cage that I have here. Understood so far?”

“Yes, and I will comply.”

Rachel had a question. “You referred to Clarisse as ‘the French Whore’, yesterday. Was that just an insult or do you have code names for us?”

“That is how Arkady has so named her.”

“What about me?”

“The Gypsy Slut.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “I am not a member of the Roma, you fool Russian!”

He did not respond to her, but tracked Clarisse with his eyes. Of course, she’d been the one to mesmerize him and she was his boss, now.

Clarisse handed him the phone and slipped the Bluetooth device into his ear, then leaned down so she could hear everything clearly. “Very well, Vasily. Call him and tell him what we discussed. If you do not know an answer to his question I will hit mute and tell you what to say. Understood?”

“Yes.” He activated the phone, then hit speed dial one and they waited for an answer.

A Russian-accented voice came barking across the headset. “Vasily! It is about time you called. What do you have to report?”

“I report success, boss! We have them!”

“Both of them?”

“Yes, sir. The Gypsy and the Whore are all tied up.”

“Where are they?”

“We have them in the Whore’s basement, in a cell that she had. It was a perfect place to hold them.”

“Do you have casualties? How did you capture them?”

Clarisse held up one finger in front of Vasily’s face.

“We lost one man only. The rest of us are in good condition, sir. We came in after dawn, overpowered her guards and caught them sleeping.”

“Are any of her guards still there?”

“No, sir. They fought to the death and we were forced to kill them all.”

“Good. I will have you transport the whores to here, then.”

Clarisse shook her head furiously at Vasily and hit Mute. “Tell him that one SUV is burned up from the fight, and the other won’t start, perhaps due to bullet damage.”

“Sir, we lost one SUV during the fight, it is burned. The other one has bullet damage we think, it will not start.”

There was silence for a moment but both Rachel and Clarisse could hear that Arkady was conferring with someone there with him. “Very well, we will head there to meet you. We will have to rent another car to carry all of the men, but we will work that out later. I will see you in about an hour, Vasily. Watch those bitches closely! Do not disappoint me!” Arkady hung up.

Rachel grumbled. “Really getting tired of being referred to as a whore all of the time.”

Clarisse laughed and Maria remarked, “You can take it out on him later, Rachel.”

Clarisse smiled and put the phone away and untied their prisoner. She and Rachel led him back to the manor and downstairs to the basement. They gathered all of the prisoners together and began to issue detailed instructions to each one.

Two of them were sent out to the gate, primed to tell Arkady whatever he might want to hear. One was posted to the entrance of the mansion, with orders to escort Arkady and his companions downstairs when they arrived.

They posted Vasily at the doorway of the basement room where a single cage sat. More cell than cage, it was four walls of steel bars with room for at least four people inside. Clarisse ordered Vasily to remain at his post, then she and Rachel headed upstairs to her driver-slash-head of security’s office.

Atkins was there talking with Colin, her head of security when they walked into the room. Atkins bowed to the ladies and Colin smiled. Clarisse addressed them both. “Gentlemen. Is everything ready for our incoming guests?”

Atkins deferred to Colin. “Yes, Madam Clarisse. Sergeant Atkins soldiers are stacking up the crates and boxes as Madam Rachel specified right now. We have ‘bodies’ placed in a few strategic locations. When this Arkady Volkov arrives, we will be ready for him.”

Rachel smiled and nodded, and Clarisse beamed at the two soldiers. “Excellent, my brave and loyal comrades! I do not want anyone on our team injured or killed if we can prevent it, so please make sure everyone is careful.”

“Yes, Madam!” said Colin.

“Of course, my lady. My men will all be in position within the next ten minutes,” Atkins stated.

Rachel looked at Clarisse, and she looked back. “Shall we?”

Clarisse took Rachel’s hand. “We shall! Lead on, Rachel, mon amour!” Hand in hand they walked down two staircases and then into the basement. One long hallways and a turn to the right, through a door, brought them back to where their cage awaited. Vasily stood just inside the door, patiently awaiting new orders or Arkady’s arrival.

Clarisse swung the door of the cage open and both women walked inside. She pulled it shut and took a key from the pocket of her jeans and locked it, then slipped the key back in her pocket. Vasily had another key, and for a fail-safe, Atkins and Colin both had a copy as well. She waved at the camera in the corner near the ceiling, and the communicator in her other pocket chirped once.

Both Rachel and Clarisse stood still while one of Atkin’s men rigged up the manacles and chains around each of them. A bit of work on each manacle had made them removable without a key. They were very stiff to open but Rachel and Clarisse had practiced and both could remove them without any real effort. A tug on them by a human would not reveal anything, it was hoped.

The soldier left and the two shackled women shrugged and sat down beside each other to wait. Both had fed as much as possible earlier so as to be at full strength in case of any problems later.

Not much time passed before the communicator chirped and Colin’s voice broke the quite spell in the basement. “Two SUVs just pulled up to the gate. The driver is talking to the men we posted there. Corwin is listening in, and says it is all good, they are buying it. They are driving on, now, and headed to the manor. Good luck, Madam Clarisse, I will see you shortly!”

Clarisse kissed Rachel and settled down to look like a prisoner, so Rachel copied her. They sat together, with heads slumped, looking very defeated.

About five minutes later footsteps were heard and Arkady was soon talking to Vasily, who led him into the room. “You have done well, Vasily! So much effort has finally paid off. You will be rewarded in ways that will astound you, once we put these bitches to work!”

Rachel looked up at the men standing in front of the cage, sullenly. She bared her fangs at the man in front, who she knew was Arkady. Both men were dressed in black and Arkady cradled an Uzi automatic rifle in his hands. Beside him was the British man who had stabbed one of the Killers and tried to capture them before. He had the same weapon, but it was on his shoulder. Behind them was Vasily and one other Wolf Pack soldier.

Arkady grinned down at the women. “Hello my vampire bitches! It is so good to finally end this chase. You have killed many of my men, and you will pay dearly for that, I promise you!”

He opened the door and walked into the cage, gloating at both of them. “The elegant French Whore in chains at last. I will enjoy torturing you for hours on end, you arrogant bitch.” He kicked her in the face and laughed. “Look at them Lucas!” He spoke to the Englishman. “Once so proud and arrogant, now they are our slaves!”

Lucas stood in the doorway looking down on them. “You’d have done better to surrender to me, ladies. Slightly better, anyway! You pissed Arkady off and he’ll take it out on both of you, now.”

Rachel did not have to await a signal to make her move. Her sensitive hearing picked up Clarisse’s shackles slowly easing open, so she started easing her own open. Besides, she wasn’t about to let Arkady continue abusing Clarisse.

Rachel was free first, and she wasted no time. She leaped up and smashed Arkady into the bars, while Clarisse leaped across the room into Lucas, who fell outside with her on top.

Rachel was quite shocked when Arkady picked her up and threw her across the cage, where she hit the bars hard and fell to the floor. He raised his Uzi and fired bullets at her, several of which penetrated and caused her to scream. Vampire or not, the bullets were quite painful.

He whirled around, and spotted Vasily standing next to the cage door. Arkady glared at him and screamed, “Traitorous pig!”, then sprayed him with his Uzi. Vasily was dead before his body hit the floor.

The other Wolf Pack member started forward but before he could move two of Atkin’s men popped out of the crates and caught him in a cross-fire. He dropped instantly. Arkady got one of them with a spray of bullets but the other ducked back down behind cover.

Maybe it was a small sound or maybe a sixth sense but he quickly turned before Rachel was on him and tried to shoot her again. He managed to shoot her twice more before she grabbed his Uzi and pulled the barrel up and away from her body. She swung her free fist at his face and hit him several times.

Lucas and Clarisse rolled away from the cage, fighting and each trying to gain control of his Uzi, but neither able to control it. He also had to contend with an angry vampire’s flashing fangs right in his face and while he wasn’t doing nearly as well as Arkady was with Rachel, he was managing to stab her with the knife he’d had on his belt.

Rachel thought she had pounded Arkady senseless enough to disarm him but he surprised her and she felt a bullet enter her shoulder. She hissed and bit his arm and drew a small amount of spicy blood from it before he shot her again, this time in the stomach.

Rachel! Get that gun away from him before he shoots us in the head! Maria screamed inside her head.

She shoved him as hard as she could then followed with a right cross to his face. As he staggered she grabbed his gun, made sure it was pointed away and yanked as hard as she could. It came out of his hands and the strap broke. She turned it into a makeshift club and began battering away at Arkady’s face, his head, his body, anywhere she could land a blow.

One last blow, delivered like a baseball player hitting a homerun, sent Volkov flying hard up against the bars, where he dropped to the floor, spread-eagled.

Rachel, blood streaming from her face, arm, stomach, and various other places, staggered over to Arkady. He was finally unconscious! He looked much worse than she did — a fact which pleased her immensely for some reason. She checked his pulse and found none, and then sighed. They had wanted Arkady a prisoner, not dead.

She shook her head sadly, not in mourning for him, but sad that they might have lost a valuable source of information on the Wolf Pack gang.

Maria, I can’t get over how strong he was!

Yes, few humans I have ever encountered have showed such strength. This is something we must look into, but let us see to Clarisse first!

She walked slowly outside the cage, limping slightly from her bullet wounds in her left leg. Arkady must have put half a dozen into her leg, at least.

Clarisse still had Lucas pinned down in the hall, and had managed to fasten manacles to his arms at least. Her body was covered with stab wounds and cuts from Lucas’s huge knife. The skin on one side of her face was an open flap where he had slashed her. With Rachel’s help his legs were soon secure, as well.

Rachel sank to the floor and looked at Clarisse. “I need a vacation. This vampire stuff is hard work.” She coughed up some blood and spat delicately to the side.

Clarisse held her facial wound closed, and smiled at Rachel while she called Atkins and Colin. She told Colin she needed a snack as fast as possible and he replied, “On the way, Madam Clarisse!”

Rachel informed her that Arkady Volkov was dead, and she shrugged. “We still have a prisoner who will tell us everything that we wish to know, Rachel.”

Both women sank to the floor and leaned on each other. Their bodies were healing but they needed blood badly. Both were eyeing Lucas as if he were a steak dinner. This wasn’t lost on Lucas, who looked quite nervous.

“Err, ladies, I could be very valuable to you alive. You don’t want to kill me, now, do you?” he said, his English accent strong and his voice rising in pitch.

Rachel felt her fangs pop out as she leaned over him and grinned her most wicked grin. “The loss of a pint shouldn’t hurt you, now should it, Lucas?” She ignored his bellow as she placed her mouth to his neck, poked two holes with her fangs, and began to suck. After just a few mouthfuls she rose up and allowed Clarisse, who was showing her own fangs in an evil grin to Lucas, to move in and take some blood as well.

Lucas’s struggles availed him nothing as Clarisse took an equal amount and then sealed the wound. Both felt a little better after their snack. They sat back and Rachel noticed the backpack that Lucas had been wearing before the fight began. She pulled the zipper open and began to rummage around inside.

She pulled out a small paper-wrapped package that was soft and yielding to the touch. Ignoring Lucas’s protest she sliced the string holding it sealed and tore the paper open. Inside was packing foam, from which a small glass vial appeared when she finished unwrapping it.

She raised an eyebrow at Clarisse, who leaned forward with interest. She removed the stopper and sniffed the vial. “It’s blood, but very spicy smelling blood?”

Maria exclaimed almost immediately, “That is vampire blood!” Clarisse at almost the same time said, “Yes! I smell vampire blood. Let me taste it and I will be certain.”

Rachel handed her the vial while Lucas glared but said nothing. She tipped the bottle to her finger and wet the end, then touched her finger to her mouth. “Yes, this is definitely vampire blood — but it is not mine. But there is a slight hint of your blood in it, Maria. It tastes very flat and dull, as if it has been carried around for some time.”

Maria tasted the blood next. “It tastes as if it were mine but at a distance, perhaps. Ecaterina’s blood tasted like this, as I recall. What is going on here?”

She turned her gaze to Lucas, as Clarisse did the same. He looked very uncomfortable, and seemed to be looking for a way to sink into the concrete floor.

Clarisse leaned over him, carefully placed her hand on his shirt, curled her grip tight and pulled him up slightly from his prone position until his face was an inch from hers. He could see her fangs extend and her eyes had a dangerous look.

“Now, Lucas. You will tell me what this is about, and you will tell me right this fucking minute! I think I know, but I wish to hear it from your lips. Start talking!” She let go and his head bounced painfully on the concrete.

Rachel leaned over as well and he saw that there was no getting out of this. “Well, err, ladies, you see, it is vampire blood, you are correct there.”

Two sets of silvery eyes continued to glare at him, and he cleared his throat. “It’s kind of old, because it’s been in storage in a freezer for several years. The, umm, the owner of it passed on, you see, and it’s getting pretty much useless, now.”

“Go on, let’s hear it all,” Rachel said, fangs still extended and glaring eyes still staring at him. How much of the glare was hers and how much Maria’s, neither could have said.

Lucas wiggled and grimaced. “Could you sit me up, love? I’ll tell you everything but I really would prefer to be sitting up?”

Clarisse grabbed him and pushed him roughly up against the wall. “There, now talk — in detail! Start at the beginning. We want to hear it all!”

At that moment, Colin, Atkins, two more soldiers, and several of Clarisse’s thralls arrived. She put the men to removing Arkady’s body, and had a thrall each kneel beside herself and Rachel. Soon they had fed, right in front of Lucas — who looked very uncomfortable, and sent the thralls on their way again.

Rachel suspected that Clarisse did that for shock value and Maria agreed with a laugh. Rachel felt much better as the last of her wounds closed up.

“Now, let us hear this story, and we can detect lies, you know. It is one of our powers as vampires. So, I would suggest that you do not lie to us.” Maria sounded quite menacing and the man was even more terrified than before, if that was possible.

Lucas was sweating, rivulets running down his face, even in the chill basement. He shook his head wildly back and forth. “No! I will tell you everything, just please let me live?”

Clarisse laughed. “We shall see, Monsieur Lucas. Let us see how cooperative you are, no? Get on with it.”
Lucas nodded and began to explain.

“Well, a long time ago, Arkady’s father was one of the chiefs of this group, the Wolf Pack. It was a group of men from Russia and Moldavia who hunted vampires. As you know there’s some of us from all around Europe now, but back then it was just that region. When they formed this group vampires were very common in that part of the world.”

“It was during one of the wars with the Ottomans that old Volkov discovered something. He saw a vampire woman feeding on one of his men and he saw her lick the wounds and they healed. This intrigued him, you see, so rather than stake her, they captured her.”

Rachel narrowed her eyes, seeing where this was going. She was quite correct in her thoughts.

“His men were totally buggered in the capture, but once they had her, rather than staking her they drained her blood. He then fed some of it to his wounded men, and sure enough it healed them right up! However, one of them got too much and soon enough he turned vamp and had to be staked.”

He shook his head, sadly. “Some of the Wolf Pack thought the whole idea of using vamp blood quite dodgy, and they refused to go along with it at all. That was the split, you know. They left the gang right then and there, and vowed to carry on the fight without this evil tainted blood passing their lips.”

“Well, to make a long story short, the whole Wolf Pack was all sixes and sevens then. Almost came to blows but old Volkov let the, err, purists go without any bloodshed. After that he was demanding a new vamp be captured as soon as could be done.”

“The split, it happened not long before you captured me?” Maria asked.

“Yes, it was not long after the American Civil War ended that this all happened.” He nodded and went on.

“After they caught the next one, apparently old Volkov started experimenting. You see, he wanted to find the exact amount that would heal most efficiently, without actually turning the man who ingested it into a vampire himself. He kept the vampire prisoner for quite a long time, feeding him enough blood to keep him alive but just barely.”

Lucas grimaced. “The poor lads who took too much and became vampires no longer got staked, either. Instead they were chained up as well and used for more blood.”

Clarisse growled “This is sick! This man was a sick sociopath!”

Lucas didn’t bother to defend Volkov. “I do agree with you there, but remember they were fighting vampires who killed people when they fed, unlike what you two do, usually? It was a different time… anyway, his experiments went on but often he didn’t feed the vamps enough and they perished.”

“Over time he was down to two chained vamps, and of course his estranged Wolf Pack brothers were out staking vamps everywhere they could be found. When they captured you, Maria, they stashed you in that castle for a ‘pristine source’. That is how old Volkov referred to you in his journal. He wanted you safe, and a source for fresh vamp blood when needed. I don’t know how often, but I do know they fed you from time to time, and bled you as well.”

The flash of fire in Maria’s, or Rachel’s, eyes was enough to make the man gulp visibly. “Well, err, that was him, not me, you understand!”

Maria was too angry to speak so Rachel asked. “How did they get in and out? The passageway in there had not been touched for years.”

“Trapdoor, you know? Just open it, lower the ladder in, feed her, draw some blood, and back out. He used her blood to turn prisoners or Wolf Pack members who’d pissed him off, then used them as his sources.”

Rachel shook her head, feeling an idiot for missing that. “Go on with your story.”

Clarisse interrupted. “Where is this journal of Arkady’s father you mentioned?”

“I don’t know, really. I saw it years ago and he let me read it, since I was his second.”

She nodded. “Go on.”

“So, old Volkov started doling out vials of this vamp blood to his most trusted lieutenants in the gang. It soon became a status thing, or one of rank. He’d discovered that regular doses slowed down the aging process tremendously!”

Clarisse nodded thoughtfully. “Just as I suspected when Vasily told us that Arkady’s father had been the one to imprison you, Maria. From that moment, I was suspecting that they were using vampire blood as a longevity drug. But it didn’t last, did it, Lucas?” Her smile was quite grim.

Lucas nodded. “Yeah, you know, don’t you? Old man Volkov slowly went insane. He was trapped in some half-vamp, half-human state and he just went bloody bonkers one day. His own son, Arkady, had to kill his father. Apparently, over time whatever it is in vamp blood builds up and causes that. It could not force the change into a full vampire and the body and mind just go crazy.”

“After that, Arkady took over. That was right before the war began, I was told, World War One I mean. Yes, Arkady was 118 years old! Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

Clarisse pounced on that statement. “And how old are you, Monsieur Lucas?”

He looked nervous again. “I’ve only had it four times, and I’m only sixty-four! Not nearly as old as Arkady was. He has been drinking the stuff for nearly a century, and I must confess he was getting a bit mad.”

Clarisse shook her head. “You were all mad! Vampire blood will turn a human, yes. But in such small amounts it will drive them insane. This was known ages ago!”

Lucas looked down at the floor. “Well, we should have learned from Arkady’s father. But the son went after it as bad as the father did. I have to admit, even without the fountain of youth aspect, the stuff is addictive. Never felt so alive and vital, not to mention strong, as after drinking some!”

“How many of you have been drinking vampire blood?” Clarisse demanded.

“Just the leadership, and they are all dead now but me, I am afraid. Well, no, there is Stepan, he’s had some. He’s still in Bucharest.”

“You were all fools to drink our blood,” Maria stated.

He attempted a cheeky grin. “You have to admit, turnabout is fair play, eh?”

Clarisse backhanded him across the mouth in answer. She pulled out her communicator and pressed the button. “Colin, come back please, and bring a soldier along to help you.”

She stood up, still somewhat shaky, and offered Rachel a hand up as well. “Come darling, you and I need to feed again, I think, and we need rest.”

Rachel did not offer any argument and neither did Maria.

Within a minute Colin appeared, with Atkins and one of Atkin’s men in tow.

Clarisse gestured down at Lucas. “Take this merde and put him in a cell. Leave the shackles on him for now! Have him watched closely.”

Colin replied, “At once, Madam Clarisse!” He and Atkin’s soldier pulled Lucas to his feet and escorted him out.

Corwin Atkins bowed to Clarisse and put a hand on her shoulder. “My lady, please go and rest. We will clean up here, and get things in order.”

She asked him how many losses he had from the fight.

Atkins face went sad. “We lost two, my lady. The man here in this room, and the one outside at the driveway. Good lads, but they went out fighting, in the true spirit of the Legion. All of the Wolf Pack men are dead, save this one you captured.”

“I will take care of their families, Corwin, and their funeral expenses. Thank you, I think we will go upstairs now.”

Rachel and Clarisse, once again hand in hand, walked up the stairs and retired to the master bedroom. They soaked in the tub for a very short time then retired to her bed.

Clarisse voiced the thought that was on all of their minds, first. “We shall have to go to Bucharest and clean out the rest of this Wolf Pack. I do not want any more of them coming for me or you.”

Maria brought up what was troubling her. “Yes, but that only removes one threat, Clarisse. We also need to plan to remove the Killer sect of the Wolf Pack, as well.”

And then Rachel nodded along with Clarisse to Maria’s contribution, and said “Yes, and I am so happy we know what was going on now… but… we still have one mystery to figure out.”

Clarisse looked puzzled. “What would that be, Rachel?”

“I want to know what caused Maria and me to be sharing the same body!” she exclaimed.

Maria agreed. “So do I, Rachel.”

Clarisse suggested that some more talk with Lucas would be a good idea to start their evening tomorrow, and they agreed.

Exhausted, even after much snacking and their bath, they snuggled into the bed to rest, even before the sun rose.