A few hours have passed since Sean left. Eryc doesn’t know if he can help him any better then he has but only time will tell how his friend handles the information he has given him.

Learning about a world in which vampires do exist is hard for the psyche to cope with. Only the strongest and purest of minds are able to handle it without becoming lunatics. Sean already thought he was crazy but now he knows that the supernatural is more then people’s imaginations.

Eryc sits in front of the fireplace with a book on his lap: ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu. Normally this isn’t the kind of literature that holds his attention but he’s giving it a look to find tips to help him with his battle with the Ravenloft Agency. His last attempt failed and he will not allow it to be repeated.

He closes the book and stares at the dancing flames. They captivate him and lull him into a trance like state. He begins to drift to sleep but catches himself before he goes all the way under.

Perhaps a little music might fill the void that Eryc feels within the large empty house. Just because he is no longer interested in playing himself doesn’t mean that he couldn’t enjoy someone else’s work.

He reaches for the remote on the oak table beside him that controls most of the appliances within the front room: television, stereo, thermostat, and practically anything else you could think of.

Eryc last had it on one of his favorite rock stations within the twin cities, 93x. He leans back into the chair and props his feet up trying to expend some of the stressful energy he’s been feeling lately.

The DJ on the air comes on and says he is taking caller requests and Eryc closes his eyes for a moment until he hears a familiar voice speaking to the on air personality.

I’d like to request a song for a close friend of mine, Eryc Morgan. The song is “I Still Haven’t Found (What I’m Looking For)” by U2.

Eryc shoots up in his seat as his cell phone goes off moments later indicating he has an incoming text message. He struggles to reach the phone in his pants pocket and pulls it out to see who sent him the message.

The body of the message sends him flying out of his seat to look out his window but to no avail. All the night affords him to see is the greenery around the house and the outside of it and nothing more.

He continued to go through the house to look through other windows to see if he could find someone out there peering in on him but he does not find anything. The determination he has in catching the son of a bitch who is watching him leads him outside and he stands out on the front lawn.

“I know you’re out here. Show yourself!” Eryc yells, not caring if he wakes up the entire neighborhood. “Don’t make me come find you because you’ll be sorry.”

Eryc exited the house without anything to defend himself which is likely a mistake but he doesn’t care at the moment. He wants to know who or what is behind these silly games. Several minutes pass and the only thing he can hear are the crickets chirping in the night and it pisses him off enough that he is going to go back inside.

He reaches the door and his phone goes off one more time. He’s about ready to drive to the lake and hurl it out into the open water at this point. Looking at it once more he’s being told that he needs to meet the message sender at the Como Planetarium in fifteen minutes.

Eryc rushes back into the house and throws on a pair of shoes not even caring if he has any socks on and swipes his keys off of the table right by the door as he hurriedly locks the door and closes it behind him as he leaves.

Usually it should take him only ten minutes to get there and would leave at least five to spare in case he cannot find the one who is responsible for the messages. He hopes the cops aren’t out tonight to fill their quota because his Mustang is at least doing 70-75 in a lesser zone.

He arrives in about eight and a half minutes. Parking a block or two away from the Planetarium, Eryc steps out of the car and presses the alarm on the keys as he sprints towards the building. A man in lesser shape would be heavily winded but he keeps his stride until he reaches the front door.

His eyes scan around but just as he did at the house, he saw nothing. Frustrated, he runs his hand through his hair and curses under his breath. Maybe he was imagining all of this as some type of sympathy to his friend Sean who thought he himself was crazy just recently.

“Assholes” Eryc mutters to himself as he starts to walk away. He stops when he hears the grass lightly rustle a few feet away from him. A sharp turn causes Eryc to stand toe to toe with a good looking pale young man.

The gentleman stands still for a moment to get a better look at Eryc.

“Not happy to see me are you...father?”

He was the last person Eryc wants to see at this moment for it brings back the painful memory of the two nearly killing one another at the docks in New York prior to finding out their lineage. Add in the knowledge that his own son was responsible for the death of his first wife, who unknowingly killed his own mother.

“I’m expecting that you are not alone.” Eryc sneers as he scans the perimeter around him. “You people tend to never do anything by yourselves.” He is referring to the young man’s employer, the Ravenloft Agency.

Brennan removes his hands from his pant pockets to show that he is not carrying a weapon and also looks himself around the area to make sure the he has not been followed. It has been only a few weeks since he walked away from the carnage that the corrupt agency immerses in.

“I came here by myself. I don’t expect you to believe me but it is true unless they have someone following me.” He hopes that his father can see that his tone is non-threatening and that he is here to simply talk. “I’m no longer in the agency...I decided to take a page out of my father’s book.”

Eryc backs away from his son to try and read his aura but he is unable to. He will need to make a judgment call on whether or not he should trust the boy after all the harm he’s caused in the past. It would be wrong to send him away without at least trying to find common ground.

If what Brennan says is true then the agency will have a target on him as well and Eryc knows this for sure. These creatures are not the type you walk away from without resentment and retaliation. He’s learned that the hard way.

“Why go through all the loops to get my attention when you could have come to my house to talk?” Eryc should know this answer by now but needs to hear it from Brennan.

“You’ve been punished enough by the agency and I do not want them to know where you live. I have been able to keep them from finding you so far but I’m not sure how long that will last.” Brennan reaches behind him and retrieves an envelope that he probably kept in the back of his pants and holds it out to Eryc. “I also want you to have this. It just might be all that you need to finish this thing.”

Eryc accepts the folder and opens it up to examine the contents inside. Official agency documents is what he finds that tell of his true origins unlike the ones he was given by Deacon previously. Brennan would be in deep shit for stealing these from them and Eryc knows that it will cost his family dearly if they don’t fight with everything they have.

He closes the folder with the intention of taking it home with him and looking at it more thoroughly. It would ease his mind to know how he became a vampire rather then the half truths he remembers as a result of the mind altering done by the agency on him.

“Your life isn’t worth the bounty the agency will put on you for stealing it.” Eryc says remorsefully. “But I don’t intend to lose another member of my family. There is one thing I need to know.”

Brennan dreads the words that are going to come out of his father’s lips. He expects them to be about his mother and how could he have killed her so carelessly. It wasn’t done on purpose but explaining that would take more energy then he has at the moment.

“What is it father?”

Eryc approaches him and grabs his collar tight. He pulls his son closer to him and the burning hate in his eyes is clearly shown within them. There will be many days and nights before he can trust Brennan and it is up to the boy to show him family loyalty that excludes thieving documents.

“I can understand that you did not know you killed your own mother...but when the truth came out you went even further and killed my brother, your uncle. Why? I want to know...I want to know now!”

Brennan cannot sigh or heavily exhale because of his physiology but the weight of the sorrow he carries over his mother’s death is greater then anyone realizes or ever would. Crimson tears slowly fall down his cheeks as he lowers his face. He cannot bare direct eye contact with his father whom he has betrayed and let down.

“The last night I saw him we did have an altercation but it was not how you may have heard.” He pauses between his words. “The agency wanted him to turn against you and as a reward he would be allowed to become mortal and live a new life with his beloved Cassie.”

Eryc remembers the last conversation he had with Ash, which he told of the agency’s offer. It was unknown then if Ash had accepted or refused it because he never saw him again after that night.

“He told me about it...that was the last time we ever spoke.”

Eryc’s hold on Brennan loosens and after several moments he lets him go.

“Uncle refused the offer and I was then ordered to kill him.” The memories come back to Brennan as he speaks of that night. “I didn’t want to but I knew if I failed to do what they asked then I would be dead before morning as well. So I ran him through but not enough to wound him badly.”

Brennan shakes his head not understanding how his uncle could be dead. He knows that he left him there with the ability to get up and leave when he wanted to. It was close to daylight but still there was time.

“He should have been able to get up and go home or someplace...who told you of his death?”

Eryc cannot tell Brennan about the man who brought him back to life. O’Malley would make his life more miserable if he revealed these secrets to anyone. He is the one who told him of Ash’s departure from the mortal world.

“I’m sorry but I cannot tell you who my source is.” Lying is not something Eryc relishes in but Brennan could be setting up a trap. Until this is all sorted out he will just have to do what is necessary. “However, I will say it is someone who I trust with life.”

Brennan nods as his father speaks. He knows that if Eryc trusts someone then they must be someone worthy of it. He is a hard man to gain the trust of.

“I should probably get going...the longer we stay here together the easier it will be to take us both out.”

Eryc stands still looking at his son in a way that would express that he forgives him for his past mistakes but right now he cannot tell him in words. He won’t make it easy for him as no child ever learns from being given a reprieve right away.

Brennan slowly approaches Eryc and extends his hand out to him, “To a new beginning?”

For the first time in a while Eryc feels like something in his life is going right. He’s getting his son back but the road to them being able to trust each other will take some time. If he is true to his word, Brennan will be a valuable ally to Eryc against the agency.

“To a new beginning...” Eryc shakes his hand firmly for a few seconds before pulling away. “Be safe out there until I see you again ok?”

Brennan nods and begins to back into the darkness, “You as well father, you as well.”

Eryc slips the folder Brennan gave him under his arm and casually walks back towards his car. He unlocks the car and opens the door and throws the folder in on the seat. Before he steps inside he feels a sharp pain in his back.

Someone throws a wheat bag over his head and pulls him down onto the ground. He can feel two pairs of feet kicking at him with ferocity. Eryc is unable to defend himself against his attackers. He feels himself being lifted up and dragged several feet before stopping again.

The last thing he hears is the sound of a van door opening before one of the attacker’s whispers, “Time for lights out.” Eryc is slammed hard in the back of the head and goes out like a light. The assailants throw him in the van and drive off with him in the back.

Eryc’s eyes flicker open and as they focus he finds that he is in a dirty and decrepit dungeon. Cobwebs cover literally every inch of the ceiling and the building itself is rotted out which means it is likely to have been abandoned.

He struggles to move but cannot. It has been brought to his attention that he is chained up to the wall by his arms and legs. Eryc feels like he’s been drugged and is still in a slight fog as he looks around.

The muscles in his arms tighten as he pushes off the wall but he is too weakened. If he’s able to regain his stamina he will attempt to free himself again.

“So you think you’re going to get out of those chains?” A voice echoes through the now obliterated silence. “I’m not allowing you to leave here...at least not alive.”

Eryc’s eyes narrow as he sees the culprit of his kidnapping. To him it is like looking into the mirror and seeing the ugliest parts of you.

“It would figure that you would be behind this. Did you con Brennan into luring me to the Planetarium so you could steal me away?”

Corvus smirks slightly just to make Eryc think that he might have used his son to bring him out into the open. He didn’t know that Brennan was even there but now he knows and he can use it as leverage.

“Perhaps but that is for me to know and you to figure out...if you can.” The vampire approaches Eryc and grabs him by the throat. “I don’t believe that you will though because this is where you will spend your final days.”

Eryc grits his teeth as he seethes. He never expected Corvus would get the better of him but he has all because his defenses are down.

“I’m going to let you think you’ve bested me for now Corvus,” Morgan glares at his captor, “but in due time I shall break free from this cell and you and I will have our final battle.”

Corvus shakes his head trying his best not to burst into hysterics. He finds his adversary’s words to not be believable. He is winning and now that he has the advantage he is not going to give it up.

“With you stuck here under my thumb I’m going to break every bond you’ve made and rape and pillage anyone and everyone you’ve called friend.” Corvus’ right fist comes around full bore into Eryc’s jaw. “I will assume your identity and after I’m through nobody will ever think of Eryc Morgan in the same light again. All they will remember is the brutal legacy that is Corvus.”

Eryc spits a stream of blood from his mouth as his determination begins to diminish. The intentions of his evil half send chills down his spine. Could this be the end he never expected?

Corvus reaches above Eryc’s head and starts the device above him. It is set to drip at irregular intervals to try and drive Morgan insane; he struggles again but it is no use. All he can do is try to fight not to give in to the insanity this device will potentially cause.

“Well Eryc my boy I am going to leave you but fear not I shall be back to check and see if you’re talking to your imaginary friend.” The vampire laughs in typical homicidal fashion. “There are places to go and people to corrupt, adios muchacho!”

Corvus moves toward the door leading to what Eryc believes to be the exit and shuts off the lights. Eryc yells and screams for him to come back and let him free so they can finish this like men but his pleas are for nothing. Morgan hears the sound of the door shut and with it a drop of water falls on his forehead.

A heavy sigh escapes Eryc’s lungs as he prepares himself for what is to come. He feels tears stain his cheeks as he tries to think of better days.

'Yeah', I’ll be back soon I’m just looking for something.' Paul states, 'I love you Del.'

The massive fingers of John Paul Samson shut the lid of his cell phone before plunging it into the right front pocket of his light blue Hilfiger jeans. Before him are aisles upon aisles of bookcases each filled with various volumes with a multitude of information. Tonight however Paul is looking for a particular section, and as his eyes scan the various sections and sub-sections they lock upon Folklore. Slowly he approaches the aisle, wondering if any of this could actually help, but as his father always said, it can’t hurt to try.

Standing before the shelf of books closest to his eye level, he runs his mammoth hands through the thick curls of his hair, and sighs. 'This could take all night.' Mumbling something else to himself he grabs a volume labeled, ‘Vampire Lore’ and begins paging through the book. After only a few moments the immensity of what he has set out to do hits him, followed shortly by frustration. 'What the hell am I doing, the only people who actually believe that vampires exist are whack-jobs.'

Behind him Samson hears a creek in the floorboards and instantly turns around to see who is approaching. It was bad enough that he is in the library in the first place in his time of desperation but looking at books about vampires might be stooping to an all time low.

Nothing is there and he picks up another book and thumbs through it. He is startled by a voice that seems to be coming out of nowhere.

“Maybe a picture book would be easier for you.” The voice says with amusement in its tone.

Without turning towards the source of the voice, he instead shoots back a response of his own. 'Maybe you can come out of hiding, and we can take a couple pictures of me beating your ass for it, I might enjoy that book a bit more then this one.' He finishes, as he places the book back on the shelf. 'Or are you a little camera shy?'

Samson waits for the mystery man to show himself and grows impatient for every moment he does not appear. He doesn’t realize that a hand slips through a space where books have been loaned out and grabs him by the back of the neck and pulls him closer to the shelf.

“You have a problem and I have a solution but if you want to crack jokes and make idle threats then you can go back to looking in those blasphemous texts.” The voice grows angry as he continues speaking to Samson. “I’m perfectly fine with you heading down to the local market and buying onions to make a garlic necklace. I’m sure your little girlfriend would love to see you wearing such an awesome clothing accessory.”

A mischievous chuckle follows the statement only to have the mystery man taunt him even more.

“Or better yet...maybe you’d love it if she dumped you on the spot to go to her new lover. I bet you would love that.”

'So far you’ve pissed me off and suggested using onions for a garlic necklace, that’s not exactly awe inspiring wisdom, nor a testimonial for much sense.' Paul snaps back, 'so either you tell me what you want, or get the hell out of here before I really lose my temper.'

The grip on Samson’s neck gets tighter as he pull him face first into the row of books. Paul tries to grab the arm of the person as they let go of him but they are much too quick. Before he can turn around to see who was on the other side of the aisle his question is answered in the form of a six foot six pale individual who stands in front of him.

“You’re smarter then I figured you were and that is even after I knocked you senseless last week.” The voice says as he studies Paul. “Looking through those books are leading you down the wrong path but if you play your cards right I can offer you insight which will help you in your quest.”

'Eryc Morgan?' Paul asks, a little confused, 'What the hell would you know about vampires?' The shock of the person in front of him has caused all threats and ill-tempered thoughts to slip from his mind.

The man who to Paul resembles Eryc Morgan smirks slightly before he answers his question. “Wrong...here’s a hint.” His mouth opens to display two enlarged and sharpened canines as he moves closer to Samson. Paul’s mouth is covered quickly so he cannot yell or rouse anyone from the almost lifeless library.

“I am going to remove my hand but if you so much as try to scream...you will be nothing but a memory.”

Paul remains quiet as the being removes his hand from his mouth. 'Who are you?'

The pale figure takes a few steps back and adjusts his leather coat reveling in the shock and awe that is written all over Samson’s face. Of course he looks and sounds exactly like Eryc Morgan but has proven he is something much much more.

“It is none of your concern for the moment,” he barks at the large man in front of him, “but if you listen to me and do as I say...your precious Delylah may be spared from the destiny that has been written for her.”

'What do you want from me?' Paul asks, already prepared to give anything to save her.

Anything...it opens up too many doors but Samson is willing to give into the creature’s demands no matter the cost he will have to pay. Whenever you deal with such a being as a vampire you tend to give more then a normal debt.

It might be blood that is required or it may end up being Paul’s life itself. A vampire will drain a life of everything not just of blood. Samson has no idea what he is getting himself into.

“I haven’t yet decided but rest assured when I do you will be the first to know.”

Samson scoffs, and steps towards the vampire knowing full well that he could be destroyed in a manner of seconds, but not caring either way. 'So then what...are you just here to tease me; to mess with my head?' Paul questions in a roaring demand. 'Tell me what you want, and then tell me what to do, or just kill me if that is all you plan on doing.'

The pale individual raises his hand and holds up one solitary finger and waves it back and forth. Samson’s lack of patience is beginning to get on his nerves. He’s the one holding all the pieces and how dare the pawn try to ruin what he has begun building.

“I told you to listen and to do as I ask and so far you all you are doing is shooting off your mouth.” He leans toward Paul and whispers near his ear. “Keep this up and I’m liable to find your little minx and do her myself. I will give you a series of tasks to accomplish and once you are halfway through them I shall make it known that your lady friend is under my protection.”

Paul nods his head. 'Fine, what do you want me to do?'

“There will be people that will want to harm me when I am unable to defend myself; it is up to you to make sure that nothing happens to me.” Creepy like talons for fingernails run across Samson’s cheek almost slicing the skin open. “You will join my ranks as an enforcer and with your allegiance your woman will be spared. Just remember one thing...”

The vampire’s eyes turn a shade of crimson as he presses his forehead against Paul’s.

“You belong to me!”

Paul’s face falls blank, and with his emotionless expression he nods his head in agreement. Samson has sold his soul to a devil, and all for the love of a woman.

Satisfied with his handy work, the vampire believes the completion of the first phase in his plan is set. Now if only the others he plans to recruit will be as willing as Samson he will have no problem at all.

“Go home; do not make any mention of our meeting. I shall be in touch with you soon.”

Once again Paul nods, and turns his back on the fiend. He plunges his hands into his pocket and decides to head home, to be with Delylah.

The vampire leaves shortly behind him to make sure that nobody spotted them together at any time. His grin stretches from ear to ear as the sound of his boots pound against the pavement. He pulls out a small black box and removes a long black cigarette from it and slips it between his lips.

A sweet aroma wafts around him after he lights the clove and begins to laugh about his devious deeds. To him they are just as good as any mortal sexual contact which is why he partakes in a celebratory smoke.

“It’s good to be King...oh yes it is.”