Joshua was gazing lovingly into Ruby's eyes, when Celia's cry invaded his consciousness.
"Joshua! We are under attack!"
He blinked and his eyes turned molten, even as the commotion could be heard.
Ruby had been looking directly at him, but it was as though she was not even seeing him anymore.
"He's here!" Robert whispered from across the room, and his voice held nothing but terror. "He's come for us - to finish what he started!"
Ruby whimpered and hugged herself tight, wrapping her arms around herself in a forlorn hopeless gesture.
The noises grew louder, and more ominous, as they came closer, and even Joshua felt himself beginning to cower, under that raw air of menace and evilness.
"Celia!"
he called out silently, but she was silent and as he tried to seek her out with his mind, he could not even sense her presence anywhere in the house.
Has she fled? Had she abandoned them all to this evil threat?
There was a tiny part of Joshua that could understand if she had escaped this place and this evilness which was about to descend.
But Joshua knew his beloved too well; she would sacrifice herself before abandoning any of them.
And that thought brought all new terrors to Joshua's being, so that when the black cloaked figure swept into the room a second later, Joshua was as paralysed with terror - genuine terror as the other two people.
"And so we have new blood!" The figure hissed as he glided across towards him.
"Hold out your hand, let me taste your offering!"
Joshua felt the waves rolling over him, and he steeled himself to resist this evil compulsion.
"NO!"
the musical chorus caressed him, and filled him, and reassured him that he was not to endure this alone.
"Do not resist... you must yield to this creature, you must let him continue to be fooled... you must comply!"
Joshua slowly raised his hand, and he even managed a tremble as though he was trying to resist.
The cold grip should not have been a shock to him, but it was.
The claw that ripped across the veins on his wrist should not have been so painful - but it was.
The creature bent slightly, and as he began to gulp at his blood, the room began to spin, and Joshua felt a wave of fatigue.
The creature swallowed loudly and then licked his lips.
No!" he exclaimed almost gleefully. "It is not new blood at all, but old - so old..." His finger hooked under Joshua's chin, forcing him to look up into that black stare. "Are you alone, do you have family, those who share more of this heritage - where do you come from?"
Joshua blinked, and for a moment he was afraid that his eyes might have glazed over, and turned their silver colour.
The creature leaned in closer, and Joshua could feel the waves of energy coming from him.
"Sire," A man - a man familiar to Joshua, shuffled forward eagerly. "He has a sister, she is a shallow creature, from what I have observed, sire." Joshua realised with a little jolt why the man had been familiar. He had followed Celia back to the hotel when she had gone on her shopping spree.
The creature released Joshua, and turned to the man, who knelt down in supplication.
Joshua felt his lip curl with disgust as he realised what this man was.
He was a hopeful. One who would do anything and everything for a vampire with the hopes that they would turn him into one of them.
"A sister!" the creature gurgled gleefully. "A female - another brother and sister for my collection - oh how marvellous! Where is she - I must sample her immediately, find her and bring her to me!"
Joshua had not been aware of the others entering the room, but as the creature's horde of underlings shuffled about, and then filed from the room, his eyes fell on a figure who was stood hunched over.
"Caster!" the creature hissed. "I have need of you."
The figure slowly stumbled across the room, but just before he reached the creature, he looked directly at Joshua.
For only a split second his gaze fixed onto Joshua, but it was enough.
The old man from Ruby's memory, sliced through Joshua's guards and implanted directly into his mind.
"Be ready!"
It was a simple instruction, and it happened so quick that it passed by the creature's notice, as that being was caught up with the delight of a new lineage of 'old blood'.
"Sire, what would you have me do for you?" the old caster whispered from a dry cracked voice.
"Search this room, and see what magic lurks here," the master hissed.
The caster wearily looked around the room, but he was using more than his eyes to see what was here. Suddenly his eyes locked onto Robert, who whimpered and cowered.
But the caster turned then to look at Ruby.
"They have talismans, sire," the caster croaked out. "Someone had placed protective talismans on them, and I sense that the house itself has similar tokens of defence and protection."
"And so we see the truth at last!" the creature spat out. "We will dispose of their talismans in short order, but first there is a more important deed which must be done... I am to receive new vintage stock for my farm. I need to be purified and prepared so that I can properly manipulate them, to bring out their fullest flavours."
"As you instruct my master - so do I obey," the old man whispered as he pulled himself up straight, and began to summon his magic.
"Not yet!" the creature hissed impatiently. "I must first test the sister, to be sure that she is worthy of my investment, and then you must find the source of those defences that have suddenly appeared..." he sighed almost regretfully but Joshua was not fooled by it. "If it turns out to be anything to do with this sister - or the brother there, then they will both have to be destroyed."
"Sire." the caster whispered as he sank back down into his hunched and defeated posture.
"There is food and liquids over there," the creature pointed dismissively to a table running along the far wall. "Go and sit and take your nourishments - I will need all of your magic before this day is out... it may even spell your end, my poor old slave, but I am sure that you will be glad of the rest."
The creature was cruelly mocking the old man, even as he stumbled wearily across the room, without even acknowledging the threat.
For some reason, which he could not quite fathom, Joshua came to the conclusion that the creature used this threat - or promise on a regular basis.
The creature stood silent for a moment, before turning suddenly to look at Ruby who had curled up on the sofa, and tried to look as small and insignificant as she could.
"Come," he hissed, and she blinked and she whimpered. "Come my lovely and take my embrace... let me sample you, and be sure that you are not tarnished at all."
She blinked again and her gaze shot across to Joshua.
"You promised!"
her look said.
"You promised to protect me!"
"Come to me!" the creature hissed again, and with a defeated sob, Ruby sat forward, as she prepared to stand and walk to the creature.
"NO!"
Joshua's mind screamed out to hers. "Fight the compulsion, do not give in so quickly, make him work to get you... delay him, even if only for a little while!"
He could hear the creature's horde as they stomped through the house, throwing open doors and shouting out in high pitched grating voices.
Ruby stiffened on the edge of the sofa, and then fell back with a gasp.
The creature moved towards her.
"You dare to defy me!" he demanded almost gleefully. "Come my sweet, and suffer my attentions, for I will not be so gentle as I was before."
Suddenly there was a loud roar of triumph, and Joshua heard Celia's scream of terror, followed by a low rumble as many footsteps tumbled down the stairs.
The vampire lord spun around as the door flew open and several of his creatures entered, bringing with them a struggling panic stricken Celia. The rest of his minions came rushing after them, and the house fell silent again, as they all waited expectantly.
