.5

Cazi pushed herself up and looked at Aelfric. "What do you mean you have to leave tomorrow? Why? You cannot just... leave me." She slid from on top of him and sat beside him on the bed, looking over at him. Of itself her mind flashed back to the last time she said those words.

Cassandra stared at her husband and just sat down hard in the chair in their parlor. "What do you mean you have to leave? You cannot just leave me, Henry. I thought we were going to try to have another child."

Captain Bevington sighed and sat down next to her. "Cassandra, you know I do not have a choice. I am an officer in Her Majesty's Army. We are at war with the Boers of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The 13th is being mobilized. I have orders to report to Aldershot on the fifth of next month to catch the train to Liverpool." He took her hand and squeezed gently. "I had hoped to spend Christmas and greet the new century with my love. But I have my orders Cassandra. I have to go."

"Why does it have to be you, Henry? Is there not someone else that can go?" Cassandra asked, the tears starting to flow down her face. Even as she asked, she knew that he had to go, that he would go all the way to South Africa and leave her alone in England. "I need you

here

with me."

She felt her anger flare as Henry chuckled. "And I want to stay here with you, Cassandra. I am a Captain in the Hussars of our Queen's Army. I have been called to go with my regiment to war. I will return to you as soon as I can, Cassandra. I promise."

Her anger returned to tears and she pulled her hands from his, covering her face with a lace handkerchief as she sobbed. She did not want him to go. He could not leave her! She felt his arm slide around her shoulders comfortingly and jerked angrily away, still sobbing. As he so often did when she cried, Henry stood up and stepped away from her. She did not understand why he did that. She wanted him closer, not farther away. Her tears fell harder as she heard him moving away from her.

"I am sorry, Cassandra. But I have to do my duty to our Queen." She heard him sigh deeply but her face was hidden in the handkerchief. "I will send Amina in to you. I am going to take my new horse out for a ride to give you time to relax." As her sobs grew heavier into the handkerchief she heard him turn and leave her alone in the room.

Aelfric stretched languidly and smiled grimly as he pushed up onto one arm facing her. "My Sire has demanded my presence. And when Cadeyrn demands something, he gets it."

"Your... 'Sire'? The one who made you?" Cazi asked, turning to face Aelfric on the bed. When Aelfric nodded she asked. "What does he want? Do you know?"

"Yes, Cazi, I know." Aelfric said. "As soon as I turned you, he knew it. I do not know how he knew, but he did. He was not happy about it either, let me tell you."

Cazi's confusion was evident in her voice. "Why should he care if you turn somebody? Is he able to say yes or no to someone being turned?"

"Cazi," Aelfric said, sitting up, "he can do just that. Cadeyrn is the vampire equivalent to King Edward. The only difference is, King Edward will die eventually, as all humans do. Cadeyrn will live for a long time. He has already lived for centuries. And ruled Britain's vampire realm for that entire time."

"There is a King of Vampires?" Cazi asked. "You are his... son?"

Aelfric chuckled softly. "You could say that. There are numerous vampire 'Kingdoms' in the world. Cadeyrn's is but one. And a small one at that. Like the English monarchs, he has divided his Kingdom up into smaller 'Noble Houses'. His blood has graced each of the Houses, giving each some claim to his throne. As a matter of pride, I named my 'House' after the Kingdom of Alfred. I lead the House of Wessex."

"But why is he so interested in who you make into a vampire, Aelfric?" Cazi asked. She could not figure out why any of this mattered.

"When Cadeyrn turned me, he only had two of his original 'childer' left."

Aelfric stopped when Cazi blurted out, "Childer? What do you mean 'childer'?"

"I am a 'childer' of Cadeyrn." Aelfric shrugged. "It is just what they call those they turn into vampires. You are my childer, Cazi. I guess the elder vampires wanted some connection to their mortal lives. So the one that turns a vampire is called the 'sire'. The one that is turned is called a 'childer'.

"Anyway," Aelfric continued, "back to what I was saying. When I was turned, Cadeyrn only had two childer left. One of those was known to be disloyal and she was killed right after I was turned, and the other was thought to be disloyal as well. Decades later he was executed for treason against Cadeyrn."

He reached over and took Cazi's hand, squeezing gently. She squeezed back, listening. "I am the last direct link to the throne of what Cadeyrn calls the 'Kingdom of the Dark Isles'. The other Houses are two and three generations removed from the blood of Cadeyrn because of their disloyalty at various times."

"Two and three generations removed?" Cazi's confusion was growing with each sentence that she heard.

Aelfric just smiled. "I am the first generation. Cadeyrn turned me. You are the second generation. No other House has any direct link to Cadeyrn. Only one or two members remaining that Cadeyrn's childer turned directly. Some Houses do not even have that. That is the reason that Cadeyrn takes such an interest in who I turn."

Aelfric's smile again turned grim and Cazi watched him. "You are the only childer of mine remaining. The rest have met Cadeyrn and, once they had produced childer of their own, been killed because he did not approve of them."

Cazi's eyes widened at that. "Killed because he did not approve? Is he going to kill me?"

Cazi squeezed Aelfric's hand tighter as he gave hers a reassuring squeeze. "No. He will not kill you, Cazi. He has assured the continuation of my House by allowing my childer to sire childer of their own before he executed them. But none of the ones before had your fire. I think Cadeyrn will like you very much. But the fact remains that you are the heir to his heir. And so he will be coming to meet you. Most likely sometime after I go to answer his summons."

Cazi looked around. "Come to meet me? He knows where I live? How? 'Sometime' after you go? When?"

Aelfric laughed and leaned back on the bed again. "I do not know when. Cadeyrn does as Cadeyrn wishes and he does it at his pace. As for how he knows where you live; As soon as I go to him he will want to know everything about you Cazi. He will want to know and I will tell him. Because he is my King and that is my duty to him."

"But, he is unhappy that you turned me. He might have already decided to kill me." Cazi felt the cold grip of fear settle into her stomach.

"No, Cazi. Cadeyrn does not work that way. He is a King." Aelfric said. "He will meet you and decide your fate from that meeting. Just continue to practice your skills and remember what I showed you. You will do fine Cazi." He patted her hand gently as a jaw-cracking yawn escaped him. He lay back on the bed and murmured "Close the shutters and drapes, Cazi. The sun will be rising soon."

As he said that, Cazi felt her own tiredness slam into her after the roller coaster ride of the night. She rose and walked over to the windows, closing the shutters, mindless of her nudity. She ignored the call from a man down in the street and just pulled the shutters closed and closed the thick drapes to keep out the sunlight. When she turned around, she saw Aelfric's gaze on her. Suddenly self-conscious, she stopped. "What is it, Aelfric?"

He just shook his head. "Nothing, Cazi. I was just watching you. It might be some time before I see you again. I wanted to keep the memory of you fresh in my mind while I am gone."

Cazi blushed and walked back over to the bed after extinguishing the lamp, climbing into it and curling herself against Aelfric. She felt his breathing become slow and steady and knew he was asleep already. Her mind whirled with everything that Aelfric had said and she was much longer sleeping, but sleep she did.

Author's Note: This segment was originally intended to lead off Part 3, but after some thought, I decided that it would be better as a piece to itself. It just sort of sets up interactions later in the story. As you might have guessed, I intend to see this story through to -some- conclusion. What that conclusion might be is unknown right now, although there was a thought at first to introduce her into the Tre Lloyd Adventures series in some capacity. I am working to continue Cazi's Journey. Thank you for reading.