Split in Time

Author's note:

All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi everyone

Here it is the latest chapter of Split in Time and I hope you enjoy it. As normal thanks goes to my editor who has been neglecting her sleep again to get this chapter ready.

All feedback is welcome and don't forget to vote.

Have fun

*

Destiny walked pass a window as she paced, she was waiting to talk with Amy. She had tried to get to Amy first after the duel but Amy's daughters were there first and Amy promised to talk to her next and that she shouldn't be long. Crystal had gone to get something to drink leaving Destiny to wait outside of Amy's office for Destiny's turn.

Destiny passed the window again and paused, she stepped back and her eyes focused on Sasha who was playing out the front. She stilled as she watched Sasha play near the invisible boundary which protected and hid the temple. Her eyes scanned the area, dread filled her as she spotted a squad of merks approaching and Sasha getting closer to the boundary, if she crossed it, it would break the wards and the merks would know they were here.

Destiny didn't think, didn't have time to call out for help, she just reacted. In moments she was at the front door and flung it open, she hesitated for a moment knowing she wouldn't be protected by whatever Amy had done to keep the dangerous UV at bay. She wanted to call out but she didn't know how the wards worked.

She took a deep breath, if she was quick she might just survive this, she could expose herself to perhaps thirty or forty seconds of UV before death took her and she needed less than that to get to Sasha and back. She blurred into action using all her speed, she was scooping Sasha up barely a seconds after leaving the house. Before Destiny could take off back to the safety of the house Sasha spoke.

"You're not burning."

Destiny stilled and glanced down at her arms, Sasha was right, she wasn't burning, her skin wasn't blistering. Amy and Crystal were suddenly beside Destiny and just as surprised as she was. Amy had also spotted what Destiny had from her office window and had come to get Sasha herself and had picked Crystal up on the way. Neither had expected to see Destiny out here.

"How old are you?" Crystal asked almost randomly as she watched the flawless skin on Destiny's arm, she had seen how Vampires reacted to the sun, it only took seconds for the skin to start to blister and burn and about fifty seconds before death.

"Almost three millennia why?" Destiny asked trying to wrap her mind around this, she shouldn't be able to stand beneath the sun, she should be burnt to a cinder by now yet here she was safe and sound.

Crystal stilled as her mind focused on how old Destiny was. "And you ordered the destruction of my blood as a new born?" She asked.

Destiny stilled as she came to same conclusion Crystal had, Amy's mind was quick behind them. "Prove it... order me to do something." Destiny demanded of Crystal.

"Drop her." Crystal ordered, wishing Destiny would be able to resist.

Destiny tried to resist Crystal's command, tried and failed, she could not resist her Maker's command. She jerked her arms out from under Sasha and Sasha fell to the ground. "Sorry." Destiny said and helped Sasha back to her feet. "Judas..." Destiny growled, she had felt a pull to Crystal but she had also felt a pull to Amy she had just thought it was her curious nature coming forward.

"STOP." Crystal ordered a moment before Destiny took off. "He's mine." She growled but was suddenly stopped by Amy.

"Destiny deserves this more than you do but we do this my way." She told both women levelling them with her best Alpha look. Crystal went to rebel but remembered Ghan and she had agreed, on the behalf of their group, to join Wolfgang's pack which meant she would be disobeying her Alpha and would be cast out. Crystal bowed her head; she chose to join a wolf pack and that meant she had to live by it. She knew that for the most part she would be left to live her life without her Alpha's influence but in this instance she had to listen and obey her Alpha.

Destiny bowed her head after watching Crystal bow her head, if her maker submitted to someone that was her cue to submit as well.

Amy glanced at both women for a moment before nodding. "Stay behind me, I think Destiny deserves some questions answered." She told them both and turned walking back into the house, Crystal and Destiny followed with Sasha.

Amy stopped and spun around focusing on Sasha. "You knew didn't you?" she asked the little girl.

Sasha nodded, "he didn't bother guarding his thoughts when I was around." She explained. "So I figured out the best way to make sure Destiny and Crystal learnt the truth."

Amy nodded and turned to continue through the house. They walked into the courtyard; Judas was with several other Vampires talking quietly. Crystal hissed the moment she saw him but as ordered she stayed behind Amy, Destiny's hiss echoed Crystal's. They moved at Amy's pace but in short order they came to stand before Judas.

Arianna frowned as she watched Destiny who to the best of her knowledge had never been enraged before. "Destiny what is wrong?"

"Ask him..." she declared loudly, a growing crowd gathered around to watch and see what was happening.

If Judas could he would have paled as he realised he was in deep shit. The other masters came silently as they hadn't been far away and stood on either side of the cleared space between Amy's group and Judas.

"What is the meaning of this?" A burly Vampire asked.

"Ask Judas..." Amy taunted, she wanted him to come clean, she watched as he swallowed a little nervously.

He took a deep breath and stood tall. "I do not answer to you." He answered and got answering hisses from Destiny and Crystal for disrespect.

Sasha tugged on Amy's hand. "Ask him about what he did with Vlha." She said then hid behind Amy as Judas growled a feral sound at her.

Destiny stilled; Vlha, the man who had guided and befriended her when she was confused and scared, had vanished shortly after delivering her to the conclave. She would never have thought that Judas was responsible for Vlha's disappearance. Anger and rage filled her, causing her to lunge at Judas.

Crystal's arm shot out and grabbed Destiny throwing her onto the ground. "Stand but do not attack him."

Destiny quivered as she knew that was an order. She got up and brushed herself down her rage for the moment was leashed.

"I warn you..." Amy stated firmly, "if you growl at my aunt Sasha like that again... what I do to you will make you wish I let Destiny and Crystal tear you to into little pieces very... very...

very

... slowly." She continued with utterly no emotion, her eyes hard and those watching were exceedingly glad they weren't in Judas's position. Amy generally wasn't one for threats, she tended to just lash out and get it over with, but Destiny and Crystal needed answers and a shattered jaw would not help with that.

"What did you do to Vlha?" Destiny demanded her fists clinched as she had no choice but to stand before Judas, she wanted to beat the information from him; Vlha had been her guiding influence in this life, her friend and mentor. She had not dealt well with his disappearance but she knew how fickle he was and had just assumed he had gone off to do his own thing. Although she had not expected him to vanish for so long, she had sent agents of the conclave out looking for him a dozen times, beginning to suspect foul play but they had come back empty handed each time.

"Destiny... picture Vlha for me, everything you remember about what he looks like... sounds like and smells like." Amy turned to Vivian, "you are going to want to get blood and keep it coming, if Vlha's been starved for almost three thousand years he will be in a frenzy." What Amy knew about vampires was limited but she knew when denied their food source they went into a kind of hibernation state much like immortal Were did, they could live like that indefinitely or until their food source returned.

"Have you got that picture?" Amy asked Destiny.

"Yes."

Amy focused, no one spoke wondering if Amy was even capable of what she was suggesting. Before anyone could react a youthful man was before Amy, he was seated calmly on the floor as if in meditation. His silver blond hair ran in a long plait down his back and looped around his crossed legs, he was bare from the chest up, his lower half was covered with ragged skins, and dark crude tattoos ran up his arms.

"Crystal, Destiny, restrain him." Amy ordered. Just as the two women moved he was on his feet, his eyes were completely black but before he had a chance to attack anyone Crystal and Destiny had his arms and held him still. Vivian suddenly appeared with a pitcher of blood; she pressed it to his lips and poured.

He suddenly stopped fighting; he didn't care how he got blood as long as he got it. He drank deeply and messily spilling a lot down his own body, when that pitcher was empty Vivian made another appear. "Let me." He asked in a dead language that only Destiny and his brother knew, and she only knew it because he had taught it to her. She released his arm and he grabbed the pitcher to steady it as he drank, spilling not a drop this time. When that was emptied another was handed to him and Crystal released him to let him control his feeding, both women however stayed close just in case he decided to hurt Judas before they could get their answers.

Five pitchers later he stopped; although he did take the sixth pitcher offered to him and held it to his chest. His black eyes shifted, losing the blackness to return to the pale green his eyes normally were. Now that he was in control he glanced around wondering how he got here, a thought he quickly dismissed as he noticed Mryddin in the crowd. He had met the crazy man several times before he was locked in that coffin and knew that he had been freed by Ancients, only they had the ability to find someone in a solid marble and magic infused coffin tossed into an Abyss, and transport them instantly elsewhere.

His eyes landed on Judas and he hissed the betrayal dealt to him by Judas was still a raw note to him; it was all he had thought about in that marble prison. Well that and Destiny, the young one he had left at the conclave while he went in search of Crystal, not comfortable leaving her out in the world on her own after what Judas had done to her. However, he never had a chance to find Crystal as a day into his search Judas and few juniors blitz attacked him and placed him in his prison.

The betrayal was harder still considering he had turned Judas, in fact he had turned all of the oldest of masters, most purely by accident, some deliberately, but he had stopped after Judas. He had become jaded with his creations as they could not fill the void he felt, a void that had filled a little with Destiny in his life but more with his family, the family he left because it was the right thing to do.

Destiny stepped before him and he tilted his head as he looked her over. "He's mine." She told him in the same dead language.

Vlha considered her position for a moment, of all the people in the room Destiny was the only person he would put aside his own need for revenge for. "I will need some blood... so that I can learn of what I have missed." He told her before he hesitated, "how long?"

"If you vanished shortly after taking me to the conclave..." She began.

"Which I did," he confirmed flashing angry eyes to Judas who was watching on in confusion, in fact many were as he had not given the gift of his birth language to anyone but Destiny.

"Then almost three millennia." She told him and watched pain and anger cross his face, Vlha was much like Crystal and Destiny in the fact that he chose not to conform to what was expected of being a Vampire, something which had only strengthened when he met Destiny. He could understand controlling a Vampire's intense emotions as they always felt things with their whole beings but he didn't understand cutting them off completely like those who came after him chose to do.

"Who freed me?" He asked next as it was the most logical question.

"The short, dark haired woman directly behind you."

He turned slowly as not to startle anyone, his eyes focused on Amy for a moment before he bowed and spoke a sentence, he glanced impatiently to Destiny for her to translate.

Destiny thought for a few moments before translating the best she could. "He sincerely thanks you and is in your debt for freeing him."

Amy grinned but shrugged, "it was the right thing to do."

He glanced to Destiny for a translation which she quickly did.

He suddenly glanced up as he realised that the sun was shining on him, it didn't bother him, as the first of his kind he had none of the allergies the preceding generations had. But the others on the other hand were allergic to the sun yet there they were, safe as houses. "How is that possible?" he asked Destiny.

Destiny smiled, "again the short, dark haired woman behind you is responsible for this."

He nodded, "blood?" he asked, Destiny was the only one who could give him what he needed. Knowledge could be passed from Vampire to Vampire via their blood; it was how he taught her to speak his original language.

"I will have to ask my maker." She told him before she turned to Crystal, "he would like a few mouthfuls of blood from me." She said simply in English.

Vlha studied the woman Destiny was speaking to and suddenly everything seemed to fall into place in his mind, he thought he knew who was Destiny's maker was but had also known that Crystal wouldn't turn anyone.

Judas and his cursed experiments,

he thought to himself, if he hadn't been put in that damn coffin he would have pieced it together the moment he had brought these two together and under his care.

Crystal nodded, "I am indebted to him for helping you. A little blood is no problem."

Destiny offered her wrist to Vlha; he took her wrist but glanced to Crystal who nodded at him, again giving her permission. It was considered good manners, at least that was what he taught those he turned, to ask the maker before biting one of their underlings or feeding them for that matter and Vlha prided himself in his manners. Even though technically he had broken one of those unwritten rules when he fed Destiny his blood to teach her, there had been no known maker to ask. His fangs extended and he bit into Destiny's wrist. She winced as his teeth bit into her but the pain passed as he took a deep pull on her blood, he took another mouthful before he ran his tongue over his bite sealing the wounds. He released her hand and closed his eyes letting her knowledge infuse into his mind.

He could have drunk some of the blood from one of the others but he knew that he wouldn't get a whole picture, only the vampire side of things. However, he knew Destiny well, knew that she had an insatiable curiosity which she indulged whenever she liked. She would know the ins and outs of everything that had happened within reason since his... incarceration. At the same time he also wished he hadn't taken her blood as his head spun a little with all the knowledge she had gained in the last three millennia.

Vlha took a deep breath and opened his eyes, "Judas and several Juniors jumped me," he said in accented English, he could have dropped the accent all together but that would be denying some of his heritage. "They drained me and put me in a marble and magic infused coffin and dropped me into an abyss." He said simply stating his case. There were hisses and growls from the assembled masters, most of whom had been given this life by Vlha.

"Why?" Arianna asked Vlha, having kept a level head.

"Because I know Destiny, knew her before she knew that she was a vampire." Vlha answered simply, "He only became concerned when he heard I was going to search for Crystal as I didn't think it wise to let her loose on the world in her then current frame of mind. If I had brought them together back then we all would have known what Judas had done." He explained, "Although, I want to know how he managed to magic you to believe the sun was bad for you." He said directly to Destiny.

"I believe everything should be done in the right time," Amy said stepping forward, "starting with how many times he failed to turn someone using Crystal's blood and how he managed to succeed." She said directing everyone's attention back to Judas. "How many died before Destiny was reborn?"

"Eight." He answered knowing that he was dead anyway, how he died however depended on what he did here and how he answered Amy's questions.

"How did you succeed?" Was Amy's next question.

"I didn't wait for her heart to slow down completely before feeding her the blood, also I didn't bite her, biting doesn't help." He answered and closed his eyes making up his mind to tell them everything. "I knew I succeeded when her heart beat matched Crystal's at resting, forty beats a minute. To hide her heart beat I had a black witch restrict her heart to the point that it barely beats. I had the same witch infuse the fear of the sun and silver into her. She however told me that the magic would break completely if the blood of the maker were to pass her lips again."

Destiny stilled her hand on her heart which should be beating. She glanced to Crystal who was already offering her wrist to her previously unknown charge. Destiny took Crystal's wrist and quickly bit into it hoping to get this over with as the taste of blood from a human or vampire often left her gagging. The moment Crystal's blood touched her tongue she craved more but at the same time she didn't, it was yummy but it was precious as it was her maker's blood. She took no more than two mouthfuls knowing that should be sufficient to break whatever magic the witch had placed on her. She sealed the bite and released Crystal's arm.

Everyone watched and listened waiting. Destiny winced as she felt her chest constrict, it suddenly became very hard to breathe, but as soon as it came it went and for the first time in her conscious memory she felt her heart's slow steady beat. She closed her eyes and focused her ears on her own throbbing heart. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes and glared at Judas but Crystal's order was set; she was not to attack the evil man before her.

"Why don't I remember my human life, my human name?" She demanded.

"I don't know," he said with little feeling, he simply didn't care. Crystal, Vlha and Amy growled at him, they would not accept that answer. "I think it may have to do with how long you took to turn." Judas said quickly in response to the growls.

"How long did it take?" Vlha asked curious, taking a wet cloth from Vivian to try to clean up a little. Turning a human depended on how weak the human's blood and body were, it could be a few hours but never more than a few days.

"A week, she was feverous the entire time as if she was trying to fight the turning." Judas explained. "While Destiny slept I had the witch do what she did and when you woke the first time I was sadly out hunting, when I returned you were gone." He said finishing what he knew.

"Why?" Crystal demanded, "After what happened with me why risk it. If I had known I would have staked you out. Hell I might still."

Judas gave Crystal the same superior look he used to give her when he lectured her on their godliness, on how humans were sheep and only good for food. Crystal quivered in rage, she hated that holier than thou look. "You and Destiny are the closest things to Vlha... to our origin that any of us have been able to come up with."