The Fallen

Tap, tap.

Alana's eyes snapped open at the sound. Tap, tap. Something was tapping on the window by her bed. Tap, tap, tap. It was becoming increasingly urgent sounding. She looked to where Eric would have been next to her, if he hadn't been out of town.

Tap, tap, tap.

Feeling frightened and foolish, she got out of bed and went to the window. As she reached for the curtains, the tapping stopped. She pulled her hand back, then turned away, her chest heaving.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

She started, nearly tripping over her own feet. Tap, tap. Growing angry at herself for the unaccustomed fear she felt, Alana jerked the curtains apart. Nothing was there. She took a shaking breath, held it, then blew it out loudly. Running a hand over her face, Alana sat on the bed and rubbed her hands together.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Her heart hammered as the tapping came from behind her, at the big French windows that overlooked the yard. "Something wants me to go outside." She realized. Her thoughts immediately went to her daughter sleeping down the hall.

Tap, tap, tap.

Stumbling around to get her robe, Alana prepared to leave the room when a scream brought her to a halt. "Michelle!" Her mind yammered automatically. But the scream had come from outside, in the front yard, not from inside the house.

Forgetting her robe, Alana ran to the French windows, only to stumble back and roll over the bed as something smashed through, sending glass everywhere. Michelle shouted something as she ran into the room, turning the light on.

What had come through the window had been a body, ripped and bloodied. Michelle screamed as she saw it and kneeled down to pull her mother to her feet. Alana moaned and rubbed the side of her head, where she had hit it on the floor.

"Michelle...go get help!" Alana told her, "Now!"

Without replying, Michelle ran out of the room. Alana rolled the body onto it's back and gasped as she saw it's face. It was extremely pale, the lips shockingly red and there were long, pointed fangs protruding from it's mouth.

"Silas..." She whispered, recognizing the creature who had been a Vampire. She hadn't seen him in many years and had considered him one of the few Vampires she could call a friend. She began to search him, finding only a sheet of paper with the words "They are coming" scrawled across it, as though the writer's hand had been shaking badly.

"The phone is dead!" Michelle said hoarsely as she rushed back into the room.

"Damn..." Alana said, "Come on." She grabbed Michelle's left hand and pulled her out into the hall, where she quickly went through the closet and pulled out a long bundle. Turning to Michelle, Alana handed her the bundle. "Keep this close to you."

Michelle nodded, "What is going on?"

"Not now." Alana said, then pushed her towards her room. "Get dressed, we have to get out of here."

"No..." Michelle said, her voice quavering.

"It's all right, they won't be back for some time, baby..." Alana put her arms around Michelle and hugged her tightly. Michelle nearly clutched at her, her entire body trembling. "Oh, we'll be all right, Mish."

"How do you know?"

"I wish I knew, Honey...I wish I knew."

*****

The morning's light had already spilled over the tops of the trees when Alana pulled the family car around to the front and Michelle jumped in. The moon rode high in the dawn, a pale sliver being overtaken by the coming sun and the sight calmed Alana.

They rode in silence. Neither wanting to express their fears to the other. After a while of this Alana pulled the car over, turned it off, crossed her arms and laid her head on them. Michelle tentatively touched her shoulder, then pulled away.

"Do you know what's going on, Mother?"

Alana pulled her head up, rubbed her face, then turned to her daughter, "I think I may...but let's not talk about it now...let's get to Yoshi's first."

"Yoshi?" Michelle asked, remembering the short Asian man from the many times he had come to visit with his wife, Mira, "Why him?"

"I'll explain it all when we get there...but for now, I don't think I can do it."

They both jumped as Alana's cell phone rang from the back seat. Michelle reached back and brought it forward. She answered it, listened, then her face turned white and she nearly swooned. The phone slid to the floorboard.

"Michelle!" Alana cried, but her daughter shook her head. Alana picked the phone up. "Who is this?"

"Mrs. Van Dross?" A male voice asked.

"Yes."

A sigh at the other end, then a sharp intake of breath, "I'm sorry to inform you that your husband and a Mr. Victor Forlan were in an apparent accident...your husband did not make it, Mrs. Van Dross and Mr. Forlan is in serious condition."

Alana went numb. Eric was dead? How could this be? He promised me I would never lose him. These thoughts raced through her mind, nearly incoherent. With a cry of anguish, she dropped the phone from nerveless fingers, leaned against the steering wheel and cried.

Noticing how wan Michelle was, Alana forced herself to calm down and she picked the phone back up. As she did, a thought came to her, "What do you mean 'an apparent accident'?"

"We're not sure, ma'am...his car ran head long into a median...he was killed instantly...that's all I know." A pause, then. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." She said blankly and turned the phone off. With a vicious snarl, she started the car and pulled away from the shoulder. Silas coming to her with a message, only to be killed and thrown into her bedroom, now Eric and nearly Victor. Something was wrong, very wrong.

*****

They pulled into the driveway and sat there, both feeling weak and listless. The front door opened and Mira came out to stand on the porch. Alana noted that her stomach was getting larger, but couldn't manage a smile.

"Alana?" Mira called uncertainly.

"Is it her?" Yoshi's voice asked from inside.

"I don't know...do you think something is wrong?"

He stepped out, to stand by his wife. He frowned, "It's her and Michelle...by their expressions, I would say something terrible has happened."

Alana opened her door and got out, feeling unsteady. Michelle sat in the car, looking straight ahead, not seeing anything. Yoshi walked to Alana and put an arm around her, helping her to the porch.

"Michelle..." Alana whispered, falling to the steps and sitting.

Yoshi looked back at the girl. She was still staring straight ahead. He walked to her door, pulled it open and tried to talk to her, but she remained blank. He undid her seat belt and pulled her out and carried her to the house, where Mira had gotten Alana inside.

Once in the house, Yoshi laid Michelle on his couch and Mira came over to look after her. Afterwards he turned to Alana and motioned her into the front hall. She looked at him, unshed tears glistening in her eyes and nodded.

"What has happened?" Yoshi asked her.

"I...I'm not sure..." She began, then stopped. Taking a few deep breaths, she told him of the events of that morning. He listened, only nodding his head slightly at some point he thought relevant, but something in his dark eyes flickered when he heard of Eric and Victor's accident.

"And you think the two incidents are connected?" He asked, his voice subdued.

"I don't know what I think, Yoshi." She replied.

"That's not true, I know you Alana...your just afraid to give voice to your suspicions." He scolded her lightly.

She nodded and leaned against a wall, "I think it's coming to an end, Yoshi...everything...me, us-the Vampires. The...'experiment'... is finally being shut down..."

"The experiment?"

"'They are coming.'" She quoted.

Yoshi frowned, then his eyes went wide, "You mean the ones who turned you into Vampires in the first place..."

"I'm not sure, but yes that's what I think." She said.

"We still don't know who they are." Mira's soft voice interjected.

Alana looked to her and frowned, "No, we don't."

"'Knowing one's enemies is the first step to victory.'" Yoshi said, quoting something he had once read. He put an arm around Mira and gazed at Alana, his eyes unfocused. After a moment his eyes locked onto hers. "Do you remember anything more about when you became a Vampire?"

She averted her brown eyes and looked at the floor, "A few things have come to me since our fight with Leviathan...things he used to say, my first sight of him in that dark chamber with the figures shuffling about..." She looked up, into his eyes. She nodded, seeing the Dragon stirring, "I have also seen a face, behind the light in my eyes...the most beautiful face I have ever beheld...inhumanely beautiful, like a Vampire, but worse, something infinitely darker and deadlier than even Leviathan."

"Yet you have no idea what it was?" Mira asked her.

"No...how could I?" Alana responded, "I was a mere mortal myself at the time...to me it could have been the devil himself."

"Don't lose yourself, Alana..." Yoshi warned her, "You are a mortal like the rest of us."

She gave him a surprised look, then shook her head, "It's all right Yoshi...I tend to revert to my Vampiress attitude during bad situations like this." She closed her eyes, then banged her hands against the wall. "Eric used to make jokes about it....then he'd lay his hands on me and everything would fade away...my pain, my fears, my pride, my anger...all washed away in a torrent of love and lust...how he could love someone as tormented as me is beyond my knowledge, but I was so glad to have found him..." She broke down into tears, sliding down the wall, to end up sitting with her knees against her chest, her face buried between them.

Mira moved to go to her, but Yoshi took hold of her arm and shook his head. From the living room came a soft moan. Alana's head came up, her eyes hardening as she stood and went to her daughter.

Michelle sat on the couch much as she had in the car, eyes wide open, yet seeing nothing. Alana touched her face with the back of a hand, then leaned over and kissed her forehead. Something in Michelle's gray eyes flickered for a moment, then went blank once more.

"I'm sorry, baby...I'm so sorry..." Alana whispered to her. "Whatever it takes, I'll make them pay..."

*****

"...Lucrecia...Lucrecia...help me...please!"

Alana's eyelids fluttered open, a cold sweat causing her to shiver. She threw back the covers, peeling her shirt from her sticky skin and tossing it next to her. Standing, she wavered a bit as the voice came back to her. The voice had belonged to Marcus, a Vampire she hadn't seen in centuries, yet she knew it had been his voice, not just a dream.

Standing in the window she looked out, seeing nothing but moonlit lawns. Still, she felt something out there, something powerful...and familiar. She lowered her head and half sighed, half sobbed.

Thump!

She jumped back as the window frame shook and the glass rattled. When she raised her head she found herself staring into two blazing eyes. The yellowish light that spilled from them kept her from seeing the creature, but she could feel it, something she had never come across before.

"Lucrecia...Lucrecia...come to me, my Lucrecia." The creature spoke softly, it's voice strong and sibilant. "Drive all thoughts of this mortal life away and come to me, bring the child, the young woman...the one offspring you've ever had..."

"No!" She yelled at it, bringing the full force of her mind against it. With a thunderous explosion the window blew outward, along with a large portion of the wall. The creature shot away, to slam into a tree. Even from where she stood, Alana could hear the bones in it's body shatter from the impact and the tree toppled over.

Shouts from inside the house brought her around in time to see Yoshi's head torn from his shoulders and the great gout of blood that came after. From another part of the house came a bright flash, then an inhuman scream followed by a commanding voice, which she recognized as Michelle's.

Alana grabbed the dark shape that had just beheaded Yoshi and tore it's throat out, something inside her coming to the surface. With a hiss, Alana rammed her fangs into the creature's neck and fed off of it. Realizing what she was doing, Alana yanked her head back and threw the creature down. She retched what she had drank back up.

"Mother!" Michelle yelled, running to Alana, but she waved her away.

"Are they gone?"

Michelle frowned, "Only these two came in."

Nodding, Alana turned back to Yoshi. Reaching down, she moved his head back to his body and laid her hands on his chest. With a moan, Alana began to shudder and something white began to run from her arms, till it coalesced into a sword. The sword swiftly melted into Yoshi's body and he began to glow a dim white. After several minutes his eyes fluttered open and he sat up.

"That was not a very pleasant experience..." He said, smiling. "I take it they don't know what I am?"

Alana smiled back, "I don't know." She patted his shoulder, "I was worried that it wouldn't work..."

Without saying anything, Yoshi took her hand and squeezed it, then laid his other hand on her shoulder. Again something white moved from him to her and he fell back, exhausted.

Alana stood and pulled Michelle to her and held her.

"Now what?" Michelle asked.

"Now we wait some more..." Her mother replied. She looked at Yoshi. "Are you sure Mira will be all right where you sent her?"

"Not completely, no...but what other choice do I have?" He responded.

From the room Alana had come from they heard the sound of snapping wood, then the creature with the yellow eyes appeared in the doorway. It laughed and strode forward, grabbing Alana by the arm.

"Oh yes...we were right...you are strong...but we agree that you are not strong enough...my Lucrecia." It said. It touched it's lips against her cheek, then laughed again. "Oh, I remember you...the way you felt, the things I felt...but now I am theirs and they say I can't have you..."

Something about the creature compelled Alana to try to see it's face, but the light from it's eyes kept her from seeing. She pulled away, but it's hold on her was like a vice. One of it's long fingers touched her face, tracing down her jaw line. It was this motion that told her who the creature was and she screamed in rage, her soul twisting itself in anguish.

"Eric..." She whispered.

The creature's eyes widened and it pulled it's hand away from her face, "No...no...I was, now I am not...I am no longer yours, but I am theirs." Something in it's voice had changed, a new tone had appeared, perhaps one of profound regret. "Soon you will be theirs as well, but when they are done, you will cease to exist...but our...the child they will keep..for she is closer to what they wanted in the first place..."

Closing her eyes, Alana steeled herself against what she had to do. With a sobbing cry, she brought her other hand up and under his arm, striking his elbow with all the force she could bring to bear. With a sickening snap, the arm bent and sagged the wrong way, the bone protruding and blood fountained outward. But his grip never faltered. Even as they watched, the bone and flesh reknitted itself, leaving his arm whole.

Eric laughed and swung his arm up and hit her in the side of the head. Alana sank to her knees, where Eric promptly kneed her in the face. He grinned insanely as he took a handful of her hair and yanked her up.

"I didn't want to hurt you...please don't fight me." He said, the anguish in his voice now evident.

"Dad..." Michelle said, but he ignored her, "Dad!"

He looked at her and gapped, for what stood before him was a large, man-shaped wolf, it's jaws parted and saliva glinting on it's fangs. But what caught his attention was what she held in her outstretched right hand, a small blue orb of what appeared to be glass. He let go of Alana and advanced on Michelle.

"Michelle...what are you doing?" He asked her, his voice suddenly sounding like the father she loved. "This is for the best, Mish...it really is..."

"NO!!" She screamed at him and threw the orb.

With a terrifying speed, he sidestepped the orb and punched the wolf in the snout, blood spurted and she staggered back. He reached for her when Yoshi grabbed his leg. Without looking, Eric kicked him in the head and he let go.

"Eric!"

He spun around to see Alana standing, her face already bruised badly and blood running freely from her nose. In one hand she held the blue orb, which she raised to a level with her head, her arm outstretched. Her eyes blazed white as the white substance-Yoshi's spirit-flowed down her arm and into the orb, causing it to flare into a blinding ball of blue fire. She raised her other hand and pointed at him, immediately an arc of electricity enveloped him, holding him captive. With a savage cry, she threw the orb at him. As soon as it hit him, it burst and the liquid fire burned and melted it's way into his flesh, into his blood. Only seconds later, he was on the floor unconscious, with Yoshi's spirit-sword laying by him.

*****

Alana sat by him, her eyes bright and red from crying. She laid her hand on Eric's chest, feeling the slow, rhythmic movement of his breathing. She started as his eyes opened, for they still contained the unnatural yellow light.

"Alana...my love..." He whispered hoarsely, "I'm so sorry..I tried to fight them..."

"Shhh...It's all right, I understand...only too well..."

"You've been crying..." He said, laying a hand against her face.

"Yes..." She said, closing her eyes as he touched her, tracing her face with his fingers. She flushed as her pulse quickened. "Oh, Eric...I was so hurt when I heard you had died...but it was nothing compared to what I felt when I realized who you were and what had happened..."

"I never died, Love..." He said, looking at her sadly. "They came after Victor and I...all of the Hunters are being hunted...killed...they didn't even know about you until they got a hold of me...somehow they read my thoughts..that's when they decided to use me to get you...but what they really want is Michelle..."

"Why?"

He smiled weakly, "Because...as powerful as you are...our little girl is probably four times as powerful and she is closer to what they tried to achieve with you and the other Vampires. She looks human, has power, but none of the side effects of the experiments...she doesn't need to feed on blood, she can be out in the daylight, she can have offspring...she has none of them, which even you can't say is true of you..."

"I'll be damned before I let them take her.." Alana spat.

"That's closer to the truth than you know..."

"What?" She asked him.

"Your going to have to fight them, Alana...you, Yoshi, Michelle...me, if I can heal fast enough...but to win...you may have to give up our daughter..."

"What do you mean?"

"Let her find her power...let it flood into her mind and body...don't stem it as I know you have been all these years while you told Yoshi and every one else that she was a normal girl..."

"But..."

"No...listen to me, Alana...I know your afraid that she'll take after her Vampire heritage if she has access to that kind of power too soon, or all at once...and it's a risk, I know, but one we have to take...without her full abilities, there is no way we can beat them...no way..."

"Then let me train her at least."

"I'm sorry, Love...but there is no time, they'll come for her...and they won't wait for you to train her..."

"So I have to risk my daughter's sanity, her humanity, to beat these creatures?" She asked angrily.

"Our daughter..."

She looked at him, surprised, "Yes...our daughter..."

"Tonight...it has to be tonight...find an open place, then wait..."

She nodded, fresh tears spilling from her eyes, "All right.."