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  Lucas’ hands were itching to touch it. But why, Gaspard thought, is he so interested in my necklace? He grunted a "fine" in annoyance.

  Lucas ignored the gesture and toyed with the pendant in his hand. He made a sound almost like a gasp before returning to look at his face. "Where did you get this?" he asked threateningly.

  "I've had it since I can remember. It’s all I have left of my family."

  Lucas stared into his face with narrowed eyes for a long moment. "This necklace will be mine from now on." He smirked and yanked it off of his neck.

  "No!" Gaspard hissed and growled, clashing his fangs furiously. He tried to break out of the other vampires hold on him, but his strength was still too weak to over-power them. He couldn't let Lucas take his only memento of his family; the only item that has ever meant anything and belonged to just him.

  "Lucas!" The male with the golden hair and green robes called out. Gaspard, still fuming, watched him move closer and put his hand on Lucas' shoulder. "I think you should let the boy keep it," he looked over his own shoulder at Gaspard before returning to Lucas and whispered, "for now."

  "What makes you think I should listen to you?"

  "He needs it still if he was to go back working for the mansion. After he is trained, we can use him to drive out the others, and eventually create the stronger breed."

  Lucas pondered over his words. He let the idea sink in and tried to imagine the possibilities. After a few moments of intense thinking, he said, "Fine. But his training must begin straight away. I don't have time to deal with newborns."

  "Let me be his mentor."

  "You? Ha!" He laughed wildly. "Why?"

  "I have the experience and the only other who has dealt with one like him." Lucas' eyes narrowed while he listened. "He needs special training, you know that," he said seriously.

  Lucas thought about it for a few moments before agreeing with his request. "But, I want to be updated on his progress." He glanced quickly at Gaspard who had been staring viciously at them through their whole conversation. "Let me know when he's ready." He threw the necklace back to Gaspard. He caught it in his hand, though his arms were still bound by the guards.

  Lucas left them, swiftly making his way to the door he came in from before motioning the guards to release Gaspard. They warily let go of him, staying in position just in case he tried to attack or make a run for it.

  Gaspard was just relieved to have his necklace back. He could have cared less what the others were talking about. Whether it was about him or someone else, he didn't pay any attention to their conversation. His eyes were focused on what was in Lucas' hand the whole time. He sighed angrily before putting it back around his neck. He then felt a sudden wave of exhaustion sweep over him. His eyes turned dark and his jaw tightened while he clutched his stomach. It growled and boiled of an emptiness and burning hunger.

  "Gaspard, what's wrong?" Alarm was in Gabriel's voice.

  "I don't know," he said though clenched teeth.

  "Are you feeling weak?"

  "Ahh!" His vision went blurry and he couldn't hold himself up any longer.

  He caught him as he fell and laid him down on the hard floor. "Don't fight it. You'll be fine."

  Gaspard reluctantly stopped fighting the urge to rip open his stomach and lay motionless on the ground. He couldn't see anything but could still hear voices clearly around him.

  "It’s alright. Rest."

  After Gaspard had fainted, Lucas had sent everyone that had been in the common room to leave. He needed to be alone, but they needn’t trouble themselves with that information, so he just told them all to simply "leave!"

  He stayed in the room, all doors shut, and even locked, as he paced the room. His thoughts were troubling him, thoughts of the boy, of the pendant that he wore. How had he come across it?

  "I had looked everywhere for that pendant," Lucas began mumbling to himself.

  When something bothered Lucas, simple thoughts in his head would not suffice, he had to talk out loud, as if there was someone else in the room; but of course, he was always alone.

  "I thought they had taken it," he mumbled again, his pacing continuing once more.

  If he could still sleep like a human could, he would have had a very restless night ahead of him. But be that as it may, he stayed in that room all night, doors shut, pacing in silence with just the odd murmuring of his own voice as he contemplated and argued with himself.

  Chapter 7 Modification

  "Gabriel!" Lucas' angry call sounded loudly through the

  hallway leading towards Gabriel’s room. Gabriel jumped out of his room swiftly, landing directly in front of Lucas as he appeared next to his door.

  "Would you keep it down, Lucas? The boy is sleeping. I’m sure it wouldn’t kill you to not be dramatic for once," Gabriel hissed, stealing a glance to the door across the hall from his own where Gaspard lay in his trance.

  "Oh please, Gabriel, we both know even that boy can't sleep now!"

  "You know what I mean, Lucas! He's in a trance! Now come in here before you attract everyone's attention."

  With that, Gabriel stepped back into his room, ignoring the silent muttering and cursing emitting from Lucas about him being the leader and no-one gives him orders.

  "Now, what do you want?" Gabriel asked none too nicely. He knew perfectly well what Lucas had come to yell at him about, in fact he always knew what angered Lucas as he loved nothing more than to irk him. But this time, he actually dreaded hearing Lucas' rants about what he had done this time.

  "You know perfectly well what I want, as I can see by the look on your face!" Lucas hissed angrily as he closed the door.

  "Yes, yes, now please, get on with it. The boy should be waking at any minute."

  "Your incompetence has often caused me problems, but this by far is the worst you have ever done! I gave you the orders to kill that boy," he pointed his finger angrily behind him as if to point out Gaspard behind the doors, "and you go and bite him! That is the complete opposite of your orders! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

  Gabriel's eyes narrowed as Lucas treated him as if he were a scolded puppy, "How is it my fault if the boy is stronger then you expected? He is a Dautry after all," he sneered. Lucas' jaw tightened as his eyes changed color from his rage. A very dangerous sign.

  "I would love so much to kill you right now," Lucas had bent forward a bit to whisper in Gabriel's ear so low that even the other vampires wouldn’t have been able to hear him, "But, alas, I cannot." He pulled away with a calm smile on his face even though his eyes were still burning.

  "Like I said; you just can’t go without being dramatic, can you?" Gabriel pushed past him as he went to head out the door to check on Gaspard but felt one of Lucas' hands grip him firmly, dangerously, on the arm.

  "You seem to forget a lot that there are laws, Gabriel. And sooner or later, I'll punish you for your disobedience- no matter how good you are at hiding. Don’t forget, I am still leader."

  With that said Lucas left before Gabriel could, leaving him with those last words lingering in his head.

  Lucas' rage from Gabriel’s actions was still burning strongly within him as he entered his large bed chamber. After slamming his door shut so strongly its bang sounded throughout the castle he began to pace once more. His room was large and richly decorated in fine silks covering not only his large four-poster bed, but hung from the walls so brilliantly it was if you had just walked into the room of a prince. The very floor he was pacing on was made of tile that looked of large pearls pulled out of the ocean laid out from wall to wall giving his room an elegant shine.

  The far wall facing the silk sheeted bed was covered in swords and daggers that shone dangerously in the dimly lighted room. Each blade that hung from the wall had been finely crafted and made with the sharpest of blades and the handles were made of the finest materials with the occasional stone embedded in each one. Lucas' loved to simply stare at the blades with unmasked wonder for they were just lik
e him in many ways. Yes, they were beautiful and elegant, but they were also built to kill with no remorse for the lives they took- just like the vampire who coveted them.

  Lucas picked up a long, slim-bladed sword and twirled it around once before setting it back in its place. It had been a very long time since he last needed to use a man-made weapon. Now, all he needed were his fangs and bare hands.

  He was about to leave his room to go 'quench his thirst' when something suddenly ran through his mind. It was what Gabriel had said earlier that evening after the boy had awoken from his bite; "...we can use him to drive out the others, and eventually create the stronger breed." Gabriel’s voice rang clearly in his head as if he were standing in front of him. Lucas' eyes lightened up at the idea, but quickly dimmed out once more in his ever changing mood.

  "It would have been a good plan, Gabriel," Lucas mumbled sarcastically, "If there was a way to actually use him! What non-sense."

  He stopped just short of his door and reached out for the doorknob as an old memory replaced Gabriel’s words. The prophecy foretold of the stronger race. The boy, he is of proper age as the prophecy states, Lucas thought quickly, the wheels in his head turning drastically. He could be the one I need. A wide, devious grin spread across Lucas' once somber expression, giving his face a very evil look. He chuckled a bit too himself as he went over this new idea in his head, his eye's sparking with sheer pleasure had what he had just concocted.

  "Oh, Gabriel, you can be so clever without even knowing it. Yes, we'll use the boy indeed. And I will obtain the stronger breed."

  His face was quickly cleaned of his previous expression of joy, and was replaced by a sudden serious of what was to be done. He flung open his door and disappeared down the hall which he came in a blur of red robes.

  Gabriel opened the door to Gaspard's room quietly, not only for Gaspard’s trance like state, but so no-one else knew he was in there. He took a hesitant step towards the large bed where Gaspard lay on his back his breathing almost unneeded. It wouldn’t be too much longer before he needn’t breathe any more, and his body was slowly accepting that fact with every passing second. Gabriel was sure that as soon as he stopped breathing he would come out of his deep trance. Gabriel's boots felt heavy with apprehension as he walked closer until he was just a few inches from the bed.

  "He looks just like him..." Gabriel muttered as he observed Gaspard's face clearly, a pang of grief shot through his un-beating heart like a hot wire. Gabriel reached out a hand towards Gaspard hesitantly, unsure of himself. As his hand neared Gaspard's neck he picked up the silver chain hanging around his neck delicately, pulling it out from under his torn and dirty shirt until the pendant rested in his gloved hand. Running his fingers over the pendant, a look crossed his face of grief and remorse as if he were reliving the most painful of memories.

  With a shuttering sigh he placed the pendant and chain back under Gaspard's shirt in the exact place it was before. With one last look at him, Gabriel opened the door as quietly as he had entered, and walked into the hallway where a sudden rushing sound of footsteps met his ears. Gabriel ran a hand over his face, as if to wash away the saddened look and replace it with his usual unreadable expression.

  "Well, well, I didn’t expect you to come and threaten me for a second time so early," Gabriel said in a monotone as he watched Lucas walking towards him swiftly only to turn sharply in front of him and head into Gabriel's own room. "Now, this is nostalgic, conversing in here twice in one morning. Don’t you think, Lucas?"

  "Would you be quiet and shut that damn door!" Lucas hissed back angrily, "This is as less a time as any for that smart lip of yours!"

  Lucas' attitude jumped swiftly to sudden excitement as Gabriel came closer to him, cautiously. Gabriel was oblivious to what Lucas was concocting, and nor was he looking forward to learning it. But what choice had he in such matters?

  "I see you've been thinking, and rather quickly even for you."

  "Yes, yes. Now pay attention."

  Lucas began to pace out of his sheer excitement, his hands wringing together as he began to tell Gabriel of his new plans, his voice hushed to the deathly silent whisper as before.

  "You know, I am sure, of the prophecy of the stronger breed do you not?"

  "Well, yes," Gabriel muttered, "but it is more of a rumor then an actual prophecy. Not one vampire I have met in all of France knows more than just the skeletal version everyone has heard of. What say you that it is even an actual prophecy?"

  "No, I think not. I believe it is real, and I believe we are in the midst of it coming to life! And it was you, Gabriel, who brought the mere memory of the Prophecy back to life."

  Gabriel's face flickered from calm to nervous and back again. Lucas could not seriously be thinking of the mere bluff he had told him earlier? Gabriel's jaw clenched tightly. He hadn’t meant Lucas to take what he said to heart, it was merely said to try and protect the boy at the time. And it had worked- temporarily.

  "What are you talking about, Lucas? Do you know something I do not?"

  Lucas didn’t answer Gabriel's question and instead sat down in a large, stuffed chair, his legs crossed one over the other as he studied Gabriel. Lucas places his hands together, his long finger tips coming together as he closed his eyes momentarily to open them up once more.

  "You say you have heard parts of the prophecy, details, if you will. You say it is nothing more than a rumor. But I say it is not. I believe that the stunt you pulled by biting that boy will prove more than just a petty problem in my former plan for killing him. And, might I dare utter these words, that I am almost grateful for you to have disobeyed my orders again, for this may be a large piece in a newly formulated plan."

  "You speak in pure riddle, Lucas," Gabriel sighed, and rubbed his temples with his finger tips as he tried to contemplate what was going on in his leader’s crazed mind. He suppressed an ironic laugh as he realized he would rather not know. It was sometimes best to plead ignorance in the court of Lucas. "You think that the boy is the one? You think he will sire the stronger race? How can you even be sure of this Lucas? Surely, you must indeed know more of this then I do."

  "I am not completely sure he is the one."

  "So why go on babbling of such nonsense?"

  "Because of what is already shown. It is just a matter of time before we know for sure."

  "And what of the girl, do you know who she is? Are there not two pieces to this puzzle?"

  "I have a guess of who she might be. But that will show in due time."

  "And how will we come about knowing if Gaspard is the one?"

  "We will need to test him."

  "We can’t test him so soon, Lucas, be rational, the boy was just turned. If you tested him now it would not only prove nothing, but it would probably scar the rest of his immortal life if he failed- which he most likely would."

  "But if he is the one, he will not fail!"

  "I’m sure even the chosen one would fail for it being so early and without training no doubt."

  "Then you must train him quickly!" Lucas was now standing from his rage of impatience, "I will not sit around waiting to know if he is the one! I need proof soon, Gabriel, or you will be to blame!"

  Before Gabriel could give his retort to this, Lucas had already left the room for the second time. Gabriel sat in the chair previously occupied by Lucas his mind clouded with dark thoughts of what was just conversed. What if Gaspard proved to be who Lucas' so much wanted him to be? What was it that Lucas planed on doing to obtain the stronger race? Gabriel covered his face with his hands as he leaned onto his legs. He let out a sigh to try and relieve his built up tension. It may prove far worse if Gaspard turned out to not be the chosen one, no matter what Lucas had in store for him. Even if he did become a pawn in an evil plan, Gabriel feared Lucas would kill Gaspard out of his own rage if he was not the one. But which was the worse fate? Fulfilling the prophecy or death?

  Chapter 8 Risen

  He clung to his mother, the str
ange sounds coming from outside

  frightened him. He felt her let go of him slowly as his father came over and placed his hand on her shoulder.

  He sighed as he kneeled down to his height, and then wrapped his fingers around his small upper arms. "Are you afraid, son?"

  He nodded, feeling ashamed.

  "Everyone feels fear at times. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Even I fear some things." His usual groomed golden hair was slightly out of place, with some falling into his eyes.

  Gaspard saw his mother glance warily at him. "You do?" he gasped.

  "Yes," His father half smiled, his face softening. "I'm afraid of seeing my family in despair." Loud scratching noises on the outside of the house made him grow serious again. "I may not always be here to protect my family. That is why I need to know you will go on no matter what happens here tonight."

  "But... but I am not strong." Gaspard looked down.

  "You are young yet," he chuckled lightly and lifted Gaspard's chin with his cold fingers. "I know you will grow into the strong man you are destined to be." "Will I be as strong as you?"

  "Perhaps. Perhaps even more."

  Gaspard stared at him in wonder for a moment before promising, "I won't let you down, father."

  "That's my son." He pat his shoulder and gave him a satisfied smile. His pale blue eyes looked deep into Gaspard's before standing.

  Gaspard awoke with a start as his dream faded from his mind. This was the first time he had ever dreamed of his father in detail. He tried to hold on to his image but all that was left of his dream was a faint memory, as he now noticed a man watching him from across the room. It was the same golden hair and green robed vampire who he last saw before he fainted. He was studying Gaspard intently with a look of deep thought on his face.

  "Who are you?" Gaspard asked suspiciously. "Or do I have to faint for the third time around for you to tell me your name?"

  "My name is Gabriel," he said slowly with a humorous smirk. "I am second in command here; Lucas' right-hand man you could say." He stifled a laugh like it was ironic. "I would have told you before, but it really wasn't all that important."