Hey guys, thanks for being patient with me. So exams went good and I almost got hypothermia at the ski races which ended up being cancelled. Anyway, enjoy.

Jessica fought against the darkness that fought back for its hold on her. She could feel a pressure on her arm and hear beeping. Finally winning the battle her eyes fluttered open.

Squinting her eyes at the almost blinding whiteness of the room she glanced around her. Slumped against the bed with his head on her arm lay Lucius, fast asleep. Hearing the beeping she looked around, locating its source as the machine next to the bed, and seeing her heart beat being registered on the machine the events of last night came rushing back to her.

Pulling her hospital gown to the side she could see a great white bandage strapped across her middle. Reaching an arm out to Lucius, attempting to assure herself that he was there, she let out a small whimper as the movement strained her middle.

Lucius's eyes snapped open at the sound. Seeing Jessica awake his eyes softened.

"Hi." He whispered.

Reaching out for him again Lucius gave her his hand, tugging on him he stood up. She pulled him again and he looked at her with a confused expression.

"Lie down. Please." She said.

Carefully sitting down on the edge of the bed and arranging himself until he was lying down he pulled her gently into him.

"How are you?"

"It only hurts if I move it to much. Why haven't I healed yet?"

"There was poison on the blade as well Jess, your body is focusing on eradicating that from the blood stream at the moment, then it will focus on the wound."

Burrying his head in her hair he whispered. "I could have lost you Jess; if you weren't a Vampire you'd be gone." He sounded so broken hearted.

Carefully moving her arm as not to strain her stomach, she ran a hand through his hair. "Shhhh, it's okay, I'm fine."

They stayed like that for a while, Lucius with his arms wrapped around her.

"Lucius?"

"Hmmmm."

"What happened?"

"There was a battle Jess, lead by a family called Voda."

"Who are they?"

"Jess, for you to understand this I'm going to have to tell you the full story, you can't interrupt ok, even if you want to. Do you understand?"

Jessica nodded her head against his chest.

"A very long time ago, long before I was born, even before Barbara, the wars started. They started between two different fractions of the Vampire society. It had started with a man named Adrian Cel Rau. He had become a large ruler of many of the European Vampires.

But he began dark ways; he kept villages purely for human blood, allowing only a few from each generation to survive to breed on. Eventually, Vampire covens and families learnt of this, some of the families, like the Voda's, agreed with Cel Rau's methods, encouraging him and begging their own villages. Others, like my family and your family, broke away from him, disgusted with what he was doing.

By the time Cel Rau realized that families, rich and important families, were breaking away from him it was too late, the European countries were divided.

That's when the wars began, Cel Rau fighting for dominance and the others fighting for their freedom. The wars lasted centuries, breaks were called when too many were injured or dead and armies needed to replenish. Everyone fought, women and men. If you could hold a weapon then you could fight.

I fought, that dream you had was my last battle as a foot soldier. It was a vicious one and I was one of the few, along with Alex, that survived it. Many of our warriors also survived it, including the twins, part of the reason most of them work for me today. That was one of the last great battles, from then I took command of several armies, studying and learning from war books until I had found out almost everything about Cel Rau and his tactics.

We went into the final battle, my armies leading the way. We ploughed through the battle as quickly as possible with all the fighters we could muster behind us. When we got to Cel Rau's inner ring that's when our real battle began. My warriors fighting his elite team with the sole purpose of protecting him as he was now a very old Vampire, still formidable of course, but very old.

We had been fighting for about ten hours when we finally broke through to Cel Rau. It was Alex and I against him, the rest of our warriors holding his off. He took down Alex quickly and he and I fought for a very long time. But I was younger than him and eventually I was able to break through his defenses.

I killed him, we did not need to question him and as long as he was alive people would support him. So I did the only thing that would truly kill him, I drove my dagger through his heart and cut off his head. And then I ran, as quickly as I could to a cliff that oversaw the other battle that was raging.

As the others realized what had happened they stopped fighting. Those that declared that they would live peacefully and abide by the rules put in place by my side were allowed to live. Those that continued to struggle were killed, their heads sent back to their families as a warning as to what would happen if they fought again."

Lucius took a deep breath and gazed down at Jessica, at some point during the story she had clutched his shirt in one had while the other hand still methodically worked its way through his hair before running down the side of his face, his shoulder and arm before starting the cycle again.

"How does that effect what happened last night?" She whispered.

"What happened last night was Voda's attempt at revenge or over throwing, I think, I haven't questioned him yet. Because I killed Cel Rau I was able to claim dominance over the European Vampires if I wished, instead I claimed their alliance and their assurance that they would never rise against me. Many do still see my family as the overall ruler of the European Vampires. Some families, like Voda's, have never been happy with this, but this is the first time that one has attacked. I would imagine that this is because this is the first time I have ever made a weak spot apparent."

Jessica just looked at him blankly.

"You Jessica, while many Vampires do not believe in love or even accept it as a rumour, there are still those willing to use the possibility to destroy me. I need to question Voda, but I imagine that that is the reason he had three of his soldiers sacrifice their lives to injure you. And as a result, we will need to train you. If this is the start of an uprising I will do all that I can to stop it, but you need to be prepared that this may happen again and if it does you need to be able to fight as well."

"Alright." Jessica conceded. "Who will teach me?"

"It will be a mixture of Alex and me, we were the ones who taught the twins what they know, and at the same time you can learn a lot from us individually."

There was a knock at the door. It opened slowly before Jason stuck his head around it.

"Voda is conscious, your Majesty."

Lucius sighed. "I'll be right there Jason, who is guarding the door presently?"

"Three of Master Alexandra's fighters Majesty."

"When I leave send one of them in, I'll be out in a minute."

Jason nodded and retreated to the other side of the door.

Jessica's hand had stopped its movement and now both of them clutched his blood stained shirt.

"Don't leave me." She whispered. "You can't leave me."

Leaning down Lucius kissed her, pouring all of his love for her and relief that she was still alive into the kiss. Biting his bottom lip Jessica snaked her tongue into his mouth, their tongues dancing against each other.

Pulling away he kissed her once more, softly and sweetly.

"I'll be back. I promise."

Slipping of the bed Lucius strode towards the door, glancing back at her before he opened it, she heard murmuring in the hallway before a soldier she remembered seeing last night slipped in through the door, shutting it behind her and moving over to stand against the window.

"Princess." She said nodding."I'm Alice."

Jessica nodded back and arranged herself against her pillows before closing her eyes. Willing herself to fall asleep again.

…..

Striding down the hallway Lucius felt an angry mask fall into place over his features. His staff kept out of his way as he moved through the hallways, going down to the dungeons.

Bursting through the prison doors he leaned stared at the prisoner chained into the only chair in the room.

"Start talking Voda."