Chapter 2 - Oh Bugger, Where's Me Ruby Slippers?

"Do I have some mystical fucking tracker on me or something?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Alias growls at me.

Jeezus, lovely warm welcome there. Though I suppose that he wouldn't be that grateful to see me considering that currently most of the vampires in the other world have orders to kill him on sight as do the werewolves. He'd been a bit of a naughty boy and gone and eaten some other vampire which was very frowned upon by the werewolves. The vampires on the other hand found out that he was actually one of the Salubri, a clan of vampires that were reputed to devour the souls of their enemies. Considering what he did, it's pretty compelling and damning evidence.

"Nice to see you too and how the hell should I know? I got my ass shoved into a portal by Tarquin who wanted to test something." I scowl at him.

Wait a moment. It's mid freaking morning, why the hell am I currently able to talk to a vampire who should be bursting into flames? I sniff the air and his scent hits me. Werewolf. Well, he's been a busy boy. In fact now I'm getting a better look at him, that tattoo of his seems to have vanished and he's definately more muscular than I remember. He's got stubble growing on his face and his hair is longer. Heh, he's kinda cute in a 'I really need a bath' kinda way.

"So how come you're not bursting into flames Alias? The sun is kinda bright this morning." I ask him.

"I got an upgrade, like you did." he grins.

Okay, that sets me back on my heels. The fuck? I thought he'd gone to this other world before I changed? The other Alias or Alan as he's called, turned up in our world the exact same time as he apparently headed over here which was shortly after my little..... Mistake.

"What?! How the hell do you know about that and you're a nuwisha too now?" I scowl, he doesn't smell of coyote, he smells of wolf. I think I might be jumping the gun here though.

"Calm down sweetheart, you're going to have an aneurysm at this rate. Kyron fell through to this world yesterday and told me everything. Well, after a bit of a Mexican standoff, I know about the order to kill me. But we shouldn't talk about this out here. We've currently got a bit of a situation and we're not sure how to handle it."

I sigh and dust myself off and shift down back to human whilst re-adjusting my clothing. My irritation obvious as I wonder how the fuck I'm going to get back. This is the other world that I'd been to once before a while back as a vampire and it had ended up with a rather large explosion and some very pissed mages following us back to our dimension.

A glance around shows more of the car park that I saw through the portal and then I notice there's a diner and cars driving by on a pretty big road. That explains what I could smell. We seem to be in the car park of a motel, which is rather none descript. I mean, it's nice enough, there's no screaming couples having an argument and I can't hear any one night stands going off right now. however that pretty much compounds my current situation. I'm stuck somewhere and I've no idea exactly where.

"Well, I haven't a fucking clue how to get back or if Tarquin will be kind enough to attempt to retrieve me, so would you mind if I hung with you whilst I wait? I'll try not to be a bother." I don't really have much of an option and if this 'is' my old friend Alias, it would be nice to spend some time with someone who doesn't hate my guts. Alias motions for me to follow him and all three of us walk towards one of the rooms.

However, this is really bothering me. Besides Alias there's another man. He's the spitting image of Ryan. Someone I thought I would never see again in this lifetime. It can't be him. It just can't.

"I'm leaving Lawrence and you can't stop me!" he shouts at me.

_ _

I wince, he's gone too far this time. Our mistress was severe old school and I meant medieval, not aristocracy. As far as she was concerned, we belonged to her until she got tired of us or we would benefit her better by going somewhere else. Ryan had been trying to scrape together enough power and resources behind the scenes to run away. But he'd been sloppy and I'd found out. I'd suspected as much for some time, however I knew that if I had found out then she would also know.

_ _

"I do not wish to stop you Ryan. I wish you to continue existing! I found out about your plans, she would already know!"

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"You would betray me Lawrence?! You who I call my heart!?"

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"No you fool! I have done nothing of the sort! Our mistress is power, she will already know of your plans! You must not do this or it will be the end of you!"

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"Once I am safely on board the boat, there will be little she can do!"

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"You think she will allow you to simply waltz out of here? You're going to get yourself killed! Then what?! Do you not care what you will tear away from me?!"

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"Then come with me! There is room for two on this trip, the pair of us can leave together!"

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I shake my head. "That is suicide. The only hope we both have is to become strong enough that she decides to send us somewhere to become her envoy's. That is the closest either of us will get to freedom!"

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"Bah! We can manage on our own!"

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"Yes we could manage Ryan, but we could not exist long as she would find us and destroy us! Please listen to me, it is not too late! The resources you have gained, give them as a gift to her and beg for her forgiveness. She will make you an example and parade you around like a dog on a leash for a while, but she will get bored and at least you will be alive!"

_ _

He's shaking his head stubbornly. I'm frustrated and I'm pacing in the storage room.

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"Please Ryan, I beg you. Do not do this. Not just for my sake, but for your own. Our mistress is no fool and only we would be the fools here to defy her. You must see that this life is not as bad as it could be! You have never lived on the street and prayed that each day might be your last in order to end your torment. You were born to a noble family and your dancing is an equal in elegance as mine is in emotion. Please, do not let this stubborn attitude cost you your life!"

_ _

"You can't change my mind Lawrence. I leave in an hour."

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"What a pity you did not listen. Lawrence is truly the epitome of loyalty to both you and myself, yet you would throw away your life on a whim." says a deep and sultry voice from the corridor.

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Had I a heartbeat, it would have stopped right then. I was frozen in fear as I realised she must have been listening to the entire conversation.

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"Such a waste young Ryan. Such a pity. However if you cannot live with my rules. You must die."

_ _

Her power is crushing over me and I can do nothing but stare at her beauty. Her red bodice laced up her slender front, revealing all of the white flesh of the top of her large breasts. The spill of black curls down the sides of her face and across the edges of those creamy mounds of flesh. Had I been a straight male, I would have been torn between staring at her face and her breasts for both were accentuated with dustings of makeup.

_ _

Her skirt whispers across the floor as she steps forward, the red and black material flowing down her body to the floor. My eyes are locked onto her face, the pale complexion enhanced by touches of powder to her cheeks and her lips glisten ruby red like she had kissed your very heart. Only her eyes gave her away to me, they held no warmth, no life. They were like glass in a statue, they held nothing but a cold and dark stare.

_ _

She was breath taking and I could do nothing but kneel in her presence. She was my world and I existed to serve her.

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"I will not give up my life!" I hear Ryan snarl besides me.

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There is a blur and he charges her. She fixes him with a look and he is reduced to a quivering wreck on the floor. I can do nothing. I cannot disappoint her, I cannot go against her will.

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"My little dancing demon. Your talent will be missed in this world, I pray that Lawrence will be the one to continue in your stead. If it is any consolation, I will regret your passing." she sweeps forward and has hold of his chin and lifts him up with ease.

_ _

Her fangs slide out and my eyes widen, she is going to do it. Her fangs plunge into his neck and his eyes roll back. Moan after moan and noises that I had not heard outside of the bedroom come from Ryan. I am helpless to resist her and she does not want me to help. I can do nothing as the body of my friend, my lover, turns to dust in her hands.

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She finishes and takes a handkerchief from her pocket, delicately dabbing the corners of her mouth and turns to face me with a horrible smile.

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"Good little boy Lawrence. You may someday earn my favour. Understand the warning of his death."

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She sweeps from the room in a graceful turn, her skirt billowing behind her like the wings of death itself and in that moment I realised that she was a monster.

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I would avenge him. I would slay her.

_ _

I shake my head, trying to clear the memory of that, but something felt... Off. It was like I had been reliving the moment again, almost as if I was right there in that hallway again one hundred and fifty years ago. Rubbing my eyes I realise tears had slid down my cheek, shit. I use my sleeve and quickly compose myself.

We enter one of the motel rooms and for a motel, it's pretty swanky. The beds have been slept in, they're your basic doubles with white sheets and a light brown coverlet. The pillows are. I blink and look around, the pillows are under the window for some reason. I perch on the edge of the bed closest to the door as the Ryan who I hope it isn't Ryan, sits on the other one.

Alias smiles at me as he starts making some tea. The smell drifts through the room, a bit more comfortable than the silent treatment that this Ryan double is giving me. Luckily for me, Alias is no big fan of silences either.

"Darlin, I haven't been so happy to see someone in quite some time. I'd be more than happy for you to hang around." he says. He looks so happy to see me. I wonder if things were as hard for him on this side as they were for me.

I grin back at him "Missed you too m'dear. Old Morgain is livid you slipped through her grasp, though I guess I ought not to be too surprised considering the Cyclops development. Oh where are my manners? Who's this handsome gentleman that I have been so rudely excluding?" I gesture towards the carbon copy of Ryan.

"This would be Soothing Song, another member of the Pack I belong to and a good friend." says Alias.

I hold my hand out and Soothing shakes it. A good friend huh? How good a friend I wonder. I can feel the grin spreading on my face as the words tumble from my lips.

"Oh really? Just 'how' good a friend hmm?" I grin at Alias.

"Not like that you perv, if you're part of a garou pack, you should know that garou shouldn't mate with garou!"

I laugh gently, this I've missed.

" Yeah, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I know that your heart belongs to..."

Realisation hits me like a ton of bricks. Garou cannot mate with garou, Alias is a garou now. Alias came to this world in order to get back with Colt, now in one fell swoop he's gotten his chance at redemption at the cost of any chance of being with Colt. Fuck. I clap my hand across my mouth as I realise I've just put my foot right in it.

"Oh my god Alias, I never realised. I'm so sorry."

Alias is shaking his head " It's ok, I already know about how it has to be and I also know about Leonis."

Oh my god, I had forgotten, Leonis was Alias husband. Now he was the un-dead, a vampire. A lethal one at that, the Assimites had trained him really well. I couldn't help but compare it to my own sorrow and he had just as many reasons to break down as well. I found my body moving forward and immediately hugging him tight.

" Oh god, my friend, I am so sorry." I hug him tightly and then smile softly over his shoulder.

"Wow, this sorrow and friendship lark really does have some strong feelings doesn't it?" I chuckle, trying to lighten the situation but also posing the question to see if Alias had some of the same difficulties I had with the returning emotions.

"I'd forgotten you were a lot older than me, I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but you'd been dead for nearly two hundred years. What the hell happened with you?" asks Alias.

"Nothing fun hun. Basically I walked face first into a trap which gave me this form and cost me Tyr. We now have a Tyr in our world from another world, I'm guessing this one since you're here. I was mortal, I broke down, went a bit loopy, discovered I now had to eat and drink and other stuff. I got used to it again pretty quick surprisingly. It's the feelings that I haven't gotten a grip on yet. I'm worried that some of them are stronger than others for the wrong reasons." I say. A knot forming in my stomach thinking about both my Tyr and the one in our world.

I missed him something harsh. The worst parts were where I couldn't help but see the new Tyr and want his approval or to be close to him, yet there's not only his contempt of me, but I keep being reminded how he just wasn't the man I loved.

"Speaking of Tyr, we're actually trying to get his adoptive brother out of custody. His niece has gone ahead with my little brother and our pack alpha." says Alias.

The Tyr of this world had a niece and adopted brother? Yet he's left them behind to help the Khan on our world. I knew he might have sacrificed to stay in our world, if he is staying that is, but I wasn't sure just how much. I wanted to help him, that much I could honestly say. I had an affection for the Khans, even if they weren't really that happy about me. Wait, did he say he now had a little brother?

"Little brother? You have been busy Alias, how'd that happen?"

"About the same time I went back to my real name." he says.

"Your real name?"

"I'm Alex again now. Alias was the name my sire gave me and I left that behind the day I became purified in Erebus."

"That's cool Alia... Errr I mean Alex. But now you're talking about stuff I have no idea about."

He hands me a cup of tea and I listen as he explains how he got accidently merged with a Black Spiral and how his little brother used to be one. The pair of them got to go to a place called Erebus that allowed them to basically be cleansed and restart their lives as garou. Lucky bastards.

I'm more than a little jealous about that, how come he lands on his feet with nice people and I get stuck with hardnosed bastards. Though I have to confess, being stuck with Colt wasn't exactly a bad thing. However the more urgent matter at hand was definitely the retrieval of Tyr's brother from wherever the police had taken him and to reunite him with his daughter.

"Incredible. You certainly sound like you've managed to get what you needed rather than what you wanted. As for your little problem right now, you can count me in to help. The Tyr in our would and I don't get on, but it doesn't matter which world I'm on, if a tiger is in trouble, I'm gonna lend a hand."

He smiles and nods "It's appreciated friend. Soon as we actually figure out what the hell to do." he looks over at Soothing.

"Well, waiting right now seems like a good idea. We don't know where he's being held, though the local police station would be my guess. If we let the 24 hours pass and he's not free. We will have to start tracking him down. Not exactly sure how we're going to do that either." says Soothing.

I bite my thumbnail as Soothing's voice is exactly like Ryan's, this is a painful co-incidence. I don't want to remember what happened to him again. The worst part at the moment is that Soothing's clothing keeps changing. One moment I'll look at him and he's wearing modern quite fashionable jeans and shirt, the next he's wearing Ryan's favourite outfit with the black shirt and gleaming white trousers. This is definitely hallucinations, but I have no idea why 'now' all of a sudden.

My eyes are drawn to Alex, his naivety hasn't changed. He's still oblivious to how the world works. He has little idea as to what being part of a garou pack will involve. He wasn't even fully aware of how to survive in vampire society and they were more patient. I... Should mention this to him, see if I can soften the blow that I 'knew' would be coming.

"There is something I do need to mention to you Alex."

"Hrm?"

"You really haven't a clue how lucky you've gotten with Wyrmripper. He can't actually afford to look as weak as he has been doing around you." I say.

"I'd hardly call compassion weak." Alex replies.

I can't help but laugh. "Oh, you're just getting to the good part aren't you Alex? I've had the fun of learning just how brutal life can be in front of all the garou. Colt has been especially brutal. Though it's not his fault as such, apparently because of the whole political situation and what the fuck we actually are or were, we're not exactly going to be welcomed with open arms."

I know I'm talking the truth. This guy. I swear has to be the 'luckiest' garou or ex vampire in existence. EVERYTHING has fallen into place for him so far and unless someone is manoeuvring events for him so that it works out that way, then he's got one hell of a guardian angel.

He flinches. "Well I can understand the cautiousness, but we're trying to do the right thing aren't we?"

"Well yes, but that's not exactly the core issue. They're pretty much ready to die each day, so when you fuck up, you could put someone else's life on the line. I recently made a huge mistake and it nearly cost me my life. I gave a bane infested sword to a Black Spiral Dancer." I shrug nonchalantly.

"How can that be so bad..."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" snarls Soothing.

Oh dear...