FicWad

The sun has set
The moors are still
The wolves and men
Wait upon the hill
I'm waiting for
Someone's word
That everything I've done
Everything they've heard
Isn't wrong or
Ill in thought
And that all I've done
Won't be forgot

-Anonymous


Chapter One: Intuition


The Lincoln Limousine pulled up to the front doors of the manor, coming to a stop as one of the large doors opened slightly. The driver stepped out and raced around the side of the limousine to open the passenger door. A man dressed casually in slacks and button-down shirt stepped out, straighten his shirt as he stood. He nodded to the driver, who got back into the limo and drove it down to the garage. The man looked up at the doors of the manor and smiled. A dark haired and lovely young woman was waiting at the open door. She smiled back. "Welcome home, Master Dante."

"Thank you, Kiora," Dante said, coming up the front steps. "I trust everything is in order?"

"Aye, Master," Kiora said, taking a step back to allow her master to enter the manor. "I've packed your best clothing for the trip, of course, and the jet is ready for takeoff as soon as you are ready."

"Good, good," Dante said, starting up the twisting stairwell to his suite on the third floor. "Thank you, my dear."

"Master," Kiora said, following him up the stairs. "If I may ask...?"

"Ask away, darling."

"Why the sudden need to go to Boston?" she asked. "You only got home a few days ago, Master."

"Just a feeling, Kiora, my sweet." He sounded distracted, his voice low and the words mumbled. He entered his rooms and looked through the packed suitcases to double check everything. To his delight, nothing had been overlooked. He turned to his fledgling to find her standing in the entrance, leaning against the door. There was a lonely sort of expression on her face, her dark eyes seeming large and doleful. Dante mentally slapped himself and took her into his arms for a quick embrace. "I'm sorry, my pet," he told her softly. "I don't mean to be gone so much, but time has taught me to trust in my feelings. My feelings say now to go to Boston. I shall return as soon as I see what this is about."

Kiora nodded, visibly cheered. "Shall I order the servants to take the luggage to the jet, then, Master?"

"Please do so," he said, running a hand through her dark hair. "I promise to call you as soon as I reach the loft." Kiora nodded once more and disappeared into the hall, with a swish of her skirt. Dante smiled fondly and went through the front room to his main bedroom. In the center of this room was his large, antique four-poster bed hung with gauzy ivory curtains. The windows in the room all held darkly tinted glass, letting only a small amount of light in, all of it the color of blood. When it was night, as it was now, the room was lit by oil lamps scattered in the corners and on tabletops. Dante, while he had become accustomed to modern technology, still harbored a dislike of electric light. He preferred the soft glow of lamps and candles, so all of his haunts in the manor were lighted with such.

Dante went to the dresser across from the foot of his bed and touched the locket sitting there. The locket was a slightly tarnished silver creation, large and ornate in design. Inside the locket was a small portrait of Dante's former Master, a Vampire Noble called Viviana. Though he knew her visage was etched into his memory forever, he still opened the locket now and again to look at her once more.

The portrait featured the Lady Viviana from the waist up, wearing a dress of forest green trimmed with black silk. Her skin was a perfect porcelain, her hair, twisted and braided in a lovely fashion on top of her head, was blazing auburn in color. But it was her eyes that Dante could never forget. A clear and jewel like emerald green. It was those eyes that haunted him in his sleep. Those eyes that drove him around Europe and the Americas, searching for her. He drowned in those jade eyes.

She had owned a large manor in Ravenna, Italy. In the year 1116, Dante has served as a pageboy there. He harbored a boy's crush and eventually a man's lust for the Lady Viviana from the moment he laid eyes on her. When he was twenty, his lust was requited by the Lady. It was when she took him as her lover that he discovered what so many mortal lovers had learned. Viviana was a vampire. A very ancient vampire by all accounts. He served her as Amante di Anima, or blood-lover, for three years before she offered him immortality. Dante had fallen deeply in love with Viviana and accepted without a second thought. He never regretted the choice.

But in 1330, a garrison of Vampire Hunters came calling. They attacked suddenly and without warning. Viviana feared for her immortal life and that of her fledgling. She severed Dante, turning him from fledgling to full vampire, so that he would be able to escape. He ran for his life... and never learned what had befallen his precious Master.

Though logic dictated that she had perished by the Hunters' hands, his heart told him that she lived. So he gained the means and the wealth needed, and searched.

When his search brought him to Dublin in the early 1700's, he found a young woman that captured what was left of his heart, what heart that did not belong to Viviana. She had seemed like such a fragile little thing, young, bird-boned, with a lovely face framed by long dark locks of hair, and large black-brown eyes that always managed to enchant him. She was a quiet, reserved young woman, with a gentle manner and air. Unobtrusive, but always there when needed. She was a serving girl in the inn where Dante had stayed briefly one night. He completed his search of Dublin, found no trace of his former Master, and returned to the inn for the girl.

When he offered her the immortal gift, her dark eyes had shone with such gratitude. Her name was Kiora Aeryn and from that moment on, she was his as completely as he had been Viviana's.

"Mr. Sirocco?"

Dante pulled himself from his memories with some difficulty and turned to the man at the door. The man did a small half bow and gestured to the luggage. "To the jet, sir?"

"Yes, yes," Dante said with a wave of his hand. Two more men entered the room and the three of them carried the bags down to the landing field that was the backyard to the manor.

About ten years ago, Dante had bought the manor from an elderly man who had never even lived in it. Dante had fallen in love with the climate and scenery of Scotland, so when he found the manor, he knew he had to have it. Kiora loved it too, of course. It was located far enough away from any cities or town that they were never bothered or questioned for the apparently strange hours they kept, which was a huge advantage over their last home in London.

Dante closed the locket and slipped into the pocket of his coat. He made sure to never leave it behind when he traveled.

Kiora was waiting for him at the backdoor. In her arms was a leather encased book which she handed to him. Dante smiled at the cover, for it was his favorite book.

"You always forget it," Kiora reminded him softly. There was still a sad touch to her eyes, but she was smiling nonetheless. Dante often wondered how she managed to do that for him. "Safe travels, Master."

"Thank you, my darling one," Dante said, pulling her into a quick embrace with he ended with a soft kiss. "I'll call you once I reach the loft," he said again, "and every night that I'm away from you."

"I'll be waiting by the phone, Master."

Dante smiled and kissed her again, a little deeper this time. He knew how Kiora hated goodbyes. And how she hated when he wasn't home.

He broke the kiss, gave her a smile, and boarded the private jet.