There was a bank of lights set into the roof of the car that illuminated the inside with a soft glow. An ice bucket was set into the floor, wood enamel covering it so that it did not look quite as tacky amongest the sleek designs surrounding it. The bucket was set into a table attacted to the floor of the limo with a wooden disk fitted around the rim. This disk held four champaign flutes in slots cut into it. A bottle of wine was being kept cool in the ice, a lid with a hole in it placed over the bucket's opening to keep the ice from melting, but allowing the neck of the bottle to peek out.

The soft, leather seats were situated opposite each other and this is how the passengers had settled themselves as well. Kurt at the rear while the vampire sat in front of the privacy screen that seperated them from the driver.

Kurt had been studing the vampire out of the corner of his eye as they made their way to their destination.

He had to admit that the monster was a rather good-looking thing with its lightly tanned skin and hazel eyes. Though the unruly curls were something he didn't find all too appealing.

Kurt silently cursed himself for such thoughts. That's how the fiends drew one in after all so that they could drain you dry--or worse--convert you.

Kurt visibly shuddered at the thought, an action that did not go unnoticed by the monster.

"Cold?"

"No," Kurt snapped.

The vampire stared at him for a few seconds. "Because I don't really need my coat."

"I'm fine."

The vampire shrugged, "Suit yourself."

The duo fell into an uncomfortable silence again. Kurt turned his attention to the flat land rushing past them again. Presently, he felt warm fingers near his neck and he swatted the vampire's hand away, pressing himself into his seat as if it would protect him.

"I was going to get rid of that rope. Unless you wanted to keep it on, that is?"

Kurt fumbled at the knot that kept the rope in place about his neck. He loosened it and flug the thing to the floor, keeping his eyes on the vampire the entire time.

Kurt hadn't heard the monster move from its spot to come and stand in front of him and his survival instinct was screaming at him for not paying closer attention to his captor.

The vampire sighed, "Listen, boy--"

"Kurt."

"Pardon?"

"My name's Kurt, not boy."

"T-they didn't mesmerize that out of you?" The suprise was apparent in his voice.

"They tried. I wouldn't let go of it though." Kurt risked looking into the monster's eyes and was glad that he did because he saw something like awe shinning in their depths. He lowered his eyes to the vampire's chin after ten seconds so that it wasn't given enough time to hypnotize him.

The vampire whislted, "Wow. I could tell that you had an impressive constitution, but I had no idea how far it ran."

He could feel the monster's eyes boring into him, but he refused to look back up.

"Kurt then. You don't have to be afraid of me, I'm not going to hurt you."

Before he could stop himself, Kurt let out a bark of laughter. "Sure, yeah, you're not going to hurt me?"

"I'm not. Could you not tell that when I ordered that slaver to give his boots to you?"

Kurt glanced at the footwear. They were made of brown suede with strips of tougher leather sewn along the backs of them. They were very comfortable and suited Kurt perfectly.

"Yeah, why did you do that?"

"So that you wouldn't get splinters of course. Those boards were very old and it seemed a probable circumstance."

"But why would a thing like you care if one of my people were hurt? That's what I want to know."

"Blaine."

"What?"

"My name's Blaine. Not thing."

Kurt glared at him. The vampire had grinned at the connection it had made between them and Kurt was infuriated.

"What's that? Vampire talk for 'master'?"

Blaine frowned, "No. It's my proper name. I don't expect you to call me master."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not? Isn't that what you are?"

"I suppose, legally, I am and it is how the rest of my kind will look upon our relationship. I don't want you to think of me as such, however."

Kurt stared at him, dumbfounded. This was just some kind of trickery. That's what the demons did after all, wasn't it?

"What I mean is," Blaine continued, "I'd like to earn your trust, rather then forcing you into a dewy-eyed, simpering creature that hangs on my every word as though I were a deity. I'd like someone by my side who will willing help me rather then someone who will carry out an order because they're scared of being punished if they don't"

Kurt blinked at the vampire a few times before reverting to the superior attitude he had used as a defense ever since he was a child.

"And how do you plan to do that?" He took a lock of hair between his thumb and forefiger and moved it out of his eyes, crossing his legs as he did so. "Make me trust you enough to give myself up to you, that is?"

Blaine smiled, "Whatever it takes."

"Will you let me go?"

"No."

Kurt tilted his head to one side, eyes expanding. "Then good luck trying to earn my trust."

"Kurt, you don't understand, if you were caught out there now, you'd be returned to me anyway as an escapee."

"How would they know though? I wasn't branded and if you're as great as you seem to think you are, you wouldn't think of burning a mark into my skin either, would you?"

Blaine shook his head, "No, but we vampires don't need brands. We have a much better method at our disposal for keeping tabs on those marked as slaves."

"Oh and what's that?"

"They took a sample of your blood, yes? Not through a bite, but a syringe?"

"Yes," Kurt said, rubbing subconsciously at the site where the needle had stabbed into his flesh. "You're telling me they did something with it?"

Blaine nodded, "Correct. Your blood was fed into a machine that now holds your DNA for the Vampric Courts to access whenever they choose. Every offical of our kind has something called a Blood Stamp that is directly attached to the machine on a wavelength similar to the ones in phonelines. It would be able to tell them whether or not your DNA matchs any in the archives."

"There's no way to trick it?"

Blaine smiled sadly, "No. Besides, even if there were and you didn't show up in records then you would just be sold again at another auction and you might end up as the property of someone cruel. Like the guy who I saved you from tonight."

kurt arched an eyebrow, "Is that what you think you did?"

"It is what I did. I know the guy and he would have abused you physically, emotionally, mentally and sexually."

"And you're not going to do that, right?"

"Right."

Kurt still wasn't convinced, but he let it go for now.

////

They pulled up to a wrought-iron gate an hour later. The gate wrapped around a rambling mansion, the bars extending into barbed tips so that an intruder would be deterred from climing over it. The doors of the gate were attached to brick pillars that streached up high above them. A coat-of-arms was forged within the center of the gate doors: it was in the shape of shild with a line running through it, broken by a midevil-looking letter 'D'.

The gates swung open, seemingly of their own accord, and the driver brought the limo up the gravel drive. They parked right by a lush, green lawn.

The driver exited the car and opened the back door, sweeping his arm out to indicate the passengers should get out.

"After you," said Blaine.

Kurt scrambled out of the car and stood at the edge of the lawn, surveying the property.

The mansion was constructed of faded, riverrock and gray-tiled roofing. A chemney rose up on either side of the three-story building. Windows were set in seven foot intervals from each other and a set of three steps led up to the double doors. There was a large patch of soil in the middle of the lawn with ferns growing around the edges. Small pine trees dotted the rest of the fertile ground with a fountain in the shape of a dolphin, spewing water from its blowhole and sending it cascading back into the wide base below.

"Shall we proceed?" Blaine asked, coming up behind him.

Kurt jumped and spun around. The vampire was holding the rope in his hands and Kurt shot it a suspicious look.

Blaine sighed as if he were fustrated, "I'm not going to use it on you." The vampire handed off the rope to his fellow as if to prove his point.

Blaine motioned to the staris and made it clear that he expected Kurt to proceed him. Kurt mounted the stairs and heard the click of the vampires' shoes on the stone steps.

Presently, the driver hastened past him and opened the doors for them. Kurt walked past him with Blaine following close behind.

When the chauffeur had closed the doors, Blaine dismissed him and the second vampire disappeared down a shadowy hallway.

"Come on," Blaine said,brushing past Kurt, his hand barely touching the human's as he went by.

Kurt squared his shoulders and strode after the vampire. His eyes darted around the building, searching for somewhy out. Unfortunately, the interior of the house was so dark that the most he could really see was a few feet in front of him.

Resigning himself to his fate for now, Kurt trailed behind Blaine with a scowl on his face.

The vampire brought him to a room at the end of a hall on the thrid floor and opened it. He gestured for Kurt to enter before him and the human did so.

Blaine came in behind him and shut the door, casting them into picth blackness. Kurt's heart sped up as the full effect of where he was hit him like a train.

This was it, he thought, Blaine was going to grab him here in the darkness and rape him right there on the floor.

His entire body tensed as he heard something heavy being set down on something. There was a flash of light and the room was suddenly brought into focus. It was revield that they were in an unadorned bedroom with a four-poster pressed against one corner and a bookshelf against another.

"Kurt, relax. It sounds like your heart is about to explode."

Kurt spun around to see Blaine fitting a glass cover over an old-fashioned lamp. The vampire tossed a used match into a wastebasket and frowned at the human.

He didn't say anything though, as he crossed over to an adjacent door and opened it.

"The bathroom's through there. I figured you'd want a bath before going to bed."

Blaine went over to the bedroom door and opened it again. "I'll go and get you something to change into. You can just toss that thing anywhere."

The vampire left the room, closing the door behind him.

Kurt quickly went over to press his ear to the door. When he could no longer hear the click of the shoes against stone, he yanked on the doorknob.

"Damn!" he whispered angrly. It was locked. Not that Kurt had really expected anything else.

The human sighed heavily and went into the bathroom. The floor was black and white marble and the counter was granite with a deep sink set into the center of it. A bathtub/shower was built into the wall with a ledge jutting out from the wall.

Kurt disrobed where he stood, glad to be rid of the rough sack he had been forced into. He bent down and unlaced the boots before heading over to the tub/shower.

He pulled the curtain closed and turned on the taps, testing the temperature with his hand before pulling up the plunger so that a steady stream of warm water fell onto him.

Kurt cast his eyes around for the soap and retrived it from the dish. There was a washcloth hanging over the side of the tub, but he decided not to use it. It was probably the vampire's and he would perfer to hold off on having the creature's possessions touch him.

As he cleaned his body of the grime and sweat that had accumulated on it, he couldn't help but think back to his capture.

It had only been twenty-four hours, but seemed more like a year. He gnashed his teeth at the memory of the vampires finding his colony, falling upon them with their advanced technology.

Many of his colony had been captured before they could get out, but Kurt had been one of the lucky ones--until they caught up with him that was. They had sniffed out his trail like dogs and shot him in the leg with a tranquilizing dart. He had woken up in a shed with about twenty strangers before the slavers brought them to seperate auctions.

He had no idea if any of his friends or family members were okay or even alive anymore. They could have been sold as slaves like him, brought to 'blood banks' for newborns or--if they were really lucky--they had fought to the death, refusing to be taken alive.

He felt tears forming at the corners of his eyes, but he fought them back. He ground the heel of his palm into his eyes and concentrated on removing the rest of the dirt from under his nails.

He stayed in the shower until the water ran clear (not to mention turned cold). Kurt turned off the water and poked his head out, looking around for Blaine.

There was no sign of the vampire, but he did spot a folded pile of clothes on the counter so it was obvious that he had been there.

Kurt stepped out of the tub and went over to the counter. A towel sat by the clothes and he dried off. He picked up the clothes to discover that they were linen robes.

Kurt pulled them on, marvling at how soft they were, and went out into the bedroom again.

Blaine stood in the middle of the room, facing the bathroom door.

"What were you waiting for me or something?"

"I must speak to you before we go to bed."

"We?" Kurt glanced at the bed before looking back at the vampire.

"Don't worry, it's a king-size. There's enough room for both of us without needing to touch each other."

Kurt snorted. "What do you need to tell me?"

"I have asked one of the staff to unlock the door somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00. Someone will be waiting for you outside to take you to breakfast and then you can explore the grounds. Sound okay to you?"

"Whatever."

"Hmm, right then. Get some sleep."

Blaine collected a pile of clothes from the table with the lamp on it and disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at the door before climbing into the four-poster bed. He moved to the far side and turned over onto his side, pressing his back against the wall.

He swore to himself that he wouldn't fall asleep, but he decided their was no harm in making himelf comfortable as he pulled the warm blankets over himself. He rested his head on the soft pillow and was out before there was anything he could do about it.