By Cheezey
Part Three
Where Loyalties Lie
“You expect us to join you?” Bengali repeated incredulously. “After what you did to me and as someone who regards working with the Ever-Living Source of Evil as something that ‘sounded like a fun idea at the time’?” The tiger vampire was stunned at the sheer arrogance of the vampire to assume he would even consider it, much less go along with it.
LaCroix regarded the fledgling night-cat with a superior look. “And why not? Who better than the oldest living vampire on Third Earth to show you how to truly embrace and master your new powers?”
Bengali growled coldly. “I trust Nick to show me what I need to know. He understands me and he also understands the meaning behind the Code of Thundera.”
“Funny, I don’t see any spots or stripes or claws on Nicholas, aside from the vampire ones balled up in his fist while he glares at me,” LaCroix retorted sarcastically. “I fail to see how a once-human vampire could truly understand your Thunderian Code, but if you mean the morals behind it that you were blathering about before, I suppose that yes, Nicholas probably believes he can understand and follow them well enough,” LaCroix conceded. “But be that as it may, your ‘Code of Thundera’ no longer applies to you now that you are no longer a mortal. Mortal laws mean nothing to our kind. We are above them, free to do as we please. That is but one of the many beautiful things about being immortal, night-cat.”
“And what would you have us do if we joined you, LaCroix?” Nick questioned the elder vampire.
LaCroix smiled. “The four of us could travel and explore the vast expanse of this new Third Earth. Experience whatever wonders it has to offer and start over. Learn about all that has happened since our world died those millennia ago and rediscover the pleasure of living as we truly are without the bounds that humanity placed upon us having to live within their societies in our old life,” he explained. “Doesn’t that appeal to you?”
Janette eyed LaCroix thoughtfully. “But what about your alliance with Mumm-Ra? Luna warned me about him and his magic. Granted the Lunatacs are mortal and have more to fear from such a being, but what she said was enough to make me think twice about getting involved with him. Specifically the fact that he refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer from those he works with.”
“The mummy has no power over me,” LaCroix assured Janette. “His magic is extensive but he can not control me or destroy me, of that I am confident. I have his promise of a favor in exchange for working with him, but that is all. If I sever the agreement then that is all I have lost.”
“No matter what the rest of you decide, I will never join with him,” Bengali stated with a firm growl. “I will not turn my back upon the friends that have always been there for me and accepted me even as changed as I am now to be with the bastard that made me what I am.”
“That bastard being Nicholas?” LaCroix questioned, speaking in the same way one might correct an irate child throwing a tantrum.
Bengali struggled to keep a lid on his temper, but was finding it increasingly difficult to do so. “Regardless, even if I wanted to travel with other vampires and didn’t loathe you,” he glared again at LaCroix, “I could not leave the others… especially Pumyra.”
“Ah, love,” LaCroix breathed, his smile broadening as he realized one of the true roots of the tiger vampire’s frustrations. “It is a pest of an emotion, isn’t it?” His expression grew serious again. “But in time your memories of her will fade as will her beauty and vitality with her mortal age. You would be wise to let her go now, before the memories of your love become tarnished with frustration and pain. She can never understand you now.”
The last remark proved too much for the tenuous hold Bengali had on his rage and he roared angrily, his eyes reverting back to vampiric state once again and aglow with fury. He lunged at LaCroix yet again with the Hammer of Thundera, moving faster than he had previously, missing the smug vampire only by inches that time.
Bengali’s display of temper did not anger LaCroix, but instead pleased him. “That’s it,” LaCroix goaded the night-cat, his own eyes glowing brightly with excitement. “Feel your rage and anger. Give in to your nature and truly feel the vampire spirit within you. Relish the feeling of invincibility, of immortality.”
Nick laid a hand on the tiger vampire’s shoulder. “Don’t let him do this to you, Bengali. Don’t let him rile you up. It’s what he wants,” Nick urged.
“Nick is right,” Bengali said with a disgusted growl, sheathing his hammer back in his belt once more. “You aren’t worth it.”
“I’m hurt,” LaCroix replied with a mock pout for effect before becoming serious once again. “So I would assume that since your feline friend refuses to join me, that you feel the same, Nicholas?”
“Yes, and for the same reasons,” Nick asserted. “I’m tired of you constantly interfering with the lives of those I choose to spend my time with. I don’t even want to talk to you right now, much less leave with you. I’m staying with Bengali and the Thundercats for now,” he finished.
“And you?” LaCroix prompted of his vampire daughter. “Will you join me?”
Janette shook her head in a slow negative. “Not right now, no. There is a lot about this region I wish to see and explore, and I am comfortable on DarkSide with the Lunatacs for the time being.” She smiled lightly at LaCroix. “Although they are mortals, and eventually they will be gone. I may tire of them before that, who knows, but then, perhaps, I would consider it. I certainly would not consider you unwelcome to visit if you wished.”
“I appreciate that thought, my dear, but I must admit I am saddened by the fact that both of my children would leave me,” the elder vampire said with a sigh, surprisingly more sincere than melodramatic.
“I am not abandoning what you taught me, LaCroix, I just wish to be on my own for a while,” Janette asserted.
“Stop trying to control us and let us live in peace, it’s all either of us want.” Nick’s tone was frustrated, as it was an argument he felt he’d had with LaCroix a thousand times before. He supposed if he stopped to count, it could in fact be that many added up over the years.
LaCroix narrowed his eyes, more angry and to an extent hurt by Nicholas’ refusal to do as he wished than with Janette’s more diplomatic declining to do so. “I have told you Nicholas, you are mine and you always will be. But I will honor your wishes and leave you be for now,” he said, looking Nick dead in the eyes as he spoke. “Do enjoy your limited time with your mortal friends and your fledgling night-cat. Savor the dull and bland sustenance of your wild animals and artificial blood and spend your long days pretending to be mortal, living with constant reminders of what you are not and never will be. Take comfort in the company of the son you have condemned to live in the same empty and meaningless long life that you do and commiserate with him while you slowly alienate all those around you, mortal and immortal alike, with your incessant brooding. Perhaps if you’re lucky, your night-cat will turn out just like you. It is, after all, more than I got for the time I spent with you.”
LaCroix rose up into the air by several feet, preparing to leave them behind but stopping to say one last thing. “In the meantime, should you wise up to reality and change your mind, I will be at the Black Pyramid with Mumm-Ra aiding him in his own quest to be rid of your mortal allies.”
His temper lit again with LaCroix’s threatening of the Thundercats, Bengali drew the Hammer of Thundera once more and let out an enraged growl. “Anyone who threatens my people and calls Mumm-Ra his friend is an enemy of mine. I don’t care how old you are, vampire, I will not let you kill anyone I care about!”
“You won’t let me?” the ancient vampire sneered. “You haven’t the power to stop me.”
“We’ll see about that,” Bengali roared, and flew through the air to tackle LaCroix.
Expecting another swing from the hammer, LaCroix was surprised when the tiger vampire body-slammed him into the ground instead. Bengali threw back his head in a feral rage, his fangs descended and his eyes burning with the vampiric glow. LaCroix however did not allow Bengali to keep the upper hand for long, and with the superior strength granted by his age he threw the tiger vampire off of him and pounced upon him instead. “Do you feel that, night-cat? Do you feel your power? Do you feel how your dark spirit is brimming over with the desire to kill and spill blood?” LaCroix taunted.
“Bengali, stop!” Nick shouted, and rushed in to break them apart. Kneeling on the tiger’s chest and keeping one hand on his throat, LaCroix threw back his arm and shoved Nick away.
“He is an enemy of the Thundercats and I must kill him. He is evil!” Bengali choked out, struggling to break loose.
“And you are not evil why?” Janette challenged, standing above the wrestling pair. “Because you haven’t killed anything other than an animal yet? Please, you are less than a night old as a vampire.”
“Janette is right,” LaCroix hissed contemptuously. “I have existed for over two thousand years before the end of First Earth. You may have the raw power of a strong warrior’s body to grant you an advantage over human fledglings but you are no match for my age and experience. Don’t tempt me to put you in your place by finishing the job I started last night, night-cat.”
Bengali managed to break free of LaCroix’s chokehold on him long enough to roll out from beneath him. “I’m not afraid of you or of death if that’s what it takes to stop you,” the Thundercat vampire stated bravely. “I have the blessing of Jaga and all the ancients before him that serve the Code of Thundera on my side.”
LaCroix straightened to a standing position and stared piercingly into Bengali’s young eyes. “I wouldn’t count on that.”
“Just leave, LaCroix,” Nick said with a tired sigh. “And do yourself a favor and disassociate yourself from Mumm-Ra.”
The ancient vampire’s lips twisted into an offended snarl. “I hardly need advice as to who I keep company with from one with as poor judgment as you have, Nicholas.” LaCroix then turned and vanished into the dark air above the forest without another word.
“I see you’re still diplomatic as ever,” Janette remarked, glancing up into the sky above into which LaCroix had departed.
“Janette, I’m not in the mood for another lecture,” Nick said in a tired and somewhat exasperated tone.
“We don’t need you either,” Bengali informed Janette, glaring at her with only slightly less contempt than he held for LaCroix.
Janette’s features darkened in anger. “Oh, of course you don’t. All the two of you need is your precious Thundercats, right?” She turned away, disgusted. “And what will happen when the Lunatacs and Mutants or even LaCroix and Mumm-Ra finally succeed and kill them? What will happen to the two of you then?” She whirled around again and pushed into Nick’s space. “I’ll tell you what will happen. You will come whimpering to LaCroix and I that the world has turned against you and beg us to take you in and give you another chance,” she predicted. “And like a fool I will probably give it to you and help you anyway like I always have in the past.”
The vampiress let out an annoyed growl of her own. “I am tired of this, very tired. My patience with your whims is ending, Nicola.”
Nick’s expression hardened. “Then I won’t take up any more of your time,” he said icily, and turned to Bengali. “I think we should head back to the Lair.”
Bengali nodded agreeably. He was also tired of the arguing and the goading and condescension of the older vampires and he was eager to be back in the company of those he cared for and trusted. “I wanted to talk with Pumyra a bit anyway,” he said quietly.
“Goodbye Janette,” Nick said, turning back toward the vampire woman one last time.
She met his angry gaze with one of her own before she turned and walked in the opposite direction in which the other two vampires departed. Her mood was now even fouler than it had been when she had initially left Castle Plundarr and her features twisted into a frustrated scowl to mirror it. She roughly tore the low branch of a tree off as she walked past it, grumbling furiously to herself. “Trying to reason with Nicola, what a perfect way to ruin an already questionable night,” she muttered.
The unexpected sound of a crunch of leaves and a brush behind her caught the angry vampiress off guard and she whirled around with her fangs bared, ready to tear the throat out of whatever it was that cornered her. Much to her surprise however the individual was not an ambushing warrior maiden, animal, or any other such threat. It was one of the Lunatacs, the hypnotist Alluro. “Hey, wait!” the psi exclaimed, unnerved by the vampire woman’s vicious appearance. “It’s me—Alluro.”
Janette relaxed from her defensive stance and resumed the irritated mood she’d been in before the Lunatac had arrived. “You startled me,” she informed him flatly. “What would possess you to do something as stupid as to stalk a vampire in the woods in the middle of the night?” she demanded.
“I’m sorry, Janette, that really didn’t occur to me,” he stated in a rare bit of honesty. Normally Alluro was not the type to offer apologies for his actions, but he was self-serving enough to know when a situation called for a bit of humility, especially when it was his own hide on the line. An irate female with the ability and intent to do him serious bodily harm if she didn’t like whatever he said was one of those situations. Besides, he hadn’t meant to offend her.
“I was impressed with you last night,” Alluro continued, “with the way you fought, the fact that you can mesmerize passably even though you were once human, and with the things you told us earlier tonight. I had to know more about your powers and what you could do with them. So I followed you when you left Castle Plundarr to see… to learn more about your abilities.”
“To spy on me, you mean,” she stated, daring him to challenge it.
Alluro did not bother to do so. “I suppose.”
Janette sighed. What a night, she thought. Grilled, questioned, and aggravated by the Mutants and Lunatacs, whined at by Nicola, guilt-tripped by LaCroix, and now spied on by Alluro, and no meal better than a short little furball of a sentient to top it all off. “So did you see what you wanted at least and get your answers? Are you satisfied?”
The Lunatac smiled broadly. “I’m beyond satisfied,” he told the vampiress. “I’m fascinated and intrigued, even more so than I was before. I watched Bengali fight LaCroix, and the change in his speed and power is incredible. Loath as I am to complement a Thundercat, their physical prowess was always considerable, but as a vampire, Bengali’s is amazing. It makes me wonder what could be done if that power was given to the right individual—one who desires it, one who would not waste it or repress it.”
Janette’s anger and irritation began to fade as Alluro continued to talk. The Lunatac’s admiration of her powers flattered her and although she was experienced enough to know Alluro’s type for what he was, she realized she enjoyed the attention because the psi actually seemed sincere about it. A mortal in awe of her abilities was quite an ego boost, especially after listening to the opposite from Nick and Bengali earlier.
Alluro sensed that Janette was more at ease with him so he went on with what he had to say. “I think you and LaCroix were right in what you said to Bengali and Nick. It is pitiful that he doesn’t embrace such a gift. I would never do something so foolish if it were offered to me.”
“I’m sure,” Janette replied, smiling despite herself. At least someone other than herself and LaCroix on Third Earth had some sense, something that was apparently lacking in Nick and his Thundercat friends. “You and Luna and the others have the killer instinct that Nicola and Bengali lack. Some are just not suited to be vampires.”
“Some are,” Alluro hinted, leaning in closer to the vampiress. “There are some that would love to have power like that, to be immortal and live forever, and to be invincible. To gain so much in return for so little—not seeing the sun or having to eat? Avoiding fire and garlic? How anyone could turn down such an offer is beyond me.”
The suggestive note in the Lunatac’s suave voice was not lost on the vampiress, and she in turn leaned closer to him to see just how serious he was. Perhaps if Nicola could make a fledgling, so could she, and show him how to do it right. And to taste one of the Lunatacs would be delightful indeed…
“And if it were offered to you, how would you utilize it?” she whispered, her voice seductive and challenging.
Alluro’s eyes lit up as she drew closer to him. “I would use the power to its fullest extent, of course,” he assured the vampiress. “And the first thing I would likely do is tell Luna where she could go and lead the Lunatacs myself. As a vampire my hypnotic abilities would be that much better, and they already are the best. I would become strong enough even to bend the strongest of resistors to my will. Perhaps I could even control Mumm-Ra, and take Third Earth for myself once the Thundercats were dispensed of, in the company of my fellow vampires and those who would willingly serve me. I would be a force to be reckoned with,” he finished arrogantly, smiling as he envisioned the fantasy.
“How very ambitious,” Janette noted in a soft murmur. “And the killing?”
Alluro shrugged, as if it was an inconsequential matter. “What of it? If it needs to be done, so be it. I’m a Lunatac. It’s not like I haven’t done it before, and I’m not even immortal…” yet, the psi finished silently.
Janette smiled, picking up on what it was that he left unsaid. Willing blood was always the finest, and the idea of bringing one of the Lunatacs across intrigued her. She had seen firsthand that Alluro was indeed a powerful mesmerist and knew that there was more truth than boast to his claim of being the best—at the very least, she had not seen evidence that there was better. If vampire powers magnified that, he might prove to be a very worthy addition to their kind, she reasoned.
She lifted a hand and trailed it along the edge of his face. “You seem convinced that being brought across is your destiny.”
“I wouldn’t be a disappointment,” Alluro replied, meeting Janette’s gaze.
The vampiress drew the Lunatac closer to her, almost in an embrace, and gave him a look that would have chilled most mortals to the bone. It pleased her to see that it only made Alluro more interested. Satisfied that he was serious and not toying with her or squeamish enough to back out after teasing her, she pressed her body against his, levitating slightly so that she could circle her fingers around the back of the tall psi’s neck. His purple skin was smooth and warm to the touch, and he was close enough that she could smell the blood beneath his skin, blood that she yearned to taste. “You’re certain that this is what you want? There will be no turning back once it is done,” she whispered, bringing her face to his.
“To be more powerful? To be immortal? Oh, yes.” Alluro drew his arms around the seductive vampiress into a real embrace, his heartbeat quickening with anticipation of what was about to happen and at the more base pleasure of holding an attractive female in such a manner. The fact that she was once human and not a Lunatac made no difference to the psi in the least. Beauty was beauty, and he appreciated it in any worthy woman.
“You wish to be like me,” Janette murmured, her words more of a statement than a question. It only struck her as odd for a moment that she was in such a position with what would have been considered in her old and familiar First Earth world an alien being. The intoxicating scent of his willing blood and the pleasant sensation of the Lunatac’s strong arms around her drove any inhibitions away quickly.
“Yes,” Alluro breathed in response, enrapt both by the lure of the vampire woman’s overt sexual charms and the fantasy of the immortal life that would soon become reality. Reinforcing his already spoken wish, he pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.
Janette kissed the Lunatac back with equal fervor, tasting his lips and tongue as deeply and eagerly as she intended to drink his blood when it came to initiating the act of bringing him across. Alluro was excited by her passion, and he smoothed his hands down the vampiress’ back, his fingers dipping dangerously low above her rear but not quite low enough to be crass, at least not yet. He had hoped that the act of being taken would not be too painful a one, but he was pleasantly surprised by how pleasurable it was thus far.
Alluro drew in a sharp breath as Janette broke their kiss and sensuously drew her lips from his and down to the warm flesh of his neck. He could feel her slender fingers snake through the hair at the back of his neck and draw his head backward, but he was hardly in a position to complain or argue as he felt her soft lips kiss begin the skin tenderly, sending shivers of delight through his body.
He flexed his own fingers against the worn velour of her dress, grasping her body tightly against his, kneading both the fabric and the soft skin beneath it. Janette drew back her head for a moment, and although Alluro could not see it, her eyes had reverted to their vampiric yellow-green and her fangs displayed prominently between her scarlet lips. She lowered her head down in a rougher kiss, grazing the skin of his neck, teasing both him and herself as a trickle of his alien blood—dark and hot and maroon in color—oozed from the wound. Janette closed her mouth around it, relishing the sensation of the fresh blood as she tasted its rich bouquet.
Alluro grunted softly, finding the sting of the contact arousing especially with the sweet and delightful contrast of her kiss. He savored the sensation of the lusty embrace for a moment before leaning his head forward slightly so that he might return the nip when he felt her withdraw only for a moment, and then plunge her fangs deep into his flesh. The sharp sensation caused the Lunatac to gasp, although it was as much in ecstasy as it was pain, and he felt a warm and dizzying rush as the blood flowed from his body and into the hungry vampiress.
As soon as she began to feed on the willing psi in earnest, Janette began to
experience the intoxicating rush that all vampires craved—the sweet taste of
the mortal’s vital fluid and the intimate sense of the individual upon which
they were feeding upon. She found his
unusual blood delicious, equal in flavor and quality to the rich taste of human
blood but delightfully different and unique to her. She wondered for the briefest moment if
LaCroix had felt a similar thing when he had fed upon the Thundercat the night
before. She was no less pleased in her
experience with feeling the Lunatac’s thoughts and memories, and as she felt
him relax contentedly in her grasp, she knew that his experience with the bite
was much the same—Lunatacs, or that one at the very least—enjoyed the erotic mixture of pleasure and pain.
It was no surprise, then, that the vampiress snarled in outrage when the searing pain of a heat beam tore into her shoulder, the force of the blast knocking her backward in Alluro’s arms and tearing her away from his neck, prematurely ending the act. Janette’s head whirled around lightning-fast in the direction of her attacker, her vampiric eyes blazing in anger. She found herself staring eye to eye with equally displeased icewalker Lunatac—Chilla.
Furious, Janette twisted out of the stunned Alluro’s embrace and faced the other Lunatac, fangs bared. “How dare you?”
Alluro meanwhile blinked, slowly coming out of the rapturous haze that had settled over him. “Janette? What happened?” he asked, rubbing his wound. It was then that he noticed Chilla standing behind them. “Chilla?”
“She was trying to kill you,” Chilla informed the hypnotist icily, not breaking her threatening glare at the vampire woman.
Alluro’s features darkened. “She was not,” he argued, equally irritated at the interruption. “She was bringing me across.”
Chilla’s expression changed from one of anger to scornful disbelief. “She was what?”
“Bringing him across,” Janette repeated, smoothing her dress and keeping a hold on her temper. She had not broken her word to Luna to not strike any of the Lunatacs, but the ice woman was strongly testing her temptation to do so. “I did not feed on him without permission. He was willing.”
“Is that so?” Luna’s voice cut in, as she and Amok approached from behind Chilla, a disapproving frown on the lunar woman’s face as she regarded the pair, although it was clear the look was more meant for Alluro than Janette. “Being a Lunatac is no longer good enough for you? You want to turn yourself into a vampire now?”
“I want the power that she has to offer,” Alluro stated coldly, and then turned toward Janette. “Is it done?”
“No,” Janette replied, a great deal of irritation still evident in her tone. “I didn’t have time to take enough, much less what else is required to bring you across. You might feel a little weak, and retain a bit of understanding about my kind, but that will likely be the only effect.”
Alluro let out an annoyed sigh and cast an equally displeased look at Chilla. “Thank you so much for saving me from absolutely nothing,” he said sarcastically.
“You should be glad she saved you from yourself,” Luna snapped in the ice woman’s defense. She glanced at Janette for a moment. “Don’t worry, Janette, I don’t hold you accountable for this, for Alluro’s own stupidity. As for you,” she continued, turning back toward the psi, “what in the name of the Moons were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that immortality and enhancement of my mental powers sounded like a damned good deal, that’s what I was thinking,” he retorted angrily to Luna.
Luna tightened her grip on her riding crop and waved it irately. “Well I won’t have it!” she challenged. “You are far more useful to us as Alluro the Lunatac than you are as Alluro the vampire and I won’t have you running off on some fool notion.”
Janette blinked, somewhat surprised at the lunar woman’s display. It then occurred to her that perhaps Luna was not so different from LaCroix, charm and grace aside, in how she wished to control all those around her. She glanced at Alluro, and realized that he had probably dealt with many such displays over the years. Is that something we have in common or merely something I understand about you from tasting your blood, I wonder, she thought as she listened to the argument continue around her.
“I knew you were up to something foolish when I saw you slink out of Castle Plundarr tonight,” Chilla hissed frostily to Alluro, a shade of emotion creeping into her gravelly voice. “Do you really think you’re better off being like her? You’re not much of a physical fighter and you don’t even like the mess of hunting and gutting animals—and you think you can survive drinking blood and only blood?”
“Just because I prefer not to dirty my clothes and hands with the stinking entrails of wild game that you and RedEye hunt hardly means that I have a weak stomach for blood, Chilla,” Alluro retorted arrogantly. “It sounds more to me like you’re jealous.” He eyed her closely for a moment. “I only wonder if it’s because I beat you to the offer or if you just couldn’t stand seeing me with another woman.”
“You are so full of yourself it’s nauseating,” Chilla spat disgustedly. “I assure you, I am hardly jealous—of your sore neck or your egotistical delusions of importance. I only followed you to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed, or did you forget that there are two other vampires around that you wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against if they decided to make a meal out of you less delicately than Janette did?”
“Three, actually, but two are busy feeling sorry for themselves at the moment so you needn’t worry about them,” Janette pointed out.
“Three?” Luna repeated. “You saw Bengali?”
Janette nodded. “In whiny spades I saw the tiger Bengali, or as he now calls himself, a night-cat. Nicola should enjoy spending time with him, they both share an incredible ability to be naďve and childish.” The vampiress turned to Chilla. “As for you Chilla, or even you Luna,” she glanced at the lunar woman and her steed, “if you or any of the other Lunatacs wish for the gift of immortality that I can give, you need only ask. The offer did not extend only to Alluro, although he is the first that asked me for it.”
“That’s quite generous of you Janette, but there is no need for that,” Luna replied. “We are powerful enough as we are.”
Chilla nodded in silent agreement with her short leader. “I don’t want it.”
Alluro raised an eyebrow. “You may change your mind on that, Chilla. You didn’t see the Thundercat Bengali as a vampire. Like all the felines, he was strong before, but now he is not only stronger, but faster and sharper. You saw how Janette was able to fight against the other vampires last night, and how easily she pinned TugMug to the wall yesterday. You can’t tell me that doesn’t appeal to you, one who takes such pride in her physical condition and abilities. I know you too well,” he asserted.
“I pride myself on my own abilities,” Chilla countered. “Ones I was born with, ones I honed with skill and practice and dedication. Not ones gained through artificial or unnatural means.”
“To each her own,” Janette said with a shrug. “As I told Alluro, being a vampire is not for everyone.”
“It’s not for any of us,” Luna snapped irritably. “Physical enhancements are all well and good until the first time the Thundercats come after us during the day and leave us stranded in the sunlight to burn to ash.”
Alluro drew breath to argue and assert that Luna should
speak for herself, but suddenly he heard Janette’s voice echo in his own
mind. Let it be for now. We can finish this later.
The hypnotist blinked, not expecting to be spoken to in mind speech. It was an ability all psis had, but he had not been around any other psis in years, not since he had left the Moons. You can communicate in mind speech? Alluro thought back to Janette.
Yes, the vampiress
replied. With some other vampires.
But I’m not a vampire, Alluro replied.
Not yet, came Janette’s somewhat coy response. But you are practiced at telepathic abilities, and I did taste your blood. As you may have gained some understanding of me or my kind, I have gained a similar link with you, at least while we’re in close proximity.
So why are you speaking with me this way, then? Alluro asked.
The Lunatac heard Janette’s light laughter echo in his
mind. Because Luna can’t interrupt and argue, and we both know all too well
that she would. She is controlling of
you and the others, isn’t she?
That’s putting it
mildly, Alluro replied. So when can you bring me across again?
Soon, Janette told
him, but not tonight. You will be weak from what blood I took from
you tonight and it will go more smoothly if you give it time to regenerate.
Alluro nodded slightly, although none of the other Lunatacs
present picked up on it as he was otherwise silent while he and Janette
mentally conversed. I see. May I ask you one other
question?
You may ask, Janette answered.
How did I taste?
Janette glanced over at Alluro, and the psi cast a smug smirk in her direction. Very smooth, was the vampiress’ response.
“So is everything settled then? Because I had no intention of spending all night out here in the woods on this side of Fire Rock Mountain after two hours in Castle Plundarr dealing with those Mutant idiots,” Luna’s voice cut in, effectively ending their mental conversation. Although it seemed like it would have taken much longer spoken aloud, in reality it had only taken a few seconds and Chilla, Amok, and Luna had not even noticed Alluro and Janette’s momentary preoccupation.
“A day in Castle Plundarr even makes eternity seem that much longer,” Janette agreed. “I had my fill of blood tonight, so if you wish to return to DarkSide I’m quite ready.”
“Let’s go then,” Luna said authoritatively. Chilla fell in step beside Luna and Amok, and Alluro and Janette walked behind them back to where the Lunattacker and Ice Runner were parked. RedEye and TugMug were standing by the vehicles, and when the others approached, the two waiting Lunatacs climbed into the Lunattacker with Luna, Amok, and Janette while Chilla jumped into the Ice Runner and started the engines. The psi rubbed his sore neck one more time and climbed on the passenger rail on the side of the Ice Runner without a word, and a few moments later both vehicles took off, bound for DarkSide.
* * *
When Nick and Bengali returned to Cat’s Lair the hour was fairly late. They went up to the control room and found Panthro alone on watch. “Welcome back,” he greeted the pair. “How did it go?”
“Pretty well, all things considered,” Nick said with a smile. “Bengali will do just fine once he gets used to his condition, I think.”
“All things considered?” Panthro questioned.
“We ran into Janette and LaCroix,” Bengali told the panther with a growl.
Panthro leaned forward and looked them over. “Did they attack you?”
“Only verbally for the most part,” Nick said. “LaCroix goaded Bengali into a bit of a brawl, but it broke up with no real harm done.”
Bengali scowled at the mention of the elder vampire. “He’s an arrogant bastard.”
Nick laughed. “That sums him up pretty well, yes.”
“But there was no sign of Mumm-Ra or the Lunatacs or Mutants?” Panthro asked. Both Bengali and Nick shook their heads a negative, and Panthro relaxed. “Well that’s good. After last night it looks like we’ll have to keep our guards up for ambushes. Though I guess you two don’t have much to worry about as far as their ordinary weapons go.”
“Where’s Pumyra?” Bengali asked the panther. “I’d like to talk to her.”
“She left to go back to the Tower of Omens with Lynx-O and Snarfer shortly after you left,” Panthro said. “Most of the others here went to bed a little while later. It’s just me up still as far as I know.”
Bengali glanced at the monitor in front of Panthro, showing the calm and dark plain in front of the Lair. “I think I’m going to head back over to the Tower of Omens then. I should probably apologize to Snarfer for earlier if he’s still up too.” He turned toward Nick. “Thanks for everything tonight.”
The once human vampire smiled back at him. “It was the least I could do. I’ll see you tomorrow night, all right?”
“Yes, I’d like that,” Bengali replied, grateful for the elder vampire’s support. “See you then. Good night Panthro.”
Panthro nodded. “Take it easy, Bengali.”
* * *
The mood was still tense when the Lunatacs arrived back at Skytomb. Chilla and Alluro had barely spoken a word to each other on the entire ride back on the Ice Runner, and over in the Lunattacker Luna had spent her time filling RedEye and TugMug in on what had transpired in the woods. RedEye seemed rather dubious of the whole thing, and had cast Janette a few suspicious glances but remained largely silent throughout Luna’s account, while TugMug interjected his usual array of commentary, most of it considered by Luna to be too lowbrow or off-color to actually be amusing.
Alluro exchanged a short glance with Janette when they were back in the hangar but the psi did not say anything other than a quick remark through mind speech that he would speak with her the following night, and then got on the elevator to go up to his quarters. The effects of his blood loss had become quite evident on the ride back, as he realized he’d hardly had the energy to hold onto the rails of the Ice Runner, much less get involved in another discussion— especially an argument, which Luna would inevitably ignite if he spent any more time around her that night.
While RedEye was powering down the Lunattacker’s engines, Janette glanced at the timepiece on the console. The hour was too late to really go out and do anything except take a short walk, so she decided to just go upstairs with the others for a time and see if they planned to do anything interesting. Chilla started for the lift that led to the upper decks and keyed the button, muttering an irritation about Alluro being rude for not waiting a minute for the rest of them and taking it alone.
Janette joined the icewalker at the elevator, and TugMug wheeled over a few steps behind her—and stayed there. She shot a sharp glance back at him after getting the sense that she was being stared at, and then remembered the unfortunate hole in her dress from the warrior maiden’s arrow the night before. Her lips curled into an annoyed snarl, but she refrained from causing a scene as Luna and Amok also approached, with RedEye behind them. Luna picked up on the vampiress’ frustration when she saw the leer on TugMug’s features. “Chilla,” Luna said, turning toward the ice woman, “perhaps you could bring Janette by your quarters and see if you have any attire that would fit her, seeing as TugMug is trying to burn another hole in hers with his eyes,” she stated pointedly.
“Yeah, fine,” Chilla said flatly. Most of her irritation was directed at Alluro as opposed to Janette, as much like Luna, Chilla felt that Janette had just been acting in her own best interests—something any Lunatac could respect. Alluro’s actions, rather, were the ones they took personally. Luna because his sudden decision to seek immortality undermined the dynamic of what she considered her Skytomb crew and Chilla—well Chilla didn’t know exactly why, except that she didn’t like it. Had anyone asked her, however, she would have asserted with a heavy breath of ice that it was not for either of the reasons Alluro had hypothesized earlier that evening.
“Thank you, Chilla. I assure you it is much appreciated,” Janette told the icewalker.
TugMug smirked and wheeled onto the lift with the rest of them when it arrived. “You can’t blame a man for looking. Especially from this angle,” he said with a grin as he realized that he had not only a nice view of the once human vampiress’ backside but an impressive view of Chilla’s shapely rear as well.
An icy blast of warning hit the wall behind TugMug. “You’re a pig, even for a graviton,” Chilla rasped disgustedly.
“But you wouldn’t have me any other way, Chilla, and you know it!” he cackled gleefully as the elevator doors opened on the floor with the control room.
“If it was up to us we would have you silent,” Luna pointed out irritably as she and Amok climbed out behind them.
“If it was up to me I’d gag them both,” RedEye muttered just low enough for Luna not to hear before he followed them out as well, leaving only Chilla and Janette in the lift. Chilla silently hit the button and they rode to the appropriate level.
“This way,” Chilla told the vampiress, leading the two of them to her quarters.
When they stepped inside Janette noticed that Chilla had a rather nice, if not rather spartan in its’ furnishings, set of quarters. The icewalker had a large bed close to king-size covered in silken white sheets much like her attire. There was a bathroom off to one side and on the opposite wall there was a large mirrored closet. Chilla blinked curiously as the two approached the closet doors and did a double-take, noticing that she could not see Janette even though she stood right beside her.
“Vampires cast no reflection,” Janette reminded Chilla quietly. “Makes it rather easy to sneak up on someone but it’s dreadful when it comes to styling one’s hair.”
Chilla let out a snort of amusement at that remark as she pulled open the closet, revealing several dresses and other clothes, mostly in white but with a few other less frequently worn garments in light blues or icy silvery tones, with a handful of darker colored clothes toward the back. A number of pairs of white boots, nearly identical, and a few pairs of shoes and slippers were on the floor underneath the hanging clothes. Several drawers were also built into the wall, but Chilla left those closed.
“If you can’t see how you look in the mirror you’ll have to use your best judgment then, or trust mine,” she said, hoping that the vampiress would not be too slow or vain in her decision. Chilla already felt as though she was doing her a rather large favor and owed her one as it was, and as her mood was already sour so she did not want to deal with anything that would make it worse.
Turning her gaze toward Janette, Chilla looked her up and down, evaluating her build. As Janette was formerly human, her frame was significantly shorter than the icewalker’s and far smaller as well. “You’d probably do best with something form-fitting or clingy, anything else I have will just hang on you… unless you want it to? With TugMug around, I can understand that. I can ice him if he gets out of line, but Luna will probably bitch if you bite him.”
“Assuming I can get my fangs through his thick head, and that he wouldn’t like it, which I fear he would from what I’ve seen,” Janette remarked wryly. “But form-fitting is fine, and I would prefer a darker color if you don’t mind parting with it.” She looked over a velour-like burgundy dress in a rather clingy material that Chilla pulled out and handed to her. “Luna has plenty of criticisms for your crew, doesn’t she?” she asked Chilla curiously.
“You could call it that,” Chilla said, leaning against the door frame of the closet as Janette stripped out of her tattered dress to try on the garment Chilla had given her. “Luna likes everything done her way, and makes her displeasure very clear when she doesn’t get it. Back on the Moons she was nobility, a spoiled rich girl who got whatever she wanted from her family or her family’s money. She never quite grew out of that.”
“Ah yes, I know that type,” Janette said, pulling the dress over her body and smoothing it into place. “And here she thinks of you as her possessions as well?”
Chilla raised an eyebrow. “Did Alluro tell you that?”
Janette shook her head. “No. But I got enough of a sense of it to guess. She’s become rather comfortable with planning my nights, that much has become obvious, and Alluro certainly hasn’t said much about her that is flattering.” She glanced at Chilla. “Speaking of flattering, what do you think of this on me? You seem to be a woman of taste.”
That was hardly a statement Chilla heard often, unless it was from Alluro trying to butter her up either for attention or into bed, and she was not quite sure how to react for a moment. After a moment of consideration she decided to take it in the spirit it was said and accept it as a complement. Chilla looked over Janette in the dress and nodded approvingly. The dress itself looked rather tasteful on the vampiress. On Chilla it hung much higher on the leg and lower in the chest, revealing enough of her feminine assets that when she did wear it, it was usually as night attire or underneath something else, and certainly not ever when there was a chance she might have to endure being leered at by TugMug. On Janette, however, the garment hung to mid-thigh and covered most of her breasts, not quite as clingy on her smaller human frame as it was on Chilla’s strong icewalker build. It was flattering on the vampire woman, and Chilla had never been overly fond of the color so it was not much of a loss for her to part with it. She rarely wore it anyhow, and she was glad it suited Janette. It made things rather simple that she was pleased with the first thing offered.
“It works,” Chilla told her. “If you want it, then it’s yours. I never cared for the color anyway.”
Janette smiled, pleased with the selection. “Thank you, Chilla.” She paused. “If you should change your mind about what we discussed in the woods earlier, my offer still stands.”
Chilla’s features hardened. “I won’t.”
“Understood,” Janette replied with a nod. “May I ask you a question then?”
“What?”
Janette felt the weight of the icewalker’s gaze intensify upon her. “Why are you so against Alluro seeking immortality?” Janette was genuinely curious, for she had felt the opposite when she had bitten Alluro and tasted his blood. It had seemed to her that the psi was well suited to the vampire lifestyle and would embrace it, and having heard only Luna’s rationalizations against it she wondered if Chilla was just mirroring her leader’s sentiments or if she had reasons of her own.
The icewalker balled her hand into a fist against the wall and straightened stiffly. “For the reasons I said before,” she stated icily, a dangerous note seeping into her tone. Chilla then strode over to the main door of her quarters and pressed the button to open them. “Enjoy the dress. I’m going to bed.”
Janette raised an eyebrow but chose not to press the matter farther. Whatever Chilla’s reasons were, the vampiress realized that they had far less to do with Alluro’s ability to handle the gift of immortality as they did with something far more personal to her. Concerning herself with the personal troubles of mortals was something that Janette had given up when her stint as a barkeep at the Raven ended with First Earth, especially if they were as obviously unwilling to share them as Chilla was, so rather than say anything else she strode through the door instead.
“Good night Chilla,” Janette said softly on her way out, and left the ice woman to her thoughts.
* * *
When Bengali reached the Tower of Omens only Snarfer was still up and about, doing the night watch in the control center. After giving the young snarf a sincere apology for his lapse in reason in thinking of him as a snack when he had awoken, he stopped by Pumyra’s door and knocked gently, hoping that the puma was still awake.
He heard her soft voice bid him to enter, and he stepped inside, closing the door behind him so the two of them could be alone. Pumyra sat upright in her bed with the lamp on beside her, as if she had tried to go to sleep but found herself unable. Her eyes brightened when she saw Bengali approach and sit beside her. “Welcome back. Did you just get in?”
Bengali nodded. “A few minutes ago. Were you waiting for me?”
“I just couldn’t sleep,” Pumyra told him honestly. “I wasn’t sure when you and Nick would be back, but I found myself wondering so much that it kept me up.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, taking her hand into his and squeezing it. It struck him how warm and delicate it was, and how in the soft glow of the bedroom light she was so pretty. It was the first time he had really taken a moment to admire her with his sharpened vampiric sight, and he felt lucky to have the love of such a beautiful and caring puma. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
Pumyra smiled reassuringly and stroked the tiger vampire’s hand back. “I wasn’t so much worried as I was just thinking about everything. How did things go?”
“It will take some time to get used to all these changes. I still feel very out of sorts—unusual—and different. Nick has helped to explain a lot to me, though, and I think I’ll adjust.” He paused for a moment and let out a short, somewhat bitter laugh. “I even got to test my fighting skills in a vampire to vampire fight.”
“You and Nick sparred?”
“Nothing that friendly or planned, I’m afraid,” Bengali replied, his tone growing serious. “We ran into LaCroix and Janette.”
“They attacked you again? Are you all right? Was Mumm-Ra there?” Pumyra asked, mildly alarmed.
The tiger vampire nodded slightly. “LaCroix and Janette were alone, and I don’t think they even came together. Janette and Nick had words, but aside from being insulting and condescending she said very little to me. I think she was more interested in talking with Nick. As for LaCroix…” his voice trailed off in a low growl.
Pumyra eyed Bengali intently. “What happened?”
“He came to us with some offer to leave everyone not a vampire behind and go off with him to explore Third Earth. He said he would leave Mumm-Ra, asked Janette to leave the Lunatacs, and Nick and I to leave all of you. Obviously I told him where he could go, and he didn’t take the rejection very well,” Bengali explained.
“I’m certainly glad of that, and I’m sure all of the others are too,” Pumyra told him with a smile, which faded as something occurred to her. “Nick didn’t leave, did he?”
“No,” Bengali said with a shake of his white and black striped mane. “I think he wanted to be around LaCroix even less than I do, if that’s possible. Even Janette didn’t seem interested. Apparently she likes the Lunatacs, but gods know why anyone would unless they were just like them.”
Pumyra smoothed her hand along Bengali’s muscular arm in a consoling manner. “Well regardless, I’m glad that both you and Nick stayed. I imagine that it must have been a little tempting, though, I mean with this being so new to you and all and such an old vampire to teach you things.”
“No it wasn’t,” Bengali replied, a little too quickly.
“No?” Pumyra’s tone was mildly surprised.
“I hate LaCroix, and it’s his fault that I became what I am to begin with,” he asserted with a light growl, and then relaxed as he looked into Pumyra’s warm brown eyes. “Besides, I couldn’t leave you all behind even if I had wanted to. I would miss everyone… especially you.”
The puma smiled at Bengali’s assertion of his affections and nuzzled against him as he pulled her into a close embrace. She noticed that he felt somewhat cool to the touch, but it was not really unpleasant, only slightly different. The feel of his fur and the strength of his arms was still the same and just as comforting and inviting as it ever was. “We’ve been together so long,” she murmured, relishing the closeness between them. “And I don’t mean just you and me, but us and Lynx-O, and now even the other Thundercats and snarfs. Things just wouldn’t be the same if you were gone. I can’t imagine life without you.”
While Pumyra took comfort in their embrace and Bengali wanted to, a new strong and dark feeling came over him as he held the very mortal puma in his arms. The warmth of her body, the silken touch of her fur, and the incredibly distracting—incredibly arousing—scent of her blood stirred a longing within him that was very hard to resist. His eyes glanced down at her, trusting and content in his arms. Her head tenderly rested against his shoulder while her bare neck, free of the golden choker that sat upon her nightstand, lay open and vulnerable, silently inviting him to taste it.
Just a kiss… just a
nip…
He stared intently at it for a moment, his eyes changing color and his fangs descending while the tempting heat of her mortal blood called to him. He could almost hear LaCroix’s voice in his head, urging him to indulge.
Maybe just a taste…
“No!” Bengali roared suddenly, coming to his senses just in time. He thrust the startled Pumyra away from him sharply, knocking her back against her pillows. “I won’t,” he growled fiercely, challenging the dark urge in his mind, which if he had to give a face would have seemed an awful lot like the sneering face of the vampire LaCroix.
“Bengali, what’s wrong?” the startled Pumyra exclaimed.
The tiger vampire stood and turned his back to Pumyra, inwardly wrestling for control of his urges and lambasting himself for even contemplating what he had almost done. “I almost bit you, Pumyra,” he said, an emotional growl in his voice. “I can’t control myself when I’m close to you.”
“But you didn’t bite me,” Pumyra argued, climbing out of bed to stand beside him, not realizing the strain her proximity was placing on him. She placed her hand on his shoulder gently. “Doesn’t that prove that you can?”
“It took every bit of willpower I had not to,” he said, clenching his fists and wishing she would back away from him. The urge to taste her sweet blood was almost maddening, and it magnified with the contact. He could almost hear LaCroix’s voice mocking him as he fought the dark desire.
He wrenched away from her and stormed to the other side of the room. “I shouldn’t be here. I don’t have the right to endanger you like this. Maybe LaCroix was right.”
“Right? Right about what?” the puma asked, starting toward the vampiric tiger once again.
“Don’t follow me!” Bengali roared.
Pumyra stopped in her tracks at her lover’s heated demand, but she respected his wish and did not come any closer. “What did LaCroix say to you, Bengali?”
“He said I can’t be a Thundercat because of what I am. That I no longer have the capability to be good, and to follow the Code of Thundera,” he said with a low growl, his back still toward her.
“That’s not true,” Pumyra argued, growing upset and angry—upset that Bengali was so distressed and angry at LaCroix for doing it to him. “Don’t you ever say that. Just because your body has been changed doesn’t mean you’re not the same inside. You’re still the same tiger I met back on Thundera as a girl, the same one who I left the dying Thundera with, who lived with me for years on the island in the ocean and then here. You’re still Bengali, regardless of what you eat or whether you can stand sunlight.”
Bengali closed his eyes in frustration. “Bengali the Thundercat would never have thought about hurting you, not for anything in the world and certainly not for a quick fix of pleasure.”
“It’s new to you, Bengali, that’s all,” Pumyra tried to reassure him. She wanted to go to him and comfort him, but she remained where she stood, wishing fervently that she did not have to. “What if I offered you a bite? I trust you, and I wouldn’t mind doing it to help you. I know you won’t take enough to kill me… it wouldn’t be any different that donating blood to a Thunderian that had been wounded, really. That is what’s happened to you in a way.”
“No!” Bengali turned toward the window and stared hard into the night sky outside. “If I have trouble fighting the urge to bite you just holding you, who’s to say I could stop? Nick warned me not to even think about it.” Another frustrated growl grew in the white tiger’s throat. “I shouldn’t even be in here with you now. Not until I can control myself, until I can be trusted.”
“I trust you. I know you,” Pumyra asserted softly, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of him leaving as things stood.
“You knew me,” Bengali replied, turning to face her. His blue feline eyes were filled with the same distress as the puma’s, and it was clear that the decision was as difficult for him to make as it would be for her to accept—which made him feel that much worse. “I don’t even know myself right now. LaCroix might know more than I gave him credit for.” His face darkened to a scowl. “As much as I hate to say it.”
Pumyra shook her head in disbelief. “You’re nothing like that monster, Bengali.”
“Wish I could be as sure of that as you are,” he said, approaching her for a moment and taking her hand in his. She went to embrace him, but he pulled back, lest she inadvertently tempt him again. “I’m sorry, Pumyra, but I think it would be best if I leave for a while. I’ll go back to Cat’s Lair and talk with Nick.” He saw the hurt and distraught expression on Pumyra’s face and felt a surge of regret. The tiger vampire hated the thought of hurting her, but he hated the thought of what he might do to her if he stayed even more. “If I stay here any longer I might change my mind and what might happen then scares me. Please don’t follow me,” he urged her, squeezing her hands. “I promise I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You don’t need to leave,” she said softly, fighting back more tears.
“I’m sorry, Pumyra. I love you,” he said with distressed tenderness, and before Pumyra could even react, he was gone.
She ran out into the hallway and saw no trace of the tiger vampire, and as she reached the end of the corridor she saw that the door that led to the balcony outside was wide open. Pumyra stepped out onto the balcony but Bengali was long gone, his vampiric flight already taken him too far from the Tower of Omens and into the night outside to be seen.
Pumyra felt a warm pair of hands rest upon her shoulders in a comforting gesture, and she turned to see Lynx-O’s concerned features facing her own. “The raised voices woke me,” he explained gently. “I could not help but overhear what was said toward the end. I know it’s hard, but it would be best to let him go and sort things on his own for now.”
The puma leaned against Lynx-O and allowed her old friend to pull her into a consoling hug. “I never thought this would happen, Lynx-O,” she cried quietly into the elder lynx’s chest. “We couldn’t let him die, but I never thought saving him that way would affect him like this. I—I thought he would be like Nick. Nick seems so in control of himself.”
Lynx-O patted the upset puma’s back gently in an effort to soothe her. “Nick has hundreds of years of experience living with this condition. He will help Bengali come to terms with it. This won’t be forever, Pumyra. He will adjust. His heart still retains its goodness, take comfort in that. He is more like Nick than he is like the one that tried to kill him, otherwise he would have taken your blood without hesitation.”
“What about LaCroix?” Pumyra asked, straightening. Lynx-O’s gentle reassurance had helped somewhat in calming her down, but the unsettling notion that Bengali might feel desperate enough to seek answers from another vampire if for some reason Nick wasn’t available bothered her.
Lynx-O’s ears twitched at her question. “That’s hard to say,” he replied. “We know so little about these vampires aside from what Nick has told us. Their kind seems to be a unique anomaly to Third Earth. There were no such unnatural creatures on Thundera to my knowledge. At least, I never heard any such legend in all my years there.”
Pumyra nodded and glanced worriedly at the night sky once more. “I’m scared for him, Lynx-O. Very scared.”
* * *
It was about an hour before dawn when Cheetara walked into the control room of Cat’s Lair. Panthro, still alone on night watch and not expecting to have a visitor at that hour, looked up in surprise. The cheetah wore only a robe—more to keep away the chill she often felt in the agitated state she was in than out of any actual modesty—and her mane was out of place, as if she had been disturbed from her sleep.
“Cheetara,” Panthro greeted her, instantly concerned for his longtime friend when he saw the restless look about her. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re worried out of your mind about something.”
“A vivid dream I had woke me out of a sound sleep,” the cheetah told him. “I don’t think it was a regular dream or even a nightmare though, and that’s what’s got me concerned. It felt like my sixth sense, right down to the shivers and dizziness I had when I woke up.” She settled in the console chair next to Panthro. “Something is going very wrong with us.”
Panthro blinked and leaned closer to her. “Who’s ‘us’, Cheetara? What did you dream about?”
“Bengali, at least at first. He was screaming, and his eyes—they were lit up like they were earlier when he woke up, menacing and crazed. The part with him was kind of hazy, and didn’t make much sense.” She tugged her robe more tightly around her and shivered again, even though the temperature of the room was moderate, climate controlled on that warm summer night as it was year round. “It still doesn’t, really,” she added with a sigh. “I just know it left me feeling like something is going wrong with us, the Thundercats, as a whole, and it’s starting with him. Not deliberately, but it is nonetheless.”
“Because of what he changed into, maybe,” Panthro said with a sigh. “This vampire business could still be bad news for all of us, especially with those other two evil ones around. Nick seems like a decent enough one, but the other two…”
“That was the other part of my dream,” Cheetara confided in the panther. She smoothed a hand through her spotted mane as she began to tell him what she had dreamt. “I don’t know if it was real or not, and I hope to Jaga that it wasn’t and that maybe something stopped it, but—”
Panthro frowned, trying to sort out what the cheetah was saying. “Stopped what? Cheetara, you aren’t making sense.”
“Sorry, like I said, this has me a bit out of sorts,” she said in tired apology. “I dreamt of one of the Lunatacs—Alluro—with the female vampire Janette, the one that left with the Lunatacs and Mutants last night. The two of them were in an embrace.”
“An embrace?” Panthro repeated in disbelief. “You mean something romantic?”
Cheetara frowned, clearly troubled. “I guess you could call it that, except that it didn’t leave that sort of feeling to look upon it at all. It felt dark and dangerous, if anything, and the way she kissed him—it looked almost like she was biting him. Not to kill him, but differently. More like what the Thunderkittens described Nick doing to Bengali when he saved him.”
“Are you saying you think she might have tried turning him into a vampire? Bringing him across, I guess they call it?” Panthro asked, more than a slight note of worry in his voice as he contemplated the unspoken implications of Cheetara’s vision. The idea of their enemies gaining immortality at the hands of one of the other vampires had not really occurred to them, and it was a disquieting thought.
Cheetara let out a slow nod, indicating that she had already thought about the very thing that just struck Panthro. “The Lunatacs are formidable as it is already, and I don’t want to think about the damage they could do if they were immortal. Or the Mutants for that matter.”
“Do you know if Janette was successful? Did your dream show you anything like that?”
The cheetah shook her head. “It only showed that brief flash of them. I suppose it’s likely he didn’t come across, or I would know for certain.”
“That’s a relief at least,” Panthro said, leaning back in his chair.
“A small one perhaps,” Cheetara replied with a slight shrug. “But it still doesn’t change the threat hanging over us. Even if she didn’t bring Alluro across doesn’t mean she can’t some other time, or that she or LaCroix can’t or won’t do the same to any of the others. It also doesn’t explain why I dreamt what I did of Bengali.”
Panthro rubbed his forehead as he considered the situation. “One positive thing at least is that we do have Nick on our side, and Bengali too. Bengali’s change might take some getting used to, but I believe he meant it when he said he would still follow the Code of Thundera,” he said in reassurance to both Cheetara and himself. “Assuming Janette did change Alluro, that leaves the odds as two vampires against two others. Even if LaCroix were to team up with them, it would still be three against two, and that’s not as bad as three against one or even two against one.”
“And assuming they stop at Alluro and don’t change any of the others,” Cheetara said quietly. “Can you imagine if Luna or even Slythe were transformed?”
Panthro let out a small laugh, mostly to ease the tension of the conversation with a bit of levity. “Spending forever with Luna and that voice—now there’s a way to make a vampire consider going off into the sunrise.”
A small smile spread across the cheetah’s features. “Or some of the Mutants for eternal company.” Cheetara chuckled lightly despite herself. “Imagine Vultureman as a vampire. Would he even have fangs inside his beak?”
Panthro laughed in earnest at that amusing, if not somewhat disturbing mental image. “Let’s hope for all our sakes that Janette has the same foresight we do and doesn’t sentence Third Earth to a band of immortal idiots.”
Their conversation was interrupted when Snarf burst into the room, a serious and flustered expression on his furry face. “I’m glad you’re still up, snarf snarf! We might have a problem.”
Cheetara and Panthro exchanged alarmed glances. “What’s going on, Snarf?” Panthro asked, hoping sincerely that it had nothing to do with Cheetara’s dream—in fact, hoping that what Cheetara had experienced was indeed just a dream and nothing more.
“Bengali just came in, and he’s not doing too well at all,” Snarf informed them, his ears flattened against his head in worry. “He looked upset and said something about Pumyra being upset and said to talk to her if she called but not to disturb him and Nick, and not to let her see him if she asked. He said he almost tried to bite her, snarf snarf, that he didn’t trust himself, and that he might have to leave and he was sorry. Then he went to Nick’s room and closed the door.”
Cheetara closed her eyes sadly. “That explains my dream about Bengali,” she murmured with resigned sadness.
Panthro sighed and struck his palm against the edge of the control room console. “Damn,” he said, shaking his head. “Is Pumyra all right?”
“Yes, snarf snarf, he said he only tried to bite her but stopped.” Snarf paced in front of the two Thundercats anxiously. “But, rowr, will Nick be able to help him?”
“I hope so, Snarf, for all our sakes,” Cheetara said earnestly, her amber eyes glancing from him to Panthro. “Because if not, he may be right. He may have to leave us for good.”
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