"Max!"

The servant appeared in the doorway. "Sir?"

"Has she woken up yet? It's been at least a week I should think."

"I would suggest you go check sir. And looking at how hard you slammed her against the wall, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't wake up for another two weeks." He disappeared into another room. Cloud winced as he heard the meaning in his words. He had told Max everything and Max thought it had been unnecessary to slam her against the wall. Cloud agreed on the inside, but he would never admit that to his anybody else. He remembered something else from her memories. Another vampire had done that to her too. Vampires knew how vulnerable it made them, so how could they do that to another? However, Silver was different, if only because she couldn't speak when he had held her by the throat. All the other vampires cursed him when they couldn't move. But Silver had tried to breathe and even pressed his wrist in a feeble attempt to make him let go.

He had been surprised to find that the most notorious vampire alive was a female, but now that he thought of it, it made sense how she had eluded capture for so long. No one would have been looking for a girl because it people couldn't fathom that someone like that could be so ruthless. He frowned. Lord Rikkar had called her Lady Rowena. It didn't sound familiar, yet her face was. Was she really a noble? That would have explained why she stood up to Lord Rikkar, but then that would mean that Cloud had thrown a noble into his dungeons. He winced at the thought and hoped she wasn't really some pampered girl from a rich family. No matter, he thought. He would get some answers today. He went to the kitchen to get a bowl of the blood stored there.

Cloud stopped in front of the cell where the girl was being held and studied her closely. She was sitting in the farthest corner from the cell door, her knees tucked up under her chin. He shook off the guilt that he had left her here for a week and he unlocked the door and went in.

Cold. Wet. Hungry. Tired. Silver trembled with fatigue. She scented blood on her but couldn't muster up enough energy to raise her head to see where it was coming from. Her cell seemed to be shrinking on her. She heard footsteps, or maybe she was imagining that too. No, Cloud Talen stopped in front of her cell. He studied her for a moment then opened the door and stepped in. He held a bowl of something in front in him. It might have been food, but it reeked of blood. He held it in front of her and she smelled the metallic tang that came with vampire blood.

"Where on earth did you get that?" She winced at how her words came out grated and rusty.

"It was a donation from a vampire." He could see she doubted his words, so he admitted, "It wasn't donated willingly."

Silver closed her eyes and pushed her nose farther into her sleeve. If she drank that, then she would truly become a monster. So she said, "You killed Sam."

Cloud stared at the girl. Her voice was full of grief and accusations. Had he been that special to her? He frowned as an unknown emotion made itself known to him. "Just drink. Don't you need to feed at least once a week or something?"

Silver pressed her eyes together more tightly. She wished he would go away and take the bowl with him. "Just leave." If he stayed here any longer, her control would desert her and she wouldn't be able to resist the rich smell.

Cloud was taken aback. She didn't want blood? Vampire blood was hard to come by because the vampires were stronger than humans, so most fed on humans that couldn't fight back. He scowled and abruptly stood up. "Fine." He left, his footsteps echoing in the empty underground dungeons. Silver let her head drop onto her knees.

Memories flashed through her head.

A dark, damp cell with no light with the exception of one torch…

The bowls of vampire blood on the floor that tempted her senses with its appealing scent…

Her captor standing outside the cell door, studying her intently…

Her breath quickened. The need to feed was overshadowed by the need to be out of the darkness. She needed sunlight and she needed it soon.

As soon as Cloud entered the cell, he saw the motionless figure curled on the floor facing the wall away from the door. "Hey, you." There was no response. He stepped over the bowls of blood he had left, then forced himself to take it slowly and carefully. It might be a trap, he told himself, but he was sure it wasn't. His heart started to thump louder in his chest. He grabbed her arm and shook her. When there was still no response, he gathered the girl in his arms and turned her around carefully. He was shocked at the change in her. Her breathing was shallow and Cloud could sense more than feel her uneven heartbeat. Her slitted eyes were slightly glazed over, making them look more gray than silver. She was paler than she had been and had her hair always been that dull color? She's still beautiful, the voice in his mind said. He cut that thought out of his head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking she was pretty. He mentally shook himself. Concentrate. What was wrong with her? The previous times that he had held captured vampires in here, they had been fine albeit a bit bloodthirsty, although he'd never kept one in here for so long. It had been three weeks since he had brought her here to his demesne on the edge of the city and he was getting worried. He should have pressed her for information before he had taken that trip out of the city. Before he could worry about anything else, his ever faithful servant appeared at the entrance to the dungeons.

"Master Gilbert is here again and waiting for you in the main room." Cloud stared at the unconscious girl he was holding. He made a decision and hoped it was the right one.

Gilbert drank the last of his coffee, savoring the taste. It was the only reason why he drank it, because it reminded him of the family he once had. He stared at the sunset outside. He liked the big glass windows that Cloud had put in. On both sides of the breakfast room, they showed the sun as it rose and fell. Gilbert would have had glass windows too, but he could see no point in it when he had no real home now.

"Gilbert."

Except for this one maybe. He turned and saw Cloud hurrying over to him with a another cup of coffee. Cloud was the closest that Gilbert would ever have to family. They had been through so much together. He gratefully accepted the cup that Cloud offered him. Cloud was looking distressed, which was unusual for the hunter that was renowned for his calm and collected demeanor.

"I heard that you had captured a vampire with silver eyes?" Gilbert wanted to know if what he had been hearing for weeks was true.

Cloud hesitated. "Yes, I have. Actually, I wanted you to take a look at this vampire. Something's not right."

Gilbert frowned at this request. "You know I'm not the best person to tag and profile a vampire." He said. "You might be better off asking Niles or Jags."

"It's not like that. Just come look."

As Cloud led the way to the dungeons in the lowest levels of the castle, Gil could sense his friend's uneasiness intensifying. He frowned. It was unusual for Cloud to be this uneasy about almost anything.

"Oi." He poked Cloud between his shoulder blades, eliciting a grunt from the dark-haired man. "What on earth is going on?"

Cloud stopped so suddenly, Gil bumped into him. Scowling, he rubbed his forehead as he glared at Cloud.

"Now I really want to know what the bloody hell is going on."

"Gil, remember when I told you about a vampire with silver eyes?" Cloud started to move again.

"Is this not the vampire you caught?"

"Aye, has silver eyes and sharp pointy teeth."

"Then I don't see what the problem is. Silver eyes have never been seen before; only one person in history has had them," Gil was losing patience, "and they better be in your dungeons right now."

"Well, this one just happens to be a female." They stopped in front of the cell.

"Yes, maybe you made a- what? A female?"

Cloud stood aside to let Gil see.

Gil squinted, rubbed his eyes, and squinted again. But no matter how hard he squinted, there was no mistaking that raven hair. He cursed. What was she doing here?

"Open the door."

His voice had lost all traces of pleasantries and held only Gillian the Commander. "Get her out of there!" His voice slightly cracked on the last word. Not many knew Lady Rowena, and fewer knew of her secrets, but he was one of them.

As soon as Cloud opened the door, Gil rushed to her motionless figure, upsetting the bowls scattered around. He glanced down and recoiled when he saw what was in them.

"Is that pure vampire blood?" Gil hissed when Cloud nodded, but ignored them otherwise. He had more pressing matters.

Checking her vitals, Gillian breathed a sigh of relief. She was still breathing, but barely. He cursed again as panic started to rise in him.

"Lady Rowena?"

Needless to say, Cloud was shocked. Gil scooped the woman off the floor and carried her past him.

"Gil, what on earth is going on?"

His friend looked back at him with frantic eyes.

"Help me get her into a bed. And bring some of the blood you always keep around." His tone gave no room for argument. Cloud could only follow as Gil placed her in Cloud's room.

Her raven hair was a stark contrast against his white sheets. Shadows danced across the bed as Gil paced back and forth, stopping occasionally to curse.

"She can only take half blood, but you don't have any? She's going to die if she doesn't get any soon." Gil resumed his frantic pacing and cursing. "Crisis! What the bloody hell do we do now? We cannot let her die; she's to play an important part in this war!"

Cloud slowly shook off his stupor. He gathered himself and resisted the urge to fire questions nonstop at Gillian. He fixed a stare on Gil.

"Who is she?"

"Lady Rowena. She is, or rather, was, an agent for us."

Cloud cursed with everything he had. Not only was it his fault that they'd lost another agent, but he'd almost caused her to die. As if Gil had seen what he was thinking, he frantically paced faster, desperate to save her.

"Nearest supply should be at her house, four miles away from the center of the city. Hopefully I can … make it back in time." He strode over to the window and opened it, preparing to jump out.

"Wait!" Cloud felt like he should do something to help. When Gil turned his head in response to his shout, Cloud held a wooden bowl up.

"I do have half blood actually."