The door opened again and Danika mindlessly wondered if keeping it open might be wiser. Alina and Alex walked in, followed closely by another woman.

'Evangeline, my mother's assistant and daughter of Josie, one of the heads of council.'

'Hello darling.' Alina kissed his cheek sweetly.

She looked upon the young woman standing beside her son and smiled softly, loud and clear she thought with amusement. Alina turned and continued into the ball room, followed by everyone except Danika and Lucian.

'Heads of council?'

'Yes, my mother and three others. When my grandparents were murdered and my mother went missing the council was formed to take over until she was brought back.'

'Sorry?' she frowned 'You said missing, you've said that she was kidnapped, that's what we were taught, now you're saying brought back. Which is it?'

'Oh.' he chuckled. 'Well it was a ruse to protect her. She was an infant and they knew her uncle wanted her dead so they hid her with humans.'

'Who hid her?'

Right on cue the door opened and two women walked through, followed by their partners.

'Phoenix vampires. Miranda and Josie.' he frowned. 'Well actually, now they are just Phoenix, we don't refer to them as vampires anymore.'

Lucian knew what her question was, waiting to be sprung from those sweet pink lips.

'Miranda was the first, originally as a vampire. Then when Josie came along possessing all four elements of the dark beings, it was seen as ideal for Miranda to alter her abilities and title as well. So they are the first of their kind and all of their offspring's are the same. There is no half breeding of their kind, they are always full Phoenix.'

'What do you mean half breeding?'

'Well with the four types if they breed outside of their own group, their offspring will inhabit both qualities.'

'Oh.' she paused as she took it in.

The four people stopped momentarily to greet them and then continued into the ball room.

'Do you know anyone like that?'

Lucian held his breath as he looked at her, she waited for a response, his face was unreadable. He did know someone that was half breed.

'My father is half vampire, half shape shifter. Eris is my father's uncle.'

'You're related to Phabel.'

'Yes.'

Danika chuckled. 'That's so cool. He's such a crank. I might just go back to university to give him a hard time now.'

'Phabel, a crank?' Lucian grinned and pointed to the doors of the ball room 'That man in there, you think he's a crank?'

'Yep. Maybe you should sit in on one of his classes. What's he normally like if he's not the crank I think he is?'

'Party animal.'

Danika snorted with laughter.

'Oh that is so not possible.'

'It's true.'

'So does that mean that you're a shape shifter too?'

'Yes.'

'Aww cool, show me.'

'Jeez, now is not the time.'

'Pleeease.' she pouted playfully and fluttered her eyes.

'Fine.'

Lucian grabbed her hand and dragged her into the kitchen.

'What would you like?'

'Nothing scary.' she crinkled her nose at the thought. 'Or slimy, nothing over four legs thanks.'

'So no spiders then?'

He grinned as he sauntered over her, pressing her into the kitchen bench, kissing her up the neck.

'No.' she gasped, her eyes closed.

Her hand ran over the soft fibres of his vest to the gold buttons. Then it was gone. She opened her eyes, her hand still stretched out to where he had been, in his place was nothing. A bird landed on her arm, it was the most colourful bird she had ever seen. Its head was red, over the wings it was yellow and blue, the underside was red. It had large, mean looking beak.

'Oh my god.' she giggled.

The bird squawked at her, making her jump with fright. It flew off and landed somewhere on the other side of the kitchen bench. Danika ran around to the other side, worried that he might be hurt. She stopped in her tracks, shocked at what she saw. A cat sat perfectly still, looking up at her. The dark grey cat was beautiful, his markings dark grey almost black, his eyes a vivid green. She squatted to the pretty kitty and scratched under his chin. He purred loudly, enjoying the attention.

'What next kitty cat?'

He sat and looked at her, almost like he was waiting.

'Ok then.' she stood up and turned to go back to the kitchen.

She thought maybe he didn't like to be watched in the transformation, turning back to speak to him, she was stunned as she saw what she thought was the most stunning butterfly she had ever seen. The blue and black wings looked like the softest velvet and she wanted to touch his wings. He sat on her fingertips, the wings going up and down slowly. She could barely feel it on her skin, he was so light.

'Lucian.' she whispered with tears.

As she closed her eyes, she wiped her wet eyes, feeling coolness on her lips. Danika opened her eyes and saw Lucian standing there, staring at her, waiting for permission. His hand found the back of her neck at the base of her head and pulled her in, kissing her forcefully, passionately.

Lucian could hear the door crack open again, this time it was his grandparents.

'Come, meet my father's parents.'

Danika noted a level of excitement in his tone as he pulled her out of the room to the court yard.

'Hello Lucian.' his grandmother hugged him warmly.

'I wasn't expecting you to come to the meeting grandmother.'

'Your mother suggested that I should join this particular meeting, something about new developments.' Althea smiled 'And besides, why wouldn't I want to come and see my grandson and his...'

'Oh, sorry. Grandmother, this is Danika she's with the band.'

The woman smiled at her with a pleasant hello as his grandfather approached, a little slower, he was talking to a blonde woman. The woman continued through to the ball room, leaving his grandfather to continue to the group.

'My grandparents Althea and Alexandru Senior.'

Danika curtsied yet again. She thought maybe she should spend the night like this, it certainly felt like she had been.

'A pleasure, I'm sure.' she grinned at Danika. 'We will see you inside.'

Alexandru held his arm out for his wife and they wandered into the ball room. As many of the vampires passed through the rock face, Danika could understand why she was made to dress like this, they all dressed like this. It was a formal affair and it was obvious there was a code of dress. Gowns for the women and suits for the men and so long as it was reasonably respectable it would be accepted. It didn't matter that cleavage was hanging out, which was good because hers was pushed up and made her look so much bigger than she already was.

Lucian's worst nightmare stepped through the door, the Mordecai's.

'Danika.' he whispered as he turned to her. 'You know of Ariella right?'

'Of course, I did study notable families and they covered the Mordecai's.'

'Did they cover everything?'

'You mean your relationship with her and how it ended?'

'Yeah.'

Danika's eyes went from Lucian's sad face to who she thought was Lucas Mordecai standing at the rock face.

'What I did was wrong and she suffered for it, I know that now, but...'

'Is this the demons and darkness you spoke of?'

'Part of it.'

'Look, everyone has a past, she has dealt with her demons and from what I understood from the class, she has moved on. You however are different. It appeared to me that you had not. In fact, after last night I'd say it was a very accurate statement. You need to move on, you need to forgive and forget. Otherwise you are going to go around in circles for the rest of your life.'

'How much are they covering in these classes?' he paled.

'Oh I did the professors course, maybe you should speak to him about what he covers.' she grinned 'Love and relations of the vampire world. They covered you like you were your own issue of a tabloid magazine.'

'Is that right.' he said rather unimpressed.

'Oh, don't be like that, they never covered the endless women, they just talked about your relationship with Ariella.'

'Endless women?' he gaped at the thought that she knew.

'Yes, I heard about the harem. Yet to see them though.'

'I don't have one anymore. I grew bored of it.'

'Well that's good then, we don't have to have that discussion.'

Lucian was about to say something when they approached.

'Your highness.' Lucas bowed slightly, as the two women that appeared from behind him, they both curtsied.

She had seen photos of Ariella, but her beauty in real life was nothing like them, they did her no justice. Danika could also see the way that she looked from her to Lucian, then back again. She softly smiled at her.

'This is Danika, the guitarist for the band.'

She curtsied yet again.

'Danika, this is King Lucas, Queen Scarlett and their daughter Ariella.'

Danika was in raptures, her idol was standing in front of her and she could barely contain herself. The three men behind her, watching from the kitchen doors, could not. It was like a blur of male as they appeared by her side, almost frothing at the mouth. Lucian shook his head.

'Scarlett, some of your biggest fans, Brendan, Spencer and Baz, the other members of the group.'

'It is just the biggest honour.' Spencer said.

Scarlett grinned and Lucian turned to them.

'Ok, you've met her, time to go.'

They all whined and seemed rather reluctant to go.

'Maybe another day, yeah?' Scarlett offered.

'That would be so awesome. Maybe we could jam.' Brendan's eyes were alive with delight.

'We could.'

'Oh my god.' Baz gushed.

'Ok, off you go.' Lucian suggested again.

This time they did go, Danika murmured an apology for their overbearing behaviour and the fact that they were now at the kitchen window watching. Scarlett laughed as she dismissed it as an issue. She liked her fans, it was the one thing that Scarlett loved about fame, her adoring fans.

Once the last of the vampires had arrived, they were all seated around the long tables. Lucian rattled off the names as he went around the table, Danika was surprised that he could remember every single vampire. There was his mother, as Queen of the realm she sat in the centre of the head of the table, to her left was Josie and her daughter Evangeline, to Alina's right was Miranda and her husband Terrance. She knew who he was, he was the guy that ran the council in Alina's absence. At the top of each side sat Eris and Phabel, on the other side was Lorccán and Finn. Then it went down the line, not in any specific order of importance as each of those that followed were of equal importance. There would be the King or Queen, which ever was the blood line to the kingdom, then their first born child. Of course, there were a few notable differences. Two of those were Scarlett and Lilly, who was automatically included in all meetings because of the prophecy. Then there were two others that as a rule would not be there, but they were different. The man, Jonah, was the first born of Terrance and Miranda and his wife Ivy who was the first born of Lilly and Patrick. Neither were the next in line but these two were the directors of the farm. They were an exception because the farm was essential for the rebuilding of the human population and it was viewed that everyone involved should be included.

The farm was the place that had been the human breeding camp. It was still operational as the humans as a species were just about to come off the endangered list. But now, after six hundred odd years of operation, it had evolved into a different business. Now it was a blood bank too. Humans that were allowed to roam the earth would freely give their blood to be bagged and in return they would earn money. It wasn't a lot of money, but if you gave blood with a degree of regularity it could keep you comfortable. And as an added bonus, you earned what the humans called vampy points. It meant that you were in the good books with the vampires, they appreciated humans freely giving to them and made a frequent donor system. Danika had quite a substantial amount of vampy points on her card, she was yet to make a claim on it.

******************************

The first two thirds of the meeting were about the rebuilding of the rims, where each of them were at in terms of the regeneration of the plants, how the animals were going now that they were back here. Danika had read in the texts that most of the animals had been taken somewhere secretly. None of the humans had any idea where they were or what happened to them. They were already few and far between by the records at that time. Now she knew the truth, Alina had ordered their collection and had them taken to the werewolf realm. There they flourished in numbers, under the careful watch of a dedicated team and when the time was right and the planet was healthier, she had them returned. Danika knew this was a smart woman, she cared for her world and wanted nothing more than for it to be alive, healthy and verdant. Then the meeting took a sinister turn as Terrance took over in speaking. He spoke of a few humans that were turning rogue and sought council approval to have them dealt with. When a unanimous vote was passed Terrance looked at her and Danika knew what that look was for. It was a look of if you tell anyone, you will be added to the list. She nodded once to him, indicating that she understood his look. His face softened as he turned and continued with the meeting.

The final third of the meeting was reserved for talking to Bill about his plans for the video, he also spoke of his vision for the ball room scene. He asked for their help in completing the scene, trying to tell them the glorious vision he had. To his delight, they all agreed that they would help him complete the ball room scene, one lavish affair that would be conducted tomorrow night. The smile could not be wiped from his face; he was impressed that they were so accommodating to his needs. With one happy face he quickly scampered away, returning with the assistant. After a few minutes of fussing, they set up a large screen. Much to Lucian's horror Bill showed the few snippets of video that had already been shot. Alina watched with amusement, her son squirming uncomfortably in his chair. But she could see from what was already done that it would be a great video clip. He was handsome and the outfit they had put him in, the way that it had been shot, it made him all the more handsome. And then there was the beauty that sat behind him, quietly soaking the council meeting. She could see there was something there, a mother always knows. There was chemistry, even from the few scenes that were shot, she could see that something was going on. It warmed Alina's heart to think that her son might have finally grown up, finished with his womanising ways. And what a mate he had managed to find, interested in vampires and their politics. It was strange for a human to be so interested. Alina had an idea that she would speak with the heads of the council about in private. Something that was highly unusual but given the way that this young woman was, the fact that something clearly was going on, she decided to at least open a discussion on it. Later.

After the council meeting had finished for the evening and everyone had left except the heads of council, Lucian decided to take Danika back into the main house. She looked tired and he knew that they would have to be up early to do more filming.

'Lucian, when you are free, could you come back please?'

'Certainly mother.'

He led her to her room and beckoned the maids to help her out of the dress. Lucian took her hand and chastely kissed it murmuring that he would see her tomorrow. Danika just stood their stunned, her heart fluttering at him being such a gentleman. No man had ever shown such decorum or restraint and she knew that Lucian wanted her. Then she remembered his talk of darkness and demons.

'Are you sure you will be fine alone?'

'I have to learn some time, don't I? One day soon you will return to your life and where will I be then?'

Danika frowned at the thought of her life, something she hadn't thought of in recent days. She had been caught up in the whirlwind of shooting the video, the debacle last night. Lucian looked at her, feeling the pain of it already.

'You don't want my help?'

'Of course I do but I need to make sure I can do this when you are not here. I don't want to fail.'

'Ok.' she whispered a little sad 'I will be here if you do need me.'