"You do realise that it was your fault that half the royal court saw the vampires, right?"

Lacaarciena hung her head. She knew. She was supposed to be on guard, she knew that too. But mistakes could not be helped. The action was already done, and rather then try to make an excuse, she just nodded. "Yes."

"What happened to make you off guard, princess?" A hand cupped her chin, forcing it to look at the man talking to her. "You usually wouldn't have let that happen. Someone slip something in your drink?"

Her deep brown eyes looked away from her trainer, tears welling. She had never really failed before. Now she felt remorse, regret. But at the same time, Lacaarciena could answer. "I--I don't know. I remember that I talked to a man, and then we drank some. He was entrancing." Her cheeks blushed at that. "I think I got carried away in talking to him."

"Look at me, Lacaa," the man commanded.

Her head turned, eyes looking to him. "Master Richard, I can't imagine why I was so distracted. I tried moving, I felt dizzy. I do remember my hand shaking a lot as I went to grab a stake. They were right on top of us. But I couldn't do anything!" Her tears started falling onto her cheeks, rolling down on her chin. "I couldn't!"

Richard nodded and patted a tear stained cheek. "I'm not sure what's going on, but we'll find out what it is. Luckily, no one was hurt this time, Lacaa." He was surprised as she leaned against him, openly crying. "Tonight, just go back to bed and relax. I'm sure there won't be any other attacks tonight."

Lacaarciena shook her head. "I can't. I failed, so I have to train harder." She rose her head, taking a deep breath. "Please, Master Richard. I can't have one night off because of a failure. I have to try harder!" Her hand held the cross on her necklace, as if for support.

Richard nodded as he let her go, allowing her to stand up. "I guess it is time to teach you how to block your mind from distractions. But go and change out of that dress; you look a mess."

The Spanish princess nodded. "I do, don't I? My make up's smeared from the tears." But she looked at her dress and noticed that there was rips and some smears of blood on it from her slaying. "Oh. I didn't notice that."

"Clashes with the cream, Lacaa. Might want to just keep it here and burn that."

Her eyes fumed with rage. "Master Richard! I can't! Mama--"

"Well, I'm sure your mother wouldn't want you to risk that dress getting worn again with vampire's blood on it, would she?" Lacaarciena's shouting stopped at the simplicity of his statement. "I thought so. Go change, Lacaa. I'll be waiting."

She nodded. "A--alright." Still shaking a bit from the adrenaline, Lacaarciena turned around and walked out of the door, closing it behind her. When it was closed, she took a deep breath and leaned against the frame. "I can't understand it. I couldn't do a thing! Not a thing!" Her fist slammed against the wall and she cried once more. "I can't be like that again! I'm just lucky Mama, Papa and Rianna are alright. It might not be like that next time." Nodding to herself, Lacaarciena stood back up and ran down the hall, hurrying herself for her night's training session.

As Darien watched the princess running toward her chamber from where he was standing, he smiled to himself. He knew that she was distracted and distraught from the night’s events and that she had been powerless to stop them. And now, even as she ran, she felt helpless. It had taken a little while to get the courage to talk to her, but now, as she ran, he noticed that her body might be very alluring underneath the torn and bloodstained dress.

His grey eyes gazed at her chest, watching it heave up and down in her run. He wondered what size they were as he started to step out of the corridor and into her path. Darien shook his head again. This is Master's prey, not my own. Getting that thought into his head, he now was out of the corridor and in the girl's way.

It worked as planned. In her confusion and fear, the girl bumped into him and made him fall to the ground. Groaning, he heard a gasp and then saw a slender tan hand offer to help him up. He noticed it was shaking.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" It was the first thing she said. Darien noticed her voice shook softly. Adrenaline? He asked himself. Well, she's all worked up, after all. Taking her hand, he rubbed his head to clear it again. "I didn't mean to run into--"

Darien smiled. "It's okay. I must have not been watching where I was going."

Her brown eyes seemed to lighten, as if a burden of stress was lifted off her shoulders. "Well, that's good. You weren't hurt either. At the ball, I mean."

"No, I wasn't. I did manage to get out in time." He winked at her. "But you seemed to still be worked up. I guess it would be a fright for a lady such as yourself." Darien saw her face pale as he then continued. "After all, it's not everyday you see vampires mingling with those of the royal court. I wonder why there wasn't a slayer."

He noticed her eyes glare at him with her brown eyes. Those eyes that could turn so cold one minute and show him what she was thinking the next. "There was a slayer!" she shouted in his face. "Do you think that there would not be a slayer there to exterminate the vampires? We got out alive, didn't we?!"

Darien was surprised as she grabbed his shirt and lifted his form, pinning him to a wall. Such strength, he surmised. I should not have expected less from her though.

"You should be thankful there was a slayer there, or else you would have been a vampire too! You don't think of how painful it is to watch a loved one turn into one before your eyes. Or have to kill them!" Her eyes did mirror regret and remorse, he noticed, as she said her last line. "The slayer stops that from happening before it becomes a reality!"

Darien nodded, trying to get her to let go. "Yes, I understand. But you seem to know that experience first hand, Princess." It was the first time he used her title. He wanted to know how she would react.

"Don't you Princess me and give me pity for something you know nothing about!" Her voice cracked over her torrent of now cascading tears. "Don't you fucking dare!" Shaking him, she kept knocking his head into the wall in her anger. After a few seconds he felt lightheaded.

"Princess Lacaarciena!" He heard another voice, registering the deepness of it. "What are you doing!?"

He felt himself drop to the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw an older man standing over her, glaring at her. This must be her trainer, Darien told himself. The one Master told me about. Why else would she drop me?

Darien saw her eyes stare in shock at his form. "Oh, God . . . I must be more worked up then I realised. But he made an accusation that there was no slayer present when we are in one piece, Master Richard!" Her anger emanated from her eyes, boring into him. "He is not grateful for the slayer, or for his life, it seems."

"On the contrary, I am," Darien muttered as he stood up. "I just wanted to express the lack of security at this establishment."

"Well, rest assured, this place is in very good hands, sir," the older man told him. "We can take care of our own."

Darien nodded. "I wanted to apologise to the princess."

Her glare receded as she nodded. "And I as well. I was out of line." Hanging her head she started to walk away, scuffing at the ground. It was then that Darien thought of his plan.

He grabbed her arm and she looked up in surprise.

"I want to make it up to you. Come with me later," he whispered. "I did want to talk to you later tonight anyway. Can I come visit you?"

Her head nodded, curly black hair hiding her eyes to Richard's view. That was good for Darien as she whispered back, "Yes, but not for long. I have somewhere to go to in the morning."

His hand let go of her arm. "I understand."

"I think you've taken up enough of his time, Princess. It is time we should be going," Richard suggested as he took her arm this time, leading the distraught princess away from Darien.

When they were out of sight, Darien smirked, noting how well his plan was working. He wanted to see Lacaarciena alone anyway so that she would start to develop a liking for him. He did lust for her, but that was all it was, he hoped. Starting to 'love' in his vampric state would be complicated for him, as well as the Master. He had to keep his feelings at bay.

Closing his eyes, he disappeared to his chambers to freshen up for his meeting with Lacaarciena and to communicate with his Master on how things were looking. After all, he was not afraid this time. He was not failing.

She could not believe she had lost control over such a simple thing. Lacaarciena had allowed Richard to lead her back to her chambers, but she was silent the entire time, thinking more on the entire encounter. Just why had she gotten so angry? Even Lacaarciena could not put her finger on it as she yawned. She covered her mouth with her hand as she did so, Richard looking in her direction. "Tired?" he asked.

Lacaarciena nodded, halfway in her thoughts still. She noticed Richard still speaking but blocked him out, recalling the harsh words he threw in her face at the statement she made before. "But you seem to know that experience first hand, Princess." Just how had he known that her older brother was slain by a vampire? It was true that Lacaarciena had never spoken of it to most, but . . .

They were finally at her chamber door when Richard tapped Lacaarciena's shoulder. "You do need sleep, Princess. I don't think you should take that visitor either. Something seems strange about him."

Lacaarciena shook her head again to clear her thoughts at the mention of her visitor. "I'll be fine. He said it would not be long, Master Richard. Besides, my head aches. I should be asleep momentarily." Forcing herself to smile, she patted her teacher's shoulder. "Thank you, for worrying."

Richard still was not convinced as Lacaarciena let his shoulder go. "Sleep tonight, at least. Don't do anything rash."

"Rash, me?" Lacaarciena forced a smile as she opened her door. "I'll be fine, Master Richard. In the meantime, get some sleep yourself. You do look rather haggard." Closing the door, she allowed herself to lean up against it, breathing softly. Her eyes closed and she allowed herself to slide down to sit on the floor. I have to be more careful, she told herself as her breathing deepened. Exhaustion overtook the princess as her head hit her chest, curly tresses framing her face as she fell asleep.