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A group of Norseman had attacked a village she had taken as her
own. She
protected the villagers during the night and they in turn protected
her during
the day. The soldiers had killed everyone in the village while she
was sleeping.
She was all ready to take he revenge on four of them when a stranger
interrupted
and attacked them first. He was trying to save her.
She watched as he fought and defeated three of them but he so
busy fighting he
didn't noticed the fourth sneaking behind him until he stuck his sword
clean
through his back. After "killing" her rescuer the last Viking
turned back to
Terry. The last thing he saw were her blazing red eyes as she
sank her fangs
into his neck and drained him.
Terry cradled the stranger's body and felt the life fade out
of him and crimson
tears began to flow down her cheeks. She looked on in disbelief
when she felt
the life return to him. He came awake suddenly her arms.
"You're not one of
mine kind...What are you?"
<Her kind?> He wondered. <What does she mean?> Then
he noticed the bloody
streaks running down from her eyes and her enlongated canines.
"Vampire." was
all he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aaron pulled Terry close to him until her back was resting against
his chest.
"He tried to help me. And when I thought was going to die for
saving me I
wanted to bring him across, but I coudln't." Terry felt Aaron's
arms tighten
around her waist. "We became companions instead, then lovers,
then husband and
wife."
Aaron tilts her back and kisses her passionately after a few
moments he
remembers they're not alone. "Sorry. Sometimes we get carried
away." He said
sheepishly to Robin and Brenda.
Brenda turned to Robin and gave her little sister a mock angry
look. "And
you.....you new all along didn't you?"
"I wanted to tell you Brenda but I couldn't. It wasn't
my secret to tell."
"Well I forgive you." Brenda put her arm around her best
friend. "As long as
you tell me how you found out about her."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Paris, eighteen months ago.
The three friends walked out of the little cafe. Robin kissed
Terry and then
Aaron and went on her way. She looked back and saw the two of
them walking down
toward the river. <They are so much in love. If only.....>
Robin tried to
push the thought out of her head. Watching Aaron and Terry together
only made
her miss Jason more and however much she wanted to be with him.
It just can't
be.
She had only gotten a dozen or so feet when she heard a woman
scream. It could
only be Terry, no one else has gone by. In a few moments she
had reached the
river and saw what was happening.
Aaron lay on the ground as two men viciously pummeled him.
Two others held
Terry as she lets out an inhuman cry and lunges at a fifth man who
drives her
back with a cross????
She watched in shock as the one with the cross pulled out a sword.
"Hear me
child of Satan, daughter of darkness. You were born in evil,
but in death you
shall recieve God's salvation."
With only moments to stop this lunatic Robin pulled a can of
mace from her
purse. <Bless your paranoid heart Uncle Mac.> She runs
up to the man and
sprays it directly in his face. He screams and drops the cross
and the sword.
Seizing the moment Terry picked up both of the men holding her and
threw them
several feet. Aaron too saw his moment and using some of the
martial arts he
learned over the years easily took care of his would-be captors.
The men that were holding Terry saw their own death coming and
immediately ran
for their lives quickly followed by the others leaving only the man
who was
going to kill Terry. He panicked and tried to make a run for
it, but in a burst
of speed Terry was on him. Her fangs out, she drained him.
Robin was frozen with fear when Terry started walking toward
her. Her eyes
were blood red and her fangs out. She watched as Aaron calmly
walked up behind
Terry and wrapped his arms around her. "Terry? Love?
It's okay. She saved
you." Terry smiled at Robin her fangs still showing.
Robin fainted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"They were really going to kill you." Brenda asked Terry.
"Yes. They were fanatics." Terry said refilling Brenda
and then Robin's mugs.
"There aren't a lot of them around, but the ones that are make life
difficult."
"I can imagine." Brenda says.
The four of them sat in silence for a few minutes before the
conversation
turned to more conventional topics like Aaron and Terry's dinner with
Mac and
Felecia. Brenda laughs as Aarons groans while listening to Terry
and Robin
discuss what they are going to wear and what Mac probably has planned
for the
evening.
Wyndemere.
Stefan Cassadine paced back and forth glancing at the telephone
each time he
passed it. <Ring dammit!> Finally the phone heard him.
"Cassadine. Yes....
I'm glad you could do this for me.... What's his name?.... Okay I've
got it.....
Yes..... Yes, and thank you Joseph." Stefan hung up the phone
and looked at the
name he was given. "Daniel Cohen."
(Note: This abbreviated version of Aaron and Terry's first meeting
is taken
from "Companionship" by Kevin Matsumoto.)
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Aris' house outside the city.
It's done. After two weeks the workmen are finally finished.
Aris surveys
their work with satisfaction as he walks through the rooms. <Perfect.
Absolutely perfect.> They've done a remarkable job it's just
how he remembers.
The contractor stands to his left justafiably proud of the job he has
done.
"Does it meet your approval sir?"
"Yes, Mr Staines. It does indeed."
"I'm glad. Now there is just the matter of my fee."
"Your fee? Of course, I nearly forgot." Aris says
while his eyes turn red and
his fangs extend.
Brenda's house.
Standing in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom Brenda
puts on her
new trenchcoat. Taking her sword from its case she slips it into
the scabbard
attached to the harness underneath her coat. Robin watches as
she adjusts the
harness slightly trying to get it to fit just right. Brenda looks
up at Robin.
"Well, what do you think?"
Robin looks Brenda over as she turns in front of her. "Incredible.
You can't
see it. If I didn't watch you put that sword in there myself
I wouldn't even
know you had one." Brenda turns back to the mirror and looks
at herself. "How
does it feel?"
"It's a little heavy." Brenda says moving her shoudlers
and arms around trying
to see if anyone will be able to detect the harness while she moves.
"But Aaron
says if I wear around the house as well as when I go out I should get
used to it
in no time." She takes off the black coat and tries on the gray
one she bought
with it and looks at her reflection. She looks over at Robin
sitting on the bed
for her opinion.
"I like the black one better."
"Me too." Brenda says and takes off the coat and puts the
black one back on.
She tosses the gray one to Robin who tries it on. "Ready for
tonight?" She
asks.
"Yes." Robin says taking Brenda's place in front of the
mirror. "I just hope
Uncle Mac isn't counting on this dinner to put to rest all his little
suspicions
of Aaron."
"Well if it doesn't you can always have Terry 'whammy' him."
Brenda says
mischievously.
Robin chuckles at the thought of Mac walking around in a vampiric
trance.
<Maybe then I can finally get him to treat me like an adult.>
She thinks to
herself.
"What's with that anyway? Why is he so determined to uncover
some deep dark
sercet?" Brenda asks standing next to Robin in front of the mirror.
"That
looks good on you."
"Think so?" Robin says admiring 'her' new coat. "You
know what is? It's me.
If he wasn't my friend or if I wasn't involved Uncle Mac wouldn't give
Aaron
another thought. But since I am....."
"....he's going to turn over heaven and earth to find something."
Brenda
finishes, thinking that crack about having Terry whammy Mac might not
be such a
bad idea. Brenda removes her harness and places it on the bed
onto top of her
coat. "Shouldn't you be getting ready."
Robin looks at the clock. "Shoot! You're right.
I promised to meet Terry and
Aaron at the loft before we go to the Outback." She takes off
her coat and
throws it on Brenda's bed as she heads to the bathroom to take a shower.
The Scorpio house.
Felecia is sitting on the couch waiting for Mac to finish getting
dressed.
<And he accuses me of taking forever.> She's been having second
thoughts about
this dinner all day. Not the dinner itself but the reason why
she orginally
arranged it. After finally meeting Theresa Ryan, Felecia was
feeling like maybe
she and Mac making too much of nothing concering the holes in her and
her
husband's pasts. <I mean there's stuff about Mac's past I
don't know about.
But you don't see me digging into it with a shovel.> As for V,
so she knows
Aaron and it is possible she misheard her that night when she called
him
'daddy'. Maybe. It's possible. She came to a decision.
This is it. If they
don't learn anything more about them tonight that's the end of it.
Now to just
make Mac go along with it.
Mac finally comes down the stairs. "You ready to go Felecia?"
Felecia gets up and walks over to him. "Mac, there's something
we need to
discuss."
Aaron and Terry's loft.
"No it's okay Robin..... all right.... we'll meet you there."
Aaron hangs up
the phone. "Terry! Robin's running a little late!
She's going to have to meet
us there!" Terry doesn't answer. <Nine hundred years
and she still takes
forever.> "Come on, Love!." He calls out to her.
Terry clears her throat and
Aaron turns to look at her. <Gods.> Aaron just stares
at his wife. She's
wearing a white silk dress that hugs every curve of her body.
Her long curly
hair is down but she wears an antique Irish headband to keep it from
her eyes.
She almost slinks across the room to Aaron.
"Well?" She asks smiling seductively.
"Definitely worth the wait." He says as he takes her in
his arms and kisses
her passionately. He releases her and helps her into her coat.
"You know,
love. Seeing dressed like that you might want to ask Brenda to
help you get
back into modeling."
Terry looks at her husband not sure if he's being serious.
"After that crazy
Italian sculpter cut the arms off my statue. Not a chance."
She gives him
another quick kiss before they walk out the door.
A vacant wharehouse on the docks.
Detective Venus Ardanowski walks through the garbage strewn crime
scene. She
sees Lieutenant Garcia and Detective Taggert standing near the body.
It was
discovered an hour ago by a homeless person. "Lieutenant.
Detective." She
says to the two men when reaching them. "What have we got?
Another victim of
our headhunter?" She asks hoping that its not.
"Not this time." Garcia says to her. He kneels down
next to the body and
pulls the sheet covering the victim down exposing his head. "But
this one is
just as weird." He says as he turns the head enough to reveal
to small puncture
wounds on the man's neck.
V looks at the body startled. <Terrific. This
is all we need.> She just
stares at the body and barely hears Garcia and Taggert talking behind
her.
"Any ID on him?"
"Yeah. The vic's name is Staines."
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Outback.
Mac and Felecia were by the bar when they saw Robin come in immediately
followed by Aaron and Terry. Aaron removed his wife's coat and
all the male
eyes in room were instantly focused on her, including Mac's.
Felecia elbowed
Mac in the ribs getting his attention. "Blink." she said.
Mac regained some
composure and he and Felecia went to escort them to their table.
Aaron was actually having good time. He instantly shared
his wife's opinion of
Felecia after they shook hands. Mac however, will take a little
time. He and
Terry both laughed when Robin told them about Brenda's idea of whammying
Mac.
Now the idea kind of appealed to him. Almost immediately after
they ordered Mac
began his interrogation.
Robin sat between Aaron and Mac so she could referee if things
got heated. But
she didn't expect anything to happen. She was amazed when Terry
actually ate
some of the rare steak she had ordered. She found out later that
Terry spent
nearly one hundred years learning to do that. She could now eat
a little bit of
food and drink a little wine and keep it down, but not a lot.
Robin groaned
when Mac started in on Aaron. But whatever question he had Aaron
had an answer
prepared. She laughed a little then caught herself when Felecia
kicked Mac
under the table when he started questioning Aaron. She didn't
see it, but when
he flinched and Felecia broke into a big smile she knew what happened.
Felecia and Terry, compared to Aaron and Mac were talking like
old friends.
"So what's your new book about?" Felecia asked after taking a
sip of wine.
"I'm working on a sequel to my last novel." She said barely
swallowing a small
piece of steak. "It's about vampires living in modern times.
Posing as
humans.... and such."
"I prefer your Victorian era stuff personally." Robin said
not realizing how
it could be taken until she said it. "Oops."
Terry laughed. "It's okay Robin. So does he."
She said pointing her thumb at
Aaron. All three women laughed at Aaron when gave his best 'what!?'
look.
Mac did learn a few things about Aaron. He learned that
Aaron was a Professor
of history at the college in Toronto but left after some clash with
the faculty
about his teaching style. He learned that he occasionally deals
in antiques.
Unfortunately these were all things Mac already knew.
"So how long have you two been married?" Mac asked.
"Seems like forever." Aaron said without hesitation taking
his wife's hand
from the table and bringing it to his lips to kiss.
Felecia blushed a little watching the couple. <They
really love each other.>
She looked at Mac who was saying something to Robin who laughed.
<I
wonder......> The conversations settled down to normal topics
and even Mac had
abandoned his plan to use the evening to finally find out the 'truth'
about
Aaron and simply enjoyed the evening.
Outside the Outback.
Aris stands in the shadows waiting. Everything he has done
since he came Port
Charles has lead to this moment. This is where dreams finally
come true. This
is wear he proves that he is man she loves. This is where he
frees her from
Aaron's influence. This is where he saves Theresa from herself.
<Not long now.
Not long now.>
Nightshade.
V walks into the club and sees Mariah sitting at the end of the
bar next to
Emily. She hangs back until Emily gets up to use the ladies room.
She quickly
walks over to her. "We need to talk Mariah."
"Venus what is wrong?" she asks noticing the obviously
distress she's in.
"Let's go in back. Where's Derek?" V answers as they
move to the back booths.
"He's not here, but we can find him. Why?"
"Because we may need him. The police found the body of
a dead man tonight."
"So?" Mariah says lighting a cigarette. "Mortals
get killed all the time in
this city. What does that have do with us?"
"One of you killed him."
The docks.
Aaron and Terry have left the Outback. All in all it was
a rather pleasant
evening. Even Mac managed to have a good time. Despite
not learning anything.
They had left Robin at the restaurant and were walking alone in the
moonlight on
the docks. There was just something about the way Terry looked
in moonlight
that made Aaron want to spend another thousand years with her.
Aris watched them from the shadows a crossbow in his hand.
He raised the
weapon and waited for just the right time.
"Penny for your thoughts" Terry's voice broke Aaron out
of a daydream
....nightdream.
"I'm thinking that you are the most beautiful, beguiling, bewitching....woman
in the world."
"Good answer." Terry said as Aaron pulled her into an embrace.
They had ended their kiss when Aris fired his crossbow.
The bolt had struck
Aaron in the back, the point exiting just below his sternum.
Aaron went to his
knees staring at the bolt in shock. As he fought to remain conscious
he thought
could make out Terry fighting with someone. He tried to get back
to his feet to
help his wife. But he couldn't. The last thing Aaron remembered
was hearing
Terry screaming his name.
Then Aaron died.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Aaron awoke with a sharp gasp he could vaguely make out the shape
of someone
kneeling beside him. "terry?" His voice was weak and labored.
"No... it's Brenda." Her voice was full of worry and concern.
She was on her
way to meet Robin at the Outback when she found Aaron lying on his
stomach with
some kind of stake protruding from his back. Fighting back nausea
she pulled
the bolt from his body and Aaron regained consciousness a minute or
so later.
"Aaron..... are you alright?"
"terry.... she..... she..... she's gone." His voice failing,
emotion
overcoming him.
Brenda was becoming increasingly upset. "Gone? What
do you mean gone?"
"some...one.... took..... shot me..... took terry" Tears
were starting to fall
down his face. "took..... my..... my...... terry."
"Aaron! Stay with me! What can I do?"
"night....shade..... get me...... to...... nightshade"
Brenda helped Aaron up off the ground. She placed one of
his arms around her
shoulder and arranged his coat to hide the still healing wound.
As they walked
to the club Aaron's strength began to slowly return.
A house outside Port Charles.
Terry struggled against the bonds that held her. No matter
how much she tried
they wouldn't break, these weren't ordinary chains these were specifically
forged to bind vampires. Terry ceased her struggling it wasn't
getting her
anywhere so why bother. She looked around the room where she
was being held.
It was a perfect replica of a late 16th century sitting room.
Everything was
exactly as it should be, the furniture, the oil lamps, even the
drapes over the
boarded up windows were of the period. "Good you're awake."
Came a voice from
behind her.
He came around so she could see him. He was wearing period
clothes that fit in
perfectly with the surroundings. He stepped into the faint light
cast by the
oil lamps and Terry finally got a look at the man's face. "Aris."
was all she
said.
Nightshade.
Brenda and Aaron walked into the club. Aaron's strength
was coming back fast
but he still needed to lean on Brenda for support. He lead them
to the back of
the club to Mariah's office.
Mariah was talking to V when the door to her office burst open.
"What......"
She stopped when she saw it was Aaron. V saw that Aaron was injured
and
immediately jumped up to help Brenda. They helped him over to
the couch and sat
him down gently.
V sat down next to him and opened his shirt and saw the would
was almost
completely healed. "Oh my god, Daddy. What happened?"
"I screwed up. That's what happened?" Aaron said.
"I let him take Terry."
"Who's taken Theresa?" Mariah enquired.
"Aris."
"Aris!" V says shocked.
"Who's Aris" Brenda asked.
"That son of a bitch is here! Why didn't you tell me!
How long have you
known!?" V says to her father getting angrier by the second.
"Venus, please." Aaron says trying to calm her down.
"We didn't want to upset
you."
"Upset Me! Upset Me! After everything that bastard
has done! You didn't want
to upset me!"
"Venus..." Mariah says trying to calm her also.
"Who's Aris?" Brenda asked again.
This time V answered her. "He's murdering bastard."
"What did he do?"
Neither Aaron or Mariah answered they just looked at V and waited
for her to
explain. "He killed my husband. He killed me."
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