Maybe this was Christa’s idea of a joke.  She hadn’t seen her for a while, but it seemed right up her alley.  Then again, maybe it was a ploy of Vicki’s.  Just another way to get money.  She was so tired of Vicki’s constant partying.  She’d become jaded with the parties after the first few.  They were all alike.  Same people, same music and same drug-filled scenes.  “Not my thing,” Eliza thought.  

She’d become so watchful, I guess is the word, since Jerry’s death.  If it could happen to him, why not any of her friends.  As for the thousandth time she asked, why him.  She knew the answer, but didn’t want to admit it.  She had promised that she wouldn’t embrace him and she hadn’t, but she missed him dreadfully.  Friend, lover, confidant and more.  She knew he wouldn’t want her to be sad, so for his sake, she smiled through her tears.

Shaking herself, she knew this was no good.  Bending down, she picked up Toby.  Sitting on the edge of her bed, she played with him in the roughhouse fashion he loved.  Pushing him over so his belly could be rubbed and he half-heartedly raked with his back legs.  Laughing, she told him he was a fake.  She knew he loved his belly rubbed, but had to put on a show.  

Looking at her watch, she knew it was time to get a move on.  It was already nine o’clock, and she knew she had time, but wanted to be ready too.  Rising, she thought about what she’d wear tonight.  “Go for that in-between look,” she thought.  Not casual, not formal either, just in-between.  Even though she preferred the short leather skirts, she catered to the frigid wind that was wailing outside.  Taking out a mid-length, butter soft, nutmeg brown skirt, a long burnt orange silk blouse, she laid them on her bed and went to shower.

Wrapping up in an old robe, she knew she had time to spare.  Since she knew nothing other than she was to be ready at midnight, she assumed, she’d not have to go anywhere.  This was definitely intriguing.  She hadn’t been this curious in quite some time.  She again felt that quickening sense of excitement, that feeling that something momentous was going to happen.  She didn’t know what it was but it was going to happen.

She went to see if the evening paper was outside her door.  Opening it, she saw it laying on the mat.  She picked it up and went to sit and read it before getting ready.  Leafing through, she saw an ad for a strange new club.  That brought back thoughts of the one she had stumbled onto that night last month.  She’s gone back several times to try and find it, but she’d never found that same building.  It was so strange.  Always the same plaque on the door, Dunbar & Dunbar, Esq.  She knew that was the right building, she was almost positive.  “I guess I wasn’t supposed to get to know him better,” she thought sadly.  Just not meant to be, although it would surely have been nice.  That one taste was soooo good.

Looking at her watch, she saw that it was almost 11 o’clock.  “I guess it’s time for me to get ready for whatever the night holds,” she grinned to herself.  Heading into her room, she began dressing, foregoing the underwear as usual.  She loved the sensuous feeling of the silk on her skin.  Taking her time dressing, she then went to apply  light make-up.  “I don’t know why I bother, it always seems to disappear and I look as pale as always,” she grumbled.

Finishing her make-up, she moved to the full-length mirror.  “Nice effect,” she thought.  “Oh yeah, like I can really go out without shoes.”  Laughing at herself, she looked through the closet and found boots to go with the outfit she’d chosen.  “I wonder, am I going out or am I staying here?  So frustrating, not knowing,” she chuckled in chagrin.

Checking her watch, she saw it was 11:45.  “Well, I’ll treat it like I'm going out.”  Grabbing her favorite cloak, she tossed it around herself and pulled it tight, buttoning the clasp under her chin and drawing the hood over her head.

Opening the door, she turned to call to Toby to be a good boy until she returned.  Turning back to the door, she took a step back as she realized someone was standing there, just inside the shadows of the dark hallway.

With a gasp, she called out, “Who is it, who are you, what do you want?”  Her night sight wouldn’t, couldn’t penetrate this darkness.

With an unaccustomed feeling of nervousness, she started when she heard a deep mellow voice say, “It is I, Eliza.  I did not mean to startle you, but you must come with me now.”

“Adam? Is that you?” Eliza asked quietly.

“Yes, my dear, it is I, but now, come,” Adam replied just as quietly.

“Where are we going, Adam?”  Eliza wanted to know.

“Ask no questions, all will be answered when we arrive,” Adam replied, smiling mysteriously.

With almost a sense of urgency, they hastened to Adam's car.  Seating Eliza, Adam went around to the driver’s side and got in.

Watching Adam, Eliza opened her mouth to ask another question.  Adam shot her a sideways glance and with a shake of his head, indicating to her not to speak.

Intending to see where they were going, Eliza was surprised to see they were heading into the area of the city where she had first met Adam.  Not only the same area, but the same building.  Now she was sure she’d been to the right place.  This time though, the sign Dunbar & Dunbar, Esq. was no longer hanging on the brick wall.  Knowing she’d been here just a day before, she looked at Adam in confusion.

With a smile, he gestured her to enter the door he was holding open.  Again the same muted music and conversation was heard.  Moving toward the door that had remained closed the last time, Adam said to the man standing there, “She’s with me, it’s her first night here.”

Eliza looked and saw it was the same man that had tried to turn her away the last time.  She smiled slightly at him and moved to follow Adam.

Entering the room, the noise level increased and then dropped to nothing. 

With a smile to the room in general, Adam raised his hand and pointed to Eliza and said, “Make her welcome, 'tis her first evening here.”

Everyone in turn greeted her and smiled, making her feel welcome but still very much confused.  She turned to Adam with a questioning look.  

“Enjoy yourself, Eliza, all your questions will be answered in time, as far as I am able,” Adam told her.

Taking her arm, Adam steered her toward the bar area.  The bartender handed her, what could only have been a golden goblet.  Looking into it she saw it was filled with the deep red of Plum Brandy.  In a daze, she looked up and asked, “How did you know?”

“Many things are known, Eliza, many things,” Adam answered and turned from her.  He slowly disappeared in the crowd, leaving her to face the many strangers there in the room.

Eliza, for almost the first time since her transformation, was nervous.

“What in hell is going on here?” she asked herself.  Seeing a door at the other end of the room, she made her way toward it.  Just before opening it, she looked back at the room and saw the nodding of heads and the smiles in her direction.

Strange, very strange she thought, and entered the room behind the door.  The sight that met her eyes made her stop cold.

“What is going on here, what in hell is going on, am I losing my mind,” she whispered.  This is a club, not a museum; but it seemed to be a museum that she'd entered.  As the door behind her closed, the silence was almost total.  The light was dim but certain areas were highlighted by small spot lights to emphasize a particular item.  The area was narrow and curving with displays on either side.  As she walked, transfixed by what she was seeing, she realized that she was walking the history of man.  She stopped and looked at an item that appeared to be a mail jeweled glove.  She could imagine it being donned by wealthy knight of the middle ages.  She wondered at its value.

Wandering deeper into the recesses of the strange corridor, the items became cruder and obviously older.  She stopped and gazed at a copper knife.  Obviously hand formed, the decorative work was lovingly crafted.  Eliza knew enough history to know that copper has not been used to make weapons for a very long time.  Brass quickly replaced copper and even that didn't last long.  "How old is that thing?" she whispered in awe.  

She jumped as Adam put his arm around her shoulders.  "About 5000 years.  Things get a little fuzzy when you go back too far."

She looked up at his smiling face.  "What is this place?  It is a club, a museum, or what?"

He laughed.  "Or what.  Yes, I'd say an or what.  You are in the Hall of Remembrance."

Eliza walked to the next display.  A crude axe rested there on a bed of straw.  She leaned over to look closer.  It may have been crude but the black blade seemed to be of obsidian and was bound in a split bone handle.  The leather bindings were cracked and worn and the blade seemed to be crusted with blood and foreign matter.  She looked up at Adam with questions in her eyes.

"Yes, older.  It was a ceremonial axe used for very special executions.  It survived because it was hidden when not in use."  He smiled.  "Don't ask."  

Eliza looked back the way they had come.  The curving of the corridor made it impossible to see very far but she felt she'd walked a long way.  Then, looking at the artifacts surrounding her, maybe it was a long time.  Her training allowed her to realize that what she'd seen far more than recorded history.  She'd seen items an archaeologist would give body parts to see.  She looked at the axe again.  The materials were crude but the workmanship was beautiful.  She shook her head and wondered how much older than 5000 years it was and how Adam knew and how it was obtained and why was it here - and why was she seeing it?

She and Adam walked slowly away from the club.  Adam had suggested that they walk back to his place, stating that it was not that far and would be a pleasant diversion.  Eliza had quickly agreed.  The Hall of Remembrance had been fascinating, but once they left that, the club had, quite frankly, been boring!  Adam had explained that the club was primarily used by a very wealthy historical research society.  Sadly to say, Eliza had even found the music boring.  She had thought several times that Jerry would have been an improvement to the total atmosphere.  That had put her mood in a downward spiral, and even though the food had been good, she wished the evening was over.

Adam had sensed her mood and now the cold night air was making her feel better.  Giggling to herself, she considered that there was nothing like a nice walk in seventeen degree weather to make a girl feel perky.  She stared up at the full moon and allowed her fangs to deploy a bit, carefully keeping them concealed.  The tingle of the moon and what she was could not be denied.

"You are certainly look more cheerful," Adam commented.  "I'm going to have to think of you as the Ice Lady."

"Why, fank you fir.  Uh," she stammered controlling her fangs, "Why, thank you, Sir.  I'll consider that a compliment, but," she smiled coyly, "only when I'm in the cold outside weather.  Inside, I can be whatever I need to be."  

Adam lifted an eyebrow at her speech impediment but made no comment.  Eliza, an observant soul herself, was becoming aware that very little was missed by Adam.  They were walking arm in arm in a companionable silence.  Adam seemed almost at home in the cold as she was.  It was nice to not have to rush and worry about tender sensibilities.  She looked up at him silhouetted by the full moon, and for a moment, she saw harshness and cruelty that made her shiver.  He must have felt her gaze because he glanced at her and winked, offering a crooked smile.  She could easily imagine him on a rearing horse, hair wild, waving a blood-drenched sword, but the smile was the smile of a scholar and the grin a grin of a fun loving man.  Her imagination was running wild again.  

Adam pointed.  "My place is right up . . . "  He stopped dead in his tracks and put his arm out to stop her.  "Ra Nastu!" he exclaimed sliding out of his long coat like a magician.  Eliza's sense of danger was trilling through her system and every sense was hyper alert.  Hunter was her first instinct.  She saw a menacing figure step out of the alley and he was holding an immense sword like it was light as air.  The man lunged forward, swinging the gleaming steel in a manner that would cleave anything in front of it in half.  All of Eliza's training surged into her reflexes and with the blinding speed and strength of an enraged vampire she avoided the swing, slashed his wrist, severing tendons with her fangs and then opened his gut like a slimy Christmas present with the knife she kept in her cape.  He dropped like a stone making mewling sounds.

She turned to drag Adam to safety when she realized that he was holding an equally impressive sword and he no longer looked like a scholar.  She was facing a warrior who knew, dealt and loved death and battle.  It was written clear in his face and his stance.  His expression changed from the glee of battle to utter shock at Eliza's dispatching of the foe.  The sword in his hand seemed to vanish as if by magic and he bent to retrieve his coat.  Putting it over his arm, he took her by the hand and they briskly set off toward his place.  Both of them simply put distance between themselves and the incident.  Both were deadly curious about the other, but both were acting on responses developed to allow survival in a world very hostile to any existence, especially when that existence deviated from the norm.

As they approached the building he'd indicated, he veered into a very disreputable looking alley.  He made his way half way into it and stopped at a blank wall.  Even with her keen vision, he blocked her sight of what he did, but an opening appeared.  He turned toward her, smiled and indicated that she enter.  Her sense of danger was tingling again so she lost no time doing so.  He followed her and a solid thump and total darkness indicated that he'd closed the door.  She felt him touch her arm and slide his hand to hers.  "This way," he said in a normal tone of voice and gently tugged.  She followed.  She was not happy with the danger feelings she was getting but they were not solidifying into purpose.  They were just existing as intent.  She knew they were being hunted, so with some trepidation, she followed.

She knew that her fangs had fully deployed from fear and wondered if he'd noticed.  If he had, he certainly wasn't commenting on it and didn't seemed to be disturbed.  That big sword that had appeared from nowhere, in the middle of the city, was every bit as bad as her little fangs she reasoned.  He had stopped and a light came on.  It was dim but she still reflexively squinted.  Reaching inside of his long black coat, he withdrew a miraculously unbroken bottle of plum brandy.  Pointing to a comfortable looking couch, he said, "Make yourself comfortable.  I think it's time we got acquainted."  He opened the bottle and took a sip and handed the bottle to her.  He sat next to her and smiled.  "We're going to have fun."