Chapter One Hundred Fifty-nine

It had started as most days did.

Anton had fallen asleep in his bed, surrounded by his wife's loving arms. But even as he slept, he sensed something was wrong. The soft sheets felt more like scratchy wood. Bryn's warmth became lonely coldness. Frowning, he tried to continue to doze, but there was something wrong.

Having heard Katerina start to cry, Bryn left the bed and headed to the other room to check on their daughter. Unable to fall back to sleep, the baby cried fitfully as Bryn rocked her, quietly patting her back. She was more than tired herself, and shivered slightly in the cool room. [Come on, Kitten. I want to go back to bed.]

Anton rolled over, still trying to figure out what was wrong. He was cold. He was alone. And it made no sense, because he was back home with Bryn. So why did it feel like he was in the cell...

...No, not the cell. He could hear the dull roar of other vampires. He could feel the breath of someone on the nape of his neck. His eyes shot open and he let out a loud scream as he a pair of fangs sink into his throat.

Her head lifted immediately. Luckily, Kat was looking drowsy enough and Bryn settled her back in her crib, covering her with her blanket. Then she hurried back to the bedroom, lucky she could see and didn't stub her toe in the gloom. Anton was sweating, half sitting upright as she climbed on to the bed. "Sugar, what's wrong?"

It wasn't until he heard Bryn's voice that he recognized where he was. Not at Lilith's stronghold, but his home. Safe, warm, protected, and not alone. Letting out a sob, he grabbed onto Bryn like a sinking man would a life preserver, crying as he pressed his head against her shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay." She held him tightly, clutching his shoulders, her lips pressed to his cheek. Sliding her legs under the sheets, she wrapped them around his, entwining him with love and protection. "You're safe, sugar. I won't let anyone hurt you, ever again. I love you so much, Anton."

For a moment, he panicked, going stiff at the feel of being held so tightly. But he relaxed as he felt her familiar curves pressing against him. Anton still had his head pressed to her shoulder though, trying to hide from the memories and ground himself in the present.

Stroking his hair, she waited until his breathing had returned to normal before asking, "Are you okay?"

It took Anton a few more minutes to raise his head. "Yeah," he said softly. "it was a bad dream, a bad memory." He let out a heavy sigh and then rested his forehead against hers. "I'll be okay, Bryn."

She smiled at him, stroking the side of his face. "Why don't you tell me about it? You might feel better." Before he could tell her, she gestured for him to lie down once more as she tucked them tightly in under the covers.

Anton settled, shivering a bit as he snuggled next to Bryn. "I was alone in the ring, Bryn. I could hear the other vampiress crying for my blood. And I could feel Lilith draining me. And I couldn't find you."

She could certainly understand that--she'd had that dream several times, herself. Only from a different point of view. Cradling him close to her, she urged him to settle his head on her chest. "I'm sorry, sugar. It's bad enough that you had to live it...you shouldn't have to dream it, too." Bryn softly kissed his forehead. "Kat was crying, or I would have been here."

"I know, Bryn." He sighed, returning to a more normal equilibrium. "I thing what got to me is that I wasn't expecting to have such a bad nightmare. It had been so long since i had one." His hand lightly reached up to touch her hair.

"Well, I know you're going to hate this, but I think you should go back to seeing Mulder. At least every once in a while." She gave him a small smile. "I could probably stand to go see him again, myself."

"It would probably be a good idea to," he said, still leaning against her. "I don't want to admit to the fact that I need help, but I know that I do. But talking to someone probably would help."

She grinned. "Admitting you need help is the first key to success...or so those twelve-step people like to say." Combing his hair back one more time, she smooched his mouth. "I love you, sugar. I just want you to be happy. Whatever it takes."

"I know, my dear." He gave her a light peck on the lips. His eyes were thoughtful. "And I don't want to spend a thousand years carrying around this burden like I did what happened when I was a child."

"Exactly. Which is a good reason why I'm around--to keep bugging you to keep talking about it. You're not going to bury it this time. We're going to do something about it. As far as I'm concerned, I never want to see or hear about another execution again."

Anton gave her a small smile. "I can think of another reason or two to keep you around," he said. His hand gently stroked her hair again. "And speaking of those reasons, would you go get them?"

"Yeah. Just give me a minute." Giving him one more kiss, she got out of bed and headed towards Katerina's room once more. Not surprisingly, the little girl was still awake, staring at her feet as she kicked them in the air. Picking her up, Bryn cradled her close and then hurried to Max's room. Although he was asleep, he was a bit harder to pick up. He was getting heavy. Grunting, Bryn shifted him on to her hip and walked back to the master bedroom.

He had piled up the pillows to form a support for his and Bryn's back. Although he was tired, Anton didn't think he'd get any more sleep this evening. The dream had rattled him too much. But he smiled and held out his arms, eager to snuggle close with his children and his wife and banish the nightmare from his mind.

Carefully settling Max in his lap, amazed that the boy kept sleeping, Bryn crawled in to the bed next to him. "I swear that kid would sleep through a fire alarm."

"Whose side of the family does he get that from?" Anton leaned against Bryn, needing her tactile reassurance as well. "Think I should call up Mulder when we get up in the evening?"

"I think he get that from his uncle John. And as for Mr. Mulder, yes, I think we should call him. If you want me to, I'll even go with you."

"I think that would be good, my dear. I might need a little reminder of why I'm doing it."

She sat quietly next to him for a while, watching Kat struggle to keep her eyes open. "Sugar...what if you did tell the council you were interested in being emperor? Not necessarily to actually do it, but just to see what their reaction would be. I can't stop thinking about it. I want to know what they have up their sleeves."

Anton gently stroked Max, caressing his head. "Are you sure, my dear?" he asked. "Just because I wanted to do it before doesn't mean that we should do it now. But you're right. We do need to know what they are plotting."

"We don't have to make any commitment to it. We'll just let them think we're good to go. And when they start messing around in a way we don't like, we're outta there. At least we'll know it's coming. And maybe you'll get a chance to see what it would have been like."

His thoughtful frown became a bright smile. "In that case, my dear. Let's give it a try."

By the time they got home from the grocery store, Bryn was beat. She spent all night listening to her mother ask questions about her sex life...and tried to avoid answering her as much as she could. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss that in public. And with little kids screaming for attention while she tried to cross off her list, her nerves were more than a little frazzled. After putting everything away, and leaving the kids in her mother's care for just a bit, she decided to do something she hadn't done in a while--paint. That is, until she remembered her painting room, the library, was now her mother's bedroom. Groaning, she dragged all of her supplies upstairs and set up shop in her bathroom instead. Once she got back in the groove, she forgot all about dinner.

Anton walked into the house, surprised that it was so... quiet. Normally the kids would be squealing as he entered the house. And then Bryn would be cooking dinner, or greeting him with a kiss. So this silence was a bit unnerving. So he started walking through the house, looking for his family. "Bryn?"

"She's upstairs," Bernadette said, walking out of the living room with Kat on her hip. The baby reached for Anton as soon as she saw him. "The kids and I were getting a bit hungry, though. Would you like me to start something?"

"Please," he said. "I'll go see what's going on." Wondering why she was upstairs, he first headed to the bedroom to find it empty. Searches of Kat's and Max's rooms turned up equally empty as well. So then he went to their bathroom and quietly pushed the door open.

Sitting on the vanity chair in front of her easel, she had the door to the balcony open and all of the lights on as she painted. With her back to him, she saw his reflection in the mirror and turned to smile at him. "Hey." She tilted her head. "Did you leave the house looking that hot? Because that should be illegal."

"I'll let you get out the handcuffs later, my dear." He smiled, heart warming that she was painting again. "So how are you doing, my dear? What inspired this?"

Still staring at him, she smiled. "Well, you probably don't want to know." At his questioning look, she stood up and took her dirty brushes to the sink. She started washing them as she said, "Mom started asking me all sorts of questions today. Seems that we've been a bit loud in the bedroom and she was wondering just what our sex life was like. Because she never was exactly inspired in that way."

Anton stood there and blinked for a moment, trying not to picture exactly what he was picturing. "You're right, my dear. I don't want to know."

"Yeah...too late. Now, just imagine having this discussion in the middle of a crowded grocery store, while Max is picking his nose and Katerina is screaming because no one will pick her up. Plus the produce boy is snickering because your face is turning bright red. Then you'll know why I needed a little escape."

"Yeah," Anton said with a sigh as he leaned against the sink. The subject matter alone would be enough to embarrass him. Add on the unwanted attention being caused by the kids and it was surprising that Bryn was still sane. "So answer me one thing. Why is your mother still among the living?"

She gave him a sly smile. "Well, for one thing, I'd feel guilty just killing her outright...and Transforming her is out of the question. Imagine having to answer those kinds of questions for eternity." She shuddered. Setting her brushes on the counter to dry, she wiped her hands. "Besides...I like you with me when I 'hunt'."

"That I do, my dear," Anton said with a sly smile of his own. "And I can think of much better prey for you. If you're done painting for the moment, that is."

She nodded. Tugging him closer, she kissed him hello very leisurely. Arms still around his neck, she smiled at him. "Just what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking... me." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "But to do it right, we have to wait for your mother to move out. And she'd need to babysit the kids for us for a few hours."

She raised her eyebrows. "You want me to hunt you?"

Anton nodded. "Don't pretend you haven't thought about it. Stalking me in the darkness and pouncing unawares. Holding me tight and letting your fangs slip into my throat as you take me what ever way you desire."

Pushing herself on to the countertop, she sat staring at him. "Okay...maybe. But forget me for a minute. Isn't that going to bring back a lot of very bad memories for you? You had a nightmare just last night. And you haven't even talked to Mulder yet."

"Maybe it would bring back memories," he admitted. "Or maybe it's my way of moving beyond them. Besides, I don't want to do it when your mother or the kids are around, so that will be a few weeks. And I'll talk to Mulder about it. If he thinks it's a bad idea, I won't do it."

She thought about it for a moment, realizing that maybe if he was willing to do it, it probably meant he was starting to heal. "Okay. After my mom moves out and you ask Mulder. And, since we're on the subject, did you want to call Hadrian tonight and tell him you're interested?"

"Yeah, we should. But let's wait until after dinner. Which, by the way, your mother is making." His arms hugged her tightly to his body. "I can't let it rule me like it did before, Bryn."

Squeezing him in return, she nuzzled his Adam's apple. "I know, sugar. And I'm very proud of you. You're doing this all on your own...and this time you won't be going through it alone."

"I'm not doing this on my own, my dear. I'm doing it with you beside me." Lightly he brushed his lips against hers. "Now why don't you show me what you've been painting, Bryn."

"It's not really finished." She walked over to the canvas with him, which had a drawn outline of a couple embracing in the nude. The background was painted in, with light filtering through horizontal blinds. And despite the earlier tone of her conversation with her mother, the picture was quite innocent in nature. Or at least it was meant to be...who knew what would happen when she filled in the rest. "Not quite my usual style, huh?"

"No, but I like it," Anton said. This was a change for her, a slightly different style. He turned and kissed the top of her head. "Is this a portrait of you and me?"

She smiled. "Maybe. They don't really have faces, but I was thinking of painting his hair blond and hers dark." Putting the cap back on a tube of paint, she added, "It will be nice when I have the library back so I can paint in good light. I'll have to remember to take this out of her before you take your shower tomorrow."

"Yeah. It would be a shame if I ruined it by accident." They were dealing with one of his demons. Perhaps they should also work on some of Bryn's. "Have you ever thought about what happened to the Nepenthe?

"Sometimes. I asked Lindy to drive past on her way home one time. She told me it was still running. Lilith must have come up with someone else to run the place after...the investigation." She shrugged her shoulders. "Sometimes I think about calling one of the girls I used to work with, but I don't know what I'd say. I wasn't exactly close to any of them. And they probably have no idea what happened."

"It might be a good thing to send someone by and see what the story is. And I'm sure that they're curious about Kat. That could be a conversation starter."

"Yeah." Grabbing his hand, she turned around and headed out of the bathroom. She led him over to the bed, where she sat down cross-legged and patted the spot next to her. "Sometimes I think about going back to work. I get bored here. I mean, it's not as if I'm not busy. There's always something to do, whether it's cleaning up the kids or cleaning the house. But there's only so many conversations I can have with two little kids and my mom. And judging by today's conversation, they're starting to get just a bit awkward."

He sat down on the bed, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Well, if you think that you're ready to go back to work, start looking for a job. We have enough family support here that we'll never lack for babysitters." He slipped an arm around her back low on her waist. "I just want you to be happy."

"I know. But I'm really nervous. I mean, I know the same thing isn't going to happen again. Or at least I hope not--Natasha is still hanging around somewhere. I know I could handle an attack a lot better now, but it still freaks me out. I guess...I'd just have to jump in and do it, or I'd never get over it."

"Bryn, you are now a creature of darkness. A thing that goes bump in the night. You haven't realized what you're capable of." His head tilted to one side. "Would it be helpful maybe if you talked to