Somewhere In Between

Title: Somewhere In Between
Author: MakaiKitty
Rating (this chapter): PG/PG-13
Category: Original Fantasy, "Fate" storyline
Pairing: Victor/Blaine, Victor/Caspian, North/Victor, Victor/Tamara, Sorrel/Tamara, Telen/Caspian
Warnings: Slash, Het, and Yuri, M/M, M/F, F/F, Violence, Language, Catbois, Vampire Sex, Werewolf Sex, Daemon Sex, Anal, Rimming, Death, Angst
Distribution: My website, My LJ and any LJs I choose to post at, AFF.net, FicWad, and DeviantArt. All of my accounts are under the user name MakaiKitty. If you'd like to use it just let me know.
Disclaimer: The characters, daemon realms, and situations in this story are all original and belong solely to MakaiKitty. Please don't steal, borrow, take, or otherwise use anything from my fics.
Updates: Just join my YahooGroup to be informed of any updates to this or any of my other fics - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/makaikittyfics
Status: Complete
Story Notes: This story contains characters that were first introduced in "Fate". However, it is not really necessary to have read "Fate" to understand this story. In fact, you may like Victor better if you haven't read "Fate". As for those of you who have read "Fate"? No, Shayne and Lexi will not be showing up in this fic. Maybe in later stories (Victor has a long back story), but not this one. Also, I have a general outline for this story, but everything isn't set in stone yet. Just like with "Perceived Perceptions", I'm sure that some things will not go as planned. So, the warning lable above is just a general guide, I really don't know for sure where this fic will go. Just a warning, if you're squicky about some stuff (don't worry, there won't be beastiality or scat or anything too extreme) then read the warnings at the start of each chapter. However, I know from experiance, that most of my regular readers can handle anything that I throw at them, so I'm not too worried about any of you. Either way, I hope you enjoy the fic...

Author's Notes: It's May. That means I've been working on this for a whole year *shudders* "Perceived Perceptions" only took six months. But, I suppose it's not so bad considering I wrote an novella and several short stories while working on this fic. It's just been such a handful, and I'm so very glad that's nearing the end. Let me know what you think, please?

Somewhere In Between

Chapter Nineteen: Sweet and Sour

Sorrel paced in the confines of her study, making a steady circuit from one end of the room to the other. She would start at the bookshelf, move to the desk, before she turned around and started the process over again. Lost in thought, immersed in musings over the two young men who held prominence in her life, she had followed her chosen path so many times that by the time Lorcan entered the room she was mildly surprised at not to finding a grove etched into the floorboards from the sharp heals of her boots. The thought brought a joyless smile to her lips. If only her life could be fixed as easily as the floor would have been.

"What do you want?"

Lorcan drew back at the venom in his mistress' words. The old saying about killing the messenger rang loudly in his mind, instinct all but begging him to turn around and leave without another word, and he momentarily regretted that there was no other who would venture into the sorceress' private sanctuary when she was in such a black mood. "I only came to see how my mistress faired, Lady Sorrel. You have been so out of sorts since the incident," he was careful to call it nothing else, not wanting to draw her mind back to the fight between her sons, "earlier this evening."

"Out of sorts?" She snorted, almost amused at the way that the other vampire was dancing around the subject of the reason for her current mood. Her assistant could be so very spineless sometimes. "Even if I am out of sorts, as you so delicately put it, then what can you possibly hope to do about it?"

"I would endeavor to be of any assistance that my Lady asked of me." The bespectacled man said with a slight bow.

Sorrel looked him over with critical gray eyes, displeasure clear across her harsh features. "If you're not careful, I might just find a use for you after all, Lorcan. And you wouldn't like it. I can promise you that." She waved one hand dismissively towards the door. "Get out of here before you find out just how foul my mood really is right now."

Lorcan was undaunted. After years in her service he was more than used to her threats. She very rarely went through with them. "Perhaps a distraction would be in order?" he suggested. "Something to take your mind off of more upsetting matters."

Sorrel opened her mouth to argue, to dismiss the other immortal once again, or maybe to deliver a threat more thinly veiled and far more creative than before, but she stopped before the words could leave her mouth. She would not admit it out loud, but maybe her long time assistant knew her better than she cared to admit. A distraction did sound like a good idea.

"Did you have something specific in mind, or were you just wasting breath?" She tried not to appear too interested, but her frayed nerves could only allow Sorrel to appear partially disinterested. It was a far cry from her usual cold indifference. "And, before you speak, let me be crystal clear on one thing, Lorcan. This had better be good or I'll make good on my earlier words and use you as the distraction."

"Well, I could always go and fetch Miss Tamara for you. She always does seem to improve your spirits." Lorcan failed to notice how Sorrel's already pale skin suddenly drained of it's little remaining color. Nor did he hear the almost inaudible, yet pained, whimper that the sorceress made. Not that he would have recognized the sound as coming from Sorrel. The Lady Sorrel did not whimper, not for any reason. "I'm certain that she has yet to hear of today's unfortunate incident, otherwise she would surely be at your side this very moment."

"...never be..."

"I'm sorry, m'lady?" Lorcan's brows knitted together with confusion. He could have sworn that he had heard Sorrel mumbling. "I'm afraid that I was rambling and did not hear what you said just now. Please forgive me."

Sorrel covered for herself with a dismissive wave of her hand, but she was not quite able to cover all of the pain in her shadowy gray eyes. Wisely, Lorcan did not mention what he saw. "Companionship is not what I seek right now."

"I'm certain we could find something else to take your mind off of your wayward sons then." He held up a hand to illustrate his point, ticking off options on his fingers as he named them. "The soldiers are always in need of inspection. Or there are grievances that the peasants in the village have brought to us. And the king has sent correspondence that needs answering."

None of these options seemed to interest Sorrel, so Lorcan pressed on, intent on finding something with which to distract the other vampire.

"There is, of course, always the experiments." Sorrel's interest seemed mildly piqued, one elegant brow arching, but otherwise she remained impassive. Lorcan took the small gesture as a good sign. "There are the experiments going on in the breeding pens, or the blood tests that you've been conduction on the werepanthers. And the data is back on the new spell that the southern mages were doing on the gargoyles last month. The wolfsbane needs to be-"

Lorcan had tried to stop himself before Sorrel really heard him, knowing that it would be a bad idea to involve Sorrel with such a delicate experiment and it's equally delicate test subject, but the ever sharp sorceress caught on to his words before he could cover with another distraction.

The sudden glint in her too bright eyes did not bode well for anyone.

***

Lennora sat alone in her room, huddled on the white leather couch with her knees drawn up to her chest, mismatched gold and black eyes watching the door nervously. The hybrid had hardly moved since her brother had been carried out of the room by North, followed soon after by Talfryn being dragged by his mother, still screaming about revenge and promising a bloody death to Lass' twin. After that even Lorcan had abandoned her to solitude, patting her head and smoothing her mousy brown hair, telling her that everything would be all right and that she should stay where she was before following after his mistress. Then there had been no one.

She could hear things outside. People passing by. Arguments and playful banter. And, earlier, she could have sworn that she had heard something else. Something worse. Scraping against the walls and strangled sounds of near silent begging, desperation, followed by the cruelest laughter that she had ever heard in her young life. The sound had chilled her to the bone.

A new sound, closer than any of the others, brought Lennora's head up sharply. She eyed the door, watching as the knob turned, holding her breath while she waited to see who would step through her threshold. She hoped that it wasn't Talfryn.

"Are you awake, my dearest girl?" The voice was familiar. And, even better, it wasn't Talfryn's. Although Lennora wasn't entirely convinced that the deep, yet feminine, tones were very much better.

"I am, Sorrel." Lennora answered tentatively, not at all sure what sort of mood the sorceress would be in after the events of the day. "Come on in."

Sorrel walked through the door in a flurry of movement, her gown swishing about her body, her arms full and an exaggerated smile on her full ruby lips. She hurried over to the low table in front of Lennora's couch, depositing two goblets and a bottle of an exotic looking liquid onto it. Then she paused to beam at Lennora.

Lass looked at the sorceress with interest, put at ease by her seemingly good mood, more curious as to what was in the bottle than why Sorrel was suddenly so upbeat after such an ugly day. The bottle itself was tall and graceful, the opaque glass blown into complicated swirls at the neck, ending in an oddly pointed lip. The liquid within seemed to swirl and writhe before the eye, its deep purple color filled with rainbow streaks that moved of their own accord.

The hybrid child reached out a thin hand, entranced by the dancing ambrosia, curious to see if it would move into her touch if she stirred it. Her fingers alighted on the side of the bottle just long enough to find it warm to the touch before she pulled her hand back with an excited squeal.

"Manners, Lennora, my darling." Sorrel playfully swatted at the other woman's hand before seating herself beside her on the plush white leather surface of the couch.

Lennora turned to the woman who was the nearest thing that she'd ever had to a mother, pleased to hear laughter in her voice, but now that she sat so close to the other immortal she could see her eyes and what she saw brought an abrupt end to any amusement Lennora may have felt. There was a smile on the sorceress' face, casual joy in her voice, but there was only coldness in her deep gray eyes. It told Lennora that the darkness of the day was far from over.

She had a moment of pause when she considered how frightening Sorrel could really be, especially in a foul mood, but in the end Lennora's natural curiosity won out as the wolf within her demanded answers. Her mind had always been rather contrary. Fickle even.

She smiled, her fears forgotten in the blink of an eye, her hand once again reaching for the bottle. "What is it? It's pretty. Is it tasty? I like purple. Can I have some?"

Real amusement finally reached her eyes as Sorrel attempted to answer the rapid fire questions from her young charge. "It is a variation of Fenwarian blood-wine that I have personally created for you and I to share, Lennora, dear. So of course you can have some." Genuine confusion crossed her face for a moment, and she answered the final question with puzzlement, almost murmuring to herself instead of the girl who sat beside her. "I actually have no Earthly idea as to why it's turned purple. It honestly wasn't supposed to come out quite such a striking shade of amethyst. Or any shade of purple, really."

"I like its color." Lennora encouraged. "Is it sweet?"

There was a pause as Sorrel looked at Lennora, her hand poised over the goblets, a troubled shadow passing through her eyes before she once again brightened to match the younger woman's enthusiasm. Lass saw the expression, but paid it no mind. She figured that the sorceress was simply worried over the taste. She was, after all, notoriously finicky. "Shall we find out?"

Lennora nodded enthusiastically and watched with rapt attention as Sorrel filled first one, and then a second, goblet to the brim with the curiously swirling wine.

The girl drained her glass in three long swallows, placing the goblet back down onto the table gracelessly, without any care for the delicate glassware. Again that flicker of darkness, of apprehension mixed with some other unidentifiable emotion, danced across Sorrel's face, but it was all but lost by the time that Lennora had finished her wine. "More?" Sorrel offered, refilling the glass without waiting for an answer.

"I can have more?!"

"Of course you can." Watching the girl wipe at her mouth with the back of her hand while giggling excitedly, eyes alight as she watched Sorrel pour her another drink, it was hard to believe that this child was the same age as Victor. Victor. Sorrel shook her head to rid herself of his image. He would learn his lesson soon enough, one way or the other. "You have a werewolf's constitution. I very much doubt that a little wine will do you any real harm."

Lennora finished her second glass as quickly as she'd downed her first, and she clapped happily as Sorrel filled it back up immediately. She thought it odd that she was starting on her third glass while Sorrel had yet to touch her first, but she didn't think to ask about it until somewhere between her fourth and fifth helping.

"Don't worry, darling girl, I'm just pacing myself." She patted Lennora on the knee, smiling benignly at her. "You know that I've never been able to handle my drink. I don't want myself to lose control tonight."

"Like the boys." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and Lennora knew that it was too much to hope that Sorrel would mishear or misinterpret. She might have been simple minded, some part of her knew that the doctors spoke the truth even if her brother forbade them from saying so in her presence, but she wasn't a fool. She knew that she had made a mistake. She only hoped that Sorrel didn't take it too badly.

There was a tightness to her face when Sorrel next spoke, but there was a smile on her face none the less, even if it did appear to be a bit strained. "Yes, well, the males of our species are not always the most rational of beings. Even at the best of times."

Hoping to change the subject before Sorrel was reminded over much of the events that had occurred in the very room that they sat in only hours before, Lennora searched her mind frantically for some other subject to talk about. Thinking that she knew one thing that was certain to make Sorrel smile with true happiness, the only thing that seemed to do so unerringly as of late, "How's Miss Tamara doing? Maybe she would like some of this wine too?"

The suddenly dark scowl that graced Sorrel's face was unexpected. And, looking up into dark gray eyes that were normally so sure and confident, now filled with loss and hurt and anger, Lennora was more confused than she could ever remember being. Or maybe it was the wine going to her head. She wasn't quite certain.

"Tamara is not feeling up to wine just now, Lennora." She answered cryptically, leaving Lennora with more questions than answers. "Now, why don't you have another glass. After all, I did make this mixture especially with you in mind."

TBC ...