Maybe it was for the best that Edge was dead. Maybe now Christian would have all the time in the world to introduce Gabrielle into his life without any fear or question from her. It would only be a matter of weeks or even days till they were reunited, so that they may spend the rest of their immortal life together. He smiled, thinking at all the plans he had made to reach this day and how they were now all coming together.

Kael stepped out of the murky shadows from where he had been watching Christian and smirked. "Not time to break out the bubbly just yet mate. We still gotta score up a few things."

Christian jumped to his feet alertly, watching Kael approaching him cautiously. "Kael…"

"Kael circled him, watching his every gesture as Spider came out to join them. "You weren’t celebrating without us were you?" Kael asked. "I mean, I suppose if I had killed off your brother Id be all cheers and merriment as well. He was a rather annoying one at that."

"Kael I don’t really have time for this…"

Spider saw the muscles in Kaels jaw tightening as he kicked at the grass around his feet. "I suppose you don’t… Want to get on with the festivities and all do you? Well I’ll make this quick." He circled around Christian till they were face to face. "I want my money."

A feeling of laughter came over Christian as he exploded ecstatically. Who was Kael to be making such demands of him? Did Kael know who he was? Did he know what he had just done? He had killed his brother for love. What made them think he wouldn’t do the same to them?

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Kael sneered.

Christian nodded, still unable to contain in all his laughter as she he reached down to grab his fallen jacket. "Actually the funny thing is how you think I’m actually going to pay you off. Edge is gone. It’s over. There’s no one for you two to blackmail me against."

Christian turned to walk away but Kael grabbed at his arm roughly spinning him around. Kael tried to calm himself, nodding over in Spiders direction. "Ok, so you’re not going to pay us. There’s always option two?"

Christian wrenched his arm away, crossing them over his chest amusingly. "Oh really? And what’s that?"

Kael took a step closer to Christian, the veins in his neck throbbing. "I can stop your laughter right now by ramming my fist down your throat and ripping out your heart."

Spider tried stepping in between them trying to calm them both down. She knew they wanted to kill each other and if she were there then they probably would have. But this was neither the place nor the time. Christian would get what he deserved, but not now and now from Kael. She finally got between them, pushing Christian away with one quick shove. "Last chance," she told him, trying to control Kael behind her. "We want our money tomorrow."

"What are you two, like deaf?" Christian shouted, pulling on his jacket. "You’re not getting a dime, it’s over."

"No not a dime…" Spider corrected, fixing her eyes on Christians. "20 grand." Christian turned from them to walk away but was quickly cut off by Spider. "…or I’ll tell Gabrielle."

Christian stopped silent hearing the words he’d been dreading for weeks. He took a deep breath listening to Kaels laughter behind him and slowly turned to face Spider. Kael came up behind her, grinning in Christians direction. "That’s what we call check mate."

Christian tried to laugh off the situation but found it hard. He had to show that he was strong, so that maybe they would back off. He looked at them once again and realized they never would, they were too money hungry and selfish to their own needs.

"You can’t get close enough to her," Christian pointed out happily. "And even if you could get past Raven, she wouldn’t believe you."

Spider face grew serious as she neared Christian, staring into his eyes. "She’s staying with Raven in the sewer lines under the old Am Track station. She’s out with Raven every night by 11 and in by 5 in the morning. She has a size 7 shoe, wears Crimson Mask lipstick and always smells of that stinking Dark Night perfume." She stopped to watch Christian’s reaction for a moment then continued on. "So now you know just how close I have come to her. Raven wouldn’t be a problem getting by and believe me, there’s a lot Gabrielle wouldn’t be too happy on hearing." She smiled taking her place by Kael. "One last time… the money?"

Kael laughed triumphantly, wrapping his arms around Spider. He watched Christian in a matter of minutes go from thinking he were king, to being shot down again to reality and he loved it.

Christian ignored Kael’s glances. He knew it would only make him angrier. Watching the expression on Spiders face, he knew she wasn’t bluffing. She had nothing to gain from lying about Gabrielle but everything to gain from him screwing up. He knew she would tell Gabrielle everything in the blink of an eye and would have no remorse after wards.

"Tomorrow," Christian stammered softly. "Or maybe the next day."

"I’ll expect it tomorrow. You know where we’ll be, and don’t be late."

"Just one other thing," Kael added teasingly. "Just in case you are late with our money, every day after that we add another grand."

"What?" Christian argued heatedly. "How am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?"

"I really don’t care," Kael laughed grabbing Spiders hand as they began to walk away. "Hawk some of your brothers crap for all I care. You brought this upon yourself, remember that."

**

Gabrielle peered around the entranceway of her room, watching Raven huddled up by one of the base sewer grates. Some nights he would be there for hours on end but she always learned never to question Raven about anything that didn’t concern her.

She kept an eye on him as he reached inside, pulling out a thick clear plastic bag. She peered up to try to get a better look but it was no use. Raven took a bulky brown envelope out of his jacket pocket and placed it in the bag next to the others inside. A look of confusion came over her as she wondered just what it might be. She hoped that if she were to ask him he would be willing to tell her, but knew it would be just the opposite.

She Held her breath fearfully as Raven stopped what he was doing instantly, peering his head up. She hid behind the corner for a few seconds till she heard him continuing with what he was doing. She peered around the corner in time to see Raven pulling out a few hundred-dollar bills from the bag, before closing it up and replacing it back into the sewer hole.

She ran to her bed, grabbing at a magazine as she heard the sewer grate slide back into place.

She looked up for a second, hearing Ravens boots stop at her doorway. "You should go to sleep. It’s been a long day." Raven took one last look at her before he turned to walk away, quickly stopped by Gabrielle’s calls.

"Whe… Where are you going?" she muttered softly.

"I’ll be here, just in the other room. I got a lot of stuff on my mind."

"That guy you told me about," Gabrielle called out quickly, before he could leave. "that guy Edge. Will he be back?"

Raven scratched at his beard, shutting his reddened eyes for a moment. "No. He doesn’t know where you are."

"So we’re safe?" Gabrielle remembered the story Raven had told her of Edge. How when she was living out in the world before him, this man Edge, who was also a vampire, became infatuated with her. He would follow her every night when she was out feeding and try to possess her as his own. Till one night Raven saw this happening and rescued her. He told her she hadn’t remembered any of it but Raven had assured her that this would all come back to her when she was ready.

How Edge’s voice sounded so needy and so wanted to find her. She knows now that even if Ravens story were not all true, a part of it had to be.

"Go to bed." Raven told her. "I’m going to out for a cigarette and take a walk around the entrance and I’ll be back."

Gabrielle nodded and settled into bed, hearing the iron gates swing shut behind Raven as he went out for his smoke.

**

"What took you so long?" Christian argued when he saw Raven come into view. "I’ve been waiting here for a half hour."

"Have to put the child to bed before I come out and play" Raven told him, his voice raspy as he lit his cigarette.

"So what happened? Did Edge see you?"

"No, we got out of there before he saw us. He almost caught us though." Raven leaned back on the brick wall, watching Christians face turn up a smile.

"Well you wont have to worry about him anymore. I took care of it tonight. I saw you and Gabrielle leaving and I torched the place."

Raven chuckled taking a drag of his cigarette before passing it onto Christian. "Here you deserve this more than I do."

Christian smiled, taking the cigarette from him, taking in a deep breath of smoke. Smoke piled out of Christians nose as he handed the cigarette back to Raven. "This is almost over. Just a few more days to tie things together."

Raven got up butting his cigarette against the wall. "Well the quicker the better. I want her out of my hair and want my life back to normal."

Christian smiled at the word ‘normal’. "Me with Gabrielle and you with your, what? Cigarettes, beer and whores?"

Raven laughed turning to go back inside. "Sounds good to me."

**

Kael collapsed on his bed next to Spider, both their bodies glistening from the night’s passion. He slid one arm around her neck pulling her closer to lay a soft kiss on her forehead. "You were smashing"

Spider licked his chest, biting at his peck playfully. "You weren’t all that bad yourself."

"But I am," Kael laughed teasingly, "And you are my little evil bitch."

"That I am."

Kael scoffed. "Christian didn’t know what hit him tonight… soon we’ll have what we’ve been waiting for."

"Even if we have to kill him and yank it out of his cold dead hands," she added callously. "Tomorrow will be fun, but it means the games almost over."

"Over?" Kael snickered. "My, my Spider, these people have no idea of what we have in store for them."