CHAPTER TWO
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Disclaimer: Still don't own anything
except our computers and keyboards. And
we're not infringing.
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Vampires of The Rings Part 2
"I can't beleive they DID that!" Armand ranted as he paced through the room.
Sam
just looked over the edge of the table, trying to see him.
"Did what?"
"Made you into vampires!" Armand hissed.
"Oh... that... yeah... Sorta makes the stuff I was taught a bit pointless...
Cooking
and such..."
"So...What do we do now?" asked Arwen.
"I'm hungry!" whined Pippin.
"You're always hungry..." Sam started, realising what it would mean. "Uh...
Mr.
Armand, sir... How many people are on this island?"
Armand looked over at Sam from where he had sat/fallen on a sofa. "Depends.
Currently,
probably about a thousand. There's a mall and some casinos down
there." He waved vaguely toward one wall. "Why do you ask?"
He looked over at Pippin. "That ain't good. Them two will have the lot of 'em
in
a week, sir."
Armand blinked. "What? You can't kill two thousand in a week. Besides, they
leave
and different ones come every night...Oh, and don't call me Mr. Armand.
That's my FATHER." The other, non-fellowship vampires
laughed.
"Oh, they won't leave with these two 'ere. They never stop eatin'"
Abruptly, the laughter stopped. "They...don't...stop...eating?"
Aragorn slowly nodded. "I'm afraid so. These little guys eat a lot."
Mael thought for a moment. "Correction, they ate all the time when they were
mortal.
Since they are smaller and have less blood than a human, it makes since
that they will only need one or two each per night....
Right?"
Sam shook his head. "No, begging your pardon. They'd need breakfast--"
"And second breakfast!"
"And lunch!"
"After-midnight tea!"
"Dinner!"
"And supper!"
Louis moaned and buried his face in his hands. "Why were Maharet and the others
so
STUPID enough to make hobbits into vampires??!"
"So, since they've made you and abandoned you," Pandora began.
"That happened to me once." Lestat mused, standing next to Legolas and
inspecting
his nose in the mirror.
"AHEM. Since they made and abanonded you..." Pippin slowly began hiding behind
Arwen's
skirt as Pandora continued. "One of us will have to take ten new
fledglings and show them the ropes." Several vampires
winced in apprehension.
"Ten fledglings at once?!" shrieked Lestat. "I want to rip out my lovely hair
just
by explaining things to ONE! What will ten fledglings at once to do my
complexion!?"
"Your complexion? what about mine?" Legolas wailed. "The lack of vitamin
D is
going to kill me!"
"Sunlight isn't something to worry about! You don't NEED vitamins now!" Lestat
sneered.
"But handling 10 fledglings running in 8 different directions at
once...EACH!"
Legolas seemed to be happy about the answer to his biggest qualm, but it was
Gandalf
who glared this time. "I do not run!"
"Now, now, Lestat, do not fret.... it would make far more sense for each of
us
to have one, rather than some poor fool being saddled with all of them." Marius'
voice was calm and collected.
Armand sighed in relief.
"So that brings us to another question. Who will go with who?" Pippin
clung to
Arwen's legs, burying his face in her side. The elf twitched in distaste.
"I don't want to go with the scary one who wants to eat me!" Arwen saw
her
chance.
"*I'LL* go with you!" she said. "Pandora, wasn't it?" Pippin squeaked, turned
to
Aragorn and clung to him, as Arwen went to stand by Pandora. Louis sighed, and
let his eyes wander over
the other fledglings... his eyes met a pair of wide,
blue eyes screaming "Innocent! Tentacle bait! Someone corrupt me,
please!" and
he was instantly alarmed. Louis tilted his head, still looking at the blue-eyed
short one. He raised an
eyebrow in wordless question. Frodo tilted his head,
unconciously the exact way that Louis had. Without a word, he brushed
by Sam and
Merry and trotted to stand, looking up at Louis. Arwen and Pandora moved as one
to the door, Frodo watched,
and then looked back up at Louis. Louis smiled.
"Coming, little one?" Frodo nodded once, following Louis out of the house.
Sam
frowned. He should be following Mister Frodo!
"No Sam, stay here. HOLY ERU! HOW IN MORDOR DID I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE
THINKING!??!"
Marius sighed, preparing for a lengthy explanation
"Don't worry about it, Marius, I'll explain." Louis said with a small smile.
Sam
looked lost and confuzzled as he watched Frodo go. He glanced at Gandalf,
afraid of what the wizard would say.
Gandalf
looked at Sam.
"Do not worry, Sam, Frodo will be quite all right. I suspect that he will
no
longer need being looked after." There was a clear hint of wistfulness in his
voice. He then looked at the calm and
collected and level-headed vampire who had
introduced himself as Marius, raising one bushy eyebrow.
"May I request your company?" Marius looked at Gandalf, and then at David. David
looked
from Marius to Gandalf.
"I think you may, sir. My name is David..." the three's voices dwindled away
as
they, too, exited. Jesse had been studying the others that were left, her glance
flickering between Aragorn and Boromir.
Boromir, always the proud son of Gondor,
faced the scrutiny unflinchingly - unlike Aragorn, who seemed to slink back.
//Which one would look better in hot pants?// Jesse mused. //Which one can I
corrupt
into my style..?//
//Both.// Her split personality answered.
//Oh, fine. Which one is more likely to like you?//
//The big hunky one. Boromir. That other one was staring at the elf woman's
butt
and his hair is icky.// Jesse stepped forward, hestatantly at first, then
grinned dat Boromir. "Why don'tcha come
with me?"
Bormoir swallowed. But he was the son of Denethor and he would not be afraid
of
a mere woman!
"All right," he managed to squeak.
"I hope Louis and the others remember to get their fledglings new clothes. You
CANNOT
go around Night Island dressed like that."
Gimli stared. It was impossible, and yet.... before his very eyes, was the Lady
of
the Golden Wood. He had been asking himself if this could be true since he
had first set eyes on her. The only difference
was that where Galadriel had
sea-green eyes, nearly blue, this golden haired twin of the elven lady had
steely grey
eyes. Gabrielle had noticed, with a perverse sort of pleasure, his
attentions on her. She kept her gaze moving around
the room, always keeping the
dwarf in her peripheral vision. "Lady;" Gimli breathed, his voice barely above a
whisper.
"Would...." Gabrielle looked down at the dwarf. Odd little thing, all
bushy with red beard and clacking things tied
into it...
¨Gimli saw the Lady looking at his beard, and beamed with pride. He was very
proud
of his beard, just as any good dwarf.
"Would th' Lady do me honor?"
"Alright." Gabrielle smiled in evil glee to herself, grinned at the men left,
and
led Gimli out the door
Lestat turned from the mirror where he and Legolas had still been standing,
side
by side, peering at various parts of their facial anatomy, mumbling things about
mud and vegetable masques (which
both of them were identically surprised to
discover existed in both worlds).
He glared at the ones who were left. Mael, Armand, Daniel, and himself on one
side;
Merry, Pippin, Sam, Aragorn, and Legolas on the other.
Lestat pouted slightly.
"I won't take you, because you're grungy and icky,
and you don't have nice
hair." he said to Aragorn.
"I won't take any of the three of you, because you're short and fat.
So that
leaves YOU, the only one with decent hygene." Lestat turned his nose up and
sniffed in distaste. "At least you
look a bit like me. I'll bet once we change
your clothes, I'll have more girls drooling at me than YOU..."
Legolas saw the way Lestat looked at Aragorn's hair (he had to admit, he was
completely
sympathetic to the vampire), and gave the vampire a testing look.
"You know of how to care of one's complexion sans sunlight,
and have a great
sense of fashion - I shall gladly go with you." The two linked arms and left,
just like the others,
already speaking of the shopping they would do, the
clothes that they would buy Legolas, the clubs they would visit and
the spas
they would gate-crash.
"Don't mind Lestat's comments, my friend." Mael told a very downcast Aragorn.
"I
recognize you for a man of the wilds. Your dirt encrusted hair and muddy shoes
tell epics of information about you.
I sympathize, when I was a mortal, we
worshipped trees."
"Trees?" asked Aragorn.
"Yes, we beleived they held the sacrednes of life, the universe and everything."
"They do?"
"Not really. But we beleived it, back in the good ol' days..." Mael put one
arm
around Aragorn's shoulder, leading him to the great outdoors...
Daniel looked at the three remaining hobbits. "One of us has to take two,
Armand..."
he bit his lip slightly. "I haven't had a fledgling before, I don't
know..."
Armand shrugged. "They're hobbits, just tell them when to stop, they're
instincts
will do the rest."
Daniel turned back to the hobbits, who were clustered together. "Um. Okay. Who
wants
to come with me?"
"NOT ME!" chorused the trio.
"I promise I won't try to eat you like Pandora threatened." The hobbits glanced
at
each other.
"Uh, Pip? If he says he's not going to eat us..." Merry looked at Pippin, and
then
again at Daniel. The other vampire that was left looked a lot more
frightening... and skinnier, too. At least Daniel looked
closer to 'health', in
Hobbit terms, at least.
Pippin glanced between Armand and Daniel. Hmmm. Daniel looked a bit nicer, more
human...He
clung to Merry tighter and screwed his eyes shut. "No Merry, I'm
gonna stay with you. You decide..."
"Okay, Pip.... " he looked at Daniel. "Promise not to eat us?"
"...Yeah. I won't eat you."
Pippin looked at Merry. "We stay right next to each other, so he can't sneak
up
behind us." Merry nodded.
"Yeah, Pip... now can WE eat something?" he looked at Daniel.
Daniel grinned at Armand. "See ya later, boss! Go on then, you know where the
door
is."
"Bye Danny. WAIT NO!" Too late, the trio was already gone... Armand sighed.
"That
means you're left with me..."
Sam swallowed. "Looks like it, Mister... err, Armand."
"How many times? Just Armand. Shall we?"
Sam nodded, and followed Armand quietly, twisting his hands.
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TBC...
