Outside Chinook, Niculai's Suite of in War-Kin Manor, Mid October

     Niculai woke up from the nightmare with a shout. Sitting up in bed, Niculai looked around his bedroom without actually seeing it. The nightmare about the death of his parents woke him in a panic every time he had it. Nic could still hear the screams of his parents and staff reverberate in his ears. Only the overwhelming pounding of his heart was louder. Unlike what had really happened, in his nightmare his parents were slaughtered in front of him and Tomas, his twin . Neither Nic nor Tomas had actually been there when their parents had been murdered by members of their own court. His parents had been at their home in England at the time. They had thought that they were safe but they were wrong. Niculai's parents had thought that only the Undying Society and Humans were the only dangers. They never saw the danger from their own people.

    The twins had been on their way to the states to see how well the Anvidai were doing in the new world when their parents were murdered. They had rushed back from England as soon as they had gotten word about the attack. Their father, the War Prince at the time, had started moving more and more of the Anvidai across the ocean just after the American Civil War.  Niculai's father had seen the strife and war was coming to Europe and didn't want his people caught in it. He had wanted the Anvidai well out of it because if only because it might lead to the discovery of the Anvidai by Humans. Something that needed to be avoided at all costs.

    The move had been opposed by the DeNeam, the highest level of the aristocracy. The DeNeam had, quite rightly it turned out, seen the move as weakening their power. In the new world more than one clan lived in an area. This had led to individuals wondering if the clan structure was really needed here. The DeNeam was made up of the heads of the various clans. The individual members of the clans questioning the need for clans weakened the clan structure as a whole. Which led to the DeNeam loosing power over their individual clans. Which is why a group of them had conspired to kill their War Prince, Nic's father. If he could have Nic would have gotten rid of the lot of them. Only the existence of the few good members like Anthony kept him from even trying.

    The aristocrats had tried to make the attack look like it had had been committed by the Undying. Because the idiotic DeNeam had never seen or studied an actual attack by the Undying Society they had gotten it wrong. In fact there had been so many inconsistencies, details that they had gotten wrong, in the actual attack.that it had been clear that it hadn't been the Undying that had killed them. The attack had been committed by traitors sent by the DeNeam. It hadn't taken long to figure out who had actually committed the murder. The actual murderers had quickly given the names of those who had hired them. As soon as the twins had gotten those names they had personally made sure they were punished, fatally. One part of the old law that both he and his father had never changed was what happened to traitors. Traitors died. It was a quick and merciful death but it was still death.

   Nic had been having the same nightmare every so often since the murder of his parents. But ever since he had learned about Ingretta's disappearance, he had been having the damned thing every night. Weeks of his sleep being disturbed has done absolute wonders for his state of mind. By this point Nic figured it was a miracle that he hadn't gone round the bend yet. Although considering his life maybe he had and just hadn't noticed. The knowledge that he had let down his parents when they had died and continuing to let his people down everyday by not ruling as well as he could, was a failure he had to live with every single day. Not that he knew a better way to rule. Nic was just fairly certain that he should be doing it better.

    If his parents had lived as long as they should have, he would of had at least another two centuries of learning at his father's elbow. Centuries that he needed to have so that he could learn how to rule before he actually had to. Nic had no clue if he would have ruled better if he'd had those centuries of learning that his father's murder had robbed him of. But he was certain that he would be doing a better job than he currently was. Nic knew that he wasn't ready for the throne, not in the slightest. But here he was leading his people whether he was ready for it or not. According to the old laws only Nic's bloodline could rule the race. Which meant that the only other Anvidai that could rule if he stepped down was his twin, Tomas. Nic wouldn't do that to Tomas since he had even less desire to rule than Niculai. Which meant that he was stuck with the job like it or not.

    Heart still pounding in his chest, Nic willed the lights on. Proving to his brain that he wasn't back in the old country. As much as the twins had loved Europe, Nic agreed with his father that the future of the Anvidai was here in the states. Even the rural and usually uninhabited areas had become far too crowded with Humans for the Anvidai to live safely. The Anvidai had to move every decade or so to stay under the radar. Throw in the fascist and/or communist regimes that had taken over the human countries that the Anvidai called home. All of which controlled, or tried to, where and how people could live. Just made things even more dangerous to the secrecy the Anvidai needed to live in peace. The new world was the only place left that was even remotely safe for the Anvidai. Not everyone saw it that way of course. The DeNeam didn't like the relocation in the slightest since it meant that the traditional clan structure didn't really work here. With Anvidai living predominately in just a few cities instead of each clan having its own area that it controlled meant that the DeNeam had less control than they had in the past.

    Now too many Anvidai were living outside of the classic clan structure for the DeNeam to be happy. Lately they had tried to portion out various cities to the heads of the individual clans for control. But they hadn't been able to agree on who was going to get which cites so they couldn't portion them out. All of which meant the DeNeam weren't able to pull it off. Which meant that Nic didn't have to kibosh the idea himself. Considering how much he hated to go to the council meetings, this didn't upset Nic at all. For the most part he figured that council meetings were a total waste of time. Generally Nic would rather scoop his eyeballs out with an ice cream scoop than go to one of them. But Nic would go to them when he had to. For the most part however Niculai didn't have to, which made him happy. Considering how much work he had just dealing with the various complaints and requests that he was already getting from the DeNeam. Like he wanted to deal with them in person as well? Not bloody likely!

     Nic had hoped that the nightmare would stop its daily appearance when he found the missing woman and her child that turned out to be Annik. Unfortunately that hadn't been the case. The damned thing had woken him up right on schedule. The nightmare was actually more intense than ever. At least he hadn't woken anyone else up by screaming this time. No one had come running in with drawn guns and considering how protective his Siblings were the evidence was that he hadn't woken anyone else. Woo-hoo, go him. He'd avoided waking everyone up by screaming in abject terror. Give him a medal. Not.

    Niculai pulled himself out of bed. It was going to be a very long day and he needed to get on with it. His to do list wasn't getting any shorter by lazing around in bed. Not that he had any interest in staying in bed after his nightmare had shaken him out of sleep like a dog with a toy. Nic hadn't slept well the day before. He'd spent the majority of his supposed sleep thinking about Annik. She was so amazing. Nic couldn't get over how quickly she had adjusted to learning she wasn't Human. Nic wouldn't have been surprised if she'd just refused to accept the truth. He just wished that he'd been able to tell her she was Anvidai in a better way. Although it wasn't like there was a class he could have taken on the right way to break that kind of news to someone.

    Walking into his bathroom, Nic purposely didn't look in the huge mirror over the double sinks. He headed straight into the shower. Wanting to feel clean, if only on the outside. Nic was afraid that he'd never feel that way on the inside. If it was possible to scour himself clean on the inside he so would have. Not being there to protect his parents was just the first of the ways that he had failed his people. The fact that he and Tomas had been sent on their mission to the states by his father, did little to change how he felt. The first family had gotten warnings about trouble from the DeNeam but none of them had thought that it would be more than argument. The result of ignoring those warnings was his parents dead and himself in charge centuries before he should have been.

      Adding to Nic's guilt was the fact that he had let not one but two of his people, females in fact, down. Tolartha and Ingretta had both been placed in his care by circumstances and he had failed them. Nic had assumed that the clan of his Sibling Milosh would be a good place for them. After all Milosh was as kind hearted and gentle in his personal dealings as he was an ass kicker in combat. So of course Nic had thought it would be a good clan to place the foundlings in his care. God he really should have checked that out more because that clan had been one of the most conservative and hidebound clans out there. Knowing that he should have checked in on the foundlings more didn't help Nic's peace of mind in the slightest. What had he been thinking just leaving them there and not checking to make sure they were Okay. Nic didn't remember that he had checked in on the girls and they had told him all was well with them.

    Nic hung his head and let the hot water sluice over him. Trying to still his mind, hoping that for once that it would work. Praying that this time he could stop feeling like he had let those who counted on him down. Not holding his breath on that one though, not even remotely. Especially since as far as Nic was concerned he had let everyone down. Nic was so tired of letting the people around him down. If he had thought for a moment that Tomas wanted the job he would have resigned in his favor. But he knew that his twin had less than no interest in being the War Prince, so that wasn't an option. Nor was letting one of other DeNeam do it, not that they could unless they somehow managed to become one of the Ashen War-Kin. Nic blessed the distant ancestor who had made that one of the conditions for the job. It meant that the DeNeam could just dispose him and take over. Thank god for small miracles.

    The good news was that his mind did find a new topic to focus on. The bad news was what his mind decided to think about. Thinking about Annik really wasn't an improvement, at least not for his peace of mind. Sure it wasn't the downward spiral of self hate that his reoccurring nightmare usually caused. Nope it was all about wanting a female that he really shouldn't, couldn't have. It would be better if he got her through her change and let her go. Safer for her as well. After all anyone that he associated with was an automatic target for the Undying. That was why most Ashen War-Kin only mated other warriors, if not other Siblings. But considering how he felt about Annik, he just wasn't sure he'd be able to do that. The thought of Annik spending her life with anyone else turned his blood cold, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

    Nic shaved and brushed his teeth quickly, wishing he could do so without looking at himself in the mirror. Unfortunately if he tried he'd probably cut his nose off and he didn't think that was a look anyone could pull off. God, some days it really didn't pay to get out of bed. Could this day get any worse? Strike that, I really shouldn't tempt fate considering my luck lately. Knowing how my life is going a meteor will crash into the compound.

    The knock on his door was both a surprise and not a surprise at all. It was no surprise that someone was knocking on his door. Who was knocking however was definitely a surprise. It was Bree applying the knuckles on his door. Nic willed the door to unlock, grateful that he was in the new world. If he'd still been in the old country he would of had guards at his door twenty-four seven. He had vetoed the idea over here. The extra guards hadn't saved his parents and he refused to tie up the resources. The number of Anvidai had been falling for the last millennium or so. And the last world war hadn't helped the trend. He still had enough Siblings to do the job, barely. Which is why he insisted that he didn't need to have a guard just standing around his door.

    "Come in," Nic said.

    That Sabrina was alone was just another surprise. Nic couldn't remember the last time she had come to his room at all, much less alone. Walking out of the walk-in, Nic was about to throw out and off hand comment when he saw her face. Something was bothering her, a lot. Really shouldn't have tempted fate with the whole day getting worse thing. It wasn't a meteor but that didn't mean that it wasn't trouble. Damn it all, Nic was so getting tired of being the bottom line guy.

    "What's up?" Nic asked, sitting on his bed to put on his boots. "You obviously have something on your mind."

    "I don't really know how to start." Sabrina said quietly, looking anywhere but at Nic.

    "It's OK Bree, take your time."

    Nic was willing to give her as long as she needed. He knew that Sabrina wouldn't have come to his room to talk to him about something if it wasn't very important, she would have come to his office. Nic didn't mind anyone coming to his room to talk to him, it just didn't happen often. Not for problems at least, usually it was Mikal asking him if he wanted something to eat when he missed last meal. Or one of his siblings wanting to know if he was up for a game of pool. So yeah, someone bearding him in his room before he's had his coffee was a bit unusual. Standing up Nic started over to where she was standing, wringing her hands. He had never seen her so nervous. In fact he had never seen her nervous at all.

    "I'm having twins." Sabrina said looking at the carpet at his feet.

      As Sabrina spoke Nic felt the blood drain from his face. Nic sat back down on the bed as the floor he was standing on rolled like a boat in a storm. How did she know? Nic knew he wasn't good at medical or scientific stuff unless it was blowing stuff up. That he had down to, well a science. But even he knew that ultrasound didn't work on the Anvidai. Mother in the mist was he really having this conversation?

       "How do you know?" Nic asked. "Does Rhuv know?"

    Good guess that Rhuv didn't know Nic decided. Otherwise the Sibling would look a lot more worried. Having twins increased the already high risks to both the mother and the young. Often only one of the infants survived the birth, sometimes neither of them did. Those odds didn't even take into consideration the risk to the mother. Almost a quarter of females died in childbirth. for gods sake. So Bree being pregnant was a major stressor for Rhuv. Twins was going to make him absolutely mental.

    "How long have you known?" Nic asked.

    "I found out last night.The doctor told me there are two heartbeats. I haven't told Rhuv yet, I have no clue how to tell him." Bree looked up at Nic for a moment before refocusing on the aubusson rug at her feet.

     "I understand Bree, I really do. But Rhuv will be tight about this. zit will be so much worse if you don't tell him soon though. He has to know as soon as possible."

    Nic ran his hand through his still damp hair. Slowly he stood up and walked over to Sabrina. He really did understand why she had come to him before telling her mate. Nic was Rhuv's best friend and knew him better than just about everyone. He would help support the Sibling that they both loved. He would help them both in anyway that he could.