A Listmom Returns
Part 2
======


Moving with almost vampirical speed, Nay fairly flew across the room, skidding to a halt behind 
Vachon who was still bent over the Vaquera. Without even stopping to consider her personal 
safety, Nay swung. The Spaniard toppled over from the impact with a surprised "ooof", and 
whirled around with fangs and eyes flashing. Seeing that it was Nay, the Ultimate Castlemom 
and supreme authority among the mortals here, he toned down the special effects and just blinked 
his unspoken question at her, rubbing his shoulder and flexing it as if to make sure it still 
worked.

"What have you done???" demanded Nay authoritatively. She couldn't imagine that Vachon would 
have forgotten himself or lost control enough to actually *drain* his loyal follower, but it 
was always a remote possibility. One never knew around vampires. "You'd BETTER have brought her 
across!"

Vachon's puzzled look deepened.

"Brought her across?" he repeated, shaking his head slightly. "She doesn't want to be a vampire."

"I know that!" snapped the Night Nurse. "But you wouldn't have.....? You didn't......?" She 
gaped at him in unthinkable horror. "You..... you DIDN'T!!!" Before he could ask what it was 
he didn't do, Nay gestured toward the still form on the sofa.

"What?? No!" Vachon said defensively as he realized what she'd assumed. "I didn't do anything! 
She was like this when I found her." He picked himself up off the floor where Nay's wallop had 
sent him, and moved back to Teri's side.

"Well, if YOU didn't do it, who would have?" wondered Nay. "Teri doesn't consort with just any 
Vampire."

Vachon smiled at the reminder of his Vaquera's total loyalty *only* to the dark-haired, 
brown-eyed vamp, but he reached out and gently took Teri's chin in his hand, turning her head 
to one side. "No vampire did this," he said, his voice tinged with genuine concern. "That's a 
cut, not fang marks. And look at this swelling......"

Just then someone else bustled in through the door from the castle corridor. Sherri, laden with 
gauze bandages and various antibacterial washes and ointments, managed to get all the way across 
the room without dropping any of her precariously balanced load. She deposited it all in a heap 
on the end table beside the couch, before turning to look at Teri's visitors. Her friendly smile 
for Nay cooled instantly into a near-sneer as she acknowledged the Vampire's presence.

"I knew I shouldn't have left the door ajar," she said with a sharp edge to her voice. "All sorts 
of vermin can come crawling in."  

Vachon's expression darkened at the insult but he chose not to respond for the moment. This sort 
of verbal abuse was to be expected from the self-titled Castle Vampire Antagonist. She also could 
claim the priviledge of a sort of "diplomatic immunity" to an extent, since she was Teri's niece.

"What?" Sherri demanded derisively. "You guys never seen an incision before?"

"What happened?" asked Nay. Finally, somebody who might know what was going on! "Who did that to 
her?"

"Uhmm..... they're called 'doctors'," explained Sherri in an oversimplified manner as if speaking 
to very small children. "They did what is commonly known as 'surgery'...... you know..... 
'surgery'...?" Nay started thinking that she may just have to bring this kid down a notch or two 
if she kept up with the sarcasm. Send a kid off to college and they start thinking they know 
everything! 

Before the #1 Castlemom could get *too* miffed, Sherri flashed her a grin to let her know she 
was just ribbing her. Knowing she would be concerned over the blood still oozing slowly down 
the Vaquera's neck, Sherri continued to explain.

"They left it open to drain, so the swelling will go down more quickly. It's time to change the 
dressing, which she usually does herself, but she discovered she didn't have any supplies in 
here so she sent me to get some." Sherri looked back down at Teri with a sigh. "Obviously the 
drugs kicked in while I was gone. Well, that's alright. She doesn't need to be awake for me to 
clean it up for her."

"Well, listen to little Miss Nurse," said Nay, taking the opportunity to do a little ribbing of 
her own.

"You aren't surprised are you?" asked Sherri. "My dad's a fireman/EMT and my step-mom's a nurse, 
and you think I can't deal with a little simple first aid? As long as it doesn't include needles, 
I'm fine!" She turned back to Teri, only to find her way blocked by the vampire who was still 
sitting at his Vaq's side, staring fixedly at the bright liquid redness on her throat. Just a 
hint of his tongue was visible peeking out through partially opened lips.

"AHEM," Sherri said unsubtlely, making him jump slightly. "Control yourself, YOU....." she 
snarled at him, her bare tolerance of vampires and all their ilk all too apparent. Vachon 
didn't move immediately, just gazed back unblinkingly as if trying to decide if he was going 
to acknowledge her growled command at all. Completely ignoring the fact that this guy could 
sprout fangs in less than a mortal's heartbeat, Sherri locked eyes with him unflinchingly. 
After a tense moment he stood and silently, deliberately, stepped out of the way so she could 
tend the wound.

Teri moved slightly, starting to wake up. She opened her blue eyes and blinked blearily at the 
faces hovering over her.

"Gawwd," she complained. "You'd think I was dying."

"Some of us weren't sure you *hadn't*," Nay complained back at her. "You've been gone Forever."

"Hmmumbmmb," mumbled Teri. "So, what's been going on lately?"

"Oh, you mean besides Globelists going belly up and us moving the Castle lock, stock and barrel, 
to Yahoo?" Nay waited theatrically for a response that never came. "Other that that, not much." 
She shrugged. "Trying to revive some Round Robins, lost some Lurkers in the move, picked up some 
new folks along the way. Kelly's been writing some."

"Kelly??" Teri made an effort to perk up a bit. "But I haven't properly introduced her yet!"

"Yeah, well you can't expect everybody to lay around on their keister just because YOU are!" Nay 
pointed out.

"I've been working in the Castle Library..." countered the Vaq, stoutly denying her inherent 
slackerly tendencies.

"..And building Alabama webpages, and dealing with that Michael Praed dude..." added Sherri.

"Tattletale," growled Teri.

Vachon was looking decidedly concerned in the background. Not only was his Vaquera under the 
weather, but her attention had been wandering away from him and Forever Knight? He was going 
to have to drop in on her more often and personally oversee these screen captures and sound 
bytes she was making, keep her on the right track!

"Well, I can't complain much about Michael Praed," smiled Nay. She rather liked one of MP's 
movies, 'Son of Darkness'. "He looked really good as a vampire.....kinda looked a little 
like......" She trailed off, glancing back at Vachon who'd moved a little closer now that the 
wound was covered and no more blood was in sight. The V-man met her gaze, then rolled his eyes 
good-naturedly. He'd heard that comparison many a time.

"Yeah, yeah, kinda looked like *him*," grumbled Sherri. "Only taller. I still don't see the 
attraction." She grudgingly looked back at him, herself. "No offense," she added in a tone 
which left no doubt that offense was fully intended.

Vachon just blinked at her in response. The Vamp Antagonist was often treading thin ice around 
some of the Vampires that visited here, but the Spaniard really couldn't see getting that riled 
over her sarcasm. She was never more than an aggravation to a vampire anyway, toting her Holy 
Water pistols and ordering garlic pizzas, putting sunlamps up all over her little corner of the 
Castle. Besides, he'd gotten his revenge on her once, the weekend she went off for her first 
year of college. He gave her a lopsided grin as their eyes met and they both remembered that 
sloppy kiss he'd planted on her back then, just to see her gross out.

Sherri shuddered at the memory and glared at him again just for good measure. Vampires were ALL 
too smug as far as she was concerned.

"Alright, Y'all! Just straighten up, both of you!" ordered Nay in her best listmommy voice. 
She'd just slugged Vachon a few moments ago, she wouldn't hesitate to wade in and separate 
these two now. Especially since Teri seemed to be oblivious to everything around her, obviously 
dozing off again. Nay cocked an eyebrow.

"So, what's the deal with her, anyway?" she asked Sherri.

"Oh, she'll be alright. It's just an old root canal that got infected, and inspite of all the 
antibiotics they had her on, it abscessed. Sort of blew up overnight, swelled up like crazy, 
started constricting her throat. Hadn't started interfering with her breathing yet, but they 
didn't waste any time doing surgery. They say it'll go down in a couple days."

"Well, THAT's good," replied Nay. "Hopefully she won't be out of it for *too* long. If she 
doesn't get those stories of Kelly's posted to the list soon, Kelly is liable to have a hernia."

"Kelly has a hernia???" Teri managed to get her eyes to open for a minute. Nay fought the urge 
to laugh right out loud at Teri's cluelessness.

"No, Kelly is fine," Nay soothed. "Go back to sleep."

"You need me to get something out of her Hotmail account?" offered Sherri. "I know her passwords. 
I can even post...whatever.. if it'll keep someone from having kittens."

"Hmmmmmmkittens...." Teri stirred again and smiled to herself. "I like kittenzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

Sherri rolled her eyes again. There seemed to be a lot of that going on in this room today.

"I'll take care of it," she promised. Nay nodded her thanks, still shaking her head in mild 
amusement over Teri's condition. Before anyone could say another word, the Vaquera stirred 
again, but didn't quite get the eyes open ths time.

"Mumblemumblemutter....."Teri murmured fretfully. "Mumble... I gotta feed the 
horses.....mumblemmphf..."

"I can tell they've got her on the good drugs," said Nay with a sigh.

"Yeah," grinned Sherri. "I wouldn't expect her to be worth much for the next few weeks."

"HAH!" Nay grinned back. "She never HAS been worth much!! It's good to know some things never 
change."

#1 Castlemom and the Vamp Antagonist giggled together for a moment, enjoying the fact that the 
Vaq in question wasn't even alert enough to be aware of their joke, let alone respond to it.

"Well, I've done all I can see needs to be done right now. The dressing's changed," said Sherri, 
standing up with a lazy stretch. She glanced once more at the quiet Vachon, who hadn't said 
anything for quite a while. She made a point of looking from him to the heavily curtained 
windows which protected the Spaniard from any stray glimmers of daylight, before turning back 
to Nay.

"I dunno about you," she directed at Nay, "but *I* could sure use some sunlight, and I hear a 
pizza and garlic bread calling my name."

"Yeah, I could do with some food and BED," agreed Nay as the two headed for the door. Nay looked 
back at the unmoving Vachon who was now perched on the arm of the couch, gazing at the sleeping 
Vaquera with a pensive look on his face.

"You coming?" Nay asked.

"No" he said softly. "I think I'll stay for a while."

Nay contemplated the safety of leaving him alone with an unconscious Vaquera, the memory of the 
blood on her throat still fresh in everyone's mind.

"Hmmmmm....yeah, well, don't do anything I wouldn't do," she admonished him flippantly. 

Vachon acknowledged that with a slackerly grin and he watched the two mortal females exit the 
room, closing the door behind them. Without a word he turned back to his Vaquera, more genuine 
concern showing in his dark, expressive eyes than he'd usually let her see if she were awake.

Nay stood outside the door for a few minutes more, seriously considering scaring up a few 
ghosts to keep an eye on the situation inside. Then she heard a sound that laid her fears 
to rest and she turned to leave, more than ready to seek out that elusive bed of hers. From 
the other side of the closed door, the soft strains of Vachon's guitar followed her gently down 
the corridor.


~fini

=========

Moral of the story? I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! :o)



~Teri~

Check him out!... http://www.benbassfanclub.com/
Proud Vaquera/Vachon's vassal/Defender of Brown-eyed Vamps
V-loop/Vaqdreams/T+V/ BenBassfanclub /Fanatic Castle Listmom #2
DP/FoRP/GKfc/LFNikita Operative/Eyes_Only/MichaelPraed/MPNN
and OFFICIAL Lisa Ryder Fan Club Member #5!!!  :o)
            
http://www.geocities.com/darius4evr/4everknightfanatics.html