Prologue.... Upgrades Complete....by Teri Fri, 24 Nov 2000 It was a quiet Thanksgiving night at the Castle, and Vachon was sitting on the rooftop absorbing the cool moonlight and enjoying the peaceful serenity. He reflected quietly on all the fun places he found so pleasant to visit here in DenialLand. The Castle, his own Church Site, and now his VaqDreamers were creating another, some sort of "Vault of Dreams" dedicated to him...... He smiled to himself at the thought and stretched languorously in the moonlight. Tab, Felicia and Teri were keeping themselves busy with ideas for websites, and just wait until Teri had her computer fixed up like she wanted it... it shouldn't be long. Speaking of which, he realized he hadn't seen anything of Teri for several days. He knew she'd gotten the new, bigger hard drive(again...since the first one was defective, so she had to do it all over again) and a faster processor, and he'd stayed nearby expecting her to be needing his help again while she fought with installing it herself. As of yet, he hadn't heard any screams of frustration coming from her room. Well, maybe he should go check on her. As late as it was she should be sleeeping, but he'd peek in on her anyway. There was an almost silent >whooosh< and the Castle rooftop was empty. ****** No one answered the quiet knock, so he let himself in. He knew he was always welcome in any of his Vaqueras' quarters. The eerie blue-tinted light from the computer screen illuminated the room and fell across Teri's bed....which was oddly empty. With a sigh he located her slumped over at her desk, head pillowed on one arm, sound asleep. He shook his head and tried not to laugh while he slipped up behind her to see what she'd been doing. He folded his arms and leaned on the back of her chair, peering over her shoulder at the computer screen just as it finished downloading it's latest task and asked if she wanted to install now. He glanced questioningly down at Teri but she was oblivious. His cool hand covered hers for a moment as he slid the mouse away and clicked on "install now" for her. What had she just downloaded anyway? He looked at the row of icons lined up in the lower righthand corner. She had all of her email accounts and IMs up and running again, her Video Captures gizmo was online, everything seemed to be in order. What was so important that it kept her up to this ungodly hour? He got his answer almost immediately as the dialog box opened saying "Tracy/Vachon Screensaver successfully installed." He rolled his eyes with a tolerant grin and out of curiosity opened up her "downloaded" folder, and then almost laughed outloud again. Desktop themes, screensavers, icons and cursors, video clips and sound bytes....Leave it to Teri to stay up until 4:30 in the morning filling up her new, bigger hard drive with every FK download known to mankind! He told the computer to shut itself down, and gently scooped up the sleeping Vaquera to carry her to her bed. She didn't even wake, so carefully did he move her. He hesitated momentarily looking down at her sleeping form and considered joining her, but decided against it. She needed her sleep and it was only a couple hours before day broke and the Castle came to life. She'd been absent for too long, absorbed in her computer upgrades. Let her sleep tonight, and tomorrow she could get back to being an active part of Castle Life again. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, freezing cautiously as she stirred in her sleep. But she still didn't waken, simply sighed happily and shifted again. He smiled down at her for a moment longer, then with another unheard >whoosh< he was gone. ********** The Search......by Teri Sat, 25 Nov 2000 Teri stretched and yawned. Sheesh, she felt like she'd slept forever! Being lazy, she started to roll over, then realized with a start that she was in her own bed. Hmmm......she didn't remember putting herself there. The last she remembered, she was still downloading stuff on her computer. She looked at her clock. Eeek! It was a lot later than she'd expected it to be. She HAD slept forever! It's mid afternoon on a Saturday. The Castle should be teeming with activity right now. She couldn't hear a sound, but then this old Castle was built so solidly, she wouldn't hear an earthquake in these inner, sun-proof rooms. With a sigh she decided it was time to go join the other Fanatics, wherever they were. After she'd gotten herself relatively presentable, she headed toward the door, reaching automatically for El Thwapitan...... just in case. You never knew when somebody was going to deserve a thwapping, either playfully or otherwise. But...what's this? El Thwapitan wasn't there! The spot where it usually stood in it's special rack was EMPTY!!!! Hmmm.......where could she have left it? Had she lent it to someone and forgotten to get it back? Who had borrowed it last? Damn! She'd been so engrossed in her computer upgrades for so long, she couldn't remember!! Well, it obviously wasn't in her room. She went out the door and headed toward the Great Hall, looking for the Fanatics that would probably be gathered there, imbibing in their chosen forms of caffeine......and other things. Maybe one of them had seen El Thwapitan lately, or had a clue what she'd done with it. ********** The Shadow Knows.....by Castlebrat There's a dark-clad figure skulking in the shadows of the castle hallways. The torches on the wall illuminate the evil gleam in its eye, unseen by any but the curious ghost who was following it. Shooing at it the figure whispered, "Curiosity killed the Cat." The ghost never wavered but instead just gave the figure a look that said "duhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm kinda already dead." Glaring at the ghost over one shoulder the stealthy form slinks on off down the hallway in search of its first unsuspecting victim. ********** The Search part 2.....by Teri Teri's footsteps echoed eerily in the empty hallways. Odd..... she should be hearing conversations and laughter by now, she wasn't that far from the main get-together center. She came out into the Great Hall and stopped, perplexed. Empty. Not a Castle resident in sight. Well, how in the heck was she s'posed to ask anybody if they'd seen El Thwapitan if there was nobody around to ask? ********** While the Cat's Away......by Jeannie Jeannie sticks her head in the door of the castle. Where is everyone? Her eyes brows wabble up and down and she tip toes up the stairs to Nicky's room...slips quietly in door. He is sitting in a fine ornate chair, a glass of blood wine in his hand...looking rather bored. The stars are shinning outside the window. The night is warm. He smiles at the welcome company and holds out his hand. Jeannie feels his cool fingers intertwine with hers. He sets the glass upon a small table by his chair.He draws her to his lap. She slips her arms around his neck and stares into his beautiful blue eyes. He draws her closer, their lips meet..... When the cats are away..........:) ******* GersGal: From under the bed gersgal whispers, "Pssst! Hey, Jeannie! Over here! What in hades makes you think the cat is away? Mommie Teri is wandering the halls downstairs looking for us!" Jeannie is startled to find she is not alone with Nick as she had hoped : ( Nick's closet door opens with a tiny squeek and Knightress peeks her head out and she whispers to Jeannie, "You can hide in here with me if you want. There is still room for one more! Cia can move to the back of the closet and make room for you if you want. Or, you can hide under Nick's bed with gersgal and KnightChick and the others." Jeannie's mouth drops open as she realizes that every Knightie in the castle is hiding in Nick's room! So this is why the castle has been so quiet lately! Jeannie gets up from the handsome blonde's lap and gives Him her sweetest smile. She bends over and whispers in His ear, "Don't worry! As soon as we all have eluded Mommie Teri, then you and I will spend some quality time alone together." Nick kisses Jeannie's hand and gives her a nod and a gorgeous smile. Jeannie joins Knightress, and Cia and all the rest of the Knighties in Nick's crowded closet.... : ) Meanwhile, Mommie Teri wanders the empty halls and passageways of the castle wondering why the castle has been so empty lately : ) .................................... ********** The Search Continues....Teri With a sigh, Teri turned away from the Courtyard which was every bit as empty as the Great Hall had been. She wondered a moment where she should look next. The Vampyre Theatre? She started down the hall, wondering if the Castle Residents would have all gone to the movies without her. Well, she couldn't really blame them......she HAD been pretty absorbed in her computer upgrades lately. AHHHHHH! She knew where to look for someone! Stephni! Stephni would be in her room, probably still quite engrossed in her slash reading. But maybe she had an idea where everybody was. Teri trudged the long twisting hallways and found herself finally in front of the door she was seeking. She reached up and knocked quietly. ********** While the Cat's Away, revisited....by Elise "I heard that! If I'm a cat (and I'll admit to 'catting around' on occasion ), then that makes you guys RATS!" yells Elise as she stomps down the hallway. Elise eases the door to Nick's room open and tiptoes into the room. She raises her eyebrow to indicate a question, and with an evil grin, Nick points to the closet door. "Oh, good job, darling," she whispers. Without any betraying sound, Nick and Elise finish this. Together they lock the closet, leaving all the RATS inside. Nick gathers Elise in his arms. "Love, have you decided about allowing me to bring you across?" he whispers. Nuzzling her neck, he awaits her answer. "No, I haven't decided yet," she confesses. "Let's go somewhere quiet where we can be alone and discuss this a bit more." She begins to unbutton his shirt. With an answering fire in his eyes, Nick ushers her to the door. He cocks his head back towards the room. "Think the 'rats' in the closet will be okay?" But before Elise has time to answer, Screed pops up. "Ratsies? Wot? Did sumon jus say 'ratsies'?" He puffs out his chest and pats Nick on the shoulder. "Now don'cha worry none, guv'ner. Oi'll take care of them there ratsies in the closet fer ye!" "Thanks a lot, Screed," Nick answers. A twinkle gleams in his eye. "I appreciate that." Then with a sudden whoosh, Nick and Elise were gone. *********** The Shadow Strikes......Castlebrat The dark figure continued it's search. Quietly slinking about the castle hallways, and soon it stumbled upon Nick's door, an evil twinkle could be seen in its eyes as it heard the many wispering voices of the Knighties inside. So many Knighties so little time the figure thought to its self, as it slid around a corner to contemplate how to get the Knighties to come out and "play". As it was waiting there watching the door for some unsuspecting victim to enter into the hallways the door opened, Nick and Elise exited. Torn between following the two of them or waiting for another Knightie to wander out, the figure hesitated for a moment. Finally deciding to take the chance before it the figure began to stalk the two that had whooshed away. After following the two for a while to be sure there was no one else around to interfere with its plans, the figure made its move. Quickly it raised El Thwapatan and thwapped its victims, then before the two could react and pursue it, the figure tore off down the hallway and all that could be heard was and evil "BWAHAHAHA!!!!" ********* Elise: Nick and Elise were startled, but recovered quickly. At least, Elise did. Kneeling, she checked her lover. There on the back of his head was a huge lump, the size and shape of a respectable lump of coal. "Okay," she shouted, "whoever you are, play time is over! You should know that El Thwapitan belongs to Teri, and it is made of mahogany!" She paused to help Nick to his feet. "Wood is dangerous to vampires," she yelled. "Don't think you're getting away with this 'cause I sure as heck am telling LaCroix!" Rubbing the back of his head, Nick asked, "Elise, would you take me somewhere quiet?" "I'll look after you, dear," she answered. "I know the perfect, secret spot to hide." ********** to be continued......