Lettie climbed off the bed and pondered his statement as she reached back to undo the hooks of her exterior skirt. If she gave into his demand then she'd have lost four items of clothing and would only have enough left for two more simple questions. Of course, as long as Rico was the judge of what was simple or not, she was sure she'd would lose those articles faster than she liked as well. His motivations were simple and more assuredly impure. He wanted sex... She couldn't really deny that she secretly wanted that too but she had hoped to delay it for longer. She wanted answers before she could simply give herself over to him again.

She finished unhooking the first skirt and pulled it up over her head (trust me, it was easier that way) and hesitated again before starting on the frilly petty-coat underneath. There was another reason she shouldn't be doing this. If Rico was to be believed, then she was currently getting undressed before a vampire. She looked back at him and gave him an assessing glance. He seemed more interested in sex than blood, and honestly, he'd had ample opportunities to get the latter if he'd wanted. She remembered the lingering feeling of his lips at her neck and shivered, not entirely out of fear either. He hadn't bitten her but still it seemed inadvisable to expose more skin to tempt him with.

But then, she wouldn't really be revealing any extra skin with this next skirt just removing one small barrier of fabric between them. She unhooked the petty-coat and it soon went the way of her top skirt. There was one last petty-coat to go, this one somewhat thinner and less decorative. "There, three items. Now, the Harpers."

(hehe I got to cheat this time, I got to type up some of the explaination before hand this afternoon incase it was needed, I normal don't do up things ahead of time but figured that it was going to take a fair amount of time)

He had appraised her body, so much so that he could see the blush of color and embarrassment there so he moved on to answering, after all she had already paid for this. Rico fell into things fluidly and tried to keep it simple enough for her to understand. He just hoped he could keep phrase it in a way that he had left a little nagging question for her to chase after. In the end it was pretty much straight forward he assumed by complicated at the same time.

"Transsylvia. Many, many years ago now there was a man by the name of Vladimir Drakof, Vlad the Impaler or Dracula if you will. He is said to have been the first of our kind and had a knack for the grotesque watching people be impaled on spikes while he dined.

"He was ransomed by his father and grew up as a hostage in another kingdom to ensure the loyalties of the Trannsylvian king. Long story short the boy grows to be a rather sick man, he is turned against and eventually killed.

"What isn't too known is that he turned his lover, she was pregnant at the time she was turned but did not know it. In fact after Vlad was killed she went on, met an English soldier and gave birth. Yes, I believe you know some of the gist of it.

"Her name was changed when she married, Romona Harper and her child wll her child became a vamphyr not truly alive but yet not truly dead either. This vamphyr was half vamire, half human and as a consequence could mate with either species with no ill effects. The vampyrs wer stronger, more agile and lacked many of the traditional weakness but they lacked some of the strengths too like shorter, mortal life spans for instance.

"The Book of Boule had a ritual in their to strengthen this blood to waken one with the powers of a true vamphyr but only if certain rituals were used and a sample of vamphyr's blood from the scion is collected, in this case descentants of Vladmire, then after six vhamphyrs as slain in chroniological order from youngest to eldest then a ritual can be used to transform the blood of a person.

"I will not get into the details of these rituals but all are rather simple and the seventh can be done beneath the light of the first full moon since the last girl, Helena, has been killed. As the rituals go on the person takes on more of the characteristics of the vhampyr, going through a process that leaves them transformed at the end of it. Thus knowing the Harper bloodline teaches one of these things as fa as knowing who was born before whom. The one doing the ritual doesn't have to be the one that benefits from the drink either, simple put you can have some else do it my dear and benefit from it yourself as long as everything was done correctly otherwise the blood acts like a poison instead.


Again he paused for a moment then continued, "I'm no biologist but there is a complicated reasoning why the males in the bloodline don't exhibit these traits and only certain Harpers have, thus fair their have been nine. One was killed in auto accident some time back, another is so remote as not to be viable and another committed suicide about six months back."

So, the Harper women were descendants of the first vampire and there blood and subsequent death vital to transforming a mundane human into a vampire as well. "Can the ritual change more than one person at a time?" She asked before she could stop herself. It wasn't the question she'd meant to ask but it suddenly seemed important. Her brother had intended to turn her as well so he clearly though it was possible. "No, stretch that. The more important question is can the ritual work on a person who has not drank the vamphirs' blood?"

She began to pace a small path at the foot of the bed. As far as she knew she hadn't drank any of the blood of the Harper women. Certainly not the last three victims at the very least... She had no way of knowing if Sebastian had tricked her until drinking the others prior to her losing her memory. But if he had she would be poisoned, wouldn't she? She didn't fell ill... Most likely he hadn't given her the blood yet. He must have been waiting until he had all the samples.

"Oh but that question is only worth 1 article." Just one he seemed to say as he held up his index finger to indicate this. But she changed her mind and asked a different question. "That one is also one article too."

He waited for her to pay the price, observed her for a moment longer than continued. "No and yes. It takes the drinking of the blood to cause the transformation though once it is complete you gain full vampirc abilities and can thus turn people in the tradition sense of the word. Unfortunately he could not tantalize her with the possibility of other questions with that one. He could have given her a maybe or a yes and no answer for her to pay a bit more to get such answers but he figured that she'd hate that if he did it that way, beside he had waited all night for her, he could afford a few extra minutes.

Lettie wanted to ask want exactly he meant by "the traditional sense" but she had a finite amount of clothing items left and she got the point. If Sebastian completed the transformation he would have the power to turn her too. Assuming he still wanted to do that. She had betrayed him, after all. She had to be careful here though. She had more questions but her bustle cage was the only thing left she could remove before getting dangerous close to full nudity. She had a very important question to ask but it was certainly a big one. She would definitely charge her more for it than just her bustle cage.

She gave him a sideways glance and asked, "How much will it cost me to find out how you are involved in all this?"

He considered then grinned. "Even now you can't stop thinking of me. It depends on how much detail you require and judging by the amount of clothing you have left you're beginning to lack in the bargain department. Hmmm ... two. It's not so simle as to sum up right away but not as complex as the stuff concerning the ritual. Besides, it's a getting to know you question so how can I rightfully charge too much for it? And they talk about men not showing their feelings," He pretended to pout at that them chuckled softly.

Lettie fought to suppress a smile of her own. She shouldn't encourage him but she couldn't help it. My, but he was a persistent flirt. She wouldn't a able to deter him much longer at this rate. Two article of clothing... One would be simple. The bustle cage would be nothing to lose but what should two be? Rico would probably be expecting her corset to be next but Lettie wonder if her bloomers might not be better. Either way her chemise was long enough to keep her most private bits hidden but depending on which one she chose she'd be leaving one of those bits with only one thin layer of cloth to protect it. And with Rico's roving hands... But he was still waiting politely on the bed. The bed he was intent on getting her back into by the end of this interview.

Hmmm... Best go with the corset next. The bloomers might leave him to great a temptation and he'd given her no assurances that he would wait until she was fully disrobed before he went back to trying to seduce her. She discarded the cage quickly enough but hit a snag with the corset. Literally. Her corset strings knotted horribly when she reached back to untie then and she had the greatest difficulty disentangling them when she were behind her back where she couldn't see. She swore in frustration and then shot Rico an embarrassed look. "Umm... This is proving to be more difficult than I expected. Could you give me a hand?" As she spoke she turned her back to him so he could see the knot that was delaying her payment.

Rico watched patiently as she struggled with the corset. He was about to lend her a hand but refrained until she asked his healp which he was all to willing to help. Moving behind her she first felt his hands on her hips slowly raing up her body He then moved his hands to the corset, fingers working on the strings there, slowly loosening them.

She could feel him lean down and press his lips to her next his tonue skimming against her shoulder and neck and while his fingers still worked on his notes while he roamed his body. A small gasp parted his lips and his hands reached around her seizing her breasts they squeezed them and she ould here him whispering against her ear.

"I want you so much ... keep the corset for now to help pay for ny roaming hands, But to answer your question I am threatened by another vampire in London. I have worked long and hard ..." he chuckle against her, "but another vampire might be savage enough to gather undue attention and thus hunters that may be determental to my health. That is my chief motivation in stopping another vampire from rsing up."

She knew she'd made a fatal error the second she felt his hands slide over her hips and caress the sides of her body. His touch was invigorating and made her want to to be touched more. After a moment or two his fingers finally began working on her corset strings, which a whole other sensual journey. Somehow him undressing her was more exciting then having him watch her undress herself. As his fingers were now occupied with undoing the troublesome knot in her laces, his head dipped down to press his lips against her neck and trace his tongue over the contours of her neck.

She moaned in answer and leaned back into him as he kissed her. It was delightful and mesmerizing. He gave up on her corset strings a second later and cupped her breasts instead, saying he take touching her as payment instead. She didn't object... She couldn't think to object. She almost missed his answer to her question, she was so distracted by the wondrous feel of him touching her. "Your chief motivation? What was your second motivation?" She asked without thinking about it. It really was a waste of a question as she was pretty sure she knew what the answer was. Still, a part of her wanted to hear him say it, it was the same part of her that suddenly didn't see the harm in giving up her corset. It was just in the way right now anyway.

Her question asked he whirled her around to face her. It was an easy question, one that he did not seem to charge her for as he simply answered.

"You."

His hands smoothed back over her hips as his blue eyes gazed into her own he felt compelled to her, lost in her eyes so to speak. He had not charged her for the answer, nor did he hesitate making her seem that this own now.

"One more question," his heated voice called, "make it big it's going to cost you everything you have left and then some. His hands slid up to cup her breasts softly squeezing the as he gazed at her, mirroring her look of need that was within his eyes now.

One last question... It was going to be hard to think of a good one under the heated eyes of his lustful gaze. His need was apparent and was answered by her own. All thoughts of resisting him had melted away as soon as he'd touched her. She was always too impatient for her own question but she could waste this moment. Soon they'd both be too caught up in their passionate ardor to think logically.

She had to think up one last question, a big one worthy of his demanded price (even if it was a price she was more than willing to pay). One big question was a tall order though. She had a lot of questions left but none of them seemed important... Save one. Suddenly she knew what her last question would be. She gave him a speculative gaze and wonder if he knew the answer. She suspected he did though she wasn't sure why. "Why can't I remember anything?"

"That's an easy one ..." he smiled at her. "It might spurn others though, are you certain you wish to be goaded into thinking and wondering other things. Or perhaps you'd like to know where your brother is, or Helena, or Sebastain's boss even. They are your questions of course so you may ask anything you wish, I just assumed you'd want something a bit bigger."

He leaned towards her and whispered against her ear before he pulled away. "Of course in the next few minutes you will get something bigger, something you will like."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "If it's so easy then you should give me a couple of freebees afterwards." She stepped closer to him and began tugging at lightly at his shirt to untuck it from his pants. Once the shirt was free she slipped her hands under it to touch the bare skin of his abdomen and chest. "The police can worry about my brother and the others for tonight. You don't want me to know where they are anyway. If I did I might be tempted to leave and try to help the police find them. No, I want to know what happened to me and you are the only one who can tell me."

She lifted his shirt up and bent down a hair to kiss his muscular ads just above is belly button. "Please tell me, Rico. Then I promise, we'll both get something we like."

Oh he was tempted alright, tempted by her closeness, her touch, kiss then words for she was not the only one being affected her. He thought then nodded. "Ok I will anwer your easy questions after wards. I'm afraid I don't have the patient to answer them right now."

His lips touched her own as he looked into her eyes he moved her so she was at the edge of the bed. He smiled at her, then kissed her once more. "Small questions after this, ok? But to answer your question, the reason you can't remember is only a temporary thing. It's because Aegir won't let you remember, mot now at least. Not now."

He set a finger against her lips before she could ask the question that Aegir knew she would ask.

"That one is complicated my dear ... and you've run out of clothes with that finally question. Perhaps I would be inclined to answer if ..." he paused, looked at her and smiled as he took her wrist placing her hand over his crotch so she could feel the firm erection beneath his pants. "If we could do more than tantalize each other with a display of flesh and join together as one."

(Cheater! XD)

She frowned slightly, disappointed by is cryptic answer. Who was Aegir? She wanted to ask him but he stopped her with one finger pressed against her lips. He wouldn't tell her... Not yet. He placed her hand on his rod, still sheathed beneath his pant. She smiled appreciatively as she wrapped her fingers around his firm organ and began to stroke him through his trousers. "I'm not sure... That was a mean trick you just pulled." She lift her eyes to meet his gaze. "Knowing I wouldn't understand your answer but refusing to explain it. But then, you did answer and I did make you a promise..."

She released her grip on his cock and began to unbutton his pants, all the buttons (because I just learned zippers weren't invented yet) but taking her time. She hadn't promised to indulge him quickly, after all. She got almost to the last button then suddenly stopped. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She stepped back and covered her mouth with her hands in an expression of mock horror. "My clothes were the payment, not yours." She smiled and reached back to loosen her corset laces, again very slowly, before she began unhooking the front. She made it a slow, sensual striptease removing the other items as well. Fully intent on punishing him for his trick answer to her question.