What is it you want?

Thirax, an ancient and well-known dragon, slept as he had slept for nearly a year. At this age even dragons began to need more sleep than not. Thirax roused to eat not nearly as frequently as he once had, and each time he woke the world seemed odder to him. Humans and their cities were growing more complicated than ever before, which did not encourage Thirax to wake any more often than necessary.

Today, however, Thirax did wake, not out of hunger, but because someone or something had entered his lair. Something intelligent and dangerous, but not quite intelligent enough to avoid Thirax' wards. Without opening his eyes, Thirax inhaled long and slow trying to determine what had entered his domain. After a few moments his eyes popped open in surprise.

"A vampire?" Thirax' curiosity was immediately peaked. Another long breath and Thirax realized that this vampire was young as well. Thirax closed his eyes again and waited for his guest to arrive. Some moments later, a small creature, at least small by Thirax' standards, tumbled into his antechamber with a curse. Thirax opened his eye closer to that chamber and found what appeared to be a young man, dressed mostly in black, rubbing his posterior and grumbling to himself.

"Ow ow ow," the vampire repeated. Thirax almost smiled, but chose not to move to better determine what this vampire was interested in. After a moment, the young man reached into a pocket and pulled out a very detailed map of Thirax' lair. The old dragon couldn't remember ever authorizing such a map. He made a note to find out who had mapped his home so thoroughly.

"There be dragon here, huh?" the vampire commented to the map. After looking around the large cavern that Thirax made his home very carefully, he turned back to the map with a grumble. "Dragon here my ass. Unless he's in disguise as a rock, he's not here. Well, maybe I followed the directions wrong." The young vampire sat spread the map in front of him and began to carefully inspect the map and his path through the caverns.

Thirax took the opportunity to pick his head up from the ground and snake his long neck behind the vampire to get a better look at the map. The vampire didn't notice the stealthy and conveniently rock colored dragon move whatsoever. Both creatures sat inspecting the map for a moment. Then Thirax tired of waiting and openly adjusted to a more comfortable speaking position. Oddly the vampire did not notice that either. Thirax sighed a long deep sigh, and that did get a reaction of the vampire glancing around with eyebrow raised. The young man still did not see Thirax.

"What is it you want?" Thirax asked aloud the best he could manage English through his ill suited mouth. Speaking directly in the young man's mind might have been more polite, but Thirax did not yet know if he could trust the vampire with that simple contact.

"Yip!" came the rather comical reply as the vampire tried to jump up, slipped on some gravel, fell down, rolled around for a moment before scrambling backwards into a large rock while gazing upon Thirax in all his glory. The dragon tried not to let his lips twist in amusement as he was certain the expression would seem much more threatening than he intended, but this amusing young man was too much.

"Where the hell did you come from?" the vampire asked gasping, one hand on his chest.

"There be dragons here indeed," Thirax spoke aloud again, chuckling. "Your map is very accurate."

"How in the hell did I not notice a two hundred foot long dragon?" The vampire was still gaping at the massive dragon.

"We dragons have lived for thousands of years. If it were so easy to find us, don't you think that more anti-dragon crusaders would have killed more of us?" Thirax asked of the vampire.

"Oh... That makes sense," the young man blinked a few times. "Still, you're bloody huge and I somehow missed that. Makes me feel a little silly."

"You're a bit less melodramatic than some of your kind, I note," Thirax smiled at the young vampire.

"Uh, thanks? I guess?" Thirax had not often met a vampire who seemed to honest and simple. This was a nice change from the usual by the ancient dragon's estimation.

"You were telling me why you were here?" Thirax prompted, speaking in the vampire's mind for the sake of simplicity.

"Oh yeah, right. That," the young man hemmed and hawed a bit. Thirax peered at the little man for a moment before figuring out what the young vampire was working towards.

"You are unhappy being a vampire?" Thirax asked.

"Well, no," the young man said. "Not exactly. I mean, there are some very interesting aspects of this new nature of mine. But I could see certain downsides. I never really disliked the sun, and the idea of never seeing it again is a little troublesome."

"I see," the ancient dragon nodded sagely.

"I've more or less gotten past that, but I wonder sometimes, if some vampires don't make mistakes of who they turn," the vampire looked to one side, as if embarassed.

"Mistakes?" Thirax asked curling his tail into an even more comfortable position. Then his eyes shot wide with surprise. "You are not here for yourself!"

"Uh... no, I'm not," the young man admittted.

"You turned someone who now wishes it had not happened?" Thirax asked carefully.

"No! God no!" The young vampire seemed disgusted at the very notion.

"Good," Thirax growled. "One thing long agreed upon by dragons and vampires alike is that no one, no one, will ever be turned against their will. A long standing treaty between us and your kind is that any vampire found to have turned another against their will is to be killed immediately."

"Hey, I didn't turn anybody!" Oddly enough the vampire had enough courage to growl back at Thirax. The ancient dragon relaxed and flipped his tail lazily.

"I believe you," he nodded slightly in supplication. The young man relaxed.

"I don't think anybody has been turned entirely against his will," the young vampire explained. "It's just, this friend of mine, doesn't seem to be adjusting well. It's hard to watch him struggle. I just want to find out if there is any way to help him... well..."

"To turn him from a vampire back to the human he once was?" Thirax suggested.

"No one I've talked to yet has ever even heard of it being done successfully," the young man nodded. "The best suggestion I got was to ask the wisest dragon I could find for help." Thirax smiled slightly.

"By wisest, of course, you mean oldest," the ancient dragon chuckled softly. When the young vampire grimaced, Thirax lifted a clawed hand to calm him. "I take no offence. And whoever suggested you seek me out was wise indeed. I know many things. However, I cannot help you." The young man's face fell.

"I guess I'm probably not the first person to ask you this, am I?" he asked sadly. Thirax shook his head.

"There is a reason why every vampire made is told to choose so carefully who they turn should they choose to turn anyone," Thirax told his guest. The young vampire frowned.

"Who tells who what now?" the young man seemed confused.

"Do you mean to tell me you were not told this?" Thirax' jaw dropped open.

"No, I figured out on my own that most people couldn't handle the change?" the young vampire replied. Then he recoiled as Thirax growled.

"The treaty has been broken!" Thirax felt rage growing within him. Long had he hated the manipulative nature of men; in the vampires of old it seemed to be intensified which is why Thirax and other leaders of the dragon clans had created the treaty with the few remaining vampires.

"Eep!" the young vampire backed away from Tirax' obvious rage with the eerie speed that only vampires are capable of. Thirax seethed, but calmed himself for the sake of his guest.

"Please, do not be alarmed," Thirax called to the young man currently hidden behind a large rock. "My anger is not directed at you. You could not have broken a treaty that you were never told of."

"What the hell treaty are you talking about?" the now much fiercer looking vampire demanded. "It's not like there's any kind of leadership among vampires. We're all on our own out here!"

"Who was it that turned you?" Thirax asked after a moment's pause.

"I'm... not really sure," the vampire admitted.

"WHAT?" Thirax roared surging to his feet, his tail lashing in rage. "YOU WERE TURNED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION?" With this latest outburst the young vampire slipped into the shadows. Thirax had to vent his rage and uttered a prolonged earth-shattering roar. The entire cavern rumbled as Thirax' tale lashed from wall to wall, crushing the rocks it encountered. Unable to hold back the ancient dragon unleashed a hellish blast of fire away from where the vampire had disappeared. The farthest wall melted to slag within seconds. Slowly the entire chamber began to crumble, the ceiling begining to fall. Thirax calmed himself and repaired the damage, calling upon his powers over the earth. Within a few seconds the cavern returned to its original state. Thirax stood and breathed slowly, his tail seething back and forth deceptively languidly.

"You can come out again, young vampire, my anger is once again under control," Thirax announced to the room. When there was no immediate reply, Thirax smiled. "I know that you are still here. I can smell you, even in the shadows." A moment later the wide-eyed young vampire stepped out of the shadows near where he entered the cave.

"Please, I did not mean frighten you," Thirax appologized. "Long have I hated those creatures that would maniuplate others. Vampires have long been tempted to use their powers in such ways. The treaty exists for a reason. The last time it was broken, nearly every vampire in the world was killed, and a fair number of my brethren did not survive the experience."

"So what does this mean for me?" the young man asked nervously. Thirax eyes narrowed.

"We are going to find your ascendant..."