DISCLAIMER: If you know them and love them (or hate them), they aren't mine. If you don't know 'em, they are.
DISTRIBUTION: If you would like permission to archive this story, please email: mydestinyfic@yahoo.com.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first attempt at an XFic. If you don't like it, don't read it. I'd like to thank the ladies of the WXF for their support and encouragement. Special thanks to Albertina, Chase and Joanne for beta'ing this for me. Big sloppy baby kisses to Cyn and baby Nicky for their special brand of ego-boostin'. And, finally, if you like it, please let me know. I've already got a few sequels spinning in my brain. Eve and Logan will not be stopped.
SPECIAL NOTE: Look Ma, all that thesis research came in handy for something!
"Professor, we really have to do something about science class," Jean said as she walked into the study without bothering to knock. "Tommy Irwin was creating holographic images of the female reproductive system, again!" She looked frazzled. Early morning lectures tended to have a negative influence on the children.
Xavier grinned. Tommy Irwin was one of his most gifted pupils. Unfortunately, he also happened to be one of the most mischievous too.
"I'll speak with him later this afternoon, Jean. They all go through a stage when they abuse their powers. I needn't remind you of that."
Jean blushed, remembering her experience with the trials and tribulations of growing up with a gift.
Dropping into the chair to Logan's right, she smiled.
"You're up awfully early this morning."
Logan nodded.
"The Professor had something he wanted to show me."
"Ahh," she said, standing to greet Scott as he and Storm walked into the room.
Logan turned his attention back to the woman in the corner. She stood there, absolutely still, soaking in the scene before her. Her hands were loosely clasped at her waist. Her expressionless face reminded him of a shark or a preying mantis right before it kills.
He looked at the others. Clueless, utterly clueless. If this was a test, the Professor wasn't going to be happy with the results.
Logan nodded at Scott as he sat down beside Jean on the short leather couch located on the far side of the coffee table. Once Scott had realized that Logan did not intend to act upon his attraction for Jean, their dislike for one another had weakened, marginally. They now managed to tolerate one another for short periods of time.
Storm stood by the door speaking to the Professor in hushed tones. She grasped his hands briefly before walking back into the corridor, shutting the door behind her.
The Professor turned to the small group seated in front of his desk.
"Apparently, there is quite a large fire somewhere in East Africa," he said, rolling toward the group. "Storm has gone to see what she can do to prevent it from spreading. I've promised to use Cerebro to help monitor the situation from here."
"Do you think we should go?" Scott asked. "Classes are done for the day."
Xavier shook his head.
"No, I'm certain she'll be fine. She'll call if she is in need of assistance."
Scott nodded, confident in the Professor's assessment of the situation.
Xavier cleared his throat.
"I had hoped to have you all here for this, but I see that is impossible. It can't wait; so, we'll just go on without Storm."
Jean looked concerned. There was a ragged edge to the Professor's voice that hinted at his exhaustion.
"Professor," she said, "if you're tired we could do this another time."
He shook his head adamantly.
"No, this has waited far too long as it is. If someone hadn't insisted on being so stubborn, we'd be done with this by now."
Both Jean and Scott turned to look at Logan.
"Hey," he said, "why am I the difficult one? Have you looked in the mirror lately one-eye?"
"Children," Xavier said, "behave."
Logan growled. Typical, just typical.
"I called you here because I believe I've found someone who will make an excellent addition to the X-Men. However, before we make any decisions on the matter, I think it's important that we all be on the same page." Jean and Scott exchanged a look. The last addition had completely altered the way the group functioned. They weren't sure they were prepared to go through that again.
"There are some other concerns as well," the Professor said.
Like the fact that she isn't even a damn mutant, Logan thought.
Xavier looked at him for a moment before he continued.
"These are issues we've never dealt with before. Frankly, I've never thought about most of them. My recent travels have uncovered some disturbing news about the human threat to the mutant population. And, I think it is something we must deal with before The Brotherhood learns of it."
"Don't you think it's time," Logan growled, "to introduce your friend over there. Or is she too busy making like a statue?"
Scott and Jean frowned as they turned to follow the direction of Logan's gaze.
Jean gasped as she took in the woman standing only a few feet from the back of the couch. She'd been there the whole time. How could she have missed it?
Logan watched Jean silently berate herself. If he didn't miss his guess, she'd become just as reliant on her powers as he had on his. Can't smell it, so it must not be there. Scott, on the other hand, just looked confused. Then again, he didn't have the same kind of sensory sonar that Logan and Jean shared.
"This," the Professor said, "is Eve."
Logan started as Eve walked across the room. Her walk had more fluid grace than any human being had the right to have. Her joints rolled smoothly like a large cat's, making it appear as though she were gliding across the floor. This was unexpected. He'd figured her for stiff, slow long strides. Logan found himself wishing that her walk across the room would go on forever.
She moved to sit in the chair beside him, the one Jean had vacated when Scott had entered the room. After she settled herself, the stillness returned.
"Please excuse my attire," she said, smiling at the Professor. "I had been asleep when Charles contacted me. I wasn't underground for very long; but, I guess it was long enough. He was referring to me earlier when spoke of someone being stubborn."
Jean frowned.
"There's something-" Jean stopped abruptly. "No, I don't know what it is. There's something different about you, isn't there? I can't get in. There's nothing."
Eve smiled to herself.
Logan could feel smug satisfaction oozing from the woman beside him. She was enjoying herself. She had caught every last one of them off guard, including himself.
"It's been awhile since anyone tried to force themselves in," she said, looking at Xavier. "I wasn't sure I still knew how."
"But-" Jean started before the Professor cut her off.
"Jean, why don't we let Eve tell us about herself."
Jean nodded, obeying his silent request for lenience on the matter. Logan and Scott felt the same request and surrendered to the Professor's whims.
"Eve," he said quietly, "whenever you're ready."
She slowly turned her head to look at him.
"You've told them nothing?"
He shook his head.
"It wouldn't have been right," the Professor said, "it's your story."
Eve nodded.
"To begin, I suppose it is necessary to admit that I am not human nor am I a mutant." She looked at Xavier for strength. "I am something else entirely."
"What kind of something else?" Scott asked quietly.
Eve looked at the man in the ruby lenses.
"My species has been called many things. Varcolac. Vetala. Vrykolatios. Vourdalak. But, perhaps you know us best by our Hungarian name," she said, her lips spreading in a grin, "vampire."
Scott snorted.
"You don't mean to tell me you actually believe all this Professor."
"You think you know so much," Eve spoke before the Professor had a chance to respond. "You have saved the world and now you know everything. You are capable of everything."
Logan bit down on the inside of his lip to prevent a smile from spreading across his face. Sometimes the sanctimonious little shit needed to be put in his place. Usually he felt like it was a part of his job description. This time, however, he was willing to share.
He realized that Eve had stopped ranting and that she was staring at him.
"I don't know why you are feeling so smug," she said. "You are just as convinced that you know everything. I see you two fight. You're like two little boys having a pissing contest. You know better." She hissed the last three words at him.
"Look lady, I don't know where you came from b-"
"Logan," the Professor thundered. "That is enough. You too Scott. I don't want to hear another word. I asked Eve to come here for a reason, and it was not to be disrespected."
Both men swallowed whatever it was that they were going to say; and, the room lapsed into a tense silence.
"As I was saying," Eve glared at both Scott and Logan before continuing, "I am what you would call a vampire. Though, what we are and what you think we are are two entirely different things. Shall I continue?"
The three X-Men nodded.
"Vampirism is far more complex than your religious leaders would have you believe."
Logan's ears perked up as he noted the disgust in Eve's voice at the words "religious leaders". Ahh, he thought, now we're getting to something.
"We are not demons. I do not know of the devil. He did not send me here to wage war with God. We simply belong to another branch on the limb of the evolutionary tree that was responsible for human beings, and yourselves. Some of us, like me, are born to the Great Darkness. We are, what we call full blood."
"There's something else?" Jean asked, the scientist within her coming to life.
"Yes," Eve said with a grim smile, "there are those we call half blood. They are the ones that you are familiar with. Humans and mutants who are not born to the Great Darkness, but who seek it out later in life."
"You said you were born? I thought vampires couldn't reproduce," Jean fired her questions in rapid succession.
"Ahh," Eve said, "you fall into the human trap. You assume too much. If I am sitting here and I am real, then does it not stand to reason that others have come before me. It is they who have paved the path for us; but, I am getting ahead of myself. There are two types of vampires, as I have mentioned. We full blood are the pure genetic continuation of our species. It is only we who are capable of reproduction, though only under specific circumstances. Half blood vampires are always sterile, incapable of carrying on the species in its true form."
Eve could see the questions in Jean's eyes.
"If you give me time," she said with a smile, "I will answer all of your questions."
Jean nodded, confident that this woman would hold nothing from her.
"Full blood children are born without the knowledge of the blood that runs in their veins. They are like all children. You could not tell one from a human being." Eve smiled. "I see your question, doctor, before you even ask it. How do they not know what they are if they must feed? The answer is quite simple. Feeding on blood in large quantities is not necessary. You see, this has been greatly exaggerated by my people for generations. People expect us to wipe out entire continents in the blink of an eye, but that is hardly an efficient thing to do. Killing off the entire food supply would mean the end of us. The truth is, very little blood is necessary. And, human blood is the worst thing for full blood children. Instead, they feed on rare meat. In the past it has almost universally been what was available anyway. We did not have your electric ovens in those days."
Jean grinned.
"When puberty hits, full blood children begin to experience a change in their physiology. It is almost as though their blood calls out to them. It begs them for food. It is at this time that most full blood children feed for the first time. They become their true selves in that moment."
"True selves?" Logan couldn't resist asking the question.
Eve looked at him and nodded.
"When full blood children feed for the first time, they become one with the blood. It is almost as though they have existed in suspended animation. The powers that sleep within us awaken. We become true predators. You have heard of some of these things, flight, healing, enhanced senses. Not at all unlike what you yourself have. But, some children are prevented from becoming."
"Why is that," he said quietly, "seems kind of cruel to me."
Eve smiled bitterly.
"It feels cruel as well."
"You were prevented from -- becoming?"
Eve nodded.
"For the sake of my people, I was saved. You see, there is something that I have not yet told you about the change. When full bloods become, when they drink the blood, they too become sterile. It is God's way. We take life and he takes away our ability to give it. This is why half blood vampires are always sterile. I was saved so that my race would be carried on. I was saved so that I might have children."
"Have you," Jean asked hesitantly, "have you had children?"
Eve shook her head.
"No," she said, "I have yet to find the man. They are not chosen lightly. It requires a very special person to survive the life that we lead. I have been very careful about this. My own father did not make a good mate. It was too hard; he could not accept the life. So, my mother basically raised me alone; he played no active role. It was she who prevented me from feeding, no matter how loudly my body cried out for the blood." Eve grinned derisively. "I must admit that it was not always the easiest thing to do. I was somewhat willful and stubborn. I did not wish to be special. I wanted to be like everyone else. But, my mother would speak of the children that I would have. She would tell me of the way that I held the future of my people in my belly and I would relent. It was too important."
"What happened to her?" The question came from Scott. She could hear the broken heart behind the words.
Eve rose abruptly and walked toward the windows. As she looked out upon the children playing on the lawn, she found the strength to tell the tale.
"My mother is dead, killed by a dying old man in a tall pointed hat."
The three X-Men looked at one another in confusion.
"Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the Pope dispatched warriors from the Vatican. They were charged with the task of finding out if we were real and bringing one of us back alive. The Pope, it seemed, wanted to confirm that we were responsible for the spread of the Plague, which of course we were not. In order to avoid capture, my people were forced underground. We would slow our bodies and lie dormant in the earth for decades at a time.
"Those of us who had been saved were always protected at all costs. We were extremely valuable members of our species and it would have been disastrous if we had been captured. My father led them to us. As I said, he was very weak. They promised to end his life in exchange for ours. Out of sheer luck, or perhaps fate, I was out of the house the day he brought them back. I was with the other saved children, learning the ways of choosing a mate. When I returned to my home, both of my parents were gone."
Eve leaned against the window, pressing her face against the cool glass.
"I learned through relations that my mother had been taken to the Vatican. She had gone willingly in order to protect me from them. They held her for many days, running tests. They tortured her body, mind and spirit. According to one of our sources, the priests discovered that my mother had given birth to a child. They went for the Pope and it was in that moment that she knew she could not let them have her body.
"My mother gave herself to the sun."
"Wh-what do you mean, gave herself?" Scott seemed stunned and more than a little pained by the story.
"We do not die in the way that you do. When full bloods are injured, we simply heal ourselves. The single thing that causes us any pain, is the sun. However, we heal so quickly that it does not generally injure us." She smiled as the sunlight streaming through the window kissed her face. "I will tell you a little secret. It tickles." She became somber again, the smile falling from her lips. "Anyway, we must decide to die before it can happen. We will ourselves into death by walking out into the sun and asking our bodies to stop the healing process. It is our final punishment that our lives are the last we take."
"Some people wouldn't agree with that. Being able to choose when you die could be a gift," Jean said.
Eve nodded.
"It has become so in this time. I do not believe it. However, I am not yet a creature of this Millennium."
"You said she gave herself to the sun, but that wasn't the end, was it?" Logan asked gruffly, already knowing the answer.
"No," she said with a shake of her head, "it never ended. Even without the body, they hunted me. The rest of the children were sacrificed. They became. I was the only one left. I was forced underground, where I stayed for more than one hundred years. You may notice my stillness. It has been remarked upon by many people. It comes from lying so still for so long.
"Ahh, but the worst is yet to come. You may find yourselves wondering why I am here."
"We can keep you safe," Scott said confidently.
"No," Eve said quietly, "that is not why I am here."
She looked at the Professor.
"Would you like to explain the rest?"
He sighed.
"Yes, I suppose I should."
Eve returned to the seat beside Logan, her face turned so she could watch the reactions of all three of the mutants.
"I first heard of Eve's story about three years ago; a few months before we first found you, Logan. I dismissed it as a fairy tale until I heard something rather disturbing. Right around the time that the Senate was in an uproar over the Mutant Registration Act, the Vatican issued a summons. A select, highly-trained group of priests was selected to find a way to rid the world of the mutant threat."
Logan growled. He didn't need to hear anymore.
"They redoubled their efforts to find the vampire child that they had been looking for for centuries. They knew that full blood vampires could not die unless they willed themselves to. In short, they knew they were the only creatures on earth that could act as a natural predator of mutants.
"Their plan was to find and capture Eve; at which time, they hoped to forcibly inseminate her so that she would become pregnant. The- they expected to use her to breed an army of full blood children who, upon reaching adolescence, would slaughter every last mutant on the face of the planet. When I realized that Eve was real, I began hunting for her. I pushed the limits of my abilities; but, I could not hear her anywhere."
"Do you have thoughts? I mean, why can't we hear you?" Jean asked.
Eve smiled.
"You can't hear my thoughts because I haven't let you in."
Jean looked at her, a puzzled expression on her face.
"In order to protect myself and my species, I was taught to," Eve found herself hunting for the right words, "drop a veil over my mind. By shielding everyone out, I have protected my family's secrets for hundreds of years."
"Would you let me-" Jean dropped her hesitant question mid-sentence.
"Not today," Eve said, "there are too many things that have stirred from remembering the past. It is far too dark a place to venture lightly." Eve smiled. "You will want to come back out again in one piece."
Logan shook his head. He could relate.
"Charles."
"Oh," the Professor said, "yes, where was I? Oh yes, I'd been hunting for her. But as you see, she would not let me hear her thoughts. However, she could sense my presence; I think she knew what I wanted. Finally, as I traveled, I resorted to sending out a distress cry. I told her that we were in danger and that I thought I had found a way to permanently end this battle for good. She listened for months before she finally responded. She was -- angry."
Eve grinned bitterly. "That is one way of putting it. You see, I was not happy with what he had to offer me. It was not an attractive bargain. But, after thinking on it for many months, I came to understand that it was the only possible answer."
Logan watched Eve wipe a tear from her cheek surreptitiously as she stood and walked back to the window.
"What's the solution?" he asked grimly.
"It is simple really," she said with a fake smile, "I give up the children."
They all sat in silence, pondering the implications of plan.
"What you're saying," Scott said, his voice raised, "is that you plan on feeding from one of us." He looked at the Professor. "And, you condone this? This was your idea? What if something goes wrong? One of us could die; we all could die! What about the children who live in these walls? What about them?"
He stood and quickly walked toward the door.
"Scott," Xavier exclaimed, "please listen. It's the only way."
"No," he said, "you listen, Professor. You made up your mind months ago. It doesn't matter what we think. You're going to do it anyway; and, I don't want to hear anymore."
He stalked out of the room.
"Jean, will you-" Eve cut the Professor off before he could finish.
"No, Charles, let him go. He is disappointed in me, in you, in all of us right now. He needs time. It hurts him very much that I am giving up the children and that you are willing to help me do it."
Jean looked at her.
"Are you psychic?"
Eve grinned and shook her head.
"No child, I have just lived a long time."
"You never did say who the lucky feedbag was gonna be, or do I really even need to ask," Logan said sarcastically. He was the only logical choice. The only one who stood the chance of surviving.
The Professor nodded. "You're right Logan, I don't need to tell you. You've already thought it through. You're the only option we have. If she feeds slowly enough, your body will be able to replenish itself. Yo-" The professor stopped when he heard a click.
Logan gestured toward the door.
"She left."
Xavier looked around the room. Eve had, in fact, left without saying a word.
"How did you?"
"I heard her. It's not the same as us; she's lighter on her feet. But, I still heard her."
Xavier nodded.
"Now, as I-" the Professor stopped as Logan got up from his chair and padded across the room to the door.
"I hope you don't mind, Professor, but I have to get out of here for a minute. My brain needs a break and my body needs nicotine."
Jean stood.
"I'll walk out with you," she said. "I could use some air myself."
As the two X-Men approached the door, Jean glanced over her shoulder at the Professor. He looked like he had been drained of what little energy he'd managed to sum up over the course of the morning. "We'll be back Professor. Why don't you rest?"
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