Fran checked the horizon. First light. All the nasty little night creatures would be scurrying back to their coffins. She ignored the growing smell of petrol fumes and checked on the baby. The poor thing probably needed feeding, so she searched around in the case until she found the powdered milk and mixed it with a little mineral water. The result was room temperature, but the baby seemed happy enough, her tiny teeth champing on the end of the bottle.

"Bit of a give-away, that, sweetheart. Not to worry, my teeth were just the same. You know, you need a name. What shall it be?"

The baby gurgled, and her very blue eyes glowed softly. Fran chuckled.

"Yes Fynn's eyes do the same thing when he's happy. And at other times, but you're too young to hear about that. Come on, then, Amanda, let's have a go at burping you, hmm?"

"Amanda? You're going to call the Last Enchantress Amanda?" Fynn waggled his fingers at the baby through the window.

"We're supposed to be hiding her, yes? Names have power, Fynn, you know that. We'll give her Amanda to be working with, and then she'll choose a soul's name later on."

"All right." Fynn got in the car. "If you know someone's true name, you can steal away their souls. I know yours, I think, but you've never asked mine."

Fran smiled. "Don't I have your soul already?"

"You do. But I do have you at a disadvantage. I remember- the car stalled."

"What?"

"One the way to the final hospital. The car stalled. When I got there the vampires were all around you. And you didn't look scared. You were just waiting to see what they would do. I never thought- before then, it never occurred to me that you could die."

Fran didn't know what to say. As she remembered it, she'd been petrified. Placing Amanda on the back seat, she just held onto Fynn for a while. His heart was a little faster than normal, but she sort of tangled herself around the gearstick, and began to stroke his back. He sighed happily, and began to kiss her neck. He paused over the two little puncture wounds, even the scars long faded.

"Hey, Fran, are you going to turn into a vamp?"

"Hmm? Oh, I forgot. No, dear, we don't get turned. Come on, let's get out of here."

Finally, she took a calculated risk. Pulling over, she took out her cellphone, followed by a little card, and dialled the number on it.

Riarté answered on the third ring. "Is she safe?"

"Hello, how are you? I'm fine."

"Don't mess around, Francesca, we all know how important this is."

"We are all fine. Look, what do I do with her? What can I expect? There's never been a baby like her before, not that I'd know what to do with a human one anyway."

There was a pause. "Fran, I don't know these things. You were taken away too young. Call your parents."

"Anyone I call is in danger. At least you can handle yourself."

"Oh, thank you. And Francesca?"

"Yes?"

"Behind you." Riarté hung up.

Fran checked the rear-view mirror, and cursed. Nothing can move as silently as a vampire. Or two vampires, in this case. Fran picked up the fire axe, then paused. Pick up axe, switch off brain. There had to be a better way.

The two vampires regarded the enchantress warily. She'd dropped that perfectly good axe as though it wasn't good enough, which meant that she'd probably come up with something really imaginative. They turned to run- then fell forward as their knees suddenly locked in position.

"We're dead now," grumbled the taller one, Hugh.

"Yes," said Glen brightly, "But we've been dead for years already, so technically we've not lost anything."

"Good point, that vamp." Fran knelt down to eye level. "Come on, lads, what's going on? It's not like you lot to hunt in packs."

Hugh shrugged. "Not our choice, miss. It's like, well, we have this itch in the centre of our minds, right? And that itch tells us things. It wants your baby tracked, that's for sure."

"All this for an itch?"

Glen sighed. "It's sort of, well, part of our beliefs."

"Beliefs? You're religious vampires?"

"No! But we know stuff, Like in the olden days. Don't forget, some of us were around then. Humans were granted monarchy of the day, vampires monarchy of the night. Anyone who stepped out of the bounds was either eaten or vaporised. And the fulcrum of this balance was the enchanter. Well, the humans forgot, as humans do, and made their candles and gaslamps and electric bulbs, and tipped the balance until it creaked. Somehow, the creak in the ear became an itch in the mind."

"And now someone's using it to control vampirekind. That's horrific. Who is it? Some kind of demon?"

"Fran!" Fynn stuck his head out of the window. The two vampires looked at each other.

"And that," sighed Glen, "is why I gave up on the whole boy-girl thing."

"Glen, you gave up on the whole boy-girl thing because that last girl you were with- well, she wasn't exactly a morning person."

"Beautiful fangs, though," said Glen wistfully.

Fran had always wondered about that. She just had this mental image of Glen and Hugh nudging each other and muttering "Get a load of the jugular on that one!" She left the two vampires to their reminiscences, and went whistling back to the car.

Grey skies became endless rain, beating fractal rhythms against the bodywork of the car. Flat land and a huge bridge gave way to endless hills, and Fran learned the art of driving up and down without slamming the car back onto the road too fast. For navigation, she trusted Fynn's quiet instructions, even though she was convinced that they were going in zigzags. What was clear was that they were going north and west, deep into the heart of Wales.

© Naomi 'Ni' Claydon 2000. No copying without permission.