So, yeah it's been a while. It really is a shame. I had such high hopes for this story when I started writing it and then the incident (which is how I will be referring to season 6 from now on) happened. I am continuing this story for YOU! Please enjoy. I will not let this die (or it won't die as I have tried to kill it several times over the past few months), because many of you are interested in this story and I don't want to disappoint you.

A/N I'm supposed to say I don't own anything, which is ok, because I don't.

15 minutes before Tara left for the war…

Tara crept into the Pam's closet and decided to observe the blonde a moment before she announced herself.

She was sitting stiffly on a small couch at the far end of the room. Pam had something in her hand that she stared at and rubbed between her fingers.

"We should probably close the bond while you're away." Pam's voice startled her progeny even though it wasn't more than a whisper. Sapphire orbs raised and locked with their brown counterparts. A slight smile graced pink lips, but it wasn't sincere. "It might make it easier." Pamela tried to hold onto her sadness, so it wouldn't seep into the bond they shared.

Tara walked over to her maker who had changed out of her night gown and into something more appropriate for the royal guest. She sat next to Pam and the blonde molded into her. She sighed into the nook that she knew she would mourn losing until Tara returned.

"I don't think anything will make this easier." The young vampire was conflicted. She wanted to fight. She needed to fight, but she couldn't fathom leaving her love after everything.

Pam sighed. "How long do we have?"

"We leave in 15 minutes."

"Oh."

Tara tightened her hold on her maker and in turn, Pam scooted further into her nook.

It was several moments before either of them spoke. The older vampire was the first to break the silence, realizing that there were things that needed to be said.

"Did you ask me to marry you because of the war, because you were going away?" Pamela was unsure and Tara felt it in the tether between them.

"Nope," her child gave her a mischievous grin. "I'm marrying you for your money." Tara chuckled, but her maker wasn't amused. Tara sighed, she knew this would not be the last time her maker would asked. She estimated that she would be answer this question up until the alter. Perhaps at 'I do' she would be convinced. Until then, Tara would appease her. "I asked you because I love you and want to spend eternity with you." There was no doubt in her words and she was sure in her gaze as well. "Did you say yes because of the war?"

Pamela straightened and looked at Tara as if offended. "I said yes, because I love you and I've never loved anyone." She looked down. "Not like this."

Her progeny fluttered inside her chest and Pam had to close her eyes, because the feeling was too intense. This was happiness. This was bliss, but it was temporary – like every other happiness she had ever known. It would end once Tara began to fight. The blonde couldn't handle Tara's pain and fear surging through her. Especially if there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She placed her hand on her progeny's chest. "We should close the bond while you're away." This time the blonde said it with purpose. Tara needed to focus and she wouldn't be able to do that with Pam and her feelings running around inside of her. "I wouldn't… I just couldn't" There was no way of wording it so she didn't sound weak. The frustration manifested itself in the way of small drops of blood that gathered in the blonde's eyes. "I don't want to feel you while you're at war."

Tara understood. "Ok." They shut down their ends.

Pamela gasped as the spot that housed her progeny suddenly became vacant. She brought both her hands to Tara's face and kissed her softly. "You're going to be alright."

"Yeah Barbie, but will you?"

Pamela frowned. "I told you not to call me that."

Tara smiled and pulled her close. "I know." She took her maker's hand. "What's this?" She ran her fingers across the gold pendant in Pam's hand.

"It's from when I was a human." It was the first thing other than food or shelter that she spent any of her hard earned money on after she left Grant. It took her a while to save enough to warrant frivolous spending, but it meant a lot to her. It was a symbol of her independence and she cherished it. "I thought you might like to have it." Pam looked at her child then. "To take with you."

Tara smiled. "I would like that."

Pam sat up and pushed aside Tara's collar. She positioned the broach over her heart and pinned it to the fabric of her bra. She covered it with her hand. "There, now you won't lose it." Her eyes began to take on a familiar red hue. She sniffed and a tear fell. "I used to take it out when I felt frightened or lost. It reminds me that I can be strong." She looked into Tara. "I want it to remind you that I love you. All my strength, all of my love is going with you."

Tara couldn't help herself. She kissed her maker and Pam deepened it. She realized suddenly that this was the last time she would see this Tara. War would change her. There was no doubt about it. She wanted to make love to this Tara. This was the woman she had fallen in love with. She didn't know what would come back to her.

The need and the want joined hands and caused the blonde to straddle her young vampire in a move that could be interpreted as nothing but seduction. Pamela had plans for their remaining minutes together. Alabaster fingers began to unbutton the shirt that Tara had thrown on when their guests arrived.

Even without the bond, Tara could sense it. She wanted Pam too, but not like this. For a brief moment she considered taking Pamela just like this, but she stopped herself. She grabbed Pam and pulled away from her lips. "What are you doing?" There wasn't any anger in her words, but Pam knew she was serious.

"I'm giving you a proper send off." Pam kissed her again.

Tara broke away, but not as suddenly this time. "What's that saying? Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"

Through hooded eyes, Pam met Tara's gaze. She raised her left hand and used her thumb to fiddle with the ring that had returned to her. "You put a down payment on the cow, the milk is yours." She covered Tara's mouth with more force this time and her hands traveled down Tara's stomach and settle at the button of her pants.

Tara jumped up and Pam did as well.

"What's the fucking problem? Don't you want to?!" It was a mixture of need and frustration that the blonde spoke with.

Tara tried to laugh it off, so Pam wouldn't know just how close she was to getting what she wanted. "There's like no time. Don't get your panties in a twist."

Pam smirked and lifted the hem of her skirt to step out of her lace underwear. Tara swallowed hard as Pam walked up to her. The blonde tucked her knickers into Tara's shirt pocket and leaned into her ear. "Problem solved." It was her seductive drawl and Tara stood still. Pam sported a victorious grin. "We're vampires; we can do it really fast."

As appetizing as the proposition was Tara thought it best to stop this train before it got away from her. Pam was clearly good to go and if Tara didn't say something now, she would regret it. She brought her hand to Pam's face and she stopped pulling at her progeny's clothes.

Tara looked at her and saw her without the bond and without the mask of seduction that was her go-to mechanism when she couldn't handle her emotions. She smiled at her maker knowingly. "I know you're scared."

Pam froze.

Tara continued and her voice was just as soft. "I'm coming back to you. I promise. But I would rather have the hope of worshipping your body the way it should be than the memory of a quickie in your closet. Give me something to come back to."

Pamela let go and her tears came quickly. "I don't want you to go."

"I know..." Tara wrapped her arms around her maker. "But I have to go save the world."

"Fuck the world." Pam pouted.

Tara kissed her gently, but surely. She didn't want to stir things up, she just want Pam to know she loved her. She led them into the bedroom and sat in her oversized chair. The blonde settled back into her home beneath Tara's chin.

They stayed like this until Eric came to take her.

Pam stayed in her room with the door locked the rest of the night. When Eric came, she sent him away. When Jessica came, she sent her away.

When Lafayette came, she sent him away, too, but not before he informed her that, 'bitch, I will be staying until Tara gets back.' He walked off muttering something about 'Barbie-sitting.' He had promised Tara to look after Pam while she was away. He didn't know why, but for some reason Tara was convinced that the two of them would get along. He tried to remind her that Pam had tried to kill him on several occasions, but she shrugged it off saying 'She tried to kill me too and we're engaged.'

Pamela tried to die peaceful in their bed that morning, but she couldn't.

An hour after sunrise, she grabbed Tara's pillow, found Tara's coffin in the storage room downstairs and retreated to the dungeon, where she would spend every day they were apart.

XXX

Pam stared at the roof of Tara's coffin. She was pissed. No, pissed was an understatement, she was livid.

There hadn't been anything in the three months since Tara left, maybe a few trimmers when she was fighting or feeding, but nothing like this. The blonde braced herself.

She didn't like being forced awake.

Pam puffed out an anxious breath and focused on counting the threads in the satin cover of the wooden box she laid in. When she reached 1,493 she pushed open the lid and sat up. Counting hadn't helped the last ten days and apparently it wouldn't work today either. That and a confined space that smelled like the person you loved while the orgasm they were having with someone else ripped through you was not ideal.

Pam climbed out of the box and closed the lid. She paced and let out an exasperated breath. Breathing – that was another thing Tara had done to her – she had turned her into a fucking breather. The blonde rolled her eyes, gripping the sides of the coffin. She tapped her foot. Hopefully it would be over soon. Luckily, Tara was half a world away, so her nightly activities occurred while Pam was sequestered in the sound proof dungeon with her progeny's coffin. She was able to stew in private.

Pamela wasn't exactly jealous. It wasn't like she didn't know what to expect. She knew better than anyone what vampire politics were. And war was nothing but vampire politics on Viagra. Blood and violence led to a lot of horny vamps, factor in Tara's age and debauchery was a foregone conclusion.

Pamela rolled her eyes. If only that was the issue. She could deal with customary victory orgies and blood induced depravity, but this was consistent and becoming habitual. More importantly it was the same kind of fucking, which meant it was most likely the same vampire. Tara had a companion. It was unsettling to say the least.

Ok, maybe she was a bit jealous. The blonde was back to wearing velour and sleeping in a box for no other reason than it smelled like her progeny. But Tara was out fucking her way around the globe. This was not an exaggeration. Assuming Tara fucked around the same time every day, she had crossed at least 3 times zones since the bond roared to life over a week ago.

Pam's fangs descended without her permission. She growled deep in her chest before she retracted them. They reappear seconds later.

"Damn it, Tara!" They'd spent 4 months with little more than heavy petting and now –

Pamela groaned and clutched her chest. There was the pain that so often accompanied the pleasure. It had to be silver. Nothing else stung like this. She turned and slid down the side of the wooden casket. She cried out in pain again and a tear fell. Or was it the bleeds? She touched her face. It was both.

She ran her fingers through her locks and rested her elbows on her knees.

This feeling was familiar – the precise ratio of pain and pleasure. Pam had only experienced it once in her life and it hadn't ended well, but she had drowned in it while she had the chance. It was a combination that was so specific to the blonde it startled her. There was only one person capable of such a feat.

"Cassandra."

XXXXX

A little over three decades ago… (Early 80's if you're counting)

A vampire several years older than Pam led her roughly down an elaborate hallway. Velvet tapestries hung in rows and the place smelled of cinnamon. The creature pulling her along wasn't happy about the blonde's behavior. That was obvious. Pam suspected that her kidnapper had thought it would be easy to take her, but it wasn't. That brought a slow smile to the blonde's face.

The woman who took her was attractive and ancient; she could tell by the way she carried herself. This vampire had been someone in her human life, the refinement that she wore so effortlessly had to be groomed into you. It couldn't be taught nor could it be erased. Pamela knew this well – her time as a whore had done nothing to dim her elegant upbringing. She had black hair and a gold chain dangled a red jewel in the center of her forehead. Her skin was a dark, almost too dark for her features and her eyes were severe thanks to the thick black ink that lined them.

Pamela was brought into a room and placed in a chair. Her arms were bound with silver cuffs and her hair was in disarray from the struggle. She wore a simple but fitted dress that accentuated her breast and hugged her hips. She was on her way out, before she was interrupted. Even so, the dress hadn't been disturbed during the recent turn of events. She had to remain appealing or this wouldn't work.

Once she was seated the vampire that brought her waited, keeping Pam in place with a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Why is she bound?" A soft voice came at her from behind. Pamela started a little; she hadn't seen anyone in the room when she entered.

The vampire who held her shouted. "She tried to stake me!"

Pam smirked then purred, "Oh, and I thought we were having fun." She licked at the blood that still hung from her bottom lip, a small price to pay.

The vampire behind her came into view. She had burgundy hair that hung long in soft curls. Her skin was smooth, deep caramel that glowed like it had been kissed by the sun. It was a striking contract to her violet eyes. Pam had to look twice; she had never seen eyes like that. The vampire's frame and the deep purple gown she wore brought out her gaze. It spoke of a different time, a time that Pamela had only read about. The robe was closed by a small silver clasp on the right side, but fabric didn't quite meet causing a slit that exposed a toned thigh up to the woman's hip bone. Pamela swallowed softly and focused on the silver clasp – why would a vampire knowingly wear silver? The ring her mother gave her was silver, but she had sealed it once she was turned. This was pure silver.

The mysterious woman looked to the vampire who had delivered Pamela with a disappointed glare. "That will be all, Cleo." She approached the blonde who was seated at a large gold table. "I apologize for the force. I only wished to talk to you, but Cleo has always been eager to please. As I'm sure you are with your maker." She offered an unassuming smile, but Pamela wasn't fooled. She had been warned.

Pam just glared.

"Aren't you going to ask who I am?"

"You're the bitch that had me bound and brought to you for a 'talk.'" Pam spit out with no concern for her predicament.

"Of course." She reached for Pam's arm, but the blonde jerked away.

"You don't have permission to touch me."

At this the older vampire laughed. "I'm thousands of years older than you. You think I need permission?" She reached for the blonde again, but Pam retreated again. "Very well." She looked pleased. "Are you hungry? You must be famished after your little …tussle." She didn't wait for an answer; she walked over to a decanter filled with a crimson liquid. She poured two glasses and set them on the table, before returning to Pamela's side. "I'm Cassandra."

She cast her violet eyes that seemed to be smiling on the young vampire before her. "The silver doesn't bother you?"

Pamela glared at her, but didn't speak.

Cassandra nodded and the corner of her lips turned up. She was intrigued. "You know what I think? I think you like it."

Pamela's fangs descended and she lunged, but Cassandra caught her with little effort. "Perhaps Cleo was not wrong to restrain you." Pam struggled. Cassandra slammed her back into her chair. "Now, you may not know me, but I know you well." Pamela's eyes shot up. "Oh, that's got your attention. Has it?" She took a sip from one of the glasses. "You've made a name for yourself in the past four score."

Pamela tried to hide the confused look on her face. Angelina had only mentioned that Cassandra would take her and that she was to find out what she could, but this vampire spoke as if they had a history.

"I've been following your career." Cassandra sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. The purple garment she wore slipped open and Pamela got a full view of the older vampires sepia limbs. She was barefoot. "You're the Queen's whore."

"I am not a whore!" Pamela shot up again and Cassandra caught her again.

Once Pamela stopped struggling, the older vampire placed her gently in her chair. Pam stewed in front of her. Cassandra waited until she had her full attention. "You're right. Whore's fuck to feed themselves. You fuck so the Queen can maintain her thrown." Her once sultry voice was dripping with distain.

Anger wouldn't help her, Pamela reminded herself and forced her face to softened. She batted her lashes and spoke in a seductive tone. "If you are asking if I fuck the Queen, the answer is yes." She shrugged as if it were nothing and continued with an air of nonchalance. "When I feel like it. If you are asking if she asks favors of me, the answer is yes. When I feel like it. Have these favors benefited her, yes, but my decisions are my decisions and the Queen knows that she has no dominion over me or my body." Cassandra was pleased by the blonde's little speech. "But you already knew that."

Pam lowered her voice until her words were dripping with sex. "So, why have you brought me here?" Pamela raised her bound hands to the table top. The silver rubbed her skin. She inhaled through clenched teeth and her eyes fluttered for a moment, just long enough for Cassandra to recognize the reaction.

"You do like it. The silver."

"It's not completely unbearable." Pam shrugged and relaxed in her chair.

"It brings you pleasure, the pain?" Cassandra licked her lips. She looked down at the silver locks that restricted the blonde. She ran her finger across them and a slight moan escaped her parted lips as her finger tips sizzled.

Pamela's eyes narrowed.

"I can give you pleasure, Pamela. With or without pain." She reached for the blonde's face, grateful that she didn't pull away this time. She lowered her hand to the cuffs and was almost kind. "If I remove these, you will not run." It was a statement and not a question. "I am stronger and faster than you. It would be foolish and I would not hesitate to kill you."

Pamela wasn't a fool. She knew Cassandra was ruthless and would do exactly as she said. This vampire was a killer, but there was something else about her. Something that soothed the blonde. "I won't run."

Cassandra knelt before her and Pamela placed her hands in her lap. Cassandra traced the outline on the lock slowly, relishing the feel of the silver on her skin. She grasped the lock just so without touching the alabaster limbs that were contained and it popped. Pamela gasped. Her wrists were raw.

Cassandra lowered her head and her fangs descended. Pamela tensed. The older vampire looked up at her with a reassuring gaze. "I promise not to touch." She punctured her tongue and hovered above the blonde's injuries so a few crimson drops landed on the exposed flesh. Slowly Pamela began to heal.

Cassandra caught the smell of the arousal that emanated from the younger vampire in great waves. She chuckled. "It's not the pain, you know. It's the anticipation of the moment the pain ceases. That's where the pleasure lies." She had spent over millennia walking this earth. She knew that most vampires, while sadistic couldn't tolerate silver. The proclivity for this sort of torture had to be learned as a human. Cassandra was intrigued.

"I swore I wouldn't circum to you. Vampires tend to fall at your feet." She lowered her gaze to her current position at the blonde's feet. "But it would seem I've found myself in a similar predicament." The smile she gave Pam was a soft one.

Pamela fidgeted slightly.

Cassandra stood. "I had you brought here to speak to you, to find out about you." Her violet eyes locked with Pamela's azure ones. "The Queen's secret weapon."

"Are you jealous, Cassandra?" Pamela let a slow smile crawl across her lips.

"You're trying to upset me."

"Am I?" Pamela reached for her glass and drank.

Cassandra smiled in return. "Are you?"

"Perhaps."

"You have no idea who I am or why I've brought you here, yet you challenge me?" Cassandra sipped from her own glass. "You are either very brave or very foolish."

"Actually, I'm bored. Is there something you would like to say?" Pamela tapped her glass impatiently. "You seem very adamant that I know who you are, so why don't we start there?"

Cassandra shook her head; she was beginning to feel something for the creature in front of her. "Your Queen sits on a thrown that should have been mine. It would have been mine."

Pamela understood and was upset that Angelina hadn't told her before. She did have a history with this woman.

Cassandra sighed. "It would have been mine, if you hadn't swayed the allegiance of a certain monarch, tipping the scale in your beloved Sappho's favor."

Pamela's eyes grew wide, but only slightly. The situation was more dangerous than she thought. Had the Queen sent her to be slaughtered or did she really not care either way as long as she got what she wanted?

Cassandra saw the small change in the blonde. So far she was able to pick up on subtle clues that Pamela thought she could control. "Calm yourself child. If I were going to kill you, I would have done it ages ago."

Once she was sure that Pamela was at ease, she began again. "We are alike, you and I. Both whores in our human life –" Pamela gasped. The fact that she had been a whore was not common knowledge. "You're shocked. Don't be. It wasn't difficult to find out. There were still people alive who remembered you, when I began searching." She looked the blonde up and down. "You leave quite an impression."

Pamela was overwhelmed by the amount of new information she had. She wanted to know more about this woman who had taken her. "You were a –"

"A slave really, for Pharaoh to do with as he pleased." Her jaw tightened slightly, but Pamela saw it. "They say the Romans were ruthless, but the Greeks and the Egyptians were worse. Ptolemy was both."

Cassandra smiled. "Most people speak their thoughts and never come close to experiencing their bodies. We are different. We were forced to speak with our bodies and reserve our thoughts."

Cassandra's words touched a place in Pamela that she hid, a place she didn't let her mind take her. "You know she's using you, yet you let her."

Pamela didn't get angry. The Queen was using her. Instead, she slowly slid out of her seat and knelt before Cassandra. She only barely grazed her leg as her hand traveled up the older vampire's leg. Pam could smell older vampire's arousal pooling. "You hate her." The younger vampire dropped her head and let her lips meet the inside of Cassandra thigh.

"She made me. I cannot hate her." Cassandra gently placed her hand under the blonde's chin and lifted her face. Pamela's mouth hung open and the older vampire brushed away strands of her hair. "You are not a whore anymore, Pamela. I did not ask you here to service me."

Cassandra blurred them to the ground. She hovered above Pam and chuckled. "But I can give you pleasure and pain, if you wish."

Cassandra lowered herself so that she rested flush against her guest. She brought her lips to the younger vampire's ear and whispered. "Would you like me to give you the pain and the pleasure, Pamela?"

She had allowed herself to be taken, in order to get close to Cassandra. It was what was asked of her. She had come at the behest of her Queen, another favor to add to the list – the last one. This time the queen needed information. Pamela had expected to bed the vampire in front of her to get it. What she didn't expect was the anticipation she now felt. It was excitement and she didn't get excited about the 'errands' she ran for the Queen.

Pamela simply nodded.

Cassandra smiled. "I should warn you. You won't get what you came here for."

"You brought me here."

"Sappho is my maker. Her blood flows through me. I can't help but know her." She cupped Pam's cheek. "She knows I'm planning something and that I have a weakness for broken things." Slowly the older vampire leaned in to the blonde's ear and whispered, "You are lovely, but broken. That's how she needs you."

Pamela didn't speak, she couldn't. So, she let Cassandra continue. "I may have taken you, but she told you I would come, didn't she?" The blonde nodded. "And she told you to find out what you could." Again the girl nodded. "You won't get it, but my earlier offer still stands."

Pamela held the older vampire's gaze for a moment, before letting herself go. This would be her last favor for the Queen and she would fail...willingly.

As always reviews are not required, but greatly appreciated :)