CHAPTER 5
 

 "This is where it happened?" Ororo looked out along the tree line of the small park. The place looked innocent enough.

 "Uh huh," came Remy's answer.

 Logan had disappeared within the trees, sniffing around for a scent and Beast had gone out to search the immediate area. Ororo and Gambit were standing at the sight where Remy said he had been jumped.

 "Perhaps if we split up we will find something more quickly," Storm suggested. She wasn't completely certain that Gambit had heard her. He seemed to be far off in his thoughts, and not paying much attention to what she was saying.

 "Remy?"

 "Sorry, Stormy," Remy snapped out of his funk and looked towards her.

 "Do not call me 'Stormy'," she batted his arm.

 "If de name fits, chere," Gambit grinned. Ororo rolled her eyes and headed off to find Logan. It didn't take her long.

 "Hey, Ro!" Wolverine called.

 "What is it, old friend?"

 "What exactly are we lookin' fer, anyhow?" Logan was hunched beside a tree trunk, sitting on his haunches. He peered up questioningly to Ororo.

 "I am not certain. Why?" she brought one hand to light on his shoulder.

 "Somethin' smells funny," he growled softly.

 "Here?"

 "Nah, with Gumbo over there," he waved his hand in the general direction of the clearing where Storm had left Gambit. "He smells ..different."

 "Are you saying that it is not Remy?" Storm asked. The X-men had been fooled by clones, shape shifters, and the like before. The thought that her good friend had been replaced by such a thing was something to make Ororo nervous.

 "Nah, it's the Cajun, alright," Ororo breathed a sigh of relief. Loagn continued, "But his scent's changed an awful lot. Too much, really. Everybody's scent changes as they get older and to where they've been. I 'member when you first brought him to the X-men. Both a'ya smelled like New Orleans somethin' strong, but that faded as you stayed in New York a while. His smell's changed too much, too fast. I think we need ta watch'im."

_____________________________________________________________________________
 

 Remy leaned against a tree and exhaled heavily. The streetlamps were giving off only a minimal of light through the trees and even Remy's sensitive eyes he was having trouble seeing anything beyond the tree line. Gambit began to pace. He felt the same unease as he had before. Something about this place just wasn't right.

 "You need to relax, bro."

 Remy whirled around to face the voice; he knew that voice from somewhere, but his mind was having trouble placing it. He half expected to be attacked again. Instead he found himself facing a man. He was leaning against the oak tree Remy had just been using for a back rest. The man's arms were crossed in front of his chest. Shoulder length blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his bangs nearly obscured his eyes. (For those of you whoo have seen "Interview With A Vampire", this is NOT Tom Cruise!!)

 Who de hell are you?" Gambit demanded, obviously making no attemp to be friendly or polite.

 "Tsk, tsk. I'd have thought that any son of Min's would have more manners than that. To answer your rather rude question, my name is Alex."Alex smiled, revealing a pair of very sharp, very pointed, teeth on either side of his mouth. It was all Remy could do to repress a shiver.

 "Wadda ya want?" Gambit forced the question out of a suddenly dry throat.

 "Oh, just to help you of course. I know something of interest about you, LeBeau. You really should relax, you reek of tension."

 Gambit's psionic abilities were screaming at him again. This man, if that was really what he was, unnerved him for some reason. He couldn't guess why. Gambit resisted the urge to touch the edge of this man's mind. Then something this Alex had said brought itself to his attention.
 
 "Wait a second, son of who?" he narrowed his eyes at Alex.

 "Oh, Minuette. You don't remember her, I'm sure, but she was your mother."

 Alex might as well have smacked him. He stared, disbelieving, at him. He wanted to shrug him off and say that he was a lier. But he couldn't; Remy didn't know who his real parents were. Only his adopted father, Jean-Luc LeBeau. Somehow having Alex say he knew who his mother was made him angry. He didn't like thinking that this complete stranger knew more about Gambit than Gambit did. Then another thing brought itself to attention. He knew where he had heard Alex's voice before.

 "It was you, wasn't it?" he jabbed and accusing finger towards Alex. "You do one who put ya teeth marks on the back a'my neck!"

 "That would be me, yes. You see, I'm a vampire. You are, as well, more or less," Alex uncrossed his arms and took a few steps closer.

 "What *are* you talkin' about?" Remy took a backed away, trying to create a distance betwwent them.

 "Oh dear," Alex gave a dejected sigh. "I'm going to have to go into this long explaination, aren't I."

 <Ain't like you don't do dat, already,> Gambit thought. It seemed that Remy didn't really have to ask any questions. Alex would eventually go into an explaination if he waited.

 "Ah, well, here goes. Your mother, Min, is, well, *was* a vampire. But your father wasn't. There was this big problem with the fact that Covenant rules say you can't marry someone if they haven't been turned into a  vampire. But Min didn't care, she married the guy, anyway. By some weird twist of fate, you were born. And that isn't supposed to be able to happen, you see. So I suppose that makes you some sort of miracle child; so your a half vampire. But your... abilities, were a little slow in coming around. That was the reason for my biting you. It gave your powers a jumpstart." Alex finally finished and took a deep breath.

 "Your lying," Remy whispered.

 "Am I?" Alex edged closer until he was only inches from Remy's face. "You can't deny what you are, LeBeau. It's a part of you. You need to kill; be a part of the night. Your abilities are surfacing and becoming steadily stronger. You do know what I'm talking about don't you? Those strange little quirks that have been showing up in your perceptions."

 Something in him snapped. Remy backed up three paces and round house kicked Alex in the face. The stunned vampire grunted in pain and hit the ground. Blood oozed from a cut lip. Remy's telepathy could sense him losing his temper. But Alex grinned. Alex licked the blood away from his cut lip, revealing that it had healed itself almost completely.

 "That was rather pointless, don't you think? Your only a half blood! I'm a full blooded vampire. It will take twice the strength you have to hurt me!" Claws began to form over Alex's fingernails; long flesh-colored things. He lunged at Gambit with the claws.

 Remy snapped out of his moment of shock in time to bat Alex back to the ground. The vampire had a short temper and was lible to make a mistake. Alex wheeled back onto his feet and came at Gambit again. Remy summersaulted over Alex's head and landed behind him, sending a forcefulpunch into the vampire's jaw as he turned. Faster than humanly possible, Alex lunged for Gambit's side. He managed to twist away to prevent any vital organs from being slashed, but the claws ripped through the flesh in his upper arm.

 A sharp stab of pain flew through him, momentarily blotting out any other senses. What could  only be described as the scream of a mountain lion rose up in his throat and peirced the relative quiet of the park. Remy fell to the ground. He was half paralyzed by the throbbing pain in his arm as well as the realization that the mountain lion's cry he had heard had come from his own throat. From his vantage on the grass he glanced up to see Alex towering over him.

 "I see your transformation has already begun," Alex smiled eerily.
 

END PART 5

 Right, so how was that? The plot thickens.

 Spade