Brendan struggled in the darkness.
It wrapped around him, caressing him like a demon lover. Little drops of the dark seeped through his open psyche, invading the highways and byways of his existance as they searched for - and found - his carefully guarded soul. They grabbed the delicate soul and whirled it around in a dizzying dance to the frenzied music of the malevolent invaders. Faster and faster the darkness spun the soul as bright images flashed by...
Laughing eyes and taunting lips...faster and faster...
The fear of flying and the pain of landing...faster and faster...
Cries of terror and words of encouragement...faster and faster...
Daring, urging, threatening...faster and faster...
Power beyond ken corrupting and twisting...faster and faster...
Give in to the heady seductive feeling...faster and faster...
No!...faster and faster...
Bloody flashes of gold-traced silver...faster and faster...
Victory and loss...faster and faster...
Music and words of innocence long past.
...Oh my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee...
And then the whirling began to subside and Brendan felt himself rise through the dark night of the soul to rest in the fog, unwilling to move from the safe embrace he felt.
...And I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishment...
He surrendered to the voice of Karen as she reached out to him in the only way she knew how, the only way that would have succeeded.
...But most of all because I offended Thee, My God...
The words brought back to the hunter memories of a time when the only hunting he did was chasing his bratty younger sister through endless halls and the only fear he felt was the childhood fear of finding out that all his dreams were nothing but cotton candy fluff.
...Who art all good and deserving of all my love...
It was safe in these arms and Brendan so desperately wanted to be safe. And it was *so* warm here!
...I firmly resolve...
Brendan slowly opened his eyes to the golden light of a new beginning chasing away the last of the fog that wrapped his soul so tightly. He smiled at Karen and hugged her tightly.
...with the help of Thy grace...
And he knew what destruction lay beyond.
...To sin no more...
Brendan planted a gentle kiss on Karen's forehead and stood.
...And to avoid the near occasion of sin...
He knew he could face what he had done.
...Amen...
The hunter lifted his head and drew a deep breath and surrendered to Grace.
Kenyon opened his eyes slowly, the light had grown brighter and whatever the others in the room were seeing, it had them in somewhat of a trance. Even Dejah. He sighed and sat back, taking a good five minutes to realize that his shoulder, although not healed completely, was neither numb or much more than a little sore. He shook his head and squinted through the light. He was half expecting to see some silly angel in tie-dyed hemp clothes.
He saw nothing of the sort.
Just a bright light; to Kenyon, it seemed to radiate from one of the pentagrams on the floor. _No, wait, that's not a pentagram._ He thought. He searched his memory banks for the right word. Pentacle. Yea, that was it. Pentacle. One of the three girls who had been his girlfriend for more than a month when he was younger was a pagan and he had picked up a few pointers from her. Each of the five points on the star stood for something. The light seemed to emanate from the top point. What did that stand for again? Spirit or something of the sort.
The more he looked at it, the more he felt sane and at peace. He had kids at home who were learning to crawl, Ethan had mastered the rolling over trick just before he left. Tyrel was probably driving Anna crazy, but then Nina and Kent were there to help her out. And Kenyon somehow knew would be home soon. Their foster child wouldn't be lacking for bedtime stories much longer. He would take his younger brothers out this summer in his new truck and teach them the fine art of driving a manual transmission. He would build that addition to his parents' house with his father so that the twins could have a space to throw all the instruments they had been acquiring. And, damn it, he was going to stand up as the best man at his best friend's wedding.
He wasn't about to let the wound in his shoulder stop him from what he intended to do with his future.
He ignored his shoulder and concentrated on the light of the star. Taking a deep breath, he stood. The pain nibbled a little, but the bite was gone. He looked over to where Dejah was about ready to knock him down again and smiled. "Good trip babe." He sighed. "Real good trip."
The golden light, which had granted personal revelations to weary souls, slowly faded from the room leaving behind battle-worn combatants and the bloody carnage that is the result of all wars.
Brendan looked around him and felt a bit of the glow fade from his psyche. He noticed Kenyon and Dejah by the far wall, Kenyon still holding onto his wounded shoulder.
"Did you just ..." Dejah asked.
Kenyon nodded wearily and lifted his hand revealing a wound perhaps a bit less serious then it had previously been.
"Whoa!" his partner exclaimed.
The FBI agent managed a wan smile and replaced his hand, "To each his own, Dejah, to each his own."
David and Andrew huddled protectively over Sarah who was slowly beginning to move stiff limbs.
"Sarah...I..." Andrew started to say, but Sarah cut him off with a weak wave of the hand.
"Not now, Andrew. Please. I just can't...not now." Sarah whispered. It didn't hurt as much, since the Light had passed, but she still didn't feel up to facing Andrew right now.
David glanced at Harrington. He still wasn't sure about a lot of things, but damn it he was sure of one thing and that was he was going to take care of Sarah. The way he should have years ago. "I'll stay with her," David said quietly. "You're just upsetting her more right now and she doesn't need that."
Andrew stared at the mortal, then looked to Sarah, then back to David. "You're right, she doesn't." he whispered softly, and drew back so that Sarah couldn't see him. But he stayed where he could see her. Damn it, if only he weren't so drained of strength!
Capri was sitting up, a thin hand held to her head, muttering something under her breath. A wan smile crossed her face as she heard Sarah's voice. "Well, at least one o' us is back from the dead!" She groaned and slipped back into a supine position on the floor, drained from the psychic energy she had expended in her efforts to protect all those around her.
Unable to respond to what was going on around her, yet being so aware of it all, was driving Capri up the wall. The splitting headache only made things worse. Although it was probably only moments of lying there, weak and unresponsive, it felt like hours. Finally she stirred a little and got a hand down on the floor in a position to support her weight so she could try to sit up. A flare of pain convinced her that that was not a good idea; she resigned herself to lying perfectly still, hoping she could either get some strength or fall asleep. This semi-conscious business was turning out to be a real drag.
After calming Brendan down and getting him back to his normal self, Karen managed to get up and look about the room. In doing so, she noticed a figure coming across in a hurried stride; she saw at once that it was her dear Rene, arms eagerly open to her as she struggled to her feet. He looked so much more calmer, brighter and with a beautiful smile and light in his eyes. Smiling back at him, she moved across the room as fast as her weakened state would allow, still feeling a little under the effects of that drug Giovanni had given her.
As the two vampires embraced, Karen could feel a difference, a change in Rene -- he wasn't the same man who had arrived here a few days ago. He seemed to have gained some higher knowledge of himself and an insight of who he was and what he could accomplished.
It was such a great feeling to be back in his arms, it felt so safe and comfortable. Karen had missed his very presence so much! Longed for the safe haven she was now in. As Rene's lips lightly brushed Karen's, he felt a rush of emotion flood through him like a spring storm. She was alive and safe and in his arms where she belonged. The lovers clung to each other, oblivious to everyone else in the room.
And then there was Gabriel.
Brendan was at his partner's side in two long strides, kneeling and reaching out to take one of the vampire's hands in his while the other rested on Gabriel's forehead.
"Gabe?" he asked tentatively, almost afraid of the response.
Gabriel opened his eyes and smiled at Brendan. He was paler than usual, and the blood soaking his shirt and pants was still wet, but his expression made up for that. His eyes were filled with joy. "So... Mr. DeBruyne, I assume?"
Brendan blinked, then realized that while *he* had known Gabriel for nearly his whole life, this Gabriel had not met him until just now. The juxtaposition between past and future made him dizzy, but he smiled back. "And you're Mr. Tallant."
"Now that the introductions are over," Gabriel said, as he reached up to enclose Brendan's hand with his other one, "do you think you can call those siblings of yours? I'd prefer not to die again tonight. It's so ... time-consuming..."
Brendan looked confused. "Call them? I don't even know how I am going to get home ... how can I call my family?"
* * *
Outside...
The purple gas moved swiftly through the light mist covering the hallowed ground and stopped just short of an old farmhouse. It steadily rose and grew and expanded until it was part of the purple-blackness of the night and four young adults stood in its place.
"I hate that!" Emily said as she shuddered.
Her siblings ignored her. They did it very well.
"Where are we?" Tegan asked.
Terry looked around, opening himself up and smiled. "The where is Pennsylvania. But I think the better question is when." He looked at his twin and waggled his eyebrows. "Care to be three years old again?"
"Without Emily?" Tegan deadpanned back.
The baby of the family just rolled her eyes and ignored them right back. She did it very well.
"Brendan," Isabelle breathed as she moved towards the porch.
"Hey!" Emily called after her sister-in-law as she moved to catch up with her, Tegan and Terry not far behind.
They got the edge of the porch and Terry paused, nausea overwhelming the empath.
"Just go!" he urged his sisters and Isabelle. "I'll be alright in a moment."
Isabelle did not need the urging and was up the stairs and pulling on the door before anyone else could move.
"Brendan!" she called out. "Brendan!"
Emily was right at her shoulder. "Belle, let me." Emily's hand reached out and the locked door swung open, Isabelle running through.
Subira looked up as a petite, dark-haired woman came running down the hall. "Who are you?" she demanded as Belle tried pushing her way past.
"Let me go! My husband is in there! He needs my help!"
Emily followed closely, Tegan and Terry just behind; Tegan watching her younger twin carefully.
"Well, Subira, you haven't changed with time," Emily said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Francis Cullen looked up from his place on the floor. "Who are you?"
"My question exactly," Subira said, still barring a panicked Isabelle from reaching the locked door.
Tegan stepped forward. "I am Doctor Tegan DeBruyne Stewart, and I am here with my brother Terry, and my sister Emily, and my brother's wife, Isabelle. We have come to get Brendan and bring him home."
"But ... but ... but ..." Francis started - this was just too much. "You're only three years old! And Isabelle is your ghost and there isn't any Emily!"
Terry smiled at him, feeling his desperation. "In the future, there is," he said in a tone of voice meant to soothe, a tone that would be familiar to his troubled patients.
Francis reached for his little silver flask. "Yeah right," he downed a swig. "In the future. Why not?"
"You aren't getting in that room," Subira said. "We've been barred from entry."
Emily shouldered her way past. "You may have been but I haven't." She reached out a thin hand. "Don't use it, ya lose it." She closed her eyes and manipulated the energy around the locked door and it slowly began to swing open.
That was just in time for the four new arrivals to hear Brendan's question.
"You never did give me much credit," an indignant female voice said from the doorway.
Brendan barely had time to get words out before a petite woman was flinging herself into his arms.
"Brendan!" Isabelle repeated over and over as she cried softly into his neck.
The hunter just clung to the woman in his arms, feeling her love renewing him, beginning to give back to him the life he thought he had lost.
"Well, you certainly do make a mess of things, don't you?" Emily asked as she surveyed the remnants of the battle.
The twins exchanged glances.
"Humans and vampires," Tegan said as she opened herself up as wide as possible. "Humans first, then."
"Right," Terry said as he and Tegan made their way over to where an elderly man held a young woman in his arms.
"Who are you and what do you want?" David asked hesitantly as Terry reached out a hand towards him.
"I assure you, I am not here to hurt you," Terry said in a calm voice and fixed his huge green eyes on David's old blue ones. He turned to his twin. "It's okay, Tegan, he is just exhausted."
Sarah opened her eyes in amazement. "Tegan?" she whispered.
The blonde woman smiled down at the recovering vampire. "Surprise," she said simply and turned towards the human leaning against the wall.
David looked at the new arrivals. "Can you..help her? And him, too..." he nodded at Sarah, then gestured with one hand in Andrew's direction. He wasn't sure just who these people were...the woman Sarah'd addressed as Tegan, but that couldn't be...or could it? He sighed. If Brendan could be here as an adult why not the other children too? It was just as weird if not weirder than anything else he'd experienced since this night had begun.
Sarah was still a bit weak, giving her Giovanni's blood had helped but she really needed to rest. "I...I'm all right, David...really." At least physically. She was just so tired, and with everything that had happened tonight, her feelings were still very much in turmoil.
"Sarah, let them take care of you...please?" Andrew pleaded. He didn't expect her to listen to him, but it gave him something to focus on as he struggled against his own weakness and the inner Beast that threatened to break free. He couldn't *let* himself seize David or these other mortals, and yet the need to was almost beyond bearing.
Terry glanced at the strange man who struck such a chord in his mind and reached deep into his memory. He walked over and took the man's hand, sending some compassion and understanding through his touch as if this vampire were one of his patients.
"We'll be back for you but the humans need to be tended to first. Understand?"
Andrew nodded. "All right...but I can't hold back much longer.." he clenched his teeth. He hated having to admit weakness to a mortal but there wasn't a choice now. Every ounce of strength he had left was going into keeping his Hunger from overpowering him.
Dejah looked suspiciously as the two adults with the curly hair approached. "And you would be ...?"
"Doctors," Terry said as Tegan knelt in front of Kenyon and slowly moved his hand away.
"Bet you never thought a three year old could do this?" she asked Kenyon.
Kenyon managed a laugh that was cut short by a cough.
"I wish I had my laser instruments," Tegan told her brother. "This is going to require some serious surgery."
"Don't worry about your instruments," Terry replied as he laid one hand over Kenyon's eyes and the other on the top of his sister's head. "Let me be your guide." His voice grew dim. "Just like we did for Mom when ..."
"I remember," Tegan grimaced at the memory and let her brother into her mind and body.
Dejah watched in fascinated amazement as a green glow traveled down Terry's arms to merge with the golden glow in Tegan's. Strange blue fire encased the woman's fingertips as they fluttered over the wound in Kenyon's shoulder, edges regenerating, blood seeping back through the skin and underneath, muscle reaching out and rejoining, bones melding. Dejah drew a sharp breath as Tegan's hand was withdrawn and all that remained was a faint pink scar surrounded by what looked like sunburn.
Tegan yawned and gripped her brother's hand tightly. "Haven't done surgery like that for a long time. It felt good!" Kenyon's eyes opened slightly. "You'll be fine," Tegan reassured him. "I had an excellent guide. And I sent some additional blood supply to the wounded area so it will feel warm for awhile and you are going to be stiff but you'll be good as new."
Kenyon moved his shoulder and smiled his thanks. He would get home safe and in one piece, after all!
"Well ... hot dang!" Dejah said with a smile.
Emily surveyed the room around her, taking stock of the vampires. Oh, if Philip only knew! And her smile dimmed as she took note of the young woman on her back. Now there was something she could help.
"Hey!" she said as she crossed the room and helped Capri to a sitting position. "Little tired, there, are we?"
"Don't know about we," Capri replied. "But I sure am."
"Yeah," Emily nodded knowingly, "my brother has that effect on people."
Capri had caught some of what had happened to Kenyon. "You a healer, too?"
"Not exactly," Emily admitted reluctantly. "But I think you can use my talents more then those of my big sister."
Capri shook her head, trying to make sense of what she had just heard. Big sister? Then her eyes grew wide as she noticed the glowing bronze dome over her head. "What the ..." her voice sounded hollow to her ears.
"Take my hand," Emily said.
Two hands met and Capri could feel a warmth creep up her arm to invade her whole being. She began to feel twenty years younger. To feel as if the last night had never happened. Aches and pains began to fade, vision grew clearer, strength returned to tired limbs.
Emily withdrew her hand and the bronze glow withdrew also. "Better?" she asked.
"Yeah ... but how?"
"I can manipulate energy into matter and matter into energy and you needed a transfusion."
"What about everyone else?" Capri wanted to know as she picked up on the desperation from the vampires around her; there was *no* way she was going to be able to help all of them!
Subira stood in the doorway, surveying the remnants of the night's festivities. "Don't sweat the small stuff, honey," she said. "The cavalry has arrived."
All faces in the room turned towards the sound of her voice. There was wonder and curiosity mixed with relief and hunger as the humans and the mages and the vampires surveyed the group pushing their way through the small door. Francis Cullen lingered in the background holding onto the old wooden doorjamb, too engrossed in the scene before him to notice the hazy figure just over his shoulder.
But others did.
And they were overwhelmed by the newest arrivals to do much more than take note of the strange haze. Notes that were filed away ... for later.
As the people following Subira moved hastily across the room towards where Gabriel lay too weak and drained to care, the other vampires flared nostrils and felt the Need begin to throb in their veins at the sudden influx of humanity.
Real, live, pulsing, breathing fo ... humans.
"Oh gods," Karen whispered as her fingers tightened their grip on Rene's shirt. How long had it been? How often had she wished for such a rejoinder during the long hours at the hands of her now-dead captors.
Rene felt her desperation in the way she clung to him. Felt and understood. It was all he could do to hold onto this woman in his arms and not join her in flinging themselves upon the newest arrivals in an orgy of warm, red, frenzied feeding.
Andrew dug his nails further and further into the palms of his hands. He had picked up the reactions of Rene and Karen to the humans. His own dire need magnifying their emotions a thousand-fold. He moved the tip of his tongue and felt his fangs brush against it. Opening his eyes, he looked towards where David still huddled protectively over Sarah and saw everything through the red haze of hunger.
Subira had stopped at Gabriel's feet, glancing down at the upraised faces of Isabelle, Brendan and the vampire she worshipped and served as a living god. She picked up the guilt radiating from the man at her feet, the wasting from her god and the Need from the other vampires in the room. Subira put her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly.
The humans behind her stopped immediately.
"Go," Subira ordered them as she pointed at the vampires in the room before kneeling at Gabriel's side.
Andrew could see only dim shapes moving through the red haze, and David kneeling beside Sarah. It was too much and he was too injured, he couldn't hold himself back any longer. Fighting himself all the way he crept closer to David. Damn it no!, his mind cried out, Sarah will hate you more than she already does! But his body was too caught up in need to obey.
Sarah, though still weak, saw Andrew coming towards them, saw the look in his eyes. "Andrew, no!" she cried.
David turned at her cry to see Andrew's eyes glowing red. "Harrington...!"
Andrew's eyes burned with Hunger but his face was pleading. "I...I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I can't..." He reached for David even as the old mortal tried to pull back, hampered by Sarah's weight in his arms, but let go of her David would not.
Sarah's wail fell on deaf ears, Andrew's Hunger had overcome him and she was too weak still to do much.
Rene's dragon was roaring for satisfaction. So many humans with so much blood pumping through their veins. The hunger was a living, wild thing within him and it demanded satisfaction. Rene's fingers tightened on Karen's arm in hopes that she would stop him from giving in to his inner beast. A red haze settled across his vision and he watched as Andrew approached Sarah and David. He knew he should stop him, but if he got any closer to David, he would be fighting Andrew for the rich blood he imagined he could smell, taste. Without being fully conscious of his actions, Rene took a step in David's direction, bringing Karen with him. She didn't fight him though she sensed his intent.
David looked briefly from the creature crawling towards him to the other two creatures moving slowly in his direction; it seemed like a nightmare come to life! Taloned fingers suddenly gripped the old man's wrist and David looked back towards Harrington and felt himself being drawn into the depths of eyes glowing with the very fires of Hell.
"Andrew," Sarah pleaded as she tried to pry Andrew's grip open. "Please ... Oh God! ... Help me!"
"David ..." Andrew hissed as he continued to pull on the old man.
"That will be enough," a voice ordered Andrew as two burly humans dragged him off the aged human. They ignored the hissing and spitting coming from the vampire. "I got this one," the man with a long black ponytail said and motioned with his head for the other to tend to Sarah before forcing his wrist against Andrew's lips. "Have it at, buddy."
His partner was a bit gentler with Sarah. He kneeled by the young woman's side and gently moved her head towards the proffered neck. "Please," was all he asked.
Neither vampire needed much encouragement.
