Andrew read the last letter from Rhys and swore under his breath. Damn it the man still ranted and lectured and didn't tell him anything. This cottage Rhys spoke of *couldn't* be Giovanni's hiding place, could it?
No. That was too close to Lourdesmont, and too obvious. Whatever Raymond was, he wasn't stupid. And while he didn't know Giovanni he did know you had to have some degree of intelligence to learn magic. Too bad it didn't also require having ethics or morals.
He shook his head. He was going to have to deal with this and preferably as soon as possible, before Sarah came downstairs and caught on that anything was happening more than she already knew. For that same reason he couldn't risk telling D'arcy, Toni, or Rene, they were too likely to tell her.
A short walk brought him to the edge of the Lourdesmont property, and a few minutes after that he reached the cottage Rhys had described.
Steeling himself, not sure who or what he'd find but prepared for the worst, he knocked on the door.
* * *
Dejah was gonna love this!
(Oh yea!)
Kenyon rubbed his temples and stood when he regained his bearings. Magic. _Why me?_ He thought.
_Why huh?_ Came the female answer.
Kenyon smiled, _Babe, can you trace where I am now?_
There was a moment before Dejah answered, _Sure, it'll take a little while, but I can do it._
_Any luck finding the necromancer?_
_Outside the church, there was some._ He could almost see her nod in triumph, _I think I've got what I need to get to him, but why do you want me there? Did you find something else?_
Kenyon inhaled deeply, _Well, I have a vampire hunter who is going a little more than psycho._
_What?!_
_You heard me. I have the mark on my wrist to prove it._
_Umm, okay...He's not ready to kill you is he?_ She asked, a bit panicked.
_I don't think so._ He returned, taking another deep breath, _He�s not in the room right now. I'm going to do my best to keep him calm, right now. I think you should get a line on Giovanni before showing up.
_Kenyon--_
_Trust me, Red._ Kenyon said sharply, _Just trust me. I think he'd be a lot happier if you had an inkling as to where the necromancer is, okay?_
_Okay, but if he so much as leaps at you, I'm gonna know. Now. Got it?_ She almost sounded like a mother scolding her kid.
_Got it._ He answered and felt the direct link cut itself off. It was a strange feeling, especially when one isn't real familiar with how magic feels. He bit his lip. Now what? Keep Brendan from killing him. That was a good start. The agent was not stupid, do just what the hunter said and keep out of his way. Okay. Kenyon could do that, but if it came down to other people being hurt...Kenyon sighed. Think of it later. He nursed his wrist, it wasn't much of a cut, but it stung. He glanced back to where he had just come from. "Shit." He muttered under his breath and started pacing. He looked back to where he thought Brendan still was when he heard a knock at the door. He let a slow breath escape his lips. "Oh, really bad shit." He used an expression from his days of clubbing. The phrase took on an entirely new meaning here. He looked from the door to the back of the house. He hadn't even realized he'd walked from there back to the front room. What to do, what to do...?
* * *
Outside Andrew knocked harder. This was the only cottage in the area, it had to be the right place. Damn it if he'd come out here for nothing...!
Andrew could feel the blood lust growing as his temper slowly reaching the boiling point. Then Caution slipped quietly through the red flame of anger and for just an instant Andrew wondered again if this might not be a trap. That instant of hesitation was all it took for the cottage door to slowly open and Andrew to steel himself for the unknown.
Kenyon sighed aloud. It wasn't his house, but obviously Brendan wasn't coming out of that back room any time soon. He went to the door, his hand instinctively going the 9mm in his shoulder holster, but stopping short of drawing it. He opened the door slowly and saw a man standing there. No, correct that, Kenyon knew a vampire when he saw one. He winced. This wasn't going to be pretty. "Can I help you?" He asked, stepping outside.
Andrew glared at the man, barely able to keep his anger in check. A mortal?? How could a mere mortal dare to make the kind of threats Rhys had been making??
"Rhys?" he asked coldly. "You wanted me here, I'm here."
Kenyon's mouth quirked, "One, my name is not Rhys. Two, I don't know who you are, so I didn't ask you here. My turn. Who are you and what do you want?"
Andrew stared at the mortal. "I'm not in any mood for games. If you're not Rhys, what're you doing here?" He held out the last letter he'd gotten from Rhys. "And if you must know, I'm Andrew Harrington."
Kenyon looked the vampire over carefully. Then, he read the letter and sighed. He wasn�t in a position to argue, mainly because this other guy was a vampire and he was perfectly mortal. In other words, he wasn�t in the mood to be beaten to a bloody stump. But then Dejah was ready to jump in, and Dejah was more than equipped to handle a vampire, and there was Rhys in that backroom... His mouth quirked in a grin, he would take his chances, "What I�m doing here is none of your business, but if *you* must know, I�m Kenyon DeCant. I work for the FBI and I�m looking for Cristoforo Giovanni. I�ve been talking to a vampire hunter who�s at the end of his rope and about to do some serious damage. You, being a vampire, are either very brave, or very stupid for coming here."
Andrew glared at Kenyon. "I have not survived seven centuries by being stupid, Mr DeCant. I would not have come, were it not that Rhys has much to answer for--though, I fear, not more than I do myself, but that is another story. As for Cristoforo Giovanni--I, too, seek him, to end the nightmare his deeds have brought on someone who is as a daughter to me."
"Giovanni," Kenyon raised an eyebrow, "or Travers? Which one are you really after, I wonder. I didn�t get to where I am by being a moron either, *Mr.* Harrington. And this someone, who is like your daughter, is her name Sarah, by any chance?" He was taking his chances, his hand still on the gun in his holster, the bullets inside the gun were silver, by simple principle and knowledge of the arcane, he carried no other.
Harrington made a sound somewhere between a choke and a growl. "I don�t think you have any right whatsoever to insult me, mortal, if you knew half of what was going on-"
"I know a great deal about what�s going on, leech, although I will admit, I haven�t heard of you." Kenyon stepped back, "I don�t like you already, but seeing as we�re both looking for the same guy and we�re both here because of Rhys, that gives us two things in common. S�good a place as any to start." He glared right back at the vampire.
"Perhaps so--but I do not think you can know all of what you are meddling in." Andrew retorted. "However your ignorance is not my concern. Sarah is, and stopping Travers before he can claim her. Where is Rhys, you can certainly tell me that much?"
What was this man, this mortal, doing here? he wondered. Surely Rhys could not have been so stupid as to think a mere mortal could be of help in such matters, a situation that even he was not sure how to deal with?
* * *
Brendan watched coldly as Kenyon exited the small room that the Spooky Housekeeper had always used to as a sanctuary; Brendan had known about it from childhood. He had known this whole house and the larger confines of the house up the road for the past thirty years. No ... Wait ... that wasn't right ...
"Oh Lord," Brendan finally whispered as he looked at the minute traces of blood on his hands. Blood that seemed to glow with a life of it's own. "What have I done?"
~He sat outside the bedroom door, arms crossed defensively in front of his chest, "Somebody has to do the protecting around here" ...~
Those same hands slammed down hard upon the stone altar in the middle of that very strange room. "I'm doing exactly what I was born to do, dammit!"
~He stood in front of his father with all the dignity of a twelve year old sure of their own immortality. "I'm not going to say I'm sorry ..."~
Brendan closed his eyes and reached deep inside himself in a struggle to gain control. It had been a struggle from the very first moment he could remember. There always seemed to be two halves of him fighting for control. There was the part so carefully nurtured and loved by his parents, the part that knew the difference between right and wrong; good and evil.
~They sat by the edge of the river, poles dangling idly in the slow moving water, sharing the bond of brothers deeply devoted to each other. "Once you can tell the difference between them, Bren, the things you are gonna be able to do ... I don't have that choice, ya know. All I feel is the pain around me. Of everything, good and bad. I can't pick my fights. It is all my fight."~
A particularly wicked smile crossed the young man's delicate features. And there was the part of him that no nurturing, no patience, no understanding could or would ever change. The part that secretly gave him so very much pleasure.
~The athletic teenager felt himself picked up the front of his football jersey and flung across the hallway into the metal lockers by the delicate looking boy. The clang echoed through the deserted hallway. "If you ever lay a hand on my sister like that again, I'll kill you. I promise ..."~
Why did it always come down to responsibility for him? The responsibility he felt for the pain in his mother's eyes when she didn't think he saw. The responsiblity he felt towards the man who was his partner in a very unique business. The responsbility towards keeping the more mundane family business operating. Feeling the need to constantly be nice and on his guard towards everyone. Trying to make others see the need to accept their own responsibilities for the actions of their lives before anymore unnecessary pain was inflicted upon the world.
Brendan fingered the white gold ring around the third finger of his left hand. "Oh Belle. I can't do this. I'm afraid of what I am going to become. Who is going to be here to stop me?"
And then he heard the door open and a deadly gleam began to grown in those huge brown eyes.
"Why should I want to be stopped?" he whispered to himself as he stealthily made his way out of the room.
* * *
"I know a great deal about what's going on, leech, although I will admit, I haven't heard of you." Kenyon stepped back, "I don't like you already, but seeing as we're both looking for the same guy and we're both here because of Rhys, that gives us two things in common. It's as good a place as any to start." He glared right back at the vampire.
The glare from Andrew was no less deadly and the air between the two was thicker then coagulated blood. They stood staring at each other, there in the doorway to the ramshackle cottage, neither willing to give an inch. Kenyon because he knew the secret that the house kept; Andrew because he needed to know the secret the cottage kept.
"Are you going to let me in or do I have to go through you?" Andrew whispered in a deadly tone.
Kenyon fingered the holster of his gun with loving tenderness ... and stood aside. There was someone here who wanted this creature more than he did. What was one less vampire in a world that sometimes seemed to be teeming with them?
Andrew strode purposefully past the FBI agent, peering into all the rooms. It seemed that the strange things he saw did not disturb him. He turned towards where Kenyon still stood by the open front door.
"Where is Rhys?" Andrew demanded, a deadly glow beginning in the depths of his soulless eyes. "I want him ... Now!"
Andrew's demand was cut-off as a thin, solid arm snaked its way around his throat.
"I'm here vermin," a soft voice breathed in his ear. "Time to die."
"I think *not*!" Andrew whispered, his voice like daggers even as his hands seized Rhys' arm and wrenched it away from his throat, shoving the mortal back with considerable force.
The bloodlust rose in him, it was all he could do to hold it back even a little longer but he had to know what Rhys knew of all this. If there was even a chance that the foolish mortal before him might know where Raymond's spirit lurked...!
"That's for what you've done to Sarah," he hissed. All the nights he'd seen her trying to hide the pain Rhys' letters had brought, as if she weren't suffering enough from Raymond's sick games, boiled up, oh how he wanted to simply rip the man to shreds!
Brendan let the pain in his arm reach deeply into the very pits of his soul. Oh how it felt! The thrill and the pleasure from the pain of the tight grip the vampire held on his arm mixed with the smell of the creature's bloodlust ... it was nearly too much for the hunter who had not tasted of blood for so very long.
"And what about what you have done to her?" Brendan shot back as he subtly shifted his weight.
"You bastard!" Andrew roared as he drew his head back preparing to strike.
So intent was the vampire on his own actions that he had not detected the shifting of his victim's weight, just as Andrew began to move his head forward, Brendan jerked to the right, pulling himself free. The forward momentum of his action propelled the vampire head first into the wall. Hard. Brendan bent over and grasped the collar of Andrew's shirt.
"Such ineptitude for one so powerful," he hissed back letting the baser instincts of the vampire take over, lifting Andrew like a lioness would life her cub. "No wonder Sarah found more pleasure in my partner's bed then in yours."
The scream from Andrew would have shaken the very walls of the house if the force from his hitting those walls had not. Andrew quickly shook off the effects of the throw as he flung himself across the room at this man who had been nothing but trouble from the moment he had arrived unbidden and unwanted upon the scene. So intent was he upon conquering this interloper that the words of Brendan's final sentence had passed unnoticed.
"You will suffer for your arrogance, mortal!" Andrew snarled, "suffer for every blood-tear Sarah has wept because of you." this as he slammed Rhys against the far wall and began to pummel him unmercifully. "Tell me where Giovanni and Raymond are hiding, and maybe I will not rip you to shreds!!"
"Go to Hell!" Brendan shouted back as he got a hand free and reached into his back pocket. The blow that landed just below his ear gave him all the impetus he needed. Brendan carefully flicked the switch at the end of the cross and slashed the silver knife across Andrew's throat.
It did little damage, but gave Brendan just the moment he needed to scramble to his feet as the vampire backed away, hissing and spitting.
Brendan held up the ornately carved cross with the small knife sticking out of the bottom. "Like it?" He taunted. "Legend has it the cross came back from the Crusades with an ancestor of mine. Forgot how many times it has been blessed. And used to rid the world of unrepentent scum just like you!"
Andrew drew away his hand and laughed at this impertinent mortal. "Oh well done." He held up his hand to reveal a healing throat. "But I hold no fear of such things!"
Again the vampire launched himself at the hunter, this time Brendan was prepared and dodged to the left allowing Andrew to strike the wall headfirst. It enraged the vampire who quickly turned around only to receive a crushing left hook to his jaw.
"Bet that hurt," Brendan taunted. His younger sister wasn't the only one in the family with a sarcastic attitude.
"So will this!" Andrew snarled as he grabbed Brendan around the throat and the two fell to the floor.
Kenyon watched the scene from the side, intelligent enough to stay directly out of it. Carefully, he removed the 9mm from the haven of its holster, removed the silencer, and clicked off the safety. He took two steps back, just barely out the door into the cold night air. He lifted the gun and pulled back the trigger, launching the bullet into the sky with a thunderous blast. It worked. Both Brendan and Andrew stopped in mid blow and looked at him. "Gentlemen." He said quietly, stepping back in the cottage, just inside the door. "I don't think you're going to find Travers or Giovanni by beating the unliving hell out of each other so save it."
Andrew shot a look that could have thrown daggers at Kenyon. "I will find them, mortal, if I have to do it over your dead body." he snapped. "They must not claim Sarah--" he turned back to Rhys, "and you--if you know where they are, you will tell me now!!"
Brendan stared at Andrew, seemingly motionless but Kenyon, years of training behind him, knew the signs. He fired off one single shot that whizzed hotly past Brendan's cheek.
"Dammit, Brendan!" he said. "Give it a rest! How am I going to explain this to your mother if killing you at this time makes a six month old baby disappear? Sorry about your baby, Ellie, but I had to kill your grown son before he killed Andrew!"
Andrew just stared open mouthed. "Brendan?"
Kenyon was thoughtful for a long while. "Travers." He muttered, shaking his head. Then a thought crossed his mind, he remembered something he had read in the police report. Something he had thought unimportant until now. "That was you." He said, looking at Andrew. "You were the one speeding away from that fire the night Sarah left her family. You thought you had destroyed Travers in that fire, but you were wrong. They didn't find any bodies, unless Travers was nothing but ash in the morning..."
Andrew stared at DeCant for a long moment. How had this mortal learned of that...he nodded, slowly. "I do not know how you know...but it's true. I had Sarah under a blanket in the back, hoping I could get us both to a safe place before sunrise. And Raymond was supposed to have died there. I thought he *was* dead! Not in seven hundred years have I heard of any such thing as this Giovanni has done! How was I to know rousing a vampire's spirit was even possible??"
Kenyon couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing, then looked at Andrew. "Christ, pal, you're a vampire, don't you, of all things, know that nothing is final. Not even death. Anyway, I know because I'm not stupid and I did my homework. Like I said before, there's a lot that I know, that you don't think I do." He stopped, thinking about Connor. Then shook his head. "Okay, gentlemen, it seems we can either sit here all night and discuss theories about raising vampire spirits from the dead, or we can try to get along and actually get something accomplished. Comprehend?"
Andrew glared at Kenyon. "I comprehend a lot more than you could possibly, mortal--but before anything *can* be done, Raymond and Giovanni must be found. And we are no closer now to *that* than we were when Sarah received the first of the damnable letters!" He looked from Kenyon to Rhys/Brendan and back again. "Do either of you *mortals* have the slightest idea of how to solve that basic problem? Preferably before Giovanni gets his foul hands on Sarah and Raymond is freed to do as he pleases to her!"
His voice showed his frustration at not being able to solve this whole mess himself and having to rely on these...and fear that it couldn't be solved in time to save Sarah.
* * *
In Mt. Bethel, PA...
In the motel room, David stood up abruptly and turned the TV off. He hadn't really been paying much attention to it anyway, it'd only been an attempt to pass time until DeCant came back, and the droning voice of the newscaster was starting to get on his nerves.
Where could DeCant have gone--and what if anything was he finding out? What did this all mean for himself, for Mother, the rest of the family??
He glanced over and noticed the briefcase that DeCant had left in a corner of the room. He paused, not liking the idea of snooping, but liking the questions that were nagging at him even less.
He shook his head and went over to it, wishing he felt better about this but he had to know *something*.
Opening the case he saw a sheet of paper on top, he read it.
Agent DeCant,
I thank you for your efforts regarding Mrs. Lindsay and her family. I no longer feel that any of the players in this bizarre and twisted game are innocent - except for the human family that Miss Lindsay so callously threw away all those years ago.
And as to Miss Lindsay and her friends -- I am almost at the point where I am ready to wash my hands of the entire matter. I was ripped from the comfort and familiarity of my own surroundings and brought to this place to be of help. All my efforts so far have fallen by the wayside. No one heeds my words or my warnings, and, frankly, I am at the point of letting them all go to Hell and wish them well on their trip!
I, myself, cannot go to Lourdesmont for my own reasons, which I shall reveal to you once you arrive in Pennsylvania. I know - and do not ask how I know - that you have been here before when you were investigating the case of a serial killer shortly before your marriage to Anna. If you remember a small farmhouse down the road from Lourdesmont, knock on the door and you will find me there.
I await your arrival.
Regards, Rhys
David stared at the letter, not sure he understood what Rhys was saying. A Miss Lindsay who'd left her family long ago?? That *had* to be Sarah--his sister Sarah, that is--but where, then, was she? at this farmhouse, maybe? she certainly hadn't been at Lourdesmont, there'd only been the girl with the same name there. The one who looked so like his sister had when she'd disappeared.
"That's it." David shook his head. "I'm not sitting around waiting any longer." he muttered to himself and headed for the rental car parked outside, once behind the wheel he headed off in the direction of Lourdesmont.
* * *
At the cottage...
Andrew's voice showed his frustration at not being able to solve this whole mess himself and having to rely on these ... these ... *mortals* ... and fear that it couldn't be solved in time to save Sarah.
Kenyon came very close to wringing the vampire's whiny neck, but thought better of it. "As a matter of fact, leech, this *mortal* does have a way to find both Giovanni and Travers. If we find one, we'll find the other. But I'm not calling Dejah unless you two kids can learn to play nicely in the same sand box." He crossed his arms again.
The agent waited. The silence was deadly.
"Well?" he wanted to know.
Brendan glared at Andrew who glared right back. And then he remembered the "gift" he had received earlier; this was a dangerous enemy indeed. Travers must have gotten into Tallant's head in order to know how very much the amputated fingers would disturb him. Luckily, Tallant seemed to have retained some control so that Travers still thought he was dealing with somone named "Rhys". The images that ran through Brendan's head of the possible consequences if the truth should come out before he could deal with these bastards was too much to think about.
"Fine," Brendan said between clenched teeth. "Only if he promises to level with Sarah. About everything."
The fact that this upstart half-breed thought he could succeed where others had failed galled Andrew beyond belief. How had such a precious infant turned into such a grown up bastard? And where did Brendan get off telling him what to do? This wasn't his fight. This wasn't his concern. Damn the outsiders and their pestering interference! But why not take advantage of what was in front of him? Maybe he could finally rid the world of Travers, and then Sarah would be safe. And if the hunter should happen to fall during the ensuing melee ... oh well.
"Fine," Andrew agreed. "As long as he remembers Sarah's safety comes first."
"Gentlemen, I didn't ask for your conditions, I asked for your agreement to share your toys and play nice!" Kenyon was nearing the point of exasperation. "Do I have it or do I walk out the door and let the chips fall where they may?"
Kenyon would never have done that but if they could threaten and level conditions ...
Brendan thought of his father and how disappointed he would be in him and the prejudice he had developed towards Harrington. The hunter stood, took two steps and extended his hand.
Andrew thought of the infant and the people who had so graciously welcomed them into their lives. And he thought of Sarah. Always. He stood, took two steps and took the hand.
Kenyon sighed. It was a truce. A grudging truce but a truce, nonetheless.
"Right," he said as he finally holstered his gun. "Now I need to get a hold of Dejah so we can find out where Travers is holding Tallant and Karen." He nodded at Andrew. "You need to find Sarah and lock her in a room if you have to." He turned to Brendan. "And you need to get a grip. Once we find where Travers is hiding, it's all yours. Until then, though, you need to take a pill and save your strength and anger for those who deserve it."
They all walked towards the door and opened it to stand on the front porch.
"Thank you," Andrew said. "Once we find and eliminate Travers, Sarah will finally be safe."
