Outside...

David looked at Dejah for a moment then shook his head. The list of questions was getting longer yet, and he was still no closer to getting any answers. But he knew he wouldn't get any until this was over and done with, and Harrington's Sarah and whoever else was mixed up in this were safe.

And maybe if he was lucky he'd find the bastard who'd kidnapped his mother in there somewhere. He'd sure like to take him down a peg or two... though being only a normal human (as he had gathered those around him weren't--though what they all were he wasn't sure) he didn't know just what he could do, but there had to be something.

He glanced at Dejah, then over to Andrew--who seemed to be arguing with Rene yet again, until Kenyon stopped that.

He didn't even want to look at Brendan/Rhys or whatever the hell he was--a creature that looked like something out of a nightmare.

This was too much, damn it!

He stepped forward and slipped around the building to a side door...and struggling against the general creepy feeling that had plagued him since they'd gotten here, kicked the worn-looking wood a couple times, then a third.

With a crack, it came open. He paused to peer into the darkness inside, lest someone come charging out.

Seeing nothing and no one, he crept forward, slowly, until he was in a hallway. There was a dim light in the room at the far end that this hallway led into, and still slowly he made his way toward it.

He emerged a moment or two later into...what the hell was this? it looked like something out of a horror movie. All the candles, the smell of some sort of incense in the air, and the strange and probably blasphemous symbols on the walls and table coverings. He crossed himself involuntarily.

There was no one in here, as far as he could see. Though he didn't know exactly what he'd do if there were.

Then his attention was caught by a movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning in that direction, he saw a huge crystal sphere, almost the size of a world globe, the kind one would see in libraries or school classrooms). The globe seemed to be filled with a pinkish smoke that billowed and swirled, it had been this that had gotten his attention.

"What the...?!?" He'd heard of crystal balls, but this was by far the biggest he'd ever heard of, and he'd never heard of one having smoke inside.

The mist swirled. "What the hell, is that what you wanted to say?" a voice cackled, a voice that seemed to issue from the globe.

"What...?!?" David started, looking around for who had spoken.

"Oh don't waste your time looking around, David. I'm right here." the voice taunted, the smoke swirling some more.

Something about that voice sounded familiar, David realized. Though it was notthe one he'd come in here looking for, the one he and John had met in Mt Bethel. There was the same sarcasm but not the silky formality that bastard had used. Then why did he feel like he knew this voice? And how did he--it sounded male--know his name? "Who the hell are you--and what sort of trick is this?" A ventriloquist, maybe, or a microphone hidden in the globe, and the guy was in another room. That was it, had to be it. David scanned the room, searching for some clue to where the speaker really was.

"Fool of a mortal," the voice replied, "to dismiss what you cannot fit into your narrow views as a trick. I tell you I am here and you seek in vain elsewhere." A cold chuckle followed.

David shook his head. The weirdness was piling up and he was starting to get a headache, he was sure. The incense reeking in the room didn't help. And that voice nagged at him. "Damn it I knowyour voice!!" he muttered aloud, trying to put a name to the familiar tone.

The globe-voice exploded into laughter, a cold chilling laughter that sent shivers up and down David's spine. "Fifty years it's been since you saw me last, mortal. And I had a body then. Besides, you're old now--that's the way it goes. So of course you don't remember." The voice tsk'ed. "Mortals."

Fifty years? David's eyes narrowed. No. It couldn't be...his eyes widened as he stared at the globe. "Travers."

"Oh, give the man a gold star." Travers chortled. "I was thinking it would take you even longer to catch on." The cold chuckle came again.

"How can you be...no. I don't give a damn how. Just tell me what the hell you did to my sister. I know she ended up having your kid but then what?"

"A child? Sarah?? My child??" The voice dissolved into laughter again. "Oh, that isfunny. You're wittier than I remembered."

"I'm not laughing, damn you...I don't know how you're talking to me and I don't care. I just want some answers. Damn it you owe me and my whole family that much."

"I owe you? Oh, how funny you are, mortal." Travers replied. Maybe he would keep David as a pet when this was over with. Old though he was, as a ghoul it wouldn't matter. Even immortals needed their amusements. "But surely you know already, since you are here. You came to rescue Sarah, no doubt."

"That's the other Sarah and you know it, damn you! That's Harrington's ward...who's the daughter of the baby you left my sister with."

The voice exploded into laughter again. "That's what you think?? That Harrington's girl is your grand niece?? Oh, that is too funny." More laughter.

"Damn it! Stop that right now, or I swear I'll smash this thing!" David shouted, out of patience.

"You could not so much as touch it, mortal." Travers taunted.

"Just tell me what happened to my sister!" David snapped back. "And what happened to her child other than that she had a child?"

"The foolishness you mortals cling to never ceases to amaze me." Raymond replied. "You came here looking for your sister's grandchild." He chuckled. "That, my dear David, is just what she told you, what they all told you."

"Stop playing games and talk!"

"But of course." Travers replied, oh it was such fun toying with mortals like this. And once he was reborn he'd have an eternity to think up new games for those whom he would take as pets. "It's quite simple, really." His tone was as if explaining things to a child, a child lacking in intelligence. "The Sarah you came here to 'rescue'...IS your sister."

"That's damn impossible and you know it. I said lay off the games!" David retorted, looking around for something he could use to smash the globe.

"Half-right." the taunting voice continued. "It would be impossible...IF she were still human. But she isn't. Time to wake up, David...time to wake up." He chuckled again. "Tell me, have you ever heard of....vampires?"

David's eyes narrowed. What the Hell was Travers playing at...if this was really Travers?? And what was this talk of vampires--more beating around the bush?

No, David thought as the implications of Travers' words sank in. No...Sarah...she couldn't have. She didn't. This was a lie. It had to be.

"She begged me to take her," Travers went on, seeing how David was starting to react, the slow horror dawning with the realization, and loving every moment. "She wanted to become what I was, she wanted anything to get out of that town." the cold laughter came again.

"No! Damn it--shut up--NO!!" David screamed and ran from the room. Sarah? His Sarah a vampire...a...a bloodsucking thing that...God no, there couldn't be such things!

Then he remembered Brendan/Rhys...a vampire hunter, they'd said he was. If there were vampire hunters--there had to be vampires. That only made a horrible sense.

Oh God he was going to be sick. How was he ever going to tell John this, or Mother, for that matter?

He ran along the hall through another open door. Out, out, get *out*, was all he could think. And then it registered, he wasn't outside. This was another room, a bedroom, by the look of it, and rather luxurious for an old farmhouse.

And it was occupied. There were two people on the bed, a man and a woman. He didn't recognize the man, but the woman seemed familiar. Then it came to him.

"You--I remember you." David murmured. "You were at Lourdesmont the night my brother and I came." Kari? Karen? Yes, that'd been her name. God, was she part of this?? She had to be; why else was she here??

Gabriel looked up at the elderly human who'd just stumbled into the room and was staring at Karen. He thought quickly. This had to be one of Sarah's brothers. She had told him about their visit, and how upset it had made her. "Mr. Lindsay," he began, "I'm one of Sarah's friends..."

"Which Sarah? Sarah my sister? Sarah the ... vampire?" Lindsay's voice was weak, and Gabriel could see how he trembled. But how had the man gotten here? And what, if anything, could he do to help them get Sarah free?

Gabriel sat up slowly, allowing the silken sheets to fall from his chest, exposing the healing scars there to the man's gaze. "Yes, Sarah your sister. Sarah the vampire. But she's still the same girl you lost," he said, using his voice to try to soothe the man's fears. "And she's in danger now. How did you get here, Mr. Lindsay?"

"We, um, I went to the cottage near Lourdesmont and found a bunch of people, that Andrew and some guy named Rhys or Brendan or something and this girl who ... God, she WAS Sarah ... and somehow... we were here, and I ... I just couldn't stand being around them and I walked around to the back, and I found this room with a globe in it..." His voice trailed off.

"Raymond Travers." Lady Karen's voice was still weak, but she didn't sound as if she'd let that stop her. She sat up as well, holding the sheet to her chest and reaching behind her for the negligee that Gabriel had stripped from her earlier. Gabriel found the edge of it near his hip and dragged it out from the tangled covers, then handed it to her. "That bastard."

"Yes, but how..."

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Mr. Lindsay, there's a lot we don't know. What we do know is that Raymond Travers, fifty years ago, changed your sister into a vampire for the purpose of then drinking her blood and killing her. Andrew Harrington had been hunting Travers and came upon him before he could kill Sarah. He killed Travers and became Sarah's mentor and guardian in the vampire world. Does that seem clear so far?"

The man nodded. Lady Karen took up the tale. Meanwhile, Gabriel was locating his pajama bottoms and putting them on. Escape while nude had its problems. When he began listening again, Karen had apparently explained about the letters and Sarah's growing worry. "And when your mother was kidnapped, Gabriel came to stay with us. We know that Giovanni used magic on her and on your ... sister-in-law? Wife? to take her but we still do not know what type, or how he does it."

"A magician?" Lindsay had leaned against the door.

"A necromancer," Gabriel corrected. "One who uses the spirits of the dead in unholy rituals that are against the laws of God. To make a long story short, Giovanni captured myself and Lady Karen and has whiled away his time while awaiting some mystic configuration or other with torture and obscene rituals. Tonight he plans on sacrificing Sarah to Travers and on becoming vampire himself. You must help us, Mr. Lindsay -- neither Karen nor I are entirely able to do what must be done."

David was still trembling but he tried to get it under control, to push aside all the questions for a little longer. "I don't know what I can do, dammit! I'm not a magician, or a...a vampire...or whatever that was outside I saw Brendan turning into!" He shook his head again. "What can I do that you can't?" He looked at Gabriel and Karen, wanting to help but uncertain how he could.

"Did you say you were here with Brendan, and others?" Karen asked. "David, listen to me, Gabe and I, well, there isn't much we can offer in the way of help, you must get back to the others and tell them you have found us. Hurry, there is not time to waste, Giovanni and Travers are at this moment planning to do some very nasty things to Sarah." There was a slight hint of disgust in her voice as she continued. "Is Andrew with you? He'd better be trying to help out, it's his crazy doings that caused all this." She paused for a moment, then added one thing more. "Oh, and David, is Rene with you? Please, tell him I'm OK. Tell him, I can feel him."

* * *

Outside...

"Did they do any good?" Kenyon wanted to know. He recognized the look on Dejah's face.

"About as much good as any teenager," Dejah replied and reached for her gun. "Time to go kick some butt."

"Right," Kenyon said and motioned towards Capri. "You come with me; we'll take the front. Dejah, you and Andrew take the back. The two of you need to pay attention to what we are doing and don't do anything but what we tell you. Got it? Rene, why don't you stick with Brendan and make sure he doesn't go off on us again."

"Not much chance of that," Andrew muttered under his breath and refused to back down when Dejah shot him a threatening glance.

"Right-o," Capri nodded.

But Rene seemed distracted. "What is he doing?" He pointed towards where Brendan was staring off into the distance. "We need his help!"

Kenyon took a few strides towards the hunter, cautious after witnessing the events at the cabin. "Brendan?" he asked.

"How dare he?" Brendan breathed. And then louder, in a voice full of indignation. "How dare he!"

"Who? What?" Kenyon asked.

Brendan turned to look at the agent, gone was the gold fire of a few minutes ago replaced by an infinite sense of sadness. "Don't you know where you are? Where we are?"

Dejah knew, but she kept her mouth shut.

"So where are we, Mr. Big Vampire Hunter," Andrew demanded.

But Brendan didn't rise to the bait. "You are standing on one of the many battlefields that make up Gettysburg."

Inherited memories of guns and smoke, the moans of the wounded and the screams of the dying filled the hunter's mind. And the final memory of watching a young man approach through the fog, recognition dawning in his eyes only to be but down by the explosion of a cannon ball. It was too much and Brendan sunk to his knees. Capri made to move towards him but was stopped by Rene's hand on her arm.

"This place," Brendan whispered, "is sacred. For Travers to choose such a location and soil it and the memories that still live here is beyond forgiveness." His hands reached down and rested lightly on the winter ground. Those around him had to gather close to hear the soft words that escaped his lips.

"Many are the hearts that are weary tonight Wishing for the war to cease Many are the hearts that are looking for the right To see the dawn of peace."

The party stood silently as the chill evening wrapped around them, the presence of the past a palpable living thing.

"We, too, are tired of the fighting," Brendan continued. "All we seek is safety for those threatened and peace for those in pain of the soul. We promise to cleanse this land of the evil that befouls it and return you to the rest you have so richly earned."

He looked up at the solemn group and there was a hint of tears in his eyes. "Let's go," he said simply.

Dejah and Andrew headed for the back of the house while Kenyon and Capri moved quietly towards the front. Brendan extended his hand to Rene. "For Karen."

Rene took the hand. "For Karen," he agreed and the two, vampire and hunter, moved towards the shadows.

As Kenyon and Capri made their way toward the front, Capri showed a different perspective, "The slavers lost the battle at Gettysburg. Ya know what that means." There was a glint in her dark, brooding eyes.

Kenyon understood what she was getting at. If Giovanni was thinking any aura about the place would work to his advantage, he should've picked a place where the wrong side had won a battle. "I hope you're right," he responded.

Once they reached the door, they found it to be locked, but it didn't make any difference. Capri had the lock picked and the deadbolt unbolted with a spell.

A moment later, the two entered, but as they were about to make their way down one of the halls, they were greeted by two figures. One, holding the other, which appeared to be bleeding profusely and minus a few fingers and then some. The bloody one was a girl, and the other, a man.

Both Kenyon and Capri looked dismayed at first, the girl looked just like Sarah. The man had a sneer on his face and looked to Capri, just like Giovanni.

"The bastard!" Kenyon hissed between clenched teeth. "This just can't be."

"Nah, yer right, it can't be," Capri growled, "It's just too easy. Don't shoot it whatever ya do, it'll give us away." and Capri froze the figures in place. After a moment, she spoke again. "Yeah right, as if. Them's just some kinda demons." And before there was time to react, she sent them on their way. "Jus' what kinda dumb clucks does that molderin carcass think we are?"

Kenyon allowed himself a little smirk. That was one trap foiled. But just as those demons disappeared, a hoard of them came down another hall that seemed to be leading from another set of rooms. "More?" Kenyon asked incredulously.

Capri's eyes flashed furiously for a moment, and she muttered dangerously, "I ain't got time for this crap!" She gave those demons the same send off as she had the first two, and she and Kenyon continued down the hall until they heard voices that seemed to be coming from one of the bedrooms.

"A necromancer," That was Gabriel, and he went on, explaining what a necromancer was, and what Giovanni was planning. "Tonight he plans on sacrificing Sarah to Travers and on becoming vampire himself."

"I thought as much." Capri growled almost inaudibly.

Kenyon looked just as disgusted.

Gabriel continued, "You must help us, Mr. Lindsay -- neither Karen nor I are entirely able to do what must be done."

"There they are," Kenyon whispered, and Capri remained silent. They listened as Karen spoked to David next.

"Hurry, there is not time to waste, Giovanni and Travers are at this moment planning to do some very nasty things to Sarah."

"So that's where David..." Kenyon gave a slight shudder. David's wandering off could very well have put him in just as much danger.

"Yeah," Capri whispered. "he's lucky, tha's all. C'mon, time's runnin short."

* * *

Giovanni smiled, coldly, and taking a piece of red silk cloth from a table, wrapped it around the gleaming silver dagger, so as not to allow his own flesh to come into direct contact with it. "Sarah," he called.

The door to the side room opened and Sarah stepped out, her long light brown hair trailing in wet strands along the simple white robe she now wore. Oddly enough, even though she was vampire, she felt cold. Perhaps it was just the water droplets that still clung to her skin and hair.

She looked around at the candlelit room, the crystal globe swirling with its pinkish smoke, the pentagrams and other symbols decorating the place. "What do I have to do?" she asked, still uncertain. "I don't know anything about all this magic stuff," she waved her hand to indicate everything around her.

"You don't have to," Giovanni said coolly. "That is my task in this. You need only follow my instructions exactly." He gestured with his empty hand. "Stand there." he pointed at a space between the crystal globe and a square container, a silver box, carved with more arcane symbols, whose size and depth made Sarah think of a cat's litterbox. The analogy was somewhat apt, since the box did contain a greyish dust.

"See the pentagram on the floor there." Giovanni continued. "Make sure you are standing in the exact center...and face towards the box."

She looked down at the red painted figure...if she stood as Giovanni commanded, the single point would be behind her. She hesitated, still not sure about this.

"Sarah." sounded the voice from the globe. Raymond's voice. "Do as he says, please? It's what has to happen for me to have a body again. Once that's done we'll be together, I promise...and no one will ever hurt you again."

Sarah looked at the globe, reached out and gently touched the nearer side of it, lightly--it was the closest she could come to touching Raymond at the moment. "I'll do whatever it takes," she said firmly. "You're all I have." she moved slightly so as to assume the position Giovanni had indicated.

Giovanni smiled and raising his hands, still holding the cloth wrapped dagger in one of them, began to pace the room, his steps making an intricate pattern amidst the symbols on the floor. He seemed to be taking care to not step on the symbols themselves, but between them.

As he walked he started chanting words in a language Sarah didn't recognize. The odd chill in the room increased.

This was interspersed with waves of the hand holding the dagger, with which he was tracing other symbols in the air, careful all the while to never touch the dagger directly, always through the cloth.

* * *

"Carefully," Brendan's voice seemed to almost echo in Rene's head as the two moved towards the far side of the house where a ship's hatch designated the outside entrance to the basement.

"Do you know where we are going?" Rene wanted to know. He really wanted to know.

Brendan laid a hand on top of the metal doors and as the golden glow from his hand extended over the doors, they opened quietly. He turned to look at Rene, the glow having replaced the normal brown of his eyes. "Karen and Gabriel are in the back towards the left. The room is protected by some powerful wards. I can't tell exactly but I think David is with them." A smirk crossed his face. "I'm not attuned to searching for humans at the moment."

Karen was alive! That was all that Rene heard. It was all he needed to hear.

"Then what are we waiting for?" he wanted to know as he moved past Brendan and down ancient stone steps into the celllar.

"Vampires," Brendan snorted as he followed Rene. "Can't live with them but they make great fertilizer."

The two men stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked into the darkness in front of them.

"What do you see?" Brendan wanted to know.

Rene, with the acute sight of a vampire, peered cautiously into the darkness. "There is another set of stairs directly in front of us. It looks like there are doors and small halls lining both the left and right sides. This place looks like a rabbit's warren."

"Typical nineteenth century basement."

"I can't see anything else. No movement." Rene turned to look at his companion. "What do you sense?"

Brendan closed his eyes, the golden fire from them gone, removing the last of the light. When he opened them again, they were just plain old brown eyes. "I can feel Gabriel and Karen. Andrew is with Dejah and they are somewhere near the back porch. I think I can sense Sarah almost directly above us but the magic is too powerful to be sure. Capri and Kenyon are making their way through the front door, they still haven't been detected, I don't think."

"What do you mean, you don't think?" Rene was at a loss. "We need you to know for certain!"

"It's this place," Brendan hissed back. "It's the land surrounding us. Giovanni and Travers knew what they were doing when they chose this place. There is so much residual energy that I am having trouble picking out the energy that I am searching for!"

Rene backed down. "Sorry. But Karen is up there! And I need to get to her so I need to know where to look! I'll help you with Sarah but Karen is my first concern!"

A comforting hand was laid on the vampire's shoulder. "I know. I feel the same. Karen was such a comfort to a very confused little baby and that is a debt I will never be able to repay. Let's go get her."

"Right."

The two men moved cautiously across the damp floor, the hunter trailing in the footsteps of the vampire, trusting to the creature's better eyesight. Yet there was something about this basement. Brendan couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was very definitely off-kilter here.

"Stairs," Rene whispered over his shoulder.

"You first," Brendan said and extended his senses. "The door at the top isn't locked." He allowed a brief smile to cross his delicate features. "They forgot to cover their rear."

Rene was at the top of the stairs, Brendan five steps behind him when the loud screams of a tortured multitude shook the very foundation of the house. Rene was turning to look behind when his eyes grew wide, indeed.

"Go!" Brendan was screaming as he was drawn back into the blackness of the cellar by invisible hands. "Go!"

Rene did not have time to react as the door behind him flew open and he was pulled through.

The last thing that Brendan saw before the door slammed shut was Rene, dazed, sliding down the wall against which he had just been thrown.

This way back to part 3

This way to part 5