Curse glared at Gwen, her soft features barely managing the expression. The gray of her cursed eye swirled within the dead iris like fog.

"You're not taking him," she said with a determined frown, keeping eye contact with the vampire, "He's my family now."

The hail intensified, beating at the window over the sink with crashing syncopation. Emmaline looked between Curse and the vampire with concern and then rushed over to shut the door, straining against the strong wind that was blowing against it.

---

Elisabeth had hoped her brother's stubborn nature would lead to no more than scuffed shoes and a dirty hem- but she soon found out that was not the case. First had been the police officer and then suddenly he was being attacked by what Elisabeth had to assume was a vampire. Was the coven in these parts finally lessening its restraint? She didn't have time to answer the question.

Backing up, the princess winced at Von's screams and ran with Thomas towards the ladder he then urgently shoved her towards. Hope of escape was eliminated as the police officers limp body was launched into the structure, knocking it down with the sheer force of the blow.

Eyes wide with panic, Elisabeth backed up slowly, trying to drag Thomas with her, away from the vampire and into...a dead end. Strands of golden hair fell in front of her eyes as they moved violently between the blocked end of the alley and the Unnatural before them.

---

Eslatar was almost able to imagine a dance as he twisted in time with Kes- but it had a deadly finale. He saw the thirst in her eyes before he had time to react. Taking what blood he had in his system- sire's blood- would doubtless only make her stronger than before, ridding her of any human abnormalities they shared. Had father taught her this too?

Still, with all these thoughts, Eslatar found himself powerless to stop Kes from biting down, fangs sinking deep into undead flesh. Was it because he still loved her? Or just because she had proved the quicker? Only Eslatar knew...

---

Ruth entered the room Hook sat in, having been briefed by Daniel about what the scientist did and didn't know. She knew it would be too late to go back on anything now and reveled in the thought that Hook had played so easily into their hands. Still, he was a dangerous man, and not one to be trifled with. Her guidance would still need caution.

"It's a nice set-up," she offered, crossing her arms as she looked in on the 'examination' room. "Not to be compared with what the organization has in the Monstropolis, but enough to suit our purposes."

She stepped closer, lowering her voice slightly, "Tonight you'll see the fulfillment of your hard work Mr. Hook- and find you've made the world a much safer place for it."

Gwen's jaw twitched as she looked at Curse. A faint troubled look entered her eyes before she tore her gaze away from the cursed eye and down at the huddled figure of Caerwyn. She smirked, although it seemed half-hearted this time.

"Family," she repeated with distaste. "You don't want to be this boy's family, child. Every member of it dies. Isn't that right?" When she got no response from Caerwyn, she snarled and leaped forward, grabbing the dark hair and forcing his head back. When he just glared at her, not making any move to answer, she grabbed his neck with her free had and picked him up, slamming him down on the table. He grimaced in pain as she shouted, "Isn't that right?!"

Caerwyn arched his back in pain as the white light flashed again and one more memory came, the most painful one of them all.

Caerwyn could only wait another day. Gwendolyn had had their money and the physician had taken that with him. The barkeeper eventually kicked him out, giving him only enough food for three days. Confused and upset, Caerwyn made his way down the same path the physician took. He tried to ask people along the way if they had seen the physician and Gwendolyn using only his hands and sometimes a drawing. Most of them gave up before he could make them understand. The few who did understand could only give him a vague direction in which they thought the man had gone.

Flinging open the door, he paused, his chest heaving, as he took in his surroundings. It was not a large room, but bigger than the room he and Gwendolyn had shared at the last tavern. This one had a fireplace, and small flames danced around popping wood chips. The bed was rumpled but still made, its covers thick and dark. A small table stood in a corner, but the chair had been pulled around to the fireplace. A girl was sitting in the chair, facing away from the door. Long dark hair spilled over the wooden back of the chair, and she did not move as Caerwyn stepped closer, apparently engrossed with the fire.

Gwendolyn . . .

Caerwyn reached out with his mind tentatively and suddenly reeled back, clutching his head in pain as he came across a solid mental block. The young woman in the chair did not turn around.

Having no idea what she was going on about, Caerwyn straightened and made his way hesitantly toward the figure in the chair. Moving to the side, he stood before the fireplace, staring over at Gwendolyn’s profile. Reaching forward timidly, he brushed his fingers against her cheek. He pulled back with a gasp as his fingertips burned with the cold of her skin.

You’re a . . . a . . .

Gwendolyn did not answer in words. She simply turned to face him, smiling widely to reveal the pointed canines and the dark red irises. Caerwyn stumbled back, gaping at her, before turning and running for the door. But suddenly she was in front of it, shutting it behind her, still grinning.

Before he could reply, she swooped down and grabbed a hold of his arm, squeezing it tightly until he winced. “You’re my little cursed one,” she said tenderly, stroking his cheek with long fingernails. “So sweet.”

LET ME GO! He pushed the words so loudly into Gwendolyn’s mind that she actually twitched and then frowned, putting up her mental block again. She shook him lightly and dragged him over to the chair.

“Bad Caerwyn!” she snapped, pushing him roughly onto the chair. He tried to wiggle away, but she knelt before him, grasping both his upper arms now in a vice grip. “Listen to me, child,” she spat, her red eyes livid. “That is no way to speak to a friend. Be a good boy or I’ll have to punish you.”

I’m not your pet. Caerwyn glared hard at her. You can’t order me about. I don’t care what you are now. He realized what had happened. The doctor who had kidnapped Gwendolyn had been a vampire. For some reason he had wanted to make Gwendolyn one as well. Inside the boy wept at the loss of the girl he had adopted in his heart as someone even closer than a sister, but he kept his expression hardened, knowing he could not give her an inch.

As the red liquid welled up, the vampire suddenly paused, frozen, watching the scarlet color slowly slide down Caerwyn’s pale cheek. The boy suddenly trembled as fear took him. He could feel his wounds healing themselves, but he could also feel the blood continuing to travel down his neck. His breath quickened as the red eyes before him darkened with sudden hunger.

NO! He screamed mentally just as Gwendolyn made a dive for his exposed neck. He tried to twist away but the vampire’s teeth caught his skin, and he screamed again, this time audibly as the vampire poison seeped into him. As Gwendolyn continued to drink, he felt himself go. . . . Blackness began to descend as he felt his limbs go numb. Tears began to roll unchecked down his face as Gwendolyn gathered him up in her arms in order to suck deeper. Finally, just when Caerwyn was sure he was about to die, curse or no, the vampire pulled back and dropped him to the ground. He felt heavily and lay as still as death.

After that there was only darkness. And the darkness remained for the next one hundred years. And even when the boy finally awoke and was able to move on, he never forgot that night. It haunted his dreams and followed his every footstep. So really, the darkness never lifted.

The white light faded, having only been there a few seconds, and as it left, Gwen's voice curled around his mind like a python, squeezing and tightening its grip until it felt like his head was going to explode.

You didn't protect me. This is your fault. It is all your fault. Everything that happened, the curse, the murders, the fire, the sickness. It was and is always your fault. The words crackled in the air like the lightning outside. Gwen repeated them out loud so that Curse could hear them, a wicked smile curling her dark red lips, as she glanced over at the girl.

"I did my research," she added. She kept a firm hand on Caerwyn's throat, even though he did not struggle to get away. "Do you know the real reason your mother died?"

Tears rolled down Caerwyn's bloodstained cheeks openly. Stop, he begged, choking on a sob. Stop it, please. His words continued to broadcast into Emmaline and Curse's mind, and the agony in them was so deep one could almost feel it for themselves.

----

((No, Marshy. You're fine. ))

Thomas was breathing heavily, his foil outstretched in front of him in a defensive stance, even though he knew it would do no good against a vampire. Even so, he stepped out in front of his sister, ready to fight in order to give her time to get away.

But the vampire seemed more interested in the policeman he was fighting. The screams and yells of the fight echoed throughout the alley. Instinctively, Thomas grabbed Elisabeth's hand, not feeling childish in the least for doing so. Now was not the time to worry about appearances. They just had to get out of there!

His eyes scanned the entire alleyway, looking for a way to escape.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Steel walked towards the two trapped royals "Why hello... what a surprise" he grabbed the foil from Thomas "Bad boy, you shouldn't carry this... Someone could get hurt" he broke the foil in half and tossed it behind him.

"Princess Elisabeth, what an honor it is to meet you, to bad this will be such a waste" he pushed Thomas aside and prepared to jump for her throat when he shoulder was grabbed, he was turned around punched square in the face by Von.

As he down at Von his eyes met the young man's and he recognized him. He put on a smile that looked more evil then happy "Hello Von" he said. Von replied with a growing suspicion "How do you know my name?" Steel said in response “Because, Von, twenty two years ago you sat on my lap by your mother’s bed and I named you” Von muttered “You survived” it was not a question.

“Yes, that night when you kicked me out of the house-” he was cut off “You killed Mar!” Von yelled, he then added “Thomas catch” he threw his radio over Steel’s head “radio for he-” he was cut off as Steel threw an uppercut throwing Von off his feet where he tripped up Steel “Get out of here!”

Hearing the familiar sounds of a fight as he walked along the perimeter of Ditto Town, Karl climbed up the side of the nearest building and made his over to the source of the commotion. Perching on the side of a building overlooking an alleyway, the Hybrid had a good view of confrontation happening below him while still being hidden in the shadows around him.

"Steel, Steel, Steel.... you old fool. Always trying to out-do me and failing. When will you ever learn?" Karl mused as he watched the vampire cornering the two Royal children. That's my territory, you know..... the Hybrid thought with a low growl. It took a good bit of willpower for Karl to keep from jumping down and ripping the annoying wannabe to shreds, but as long as Steel did not try to touch the Princess, he was O.K with the situation.... to some degree.

(((nn, let me know if this is not O.K. )))

A familiar smell awakened her deepest senses, comforting.

Comfort quickly turned to dread as another smell took precedence.

Nauseating red.

Kes drew back, choking. Her head jerked to one side, the mouthful spilling onto the floor in reflexive reaction. Crawling back in a harried panic that ended up taking her nowhere, she collapsed a few inches away from the body, coughing. Her hand flew to her mouth, wiping away the slick taste that was sickening her worse than the others had.

A sudden flash of lightning illuminated the visage of her victim, rousing instant horror.

"Es," came her hoarse whisper.

Oh no. No no no. No, this couldn't be.

One moment of clear lucidity began to cloud as soon she moved forward again. Cradling his dark head in trembling hands, she wanted to tell him...something. A forgotten tear slid down her cheek. Her mouth had opened, but no words that meant enough could be found to say; until soon, she was distracted by the smell of red once more.

Her mind teetered on the edge of oblivion, being drawn back under. Lowering her head closer to his, she hissed softly as she fought for control of the scattered human fragments. Kes closed her eyes, feeling emotions rise that she hadn't experienced in an eternity.

Heart pounding, blurred flashes of memory exploded behind her eyes.

So broken- All or nothing- All gone- Scattered shatters all around. Everything was broken. Monster- demon- hated him. Give or take- No- she didn't. He had- something. Love- Les roses sont roses- He doesn't- no more. He hadn't-didn't- Had he? He was broken. Her fault...

A crushing ambition came over her despite her torrent of confusion. "Home," she murmured, her nose brushing against his cheek as she turned her face towards him, taking in his scent. Moving her arms forward, she slid them beneath his own, wrapping them around his torso.

Home echoed louder in her mind, becoming a growing need.

Her strength wavered, even with sated thirst, as she attempted to drag Eslatar towards the balcony doors, muttering pressured words that made sense to her alone.

Kes paused as a thud came from the front doors of the suite, but then continued without regard for who might be on the other side. After several more violent thuds, which soon developed into louder crashes, the doors burst open to reveal several of the senator's bodyguards, weapons in hand. Richard stumbled in behind them, breathing heavily.

His gaze moved from her serene stare down to the vampire that she half-held in her arms.

He didn't care who she was anymore; she had made a complete fool out of him. His deal with the unnatural renegades would most certainly fall through if he lost their on-loan-vampire to this lunatic woman, while in his own building no less. He needed this deal to work.

He glared at her while demanding, "Get him out of this without another scratch. I don't care what it takes," any empathy he possessed having evaporated in the elevator.

One guard had caught on to the woman's agenda, aiming his weapon at Eslatar.

Richard snapped, "Moron, I said without-" He was cut off by two 'pops', followed by a crash.

After that, nothing was heard but the rain.

Kes now stood amidst broken glass on the balcony, in the downpour. Her hand was covered in blood- her own blood. Her gaze slowly moved from her hand to where she had left Eslatar, her expression muddled. Unbalanced, she stepped backwards, tripping against the balustrade.

Her body plummeted over the edge without a sound.

Emmaline fell to the floor, grasping her head with a silent, open-mouthed scream. The pain Caerwyn was broadcasting to them had triggered the memories still lingering near the surface.

"Savage is gone for the weekend- wife's split to. Come on Johnson, just turn a blind eye for an hour. You look tired, go take a nap or something while I hold down the fort."

Emmaline was sitting in the bed of her 'room' at Savage manor, listening intently to the conversation going on outside the bedroom door. She had the stiff, startled look of a startled animal- except there was nowhere to spring to, she was stuck in this trap and the animal was outside the door talking calmly with his friend as if he wasn't a monster.

Emmaline shook violently, trying to push away the unwanted recollection. The door shut behind the man but Emmaline could only stare at his shoes...there was a scuff mark on the toe of one...

"Out of my head," Emmaline pleaded with a shaky voice.

Curse looked frantically between Emmaline and Caerwyn, unsure of who or how to help. Panic swelled in her, quickly turning to anger as she stared at the woman.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" she yelled, raising her voice suddenly to a half-roar. Thunder rolled in response outside and the kitchen window suddenly blew in, glass dissolving and falling into the sink and onto the counter.

---

Elisabeth held back a shudder, lifting her chin slightly as Steel approached and pushed Thomas away from her side. Her hand suddenly felt cold and clammy.

The blow from the policeman caught the princess off guard and she stood in shock a moment before the radio came flying towards them. With a sudden movement she reached out and caught the device before grabbing Thomas's hand again.

"Come on," she cried out and dragged him towards the way they had come, eager to avoid the oncoming fight.

---

Eslatar could vaguely feel Kes let go, he was so tired suddenly, so hungry and so hurt. With a slight grunt he slid to the floor, unable to process what the look on her face meant. He reached out for her mind in desperation but found the connection harder to maintain now that she was no longer like him. The separation was agonizing and his mouth parted in a pained expression. He was being moved...somewhere?

The doors crashed open and he heard the voice of Richard followed by the roar of gunfire. They had fired at someone? Her? Eslatar craned his neck in time to see her tumble over the balcony and had the sudden strength to reach into her mind with pressure he hadn't possessed before. Into that crack he poured the secret for flight, the careful instruction he'd received, willing it to work right this time so he could save her yet again.

Consciousness was fading, he could feel it fleeing as he forced himself to crawl to his feet and then make a dash for the door past the guards and Richard. Somehow he escaped, slumping against the back of the elevator as the doors shut on the stunned men inside. His finger shook as it pressed the button to bring him down.

Talullah he broadcasted, connecting with the only other vampire he had sired, Help Kes- Hotel...ball, come quick he added before the last of his strength left and he fell to the floor of the moving elevator, eyelids fluttering closed over red eyes.

---

Across many miles Talullah sat up in her overly fluffly bed, eyes narrowing as she lost her look of innocence and mulled over what Eslatar had just spoken to her. It was the first time she had heard him so clearly.

Flinging off the covers, the small vampire jumped down onto the floor and hurried to the door and through the mansion until she reached the door outside of Father and Mother's quarters. She hesitated a moment and then knocked loudly, wondering what sort of chaos lay in store once Loren found his pet was in trouble.

Talullah found herself bouncing up and down on her toes, waiting for a reply from the unyielding wooden door before her.

Margaret started at a knock on the door and slowly got up from the black bed she had been snugly resting in. Her head swam a little as she stood and took unsteady steps towards the sound.

Through his agony, Caerwyn seemed to hear Emmaline's soft plea. It was then that he realized he had been sharing his words with everyone, not just Gwen. Instantly he drew back, sucking all the pain deep within himself in order to keep from hurting the woman. As soon as that happened however, Curse exploded. Almost literally.

He flinched as the thunder boomed and the kitchen window shattered.

Gwen seemed to realize then that Curse was controlling the storm. She straightened slowly, dragging Caerwyn off the table by his neck and tossing him to the floor at Curse's feet. She studied the young half-witch with a curious expression.

"Fascinating," she said softly. "So much power." She reached forward as if to touch Curse's cheek.

Caerwyn was coughing and rubbing his throat with a grimace as Gwen spoke. Now that she was drawing near, he stood shakily. Concentrating on the pain he was bottling up deep inside, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Gritting his teeth, he gave a small yell, pushing it hard past his lips, sweating with the strain.

Gwen's eyes widened in surprise as she was suddenly flung back by an unseen force, crashing into the cabinets. Dishes fell to the floor and shattered, she picked herself up and growled with irritation.

"Fun's over," she spat. "Now I'm going to kill you." She stepped forward slowly, all her attention on Caerwyn,who had collapsed to the ground at Curse's feet.

She made the mistake however, of putting her back toward the now open window.

----

Thomas stumbled as he tried to keep up with Elisabeth. He was breathing quickly with fear and adrenaline and suddenly he pulled ahead, now in the lead, bursting first through the alley and falling on top of a girl. He scrambled quickly off of her and looked around. It was then that he realized he did not recognize this part of town. They had come out in a completely different place than where they had gone in.

"Watch it," the girl snapped, adjusting her sunglasses, which looked odd since it was in the middle of the night. "What's the rush?" Then she seemed to notice their clothing. "You were at the ball fundraiser thing where me and my brother worked. Yeah, you wouldn't take the cheese dip." She pointed at Thomas and grinned a somewhat creepy smile.

The unexpected meeting left the prince speechless. "I-I," he stammered, unable to think of anything. They were lost, narrowly having escaped certain death, and now they had run into this strange girl who had a creepy smile.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Richard blinked, "Ah," he commented in belated understanding, clapping the guard on the back before dashing out onto the balcony as soon as the body disappeared from view. He gripped stone in his hands, squinting through the downpour for the messy end several stories down.

He saw nothing.

No body. No splattered remains. Nothing. It was as if she had never even been there. Even the blood stains were starting to dissolve as the rain fell harder. "Impossible," he mouthed in stunned silence, before whirling back around. His gaze darted through the darkened room, searching every visible corner while panic started to climb.

A sudden clap of thunder forced him to stumble back inside, wiping rain from disbelieving eyes. Richard stood, looking down at the empty spot on the floor where the previously near-unconscious vampire had been, his worst fear confirmed.

Eslatar was gone.

===

Loren watched Margaret's actions for a moment. He marveled at her struggle against the human illness that still plagued her, even now that she was immortal. Something about this weakness intrigued him; although he knew that despite her hindrance, she was stronger than he was in some ways... which altogether made her far too irresistible.

He stood in a sharp motion from the chair that was in the farthest corner from the door. "Allow me," he murmured, draping the shawl that had been left on the end of the bed over his wife's shoulders. He inhaled the scent of her hair before crossing over to the door.

"Talul-lah," he drawled, tapping his finger against the door in response to her knock. "You better have a good reason for being out of bed." Loren smirked, knowing how much the little one hated to be treated like a child.

===

A tawny creature traveled towards the mansion in a reckless blur of speed.

Home...

She approached the elevator slowly, due to the sound she heard as she walked back in the building. Raine waited for the elevator to come to this floor, as the light blinked the door opened revealing a familiar face. She took the photo and stun gun out of her purse. She quickly confirmed the unnatural and injected the sleeping liquid into his neck. She put him over her shoulder and carried him out the back. "He passed out, he got wasted" she said as people looked at her questionably. She put him in the back of her truck and drove towards the looming abandoned building. She stopped close to the warehouse and gave him a few kicks and punches to make it look like he put up a fight, but not to many, or her experience could be questioned.

Risika stayed still in the bushes. The falcon had found her and was lying near her in the foliage. All she could do was wait.

Emmaline slumped against the cool floor, relief manifesting itself at last- though she didn't have enough strength to raise her head. Her body shook of its own accord at Caerwyn's yell, but she couldn't look up to see what had happened.

Curse raised a hand towards Gwen, barring the approach of the vampire. "You won't hurt them anymore," she answered, voice turned thunderous and firm.

Crash after crash of thunder sounded outside as lightning struck every couple of seconds just outside the kitchen. Finally one fiery bolt found it's target, lighting up the house and sending a buzz of electricity through the room as it came crashing through the broken window and into Gwen's back.

---

Elisabeth looked between the strange girl and her brother. Trying to put on an imperious face, the princess looked down at the girl.

"Would you know how to get back to the hotel?" she asked, severely denting her own pride with the question.

---

Ruth looked up at the sound of a car outside the warehouse. Her heels clicked loudly across the concrete floor as she headed to the doors and peered out. Raine was as good as her word it seemed. Ruth smiled and stepped out, hoping the vamp she'd captured would be useful.

---

"Well if you'd rather not have the news I can just go back to bed," Talullah responded, scowling at the tone Father was using.

Margaret fingered the shawl around her shoulders and listened to the exchange, red eyes shining in the dark room. She closed them a moment and reached out. "Dear- let her in," she offered softly, "You'll want to hear this."

Gwen gave a cry of rage and pain and slumped to the ground, her eyes closing slowly as the electricity burned her from the inside out.

Caerwyn's eyes snapped open and he inhaled sharply as he stared at the still form of the vampire, her hair splayed out on the floor, her silk dress crumpled around her. He moved forward slowly, his slight body trembling. His face was streaked with tears and blood, his skin so pale it almost seemed transparent, blue veins showing through around his temples.

He dropped to his knees beside the body, reaching out to stroke the still, white face. Choking on a sob, he bowed his head, his eyelids fluttering closed. Moving his other hand forward, he grasped the slender hand, pressing it against his cheek as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the sigh shuddering and threatening to catch.

He said nothing, only held the hand and stroked the hair back gently, seeming to forget about the others in the broken kitchen.

----

"I'm Katie," the girl introduced herself, still looking at Thomas and seeming to ignore the princess.

"Hi . . . Katie," Thomas said, swallowing hard. "Do you know the way back to the hotel?"

Katie shook her head. "No, but I can take you there. But only if you promise not to turn me in." Her expression was hard to read in the dark and behind those sunglasses. "If you do, you'll have extremely bad luck for the rest of your lives."

Thomas frowned in confusion for a moment before understanding dawned on him. She was an unnatural. She had to be. He glanced over at Elisabeth, wondering what she would do in this situation.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Although Taran hadn’t seen Azriel in what seemed a very long while, the thoughts of all the anti-unnatural rallies and disappearance talk swirled around her alerted mind. Taran pulled him in quickly, glanced out the hall and quickly shut the door behind her. “Why are you here, isn’t it just a little dangerous for you to be meandering around Ditto Town. They’ve increased patrols and they don’t exactly give you a ‘mere slap on the wrist’ and send you on your way. It’s getting worse, people are disappearing. I thought we agreed that I would meet you somewhere closer to the forest.”

The sudden appearance of the young cop and the following fight with Steel had caught Karl by surprise, but at least this meant he did not have to shift and fight the vamp. The Hybrid followed the two royal siblings from the rooftops until they encounter a small girl, possibly around 13 or 14 years old.

"Well, there's no more reason for me to hang around here...." Karl said as he looked around before spotting the hotel again. Within a few minutes, Karl had made it back to the hotel, climbed up to his rooms balcony and was now sitting comfortably on the bed with a glass of red wine in his hand. The TV was on some local news station covering the "Breaking News" of the night, though the Hybrid was only marginally interested.

As he sipped his wine, Karl flipped through the complimentary newspaper that was on his bed. His attention was caught by the listings of the times of public train arrivals and departures for the next day at the Ditto Station. Hmm, a buffet on wheels.... That's always a fun treat. You get a bit of everything: old, young, some with a nice tobacco flavor and oh yes! The nicely marinated ones with beer. Karl thought with a contented sigh as he studied the train schedule.

"A good follow-up to tonight's introduction. Yes, a very good follow-up." the Hybrid said as he looked out at the balcony and the flickering light of the police station flames. "Too chaos and a very successful evening!" Karl said as he raised his glass up, took a sip and then grinned a demented grin.

((( O.K, this brings Karl's and Neal's threads to a close until we pick back up after the break. )))

Margaret never failed to have a superb reason for which to cut his needling short. On occasion, her reasoning stood to gain him better entertainment. Loren glanced back over his shoulder at his wife, frowning. His amusement faded as he took in the expression she wore, her delicate forehead creased. Something she had seen...

He turned back to the door, wrenching it open with a glare.

===

Crashing down through trees, the tawny creature came to an ungraceful landing.

===

... vampiric nature of the specimen appears to be initiated by a virus, behaving similar to that of a parasitical organism... reanimation of the host body... Integrating itself with the host cerebrum, the organism requires direct feed into the interbrain, thereby maintaining a conduit for survival... effecting the surrounding areas...

It is possible that complete eradication of the virus organism would carry the same effect...

Hook had almost memorized these notes. He ran his thumb back and forth over his chin, deep in thought as he studied his own words once again. His countless hours of research had amounted to this, but still had led him nowhere. After months of studying cadavers, Hook had come to the conclusion... that he would need an animate subject.

He suspected that Ruth had come to the same conclusion some time ago. He had hesitated in making a decision though. Now he guessed that she had grown tired of waiting. Something in the back of his mind drove the hairs on the back of his neck to bristle, as though there were something terrible lurking around the corner.

Curse stared at the scene, shaking wildly as the storm died and left them in silence. Head pounding out some primal beat, the young half-witch looked around at the destruction she'd caused with wide eyes.

"You'll never be safe outside this cage my dear," Button said to a younger Curse, staring at her from behind glass. "Outside of this place you'll find a world that doesn't want you...a world you don't belong in. All you can do out there is hurt people. It's for the best..."

Had her mother felt like this? Gwen had said something about her mother hadn't she? It'd been a long time since Curse had thought so much about the mysterious woman.

Dark hair falling over a child's face as her mother's face came into view. Her mother with a bright smile, handing over a newborn kitten to her own child. The beautiful woman glanced over at the other person and Curse vaguely remembered tottering over to share the moment with...who?

Bright blue eyes in a child's face.

"What did she mean?" Curse asked Caerwyn hoarsely, looking down at the boy, "About my mother?"

---

Elisabeth sighed, wondering when this night full of Unnaturals would end. "I suppose it's the only way we'll find our way back," she volunteered in a wary tone, looking over the young girl again. "I should warn you that if we're harmed there's quite a few people who would be more than willing to hunt you down."

---

Azriel stepped in, following the slight pull of Taran. He smiled as he looked down at her though it was obvious she was very worried. He put his hands on her shoulders with a slight, wry smile.

"Come on Taran- no one's out prowling the streets for an ordinary looking guy like me," he replied, feeling happier than he had in the past few weeks. "I had to see you," Azriel added more seriously and lowered his head to kiss her forehead.

Pulling away, he looked around the small apartment, feeling more at home here than he ever had in the forest with his pack.

---

Wystan circled around the mansion, taking his time on the preliminary round. It was nicer now to walk under the moonlight and have some time for his thoughts, though tonight his mind was silent.

Inside, Talullah looked up at Loren as his face suddenly appeared from behind the brutally opened door. She gathered her courage and smiled up at him coyly.

"Looks like your little one has flown home," she offered to him, "And she has news of my unfortunate sire."

The message was simple but also simplistically annoying to Margaret. At the mention of Eslatar her emotions were astir but she had to force them down with all her willpower, knowing that Loren would not appreciate the thoughts she was harboring about the runaway.