56

Still laughing and talking, the two approach, and Adison looks at Vincent, who shrugs. It doesn't matter, Mina can handle her father whilst Vincent deals with the witch who is responsible for taking their daughter's peace of mind, and the lives of who knows how many innocents.

Vincent will not stoop to killing someone in cold blood, that is just too much to ask of him, so Adison hopes the woman will do something reckless, change into a monster, or attack him viciously. That way he'll not feel too guilty about taking a life yet again.

When they are nearly past, Vincent steps out in front of the pair, sword drawn, gun at the ready. Mina is at his side, and Adison and Victor are behind them, but at an angle, they know Sir Malcolm may carry a powerful gun. No sense in tempting him to shoot by offering an easy target.

They are both holding a gun, but not aiming it yet, they want to know where Sir Malcolm stands, first. Adison has her sight trained on the lady, or course, that is where the arcane danger will come from.

Sir Malcolm speaks up in a severe voice.

'Ladies and gentlemen, you are hindering our progress through this alley, please step aside.'

He really sounds as if he is back under Mrs Poole's control, and Mrs Poole seems to enjoy that very much. She doesn't speak however, and she doesn't light up to sight either. Her innate talent is not very bright, but the spells on the girls were blood-magic, a form of magic power gathered by hurting people, mostly helpless victims, the main way to practise magic if one doesn't have the talent oneself.

Apparently blood-magic doesn't reveal itself to sight until it is actually used, maybe because it is stored in charms or talismans instead of the mage's own physical shape.

Vincent now speaks up, and Adison is stunned by his dignity, he has learned so much already in those three days at St James'!

'Sir Malcolm, as you well know, we have no quarrel with you and will certainly let you leave this alley unharmed. Our aim is to talk with your companion, and warn her off our daughter. Mrs Poole, Catherine doesn't want to associate with you, so leave her alone.'

The woman now starts to laugh openly, apparently she feels very safe with Sir Malcolm at her side, though they are outnumbered two to one.

'Whatever would I do with your daughter? I already have a daughter, a bit older than this child, I admit, but ever so much less trouble. No diapers, no tantrums. Now please step aside.'

As she says this, she starts to light up, indeed in a sickly red colour, and she mutters beneath her breath. Adison quickly raises a shield over her friends, Paul said it would keep them from being spelled.

The woman repeats, 'Please step aside.'

It is clear she tried to spell them all to believe and obey her, but they all remain right where they are.

'I'm afraid we cannot oblige you, Mrs Poole, we need a solemn promise that you will stop sending your servants after us.'

Vincent is still very polite, and very cool.

Mrs Poole however, is not amused, and she threatens, 'It was foolish of you to bring the girl, I'll kill every one of you, then take her with me. She'll be my most powerful daughter ever.'

Then she orders Sir Malcolm, 'You've shot your daughter once, you can do so again, I know you have a gun on you.'

Sir Malcolm coolly raises his gun, and shoots Mrs Poole at point blank range before she can undertake her own defence.

'You were right,' he observes dryly, 'she is very incompetent. I don't know how she managed to spell me in the first place, this was all so obvious. Can you believe I just crossed my fingers behind my back and her glamour didn't work?'

So he was acting the whole time, to get a shot at her himself. That is kind of low, but it did work. Mrs Poole's body lies in the dirt, small round hole in the middle of her forehead, if anything, Sir Malcolm is an expert marksman. That seems to be it, and they leave the body behind, complimenting Sir Malcolm on his acting abilities.

Almost out of the alley, Catherine hisses in her voice that signifies mortal danger, 'She's coming!'

And to be sure, the body of the witch is no longer lying on the ground, she is coming straight at them, fast, wound still bleeding, her face contorted and no longer human, but actually looking like what people imagine when they hear the word witch.

Mina catches her with her blade, the unmarked saber, but though it is a direct hit, and delivered with Mina's superhuman strength, it doesn't seem to hinder the witch much.

The gruesome figure backhands Mina with a flash of sickly red, sending her crashing into the wall, then flies straight for Catherine. The little girl does not try to run, nor does she cower in fear, she stands rock still and prepares some magic, for she lights up brightly all of a sudden.

But no-one is going to get to Catherine without going through Vincent first, he even mimics the witch's theatrics by seeming to fly towards her. The resulting collision leaves what Mrs Poole turned into with a wide, blood-gushing slash across the chest as well as the bullet-hole. She seems surprised at being hit, apparently she has some magic to prevent being hit by weapons, and Adison checks her for it.

She cannot see how that works, but she can see the sullen red energy gathering again, this time it will be offensive and aimed for Vincent, and Adison decides to do something she knows will distract the horrid thing, even if it may not hurt her. She aims the gun and fires it.

But at the same time, Vincent strikes again and the bullet misses as the witch evades his lightning move. Him, too, fortunately, but this is clearly not the time to use a gun, and she puts it away. Another slash has damaged the horrible face, and the spell was indeed disturbed, but this is no ordinary opponent, this thing is strong, and durable.

Before Adison has time to act, some dark shape is on its way to her beloved, and it is going way too fast for her put up an extra shield on top of the first one. Vincent moves like lightning, jumping out of the way and aiming another slash at it, as if practising a drill, striking true. The thing explodes, and hits him full in the face, stunning him for a moment, leaving him helpless.

This does not leave the way to Catherine open for the Mrs Poole-thing, for Sir Malcolm loosens a series of rounds on her, and all of them hit within a saucer-sized spot on her chest, a deadly hit if they were dealing with something human, or even alive. The bullets certainly do damage, but the woman does not drop or stop, she moves on inexorably, encountering Victor's sword slashing across her throat. It is a full hit, the damage is atrocious, but the mangled body moves on doggedly towards Catherine, who still doesn't show any fear.

Adison runs to her daughter's side, readying the strongest stun-spell she has in her meagre magic's repertory, determined to fight to the last. She has no clue whether Vincent is all right, or Mina, but she has no time to find out, this is the moment that counts, Adison and Catherine will fight what is left of this thing together.

It comes shambling towards them, there is no other word for it, the damage to the body is so extensive that it almost falls apart, but whatever is left is still moving towards them, and Adison knows that if it gets a hold on Catherine, the girl will have to fight whatever is in that body for control of her own tiny form.

Concentrating on the thing, shields over both of them to prevent spells from hitting them, they wait for the right moment to strike, a stun requiring physical contact.

The bleeding, twisted shape suddenly reels, and turns away from them, still pretty fast, incredible since it is so damaged already. With exultation, Adison hears Vincent shouting a challenge, absurd to fight honourably with a horror like this.

Still, he's alive, and she can see him now, he moves pretty quickly, hopefully he is in reasonable shape. She can see the body right in front of her reel as it is hit once again, and a light develops inside it. To distract it, Adison moves in and kicks it once, hard. Hitting her with magic is too dangerous, Adison might hit Vincent, and the thing will have shields, she is just not yet able to predict what will happened if she hits those.

But kicking is enough, the light goes out, and Adison steps back quickly, none too soon for seconds later, a bright metal blade splits the horrid shape right in two, lengthwise. It is a horrible sight, even now it doesn't stop moving, one arm still stretches towards Catherine, until after a few minutes, it shudders once then lies still.

That's it, not even a witch can survive that.

Adison rushes towards Vincent, with Victor already bent over Mina. Vincent is still standing, but he looks just awful. He took an explosion right in the face, and he looks dazed, countless smaller and larger burns dotting his face, his coat torn and his shirt burnt full of holes.

'Oh my love, are you in danger, or just in pain?'

'No danger, just stunned, and burned. See to Mina, I'll watch Catherine.'

Mina is still lying where she dropped, whatever happened to her? She got a direct hit, but nothing worse, how can she be so bad? Victor is in agony, obviously, he is a doctor but how can one cure someone who is already dead?

Looking around quickly, Adison spies Catherine by her father's side, but still eyeing the mutilated remains of whatever was after her. Sir Malcolm is obviously standing guard over all of them, keeping a close eye on both sides of the alley.

Victor urges, 'Look at her with sight, Adison, maybe you can see what is wrong with her, she only got hit once, hard, but she's taken worse without blinking. What did that witch do to her?'

Doing what he asks, going deeper than ever before, Adison can see what Melissa described, her organs are wired the wrong way, and there is no flow in the body. But that is normal for a vampire, Adison is sure of that.

Think! Think! Didn't Mina tell her that Melissa had seen how she was connected to the ley-lines to gain the power to keep her body's processes going? Maybe the witch severed those lines, either by accident or on purpose, starving Mina from the energy she needs to exist.

They cannot get help from Melissa quickly, Mina is not looking good, and they have no way of knowing how long she can survive this way, she seems to be fading. It will have to be Adison herself who does something, and she quickly checks the closest ley-line minutely, to see whether there are any connections still intact. She cannot see a thing, and in desperation decides to try the old-fashioned way once again, just touch her and will the thing to happen.

She sits next to Mina and touches her cool skin, then wills her to find energy again, to start her processes. No heart to set beating, no blood-flow to strengthen, what can she do? Feeling energy leaving her, a lot of it, actually, Adison can only hope that means her effort has worked, and she opens her eyes to see the effect. Mina has a little more colour, and she is stirring a tiny bit, and Vincent calls out, 'Victor, feed her!'

By now, Sir Malcolm says with authority, 'That will have to wait until we get her home, the watch can arrive any moment now, we need to get out of here.'

That is very true, and Vincent does not lose a second, he lifts Mina over his shoulder easily and walks towards Adison, Catherine following, and they urge Adison to get up and come along. But Adison finds she cannot get up, her body is not responding, she has exceeded her power once again, and is paying the price with a spinning head and flaccid limbs.

'I can't,' she says feebly, and before she can protest, Sir Malcolm has lifted her slight form and is following Vincent and Victor home. Catherine soon cannot keep up, and Victor lifts her, finding a certain comfort in holding the little girl. He is so afraid to lose his love, it is very possible Vincent is also badly hurt, and now Adison is close to losing consciousness.

Halfway down their road home, Mina suddenly comes to life, kisses Vincent full on the mouth, then wriggles out of his grip to stand on her own legs. Vincent now buckles, and Mina rushes to support him. In this fashion they reach their house, and as Victor lets them all in, Adison feels her head tolling like a death bell.

That is just what she needed, a blinding headache is settling behind her eyes as it is, and now there is an intruder in the house.

'Guys,' she whispers, 'there is someone in here, be very careful. Use sight, Vincent. Glad to see you back, Mina.'

It is clear there is not much left in her, and they will therefore have to do without arcane assistance.

'You can put me down now, Victor,' Catherine says, 'mum is in no shape to use sight, and dad doesn't seem much better, I'll have to be the one using sight. You support dad, let Mina free to do the fighting. And give her your sword, I have a feeling Paul's iron works better against witches.'

'Yes, ma'am,' Victor says, he has never handled authority well, and this is a toddler bossing him around. But she does make sense so he obeys her, glad beyond his remembrance to see Mina up and about, and in true vampire fashion, as good as new.

Sir Malcolm has his gun out, but he still has Adison on his shoulder, and his expression is worth millions. To see Victor Frankenstein bossed around by a toddler, a girl at that, is hilarious. But there is danger afoot, and he will be vigilant.

Adison is not quite out of it, and she uses her priestess' sense to find the general direction of the threat, coming towards them from the practice, probably planning to follow them around a little before striking.

She whispers in Sir Malcolm's ear.

'In the practice, that door over there, that is where she is.'

Sir Malcolm coughs, and as the others look at him, he nudges towards the door. Mina walks in first, followed by Victor, who is now without sword but has two guns ready. Catherine is looking around in deep concentration, her beautiful face gives nothing away, but she pulls Victor's pants a tiny bit and says, 'Eleven 'o clock in three, two, one...

A gunshot racks the silence, and a nude, scarred female body tumbles out of the wall, stone dead. And to make sure this one stays dead, Mina stays with it, armed with sword and gun, whilst Victor leads Sir Malcolm to the kitchen, Vincent just managing to walk from the hall to the kitchen himself.

Once there, Victor stirs up the fire and puts a kettle to the boil. Sir Malcolm places Adison in a chair next to her husband, as Victor leaves the room to fetch his doctor's bag. Catherine checks her mother's reactions, they are sluggish, she really went too deep this time, this is not good. If Lukas were only here, he'd settle her with a nice hug and some kisses. Maybe the tea will help.

And dad may be even worse, he is covered in penny-sized burn marks, and with mum incapacitated, who is going to make sure they will not scar and ruin what self-confidence he possesses? Catherine is safe now, but at what cost? Both her parents are in a terrible state, and no-one knows whether they'll ever be all right again.

Her two year old mind can no longer handle the strain, and she starts to cry, quietly not to let them hear her and start to worry about her on top of everything else.

'Please Lukas, please come to me!' she pleads silently, realizing at the same time that things don't work that way.

Dad is starting to recover a little, his shirt is bloody in the neck as well as covered in burnholes, Mina must have bitten him in her awful state, and he winks Catherine closer.

'How's mum?' he asks, and seeing Catherine's tear-streaked little face he lifts her and puts her in his lap, hugging her for his own comfort as well as hers.

'Mum has reaction-sickness, pretty badly. The water is close to boiling, I'll ask Sir Malcolm to set the special tea to steep. But she really needs Lukas, and so do you.'

'Why me? I'm not in any danger, love, I felt dizzy already from that blast, and then Mina helped herself to some of my blood. That made me feel faint, but if I eat something I'll be fine.'

'Dad, your face, it's strewn with little burns.'

'I know,' Vincent replies, 'they hurt quite a bit. But I've been hurt all the time, you know I heal quickly.'

'I know, dad, I've seen the scars. I'm afraid these will scar, too, and you'll feel even worse about your face.'

He understands now, but he doesn't seem put out by the thought.

'Let's have your mum back to herself first, and then I'll worry about my face. Please don't worry too much, love, you're just two, you shouldn't worry yet. Take care of that tea now, I can hear the water boil. I'll hold mum.'

Sir Malcolm isn't at all bad at making tea, of course he went to Africa all the time, few servants there, why does her brain supply such useless information at a time like this?, and as soon as the scent of the brew freshens the air, Catherine can see mum revive a little. Victor comes in with his bag, and smells it, too, amazed by its stimulating properties. Quickly but carefully he prepares Adison's Chinese herb mixture, then removes Vincent's coat and shirt. It looks even worse this way, and Victor clearly doubts his own skills to handle so many superficial wounds, all over his best friend's face.

'Catherine, can you bring Mina? That witch is dead, and she will stay dead, I'm pretty sure by now. I need her to run an errand.'

As Catherine walks towards the practice, Mina is already on her way to the kitchen, and they go back there together.

'Mina, will you please run across town and fetch Lukas? I'm out of my depth here, Adison is almost comatose with reaction-shock, and Vincent will scar without her expert touch. I need her, and he can take that sickness away instantly.'

Feeling as good as new, and rather energetic, and of course very worried about the friends who saved her, yet again, she gets the directions from Vincent and sets off immediately, full speed. A little more confident now, Victor pours tea for Adison, and a cup for Vincent as well, who knows what good it might do him.

Sir Malcolm gets coffee, and he takes a cup himself, this may take a while, Mina will be there in a flash, but even on a bicycle it's twenty minutes back, if Lukas is at home at all, and if he agrees to come.

Vincent helps Adison drink her tea, she is not quite asleep, but not quite awake either, very groggy, and she seems in pain. The infamous headache, of course. After a few sips she wakes up a little and tells him she can hold it by herself.

He picks up his own cup and takes a few sips of the stuff, it does feel invigorating. A few moments later, by now Victor is cleaning the burns very carefully which still hurts pretty badly, Adison seems to really look at him, and she gasps in horror.

'Oh no, Vincent, you're all burned! You must be in agony!'

'It's all right, love, truly I don't feel that bad,' he says soothingly, with a meaningful look at Catherine, who is nearly falling asleep in his lap, face still tear-streaked, eyes only half opened. 'Mum, you're all right,' she says, then starts crying again.

'Oh you poor thing, you must have been so frightened, with both of us not there for you. Don't worry love, we're not in any danger.'

Adison tries to kiss her, but the movement really hurts her head, and she feels rather nauseous. She sits back, and Catherine strokes her hand, as Adison finishes the tea, and asks, 'Victor, can I have a painkiller please?'

Glad to be useful, Catherine hops off her dad's lap, takes Sir Malcolm's hand, then says, 'I'll get it, I know in which drawer they are. I can't reach that high, but Sir Malcolm will probably help me, won't you, Sir?'

Of course he affirms, and they disappear from the kitchen.

Adison holds Vincent's hand as he can finally give in to the pain of the burns, as Victor cleans them as thoroughly as Adison would.