Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Corvae Offices, Silas County, May 24, 2004

Vordenberg visibly shudders as he finishes his tale. Of course, he left a dozen crucial details out.

"Seven hundred souls were lost to der drache's fury." Vordenberg sighs sadly, having drunk six other shots of his beverage "Connelly, his family and people, their willing and courageous sacrifice for a humble guest was covered up by history."

Vordenberg wipes his eyes, and Brigitte tries to maintain her stoic expression.

Though in the back of her mind, she found this kind old man image, softening her resolve, especially if he spoke of such an event. Even at her worst, Ginger wouldn't dismiss a Titanic or Holocaust survivors story. What makes this any different ?

The fact that he drank six shots during his story, lowered her guard enough about the beverage, she had another shot of her own. If something is in it, it shouldn't affect her any more than this old man.

Mattie, with an unmoved expression, steps out and away from the table, making her way out the door. Her departure wasn't regarded by either Brigitte nor Vordenberg.

"After that day, the disaster was remembered as a volcanic eruption, tsunami, und a nuclear meltdown." Vodenberg sighs and shakes his head "Denials of a world that is trying to move on from fantasy."

With wet eyes, Vordenberg looks up at Brigitte, looking to see a twinge of sympathy from her eyes. He disguises a smirk with a sad smile upon seeing that twinge.

"For Lucy Diamond to even plan or intend to set such destruction on innocent lives, makes her a threat that I cannot ignore." Vordenberg says, getting up from his seat, circling the table "I cannot save Silas from the monsters already here. Not alone anyways."

He approaches Brigitte, and places a hand on her shoulder.

"But if I could stop this Cirein-cròin from further mayhem, maybe I can make things a little better." Vordenberg says, crouching down to Brigitte's eye level "It's the least a man such as I can do..."

Brigitte blinks, looks away and takes a breath, before looking back at the old man.

"Well, you and your Academy have it." Brigitte says, stepping out of her chair and away from Vordenberg's touch "You did it, you stopped the monster."

With a flabbergasted expression, Vordenberg puts his hand over his chest and shakes his head.

"I don't know how you could believe that!" Vordenberg says "It's clear to me Diamond will stop at nothing to take it back; that's why you were sent here!"

Brigitte keeps her mouth in a flat line, and shakes her head.

"Lucy was the one who gave it to Corvae." Brigitte answers "I just came here to take names off your watchlist."

"That decision is up to Miss Michelle Petrie." Vordenberg shakes his head "But does it not strike you as suspicious that Diamond wants collatera-?"

"Your agent - Bobby Matthews - attacked a woman on your watchlist!" Brigitte raises her voice, stepping towards Vordenberg, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

She doesn't notice at first, but there is a slight canine-like growl in her words. She also doesn't notice the guards quickly stepping towards them, only stopping when Vordenberg holds a calm hand up.

"You want to do a little good, start with-" Brigitte starts before she is interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door.

She looks towards the door to see Mattie entering the room, with an object in hand.

"I believe this is what you're looking for..." Mattie places the item on the table, before sliding it towards Brigitte, who catches it in her hands.

Brigitte holds it up to see a black USB drive.

Vordenberg fakes a cough, getting Brigitte's attention.

"I only want to do right, Miss Fitzgerald, but I am only one man." He says, getting up from his seat and patting Brigitte on the shoulder "But I will put in a word for you to Petrie. You seem to want to help those you care about, and haven't given us reason to do anything...drastic."

Vordenberg steps away from Brigitte, making his way to the door, with his bodyguards following behind him. Before they exit the room, Vordenberg looks back to Brigitte.

"I hope in the end, you do right by us, Miss Fitzgerald." Vordenberg says, before turning around "These are confused times. Heroes mistaken for monsters; monsters mistaken for heroes."

As Vordenberg's last bodyguard closes the door behind them, Mattie exhales a loud "Pfft" she's been holding in, rolling her eyes at Vordenberg's performance.

"Now that that's over." Mattie crosses her arms "Don't say you didn't leave empty handed."

Brigitte looks a little apprehensive at the USB, before questioning Mattie.

"What's on it ?"

"Oh have a little faith in me, Fitzgerald!" Mattie scoffs and rolls her eyes "My life is literally in your hands, so I have a lot more to lose here."

Brigitte narrows her eyes, clutching the pendant to her chest, before looking at the USB.

"What's on it ?"

"Do you peek at your Christmas presents too ?" Mattie leans in with a wry grin "Just a little something that'll make Diamond's op a little easier."

Deciding to accept this answer, Brigitte slips the USB into her hoodie's breast pocket, before turning around.

"And where do you think you're going ?"

"If we're done, we're done." Brigitte says "You got nothing else on me, and if you-"

Mattie interrupts Brigitte with a mirthful giggle.

"Oh, how cute." Mattie chuckles, putting both hands on her hips "You know what this makes you, right ?"

Brigitte doesn't speak, just glares.

"A player." Mattie leans in, putting a hand on Brigitte's shoulder "Now it's just a matter of what side of the board you're on."

"I'm on no one's side." Brigitte looks away.

Mattie tilts her head with a cheeky smile.

"Oh, that's what they all say." Mattie steps forward and attempts to link her arm's with Brigitte "Allow me to see you-"

Brigitte flinches away again, and clutches her necklace, stopping Mattie, who looks more annoyed than concerned.

"Say you do it; you have more enemies than allies in this building, Miss Fitzgerald." Mattie does a tysk tysk motion with her finger "Killing the woman who just wants to walk you out safely, is not a friendly look."

Brigitte maintains her glare, before releasing the necklace.

With a confident smile, Mattie steps towards the office door, opening it and gesturing to Brigitte to follow her.

Brigitte sighs through her nose and rolls her eyes, before following Mattie out.

----

During their walk out, Brigitte let Mattie follow her by two feet.

Luckily, Mattie took the hint that Brigitte didn't want to be touched, but it still felt uncomfortable, especially with the stares she got from passing workers. Mattie's remark about having more foes than enemies kept ringing to her.

Still, Brigitte maintained her poker face, and didn't even turn to face Mattie until they stepped out of the building.
In the parking lot, the limo waited with it's pale driver staring out into space.

"Welcome to the game, Miss Fitzgerald." Mattie says with a beam as Brigitte makes her way to the limousine's rear door "I look forward to seeing your next move."

"Don't bet on it." Brigitte deadpans, as she steps into the back seat.

"Well," Mattie puts both hands behind her back with a modest grin "I'm quite the gambler, and the odds-"

Mattie is cut off as Brigitte closes the door.

As the engine starts, and the limo driver begins to pull out, Brigitte doesn't so much as look at Mattie, who simply waves her goodbye.

----

Later that day, Vorbenberg would step out towards his own vehicle, in the parking lot, a small sedan limousine with a younger, more lively driver waiting for him.

In his right hand, Vordenberg is carrying a black leather handbag. Vordenberg was accompanied by two bodyguards, who would step into the vehicle with him.

As he does so, Vordenberg inhales several deep breaths, giving him the appearance of someone who was out of breath. He intentionally shakes a little, getting his driver's attention.

The driver, a thirty something overweight red haired man, speaks up, as the vehicle pulls out of the parking lot and makes its way down the road.

"Something spooked you boss ?"

"It's Baron still," Vodenberg remarks, keeping up the demeanour of a shaken old man "Just had a bit of excitement in the offices."

"Are you alright ?"

"Peachy." Vordenberg says sardonically "A wölfin found it's way into the offices; threatened the life of our dear Fräulein Belmonde, and made off with-"

Vordenberg doesn't finish his sentence, instead feigns another shiver with a heavy sigh.

"I must make a call, so if you will." Vordenberg motions his driver to roll up the small interior window.

Vordenberg takes a phone out of his coat pocket, a device he bought four years ago and rarely uses. He dials in a contact number, reaching Michelle Petrie.

"This better be important." An impatient sounding Petrie immediately answers.

"If keeping your little school afloat isn't important, then I'm wasting my own time." Vordenberg says, sounding a lot more grim "Mit honig, werden sie mehr fliegen fangen."

Petrie's tune immediately changes to a more friendly and amicable one.

"Of course, of course," She says "We at the D.E.B.S always appreciate a helping hand."

Vordenberg smirks a little at this.

"Yes, well besides getting the Matthews boy out of the equation, and taking attention off us," Vordenberg continues "It would seem I have but one other favor to offer."

"Well, no time to like the present." Petrie remarks "Care to share ?"

"It would seem we now have valid reasons for concern regarding Fräulein Fitzgerald."

"Who ?"

"Das Wolfsmädchen." Vordenberg says, a little annoyed.

"Oh ? What concerns ?"

"Fitzgerald just barged into Corvae offices, and made off with valuable information by threatening the lives of our employees." Vordenberg remarks, scratching the side of his nose "Surely that'll look good on the report."

Petrie "hmph" noise, but almost sounds like she's resisting a chuckle.

"Well, I'm afraid we'll need more than that to place an orde-"

"Oh, we'll have more than that." Vordenberg says with a pleased smirk "It seems to me that you could have used Corvae, well before this mess with Diamond."

"Ain't that the truth." Petrie could almost be heard rolling her eyes.

"What do you know of Le Sang de Lycaon ?"

"Haven't even heard of it until now."

"Several years ago, Corvae sought the means to better control the lycanthropes of Silas population. In their investigations, a drug was uncovered in France that is said to cause instant transformations." Vordenberg begins "We at Silas sought to tamper it to something more controllable. Hence the creation of Le Sang de Lycaon."

"And why are you telling me this now ?"

"Higher ups put the drug on the backburner as there was no actual way to control the wolves." Vordenberg explains, raising a finger "Exposure to Le Sang de Lycaon is generally harmless...that is if you're not a lycanthrope."

"And ?"

"When exposed to it, a wolf can be forcibly transformed by a sound played at a certain high frequency. The effects last about four days." Vordnenberg finishes "It seems like something you could have used years back for your exercises."

"Well, aren't you preaching to the choir." Petrie could be heard clicking her tongue.

"But we still have its uses." Vordenberg says "It seems like Matthews, you've been looking to rid yourselves of the girl for a while now. Well, the reason is at your doorstep."

Petrie could be heard making a "Hmmm" noise as she considers what he's selling.

"When can it be done ?"

"Preferably, when there are multiple witnesses to the D.E.B.S heroics in putting this monster down."

Though Vordenberg couldn't see her, he could tell Petrie was nodding at this.

"I see." Petrie answers "We'll have to speak more of this in due time; I have received word of our excavation being aborted. Need to see what that's about."

"Of course, of course." Vordenberg says "Tata for now."

----

Back at the Coven's Boarding House

Earlier in the day, Amy Bradshaw laid asleep in bed, wrapped up in a dark blue, heavy blanket. Having gone into hiding the past couple of days, Amy and Lucy were offered by Sarah a place to crash and keep their heads down.

With word of what the D.E.B.S were up to, Sarah and Rochelle insisted that Lucy and Amy find a spot to keep their heads down. Somewhere the D.E.B.S wouldn't try to look.

They were given the guest room that Brigitte initially stayed in. Now that Brigitte was bunking with Sarah and Nancy, the guest room became available.

Of course, while Lucy was planning with the Coven - mainly Sarah and Rochelle of their next move against the D.E.B.S - Amy spent all of yesterday trying to get some sleep. But each time she did, she'd wake up in a cold sweat not an hour later.

She only finally got some sleep at 11:30 that night, getting her hands on three benadryl, and was still asleep when the sun was out. It was just the way she used to put herself asleep after her father's passing.

When Amy first opened her eyes, she could see the sun creeping past the closed curtains, indicating that it was either late in the morning, or just now the noon. As her eyes adjusted, it would seem that Lucy was still in bed too, and still asleep.

It didn't surprise Amy. Lucy was up the past couple nights trying to console her, and almost all of last night going over the game plan with the rest of the girls. Even genius (ex) criminal masterminds need sleep too, right ?

What did surprise Amy was how cold Lucy felt.

"Lucy ?" Amy mutters, trying to shake her awake "Lucy, are you-?"

Amy's words stop with a gasp...why did Lucy feel so stiff ?

And why did the head of the bed feel wet ? And warms ?

As Amy sits up, she reaches to the curtains at the window adjacent to the bed. She pulls the blinds and her attempt to scream comes out a shrill, barely audible gasp.

There lies Lucy Diamond. Eyes wide open, as was her throat, painting the sheets dark red. Her eyes were glassy and her face was frozen in a terrified gasp.

"No!" Amy gasps and whimpers, picking Lucy up and holding her too her, tears flooding her eyes "No, no, no no! Lucy, please no!"

It's only then, did Amy notice the movement at the foot of the bed.

Standing there, was Bobby Matthews, wearing a dark hoodie and jeans, and black leather gloves, as he wipes blood off a bowie knife.

"Hey babe," He says with a cocky smirk "I've been wanting to talk..."

And with that, Bobby lunges towards the bed...and Amy jolts awake.

----

"AHHH!" Amy wakes up, sitting up and looking around. She was wearing a white T-shirt and a simple pair of dark pink undies.

Like the dream, the sun peaked past the curtains, telling Amy she was well into the day. Unlike the dream, there was no blood, no dead Lucy, and no Bobby. Nothing was there that wasn't when she fell asleep.

"Lucy ?" Amy asks, before raising her voice "Lucy, where are you ?"

"I'm here, I'm here." Amy could hear Lucy's voice coming up the hall.

Opening the door was Lucy, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and black tank top. She steps towards the bed, but doesn't have time to even ask what's wrong before Amy jumps up from the bed and tearfully pulls Lucy into a bear hug.

"Don't scare me like that!" Amy half sobs, half shouts as she buries her face in Lucy's shoulder.

Lucy was a little taken aback, but adjusted pretty quickly, returning the hug. She had a pretty good idea of what Amy woke up from, but knew for sure that her Amy needed her right now.

For the next few minutes Lucy would sit Amy back on the foot of the bed and let her cry her eyes out. Not once does Lucy let go of Amy until her sobs stop and her breathing slows.

"Thought you were dead..." Amy mutters.

Lucy gives her a flat smile, not quite chuckling, but still keeping things light.

"And why would you think that ?"

"Just before I woke up, I saw..." Amy starts to say, tracing her finger across Lucy's neck. As if to make sure it was still intact, Amy would narrow her eyes as the invisible line she drew "...It felt so real."

Lucy gently clutches her own neck, before shaking her head to herself.

"No I was just...I was just monitoring the girls." Lucy explains "Couldn't come with, so I had Scud on the line. Being my eyes and ears. I had to make a call every ten minutes."

Amy wipes her eyes, as Lucy brushes a hand down her blonde hair.

"I didn't want to wake you up." Lucy continues "You haven't slept in days, so I thought you-"

"I'm sorry." Amy says with a sniff.

"Don't be-" Lucy starts to say, before Amy holds up a hand to silence her.

"No, I'm...I'm supposed to be the D.E.B," Amy continues "I'm not supposed to be vulnerable or weak-"

"You're not-" Lucy tries to reassure her.

"I'm supposed to be- I'm supposed to be at the top of my game, and look at me!" Amy says, shoving away from Lucy a little, holding out her arms "Nightmares still make me cry. Like a kid, like a little fucking kid!"

"I mean, you said you're not cut out to be a D.E.B." Lucy continues, gently rubbing one of her hands up and down Amy's arm "But there's no shame in bei-"

"Maybe I don't want to be vulnerable." Amy gets up from the bed, making her way to a dresser, and picking out a spare change of clothes "Maybe I want to be- to be stronger!"

Lucy sighs, getting up from the bed. In the past few years, she said this, as well as been told this several times.

"Amy." Lucy says, stepping behind Amy, taking the blonde by the shoulders and turning her to face her "I've know...exactly what you're thinking. Burying those feelings aren't gonna make them go away; they'll just be uglier when they reanimate. Y'know, like a zombie."

Amy looks away.

"You know ?" Amy says "I've only ever killed three people as a D.E.B."

"I think you mentioned that." Lucy nods "I think you said one of them was an accident; arrest gone bad-"

"And I've only been in four real fights." Amy says "And that was in my tomboy days. None of that defensive martial arts stuff the school gives us."

"You told me that."

"I think..." Amy hesitates, but Lucy could tell from her eyes what she was about to say before Amy said it, "I think I have one more in me."

Lucy sighs and shakes her head grimly.

"Amy-"

"I know! I know!" Amy backs away, holding the change of clothes to her body "But- but I can't let them get away with it!"

"They won't." Lucy takes Amy by the chin and directs her gaze to her own "No one who crosses us will, but..."

Lucy sighs again.

"Amy, they're going to try to bait you." Lucy says "Make you do something stupid. Going Clint Eastwood on them would be stupid."

"You did it before, didn't you ?"

"What can I say ? I was a pretty stupid kid." Lucy deadpans, tapping herself on the temple "Point is, what you're going through, I've been through a hundred times over..."

Amy says nothing, but looks away.

Undeterred, Lucy presses her forehead to Amy's.

"But I'm here to help you through it-" Lucy starts to say, before Amy interrupts.

"I have to take a shower." Amy says, before stepping towards the door.

"Amy, do you need me to-" Lucy says, before her phone goes off to the chorus of Enrique Iglesias' "Hero". Time for Scud to give her an update.

"You should answer that." Amy remarks, as she makes her way down the hall.

Hearing the bathroom door close, Lucy sighs through her nose, and answers her phone.

"What is it ?"

And with that, Scud began to fill Lucy in on the latest development; of how the Dean of Silas stepped in on the beach, and was currently leading the Coven girls in an invocation...

-----

The shower did little to help Amy's mood. No matter how much she scrubbed her head, she couldn't scrub her mind.

Try as she might, she couldn't bury or ignore the niggling voice in the back of her head.

It wasn't some bullshit Hollywood case of any neurological disorder or the like, but more akin to waking up from a bad dream - which she did - and having that dream linger in her head.

Even in the shower, she can just imagine Bobby standing behind her, looking her down with a smug grin.

"She might die, you know ? I mean, even if it was a quick trip to the hospital, she has that heart condition, doesn't she ?"

Amy shakes her head, closing her eyes as she washes the shampoo out of her hair, and in denial of her intrusive thoughts.

"And even if she pulls through, what's going through her head ?" The imaginary Bobby continues, as Amy washes off the remaining suds "She'll be thinking of you that's for sure; if her psycho boyfriend was doing this to her, what could her baby girl be going through ?"

Amy turns the tap off, blinking out the last traces of soap and shampoo.

"What could I have told her ? You weren't there, Amy." She imagines Bobby saying with a faux gasp "I could have let her know what you were up to. Imagine her disappointment, babe, imagine it. Her baby girl caused her nothing but trouble before going to that art school."

Amy stops, feeling tears at the corner of her eyes, but not letting them fall.

"Only for me to show up and spill the beans that she raised a dyke." She imagines Bobby chuckling "Your dad didn't want you near those people babe, and now you're one of them."

Amy steps out of the shower, taking a black, thick towel from the adjacent; she dries off her legs.

"You think if she pulls through, she'd even want you back, Amy ? When you left for home you were trash; she thought this new school of yours would help polish you off; and when you back, she finds out you're a carpet eater."

Amy moves the towel upwards, drying off her head, using it to discreetly wipe off the forming tears.

"Not only that, but your lay of the day was an attempted mass murderer and wanted thief."

Amy imagines another chuckle, as she dries off her torso.

"She'll probably tell people about what a disappointment you are; she'll probably want to die alone. So long as she doesn't have to put up with you again."

Amy lets out a loud, airy noise; it sounded like a cross between a sob and a frustrated gasp. She wraps the towel around her torso and makes her way to the mirror.

"All thanks to me! Makes you want to kill someone, doesn't it ?"

Amy wipes the condensation from the mirror, as she finds herself staring face to face with an unusually murderous glare in her eyes.

"You want to take your gun, stick it in my mouth and paint the walls with my brains, don't you. Just to shut me up."

At Amy's side, is her change of clothes. Deciding she was significantly dry, she drops her towel and begins putting on a pair of panties.

She still tries and fails to ignore the imaginary voice, and her breathing becomes deeper. Angrier. And uneven.

"Hold down my neck, and bash my head to the floor..."

Amy pulls up her pants and begins affixing her bra.

"Take a knife, open my neck, and keep sawing through..."

Amy looks back into her fuming reflection.

"But you can't. You won't." The imaginary Bobby says "My grandad's still got pull with the Academy; I could smack Bush's daughters around, and wouldn't spend a night in holding. You ? The school wants your head on a spike..."

Amy clenches her fist, her hand seemingly taking a mind of its own as it shakes.

"But hey, it's not like you have anything to lose. Nothing that matters really." Her intrusive thoughts continue "So why don't you...take your shot ?"

Without so much as a yelp, Amy slams her fist down, knuckles first into the sink and counter.

It hurt a little, but Amy didn't care. Her only ache was in her brain as she slams down again.

"Ow," Amy mouths, shaking her hand a little, before clenching her fist yet again.

She looks back into the mirror; into the angry, vengeful eyes of her reflection. She raises her fist back, but as she is about to swing, she hears the door knocking.

"Amy ? Are you...?" Lucy's voice starts to ask from the other side of the door "Actually that's stupid question."

Amy feels a sudden chill, as the rage building up to a boiling point cools downwards. She releases her fists and lets out a deep exhale.

"I'm good." Amy lies through her teeth as she puts her shirt on "Just stubbed my foot."

"Can I come in ?"

Without saying a word, Amy opens the door. There stands Lucy, with an optimistic but sympathetic smile on her face, as she holds her hand out.

"C'mon," Lucy says, taking Amy's hand "Let's get you a bite."

"Shouldn't you be monitoring Scud ?"

"I can multitask." Lucy tilts her head "Just thought you might wanna-"

"Actually do something productive ?"

"No, that's not-"

"I know what you meant." Amy pinches the bridge of her nose "I just...I just wish I could actually do something!"

Like shoot Bobby in the kneecaps and stab out his eyes-

"So..." Amy starts, letting herself be led down the hall "What's happening on your end ?"

"Well, Scud's been telling me..."

-----

Later in that afternoon, Amy and Lucy were cuddled on the couch in the basement. They would have regular check ups and updates from Scud's end. Notably, how the Dean of Silas shown up; how she was leading the girls in this "really fucked up witches game".

For some reason, the news that the Dean was a vampire cult leader didn't phase them.

No word on Janet though. But the next call informed them of how the fog that spread across the beach...and how according to the Dean they had a few days before shit hits the fan.

Between the calls and updates, Amy and Lucy content themselves with whatever was on. Just some episodes of Undergrads in a marathon, it was mostly for background noise.

Shortly after their third and final update from Scud, Lucy found herself nodding off. Having only gotten seven hours of sleep the past few nights, the long and otherwise quiet afternoon of monitoring the situation, didn't help.

That was all fine and good for Amy, who could empathize with such a need of rest. And as much as Amy would like to put the nightmares and imagined taunts behind her.

But she couldn't keep her head clear or in the game.

In fact, when she first went down to this basement, her attention was drawn to one of the backrooms.

The door was ajar, and Amy could see some gym equipment in the dark room. Notably, there was a punching bag.

As soon as Lucy started to snooze, Amy looked back to that room. And with the imagined taunts still ringing and jeering in her head, it refueled what was building up in the bathroom.

"Okay," Amy quietly tells herself, sliding off the couch, careful not to disturb Lucy as she makes her way to the room "Just gonna get it out of my system..."

-----

D.E.B.S Academy: Silas Campus

In the darkened and ruined halls, two Delta team agents fell behind when one of them insisted on  making sure the crates were closed off.

With only ten devices collected, both Beta and Delta's were reluctant to call off the excavation, until they got word from Janet about Max and Dominique's seizure.

These two Deltas; a tall and lanky strawberry blonde named Kara; and her shorter dark haired partner Carol, were fastening the crate to its carrier.

After Carol finishes looking it over for cracks, the irate Kara speaks.

"Okay, I think you quadruple-checked by now. I don't think it's going anywhere."

"You can't be too careful." Carol remarks as she begins to push the crate, with Kara pulling.

"Says you." Kara rolls her eyes, as she pulls her end of the crate by its lever "C'mon, this place gives me the willies."

"Don't tell me you're gonna start seeing things again." Carol replies with an eyeroll of her own.

"That picture blinked at me!" Kara insists "You saw! You were there!"

"I saw a drunk girl at a Halloween part-"

They suddenly stop as they hear footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. When they stopped to look, nothing was there that could be picked up by the light beams on their hazmat suits.

A little shaken, they glance at each other, before continuing their trek down the hall. Soon rounding a corner, Kara stops and yelps.

"Jesus Christ, what is it ?" Carol perks her head up, a little alarmed.

She thinks she saw a shape standing just outside her beam of light. Something skinnier and lankier than her. As opposed to the hazmat suits she and the others were wearing, she thinks it was wearing a tattered and ruined shirt, jacket and slacks.

But when Kara looks again, nothing was there that wasn't there before.

"N-nothing." Kara starts "Just thought I saw-"

"Hmph, what did I tell you-?"

"Not now, Carol, we're just near the-" Kara turns around to face her partner.

Had she looked up at the roof and saw what was scurrying above them...it wouldn't have made any difference.

Kara's words were caught in her throat, as she saw something that used to be a mortal man, standing behind her partner, and taking her by the shoulders.

"Carol!"

Before Carol could scream, this thing pulled her against him, and began to bite at her throat, wrestling her away from the luggage.

"Ah! Kara!" Carol starts to yelp, as this thing throws her to the wall.

As Carol tries to scramble to her feet, Kara is frozen in terror and disbelief at what was unfolding before her. The thing stands over her, before Carol glances at Kara to shoot it.

The thing looks toward Kara, and she can see it's fangs as it smiles. Acting more on muscle memory, Kara makes a reach for her holster, taking hold of her Uzi 9mm, as Carol's own dropped beside her.

She pulls it out, takes aim, but couldn't stop herself from firing before it was too late.

Their attacker lifts Carol off the ground, holding her before him like a shield, as the four shots Kara fired off impact with Carol's stomach and lower chest.

As Kara gasps at what she just did, the thing drops Carol aside as blood pours from her mouth.

If Kara wasn't paralyzed a moment before, she certainly was now. Her world just stopped, and she barely registered this thing tackling her down to the ground, before it was standing over her and staring down.

Standing there, was Count Karnstein, and having not fed in ten years. And he was going to fix that.

-----

Just down the hall, Janet, and a few Beta Team agents were carrying/leading an unresponsive Max and Dominique down the halls, when they heard the gun fire, and the scream.

"The hell was that ?"

"Trouble." Janet says, pulling her Uzi "You see something out of a hazmat, you shoot."

The Beta agents, the two pulling their own Uzi's with one hand, while supporting Max and Dominique respectively, with their other arms.

They hurriedly, but cautiously rushed down the hall to the noises.

When they round the corner, the first thing they see is the Count bearing down onto Kara who kicks and screams as he tries to rip apart her hazmat suit. He aims for her neck, but the teeth won't penetrate to the Count's frustrations.

Four feet of them laid Carol, still rolling around and groaning.

The pale eyes of the Count look up to the four new assailants. His expression and tone was unreadable as he asked.

"Have you come for me ?"

Despite being shaken, Janet stays down to earth enough to aim at the Count with a shaky wrist.

"I don't see a hazmat-suit on him." Janet says, looking between the two Beta agents, who similarly take aim "Feed him lead, girls."

With a snarl, the Count takes hold of a weeping Kara's shoulders, holding her up to him like a shield.

"She tried the same, you know ?" The Count says, flickering his pale eyes to Carol "I'd be careful with your aim."

There is a pause in the stand off, and the Count can sense their apprehension. He grins, showing his rotted teeth and he leans towards Carol, licking along the neck of her hazmat suit, that he had futilely tried chewing through.

Kara flinches away with another sob.

"There's not much for you to see here." The Count tilts his head from side to side "I'm hungry. I want to eat. I haven't in ten years. And it's quite rude to-"

Unseen to the Count, Carol was inching her way towards her Uzi, who dropped two feet away from her reach.

Taking hold, Carol futilely reaches up and fires into the Count's back. The Count scowls and yowls, as three bullets enter his lower back, and the distressed Kara takes the chance to kick/push the Count away.

"SHOOT HIM!!" Kara screams, backing/crawling away from the Count as he rolls onto the ground "SHOOT THAT FUCKER!!!"

The Count only has time to look up before he is forced to the wall and floor by a barrage of gunfire. They kept shooting at him for several seconds until he was sure he was no longer moving.

Whatever remained of his clothes was torn to further shreds - strings if anything - as his dark grey, decayed skin was splattered with red across his body.

"Jesus Christ..." Janet mutters.

"He's got nothing to do with this." One of the Beta says, trying to spit at the Count's body...only for that to backfire, because she's in a hazmat suit and helmet.

Seconds later, six other Delta and Beta agents round the corners, and before they could ask what happened, they saw Max and Dominique unconscious; Carol rapidly bleeding out, while Kara was hyperventilating.

Janet looks at the newcomers waving them over.

"Don't just stand there! We have agents down!"

When Janet looks again, at the spot where the Count fell...nothing was there, but a trail of blood making its way up the wall.

"Ohfuckme." Janet mutters, before glancing back to the newcomers "We're evacuating! Now!"

Janet looks to the roof.

"Keep an eye on the roof."

The agents nod in affirmation, already on the move to get Carol and Kara up and out of here.

-----

And so the game of Cat and Mouse begins. And like some cats are known to do, the Count would play with his food.

He wouldn't be seen, unless he wished too. He wouldn't be heard unless he'd wish too.

He would lag behind them in the darkness, scale the walls and scale the roof. There were times when the team would only have to look up to the roof to see him, or down between their legs.

Sometimes he would let his footsteps be heard. Sometimes he'll reach out and touch them, disappearing before they turn around. Sometimes he'll let them see his show, again disappearing when they look. Or even let some of his blood drop from the roof.

Merely to instill as much fear as he can. Like basting a turkey.

As the squads advanced down the halls, they could hear footsteps on the roof, and in the halls, and the occasional raspy laugh. The Count was toying with them. Where they would hear him, they would fire off their guns.

Though his amusement gives way to annoyance for the apparent leader - "Janet" he heard her name be called - trying and failing to wake her friends; constantly pushing the other agents she met up with to follow her lead.

He decided to baste her the most, simply because he hated the sound of her voice.

It was only when they neared the front doors, Janet and two other agents - four if you count the unconscious Max and Dominique being carried on their backs - did the Count decide to strike.

The rest were lagging behind, by about a dozen yards.

The two agents carrying Max and Dominique, felt the girls moving and groaning a little on their backs.

"Wait, wait!!" One says "I think they're pulling through."

"We can't just stop here!" Janet looks at them irate.

"Janet, they're waking up!" The other agents say, as both come to a stop and lay the unconscious Max and Dom to the ground.

Janet turns at them, about to voice her annoyance when she notice's Max's eyes opening, and Dominique muttering something inaudible. Janet's annoyance gives way to relief.

She turns back, noticing their reinforcements outside, at the far end of the Academy's ground, as if waiting for a signal. She takes her uzi, and fires four shots into the roof, waving them to come.

As Janet turns her attention to her unconscious friends, she crouches down to Max noticing her eyes starting to flutter. The other two agents step back a few feet to give them their space.

Max's lips mutter something that Janet can't hear. But Janet was too busy trying to shake her awake.

"Come on, please wake up!" Janet pleads, before she hears something land a few feet behind them.

When she and the other two agents look up and behind them, there stands the Count.

"Holy shit, he's followed us!" Janet shouts.

One of the agents reaches for their own gun, but the Count takes her partner, pulling her body before his own. As it did with Kara and Carol, the agent shoots before she thinks, hitting her partner in the stomach in her panic.

Time seemed to slow, as the Count turned her attention to Janet, pushing the wounded agent onto her accidental shooter. The Count takes a few strides towards Janet, as they can hear the rest catching up.

As Janet reaches for her gun, the Count grabs hold of Janet's wrist. With a light swing, hurls Janet to a wall at the far end of the front foyer.

Janet could only yelp at the throw, rolling across the floor, before coming to a sliding stop.

She groans as she staggers onto her knees more in shock than she was in pain. Which would explain why she didn't act until the Count charged until he was two feet away from him.

Janet lifts her leg as it pushes the Count away, the heel of her booted foot making contact with the vampire's testicles. The Count staggers and drops with a yelp of his own, falling cross eyed to the floor.

Janet looks up, noticing her gun slid a dozen feet from where she initially landed. Looking back at the Count, Janet hastily crawls backwards towards her gun.

The Count gets his bearings, clambering up to his legs. He doesn't quite run, but more like walking at an extremely fast pace as he charges her down.

Janet gets her hands on her gun, just as the Count bears down on her. Janet's world spined as she and the Count rolled and wrestled on the floor.

Out the corner of her eyes, Janet notices the of the squads reach the foyer, a few of them reaching for their guns. Another few tending to the fallen agents.

"Shoot him!" Janet shouts "Shoot him!"

One other agent aims her gun, but another holds her hand out to stop it.

"We can't, we might hit Janet!"

"Aim for his head!" Janet shouts, before the Count rolls her on top of him as another shot fires, just missing Janet's head.

The Count looks back and forth between Janet and the other agents, a teasing, challenging smile on his face. He rolls Janet onto her back, and she tries lifting her gun against him, before he bites down onto her wrist.

Janet screams out of fear, pain and determination as she uses her free hand to strike the side of the Count's head. She knows his teeth are ripping through the wrist of her suit, but isn't sure if she can feel his teeth break her skin.

She winces, striking the Count once, twice, thrice, before finally getting him to release her with the fourth.

When she has her shot, Janet aims her gun upwards, the business end of her uzi now in the Count's mouth. However the Count takes her wrist into her hand and begins to squeeze.

There is a pause as the two stare each other down. Janet grits her teeth, and the Count narrows his eyes, squeezing her wrist as she squeezes the trigger.

The last thing Janet heard before blacking out was her wrist snapping, and her gun firing off into the back of the Count's throat.

-----

Back at the Coven's Boarding House

Late in the afternoon, Nancy steps into their house's front door, having spent her first Monday since her break back at the Silas pre-school, making up for lost time with her ducklings.

Stepping into the kitchen, Nancy shrugs off her black coat and places it on the back of a chair at the table, opening the fridge to pick out a couple of containers of applesauce. She then makes her way down the hall to the basement steps.

Being the last few days of the school-year, the daycare had a cake and sweets party in the afternoon, and a showing of The Land Before Time. Needless to say, it was an easy day to get through...on the surface at least.

Still, word about the D.E.B.S spying on her friends' people lingered in the back of her mind throughout the day; that Sarah and the girls would be following the D.E.B.S excavation; or Brigitte going to try to deal with Corvae.

Nancy tries not to worry, she really does, but Sarah and 'Chelle were really diving into this "Heroic Witch" crap. Anf for better or worse, she's gonna have to hold their hand through it all.

But onto Nancy's more immediate concerns was the ex-supervillain and super-spy in her basement.

According to Mattie, the coven's reputation got the D.E.B.S err to the side of caution of attacking them directly, especially where they have the "home field advantage"; hence why they settled for spying on their people.

Nancy wasn't too enthused about them hiding out in here, but if it works on keeping their heads down, then it's alright by her.

As Nancy steps down to the basement, she expectantly sees Lucy  sleeping on a couch with the TV on, an episode of King of the Hill was playing.

Amy was nowhere to be seen, but the blanket rolled part way down Lucy's body indicated that they were cuddling for some time. Looking to the back of the basement, she saw a light under one of the doors.

It was the light of their gym room. Nancy herself doesn't use it often, but Bonnie, Sarah and Rochelle use it about twice a week. So it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess where Amy was.

Especially with the muffled lyrics of Papa Roach's Last Resort playing behind the door, and the sound of Amy grunting.

Taking a seat at the armrest off the couch, just inches away from Lucy's blanket covered foot, Nancy nudges said foot to shake Lucy awake.

"Hey ?...Hey!" Nancy raises her voice, as Lucy jolts up.

"Amy ?" Lucy mumbles as she sits up, blinking several times as she looks around, seeing Nancy looking at her with an unreadable expression.

"Guess again." Nancy says, putting an applesauce container on the coffee table before the couch. She opens the other container and begins drinking it down.

Lucy was about to ask where Amy was, but she answered before she could, when she looked to the direction the song was coming from.

With a tired groan, Lucy gets up from the couch and makes her way to the workout room's door.

If Nancy didn't wake Lucy up, what she saw certainly did.

There was Amy, leaning against the wall, one hand holding the other. She wore a simple dark blue tank top, and light grey, baggy training shorts. There was a punching bag at the corner of the wall Amy was leaning on.

On the far end, there was a workout bench, and a stand of weights. And on the other end, there was a set of battle ropes, with an indoor rower beside it by four feet.

The punching bag swings a bit, giving Lucy the impression that Amy was going to town with it for...at least as long as she slept. But that was beside the point.

What Lucy saw was Amy's teeth grit, her wet eyes clenched shut, and her features were sore but determined. One hand holding the other, both swelling at the knuckles; bruised dark red and purple, with a few small but noticeable breaks in the skin.

"Nothing's alright/Nothing is fine/I'm running and I'm cryyyyyying/I'm cryyyying, I'm cryyyyying-"

"Amy!" Lucy exclaims, stepping towards her.

Amy flinches at Lucy's voice but doesn't open eyes or fist.

"Lucy don't-" Amy says, as Nancy steps in turns off the radio, seated on a chair beside the doorway.

"Jesus," Nancy mutters, as Lucy takes a gentle hold of Amy's hands.

"I'm fine." Amy says, opening her eyes, but averting her gaze from Lucy.

"You're not!" Lucy raises her voice, but tries to calm down "Amy...are you hurting yours-"

"No!" Amy says "I'm just trying...I'm just trying..."

"Trying to hurt something," Nancy chimes in, stepping towards them "Lemme see."

Lucy reluctantly steps aside a bit, wincing a little at the sight of Amy's bruised knuckles. Her hands were red all over, and knuckles themselves were starting to darken and swell. There were several small cuts along her knuckles and fingers, making it apparent Amy was hitting hard enough to break skin.

"Hmm," Nancy observes before flickering her eyes up "That doesn't look good. Follow me..."

Amy looks apprehensive, but lets Nancy lead her back to the basement couch, with a cautious Lucy following after.

As Amy sits back onto the couch, Nancy steps towards a shelf adjacent to the TV. From it, the goth witch picks up and opens a box, pulling out a necklace with a clear, aqua colored gem the size of a golf ball.

"This'll only need your blood." Nancy makes her way back to the couch, handing Amy the gem.

Following Nancy's direction, Amy brushes a thumb over her bleeding knuckles, and smears it to the gem itself, at which point Nancy cups her hands to cover Amy's.

When she notices the way Amy is looking at her, Nancy gives her a subtle glare.

"Don't make this bigger than it is," Nancy says, trying to concentrate "Just something Sarah would do."

What can Nancy say ? Sarah's a bad influence.

Nancy closes her eyes and begins to mutter an incantation. It's under her breath and inaudible, but the way the room rapidly turns cold and the lights flicker on and off tells Amy and Lucy that whatever this is, it's working.

Lucy takes a seat next to Amy, just far enough not to disturb Nancy. She takes hold of Amy's shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. Amy groans and winces her teeth, feeling the swelling in her knuckles cool down.

After a moment, Nancy releases Amy's hands in a "tada!" motion; the red in her bruises and cooled to a purplish blue, and the cuts seem to disappear. Almost like magic.

Wordlessly, Amy and Lucy glance at each other, and back at Nancy who shrugs nonchalantly.

"Like I said; don't make it bigger than it is. I do the same with my ducklings all the time." Nancy sits back on the far end of the couch.

Reclining back, Nancy opens a container of applesauce before drinking some down.

"You drink applesauce ?" Lucy asks, a little taken aback.

"I mean, these are cups." Nancy shrugs "What exactly were you doing there anyways ?"

"I was..." Amy hesitates "I was just working out."

Lucy shakes her head at Amy.

"That wasn't working out that venting. No one does-" Nancy gestures to Amy's knuckles which were only slightly less of a mess "That when they are working out-"

"I was imagining Bobby." Amy says grimly.

Both Nancy and Lucy have understanding expressions on their faces, but Lucy shakes her head again and sighs through her nose.

"Amy," Lucy says, taking a gentle hold of her girlfriend's sore hand "That's not how- It's not-"

"I know!" Amy raises her voice, and shakes a little "I just..."

Amy doesn't finish the sentence, only breaths heavily as she tries to keep herself from sobbing. Using her free arm, Lucy pulls Amy closer into a hug and kisses her on the forehead.

Nancy tries to look away, trying to hide her sympathetic expression.

"It's okay." Lucy says, gently "I've been there. I'm with you. I'm with you."

Amy glares, as if to ask "Have you ?" But softens immediately, recalling Lucy's stories of her mother dying in the hospital and her revenge against the Schaffer's. Looking away, Amy sighs and asks "How'd you get out ?"

Lucy opens her mouth, as if to answer, but closes it as she realizes "I didn't." wasn't the answer Amy needed to hear.

As if she were reading Lucy's mind, Nancy fakes a cough.

"Well for one thing," Nancy says, chiming in "You can't cure rage with more rage."

Amy and Lucy look at Nancy, as if silently questioning how she knows. Again, it was as if Nancy was reading their minds before she spoke again.

"My mom's second husband, he was..." Nancy shrugs, trying to nonchalant "Y'know, one of those guys. Now I watched him die, and it wasn't soon enough."

Amy and Lucy both glance at each other with recognition. It was clear they picked up on what "Watched him die" actually means. Undeterred, Nancy continues, rather stoically.

"Didn't make me feel better; didn't make me feel worse." Nancy tilts her head from side to side with those words "I was numb. Didn't really feel right until I saw my mom was-"

Nancy pauses, a subconscious shiver washes over her. She licks up the last of her applesauce from the container before tossing it in a bin near the wall.

Looking back to Lucy and Amy she continues.

"Look, I'm not saying not to hurt the guy worse," Nancy says, putting a hand on her chest "I would myself - what I am saying is, you're not getting out of that spot by digging deeper."

Amy nods, picking up what Nancy's putting down. Though as she thinks it over, there's not a lot that could help her.

Nothing short of seeing or speaking to her mother. Who as far as she knows, could be on the Reaper's doorstep while she is here doing nothing. As far as Amy knows, there is nothing she can do for her.

And so her thoughts quickly went back to Bobby, and the anger boiling over inside of her. Before she could respond, Amy, Lucy and Nancy could hear footsteps upstairs and make their way to the basement steps.

They quickly see Brigitte making her way down the stairs with a tired expression.

Brigitte looks over the three, picking up the scent of blood coming from Amy, but doesn't let it show.

"Am I interrupting anything ?"

Nancy and Lucy both prepare to answer before Amy speaks out.

"No." Amy says bluntly "Just watching TV."

Amy quietly looks towards the screen, holding herself defensively, giving Lucy and Nancy the silent request not to push the matter further.

"Well, as long as it's not important." Brigitte says, reaching and taking something out of her hoodie's breast pocket "I come bearing gifts."

It was the USB drive Brigitte was given earlier. As she heads towards the couch, Brigitte hands the USB to Lucy, before taking a seat beside Nancy.

Nancy wraps an arm around Brigitte's neck, and rests her head on Brigitte's shoulder, and Brigitte resists a smile.

Normally, Brigitte would be embarrassed and annoyed by such a display of affection - especially in front of others like Lucy and Amy - but from Nancy, Brigitte kinda sorta liked it.

On one hand Brigitte's still getting used to this whole girlfriend thing. On the other hand, Brigitte was pretty tired. On the ride here, she fell asleep, and had to be woken up by the limos horn as they reached this street.

Though she's also been feeling pretty buzzed after leaving the office. The taste of blueberries and honey still lingers in the mouth, that she needed something in her mouth to wash it down.

While she had suspicions, she doubted she was spiked in any serious capacity. She only had a shot and half of that stuff, where the old man had taken multiple shots.

"B ?" Nancy asks, looking up at Brigitte "You okay ? You look a little-"

"Oh, it's nothing." B shakes her head "Just woke up is all."

"Hmm," Nancy nods, accepting the answer.

As Lucy looks over the USB, she looks towards Brigitte.

"Do you know what this is ?"

Brigitte reluctantly sits up and shrugs.

"Mattie didn't say," Brigitte stretches as Nancy lifts her head away "But with what we got on her, it better be worth it."

As Brigitte says this, she takes off the necklace, and hands the pendant back to Lucy.

"Well, she isn't stupid and neither am I..." Lucy says, as she thinks it over.

Deciding that Mattie wouldn't gamble on her own life, she quietly concludes that it can't be some sort of malware virus or anything to give away their location. But she errs to caution and places it on the coffee table.

"We can wait till Scud and the others get back." Lucy says "He's better at disguising signals than I am."

"So..." Brigitte says trying to start another discussion "I saw someone else at Mattie's. Someone in with the D.E.B.S."

The other three glance at her questioningly.

"You weren't followed, where are you ?" Amy asks.

"Nah," Brigitte shakes her head "I think he was trying to mediate."

"What ?"

"Clear the air." Brigitte says "With me at least. Mattie says I could go back to my family, and her partner says he can work things out at the Academy."

"You didn't buy it, did you ?" Lucy asks, narrowing her eyes.

"I mean," Brigitte continues, putting two fingers on her temple "It seemed genuine, but what do I have to get back to ?"

Brigitte chuckles cynically at the thought.

"You know, Mattie even got her sister in on this ?"

"Carmilla ?" Nancy raises an eyebrow.

"She has another sister ?" Lucy was about to ask, recalling her past encounters with "Lilmarca Karnstein" in '94. Though considering she learned of Lilmarca's past as using alias' with Carmilla and Mircalla popping up a few times, she guesses this one is the same person as Lilmarca.

"She got her in the Sault." Brigitte starts, before clarifying "Canada. She even got this girl who looks almost exactly like-"

Brigitte stops before she starts, with another cynical chuckle.

"It's...it's too good to be real." Brigitte shakes her head, before looking back at Lucy "But that's not important. The point is Mattie and her partner talked about that monster of yours."

"Oh really ?" Lucy asks, sounding a little challenging "What about ?"

"Were you...were you really going to set that thing loose in Australia ?"

"Of course not." Amy says, a little defensive "Whatever reason she had, she stopped it for a reason."

Amy looks up at Lucy, similarly questioning her. She knew Lucy better, and the look she gives Lucy tells the ex-supervillainess to be honest.

Especially since Amy herself was in such a dark space.

"I almost...thought about it." Lucy winces between works "But I was in a really, really ugly place. I wasn't in the right mind."

"What put you there ?" Amy asks, holding Lucy's hand a little tighter "You said it was when things got drastic, right ?"

Lucy gets an uncomfortable expression, looking towards the screen.

"Darla Evans." Lucy says grimly, before sighing sadly "Darla made things...drastic."

Lucy's eyes water as she thinks back to that messy, messy period in her life. Sensing this, Amy wipes Lucy's eyes as they start to water.

Nancy breaths through her nose, picking up what Lucy's putting down.

"If it makes you feel better," Nancy says "If she's anything like Chris Hooker, I probably would have done the same."

There is another pause, as they try to get back into the episode, before Lucy looks to Brigitte.

"Who'd you speak to ?" Lucy says "Mattie's partner I mean. Maybe Scud and I heard of him."

Brigitte takes a few seconds to remember the name.

"Vordenberg ? I think ?" Brigitte guesses out loud.

Nancy double takes, a smirk of amusement on her face.

"Baron Vordenberg ?"

"You know him ?"

"Not really, but the name's kind of a joke around the Academy." Nancy shakes her head "Carmilla, she told us about his family before; they're posers!"

"Posers ?"

"If the guy and his family are known for anything, it's the stories they tell." Nancy theatrically wiggles her fingers "They say one thing; looking into their claims tells you another."

"So...he was bullshitting me then ?" Brigitte says "About trying to help me ?"

Well, it's good to have some confirmation at least.

"I mean Sarah and I only really saw the guy once," Nancy clarifies "But we're told he's the kind who mixes mud in a chocolate cake; and rat poison in the flour."

There's a pause as Nancy looks at the girls staring at her, before raising both hands.

"Her words." Nancy says "Euphemisms aren't my strong suit."

-----

Quality Inn and Suites, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario

It was late in the morning, just before noon, when Carmilla Karnstein made her way out of the building and into the parking lot.  She wears a dark leather jacket, grey T-shirt and matching jeans and boots.

She reaches and enters her vehicle, a dark grey sedan, which starts and pulls to the building's entrance. There she waits for Gibb, who has to answer a phone call from her boss.

As she waits, Carmilla thinks back to how she took her detour for her vacation. Her encounter with Brigitte Fitzgerald earlier this month made her curious, and when she looked into the matter of the "Fitzgerald's Disappearance" case, she hit the usual dead end.

Of how Brigitte Fitzgerald and Ginger Fitzgerald both disappeared from Bailey Downs on Halloween Night of 2000; how Brigitte would reappear months later and be placed in Happier Times rehab clinic, only to disappear again. What happened to Ginger Fitzgerald was a mystery, even with Brigitte's insistence that Ginger died and was left in their house, no remains were ever found.

Carmilla was about to close the book when she landed in Ontario. But having made small talk with Mattie on the phone just before she left, she was sent an email the next day.

It told of (another) killing spree that occurred in Springwood, Ohio during the October of 2003, and of how there were three survivors; one of them being Gibb Smith, despite a close call. However, Gibb's refusal to be interviewed after the fact, and her disappearance from Springwood the following winter, only about a few pictures were put out there.

While the picture Carmilla was sent on her email bared an uncanny resemblance to Ginger (polar opposite fashion sense aside), her originating from the Greater Toronto Area; of which Bailey Downs was a municipality. You'd almost think this was a witness protection thing, or something.

Last thing on Gibb's paper trail pointed her to being residing here in the Sault. Originally, Carmilla wasn't even going to look into it...but curiosity has a history with cats. Come the eleventh, Carmilla reached the Sault and when she first saw Gibb, she just knew something was up. Mainly, when she picked up a familiar scent on Gibb.

Unknown to Carm, Gibb noticed a subtle scent on her. One that would follow Carmilla even when she'd leave the room/vicinity.

Carmilla first met Gibb by "accident"; a seeming student taken on a tour around Sault College, and happened upon Carmilla walking into her at this food court. Coffee "accidentally" spilled onto Carmilla's shirt and from that encounter, Carmilla and Gibb would spend the next couple hours making conversation.

And with that Carmilla gradually began working her way with Gibb's-

Carmilla's train of thought was interrupted when two people stepped out. Both girls, eighteen to twenty years old, dressed in those school girl outfits.

One was a platinum blonde pixie girl type, who you'd almost mistake for being a high school student; and a more goth looking girl you'd mistake for being in a Tatu music video. Carmilla narrows her eyes at them, and the girls pretend not to see her, instead making their way to a bright blue Honda.

Carmilla's attention was immediately stolen by Gibb herself, stepping out wearing a dark green hoodie, jeans and sneakers, and a red hat. She had her auburn hair in a short ponytail.

"You took your time." Carmilla remarks as Gibb gets in the passenger side.

"I did ? I'd say I'm sorry but my boss loves the sound of his voice." Gibb mimes the "blah blah" as Carmilla starts the car.

Carmilla nods with a joking sympathetic expression, having her many accounts of Gibb's job at this pharmacy, and how chatty her boss is; especially when Gibb was supposed to have days off.

As they begin to pull out, Gibb takes out a cigarette, having her window rolled down as she too notices the girls in the blue Honda.

"You've been seeing them too, have you ?" Gibb asks.

"Our neighbors ?" Carmilla responds "I mean, yeah."

"They're everywhere, aren't they ? Always down the halls, down the streets-" Gibb starts to ramble before she shudders, before looking towards Carm "Pretty fucking weird, right ?"

Carmilla raises an eyebrow towards Gibb.

"Want me to talk to them ?"

"Nah." Gibb shakes her head "Won't be worth it."

Unknown to Carmilla, Gibb leaves out the part where she saw one of those girls handling a pistol when she spotted them in the halls during a previous encounter.

"Whatever you say." Carmilla mutters, starting her car and pulling out.

As they depart, Carmilla flickers her eyes at the blue Honda, half expecting them to follow her. But she tried to put it in the back of her mind as they set out for a trip to the movies.

A moment pauses, before the blue Honda starts, and as Carmilla expected them too, they would follow Carmilla's vehicle with a distance of four car lengths.

"They're onto us." The gothic agent, Ellen says in a worried tone.

"They're not." answers Megan, the pixie blonde girl at the steering wheel.

"That girl saw us three times." Ellen continues.

"We're just part of the scenery." Megan tries to assure her "Just two neighbors that just happen to hit the town when they do."

"And that doesn't strike you as suspicious ?" Ellen asks "If I saw something like that, I'd be calli-"

They are interrupted when Megan pulls her car to a sudden stop. As she did so, she accidentally backed the car up into another one, prompting an angry driver to lean out his window to cuss them out.

"Oh goddammit!" Megan groans, having reached a red light, right as Carmilla and Gibb passed and disappeared into the traffic.

-----

Carmilla and Gibb would go about the city, taking a snack break at Tim Hortons, before spending a couple of hours at the boarding house Gibb was staying at.

When Carmilla got to know Gibb, she noticed besides the obvious physical similarities to Ginger Fitzgerald, their apparent personalities couldn't be further apart.

Everything she could find about the present day Ginger Fitzgerald, paints her as being a pretty edgy girl; aloof and cold to all but a few, abrasive and introverted loner, who was just coming out of her shell before her disappearance.

Not unlike the Ginger Fitzgerald of 1815. While those who knew Gibb would describe her as being a lot more preppy, outgoing and a pushover. She also became more introverted and distant, which could be attributed to her near death experience.

Looking past the physical similarities, you'd say that Ginger Fitzgerald and Gibb Smith were in fact different people. But the more Carmilla bonded with Gibb, the more she noticed the same "feel" as the girl she met in 1815. T

here was also that subtle scent she'd get off her. The kind that would flare up when Carmilla was in the vicinity of a lycanthrope.

As a result, Carmilla was 97% sure Gibb was who she thought she was.

Though she had to be careful not to raise Gibb's suspicions. And of course, she wasn't going to let herself get too attached to the girl. "Just treat her like a fling. Just a summer fling" Carmilla would remind herself "It can't be anything more than that. Not after Elle."

On the other girl's end, despite her supposed introversy, Gibb found herself pretty comfortable around Carmilla after a couple days. In a way Gibb couldn't put her finger on. They went from chit chat, to kissing and third base in under a week.

Even on the first day, Gibb was comfortable enough to lay out her troubles. The day they first met, Gibb was getting shit from her landlord for a supposedly late rent payment; apparently their initial agreement had it so that her landlord would get half of her paycheck and welfare check for rent.

But then the guy found out that Gibb was given two million by the township of Springwood following her recovery. Low and behold, when he found out about this two million bonus, he got greedy and figured he was owed some of that; making bullshit claims that Gibb was holding out on him. Things escalated into an argument and now her landlord would lock her out.

When Carmilla heard of Gibb's troubles, she had Gibb stay with her at the suite until things blew over. When Gibb opted to move, she had to be there for the movers to pick her stuff up. After a couple hours, Carmilla would spot the blue Honda, waiting down the road. She wasn't too surprised, but didn't let them notice that she noticed them.

While movers brought Gibb's stuff to storage, Carmilla would take her to see the movies; this was the second time they'd watched Van Helsing, and it was mostly to laugh at it, with Gibb lowkey checking out Hugh Jackman.

Gibb was pretty casual with her bisexuality, and comfortable with her dates with Carmilla. According to Gibb herself, Carmilla was the first time she actually dated another girl ("Besides this one time, Lori, Kia and I-" she'd say before silencing herself) with all her past flings and dates being boys.

Most of them were assholes.

Upon finding out she might be this young woman's first piece of pie, she'd decide to stay with her long enough to show her the ropes.

"Well, I hope I'll leave a good impression." Carmilla would say teasingly.

That was all in the front of Carmilla's mind. The back of it had her constantly looking over their shoulders. And she was never surprised by what she'd see.

The Blue Honda was always down the road from them. And she was readying herself to do something about it.

-----

Station Mall, Sault Ste Marie

Van Helsing wasn't as funny the second time around as it was the first. At different points, Carmilla and Gibb found themselves groaning and rolling their eyes where they previously laughed.

So out of it Carmilla was, that during the movie, she spotted those two girls yet again in the far corner. Because of course they'd follow them here.

Y'know for a spy agency, you'd think they'd be a little more conspicuous than going around in schoolgirl uniforms. How the hell the D.E.B.S stayed clandestine is anyone's guess.

Once the movie was over, Gibb had to make a trip to the girls room. Carmilla tried to warn her against ordering a large sprite, but "nooooo" she could hold out till the end.

Which to be fair she did.

Low and behold, as Gibb made her way towards the bathroom, those two girls followed after from a distance. It was as if they thought they were being discreet, and Carmilla could only roll her eyes.

So in a blink of the eye and a gust of wind, Carmilla stepped towards them.

"Hey there." She says, grabbing their shoulders.

Both agents yelp and turn around, Carmilla could barely contain her cheeky grin.

"Looking for something ?" Carmilla tilts her head.

The blonde, Megan, opens her mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a stutter.

"We-well, you- you see. We..." Megan and Ellen hesitantly look at eachother "Lost a pen ?"

Sasha's eyes widen and glare at Megan.

"How I'd end up with you as a partner ?" Ellen facepalms.

"No one else would take us ?" Megan replies.

Carmilla rolls her eyes and exhales through her nose. She looks around in the crowded hallway, filled with other movie goers, weighing her options.

"We're gonna have to take this elsewhere."

And with that, Carmilla grabs the two by their shoulders. With a few steps and a gust of wind, the three disappear from the hallways like they were never there to begin with.

-----

Both Megan and Ellen nearly lost their lunch, and their world spun a bit, until they got their footing.

They saw they were standing against their Honda, parked a ways down the parking lot. It was an isolated corner, a small distance from the other cars, and just before the boardwalk.

Ellen felt around for her pistol, only to notice her wrists as well as Megan's were cuffed. Megan catches on, trying futilely to yank the cuffs off.

"Looking for these ?" Carmilla's voice gets their attention.

In Carmilla's hands, are the agent's pistols, which she drops to her feet, and kicks under their Honda.

"Now, here's what's going to happen." Carmilla starts, counting one finger "You can tell me what you're up too-"

"Nothing, we're just-" Megan tries to deny, before being interrupted by Carmilla's chuckle.

"You must think I was born yesterday." Carmilla crosses her arms "You know, the D.E.B.S almost caused Silas some trouble back in '94. And I came all the way out here to get your mess out of my hair."

Carmilla looked around, making sure no one was looking for them. She looks back to them, gritting her teeth so that her fang would be visible, her eyes yellow and catlike.

"Ohmygod!" Ellen flinches away.

"Jesus Christ!" Megan yelps, trying to hide behind her partner.

"Not really, but I was actually born on Christmas Eve." Carmilla silently snarks to herself, but she didn't want to lighten the situation.

As the two agents stumble and stagger, trying to run despite how winded they were, Carmilla takes them both by the shoulders and pushes them against there car.

"So," She snarls, "Why are you following me ?"

"We weren't following you!" Megan insists "Honest, we weren't!"

"Godddammit Megan, don't blow this!" Ellen tries to warn her partner.

"A little late for that." Carmilla remarks.

Back at the entrance, Gibb steps out and holds the door for a six year old girl and her grandma, giving a friendly wave and an affable smile as they pass her.

As Gibb heads towards her and Carm's car, she notices Carmilla herself talking to those "neighbor" girls at that blue Honda. From here, it just looks like the three are having a casual conversation, not drawing attention to themselves.

Her curiosity aroused, Gibb makes her way towards them.

As she drew closer, she could pick up what they were saying. It was as if her hearing might be more advanced than that of a regular person. In fact, you could say she wasn't a regular person.

"We weren't looking for you!" Megan insists "We were monitoring her!"

Carmilla tilts her head, and narrows her eyes skeptically.

"Who ? Gibb ? What about her ?"

"Oh come on, don't play dumb!" Ellen groans and rolls her eyes "We weren't born yesterday either."

Despite being a short walking distance away, Gibb's hearing picks up on them. She looks around, making sure no one else is coming, before circling her way onto the sidewalk; keeping her distance, while also making her way closer.

"Alright, so enlighten me." Carmilla crosses her arms, and leans in a little "What do you we both know about Gibb Smith."

"Ginger Fitzgerald, okay ?" Ellen exclaims.

Hearing this from a short walk away, Gibb's world stopped as sudden as she did. Did she hear that right ?

"Well," Carmilla chuckles, "Sorry to disappoint, but-"

"I just said, don't play dumb." Ellen says "You ran into her sister when she first turned up in Silas."

"The Academy wanted someone to keep an eye on Brigitte's people." Megan explains "Make sure there aren't any risks."

Gibb perks her head up.

Brigitte ? The mention of that name snapped Gibb out of her reverb. Getting her bearings, she heads towards them directly.

"Risks ? What kind of risks ?"

"They wouldn't tell us." Megan says "We were just supposed to observe-"

"Hey, Carm ?" Gibb's voice interrupts.

They look to see Gibb was making her way towards Carmilla, playing things casually.

"These girl's buggin' you ?" Gibb steps beside Carmilla, putting her elbow on her shoulder.

"Ah, no. They thought I was someone else." Carmilla also plays it off casually, looking at the agents with this intimidating, "friendly" expression "I was just clearing things up."

"Why do they have cuffs on their wrists ?" Gibb asks, putting a hand on her hip as she notices the cuffs in question.

"I dunno," Carmilla shrugs "I don't kink shame."

The agents glare at Carmilla with an indignant expression. Carmilla looks a little more coy as she leans in towards them, her pupils shift as she looks into their eyes.

"But they won't be bothering us further." Carmilla says "In fact, it's their last night here. Right ?"

The agents have an uncertain expression in their eyes.

Truth be told, Carmilla never really got the hang on this "compulsion" thing. Besides being something she never really liked to do, it's not a power most vampires of her type could master easily; and when she tries, it causes too big a headache for it to be worth it.

But the mild sting in her head, and the nods the two agents give tells her she did something right.

"Yeah..." Ellen nods absentmindedly.

"Right." Megan agrees.

"That's what I like to hear." Carmilla smirks, putting her hand around Gibb's waist, turning towards their car as she leads her date away "I'd say seeya, but..."

As they made their way to their car, leaving the two agents behind, Gibb speaks up.

"Who did they mistake you for ?"

"Hmm ?"

"Those girls," Gibb answers "You say they thought you were someone else."

"Ah, it's nothing." Carmilla says with a dismissive wave.

"You were talking a while for it to be nothing."

"What can I say ?" Carmilla says sardonically, placing her arm around Gibb's shoulder "I'm a people person."

"That makes one of us." Gibb remarks.

They stopped their conversation there, as they entered their car. They had a couple more stops to make, picking up another movie at Blockbuster, and then they could call it a night.

Gibb was quiet throughout the drive; her mind was miles away, as she dribbled her finger on the dashboard, and looked out the window. Her thoughts were on the names those girls dropped.

Just what does Carmilla know ?

-----

The Coven's Boarding House

Later that evening, they said they would, they didn't wait until Scud, Rochelle, Sarah and Bonnie returned home that they actually looked over the USB drive.

They would quickly go over what they knew on their outing; what they knew about the Yobidashi-gawa's monster, and the death and destruction it would cause. About how the D.E.B.S agency picked up on "Lucy's" plans to unleash the monster on a populated area for the D.E.B.S to save the day.

"Of course," Lucy would roll their eyes. An embarrassed spy agency is out wanting to prove what a threat Lucy Diamond is, that they're now out to fabricate the theat.

At this point, Lucy wouldn't put it past them.

As for the USB Brigitte got her hands on; as Lucy said Scud knew a lot better to disguise himself on a computer than Lucy did.

"Well, you see, all I have to-" Scud says as Bonnie lets him log into her computer, as they gather round the dining room table, looking over his shoulders.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!" Nancy says, raising a finger to silence Scud "We know real magic, not computer magic."

Scud rolls his eyes, and once he's assured that there won't be any malware or a tracking virus put on this computer, they'd spend the evening going over the contents.

There were several files, with generic titles like...

"Bailey Watchlist."

"Zimmerman Watchlist."

"Eye on Fitzgerald: File H."

"Eye on Fitzgerald: File P."

"Eye on Fitzgerald: File G."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this was the location and information the D.E.B.S had on their people.

And while there was still matters to go over their more immediate attention was on two files called "Robert Matthews Records" and "Robert Matthews profile".

Amy was the one to open it, taking the mouse from Scud's hand and opening both files. This was before the rest could decide for themselves, but they had to start somewhere. 

"Travis County, 97." Sarah narrows her eyes at the folders name "What happened there ?"

"Bobby's first day on the job by the looks of it." Scud guesses, letting Amy click the file.

The case folder first described the "official" report; how in February of 1999, a fourteen year old girl, Tamara Perez, was held captive by a Cartel that her older brother was involved with. Both of whom were part of a well off family from Monterey.

Conflicting reports say she was kidnapped, or that she ran away with her brother. Bottom line, Matthews was part of a small team sent to negotiation with the Cartel leader. But things escalated during a shooting spree,  after Perez was found already dead. Matthews himself was among the few survivors.

"Jesus." Bonnie shakes her head.

"Now let's see the unofficial story." Amy asks, stoically as they scroll deeper into the casefile.

As expected the actual story differed from the current report.

One Agent Robert Matthews was the lead negotiator, this being his first of that field. Problem was Matthews, high off his family's rep, went in thinking he was the love child of GI Joe and Dirty Harry. This escalated into a costly firefight, killing all but a few cartel members, and over half of Matthews team. Tamera Perez herself was among the casualties.

As the profile reads: "Matthews has been barely responsive in the weeks following Travis County. Despite initial displays of apparent remorse, Matthews is very reluctant to admit to any fault or failing. No immediate signs of being a flight risk, however, we received a request that he be assigned to [[Redacted]], California for the time being. Until the smoke clears."

No doubt referring to the D.E.B.S West Coast Campus.

As the report reads on, any guilt Matthews had quelled over time as he was informed of the "true" story; one that would pass him off as this would-be, tragic hero. By his fourth session, whatever remorse Matthews had for Travis County seemed to evaporate completely, even cracking a few jokes about it to his counselor.

Then came the next folder.

"Sasha Greene." Scud remarks while reading the file, looking to Amy "Sound familiar ?"

Amy thinks for a minute, before nodding.

"There was a ceremony for her at the start of the year." Amy says as she recalls, "Fell from the ledge of an apartment she was staking out. Still in the hospital I think."

"You ready to hear the true story ?" Scud asks, sounding a little more worried than challenging.

"Not particularly, but..." Amy crosses her arms and breathes through her nose "I need to know what I'm up against."

No one really liked the cold expression on Amy's face as she says this, nor the chill in her voice. But no comments on it.

According to the file, in September of 2000, Sasha Greene was assigned to a stakeout for a suspect to a chemical weapons theft that multiple agencies had their eyes on. Greene was also noted as having an affair with Bobby Matthews at the time. And Matthews would share an apartment with her as part of the stakeout.

The official story said Greene was severally injured, falling from a balcony trying to slip out of the witness's own apartment. What the official report won't tell you was that Greene was hospitalized after being found battered and an inch from death in her and Bobby's bedroom.

Reading further will describe Matthews in a state of distress, while also denying any fault all together. It was an accident, he would say. She wouldn't shut up about the border, he insisted. If she had just stopped asking about it, things wouldn't have escalated. She was judging him, Bobby would plead, she had that look in her eye calling him a murderer.

Apparently despite the insistence that Matthews be properly treated in another state, some of the higher ups insisted on avoiding the scandal and the embarrassment this could cost Matthews family, as well as the D.E.B.S agency.

Reading the profile: "Such a barrage of denial of fault and remorse is not uncommon, but shouldn't be that extreme. Even for an accident like this. Patient continues to reject offer of a quiet trip to [[Redacted]] facility for better counseling, instead expressing preference from Director [[Redacted]]'s suggestion for further quiet recovery."

There were other cases mentioned throughout the file; two cases of impaired driving; aggravated battery of a night club bouncer; and four cases of getting a student to break curfew. Two of which Amy remembers being there for. Each time, Bobby was let off.

And finally, the death of Jillian Rhodes, in April of 2001.

Again, the official story of Rhodes' death was told first. How she was shot in the throat by Lucy Diamond during a bungled arrest attempt, and bled out at the hospital. The official testimony mentions that an inconsolable Bobby held her hand as she expired. But Bobby's profile says differently.

"Matthews has displayed minimal if any emotional reaction in the past few sessions. When this was pointed out to Matthews, he would rectify it with a half hearted attempt at emotion. He mentions having to put his hand over Rhodes' mouth to stop her from screaming and asking questions. He refuses to elaborate further, mentioning a fee he was promised to keep things classified."

"Okay," Amy closes her eyes and shakes her head "I've read enough."

Brigitte nods in agreement. She doesn't say anything, but when she and Amy exchange a knowing glance, the same message was conveyed; it was nice to have confirmation.

"So...we gotta kill them." Nancy says plainly, having made up her mind after hearing the story of Sasha Greene.

"What ? No-" Sarah tries to object.

"She's right." Scud says, gesturing to the screen "To go just after him right now ? This is a distraction."

"Actually no." Sarah clarifies, rubbing the back of her neck "I was saying killing is too good for him."

Scud and Lucy glance at eachother, shrugging with agreement as Amy steps away from the table, towards the corner of the dining room.

Lucy steps away from the table to tend to Amy, while Scud continues.

"What I meant was." Scud was saying "There was only one reason they could be holding this information, and why Belmonde was willing to give this too us."

There's a pause as Rochelle thinks about it, before she realizes.

"He's their scapegoat."

"Exactly." Scud says "He's proven to be a problem in this case and nearly blew things on the first day. If things go south, the Academy will need someone to point a finger to and distract from their fuck ups."

"You know a lot about this stuff don't you ?" Brigitte tilts her head.

"You keep an ear open at their campus in recent weeks, word is one of two things..." Scud turns to face Brigitte before, counting his fingers "Bobby getting arrested. And the Big Wolf on Campus."

As Scud says this, he jabs his index finger towards Brigitte.

"It's part of the reason they sent you here, you know." Scud adds.

"Of course it is." Brigitte sighs and shakes her head. Nancy and Sarah take her hands.

"What else is on there ?" Nancy asks, trying to change the subject.

"Not much else." Scud says "A few mentions of how the D.E.B.S got started, but nothing you can't find in their library."

Scud opens that file, but it doesn't give a spectacular summary; it mentions Petrie being the founder of the D.E.B.S, alongside two other directors, and Colonel Edwin Matthews, Bobby's grandfather.

The  project was inspired by several instances where teenagers were caught up and "interfered" with government and military operations across American small towns throughout the 80's. Miss Petrie herself was one of the few "leftovers" of those operations when they shut down, before she proposed a new clandestine project; a simple mixture of boarding school and military academies.

The consensus was "Well if these small town youths were able to do that to our operations, they might as well be the future of these operations."

And with that, the D.E.B.S was born.

"Does it say what ops they were doing ?" Lucy asks, looking over Scud's shoulder.

"Negatory." Scud shakes his head "But they're all the same. Only the names change."

"All the same ?" Nancy chimes in, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Oh, you know; the same song and dance." Scud shrugs, looking over the girls as he counts his finger. "Shady Government institution sets up shop in small town America. Run some off the book experiments that affect the civilian population. And these local kids get caught up playing detective, and somehow have the tenacity to bring the whole thing down."

The coven girls, and Brigitte look in mild disbelief, before exchanging glances of quick acceptance. They should know by now that very stranger things have happened in this world.

"And what do we do with this ?" Bonnie asks, stepping forward and pointing back at Bobby's file "If that's all we got-"

"We have their scapegoat." Sarah suddenly realizes, now all eyes are on her. She continues now that she has the floor "The school has been holding on to this, waiting for Bobby to slip."

"They release it on their terms, they control the narrative." Rochelle nods, picking up what Sarah's putting down "We release it, we release the whole story."

"And he takes the whole ship down with him." Scud finishes, miming a sinking motion with his hands.

There is a pause in the room, before Brigitte shakes her head. She looks to the corner of the room, seeing Amy staring off into space, with Lucy trying to reassure her under her breath. Amy doesn't look like she's really listening.

"It can't be that easy." Brigitte remarks, looking back at the others.

"You're right. It's not." Amy says stepping away from the corner, with her arms crossed "Say we air their dirty laundry; then what ? They're only gonna keep coming after us and our people..."

"Then we hit 'em harder." Sarah replies.

"They're going to bring a war to Silas." Rochelle adds "One they can't win."

Amy starts to say "Yeah, but- but-"

Amy couldn't finish her sentence. She pinches the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh.

"Never mind." Amy shakes her head "Never mind."

Amy steps towards the kitchen doorway.

"Where' you going ?"

"Just to clear my head." Amy says in a flat, angry voice "Could use less noise."

As Amy leaves, none of the girls do anything but exchange another glance.

With an empathetic sigh, Lucy looks to the others.

"She's just going through-"

"We get it." Sarah gives an understanding nod "It's a lot to drop on her at once."

"I'm just gonna-" Lucy jabs a thumb to the door, not finishing her sentence as she follows Amy out the door.

-----

Outside, in the Boarding House's backyard, was a swing-set, that given the small amount of cigarette butts on the ground, was likely used by the witches as a place to take a "smoke break".

Currently, Amy sits upon one of the swings, looking down at her feet as she ideally moves back and forth. Her feet don't touch the ground.

She doesn't even look up when Lucy approaches her.

"I know what you're going to say." Amy says with a flat, angry tone in her voice.

"I'm not here to nag." Lucy raises both hands defensively "I just want to make sure you don't do anything-"

Amy looks up.

"Reckless." Lucy finishes "I was gonna say reckless."

"Sure you were." Amy rolls her eyes.

Lucy takes a seat in the swing adjacent to Amy. They say nothing for a moment, before Amy looks up towards the last of the daylight setting on Silas.

"I have to do something." Amy says, staring off into space "You saw what was on the file - I could have been like Sasha Greene, or Jillian-"

Amy clutches her neck, shaking her head to banish the thought.

"I didn't think he was that bad of a guy at first, you know ?"

"They never make it obvious." Lucy nods in agreement.

"Sure, he was a douche and all but..." Amy shakes "I just didn't think he would-"

Lucy reaches across from her swing, wrapping an arm around Amy's shoulder, pulling them both in close.

"I'm not a psychologist or anything, but in my experience people like that don't change out of the blue." Lucy starts "It usually means their mask just slipped."

Lucy takes Amy chin to face her, as she says.

"I've seen it all before." Lucy says "Darla was someone I thought I knew. I thought she needed me like I needed her."

Lucy releases Amy's chin, staring back towards the house, as she begins gently rocking back and forth on the swing.

"But really, she needed a meal ticket." Lucy continues "And once she got it, she just let a whole other side show. I guess I just gave her the tools to do so."

Amy's eyes narrow, but there's still a look of sympathy in them.

"That's not on you."

"And Bobby's not on you. But..." Lucy hesitates "When someone we thought we know has a side they're trying to hide, you're trying to find something else to point at. Make sense of it."

Lucy looks back to Amy, wiping one of her eyes at Darla's memory. Amy's eyes are similarly watering.

"All you did Amy," Lucy continues "Was not give the guy what he wants."

Amy wipes her eyes, and takes a breath.

"I just...I don't know what to do." Amy's voice starts to break "One part is like, I want to know if she's okay."

Lucy uses her thumb to wipe Amy's eyes, before Amy continues.

"But if I go to her...I just know it'll be a trap or something." Amy exhales "And that just leaves me with...with..."

Amy didn't finish her sentence, she only saw red. She grits her teeth, and her reddening face and heavy breathing as she clenches her fists around the chains of her swing. There's a slight snarl in her breath telling Lucy everything.

Realizing the way Lucy was looking at her, Amy lets out another shaky breath.

"But you know..." Amy says, looking back to the ground "You were there too."

"Not really." Lucy shrugs "I didn't have much to lose with the Schaffer's."

She brushes a blonde strand of hair from Amy's forehead.

"I can find you a way you know," Lucy says "Remember what Nancy said earlier ?"

Amy looks uncertain.

"Killing her stepdad didn't make her feel better. It wasn't until she saw-"

"Her mother was okay." Amy realizes.

"Maybe it's not revenge you're looking for, honey." Lucy says, gingerly rubbing Amy's upper back "I can pull a string or two, see what I can-"

"She didn't know." Amy says, looking at Lucy who looked expectantly back at her "She doesn't know I...like girls."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Amy wipes her eye again, but now speaking a little more evenly "It's just...my dad- I don't think he was as open minded about it, but I never thought to bring it up to my mom."

Amy lets out a heavy sigh.

"And- and what do I tell her ?" Amy says "And that's if Bobby didn't ? What do I say ? Do I just go up to her on her sickbed and just drop everything on her ?"

Lucy clicks her teeth, looking up to the sky and back to Amy.

"I think she'd just want to know if you're okay." Lucy reaches for Amy's hand, taking it in her own "Maybe it'll help you both."

"Maybe." Amy sighs yet again "I just...I just don't know."

Amy leans down, resting her head onto Lucy's shoulder yet again.

"Well," Lucy kisses Amy on the top of her head "You don't know if you have a shot until you take it."

Amy nods against Lucy's shoulder.

With nothing else to say, they sat there to try to enjoy the sunset.

-----

Lucy and Amy didn't step back in until well after the sun disappeared.

By then, the others excused themselves from the table, and went over what they knew. Save for Brigitte, who stayed at the table, reading over the "Fitzgerald" files. Everyone else gave her the courtesy to read in private.

"Anything new ?" Lucy asks, as she and Amy stop by the table.

"I don't know," Brigitte shakes her head, looking up at them "I never really heard from any of them in...in years."

Brigitte opened "Fitzgerald File: H" which of course covered her father, Henry.

Nothing to write home about with him. He still works at the LCBO, just from Sudbury, where he stayed the past three years. Besides a few small trips, and a reunion with his brother's family in Niagara Falls, Henry Fitzgerald was a pretty introverted man.

Brigitte then looked over "Fitzgerald File: P" for her mother, Pamela.

Pamela is in constant isolation at this clinic in Toronto. Despite her insistence she committed Ginger's murders, most of her confessions were dismissed because of the obviously inhuman claw and bite marks on them.

The only charge they could pin on her was Trina Sinclair's death, which was chalked to aggravated manslaughter when forensics indicated Trina's death was an accident. Pamela had a good behavior streak, but was on watch for an attempted suicide back in 2002.

Brigitte couldn't stand to read them, and clicked off by the time Lucy and Amy stepped in. Before Brigitte clicked off, Amy got a glimpse of what she was reading.

She looked away when Brigitte looked back at her.

"Just got one more to go..." Brigitte says "It won't be anything though."

"Fitzgerald File: G" - Allegedly, a file covering Ginger. There's the stuff Brigitte knows is not true; she knows Ginger didn't just disappear; she dressed Ginger's body herself.

And while the girl in the pictures certainly looked like Ginger from a distance, Brigitte knows for sure that Ginger wouldn't dress like that, or hang out with those kinds of girls. Brigitte knows Ginger is dead. Otherwise, she would have gone through all of this for nothing.

There was an excerpt from newspaper articles covering Gibb Smith, (or "Not Ginger" as Brigitte silently nicknames her).

How how she first arrived in Springwood in 2001; how she and her friends were caught up in a killing spree in October of 2003. Despite being impaled during this spree, she was one of three survivors, albeit had a few close calls before pulling through.

Brigitte looks away, shaking her head. It's not her, Brigitte thinks, you know it's not her.

Sensing Brigitte's silent apprehension, Lucy takes a seat beside Brigitte.

"Are you planning to see them ?" Lucy asks.

"What if I did ?" Brigitte looks at her "It's not like they'd want any of my baggage."

Brigitte looks at the files and shakes her head.

"Better off without me."

"You don't know that." Amy remarks, once again looking at Brigitte's shoulder, thinking about what she saw on Pamela's file "Might make things easier for them."

Brigitte says nothing, just takes a deep breath through her nose and shakes her head again.

"I can pull a string or two." Lucy offers "Make a few calls, and get your mom-"

"Fine. Great. Yeah." Brigitte says, not looking at either of them as she gets up from the seat "They just don't need me ruining things further."

Lucy and Amy glance at each other, but decide not to push the matter further.

"So," Brigitte makes her way to the basement stairway, turning to Lucy and Amy as they follow after her "Are we planning ahead or just gonna twiddle our thumbs all night ?"

-----

It was about 9:00 when the sit down adjourned, and they found themselves little closer to a solution. Particularly when it came to the matter of that "sea dragon".

The best they could come up with was when Sarah and Rochelle were going over the vision they and Bonnie saw on the beach. It was then Sarah would recall her and Nancy's own "encounter" with this thing back in 96.

"We'd reach it before." Sarah says, when she had the floor "We can reach it again."

"And the Caller is supposed to be a communications device." Rochelle adds.

"So what, you're we just...talk to this thing ?" Scud asks in disbelief "Look, I don't know much about your tricks and treats but-"

"Then you shouldn't lecture us about invocations." Rochelle crosses her arms "But if it can be communicated with-"

"Then it means we don't have to fight it." Sarah finishes "The Dean thinks the D.E.B.S will bring a war to Silas; but where she has the thunder, but we are the lightning."

"There won't be any war," Rochelle adds "Because we won't let the Dean fire her shot."

When they concluded that was as far as they can take things for now, they called it a night.

Scud would make his leave back to the D.E.B.S safehouse, expecting to pick up Janet. Rochelle was going to have a show the next day, and needed her beauty sleep, so she and Bonnie opted to sleep on the basements folded in the mattress.

Lucy and Amy quietly retired to the guest room.

Hitting the hay, Sarah, Nancy and Brigitte just shed their clothes and flopped into bed at the same time. It was a little "gag" routine of theirs ever since they started sleeping together. But there'd be no sex tonight, considering the "energy" in the air the past couple days.

That was alright by them. Sometimes simple cuddles work wonders.

"So..." Brigitte sighs after they crawl in under the sheets, and cozy up together  "We're going to just try to talk to freaking sea monster, are we ?"

Chuckling, Brigitte shakes her head, resting between Sarah and Nancy's, as both witches wrapped their arms around her, pulling in close.

"This was not where I saw my life going."

"Believe me- it's the same." Nancy sighs, playfully flicking Sarah on the forehead as the latter turned off their nightstand lamp "But my Sarah's not one to pass up her girl scout badge."

Scoffing in amusement, Sarah leans across Brigitte, nuzzling her nose against Nancy's.

"Don't say you don't love me for it." Sarah teases, twirling Nancy's dark hair "My trophies are yours after all."

Nancy shrugs with a cocky smirk. Can't argue with that.

As Sarah and Nancy lean for a kiss, Brigitte blushes beneath them.

"Jeez," Brigitte rolls her eyes with a smirk "Get a room you two..."

"Aw, looks like someone's jealous." Sarah looks down at Brigitte with a grin.

Both Sarah and Nancy descend down onto the flustered Brigitte, getting her face the perfect shake of pink when they pepper it with kisses.

"Gagh!" Brigitte flinches away, unable to stop her smile despite her annoyance "Me and my big mouth-!"

"Oh, don't be like that." Nancy says, stopping her kisses to pat Brigitte on the head "We love you too."

"I got the memo." Brigitte turns over, burying her blushing face into the pillow.

Sarah and Nancy share a laugh before settling in, resuming their cuddle session with Brigitte sandwiched between them.

After another pause, Brigitte speaks again.

"Do you think it'll work ?" She asks, lifting her face from the pillow as she rolls over onto her back "Actually trying to talk to that thing ?"

"I don't know." Sarah starts, shaking her head "But it's the one card we got- if not-"

Sarah hesitates as she thinks it over.

"There was magic in the bay." Sarah says.

"There's magic in pretty much anything, if you dig hard enough." Nancy shrugs, but nods in agreement.

"But Silas Bay was something else," Sarah sits up, looking ahead as she recalls the presence she and Rochelle felt in the water "Something was calling to us; something powerful. I think it's what called us into this D.E.B.S business in the first place."

Sarah looks back at them.

"It's like you look at it, and you see a lake. But when you dive into it, it's an ocean." Sarah says "And ocean filled with something restless and powerful. Something that wanted us to find it."

Sarah taps her temple with one finger to mark her point.

"We tap into it, we're the ones who control the tides."

"And you sure it will work ?" Brigitte asks, with an expression of uncertainly.

"Can't say," Sarah shrugs, "It's a big gamble, but it's the only one we have..."

Sarah rests her head on her pillow.

"But we can worry about that tomorrow."

"You say that like it's easy." Brigitte says, a little agitated, but is silenced when Sarah leans in to kiss her.

"We'll run it by the girls then. See what Lucy thinks." Sarah says, resting back down "We're kind of new to this master plan thing."

Brigitte opens her mouth to argue, but in all honesty, she was too tired to do so.

Soon they three managed to get some sleep, though a few times in the night, Brigitte and Nancy would be momentarily roused by Sarah turning and whispering in her sleep.

As with Bonnie and Rochelle in the basement, Sarah would stir as her head was filled with visions of what they saw that day; Nara Island, being consumed by the sea and fire.

And at the center of it all, was the sea dragon, standing alive where all others fell dead.

-----

Earlier in the day, at the D.E.B.S Silas Campus

As the squads advanced down the halls, they could hear footsteps on the roof, and in the halls, and the occasional raspy laugh.

Both the squads made their way towards the front foyer, Max and Dominique began to open their eyes, to the fading sound of girls screaming, and gunfire. In their disorientation heard and felt Janet shaking them awake.

"Come on, please wake up!" Janet, sounding frantic, panic gripping her voice "Holy shit, he's followed us!"

As Max feels Janet frantically pulling her riffle, Max fades out of consciousness to the sound of gunfire and who or whatever was attacking charging Janet down.

Dominique would flicker her eyes open to see the Count wrestling Janet to the floor. They could hear the sounds of agents panicking and readying to fire.

"Shoot him! Shoot him!"

"We can't, we might hit Janet!"

"Aim for his head!"

She catches a glimpse of the Count bearing down on Janet, while the latter places the business end of her Uzi into the Count's mouth and down his throat. The Count takes hold of Janet's wrist, squeezing until a snap is heard.

Despite the loud "BANG" Janet fires down the Count's throat, the noise fades out as does Dominique.

After silence and darkness, the first thing Max and Dom heard before they opened their eyes was the familiar sound of a heart monitor.

-----

Saint Amara's Hospital, Room 65: Several hours later.

Between her and Max, Dominique was the first to open her eyes, immediately closing them at the bright light.

"Fils de-!" She groans and covers her eyes with her arm, Max waking up and similarly groaning.

Black spots cloud their vision, and their ears ring. For a moment, they got the coppery smell of blood in their nose, and they initially didn't register Janet's voice or presence until said girl was leering over them.

"Oh my god! Max, Dom, you're finally up!" Janet says, her voice fading in and out as the two girls' worlds spin.

"Where...where are we ?" Dominique begins to mutter as she sits up, only to double over as her stomach somersaults.

"Saint Amara's." Janet says, as their vision clears "They had a whole wing closed off for us."

Both Max and Dominique groan at their splitting headache, but they've become all too used to it that it is more of a mild annoyance.

As their vision adjusts, they see they are yet again in a hospital room, out of their hazmat suits and now in standard gowns. Janet was sitting in a chair just beside their beds, and when they looked out, they saw the sun setting.

But they noticed Janet had a bandaged hand.

"Of course." Max sighs, wiping her eyes "What happened at the Academy ?"

"I had to call in an extraction." Janet says honestly "You were having a...a seizure of some kind. We thought there was a leak, and then we were attacked."

Janet shakes her head trying to recall.

"We were almost out when it jumped me..."

Narrowing her eyes, Max asks with an uncertain tone.

"Are you okay ?"

Janet shrugs and scratches the back of her neck.

"I don't know." Janet sighs "It happened so fast; I saw red and-"

Janet holds out her finger in a hand gun motion, miming the pull of a trigger.

"They tell me I incapacitated it, but I remember waking up in an ambulance." Janet says "They were looking me over."

Janet holds up her bandaged hand.

"They don't think I was bitten or anything." Janet fidgets "But they tell me he broke my hand."

Janet experimentally flexes her fingers.

"It doesn't hurt through."

"So mission's aborted then ?" Dominique asks, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"There was nothing else we could do!" Janet gets up from her seat, speaking insistently and defensively "We already extracted ten devices and that thin..."

Janet hesitates for a few seconds, but the look Max and Dominique give her compels her to say it.

"You weren't the only ones hurt." Janet sighs, as she takes her seat again "Four others were attacked too...."

Janet pinches the bridge of her nose with a heavy exhale.

"They closed this wing off for a reason." Janet says "They're being looked over. But-"

"But this one is overstaying her visiting hours." Petrie's voice interrupts.

They turn to see Petrie and two of her secretaries enter the room. Petrie had a calm and collected smile, but an annoyed look in her eyes as she looked over Janet.

"Stubborn one she is, but she made the right call," Petrie says, glancing over at Janet "For better or worse, she saved your lives, and for now we are going to have to settle with what we got."

Petrie nods to her secretaries to leave the room, and as she does so, she steps towards the room's window.

"Quite a find though." Petrie shakes her head "We got ten devices out, and we have a good idea of what happened in '94. We have you to thank for it."

"So what now ? Janet asks.

"We'll do another sweep in the coming days." Petrie turns to face the girls "Our scanners tell us the radiation spikes are down; half life died out  a few years ago; and the fog clears, we may even set up shop here after our operations complete."

Max, Janet and Dominique glance at eachother, and back at Petrie.

"But- but that place is a gravesite!"

"What isn't ?" Petrie shrugs "Y'know the campus we have in California ? Used to a mass grave for bury runaway-"

Petrie stops herself, before chuckling and shaking her head.

"It doesn't matter. Point is, nothing great can ever be built unless it's on the bones of what came before."

Dominique narrows her eyes and shakes her head "Jesus."

"He's not what matters at the moment." Petrie says with a modest smile "Already, word is out on our American campus how Miss Mills saved your lives - and those of the other agents - cutting a critical excavation short for the sake of her team."

"I mean..." Janet trails off, rubbing her arm with a meek and modest expression "It's a little-"

"Overblown ?" Petrie asks, tilting her head "Still makes for a great story, which I'm sure Agents Park and Brewer would agree with, correct ?" She says looking towards Max and Dom.

Max meekly nods, while Dominique looks away. Both have a look of shame and regret on their faces.

"Okay, but...why those devices ?" Janet asks.

"Beg pardon ?"

"Those devices," Janet continues "Those were mini-nukes. Our field operatives went over-"

With a patient smile, Petrie places both hands on Janet's shoulders.

"They are...precautions. When Diamond strikes, we have to prepare for-"

"But...nukes ?" Janet shakes her head "Isn't it a little drastic for-?"

"Are you familiar with the tragedy of Nara Island ?"

Janet shakes her head again, stepping away from Petrie.

"If you knew, you know the devastating loss of life that Diamond would have inflicted on a greater scale. A tragedy we need the means to prevent." Petrie says with a sigh "But if Diamond forces us to force our hand, it'll be on her."

Max and Dominique glance at each other, the realization of what they've seen earlier that day washing over them. The clicking noises in the back of their heads affirming this.

"It sounds like you're fighting fire with fire." Janet crosses her arms.

Petrie sighs and shakes her head.

"You don't get it, do you ?" Petrie says, crossing her arms "If our intel is to be believed, Diamond has such a weapon at her disposal that even Castle Bravo will mean nothing. Surely, a few firecrackers won't be too steep a price-"

"Okay, but how can you trust your intel ?" Janet raises her voice to Petrie, gesturing to Max and Dominique "We've been following this case for weeks. Everything we could find shows the threat level is-"

Janet stops and trails off as Petrie simply glares at her.

And then, Petrie takes a deep breath, putting a hand on Janet's shoulder.

"Diamond's a master manipulator." Petrie says calmly "There could easily be details that you missed as a field agent. But we higher ups...we have our sources."

Petrie looks at Max and Dominique.

"Sources that we trust." Petrie says before looking back at Janet "As for you...you've had a long day, and visiting hours are nearing their end. So I suggest sleeping on it and we can explain more tomorrow."

Janet visibly hesitates, before Petrie's secretaries open the door, gesturing to her to follow them out.

"We have a cab to give you a ride to your dorm." Petrie continues "We'll keep an eye out for you if you're still worried."

Janet looks hesitantly back at Max and Dom, who themselves looked tired and drained.

"I'll...I'll see you tomorrow."

Both Max and Dom nod tiredly, with Max giving a weak smile.

"Look after yourself, okay ?" Max says with a yawn.

Janet gives a small smile of her own, before looking away from Petrie and following the secretaries' out the door.

-----

As Janet was being led down the hall, she stops as she passed the fourth door on the right.

"Are you okay, Miss-?" One of the secretaries ask, noticing a waver in Janet's expression.

"I'm fine." Janet lies "Just felt a shiver." she adds honestly.

After a pause, Janet lets herself be lead further away, not once looking away from that room - save for when she had to look where she's going - until it was actually out of few.

In that room, lies her attacker. The Count was unconscious and incapacitated, but he could still be heard breathing and muttering.

The other agents considered and tried to finish him off, but when word got to Petrie, she would insist on taking this "specimen" into their "care". After all, they were going to be out a werewolf in a few days; might as well find out what they can about a vampire.

Janet shudders.

She got the news as soon as she woke up here, but couldn't bring herself to verbally object. Especially as Petire had a few pictures taken with the "wounded hero" of the excavation, and showered her with praise and congratulations for the camera.

Still, besides her broken wrist, Janet was considered in stable enough condition to be let out. And after the past couple of hours, she was too burnt out to argue about it further.

That all can wait until tomorrow. For now, Janet just wanted the day to end.

-----

Once they were alone with her, Max is the first to speak to Petrie.

"You're not really gonna go through with this are you ?"

"With what ? We're at war here." Petrie asks, stepping towards the foot of the bed, looking back and forth between both girls "What's a war without a cause ? Your fellow agents need a reason to fight. What we're doing is giving them one."

As Petrie says this, she takes a seat at the foot of Max's bed.

"Aren't you the one who came up with the official story for when your friend was kidnapped ?" Petrie asks with an empathetic tone, putting a hand on Max's shoulder "I think you would understand better than anyone, the need to make a cause where you can't find one."

Max winces a little upon hearing this, but doesn't express anything beyond an annoyed - and ashamed - glare.

"They won't believe it." Dominique says, getting Petrie's attention "Whatever threat that monster is, those girls won't stand behind-"

Petrie shakes her head, and does a "blah blah" motion with her hand, before doing a "zip it" motion.

"Sometimes, doing the right thing means making tough decisions." Petrie rolls her eyes with an annoyed sigh "Apple polishers eat that up all the time, so why stop now ?"

Petrie gets up from the bed, stepping before the beds as she continues.

"Now given your recent...backfires, with your bugs, Miss Belmonde insists you sit out the operation for the time being."

"Time being ?" Max asks.

"Give us a day or two." Petrie says, enthusiastically "For our final operation will commence! Til then-"

Before Petrie can finish her sentence, her phone goes off. With a frustrated sigh, Petrie holds a finger up.

"What ? I have-" Petrie snaps, before hearing Phipps' voice on the other end.

After a moment of listening, Petrie's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Matthews did WHAT ?!...Who- who else knows ?" Petrie says, putting two fingers on her temple "...I see...Just keep an eye on him. I'll bring the matter up to our partners."

"What is it ?" Dominique asks "What did Bobby do ?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Petrie sighs, hanging up before looking back at Max and Dom, and stepping towards the door "Your concern is recuperating, which Miss Belmonde will oversee."

Before Petrie opens the door, she turns back towards them with a proud smile.

"Chins up girls." She says "The D.E.B.S are going to show the world what we're made of; and you two will be the heroes the world points too. Until then, it's best you get your beauty sleep."

And with that, Petrie closes the door.

After pausing for a moment, Dominique looks at Max and speaks.

"We can't let them do this!"

"I know, but-" Max says, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"We have to stop them!"

"Dom!" Max raises her voice, looking at her partner with a distressed glare "What- what can we do ?"

"That's right, what can you do ?" Matska Belmonde's voice sounds off in their earpieces.

The two agents flinch, before rolling their eyes.

"Oh baise moi, non!" Dominique groans in frustration.

"Oh baise moi, oui!" Mattie's voice replies in a mocking tone, "I would think after our working relationship the past few weeks, you would be a little more welcoming; especially for what I have to offer."

Max sighs in annoyance "Do we have any choice ?"

"Not really," Mattie could be heard clicking her teeth "But I promise you, you are going to want to hear this."

"Oh for crying out- Just say it already!" Dominique raises her voice.

"Do you want to help your friends or not ?"

There is a pause. While Max and Dominique couldn't see it, they could just imagine the smirk being formed on the vampire's face. As she continued talking, they could hear the mechanical clicking sounds in their heads.

"It would seem your headmistress has closed your door for the time being. Yet I am here, to open a window for you." Mattie starts "Battle lines are being drawn. The chess board is set...and in the coming days, what side you're on will be decided."

As Mattie says this the clicking stops. Max and Dom feel the muscles in their necks relax, as their headaches cease. It was as if whatever was put inside them was being shut down like a switch.

"So..." Mattie says "Who or what do you fight for ?"

-----

May 23rd, 2004, Police Precinct, Huston, Texas

To say Bobby Matthews went and fucked up was not an understatement, but a constant fact of life.

For all his training, for what he learned in a shooting range or hand to hand combat, Bobby was a guy who didn't often use his head, acting more on emotional instinct. And more often than not, his family or the agency would bail him out.

But honestly, what else could Bobby expect after this ?

Following his attack on Liane Bradshaw, the first thing he did was call the police. He had a story prepared for how he was a good friend to Liane's daughter, and simply found her like this when he went to her with bad news regarding Amy.

But of course, being Bobby Matthews, he didn't think things through.

When the police arrived, he went from witness to perpetrator in under half an hour. Liane didn't even need to be conscious - the physical evidence speaks for itself.

Bobby didn't even consider his bloody handprint would be found on Liane's throat. He certainly didn't consider that the police wouldn't buy his story of a previous mugging to explain the fresh cut on his face. Not helping was that a steak knife with his blood on the blade being found in the kitchen; as well as the hammer with Bobby's bloody fingerprints on its handle.

Hell, Bobby was just out of the shower when the police arrived, trying to clean his injury, having not bothered to try to clean up the rest of the evidence. That night, when a bullet tied to a gun registered in Bobby's name was fished out of Liane, none of the responders or investigators were surprised.

And so, Bobby spent the past four days in the slammer. His current companions being a sixteen year old boy who was caught inebriated in his parents car. and two junkie brothers. Bobby didn't appreciate any of their company.

Day in and day out, Bobby would get the "Good Cop Bad Cop" routine, and the few times he did speak, he was adamant to staying with his version of the story. It wouldn't matter, the Academy would step in and make sure they believed his narrative. They had too, he knew things.

Though it didn't seem to matter to the pigs. After four days of being manhandled, demeaned, pushed around and yelled at, something dark was quickly boiling up inside Bobby. All his time in the interrogation room and the drunk tank did for Bobby, was make him more bitter, angry, and more quiet.

All that was on his mind was Amy, Lucy and what they did to get him in this mess.  But also it gave Bobby time to think. He would think about how much these pigs would get what they had coming.

Despite how infamously hotheaded and short sighted he was, Bobby wasn't a complete idiot. He didn't just pass training through nepotism after all. He thought enough ahead to have a Plan B.

He was put in a cell for safe keeping, and knew he couldn't call his family to get him out this time.  When he was arrested as Silas, he tried calling his brother Ricky, who hung up as soon as Bobby said "Hey Rick-"

That should sum up the Matthews' family's current opinion on Bobby.

So instead, Bobby had to use his one phone call for someone else...

-----

That afternoon, a eighteen year old Hispanic brunette, by the name of Kayla Sarto, made her way up the precinct steps. A nimble, nerdish, innocent looking girl, with a bookish set of glasses, Kayla had a generally unassuming appearance.

Although, she made no effort to hide her uniform. Considering the standard D.E.B. outfit was that of a school girl, so no one really bats an eye, save for two officers she passes by.

Kayla met Bobby weeks ago, when Amy was first "kidnapped" by Lucy. She was one of several that came to Bobby during the initial search, offering sympathy and condolences and "If you ever need someone to talk to" platitudes.

With that, she was one of many students that Bobby considered having a rebound with, in the event the search for Amy ended with her death.

By luck, she was one the students that was stationed in Huston to keep an eye on Liane Bradshaw, and would meet up with Bobby after his initial landing. And so, Bobby would ask for her help if things went south.

She got the call after Bobby's arrest with three words; "Things went south."

Kayla wasn't sure she was up for this job, especially something this drastic, but as Bobby told her "It was for the greater good." No one said that being a Good D.E.B means keeping your hands clean.

As she enters the precinct, she makes her way to the main desk, she is chewing an apparent stick of gum. She was doing her best to look hesitant, nervous and timid.

"H-Hello ?" Kayla says as she approaches a receptionist, a man in his late thirties.

"Can I help you ?"

"I hope so." Kayla gives a meek smile "I...I have someone following me."

Kayla looks over her shoulder.

"Can...can I speak to an officer ?"

The receptionist gives a reassuring smile "Well, that's what you're here for, that's what we're here for. Why don't you have a seat ?"
"Thank you." Kayla says, sighing in relief "I was so scared I'd be turned away."

She looks to the side, seeing a bin beside the desk. She silently asks to spit her gum out, and the receptionist gives an affirming nod. As Kayla takes the chewed gum out of her mouth, she places it in a wrapper from the pack and tosses it away.

If anyone paid closer attention to the "gum", they would notice that an orange liquid substance was slowly beginning to bubble up, and that the wrapper had a piece of wire in it...

-----

About twenty minutes later, Kayla was in an office, talking to two other officers about a stalker that's been following her. Once again, she is chewing a piece of gum.

"I...I see him at my school. He's always waiting in the parking lot with his camera." Kayla says wiping his eyes "I see him at the bus stop. When I go out for walks..."

Kayla fakes a sob, before composing herself.

"My parents are gonna be out of town for the week. Nona's in a hospital you see." Kayla continues "And this morning I see these pictures of me in bed on my table."

The officers exchange a glance, before one speaks out.

"Can we get a description ? Is he someone you know ?"

"I don't know him." Kayla shakes her head with a sniffle "But, he's a redhead with a goatee. Big guy...I think he's in my ex's frat house. That's where I first saw him."

"Okay..." An officer gives an understanding nod "Can we get his name ? Your ex I mean. Maybe the name of his house ?"

"Umm, sure." Kayla flickers her eyes a little realizing she's in a corner, quickly deciding to talk her way out of this "But uh...can I use the bathroom first ?"

The officers glance at each other again, before one nods.

"Of course. Do you need us to-?"

"It's fine, I can manage." Kayla says, with a playful smile and a nervous chuckle.

As she gets out, she spits another piece of gum into the office's bin; again it is placed in a wrapper. And once again, an orange liquid is bubbling out, with a small wire barely noticeable sticking out the wrapper.

-----

Over the next six minutes, Kayla makes her way down the halls. Entering three different ladies rooms in the precinct, covering ground on three of the four corners.

In each one, she chews up another piece of "gum", sticks it in it's "wrapper" and dispenses it into a garbage bin. She was careful to place them in restrooms away from the holding cell areas.

In the drunk tank, Bobby Matthews paced around impatiently.

Though her activity was picked up on the security cameras, Kayla would try to handwave it by saying these rooms were occupied. Giving the rest of her report Kayla would fabricate the name of her ex, as well as the frat house he was in, before her phone went off.

It was a call she scheduled with the other agents; according to the call, one of her neighbors saw someone was caught climbing out her window with a duffle bag. And so, Kayla would cut her "report" short, and would be followed out by the officers as first responders.

Once in her car, Kayla would look nervously at her phone.

She takes a deep breath, apologizing to herself before she notices the officers stepping out. When they notice she isn't starting her car, Kayla would take her phone out, seeming to make a call, before giving the officers an apologetic look.

When she speed dials the number...the explosives went off.

-----

The resulting explosion shook the precinct.

Three walls were blown out and the roof began to collapse. The power went out, with a red alarm light flashing. Fire was spreading instantly.

The alarm went off, and three officers were already making their way to the drunk tank. With a smug smile, Bobby steps out when they open his cell door, and those of three other detainees.

"Took you long enough." Bobby says with a coy smirk.

"Quiet down!" One of the officers shouts at him "There's an emergency exit in the back, so unless you wanna be roasted-"

They were cut off by the sound of another explosion, this one began to crack the drunk tank's main wall; the door would collapse as flames burst through.

"Jesus fuck!" One detainee, the teenage boy, exclaims "This was totally not worth the bender!"

The wall quickly gives out, and as it does, the roof of the holding cells begins to collapse; one of the ceiling fans falls onto one of the officers, landing on his head with a snap of the neck.

The other two flinch back, just dodging the collapse.

"Marty!" One of the other officers exclaims as sparks begins to fly from the wiring.

In the confusion, Bobby makes his way to the room's back doors.

"Where do you think you're going ?" Another distressed officer asks, stopping Bobby in his tracks. His partner was trying futility to fan the flames off of their fallen comrade "You're sticking with us, Matthews, unless you want-"

The officer raises his gun to mark his point, to which Bobby raises both hands with an unintimidated smile.

"Whatever you say, officer." Bobby says, stepping towards the group.

"Turn around." The officer says, a little nervous as the flames rise higher and higher; closer and closer "I ain't playing games."

"I hope not." Bobby chuckles, continuing his advance "You know what they say about playing with fire."

"Matthews, believe me; I will shoot!" The aiming officer says, as Bobby is now two feet away.

"No. You won't."

And with that, Bobby quickly grabs the officer by the wrist, aiming it towards one of the junkies. The officer couldn't have picked a worse time to pull the trigger, and one of the junkie's brains was splattered all over the wall behind him.

"Walt!" Said junkie's brother exclaims.

While the officer was caught off guard, Bobby wrestles the gun out of his hands and kicks him onto the fallen ceiling fan, lighting him aflame.

Before the third officer can do anything to react, Bobby aims the gun, and fires off three shots into his head. All the while the last officer was rolling and screaming on the floor as the flames consumed him.

In a panic, the other junkie lunges at Bobby, but a bullet to his throat drops him to the floor.

And with that Bobby glares at the last detainee.

"And I suppose you got any bright ideas ?!"

"Please..." The sixteen year old slinks back, tears forming in his eyes "Please, my mom was supposed to pick me up..."

"Was she ?" Bobby tilts his head "Lucky you. All my family does is hang up."

Bobby gestures to the bodies. Two of which are on fire.

"The keys." Bobby says "Pick them up."

"But...but I'll burn."

"Would you rather be shot ?" Bobby asks, raising an eyebrow, before gesturing to the bodies.

Hesitantly, the kid crouches down towards the fallen officers. He flinches as the flames nearly touch him, but he reaches towards the key chain.

"AH!" The kid screams as his hand burns, dropping the keys as soon as he picks them up.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," Bobby mutters before snapping "Stop being a goddamn wimp!"

The boy openly weeps, hesitating to reach towards the keys. He looks back at Bobby, who remains stone faced as he aims the gun.

Before the boy can touch the key, water begins sprinkling from the roof. Emergency sprinklers were clearly late, but functional.

In any case, they did little to fan the flames, and smoke still clouded the room...but they doused the burning bodies enough to cool the keys.

The teenager sighs in relief as he picks the keys up, but Bobby snatches them from his hand.  As Bobby makes his way to the back, the kid feebly looks around, and with little other options, follows Bobby.

-----

Once outside, Bobby runs a safe distance from the building, still being consumed in flames. There were sirens in the distance, but as far as Bobby could tell, or care, he had enough time to disappear in the confusion, and reach his extraction.

Behind the building, there was a vacant lot behind some of the bushes, where Kayla pulled into following the initial blast. Bobby can see her car, and Kayla muttering in disbelief over what they just did.

Coughing and stumbling, Bobby makes his way towards the bushes, before he can hear another person coughing behind him.

Bobby turns around, his gun aimed at his sixteen year old cellmate.

"And where do you think you're going ?"

"Please!" The kid breathes out "I just...I just wanna get out of here!"

"Yeah ? That's what I'm doing." Bobby says, lowering his gun and narrowing his eyes "You stealing my ideas ? Not very bright of you, buddy."

The kid backs away a little, tears forming in his eyes.

"Come one man...my mom might be on the way..." the boy starts breathing rapidly as a panic starts to grip him "You don't have to do this."

"Don't I ?" Bobby asks, a folksy grin forming on his face "I'm a federal agent on the search for one of the most twisted monsters you've ever seen. You are a drunk driver. If anything, shooting you would be my civic duty."

"No..." The kid sniffles as he shakes his head "I...I won't tell...I swear! I promise!"

Bobby remains sober, but after a pause, aims the gun down, before putting in his holster.

The kid lets out a sigh of relief and opens his mouth to thank Bobby...before Bobby interrupts.

"I know you won't." Bobby says before stepping forward.

It happened so fast; Bobby would put his hands around the sixteen year old's neck, and with little effort, force the boy on the ground. The kid would struggle, he would try to scream, but Bobby would remain unshaken as he squeezed down on the boy's windpipe.

In under fifteen seconds, the light would drain from the boy's eyes, as a creaking snap could be heard and his body goes limp.

With a heavy exhale, Bobby turns back to the bushes, making his way to the lot. In her car, Kayla would look on with a pale and horrified look on her face as Bobby casually opens the passenger door and climbs in.

"You can pull out now." Bobby sighs as he takes his seat. There is a pause before an irate Bobby glares at her "Kayla ?"

"I..." Kayla hesitates, before looking at Bobby "Y-You didn't have to do that."

"It was the right call." Bobby groans in annoyance "Tough choices and all that bullshit. We have that monster Diamond to stop. I don't think we should clutch pearls over some escaped convict."

Bobby unholsters the gun and places it on the dashboard.

"Drive..." Bobby says before looking at her "Unless you want to be let out. But between you and me ? A girl like you ? Left behind at a precinct bombing ? It's not a good look, you know ?"

Paling a little more, Kayla turns on the car, and pulls out the lot. First responders were still incoming, but if she remembers the routes given to her, they should be able to dodge the roadblocks, and avoid anyone who can make the vehicle.

-----

Colorado Bend, State Park.

Hours later, the sun was disappearing over the horizon, painting the sky in orange and purple colors, when Kayla's car pulled to a stop in a clearing off the trail.

They were adjacent to a river which was their extraction point; a helicopter has already landed off the bank, with four other personal on the scene...one of them being, Mr. Phipps, standing outside the copter with two other senior agents.

With a pleased smirk, Bobby steps out of the car first, making his way to the copter, with a chummy demeanor as Kayla follows behind him.
"Phipps, aren't you a sight for sore-"

"What did you do ?" Phipps asks, bluntly.

"It was nothing, Phipps, just-" Bobby starts before Phipps angrily steps towards him.

"What. Did. You. DO ?!" Phipps asks, towering over Bobby and getting in his face.

"I did what needed to be done!" Bobby shouts, before stepping away from the considerably larger man "I think a secret agency would know the importance of having to pull an escape!"

"We have situational procedures!" Phipps starts, raising his voice, clapping his hands together to emphasize his point "We have red tape and bonds for these specific cases!"

"Ah, come now!" Bobby scoffs "We can always pin it on Diamond."

"Fifteen bodies were found after that fire!" Phipps shouts "Six were civilians!"

"Dios Mio!" Kayla gasps, covering her mouth.

"And you, Missy ?" Phipps glares at Kayla, stepping towards "Just who gave you access to the spark sticks ? I recall having those scrapped from our projects months ago!"

Kayla meekly looks away, looking like she was about to cry. Though the look she gives Bobby is as good enough an answer for Phipps.

Phipps sighs heavily.

"You did a little more than break curfew, Miss Sarto. That is a lot of unnecessary collateral."

"I...I know." Kayla says quietly. Truthfully, she didn't know they had that kind of fire power. She was supposed to start a big but controllable fire, run back into the station and rescue Bobby when he goes "unconscious". No one was supposed to get hurt, she thought.

But surely Bobby couldn't have known, and now that he's finding this out-

"They shouldn't have been so rough with me." Bobby says, unphased at the news "They were enemy combatants! When you pull a gun on an agent, you stop being a civilian!"

Phipps glares at Bobby stoically, before Bobby rolls his eyes.

"We'll run it by Petrie." Bobby continues "Our press team can find a way to spin or cover this. In a week no one that matters will remember any of this."

Phipps takes a deep breath, keeping a calm and collected demeanor.

"Come on, Phipps." Bobby groans in annoyance "The real enemy is Lucy Diamond. Our mission is on her. None of this - none of it - would have had to happen, if Diamond didn't take what wasn't hers!"

Confidently, Bobby puts a hand on Phipps' shoulder.

"We're doing what's right. I think a senior agent would understand we have to get our hands dirty." Bobby says, as if to encourage Phipps to see his way of thinking.

With a reluctant sigh, Phipps glares back at Bobby.

"We will discuss this at the Academy. Until then..." Phipps gestures towards the copter.

"'Bout time!" Bobby chuckles, he and Kayla making their way to the copter, Phipps and his entourage following behind "Hadn't slept in a real bed in almost a week!"

Phipps exhales through his nose, and shakes his head.

The whole time he knew Bobby Matthews, Phipps knew he wasn’t an ideal agent. Sure, he prick at the best of times in recent years, but when Bobby was introduced to the Academy by his grandfather, he seemed to be capable of being a decent person.

Phipps’ was aware of the border shooting, and when he met Bobby, he seemed somewhat remorseful over it, almost seemed like he wanted to do better going forward. He was also aware of the other "mishaps" Bobby had, despite attempts to rehabilitate him.

But over time, Bobby seemed to loosen it with how much his family and the academy let him get away with. If Phipps had to guess, it was because of this, Bobby just stopped seeing people as people.

And this whole mess with Lucy and Amy just escalated things further.

As Phipps boards the copter after Bobby and Kayla, and the extraction crew was takes off, Bobby just reclined in his seat.  At his side, Kayla was looking out the other window, tears in her eyes.

He looked relaxed, half asleep even, though there was a brief, annoyed flicker in his eye as if to asked Phipps what he was looking at.

Phipps just turned to the window, and looked at the night sky with a sober expression. He got word from Petrie about a move Lucy Diamond was supposedly gonna pull by the end of the week, and how he was responsible for re-enforcements in the coming days.

But with an agent like Bobby Matthews on their hands, and with how dodgy Petrie is being, Phipps not sure Lucy Diamond is the one they need to worry about...

-----

Corvae Offices, Silas County, May 25th, 2004

Pulling into her parking space, Matska "Mattie" Belmonde steps out of her car, dressed in a white business suit, and makes her way into the office.

Aside from a few passing pleasantries, Mattie's trip to the elevator and to her floor was quite uneventful. And when she finally settled in her office chair, it annoyed her to no end when she was immediately paged about a weapons test she needed to oversee below the ground floor.

"Mattie, Mattie, Mattie," She'd mutter to herself "A good vampire's work is never done; you'd think you'd be out of the job for years."

Taking a page from Lucy Diamond's book, Corvae would have Yobidashi-gawa placed in a mini-satellite to record it's "call" without alerting the beast. These recordings would be installed into these devices, which would in turn be installed into the explosives collected.

The endgame would be that when "Lucy" sets the beast loose, the recorded calls would lure it towards the explosives. While Mattie herself had doubts that these explosives will do much - considering this monster endured regular nuclear explosions - it was Petrie and Vordenberg who insisted on this method.

Besides, it's not like Corvae couldn't design even deadlier weapons as a "Plan B", which Mattie guessed they were counting on.

Stepping into the testing room, Mattie grinned and beared it at the sight of Vordenberg and his small entourage, with Vordenberg sitting at the room's table. He had what appeared to be a mug of tea in one hand and a tea spoon in the other, which he'd use to circle the cup, not once taking a sip.

There was a small table set up before a TV Screen with an aerial view of the Black Sea.

One of the explosives was placed on a small drone, with Corvae's trackers narrowing down on a massive object that was moving about the Black Sea, and has spent the past few days circling the canal that would lead to Silas Bay.

While the official reports say this object was just a small pod of whales, Corvae had that specific territory blocked off from civilian or commercial use for the past couple days in preparation for these tests.

"Cornelius." She greets with a sardonic tone, not even looking at him.

"Belmonde." He returns in kind.

"That was quite the performance yesterday." Mattie says "You'd almost think you passed acting."

"It's what she needed to hear." Vordnberg remarks with a shrug "Though I do find her underwhelming. The way the Academy would describe her, I was half expecting a ravenous creature who'd have to be constantly sedated, lest she force herself onto the young maidens of D.E.B.S."

Mattie narrows her eyes at Vordenberg as he chuckles.

"And I thought I was the master storyteller." He adds, turning to face Mattie "Even so, it was a remarkable move on Diamond's part; sending the she-beast to siege Corvae for classified information, threatening the life of our very own Matska Belmonde."

Mattie gives a flat smile, the look in her eyes was unreadable.

"It shook me, that's for sure." Mattie snarks "Couldn't sleep a wink."

With an amused chuckle, Vordenberg continues facing the TV screen, circling his spoon around his mug. Every so often, Mattie's enhanced heart would pick up a sharp, but barely audible squeak.

"And for her to escape so easily. With such classified information." Vordenberg makes a mock shudder "I can only imagine what'd Fitzgerald will do next."

He looks back towards Mattie with an expression of dread and concern, that looked so real, it had to be faked.

"You know, a little birdie told me that there will be a gathering at the beach in a few days." Vordenberg adds "Children will be present. And with that monster on the loose ?"

Vodenberg doesn't finish, just gives another shudder. Mattie's expression flattens, as she takes her seat at the adjacent side of the table, mild "Hmph." Placed at her side of the table, there was a small remote, which Mattie took into her hands.

"Well, it's a good thing Fitzgerald didn't make off with anything vital." Mattie says "At least, nothing that the D.E.B.S should be ready to give up."

Vordenberg eyes Mattie suspiciously.

"Oh come now," Mattie scoffs, "Matthews was a flight risk; they were looking for something to throw him under for. I'm sure it's no coincidence you'd have an assignment for him."

Vordenbegr shrugs with a nod.

"What can I say ? I do deliver." He says with a calm smile "They sought to make Matthews a distraction, and I gave them one."

"You're aware of what happened in Houston, right ?" Mattie says, having gotten word from the night before about Bobby's escape.

"Wenn du speck machen willst, musst du ein oder zwei schweine schlachten." Vordenberg mutters, shaking his head "Now hush."

On the screen, the drone picks up on movement beneath the Black Sea. Just below the surface, a large dark object circles about. Briefly, a crocodile like tail, and a spiked back surface and before submerging.

A few of Vordenberg's entourage mutter a little in disbelief at just what they're seeing. Vordenberg himself chuckles in nostalgia.

"There he is!" Vordenberg taps the glass "Always good to see a familiar face."

The drone flies off, keeping its distance from the creature below it. In a minute or so, it reached three and half miles from the initial sighting.

"Initiating the signal." Mattie clicks the central button of her remote.

The volume was set to be at such a frequency that when the device would drop, it's "call" wouldn't draw attention. But Mattie could just pick it up with her ears; it was a low, rumbling, drooning like noise.

After an eight second countdown, the drone drops the device into the sea. The drone begins to fly back to where it initially sighted the creature.

As they waited for the results, Mattie continued speaking.

"Do you have any idea where Diamond intends to strike ?" Mattie asks, "I mean shouldn't their little army at least know what they're fighting to protect."

"They'll buy whatever we sell them." Vordenberg looks to Mattie "Though, we spoke last night, the higher ups and I. Director to director."

Mattie says nothing, but gives Vordenberg a look that says "Out with it."

"We're going to wait until this mess with Matthews is cleared, before Petrie gives us the word." Vordenberg finishes "Should be today."

Vordenberg stops, noticing the creature is once again on camera, now making it's way towards the device.

It took a moment or two of silent anticipation, until the beast was within radiance of the device. The drone picks up the shape as it circles about.

As the drone raises above the radius, Vordenberg nods towards Mattie.

With a sigh and a half hearted expression, Mattie clicks the button.

A white flash briefly blinds the screen, with the sound of a great thunderous boom.

Vordenberg nearly falls out of his seat at how loud the blast was, especially when the resulting explosion shakes the drone with it's shockwave.

Another moment or so passes, waiting for the dark smoke to clear. It does just enough to view the sea through the cloud.

As expected, the sea beast was unharmed, but irritated by the explosion. It thrashed and rolled about in the water with frustration and disorientation, before descending back into the depths.

With another mild "Hmph", Mattie looks back towards Vordenberg.

"Don't suppose you wish to wait until we develop something stronger ?"

"No, no," Vordenberg waves his hand dismissively "Petrie was adamant."

He looks back at Mattie with a knowing grin.

"Though she has said that nothing increases support for fighting terrorism, than a successful act of it." Vordenberg adds "You'll be called upon when further needed."

Mattie lets out a humorless chuckle at Vordenberg's remark. She then feels her phone vibrating beneath her jacket.

"Well, if I'm no longer needed here." Mattie gets out from her seat and makes her way to the door "I got calls to make."

"What for ?" Vordenberg narrows his eyes suspiciously, also getting up from his seat.

"Family matter." Mattie fibs "You wouldn't understand."

Vodenberg makes a familiar "Hmm" noise.

"I see," he says "Well, give your sister my re-"

Mattie closes the door as she steps out, not paying the Baron any further heed.

"...gards."

-----

Right as Mattie left the room and made her way down the hall, she pulled her phone out from beneath her jacket. As she answers, she heads to the elevator.

"Speak." Mattie says, looking toward the security camera, having to choose her words carefully on the off chance someone on Vordenberg's roll was monitoring.

"I need another favor." Lucy Diamond's voice answers.

"Demanding aren't we ?" Mattie says as the elevator opens.

She steps inside, selects her floor and notices another camera watching her.

"I'm the one in the position to make demands." Lucy says in a warning tone. She then sighs "But it's not for me. I'm sure you know what happened with Liane Bradshaw."

"That business in Houston ?" Mattie nods with a collected smile "Yes, I am aware."

"Look, I'd do so myself but there'd be too many eyes expecting me to do anything drastic." Lucy says "But you got your own strings to pull-"

"That I do." Mattie affirms "This is regarding agent Matthews, isn't it ? Well, I'm afraid he's already reached-"

"I can handle Bobby if it comes to that," Lucy says insistently, before taking another breath "But this isn't about revenge; I'm trying to help fix things."

"And you call me because...?" Mattie trails off just before the elevator stops at her floor. The door opens, and she steps out as Lucy continues.

"Look, I just need someone to check in on Liane Bradshaw. See if she'll pull through."

"And ?" Mattie says, reaching her office. She closes and locks the door behind her, free from any prying eyes, and takes her place at her desk.

"Something I hear about vampires; their blood has healing properties, does it ?"

Mattie makes a mild "Hmmm," noise as she takes her seat "Someone's been doing their homework."

"I pick these things up, okay ?" Lucy says, sounding a little impatient "Is it true or not ?"

Mattie shrugs.

"Depends on the dosage and the affliction." Mattie answers "But it can."

"So if it looks bad for Bradshaw..." Lucy hesitates "Maybe you can-"

"Say no more, say no more." Mattie scoffs "I'll see what I can do."

"You do that...and you can have your necklace back."

"Is that all ?" Mattie says "You wouldn't happen to have something up your slee-"

"If you really think I'm gonna blab again ?" Lucy says "How much value do you put on your life ?"

Mattie gasps as she clutches her chest. The muscles around her heart tighten, and release. She takes a few seconds to catch her breath.

"That won't be necessary." Mattie gets her bearings "You only needed to ask."

"Is that so ?"

"Believe me, Diamond, you're not the only player on this board." Mattie sighs, leaning back in her seat "I will keep you posted."

-----

Quality Inn, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

It was just past midnight at the time, Carmilla rolled over in her bed, wearing nothing by a sheet that was half way down her body, which Gibb was hogging.

Carmilla, despite normal nocturnal habits, would groan in frustration, as her cellphone plays a ringtone - "Call Me, Beep Me!" by Christina Milian - on the nightstand. Gibb similarly groans in frustration, but buries her face into the pillow.

The room was dark, save for the blue light of a nearby alarm clock, and the white bright flash of Carmilla's phone.

"Sorry." Carmilla apologizes to her partner, running a hand down her bare back "Occupational hazard."

Gibb mumbles something noncommittal into the pillow, as Carmilla answers the phone.

"What's the sitch ?" Carm asks impatiently.

"My, my. Did I catch you at a bad time ?" Carmilla could hear Mattie grinning on the other end.

"Nah," Carmilla shakes her head "Just busy."

"Doing what ?"

"The usual."

"I see."

As they speak, Gibb rolls over.

Carmilla continues petting Gibb's naked back, noting a faded but noticeable scar on Gibb's lower back. This scar was from an exit wound, and one of three Carmilla saw on Gibb that night. The other two were on her front; the entrance wound on her abdomen, from when she was stabbed with a pipe in Springwood.

By all accounts it should have killed her instantly; in fact, she was declared clinically dead three times. But after a two month coma, she ultimately pulled through. Like something else was keeping her alive. The third scar was from another stab wound from years earlier, just below her left breast, grazing her heart.

As if sensing Carmilla's eyes on her scars, Gibb waves her hand, silently telling Carmilla to take it out of the room.

"I'll be a sec, just gotta..." Carmilla says with a yawn.

"Oh, please take your time."

Carmilla clambers out of bed, as Gibb hogs more of the blanket. The vampire pulls a pair of dark purple panties off the foot of her bed, and up her legs, before finding a white t-shirt that was tossed to the floor beside the bed.

Picking her phone back up, Carmilla steps out of the bedroom and into a hallway, making her way to their living room, sitting on the couch. She peers out the window to take in the night life of the city, as she speaks to her sister.

"Now, you know better to wake me up." Carmilla says in a joking and threatening manner "So this better be important."

"Life or death is important." Mattie answers "I take it your vacation was sidetracked further ?"

"How'd you-?"

"You're not the only one that the Academy is sinking their claws into."

Carmilla pauses, recalling the girls she had a "talk" with earlier.

As if she was reading Carmilla's mind, Mattie continues.

"I take it you got the memo."

"What's this about ?" Carmilla asks.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but someone was assaulted in her own home by one of the agents."

Carmilla scratches her nose as she asks "And you're bringing this up to me because ?"

"At the request of one of your old flings, a vampire is to look into her and make sure she pulls through."

Carmilla's eyes widened with familiarity.

"And you can't because...?"

"If I leave Silas County, their eyes will be on me."

As they speak, Gibb has reluctantly gotten out of bed, unable to fall back asleep. She wears nothing but a dark purple silky bathrobe, and takes her place on a lay-z-boy chair adjacent to the couch.

"Think of this as your humanitarian deed of the century." Mattie adds with sarcastic enthusiasm "Plus, they literally have my heart on a string. So..."

This jolts Carmilla's attention a little.

"And it has to be me ?"

"You're the only one outside I can trust." Mattie answers "In fact you're one of the few in general."

Carmilla hangs her head and sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What, like now ? Or is there a time limit-?"

"The next 24 hours or so will be nice."

Sighing again, Carmilla gets up from the couch, nodding.

"Fine. Fine." Carmilla scratches the back of her neck "I'll see what I can do."

"Houston Texas." Mattie adds "I'll send you the details when you're on your flight."

With that, Mattie hangs up.

Carmilla looks back towards Gibb, who was looking up at her expectantly.

"Family emergency."

"I'm sure it is." Gibb shakes her head with a cynical chuckle "For a minute there I was telling myself to get used to it by now."

"Used to what ?"

"Nothing." Gibb shakes her head again.

"It's not like I want to go." Carmilla says, sitting back on the couch, but inching her way to Gibb's chair "Just a...family emergency."

"No, I get it, I get it." Gibb nods "It's just-"

"I mean you can come with." Carmilla shrugs "I'm pretty picky about my company, but I like yours."

Gibb snorts back a laugh, rolling her eyes.

"Jeez, you already fucked me." Gibb chuckled, "What more do you want ?"

Carmilla gets up from the couch, stepping and standing before Gibb.

"Your company." Carmilla says plainly, the ghost of a smirk on her lips "I like it."

As she says this, Carmilla grabs the hemline of her shirt, lifting it up over her head before tossing it aside.

Gibb raises an eyebrow, trying to resist a wry smile creeping on her lips.

"I mean, you finished school," Carmilla steps forward, sitting and straddling Gibb's lap "It's not like you have much else going on..."

As Carmilla says this, she leans in, kissing Gibb on the mouth. Gibb lightly groans into the kiss, but her expression is sober.

They stare at each other for a pause, as Carmilla tentatively reaches forward.

"When do we go ?"

"My sister wants it today..." Carmilla tilts her head from one side, and then the other "Buuuuut, she didn't say nothing about us catching some sleep first."

Gibb smirks, making a pleased "Hmmm" noise.

"I dunno," Gibb looks around "Feeling pretty awake by now. Got anything to put me-"

Camilla leans forward, and Gibb's words stop with a quiet gasp, feeling their sexes touch, separated only by Carmilla's panties. Carmilla herself lets out a pleased "Hmmm" of her own at the feeling.

After taking a few seconds to adjust, Carmilla slowly and gently begins to rock against Gibb, who leans her head back with another exhale. Carmilla kisses Gibb's neck, using one hand to open her bathrobe, while her other ventures between Gibb's legs, rubbing her bean in a slow circular motion.

Gibb's breath staggers, and Carmilla looks down at her breasts; her eyes briefly focus on the two scars there, before leaning her mouth down to take in a nipple. Gibb takes a few more breaths, brushing a hand in Carmilla's hair, before putting both hands on Carmilla's shoulders.

This gets Carmilla to stop, looking up at her with mild concern at Gibb's sober and reserved expression.

"There's just one other thing." Gibb starts.

"What's that ?" Carmilla asks.

"Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald." She narrows her eyes. Her tone becomes more flat, and her expression stoic "And why you're really here."

Carmilla lifts away from her, an uncertain expression on her face. Her partner maintains her own demeanor, leaning in with a determined expression.

"Tell me, what's really going on." She says "And what you know about my sister..."