Salamanders, Laura Murdocks' servants almost tricked Louella into sacrificing her unborn child. Now the Loomises are under siege from them, as well as David who is the object of Laura's desire as both the son and great grandson of a phoenix. They holed up in the same dwelling with Barnabas, Julia, and Oriana. In the meantime the salamanders have seduced both Hallie Stokes and Frank Torrance to carry out Laura's schemes.

LAURA MURDOCK

Chapter 1

"Do you think this will be safe enough?" Willie asked Oriana in between hammerings.

"Well, you can never be too sure. After all, even if the place isn't heated by a log fire, all electrical appliances, in one way or another, have the potential for fire."

"And through them Laura can get at us." Willie shivered at the mention of the danger menacing them. "She wants both David and Louella, and will not stop until she gets both of them. Or.."

"Or Barnabas manages to stop her."

"I dunno." Willie confessed "I want to believe that he can do it. But when I think of the power that Laura has..."

"Priscilla seems to believe that he is up to it."

"Who is this Priscilla?"

"Barnabas' first wife."

"You mean before Angelique?"

"Yes."

Willie shook his head and went on to hammer yet another protective sign on the wall. Angelique had given them many of these. And while Anselm Trask had offered his help, they had to refuse, because all he could offer were crosses, to which Laura was immune and Barnabas wasn't. He also had Holy Water, but it was no more effective than the regular kind. Seeing how little he could do had left him saddened and pensive.

Willie shook his head unhappily. "Do you know what Louella told me about the way Barnabas got me out of there?"

"What, specifically?" Oriana was trying to keep in mind the ritual of 'blessing with water' that Angelique had taught her. The problem was that it was difficult to get the right pronunciation for Ancient Egyptian.

"Laura had separated the two of us. I was unconscious, lying there, and Barnabas was holding Louella. So Laura stood in front of me and threatened to burn me unless Barnabas handed her Louella. Then she extended her arms and became a cross of fire. Barnabas couldn't even look at her now. Yet he dived in and got me out. I don't know how he could have done it. According to what I have been told, he could not have come anywhere near me. Yet he did."

"He cares a lot for you. Never discount the power of love."

It was difficult to say it... You did not love other men. You might like them, be friends with them. But not love. Not unless you were a fag.

But what Barnabas had done for him was too strong to be described as friendship. It was love. Not sexual love. There had been never anything to that outside of Quentin's dirty mind. But there was a bond between them that made all other words inadequate.

"I think that you are the son he never had. I will not say that you are the most important person in the world for him, but it comes close."

Willie nodded "When I think of how much I owe him... of how much we have come through together."

"He owes you much, too."

"He owes me?"

"You got him out of that coffin, didn't you?"

"Yeah" he drove the last nail home and came down from the ladder "Well, I think that this will do it. For a while. But until Julia gets the answer out of David too many things can happen."

"David is the key to all this. Somehow, he knows the way to defeat her. But Julia has to dig it out. and until then, we are all sitting ducks. Sure, Buffy's locked up, but there are others out there. Laura must be recruiting new ones right now."

Nervously, Willie played with the charms hanging from his neck. The charms depicted the ancient Egyptian symbol for water. Everyone wore charms around his or her neck (except for the cats, that Barnabas had not wanted to leave behind.). Willie derived some comfort from the charm, even if he wasn't completely sure as to how much protection if offered.

"I hope this place does not burn up. Chris would not forgive us for it."

"It is just another risk we have to run."

Willie looked at the coffin tucked in the corner of the room, with several protective symbols on it.

"I can't get out of my mind that he dived into a cross of fire... tell me, why should a cross control him? he touched his charm. "It can understand this controlling Laura. Water puts out fire. I can understand silver and werewolves. There is such thing as an allergic reaction. It does not involve any moral judgment. But why the cross? We know what that means. Can you honestly say that it applies in any way to Barnabas?"

"Maybe it has another specific meaning." Oriana offered.

"Like what?" Willie protested. "Well, maybe it is only psychosomatic. Like the way he suffered from psychosomatic impotence for a long time... It was a big shock to him, when the curse caught him. He just did not know what to do... In fact, he should have come down with a lot more quirks than he has."

"You care for him a lot."

"Yes."

"Do you want a cup of coffee now?"

"Yes.:" Willie sighed deeply; "This seems to be the solution to all problems. Have a cup of coffee."

Buffy beat her hands against the padded wall. They had no right to keep her here! She did not belong here!

She dug her nails into the padding. There must be a way out of here. They could not keep her forever!

"Dirk!" she called "Dirk! Where are you? Dirk, help me!"

"You can relax David." Julia said.

David tried, with little success.

"Relax" Julia insisted.

"I can't"

"Why can't you?"

A shiver ran through David's body. "The last time we tried that I almost killed you"

Julia laughed "The last time, you were a werewolf. And all you did was tear my coat."

"If Barnabas had not left his cane behind I would have."

Julia sighed deeply. David had been taking stubbornness lessons lately.

"Do you realize how dangerous the situation is?" she asked harshly.

"I know it."

"Then please stop worrying about that werewolf curse and concentrate on your mother."

"My mother." he growled "I do not have a mother like other people."

"I know. But complaining about it does not help. Remembering does..."

She wondered why Barnabas did not do the interrogating... but no, she knew why. Pressured by Barnabas to give answers, David was likely to tell Barnabas what Barnabas wanted to hear, not the truth...

Janet Harkin rested her head on his chest, her red hair falling all over his body.

"How beautiful are you, Janet."

She was there, this beautiful woman, every night, in his bed. Always willing, always pliable to his every wish.

"You area beautiful" he repeated. He put his hands to her hair and caressed it.

"It is fire," he said. "Your hair is made of fire."

"All of me is fire."

"Yes. You are. How come I can hold you in my arms and not be burned?"

"Because we love each other."

He kissed her again. She was a salamander, a fire nymph.

Why not? He had loved a witch and a vampire. Neither of them had loved him back, while this fire girl was utterly devoted to him.

"Will you stay with me?"

"You have served Laura well, and she is grateful"

"If I fail, will she take you away?"

She kissed him. "Do not think of it. You will not fail her."

"We got a letter from Chris Jennings" Louella told Barnabas.

"I hope that he isn't saying that he is coming back and that we better clear out of here quick." he looked at Louella with concern. "Are you sure you feel all right?"

"Yes. I do. But I feel terrible about causing all this.

"We should have known that something was wrong." he put his hand on her shoulder "There is nothing wrong about being ambivalent about your child. It is very common."

Louella muttered under her breath.

"And chin up. we have seen worse trouble, and we made it."

The tore open the letter and began to read.

"...In a nutshell, I won't be coming back to Collinsport yet. I got myself a temporary job down here, which may become permanent. The pay is decent, and it looks great on my resume. Best of all, I no longer have to spend winters in Maine. You won't believe how warm this place is. Can you imagine that they do not know what snow tires are?

Amy's doing well in school and has a new boyfriend. I think that he is something of a schlemiel, but after David I should not complain. I wonder what Pete would say if he knew more about his prospective brother-in-law..

We live by the beach. It is beautiful And the seashells we can pick up are very different from the ones back home. Maybe Elsa would want to see them.

And now for the bombshell. Sabrina's pregnant. She did it by artificial insemination. We are getting divorced, by the way. I worry about the kid, though.

Sandy sends her love. So does Amy. Take care of yourself and write soon.

Chris."

Barnabas smiled...that Sabrina... somehow seemed fitting.

But the best news was that they could keep using the house.