Chapter Two

"Hey!" Coreen was still up—or up again—when Vicki let herself back in, just before sunrise the next night. "Listen, I found a description of the current Tao. Nineteen, possible Asian descent, dark hair, dark eyes…"

"Sounds right," Vicki agreed, sinking into the couch. "We met him."

Coreen blinked, dropping beside her. "Where?"

"In church. He came to tell us to stop bothering people, he'll come see us some time soon."

"Here?" Coreen's eyes widened.

"He didn't say. Just pissed off Henry, said we'd see him around and ran away."

"Smart boy. Henry's not the safest person to upset."

"Smarter if he hadn't done it. That it?"

"There's one more reference, claims that the group currently consists of Tao, a Hunter and a Councillor. Her Mage, Warrior and Bard have apparently left her, and if there are others they aren't named like that."

"Nothing about her name, still? What she does? Who she is?"

"No. Nothing."

"She doesn't like to be known," Tao said from the doorway. Vicki scrambled to her feet, pulling Coreen back, and he raised his hands. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. I can leave, if you want. Come back when Henry's around."

"That might be a bad idea. He's really not fond of your boss."

Tao nodded, taking a couple of steps inside to let the door close. "It happens. But we have business in town, we'll be here a while longer, and it'll be easier if you're not making noise all around us."

"What kind of business?"

"Our kind. Supernatural." He spread his hands apologetically. "I'm not really supposed to say too much. She just wants to make sure you guys realise, we're on the same side."

Henry blurred past, throwing Tao into the nearest wall and spinning Vicki and Coreen out past him. "You ok?" he demanded, standing between them.

"Ow," Tao muttered, climbing to his feet.

"We're fine," Vicki promised quickly. "Henry, calm down. Tao just came to talk."

"You know, that's the best way to really upset her," Tao commented, touching the back of his head gingerly.

"Good. Call her," Henry snarled.

"No."

"You're not giving us anything to go on, Tao," Vicki pointed out. "We need something more than your word."

Tao considered her for a minute. "One of the Taos knew you, before you died," he said abruptly, turning to Henry. "He worked for your wife's father; he accompanied her to your court."

"Really?" Henry said carelessly. Vicki could see him struggling to hold his calm. "I don't remember that. Of course I barely saw Mary, she spent so little time at court."

"He was English. And he didn't use our name, but he knew you. And others of us have known you, over the years since." He glanced back at Vicki. "You're in high demand, you know. Astorath wants you badly."

"More bounty hunters," Henry said in disgust.

"Oh no. No, not at all. We're so far from that."

"Then tell us," Vicki said quietly.

Tao looked down for a moment before nodding. "She's a—think of her like a balancing entity. There used to be many of them, balancing different aspects of the worlds. Some of them have failed or left through the years, and the responsibilities of those who are left have grown."

"What responsibilities?" Vicki asked.

"The first Tao served the balance between people and animals. Nowadays, we also serve the balances between humans and the earth, and humans and the supernatural."

"Busy, busy," Vicki murmured.

Tao smiled faintly. "Sounds worse than it is. There are Champions who perform on her behalf. She does little of it herself; most of the balancing is accomplished simply by her existence."

"A Hunter and a Councillor, right?" Coreen said. "And you."

"She has those, yes. They're not here; she didn't think it wise to bring a Hunter anywhere near Henry. And the Councillor works overseas." He glanced at the window.

"What about the others? Warrior, Mage? And…" Vicki snapped her fingers.

"Bard," Henry supplied.

"They come and go. There are others, too." He stopped suddenly, blinking. "She's coming."

"Here?" Vicki said in surprise.

"Coreen." Henry pushed her towards the corner, shifting to cover her.

"She's not coming to hurt anyone," Tao protested, reaching back to touch his head again.

"We're supposed to take your word?" Vicki asked.

"I'm all you have." He looked past her.

Vicki turned, following his gaze, to see the woman standing in the doorway.


The alley had been too dark for Vicki to see any kind of detail, so this was really her first look at the woman, and her first thought was 'Ordinary'. Brown hair, average height, nothing really stood out; not until she met the stranger's gaze and saw the brilliant green colour, almost shining.

"You know, maybe I should just take the door off the hinges," she suggested to Henry.

"It'd make it easier to break in," the woman agreed blithely. "Tao?"

"I'm fine." He slipped past Vicki to stand beside the stranger. "I told them a little."

"Yes, I heard. It's fine."

"He didn't tell us anything useful. Like, oooh, a name?"

"I have many names."

"Then you could spare one for us."

She smiled. "Katherine. You may call me Katherine."

"Katherine. Well, that's something."

"Don't say her name," Henry said warningly.

"It's not my real name, little prince, it has no effect."

"Better safe than sorry."

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. You're going to get confused, though."

"We'll cope."

"Your choice." She looked back at Tao, frowning as she studied him. "You alright?"

"Hit my head," he admitted. "It's nothing!" he added hastily.

"I hope not. Henry's fair game if he touches you."

"Excuse me?" Vicki demanded.

Katherine turned back towards her. "Yes?" she asked politely.

"Katherine," Tao murmured.

"You and Henry…and Coreen, by extension…are serving another balance at the moment. That means I can't touch you, can't interfere with you or hamper you in any way." Henry took a step forward, and she continued evenly, "Unless you knowingly harm one of mine. Then I can do anything I want."

"That mean we can't touch yours?" Vicki asked.

"No. I am the balance. You only serve. You can't deliberately harm him, but that's all."

"We don't serve anyone," Henry snapped.

Katherine considered him for a moment. "If you say so."

"Time to go," Tao murmured, touching her arm.

"We saved Tao," Vicki reminded her. "You owe us."

"You might have saved the mugger. Tao wasn't in any danger."

"He was melting the alley with his blood!"

She smiled faintly. "You think that's what melted it?"

"I thought it was warm," Tao murmured.

"It was six below last night," Coreen protested.

"Not where he was." She glanced at Tao as though he'd spoken, making a face. "There's no way Henry's going to trust me anyway. I don't have anything else to give them."

Vicki glanced at Henry, who hadn't reacted. "You could tell us why you're here. In the city."

"I could," she agreed slowly. "But part of that is…not mine to tell."

"Tell the other part," Henry suggested evenly.

"Fair enough. There is a group, who work to hunt supernatural evil."

"Hunters," Henry agreed.

"No. Another group. They've been looking to station some of their people here. I have a little influence with them, enough to block them up until now. They're very insistent, though, so Tao and I came up here to do sanctioned research to prove to them that there's no need for them."

"Why not?" Coreen asked hesitantly. "I mean, all the stuff we've seen the last year…we can use all the help we can get."

"Because they will not be subservient to a vampire. Not even a royal one, not even when he has the experience they would need. They'd either freeze you out or force you out, little prince."

"Slayers," Henry muttered disgustedly. "Stop calling me that," he added.

"Slayers," she agreed. "I don't want them up here any more than you do; I'm trying to persuade them to stay away. The problem is that I can't mention you, because they will not leave a city under the protection of a Vampire. LA proved to them that wouldn't work."

"This isn't LA. We've been keeping this city clear for a year now."

Katherine grimaced. "Did you miss the part where we're on the same side? Tao and I are almost finished. Another two nights, we're done. Promise."

"No Slayers?"

"No Slayers. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Do you?" Vicki asked.

Katherine smiled, turning to Tao. "Time to go?"

"Past time." He smiled at Vicki. "We'll see you around."

"No," Henry snapped.

"And you'll stop us how, little prince?" Katherine smiled again, more dangerously this time; Henry snarled, and she just shook her head. "Stop that. We're not afraid of you."

Tao raised a hand. "I'm a little afraid."

"It's that pesky sense of mortality. You need to do something about that."

"It's sort of difficult."

"Yeah, well. I wouldn't know, would I."

Vicki turned to look at Henry; by the time she looked back Katherine and Tao were at the door. "We won't come here again, Vicki," Katherine told her. "If you see us, it'll be outside, at night. And only if you look for us."

"Can we do that?" Coreen asked excitedly.

"You can't." Katherine overlapped with Henry's "No!"; she turned to grin at him, eliciting another growl, before continuing, "Henry knows how to find us, if he needs to. Just no more waves, little prince, alright? You may need those bridges you're burning at some point."

"I don't need any help from anyone who consorts with you."

"Yes. Well, we'll see. Tao, let's go."

Surprisingly, Tao looked upset. He hadn't reacted any of the other times she'd said it, but now he was studying her as though betrayed.

She laughed softly, waving him off. "Go on, then."

Beaming, he turned back to Coreen. "Wouldyouliketohavecoffeewithmetomorrow?" he asked, quickly enough that Vicki had to think abut the sentence before she could decipher it.

"No," Henry said firmly.

"Henry!"

"No."

"Tell you what," Vicki said quickly, one hand on Henry's arm, "Tao, you bring the coffee here, and I will be watching and listening to everything you do. Got it?"

"That's fine. That's great." Tao grinned, backing away when Katherine tugged lightly at his sleeve.

"Mind the…" Vicki winced when he hit the doorframe, but he just bounced off and kept going.

She waited until she was sure they were gone to round on Henry. "What was that? You haven't hated anyone that much since you met Mike."

"She's wrong. She's all wrong, she shouldn't…" Henry was pacing, two or three steps across the room and back, movements sharp and angry. "The things they said, the balance, that's not…they're not people. They're like gravity. Forces. You don't see them."

"Ok, so they're lying," Vicki suggested. Henry had never, in the year since she'd known him, been so lost for words, and it physically hurt to see him.

"No." He laughed softly. "No, the power in her…she can't be anything but what she claims. But she can't be that, either."

"Are you sure?" Vicki asked.

"No," he said abruptly. "I have to go. Eat."

"Henry…"

"Be careful tomorrow."

She nodded slowly. "We will."

He touched her face, very lightly. "Promise?" he asked quietly.

"I promise," she said sincerely, covering his hand with her own. "We'll be here tomorrow night, both of us."

He was gone in the next heartbeat; she took a deep breath, turning to Coreen. "I don't think I'm sleeping tonight. Might as well get a bit of work done. Can you find the Ryan file?"

Coreen nodded hesitantly, turning away, and Vicki allowed herself three breaths to panic before shoving it away, refusing to think of what she'd seen in Henry's eyes in that heartbeat.

Henry was terrified.


Tao turned up just before noon, carefully balancing three plain black coffees and several sweeteners and creamers. "I wasn't sure how you took it," he said apologetically.

"Where's your shadow?" Vicki asked, taking a cup.

"Away. Her Hunter called. She'll be back by tonight."

"Oh? Where's she going?"

"Montana," he said absently. Blinking, he added quickly, "So, private eye? That must be exciting."

Coreen managed to keep the conversation on that topic for nearly ten minutes before Vicki chimed back in. "So, Tao, what do you do?"

"I'm a student," he said easily. "Herbology and natural healing, mostly. Bits and pieces of other things."

"Where do you study?"

"All over. I travel a lot."

Vicki nodded. "With Katherine."

"Sometimes. Sometimes on my own, or with other friends." Vicki raised an eyebrow, and he added, "I have other friends."

"Normal friends? So to speak?"

"Mmm. Not so much. It's tough, when you know what we know, to have other people who don't."

Vicki leaned forward, abandoning the pose of disinterest. "How old is she?"

"Vicki!" Coreen protested.

"It's fine," Tao assured her. To Vicki, he continued, "We're not really sure. We tried to work it out, a few times, but the calendars have changed and she's not always good at remembering things."

"How long have the Taos been following her?"

He thought about that one for a minute, counting on his fingers. "Maybe four thousand years? I knew her before that; I was still following Curupira, sort of, when we met."

Vicki frowned. "You were following?"

"Tao was."

"That's not what you said. You said I."

"Vicki, give it a rest! You're retired, remember?" Coreen turned back to Tao. "I'm sorry. She's not usually this bad."

"We knew she would be," Tao told her. "I don't mind, anyway."

"Hey, I know. What's your name?" Coreen asked quickly, cutting Vicki off.

"Tao."

"No, your real name."

"Tao," he repeated.

"Tao's your title."

"Also my name. My name is always Tao."

"I'm…sorry?"

"Tao's always me," he repeated patiently. "People reincarnate all the time. They just usually don't remember; a little déjà vu, maybe. But I've always remembered."

"For four thousand years?" Vicki demanded.

"Most of it. I've gotten very good at not thinking about the past unless I have to."

"And you've always followed Katherine? All that time?"

"Most of it. Sometimes I leave for a lifetime or two." He leaned forward, holding Vicki's gaze. "But I keep going back to her."

"Who's Curupira?" Coreen asked suddenly. "The name's familiar."

"Curupira held the balance between animals and men. She had a Champion to help her, her Beastmaster, and I followed him. I wasn't hers except by proxy. He reincarnates, too, but he has chosen not to remember. Curupira was overthrown by the demon of the sea and the mist and when that demon faded, Katherine took the responsibility."

"Henry says that the balances are not personified. That Katherine shouldn't exist."

"Well he's right on one of those. Katherine wasn't supposed to be what she is. But the balances used to appear quite often, when people were more accepting of magic. It's true they don't do it now, though; Katherine's the only one still corporeal, and sometimes I think if she had a choice she'd go." He looked up, catching Vicki's eye again. "I can't explain," he added. "She wasn't always what she is. I can't say more than that."

"What about the others?"

"What others?"

"Warrior, Bard and Mage."

He smiled, leaning back in his seat. "I wondered if you'd find that reference. Those three have all joined and left her within the last fifteen years. The Bard was never really hers, not totally; the Mage stayed for three years, and the Warrior for twelve. All are still in contact and none have any grudges." To Coreen, he added quietly, "How am I doing?"

"She hasn't hit you yet."

"Good sign?"

"Not sure yet."

"The other two?" Vicki demanded. "The Hunter and the Councillor? I assume some of these people have actual names."

"They have names," Tao agreed. "One American, one we…one in England. The Hunter's…a little reluctant to join in. Which is fine; it's his choice. The Councillor was activated by accident and has had no involvement with us yet."

"Activated?" Vicki repeated. "They're not machines."

"No. But when someone discovers the balance they're meant to serve, it's like…a key in a lock. Like discovering where you fit." He tilted his head, studying Vicki. "Didn't you feel that with Henry?"

"I don't serve Henry."

"No. But you both serve the same balance. And I know you didn't know what it was until him."

"We don't serve anything!"

"You serve by being what you are. By fighting as you do. Isn't that all Henry's God asks? Be you, just the best you possible."

"That and go to Mass."

He laughed softly. "No Mass for us. Nothing but be who you are."

"What balance?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What balance?"

"For you? You need to ask?" Vicki started to answer, paused, and grimaced. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

"You know what?" Coreen said abruptly, standing up. "This is fascinating and all, but the supervised part of this date is over. Tao, let's go out somewhere?" Tao blinked, and she added, "Unless you don't want to?"

"No, no, I want to! I do, but…I don't really want Henry coming after me."

"It's twenty past twelve in the afternoon. You're safe from Henry for at least another five hours, and we won't be that long."

"Coreen," Vicki protested.

"Bye, Vicki." She tugged at Tao's arm, almost knocking him over in her haste. He snatched up his jacket as he went, leaving the rest of the coffee untouched.

"Bye Vicki!" he called as Coreen yanked him out of the office.

Vicki cursed softly, reaching for her phone. "Hey, Mike? Listen, I need a favour…"