"'There cannot be a happy end for claw with slash and tooth will rend."'

"And nothing more?" Malcolm was leaning across the table eagerly. I saw him now, the real him. He didn't care about Vanessa, he didn't care about me. Not even a little. All he wanted was Mina and he'd sacrifice us both to get her back. I loved her too, but I would never do what he had. I had to protect Vanessa from him.

"There were images I'd seen at the theater where I saw the play. I believe Mina is trying to be found." But we'd believed that before. And every time we followed a lead, it was a trap.

"We know they flee when they're discovered, like a pack of rats seeking a new den. Perhaps this time we'll be lucky."

"And if we are?" I asked. He looked down at his hands.

"I left my son to suffer without me. I'll not do the same to my daughter." I didn't pity him, not one bit. He deserved what he got. He deserve to lose them both. He hadn't deserve to have them in the first place. I was his daughter too, didn't he remember that? No. Because I was a mistake. I didn't count for anything. I was the child he looked at and saw the error of his own sins.

"Meaning?" Vanessa asked. She was the only reason I didn't jump over the table and strangle him. She'd been through enough, she didn't need to carry my burdens too.

"If I can save her, I will. If I cannot, I will end her suffering."

"And that will bring you peace?" I taunted.

"Don't be native child, it doesn't suit you. I'll contact the others. We'll go after the theater closes tonight." He left the room. Vanessa was staring at me.

"What?"

"One day he'll see it," she sighed. I heard the front door open and reached for a card on the table in front of me. Sembene appeared in the doorway.

"There is a gentleman here to see you." I got up and handed the card to her.

"Show Mr. Grey in," she said. I hesitated for a moment to see if she wanted me to stay. She nodded quickly, telling me it was alright. Dorian moved past me as we went in opposite sides of the door. Once he had passed, I pressed my ear against the wall. I wasn't leaving her alone in there with him. Sembene was standing as still as a soldier in the hall, he had the same idea. We were both watching her, afraid something would snap again. Only I knew that it wouldn't.

"Miss Ives."
"Mr. Grey, hello. Won't you sit down?" She was too kind to him. She wanted him to know why he was being rejected instead of just sending him away like I would have done. But she really had loved him. I'd forgotten how happy he'd made her. The past week and a half seemed to erase all life before it. But I still didn't feel she owed Dorian Grey anything.

"I'm so glad to see you've recovered. I stopped by, but they told me you were ill."

"I'm quite myself." No thanks to him.

"Of course." There was a silence. "I went traveling you know, since I couldn't see you." He waited for her to respond, but she didn't. "Yes um, Italy at first. I bought some mancustripts."

"Welcome back."

"Will you read my future?" I felt a strange longing build in my throat. But I wanted to read his past, not his future. Could the cards tell me what my supernatural skills couldn't? I wanted to know who he was, what he was.

"I don't know that you have one."

"Everyone has a future."

"Not everyone. Some people only have a past." She was becoming more like herself with every sentence. I didn't regret what I'd done. Not for a second if it meant I could have my sister back.

"Then read my past." I'd love to.

"Then you would have no more mystery." Didn't she want to? Maybe she was too afraid to touch the cards, she'd never liked them. "Besides, my sister is better at this game than I am." She knew I was listening outside the door.

"Let me take you to lunch at least."

"I'm engaged today."

"Then dinner, better yet. There's a new restaurant-"

"I'm sorry, it's impossible." I didn't like Dorian, but I wanted her to be happy. And I hated that she couldn't be.

"I would like to talk to you."

"If you'd excuse me."

"Miss Ives!" My hand closed on the doorknob. "At four o'clock today, I'll be waiting at Rothschild's slipper. Please-"

"Good morning, Mr. Grey. Sembene can show you out." I moved away from the door as she was opening it. She moved past me without a glance and headed for the stairs. Dorian stood in the parlor like he was frozen. He wasn't use to being turned down. He'd probably gotten everything he'd ever asked for in life.

"Do you still want your future read?" I asked, moving around the doorway so he could see me. He frowned, he was unsure about me. Good. "Sit." I wasn't sure what his reaction would be, something I wasn't at all use to. He sat. I took the chair across from him, spreading the cards in an arch.

"You're wondering what changed," I said.

"Did the cards tell you that?"

"I haven't turned any over yet, Mr. Grey." I met his eyes. "To answer your question, a lot of things. And you don't need to know what those things are because they don't pertain to you. Because you're lucky."

"I'm lucky?" he asked. "I feel I've just lost the most interesting woman I've ever met."

"Is that all she is to you? Interesting?" I started to arrange the cards into a cross spread.

"You wouldn't understand." I smiled.

"Understand what? Love?" He looked out the window. I didn't want to lose his interest. "She cares about you too." He turned back. "But it can't become anything."

"Why not?"

"Like I said. You don't need to know, Mr. Grey. Pick a card." Unlike with Ethan, I didn't have to tell him to think. His hand hovered over the cards for a moment before he picked on, the center of the cross. He glanced at it, then handed it to me. I stared back at him.

"What's it say."

"Nothing." I shuffled the card back into the deck. "Pick another." He did, this time choosing out of the spread. He looked at me expectantly. "Another." He picked from the cross again. "One more." Again from the cross. I stared at him. I should have known not to ignore my feelings, they were never wrong. Dorian Grey was not human.

"So what does my future say?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Nothing. It says nothing. Ness was right, some people don't have a future."

"And my past?" He was more intelligent than I'd given him credit for. When his future had said nothing, I'd moved onto his past. And his past had been far more interesting. I didn't answer him. "You know my secrets now Ava, so tell me yours."

"Sembene!" I called. He was by the door in seconds. "Please show Mr. Grey out." Dorian rose, a smile on his face.

"You will tell your sister to meet me, won't you? I'd like one more chance to explain myself."

"You said once that you thought I didn't like you." I let his eyes. "Did you ever consider, Mr. Grey, that you're wrong? You're lucky. Do try and remain so." I could see him letting my words sink in as Sembene lead him to the door. I hoped he'd stay away. And not for Vanessa's sake, but for his own.

I went out to see Ethan because Brona was dying. Nobody told me she was, I just knew. And I could tell Vanessa wanted to be by herself. I didn't mind the long walk across town and I didn't want to bother Sembene to drive me, even if he didn't tell Malcolm where I was going. The pub below the hotel was almost empty, so I was able to walk through it without being whistled at. I knocked on the hotel room door and Victor answered it.

"Um, hello," I said. I hadn't expected Ethan would call him. The doctor held the door open so I could come in without a greeting. The atmosphere in the room was grave. And I could tell from the sound of her breathing it wouldn't be long. Ethan glanced over his shoulder to see who had come in. His face looked devastated. I knelt next to the bed beside him. Brona's eyes were closed, so I touched her hand lightly. She felt the difference between my hand and Ethan's and opened her eyes. The small movement seemed to cause her a great deal of effort.

"Ava," her irish voice rasped. "Did you... did you come here to take care of him?" I glanced at Ethan. He was looking down at her with something in his eyes I had never seen from the men in my life. Genuine love. I nodded. "Good girl." She squeezed my hand lightly.

"I need to examine her," Victor said quietly. I got up and Ethan followed me. The doctor pressed his stethoscope against her side. Her raspy breathing was the only sound in the room.

"You're comfortable then?" he asked her. Her face was very pale. Her eyes were half glazed and her hair was stuck to her head with sweat.

"My body, yes."

"And your spirit."

"My soul?" Ethan had tears in his eyes. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"If you like." I think she would have smiled if she could.

"I hated that fucker God, you see. Cruel. Cruel, he was." Her breathing was becoming faster. "But now I'm frightened." I took her hand, crawling onto the dirty bed beside her.

"You have nothing to fear. You're stepping through a door, that's all." I knew what death was. I'd watched it happen, I'd caused it, I'd watched how it made people suffer. In a strange way, I was comfortable with it.

"Aye, but to where?" She swallowed. "I've not been good. Who waits for me on the other side of the door?" She had no idea what a saint she was. Prostitution was nothing compared to the things I'd done. Victor touched Ethan's shoulder and they went off to the side.

"It won't be long," Victor said quietly. "Could you go to the end of the corridor and fetch me a basin of freshwater?" Ethan went to leave. "Ava, you should go with him." I followed. He was walking almost too fast for me to keep up.

"Ethan." He turned around and I hugged him. He was stiff at first, but then his body softened and he put his arms around me.

"Thank you." I almost laughed.

"After all I've put you through you're thanking me? Anything I can do, just ask." We got the water and headed back. But before we entered the door, I stopped. There was only one person alive in that room.

"I'm sorry, Ethan. It's over." She wasn't that close to death when I left the room. I looked at Victor's face as Ethan went to kneel next to the bed. "Her passing was a thing of grace, I promise you." He wasn't meeting either of our eyes. "Spend your time with her. And don't worry. I'll take care of the body." He noticed I was staring at him. What was I feeling from him, guilt? No. It was triumphant. He pushed past me and went out the door. I didn't have time to think about what or why, though I already knew the answer to the first one. I had to take care of Ethan. I knelt next to him while he cried over her body. I leaned against him, knowing my presence would sooth him more than anything I could say. I couldn't tell him what I knew. It was another secret I had to carry.

I let Ethan have some time alone, I knew he needed it. I told him where to meet us after it got dark. I had to turn my thoughts to Mina again. It was starting to snow when I found Vanessa and Malcolm outside the theater.

"Where have you been all day?" Vanessa asked me.

"With Ethan. Brona died." She put her arm around me. But it wasn't the fact that she was dead that was bothering me. I'd known she was going to die when I'd met her. It was how and more importantly, why. Why had Victor killed her? When she touched me, I saw a flood of her memories. They were coming faster than they normally would be and I wasn't trying to see them, which meant she was letting me see them. I saw her and Dorian surrounded by plants. She kissed him lightly.

"Poor Dorian, you've never known this feeling before, have you?"

"I don't know what I'm feeling."

"It's rejection."

"I'm sorry." I really was. I wanted her happiness more than she did.. She shrugged, tightening her arm around me.

"I did it for you." She lit a cigarette.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Ness." We both watched Ethan coming over to join us. I went to greet to leave them alone. I knew she'd make him feel better. And I wanted to talk to him.

"Thank you for what you did with Brona today," I said, He was leaning up against the wall of the theater watching the snow fall. I copied him.

"I'm a doctor, it's my job," he said it offhand, but I noticed the way he guarded his voice. I had already decided not to tell Ethan, but I still wanted to know why he'd done it.

"Really? Are doctor's suppose to kill their patience?" I watched his whole body stiffen.

"What do you mean? She was dying. She died. I had nothing to do with it."

"You smothered her with a pillow after getting Ethan and I out of the room," I said quickly. He stood frozen against the wall. I got some sick satisfaction out of making him this scared. Having this much power over him. He glanced at Ethan and I shook my head.

"I haven't told him. And I won't if, after all this is over, you tell me why you did it." He seemed unable to speak for a moment, then he nodded slowly. Malcolm was approaching Ethan and Vanessa, so I left Victor cowering against the wall to join them.

"Good, you're here," Malcolm said to Ethan. He then addressed all of us. Victor walked over with shaky legs and stood at the back of the group. I smiled at the ground. "If Mina's inside, we shall cease our moment. Under no circumstances are you to approach her. She is my responsibility." My thoughts turned away from Victor. I knew for sure this time Mina was here. It would end tonight, I could feel it. I just wished I knew how it would end.

Unlike the last time I'd visited the theater, it was empty. There was no talking or laughter; no bright lights or music. It was silent, dark and very eery. I found I wasn't as nervous in the darkness as normal. I almost wanted to say I wasn't afraid of it. Other things scared me now. Things far more threatening than shadows. I was staying close to Vanessa not because I was scared, but because I wanted to be there if she needed me. The only light came from her and Malcolm's flashlights and the dim gas light on the center of the stage.

"It's called a ghost light," I whispered to Ethan. "It's suppose to keep the evil spirits away."

"It's not doing a very good job." Malcolm and Vanessa had wandered into the stage area. I considered following, but I wanted to keep an eye on Victor. I didn't trust him anymore. I headed for the balcony stairs. Ethan, Victor and Sembene followed.

"Get that thing out of my face," I ordered. Victor lowered his flashlight.

"Do you feel anything?" Ethan asked. I shook my head no.

"Let's go back down." He gestured for me to lead again. I went towards the ghost light. If they wanted it to scare spirits, they should probably make it brighter. It was casting an eerie light on the first row of seats. I looked up and saw Vanessa and Malcolm walking on the rig line. She seemed to know where she was going. She took Malcolm's flashlight and shone it up. Ethan cocked his guns at his side. Malcolm raised his. It was only a second after my eyes rested on the creature that it's eyes flew open and I felt the ground under me fall away. I heard my scream as I fell. Ethan hit the ground beside me, firing his gun before I had a chance to even see the blond vampire lunging for us. He fired at two more jumping out of the shadows. I grabbed his second gun that he'd dropped when he fell. The trapdoor had somehow opened and we were now under the stage. I could hear Malcolm firing above us.

"Ethan!" I shouted at a vampire he didn't see. He fired over my head. Sembene jumped through the hole we'd fallen through, slashing with his swords. I found the trigger on my gun and fired it at a screeching vampire that was coming at me. My hand jerked back and almost hit me in the face, but I somehow hit my target. Another loud pop fired by my ear. Victor had come down the stairs and was shakily holding a pistol up. Had he just saved my life? If I were him, I would have let it get me. Then his secret would be safe. There were vampires everywhere. No matter how many Ethan and Sembene killed, more and more kept coming. I heard Malcolm's shots obviously not reaching his target. We were being pushed against the wall as another wall, this one made of vampires pinned us there. And then they all stopped. They just fell to the ground like they were all sleeping.

I ran for the stairs. Malcolm was pulling a bloody sword out of the dead red eyed creature. That's why they'd all fallen, they were like a nest. If you kill the leader, they all die. But how many more nests were there? I met Vanessa's eyes, but only for a second. There was something moving behind her. I would have thought it was another vampire, if it hadn't spoken.

"Vanessa." She turned around. Mina was coming out the shadows into the glow of the ghost the light. And she looked like Mina, not a vampire with red eyes. She staggered out like a prisoner who'd just escaped and was seeing the light of day again. I ran past a frozen Vanessa towards her.

"Mina!" I thought she wouldn't hug me back. That it would turn out to be another lie, but she did. And she felt like Mina, she even smelled like her flower perfume. I use to steal it to spray on my dolls and she never got angry with me like Vanessa would have.

"Mina?" I heard Malcolm ask.

"Father." Then her voice changed and my heart stopped. "Father." She spun me around, one hand holding me against her with strength she shouldn't have, the other wrapped around my neck. I couldn't see Mina's face, but I could tell by the horrified look on Vanessa's that the next sentence was directed at her. "You've brought her to me, you've done well." Ethan stepped forward.

"No, Mr. Chandler!" MIna backed up, taking me with her into the shadows. "You have no role in this play."

"Don't move Ethan," Malcolm ordered.

"Mina," Vanessa begged. "I can save you." I knew the thing holding me wasn't my sister and never would be again. I just wanted to get away from her.

"Why do you think I want to be saved?" Her voice was deep and echoing somehow, like two people were speaking at once. Her nails were digging into my skin. I knew she could snap my neck at any second.

"Look at me." Malcolm had taken a step forward. "Somewhere inside you know who you are." She held me tighter. I was afraid she was going to break my bones. "Who you were meant to be."

"I am who I was meant to be. You'll understand when you join the master. When you all join him." So her master wasn't the creature lying dead on the floor. "And now that he has his bride, he will sire generations. Starting with her." She squeezed me tighter. I realized I was crying, but I wasn't sure how long I'd been doing it for. I could feel my heart pounding. I didn't want it to get Vanessa, I wished Ethan would grab her and run.

"Don't do this," Malcolm begged.

"It's already done." She yerked my neck to the side and I felt her breath on my skin. I heard Vanessa scream and then a loud bang. I fell as the hands holding me disappeared. Mina's body rose slightly off the floor beside me. She held out her hand to Malcolm's gun.

"I'm your daughter!" Malcolm's blood stained face turned to me.

"I already have a daughter." He fired again and I shut my eyes.

Malcolm was slowing removing his maps from the wall. He'd packed up most of his geer already in to brown boxes that were scattered around the very bare looking room. Vanessa and I had been hovering outside the door for the better part of a half hour watching him in silence.

"You were right," he said quietly. He folded up a map piece and put it on top of the other ones that were spread across the table. "I was never going to go to Africa. This room must seem empty without my geer. We should get a Christmas tree, should we not?" I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or Vanessa. I wasn't use to him talking to me. The words coming out his mouth didn't seem to make any sense.

"We can have the boys over to decorate," Vanessa suggested. His eyes had filled up with tears. I had never seen Malcolm Murray cry and I'd known him my whole life. Not even when both his children were dead. Mina was dead. I'd known that, I'd known that for over a year. But it felt like my heart was breaking all over again every time I thought about it. And maybe Malcolm felt the same way. I didn't like seeing him cry. It occurred to me that I was suppose to hate him, I was so use to hating him, but I didn't want to anymore. I hugged him instead. I didn't expect him to hug me back, but he did. And I felt the weight of Vanessa's body pressed up against my other side.

All I'd ever wanted was what I once had. A family. A family that we destroyed, all three of us in our own ways. And now we were all that was left. The innocent ones were gone and only the demons remained. But even demons can love each other. Even demons can be lonely and scared and want what they lost. A family. A family to get a Christmas tree and decorate it and pretend to be like all other families. That was hope for me. Hope for all of us that maybe no one would notice that we were different, that we didn't belong. That we belonged with the innocence that we had killed.

A choir was singing as we walked into the church. I don't know how long it was that we sat on the frozen bench outside just staring at it. Well, Vanessa was staring at it. I was staring at her. Eventually, she'd gotten up and I'd stayed at her side like I'd meant to get up to. I'd forgotten how big church's were. The little' boy's voices echoed off the walls. I slipped my gloved hand into hers. I wondered if it helped. I was here because she'd asked me to come, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know what she was doing. I followed her to the front of the massive church where a priest was examining a stack of papers as he walked.

"Father. May we speak with you?" The priest took us into his office. It was full of porcelain statues and old books. Vanessa sat on the other side of his desk, but I stood. Church's made me nervous.

"Do you believe in the mercy of our lord Jesus Christ?" The priest asked. I listened to bells toning from another church in the distance. There had to be a hundred catholic churches in this city.

"Yes."

"Do believe our lord forgives all?"

"Yes."

"Then we've made a good start, haven't we?" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. This was important to her. "What do you fear, girl?" She glanced at me before she answered.

"Those things of which I am capable. Of which I have proven myself capable." I moved closer to her chair.

"Are they really so monstrous?" A man could never picture a woman being powerful, not even a priest who was suppose to believe in equality.

"Do you believe a soul can be taken over by another? That you can lose yourself to something dark?"

"I believe in the devil, if that's what you mean." I might have liked this priest if I hadn't felt so uncomfortable. He wasn't as judgemental as others I'd met.

"That's what I mean. I believe in curses. I believe in demons, I believe in monsters."

"Do you?" I asked him.

"I believe more in sicknesses that can be treated." Oh, here we go. Science again. No one who believed in science could help us. And I didn't want help anyway.

"But when the treatments fail?" Vanessa asked. "When science fails, what is there then?" The priest frowned.

"You mean exorcism." Well, he caught on to things, that was a start. "You know, back in Wales where I'm from, there was a boy who was ill. The parish decided on the rite of exorcism, they did not seek approval from Rome. It was, well a community event, you might say. And I was asked to assist. To help that poor boy."

"What happened to him?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"He died." Vanessa tensed. "They all died."

"Did he find God?" she asked.

"No. No one did. Now, before we continue our conversation, my dear, there's one thing you must understand. Even if it can be verified, this is a long, grueling and dangerous thing you ask. Could take months or years. Or always. Or never. But before we say another word, you must look into your heart and you must answer me a question, just one. If you have have been touched by the demon, it's like being touched by the back hand of God. Makes you sacred in a way, does it?" He looked at me as if he somehow knew I was the culprit. "Makes you unique. There's a kind of glory. The glory of suffering even. Now here's my question. Do you really want to be normal?"

On hold until next season starts, which is hopefully soon! They said 2015, so can it be like January first? :P I'll keep the chapters coming with season two, thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed. 3 3 3