Chapter 7

"Did Derek call yet?"

Alex shook her head at Rachel's question. Both were digging through piles of books, scribbling down notes from time to time. Unfortunately not often, information was hard to get, while the victims in Ireland were growing. Both were worrying about their two male colleagues back there in Ireland. The Dutchman kept in contact to update them and himself, even though there wasn't much to update. It was frustrating Alex to no end, she wanted to help and have her friends home as soon as possible.

The fax machine came to life suddenly, sprouting out paper after paper. The blond psychiatrist raised an elegant eyebrow as she studied the papers, a frown gathering on her face.

"It seems London had more luck, they found our druids in the old archives."

That was good, anything would help at this point, they were grasping at strays.

"So, what's it saying?"

Rachel raised a finger, her brown eyes still taking in all the written text. She took a moment to consume it all, not wanting to skip something important with the risk of endangering her friends.

"It certainly explains why they sacrifice men."

Alex rolled her eyes at her friend who was once more engrossed in the information, refraining herself from saying anything more. The Afro American woman waited patiently, even though she wanted nothing more then prod the blond to hurry things up.

"They need new bodies since theirs were destroyed. They're all men and simply have no desire to be a woman, which makes sense. In that time period women were considered inferior to men."

"But if they need new bodies, how come the bodies keep turning up?"

"Apparently they perform some sort of ritual which allows them to take over the DNA of their victims, much like cloning. If they complete the cycle tomorrow, they'll resemble their victims and have an actual corporal body. It's amazing really, it's beyond the science from even today."

Of course, leave it to the docter to be amazed about something so dangerous and appalling. Alex was more thinking about their two male friends in Ireland, right in the middle of that 'amazing' cycle.

"And what if they succeed? What happens then?"

The two women shared a look before franticly starting to dig up the notes they had collected sofar. The druids must have a plan, why else were they so intent on being in a body? Something was going to happen and it was going to be bad.

"Wait!" Alex exclaimed as she pushed books and magazines aside.

"I think I wrote something down about it."

It was just a little hard finding it in the unorganized disarray of their unfruitful search.

"Ah, I found it. They were killed because of their involvement in black magic. Apparently they were trying to call up one of their gods, named Arawn; god of the dead and the underworld Annwn. God of revenge, terror, and the dead. He was to stay in Annwn, because if he came into our world he would do what he was destined to do, pretty much like the devil himself."

"We need to find a way to stop that!"

Meanwhile in Ireland...

"Nick, sit down, you're distracting me."

The young man had been pacing around for fifteen minutes now, like a caged animal. They were currently digging through the archives of the one library Connemara contained. Or more precisely, Derek was working his way through the books and scripts, his colleague was being impatient. Not that Derek couldn't blame him, they both were painfully aware time was running out, the day was coming to an end. Soon another victim would fall to the druids. And Nick was ready to hide at the stones and pounce on them. It was the only information they had, the exact place where the druids would at the time of the ritual.

"This is getting us nowhere Derek, just like I said. We should do something."

The older man paused his reading, looking up at the ex-seal briefly, uncertain what to do. If he would be nice Nick wouldn't listen and if he was stern Nick would explode.

"I don't want to loose you Nick, that's why we're not doing anything yet. Be patient."

The young man's look darkened and he wanted to reply, but luckily for Derek the ringing of his cell phone interrupted. Nick snorted and turned away, picking up a book to leaf through so he wouldn't feel totally useless. Meanwhile he was also listening to the conversation, knowing very well who was on the other end. Hopefully with some information.

Derek frowned as he listened to what his female colleagues had found out, both filling him in and cautioning him as well.

"We have to stop them, one way or the other. Inform the London House if I haven't contacted you tomorrow morning and make sure they send in a disposal team."

With that he hung up on them, he wasn't the man to say goodbyes, he hated them thoroughly. It was only a bad omen when you were working on a case as dangerous as this one. Nick looked at him questionably, wondering what it was about and what made Derek suddenly think about having to stop them. After all, just seconds ago his boss had said they had to wait.

"What's going on?"

The Dutchman rubbed a hand over his face, not wanting to do this but there wasn't any other choice at the moment. If they waited too long, the druids might complete their ritual and if they succeeded in calling up their god...The result would be a complete disaster. He should have known from the beginning they had stumbled upon something dangerous, his vision proof of that. But it was too late for that now. There was no time for regret or thinking back.

"As it turns out, the druids had been put in that chalice for a reason, they had been turned by the dark side and had tried to call up a god from the underworld. As soon as they have their bodies back, that's why they are sacrificing the young men, they'll continue their ritual."

"So we'll have to go there anyways?"

The two men shared a look, both knew they had no idea what to expect there. Both knew it could get ugly and probably would. But there was no question about it, they had to go, it was what they did. It was what the Legacy was about, even if their lives were at stake.