PART TWELVE

Jeff yawned, stretching on his bed and rolled over to look at David as he walked in. "What's got your boxers in a twist?"

David rolled his eyes. He started to say something but froze, every muscle in his body tensing, nostrils flaring.

"What? What's wrong?" Jeff demanded, sitting up.

"The girls are gone."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

[Calm down the both of you.] Isis said, in both their minds. [Jaden and I are goin' out for a spell, ya'all be good 'til we get back, hear me?]

[Loud and clear.] David thought sarcastically.

[That's what I thought, darlin'.]

*****

"So uh, how much longer we going to be here?" Ken asked.

Glenn looked up from the wall he was examining. He barely recalled it, but he was fairly certain when he had been attacked by Damia, Mark and Isis had come in through a wall. Maybe it was just a hallucination of a dying man, maybe not. He glanced at Shannon.

Shannon rolled her eyes, smiling patiently at Ken. "Until Glenn is satisfied he's learned all he needs to know about…"

"Isis." Ken supplied helpfully, trying not to look amused at the flicker of annoyance in her eyes.

"Yeah, her." Shannon cracked her neck, flexing her fingers, her blood red nail polish glinting in the firelight. "I'm aching to go do something Glenn, do you think…"

"Send the kid for food." Glenn said quickly.

Ken cocked an eyebrow, wondering when he had become a delivery boy.

*****

Jaden recovered from the seriously long flight while as soon as her feet touched ground, Isis walked over the hillcrest to stare down at a cemetery. "You know-" Jaden began, straightening up. "You weigh a ton after three hours."

Isis didn't even reply.

Frowning, Jaden walked over to see what had captivated her friend so much. "What's this?"

"My family's cemetery."

Jaden blinked.

Isis inhaled deeply, tears stinging her vision. Memories washed over her as she took in the view. The graveyard had grown over with weeds, weeds that were destroying the already decrepit tombs. Her eyes fastened on the mausoleum, the place she and Mark had hidden the night they'd killed Gabriel and Damia.

Mark… how long had it been since she thought of him? Close to a year now. Being back here though… she could remember sitting on her grandmother's lap, listening to her telling stories, never suspecting this kindly old woman was a vampire with a murderous streak a mile wide. Gabriel, her 'guardian' always watching from afar, always wondering about him.

Now she knew.

And now they were both dead.

Jaden recoiled, fairly certain Isis had no clue she was mentally broadcasting these images, catching glimpses of her friend as a mortal. "Isis, you're…"

"Sorry." Isis said curtly, all mental communication suddenly cut off.

"So, this is where… you lived?"

"No. Beyond that there wood is- was- a manor house, it's gone now."

"What happened?"

"Town folk burnt it. They came one night for us, they knew what we were…"

Jaden rubbed the back of her neck, not knowing what else to say, fairly certain she had heard this story. After a decade plus it was sometimes hard to remember. "Why are we here again?"

Isis turned around to smile at her friend. "To meet someone."

"Do you know-"

"No."

"Then?"

Isis tapped her head.

"That is cheating, you know that right?"

"And flying isn't?"

*****

Ken sighed, pushing his way through the woods. He had to admit, it was more than creepy out here. It was overgrown from a lack of care, thorny brambles reaching out to shred his clothing, inflicting wounds on him that healed as rapidly as they appeared.

He groaned in relief when he emerged from the woods, halting when he realized he was standing at the beginning of a graveyard. "My job SUCKS!"

One tombstone in particular caught his eye. It was newer then the rest though the beginning of decay was already setting in. He crouched down in front of it, tracing the name ISIS along the cold marble. He guessed the town people had done it or something because as far as he knew, Isis was still alive and kicking, in a manner of speaking.

He dropped down and leaned back against the grave, his mind wandering. Already these people were becoming something of legends. They were fairly new in the vampire world, just thirteen years into their immortal lives and yet he got the impression they weren't your run of the mill, average vampires.

Mark. Jeff. John. Isis. Jaden. These names all swirled about in his mind. Names he was beginning to associate with annoyance. Mainly because that's all he heard about. He was a year old damn it! He didn't want to be the waiting boy forever.

And there was another one, one older than all of them but Glenn hadn't divulged his name. Ken wondered about that. Sounded like this older vampire had whooped Glenn's ass. That thought made him smile.

"I must say, Shannon's taste has definitely improved over the years."

Ken's head snapped up in time to find a heeled boot pressed to his throat. His eyes widened, following the leather clad leg, up past a torso and onto a face. His breath caught in his throat, taking in her glowing white skin, flaming black and silver eyes and her hair… her black hair seemed to have a life of it's own, though somewhere it registered that it was just his new eyesight telling him that. "Isis…" He managed to whisper.

Her ruby red lips curled into an almost warm smile. "Yes."

"You're real…"

"Of course I am. You, are trespassin', this is my land."

"I…" Ken looked beyond her, his eyes landing on her silent companion. She was just as beautiful as Isis was only there was more human in her then in this Vampiric Goddess. He met her eyes, almost becoming lost.

"Isis, are you going to kill him?" The companion asked, her voice also a contrast to Isis'. Isis had a low, husky voice with a country inflection while this woman's tone was melodic, just as hypnotizing but contained a great deal of emotion. Like every word she said had a passionate emotion behind it.

Isis, he quickly noticed, didn't show all that emotion in anything.

"No… I'm not goin' to kill him." Isis said softly, stepping away from him. "Well… Ken," Her black eyes crinkled in amusement when his widened. "You're an awful long way from the manor."

He had a feeling she already knew what he was doing out here, who was in the house, but also got the feeling she was expecting him to tell her anyway. "I'm supposed to bring back something to eat."

Isis exchanged looks with Jaden before nodding curtly, disappearing into the shadows.

Jaden stared down at Shannon's new pet, hating to do but giving the woman props. "Do you like her?" She asked softly.

"Shannon?"

Jaden just nodded.

Ken mulled it over. "I don't know… she's my Maker, that's all there is to it."

"You're beholden to her."

Ken almost blushed.

*****

Isis studied the mausoleum, remembering how she and Mark had once hidden in here, desperate to avoid Gabriel's clutches. She also remembered what they had found when they finally emerged. She traced her fingers over the spring that had once unlocked a secret passage, shaking her head.

If she didn't get out of her, she was going to drown in her memories.

*****

Chris Irvine and Chris Benoit. It was a private joke with their women that they were the two Chrissies. They hated that. Chris Irvine went plainly by Chris, while Chris Benoit opted to use his last name. The first person to call them Chrissie… was the last.

Besides Jenica and Emily of course.

"Man… take a look at this." Chris said, crouching down in front of the charred remains of a house, wondering why it hadn't been cleared away.

"According to those people over there, it burned down ten years ago." Benoit said slowly, reading off the notepad he had written on. He blinked, pushing his shades down onto his nose to block out the sun's rays. "It was owned by a Mark Calaway."

"Why's that name so familiar?"

"He was a wrestler."

Chris nodded. He liked wrestling well enough but… there were more important things out there, like what he was doing now.

Benoit had once watched wrestling, to see what the fuss was about, he'd stuck with his job. More action.

"Anything else?"

"He lived here with two women and another guy."

"What happened?"

"I don't know." Benoit sighed. "We need to have Emily do what she does best."

Chris smiled at the mention of his fiancee. "Yeah, put the little bookworm onto a computer."

"Sounds about right."

"And Jenica can start searching through the public records down at the county clerk's office."

"I already got her started on it." Benoit said, trying not to falter under the knowing look he was receiving.

"Right. Knowing Jen, she's the one who put YOU to work."

"Shut up and get a sample of this stuff."