"Why wouldn't you wake up?" Nile's voice dispelled the silence that had settled on the group. Each of her new immortal friends had retreated into themselves as Andy's increasingly hoarse voice told the story. Nile began to wonder if she'd imagined the jovial tone from moments before.

Nicky took a breath, as though about to speak but then held it. After a few moment's hesitation his head tilted back, and he simply released it. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I cannot explain it to you." He said softly. "I couldn't explain it at the time. I was trapped inside of myself. There was nothing physically wrong with me. At last, I felt no pain, but," He paused, frowning, his eyes darting from side to side as though trying to avoid looking at something that chased his line of sight. "For me, this period was torture. You need to know this, but I will not dwell on it and I do not want to talk about it."

Nicky turned his focus on Nile and his eyes burned into her like staring into a stage light and she nodded.

"De Marsan did terrible things to me. He cut me into pieces. He poisoned me. He set me on fire. Terrible things. Do you understand?"

Nile nodded again.

"No one can understand. Francois had been there but, even for Francois, it had been months since this time, but it was no time for me. In my mind, I had been horribly murdered hours before. When my mind was restored a part of me," He duck his head, "a part of me was broken. I think that is it. I couldn't face the world again. It was as though my mind had found peace and I was afraid to let myself- All that time, I longed for Joe, but I wasn't aware of him." He turned to Joe. "We don't speak about this, but I want you to know, I did not refuse to listen, part of me didn't allow myself to hear at all." He shook his head. "I don't know. This is harder than I thought."

Joe reached out and took Nicky's hand, but Nicky turned to Andy.

"You will finish for me, please?"

Andy took his other hand and smiled. "I got you, kid."

He glanced at the empty bottle and then stood. "I think we could use some coffee."

His three companions sat silently as he gathered the teacups and pot, leaving the glass tumblers with their varying amounts of liquor on the table.

Even after he rounded the corner into the kitchen, the silence remained, and Niles was close to suggesting that she had heard enough and didn't need to know the particulars. Nicky had clearly recovered at some point, he was here. Maybe she had heard enough.

But Joe leaned forward and downed the last of his drink.

Andy watched and then followed his example.

"One of the things I remember about reading those papers was Francois." She said eventually, her voice soft. "That kid kept watching me and he seemed to know where I was, what bit I was reading about, like he could see it in my face. I remember how ashamed he looked. How he'd watch me but couldn't meet my eye."

She cleared her throat.

"You could see the change the kid talked about in the writing. De Marsan, I mean." She leaned back in her chair and pressed her feet against the table. "In the beginning he talked about Nicky like he was a person. You even got the impression that he liked Nicky. He'd write about things he was curious about but wouldn't do."

She scoffed. "There were things he wouldn't do in the beginning."

Nile wondered what she meant.

"I mean," Andy said, as though reading Nile's mind, "He basically dissected Nicky and noticed the skin was trying to move back in place and knit back together. When he held it back too long, Nicky just grew new skin and, once the wound was covered again, the skin De Marsan had tied down sloughed off."

"That's what he was doing when he liked Nicky?" Nile asked, horrified, and rejecting her mind's attempt to follow that line of thought to what De Marsan might have done later.

Joe shuddered.

Andy noticed Joe's reaction and it caused her a moment's hesitation, but she ignored it and Nile's question and continued.

"De Marsan wrote at the time that he was curious what would happen if he removed a large portion of the skin or completely flayed Nicky but he didn't and his reason in his writing was it would be too barbaric to inflict that kind of pain."

"At least he had some kind of restraint." Nile said.

"He got over it." Andy's voice was almost a growl. "The more I read, the more I could see what Francois was talking about. De Marsan wasn't getting what he wanted, and he couldn't have that. Do you see why?"

Nile glanced up to see Andy's eyes fairly drilling into hers.

"This is important, kid." The ancient woman was bringing her eons of experience intimidating her enemies to bare and Nile felt pinned in her seat. "Do you get why everything escalated and why De Marsan got so bad?"

Nile shook her head, confused.

"The worst people aren't the ones who have bad intentions." Andy said. "The ones that are there to hurt you or make you suffer; you don't worry about them so much because they can get what they want. It's the noble ones. The ones who are doing it for the greater good they think you can give them. The ones who regret what they're doing but do it because what they think they'll get out of it will justify the evil they're doing. You get it now?"

Nile, again, shook her head.

"She's too good a person, Andy." Joe finally spoke up. "Look at her. You really think she's going to be able to imagine that kind of thinking?"

Nile squirmed as Andy seemed to examine her.

"Maybe not yet." Andy said and leaned back while Joe chuckled, releasing some of the tension in the room.

"The problem with people like De Marsan is they can never stop. They can't even slow down. It's never down, it's gotta be up. It's gotta be farther, more, worse, because, if they give up, they did something horrible for no reason. There's no nobility. There's no greater good. It's one thing to do something evil to save the world. If you don't save the world, you're just evil and they absolutely cannot accept that. And the problem we have and will always have is that we will never be able to give them what they want."

"They want what we have. They want to heal and not get older and we will never, ever be able to give that to them. Understand?"

Nile nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

Joe chuckled. "Officer Andy over here."

Andy didn't laugh.

"How do you know we can't though?" Nile asked. "I mean, how do you know?"

"Because it doesn't make sense." Joe answered and Andy stuck her foot on the table, leaning her chair onto its back legs watching him as he continued. "I had family; we all did. Not one of them was ever immortal like us. Even with you, there have been only seven of us in all the millennia we've lived. There is no pattern or blessing or spell. There is a purpose to our existence that defies logic. I believe like Nicky, it is a destiny. You don't ask for it. You can't explain it and, unless it chooses you, you can't share it."

Nile glanced at Andy who gave a half shrug. "What he said."

"You said that before." Nile countered. "The last time, when I asked about the dreams and Nicky was talking about destiny. Do you mean it? Why don't you have any theories? I mean, you're the oldest."

Andy sighed. "It's because I'm the oldest. I used to have theories. I used to wonder why." She started rocking the chair slightly on its back legs. "Now, I don't care because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if we know why. It won't change anything. Nothing ever really changes anything, and you'll never know for sure." She leaned so far back that Nile tensed, sure the chair would go over. "It is what it is and that's enough for me. Eventually, it has to be enough because it's all you're ever gonna have."

Nile swallowed and said nothing, though a part of her rebelled against Andy's apathy.

"How long was it before Nicky got back to normal?" Nile asked.

Andy scoffed, "You tell me, kid, if it finally happens."

Nile frowned and Andy sighed as she pointed to the kitchen.

"That guy in there, he's not the Nicolo I first met. That guy is different." She shook her head. "There are things that change you. You never get back to 'normal'. You can settle. You can find a new normal, but you don't get to be the person you were before, and Nicky isn't the person he was before."

"How is he different?" Nile asked. "I mean, what was he like before?"

"He was dumber." Andy snorted and Joe chuckled.

"Of course, you would say that." Joe chuckled and Andy shrugged with a slight smirk. Joe closed his eyes and sighed. "Nicky was more carefree. Less intense, I suppose. He still has a bit of that almost childish innocence now but then? He was an imp. He managed to hold onto this childish innocence for centuries. He was much quicker to smile and laugh and both his smile and laugh were bigger then. He had optimism with little caution."

"Yeah, dumber." Andy reiterated.

Joe gave her a reproachful look.

Andy sighed. "But, I do miss that Nicky. Little baby Nicolo who never woke up."

"Is there anything in there that can help him?" Quynh asked and Andy jumped and slammed the cover over the page she had been reading.

Quynh frowned. "How bad is it?"

"Bad." Andy looked over at Nicolo, still unmoving on the bed.

"What do we do?" Quynh turned to join Andy in watching Nicolo sleep and Joseph's patient vigil. "How can we help him?"

"I don't know." Andy grunted. "But I know what'll help me."

She waved a handful of papers at Quynh before shoving them back into their bindings. "I'm gonna find this sick bastard, and make sure nobody ever comes after our Nicolo again. I'm gonna make him pay."

Quynh's eyes hardened and she nodded. But the steel melted as she turned to Joseph and Nicolo and the transition made Andy smile. Once again, she admired this woman, her companion for countless centuries who could still be both soft and steel.

She watched Quynh lay a gentle hand on Joseph's shoulder before kneeling down beside him. Quynh whispered something to him and he nodded. Then both stood.

"I want to go with you." Joseph said and Andy was about to agree when he added, "But I will not."

He glanced back at the bed. "I cannot leave him again. Not until I know he's okay."

Andy and Quynh both nodded.

"I understand." Andy said.

"We do." Quynh added. "We will make sure this man is stopped. I promise you."

Joseph offered a ghost of a smile. "I believe you."

Quynh smiled back and went to gather her weapons.

Andy started to turn but Joseph placed a restraining hand on her forearm.

"Andy," He clenched his teeth and shook his head.

"I'll make him pay." She said, reading his question in his pained expression.

He nodded. "Make him suffer. He must suffer for what he's done."

"He will." Andy placed her hand on his and squeezed as hard as she could, as though she could somehow prove her sincerity in the strength of her grip. "I will make that man pay. I promise you."

Joseph nodded. "I trust you."

Breaking into the main house was much more difficult than rescuing Nicolo from the crypt had been. The first issue was the light. It was everywhere. Candles, lamps, chandeliers, and mirrors; for millennia, the setting sun had ushered in a period of near complete darkness people like Andy and her friends could leverage. This obsession with light and the ease with which people could employ it was, she feared, only going to get worse as time wore on.

The second obstacle was the sheer number of people policing the estate. The rescue mission three days prior had not gone unnoticed and De Marsan was definitely on his guard.

Francois had provided a refreshingly detailed and accurate layout of the building. He truly was a talented artist. Quynh had requested he expand past the main rooms and concentrate also on the servant's quarters and passageways. Andy and Quynh's strategy was stealth and Quynh had assumed that, like most aristocrats, De Marsan wouldn't consider the servants. If he had been raised avoiding interacting with them or thinking about them, it seemed a fair bet that they might be able to turn that deliberate neglect to their advantage.

The strategy proved sound and the few household members they encountered were easily avoided. Francois had befriended the Vicomte's valet and knew of a back passage to his chamber. It wasn't necessarily secret, but it was known only to a few members of staff and Andy believed it would not be considered a vulnerability.

There had been so many variables and assumptions in the plan, Andy marveled as she and Quynh stood over the sleeping De Marsan.

Andy met Quynh's eyes. She pointed at De Marsan and mimed a strike, then walking and jerked her thumb toward the valet's entrance. Quynh's lips stretched into a savage grin and nodded. She approached the bed and, in a blur of motion, clasped her hand over De Marsan's mouth.

His eyes opened and he had time to guess what was happening. He had almost settled his expression into one of abject terror when Quynh's other hand connected and his features went slack.

Andy stared down through the narrow opening at the sleeping face, her impatience growing.

She banged her sword hilt against the sarcophagus and the man stirred.

She saw a bitter smile briefly light up Quynh's face as he took in his surroundings and comprehension appeared in his eyes.

"Help!" His voice was shrill. "To me! Men!"

"They can't hear you." Quyhn shouted, her steady voice noticeably louder than his.

Her boldness had the desired effect and he looked about desperately but quietly.

"Mercy, mesdames! I beg you. Please, have mercy."

Andy's eyes again sought out Quynh's and found her rage own mirrored in her companion's features.

"You don't ask why you are here." Quynh said.

De Marsan colored.

"Of course, you know why you are here. How could you not know?" Andy's voice shook with rage and she fought to center, trying to better wrangle her emotions.

"Yes, he knows." Quynh leaned closer to the small opening and De Marsan's face. "He is the best of us. He is my boy." Her voice growled in a combination of anguish and rage Andy had never heard before and she stepped back, startled. "You cannot know the love I have for him. I longed for my children and I was blessed with my boys. The young men I could care for and teach and love, that time would never steal from me and you, you stupid arrogant man, you stole him instead. You stole my darling boy and you hurt him. You made him suffer, body and soul. Now you will suffer, body and soul. We will leave you here, buried but alive. No one will hear you. No one will come for you, but you will hope. You will not be able to stop yourself and fruitless hope is the worst torture the fates ever fashioned." She leaned even closer and whispered, "Live long."

She nodded at Andy.

Andy's sword flashed through the opening, stabbing into a nerve cluster and then deftly plucking his left eye from its socket.

"Pain." Quynh announced.

Then she and Andy gripped either side of the heavy lid while De Marsan's eyes widened in horror.

"Suffering." Andy added just before the lid shifted closed with a final, echoing noise.

Their first few steps they could hear his screams and futile pounding but soon the cries faded and Quynh reached for Andy's hand as they made their way free of the mausoleum and the stench of death.