One can't build little white picket fences to keep nightmares out ~Anne Sexton

Or can you?

CHAPTER 1

Nightmares and Cons

(New Orleans)

The night was one of those soft southern nights often described as sultry. The humidity was up and even after midnight the air was warm enough that she appreciated not having a heartbeat. The air still felt warm as it flowed over her skin but she knew her own body would be slightly cool to the touch.

The boy and his mother had moved shortly after Eliot Spencer killed so many in her sanguinary, and it had taken her a while to find the boy. But found him she had and now she just needed a way to get to him.

She tapped one pointed nail against the window. She could just make out a small form obscured by the curtains. She couldn't help the smile as she whispered "Can't even shout, can't even cry." She tapped against the glass. "Looking in windows, knocking on doors." She tapped again and smiled when she heard the small worried sound the boy made in his sleep. "Can't call to mom, can't say a word." She tapped a few more times and watched the boy squirm.

Digging her fingernails into the lapboard siding she raked grooves into the side of the house as she skipped toward the street. "You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard."

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(Portland)

"Hey El, looks like Julio's on his way to the back door." Hardison was at his computer when his security measures had alerted him. He'd paused his game and slid half of his head set back. "You want me to let him in?"

There was a groan and a wheeze that came from the gym. Eliot and Quinn had been sparring and from the sounds of things Hardison couldn't tell who was winning. Just as Hardison started to push up from his seat, the vent cover above him swung open. Parker slid out and dropped into a handstand on his desk. "Well, hello." He smiled at her upside-down face, and she smiled back.

"I got it. You keep playing with the orc guys." She dropped sideways off of his desk landing on her feet, silent as a cat.

Parker used one of her lines to zip down the stairwell and made it to the back door just in time to open it as Julio raised a hand to knock.

He stared in surprise for a moment. "Uhm, hi."

"Did you want to see Eliot?" She didn't really wait for his answer. "'Cause right now he's kinda sweaty and gross. Him and Quinn are sparring and there's probably blood."

"Uh, well, I guess I'm here to see you. I mean Eliot said that you're the one that plans things…" He was a little thrown off by her blank expression. "For a job I mean. Like the Leverage Inc. kind of jobs."

"Right." Parker squinted at him but stepped back from the door. "Are you and Chrissa in some kind of trouble?"

"Not us. There's several people from our congregation that I think are in trouble."

~~o0o~~

Parker had recognized all of the signs of a Ponzi scam when she'd heard Julio's story. Now she needed Hardison to start tracking the money to see where it would lead and she needed Eliot and Quinn to see if they could work their way in with the mark either as a potential victim or maybe as part of the scammer's crew.

She started running scenarios in her head. She wasn't sure if she was happy or sad that Nate and Sophie had left the week before. It would have been nice to have their grifting skill to hand but it was always hard on her and Nate when it came to running the con. Their styles were different and often it led to tension in the team. If it looked like they really needed the extra help she'd call them but for now it was still too early to tell.

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(New Orleans)

Marie woke with a start. Liam's shrill cry echoed down the hall. She grabbed her bathrobe and slung it on as she hurried down the hall. She paused at Andre's door, but it looked like Liam's screaming hadn't woken his little brother. She was about to knock at Liam's door when he screamed again. She flung the door open and scooped Liam up, blanket and all, and sat down on the bed with Liam in her lap. She rocked him gently, rubbing his back and muttering soothing words as his terror turned to sobbing.

When Liam had disappeared almost two months ago she'd counted it a miracle when he'd been returned to her just a few days later with nothing more than a few scratches and some wild stories. But the miracle had turned to nightmare and she didn't know how to fix things for him.

She had expected him to have nightmares, be moody, even secretive, after what he'd been through. And whatever that was, still wasn't clear to her. She'd taken his pediatrician's advice and put him in therapy with a child psychologist that specialized in dealing with traumatic events.

At first it seemed like things were going really well. He'd told her and his therapist about vampires and werewolves and it was clear he had quite the case of hero worship going for Mr. Baker. He'd slept at night and was doing fine in school. He'd been scared of the neighbor's house for a while but they'd moved only two weeks after he'd come home and he'd seemed to really settle in at their new house. But a few weeks ago the nightmares had started and then the trouble at school that got him suspended and now even the therapist was recommending extra sessions.

She cooed and rocked and rubbed Liam's back until he'd settled. She could tell from the taught line of his back that he was nowhere near relaxed but at least the terror had subsided. "Alright baby, you wanna tell me what happened?"

"You gotta call Eliot!" He clung to her bathrobe and hiccupped his way into another sob.

"I told you baby, Mr. Baker doesn't live anywhere near here. He can't be comin' down here just at the drop of a hat." She rocked him and patted his back.

"It's not just a hat!" His arm shot out and he pointed at the window. "The vampires are back."

She knew when she pulled the curtain back there would be nothing there, like the last several times. "There's no one there Liam. It was just a scary dream." She pulled the curtain to the side and gasped as she staggered back, away from the window. There wasn't anyone there but it was obvious that someone had been. Someone had drawn an angry face on the window. The image was smeary but there was just enough light, from the city's security light on the street, that it couldn't be missed. As if to mock her, a trickle of whatever had been used, ran down the window from one of the cartoonish vampire fangs that had been added to the angry face.

"Now can we call Eliot?" Liam moved from the bed to hold his mother's hand.

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(Portland)

"Hardison!" Eliot called as he headed up the stairs from the restaurant.

"What?" Hardison was madly typing something and didn't turn around as Eliot came into the loft.

"Did Parker make it out? Is she clear?"

Hardison turned at the panicked tone in Eliot's voice. "Yes she's fine." He could see Eliot's right eye was beginning to swell shut and it looked like his nose had been broken again.

Eliot closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

"You really didn't know?" Hardison went to the freezer for an icepack.

"My earbud got knocked out and I couldn't pick up her scent after my nose got busted." He gratefully accepted the icepack but hissed at the sting as he held it to his eye.

"Was it Quinn that broke your nose?"

"No. He got a couple of my ribs and the eye. It was the other goon that got my nose." Eliot followed Hardison back to the computer.

Hardison looked Eliot over one more time as he sat down in front of his keyboard.

"Where is Parker?"

"She's on her way back." Hardison pointed at the blinking dot that showed Parker's location. "Should be here any minute."

"Have you heard from Quinn?"

"He's still got his earbud in. I asked him if he was okay, and he tapped OG. I think he meant OK."

"Who knew he'd never used Morse code before." Eliot started to shake his head but stopped with a wince.

When they'd gone over the plan yesterday, they'd found out that Quinn didn't know Morse code. At first, they'd thought he was joking but he made it clear that he'd never used it before. Hardison had worked with him but there hadn't been much time.

Both men turned at the sound of footsteps hurrying up the stairs. Parker rushed through the door and stopped in front of Eliot. "How bad is it? It looked bad."

"I'll be okay." He pulled her into a brief hug before directing her to Hardison.

"Quinn?" She asked as she hugged Hardison.

"They bought it. He's doing fine as far as the con goes." Hardison sat back in his computer chair.

"I didn't get the files. So we'll have to wait for the next opportunity."

~~o0o~~

Eliot stopped by Julio's the next morning. Since he'd been attending church there a little more regularly no one would find it strange so even if word got back to their mark that Eliot was talking with Julio there shouldn't be any suspicions raised.

Eliot knocked lightly on the door. "Julio?"

Chrissa opened the door and stared in shock for a moment. "Oh my! Are you okay?" She started to reach a hand out but Eliot caught it before she could touch his face.

"I'll be fine." He gave her a half smile since the other half of his face was still slightly puffy underneath all the bruising. "Is Julio here?"

"Yes." She stepped to the side. "Come in. Come in."

She kept glancing at him as she walked with him up the stairs. Inside their apartment she waived him to a chair. "Can I get you something to drink, or maybe ice for your face?"

"It's not as bad as it looks." Eliot smiled again.

"I hope not because it looks worse than bad."

"What looks worse than bad?" Julio asked as he came into the room. He was drying his hair with a towel and hadn't really seen Eliot yet.

"La cara de tu amigo parece hamburguesa." Chrissa poured a cup of coffee and brought it to Eliot.

"Es solo una pequeña decoración" Eliot took the cup from her.

"Eliot speaks Spanish almost as good as we do, amor." Julio kissed Chrissa on the cheek and moved to sit at the table with Eliot.

"I know." She patted Eliot on the shoulder. "I didn't mean to be rude. But it's true, your face looks like hamburger." She sat at the table with the men.

Julio ran a finger down his face to indicate the bruising on Eliot's face. "So if it's only decoration, who's supposed to see it?"

"We found the guy that's been scamming folks. You were right when you went to Parker. Looks like a variation of a Ponzi scheme. We're working on finding the money but so far they're being pretty smart and they're keeping transactions in cash and running actual books instead of keeping things on a computer." Eliot sipped the coffee.

"What does that have to do with you getting beaten?" Julio frowned.

"We tried to get the files. Parker needed a distraction and it help solidify Quinn's place with our mark." Eliot went to push his hair back from his face but winced as his fingers ran over a tender spot.

"I thought werewolves heal supernaturally fast?" Julio looked over Eliot's face again.

"We can. Parker is helping me stop the healing process. Just in case someone with a connection to our mark sees me, we don't want word to get back that Quinn doesn't hit as hard as he says he does."

"And does he hit as hard as he says he does?" Julio smirked.

"Harder." Eliot looked pleased.

"So other than showing off your bruises in the neighborhood, what brought you by today?" Chrissa patted his hand.

"You know the money that Nate was helping you invest?" Eliot set the coffee mug to the side. "We want you to give it to our mark."

Julio and Chrissa both frowned at him.

"We'll actually be covering the money aspect, but Hardison wants to make it look like you pulled all of that money so that you could invest it in the scam." Eliot shifted the cup side to side. "I was supposed to be the one that brought in the big investment but we had to change things at the last second." Eliot grimaced.

"Why?" Chrissa asked and clarified when she saw the look on Eliot's face. "Why a big investment I mean? Not why did you have to change things."

"All the money has been smaller cash transactions. We can't track cash. We need them to give us something to follow." Their mark was using several accounts and all of the transactions Hardison had been able to find weren't meaningful. They hoped that with a large transaction they'd finally have a trail to where all of the money was really ending up.

"Whatever we can do to help." Julio patted Eliot's shoulder. "I'm guessing you can't show your face there again or they're gonna try to finish the job. Am I right?"

"We can probably use Hardison." Eliot looked thoughtful. "The scammers haven't seen him yet."

"Let me do it." Julio volunteered.

Chrissa looked worried but didn't say anything.

"Are you sure?" Eliot knew it would be easier on the con if Hardison wasn't seen. Especially if their mark figured out who Eliot was and who he worked with.

Because the scam had been targeting only locals and only people in Julio's neighborhood the team had assumed that there was a good chance that they might be recognized. Quinn was new enough to the area that they'd gambled on no one recognizing him and so far that had paid off. Parker had used one of Sophie's wigs and with some clothing enhancements and some make up she'd been able to pass herself off as someone else but they were running out of players. And the big investment coming from someone well known in the neighborhood would help add legitimacy to the con.

"On one condition." Chrissa added.

"With Quinn on the inside and the rest of us close by, we'll do our best to keep Julio safe." Eliot knew he couldn't absolutely promise that nothing would happen but he would do his best to see that nothing did.

"I already knew you would. No, the condition is that you go home and let your poor face heal up. Now that you've paraded it through the neighborhood it's time to let yourself heal like you should." Chrissa patted Eliot's hand.

Eliot caught her fingers and gave them a squeeze. "Yes ma'am." Eliot got up and put his coffee cup in the sink. "Hardison or Parker will call you soon and get things squared away."

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"Mr. Baker?"

Eliot glanced at the caller ID again. It wasn't a number he recognized but the area code said it was from Louisiana. "Who is this?" He checked the time on his watch. He needed to start the women's self-defense class in just a few minutes. Most of the women that regularly took the class were already there but now and again there were a few stragglers.

"This is Marie Roehl, Liam's mom."

Liam's name snapped Eliot's attention back to the phone call. "What can I do for you Marie? Are you guys okay?"

"Uhm well,"

Eliot wished he was there in person for this. He could tell from her tone and the way she was gathering her thoughts that she was worried or upset, but over the phone that was all he had to go off of. He couldn't see her to pick up on body language, and he couldn't smell her to get an accurate reading of what she was really feeling. It left him feeling blind.

"It's okay Marie. Whatever it is you can just tell me and we'll figure it out." Eliot waved at Charlie and indicated that she should get the women started.

"Liam isn't doing well. I mean he's not sick or anything but he's been having trouble, nightmares, behavioral stuff at school, and …"

Eliot waited but it was obvious that this was going to require coaxing. "And something else happened?"

"There was a face, a cartoon face, like a vampire sorta, that was painted on Liam's window last night. I called the police but…"

"But they think it's just a prank?" That wasn't surprising. While a few police officers might take something like that seriously it was likely that most would just think it was a prank and nothing more.

"Yes. I wasn't going to call you, but Liam's been in a state all day. It's like he's living in one of his nightmares. He keeps asking for you. I know you can't come down here but I was hoping… Maybe you could talk with him on the phone?"

"Can you put him on the phone now?"

"Eliot?" Liam sounded unsure.

"Hey buddy." Eliot closed his eyes to focus in on what he was hearing. "Sounds like things have been pretty scary lately."

"The vampires are back!"

"What makes you think they're back?"

"There's been kids at school that aren't really kids and one of them told me Missy is going to… She's going to…"

"It's okay. Is it just the kids at school or is there more?" The name 'Missy' had sent a chill down his spine and that alone was enough to make him believe that the vampires were back but it would be good to know what else was going on. Eliot tapped a quick text to Hardison. 'get me on next flight to Louisiana.'

"She's been talking to me through the window."

"Missy has?"

"But when I wake up, she's gone."

Eliot wasn't sure what Liam meant but he could clearly hear how scared the boy was.

"She said I'm gonna die."

Eliot could hear the whimper that Liam tried to hide. "Can you be brave for just a little while longer?"

"How long?"

"I'll be there tomorrow. Okay buddy?"

"No! The vampires come out at night! They'll get us!"

"Hey! It's gonna be okay. I promise I won't let the vampires get you." Eliot did his best to reassure Liam but he imagined that over the phone there wasn't much hope of that.

"But they're back and... and…"

There was a shuffling sound and then Marie's voice was back on the phone. "I'm sorry he's just too upset."

"Marie, I need you to listen to me." He waited a second but she didn't interrupt. "I need you to do some things for me. Some of it might sound strange but it's important."

"O-okay?"

Eliot glanced at his watch. Six o'clock Portland time made it eight at night in New Orleans. "Is it dark already there?"

"Pretty much. Why?"

"I need you to stay in the house. Are both of your boys with you?"

"Yes. How did you know about Andre?"

"Liam talked about his little brother when I found him." Eliot glanced at the text message that just came in on his phone. "You need to keep both boys with you tonight. Is there a room in your house that doesn't have windows?"

"No. All of the rooms have windows." Marie spoke quietly. "Mr. Baker you're starting to scare me. What do you think is going on here?"

"Liam is right, the vampires are back. If you're a believer keep a cross with you. The cross will only work if you have real faith though. I know this all sounds crazy but I'm asking you to trust me for just one night. I'm going to text you a name and number. If something happens before dawn you call Ms. Theodosia Theriot."

"Okay but…"

"Just promise me you'll call her if anything happens."

"Okay."

"I'll be there tomorrow, and I'll give you a full explanation then."

"I'll be interested in hearing that."

"See you tomorrow." Eliot hung up. He pulled up the text message and looked at it again. Hardison had gotten him on an eleven o'clock flight. He glanced at the women that were stretching and laughing together on the other side of the gym. He wanted to be on the flight now, he wanted to be there to do something about the threat, but there was no way that he could be there tonight. He felt a push of cheerfulness come from Parker and with a little smile he tried to send her gratitude.

"Alright ladies, line up over here and we'll get started!" Eliot clapped his hands as he crossed the floor mats.

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AN: The rhyme that Missy quotes at the start of the chapter is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode Hush. I've never seen that episode but the rhyme suited my purposes.