Firstly, I would like to apologise for the time it's taken me to update. You see, just after the last update, we had this huge fight with our service provider.....ie; they made outrageous demands and we told them to stuff it. So, I've spent the last two weeks working on getting online.

So, anyway.......thanks again for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.........

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Nick Boyle was a quick man. In just about everything. It had been drummed in to him as a child, by a volatile, demanding father. He was accustomed to waking quickly, thoughts gathered and reflexes ready, much as he did everything in his life. But on this occasion, after so much interrupted or even absent sleep, he found himself slipping into the waking world, slowly arriving.

His first conscious, semi-coherent thought, was to wonder who had brought Kat to the house. He could hear high pitched laughter from somewhere. As he heard one voice shush the other, they added, "We have to be quiet, we'll wake Nick."

He realised that one of the voices responsible for the laughter he had mistakenly attributed to Kat, was Alex.
It had been so long since he had heard her really let go like that, he hadn't even recognised it was her.

He rubbed his eyes, still heavy from sleep, and looked at the clock. It read a little after three in the afternoon, and Nick was quite suprised that he had slept for so long.

He got up, and headed for the shower. As he turned on the water, he heard the rumble of conversation cease. After a beat, it started up again. He figured that Alex's companion was Rachel, and that she had made it to the house, and was, by the sound of it, catching up with Alex.

'No wonder they sounded like excited little girls.'

He vaguely remembered Alex asking his advice on whether ot not to ask Rachel on a shopping spree.

'Woman," he shrugged. And now talking about him, no doubt. He climbed in the shower, and tried to keep his mind from his concerns, by mentally cataloguing the repair work that had to take place.

After exiting the shower and getting dressed, he paused for a moment. Even though there was no visible threat, every instinct he had was telling him to take his gun. And he usually listened to his instincts. With a sigh, he went to the chest of drawers he'd been keeping his weapons in. Taking a gun, he placed it on top of the cupboard as he reached for his holster. Pulling the elastic strap over one arm, he positioned the holster under the other. And after securing his gun, Nick left the room.


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Downstairs, conversation had indeed resumed.

"So what's the problem, Alex? You've been on edge ever since I got here, waiting for Nick to wake up, and you've mentioned that you have concerns for him. Derek also said that he had begun to worry about the way he was acting lately."

"When?" Alex interrupted.

"Just before he left to go to Napa and visit Ingrid, he called me. Now, I'd like to know what's going on," Rachel said.

Alex sighed, leaning back in the chair she was seated in. It felt lumpy, and.....wrong. Everything did. The carpet under her bare feet, the air that wasn't circulating properly in the dusty old house. The mansion on Angel Island may have been older, but thanks to the efforts of the house staff was warm, free of dust and mold, and to sum it up in one word......home.
This place felt.....off. Also, in the days since she had returned from her trip, Alex had felt a sense of unease, and it was growing exponentially every day.

The two friends were seated in some sort of living room, and had been discussing everything from the latest fashions, to their proposed shopping trip.
But now the conversation was turning serious, and Alex felt a sense of relief at finally being able to share her concerns.

"I don't know Rachel. Maybe he just needs a vacation. But he's not sleeping properly, and he's become obsessed with getting the house security up to code. And he's definitely worried about something."

She hesitated, bowing her head. Rachel imitated the gesture, trying to catch Alex's eye. "What else Alex?"

"At first, I thought that Nick was throwing himself into repairs so that he didn't have to think about stuff. You know, what's gone on in the last year, almost losing Derek, the house being destroyed. But I've....I've been sensing things. Some sort of evil............surrounding not only Nick, but the whole house. It started after I got back from my trip, but I dismissed it as worry over what's going on with Nick. But now....I think something's up. It's feels like........something is on it's way, and I don't know why, but Nick's sensing it too, I'm sure of it. And I'm not sure we're up to dealing with it now. Also, because Derek is away, I believe that Nick feels responsible for us, even more so than usual. Derek made it pretty clear that night according to Nick who he wanted as his choice for the next Precept of the S.F house. I think Nick is feeling pressured to live up to that."

Rachel agreed with Alex's assessment. They both knew that Nick didn't like to let people down, even if he had no control over the situation. If he thought that he could avoid doing so, he would, no matter the personal cost. She would have to discuss it with him. She also knew better than to question Alex's intuition when it came to matters such as this. If she believed that they should be on guard, then they should.
She briefly thought back on something she'd often heard Nick say. "The best defence is a good offence."
If Alex or even Nick had any inkling about what type of evil may be on it's way, they may be able to protect against it.

"Hey, I thought *I* was the trained professional, making the big bucks shrinking people's heads?" she joked, getting the desired smile from Alex. "Do you have idea what type of evil it is, Alex?"

Alex shrugged helplessly. "No idea at all. But if Nick's feeling it, it's for a purpose. It's making itself known. Possibly to throw us off balance. I'm convinced if you'd been here recently, then you would have felt it too."

She hadn't meant it to sound like anything other than an observation, but to Rachel, who even though she would always put her daughter first had felt guilty recently for the lack of time spent with her friends, it sounded like an accusation.

"Hey Alex, I know I haven't been around here lately. And I'm spending all my free time away from my practice with Kat, but Alex......she's my daughter, and -- "

Alex broke in. "No, Rachel, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that if you had been here lately, you would have felt the effects as well. You probably would have picked something up, Kat too."

Alex looked down at her hands. "I don't know. Maybe, I'm just feeling the sorrow I associate with this house.....after all, it's seen it's fair share of tragedy. But....I didn't start feeling this way, until *after* I noticed Nick was acting strangely."

Rachel stood from her perch on the couch, moving over to Alex and patting her on the arm.
"Look, regardless of whether some supernatural force has this house under surveillance, from what you've described, Nick's behaviour is getting unhealthy. It's possible that part of the problem, is that he just needs to talk to someone. You know, get some things off his chest. Maybe that will help shake him out of his mood."

Alex could only look up, feeling doubtful.


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Nick came downstairs to find Rachel in the kitchen. She was moving around, the cordless phone pinned between her shoulder and ear, to keep her hands free. Nick guessed from the aroma coming from her direction, that she was making coffee. His guess was confirmed when she turned, raising the pot, silently asking him if he wanted some. He nodded, smiling gratefully and mouthing the word, "thanks,"before taking a seat at the table. While waiting for Rachel to finish her call, he glanced about the kitchen. With it's high ceiling and wide floor, it was certainly spacious. The counters, appliances and other kitchen essentials took up only minimum space, and didn't really detract from the overall size. It was tastefully decorated, Nick decided, but didn't really create a homey atmosphere. Well, not to *him,* anyway. He briefly wondered when the mansion on Angel Island had become the standards by which he judged *every* building he entered.

He was distracted from his musings by Rachel, who had knocked something off of one of the counter tops, which made a loud clattering sound as it impacted the floor. Muttering "damn" under her breath, she crouched, picking up the offending item and replacing it on the counter.

With his attention focused outward once more, he could hear a faint voice coming from the other end of the phone, and the occasional comment from Rachel.

"Yeah....okay, Derek. Yes, I'm just about to. Okay, we'll see you then Derek. Okay, bye."

She disconnected the call, replacing the receiver, then turning back to the preparation of the coffee.
Nick's eyebrows rose slightly in contemplation. When he had seen that Rachel was on the phone, he had assumed that she would be speaking with David Royce, who she was now in regular contact with. David Royce was still struggling with his new found knowledge of the the supernatural world, that was discovered when the Legacy had encountered him while investigating a case involving a Succubus, that had been finding it's prey in David's area. But Nick thought that he seemed like an okay guy. Rachel obviously liked him, and Nick was glad that they had gotten to know each other.

"That was Derek?"

With a mug of coffee in each hand, Rachel moved to the table, sitting in the chair opposite Nick.

"Yeah, he was calling to say that he might decide to stay a little longer with Ingrid, and not to worry if he does."

She took a sip of her drink, sighing deeply as the hot liquid burned it's way down her throat. Nick smiled at her obvious pleasure.

"Rough day?"

"Not rough day.....rough week. Kat threw a tantrum the other day, 'cause I wouldn't let her stay out at her friends house 'til midnight. So I've been getting the cold shoulder for a week. One of my patients called me for an emergency consultation and was an hour late, then phoned me to say that actually, they didn't need to see me. Which meant that I couldn't pick up my things from the dry cleaners, and to top it all off, it took me ages to get here. The traffic here was terrible. You know, the old house may have been on an island, but it was still easier to get to."
She joined Nick in a small laugh, sipping some more coffee, and using the lull in conversation to take a good look at him. This was their first meeting in a while, and she determined that Derek and Alex had been right in their assessment. He looked tired, wary...... as if guard was up. But that was obvious due to the fact that he was actually carrying his gun with him, holstered by his shoulder. She knew Nick only did that when he thought there was a clear and present threat.

Coming back to her concerns, she thought about a plan of attack, so to speak. He probably knew what she was up to. He always seemed to sense when she wanted to talk, and usually made every effort to get out of it.
Rachel tried to come up with a question that would lead him into a conversation about what was bothering him.
This was her standard way of getting personal information out of the ex SEAL. He had also caught on to this, but sometimes she got lucky, and he would allow the conversation to continue.
But, the majority of the time, he shut down completely and Rachel would have no choice but to give up. For that moment.
Hopefully, this time would be different.

"So.......what's been going on here? I've had the latest gossip from Alex," she admitted with a grin. "But I mean within the Legacy. No....incursions by the Darkside......no overthrowing of the London house.....no pay rises?"

Nick smiled, leaning back in his chair. "No incursions, no over-throwings, at least that *I* was invited to......and are you crazy? Demons, ghosts, ghouls, sure. Even the occasional vampire attack. But......pay rises in this job?"

Rachel chuckled, and Nick continued. "Seriously, nothing much. Tom and Lucy have been on assignment for almost a week now.........they should be back in the next six to eight days. They checked in a few days ago. We've had a few new reports come in. Alex and I have checked through about half. Nothing that would warrant an investigation yet.
As for the house itself, I've been working on updating security. Frankly, I'm suprised something as major as the Horton situation didn't occur sooner. This house had only the most basic of security. And their policies for checking in, you know, so everyone knew where everyone else was? Virtually none existant. Tom filled me in on their procedure......I'm confused as to how Jane Witherspoon, one of the most highly regarded Precepts in the whole Legacy, didn't have a system for that kinda stuff. Derek explained to him and Lucy the check in procedures, so all I have to do is sort out security, so we don't have a major breach." He finished his coffee, putting the cup down on the table. "But then again, our security set up was state of the art, and look what happened to that."
Nick stood, moving to the coffee pot and pouring himself another cup. He offered a refill to Rachel, who declined, frowning slightly at the tone of his voice during his last remark.

"Nick, I'm going to be straight with you. I've had a long chat with Alex, and discussed it with Derek as well. They both admitted to being left with feelings of devastation at the loss of the house, and I believe you have unresolved feelings about it, too. Now, I've suggested they talk to someone about it, whether it be me, or another Legacy professional. And I think you should too." There. It was out. Now to see how he would react.

He turned to her, looking puzzled. "Why? It was just a building," he said, before sitting down and gulping down some of his cooling drink.

"But that's just it Nick. It wasn't *just a building.* It was your home for years, plus you lost just about every possession. Alex didn't want to admit it either, but she realised it was true. We were content to let it slide, because we were so relieved about Derek. But there is also the fact that evil was involved with the destruction. I think it's time to address those feelings now." She waited silently, knowing that patience was needed now.

After a few minutes of staring out of the far window, Nick looked to Rachel.
"Rach, I appreciate the concern. And sure, I'm not exactly happy that my home got blown up. I lost a lot of stuff that I'd have liked to have kept. But, I think the fact that we defeated some serious evil, and managed to escape with our lives, is something to be thankful for."
Seeing that she was less than convinced, he fell back on humour. "Of course, if I *could* do it again, I'd smuggle a few things out first, but you get the picture."

Rachel smiled at his joke, and was about to try and get some more out of him when he straightened, his eyes still on the window behind her. "Nick?"

"Look Rachel, " he said, and pointed behind her.

She stood, looking in the direction of his finger and frowned.

Where only moments before it had been a nice, sunny day, black clouds had invaded, as well as a howling wind. Rain poured from the sky, and Rachel thought she heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.

"What the hell.......?" Nick muttered, the rest of his sentence trailing off. Any comment that Rachel had been about to make in answer was cut off by a sharp cry, followed by a thud, coming from the direction of upstairs.

"Alex," was all Rachel had a chance to say before Nick took off, charging towards the steps that led up to the level where she had left Alex in her bedroom. All Rachel could do, was follow.

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