Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews!!
Hope you enjoy the next instalment, cos It'll be a while before I can next update. I go on exam leave next week for my Standard Grades, so wish me luck! Anyway, it could be a month, or more, before I get the chance to continue with this.
Silvercross: I was already planning to rope in Kate Lockley! So read on to find out more!
Adsh: You may not find this a plausible crossover, and you're entitled to your own opinion. But I didn't start writing this story because I thought it was plausible, I wrote for my own - and other's - enjoyment.
Chapter 8: Revelations
Jesse Travis gingerly planted his small frame down on one of the chairs in the old hotel foyer. His face was lit up with a fascinated smile as he surveyed his surroundings. The old hotel was certainly interesting; it looked as if it had many stories to tell. He had a large sports bag beside him on the couch, containing various changes of clothes. He patted it softly, thinking about the risk he was taking by letting these people that he hardly knew, take care of him.
He felt a little out of place, Kealy had left, returning to Community General, to ease the fears of his friends. That's if they even had fears! He allowed this tiny thought to slip into his mind, then immediately felt bad.
"I must say" he said loudly, trying to break the ice, and the uncomfortable silence "I wouldn't have guessed that you guys'd live in a place like this!"
"What, too grand for us or something?" Gunn joked, knowing that he and Jesse were going to get along.
Jesse laughed easily, feeling his misgivings melt away. He felt more relaxed now in their company, a thought that almost made him feel guilty as he remembered the friends that he had left behind. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about what had happened the night before, was he angry with them? Or angry with himself?
"You want a beer?" Gunn asked, beginning to feel more at ease himself. Jesse answered that he would, and so they both cracked open a bottle and started to chat about sport.
Typical males, thought Cordelia, as she sat behind the old reception desk and rested her chin on her hand. She'd really wanted Jesse to come, but if all he was going to do was talk to Gunn about Football. . .
Eventually though, conversation moved back towards it's rightful subject. "So, have you guys got anywhere with Seville?" Jesse asked, draining the last of his beer and setting it down on the floor.
"Well there isn't really much we can do until it gets dark" Wesley answered him. At Jesse's puzzled face, he continued, "Angel is a vampire, vampires can't go out during the day"
"Ohh! I get it! So why can't you do some research?" Jesse persisted.
"Give us a break!" Cordelia jumped in, "That's just about all we have been doing! There's nothing on James Seville, not anywhere!"
"Besides" said Doyle, entering the room having heard the change in conversation topics, "Angel might have an idea when he wakes up, but as for us, well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we haven't got a clue"
"So what do we do now?" Jesse asked, he was back to his usual self, all sedatives having long worn off, and was desperate for some action.
"We wait!" The rest of them said simultaneously.
"Okay, okay!"
* * * *
Mark, Steve, Amanda and Jack were all sitting in their regular home-away- from-home, the doctor's lounge. All were ashen faced, they didn't know where Jesse had gone; all they knew was that he had checked himself out, but not why, or where he was now.
"I'd have said, like before; with Perris Pharmaceuticals, that he would have gone back to the place where everything started, but, well it's obvious that he's not here in Community General, and really that's where it all started" Steve clutched at straws.
"If you discount the whole Rome thing!" Jack tried to lighten the mood.
"Let's face it" said Amanda hopelessly, "we scared him off, and now we don't have a clue where he is" She felt like a failure. Even if she didn't believe a word of Jesse's story, she felt terrible for dismissing it as if he was making it up out of jealousy. Maybe he truly believed it was true, in which case he wasn't actually lying to them, just like he wasn't before with Perris Pharmaceuticals. When she thought about how he must have felt. . .
"Maybe he'll call us" Mark said, desperately trying to remain optimistic.
They were interrupted by a figure at the door.
"Kealy!" Steve exclaimed, jumping up and rushing towards her, "Where is he? Is he safe?" Kealy looked slightly startled, though not altogether surprised, as if she had expected an interrogation. She paused noticeably.
"Well?" Steve said impatiently.
"Yes he's safe, but as for where he is. . .I'm afraid I can't tell you" She answered quietly.
All hell broke loose.
"Why can't you tell us!" Steve shouted, his face reddening in frustration.
"You can't or you won't?" Mark questioned her, his obvious concern forcing his rationality over the edge. Kealy backed away, frightened by the sheer ferocity of the father and son duo.
"Come on Kealy!" Amanda tried to reason with her, "We're his friends, we care about him! You can tell us!"
"No, I can't. And Mark, it's not that I won't, it really isn't! It's just that, this is a CIA operation!" Well, it was partly true! "And it could mean jeopardising his safety! You understand don't you? I came to tell you that he's okay, he's with people that will keep him safe" Kealy tried her best to dampen their fears.
"Tell me," Mark asked, as calmly as he could, "Is he with that group of people?" He'd hit the nail on the head as usual, "The ones that were there on that first night?"
Kealy's face betrayed her.
"You mean that you let him into the care of those dangerous people?" Mark erupted.
"They're not dangerous! They saved his life!" Kealy desperately tried to defend them.
"So Jesse says, but he was seriously injured, can you really trust his judgement? How can you be sure that he didn't get things a little mixed up?"
"I don't have to listen to this! I've done all I came to do here!" She turned to leave, "Oh, and Steve? Don't bother trying to follow me" she said, knowing that Steve had been preparing himself to do just that,"I have CIA backup and I'm not afraid to use it!" With that she swept out of the room, leaving it's occupants spellbound.
* * * *
Agent Vaughn had been working closely with Delta 5, doing research. He hadn't come up with much in the way of demons, but he had found something interesting - something he wasn't quite ready to share with Delta 5 yet. The first person he called was Kealy.
Kealy had been so excited to hear from Vaughn that she agreed to meet him immediately. He had suggested Community General, his reason being that he could offer proof to Mark, Amanda, Steve and Jack. He had found a person whom they were bound to relate with, someone who knew a lot about demons and had had plenty of experiences with them, but most importantly, a believer.
* * * *
"Dr. Sloan, Dr. Bentley, Dr. Stewart and Lieutenant Sloan, this is Detective Kate Lockley, she's also from the LAPD, but from a different precinct" Vaughn introduced the pretty, blond detective to each of them in turn. Her suspicious blue eyes scanned the room, taking these new people in.
This was totally weird, first being contacted by the CIA and then being dragged along to meet some doctors. . .She smiled in greeting, feeling slightly less self-conscious, looking at Mark Sloan's gentle eyes made her feel at ease.
"So Detective, would you like to tell these people your story. . ." Vaughn encouraged delicately, as if Kate was about to break into pieces.
Kate waited a few moments until her resolve had settled, then said, "I assume you know what this is about?"
Mark, Steve, Jack and Amanda nodded. Sure, they hadn't exactly been told why Kate Lockley was here, but why else would she be?
"Okay, well it all started a few years ago when I was working undercover in a bar in downtown LA. I met this really strange guy, he was tall, and brooding with this huge dark leather coat. . .there was just something about him. . ."
Mark and Steve glanced at each other as they recognised this description of the man as the same one who had been there the night of Jesse's attack. Both were sure that this woman's story was going to be crucial to the case.
When Kate got to the part of her story where she discovered Angel's real species, Steve stood up in complete disbelief, cutting her short. "This is the same bull that Jess was spouting! Do you really expect us to believe that? Vampires?"
But Kate remained calm, How often had she come up against this in the LAPD? This was no different. "God, Agent Vaughn said you'd be hard to please" she muttered softly, and then said, "Lieutenant Sloan, I'm a police officer, you've seen my badge and deemed it to be real. What possible reason could I have for making something like this up? I'm on my way to being dropped from the force because of this! I couldn't let it go after I found out about Angel, and then after what happened to my father. . . I promise that this is the truth"
She seemed so sincere that Steve sat back down slowly, "Okay, I'm not saying I believe this, but I'll hear you out" True to his word, Steve did not say a word until Kate had finished telling all she knew.
Around the room was confusion. Mark, who made a point of always looking for rational answers to everything, found he could not reason this out. He could see no reason for this woman to lie, yet he just couldn't believe what she was saying. Couldn't, or wouldn't, he asked himself, was he stopping himself from believing?
Amanda felt the same. This woman, Kate Lockley sounded very convincing, there was no doubt about it, but Amanda had never believed in the paranormal, she didn't know if she could now.
Jack was barely taking all of this in, he'd come to LA to visit his old friends, found out that someone had basically replaced him, and got caught up in the weirdest mystery that he had ever been involved in. He didn't know Jesse, so he wasn't able to tell if he was lying or telling the truth. Kate Lockley seemed genuine, plus she was also cute! It was the firm conviction in the woman's voice which called out to him that she was telling the truth. He's always prided himself on being an excellent judge of character.
Steve, being a high-ranking police officer, was good at being able to detect a liar. In his professional opinion, either this woman was serious, or she was one hell of an actress. He honestly didn't know, but like his father, he didn't know if his stubborn streak was holding him back from actually going out on a limb and believing in what the female Detective was saying.
Kealy was sitting in the background, watching the four of them. She knew that they were thinking deeply about what they had just heard, but she also knew that it wasn't enough. They would need something more. And she knew exactly what that would be, but could she tell them? She could just leave out the part about Delta 5 and tell them the rest, couldn't she? How much damage could it do? She looked at Vaughn, knowing that he knew what she was thinking. Her eyes pleaded with him. He shook his head no, but this time Kealy wasn't going to stand for it.
"Vaughn, can I speak with you outside?" She asked him softly, but so that everyone heard. She marched out into the corridor, not waiting to find out if he was even following her. He had though.
"Kealy if this is about Delta 5, then we've been over this!" Vaughn tried once more to lay down the law. His brows furrowed in a deep grave frown.
"Vaughn, need I remind you that you brought Kate Lockley here without telling Delta 5? Before they even knew of her existence? If you can do that, then why can't you tell them about the evidence we found? You don't have to mention Delta 5 at all!" Kealy was desperate; she had to convince Vaughn that it was the right thing to do.
He paused for a while. Kealy could see how difficult this was for him. His finger ran up and down the bridge of his nose, as it always did when he was so absorbed.
"Okay" he said finally. Kealy was so elated that she almost hugged him.
"Thanks Vaughn!"
"You're welcome! But you owe me big time!"
"Okay, okay! Let's go back inside" She said impatiently, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him inside. They were met with very curious stares.
"I'll leave you to explain this one Vaughn, since you obviously know more about it than I do" Kealy directed everyone's attention to her colleague.
But Vaughn was having none of it. "Oh no Kealy! You want them to know, so you are going to tell them!" He shot her a quick glance which was full of meaning. If his eyes could have spoken to her they would have said "Be careful what you say"
"What is this about?" Mark asked, he could see that there was evidently something going on between the two agents.
"Yeah!" Steve piped up, "If you have some new information about this case, then spill!"
"It's not quite as simple as that" Kealy was choosing her words very carefully. "what I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, understood?"
Everyone nodded, Kate Lockley included. If there was something she didn't know about demons then she was happy to be enlightened. She had, after all, spent the past few years demon hunting.
The room grew silent as Kealy began to talk. Nervously at first, but then growing in confidence. She told them about the sword that had been recovered after Jesse's attack, about how Jesse's blood had been identified on the shaft. Everybody was enraptured as she spoke, completely in her power, desperate to know what she knew.
"The CIA had the sword checked out, naturally, to see if the finger prints of Jesse's attacked could be detected on the hilt. Well, we did find something, but it certainly wasn't what we expected to find. On the hilt we found some cells, and they weren't human, in fact they weren't part of any species known to exist on this planet."
The room was filled with a stunned silence. Mark, Steve and Amanda could not accept what they had just heard. It was true, all of it was true! Jesse hadn't been lying, he hadn't made it all up! And they hadn't believed him.
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Mark said, his voice laden with shock, "Does Jesse know?"
"Yes he knows" Vaughn stepped in, knowing that Kealy was exhausted. "And the reason that she didn't tell you was because I wouldn't let her. This information is extremely confidential, you have no idea how may laws I'm breaking by even letting you know about this!"
"Then why tell us now" Amanda said. She was very worried about Mark, he looked as if he had aged ten years, and he was very pale. Steve also was a cause for concern. He hadn't said a word. Demons walked the earth! It couldn't get much worse than that!
"Because. . .I don't know, it just seemed right! I felt that you were all trustworthy. I hope I wasn't wrong"
Steve stood suddenly, and moved swiftly towards the door.
"Steve!" Mark yelled, "Where are you going?"
Steve stopped short and turned to face the room. It pained him greatly to do so. "I-I need some time alone Dad"
"Steve you can't run away all the time! You need to stay and discuss this!" Mark grew frantic.
"I can't Dad. I just can't! Oh, and Agent Vaughn? You don't need to worry about me telling anyone about this. I've already failed Jesse once, I don't want to repeat that!" He slammed the door after him, leaving behind him a caved in world.
* * * *
"AGAIN?" James Seville roared at the two lawyers. "You mean to tell me that you failed again?"
They could do nothing more than answer "Yes" stiffly. Trying not to let their fear become evident to this mountain of a man. "Please, just give us one more chance!" Lindsay Macdonald pleaded.
"Give me one reason!" Seville could feel his anger simmering inside of him.
The nerve of these people!
"We'll let you have full control!" Lindsay said earnestly, "Where else are you going to find the, uh, "resources" that we can offer? You tell us exactly what you want done, and we'll do it!"
"Hmm" Seville thought for a moment, "You do have a point, I won't be able to find anyone else who deals in demons and vampires who'd be willing to do my bidding! All right! But I'm to have full control, and we'll discuss payment later"
The relief between the two lawyers was palpable. They couldn't believe they'd just secured a deal like this!
"Right, now where to start!" Seville relished the chance of being in control once more, he rooted around in a large briefcase before bringing out a large photograph. He turned it around slowly, so that the lawyers could see it. "Bring me this man!" He announced, pointing to the man in the picture. "His name is Lieutenant Steve Sloan"
To be continued. . .
Hope you enjoy the next instalment, cos It'll be a while before I can next update. I go on exam leave next week for my Standard Grades, so wish me luck! Anyway, it could be a month, or more, before I get the chance to continue with this.
Silvercross: I was already planning to rope in Kate Lockley! So read on to find out more!
Adsh: You may not find this a plausible crossover, and you're entitled to your own opinion. But I didn't start writing this story because I thought it was plausible, I wrote for my own - and other's - enjoyment.
Chapter 8: Revelations
Jesse Travis gingerly planted his small frame down on one of the chairs in the old hotel foyer. His face was lit up with a fascinated smile as he surveyed his surroundings. The old hotel was certainly interesting; it looked as if it had many stories to tell. He had a large sports bag beside him on the couch, containing various changes of clothes. He patted it softly, thinking about the risk he was taking by letting these people that he hardly knew, take care of him.
He felt a little out of place, Kealy had left, returning to Community General, to ease the fears of his friends. That's if they even had fears! He allowed this tiny thought to slip into his mind, then immediately felt bad.
"I must say" he said loudly, trying to break the ice, and the uncomfortable silence "I wouldn't have guessed that you guys'd live in a place like this!"
"What, too grand for us or something?" Gunn joked, knowing that he and Jesse were going to get along.
Jesse laughed easily, feeling his misgivings melt away. He felt more relaxed now in their company, a thought that almost made him feel guilty as he remembered the friends that he had left behind. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about what had happened the night before, was he angry with them? Or angry with himself?
"You want a beer?" Gunn asked, beginning to feel more at ease himself. Jesse answered that he would, and so they both cracked open a bottle and started to chat about sport.
Typical males, thought Cordelia, as she sat behind the old reception desk and rested her chin on her hand. She'd really wanted Jesse to come, but if all he was going to do was talk to Gunn about Football. . .
Eventually though, conversation moved back towards it's rightful subject. "So, have you guys got anywhere with Seville?" Jesse asked, draining the last of his beer and setting it down on the floor.
"Well there isn't really much we can do until it gets dark" Wesley answered him. At Jesse's puzzled face, he continued, "Angel is a vampire, vampires can't go out during the day"
"Ohh! I get it! So why can't you do some research?" Jesse persisted.
"Give us a break!" Cordelia jumped in, "That's just about all we have been doing! There's nothing on James Seville, not anywhere!"
"Besides" said Doyle, entering the room having heard the change in conversation topics, "Angel might have an idea when he wakes up, but as for us, well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we haven't got a clue"
"So what do we do now?" Jesse asked, he was back to his usual self, all sedatives having long worn off, and was desperate for some action.
"We wait!" The rest of them said simultaneously.
"Okay, okay!"
* * * *
Mark, Steve, Amanda and Jack were all sitting in their regular home-away- from-home, the doctor's lounge. All were ashen faced, they didn't know where Jesse had gone; all they knew was that he had checked himself out, but not why, or where he was now.
"I'd have said, like before; with Perris Pharmaceuticals, that he would have gone back to the place where everything started, but, well it's obvious that he's not here in Community General, and really that's where it all started" Steve clutched at straws.
"If you discount the whole Rome thing!" Jack tried to lighten the mood.
"Let's face it" said Amanda hopelessly, "we scared him off, and now we don't have a clue where he is" She felt like a failure. Even if she didn't believe a word of Jesse's story, she felt terrible for dismissing it as if he was making it up out of jealousy. Maybe he truly believed it was true, in which case he wasn't actually lying to them, just like he wasn't before with Perris Pharmaceuticals. When she thought about how he must have felt. . .
"Maybe he'll call us" Mark said, desperately trying to remain optimistic.
They were interrupted by a figure at the door.
"Kealy!" Steve exclaimed, jumping up and rushing towards her, "Where is he? Is he safe?" Kealy looked slightly startled, though not altogether surprised, as if she had expected an interrogation. She paused noticeably.
"Well?" Steve said impatiently.
"Yes he's safe, but as for where he is. . .I'm afraid I can't tell you" She answered quietly.
All hell broke loose.
"Why can't you tell us!" Steve shouted, his face reddening in frustration.
"You can't or you won't?" Mark questioned her, his obvious concern forcing his rationality over the edge. Kealy backed away, frightened by the sheer ferocity of the father and son duo.
"Come on Kealy!" Amanda tried to reason with her, "We're his friends, we care about him! You can tell us!"
"No, I can't. And Mark, it's not that I won't, it really isn't! It's just that, this is a CIA operation!" Well, it was partly true! "And it could mean jeopardising his safety! You understand don't you? I came to tell you that he's okay, he's with people that will keep him safe" Kealy tried her best to dampen their fears.
"Tell me," Mark asked, as calmly as he could, "Is he with that group of people?" He'd hit the nail on the head as usual, "The ones that were there on that first night?"
Kealy's face betrayed her.
"You mean that you let him into the care of those dangerous people?" Mark erupted.
"They're not dangerous! They saved his life!" Kealy desperately tried to defend them.
"So Jesse says, but he was seriously injured, can you really trust his judgement? How can you be sure that he didn't get things a little mixed up?"
"I don't have to listen to this! I've done all I came to do here!" She turned to leave, "Oh, and Steve? Don't bother trying to follow me" she said, knowing that Steve had been preparing himself to do just that,"I have CIA backup and I'm not afraid to use it!" With that she swept out of the room, leaving it's occupants spellbound.
* * * *
Agent Vaughn had been working closely with Delta 5, doing research. He hadn't come up with much in the way of demons, but he had found something interesting - something he wasn't quite ready to share with Delta 5 yet. The first person he called was Kealy.
Kealy had been so excited to hear from Vaughn that she agreed to meet him immediately. He had suggested Community General, his reason being that he could offer proof to Mark, Amanda, Steve and Jack. He had found a person whom they were bound to relate with, someone who knew a lot about demons and had had plenty of experiences with them, but most importantly, a believer.
* * * *
"Dr. Sloan, Dr. Bentley, Dr. Stewart and Lieutenant Sloan, this is Detective Kate Lockley, she's also from the LAPD, but from a different precinct" Vaughn introduced the pretty, blond detective to each of them in turn. Her suspicious blue eyes scanned the room, taking these new people in.
This was totally weird, first being contacted by the CIA and then being dragged along to meet some doctors. . .She smiled in greeting, feeling slightly less self-conscious, looking at Mark Sloan's gentle eyes made her feel at ease.
"So Detective, would you like to tell these people your story. . ." Vaughn encouraged delicately, as if Kate was about to break into pieces.
Kate waited a few moments until her resolve had settled, then said, "I assume you know what this is about?"
Mark, Steve, Jack and Amanda nodded. Sure, they hadn't exactly been told why Kate Lockley was here, but why else would she be?
"Okay, well it all started a few years ago when I was working undercover in a bar in downtown LA. I met this really strange guy, he was tall, and brooding with this huge dark leather coat. . .there was just something about him. . ."
Mark and Steve glanced at each other as they recognised this description of the man as the same one who had been there the night of Jesse's attack. Both were sure that this woman's story was going to be crucial to the case.
When Kate got to the part of her story where she discovered Angel's real species, Steve stood up in complete disbelief, cutting her short. "This is the same bull that Jess was spouting! Do you really expect us to believe that? Vampires?"
But Kate remained calm, How often had she come up against this in the LAPD? This was no different. "God, Agent Vaughn said you'd be hard to please" she muttered softly, and then said, "Lieutenant Sloan, I'm a police officer, you've seen my badge and deemed it to be real. What possible reason could I have for making something like this up? I'm on my way to being dropped from the force because of this! I couldn't let it go after I found out about Angel, and then after what happened to my father. . . I promise that this is the truth"
She seemed so sincere that Steve sat back down slowly, "Okay, I'm not saying I believe this, but I'll hear you out" True to his word, Steve did not say a word until Kate had finished telling all she knew.
Around the room was confusion. Mark, who made a point of always looking for rational answers to everything, found he could not reason this out. He could see no reason for this woman to lie, yet he just couldn't believe what she was saying. Couldn't, or wouldn't, he asked himself, was he stopping himself from believing?
Amanda felt the same. This woman, Kate Lockley sounded very convincing, there was no doubt about it, but Amanda had never believed in the paranormal, she didn't know if she could now.
Jack was barely taking all of this in, he'd come to LA to visit his old friends, found out that someone had basically replaced him, and got caught up in the weirdest mystery that he had ever been involved in. He didn't know Jesse, so he wasn't able to tell if he was lying or telling the truth. Kate Lockley seemed genuine, plus she was also cute! It was the firm conviction in the woman's voice which called out to him that she was telling the truth. He's always prided himself on being an excellent judge of character.
Steve, being a high-ranking police officer, was good at being able to detect a liar. In his professional opinion, either this woman was serious, or she was one hell of an actress. He honestly didn't know, but like his father, he didn't know if his stubborn streak was holding him back from actually going out on a limb and believing in what the female Detective was saying.
Kealy was sitting in the background, watching the four of them. She knew that they were thinking deeply about what they had just heard, but she also knew that it wasn't enough. They would need something more. And she knew exactly what that would be, but could she tell them? She could just leave out the part about Delta 5 and tell them the rest, couldn't she? How much damage could it do? She looked at Vaughn, knowing that he knew what she was thinking. Her eyes pleaded with him. He shook his head no, but this time Kealy wasn't going to stand for it.
"Vaughn, can I speak with you outside?" She asked him softly, but so that everyone heard. She marched out into the corridor, not waiting to find out if he was even following her. He had though.
"Kealy if this is about Delta 5, then we've been over this!" Vaughn tried once more to lay down the law. His brows furrowed in a deep grave frown.
"Vaughn, need I remind you that you brought Kate Lockley here without telling Delta 5? Before they even knew of her existence? If you can do that, then why can't you tell them about the evidence we found? You don't have to mention Delta 5 at all!" Kealy was desperate; she had to convince Vaughn that it was the right thing to do.
He paused for a while. Kealy could see how difficult this was for him. His finger ran up and down the bridge of his nose, as it always did when he was so absorbed.
"Okay" he said finally. Kealy was so elated that she almost hugged him.
"Thanks Vaughn!"
"You're welcome! But you owe me big time!"
"Okay, okay! Let's go back inside" She said impatiently, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him inside. They were met with very curious stares.
"I'll leave you to explain this one Vaughn, since you obviously know more about it than I do" Kealy directed everyone's attention to her colleague.
But Vaughn was having none of it. "Oh no Kealy! You want them to know, so you are going to tell them!" He shot her a quick glance which was full of meaning. If his eyes could have spoken to her they would have said "Be careful what you say"
"What is this about?" Mark asked, he could see that there was evidently something going on between the two agents.
"Yeah!" Steve piped up, "If you have some new information about this case, then spill!"
"It's not quite as simple as that" Kealy was choosing her words very carefully. "what I'm about to tell you must not leave this room, understood?"
Everyone nodded, Kate Lockley included. If there was something she didn't know about demons then she was happy to be enlightened. She had, after all, spent the past few years demon hunting.
The room grew silent as Kealy began to talk. Nervously at first, but then growing in confidence. She told them about the sword that had been recovered after Jesse's attack, about how Jesse's blood had been identified on the shaft. Everybody was enraptured as she spoke, completely in her power, desperate to know what she knew.
"The CIA had the sword checked out, naturally, to see if the finger prints of Jesse's attacked could be detected on the hilt. Well, we did find something, but it certainly wasn't what we expected to find. On the hilt we found some cells, and they weren't human, in fact they weren't part of any species known to exist on this planet."
The room was filled with a stunned silence. Mark, Steve and Amanda could not accept what they had just heard. It was true, all of it was true! Jesse hadn't been lying, he hadn't made it all up! And they hadn't believed him.
"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Mark said, his voice laden with shock, "Does Jesse know?"
"Yes he knows" Vaughn stepped in, knowing that Kealy was exhausted. "And the reason that she didn't tell you was because I wouldn't let her. This information is extremely confidential, you have no idea how may laws I'm breaking by even letting you know about this!"
"Then why tell us now" Amanda said. She was very worried about Mark, he looked as if he had aged ten years, and he was very pale. Steve also was a cause for concern. He hadn't said a word. Demons walked the earth! It couldn't get much worse than that!
"Because. . .I don't know, it just seemed right! I felt that you were all trustworthy. I hope I wasn't wrong"
Steve stood suddenly, and moved swiftly towards the door.
"Steve!" Mark yelled, "Where are you going?"
Steve stopped short and turned to face the room. It pained him greatly to do so. "I-I need some time alone Dad"
"Steve you can't run away all the time! You need to stay and discuss this!" Mark grew frantic.
"I can't Dad. I just can't! Oh, and Agent Vaughn? You don't need to worry about me telling anyone about this. I've already failed Jesse once, I don't want to repeat that!" He slammed the door after him, leaving behind him a caved in world.
* * * *
"AGAIN?" James Seville roared at the two lawyers. "You mean to tell me that you failed again?"
They could do nothing more than answer "Yes" stiffly. Trying not to let their fear become evident to this mountain of a man. "Please, just give us one more chance!" Lindsay Macdonald pleaded.
"Give me one reason!" Seville could feel his anger simmering inside of him.
The nerve of these people!
"We'll let you have full control!" Lindsay said earnestly, "Where else are you going to find the, uh, "resources" that we can offer? You tell us exactly what you want done, and we'll do it!"
"Hmm" Seville thought for a moment, "You do have a point, I won't be able to find anyone else who deals in demons and vampires who'd be willing to do my bidding! All right! But I'm to have full control, and we'll discuss payment later"
The relief between the two lawyers was palpable. They couldn't believe they'd just secured a deal like this!
"Right, now where to start!" Seville relished the chance of being in control once more, he rooted around in a large briefcase before bringing out a large photograph. He turned it around slowly, so that the lawyers could see it. "Bring me this man!" He announced, pointing to the man in the picture. "His name is Lieutenant Steve Sloan"
To be continued. . .
