Here's the next chappie of my fic! You kinda get an inkling of the
children's natures, mostly with John and Lillith, and the mysteriousness of
Natil and Elaenore Faust.
Chapter Three: Discoveries vol.1
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn exchanged pained glances as they caught sight of John and Lillith Connor. They were sitting in on of the spare rooms of Henry's home, John holding Lillith in his lap at the window seat. The little demoness sniffed.
"Lillith?" Tom asked hesitantly. She looked over at the other boys. "Lillith? What's wrong, sweet"
"Stupid Nazis. She shoulda known better! It's all her fault."
"All who's fault?" Huck asked gently.
"Mommy's." Ah. So that was it. Ravyn Connor was in a coma, and the demon Waphax was a time bomb with a very short lit fuse. If Ravyn didn't wake up, Waphax would demand retribution. Unfortunately, John and Lillith might snap before he did. The two humans exchanged another look and departed for the safety of the outside.
* * *
"What's it all mean, Tom?"
"Darned if I know, Huck. These men, people in charge, want these kids to take over the world. But, from what Newt and her lot said, the kids aren't exactly compensated." Tom Sawyer leaned back as far as he could and watched the moon rise over the hill. Henry's mansion was in what most Brits considered the country, so the League had the novelty of sunsets and moonrises. "Those kids... what must have that place been like, I wonder, for them to be like that?"
"Oh," said a soft voice, "they've been that way for a long time, before they were taken." Tom and Huck looked down the stone wall they were sitting on to see Elaenore Faust, clad in a black dress, hair hanging down her shoulders in a black cascade. Her green eyes shone eerily in the moonlight. With her was the brunette girl with the pointy ears, Natil, wearing brown breeches, a gray shirt, and a green tunic. Both girls clambered up beside the boys easily.
"What do you mean?" Huck asked suspiciously.
"Lord Peter of Greystoke has lived with his mother, Jane, and his father, the Lord John of Greystoke, in the jungles of Africa since he was born, taught to survive as the great apes of the jungle do, through brute strength and feral cunning. That scar on his back, that flares so redly in battle, was from killing the tigers of an Indian ruler when he and a few children were kidnapped."
"That boy is no older than sixteen." Natil gave him a look and shrugged delicately.
"Peter was raised among the Great Apes. Among them, strength is considered a very important asset. Peter can lift a full grown lion with a fair amount of ease. As can his father, John." Tom and Huck both looked at Ellie for a moment, then at Natil.
"What's so special about Kelly? Kelly Blues?"
"She can see all the different futures of the world," Natil replied, "she can shoot an arrow true to a target a thousand yards away, and she can change the nature of a person by reweaving the patterns of their mind. Kelly is an elf, like her parents, and the others. However, Kelly is also different from the other Elves."
"How's that?" Huck asked.
"She is one of the race known as the Second Born. Elves who were not born Elves because our race was becoming extinct, so the Lady decided to awaken the sleeping blood and transform them. Kelly, however, is the first Elf of the Second Born to actually be born an Elf. She is... stronger than most of our kind. She is like me. I was also created an Elf. But I am one of the last seven of the First Born." Natil looked sad for a moment, then smiled. "Come, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer. Supper will be served soon, and we do not want to miss it." "Wait." Huck said. The Elf looked back at him, waiting. "The Lady you speak of so reverently. Who is she?" "Ah. The Lady... Elbereth Gilthoniel, Elthia Calusiuove." And with that, Natil brushed her shining brown hair from her face and slipped elegantly from the wall, followed by the eldest of the Faust sisters, leaving the two Americans to ponder her answer.
* * *
Captain Nemo looked up from his position on the floor to see the Destroyer standing before him with Her sister, the Player. The two children, one with flaxen hair and dancing summer blue eyes, the other with dark hair and cobalt blue eyes, exchanged a glance and the Player held out her hand, fist closed. Opening it, Nemo saw a vial of crystal with an amethyst stopper, filled with shimmering, clear liquid. The vial itself was in the shape of Sita, the avatar of Lakshmi. The Indian sea captain looked from it to the two girls before him. Lalita smiled at him, and Kalika nodded. Giving him the vial, they walked out the door of his room. Nemo pulled out the stopper and drank the contents of in the crystal. Stopping it again and putting it in a desk drawer, which he locked, he went to his bed. On the pillow, in delicate, precise handwriting, were the words, "Don't lose it again, Brother." Nemo smiled and went to sleep.
* * *
Ravyn opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying in a large bed, wearing a nightdress- ye gods, she hated those!- and in indescribable pain. She took a hissing breath and let the pain wash over her, then subside. She looked up to see the demon Waphax, her mate, watching her from the window. His thick black hair was wild, his clear, colorless eyes glazed. His sharp, glittering fangs were bared in a feral grin. His disproportionate hands- they were too big for the rest of him- clenched into fists. The immortal woman stared up at him calmly.
"You're angry." She whispered softly, green eyes wide.
"Close." He crooned malevolently in a sing song voice.
"Furious, even." She guessed. He took a step forward, and something in his eyes made her shrink back.
"Getting warmer." He grinned evilly.
"Outraged." She said.
"Warmer." He came closer to the bed, his hands clenched so hard his knuckles were white.
"Savage."
"So close." He whispered, coming even closer to her.
"Murderous..." She breathed in terrified excitement even as his lips met hers. He kissed her with bruising force, then broke away.
"I hate you." Which, to Waphax, was the equivalent to saying, "I love you."
* * *
"Dr. Moreau, how is it you knew to send Rebecca ahead? And, while I'm thinking of it, how did you come by Roberta and Rebecca?" Mycroft asked, pen poised over an open notebook. The man served as record keeper for the League.
"Newt and Ripley are the pinnacles of my research, dear boy. For decades, I had to settle for my wonderful, but not quite perfect, children. But my two beloved daughters are different. Ripley and Newt are half human, half beast, but their minds are, unlike those who have come before them, intact and sound. The perfect experiment. And my darling Newt, my dearest of all my children, is... shall we say, unique in her differences."
"So, you created them?"
"Yes, of course."
"What is so different between the two girls?" Dr. Moreau's face suddenly darkened.
"Ripley could slice you open and gut you like a fish with the claws she normally keeps sheathed. Newt's poison in her fangs and in her fingernails is the deadliest on Earth. A single drop could have a man tearing himself apart to end his agony. However, Ripley, or as many men call her, the Ripper, is the deadlier of the two, for her killing instincts are prominent. Newt is as gentle as a lamb in spring time. But I warn you: Never threaten me, nor Roberta, for Newt's fury is beyond compare."
"Why did you send them ahead?"
"Newt's sense of smell is very acute. She could smell someone that, I believe she said, gave her the creeping willies."
"Ah... I see. Did Roberta-"
"Ripley."
"Did Ripley sense anything?"
"She was getting restless, and she said she smelled something... what was the word she used... dimea."
"Dimea?" Mina asked. Ripley lifted her head from the book she was reading on the Marquise de Sade and said tonelessly, "It's Arcerian. It translates roughly as 'stupid meat.' Danyel told me about it." She buried her nose in the book again.
"Newt has rarely been wrong about the presence of an enemy, Mr. Holmes."
"Are you talking about me?" At the sound of the sweet voice, Moreau's face lit up. A curly blond head poked in the room, and Newt smiled. "Papa!" She ran to the doctor's chair and crawled into his lap. "What's going on?"
"Eh, Miss Moreau, I need to talk to you." Mycroft said as gently as possible. "Can you round up the other children?" Newt shook her head. "Why not?"
"Cawyer will do it. See? Here's Kelly, Lillith, and Dani." The brunette elf child, the albino demon, and the youngest of the Fausts approached slowly, exchanging furtive glances with Newt. "And the boys. What did you want to ask us, Mr. Holmes?"
"Wait." Danyel Faust whispered softly. "I want to see him." Pushing a lock of hair from her face, she gazed on Mycroft with dark, sightless eyes. The child was blind, the adults realized. She approached slowly, skirting expertly around the table and the chairs with outstretched hands. Her steps were jerky, but she made it to the elder of the Holmes brothers, who knelt before her. "Are you wearing glasses?" Mycroft said, "No." Dani's hand reached up and touched his face, tracing his eyebrows and the ridges of his forehead, her fingers trailing over his mouth, nose, cheeks, and chin. After a few minutes, she nodded, satisfied, and walked over to the corner, where the shadows cast by the fire were thick and concealing. Gabrielle, the middle Faust sister, glided to stand beside her. "Now, children... first, I must make a record of your names, more famous monikers, ages, and powers."
"Rebecca Moreau, Newt, six. I have ultrasonic screams, serpentine characteristics, poisonous claws and teeth. Dylan Rainbird, Saturn, seven. Ultrasonic screams."
"Why can't Dylan speak for himself?" Waphax asked, leering. "Is he too stupid? Little-"
"Waphax." A stern voice said coldly. "Enough. Go on, children." Ravyn leaned against the door, eyes hard and flinty. Henry noticed bruises, dark, raw and ugly, around her wrists, and slight bruises near the corner of her mouth. Those hadn't been there before.
"Kelly Blues, five, an Elf. I can see the futures. I'm an expert archer, and I can heal."
"Cody Rainbird, eight. I can eat anything."
"Um," Henry ventured, "what do you mean, Cody?"
"I can absorb energy: electricity, fire... life."
"Cawyer Rainbird, twelve. I can control people."
"Natil, ageless, an Elf. I can heal."
"Danyel Faustus, seven. I can kill."
"Gabrielle Faustus, thirteen. The same. Elaenore is twenty-one. She's more widely known as Kilabos."
"Peter Greystoke, sixteen, raised after the fashion of my father, Lord John Greystoke." Ravyn's two children exchanged an unfathomable look and then stared intently at Mycroft.
"Lillith Jezebella Baltazaria Magdalene Connor, six. I'm the daughter of the demon who made the deal with Dr. Damien Faustus."
"Jonathan Belial Lucipher Baal Connor, thirteen, son of the demon Waphax and the witch daughter of Sebastian Connor, better known as Jack the Ripper."
"Alright, then." Mycroft said softly, going pale. "Peter, I want to confirm something. Your father is the man known as Tarzan, is he not?"
"Yes," Peter said, "among the Great Apes of Africa, my father is called Tarzan."
"Now, children, I want you to tell us everything that happened to you, from the moment you were kidnapped to the moment we found you." Henry said gently. After looking at each other for a minute, Dani walked out. "Where is she... oh." Elaenore glided in, surveying the room with unblinking, cat yellow eyes. "Lady Faustus, might you tell us what happened?"
"Indeed I might." She whispered, and began. Sometime after midnight, when all the children had drifted off to sleep, she finished. "Now, I must be going out."
"Where to, milady?" Henry asked quietly.
"Out. I must feed Kilabos." And with that she was gone. Henry sighed and collapsed into a chair. Skinner asked, "You alright, mate? Here, drink this." The invisible man handed him a glass of scotch spiked and brandy. "Damn," Rodney swore, then looked down at Newt. "Poor kid. After all that's happened to her... what are we gonna do about these people? The bloody Russians, the bloody Germans, the bloody French, Italians, and Americans... these are just little kids, don't they care!? And you," to the demon Waphax, "these are your children! I know you lot are supposed to be evil, but doesn't this make your types angry?"
"Even those of my kind cannot fix this, nor would they." Waphax said coldly. "Demons look after themselves. And demons are forbidden to have spawn like my own, or to marry, or to fall in love, so I am in exile. Tough shit." Ravyn sighed and rested her head on Waphax's chest. He put a huge arm around her, his disproportionate hand resting on her shoulder. "Come, Ravyn. You are tired." The two demons went off.
"So, what about the little ones?" Tom asked nobody in particular. Huck shrugged.
"Let them lie there. They're comfortable."
* * *
"Where's my sister?" Dani asked at breakfast the next morning. Nobody knew except Mina, who didn't say anything. Ash tugged on Mina's white shirt.
"Mina? Mother? Where is Ellie?"
"She is at our home." Mina said quietly.
"Why?"
"She was having trouble sleeping, and I thought our home would be better than Henry's."
"Oh." Ash went back to sipping her blooded tea, and Mina went back to thinking. She had found the demon-girl sobbing under a street lamp, her clothes, hands, and face soaked with blood. From the smell, Mina knew it wasn't her own, or even human. She had become hysterical when Mina had asked her for the story, and the vampire had taken her home and let her stay there until she was calm. Then, they had talked. And Mina had realized the terrible existence Dr. Damien Faust had thrust his three children into.
"Mina?" Henry whispered. "Might the grown ups have a private chat in the kitchen?" When the adults went into the cooking area, Henry sighed wearily and looked at Nemo and Skinner. "I think we're too old for this, but..."
"Don't be silly. You and Skinner are immortal, thanks to chemical reactions with your formulas, Nemo is still aging very slowly, Quartermain's a ghost, I'm a vampire, Finn's Lycan, and Sawyer's a half- god. But, what?"
"We found some more children, in the camp known as Aushwitzt."
"The German death camp?" Nemo asked incredulously. Henry nodded. "Kali's name... we are going to get them, are we not?"
"Yes, we are. We have to take Ellie, Newt, Natil, Dylan, and Cawyer. Their powers will be useful to us. Shall we plan, then?"
"We'll need Elaenore here to figure everything out. She's been to Aushwitzt before." Henry said softly.
Chapter Three: Discoveries vol.1
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn exchanged pained glances as they caught sight of John and Lillith Connor. They were sitting in on of the spare rooms of Henry's home, John holding Lillith in his lap at the window seat. The little demoness sniffed.
"Lillith?" Tom asked hesitantly. She looked over at the other boys. "Lillith? What's wrong, sweet"
"Stupid Nazis. She shoulda known better! It's all her fault."
"All who's fault?" Huck asked gently.
"Mommy's." Ah. So that was it. Ravyn Connor was in a coma, and the demon Waphax was a time bomb with a very short lit fuse. If Ravyn didn't wake up, Waphax would demand retribution. Unfortunately, John and Lillith might snap before he did. The two humans exchanged another look and departed for the safety of the outside.
* * *
"What's it all mean, Tom?"
"Darned if I know, Huck. These men, people in charge, want these kids to take over the world. But, from what Newt and her lot said, the kids aren't exactly compensated." Tom Sawyer leaned back as far as he could and watched the moon rise over the hill. Henry's mansion was in what most Brits considered the country, so the League had the novelty of sunsets and moonrises. "Those kids... what must have that place been like, I wonder, for them to be like that?"
"Oh," said a soft voice, "they've been that way for a long time, before they were taken." Tom and Huck looked down the stone wall they were sitting on to see Elaenore Faust, clad in a black dress, hair hanging down her shoulders in a black cascade. Her green eyes shone eerily in the moonlight. With her was the brunette girl with the pointy ears, Natil, wearing brown breeches, a gray shirt, and a green tunic. Both girls clambered up beside the boys easily.
"What do you mean?" Huck asked suspiciously.
"Lord Peter of Greystoke has lived with his mother, Jane, and his father, the Lord John of Greystoke, in the jungles of Africa since he was born, taught to survive as the great apes of the jungle do, through brute strength and feral cunning. That scar on his back, that flares so redly in battle, was from killing the tigers of an Indian ruler when he and a few children were kidnapped."
"That boy is no older than sixteen." Natil gave him a look and shrugged delicately.
"Peter was raised among the Great Apes. Among them, strength is considered a very important asset. Peter can lift a full grown lion with a fair amount of ease. As can his father, John." Tom and Huck both looked at Ellie for a moment, then at Natil.
"What's so special about Kelly? Kelly Blues?"
"She can see all the different futures of the world," Natil replied, "she can shoot an arrow true to a target a thousand yards away, and she can change the nature of a person by reweaving the patterns of their mind. Kelly is an elf, like her parents, and the others. However, Kelly is also different from the other Elves."
"How's that?" Huck asked.
"She is one of the race known as the Second Born. Elves who were not born Elves because our race was becoming extinct, so the Lady decided to awaken the sleeping blood and transform them. Kelly, however, is the first Elf of the Second Born to actually be born an Elf. She is... stronger than most of our kind. She is like me. I was also created an Elf. But I am one of the last seven of the First Born." Natil looked sad for a moment, then smiled. "Come, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer. Supper will be served soon, and we do not want to miss it." "Wait." Huck said. The Elf looked back at him, waiting. "The Lady you speak of so reverently. Who is she?" "Ah. The Lady... Elbereth Gilthoniel, Elthia Calusiuove." And with that, Natil brushed her shining brown hair from her face and slipped elegantly from the wall, followed by the eldest of the Faust sisters, leaving the two Americans to ponder her answer.
* * *
Captain Nemo looked up from his position on the floor to see the Destroyer standing before him with Her sister, the Player. The two children, one with flaxen hair and dancing summer blue eyes, the other with dark hair and cobalt blue eyes, exchanged a glance and the Player held out her hand, fist closed. Opening it, Nemo saw a vial of crystal with an amethyst stopper, filled with shimmering, clear liquid. The vial itself was in the shape of Sita, the avatar of Lakshmi. The Indian sea captain looked from it to the two girls before him. Lalita smiled at him, and Kalika nodded. Giving him the vial, they walked out the door of his room. Nemo pulled out the stopper and drank the contents of in the crystal. Stopping it again and putting it in a desk drawer, which he locked, he went to his bed. On the pillow, in delicate, precise handwriting, were the words, "Don't lose it again, Brother." Nemo smiled and went to sleep.
* * *
Ravyn opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying in a large bed, wearing a nightdress- ye gods, she hated those!- and in indescribable pain. She took a hissing breath and let the pain wash over her, then subside. She looked up to see the demon Waphax, her mate, watching her from the window. His thick black hair was wild, his clear, colorless eyes glazed. His sharp, glittering fangs were bared in a feral grin. His disproportionate hands- they were too big for the rest of him- clenched into fists. The immortal woman stared up at him calmly.
"You're angry." She whispered softly, green eyes wide.
"Close." He crooned malevolently in a sing song voice.
"Furious, even." She guessed. He took a step forward, and something in his eyes made her shrink back.
"Getting warmer." He grinned evilly.
"Outraged." She said.
"Warmer." He came closer to the bed, his hands clenched so hard his knuckles were white.
"Savage."
"So close." He whispered, coming even closer to her.
"Murderous..." She breathed in terrified excitement even as his lips met hers. He kissed her with bruising force, then broke away.
"I hate you." Which, to Waphax, was the equivalent to saying, "I love you."
* * *
"Dr. Moreau, how is it you knew to send Rebecca ahead? And, while I'm thinking of it, how did you come by Roberta and Rebecca?" Mycroft asked, pen poised over an open notebook. The man served as record keeper for the League.
"Newt and Ripley are the pinnacles of my research, dear boy. For decades, I had to settle for my wonderful, but not quite perfect, children. But my two beloved daughters are different. Ripley and Newt are half human, half beast, but their minds are, unlike those who have come before them, intact and sound. The perfect experiment. And my darling Newt, my dearest of all my children, is... shall we say, unique in her differences."
"So, you created them?"
"Yes, of course."
"What is so different between the two girls?" Dr. Moreau's face suddenly darkened.
"Ripley could slice you open and gut you like a fish with the claws she normally keeps sheathed. Newt's poison in her fangs and in her fingernails is the deadliest on Earth. A single drop could have a man tearing himself apart to end his agony. However, Ripley, or as many men call her, the Ripper, is the deadlier of the two, for her killing instincts are prominent. Newt is as gentle as a lamb in spring time. But I warn you: Never threaten me, nor Roberta, for Newt's fury is beyond compare."
"Why did you send them ahead?"
"Newt's sense of smell is very acute. She could smell someone that, I believe she said, gave her the creeping willies."
"Ah... I see. Did Roberta-"
"Ripley."
"Did Ripley sense anything?"
"She was getting restless, and she said she smelled something... what was the word she used... dimea."
"Dimea?" Mina asked. Ripley lifted her head from the book she was reading on the Marquise de Sade and said tonelessly, "It's Arcerian. It translates roughly as 'stupid meat.' Danyel told me about it." She buried her nose in the book again.
"Newt has rarely been wrong about the presence of an enemy, Mr. Holmes."
"Are you talking about me?" At the sound of the sweet voice, Moreau's face lit up. A curly blond head poked in the room, and Newt smiled. "Papa!" She ran to the doctor's chair and crawled into his lap. "What's going on?"
"Eh, Miss Moreau, I need to talk to you." Mycroft said as gently as possible. "Can you round up the other children?" Newt shook her head. "Why not?"
"Cawyer will do it. See? Here's Kelly, Lillith, and Dani." The brunette elf child, the albino demon, and the youngest of the Fausts approached slowly, exchanging furtive glances with Newt. "And the boys. What did you want to ask us, Mr. Holmes?"
"Wait." Danyel Faust whispered softly. "I want to see him." Pushing a lock of hair from her face, she gazed on Mycroft with dark, sightless eyes. The child was blind, the adults realized. She approached slowly, skirting expertly around the table and the chairs with outstretched hands. Her steps were jerky, but she made it to the elder of the Holmes brothers, who knelt before her. "Are you wearing glasses?" Mycroft said, "No." Dani's hand reached up and touched his face, tracing his eyebrows and the ridges of his forehead, her fingers trailing over his mouth, nose, cheeks, and chin. After a few minutes, she nodded, satisfied, and walked over to the corner, where the shadows cast by the fire were thick and concealing. Gabrielle, the middle Faust sister, glided to stand beside her. "Now, children... first, I must make a record of your names, more famous monikers, ages, and powers."
"Rebecca Moreau, Newt, six. I have ultrasonic screams, serpentine characteristics, poisonous claws and teeth. Dylan Rainbird, Saturn, seven. Ultrasonic screams."
"Why can't Dylan speak for himself?" Waphax asked, leering. "Is he too stupid? Little-"
"Waphax." A stern voice said coldly. "Enough. Go on, children." Ravyn leaned against the door, eyes hard and flinty. Henry noticed bruises, dark, raw and ugly, around her wrists, and slight bruises near the corner of her mouth. Those hadn't been there before.
"Kelly Blues, five, an Elf. I can see the futures. I'm an expert archer, and I can heal."
"Cody Rainbird, eight. I can eat anything."
"Um," Henry ventured, "what do you mean, Cody?"
"I can absorb energy: electricity, fire... life."
"Cawyer Rainbird, twelve. I can control people."
"Natil, ageless, an Elf. I can heal."
"Danyel Faustus, seven. I can kill."
"Gabrielle Faustus, thirteen. The same. Elaenore is twenty-one. She's more widely known as Kilabos."
"Peter Greystoke, sixteen, raised after the fashion of my father, Lord John Greystoke." Ravyn's two children exchanged an unfathomable look and then stared intently at Mycroft.
"Lillith Jezebella Baltazaria Magdalene Connor, six. I'm the daughter of the demon who made the deal with Dr. Damien Faustus."
"Jonathan Belial Lucipher Baal Connor, thirteen, son of the demon Waphax and the witch daughter of Sebastian Connor, better known as Jack the Ripper."
"Alright, then." Mycroft said softly, going pale. "Peter, I want to confirm something. Your father is the man known as Tarzan, is he not?"
"Yes," Peter said, "among the Great Apes of Africa, my father is called Tarzan."
"Now, children, I want you to tell us everything that happened to you, from the moment you were kidnapped to the moment we found you." Henry said gently. After looking at each other for a minute, Dani walked out. "Where is she... oh." Elaenore glided in, surveying the room with unblinking, cat yellow eyes. "Lady Faustus, might you tell us what happened?"
"Indeed I might." She whispered, and began. Sometime after midnight, when all the children had drifted off to sleep, she finished. "Now, I must be going out."
"Where to, milady?" Henry asked quietly.
"Out. I must feed Kilabos." And with that she was gone. Henry sighed and collapsed into a chair. Skinner asked, "You alright, mate? Here, drink this." The invisible man handed him a glass of scotch spiked and brandy. "Damn," Rodney swore, then looked down at Newt. "Poor kid. After all that's happened to her... what are we gonna do about these people? The bloody Russians, the bloody Germans, the bloody French, Italians, and Americans... these are just little kids, don't they care!? And you," to the demon Waphax, "these are your children! I know you lot are supposed to be evil, but doesn't this make your types angry?"
"Even those of my kind cannot fix this, nor would they." Waphax said coldly. "Demons look after themselves. And demons are forbidden to have spawn like my own, or to marry, or to fall in love, so I am in exile. Tough shit." Ravyn sighed and rested her head on Waphax's chest. He put a huge arm around her, his disproportionate hand resting on her shoulder. "Come, Ravyn. You are tired." The two demons went off.
"So, what about the little ones?" Tom asked nobody in particular. Huck shrugged.
"Let them lie there. They're comfortable."
* * *
"Where's my sister?" Dani asked at breakfast the next morning. Nobody knew except Mina, who didn't say anything. Ash tugged on Mina's white shirt.
"Mina? Mother? Where is Ellie?"
"She is at our home." Mina said quietly.
"Why?"
"She was having trouble sleeping, and I thought our home would be better than Henry's."
"Oh." Ash went back to sipping her blooded tea, and Mina went back to thinking. She had found the demon-girl sobbing under a street lamp, her clothes, hands, and face soaked with blood. From the smell, Mina knew it wasn't her own, or even human. She had become hysterical when Mina had asked her for the story, and the vampire had taken her home and let her stay there until she was calm. Then, they had talked. And Mina had realized the terrible existence Dr. Damien Faust had thrust his three children into.
"Mina?" Henry whispered. "Might the grown ups have a private chat in the kitchen?" When the adults went into the cooking area, Henry sighed wearily and looked at Nemo and Skinner. "I think we're too old for this, but..."
"Don't be silly. You and Skinner are immortal, thanks to chemical reactions with your formulas, Nemo is still aging very slowly, Quartermain's a ghost, I'm a vampire, Finn's Lycan, and Sawyer's a half- god. But, what?"
"We found some more children, in the camp known as Aushwitzt."
"The German death camp?" Nemo asked incredulously. Henry nodded. "Kali's name... we are going to get them, are we not?"
"Yes, we are. We have to take Ellie, Newt, Natil, Dylan, and Cawyer. Their powers will be useful to us. Shall we plan, then?"
"We'll need Elaenore here to figure everything out. She's been to Aushwitzt before." Henry said softly.