CHAPTER 5

          Skinner set his keys on the cupboard that sat next to the big bed that he and Vicky shared. The door opened, and he cast a weary glance over his shoulder. He needed a nap, and he intended to get one.

         "How was it?" Vicky asked, closing the door behind her quietly. Skinner kept silent. He heard the worry and concern in the edges of her voice. "Will the League help?"

         Skinner still kept silent. He didn't like the answer too much himself; the ramifications it would have on his family was something he didn't want to think about.

         "Rodney… please, tell me." Vicky touched his arm, gently. He turned, wrapping his arms around her waist, looking into those warm amber eyes of hers, before resting his cheek against her forehead. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder, where she could hear his pulse.

         "No," he lied. "We're not going to help Laire."

         Vicky looked up at him, studying his features. He knew, by the look on her lovely face, that she believed him.

         That is, until her fist connected with his jaw.

         When he came to a few minutes later, he knew he was lying on the bed. Must've fallen onto it when she punched me, Skinner thought. I can't feel my face. He also saw Vicky standing over him, anger in her features.

         "You forget, Rodney," she said with a dangerous cool, "I've been married to you long enough to know when you're lying."

         He sat up slowly, reorienting himself with his surroundings. He was in their room. On their bed. And currently his face was numb. He tried twitching his nose, and was thankful it wasn't broken. His wife, harmless as she seemed, was stronger than the average human, thanks to her ability to fight and her mixed heritage. At their wedding, Skinner remembered, he had tried to arm-wrestle with her cousin. He had broken his arm, and resolved never to try that with an elf again.

          "Okay, okay, so I was lying," Skinner began, trying to redeem himself. "I didn't want you to worry..."

          "Want me to worry?!" Vicky exploded. "Rodney, if you had lied to me, and you went on the mission, and you got killed, what would the rest have told me?" She put on an imitation of Allan's thick accent, "'Vicky, I'm sorry, but Skinner got killed while we were on a mission'?!" Her voice began to rise in volume, and he knew she was upset. And an upset Aseyewrn was never good. It hurt his heart to think that he had caused this.

         "I'm going!" she told him. He took a step back.

         "No you aren't," he told his wife. "I won't let you." 

         "Try and stop me," she challenged, fiery passion in her eyes. He was proud of her determination, touched by her love, and concerned at what she intended to do.

          "You do that, Vicky," he shot back, trying to pacify her and make her see reason, "And what would happen if both of us got killed? Who'd take care of the kids?"

          "Lizzy can take care of herself," Vicky persisted, "she's old enough."

         "And what about James? He's three, for goodness sake's. He can't even write his name yet!"

         Vicky immediately quieted, some of her fervor lost at the mention of her son. She looked slightly ashamed as her husband went on, before finally ending.

          "Vicky, listen to reason," he told her. "If both of us don't make it out of this, then James'll have no one. I don't want him to grow up without a mother, like I did."

         Vicky looked up at him, tears in her eyes. If he dies...she thought. I don't know what I'll do without him. It wasn't that money would be a problem; she had education, and she would be able to find a job. It was the void she knew would appear in her heart.

          "But I don't want him to grow up without a father, either." His gaze softened on her, and he took her into his arms once more, letting her sob against his chest.


          Alice Finn and the other girls were sitting in the large room downstairs whilst Rodney and Vicky Skinner spoke upstairs. James was now running around, laughing at the top of his lungs about nothing whatsoever. Of course, Alice loved the young boy, and soon took it upon herself to pick him up and spin him around whilst Lizzy and Lucy spoke about their parents.

          "So have they told you anything?" Lucy was asking, giving a sideways glance to Alice as she twirled the toddler around.

          "You might not want to keep doing that," Lizzy advised softly to Alice, who eased on the spinning. Lizzy turned her green eyes back on her immortal companion, and replied, "I don't know anything. They won't tell me, and it's really starting to grate."

          "I just wish they would trust us…" Lucy sighed, her fingers running through the tips of her black hair as it sat over her shoulder, her dark eyes running over the soft strands as she ceased regarding Lizzy Skinner.

          Before Lizzy could open her mouth to comment further, the doors at the end of the room opened, and in walked a person she hadn't seen for many months at least. Lizzy bounced out of her chair, blushing afterwards, and beamed as she said, "Will!"

          Will Quatermain looked over his shoulder, and then back into the room with a furrowed brow. He appeared confused, before he strode in, and held open his arms to Alice and James who hugged him briefly.

          "Well I'm surprised to see all of you here," was the first thing he said after tousling James' fiery hair, and walking over to the table, hugging Lizzy one-handed.

          "I live here… you shouldn't be that surprised," Lizzy quipped, smiling at him. He had grown so much! Lucy did not rise from her chair, but returned his warm smile. He put down James, and the boy rocketed off somewhere to play.   "When my grandfather told me to come here… he didn't say anything about the rest of you," he trailed off there, and a look of realisation overcame him. He sighed, and said one word with a grin, "Babysitting."

          It was then Lucy yelled a warning and something barreled into him, and Will fell forward, but he was fast enough to twist his whole body around and grab James before the child hit the ground with him. He instead landed on Will's chest, knocking some of the wind out of him. He didn't know three-year-olds could be so heavy.

          "James!" Lizzy cried, pulling her brother off Will as Alice and Lucy helped the young man up. He took in deep breaths, trying to get something in his lungs again.

          "What, exactly, have you been feeding him?" Will asked. "Whatever it is it's sure making him heavy."

          "You'd be amazed at how much he eats," Lizzy said, setting her brother on the bed and helping Will up. "Are you alright?"

          "I think so," he nodded, glancing over to James, who was standing behind Lizzy's leg, looking ashamed. "What about him?"

          "James' okay," James answered for himself, and Will couldn't help but smile at the way James pronounced his words. The way James talked always made him amused; it was just the way the monosyllabic-ism found its way into his words. "Willy okay?"

          "It's 'Will', James," Will corrected gently, "not 'Willy'."

          There came the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and the door was pulled open. Vicky and Skinner came in, both looking worried.

          "What happened?" Vicky asked, a concerned look on her features. Lizzy hid a frown. It looked like her beloved stepmother had been crying, and the dark spots on Skinner senior's shirt only served to strengthen that theory. "We heard a yell. Hey, Will."

          "James became a human cannonball," Will told them, nodding his greetings to the couple. James had run up to his parents and now his father carried him. "He's heavy."

          "Aseyewrn muscle mass," Vicky explained, giving him a once-over to see if her son had hurt him. "I'm still not sure if he'll grow wings when he's older." Lizzy flinched when she imagined the chaos her brother would cause if and when he sprouted wings, like the ones Vicky used to have before they were amputated, to save her from internal bleeding after they were broken by the late Dark Lord in a battle that had left Skinner in a coma for two years.

          Skinner checked his child, too. Nothing seemed to be broken. He heard the doorbell ring downstairs, and took his leave with James, now grinning at the prospect of his playmate Noah Jekyll staying over. Putting James down as they descended the stairs to the ground floor of the three-storey house, he watched as the toddler ran to the front door and stood on tiptoe to try to reach the doorknob, to no success. Skinner pulled open the door, and greeted the Jekylls. He helped them with Marie and Noah's bags.

          "Hello, Vicky," Dr. Jekyll said to Skinner's own wife as she came down the stairs. She smiled at him, and she and Marie embraced. The Skinners and the Jekylls were close family friends, and the children of the respective families had grown up together. Noah and James together meant trouble, and Vicky once had to get her son out from under the cupboard where he got stuck. "I trust Rodney has told you when we leave…?"

          "Tonight, I know," Vicky nodded, and the good doctor saw that some of the glint in her eye dimmed. The whole League knew how deep Skinner and Vicky's love for each other went, and how hard it had been for them to finally get married. "Sloane's coming over later, I think." She looked around, and noticed her son was missing, having run off with Noah to get into trouble again. She expected it wasn't long before she had to rescue them.

          The group moved up the stairs so Marie – Jekyll's wife of six years – could unpack. She would be staying with them and the girls for the duration of the mission, as the arrangement went.

          "I'll get the drinks," Skinner said, glancing at his friend the doctor. "D'you think I could persuade you to have some scotch or sherry?" Jekyll shook his head.

          "It's been years, Skinner, and I'm still not going to touch the stuff," Jekyll told his friend, who shrugged. They met Will on their way, and the greetings, as usual, were made. All the little Leaguers were in the house, with the exception of Ajit. Vicky fondly remembered the Indian man as a version of his uncle Nemo. They were so alike in many ways, and it was expected that the captaincy of the Nautilus would be passed onto the capable young man one day.

          Then a scream from downstairs sent her running towards it source, the great overwhelming fear that something terrible had happened to her son gripping her heart.

          "Mama!" 


          Mina and Dorian had taken a carriage to the Skinner residence, where Laire had agreed to meet the League, and also to say goodbye to Lucy. Mina frowned as she sniffed the air slightly. The scent along that street was always a little more exotic than the rest of London, mainly because Vicky knew her fair share of magicks.

          There was something else, this time. Something more… dark. More evil, Mina shuddered, suddenly reminded of Dracula and what he had done to her. Absently, her hand traveled up to the blood-red scarf she always wore, touching the spot where the crimson kiss of the Count had been delivered to her. Seeing this, Dorian pulled her hand down gently.

          "Don't remind yourself of such things," he told her quietly. She knew he had been thinking; either of them might not make it out alive. In the magickal realm where Laire had grown up in, Dorian didn't heal immediately; his rate of healing was much slower than in the normal world. Now a new risk factor had been introduced: death. They had been prepared for this, as were the rest of the League; their affairs were settled, and in event of their death, Lucy would take over their estate and finances. If she needed help, Sloane the vampire and trusted ally of the League, could help.

          As they paid the driver and got out into the street, Mina's foreboding feeling of doom heightened when her enhanced senses heard a child's scream, coming from inside the house. It was no scream of joy or glee; this was terror. Pure, unadulterated terror, and Mina sprung into action, bursting through the door. Dorian knew his wife, and unsheathed his cane-sword as he ran with her. They met the group who had been upstairs on the way, and Skinner sneezed behind them, vanishing.

          The men and some of the ladies present sprang into action, with Vicky in the lead. She ran towards the scream, which was outside, in the small garden in the back of the house. On the way, she grabbed her daggers from their place on the mount on the wall.

          James and Noah ran into them, terror etched into their youthful faces. James collapsed in his sister's arms, wailing, and Noah grabbed his mother. Barely sparing a glance, Skinner, Vicky, Dorian and Mina were outside in a flash, and were immediately taken into battle by the orcs that had appeared in the garden. 


          The huge slavering beasts roared all around them and they were immediately set upon by the small horde of them that had mysteriously appeared in the Skinners' garden. Marie and Lizzy stayed inside with the children, Lucy did so begrudgingly, whereas Will charged out with the parents into the fray, rifle in his hand, which he cocked and fired at once. The beast on the receiving end of the blow squealed with the impact, and was thrown back onto the grass. This did not dissuade its fellows from attacking, and they did so with a frightening fervor.

          Mina ducked and weaved around the creatures, striking in every way she knew how, her husband slashing with his cane sword only mere feet away from her, covering her as she fought. The impassiveness on Dorian's handsome face was chilling, but reassuring, showing his concentration. Rodney Skinner was lost in the battle, though his position was revealed when the dead orc's jagged weapon rose of its own accord and spun into action. Vicky put her beautiful daggers to good use quickly, striking for the vulnerable areas beneath the crude but effective armour. They fell before her, only to rise again after absorbing the shock of her blows.

          A deafening bellow announced the sudden presence of Edward Hyde in the place of Henry Jekyll, and he threw himself into battle with a passion and a hearty laugh, clubbing the beasts to the ground with meaty, sinewy arms. Will Quatermain stayed close to him, cocking and firing his rifle with an impressive deftness that he had surely learned from his grandfather. When his gun clicked on empty, he took up a technique Dorian had seen used by the American, Sawyer, on that plain all that time ago. He swung the heavy stock around, and beat an orc around the head with it, soon taking it out of action.

          From in the house came a yell of desperation, and Mina rose her eyes from the dying orc at her feet to see her beautiful daughter advance from the building, swiftly taking a discarded enemy blade in her hands with a determination on her flawless young features. "Lucy!" Mina yelled loudly, "Go back inside!"

          The vampire turned just in time to duck a blow to the head that may have very well killed her, and growled ferociously before calling to her husband; "Dorian!"

          The immortal turned his head, black locks in his face, to see his daughter set upon by a huge, roaring orc who quickly disarmed her with a powerful strike that visibly sent a shock through Lucy Gray. He had no time to shout as she was wounded, but he set forward with an anger and passion in his dark eyes, gripping the hilt of his cane sword so tightly he thought he might break it.

          As the battle raged around him, the enemy numbers thinning, Dorian came up beside the orc who stood gloating over his wounded daughter, and rammed the blade of his weapon into the side of the beast's head, hearing a crunch. He scowled at it as it managed to turn, before reaching up and tearing his sword free, letting the orc fall to the ground with dull crash.

          Hyde and Vicky set themselves upon the last of the party of orcs with vehemence, and soon put them to the ground as they had with the fellows, the bloodied and jagged blade of the disembodied weapon hovering over the carcass of one that twitched, before it came crashing down with a killing blow. The grass of the once-beautiful garden now looked haunted and stained, littered with the corpses of the monstrous enemy. Mina ran to Dorian, who knelt by his daughter's side. Already, the young woman was sitting up and telling her father not to fuss.

          "You are hurt," he reminded her, looking her straight in the eye, and stroking her black tresses from her milky skin softly with one hand. "Lie still."

          "Father," she began in a smooth voice like her mother's, raising a single brow, "I am an immortal. I will be fine in a matter of moments. See?" She ran her own feminine hand over the slash in her belly, as it receded. "I am already healing."

          Mina embraced her daughter, and Dorian stroked his wife's hair, the two feeling their fear ebb through them with more fiery strength than they had known possible. For one horrible moment, Dorian had thought his daughter would be taken from them.

          "They're all dead," Vicky announced gravely, and shoved one of the bodies with her foot to ensure its lack of movement. "A scouting party… the Dark Lord knows."

          "Wonderful," Skinner grumbled, and tossed the orc weapon aside and sneezed loudly, returning to visibility. He crossed to the trio of immortals, and said, "All right?"

          "I'm fine," Lucy Gray cut in with a reassuring smile, and ran her fingers over her now perfect skin where it showed under the slit in her dress. "Just as I said I would be."

          Save for Hyde, they returned to the house, grave and filled with a new sense of melancholy determination.


          It was growing dark as the League were saying goodbye. The children stood on the street with frowns on their faces and pleading in their eyes. They wanted to go.

          Rodney Skinner took young James in his arms, and closed his eyes, taking a breath of the scent of flowers in his son's fiery hair, smiling wanly. "I'll see you soon, Jim," he told his youngest child, who looked his father in the eye with an odd sense of understanding. Rodney handed the toddler to his wife, and looked at Lizzy, who avoided his gaze for a moment. That changed however when he touched a hand to her shoulder. She looked at him, and then threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly.

          "Be careful," she said to him, the sound muffled by his own shirt as she pressed her head into his shoulder, "please."

          He ran his fingers gently through her soft hair, and replied, "I'll be fine. You'll see."

          Across the way, Dorian and Mina simultaneously held their daughter Lucy, who did not draw away from her parents, instead embraced them affectionately. They remained like that for some time, not saying anything, just being in each other's presence.

          Allan Quatermain was speaking in hushed tones as to what Will should do if there was any trouble, to which his grandson was nodding and insisting he would be all right, and that he could handle the responsibility.

          Henry Jekyll kissed his wife, and ruffled his son's messy hair, before the little boy held out his arms for his father. The man took Noah up into his hold, and hugged him closely, with a tenderness that was heartbreaking. When he looked back to Marie, there were veiled tears in his eyes.

          Captain Nemo stood beside his nephew Ajit, a tall young man who strongly resembled his regal uncle. The two stood straight-backed, silent, but their proximity spoke volumes about their situation. Ajit was to be left in command of the Nautilus in his uncle's absence, the captain trusting the young man to be able to handle such a task.

           Tom Sawyer was looking down at his goddaughter, who fiddled with the sleeves on her dress, before looking to him with bright, shining blue eyes that welled with tears. He frowned when he saw this, and hugged her tightly, whispering in her ear that he would be fine, and that he would see her again soon. She refrained from crying, only just managing as she drew back from him, and put on her most convincing brave face. He smiled, and tucked a bang of her blonde curls from her face, before kissing her forehead softly.

          Vicky looked at her husband, and sternly said to him, her voice laced with affection and concern, "You are coming back to me."

          "I'm coming back," was his equally firm reply, before he took her face in his hands, and kissed her softly.

          The League, accompanied by Laire, set off, the children and lovers left behind, unshed tears in their eyes. It wasn't long until the eight figures had been lost to their eyes, and they realised they may very well never see them again.