DISCLAIMER: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…No, that's no good. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…No, that's complete rubbish. Let's just keep it simple then. Our story of Shaun continues. Tune in next week when you'll hear the author say, "I demand more vanilla frappuccino now!"

The night seemed to grow even colder and darker as Shaun made his way home. He swung open the fence and trudged up to the front door, entering his dark and quiet house. It was at times like this, when he felt completely and utterly alone, that he was glad to remember he actually wasn't.

Making his way out to the garden shed, he was careful to keep an eye out for nosy neighbors peering down from their windows. He was surprised that he'd managed to keep his zombie friend Ed undetected for so long, and now he'd gotten so used to having the big lug around, decaying flesh and the occasional attempted bite notwithstanding.

Shaun took a seat in front of the TV and picked up one of the Playstation 2 controllers. "So what'll be tonight, Ed? Gran Turismo, Medal of Honor or Splinter Cell?"

Ed's hand, bound in chains, sort of gestured to one of the boxes.

"Medal of Honor it is, then." He popped the disk into the player and they waited while the game cued itself up. "I have to say I'm finding myself in a very confusing place, my friend," Shaun confided. "You know, it's like I'm at this crossroads and I don't know which way to go. Because I've got a feeling that pain and/or dismemberment lies at the end of whichever path I choose."

The rotting hulk of Ed's head turned to him, eyes staring with white-glazed vacancy.

"I know, I know," Shaun said. "I'll just shut up and play the game, shall I?"

Empty soda cans and snack wrappers were scattered around the floorboard of the Volkswagen Jetta she'd borrowed from the Council garage. Sara felt like she'd been sitting on this quiet street in Southwark for an eternity. She tried to make the stake-out more fun by imagining William L. Petersen or Chris Noth in the passenger seat, but it didn't help. There was no movement in Ryland's flat. There had been no movement for hours. As the CD player was finishing up a second run of Aimee Mann's Ultimate Collection, her eyelids were getting heavy and she just wanted to sleep.

The loud ringing of her cell phone abruptly broke the silence. "Krycek?!" she gasped and bolted upright. As she struggled to wake up, she picked up the phone. "Hello?" she answered sleepily.

"Sara, it's Michael. Where are you? Why aren't you here?"

"Um, I'm on my way there right now," she lied. "Traffic's really bad."

"Well, get here as soon as you can. In the meantime, I'll tell you what we know. According to Ryland's journal, La Trayectoria Luz has a direct correlation to Catherine of Aragon. We're thinking it's either located in Kimbolton Castle, where she served her last years of exile, or in Peterborough Abbey, where she's buried."

"Where are they located?"

"Cambridgeshire. And Kimbolton Castle is now Kimbolton School. So if Davrok succeeds in opening that seal…"

"He'll have plenty of snacks at the ready," she completed. "Okay, did we come up with a way to stop this ritual yet?"

"No, we're still working on that. Alexandra's doing her best to decipher Ryland's notes but they're a bit scattershot."

"So our best bet is to find this troubled woman in white and keep her away from the seal."

"Yes, saving the girl should be our top priority."

"Hang on, there's movement at Ryland's flat." Sara stared intently as a tall, bespectacled man hurried down the stairs to a parked car and placed several cases in the trunk.

"Movement at whose flat? Sara, are you staking out Ryland's residence without permission?" Michael demanded impatiently.

"Sort of," she hesitantly replied. "Look, if they travel anywhere, they'll have to do it at night, right? We're already five steps behind this guy, I don't want to fall further back."

"All right, keep an eye on him, but make sure you're not seen."

"I'll be as unseen as a Ben Affleck movie," she assured, hanging up the phone.

Michael looked up at Lex and Grayson. "She's staked out Ryland's flat. Without authorization, I might add. Anyway, she thinks that Ryland and Davrok are on the move to Cambridgeshire. I told her to follow them.

As she flipped another journal page, Lex muttered gravely, "Oh…oops,"

"Oops?" Grayson repeated. "Why did you say 'oops'?"

"I'm afraid I did make a mistake in the translation. You see, ancient Sanskrit was never meant to be literal. I was translating the conjugation incorrectly…"

"Why the 'oops,' Lex?" Grayson insisted.

"I misread the word 'warrior' as 'troubled.' You see, the root of the word 'trouble' can be conjugated to mean 'troubled,' 'troubling,' or 'troublesome,' which is quite similar to the root word for 'warrior'…"

"Get to the point, Lex."

"Sara won't be able to stop the sacrifice," she stated.

"Why not?"

"She is the sacrifice."

The three of them exchanged concerned glances.

"We've just sent her to her death," Michael said slowly.

"Not if I can help it," Grayson declared. "Call every operative in the area and get them to Kimbolton Castle ASAP."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go pick up a co-worker," he said, rushing out of the hospital room.

Shaun had collapsed on the living room couch again after an all-nightsession of video games. He was woken up by an insistent knocking at the front door. He reluctantly pulled himself off the couch and stumbled into the hallway, opening the door to find Grayson.

"Look, mate," Shaun said sleepily. "I don't go in for pistols at dawn. Can it wait until noon? Or never?"

"I'm not here for a duel, Shaun. I need your help."

"How did you find me?"

"Council keeps personnel records online," he casually replied. "And by the way, what's with your fear of pieces of wood? Seems odd for a slayer to be afraid of his own weapon…"

"It's none of your business," Shaun protested. "Look, the last guy who stood there and told me that he needed my help wound up gutted on the floor of a spacious apartment by the river, so you'll excuse me if I'm not that excited."

"Sara's in trouble. If we don't do something, she'll die."

"At this point, I think she'd rather die than accept help from me."

"Shaun, she's gone to face Davrok alone. And he will kill her, because it's her blood that opens the seal and unleashes hell on earth. You can begin to see the seriousness of the situation."

"Uh, yeah. Come in, I'll put the kettle on."