"I will say it one last time—let go of my arm now," spoke Katrina through clenched teeth.

Andrew threw her arm to the side and glared at her, "Stupid American. You save their life and they aren't grateful one damn bit."

"I'll have you know I'm not stupid and I'm not grateful—now if you don't mind I have to go save my friend," she said directly to his face before passing him and going for the front door.

"It's too late—the person that has her is too strong for you."

"You don't know who I am or what I can do—so don't you dare tell me what I can and cannot do."

"Can you take on a vampire?"

"I know I can—it's in my blood to do so and that's just what I was going do before you decided to play rescue hero with me."

Andrew drew in a breath and looked at her closer, "You're a slayer?"

"Yes—my name is Katrina Kovich and my friend that was taken is Tara Morley. You might have heard of her father."

"Yes, and I've heard of your father also—my name is Andrew Venner, our father's were friends when in training. And as for Caleb Morley—well, it's pretty obvious he was behind what had just happened."

"Excuse me? Are you saying Caleb was trying to kill me and give his daughter away to some monster for his bride?"

"If the shoe fits."

"No—absolutely not—I won't believe it," she said as she walked back into the room and over to the window.

-----------------

"Is your mom ok?" asked Lizzie as Leslie came back into their room and closed the door behind her.

"I don't know—Dad had her go lay down to sleep some. It worries me when this happens—I mean is it going to happen to me when I get older?"

"Well, if it does then by then we'll know how to fix it," smiled Lizzie as she tried to come up with some way of reassuring her friend. "Let's change the subject—what do you want to do tomorrow?"

Leslie smiled at what her friend was doing, "You do realize we aren't Kate and Tara—we aren't going to get a adventure like they will this summer."

"I know—I wonder what they are doing right now."

"You want me to look at see?" asked Leslie and received a shrug from Lizzie. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on Kate and then gave a gasp and opened her eyes wide.

"What? Leslie—what's wrong?"

"I'm—I'm not sure."

"What did you see?" she said, her voice shaking.

"I saw Kate standing at a window looking out—I can't see Tara though."

---------------

"What is it that Caleb Morley has done in his life that makes you see him as a Saint?" asked Andrew as he crossed his arms and leaned back onto the side of the wing chair.

"Nothing-I mean he's done plenty in his life so when he does leave this earth he'll go straight to hell, but he's changed Andrew. He's not a monster-and he would never allow his daughter to be turned into a vampire on purpose, not knowing what her wishes are."

"Well, from the stories I've heard about him--."

"What do I have to say to make you understand he had no part in Tara being kidnapped?" she turned and screamed at him, her blue eyes vibrant with anger at the suggestion he'd made.

"He's a vampire!"

"For him to have her changed-no, there's two reasons he wouldn't do it--."

"Tell me what they are then."

"First, if Tara were to find out, he'd lose her forever. She'd find the spring in the mountains outside of Daia and jump in, and then she'd run-run from him for the rest of her life."

"But if she isn't turned she'll die at the end of her life, and do you really think he's willing to watch his own flesh and blood die while he lives on for eternity?"

"He's done it before," she sighed and turned to look out the window.

"What?" asked a confused Andrew.

"Tara was two when Amelia was born-she was supposed to be born right around
the time of my little sister and they were going to be best friends. She was born three months premature and only lived for a week. Tara and I, we never got to se her, but I know when April comes around I can see the sadness in both Caleb and Livvie's eyes. They miss their little girl--."

"More reason for them to have their other girl turned."

"Oh, so now Livvie is in the plan?" she laughed as she dug her nails into the window ledge.

"I'm just throwing out guesses here."

"Well, they are all wrong from where I'm standing."

"Fine. What's the other reason?" he sighed, exasperated that she didn't seem to want to take the obvious explanation as a possible idea.

"He'd be starting the war over again-a war that our mothers and my Grandfather made sure was over. Did you know both my father and Caleb have died multiple times? And I don't mean just for a split second before being given a defibrillator to get the heart to have a steady rhythm, I mean stone cold-six feet under dead. My father died first, in 1991 when Caleb stabbed him in the back as he tried to save a Russian Prostitute from Caleb's wrath. My father came back and was able to get Livvie to realize that Caleb was not good and he had to be stopped—he stopped him alright, stabbed him right through the heart with everyone looking on."

"Caleb was stabbed by his own wife-man, that's got to be a blow to the ego," chuckled Andrew.

"Will you shut up?"

"Sorry-continue please."

So my father and my mother together got all the couples together by Christmas Eve-not an easy task mind you. Well, almost all the couples-he fell in love with my mom while doing this, and was sent back down again for what he thought was going to be getting her and Jamal together. Instead though, after weeks of ignoring the obvious-they got to spend six weeks together before he was sent back up."

"So how was he able to stay?" asked Andrew who was now completely enthralled in the story at hand.

"My father proved that love would win no matter what-even if you had no memories of that person, you would still know that with them is where you belong, that being with them was the only thing that made sense. So he became human again-but for every good in the world there is an evil--."

"And Caleb is your father's evil."

"You're catching on," she grinned, but still didn't turn to look at him. "It took a year and a half from Caleb's return to realize they were a pretty good team when they worked together instead of fighting each other."

"So where does your grandfather come into all of this?"

"My grandfather-my twin brother Eddie is named after him-he was there, along with his evil counterpart-James Ritchfield, the last time our father's died. They gave them each a choice, continue to fight each other and lose everything, or find something you agree on and end the war."

"What was it that they agreed on?"

Kate turned around and looked at Andrew, tears in her eyes, "Love. They agreed that the love of a woman and family is stronger than anything else."

"Is that love strong enough to let him let her die when it's her time to go?"

"I want to say yes, because with the other choice my heart breaks to think of the aftermath of everything to come."

------------------

"Wait—hold on," said Lizzie as she went for her suitcase and pulled out a piece of paper. "This—this is their itinerary. Maybe they are just in a museum and Tara is in the bathroom—you can't watch someone in the bathroom, can you?"

"No," laughed Leslie. "What does it say?"

"It says—they are on a train to Munich right now. It didn't look like a train window, did it?"

"No," said Leslie as their hopes faded some that everything was ok.

"Well, we have to go save them," she said as she stood up and began putting some clothes in a bag.

"What?!"

"It's my sister and her best friend—they are off the itinerary and that means they are in trouble. We have to save them, Leslie."

"But—we don't even know where they are. Let's call your dad instead."

"No, it'll take him too long to get here—we're already in Europe so we're closer. They'd do this for us if we were in trouble."

"Are you sure this isn't just your chance to have some adventure this summer?"

"NO—it's not. Now either you start packing a small bag or I'll leave without you."

"My dad--."

"We'll wait until he's asleep and then we leave. If it makes you feel better we can leave a note for him."

"I—I guess so," she sighed, not liking the idea of running across Europe into the unknown, even if it was to save Kate and Tara."