(13) The Deeds Of The Past ...
John was sitting at a picnic table in a park with some chips, the twins playing together nearby in their stroller. Derek was growling softly at his sister but John had other things on his mind & didn't bother to get up to correct the young Lycan.
Sherlock had allowed himself to be taken away by the Undead Law the day before & at John's suggestion, Sherrinford was now using vampire body guards. Though no one said it, all were thinking about John's imprint from the pen. Sherlock had been a target & could easily be targeted again & it was only a matter of time before someone went after Sherrinford.
Lestrade was still looking for Kyle, or whatever the Lycan's true name was.
As for David though, John was still wondering what was going on with that Lycan. He held up the small tin of honeycomb that Sherlock had given him. Would he get a chance to offer it to David? John felt that something had happened. The pack seemed to be shy & deliberately avoiding vampires at all. He put the tin aside & picked up a few chips. "Shush! That's enough growling." Derek didn't hear & continued to grumble at his sister. John rolled his eyes.
"John? Is that you?"
John glanced away from the stroller to see who had called. "David." He covered the honey tin with one hand. "You're back."
"No, actually, I'm just passing through," said David. "In fact, I'm leaving. But it was nice to see you again, though. How's your friend?"
"We're not quite sure what happened to him yet," said John. "But he gave himself up to the Undead Law."
"He's going to be destroyed?"
"I hope not," said John. "They're holding him, for now."
"I honestly thought he would be destroyed on sight after what happened," David sighed.
"Destroyed or captured," John corrected. "But it's still a possibility. We know it wasn't exactly his fault. So there's still time to sort it out & hopefully, he'll be freed."
"I see," David glanced at the pups.
"By the way," John pulled his hand away from the tin, lifting the lid. "I have something for you." He pushed it over. "Try it."
"Honeycomb," David looked at it, almost glaring. He took a piece but more to be polite than anything else.
"Yes, honeycomb," John nodded. "I'm guessing you haven't had any honey from vampires in a while. Sherlock's own bees produce this."
"Really?" David finished his piece. "It's rather good."
John raised his brow a little, surprised at the reaction. He closed the tin & slid it over. "Keep it. Give the rest to your pack."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly."
"Sure you can. Sherlock & his brother are my vampire guardians," John insisted. "I can easily get more. You can't. I know you like it. We're Lycans. We all like it."
David silently accepted it but John could see that David was a little put off by a vampire's gift. "Guess this is goodbye," David said. "I don't come into London if I can avoid it."
"Maybe we'll see each other around," John tried. "Where do you live?"
"Not in London," David dodged the main answer. "You've got some cute pups."
"Yes, thanks," John turned his eyes to the pups for a moment. When he looked back, David was gone. "Well, that was weird."
He eventually returned home, the place that he once shared with Mary. He set the twins down on the floor & took out his laptop. He sent a message to David. "Hope you like the honey. If you ever want more, I can always get some for you." He set it aside to wait for David's answer.
As for the public blogs themselves, everyone was going crazy demanding to know exactly what happened to Sherlock. So far, no one outside the Undead Law was sure if Sherlock had killed anyone (apart from the exclusive group already in the know) but John watched for any comment from Irene's girlfriend. She was a loose cannon at the moment. She may not know exactly what happened, but losing Irene was a hard blow. Even Sherlock acted a bit off about it. John hoped that Kate would stay off the websites at least until this case was solved.
John got up & started for the kitchen. He heard a new sort of little growl & turning to check the pair on the floor, he could see Jessica was now picking up Derek's bad habit. "Oh, don't you start," John groaned. The two of them got up to totter over. They had started walking a few steps now & would follow him everywhere. Almost as if it were instinct, John made a low 'ruff' sound under breath. Both children sat right down, shut up & remained that way for a while. "Bloody hell, that worked?" John asked himself aloud. He managed to go into the kitchen, get some tea, look out the window for a few moments & then return to the living room, cup in hand while they stayed still as stone. Then he sat down. They came over to him. "No, no, no. You are way too young for tea!"
That settled that. For now.
After having some of the tea, he set it aside to cool a little more. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. Staring right back at him was a large light brown Lycan in its wolf form. What he was seeing, John knew to be impossible. It was the middle of the day & the month. But nevertheless, the werewolf was there, watching him. John glanced down to look for the two children but they were no where in sight. Looking up again, he saw the vampire ridge lance come right for him. He tried to grab it but grasped on air as it went right through. He heard shattering glass behind him. Once. Twice.
It was his imprint come back with a vengeance. The wolf was new. Or was it? John had been interrupted the first time & only managed to recall bits of it any other time.
"Who are you?" John asked the wolf.
The Lycan shifted back. It was John himself. "Don't you know?"
"No, I'm not light brown," John stated. "I'm creamy yellow, sort of like pale gold, with white markings. You are not me!"
"Sherlock is right. You Watsons are the most impossible pack."
John wanted to say that the Garcia pack was worse but with a sharp gasp, he woke up, still sitting in his chair. He realized it was only a dream. He had become so concerned with his pen imprint, that he was now dreaming about it. The two children were nearby lying next to each other on the carpet. He looked at his palms. The pen briefly showed up in the left one before disappearing again. He looked at Derek & Jessica cuddled up together. He pulled out his mobile to find a missed call from Harry. It had been a while since they had spoken. She had gone off on one of her partying streaks again & was once more fighting with Clara. John wouldn't bother asking how that went, knowing the two would come crawling back to each other in a month or two. Right now, Harry was most likely calling to ask what the hell happened with Sherlock.
He swiped her number aside, looking for Lestrade's instead. While waiting for the cop to answer, he pulled over his laptop & sent another message to David. Lestrade came on just as John clicked the send button. "Yeah. Hi. Greg? I need to find someone."
"Kyle, I know," Lestrade said. "I'm working on it."
"Forget him," John said. "Remember that day I asked if you had become a vampire?"
Lestrade laughed. "How can I forget?"
"Someone came in right after you left," John said. "I need an image of him. Think you can pull the security footage?"
"I can try," Lestrade said. "Do you remember what time that was?"
"Uh, Molly had just started her shift, so it would be within half an hour of that," John said. "I'll ask her about her old schedule for you."
"Alright," said Lestrade. "This might take a few days to get a warrant for that."
"That's fine," said John. "Hopefully the results for that Lycan venom will be in by then as well." John placed the mobile on the small table next to the tea. He checked the messages, but David had yet to see it, so he closed the laptop. He had nothing more to do but wait now.
Molly had called later the next day, only to say that something unusual had been discovered in the sample of Lycan venom & they were going back for a second round of testing. She wouldn't say more but it would be another day or two before that would be cleared.
John didn't get much sleep for the next few nights & it had nothing to do with the young children. It was halfway into the fifth week now & he wanted to find a way to divert his vision as soon as possible, before the time was up.
Another day went by & finally, Lestrade showed up on John's porch. "I got those images," he said as they set up around John's computer. After some skipping around in the film, Lestrade found the proper frame. "Is that him?"
"David Wells," John turned on the printer & set it to copy out an image of David's face. "He's a Lycan. He told me he is rarely in London. I met him the other day & he said he was leaving entirely. I need to find out where he lives."
"Thought you'd ask that," Lestrade said. "I almost asked Sherrinford to do it, but the less he is involved right now, the safer he is. But then I got a rather ingenious idea of asking that woman who came to arrest Sherlock. Sharon Wylcott. She's a Lycan & was able to match this face to a camera from about seven months ago over in Dartmoor. It's only one shot, but it's definitely him." Lestrade showed him that video. "Oh & look who's with him." He froze the frame. Kyle was nearby David. John printed out that image as well as Lestrade took a call. "Hello? Sharon ... "
At the same time, John's mobile also began chiming. It was Molly & the results of the Lycan venom were finally in. John's jaw dropped as she told him what they found. After a short hesitation, Molly asked, "John, how can this be?"
"Something happened," John said as everything clicked into place. "A long time ago. I just solved this case with those results. I'll explain, later. Send me a copy of those results, please."
"Already done."
"Thanks," John hung up on her. "Greg, don't let Sharon go yet."
"I just did."
"Get her back."
"Yeah, hold on!" Lestrade searched for recent call history. John held out his hand. As soon as it started ringing, Lestrade gingerly passed it over.
"Was there something else?" Sharon asked.
"Hi, John here," John began. "Sharon, I am really, really sorry about this. I'll make it up to you later, if you want. Dinner, or something. But I need to ask, um," He cleared his throat. "Well, I mean ... how old you are?"
"Kill me," Lestrade banged his forehead onto the computer desk. Never, ever ask a woman her age or weight. EVER!
"You don't have to tell me, exactly," John went on hurriedly. "Just an estimate will do."
"You're right," Sharon replied. "You better make this up to me. I'm around two hundred. That's all you're going to get."
"That's enough," John said. "Thank you! You've been a great help."
"Keep laying on the compliments, Watson!" Sharon all but snarled before hanging up. John passed the mobile back to Lestrade.
"The frik is wrong with you?" Lestrade complained.
"I needed to know roughly what her age was," John said. "It would explain why she wouldn't recognize David. Too young. Only around two hundred years old."
"Hold on, did you just say two HUNDRED years?"
"Pure bred Lycans can live to about a thousand years," John said.
Lestrade gawked at him. "You're going to live that long?"
"Ah, no," John said. "I've got a lot of human blood mixed in. But Sherlock says five or six hundred years, most likely." Lestrade was stunned. "What else did Sharon want?" John asked.
Lestrade blinked a few times. "Oh, she went over to Dartmoor & followed him around for a bit. Found out where he lives." He called up a picture on his mobile to show a ranch style house set in some hills that practically hid it. Lestrade scrolled left to the next picture, showing more of the property & part of something else in the background.
John put the tip of his finger down onto the screen, pointing at the background. "Is that ... what I think it is?"
"Yep."
John stared at the image of David on the computer. "It's him. It's definitely him. He's the damn hound!"
"I know what we're both thinking," Lestrade said. "I know he's a Lycan. But how is this possible? Sherlock solved that case. It was just drugs ... oh." John slapped himself in the forehead as both stared at the screen. Lestrade finally said in one breath. "Do you think Sherlock knows?"
"No," John managed to find his voice. "He suspected. That's why he took that case in the first place. The foot prints of a gigantic hound. He went looking for werewolves but found only the H.O.U.N.D. secrets. At the time, none of us knew he was a vampire or knew about werewolves & after he solved that case, he dropped it, not expecting anything more."
"Still doesn't explain how this is possible!"
"As I said, werewolves can live a long time," John said. "I bet you anything, large dog prints really were seen in that area a long time ago & most likely around full moons. Every single myth has roots in fact. When Baskerville got set up, the pack went under ground, but stories of large paw prints remained & fell into legends. The Undead Law used to always disappear every once in a while."
"Now, David has access to drugs we don't even know about & is experimenting on the vampires," Lestrade said.
"It gets worse," John said, checking the private messages one last time & found David's answer to the second message.
"My God! Are they rabid?"
"No," John shook his head as he printed out the lab results before shutting everything down. "They are extremely careful. David said so & I believe him. It's one of two things he said that I believe, right now."
"What's the other thing?"
"That there's only eight of them. Five have to deal with the full moons but three do not," said John. "I know who those three are, now. David's pack has been in hiding for a very long, long time & he's kept his pack small & out of the way. There's a reason he stays clear of London & there's a reason they don't have a vampire protector & avoid vampires at all."
"What happened?"
John looked long & hard at Lestrade. "I'll tell you what I know. I don't have it all yet, so don't tell anyone else until I've talked to Sherlock ..."
"I'm coming with you," Lestrade said when John was finished. He drove John across London into Hounslow, to a large, black mansion standing at the end of a long driveway that led from a parking lot outside massive wrought iron gates. The Heathrow Airport was about two blocks away. Lestrade parked near to the closed gates & looked through the windscreen. "Now THAT is what I used to think of when the word vampire crossed my mind. Very Gothic like."
"It's listed as private property," John said as he got out. "But this is one of the embassy buildings for the Undead Law."
"Should I even go in there?" Lestrade turned up his collar after he got out as well before putting one hand on his sword, holding the little Titanic. John laughed at him.
They walked upto the gate. There was an automated security camera on the left side & a speaker. John pressed the call button. "Dr. John Watson & Inspector Lestrade," He said when asked for his name. The gate opened a moment later. The two of them silently walked down the drive way.
The front doors swung open automatically & John & Lestrade walked in. Despite its outward appearance, inside looked like a grand five star hotel. John went to the front desk to ask for Sherlock's location. He was soon given a card with directions on it. As he went back to Lestrade's side, he tried not to noticed several people staring at him. He was probably the first Watson Were to set foot in here for several centuries & people were still surprised at his presence.
John led Lestrade up several stairs & through a long hall. He stopped in front of a door & pressed the button. Sherlock opened the door. He was still wearing the mithril tunic, but his hands were free. He looked at both of them before letting them in.
Lestrade glanced around. "This is supposed to be a prison?"
"I came of my own free will," Sherlock reminded them. "Also, I have special privilege, being a Holmes. We helped build the Undead Law & are of the elite group who brought down Dracula."
"You helped build the Undead Law?" Lestrade asked as he & John sat down on the couch together in front of Sherlock who took up the armchair. "I thought it was always around."
"No," Sherlock laughed. "Absolutely not. It came about around the time we were turned. Vampires & Lycans have been working on a system for a while, but didn't quite figure things out until we joined them."
"That's why Micah was attacking people, back then," Lestrade said. "Since there were no rules like now."
"Pretty much," Sherlock steepled his fingers under his chin. His eyes drifted into John's. "You have solved it?"
"Almost," said John. "First, I need to ask you something. What exactly is a blood war? What happened to us?"
Sherlock took a long time to answer. He slowly lowered his hands to his lap. "A blood war is when two clans are at odds with each other & are usually trying to kill each other for the misdeeds of the other," he finally started. "At the time, none of us knew of Micah's involvement. I only found that out recently with the Moriarty case. So, when Enola's lover turned on her & tried to kill her, naturally, we went into defence. We killed her attacker. In fact, it was me who killed him & I kept his skull." He & John shared a long, dark look.
"That skull is someone from my family?" John gasped at last.
"Like I said, he was an old friend of mine," Sherlock said. "Well, when I say friend ..." He let it hang for a moment, just like before. "Now you know what I meant. In retaliation," he went on. "his family came to seek vengeance, also not knowing about Micah's charm or attempt to find a cure for himself. So again, we fought back. Holmes & Watsons officially at war. Within a few days, we killed most of the pack."
"Some escaped?" Lestrade asked.
"Yes, but the pack was so decimated that survivors mixed with human blood," Sherlock said. "John here, eventually came from that diluted line."
"How many Watson Weres did Enola kill?" John asked.
"None," Sherlock replied. "She was still trying to understand why she wasn't healing & spent the entirety of the blood war with vampire healers trying to figure it out."
"Ok," John nodded once, letting his hand fall to his lap where a large yellow envelope was. "Then what happened?"
Sherlock stared at him. John knew all this already & obviously so did Lestrade since he did not seem very surprised. "You know what happened."
"For the record, Sherlock. What happened?"
"Alright," Sherlock gave in. "Watson & Holmes went their separate ways for many centuries. Not a single Watson ever dared return." He raised his face a little. "Until you showed up. I nearly killed you when you walked into my life & Mike mentioned your surname. Nearly killed both of you just to get rid of another Watson Were & protect my sister. But something happened. I noticed you did not recognize my name even after I told you. I also noticed you did not seem to even have a single clue what I am, or even what you are. So I allowed you into my flat & well, you know the next few years well enough, all of which is already on record. Then Mycroft & I had to deal with Moriarty & I took off for two years. That's when I found out about Micah's involvement with the Holmes-Watson blood war & realized then what had actually happened." Sherlock leaned back into the chair. "I am sorry we destroyed most of your pack, John. We did not know. We are all quite ashamed of the bloodshed we caused, even Mycroft."
"He didn't really show it, much," John pointed out.
"That is because you have yet to see the end results," Sherlock said. "The day Mycroft was destroyed, he had spoken at the headquarters of the Undead Law early in the morning. He presented the Watson case, what we all thought had happened as compared to what actually happened with Micah being the instigator of the whole affair. Mycroft had called for an end of all blood wars, said they had become archaic & no longer necessary. He did not live to see the end result of that, but six months after he was destroyed, the Undead Law has banned all blood wars & declared any current blood wars to be ended & stopped." Sherlock smiled quickly at John. "All of that is thanks to you & what you did. You ended our blood war & avenged Mycroft's destruction in one blow, then cured our sister. That is why vampires & Lycans still talk about you, today. You have reclaimed the Watson place in our government."
"Mycroft asked for an end to all blood wars?" John repeated, astonished. "Because of me?"
Sherlock cast him a quick smile & nodded. "Had he survived that day, he would have treated you a lot more fairly, afterwards. He just didn't get the time."
John put both hands on his face & even wiped away a tear. Of all the Holmes men watching over their sister, Mycroft had been the most distrustful of him until the end. "I'm quite surprised he would do that," John finally said. He shared a look with Lestrade before going on. "Unfortunately, someone out there didn't get that memo."
"We found something you're not going to like," Lestrade finally spoke. "John has told me about this blood war your two families had. I was rather shocked about it. Then Molly called us with the results of that Lycan venom that was used to shoot you." He paused as John opened the envelope & pulled out the first of three sheets. He gave it to Sherlock.
"Traces of DNA found in the Lycan venom are an 87 percent match to Doctor J—" Sherlock froze. Unmoving. Unblinking. Only his eyes eventually moved up to look at John.
"It is not just a weapon to be mass produced as a threat to the Undead Law," Lestrade said. "It's also a bit more personal than that."
"It's not finished, Sherlock," John all but whispered. "It's not finished." Sherlock let the paper of the lab results slip from his hand. It fluttered to the floor. "Now we know why Enola is not included in my imprint," John finally went on. "It is not because she is no longer a vampire. It is because Watsons are in love with her. We wouldn't harm her. But you, Mycroft & Sherrinford participated in the slaughter. Mycroft is destroyed but Watsons want all male Holmes dead. To my family, you & Sherrinford deserve it & they want you executed." Sherlock closed his eyes. He seemed to be hyperventilating in slow motion. John took the other two sheets of paper. One of an image of David's face in the restaurant & the other of David & Kyle together. "That's the one who told me his name is David Wells. He sent Kyle in to tell you where to go so he could shoot you. But Wells is a lie, isn't it? So is Parker. They're both Watson Weres, relatives of me, probably a few centuries old."
Sherlock took the pictures & stared at them for a full minute. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "Dav ... David is ... also fake." He took a moment to catch his breath. "This is ... Arlin Watson. The father of ... of Enola's boyfriend at the time."
"The FATHER?" John & Lestrade both exclaimed.
"Didn't this Holmes-Watson blood war happen like seven hundred years ago? How old is he?" Lestrade demanded.
John added. "He told me he lost his first two children in one day & then his wife two days later."
"That he did," Sherlock admitted. "He is just over eight hundred years old & yes it was."
"Eight hundred!" Lestrade gasped.
"He is a pureblooded Lycan," Sherlock said.
"He also told me," John began. "that there are eight in his pack, five of which face the full moon but three do not. My sister & my children are the three he was talking about, aren't they?"
"I would believe so," Sherlock said, leaning over to put his head between his knees. "Ohh God! Does Sherrinford know?"
"He will in a few minutes," said John. "I'll send him scans of everything. I wanted to confirm with you, first."
Lestrade got up & went to put a hand on Sherlock's back. Sherlock sat up sharply, hissing. "Whoa, easy." Lestrade held his hands up, noticing a few tears. Sherlock had been trying to hide the fact he was crying. "Easy," Lestrade knelt down at Sherlock's feet & put a hand on the distressed vampire's knee. "It gets worse."
"What could possibly be worse?" Sherlock muttered.
"We found out where he lives," Lestrade said. "You were right about Baskerville. He's right behind it. He's the hound ... " Sherlock could only stare in silence as Lestrade explained what he & John had come up with.
"If I had known Watson Weres of old were lurking there, I would have never gone in!" Sherlock declared. "I went looking for werewolves, any at all. I never thought Watsons would be there. They had completed disappeared. No sightings. Not until John showed up."
"He kept his pack small & out of the way," said John while he texted Sherrinford. "Changed their names. Made sure your family wouldn't find out until now." He suddenly lowed the mobile. "Why now? He had seven hundred years to attack you, again. Why did he wait until now?"
"Simple," Sherlock shrugged. "Micah. He expected Micah to destroy us all. He got Mycroft but then you put an end to that. So now, Arlin feels he has to finish the job."
"Micah would have killed all of you, even Enola."
"Yes, Micah, not a Watson, would kill Enola," Sherlock said. "It would be a price to pay for letting someone else kill us, but now that the Watson pack wants to finish it, they will of course, exclude Enola."
"So he shot you with that Lycan venom bullet, but missed?" Lestrade asked. "He got Robert just fine."
Sherlock thought it over. "The ban on blood wars happened just six months after Mycroft was destroyed. Arlin had to get around that, somehow. Being close to Baskerville, he was able to experiment with a combination of drugs & Lycan venom to find the right dosage. Robert is not the only recently destroyed vampire. There have been a few for the past three or four months. Unexplained destruction of random vampires. He was most likely shooting them down, trying to find the right dosage."
"You keep saying 'the right dosage'," Lestrade said. "I thought Lycan venom kills vampires."
"It does," Sherlock said. "But he didn't want to kill me. He wanted me to go crazy enough so that the Undead Law would legally kill me & make a public announcement of it. Same for Shane. An execution. Legal execution. He was trying to find out how much Lycan venom to use & mix it with other drugs so that it would drive me insane instead of destroying me."
John's mobile dinged. He picked it up to read the text from Sherrinford. "That explains a lot. No wonder Kyle looked familiar. He bares some similarities to both you & Arlin."
"I had asked him what colour he was during full moons," John texted back. "He said light brown. Is that true?"
"Yes, Arlin is a light brown wolf. All Watson Weres I've ever known tend to lean to lighter colours. You all need to get back to Baker Street, including Sherlock. Now that we know what's really going on, we can get together & decide what to do with Arlin."
Hardly had John finished reading that text when the buzzer for the door went off, startling John enough so that he dropped his mobile. Sherlock picked it up & handed it back to him on his way by to answer the door. Lestrade picked up the three papers & put them back in the envelope as Sharon came in. She glared long & hard at John who grinned rather sheepishly, before turning to Sherlock.
"You are free to leave, immediately," Sharon began, pulling out a small key. Sherlock clasped his hands in front of him & turned his back towards her. There was a small lock on the mithril tunic, near Sherlock's lower back. When she put the key in, the vest loosened drastically & Sherlock pulled it off.
"We should go, now," Sherlock glanced at John & Lestrade before heading out the door. Lestrade went next.
John put a hand out to touch the pale metal. "Mithril. Never thought I'd get to touch mithril!" He let his hand fall & looked up at Sharon who was still glowering at him. "So, uh maybe we could go out for coffee, later?" Sharon's eyes flashed gold at him & left without a word. "That's a no, then." John was the last to leave. "Could be a maybe or an I'll think about it."
Sherlock & John got into the caged seat in the back of the cruiser. Lestrade pulled out & headed straight for Baker Street. As he drove into the city center, Anderson called the cruiser's radio.
"Is Sherlock with you?"
"Both of them are," Lestrade said. "Go ahead, Phil."
"A helicopter went down just outside of London," Anderson said. "It belonged to Sherrinford Holmes."
Hearing a door open, Lestrade looked into the back seat, only to find John alone. Sherlock had taken advantage of the fact that they were stopped in traffic at the moment to get out. "Wait. No. SHERLOCK!" Lestrade twisted back to the front to find Sherlock had already spread his wings & jumped into the air. He could easily see a burning chopper from above & flew towards the fiery mess. "EXACT LOCATION, ANDERSON! WHERE IS HE? Sherlock just took off!" Anderson took a moment to find it & let the cruiser know. Lestrade caught John's eye in the rear-view mirror. John nodded. Lestrade turned on the siren & as soon as he was able to break away from traffic.