Part IV: Streamline

Chapter: Ghosts of the past

Myers stood on a street at the suburbs of Hamburg, and looked at the house in front of him. It still looked much the same as decades ago: red, weather worn brick walls, creepy garden gnomes on the stairs, and the garden surrounding the house, that was now full of blossoming apple trees.

Suddenly he remembered with breathtaking clarity the first time he had stood here gathering courage, on a christmas eve 22 years ago. He had feared then, that Margot would refuse him, that he'd have to return home alone, and he had thought that it would be the worst thing that could possibly happen. Now he knew better. There were things far worse than not to get the girl.

It was a thousand times worse to get the girl, and then to lose her.

The thought of Margot's death pierced his heart again, like an arrowhead that was buried deep in the muscle of his heart. It sent pain, agonizing aching that radiated throughout his core, like poison that was eating him alive, and he knew it would never get better.

He knew it was his fault that Margot was dead, and thus he welcomed the pain.

It was painful to realize that if he had never came her to ask Margot to be his, Margot would still be alive. It was his love that had gotten her killed.

"Dad, what are we waiting for? Let's go in already." that was Amy. She slid her small hand into his, as if she was still a small girl, and Myers turned to look at her.

She had the Myers' hair - thick, dark hazelnut curls, and her eyes were the colour of a restless sea, dark blue with a hint of green. But even if she didn't have her mother's colors, everything in her reminded Myers about Margot. The slenderness of her shoulders, the line of her jaw, the shape of her eyes, the freckles on her nose and way her cheeks turned rosy on the chilly east wind.

Had Margot never fallen in love with him, there would be no Amy. Or Sean.

Myers glanced at his son, who still refused to meet his eyes, and he felt his heart breaking.

Sean was the living image of Margot.

He had inherited her flaming red hair, and her emerald green eyes, but it was more than that. It was the fire that lived in his heart and his soul, the temper that Myers knew existed under his usually so calm and smiling face.

One proof of that, was the fact that he so stubbornly blamed Myers for Margot's death, no matter what Amy or Eru had tried to tell him.

"You look so much like your Mother." Myers said. "Both of you."

"Thanks, Dad." Amy said, and gave him a sad smile.

"Still not talking to you." Sean muttered, and stared at his feet.

This made Kat (who'd teleported them to Hamburg) smack him on the back of his head, with her blue three fingered hand.

"Ouch!" protested Sean, rubbing the spot where she'd hit him. "That hurt!"

"Your Mom raised you better than that, Sean Trevor Myers." Kat shrugged. "Don't whine."

"Stop fighting!" Amy snapped. "Sean, please."

The tone of his sister's voice made the angry mask slip of Sean's face, and without a word he took her hand (which Myers reluctantly let go). Neither of the twins said a thing, but Myers was aware of the silent exchange of thoughts and feelings that went on between those two. It had always been like that with them - they had been more than three years old before they learnt to speak properly, for it was so much easier for them to just slip into each other's minds and share everything. Only when they had felt the need to start talking to other people, had they learnt to speak.

Myers gave a long sigh, and turned his eyes back at the house in front of them.

"I guess it's time." he said, more to himself than to his companions. "Let's go in."

A few minutes later Kat and Myers were sitting in the small library/office with Dr. Heinemann. Amy and Sean had disappeared to the kitchen with Martha, who had cried and held them in her arms, and promised to make them hot chocolate with rum (which apparently was her medicine to heartbreak). Myers still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the fact that the kid's grandmother offered them alcoholic beverages, but then again, this was Europe, and they were legally old enough to drink here.

"I take it you're not here just to bring the kids?" Dr. Heinemann said.

Myers blinked, and turned his gaze back at the older man.

"You're right, Stefan." he admitted. "I didn't want to speak about it while the kids and Martha were present, but-"

"It's about Margot, isn't it. You need my help for something."

Myers gave a small nod. "I understand that you're retired… and that this is the worst possible moment, but yes. We need your advice on how to catch the murderer."

"I will of course do whatever I can." Dr. Heinemann continued. "But first…. tell me, John. Did Margot… did she suffer?"

Myers felt like choking. It took all he had, to be able to look up and meet the grey eyes of Margot's father, the eyes that were now full of sorrow, and fatigue.

"It happened so fast." Kat said. "She did not suffer for long."

Myers glanced at Kat, who had changed back to her human form, and sent her a silent thanks.

Dr. Heinemann nodded, and turned to look away. He was silent for a long while, his eyes fixated on the blossoming trees in the garden.

"She loved the garden, you know?" he finally said, on a very silent voice. "That's why she always wanted to come back here. To sit under that apple tree, and read a book."

"Amy likes that too." Myers forced himself to say. "She takes after her mother."

"She's an adorable young woman." Dr. Heinemann noted. "But Sean has more of Margot, I think. Amy takes after you."

"I agree." Kat said. "Eru thinks so too, by the way."

Myers glanced at Kat.

Amy and Eru? Kat had hinted before that there might be something going on there, but who knew? The thought brought sudden warmth to his broken heart. He could hardly imagine a better man for his daughter, than Hellboy's only son Eru.

But the small happiness in his heart didn't last for long. He knew why they had come here, and it sure as Hell wasn't talking about their children's love life. Just one look at Dr. Heinemann's face brought Myers back to reality.

"Stefan..." he began, and suddenly his throat felt so dry and hoarse that it was difficult to speak. "I know there is nothing I can say to fix this, to change what happened… but I just wanted to say, that I am sorry. I promised to keep Margot safe, and I failed. I understand if you can never forgive me."

"John, please." the older man shook his head. "It was not your fault."

"But it was. I left her alone. I wasn't there for her, when she needed me most."

It felt like breathing fire, to force out those words, but the only thing that felt worse than that, was the devastating sorrow in Dr. Heinemann's eyes.

"Stop that, John." he groaned. "What's done is done. I know that you loved her."

"I love her." Myers snapped back. "No past tense."

"And that's all that matters." the older man said, resolute. "I cannot forgive you, for there is nothing to forgive. She loved you, and you made her happy. Don't you apologize for that."

Myers could hardly nod. He knew he didn't deserve those words, but still the relief was so fierce it almost took his breath away.

"Thank you, Stefan. I-"

"Enough of that." Dr. Heinemann made a wave with his hand. "Now, let's talk business. That's what you're really here for, isn't it?"

"That is true, Sir." Kat said. "We need your help to catch Margot's killer."

The old professor picked up his glasses from the table, put them on, and leaned forward. "Alright. What can I do?"

Myers took his phone from his pocket, and showed it to Dr. Heinemann.

"Do you know this man?" he asked, showing a photo that Abe had taken from the security tapes.

Dr. Heinemann nodded, and gave out a long sigh. "Yes, I know him. It's Lucien, a vampire and Europol's mole. He killed her, right?"

"Yes. And I need to understand why. Anything you can tell us about him, is highly valued."

The old man leaned back in his chair, and turned his gaze away from the picture.

"Oh, I know a great deal about him… and I always knew he'd be trouble. I only wish that Margot had believed me when I told her so."

"You knew he'd harm her?"

"No, not as such… I thought it was all in the past. But this would make a lot more sense if I started from the beginning, don't you think?"

"Please do." Myers said. "We're not in a hurry."

"You see, it all began when we took Margot in…" the old man leaned back in his chair, turned his eyes to the window, to the garden his daughter had loved so much. But it was as if he didn't see it at all, as if he was looking to the past, and began his story.

"She was no more than a little girl at that time, just turned 14, and she was a tiny little thing. Looked years younger than she was." Dr. Heinemann paused for a while, and glanced at Myers. "I think you know all about that already, of how I found her in Europol's secret department, locked in and drugged?"

"Yeah, I've heard that story." Myers noted. "She told me you saved her."

Dr. Heinemann shrugged. "I don't know about saving, but I could not leave her there. I had to do something. So I took her in, and we raised her as our daughter… though it wasn't always easy. To tell you the truth, the first years it was almost never easy."

"She was very different from the young woman you met ten years later." Dr. Heinemann continued. "She was a shy, timid creature. Very silent. Very much afraid of everything. We knew little of her former home, but from what she told us, it was obvious it had been a family with no much love. She had been raised up to hide her emotions, to be seen but not heard. She had never had a chance to rebel, to express her feelings, to be a normal teenager. Margot had been forced to take care of her younger siblings while her mother and stepfather concentrated on their careers."

"Stepfather?" Kat interrupted raising an eyebrow. "Margot didn't live with her dad?"

"No." Myers replied. "Didn't you know? Margot didn't have any idea who her real father was. Nobody had."

"Oh." Kat said, and seemed perplexed. "She never mentioned that."

"She didn't like talking about that. It was very painful for her to think about her past." The old professor continued. "She refused to talk about them at all, when first arriving here. To be precise, she refused to talk. She locked herself in her room, but it hardly made any difference - her chained emotions began to surface, and they made the whole house shake. We had to repair our windows a dozen times, for they kept exploding. Other things happened too…" he was silent for a moment, and gave a long sigh. "... but I always believed in her. I always thought that if we gave her unconditional love, if we helped her through the hard times, she would thrive. I believed in her."

"You were right." Myers replied. "Margot knew what you had done for her, and she appreciated it."

"I know." Dr. Heinemann sighed. "But to be honest, it was mostly Martha. She left her work, to be able to be with Margot all the time. Neither one of us knew a thing about telepathy, but she learnt everything she could, and helped Margot to figure out how to control her powers, how to use them. In six months she was a changed girl."

"What do you mean?" Myers asked. "Changed how? And what does this have to do with Lucien?"

"Oh, you'll see." Dr. Heinemann replied with a dark tone. "Just let me get there."

"Sorry." Myers said. "Please, go on."

"As I was saying, Margot changed. Getting a hang of her powers seemed to give her a boost of confidence, or maybe it was the fact that she finally had a home where she was accepted and loved, I don't know… anyhow, she began to rebel. I understand it now - it must've been a horrible thing for a child that young to realize she wasn't like the rest of us, and to accidentally kill her friends. But then, I had hard time coping with her tantrums."

"We moved to Prague for some time, I got assigned there, and for a while things were better. But then Margot broke up with Marco, and all hell broke loose again." Dr. Heinemann gave a long, sad sigh and shook his head. "Margot got it in her head, that she was a freak, and that she could never have a normal life, or a normal boyfriend. She got depressed."

"I didn't know what to do with her, and neither did Martha. We tried everything. We took her to a doctor, to a shrink, to all kinds of specialists, but nothing helped. Margot had lost her will to live, and we were helpless. Until I had an idea."

"What kind of idea?" Kat asked.

"To take her with me to work." Dr. Heinemann replied. "We had moved back to Brussels, and I thought, that if she saw that the world was full of supernatural things, that she wasn't the only one out there, it would help to put things back to perspective. Maybe it would give her a sense of purpose too."

"And did it?"

"Oh, it did." the old man sighed. "But it also introduced her to Lucien."

They were all silent for a little while, before Dr. Heinemann turned to face Myers, his eyes now deep and dark, full of sorrow and regret.

"You see, John, it is me who is to blame for Margot's death, not you. It was my fault she ever met Lucien in the first place."

Myers felt like frozen inside, but he knew he needed to hear the rest. He needed to hear it all, if it helped him to catch the monster who had taken his wife.

"Please, tell me how it happened." he breathed, his voice thin and stretched.

"Margot was 16 or 17 at that time. I took her with me to work quite often that time, not only for her sake, but for mine too - I had already learnt that it was handy to have a telepath on board. It happened on a routine mission. I had agreed to meet Lucien, who was selling information of Downworld to us, and Margot was with me." Dr. Heinemann paused for a rather long while, and a pained expression flashed on his eyes. "Had I known what would follow, I never would have let her come with me. You see, it was soon after that meeting, that Margot disappeared for the first time. She vanished from her room, and didn't come home in two days. Martha and me, we were desperate. I looked everywhere for her, I asked help from work, I did all I could, but I didn't find her. She was gone for two days and two nights, and when she finally returned home, she was pale and tired, and told us nothing of what had happened."

"I had my suspicions, of course, and I knew I was to blame. I had introduced her not only to Lucien, but to a world of paranormal and supernatural, to beings far weirder than her, and for the first time in her life she understood that she wasn't alone. That there were others. There was a whole world full of shadows and secrets, and things that called to her. She was drawn to that world, and she was fearless as only teenagers can be, thinking nothing bad could happen to her."

"She had fallen for the shadow world, but the thing that really swept her off her feet, were vampires." Dr Heinemann took a look at Lucien's photo that was still displayed on Myers' phone, and frowned. "I understand it, of course. At that age Margot still wasn't fully in control of her powers, and world was a noisy place for her. It must've been tormenting for her, people's thoughts constantly swarming into her mind… without any chance of finding silence. Until she met Lucien."

"You mean the fact that she could not read vampires." Kat stated.

"Yes. You have some telepathic abilities yourself, right?" Dr. Heinemann asked, and Kat gave a small nod. "Then you understand what I mean. It was a burden for Margot to hear everything, to know everything. Being around vampires was enjoying a moment of silence, a moment of normalcy, as absurd as that sounds."

"That's what Margot said to me once." Myers admitted. "That she loved vamps, because she could talk with them without knowing what they would say next."

Dr. Heinemann nodded. "I know why she liked being around them. And it was not just that, there were other reasons too. Their beauty and their decadence allured her, the parties and the constant sense of danger and excitement… it called to her. She was a teenager after all, with traumatizing past to try and live with."

"I tried to stop it of course. I told her a million times that she was forbidden to see Lucien or the rest of his people, but it did no good. Margot did what she wanted, as always. I could hardly keep a telepath and a telekinetic locked in the house." he made a small snort, a sad laughter. "It only got worse during that winter. Sometimes we didn't see Margot for days, and I began to fear it had been a mistake to take her in at the first place. I felt like we could not help her, for she didn't let us near. She kept secrets, and I was forced to keep secrets for her as well. Had Europol known how little time she spent home, they would have taken her back to the special department. Drugged her and never let her out again."

Dr. Heinemann paused for a while, and a silence fell into the room. A silence, only filled with the sounds of birds outside in the garden, and the old clock ticking on the wall, eating time with it's slow hands. From somewhere far away Myers could hear the voices of his children and Martha.

Finally Dr. Heinemann continued his story.

"Then one day it all changed." his voice was sad, it's tone somber. "It was an early morning, and I was still home, having breakfast, when we heard the doorbell. I rushed at the door, fearing the worst, but still unprepared for the thing that I saw."

"There was Lucien, and he was holding Margot, carrying her in his arms, and she was unconscious. She was pale as death and there were bite marks on her neck, on her arms, on every part of her skin that was visible, and for a moment I thought she was gone. And that bastard, that… thing - he was laughing, he was smirking at me when he let me take her. He was laughing at my face, and from the look on his eyes I knew he enjoyed letting me see what he had done to my little girl."

Myers was shocked, disgusted beyond words.

Just thinking about Margot like that, as a young girl, all helpless in the hands of a vampire… it made a hot rage burn in his heart, and he tasted iron.

Even if Dr. Heinemann didn't say it, he knew biting wasn't the only thing vamps did to humans when they had them like that. In his mind he could see Lucien's greedy hands on Margot's skin, his lips on her neck, and he knew where it had led to.

Jealousy had the taste of iron too, and it made him nauseous.

Dr. Heinemann gave him a look that was full of sorrow and regret.

"I wanted to kill him for that." the older man said. "And I would have, but I had Margot in my arms, and I had to take care of her. I took Margot to the hospital." Dr. Heinemann continued, after a rather pointed moment of silence. "She had lost a lot of blood. The doctors said, that had I not brought her in then, she would have died or at least suffered permanent injuries. It was a matter of minutes."

"But she lived. And after I was sure she would, I left the hospital and went to Europol headquarters to tell everything to my boss. To ask for a permission to raid the vampire lair, and to kill Lucien."

"And what did he say?" Kat asked, leaning forward in her chair. "What happened?"

"I was told to do nothing." Dr. Heinemann stated, with a bitter tone. "I was told to keep my daughter under control, and leave Lucien be."

"What?" Kat exclaimed. "That's crazy!"

"Is it?" the old man replied. "It was wrong, of course, but it was hardly crazy. He was an important asset to Europol. He was the main source of information we had on the downworld business. It was a rational decision, and I was given an order. I didn't disobey it."

Myers felt like dying.

He could hear the pain and the regret on Dr. Heinemann's voice, but it hardly made any difference. He knew now, that Lucien had hurt Margot before, and that whole Europol, including Margot's father, had just stood by and let it happen.

He didn't know how he could ever forgive that.

Dr. Heinemann must have read his feelings from his face, for he met his eyes and when he spoke again, his tone was the one of a man who's lost all.

"If it makes any difference, it was not easy for me to follow that order." he said. "And I thought of going after him, even if I knew it would come with a cost. But one cannot keep thoughts like these secret when living with a telepath."

"Oh." Kat said. "Margot read your mind."

"She did that all the time. As I said, she couldn't really control her powers back then. And when she learnt what I planned to do to Lucien, she pleaded me not to act."

"She did… what?" Myers managed to ask.

"You heard me. Margot made me promise I would not harm Lucien. She cried, and she was desperate, and she… ah, it doesn't matter, does it? What I mean, is that she didn't think Lucien had hurt her in purpose. She still trusted him and cared for him-"

"What you're not saying, is that she was in love with him?" Myers groaned. "You mean that, don't you? That she… that my-"

"John, don't." Kat placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't go there. It makes no difference now."

"How can you say that?" he felt like choking, and the words tasted like tears in his mouth. "Did you know? Did you know she had been in love with that… creature?"

"No, I didn't know." Kat snapped. "And I bet Margot didn't tell me because she was ashamed of it. We all do stupid things when we're young, and we don't go boasting about them later on."

It took all Myers had to not rush out of the room and leave all this behind.

We all do stupid things when we're young.

Yeah, right. His most stupid adolescent act had been taking a girl to a ride with uncle Thaddeus' motorcycle in the middle of the night. Not exactly comparative to sneaking into a vampire lair to have sex and to get drained of blood.

But then again, Margot had always been a wild one, like a force of nature. And he had loved her for that. He wouldn't have changed a thing about her.

"She loved you." Kat said, as if reading his mind. "You know that she did."

Loved. In past tense.

The absence of Margot's love was like a hole in his chest, like a bullet wound in his heart, like a desert of ice and sand, where no thing can survive.

Just get this thing done. Just catch the bastard who took her away from you, and then you can-

He shook his head, to get a hold of himself. There was no breaking down now. The job had to be finished.

"Please, tell us what happened after that." Myers forced his voice to be calm, his hands to stop shaking. "What happened to Lucien? Did you see him again?"

Dr. Heinemann shook his head.

"I know little about his life - if you can call it that - afterwards. I never saw him again after the morning he was at my door. I could not trust myself not to kill him if I saw him, so I asked not to be assigned on the missions that might include dealing with him."

"And after you were made the director of operations?"

"I heard he left Brussels soon after, and I think it might not have been a coincidence."

Myers was silent for a little while, giving some thought on the things he had just heard.

Carefully removing all emotion off the matter, he tried to observe it as if he was just working on a case.

Lucien had almost killed Margot all those years ago, but apparently it had not been on purpose. If a vampire wanted to kill a human, it would've been easy. He could've drained Margot to death while he was at it. Instead he had chosen to bring the unconscious and badly injured Margot to the footsteps of an Europol agent.

It was illogical. And as far as Myers knew, behind every illogical decision were emotions.

So maybe Margot's love for Lucien had not been unrequited after all?

But that gave Myers no answers, only more questions.

If Lucien had wanted Margot dead, then why had he not killed her years ago? And if he had indeed cared for her, or even loved her, then why had he taken her life?

"This makes no sense to me." he muttered, glancing at Kat. "I do not understand. Why would he kill Margot?"

"Because someone paid him to do so." Dr. Heinemann stated. "That would be my guess. He was easy to buy, for he loved a luxurious lifestyle and he didn't have any principles. Someone paid him to do it, because they knew she would let him near her."

"Paid - or threatened." said Kat. "There are other motivators than money. Fear is a good one too."

"It's not that easy to threaten a vampire." noted Myers. "They're not afraid of many things."

"Everyone's afraid of something." replied Kat with a dark tone. "We might need to find out who is powerful enough to scare a vampire to do his bidding, to get to the bottom of this."

Myers knew instinctively that Kat was right, and he didn't like it a bit. He had a bad feeling that they were standing on a cliff, facing and endless void that would take them down into depths he wasn't sure he was prepared to deal with.