Disclaimer: The term 'Remembrancer' comes from Garth Nix's books; I don't own it.

A/N: Half Jack - There's this marvelous invention called a dictionary. Find one, open it, and look up 'musical'. It'll tell you, in these words: 1.of, pertaining to, or producing music: a musical instrument. 2.of the nature of or resembling music; melodious; harmonious. 3.fond of or skilled in music. 4.set to or accompanied by music: a musical entertainment. –noun 5.Also called musical comedy. a play or motion picture in which the story line is interspersed with or developed by songs, dances, and the like. You lose.

Remembrancer

Unable to sleep, Tanith thought about her dream. She had been so happy with William before he turned her. Even then, she had still enjoyed being with him until she found the black magick ritual that summoned the demon that slaughtered her family. She still didn't believe that William had had nothing to do with it, but something about what he had said still bothered her. He told her that it was a younger, inexperienced vampire who had summoned the demon and had been killed by it. That would explain why the ritual was never cleared away. But how could she possibly believe him? What reason did she have to trust him? Well, there was one way to find out for certain what had happened: she would have to scry into the past and see for herself.

Tanith set seven small dishes around a black mirror on the coffee table. This was something she needed to know once and for all: had William killed her family or not. She fished around in a small backpack Minuet had brought with her and pulled out several small packets of herbs. She put some in each of the dishes; herbs to stimulate memory, to protect against negative energies, to promote astral projectivity, and to invite positive energies. When that was done she lit each one and let them smoke for a moment, breathing in the smoke through her nose before looking down into the mirror, murmuring, "Power of the elements, blessed be. Show me the past that I would see." She breathed onto the mirror's surface, fogging it. As the condensed breath cleared, the scene unfolded and Tanith watched with great anticipation.

She saw a Dandy she didn't recognize hurrying down a hallway, constantly looking around to make sure no one was watching him. He looked strange in that he wasn't wearing a derby, his hair was mussed, his clothes were wrinkled, and he simply had no elegance about him at all. He must have been very young, as a human and a vampire. He was carrying several objects, hunched over them so Tanith couldn't quite make out what they were. He went down into the basement she remembered, set the objects on a table, and started drawing a pentagram in red chalk on the floor. Tanith's lip curled in anger at this perversion of such a pure, sacred symbol of protection, but there was nothing for it now. She watched as the Dandy set a candle, a balloon, a dish of dirt, and a glass of water at four of the points on the pentagram. Fire, air, earth, and water – the four most basic elements. But the candle was made from human fat and the earth was graveyard dirt; Tanith knew it instinctively. This was an evil spell. She watched as the Dandy placed her mother's ring and her father's handkerchief in the centre of the pentagram before standing at the top point of the pentagram – the point of spirit – opening a grimoire and chanting in Latin while he sliced the palm of his hand, dripping the blood into a black resin chalice before the wound closed. The demon appeared in the centre of the pentagram, which was supposed to protect the caster. The Dandy offered it the blood and instructed it to destroy the ones whose items he had placed in the pentagram. The demon took the chalice and drained it before sniffing the items and vanishing. The Dandy grinned, pleased with himself. The image wavered, showing that time had passed, and the demon reappeared. The Dandy raised his arms in an extravagant gesture to dismiss the monster, but it wouldn't leave. The foolish vampire stared in shock and, in his surprise, stepped back from the pentagram, breaking the circle of protection. The demon lunged at the hapless Dandy, tearing him to shreds before vanishing into the night. The pentagram could never be cleaned away now that it had been cursed with blood. William walked into the image, a shocked and horrified expression creasing his features when he saw the scene.

Tanith passed her hand over the mirror, breaking the spell. She had seen enough. William had told her the truth.

Suddenly dizzy and rather nauseas, Tanith leaned back against the couch and put her head between her knees, massaging her temples and breathing deeply through her nose. When she had regained her composure, she looked around at her friends. She had just lost a lot of illusions she had been harboring, and the majority of those had contributed to her hatred of William. Now that she knew he hadn't murdered her parents, what was left? Did she have any reason left to hate him? Yes, he had cast her aside when he grew bored with her, but that was no reason to kill him. Her eyes fell on Brendon, and she remembered what William had done to him. Her expression hardened. Yes, she still hated William, just in a more informed context.

A new curiosity gripped Tanith as she gazed at the mirror's black surface. She replenished the herbs, relit them, spoke the spell, and breathed on the mirror again. This time the scene revealed William as a young man almost a hundred years ago. It was the 1920's from what she could see, and William was walking down a dark street with a lovely girl wearing a little too much make-up on his arm. Everything seemed so peaceful…until a quartet of gangsters came out of nowhere, shoved the girl aside, dragged William into the back of a black car and roared away into the night. Tanith leaned in, fascinated and surprised. Who were these men and why had they kidnapped William? She got her answer when the car stopped outside an old silo and the men got out, talking about ransom and mob money. Apparently William's family was affiliated with the Mafia. They dragged William, now blindfolded with his hands bound behind his back, into the silo and threw him unceremoniously against the wall, two armed men guarding him. He struggled until one of the men clubbed him with his gun, knocking him to the side. That was when all hell broke loose.

A young man suddenly appeared out of nowhere and fell on one of the mobsters, who yelled and fired his gun to no avail. Two other men and three women seemed to materialize out of the shadows and attacked the rest of the gunmen. William, forgotten on the ground, rubbing his shoulder against the blindfold, trying frantically to get it off so he could see what was happening. The gunmen were all screaming and firing desperately, trying to fight off the vampires who were tearing them to pieces. William, who had finally gotten the blindfold off, stared in abject horror at the gruesome scene. Tears started to stream down his face as he watched, unable to blink or look away. The men lay dismembered in pools of their own body fluids, the vampire pack standing over them with satisfied grins stained with blood. One woman became prominent among them. She was very graceful and elegant, dressed in an evening gown of black silk. She was unsullied by blood or viscera, indicating she hadn't been part of the slaughter.

"Did you enjoy your dinner, children?" she asked. The "children" in question made eager sounds of assent. One young man's eyes fell on William and he grinned.

"We missed one," he said. William flinched as all eyes turned to him. The vampire who had spoken turned to their mistress. "Mother, may I-"

"Not this one, Jared," the woman interrupted smoothly. Smiling she sauntered towards William…and Tanith gasped as she saw the woman's face clearly for the first time. Light brown hair, silvery-grey eyes, high cheekbones and rounded yet slim features…this woman looked exactly like Tanith. Tanith stared as her doppelgänger knelt next to William, stroking his cheek. "What a beautiful boy," she murmured. "What is your name?"

"William," William whispered, terrified.

The vampire woman smiled and leaned in closer to him. "I'm Christina," she breathed in his ear, making him shudder. He whimpered as she slowly parted her lips against his throat before sinking her fangs into his flesh, making him cry out, struggling weakly for a moment before going limp in her arms, all the while pleading softly for her to stop, to let him go. Finally Christina drew back, smoothing William's hair out of his face as she smiled down at him. She pushed her hair off her neck and made a deep cut in her throat with her nail, lifting William's face to the wound. He tried to fight, but as soon as her blood touched his lips it was over. There was no way he could resist; no one can. Tanith couldn't keep from watching it all, watching him writhe in mortal death, watch the changes that overcame him as he lay in Christina's arms, watch her untie his wrists and guide him away with the rest of her "children".

"Tanith?"

"Ai!" Tanith jumped a foot in surprise, quickly dispelling the image with a wave of her hand over the glass before turning in the direction of the voice. "Oh, Brendon, it's you."

"Of course it's me; who else?" asked Brendon, sliding off the fold-out bed to the floor next to Tanith. His face was concerned. "Are you all right?"

"I think I should be asking that question," replied Tanith with a smile. "You look much better; how do you feel?"

"Perfect," Brendon said with a smile. "Never better. Really, I'm not being sarcastic. I feel great, thanks to you and your friends."

"Our friends," Tanith corrected him. Brendon's smiled broadened and he kissed her cheek.

"All right, your turn," he said. "What were you doing before?"

"What's going on?" asked Pete sleepily as he came into the room with the rest of the band.

"Just scrying for some answers," Tanith said.

"Scrying? Like, crystal ball and tarot cards?" asked Joe skeptically.

Tanith laughed. "You're standing in a room with four vampires and a werewolf, in a town overrun with vampires, and you're iffy about divination?"

Pete laughed. "She's got a point."

"Oh please, don't pretend you've always believed in that voodoo stuff," snorted Joe. "But I get your point, I guess. I'm willing to believe in anything nowadays. So what were you looking for?"

"Answers," said Tanith shortly, in a tone that meant 'drop it and leave it alone'. "Just some things I needed to know." Then she sighed, her expression changing. "No, you guys deserve to hear the truth. I was looking to see what exactly happened to my parents five years ago."

Everyone was surprised, except Minuet, who had known Tanith the longest. "And what did you see?" she asked.

Tanith looked up at the group. "William told me the truth. He didn't kill my family." There was a very pregnant silence as Tanith gazed at the floor. She didn't want to tell them about seeing William being sired by the woman Christina. That was something she needed to keep for herself. The horrifying revelation of seeing William turned by a vampire with her own face was something she just couldn't tell her friends, not yet. Maybe not ever. Sighing she stood up. "I'm going for a walk and to grab breakfast; I'll be back in a while."

"Do you want us to come with?" asked Brendon, standing with her.

Tanith smiled sadly at him. "Thanks sweetheart, but I really need to be alone right now. Clear my head, y'know?" She kissed him tenderly and left the warehouse. She had a hunger burning in her that she knew animal blood wouldn't satisfy, so she fed from several humans, never taking enough to kill, until she was full. Restless and frustrated, she found herself walking down a road she hadn't walked in a long time. The road led to the house where she had once lived with William, back when she loved him. The house stood abandoned now, as the Dandies had since relocated, but she remembered her way around. She went inside, easily kicking in the old door, and made her way down to the basement. The ritual was still there, everything still in place to summon the demon. Kneeling in the dust, she picked up her parent's possessions, slipping her mother's ring on her finger and her father's handkerchief in her pocket. Blinking away tears, she stood up. She stared at the pentacle until she felt that someone was watching her.

"Tanith? I never thought I'd find you here."

Tanith sighed through her nose. "William," she said coolly. Turning to face him very slowly and deliberately, she said, in a cold tone, "We need to talk."