Acheron sat very still as he watched everyone settle around the table. Their search and rescue team had grown so much that Aimée decided to close the pub early so that they could put some tables together so that everyone would have a place to sit. The scene reminded him of all of the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to which Sanctuary had played host over the centuries. The contrast of why there were here now was evident on everyone's grim faces and it made him that much more determined to make sure that Parker got home safe sooner than later.

He must have gotten more lost in thought than he had planned to because he was suddenly jostled out of his trance like state by Katra squeezing his hand under the table and quietly saying, "Dad? Are you okay?"

Ash tried to give his daughter a strong smile, but he couldn't quite manage it as he answered, "Just thinking too hard."

She didn't need to hear anything more because she knew exactly what he meant. Everyone was slightly on edge because of Parkers disappearance, even people who didn't really know her all that well. I wasn't so much that they were concerned that a human had gone missing, it was more that someone or something was willing to kidnap a potential mate of a Were-Hunter and that they had no qualms with taking her from a well-known Limani. It was that last point that had brought more bodies to the meeting tonight because no one knew if this incident was a precursor to something more sinister or not.

As Fang settled into his seat beside Aimée, Acheron surveyed the faces of everyone present and felt conflicted whether he should feel happy or worried about the turnout. He was proud to see that so many people had been able to put their personal animosities aside to work together. In the next breath it was worrisome that they each had been through enough that they could immediately recognize that they had to band together to keep things from possibly getting worse.

Katra once again tried to give her father a strong smile as she reached over to taker her husband, Sin's, hand into hers because she could practically read Acheron's thoughts from the look on his face. Beside him sat Fang and then Aimée, Dave, Samia and Remi. At the other end (head) of the table was Otto, who was sitting beside Tate Bennett, a Dorean Squire who works as the Parish Coroner in New Orleans. Surprisingly Nick was seated next to Tate. He had told Aimée that since Parker had been called to New Orleans to be his Squire, he felt it was only right to try to help to find her. Aimée had been too surprised by his apparent generosity to reply and she had just point out an empty seat for him take. Nick felt no guilt that the human was missing, but he did feel a sense of duty to help find her. Parker was a pure soul who had done nothing to deserve what was happening to her, so he only wanted to help to right that wrong.

Rounding out the occupants of the other side of the table were Talon and Sunshine followed by Kyrian Hunter, a former Dark-Hunter who still called New Orleans home. Beside him was Julian Alexander. They had caught wind of Parker's disappearance from Talon and they hoped that they might be of some help to the rescue effort by tapping into their connections with gods and goddesses of different pantheons as well as those found on Mount Olympus. Well the last part was more true for Julian because his mother is Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Beauty.

There were a couple of empty seats by Julian that Acheron thought might be filled by Valerius or one of the other men's wives, but Valerius had politely declined the invitation to join them all tonight. He explained that other than Artemis he had no interactions with anyone from Olympus and his presence at Sanctuary would likely cause more harm than good. That didn't mean that he wasn't willing to help, but first they needed a foe to fight before he could be of use. He also told Acheron that if they Atlantean thought that he could be of any assistance during that meeting that he was but a phone call away. Valerius reasoned that he could still be of assistance from afar and hopefully not be a hindrance any more than he needed to be. Acheron found it hard to argue with those profoundly logical and very eloquently stated points, so he let it go and chose instead to focus on the problem at hand.

Acheron looked over the motley crew he and Aimée had assembled and he almost laughed out loud. Desperate times he thought to himself before he said, "I think that we're all here now. Savitar told me to keep him in the loop because he's ready to call the Omegrion together at a moment's notice. He doesn't look too favorably on anyone who interferes with someone's mate, especially this early in the process."

Remi couldn't help but to snort in a laugh as he retorted, "He pretty much doesn't look favorably on anyone."

"That is true, Remi," Acheron replied as he levelled the surly bear with a look. "But he's an ally right now, so let's try to keep from pissing him off too much."

Remi shut his mouth and then mimed that he was using a key to lock them closed. Since he knew that Remi was feeling the time crunch the most while Parker was missing, Acheron was willing to allow him the odd outburst of frustration. He also knew that Remi was showing much more restraint than usual so he flashed the bear a brief smile of appreciation to show the other man that he not only sympathized but he also understood how hard this situation was for him.

"Alright," Acheron stated to try to get them all back on track. He then turned to look at where Katra was now seated and all of his muscles relaxed so much that his smile looked completely natural once again. "Kat? Did you find out anything helpful from the Fates, your mom or anyone else?"

"No, I didn't find out anything helpful while I was on Olympus," she replied sounding rather grim. Her eyes raked over the majority of the faces at the table and she couldn't help but to curse herself for always going for the tease instead of the straight answer right away. "But then I got a call from Seph… err Persephone. She's with Hades right now in the Under World, so she was able to confirm that neither Parker, nor her soul are in the Elysian Fields, Tartarus or wandering the river's shores to pay the Ferryman for a ride. I know it isn't much, but at least we now know for sure that she isn't there right now."

"That is good to know," Acheron agreed with another easy smile.

Although he tried hard not to, Remi let out a soft snort of derision and then he quietly said, "Except that I already knew that she isn't dead."

That comment earned Remi a couple of glances, but Katra ignored him to add, "I even talked to Grandma about the Fates to see if she could offer any pointers to get the truth out of them."

Acheron was quite surprised about that revelation, but he kept his face devoid of any discernable emotions for the time being. "Oh? I wasn't aware of that at all. How did that go for you?"

Shaking her head sadly Katra replied, "About as well as you might expect. Luckily I had brought the babies for a visit, so they helped to distract her from my stupid line of questions."

"You're trying to help," Sin quietly stated as he squeezed her hand, "You were just trying to be creative and to think outside of the box."

"Sin's right," Aimée quickly chimed in. "I for one am ready to ask Zeus himself for help at this point."

Everyone around the table let out a soft groan or laugh at that comment. They all knew someone would have to be beyond desperate to turn to Zeus for any kind of aid because he was not one to help anyone unless it was for his own gain. Or extreme amusement. Or possibly to punish someone else, but mostly only if it helped him in some way.

Acheron gave Aimée a half smile answering, "Hopefully it won't come to that. So Sin? Sunshine? Were either of you able to find out anything about someone who might be powerful enough to pull this off?"

Sin gestured towards Sunshine saying, "Ladies first."

Everyone turned their attention towards Talon's wife. She fidgeted slightly in her place as she hesitantly said, "My Gran…" She paused where that comment was met with looks of confusion from some of the people at the table so that she could quickly add, "She's actually the Celtic goddess Morrígan. She said that there are a few in her pantheon that might have the power to do all of this but… but she doesn't think that any of them would be dumb enough to risk it."

Even though Sunshine stopped there, it looked like she still had more to say, so Katra gently prompted her by saying, "Sunshine, did she say something else to you?"

"Well… she also said that… well… let's put it this way, your family's pantheon isn't the only one that likes to… to… get around." Her cheeks turned a bright pink at thinking of some of the things her mother and grandmother had recounted to her when she had asked them for their help. "She also said that a few of them sought mates or consorts outside of gods and goddesses… some have even been known to have spent time with demons or demigods or the like, so they have offspring all over and their children might not care about the rules of decorum as much. They sort of complicate the issue too because there's no way to really know what they are capable of without knowing who both their parents are and as you can imagine…"

"They don't like to kiss and tell unless they're bragging," Acheron finished for her, trying not to let his irritation show too much. "Well that definitely expands our list of potential suspects quite a bit."

"Yeah it does, I'm sorry," Sunshine apologized sincerely. "She also said that she'll keep asking around to try to narrow down the list. Or… well to be honest she's really hoping to eliminate anyone from her pantheon because she's really hoping none of her family would do this to anyone." She then turned to Remi to add, "She knows that Parker is an old friend of Talon's, so I know that's fueling her desire to find her. And she wanted me to send her best as well as her promise that she will do everything in her powers to find your mate, especially is someone in her family is to blame."

Talon wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders and hugged her into his side. He knew that she would have urged her grandmother to help them no matter what, but the added connection between the missing woman and her husband definitely made a difference, Parker had actually been able to come over for dinner a few times at their house and much like Talon had expected Parker had charmed her way into his family's heart. In fact, Sunshine had taken such a liking to the younger woman that they had disappeared for almost an hour while Sunshine showed her the art studio she had at the house and some of the pieces she was currently working on.

Also not surprisingly, Declan, Talon and Sunshine's son, had warmed up to the young Squire right away. While Talon helped Sunshine clear the table, Parker took Declan to the living room to play. By the time his parents joined the, Declan was asleep on the couch with his head in Parker's lap. Sunshine then started calling Parker 'The Toddler Whisperer' and wouldn't let the younger woman leave for the night until Parker promised that she would babysit for them at least for one night. Since she was starting her new job and her new relationship, Parker wasn't sure how she would fit babysitting into her schedule, but she promised that she would because she wanted to spend more time with Talon and his family. Plus, she wanted to try to repay Talon for all of the times that he had hung out with her at Café du Monde so that her parents could run errands or something else when she was a little girl.

Talon squeezed Sunshine's shoulder and kissed her head before saying, "We'll find her, Sunny. I promise you that we will."

Remi watched Talon comfort his wife and he felt his heart ache. Lately it had been from jealousy, but tonight it was different. When he looked around the table he realized that the main reason most of the people were here tonight was because of how Parker had connected to them and had positively affected their lives. Sure they all wanted to help him find his potential mate, but he knew that was an afterthought for most of them and strangely he actually felt no animosity about that at all.

Suddenly Remi watched as his right hand reached across the table to hold Sunshine's arm as he said, "Thank you and your family for all that you have done… and are doing. We all really appreciate it. And I agree with your husband, we'll find her. There's no way we can't with all of us working on it so hard."

Sunshine gave him a slightly watery smile before she turned her eyes towards Talon as she said, "That's what we do for family, right?"

"Right," Talon and Remi agreed in unison while a few other voices murmured the same sentiment.

After everyone shared an unsure smile, Talon focused all of his attention on Remi's face and then said, "With being said… once we get our girl home, bear, we need to have a sit down, just you and me."

"Yeah, sure Gator Breath," Remi replied trying to laugh off Talon's comment.

Talon released his hold on Sunshine so that he could focus his full attention on Remi. To the bear's credit he dropped his sarcastic air when he saw the former Dark-Hunter sit up at his full height. He knew this was a type of dominance display between the two of them and he didn't want to prolong it any more than it had to last because they still had a lot of work to do ahead of them.

"I mean it, Remi, she has no biological family…" Talon started while trying to sound very authoritative.

Remi help up a hand then said, "I know, I know. Parker… she said that if she was the type to get married, that you'd be her choice to… well… you know like walk her down the aisle or whatever." He held his hand out to show Talon his mating mark as he added, "Before we sit down for that chat, Old Man, I'll tell you this: Parker is my mate… I know it with every fiber of my being, so my promise to her is to fulfill those duties fully and completely…" Remi swallowed a rare desire to get welled up before adding, "And I intend to do it with all of the love that I feel for her because Parker… she's… she's…"

"Something special," Dev supplied for his brother.

Remi gave Dev a half smile saying, "Yeah… something like that."

"Alright," Talon replied in a relieved tone. "That's what I wanted to hear. Now, back to the topic at hand."

Sin sat up and opened his mouth to report his findings, but before he could utter a sound, everyone froze in their place when they heard the sound of the front door crash open. That was followed up by the sound of a woman laughing loudly. All of the men, Katra and Samia stood up looking like they were ready for a fight. Fang and Dev gently moved Aimée so that she was standing behind both of them. If she wasn't pregnant she too would have gladly joined the fight, but as it was, she was grateful to have them taking care of her. Talon and Kyrian mirrored Fang and Dev's actions with Sunshine as well. Since they were on the side of the table closest to the door, she slowly started to make her way towards Aimée to try to put some distance between herself and whomever was crashing their meeting.

The sound of the woman's laughter was joined by a male who seemed to be saying something to keep his female companion in a comical mood. His words were still too quiet for anyone to hear them and they didn't sound like they were in much of a hurry. They also didn't seem to be trying to conceal their presence at all. Some of the men then let themselves relax slightly because usually when someone was looking for a fight they tried to have the element of surprise on their side.

"Alright, Losers who's…?" The blond male with a lean, muscular build called out in a jovial voice. He stopped short when he entered the dining room and actually pulled the slender red-head who was hanging off his arm back a step.

Julian rolled his eyes and scoffed out an angry noise. As he reclaimed his seat, he stated in a low, incensed voice, "For the love of the gods Eros, what in Hades are you doing here?"

Eros smiled smugly at Julian answering, "Me? Why dear brother I should be asking you that. Did you get a day pass from your ball and chain to leave the house this late at night?"

Julian shot up to his feet nearly yelling, "Why you little…!"

"Enough!" Acheron called out over the rest of Julian's insult. "We don't have time right now to waste on petty squabbling. Eros? Psyche? Is there something you two needed?"

Eros looked like he was going to make another snide remark, so Psyche patted his arm to try to keep him quiet. She then took a small step forward and allowed herself to really take a good look at the scene that they had walked in on.

"We were in town so Eros and I thought we'd pop in to see if we could join in a game of poker or play a round of pool," Psyche answered as she watched Fang help Aimée back into her seat. "But now I can see that we're interrupting. Sorry about the intrusion, we… we'll just go and leave you all alone."

"Yeah, we'll come back another night when the clientele isn't so… intense," Eros added with a cheeky grin. Everyone could tell that he wanted to say something else but had refrained because Acheron had already reprimanded him and his half-brother, Julian.

Katra then took a step forward and said, "Actually, you two might be able to help us with something."

Eros and Psyche shared a look that said that they weren't sure if they wanted to get involved in whatever had everyone in the room looking so grim. She then turned to decline, as politely as possible to keep from angering Acheron, when she saw Aimée's face. The bearswan actually looked like she was relieved to see them both there based on what Kat had just said. It wasn't often that anyone looked so excited to see them, so she let her curiosity get piqued and she now really wanted to know why Sanctuary had been closed early and why they were all meeting here tonight. But the most interesting to her was how her and her husband could be of help to them.

Eros still didn't look like he wanted to get involved, so Psyche detached herself from him so that she could take a couple of steps towards Katra and ask, "How is it that you think that we can help you tonight, Kat?"

"You would be the woman to ask about soul mates, right?"

Not sure where this line of questioning was leading, Psyche gave the other woman a dubious look as she answered, "Yes, normally I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well, our friend has gone missing. She's a Squire, so she knows her ways around the supernatural and yet she's vanished into thin air somehow," Katra started to explain.

"The new Squire in town? You don't mean Parker, do you?" Eros cut-in before she could say anything else.

"Yes, that Squire," Acheron replied sounding surprised that the got not only new her station but her name as well.

Psyche looked between the two men then asked, "Okay our new friend Parker has gone missing, but does that have to do with soulmates?"

Remi held up his left hand to show the newcomers his marked palm. While they moved closer to get a better look at it, Aimée explained, "We're all pretty sure that she's Remi's mate and that their connection may go deeper than just a love match."

Psyche gently took Remi's left hand in both of her so that she could more closely inspect the intricate design. A small smile tugged at one edge of her lips as she said, "I knew there was someone else out there for you, bear."

He pulled his hand out of her hold even before she had finished her sentence. She knew that Remi hated to be teased, especially when it came to his love life, but Psyche couldn't resist. She had known from the beginning that Becca wasn't Remi's soulmate and that it wasn't just the Fates being their usual spiteful selves that had caused her to be mated to one of his brothers (who just happened to be one of the other identical quadruplets in the Peltier clan). The only problem was that Psyche hadn't ever been able to see the face of the woman that was his actual soulmate.

Aimée could see that her brother was starting to get annoyed with the goddess, so she jumped in asking, "Does that mean that you know if Parker actually is his soulmate? Because we're hoping that if we can get that confirmed then we will also be able to know for sure that she's his mate."

"Isn't the matching brand on her palm a little bit of a giveaway?" Eros asked letting the Were-Hunters hear how stupid that he thought that they were being by the tone of his voice.

"Well…" Aimée started hesitantly.

Acheron admired the bearswan's resolve to try to take charge of trying to help to find Parker, but he knew that it was getting to be too much for her. He didn't think that because he disrespected the woman, it was just that she was a mother to be and he knew how taxing that could be for anyone not only physically, but emotionally as well. Add that o the emotional toll of Parker's abduction as well as her concern for her brother whose days were numbered before he would be forced to be celibate for the rest of his life and it was easy to see how it would be hard for anyone to cope with it all.

"You're right," Acheron answered taking over for Aimée. "But that's another problem. We're all pretty sure that whomever has taken Parker also hid her mating mark before they took her."

"What? Who would do something like that?" Psyche asked sounding truly offended.

"And why would they do it?" Eros asked sounding genuinely curious. "I mean if they steal someone's mate before the ritual can be completed…" He paused there when he saw Remi squirm slightly in his seat. "Oh… no… oh dude, you two didn't get a chance…? Wow. Seriously bear, I'm so sorry to hear that."

Remi just growled out a noise, so Aimée jumped in to say, "So Psyche, is there any way to tell us for sure if it's Parker or not?"

Psyche shook her head answering, "I'm sorry. I wish it worked that way. When I saw Sunshine and Talon together I just knew that they were two halves of a whole. I've known that Rami has had a soulmate out in the world somewhere for a while now, but I've never been able to see her face." She paused for a second and twirled a lock of her hair around her index finger as she mused, "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen you and Parker together at all."

"That's true," Eros chimed in as he wrapped his arms around Psyche's waist and pulled her against him so that her back was pressed to his chest. "How is it that you and our little Squire managed to even get yourselves into a position to be mated if you've never really been alone."

This time Remi didn't suppress his desire to roll his eyes at the god of love and desire as he answered in a very annoyed tone, "Some of us like to keep our private lives, you know… private."

"Oh, bear, you don't have to be embarrassed by your human lover," Eros replied in a tone that made it hard to decipher if he was taunting Remi or not. "I mean look at Julian. With the number of kids him and Grace have pumped out, we all know what they're doing during their free time. There's no shame in it. Right Julian? Although it is good to see that she lets you come up for air every once in a while."

"Alright," Talon called out as he stood up to move and be a physical barrier between the two brothers. "Look Eros, as much as I'd love to let you play another round of 'Kick the Julian', we're on a bit of a time crunch. And I don't just mean Remi's predicament. Every hour that Parker isn't home is an hour closer to us never seeing her again. I know I'm not the only person at this table who made a promise to her dad to help to keep her safe, but I for one intend to keep my promise. So? Can you two help us? Because if the answer is no, you know where the door is because they're will be no poker games here tonight."

Eros stood in his spot completely stunned by Talon's outburst. He knew that his Celtic friend had a fiery temper, but he very, very rarely saw it. Instead the dog was used to receiving a good natured ribbing whenever he turned to the Dark-Hunter for a loan so that his wife wouldn't find out how bad of a night he had had at the poker table.

Psyche was also slightly stunned by the outburst, but she was able to recover much more quickly than her husband. "Like I said before, until I see them together I can't answer any of your questions with absolute certainty. I'm sorry, I wish there was more that I could do."

"That's alright," Talon answered in his more usual calm tone. "That you for your honesty."

"I could probably ask around to see what I can find out," Eros finally answered as he led Psyche to the two empty chairs at the table. (Julian had moved over to where Remi had been seated in order to put as much physical distance between himself and his brother as he could.) "But would you mind running down a list of everyone that Kat has already harassed so that I don't waste my time with anyone who already told you guys a whole lot of nothing?"

Katra chuckled then quickly gave all of the names that she had mentioned earlier in the meeting. Eros actually appeared to listen intently as he absorbed the information. When she was done he frowned then said, "Everyone that I would have thought to ask too. Well, I guess it sounds like I should drop in to pay mom a visit to see what she might know. Plus, she's good at persuading people into telling her secrets they'd never think of telling anyone else, so maybe she can get the Fates to talk."

"Honestly, right now we're not in a position to ignore any possible avenue of investigation," Acheron replied in a grateful tone.

"And it sounds like I should do that sooner than later," Eros added as he stood up once again.

Psyche followed his lead and said to the group, "If anything comes to me or I can get anyone to talk to me, I'll let Aimée know right away."

"Thanks," the bearswan answered with a soft smile.

The couple turned in unison to leave, but they were stopped by Talon. He thrust out his arm and Eros tentatively gripped the other man's forearm just below the elbow. Talon returned the gesture without a moment's hesitation saying, "I owe you a serious debt of gratitude for helping with this. Consider our deal final now."

Eros' eyes bugged out slightly as he replied, "Really?"

"Truly. It's above and beyond the duty of an acquaintance to do this for Parker and I can't put into words how much it means to me as well."

"Well if I knew that's all it…" Eros stared to reply with a teasing tone.

"No, she's started to become our friend too," Psyche stated over the rest of her husband's sentence. "And he will be paying you back Talon." She caught the look that Eros gave her, so she let out a loud laugh then added, "Baby, I know how much you suck at poker when you can't use your powers. And I know that the only nights that you've come home a winner lately have been the ones when you've played against Parker. She says that you've been teaching her how to play so when she gets home that is exactly what you are going to start doing instead of stealing her money."

Eros had the grace to look sheepish as he replied, "Yes dear."

Eros and Psyched then disappeared from the dining room. Everyone remained silent for a few seconds while they all took stock of everything. Although they were no closer to finding Parker, they definitely had more help than they initially had anticipated.

Once they were all settled in their seats again, Sin sat forward then said, "Well not to sound like a broken record, but I found out basically the same information as Sunshine. The only difference is that my family would have no qualms kidnapping anyone for any reason. Your Fates aren't from our pantheon so they really don't care what plans they've made for Were-Hunters. But with that being said, no one has admitted to knowing anything about your missing human, sorry."

"That's alright," Acheron replied. "Thank you again for trying." He then stood up and said, "Well I think we've done all that we can tonight, I'm going to do some patrols and then I'm going to call it a night."

Remi moved over to Acheron's side and extended his hand as he said in a very sincere tone, "Thank you for everything Atlantean. You've gone above and beyond and I truly appreciate your help."

Acheron shook his hand, much in the same way that Talon had with Eros, replying, "I think we all feel responsible for her safety because of Jimmy and you know I'm always here to help you all, bear."

He then turned and walked to the front door. Normally he would teleport from one place to the next, but he figured that he could patrol as he walked home tonight. He also wanted to take some time to collect his thoughts, so if he didn't run into any Daimons, he figured that the walk home would allow him to do that as well.

Julian, Talon and Sunshine shared a few more words with Aimée, Dev and Remi before they too made their departure for their homes. Katra and sin hung back for a few minutes to help put the tables and chairs back where they belonged so that the bar would be in working order come morning. She also wanted to share a few words with Aimée to ensure that the mother to be was taking good care of herself. Katra knew that this was a very stressful time for everyone in the Peltier Clan, but she also knew that a pregnancy weighed very heavily on the mind of a first time mother. Plus, Aimée had yet another added stress of her mate not being of the same species, which also added the possibility of everything becoming more difficult. Gods willing that wouldn't be an issue, but she knew it would be in the back of everyone's mind until the baby, or babies, were born.

Once Kat saw Fang ushering his wife towards Peltier House, via the kitchen, she cautiously approached Remi to quietly ask, "So was D'Alerian able to help you out at all?"

Remi startled in his place at hearing her quiet question because he thought that everyone had left for the night. When he turned to face her, the demi-goddess could see the lost look in his eyes and she instantly feared the worst. She and Remi had discussed a few options and they both hope that one of the Dream-Hunters would be able to connect with Parker to confirm that she was safe, alive or at the very least still on the mortal plain. But seeing that look on his face made her worry that they had been way off base on all counts.

"So they…? He couldn't…?"

"Oh no, Kat it's nothing like that," Remi finally replied over her disjointed questions. "No, your suggestion was pretty perfect. It took a while to find her so I worried that meant the worst, but then D'Alerian found her."

Kat moved in closer to him and put a comforting hand on his forearm, "Well that's a good thing, right?"

Remi shrugged answering, "I hope so."

"Remi?" She asked knowing that he was leaving something out by the tone of his voice.

Remi let out a heavy sigh and sat down on a chair he had just pushed in at a table. Kat followed his lead and sat down as well. Neither of them noticed that Sin had disappeared, which left them alone.

He didn't look like he was going to say anything else, so Kat tried prompting him by asking, "What happened to make you think that finding her wasn't a good thing? Wasn't Parker ecstatic to see you?"

"Well at first she was just confused," Remi explained slowly. "Once I convinced her that it was really me and that I really had found her in the land of Morpheus, she… she… I don't really know how to describe it."

Kat settled in her seat and said, "Why don't you just tell me what happened, Remi? You don't have to explain any of it, just tell me where you went and what you both said."

"Okay… yeah… I think I can do that," he replied. "First we were at Talon's cabin. That had sort of become our secret hideaway. Then after that we went to a pub, which I'm pretty sure is a re-occurring dream for her since she was telling someone off like I know she would love to do in person, but… but… well she really is too much of a Sweetheart to do that in real life. Then she brought us back to Peltier House before everything went black again."

"So then she knew that you really were with her?"

Remi let out another heavy sigh before he said, "Yeah, she did and that seemed to have caused her the most distress. Well, at least it did after… uhh… after…"

Katra knew that Remi was a very private person, so she could only imagine how hard it was for him to talk to her. With that thought in mind she held her hand up as she said, "It's okay Remi. I know whatever you two shared in the dream realm was probably pretty personal. You and I really aren't all that close so you don't have to share it with me. Really, it's okay."

"No," he quickly replied. "No, I know most of you have been close with her longer than I have so maybe… I don't know… maybe you'll understand… understand everything better than me."

Seeing the tears welling in his eyes caused Katra's heart to break slightly as she replied, "All I can promise is to tell you the truth, bear. So please tell me whatever it is you want me to interpret."

He gave her a soft smile then said, "Well I guess that's the best that I could hope for right now. So before she disappeared, we never told each other, I mean we never…" He paused then took in a deep breath to center himself before continuing, "I finally told her that I loved her, in her dream that is and… and that seemed to be what set her off the most. You know, it made her freak out the worst."

"Freak out?" Kat questioned with mild disbelief in her tome because she knew that pretty much everyone she knew longed to be told those words and when they found someone that truly felt that way about them, well they never wanted to let that person go and did whatever they could to hold onto them. "What do you mean by that? I mean… what did she say exactly?"

"Well," he started slowly, no really wanting to relive those moments with Parker again, especially in front of someone else. "Well after I told her… that, she… she told me that she couldn't let herself feel that way for me anymore. She said that since she couldn't make the matching mating mark appear in her dream that we really weren't meant to be together. She also said… well she said that she couldn't let herself love me anymore… more than once. That was when everything went black again in her dream. I could still hear her crying but I couldn't see her and then… well then I just woke up again in my room, alone."

"Wow, she must really have it bad for you," Katra replied in a mildly awed tone.

Remi frowned at that comment as he asked, "You think so?"

"Yes, I do. I don't think she would have reacted so strongly if she had no feelings for you."

"Yeah, you could have a point there. But what about the mating mark? She said that she was trying really hard to make it appear but it wouldn't at all." He asked letting her hear some of the hope in his tone. I sounded to him like Katra understood Parker's train of thought so he hoped that she would be able to answer some of his more pressing questions with the same insight.

Kat gave him a sympathetic smile then said, "Maybe whatever spell her kidnapper is using has made it so that she can't conjure it up, even in a dream. Or maybe they've made it so that wherever she is right now, the magic of our pantheon doesn't work very well. Huh… that could also explain why it was so hard for D'Alerian to find her."

"I hope you're right Kat, I really do because if you aren't then I am totally and completely screwed." Kat frowned at that comment because she wasn't completely sure what he meant by that. He caught the look on her face and explained, "I had one woman I… well she was mated to my brother so the chances that Parker and I are nothing more than really, really close friends doesn't seem all that farfetched."

"Remi," she breathed out with a sad sigh. "I honestly don't think Dad would be pushing that you two are a love match so much if he truly didn't believe that it was the truth."

"I know and again I hope that you're right about that Kat, I really do. Thanks again for your help. Good night," Remi replied as he stood up and slowly made his way out of the dining room.

Kat remained seated while she watched him leave because hearing his tone of voice made her want to do more for him. Remi had his faults, she knew that he did because she had yet to meet anyone that didn't, but he didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be left in limbo by the Fates or some unknown god or anyone else for that matter and neither did Parker. From what she had been told and had learned, neither of them had ever done anything to be intentionally cruel to anyone and Parker had seemed to go out of her way to help out others and make them feel welcomed wherever she was. How could either of them have earned the wrath of any god or goddess? Or why had they been chosen for such a cruel twist of fate?

Feeling more frustrated and further form any concrete answer than she ever had before, Kat flashed herself out of Sanctuary. It didn't take her long once she got home to find her husband coming out of a room and carefully closing the door. He hadn't noticed that she had returned home so she was afforded the rare luxury of watching her fierce, warrior husband as he settled into his domestic role.

Every time that she was around Remi, Katra was reminded of how quickly she had misread Sin the first time she had seen him in New York City. If anyone, include her mom or dad, had popped in right then when she had first seen him in action and told her that not only would she fall in love with him but that they'd marry and he'd be the father of her children, Kat would have blasted them into oblivion. And yet here she was. How could she not want to help Parker and Remi when she saw so many similarities between their relationship and her own?

With that last clarifying thought, she resolved to do everything in her power to help both of them. First, though, she wanted to remind her husband about how much she loved him. After that she would be ready to help tackle the oddities of someone else's complicated love affair.

PARKER KNEW THAT SHE was petite, so she knew that if she tried hard enough that she could occupy a very small area of space. Right now that meant that she cowered into the top left-hand corner of the bed and into the corner of the wall of the cabin. She knew that it would be hard to see her from the door and she could only hope that Spike wouldn't see or hear her for a while and he would incorrectly assume that she was in the bathroom.

Despite her best efforts, Parker continued to cry silently into her knees. Feeling beyond desperate, she said a prayer to every god in the Greek pantheon that she thought might listen to her and might be of help that he wouldn't hear her soft sniffle when she took in a breath. She knew that she could stay still enough not to be notice, but she worried that trying to breath while she was so distraught would instantly give her away.

Parker held her breath when she heard the door open and then close with a fairly loud thud. That was quickly followed up by the sound of heavy boots on the floor. Initially they sounded like they were walking towards the bathroom, so she took a chance and let out the breath she was still holding. Almost as soon as she took in another breath, she felt a strong hand grip her shoulder tightly enough that she was sure that she was going to have a bruise. She couldn't help but to turn into the strong hold because she was worried that if she didn't that she would be injured even more.

She opened her eyes to try to apologize to Spike, but her breath was quickly stolen away when her gaze was met with a pair of foreign green eyes. Without giving it any thought she scooted further into the corner of the wall behind her as if her subconscious mind thought that she would be safer if there was more distance between them.

He didn't move at all but the flames in his eyes did flare up much like a fire would when it had fuel poured onto it. Parker was sure that meant that something about her presence in the cabin had angered him. So she tried her best not to move at all to keep from fueling his wrath. That also meant that she held her breath while she willed herself to be invisible. She knew there was little to no chance that she would disappear, but then again stranger things had happened so she figured it was at least worth a try.

While Parker was practically trembling with fear and uncertainty, the unknown male let out an angry sounding noise and then he quietly, but violently cursed out, "Damn it Little Brother! Why did you have to make them right? Damn it!"

Parker jumped and squeaked out a surprised noise when he reached out and touched her arm again. He gave her an unimpressed look and then said, "Come on human, it's time to get you home before my dumb ass brother gets back."

There was something about the look in his eyes that made Parker feel uneasy so she tried to practically melt into the wall as she replied, "Uhh… thank you anyways, but I think I'll just take my chances with your brother."

The irises of his eyes flared like an angry fire once again. He didn't seem to notice that each time that happened that Parker tried to shrink away from him. She knew it was useless to press herself into the wall because there was nowhere for her to go, but she still kept trying to get as far away from his as possible.

The unknown intruder appeared to take up even more space in the room as he approached the bed and replied, "I don't believe that I made it a question, HUMAN." He spat out the word 'human' so violently that Parker actually flinched at hearing it. He then grabbed her arm and started to drag her across the mattress adding in the same annoyed, angry tone, "Now come on, you're going home… now!"

Parker had no choice but to move with him, lest he dislocate her shoulder or elbow. That didn't seem to appease him at all because his eyes still appeared to be filled with an angry fire. That was probably the part that Parker feared the most, but it was also the reason that she wanted to appease him as much as possible right now as well.

His grip slackened slightly, so Parker gently pulled her arm out of his hold and said, "Look, it isn't that I don't appreciate the rescue attempt, but I don't know you at all. Plus, I don't know who sent you or if you really are going to take me home, so I'm sorry, but I'd very much rather just take my chances here since I know what to expect here."

He let out another violent curse that Parker couldn't hear and then he took in a deep breath to calm himself down somewhat. He stood in his place with clenched fists looking like he was trying not to physically las out at her comment before replying, "I'm an associate of your friend Fang. Is that good enough for you?"

Although she truly wasn't trying to be difficult, Parker folded her arms over her chest as she scowled saying, "Fang and I aren't exactly what anyone would call 'friends'."

As he rolled his eyes he let out an angry scoff then retorted, "Fine, I'm an associate of your friend's mat. Is that better?"

"Sure it is, but that still doesn't tell me who you are or why I should trust you at all."

"Seriously?" He could see that she wasn't going to budge, so he again let out a loud exhale of air and sounded like he had to force himself to keep his voice even as he said slowly, "Fine… let's try this… I'm your… I guess you would call him your captor… well whatever, I'm his brother and a friend of a friend of a friend or whatever… Before you say anything else, my name is Thorn. It isn't a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but here I am. Now that is more words than I have offered any other mortal, so now will you come with me?"

"Well… I want to say 'yes'," Parker replied as she started to move off of the bed on her own. "But that still doesn't really explain how you knew that I was here."

Thorn literally threw his hands up in the air before saying, "I actually had no idea that you would be here. In fact, I was really hoping that you would be ANYWHERE but here." He saw Parker open her mouth to question him further, so he threw his right hand out to paralyze her vocal chords, at least temporarily… maybe. "Fang came sniveling to me about trying to help him and his mate to find you. I, of course, had no clue where to look and frankly I really didn't care to try either. Then I had to ask my brother something, he wouldn't answer me by our usual means, so I came simply just to talk to him. As you already know, he isn't here, but voilà! Looks like I found the missing Squire everyone and their dog is worried about! It's nothing more and nothing less than a fluke, so don't let your head get big about me being here as a one-man rescue mission or anything."

Parker tried to ask him something, but she ended up just mouthing the words as if someone had hit the mute button on a video of her. When she realized that she couldn't utter a sound, Parker threw both of her hands up to her throat as tears started to spill down her cheeks. That reaction of course bothered Thorn, but only because it meant that he was no closer to getting the young human home than he had previously.

He then snapped his fingers and said in an annoyed tone, "You can cease with the waterworks, you can talk again."

Parker bit her lip while she tried to calm her tears, but it didn't work. Although her tears continued to fall at an alarming rate, Parker managed to keep her voice steady as she asked, "So does that mean that I really get to go home? Really?"

Thorn held out his hand and tried his best not to sound as angry as he felt when he replied, "Yes, it does. But only if you come with me right now."

"Okay, but first…" Parker started as she reached her hand out to him.

"My patience is wearing very thin, human," Thorn said to her over her sentence in a warning tone.

"Hold on a sec," she said in an overly sweet tone.

Parker didn't pay his tone of voice any attention as she moved towards the washer and dryer close to the bathroom. He watched in silence as Parker pulled a load of clothes out of the dryer and dumped it onto the floor. Watching her was mildly amusing for Thorn so he continued to watch her in silence as she grumbled to herself as she angrily snatched out a few articles of clothing out of the pile. She continued to ignore him as she moved around the room still cursing quietly to herself.

When she pulled out her suitcase, Parker's movements were so erratic due to her enraged state that she ended up dumping almost all of its contents onto the floor. She looked up and glared at Thorn like it was his fault that that had happened and he very nearly flinched, but he refused to show that kind of weakness to anyone, especially a human.

As she repacked belongings, well it was more like she was throwing her clothes at her suitcase hoping that they would land where they belonged, Parker said with an annoyed bite, "I assume that if I'm being rescued that I get to take home all of the stuff that Spike brought with me when he kidnapped me. I mean, I can, can't I?"

Thorn was surprised by Parker's petulant tone of voice, but instead of addressing it he asked the first question that popped into his head and said, "Spike?"

Parker scoffed then retorted snottily, "Yeah, Spike. Don't you know your own brother's name?"

"Spike? Oh… no…" Thorn groaned and then rolled his eyes. "Is that seriously the best that he could come up with?"

"Well, when you take him to human bars he goes by 'Ian', so I'm sure he has aliases that would be more to your liking, but he didn't tell me all of the names that he likes to use," she replied heatedly without looking up from her packing.

Thorn watched her again in silence while she continued to work and then suddenly he heard himself say, "My, you are a sassy one, aren't you?"

"Well you're being a self-righteous prick, so what would you expect from me?"

Thorn moved to Parker's side so fast that she hadn't seen him do it at all. She then jumped when he grabbed one of her arms to still her motion and wrench it back. Parker didn't have any time to react before he twirled her around to face him causing her suitcase to fall to the ground again.

"What I expect from you is a little bit of gratitude and a lot less lip," Thorn replied in an incensed tone as he once again pulled her arm back at an awkward angle. This time Parker fell to her knees and let out a soft cry of distress. Thorn smiled at her discomfort then said, "That's much better. Now, let's try this again. I'm taking you home human, are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Parker sobbed out. "Yes, well… ow… almost. Please… please, just let me make sure that I have everything he took with me, please?"

His grip on her arm slackened, but only slightly before he answered, "Since you were polite enough to say please, yes you can double check. I'll give you thirty seconds… starting now."

Parker stared at him for a couple of breaths as she rubbed her now free arm to try to get the circulation going again in it. Thorn could care less if he hurt the human at all, so when he saw her remain virtually immobile in her place, he just tapped the back of his wrist with two fingers saying, "Tick tock human. You're down to twenty-four seconds now."

Parker's mouth gaped open in disbelief and she didn't start moving until she heard him say, "Twenty-three, twenty-two…" After that she shot up to her feet and she quickly dumped the suitcase onto the bed. She tried to fold everything as fast as possible, but that just made a mess, so she started to be more meticulous about how she folded all of her clothing that she was placing into her case.

When Parker was very nearly finished packing, she and Thorn heard the front door being unlock. He wasn't sure how his brother normally left the human alone in his cabin, so Thorn slammed her suitcase closed and then picked Parker up, bridal style. She started to complain, but then she too heard the lock of the door turning and she silenced herself immediately.

"We need to go now," Thorn ordered as he pressed her into his chest so that he could pick up her suitcase's handle.

Parker wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her face into it because she knew that with Spike making his way inside that Thorn was more than right. Although Spike had always been kind and cordial to her, Parker was more than ready to be away from him. Well not so much away from him, but more like she just wanted to be home. She now had a new appreciation for the luxuries she had in her life and she was more than ready to return to the craziness of her old life.

It didn't take long for Thorn to notice that Parker was complying with his wishes without compliant, so he pressed her against him once again and whispered, "Hold on tight human."

Parker didn't reply beyond squeezing her arms around his neck. Thorn then flashed them back to her room at Peltier House. One of the advantages of being… well him was that he didn't have to follow the same rules as he Were-Hunters. If Thorn wanted to go somewhere, that's where he went, when he wanted to, everyone else be damned. Or so to say.

He started walking towards Parker's bed when he heard her start to whimper softly. At first he tried to ignore it but then he felt moisture on his neck gathering at an alarming rate. Thorn wasn't what that was, but he was sure that it couldn't take long for Parker to tell him what was wrong now since she didn't seem to instinctively fear him like most humans he had met did.

Just as he had predicted Parker whimpered softly again then quietly complained, "Ow…! Ow! OW!" Her voice started to gain volume with each word until she was seated up to look at his face so that she could more clearly ask, "Thorn what are you doing? I let you bring me home. Why are you hurting me?"

"I'm not," he retorted incredulously.

Parker scowled at him and tried to bring her hand from around his neck to show him as she replied heatedly, "Yes you are! My hand has never hurt this badly before. Well it did that one time that I grabbed an iron out of the fire without…"

Sudden they both realized that her right palm was starting to feel a burning sensation out of nowhere. Thorn figured out what that meant first and tapped Parker's forehead to put her to sleep. After she was rendered unconscious he practically dumped her onto her bed and then dropped her suitcase onto the floor beside the bed with a loud thud.

He knew that his brother had screwed up but it wasn't until now that he realized how badly Spike had truly fucked up. Thorn didn't want to confront him with this, so he paced around Parker's bed for a few minutes while he tried to figure out what to do next.

Maybe he could find the bears and bring them to her. But that might be an admission of guilt and this time (at least) he had done nothing for which he had to feel sorry. Okay, maybe he was the one that brought his half-brother to Sanctuary, but that didn't make him responsible for Spike abducting Parker, right?

Parker let out another whimper in her sleep as she tossed and turned on her bed. One of her movements caused her to throw both of her hands over her head. At first Thorn tried to just ignore her in order to orchestrate his damage control in his head, but then curiosity got the best of him.

Cautiously he approached Parker's side and as soon as he saw both of her palms he cursed out a very emphatic, "SHIT!"