Vicki ran her hands up and down the leather sleeves of her new jacket, appreciating the texture while Henry watched her from the corner of his eye, then reached out a hand to her. Vicki didn't usually hold hands but tonight she made an exception and laced her fingers between his. Hand and in hand they walked in silence to his car.

As Henry opened her door he said, "You haven't told me what you learned yet."

Vicki let go of his hand, slid into the car and said, "I need to move my arms while talking and you seemed to be enjoying the hand holding."

"I was, and I intend to enjoy it while we walk as often as I can. So you better learn to talk one handed."

Vicki snorted while she fastened her seat belt as he got behind the wheel and eased into traffic.

Vicki pulled her notes out and read off facts while waving her hands saying, "Can you see the connections? They're all here. I did some serious research and found matches in dates and events for the last three hundred years and let me tell you it wasn't easy, but it's all there if you know where to look."

Henry started plowing through his head trying to remember where he was during the specific dates. "Give me the first set again."

Vicki said, "From 1700 to 1709, in a small village that's since been swallowed up by urban sprawl, Geoffrey Monroe, a fourth son of a titled family came over from England and started a dry goods store and small farm. His wife died when their daughter was almost two and about seven years later the daughter died. There's a note in the official records that he complained to the authorities that one of their deputies was harsh with his daughter and that killed her. There was no sign of visible injuries on the daughter's body and the whole thing was dismissed."

Henry's face was in a deep frown as he thought about the dates. "What's next?"

Vicki said, "The same story repeats itself from 1800 to 1809, but this time there is the addition of three men from the sheriff's department dying within a two week period."

Henry sighed, "Keep going."

Vicki looked at her notes then said, "Now it starts to get weird, because in 1900 a new shop selling dry goods opens in town. Geoffrey Monroe and his wife Faith are the owners. The records say he's rather plain looking but she's a heartbreaking beauty who is totally devoted to her husband and young daughter. The wife dies of an unknown illness in 1902, and in 1909 their daughter Fay is pushed aside by a police officer chasing a suspect down the street. The next day she is found dead in her bed and Mr. Monroe tries to talk to the authorizes and is told there is no evidence that the girl died because she was pushed. Over the next two weeks, five police officers die from various causes."

Henry said, "And that brings us up to now. What do you see as the connection?"

Vicki pulled her eyebrows together in concentration, "It's all about the dates and names. Each time, the mother and daughter both died on the same date seven years apart. After the first set, law enforcement officers that were born in the same death month died within two to six weeks of the trigger incident. With the current set, all the officers including Dave were born in the month of March. As the population increased around the town, logically there would be more officers born in the same month so that there would be a corresponding increase in the number of deaths. The real question is how and why history keeps repeating itself."

Vicki was silent for a moment then added the part about not being able to find Monroe after their meeting in the park. She pulled the photo out of her purse and said, "Here's the picture of the mother and daughter."

Henry kept his eyes on the road as he guided the car through traffic and parked in the lot across from the museum. After he turned off the engine, he held out his hand for the picture, studied it carefully then handed it back saying, "I'll need to feed before we finish this."

Vicki said, "Here? Now? I would've given you more at home if I'd known it was needed. I thought you were playing."

"I was playing earlier, but now I know what's happening and a feeding is needed to keep the vampire quiet until we finish this." He got out of the car without waiting for her and said, "Wait for me in the gift shop, I won't be long." With that said, he moved at unbelievable speed, leaving her to open her own door and lock the car.

She smiled and said as she closed the car door, "The honeymoon's over. I'm left to take care of the car and open my own doors." When the car was locked, she tapped the hood and thought, being independent's good. She turned to the walkway, almost missed a step up, stumbled slightly and added, okay, but having his hand on my elbow keeps my shins from getting scraped.

She was looking at postcards when she felt a cool hand at her waist and heard a whisper say, "Let's go find the painting."

She turned and looked into the blue eyes and gentle smile and saw he was less pale than usual and knew he had fed well. "You didn't leave any bodies lying around did you?"

His smile turned into a smirk as he said, "I found a couple very busy with each other in a cloak room. Thanks to vampire powers of persuasion, I was able to feed twice without harming either one and they got some fantastic memories out of the deal. There will be no complaints about tonight's assignation."

Walking around the galleries, Henry shared his opinions of the pieces hanging on the walls and resting on pedestals. In the gallery of early North American painters they came across a miniature of a young woman and child. The identification card gave little in the way of history stating it was found in the attic of an old house being torn down. Subject and artist unknown, but it was a fine example of many itinerant artists that came over to the "new world" from Europe.

Vicki pulled out the snapshot and held it up to the painting. She tilted her head from side to side, then up and down trying to bring into focus. Henry touched her cheek and said, "Don't bother trying to compare them. They're alike." He turned her slightly to face him and added, "Your vision will improve after you change, since it wouldn't do to allow any defects that might interfere with a vampire's chances of survival."

"You knew the pictures would be the same. Out with it. Tell me what's going on and why the police are being targeted."

A shadow came up behind them and said, "It's because of my wife and daughter and a wish I made."

Vicki turned and saw Geoffrey Monroe standing beside them looking at the portrait. She demanded, "How did you manage to sneak up on us?"

"I'm not really here. I haven't been since I took my own life in 1709, a month after my daughter died." He looked at Henry with hollow eyes and added, "You were there. Tell her the rest and end the curse."

Henry said, "I didn't understand the curse until last night." He led Vicki over to a viewing bench as Monroe faded into the picture of his wife and daughter. "Sit down and I'll take you back to that time in history."

"Is that why you needed to feed? You knew you were going to do dark magic. I thought you said you wouldn't do it again."

"Not dark magic, more like a vivid memory I'm sharing with you."

Henry spoke of the last part of the 1600's. His losses and his need for change. He came to the colonies on the same ship as Monroe and his wife, but never spoke with them or took their blood. Monroe was the fourth son of a titled family and had little in the way of a future other than the military or clergy. He asked his father to help him start a dry goods shop on the other side of the world.

After landing, the couple found a likely spot in a small village near the larger port city and set up shop - receiving supplies from Monroe's father with each ship. Working hard they built a good life together and had a child.

During the same period Henry wandered the land, fed as he pleased and painted pictures to earn money for clothes, trinkets, and lodging. In the course of his wanderings he made it back to the village and saw some items in the window he missed from his years in Europe.

Just after sunset he opened the shop door and watched the young wife place items on the shelf behind her. She said over her shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, but we're closing for the night."

Henry used his powers to request that she stay open long enough to barter a painting he held in his hand for the things he desired.

Faith turned to look at him saying, "You're not human."

Henry's eyes opened in shock and he said, "What would make you say something like that?"

Faith looked out the window and said, "I'm not human either."

Henry looked at her closely and noted the differences in her coloring and the shape of her ears and understood why he had no desire for her blood and said, "I"ll go and leave you in peace."

Faith held out a hand and commanded, "No! Stay. I've need of your special skills."

Henry, never easy with commands, stood ridged and snarled, "What do you want from me?"

Faith continued staring out at the horizon and said under her breath, "Friendship and the knowledge that at least one being knows me for what I am. Here, I go by Faith Monroe. What name do you use and what are you?"

Henry gently tapped his heels and bowed from the waist, "Fitzroy. Henry Fitzroy at your service and I'm vampire."

"You were turned from human?"

"Yes, and you?"

"I'm of the elder race. We left this world ages ago, but from time to time we take a peek at humans."

Henry nodded in understanding because he too had studied humans and tried to remember what it was like to be one. "What happened to bring you to this side?"

"I can't talk now!" Faith came out from behind the counter and said, "Please leave, Geoffrey will be home with our daughter Fay in a few moments. I'll meet you at the edge of the village after midnight."

Henry's eyes blackened as he felt her commanding touch and sent one back of his own saying, "I'll be at the east end of town from twelve midnight until one. Don't make me wait beyond that."

Faith took the canvas from his hand, looked at it and said, "I'll be there. We can negotiate a trade and help each other."

Henry gave a curt bow, turned and left the shop. Faith moved to the door, placing the closed sign as she watched her husband and daughter walk right by Mr. Fitzroy without sensing his presence .

***

Henry paced slowly, waiting for the elder that called herself Faith to appear. He turned, ready to defend himself as she stepped out from the shadows and said, "You move silently and cover your scent well."

Faith tipped her chin acknowledging his complement and said, "You do the same. Fay should have known you were close even if Geoffrey did not."

Henry moved closer and said, "What is it you need from me?"

Faith looked at the new moon and started speaking, "I watched Geoffrey being born. I watched him take his first steps and then grow into a man. I had given him power over me without realizing it. I was in love and it was painful. I lost the joy of living in my world without him. My parents offered me ten human years to be with him and get over him. I did not plan on having a child, but it happened. Now the ten years is almost up and Fay is a very little girl. I must find a way to look after her when I'm gone."

"How does this involve me?"

"I sense power in you. You have many gifts that you do not use."

"I have seen enough to know it is better never to touch my gifts."

Faith put a hand on his sleeve and said, "What I ask will hurt no one, but it will give me a chance to watch the ones I love when I go back home."

Henry shook his head no, but she pleaded and he could not refuse one of the elder race.

A deal was struck and plans were made. Henry got the things he desired from the store and a portrait of mother and daughter was completed.

Together, Faith and Henry cast a spell that would allow Faith to look out through the eyes of her portrait and watch her daughter grow and her husband age.

It was a good plan and should have worked, but Faith's parents told her that Fay should never have been conceived and born into a human world and that she would have her ten years in the human world before she would have to join her mother and grandparents.

When his daughter died of what looked like the harsh treatment of the local sheriff, Geoffrey stood before the portrait and wished that the family of the sheriff would know his grief. Faith's parents heard his bitter tears and placed a curse on the village stating that every ten years law enforcement officers born near the date of their daughter's and granddaughter's death would die before their time. The curse would continue until a member of law enforcement listened to Geoffrey and cared.

Geoffrey was so lost without Faith and Fay he took his own life within a month of his family's passing. Faith's parents could not remove the curse but changed it so that history would repeat itself every one hundred years until someone paid attention.

Vicki scoffed at Henry an said, "Nice ghost story. Where are you getting all the details when no one else knew of them?"

He looked at her with his blue black eyes and said, "The magic I so seldom rely on is able to travel between worlds. Faith is on the other side telling me the story."

Vicki pushed herself off the bench waved her arms and started hissing, "Good! Great! We get Celluci to buy into this woo woo story and they get to live happily ever after, but the good cops stay dead."

"Stop, Vicki. The cops are dead and buried. Nothing can change that, but if someone really cares, it doesn't have to repeat again in 2109."

Henry stopped talking and looked directly at the picture. His hand reached out as Vicki paced in front of him and stopped her in her tracks. His fingers squeezed her arm and he commanded, "Look at the picture and listen."

"Thank you. Geoffrey has joined us in our realm and won't be back in your world. My parents decreed the curse broken when you listened."

Vicki protested, "I'm not a cop."

"Perhaps not, but you were asked by an officer of the law to help and you heard Geoffrey's story with your heart. Tell the officer, Faith intervened and the normal course of events are restored."

The security guard came up to the couple standing in front of the portrait of the mother and daughter and said, "Move along please. Closing time in ten minutes."

Vicki shook her head, "That's it then? What kind of crap is that?"

Henry sighed, "The kind that can't be explained by human standards."

Vicki started walking back the way they had come and waved her hand at the pictures in the gallery, "So tell me, do all these paintings have a story behind them?"

"Of course."

He reached out ahead of her and opened the door to the parking lot, leaning into her as he did. "Are you ready to leave this world behind?"

She whispered, "Yes."

"Good. I've got your death planned for tonight."