A/N: Like I said, sometimes I swear my characters sneak in when I'm not looking and write themselves. I struggled for DAYS writing 10 different versions of this chapter before this one just rolled right on out. The plot assembles itself. It's so weird... (Chwaer is Welsh for sister).

Vespertine

Chapter 3:

Chwaer

Abel POV

Luckily, the walk to Gwen's home was uneventful. I wasn't used to so much going on; I came from what was basically the wilderness and if I didn't have the Samlare after me, I wouldn't be anywhere near here. It was a bit unnerving, all these things going on at once, and it scrambled my thought processes. I was used to spending days on end puzzling out a thought; there wasn't very much to do in the middle of nowhere for someone who doesn't sleep. I wasn't used to thinking on my feet.

Gwen was chattering brightly as we walked, telling me about her maker, Garet, who lived with her and Abigail, another vampire who stayed near them, but not with them. This puzzled me in passing until she explained that they lived in an old condemned apartment building, with Garet and her splitting the topmost floor and Abigail taking a section of the first floor.

"Abigail's still very new at this life, and her ability doesn't make it any easier on her. She's a lot like Garet, but stronger. It takes her some time to be able to block out the scenes when she goes to a new place. We actually found her there in the building, near where she lives now, so she prefers to stay there instead of relocating upstairs, even if the place is ridiculously huge."

To tell you the truth, I hadn't been listening to her talk before, so when she mentioned she lived with two talented vampires, it caught my attention. I regretted not keeping an ear tuned into her conversation. I wasn't particularly socially apt, but I knew better than to ask her about Garet's ability when it was obviously something she had spoken about at length.

A portion of my mind was replaying the earlier scene with Gwen, analyzing the powerful compulsion to protect her, to keep her happy. It disturbed me, the fact that before I even knew her name I was ready to defend her life with my own. It was irrational that I could feel that way. I briefly touched on my ability causing the feelings as a way to get my attention and complete the task I had set for it, but that wasn't possible. My ability was set in stone, wasn't it? It had always been demanding, even to the point of causing physical pain when I attempted to ignore it, but manifesting emotions to manipulate me into saving a target was certainly a huge leap for it.

It was absurd, really. Only slightly less absurd than the possibility that I could actually feel this strongly about a girl I had only just met.

I stole a glance at the tiny face of the object of my thoughts as she walked beside me, brown hair falling into her bright red eyes and curling around her finely boned jaw. The edges of her eyes were slightly pinched together and there was a wrinkle between her eyebrows. I hadn't noticed before, but she had a nervous tic; she drew the left corner of her bottom lip into her mouth and grazed her teeth over it several times before releasing it and repeating it with the right side. There were several thin scars there where her sharp teeth had broken the skin and scarring venom had leaked into the cuts.

"Something wrong?" I echoed her words from earlier, trying to keep my tone restrained in an effort to not startle her. She turned her little face to look up at me, and a tight feeling developed in my chest as it occurred to me how fragile the worry made her look. She looked so damn breakable and - once again, irrationally - that stirred up those emotions. She stopped gnawing on her lips for a moment and tilted her head to the right, at the same time tucking a corner of her mouth into a thoughtful frown.

"I don't know. I don't smell Garet. He should be home by now."

We had reached the crumbling concrete steps of a three story apartment building and were standing in front of them. Gwen scuffed the worn toe of her shoe against the sidewalk, looking up at the nighttime sky and frowned again. I leaned against the rusted railing patiently, watching her and letting my thoughts take over again, endlessly going over the scene; analyzing, examining.

Ten minutes of still silence passed before she suddenly moved, turning around in a blindingly fast movement and pouncing into the shadows with a bubbling laugh. I instinctively tensed, prepared for danger before I realized there was no alarm in her movements, just playfulness. Gwen had someone pinned to the ground and was enthusiastically hugging them, her delighted chuckle echoed by a man's voice. My eyes easily saw through the veiling shadows and I relaxed, watching them curiously.

After a moment or two, Gwen got to her feet and helped her 'victim' up and then gave him a huge hug and another giggle. He returned her hug with obvious familiarity. She turned back in my direction and looked startled as she caught sight of me still leaning against the railing, like she had forgotten I was there.

"Oh!" She looked rather amusing, stunned like that and I grinned. "Garet, this is Abel. He saved me from Orin today." She grimaced, walking over to me, Garet following her. The smell of warmth and citrus trailed him, a sharp note over the lilac smell of Gwen.

He was a stocky man, shorter and wider than me, dark curly hair topping a broad face with blunted features. He might have looked kind, if not for his bright red eyes. He stopped a few feet away and looked me over critically before asking, "Saved you from Orin?" He had a faint lilt to his words, a trace of an accent that went well with his calm voice. He radiated control and self assurance and I smiled a little at how well he must balance out Gwen's obviously impulsive nature.

Gwen took a deep breath and let it out, gnawing on her lip again. "Walker's recruited them." Her voice was quiet now, oddly meek, and she refused to meet his eye. She resumed chewing on her lip, the faint rasp of her teeth filling the brief silence.

He didn't react like I expected; he just nodded and looked at her kindly, placing an easy hand on her thin shoulder. "Did you get hurt?"

"No, Abel was able to scare them off." She laughed a little but it sounded forced and a little sad. She folded her hands and fiddled with the cuff of the heavy duty flannel shirt she wore.

Garet nodded again and looked at me steadily again. "Then I thank you for protecting the trouble magnet I call my little sister. You're welcome to stay in our building until you leave town, if you'd like." His voice was polite, but he seemed to have a knowing look about him, like he guessed what I was here for. I wryly wished I had paid attention to Gwen's rambling on his ability. I smiled and nodded back.

"My pleasure. However, if I hadn't stepped in, I'm sure Gwen could have taken care of them herself. She's quite a spitfire," I laughed a little, referring to her little attack on Garet.

Gwen hissed in displeasure as Garet's unexpected laughter boomed down the street, surprising me. Chuckling, he patted her head as she crossed her arms across her chest and stamped her foot, earlier uneasiness forgotten. "That she is, Abel. Come, let's go inside. Abigail is waiting for us. She's excited one of her futures is coming to pass."

My thoughts raced ahead as we entered the building, going down a long hall to the back of the building and turning left. 'Futures come to pass'? Did that mean they were prescient? That would explain why Garet seemed to know I was here to take Gwen away...

We ended up in a large airy apartment, the dim light of the cloud covered setting sun spilling in from large windows on the west wall. Shabby furniture filled the space and there were books everywhere; laying on the few tables, heaped in an armchair that looked about to fall apart and in large teetering stacks on the floor. I was impressed; I had taken them for ferals. I had never seen such a setup before; my own home was a ramshackle cabin set in my 400 square mile range.

A tiny blonde woman, perhaps in her late 30's, sat on one of the large sofas facing the windows, reading a large book. She looked up as we entered, bright red eyes delighted, and jumped up, springing upon Garet much like Gwen had.

"Garet, do you see? I told you it's be the one to come true! I told you!" Her voice was high and light, matching the airy flowery smell that permeated the apartment. Garet laughed his deep laugh and got to his feet as who I assumed to be Abigail danced around him like a child, chortling and clapping her hands delightedly. Gwen laughed too, reaching out casually and grabbing my hand, pulling me farther into the room.

I clenched my jaw and tried not to stiffen at the sudden contact; I was afraid of any other irrational emotional surges while around her. Thankfully, whatever it was kept silent as Gwen almost dragged me over to Abigail. The blonde inspected me critically, mimicking Garet's earlier moves, even going as far as to circle me.

"Hmm," she hummed in thought. "It wasn't exact, but most of it's there. This scar here, see?" She pointed to my left hand, where a long scar began, running up beneath the sleeve of my long sleeved shirt. I had earned that one early in my vampire life, from a nasty little bastard somewhere in Arizona. "I saw that clearly when he was..." She trailed off and tilted her head to stare at me thoughtfully and then grinned. "Yup! He's the one!"

Garet smiled in response, but it was sad. "So this means we're leaving." He sighed, running his big hands through his hair and looking around.

Gwen frowned at her shoes, pouting a little. "I liked it here."

Confused, I just stared at them. Abigail laughed. "Your friend is confused. Maybe you should explain." She giggled and bounced away, into another room and I could hear her gathering things together; packing.

Garet smiled ruefully. "I suppose we should. Gwen might've told you some, but you deserve to hear it all." Good, because I wasn't listening to Gwen before. "You've heard mention of a man named Walker?" I nodded. "He and I were created by the same man, a very kind and generous man. He made us promise not to harm one another, which we did willingly. One day, Walker's mate killed my own, and so I took revenge. Thus, Walker has vowed to kill me without actually touching me; he wants to use my attachment to Gwen against me."

Gwen made a face, sorry she was so much trouble to Garet, who she obviously adored. Garet patted her shoulder reassuringly and continued. "Gwen is the only one of our kind that I've ever created, and she's very like a little sister I used to have. It would hurt me deeply to see her come to harm." He stared at me steadily. "You've shown yourself capable of protecting her from the small dangers of Great Falls, but Abigail has seen something more to come, something larger that you need Gwen for. She can only see as far as the object she holds goes, and when the object is discarded, her sight runs out.

"I chose to have her read something Gwen would never discard; a gift I gave her. She saw much, a good portion she won't tell anyone, but she did see a white haired man taking our Gwen away." The breath left me temporarily. He knew I was going to be taking her and using her for my own selfish purposes with the Samlare and he was still willing to let her go with me? How much did he know? Probably more than me, I thought wryly. I only knew that she could help me; I didn't know how.

He sat down on the couch Abigail had just vacated and Gwen dropped my hand to go sit beside him, her face downcast and eyes trained on her lap. "She won't tell us why you need Gwen, or what will happen but she has reassured us that Gwen won't come to harm as long as the necklace is with her." For some reason, this made me feel less guilty about stealing her away.

Abigail came waltzing back into the room, singing to herself in a voice that was as light as her speaking voice. She began picking through the many books scattered everywhere. "Garet, which ones do you want me to save? We obviously have to take all of the first editions - can't have those stolen by the locals. Do you want me to pack the Pratchetts?"

Gwen came out of her depression enough to reply to the question. "Don't forget any of the books on Catholicism. I haven't finished with them." She scowled at Garet's amused look; this was apparently a subject that had teasing associated with it. "Just because you don't find religion interesting doesn't mean it's strange for others to. Hmph."

Garet chuckled. "Yes, Abigail, please save the Pratchett books." He sat up suddenly, staring at Abigail, who was currently behind me. Her singing had stopped, and I turned to see her frozen in place, staring at the book in her hands with unfocused horror.

"Abigail!" Gwen's voice was panicked, and she jumped up, sprinting over.

"Fire," Abigail breathed, starting to tremble. "So much fire."

"Gwendolyn," Garet said sharply; an order. Gwen stiffened and looked at her maker. "Pack a bag for each of us and get Abigail's things. We have to leave now." She nodded and sprinted away, a blur of red flannel and brown hair.

Throughout all of this I was a silent spectator, watching it all play out but not involved. Garet took three steps and was at my side, gripping my left arm. "I don't know you, but I can see you're a good man, as good as one of us can be. Please take care of Gwen; she can be rash and childish but she has a good heart and she needs you as much as you need her now that I can't be there. Something is coming, very fast and very dangerous, and I can't go with you two; not with Abigail." I nodded, not knowing what else to do; he looked so torn and unsure.

Gwen came running back into the room, two backpacks in each hand and one slung over her shoulder. She threw one at Garet, who caught it easily and set the other down beside the ragged couch before going to Abigail and shaking her gently.

"Abby-love," she made the endearment sound like one word, "you need to go now. Wake up."

Abigail dropped the book and woke with a start, twisting around in confusion. "No fire," she said in relief, sinking to the floor and rubbing her hands up and down her arms, scrutinizing them for any trace of her vision. Gwen soothingly rubbed the woman's back and looked at Garet with a mixture of expectancy and dread.

"No," Garet agreed, broad face grave. "But it's coming. We need to go." He picked up the backpack from the floor, shouldered the one in his hands and moved to where the women were. He handed the backpack to Abigail, who easily slung it over her thin shoulder, and placed both hands on either of Gwen's shoulders. He looked at her with a terrible jumble of emotions, pride and sorrow winning out over the others, and then gently kissed her on the forehead. "Fair travels, bach chwaer. Hopefully your books are right and there's another life beyond this one if I don't see you again in this one."

Gwen laughed, which sounded strangely like a sob, and threw her arms around the burly man. They stood like that for a moment before she broke away and then the other two members of her coven were gone in the blink of an eye, the only clue they'd ever lived here the tattered castoffs from other people's lives. We stood in the empty apartment like that for an endless moment, her back turned to me and shoulders shaking with silent, tearless sobs and me staring at her back like a fool battling with a sudden reappearance of the irritatingly compelling emotions; this time they prodded me to comfort her. My hands twitched, but I firmly kept them at my side; I had no business touching Gwen at this moment.

A sharp stab, not unlike that of my ability, sent an icy spike somewhere through my chest and my hands balled into fists.

I don't know what to do; I didn't ask for any of this! I wanted to shout.

Luckily, I was saved the trouble. The east wall, the one opposite the windows, exploded.