Chapter 14: A Better Realization

Dwight stared back at the girl in agitation. He still felt a certain resentment for her age and gender. It had gone without saying for Ceridwen and Jeremy that Dwight did not at all have the enlightened views that were expected of men in modern times. Ceridwen stepped closer to him and narrowed her eyes.

"Did you not hear what I said before I had to leave?" she asked calmly. "Do you have any idea what could happen to you outside?"

"You sound like my mother," Dwight said with an amused smirk. Ceridwen frowned. "Although, my mother's fear stemmed from not knowing how polio descended on me and whether or not it would strike again. What could possibly harm me outside as a vampire?"

"Any operative who knows that you aren't cleared to be unsupervised which is anyone working for the bureau and everyone in the mansion," Ceridwen replied. Dwight groaned and turned away. The idea that he was having to remain confined because of ignorance, yet again, was almost too much to bear. Ceridwen stepped quickly in front of him, keeping him from ignoring the past few minutes whatsoever.

'Dwight, listen to me;" she said in forced diplomacy. "You haven't come even close to the level of understanding this condition that other reformees have when given the privilege of roaming free around their containment area. The fact that I gave you permission to move freely about the mansion was an enormous leap of faith and could still go badly for the both of us. You can't keep wandering off like this."

"Wandering off?!" Dwight suddenly shouted. Ceridwen frowned and averted her eyes. She knew that she had said the wrong thing. Chastising Dwight might have felt like the right thing to do, but it had proved in the past to not help in the least. It was also true that Dwight had only really wandered off a total of three times including this one. He growled softly and clutched the side of his head to regain some form of control. "Miss Nistuart, I have only left this mansion three times since I was brought here against my will. All three times were out of necessity and none of them saw me doing anything wrong." Ceridwen raised one brow reproachfully at the young immortal. Dwight glanced to the side for a moment. "Well, perhaps not. The first time was not out of absolute necessity and it did end with you and I horribly injured. In all fairness, though, the fact that I did come to your aide with your brother is sound evidence that I am not intent on causing you harm." Dwight's eyes darted back and forth for a moment, feeling an awkward tension at thinking he had not been fully truthful. "That is, I do not dwell on causing you harm with every waking moment."

"Why are you staying here?" Ceridwen demanded. She was allowing her voice to rise significantly and the fact that she was hiding some sort of physical trauma was becoming more evident with every breath. Dwight tilted his head and tried to figure out whether or not the lycanthropy itself was trying to surface. The scent of her viral DNA, or what he assumed was her viral DNA, was strong. Then again, it had been strong for several days now. She sighed and turned away, raising her arms in frustration. "What am I supposed to do? This isn't going the way I thought it would, at all! I thought I could have you educated through the first manual and into phase two by now!" she ranted. Anger and indignation began to seethe through Dwight at her words. "Lately it seems that every time I turn away from you, you're darting outside and then coming back expecting me to . . ."

Dwight moved towards the girl as she suddenly became very still and silent. He breathed heavily, allowing only a little of his traits to surface. He couldn't refuse all of the disease for much longer and at least he could keep a few of the more intricate traits hidden while she was this angry.

"Every day I wake, and do you know what I do? Since I have been brought here, I read and wait then read and wait. You have only just begun to try and teach me anything that I did not already know! However difficult this may be for you, madam, it is thrice such for me!" he hissed loudly. "If you had expected more of me, then perhaps you should begin doing more than observing from a distance of at least three rooms! For heaven's sake, I do not even have the chance to see you every day!" Dwight breathed angrily as he loomed over her. The thought that the girl was still remaining silent and still struck him. He stepped away and watched her more carefully. "Miss Nistuart?" he asked cautiously. Ceridwen said nothing and continued to stay motionless near the center of the room.

He sniffed deeply without making it too obvious that he was examining her scent for something abnormal. There was nothing to indicate that she was getting ready to attack. The memory of being attacked by the werecat form of the girl was frightening even for a vampire accustomed to brutally slaughtering people regularly. Ceridwen turned towards him and breathed deeply. Dwight took a step backwards as the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile. The vampire's brow furrowed in utter confusion. Was Ceridwen having some sort of emotional fit?

"Every time, you come back," she repeated softly. Dwight moved back towards her as she laughed in amusement. "Every time, you come back." She looked towards him and smiled brightly. The vampire felt the impulse to race back out the glass doors rip through him at thinking he might be on the receiving end of a female's breakdown. "Dwight, do you know what this means?"

"I have not upset you too terribly this evening?" he replied in confusion.

"Well, that's not important right now," Ceridwen said waving her hand dismissively. She giggled excitedly and placed her hands excitedly on his shoulders. The vampire tensed as he felt her trembling. "You have reached phase two! You're not a frightened animal looking for an escape!"

Dwight forced her hands away angrily. "Is that how you have been referring to me?!" he demanded.

"This is incredible! The information you're getting is next to nothing! You're making these behavioural changes all on your own!" she continued. She began walking towards the door, obviously still caught up in her own happy revelation. Dwight felt an even greater frustration at being so ignored for insubordination. In fact, it was almost infuriating that he wasn't being sternly reprimanded at the moment. Didn't Ceridwen feel angry, and if not, why not? He hadn't changed, she was making foolish assumptions based on a disturbed fantasy that she had been feeding since her childhood. He groaned and thought for a moment. This would have to wait until later. The fact that he had found Ceridwen's scent at the sight of the killing was a more important issue to address. But who would be able to give him the assistance that he needed? He did not want Richard around anymore than absolutely necessary. He sighed and felt his heart sink further at realizing the best person to ask was one of his least favourite people of all; Jeremiah.

He grumbled softly to himself as he tried to locate the boy. He had not wandered extensively through the mansion despite having been given permission to do so within the first week of his reformation. He had recognized the mansion when making a flight to the basement one night and had not felt any inclination to try and reacquaint himself with it at all. He knew how to get from one end to the other without needing to go up and down the stairs all the time, something that was an issue for the majority of his childhood. Dwight was still unsure of what had sent his polio into remission so quickly. His parents attributed it to their funding radical and immediate care for him, but Dwight was never convinced that the medicines he had been given were what had done the trick. The thought of Ceridwen being far enough away for him to have a modicum of freedom made it easier for the vampire to focus.

Jeremy was seated in what had once been the west drawing room. It had been converted into a den some years ago with an entertainment centre for the current owners. Dwight could clearly smell the boy's presence from the library. Jeremiah's scent had been something that Dwight had decidedly attuned himself to in order to be prepared for emergencies. Dwight decided that if something terrible were to happen, it would either be Jeremiah's fault and he would need to get away from the boy quickly, or that life more than life would be in question and Jeremiah would be trying to pin it on the vampire in the which case he would still need to get away from him. A nagging desire to let things lie burned in the back of his mind as he reached for the door to the room. Talking with the young man held all the excitement that scraping various insects away from the windshield of Lenore did. Still, Jeremy would be the best candidate to help monitor Ceridwen and gather information in a way that wouldn't upset the other vultures watching him. Dwight was still unsure of the coven that had been blown apart when he had rescued Ceridwen. The son of his sire, Craig, was still on the loose somewhere.

Dwight opened the door slowly and peered in. Jeremy sat on a large plush sofa facing an enormous television screen. Dwight had been rather fascinated with television when he had returned to the east coast three years prior. Now he felt that it was more of a nuisance at the airports and in homes than entertaining. Flickering across the screen were unusual images. Dwight could tell by what was being said that the setting was a medical facility and that there was some sort of tragedy involving a young woman with an odd illness. He shook his head and walked towards the sofa. The content of the majority of the programming on television had become increasingly dull in the vampire's mind. He stared down at the youth for a few seconds as he neared the screen and sofa. Jeremy looked towards him.

"I thought I smelled something stupid," Jeremy muttered as he turned back towards the screen. Dwight growled and reached for the boy's collar. Jeremy darted out of the vampire's reach and smiled. "Too quick for you that time!" he laughed as he backed away. Dwight remained silent as the boy backed into an end table, toppled backwards over it, and fell to the floor with a loud thud. After Dwight saw that the young man was not too injured to climb back to his feet, he laughed quietly. "What do you want?" he grumbled with embarrassment.

"I had a visit with an old friend while you and Ceridwen were out," Dwight replied.

"Don't make me keep saying and; what happened and what do you want?" Jeremy said between sharp breaths that hid shouts of pain. He flopped back onto the sofa, clutching his bad shoulder.

"Very well, Richard informed me that there had been some unusual killings reported in the area north of us with their sightings coming sequentially closer to the mansion," Dwight continued.

"It figures that bald wing-weasel would have already known about this," Jeremy muttered.

Dwight frowned. "I suppose that you and Ceridwen did not inform me because you had too much else to do," he said coldly. "That aside, we visited one of the sites and I discovered something disturbing. I recognized the scent of the killer."

"Well, do you think you could identify him for the bureau?" Jeremy asked casually.

Dwight growled and pushed the urge to scratch the boy harshly across the face out of his mind. "I cannot," he replied.

"I figured you wouldn't be able to," Jeremy said with a smirk. "I'm beginning to think that you don't have all the little powers you think you do."

"Whether or not the identification was sound or not is hardly the reason that I would refuse to stand before anyone in your organization," Dwight corrected. "I would refuse to give over the identity in the name of a personal debt of life to this person."

"What are you talking about?" Jeremy said with clear irritation. Dwight snarled and reached for the un-attentive youth, catching him by the sleeve and yanking him off the sofa to face him.

"It was your sister's scent, you fool!" he shouted. Jeremy stared back at the man in horror. "Finally, I get your attention."

"You think that it was her?" Jeremy said in a near whisper.

"No," Dwight replied looking behind him to make sure that no one was listening to them. "I smelled something similar to her, but it was not her scent entirely."

"Where was the killing? When did it happen? How did it happen? Have you told Ceri?" Jeremy began sputtering. Dwight looked away and sighed heavily.

"Perhaps we should, all three of us, discuss this further," he offered. Jeremy nodded. Ceridwen had acted strangely at the information given to them by the operatives at the supply house. Perhaps there was something causing her to react so terribly these past few days and perhaps the vampire would be the key in putting it to an end.