Mavis could not be consoled. The girl was in a complete emotional breakdown, being unable to stop crying. Sean, on the other hand… he was utterly shocked.

Despite the rather… difficult circumstances of their relationship, he had always admitted that he loved his older brother. After all, the man had taken care of him and their siblings, he had been there, as a parent, a brother and a friend. And now… he was gone. No, he wasn't gone… he was murdered. This thought alone made Sean's blood boil, a murderous rage slowly beginning to grow inside of him. No, I cannot go back to that. I promised Paddy I wouldn't.

Yet, I can't let this go unpunished.

He returned to reality, to a sobbing Mavis, her clothes still blood-stained and her eyes shut tight. She sat limply in her chair, her gaze fixed down on the floor. Her hair was now messy, and her cheeks were swollen because of her crying, but she just couldn't stop crying, her tears probably enough to fill a coffee mug. Every time she sobbed her body shook and the resulting tears stained the wooden floor. It broke Sean's heart to see her this way. She was family, after all, despite… what had happened. Sean raised himself from his chair and headed for her. Mavis sensed his presence and slowly looked up, tears still running down her cheeks heavily.

"Mavis…I… I don't know what to say… I know… I know this is very hard for you… if you need anything…"

The vampiress just sat there, looking him in the eye, her lower lip quivering. She couldn't speak, she had no words to say, and even if she had had anything to say, there was a lump in her throat, one that she just couldn't swallow. She just wanted to cry, cry as loud and as much as she could. For a moment it seemed like it would not be much longer, but the pain was stronger, and she broke in tears again. Sean could only watch as she cried, and he enveloped her in a hug. It wasn't an ill-intentioned hug, but rather one of comfort, for her to know that she was not alone in this. Padraigh O'Donnell might be dead, but Mavis O'Donnell was still alive, and as far as Sean was concerned, until the bastard that had killed his brother was dead, she was still his sister-in-law.

Johnathan was going through another night of insomnia. Daniel had been contacted by that Summers guy to tell him that, true to what he had said in the lobby just a few hours ago, he would see to it that the legal department found a way to break away from the executive board and seized control of the company again. After that, they would honor their contracts with both ARES and any other previous clients.

Johnathan couldn't care less about it. His thoughts were somewhere more important to him.

What was she doing there?

Why was she crying?

Why did she escaped?

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

His phone rang, and he picked it up in one swift move.

"Hey, bro, it's me. Are you awake? Mind if I come over?" Daniel's voice asked through the phone.

"Yeah, go ahead" Less than a minute later he heard a knock on his door, forced to answer it. Daniel simply entered the room and sat on the loveseat directly across the bed. Johnathan himself sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his brother.

"What? What is it?"

"I've been thinking about what happened tonight, Johnathan, and I came to a conclusion"

"Which is…"

"That you know something you're not telling me" How the hell does he know?

Johnathan just looked straight at him, weighing the pros and cons of keeping his mouth shut or telling him anything at all. In the end there really wasn't much to think about.

"She was there"

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. Of course Daniel knew who 'she' was. He just couldn't bear thinking that Dracula's daughter could be in any way implicated on O'Donnell's death. Maybe she… no, there's no way…

"And… what was she doing there? A-re you sure it was her?"

"Yes, it was her, I'm sure. What I can't put my finger on is why she was there."

Daniel's mind began racing at a hundred miles per hour, thinking about everything that could have happened. No, there's no way she did it… Dracula said… but maybe he lied…

"She didn't do it" Johnathan exclaimed, as if reading Daniel's mind.

"I never…"

"I know what you were thinking. She didn't do it. She was… crying… she knew O'Donnell, but how? What were they? What the hell is going on?"

"I… I don't know. Johnathan… if she's innocent… then who killed O'Donnell?"

"I don't know either, but there's one thing I know for sure. She saw who did it, and the responsible quite probably wants to silence her. We need to find her."

"No, no, what we need to do is to either collaborate with the investigation or get out of the way, Johnathan. I'm sure the authorities will be able to pinpoint the responsible for this…"

"Listen, Dan. I read about this O'Donnell guy, he used to be IRA enforcer some years ago. IRA is one of the best, if not the best, trained terrorist organizations. Whoever killed him, he had to be better. That kind of person can easily frame a girl like her for something she hasn't done"

Daniel hated it. Hated the fact that his brother was right, hated the fact that Dracula's daughter was involved in all this, and hated the fact that he knew where all this arguing was going to.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"We do nothing. I'll be going. I have to find her, I have to know what she saw. I…"

"You want to protect her. You want to be with her. You are using this as an excuse to further your own goals Johnathan. I am not an idiot!" Daniel didn't even have to act for this one, he was really annoyed at his brother's pathetic excuses for staying close to the girl. Johnathan wasn't amused at all, but he was slightly surprised by his brother's outburst. He hadn't seen that in a very long time.

"Right now the problem at hand is who killed O'Donnell. Whatever might or might not happen between us is something irrelevant right now…"

"Bullshit Johnathan. I'm not taking part in any of this, so you'll have to do it on your own"

The slamming of the door was the last argument of the conversation, and it settled the matter. Johnathan merely sighed tiredly and went back to bed, this time falling asleep relatively quick.

He had a long day ahead of him.

By the time Mavis was finally sleeping in bed it was late in the morning. Sean's apartment, located two blocks away from the restaurant, didn't seem like a sensible hiding place, but their blood relation wasn't a well-known affair, and it was because of this that Sean felt confident that they would have enough time to grieve and plan their next move. Before taking Mavis to her room, he had been able to pry a few details from her. Namely, the name of the responsible for his brother's death, and where he would probably be. While it was far from smooth sailing, they at least had something to go through with. Right now, though, what they needed was time, to process what had just happened, and to accept the fact that they had lost someone important to both of them. He couldn't avoid, remembering, about everything he and his brother had done, both good and bad. He regretted that he hadn't enjoyed the time with his brother as well as he had wanted, and all the time they spent away, his brother traveling through the American continent, and him building and maintaining his new business. While it was hardly time wasted (at least when it came to what his brother had accomplished, a family, no less), it was time that they didn't get to spend with each other, time where they weren't on a pub, eyeing pretty girls and getting into fights with anyone who looked funny at them. He had looked forward to doing it one more time, while his brother was still in town, but now… well, he still owed Paddy one last toast.

"To you, brother. And don't worry, I'll get the bastard." He raised his whisk, and then gulped the contents in one swift move. After one exact minute he stood up and headed to a small bedroom he used as a studio. The fire-resistant safe he kept disguised as a night-stand was open in little time, and Sean mused when was the last time he had seen (or used) its contents. Ten years ago. We were teenagers, but we lied to the IRA guys. We looked MUCH older than we were, and we were good at what they wanted us to do. Inside the metallic shell he extracted rested a small-ish handgun, a Makarov 9mm. His brother always told him it was a ladies' gun, but the thing was reliable, and it served its purpose. The faint clanking of metal as he disassembled, oiled, and reassembled the weapon was the only sound made in the room. When he finished, he holstered the handgun in a concealed holster in the back of his waistband.

He needed help, somewhere or something to start with, but his leads were almost non-existent, and he was sure that Mavis was in such a state that trying to keep digging for info would upset her too much. She was already quite shocked, and the last thing he needed was to deal with a heartbroken vampire. So… maybe… He picked up his phone and dialed a number he had committed to memory. It wasn't an idea he was fond of, but the guy did owe him some favors. He could make him ask around about the name Mavis gave him, get an address, or something. He couldn't just go against him while he was in the company's building, he needed something private, where he could make him sing everything he wanted him to say…

"Yeah? Who is this?"

"Someone you owe a favor to, and you better come through with this lest you want to wind up face-down in the nearest water body"

"Ah, shit… Tell me it isn't about your brother…"

"You are such a great fortune teller, you should go into business. Now spit it out, what do you know? And I also need you to DISCREETLY ask around about a guy. You do this and I'll be out of your hair. You cross in any way… well, I already told you, didn't I?"

"Alright, alright, hear this…"

Johnathan finished packing his sling pack. The last object to make it inside was the eponymous weapon he had used last night, the one he had been able to get away with. A security guard was probably pissed off, looking for his weapon, but that was something that didn't bother him at all. Right before mid-day, he left the room, erasing any traces of his stay there, going so far as to whipping his fingerprints from everything he had touched. He was now effectively a ghost. He needed to be. Hours later, when Daniel asked the staff about him, no one could remember seeing him before last night.

He was now free. Free to look for the love of his life, and free to keep her safe from whatever danger she was on. He was unable to realize what he was signing up for, but that wasn't about to stop him.

Yeah, I'm kindda late, but still within acceptable parameters, ain't I? Anyways, this one was a bit slow, but I seriously needed to write this. If you like it, please review. If you don't, review anyways, remember that we develop our stories around your feedback. ANyways, I'm ate for going to bed, and tomorrow is a long day at college. See ya next update... probably for 'All I Am to You' or for 'If Only You Knew'. You can check those stories out in profile right up... there, at the beginning of the story. See ya, guys (and girls, I suppose)...