"Ok, listen to me, and listen very carefully, because I'm a man of little patience. I don't know who you are, and I really don't care at all, but whoever you work for has something to do with the death of my brother, so I'm going to be very clear on this: Either you tell me what is going on, who killed my brother, or why you are chasing my sister-in-law, or I'll be cutting you into little pieces. You don't want me to do that, because I'm really, really creative when it comes to that. So, what do you say?"

The gruff man in front of Sean said no word. Despite being badly beaten already, courtesy of Clive's still young spirit and desire for payback, the black-clad subject still held his head up, and he was as ramrod-straight as he could manage while tied to the chair. While it would be interesting to watch in other circumstances, Sean couldn't be less interested on it. What mattered to him, what he needed the most, was answers, and he would get them, one way or another. II just came down to how much the man in front of him was willing for it to hurt before he decided to talk.

After the rush of last night's events, Mavis was now feeling exhausted, but despite the fact, she wasn't sleeping at all. She was thinking about everything: Padraigh's death, Johnathan's return, the desire for revenge that was eating her inside-out, and more importantly, her now-fatherless son Nathan. Thinking about the little baby made her worry a lot more. She was now essentially a single mother, and a novice mother, to booth. She couldn't think of a way in which she could raise her son without her husband, without his support and good spirit. It was a devastating thought, and one that wouldn't let her sleep at all. As she resolved to just lay in bed and do her best to fall sleep, her mind finally recognized what the bitter and very familiar smell in the air was. She found the glass bottle full of amber liquid, the kind that… no, don't think that way, he wouldn't like that. She could take only one sip, and then go to sleep.

Just one quick sip…

"Did he talk, kid?" Clive asked, sitting in the dining room, smoking a cigarette. The ashtray was now half-full, and the packet by his hand only had two more cigarettes inside.

"He didn't say much. I think I need your help, old man. This guy… he is a fanatic, he believes in whatever the hell he's been told to believe in. That makes him dangerous and stubborn" Sean answered, picking up one of the cigarettes and lighting it with his old-fashioned Zippo.

"Well, there ain't no tosser that cannot break under my care. Go check on the girl, she wasn't looking too good when we got back. She needs someone close to her right now, kid, so don't let her down"

"Since when did you become such a softy, Clive?" Sean teased in a mockery tone.

"Say that again and you'll be using your ass as a hat" was the only reply. Both men chuckled, and left for their respective task. Sean doubted very strongly that he had easiest one.

It was a mess, and Sean could not make much sense of it. The room was trashed, some furniture over-turned and the acrid smell of… Oh…

Mavis laid on the floor, a nearly-empty bottle of Scotch by her side. She wasn't asleep, but she could as well have been. The girl did not move, and she was mumbling incoherent words while she half-sobbed, half-laughed.

"Mavis, what is wrong with you?" Sean muttered, rushing towards her. He gently lifted the still form in his arms and laid her on the bed, while she continued to mumble things he couldn't understand very well. As he was about to get himself busy by tidying up the room he felt a hand clasp his arm weakly.

"It w-was my fault"

"What? Mavis, what are you talking about?"

"It was my fault, all what happened. I insisted on coming, he didn't want to come… It's my fault, I killed him. I should have listened! I should have listened to what he said!" Sean couldn't do much but listen to the girl blame herself for his brother's death. Despite understanding what she was trying to say, he couldn't quite make any connection between Padraigh's death and Mavis' desire to travel. It was obvious that it was just the alcohol talking.

"Don't say that, Mavis. There was no way any of you could have known…"

"He did know! He tried to tell me! He had a bad feeling about this and I dismissed it! I should have listened… I didn't… I don't deserve to be alive. I should have died, the guy wanted to kill me…" for a moment it looked like energy had left her body, and that she would finally just go to sleep and let the alcohol be processed by her body. Sean let his guard down, and the next thing that happened completely shocked him. With one fluid movement the vampiress ripped the heavy curtains off their supports and stood into the wide-open window. In broad daylight. The mid-day sun, incredibly bright, began causing her skin to blister and redden, slight at the beginning. She had sent Sean to the floor with her outburst, and thus he was stunned, taking him some time to realize what she was trying to do. He quickly reacted, trying to tackle her away from the light, instead just merely pinning her to the wall, shielding her with his own frame.

"Are you nuts? What the hell are you doing?" he nearly shouted, fighting against the girl's attempts to free herself from his grasp.

"Let go of me! I don't want to live, not without him! It's my choice! Let go!" Mavis half-begged, half-shouted, fighting more than before. The only thing that kept her from beating him to it was the drowsiness caused by the Scotch.

"Really? And what about my brother's son? Your son! Are you going to leave him alone because of your selfishness? If you really loved Padraigh then you owe it to him to at least raise his son, don't you?"

It got through, although even Sean had to admit it was a low blow. Mavis stopped fighting, and instead she just looked at him with wide eyes. She looked like a lost child, and instead just fell on Sean's arms, finally exhausted. Her body was already healing, the adrenaline outburst and numbness of the alcohol not allowing her to feel any pain. While Sean held on to her, he could feel her quiet sobbing, until she finally fell asleep against his chest. The last thing he did was taking her to his room, placing her on the bed and then leaving the room and going to sleep on the still-trashed guests' room.

Hope Clive gets something out of this bastard, or I'll pull his teeth out with a pincer one by one, was the last thought that crossed his mind before he finally was able to catch some rest.

Daniel was tired, hungry, and severely irritated, but he finally made it to where he wanted to go. Bypassing the security armors he had encountered hadn't been difficult, and it was a real relief to him, because he wasn't sure they would remember him.

It really wasn't that long, was it?

Count Dracula was restless, to say the least. Not only by the fact that he had two babies in the Hotel to take care of (although, granted, Claire was doing most of the child-caring job), but also because of the fact that it had been a few days since he had last heard of his daughter and her husband. While he was really, really, trying to be less of a control-freak when it came to her, they had promised to call him every-so-often, and that every-so-often rarely amounted to almost a week. He wanted to believe that they were alright, there was no reason to believe otherwise, but he could still remember what his son-in-law had told him before deciding to leave for Ireland. What if he was right? No! Stop! They are alright! I'm sure they are fine. This was his train of thought for the next hour, until a face he hadn't expected to see ever again.

"You?!"

Daniel had the Count on his face in no time. He had barely crossed the revolving door when the famous vampire was already bombarding him with questions, the most important of which was 'What are you doing here?' He waited until the mythical vampire stopped throwing a tantrum at him.

"Are you done?" Daniel asked, unamused.

"What?!"

"I said, are you done? I'm here because something happened. Is your wife here?"

"Why would this have anything to do with my wife?" Dracula asked, completely perplexed by the man's attitude.

"Just… trust me, she has to hear this too. Could you tell her to join us, please?" Daniel despite being a very good actor, faltered slightly when he realized what he was about to do. The Count picked this small detail up, and the uneasiness became viral. Regardless, he agreed with him, and instructed one of the armors to call his wife down. The silence between two of them, uncomfortable and very deep, only served to wreck the Count's already wrecked nerves. He was about to go ballistic just as the elevator pinged and a very tired-looking Claire made herself present, holding the two infants under her charge in both of her arms. The Count, momentarily forgetting about Daniel, relieved her of little Nate, who had been restless since his parents had left.

"Mr. Marlow? What are you doing here?!"

"I… I have to tell you something. You might want to sit"

Both vampires shared a worried look, fearing for what was coming.

"What is it? Speak! Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there is, ma'am. It's about your daughter's husband. He… he's gone"

"Gone?" Claire didn't want to believe what she was listening. It couldn't be what he meant.

"What do you mean gone?!" Dracula questioned too, grasping himself firmly in denial. He didn't want to think about his own daughter going through the traumatic event of losing her soul-mate forever… again. He didn't want to think about how devastated she must be right now. He didn't want to think… how would she raise little Nate? With my help. I promised not to fail to her again, and I won't.

"Where… where's my daughter? Do you know that?" he asked, throat now dry from fear and uncertainty.

"I don't know. But I know who does"

"Who? Please, tell us. She's our little girl. We can't leave her on her own" Claire begged, her eyes tearing up by the bad news she had just been delivered.

"Johnathan"

Unnecessary suspense is unnecessary, but I just couldn't think of a better ending that didn't feel like I was dragging the thing in an unnecessary way. Hope it is better than what it looks to me. Anyways, as usual leave your thoughts and feedback on the 'Reviews' section.

Two author's notes:

-Could somebody let me in on the joke about 'All I Am To You's latest update? I don't get it.

-As I've already said, I will drop the weekly-update stuff, and instead just adopt an order of updates, which will come as soon as I can pump them out. The order will be:

-Hollow Memories

-If Only You Knew

-All I Am To You

-Red Typhoon

Seems fair to me. See you on the next update!