Disclaimer: I do not own Blood Ties or any of its characters. They are Tanya Huff's creations.

Characters thoughts in italics

Thanks to my beta, Lena!

Chapter 7

"Front desk," a masculine voice said.

The hitman faked a Australian accent. "Hi, mate. I'm calling about Henry Fitzroy."

"We are not allowed to divulge any information about our residents. It's company policy."

Brock feigned concern. "I heard he was taken to the hospital. I wanted to know which one so I could visit him. He and I go way back."

"I don't know where you got that information but whoever told you that was mistaken. Mr. Fitzroy was fine last time I checked."

"I'm glad to hear that. I was worried. Is he in?"

"I haven't seen him."

"I'm in town all week. I'm sure we'll meet up some time. Have a good day."

"You too."

He threw the disposable cell into the trash can and continued down the street.

How could he still be alive? No hospital trips either. How was that possible? This sounds like a setup. I'll have to figure out what's going on before I try anything else. If it does turn out to be a setup, I may have to get more creative in order to finish this job.

The hitman retrieved his cell from his back pocket. "Neo, it's me. I need you to find everything you can about Henry Fitzroy."

Brock flipped his cell closed.

Vicki felt someone shaking her.

Her voice sounded deeper than usual. "What is it?"

As her eyes opened, they slowly adjusted to the dim lighting of Henry's bedroom. She could barely see the silhouette of her assistant.

"Vicki, sorry about the rude awakening but I have an idea. I can run the security footage through the facial recognition software on my laptop and see whether we get any hits."

"Oh, you mean the software I am not supposed to know about."

The Goth nodded. "Yeah, that would be the one. I'll call you if I find any matches."

It would probably take hours for her assistant to complete the process but at least it was something.

"Thanks, Coreen."

The PI swung her feet to the side of the bed and sat there a moment before rising and stretching. "It was just about time for me to get up anyway."

She grabbed her glasses and watch off the nightstand. Almost noon. I really need to stop keeping these late hours. I'm starting to feel like a vampire.

Vicki sluggishly walked to the bathroom.

I will feel better when I hear from Brock. That probably isn't even his real name. Maybe hiring a hitman was a bit much but I have to ensure that Henry stays out of Maya's life.

She shuddered remembering the passage from her sister's diary detailing Henry revelation that he was a demon. According to that entry, from that day forward Andrea had done everything to protect Maya and herself from him.

At first I thought Andrea had gone crazy but she was the sanest person I had ever known. Our family had no history of mental instability. As unbelievable as it sounded, my sister had to be telling the truth.

I couldn't believe it when I saw him at Maya's art exhibition. My sister thought he was out of their lives. Unfortunately, that had not been the case. Andrea had loved Henry once but that was before she knew what he was. I promised to protect Maya before Andrea died and that is a promise I intend to keep. No matter the costs.

Author's note: The character Maya appeared in the "Drawn and Quartered" episode. Even though that wasn't one of my favorite Blood Ties episodes, I decided to use some of the material touched on in that episode for this chapter. Henry never mentioned what Maya's mother's name was so I just fabricated it. Of course, the name of the tech guy, Neo, is a Matrix reference.