Chapter II

JT parked the car close to the dungeon's entrance before turning to get a better look at Vincent who had apparently succumbed to exhaustion and was sleeping fitfully in the reclined seat beside him. He immediately realised that something was very wrong. Vincent's breathing seemed labored and his skin was deathly pale and clammy. "Vincent?" He called anxiously but got no answer although Vincent stirred and moaned as if in the thrall of some very unpleasant dream. The bandage didn't look any more bloodied than when they left the estate only an hour before. The only possible conclusion was that he was bleeding internally. Before he could voice his conclusion out loud, the man with the collar did so with the air of calm and authority one would expect from a physician. "Your friend is bleeding internally and, from the way he favors his left side even semi-conscious, I'd guess he has a ruptured spleen and possibly one or two broken ribs."

JT turned toward the collared man in astonishment not only because of the accurate diagnosis but mostly at the gall of this man being so clinical about a wound he himself inflicted on Vincent. "You got some nerve..." JT's protest died in his throat when he saw that the man he thought was subdued and collared didn't have the collar around his neck anymore. Instead, he saw it in Matthew's hands and this one quickly threw it out the window. Jeremy's eyes then began to glow in the now familiar fashion and the fangs grew quickly in the beast's mouth. Before JT could even begin to reach for the trank gun he'd been keeping beside him the whole trip the beast had jumped over the back seat and bit Vincent just above his left shoulder blade. The bite drew blood but the beast didn't pursue his attack, instead returning to his place in the back of the car before Vincent could react. JT only had time to notice that Jeremy was already turning back into human form before he heard his friend's roar. Right away, the change took place in Vincent and he almost went for the other beast but he was still too weak and growled menacingly instead. By then JT had gotten a hold of the trank gun and, in doubt, he was aiming it at Vincent but Jeremy stopped him cold. "Don't!" The man barked with the authority of a drill sergeant. As a matter of fact JT wasn't the only one startled. Vincent's growl quieted right away although the hyper vigilance didn't diminish an iota. "He needs the beast to heal the wounds, "Jeremy said in the same clinical voice he'd used before. "I'm hoping this might just kill two birds with one stone."

For another beat JT was too stunned by the attitude of this man they thought they had captured to utter a reply, but then he suddenly exploded, "what the hell are you talking about? You ahole you just bit Vincent and you act like you were helping?"

"JT," Vincent interjected with surprising strength for a guy at death's doors. But then JT got a good look at him and noticed that his coloring was coming back to normal by the moment. The bite marks didn't bleed anymore. In fact JT couldn't even see them. Vincent had also returned to human form and seemed calmer already.

"What the hell? You're healing fast again...how?"

Instead of answering, Vincent turned to face Jeremy and his brother. The former held his gaze calmly whilst talking to his brother. "Matthew I think you can retrieve the collar now. I don't think those two are in a very trusting mood." Matthew only nodded his assent and got out of the car. No one spoke until he'd brought back the collar and given it directly to Jeremy, who proceeded to put it back on himself. "Maybe you should show us into this dungeon of yours and then we can all relax."

Still staring at Jeremy with a mixture of suspicion and perplexity, Vincent simply replied "yeah..." and stayed any further protest from JT with a dismissive wave.

Hardly deterred, JT started, "but..."

"JT please, let's go in first, like the man said."

JT got out without another word but his eyes were throwing daggers at pretty much everyone in turn. The two brothers went in the indicated door first, soon followed by JT and Vincent, whose puzzled expression only deepened at the utter lack of struggle or apparent worry demonstrated by the brothers.

Back at the country house Catherine had just gotten back to the guestroom her sister was staying in. She was surprised to find Heather with some dusty leather bound notebook opened in her lap instead of wallowing in her misery as Catherine had expected her to.

"Heather?"

Heather seemed startled as she looked up from the notebook with a guilty expression that puzzled Catherine. However she presumed it was a reaction to what would amount to a catastrophe in anyone's world, but maybe even more so for her sister, who liked to control everything in her life. "What now," Heather answered testily.

"Honestly, I'm at a loss," Catherine replied sincerely. "You got what I said earlier about your new husband."

"I'd prefer you didn't call him that," Heather spat; her face was getting flushed with renewed anger.

Catherine tried to sound as reasonable as possible. "Ok I get how this looked..."

Heather's eyes widened perceptibly at this. "I'll tell you how it looked," she screamed. "The asshole actually lied to me for 6 months, and me...and I..." tears welled up in her eyes and soon afterward she was crying openly in Catherine's arms. She comforted her for a while, trying to silence her own worries. The only reason she hadn't bolted yet besides her sister's grief was that if Vincent had gotten worse JT would have called. However after a while that confidence eroded and she began imagining all that could have gone wrong. Heather must have sensed her sister pulling away because she sat back, resolutely wiping the tears still brightening her eyes. "You should go. No reason we should both be miserable."

Catherine was torn between her need to know what happened and her sister's anguish. She stared at Heather with searching eyes, still wondering what she could say or do which could make this all better. "Look, all I can tell you is we don't know for sure what Matthew really intended. You should take a step back yes, but then maybe...maybe you could give him a chance to explain..." Catherine saw her sister gather her breath most likely to protest again so she went on, "if I had not I would never have forgiven myself with Vincent."

Heather took a few shuddering breaths before answering, "I don't know if I can do that...but I promise I'll think about it."

Catherine thought she detected a sliver of hope in her sister's voice. That probably was the best she could hope for on this day. "You sure you're gonna be ok here?" She saw hesitation in Heather's eyes and understood her fear. The house was isolated and what happened before didn't inspire much confidence in the safety of the premises. "I'll ask Tess to stick around until my return alright?"

"Thank you," Heather breathed out. Catherine gave her sister one last hug before leaving her, trying to silence the guilt she felt. Still she had to know if Vincent and JT were alright. She'd already worked out that if they got to the dungeon they probably didn't have any cell reception down there but she still didn't understand why neither one of them would have thought to go outside to call them. The worry was gnawing more at her by the moment. She found Tess still in the den, picking up some of the mess and obviously just as anxious as Catherine felt.

"Hey," Tess said as she stopped what she was doing the moment she saw Catherine.

"Any news?"

"None," Tess simply answered. "I tried calling them but either they got no reception or…"

Catherine didn't have to hear the rest and Tess knew that.

"Tess, I hate to have to ask this…"

"What?" Tess asked the question but, somehow, Catherine was certain she already knew the answer.

"I have to go find out what happened but I can't leave Heather alone here…"

Tess eyed her warily, "You know I'm just as worried as you are right?"

"I promise I'll call as soon as I know anything. But Heather is so shaken up… and also what if something really happened and the beast comes back…We still don't know who he really was after…"

"I know, I know… doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Thank you," Catherine said, hugging Tess quickly but effusively. "I promise I'll call."

"You better," Tess replied tensely.

Catherine headed for the door right away, not wanting to waste any more time. She climbed into her car and was on the road in seconds, driving just a little too fast. She had over an hour of travel ahead of her and she knew that unless she got a call from the boys she'd find that delay excruciating.

The dungeon was as damp and poorly lit as Vincent remembered. They hadn't been there in a few weeks and he frankly didn't miss it. Every time he came to the dungeon, the memories of all the misery that had taken place here overwhelmed his strong senses at first and he had to shut down his extraordinary perception as much as possible to stand it. The place smelled of mildew, blood and death; and the faintest reminder of Tory's scent still lingered in there as well, which always made him feel uncomfortable in and of itself. And if that wasn't enough the memory of the last time he'd been here, when Catherine had locked him in one of the holding cells was also seared in his mind. She had used the gem to keep him there while she had gone and attempted to kill another beast. She'd only been gone a few hours but he never wanted to relive that feeling of helplessness and despair at the thought of never seeing her again. She had meant well, but would most likely have gotten everyone killed if she'd gone ahead with her plan. Fortunately she understood that in the end and they got to defeat the monster together after all. He forgave her this momentary lack of trust because even knowing how much stronger they were together he'd always thought that he should protect her at all cost and, evidently, Catherine had been convinced of the exact same thing. By now, he hoped they both knew better.

All in all, Vincent would have preferred being anywhere but here. However he had to recognize that this was the only relatively safe place they could have gone to. The only potential threat to this secret place was the agency and the agents they met recently and so far that had not given any sign that they knew about this location.

Jeremy and Matthew stopped ahead of JT and him. They seemed fascinated with the Frankenstein like laboratory that occupied the largest part of the dungeon.

"This Sam guy spared no expense with this get up. Except for the location that is too gothic for my taste, my lab holds no candle to this one," Jeremy told them while checking one or another piece of equipment that only JT could have identified. "I see that he was doing some seriously advanced molecular research. Hum, maybe if I could see some of that research…"

"I don't think so, and I'd also like you to tell us how you knew about Sam," JT interjected, quickly positioning himself between Jeremy and the main table with all the test tubes and centrifuges still in place from the last time anyone worked on them, namely him.

Jeremy stared at JT not quite unkindly for a moment. "As far as I know, Sam was someone we kept an eye out for because he promised some payback for his son's death. I have a pretty good idea of what he was going for and his results were remarkable considering his organization was rather small… But then, Sam didn't get what he was working on at all. Maybe you might…"

"I don't care what you think. What Sam was doing was inhuman and basically wrong! The only reason I'd ever work on this stuff again would be to help Vincent."

Vincent interrupted them then, "You said you would explain what you did to me once we were inside. I'm waiting…"

"Right," Jeremy agreed with a slight smile forming. "I did promise." He turned regretfully away from the table and faced Vincent directly. "It's just that for you to truly understand my explanations you'd have to know a little more about what you are…"

"I think I got a pretty good idea," Vincent told him, obviously a little put off by Jeremy's comment.

"I'll admit, you got the working basis of the thing down path," Jeremy graciously replied, "but you don't know jack about why this happened to you and, more than anything else, why you're still breathing while most of the others in your unit were exterminated."

"What the hell do you know about that!?" JT exclaimed angrily. "Were you with those sons of bitches at Muirfield? Is that the 'we' you mentioned earlier?"

Jeremy seemed hardly to notice JT's aggressiveness, instead answering conversationally, "You could say that, although my goals were diametrically opposed to those of that outfit. They high jacked my chimera research with the pretence of saving lives and even convinced Vanessa of their good intentions."

"Vanessa?" Vincent interrupted, "Catherine's mother? You knew her?"

"Knew her? Of course I did. We used to be really close until we had a slight falling out."

"A falling out like she found out you injected yourself with beast serum?" JT suggested sarcastically.

"Heavens no! Besides, why would I need to inject myself with that? The entire experiment was …"

Matthew interjected forcefully at that, "I think you said enough. We shouldn't even be in this position and you know it." This he directed at Jeremy and it was obvious that Jeremy had already said some things he wasn't supposed to.

Jeremy stared almost defiantly at his brother for a long moment and then seemed to relent. "You're right of course. I did promise I wouldn't this time…"

"Ok, I heard enough, you guys are just talking a lot of nonsense and I think we all need a time out," Vincent said impatiently, his eyes already glowing and without waiting for anyone's answer he blurred towards Jeremy, grabbing him and stopping only when this one was safely inside one of the cells, which he quickly locked tight. "All I'm interested in," he continued as if nothing had occurred and ignoring the strangely expectant look on Jeremy's face, "is how in the hell you healed me with that bite and what you came for in the first place!"

"Some people think it wouldn't be in your best interest to know everything…" Jeremy answered after he and Vincent stared each other down for a few seconds. "But I do recognize your obvious need for direct answers…For the sake of keeping things friendly on my part at least…" at this Jeremy ostensibly indicated the bars of the cells but made no mention of them out loud, "to answer your first question, I can tell you I had good reasons to believe that my DNA might cancel out the serum that was injected in you a year ago by this Reynolds guy. And I'd hoped it might help with a few memory issues you might still have..."

"What?" Vincent and JT both exclaimed.

"You know I'd be glad to fill in the blanks if…"

A warning from Matthew stopped him again.

"You're gonna tell us what you know right now," Vincent insisted, his voice deepening towards the growling tones of the beast.

"Look this is all a big mistake," Matthew interjected, "we really shouldn't be here at all. There's nothing we can tell you other than it would be in your best interest to let us go."

"You're both full of shit. I don't know what your deal is but I'm done listening to this crap. When you're ready to tell us the truth, give us a shout. JT let's go!"

JT hesitated. He wasn't so sure they shouldn't stick around and question the two men further but he could sense that Vincent was becoming unduly unnerved and that was never a good thing. "Alright," he agreed for his friend's sake and he followed him back to the laboratory part of the dungeon, leaving Jeremy behind in the cell and his brother Matthew just outside of it, a slightly worried expression plastered over his handsome face. Vincent closed the heavy wooden door that separated the cells from the lab and he lowered a newly installed iron bar to which he fastened a heavy duty padlock he'd acquired for just such an occasion. He heard a muffled protest from Matthew but chose to ignore it. JT indicated the lock, "you came prepared?"

"I installed it after I escaped the cells a while ago… figured if I ever needed to be restrained again, it would make for an added layer of safety…"

"We won't need that for you again," JT firmly affirmed although deep down he knew the possibility was there, however remote it might be. "But just for the sake of argument, how is that gonna hold you if the cell didn't?"

"I just thought it would give you or whoever else is here more time to run…"

"How considerate of you," JT quipped.

"You know that's no joking matter JT" Vincent protested his friend's levity.

"Oh come on, I'm entitled and besides, I've hardly ever worried about you hurting me."

Vincent eyed JT thoughtfully for a moment. "You know, until a couple years ago, you never did…"

"What's that? Are you blaming Catherine now?"

"NO!" Vincent protested vehemently. "it's just… I wish I could be as certain as you are, and today was another wake up call."

"What do you mean?" JT asked, genuinely surprised at the intensity of his friend's worries. "Isn't everything much better lately? I thought you were perfectly in control and have been for a while and now you apparently can heal again, that's good news…"

Vincent avoided JT eyes and walked a few steps away before answering. "For the past couple days I've been feeling off…mostly around Catherine. I thought I was just a little paranoid… but then when this guy crashed the wedding and I lost all control… I blacked out JT!"

"Simple," JT replied without hesitation, "You sensed a threat to us and you reacted. That's nothing new for you. You're gonna have to stop automatically jumping to self-loathing every time something happens. Not everything is your fault you know."

"But I usually am aware of doing it, JT…. What if those fugues are starting again? Maybe I should be locked up in one of those cells too…" Vincent finally turned back to his friend and the uncertainty and sadness JT saw in his eyes hurt him physically. He didn't know what the man now in their dungeon had meant about the experiments but he still felt deeply responsible for what was done to Vincent and every time a hurdle like this one occurred, it just reminded him painfully of his past error.

"Look, we dealt with it last year and we also established it wasn't Catherine's presence that caused the fugues… Besides, ever since we gave you Vanessa's treatment, nothing has changed in your DNA. The abilities you developed after Reynolds injected you they were already there; you just hadn't learned to use them yet. All he did at the time was give you some stuff that played tricks on your memory. Probably some cold war drug he got his hands on. As for your fast healing, he probably got the guy from Muirfield to concoct this stuff to make the beasts vulnerable once they outlived their usefulness. I hadn't figured what yet but maybe now I can do some comparisons and see what changed. As far as losing control, it most likely was the heat of the moment. But if…IF it reoccurs, we pretty much know what to do about it now. So don't you worry, we're on top of it."

Vincent stared uncertainly at the door, willing to believe this if it meant nothing was wrong between him and Catherine. He just couldn't take more of the ups and downs they had been through the past couple of years. They'd barely got back together as it was. Still, something was nagging at him. "It's just, the whole time in the car, I wasn't out of control…at least not until that guy bit me but then that was just reacting…"

"Maybe you sensed he was under control and that was enough. Besides, most of what you experience has nothing to do with Catherine," JT insisted, knowing without being told that that was still his friend's real concern. "And if you're still afraid of her reaction she's proven to you time and again that she's not going to run away at the slightest problem."

"She also left me when she thought the beast side of me had taken over and I couldn't blame her…"

"Come on Vince, she mostly left you because you sided with Tory and we all know why that was. The rest of your problems all originated from that and Catherine's father."

"Yeah," Vincent dejectedly agreed, "mostly the fact that I almost killed him in front of her."

"Would you stop that? You weren't yourself then and it was mostly his fault too! If he hadn't kidnapped you and wiped your memory none of that would have happened in the first place and Catherine knows that!"

JT's outburst finally seemed to have a calming effect on his friend, but JT couldn't help wondering if Vincent would ever stop worrying about what he could do. Maybe that wasn't in the cards for him. Nevertheless, it was also very obvious that Vincent was better with Catherine and she seemed genuinely happy with him. That should be enough. JT really hoped it would be. "How about we take a step back and I go get us some coffee and call Tess and Catherine. I'm sure they'll be glad to hear from us, particularly the fact that you're much better now."

"You're right, and make mine a double," Vincent accepted with obvious relief at the idea of putting these worries aside for a while longer. "I'm afraid that the honeymoon has been cut short for Heather," he still added.

"Oh I'm not so worried about that girl," JT called even as he was heading for the stairs, "she always bounces back!"

Vincent answered the now closed door, "I hope so…"

In the cell room, Matthew was staring dejectedly at the heavy door ahead of him. "Now what?" he asked, knowing Jeremy was listening without needing to look at him.

"Now we wait, I guess," Jeremy replied calmly.

"You were about to do exactly what you swore you wouldn't do, Jeremy."

"Well, I didn't," Jeremy answered dismissively.

"'Brother', I have a mind of giving the boy a reason to kill you right here and now. This way we'd be sure you won't mess this up."

"Well, he could try…" The challenge and a hint of disdain coloured Jeremy's voice. If any fear was present at all, Matthew couldn't detect it. "At any rate, I'll simply go back to my strong hold and reinforce the security measures so I won't be able to come back. Also your gratitude for the little gift I gave him is overwhelming…"

"Gift my ass…his healing was just a side effect. You thought he might die without remembering… You can be such an ass Jeremy. And to think I believed you when you said you wanted to help. Vanessa believed you too in spite of all you've done and look what happened to her…I should have known better…"

"We all know it wasn't out of the goodness of her heart… or yours for that matter. It was for her daughter's sake first and the fact that you needed my brain. Isn't that ironic that I'm still the only one who can help you?"

"All I know if that if he remembers and things go to hell because of it, I don't care how strong or smart you are, Jeremy. If they don't get you, I'll stand in line."

Jeremy seemed to assess the veracity of the threat and from the look of him he took it seriously. "I did promise and believe me or not, my intentions were honourable. I loved her you know. I couldn't stand her pain any more than any of you. But look at them! He spent the best part of the last ten years in hiding. In the two years they've been together he put her in jeopardy more times than I care to count. What is it you're protecting here, can you tell me that?"

"You've always had a very strange way of showing your love, 'brother'! And as far as Vincent's situation, you're responsible for it, so can it," Matthew almost screamed.

"Alright, alright…" Jeremy admitted. "I really did intend to make amends. Well, at least I do wanna live…" Jeremy added when he saw the skeptic look on Matthew's face

"She belongs with him and they deserve the happiness that you've denied them before. The best thing you could do right now is to get away from here as fast as possible and maybe, just maybe the consequences won't be as dire as I imagine them. Well at least for them. Thanks to you I just lost a good thing."

"Oh come on, you didn't really love that girl now did you?"

"Didn't start out like this but yeah, I did. Wouldn't have married her otherwise..."

"Help me out of this collar and I'll get us out of here if you really think it's the best option."

"Without hurting any of them," Matthew declared categorically.

"Without hurting them," Jeremy sighed. When Matthew didn't make a move to help he questioned him, "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm thinking…"