Chapter III
Catherine had been gone for some time but Heather was still sitting on the bed, staring at nothing, feeling nothing besides a deep emptiness. But then, the memory of what happened returned vividly once more as it had many times since and she felt as if she was going to burst open from the grief. Tears were welling up in her eyes again and she wiped at them almost angrily. As she did so, she caught sight of the journal she'd begun reading to forget the hurt earlier. From what she'd already read, it was a journal written in the 1800s by a woman named Rebecca…
-Today, October 23rd of the year 1845 is my birthday. My sister Rachel and I we've always celebrated our birthdays in private with our close family. But this time, our parents have decided it was time I was presented to the world properly. They have organized this grand ball where our extended family and acquaintances will be introduced to us formally. I am nervous and so is Rachel. All the more so because my father told us that he has a very serious subject to discuss with us before then. I do not know what this is all about but the knot in the pit of my stomach just will not go away. It is like this dream that keeps haunting me. In that dream, I am running in the back streets of New York, pursued by a mob and I am so scared; but never more so than when I see mine own reflection in a shop's window. There, I am no longer the person I know to be but rather a monster, a beast with glowing eyes and fangs in place of teeth, the thing people fear most. That is when I wake up from the nightmare, always, but every time I have the nightmare it seems more real. I do not know why, but I can't help thinking of this recurring nightmare as a warning… a bad omen.
-October 24th of the year 1845. My life just changed radically. I was right about my nightmare, it was a bad omen. What our parents told us was so shocking and Rachel was so distraught, she ran off before the ball and I have not seen her since. I couldn't blame her for wanting to get away from me and I think the only reason I got through that evening myself was the boy I met, Alistair. Maybe boy is a bad description. This tall muscular man with long flowing locks had me enthralled the moment my eyes met his deeply intense gaze and for a time I forgot all about my father's revelation. In spite of the appearance of youth, his eyes betrayed wisdom beyond his years but also a kindness and a passion that took my breath away every time I looked into them. We hardly spoke and yet, I feel like I have known him forever. He promised he would come back for me and I want to believe him with all my heart. But if he does, what will become of Alistair and I if my father is right?
"Heather," Tess asked gently, "you ok? You've been up here a long time…"
Heather jumped inwardly, feeling a little guilty at reading the private thoughts of another woman, even though that woman died years ago. "I'm fine or I will be…"
"Yeah I know…"Tess had been dumped and/or duped before but what happened to Heather was just too terrible, particularly on the heel of another boyfriend being killed a little over a year prior. Tess really didn't want to be in Heather's shoes or even Catherine's, no matter how much she envied the strength of her love for Vincent. It seemed pretty clear that those two girls had serious problems when came to relationships. For once, she told herself that what she had with JT was so normal, so simple, it was actually wonderful.
Just then, she noticed the old leather bound journal Heather was fidgeting with. "What's that?" She remembered that a very similar journal had found its way to Catherine in which she'd read the tragic tale of one of her ancestors. How coincidental that Heather would have one just like that right then.
"Oh," Heather fumbled a little nervously, "it's just some old journal I found in the closet. I was looking at it to take my mind off…" Heather's voice trailed.
"I get that," Tess replied solicitously.
"Let's go downstairs," Heather said as she dropped the journal and got up from the bed she'd been sitting on. "I could use a stiff drink and I believe no one has availed themselves of the booze I got for this 'special' occasion," the bitter undertones were unmistakable in her speech. She then turned resolutely towards the door, not waiting to see if Tess followed her.
For a moment, Tess was tempted to check out the journal but she figured it would keep while Heather surely needed the company and she also thought that a stiff drink had a serious appeal as she followed Heather out of the room. Just when she was reaching the bar they had set up in the dining room her cell phone rang. JT was finally calling back. She answered with a sigh of relief but her first words showed her nerves had been frayed by the wait. "Hey, where have you been?"
"We got to the dungeon just like we said we would," JT answered a little defensively. "Things are more or less under control for now."
"What about Vincent?"
"He's much better physically but his moral is in the ditch and I really have to get back in there. Is Catherine around?"
"Matter of fact she left a while ago. I'm sure she'll be there soon. And JT? I know he's your friend and you say you owe him and all but don't go getting hurt for him alright? I wouldn't forgive him… or you…"
"So you really care?" JT asked just a tad uncertainly.
"You know I do, you dope," she smiled even though he couldn't see her and she was also certain she could feel one of his patented sweet smiles coming through the phone. "And don't you forget about it," she admonished playfully.
"Yes mam," JT just as playfully replied. "Love you," he added in a whisper, almost as if he wasn't sure he wanted her to hear.
Tess only hesitated an instant before blurting out, "I love you too." She hung up before he could say anything else but the elation she felt made her a little euphoric.
However Heather quickly brought her back down to earth, "Hey, how strong do you want that drink?"
Catherine had driven as fast as she'd dared and she was just then nearing the intersection with the smoke stack that indicated she was closing in on her destination. Something had been nagging at her ever since she left the mansion and suddenly an image came to her crystal clear of a man she dated a few years back. He'd been charming and everything a girl could want in a man and for a while, Catherine really thought he was the one. Then, as it happened with every relationship she'd ever had until Vincent, she'd pulled away. She wasn't even sure why she did. It was only that deep down she was certain that she couldn't be happy with any of those men. But this guy, the one she remembered, he hadn't taken rejection very well. Catherine now remembered the really weird thing about their last conversation. She had tried to let him down gently, something about how it was better she left before he got too attached and that she was so sorry she led him on, the works. Even in her memory, Catherine had to admit to herself it had been lame. However, the strangeness came from his response. He didn't exactly get angry. Instead, he acted like he expected what she did even though she hadn't really planned to break up with him until moments before it happened. Then he'd told her something that didn't make any sense at the time. "You holding out for the real deal is always a tragic mistake. Why can you never see that? I could've made you happy and given you the life you deserve."
"Look I'm very sorry, ok?" Catherine had replied then, not knowing too well what else to say. Then she had simply turned her back on him and left, utterly confused by his speech but she'd believed he was simply a little distraught at the time and didn't know what he was saying. Now however, the image of the man from her memory superimposed on the dirty man that crashed Heather's wedding and Catherine knew for sure he was one and the same. "Jeremy," she whispered, stunned.
As she turned onto the side street where the discreet door to the dungeon stood, Catherine's heart began to race madly. Then her breath quickened and at first she thought it was because of the new revelation she'd had but an even stronger sensation quickly emerged following it that she couldn't pinpoint right away. And then as she parked the car she understood it was a scent, a familiar and reassuring one, and it seemed so close that she looked besides her in the car, half expecting to see Vincent by her side. She found the seat as empty as it had been so far but the scent was still there and getting stronger along with yet a new sensation. It almost overwhelmed her senses, a heartbeat that was getting faster even as she listened; so loud that it began eclipsing every other sound. Her eyes turned to the most likely direction for the sensations and she found herself staring at the metal door she now knew too well. She might have chucked it all up to an over active imagination but what really astounded her was that just then she thought she saw Vincent's ghostly figure entering the door and closing it behind him. It had been so vivid that she'd called to him but in the next instant she knew that no one had been there at that precise moment. In all the time she had known about beasts, she'd had many occasions to feel abject fear, starting with the day her mother was shot, either for herself or for those she loved, but nothing compared to the dread she felt just now. And then, without warning, everything went black…
Down in the dungeon JT and Vincent were sitting on each side of the lab table, cleared away somewhat to leave room for JT's laptop. They'd decided to research Matthew more thoroughly than they had before since they had not been able to find anything about Jeremy yet, but so far they'd only gotten to the stuff they already knew. JT had mentioned how neat this all was; too neat for his taste. Now he was going through databases that usually weren't made available to the general public. He'd gotten in them a few times before, first when he and Vincent were running from Muirfield and even more often since they met Catherine. FBI, NSA and a few underground chat rooms that gave information of a more comprehensive and less scrupulous nature, "Found anything yet?" asked Vincent. Patience was not one of Vincent's virtues, JT knew that very well, but even for him, JT thought his agitation was a little much. "No, I haven't but I will if you stop bugging me about it every two seconds."
Another impatient sigh met this answer. "We should have checked out Matthew more thoroughly before…I should have sensed he was dirty."
"You mean because he's protecting his brother the beast experiment?"
Vincent felt the weight of the accusation in his friend's voice even before he saw the hurt look on JT's face. "You know what I meant JT!"
"Yeah I do know and now we're even…" JT knew from the look on his friend's face that he didn't have to remind him of his earlier blunder. "Anyway, maybe we shouldn't kick the guy down before we learned more about him and this Jeremy. I know we haven't met many good beasts but we did meet one, remember? Tory had a good heart and she tried to save my life. And we do consider you a good guy, don't we?"
"Again…not the same thing…" Vincent protested weakly.
"All I'm saying is we shouldn't be too judgemental. This beast just possibly saved your life."
"God knows why or how," Vincent worriedly replied. "My experiences don't make me a very trusting man, you know that."
"Don't I?" JT questioned pointedly. "Besides, if you'd been just a little more patient, I'm sure we could have gotten more out of them…" He interrupted himself when he saw the expression on Vincent's face change drastically and then the first hint of glowing eyes showing. "Vincent?"
Instead of answering him, Vincent stood up suddenly, the chair falling noisily behind him. Rather than heading for the cells as JT immediately expected, Vincent turned to the door that led to the entrance to the dungeon and he grew into the full beast, intensely alert. "What is it?" JT asked again but he might as well have been talking to a wall for all the attention he got from Vincent and that's when he remembered the discussion they'd just had about him losing control. Fortunately, he'd had the presence of mind of bringing in the trank gun and this time he didn't hesitate, aiming and shooting at the same time. Vincent reacted to the sting, batting at it while growling loudly but even if he must have known where the shot had come from he went on staring at the door, even as he began to vacillate from the effects of the drug he'd been injected with.
And then the world exploded. The door flew across the lab missing JT by inches before crashing loudly against the far wall. Vincent was trying to stop his fall by holding on to the edge of the table but irremediably the drug was taking effect. JT understood his mistake too late but what came next almost wiped his mind blank with shock and terror. First in the now wide opened doorway, and then in a blur right beside Vincent, was Catherine but not the one he knew so well. Her face was beastly, almost unrecognizable, her eyes glowed fiercely and the growl she cast his way along with a look of pure hatred nearly made him void his bladder. In that one instant the memory of what Gabriel had done to him returned with a vengeance. Then Catherine turned away from him, holding on to Vincent, pawing at him as if she wanted to help but didn't know how, a beastly reaction. Her growl then grew louder as she turned not to JT but towards the barred wooden door that led to the cells. She finally let Vincent drop the last few inches and with an even more terror inducing growl, she blurred to the door, stopping only the instant it took her to pull and twist the thick iron bar Vincent had installed as if it was nothing more than a cardboard cut-out. She threw it to the side and pulled the door right off its hinges, and then she ran inside the cell room. JT only then managed to remember he was still holding the trank gun. With trembling hands he loaded two more darts in the gun but he still hesitated, terror fighting with the need to help his friends.
Shaking all over, he looked down at Vincent, who was obviously losing consciousness, but even as he did so, he moaned and whimpered like a wounded animal. That wasn't the usual reaction to the drugs and JT was finally convinced that this did look like the fugues he had had before. He wondered vaguely if the memories were coming back to Vincent like the other beast had intimated but another growl, deeper and enraged resounded and that brought JT back to the more urgent problem at hand. Then a human voice cried out and that finally spurred him into action. He ran to the door, holding on tight to the gun, all the way dreading what he was going to see.
Inside the scene was possibly even more unbelievable than he had anticipated. Rather than going for the lock, Catherine, in an apparently blind beastly rage was holding Jeremy's neck in her clawed hands through the thick bars of the cell. Once again, the collar was no longer around his neck but rather in Matthew's left hand while the man's right arm hung at his side in an unnatural position. Jeremy had fully reverted to the beast they'd seen earlier but he was still struggling to hold back her hands as Catherine's hold on him was fierce and he couldn't shake her off.
As soon as Matthew saw the gun in JT's hand, he recognized it as the trank one JT had waved earlier and he screamed, "Shoot her! Shoot her! If she kills him she won't be able to live with herself, trust me, shoot her," with an authority JT had not known the man capable of. JT only wavered a few more seconds before deciding that Catherine did pose the most risk since Jeremy was still in the cell.
He was so distraught by what he had to do he almost closed his eyes, wincing as the dart hit her in the back. She let go of Jeremy immediately, turning towards JT with murderous eyes. He again congratulated himself for getting a trank gun that could send more than one shot without recharging as he pulled the trigger a second time, hitting her at the base of the neck. She finally visibly slowed down and was now feebly batting at the second dart. Then, as she looked up slowly from the dart toward JT, he saw the glow slowly fading in her eyes and a look of surprise replaced it even as her features returned to normal. She then began to topple over and JT barely reached her before she hit her head on the concrete floor.
Inside the cell, Jeremy had reverted to his human form as well and was now rubbing the swelling welts on his neck where Catherine had nearly torn his throat out. "So much for waiting and seeing I guess," he cryptically said, the comment most likely directed at Matthew. "Matt how about you give the collar to JT? I think we'd all feel safer if it was around her neck when she wakes up." Matthew held the collar to JT without argumenting and JT only hesitated a moment before taking the professed collar and then cinching it securely around Catherine's neck. Then breathing hard from exhaustion and shock, he sat back heavily and turned his full attention to the two other men. "WHAT THE HELL!" he finally screamed.
"Ok, buddy, calm down," Jeremy admonished. Incongruously the man in the cell who had just almost been killed was the calmest of them all. "First can you help Matthew?"
JT was still breathing hard and reeling from the terror of the past few minutes so that the inquiry went right over his head.
"JT right?" Jeremy asked again. "That's what they call you buddy?" Jeremy insisted again.
It took JT a moment to focus, "yeah that's me, what's it to you?" JT replied a little shakily.
"Can you help Matthew," Jeremy repeated more firmly.
"I'm not a doctor," JT responded automatically, "Vincent is."
"Alright…if…Vincent is up to it…"
"He's out."
"Then maybe you could let me out so I can help him. I have medical training. I'll secure his injury until we can get him to a hospital."
"A hospital?" JT questioned anxiously. "What is he gonna tell them?"
"Not to worry," Jeremy said in a most reassuring tone, "my brother has no interest in exposing any of us, trust me on that at least."
JT didn't make any move just yet. He was staring at Catherine's prostrate body. "Catherine," JT sighed in utter shock and disbelief. He knew what he saw but that just didn't register with plain reality just yet.
"Look," Matthew started, I understand that this is a lot to take in…"
A swelling of rightful anger bloomed in JT's chest. "What the hell did you do to my friend!?"
"We haven't done anything to her," Jeremy answered, "From my point of view she's rather the one who did something to me," he pursued, still holding his neck ostensibly.
"I'm sure you deserved it!" JT exclaimed forcefully.
"Well…in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure I did a lot of things to deserve it, but under the circumstances, I'm somewhat the victim and so is Matthew... Now if you could please let me take care of his injury." JT debated what the best course of action would be but in this situation, he realized all he could get was the least bad. He carefully laid Catherine's head down and went to open the cell. "Now, no funny business!"
JT barely had time to finish that sentence before he was forcefully pushed aside and Jeremy blurred out the cell and disappeared through the door. "Bloody Hell," he exclaimed then, running after the beast but by the time he got to the lab, Jeremy was long gone. The only good thing about it was that he didn't touch Vincent who was still unconscious but amazingly gave sign of waking up already. Seeing that his friend would be alright, he went back inside the cell room to watch over Catherine. "Looks like your brother doesn't care about you that much," he told Matthew, who seemed unfazed by his brother's escape. If anything, he appeared relieved in spite of his obvious pain. He was about to suggest he might be able to do something about Matthew's arm after all but Vincent's voice grabbed both their attention.
"JT could you explain to me why Catherine is unconscious and wearing the collar...please," each word in Vincent's question came with such barely contained anger, JT swallowed hard before he even attempted to respond.
"Vincent you gotta promise you'll keep your cool...as much as possible."
"I'll tell you buddy… from where I stand there's not much chance of that."
JT turned to his friend and saw that he was still unsteady on his legs, leaning against the doorjamb. "First, sorry about the dart but I couldn't wait to be sure you were in control, Vince…also how the hell did you wake up so fast?"
"Never mind that!" Vincent exclaimed, still barely containing his anger. "Why did you trank Catherine?!"
"Ok, buddy, look…if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Cause it's obvious you don't remember…"
"Wait, who hurt Matthew?" Vincent's voice trailed when his mind began to function fully and he began to sense what happened. With that almost extra sensorial ability, Vincent could replay an event almost entirely from sense memory and the fact that the scent he was now following in his mind was the one he knew the most in all the world made the picture more vivid than he ever managed before. "No way!" Physically, he was turning towards the door to the lab that was no longer there, seeing how Catherine came bursting out of it, himself falling after JT hit him with the dart, then Catherine coming to him and then running inside the cell room and then… "She tried to kill Jeremy?"
"So you do remember?" JT asked.
"No…I tracked her…"
"Oh right… well now then you understand, right?"
"None of that makes any sense. I must be confused…" Vincent seemed to be grasping at straw as he managed to straighten up and come to kneel beside Catherine and JT. He reflexively checked for a pulse and found a strong one albeit a slow one. Her breath came a little shallow but still regular. He could smell the drug coursing through her veins and also that it had been a rather large dose at that but she was metabolizing it much faster than a human her size ever could. Nevertheless, the fact that JT obviously hit her twice with the trank gun angered him anew. "JT what were you thinking? Two darts? She's not even half my size!"
"Vince in your instant recall did you happen to notice how freakishly strong she got? I'm not sure she wouldn't beat even you senseless…"
Vincent barely registered JT's remark as he was still trying to reconcile what he saw with the woman he knew. Meanwhile, he picked her up from the cold floor and set her down on a cot in the cell Jeremy had just fled from. Then an awful thought entered his mind, one that he tried in vain to silence. What if he was responsible for this? What if somehow he'd done that to her? He knew he'd never forgive himself. In that instant, just looking at her was becoming painful and he turned to the injured man instead. "JT could you monitor her vitals while I look after Matthew please?"
"Of course," JT replied after he'd gotten into the cell as well.
Vincent then went to the injured man "Let me see that arm," he told Matthew, moving toward him. As soon as he began to evaluate the gravity of the injury, his brain went on automatic and for a brief time he forgot about his guilt. "I can only immobilize this for now. You'll need to go to a hospital later."
"That's fine," Matthew said, although his entire body language said otherwise. It was obvious to Vincent that the man was in pain and that he was also afraid of him but he could do little to alleviate the fear of the beast. All he could do was reassure him on his ability to help.
"You don't have to worry, I know what I'm doing," he then told the man. "Just give me a moment. I'll be right back."
He quickly got up feeling stronger by the moment and went to the other room to fetch a few items. He returned with a large scarf, two flat pieces of wood and some tape.
"Ok it's going to hurt but I need to set it back in place and immobilize it as I told you."
Matthew only nodded, his breath quickening in anticipation but he let Vincent take his arm.
"Now take a deep breath alright?" Vincent gently said even as he firmly pulled on both side of the break, eliciting a cry of pain and surprise, but Matthew quieted down quickly, actually feeling a little better right after that.
"Ok now, that was tough but you got to hold on just a bit longer while I tape these to your arm to keep it still," Vincent told him as he showed him the wood pieces. To his credit, and in spite of the procedure being obviously painful, Matthew managed not to do more than wince while Vincent secured the splint and then used the scarf as a sling. After he was done, Vincent gave Matthew two tablets of ibuprofen and a glass of water. "You should go to a hospital for x rays and they'll most likely put on a cast on it but it's a clean break. It should heal completely. Before you do, maybe you could try to explain to us what's the deal with your 'brother'?"
Matthew eyed Vincent for a beat before answering, "I guess you could sense already that we're not actually related. My family was given guardianship over him and he lived with us for a long time. For you sake and everyone else's you should forget about him. He's my problem, not yours…"
"So, if we check your DNA we won't find anything special about it," JT questioned in turn.
"Well, I do have the gene but in the vernacular my extended family uses, I'm considered a runt…meaning yes… I mean no, no beast. And that's really all I can tell you about it. I sure hope you won't try to… say extract any information…" Matthew finished hesitantly.
"I think I'd be entitled in a way. This Jeremy attacked us and now Catherine…," Vincent decided against finishing that thought, "and also you married Catherine's sister and you know about beasts…"
"Look I know what this looks like. I'm not here to cause any problem and I have nothing to do with Muirfield if that's what you're worried about. I was asked to check up on Catherine and befriending her sister seemed the safest and most discreet way to do that. I just happened to fall in love with Heather that's all."
Vincent stared intently at Matthew, searching for any deception but he saw none. "Buddy, as far as Heather is concerned I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. But frankly, I need to know who wanted you to keep tabs on Catherine and why you'd go along with that."
Matthew seemed to hesitate, his eyes darting toward the door as if he was expecting someone to come through it at any moment.
"You think he's coming back," Vincent questioned him.
"Not him. Look, I guess I can at least tell you who since you've already met them. Agents Carson and Levy sent me to keep tabs on Catherine. That was almost five years ago after my 'brother'…well something happened and Catherine got on their radar. At first, that was only to keep a loose watch on her activities and see if anything changed. For the past two years, I noticed a lot of strange stuff going on but the agents only asked me six months ago to get closer to her without alarming her. As I told you before, becoming friends with Heather seemed a good way to do that but it turned out she couldn't help me much until very recently."
"You're saying Heather told you about me?" Vincent asked somewhat incredulously. He knew for a fact that in spite of her being a little immature, his beast side would be the last thing Heather would want to broadcast to the world. But then, maybe because she was marrying him. "Did she?"
"No she didn't but I've been living with her for more than three months and I recognized the signs that something big had happened. Then I saw the news about this man hunt in New York and, through a few of my connections, I found out that Catherine was suspected to be connected to the fugitive, I mean you… From the parameters I had been given by the agents, I knew I had the info they'd wanted me to find. After that, they let me off the hook and took it from there."
"All that tells us is that you're a weasel and Heather is better off knowing that now," JT interjected.
"I really love her," Matthew defended himself weakly, "I wouldn't have married her otherwise!"
"Well, good luck with that," JT replied sarcastically.
"That doesn't explain why you went along with those agents' demands," Vincent said to Matthew. "Did you do this to protect Jeremy?"
"In a way, yes…but also to protect Catherine."
"How on earth is spying on Catherine gonna help her," JT exclaimed.
"Look guys," Matthew pleaded, "I already said too much. Vincent, look at me and see that I'm telling the truth when I say that what I did was in Catherine's and your best interest and that's really all I can tell you."
Vincent knew right away that the man was sincere but it still didn't sit well with him. "That might have been enough even a day ago, but what you did to Catherine…"
"No!" Matthew protested loudly, "No one did anything to Catherine!"
"Someone sure did," JT tersely disagreed. "And since your brother ran out of here, I'd tend to hang the guilt on one or both of you guys!"
"You don't understand… Jeremy ran because…"
A loud moan coming from Catherine interrupted them all. Vincent returned to her side solicitously, forgetting for a time all his fears of being the cause of her pain.
"Is she alright," JT asked nervously.
"JT you shot her with a trank gun, I don't think that qualifies as alright…" Vincent testily answered.
"That's not fair buddy. I didn't have a choice."
Catherine's sudden agitation interrupted their squabbling. "Alistair I didn't mean to. Oh lord what have I done? I killed him!"
"It's that journal again," JT pointed out. "She's still obsessed with that?" he asked Vincent.
"Not that I knew of. She hasn't picked it up since Gabriel's death."
"And how on earth is she so alert in the first place? She should be sleeping in the animal kingdom for another two hours at least… no offense." JT added when he saw Vincent's reproachful expression.
"She's coming out of it, I can sense it," he said after a moment.
"That's impossible," JT exclaimed again, that dose could have knocked out a full grown bear for hours…also, you didn't used to metabolize this fast either…"
"As soon as we get the chance we'll do more tests," Vincent replied reasonably, "maybe that's what the fugues were about in my case…a new mutation or something. Wasn't that what happened the last time?"
"But Catherine?" JT questioned emphatically. Vincent could only shake his head at this as he had no answer.
Meanwhile, Matthew only hesitated a moment before standing up carefully. While they focussed on Catherine he was forgotten by both JT and Vincent and he decided to make a run for it. By the time he got to the street, he wondered at his luck that they had not come after him. Then he started walking down the street as fast as he could, pulling his cell phone as he went. "You got to pick me up. You'll want to hear what I just found out…"
Catherine opened her eyes but she was still obviously confused even as she stared at both JT and then Vincent in turn. "You're fine," she finally uttered, her voice a little rough on the edges but normal otherwise. Now that she was reassured about Vincent his uneasy smile started her worrying about what happened to her. The first clear thing she noticed was the hard collar around her neck and that threw her for a spin. "Why am I wearing that?" she asked, unsure if she should be angry or scared at this point.
The men's hesitation just deepened her unease further. "Someone answer me!"
"Ok Cat, I don't know how to tell you this…" JT started.
"Maybe we should let Catherine recuperate before we talk about all that," Vincent interrupted.
"I want to know," Catherine insisted. "And recuperate from what?" She could hear the slight shrill in her own voice now.
"JT had to trank you Catherine but…" Vincent tried.
"Trank ME?"
"To be fair," JT defended himself, "you weren't quite yourself at the time…"
"Not myself?"
"Ok Catherine, how about you start by telling us what you remember," Vincent interjected.
Instead of answering right away, Catherine pushed away from the cot and tried to stand up but a wave of dizziness stopped her.
"Catherine, are you ok," Vincent questioned anxiously.
"Just dizzy but no wonder; why would you trank me?" She angrily asked of JT.
"Told you, you weren't…you were real angry," he finally blurted out.
"Angry?" Catherine questioned with evident disbelief. "Not as angry as I am now I'm sure," she then threatened.
"Forgive me if I beg to disagree." The look on Catherine's face made JT nervous anew, "Hey calm down will you? You know I'm on your side right?"
Catherine was about to question him again but she realized that JT's voice had been shaky and that he had taken a step back from her as he spoke. That stopped her cold. "Why are you so scared of me?"
"Catherine, please, what do you remember last?" Vincent tried again.
"I…I was coming here…I remember parking outside the dungeon. Then…" Catherine's eyes opened wider as she stared directly at Vincent.
"What happened next, Catherine?"
"I…that's impossible," Catherine stopped and looked around the cell again as if she was afraid of losing touch with reality. "I must have been hallucinating…" she started again after a moment, her hesitation was palpable. She turned fully towards Vincent, touching his face and chest as if she doubted he was really there. "You were there… but you weren't…and then…oh my god, I saw you burning!"
"Catherine, calm down," Vincent uttered as calmly as he could muster, "you were having a nightmare. You're probably confusing that with what really happened."
"But…" Catherine halted again. Everything about this situation was wrong but never more than what she now remembered vividly. "You were burned at the stake and I watched and I couldn't do anything!"
"Ok, Catherine," Vincent said as he pulled her to him. He could feel her distress and was hoping that he could alleviate some of it with his strength. "Look, babe, I think you're confusing reality with the stuff you read in that damn journal again."
"First off," Catherine protested even though she didn't pull away from Vincent, "the 'stuff' in that journal was real."
"But it happened a long time ago," Vincent calmly replied. "Maybe the drug caused you to confuse reality with those stories for a moment."
"Rebecca never said how Alistair died in the journal. This I remember clearly. I don't think she could make herself write it down."
"Catherine how can you say that? How would you know what happened if Rebecca didn't write it down? And even if she didn't write it down, in your dream you probably made it up, based on what you know people used to do to monsters, that's all."
"Right!" JT approved. "Doesn't that make more sense?"
"Even if that's true," Catherine sat back as she hesitantly considered their explanation. "That still doesn't explain the collar around my neck and why you tranked me!" The shrill in her voice grew exponentially with each word. Then she pulled away completely from Vincent, stood and started pacing just outside the cell. That's when JT first noticed that they were alone. "Where's Matthew?"
Vincent answered lightly, "he left a few minutes ago. Don't worry about it, I can track him any time I want."
"You knew and you let him go?"
"Come on JT, we weren't getting anywhere with him and I figured maybe I could track him back to whoever he's doing this for. Maybe even to that Jeremy."
"Smart…"
"You ain't the only one with a brain, JT."
"Jeremy," Catherine exclaimed. "I remember now, just before I… just before I blacked out I had a memory of an old boyfriend and I'm sure that was the guy who crashed Heather's wedding."
"You blacked out," JT picked up from her speech.
Neither she nor Vincent paid any attention to his inquiry however. "Old boyfriend," Vincent questioned Catherine pointedly.
"That was a long time ago…and obviously he wasn't a beast…at least, I don't think so," Catherine replied defensively. "I did have a life before you, you know," she added testily, even though she wasn't sure why she would need to defend her past actions just then.
"Of course," Vincent answered but the look on his face threw her for a loop. Instead of being upset as she thought he would be, Vincent actually looked relieved.
"You don't seem too worried about it now," Catherine questioned in turn.
Vincent acted as if he'd been caught at something. "Well," he finally answered, "like you said, you had a life before…"
The truth was that in his mind an alternate version of the earlier events had lifted an enormous weight off his shoulders. The thought that this Jeremy might be the one responsible for Catherine's transformation, while not a pleasant one, still meant that HE might not be. Deep down Vincent knew he should feel guilty to be this relieved in light of all that was happening but he just couldn't stop himself.
"So…," Catherine intruded on his introspection, "I'm glad you're taking it so well..."
Vincent could practically taste the disapproval but he wasn't ready for a relationship discussion. "Ok what else do you remember? Maybe something happened this morning before we got to the country house?"
"Nothing happened…Why would you think that?" Even as she asked this, Catherine was taking in her surroundings; first she saw the door that led to the cells lying on the concrete floor, and splinters of wood still hanging to the doorjamb. "Did the other beast do that?" She asked uncertainly as something flashed in her mind. A kind of rage like nothing she'd ever felt in her life. Then a clear image of another door flying through the air came to her. Ignoring the questioning stares from both JT and Vincent she quickly crossed to the lab and stared in utter disbelief at the very door she'd seen in her mind, laying at the other end of the lab. The door had splintered in two from the impact and a piece of the rock wall behind it had been cleaved from the velocity and force of that impact. The dizziness from earlier returned and she nearly lost her balance from the shock. Fortunately, Vincent was there to steady her. "I did that?" Catherine whispered in utter disbelief.
"I'm sorry Catherine." From the look on Vincent's face she knew right away that there was no point in denying what her mind was telling her anymore. She was now hyperventilating as the memory of the abject fear of earlier and then it all went black again.
"Catherine," Vincent asked worriedly. He'd sensed her distress as she experienced it. He'd always felt connected to her in a way he never connected to anyone but this felt even more visceral. He was reminded of the link he'd had with Tory and concern, not only for Catherine, but for what this could mean, spread its glacial tentacles through his guts. The thought of what it could mean for everyone around them overwhelmed him suddenly. An irresistible urge to get away overtook him next and, tightening his arms around an unconscious Catherine, he ran out to the street without a word to JT. Catherine's car was where she left it and as he neared it, he felt through Catherine's jacket pocket, quickly finding the remote that would unlock the car's functions. After delicately settling Catherine into the passenger seat, he hurried to the driver side and started the car. One last look toward the dungeon showed him JT coming out the door, obviously upset at what he was doing but Vincent didn't think he could explain his actions just then. So he gunned the car, narrowly avoiding another one as he turned onto the main street and drove away.