Chapter VI

The first thing Vincent's conscious mind registered was Catherine's heart thumping in her chest. The next was blood and lots of it. That should have alarmed him. Instead, the only overwhelming feeling that filled him in this moment was one of blind fury.

"Vincent, wake up," Catherine was calling to him.

He opened his eyes and the beast was already awakened in him. Before Catherine could react he had his hand around her throat. He was holding her so tight she could hardly take a breath and she reacted on instinct, beasting out in turn.

"Why?" Was all Vincent roared.

Catherine's overwhelming instinct would have been to claw at the hand around her neck but with a supreme effort of self-control, she instead asked, ""Why...Why what?"

Instead of answering, Vincent slowly released his hold on her, and the beast began to retreat. "What happened," he asked instead, confusion mixing with obvious fear of what he might have done.

Catherine sat back, her features human anew but she still hadn't quite caught her breath back. Her heart was racing from the stress of not only Vincent's reaction upon waking up but also of what she had to tell him next.

In the meantime, Vincent caught the scent of blood again, and this time it put him on high alert. "What happened, Catherine? Are you hurt?"

"No," she finally managed, "But I'm afraid you won't like what I have to tell you."

Vincent automatically jumped to what seemed the obvious conclusion. "What did I do?"

"What, no, Vincent, no, you didn't do anything…I mean besides passing out and screaming like someone was hurting you. You asked me to kill you," she finished in a little voice.

For a moment longer, Vincent couldn't figure a thing but then a glimmer of recall, of fire and hurting flashed into his mind. Then the last thing he'd seen was Catherine being attacked, but not the one in front of him, he knew now. The one he'd seen had been wearing very old fashion clothing. None of it made a lick of sense other than the fact that the pain and an unexplainable anger seemed to be lingering and that it had all seemed so real. "I was so mad at you," Vincent said hesitantly. "I don't know why, but I was furious that I died for nothing…"

"What?" Catherine's obvious confusion reflected his own.

"I don't know, alright, most of it is a blur…" Vincent then turned away from Catherine and in doing so he caught the strong smell of blood again and this time he saw the source of it. "Catherine what happened," he asked her as he got up and his heart raced anew at the sight in front of him. "Did I do that?"

Catherine stood and slowly turned to the macabre spectacle he was looking at. Rachel, the woman who'd given them the message and had supposedly fled earlier was sprawled on the forest floor, her throat raked almost to the spine by claw marks, her eyes wide open in death. Only then did he also notice that Catherine's blouse was torn and bloody, and that was the blood he'd smelled on her at first.

"How did this happen," Vincent asked again in a strangled voice.

"I think…I'm so sorry…she must have watched us from afar… I don't know. All I know is that when you collapsed, I sensed her coming back. I tried to talk her down but she attacked me and I… I had to do it. I was sure she wanted to kill us. I had to do it," Catherine repeated like a mantra.

Her distress was like a punch in his stomach. Vincent pulled her to him and held her tight, caressing her hair gently. "Catherine, I know you didn't have a choice…" She started crying against his chest and they stood there a long time, wondering what to do next…

First of august of the year 1853,

Alistair and I we decided to go against them all. They will not accept us. My father still resents my refusal to marry this Jeremiah Ddraig he is so certain I am to be with. My heart and my soul are telling me clearly who I should be with and that is not this arrogant man. I do not understand how things have gone so far out of hand. If we have to, we will leave New York and never come back. Maybe we should not wait but Alistair and I we still hold some hope of reconciliation with our families. What is happening to us is difficult to deal with, and without help I fear it will be much more difficult. No matter, we promised each other that we would be there for one another even if no one else will.

"I guess that's pretty much when their troubles started," Tess surmised after reading a passage from an early journal.

"Still..." JT replied, "from a little rebellious behavior to being burned at the stake... I'm quite sure that it had more to do with that beast."

"Does Rebecca mention his name anywhere? I don't remember seeing it in anything I've read so far."

"Not that I've seen either. Matter of fact, I don't think she actually referred directly to Alistair as a beast either. Catherine inferred that she did mostly because others said he was, the gem and the dungeon, hence the confusion."

"Confusion?"

"Catherine seemed unsure the whole time whether Rebecca meant she killed her beast, meaning Alistair, or the other one. I must say she had me real confused about that anyway."

"But why wouldn't she?" Tess questioned. "I mean Rebecca."

"Could be as simple as fearing that someone would read her personal journal, which I think was a distinct possibility...but then why risk putting any sensitive information in it at all if that was her fear? Cause she's not shy about mentioning, and I quote, 'her beast'"

"Ok," Tess started a little hesitantly, "here's a real crazy theory if we assume that she wasn't just compelled to write down everything..."

"Yeah," JT encouraged questioningly.

"Well, a year ago I would never have even thought of it, let alone believed it possible..."

"Come on Tess, it's me you're talking to remember...the guy who's protected a beast for most of his adult life..."

"Alright, alright...what if the journals are meant for someone who might be living with the same thing she had to. You just said so yourself, when taken in the context of what she knew it doesn't sound so crazy..."

"Really not...Reynolds says he wants me to keep them safe, I'm assuming for Catherine. Also..."

"What's on your mind?" Tess prompted when JT stopped talking.

"Ok, you know how I thought that Rebecca became unhinged towards the end?"

"Yeah..."

"Maybe some of what she wrote makes more sense than I thought."

"And what do you base that on?"

"The reason I called you about was the incredible resemblance between Vincent and Alistair right?"

"Yeah, so what? I mean if the guy was related to Vince that's possible right."

"True enough, if he was the only one."

"What you found more of Vincent's relatives?"

"Not yet...but look at this old picture I just found of a Rebecca Reynolds, New York, circa 1850."

Tess stared at the picture for a long moment, shock plastered all over her face. "That's not possible!"

"Wait, there's more," JT added a little shakily. On a whim, I looked up the other family; the Ddraigs...Have a look at this family portrait made in the 1840s." Even before Tess complied with JT 's request, her hands were visibly shaking. She looked back at the screen and was floored by what she saw. The first picture, which had shocked Tess to the core, had depicted a young woman in old fashion clothing and manner of hair style. Even as grainy as the black and white had been, Tess had recognized Catherine's features immediately. And now the portrait, most likely a digital reproduction of a painting made to order, showed the man who'd crashed Heather's wedding. The man in the portrait seemed to be the man of the house from his prominence in it. Confirming this, the caption said that his name was Jeremiah Ddraig, head of the household. Then, Tess got a good look at the woman sitting beside him in the portrait. That very morning, the spitting image of that woman had shown up at the country house, inquiring about Catherine. The caption said that she was Jeremiah's sister Judith. When she had shown up she'd alleged being a cousin of Catherine's who'd just learned of her family connection from an uncle. When Tess had probed a little further however, the woman, who introduced herself only as Rachel, had become vague and excused herself very quickly. In hindsight, Tess remembered that the whole time they had been talking, the woman had been literally sniffing around, which had seemed more than odd to Tess but was now the scariest thing.

"JT, that woman," Tess indicated the portrait, "she showed up this morning at the house!"

"What?" JT exclaimed.

"And I think…I can't believe this… I think she was trying to catch Catherine's scent."

"She actually was," an intruding voice called to them.

Both JT and Tess turned at the same time, both of them reeling from the pictures they'd just seen and now one of the live versions stood in the middle of the lab with them. "Hi again, JT," Jeremy said. The man cleaned up a lot better than the last time JT and Tess saw him for sure, but the knowledge of what he was got them close to panicking.

"Hey don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you. Although I will be collecting a few things that don't belong to you," Jeremy added, indicating the pile of Journals Tess had been loosely reviewing.

JT took a deep breath and went for it, "Those are supposed to be Catherine's," he said as firmly as he could muster. However even to himself it had sounded weak.

"Why? Because Rebecca wrote them? Sorry guys, this is beast business and the journals belong to us. Catherine can access them if she decides to re-join with her family."

"Her father wants her to have them," Tess interjected.

"That weasel! He barely qualifies as one of us. Father…pff…His only use is that he's so easy to manipulate. Always was a weak one…"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Long story but suffice for you to know that in this instance, he started out with greed and ended up a traitor and he got just what he deserved."

"You're not getting those journals," JT boasted, deciding to ignore Jeremy's tirade. Although to be truthful he would have to admit he really didn't know what he could do to stop a beast from taking them. Even if he had the trank gun with him, the only way to stop him from coming back would be to kill him and JT wasn't certain he could do that. So far this beast had not done anything more than fight Vincent once as far as they knew.

"I see the little cogwheels are turning in there," Jeremy mocked. "Well you are a smart man, I'll give you that and as such you must know I'm leaving with those journals no matter what. However, I would much prefer to avoid any bloodshed. Mostly because the little prince wouldn't be the only one after me and it could get messy."

JT wanted to protest further but Tess put a restraining hand on his arm. "Look...take what you want, just leave now," She told Jeremy as calmly as she could muster.

"I will do that, but I'll do you one better. By now, I'm sure you've understood that beasts are nothing new and also that the situation is a lot more complex than you imagined, right?"

When neither JT nor Tess answered, Jeremy went on, "about ten years ago, I still held some hope that I could get it all in this incarnation… but something went awry and my plan fell through. But now, I probably can get most of it all back and I won't let anyone get in my way…"

"What are you talking about again?" JT finally exclaimed.

"I'm actually giving you an out on your guilt business, along with fair warning, so I'd listen if I were you."

JT stared contemptuously at the man, his fear momentarily forgotten. "What the hell do you know about my so called guilt?"

"I know that ten years ago, I'm the one that sent the Muirfield data your way when Vincent fortuitously decided to enlist. Obviously I knew he was a perfect candidate. Hell, he was the ultimate candidate, since the original serum used an earlier version of his DNA…"

"What?"

"Yeah I know, complicated right? The long and short of it is this. My plan was to jump start him with his own beast DNA in the hope that he would go full beast again," Jeremy said wistfully. "The good old days," he sighed, obviously recalling some or other moment he was the only one privy to. "Anyhow, damn him. Instead of doing what I hoped he would, he survived and took back his control. I was seriously disappointed about that, to say the least."

"The serum they gave him wasn't…," JT questioned shakily.

"I guess the treatment had the bonus effect of destroying some of that bastard's memory," Jeremy went on, ignoring JT. "That's probably why he's been after an entity called Muirfield all this time instead of me. That, or Vanessa really didn't tell him anything. Must be it…"

"And telling me this now is supposed to help you how?" JT spat, furious not only to be ignored but also because of the way he was talking about his friend. So much so that he took a threatening step towards Jeremy without thinking.

"Help me? No it's supposed to help you. It wasn't entirely your fault you see. And by the way," Jeremy smiled cruelly, "OH scared… Oh well, what's done is done. Sad thing is it didn't work out. For me anyway...He survived. Catherine found him or he found her… Who's counting anymore? And even if I were to do anything to him now, that certainly wouldn't win her over. I'm not sure if your agent friends didn't do me a favour though. I guess even they don't know enough about beasts. Sending a female close to her mating cycle to find them might prove fatal to one or both of them. Who knows, maybe they did on purpose…"

JT shook his head in total disbelief; most of what this beast was saying made very little sense. One thing bogged him about the whole speech though, "Forgive me but if you were so hell-bent on hurting Vince and keeping him in the dark about his past why in the hell did you help him heal the last time?"

"Good question…smart," Jeremy strangely demonstrated his first sign of uncertainty since he entered the dungeon. "I'm not entirely sure, I'll admit. Something in me got me to do it. But hey, at least if he comes at me again, it'll be a fair fight! Who knows, maybe she'll see it like it was in the old days, and after I won, she'll become my mate. Now wouldn't that be grand?"

Without waiting for an answer to his blatantly rhetorical question Jeremy quickly grabbed the pile of journals and blurred away before JT or Tess could react.

Both of them remained speechless for a long moment, staring at the empty doorway in total disbelief. Finally, it was Tess who broke the stunned silence. "Ok, he's officially insane!"

"I gotta admit the guy is coming unhinged for sure. I mean what the hell was all that? And the fact that he's also a beast is more than just a little frightening…"

"Do you think there was any truth to what he said though?" Tess questioned wonderingly.

"Which part? Frankly, I don't think there's much coming out of that mouth that was worth remembering now."

"But what he said about the experiments? Muirfield? What if he's telling the truth about that and he did send you a special batch to trap Vince?"

"He also said he supercharged it with his own DNA, that's stupid…" JT's voice trailed, as a thought began to form in his mind, or to be exact a very disturbing train of thoughts. "Wait…when he came home, I isolated some kind of compound in his blood that contained cross species DNA, that's a fact…"

"But…"

"At the time, I didn't stop to reconcile my doubts with the fact that was staring me in the face. Vincent was a beast and there was no denying it. So whatever I found that wasn't there before…or so I thought…"

"What do you mean? Of course it wasn't there before…"

"After what we've just seen you don't have the slightest doubt yourself?" JT questioned incredulously.

"Look, I'm new to all this, but if it quacks like a duck…"

"Maybe this duck was just hiding in Vince's DNA all along…"

"And how can we be sure of anything now?" Tess asked.

"All I know is that if it's true…it's no wonder I couldn't cure him from being a beast! You don't get cured from who you truly are…At least science hasn't gotten this far."

"Ok…that's a little much for me but still, what should we do now?"

"Well," JT began a little hesitantly, "now, we find these bones," he finished with more assurance. "You saw what I saw right?"

Tess nodded hesitantly, but she couldn't really deny it.

"I have this sneaky feeling I know what we're going to find in Alistair's bones. If there is any usable DNA in them of course…"

"Yeah, like I said I'm no scientist but even I am catching on," Tess replied. "Now what about that woman he mentioned?"

"Didn't those agents leave a card or something? I'm not sure we can believe anything this Jeremy says, but just in case maybe it would be time to give them a call…"

"Alright, I'll do that... and you start on the search for bones… life with you is mighty weird you know that," Tess added.

"And you love it, I'm sure!" JT joked, even as he headed deeper into the dungeon, not waiting for an answer to his quip. Tess watched him go with a mix of exasperation and amusement before getting her cell phone and heading out.

"So, what DO we do?" Catherine asked hesitantly. After all they had gone through, and all the buried bodies, this one still didn't sit well with either one of them.

"As much as I'd like to do the right thing the fact is it would be hard to explain, and it looks a lot like an animal attack so..."

"That's because it is," Catherine replied bitterly. She took a deep calming breath after seeing the pained expression Vincent turned toward her. "It's just the idea of leaving her like that..."

"If she's not found, we'll call it in so she'll have a proper burial, but I don't see much of a choice. Anything else we do will lead the authorities right back to us."

"Still feels wrong."

"Look I'll do what you think is best but what could be gained by us risking incarceration? Remember now, you're not what you used to be and, at any rate, even if it was clearly self-defense, no one's gonna believe it."

Catherine bit her lip uncertainly. Then she stood straighter, obviously having reached a decision. "I'd prefer doing the right thing as well but in this case the right thing is probably your way. The world is not ready for the likes of you or I. You're right about that."

"Alright, I'll carry her up the ridge and closer to another hiking trail. I saw some bear tracks out there. With a little luck they won't look further than the obvious."

"What about her car?" Catherine asked. "I'm assuming she didn't get all the way here on foot, beast or no beast."

"The best thing to do is to get rid of it. I'd rather no one else found out about this place just yet. It's a good place for us to retreat to if things get ugly. Even if it's now kinda obvious we can't hide from other beasts..." Vincent finished dejectedly.

"It was my fault," Catherine suddenly burst out. "If I hadn't played that trick on them she'd still be alive."

Vincent instantly pulled her to him, knowing too well what she was going through. "Listen Catherine, I know you may not believe me now but eventually you'll be ok. You couldn't know what would happen. Not in a million years."

"But that's the thing, Vincent. That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Vincent pulled away and stared questioningly at her. Then he seemed to think better of it. "I believe we better do what we planned before something else goes wrong… then we'll have this talk." The fact that Catherine couldn't look him in the eyes really made him uncomfortable but not so much that he even considered Catherine could have done the wrong thing. Certainly not on purpose and, when she gave him a little nod of assent, he simply grabbed the body and left without another word.

In the end, they decided to drive the woman's car all the way back to New York, leaving it in an area notorious for their chop shops. They wiped it clean of prints and left the keys in the ignition. It was doubtful this car would ever be found whole again, knowing the way the thieves worked. Having done this would probably ensure a longer delay in identifying the woman and that was all the better for them.

Then they headed for the only place they thought might still be safe from the prying eyes of the authorities and the agency, although that last part was less than certain. "We shouldn't park anywhere near the dungeon. And also, maybe we should sense ahead if there's anyone inside," Vincent cautioned.

"Agreed," Catherine answered shortly. Ever since they left the woods and headed home, Catherine had been mostly silent, answering any question with monosyllables. She was so obviously distraught that Vincent decided to give her some more time. However, the things she had intimated before, coupled with his own nightmare, which although fuzzy still left him shaken, rendered him anxious to know what she was keeping from him. She'd even gone to her father with it before talking to him and Vincent knew from experience that that wasn't a good sign…

"Found anything yet?" Tess asked when JT walked back into the lab.

"Nothing," he replied irritated. "This place isn't so big. Unless Rebecca had some other dungeon I'm afraid we're missing something."

Tess sighed in annoyance. "If those two hadn't run off the way they did..."

"Meanwhile did you get an answer?"

"I managed to talk to one of them yeah...Agent Carson denied having sent anyone but I got the distinct impression that he was just following their standard denial procedure."

"And after that they expect us to trust them..." JT sighed. "Typical!" JT sat down heavily. It was obvious to Tess, if not to him, that he needed sleep. She'd come to understand just like Vincent before her that JT simply fell over when exhaustion took him. She guessed maybe it was something to do with research, which he appeared hard pressed to stop when on a trail.

The laptop pinged just then and JT immediately became more alert. He still hesitated grabbing the computer. "What were you searching for," Tess asked, curious herself.

"Honestly I'm not sure if I want to find something or not anymore."

"Why would you say that? What were you looking for?"

"Ok you know how you said this was most likely a gigantic coincidence?"

"Well not much else makes sense..."

JT gave her a pointed look at that, "Those coincidences they're starting to add up to something almost unimaginable. Even if that would make what I did a little less bad, I'm not sure how good it is for Vincent." He didn't wait for an answer and instead he turned to the laptop a little reluctantly. He'd hardly set eyes on the screen when the door to the street opened, getting his full and immediate attention. "We really got to replace the lock on that door," he said while tensely reaching for the trank gun he'd elected to keep around from now on. Jeremy's little visit had rattled them both.

"Honestly," Tess replied as she stared at the inner doorway, still devoid of a door after Catherine destroyed it only a week prior, "the kind of...people coming here don't seem to be bothered by three inches thick doors, let alone locks," she finished nervously.

"Don't shoot," came the familiar voice of Vincent just before he crossed the inner threshold. "I'd prefer staying conscious right now," he joked.

Both JT and Tess whooped at this, their relief something almost solid. "Finally," JT exclaimed, "we were starting to think you forgot about us."

"Sorry about that," Vincent apologized, although his long-time friend recognized that the apology was really only for their benefit, not that Vincent truly was sorry. In truth, other than being a little stressed out, Vincent seemed much better than the last time he'd been in the dungeon. He was about to ask where Catherine was when she followed him in. Although also obviously better rested, her hesitant manners immediately put JT on alert. "What happened," he asked as soon as she was inside.

"That obvious?" Vincent asked in turn. "I should ask the same thing. When I came through that door I got the distinct impression that you feared it was someone else."

"The same beast as last week," Catherine spoke up "I can smell him all over this place."

"You're right," Vincent added. "What did he want?"

"You two are so spooky now," Tess exclaimed with a hint of unease.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," JT said then. However, and considering what he was beginning to find out about his friends, JT didn't seem too fazed by their actions.
"How do you see that and not freak out a little?" Tess asked.

"Practice," JT replied immediately. "You think living with a genuine monster…no offence Vince…"

"Almost none taken," Vincent half joked.

"Well anyway, after all that time, this stuff is a little more familiar to me than it is to you. I'm still getting used to two of you though," JT finished, staring at Catherine.

"You still haven't answered," was all the response she gave.

"Yeah, he was just here in fact, maybe an hour ago."

"And he wanted?" Vincent asked again.

"Journals…"

"Journals, plural?" Catherine's interest was suddenly piqued. Something came back to her, from before the whole beast thing had happened. "Were those journals at the country house?"

"Yup, and your father sent us to retrieve them for you. I thought you knew since he said you visited him. Which by the way…"

Catherine interrupted, "He never mentioned those to me and frankly journals were the last thing on my mind when I went to see him."

JT was about to ask her something but Vincent stayed him with a holding gesture. "We never finished this conversation, Catherine…I would like to know what you talked about with Reynolds now…"

The annoyed expression on Catherine's face was clear. "For one, the big elephant in the room…Thanks to JT here, I could barely place a word in that part of the conversation…"

"How was I to know he had no clue what happened. Your father seems to run in circles we know nothing about. And, I might add, we need to know about…"

"That was partly my point in going to see him. That and a spooky recurring dream I've been having…"

"Catherine?" Vincent asked uncertainly. "I thought we decided to share everything."

"And I was about to tell you…you know before the interruption earlier…"

"What interruption," JT questioned.

"Later please JT .," Vincent snapped. Then he seemed to think better of his own attitude. "Sorry, it's just there's stuff that happened…"

"That was my point. If we want to help each other, none of us should keep secrets right now…"

"And we'll tell you everything but one thing at a time," Vincent replied more calmly. Seeing Catherine still hesitating to talk, he turned to JT, "I promise we'll share everything later on, but if you don't mind…"

"Come on Tess," JT agreed but with a hint of reproach, "seems the two lovebirds have issues again. We all know their issues can be a little physical…to put it mildly," JT added, amused at his own quip. "Besides, we have some bones to find, remember Tess."

Tess made to follow him then but she stopped an instant before heading down into the dungeon's basement with JT .. "We really need to talk, Cat."

"I guess we really do?" Catherine questioned curiously. "Bones?"

"Later," Tess reciprocated the slight before leaving the room.

"So," Vincent started. "What is that dream you went to talk to your father about? And why not to me?"

Catherine gingerly came to stand before him. "You know how you seemed to remember parts of a dream and it really spooked you?"

"Yeah, the pain did a number on me too…"

Catherine remembered her distress at seeing him in such pain after he collapsed earlier and before she answered, she caressed his face as if to quash the bad memory with her touch. "Well, I had a similar experience yesterday morning…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Vincent questioned testily.

"It wasn't about you…I just had the strangest and most disturbing…I don't know… vision or memory or just my wild imagination. I couldn't tell but it was so vivid, so real…"
"What," Vincent insisted. Although seeing her distress he couldn't resist being mollified and he encircled her waist, pulling her to him protectively. "You know you can tell me anything, Catherine. I've seen terrible things, you know that."

"But those terrible things, I wasn't the one doing them…"

Vincent felt a twinge of worry but he kept silent.

"I remember doing something…something so horrible…I can't really believe I'd have forgotten doing it. And yet, how could I dream such a vivid dream if there wasn't any truth to it?"

"Please, Catherine, let it out…"

"During the week, I remembered bits and pieces of becoming a beast. Nothing much, just images and smells, sounds…you know..."
"I do know," Vincent encouraged her.

"Anyway, in my dream... in my dream, I remembered I had been a beast before." When he didn't comment, Catherine wondered somewhat but she still went on, "Vincent I was torturing someone!"

Vincent still kept silent but she felt him stiffening. Catherine was afraid to go on but she knew she had to. Somehow, without knowing exactly why, she knew the horrible dream was related to the story she'd read in Rebecca's journal. Although in her dream, she couldn't seem to separate Rebecca from herself. "If," she started again, "as I think, I'm somehow remembering something through that dream, all I know for sure is that I woke up with the same anger I felt through the other one in the dream." Catherine sighed woefully before pursuing, "Vincent, I also felt her pleasure at hurting someone…the same man/beast that was here…"

This time Vincent pulled back and she thought the temperature suddenly dropped. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't do anything to him…now…But in the dream, he was the same and someone else at the same time. Someone really bad, of that I was sure… But in the end, I also knew I had become just as bad, no matter why I did it."

"What are you saying?" Vincent asked reluctantly, although he feared he knew where she was getting at.

"Remember how my father told me you could lose your humanity in time?"

"Yeah…painfully," Vincent said.

"When I woke up from that awful dream, I got so scared I had to go talk to him. He's really the only one I could think of to talk to about it. But then, when I got there and he started on my becoming a beast and it being your fault…I got really angry."

"How angry," Vincent warily questioned.

It wasn't Catherine who answered the question although his eyes never left hers.

"Well, he's still alive," JT offered, as he re-entered the lab. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop but…never mind I did. I know you think it's all personal but you didn't give us time to tell you what WE found out."

"Maybe we could offer our assistance as well," Agent Carson called from the inner doorway.

"Alright," Tess grumpily said, "this door needs a serious lock!"

"Sorry for the intrusion but we got to thinking that waiting for you to come to us might take too long. Particularly now."

"What's special about now?"

"First maybe Miss Chandler and you could help us with a little issue we have? Seems that one of our helpers, let's call her that, was found mauled in the mountains a hundred miles north of here. For all the authorities know she seemed to have been hiking alone and was attacked by some bear…"

"Sorry to hear that," Vincent replied insincerely. "Maybe the woman provoked the bear somehow…"

"We'd really like to know what she could possibly have done to this "bear" that it would attack her."

"Would you all stop talking in riddle," Catherine burst out angrily. "We all know what we're talking about and you shouldn't have sent a beast after us!"

"What did you do?" JT practically screamed.

"She wasn't in any way supposed to harm you… and forgive us, but from our point of view she kind of got hurt herself instead…so you see our quandary here…"

"She attacked Catherine," Vincent told them. "She didn't have a choice but to defend herself."

Agent Carson moved further into the room and they now could see that he was followed by his partner they now knew as agent Levy. This one was carrying a trank gun and training him on Catherine and Vincent ostensibly.

"That's what we're hoping happened," Agent Carson answered, "although Catherine doesn't seem worse for wear…"

"You have some nerves. You sent a beast and she..." but Catherine stopped mid-sentence, turning pleading eyes toward Vincent. "I…what if she wasn't really attacking me? What if I…"

"Catherine I know you. I know you didn't go after her."

"You were unconscious, you didn't see anything."

"Stop that Catherine. I know you didn't because you couldn't. That dream you had, I know that's all it was a bad dream."

"Wait now," Tess interjected… "This Jeremy, when he came here he said he thought you might have sent her on purpose…Are you just pissed because she missed?" Tess stared down Agent Carson, trying to ignore her friend's guilty expression.

"I don't know what Jeremy told you…but we only sent her because she offered to help and we had no other way to find them," The agent defended his action.

For a long moment Tess stared at the agent with fury in her eyes but his apparent sincerity wore her down. "It's still mighty strange that the person you sent attacked our friends."

"It bears to repeat, pardon the tasteless pun, but the fact is that she's the one who paid the ultimate price."

Meanwhile JT had been focussing on Vincent and Catherine and he started wondering about what she told him. "What dream?" JT asked then.

"What are you on with that dream business?" Tess whirled on him irritably.

But in a small voice, Catherine admitted reluctantly, "the one where I think I remember killing this Jeremy beast…by torturing him…"

"First off, you couldn't have done anything to him. He was just here!" JT replied, half relieved. But then he got to wonder why Catherine would say something so outrageous. Her next words somewhat clarified it but made the whole thing sound even more preposterous.

"I don't mean the one you've all met…I meant the one Rebecca killed."

"No way, come on Catherine, you're just confusing what you read in the journal with reality," Tess offered as an explanation.

"What was Jeremy doing here?" Agent Carson asked in turn.

"He was here for the journals," JT answered automatically. "The jerk!"

"You talked about more than one journal before?" Catherine questioned, "I only knew of one and I know that Rebecca never mentioned torturing anyone in that one…Where are they?"

"He took em," Tess replied dejectedly.

"How could you let him get those?" Catherine's voice rose in pitch as her hold on herself began to slip.

"Ok," Vincent interjected, seeing that everyone present was getting seriously worked out. "Maybe everyone should take a step back…I know I could use one," he added as his own adrenaline coursed dangerously fast in his bloodstream. He could also feel Catherine's control being chipped away in spite of the remarkable discipline she'd displayed until now.

Somehow the relatively understated request did have an effect. Agent Levy even lowered the trank gun, to Vincent's and Catherine's obvious relief. Tess and JT took a mental and physical step back.

"Maybe Vincent is right. We are very willing to believe that Rachel may have crossed the line. She wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue. It's just…so far she hadn't done anything that would make us doubt her motives."

"I'm sure there's an explanation for her behaviour but Catherine isn't responsible for it," Vincent categorically said. "Now, I'd like to take a moment with her alone. We're not running," he quickly added for the agents' benefit. "We just need to finish our conversation and then, we'll see with all of you what's to be done, alright?"

Vincent didn't wait for an answer from any of them. He pulled Catherine by the waist towards the cell room and for good measure, got into one of them. "Maybe now is the time for you to tell me exactly what's going on…Starting with that dream and then the girl."