To those of you who are wondering: Yes, I will be dealing with the whole "Alex" issue in this fiction. I am pretty much playing off whatever CW has released SO FAR, trying to stay true to the series up until the point I run out of shackles that they have created and then I will go off on my own. But trust me when I say, I am dealing with these issues and spoilers in my own way, twisting them and interpreting them in ways I'm fairly certain the CW is not intending to go, simply because, what fun would it be if I wrote a story that is already being told? Also... I plan to deal with Alex using much less drama and angst than the CW's month long taunting of VinCat shippers with all those nasty nasty photos, lol... Mind you, I'm not worried in the least about the Alex story arc, but I think that was just cruel throwing those out of context photos up in our faces. :P lol

I am so profoundly grateful and humbled by your kind and encouraging comments. (Please feel free to mention this to your friends if you are enjoying the story!) Here's your reward. :)

Chapter Three – The Mask of Night

Vincent paced nervously around the perimeter of the Mt. Sinai campus, anxiously waiting for some word from JT about Catherine's condition. Even though it had only been 15 minutes since they arrived, it seemed like an eternity. God, he didn't even know if the bullet had gone clean through or was lodged somewhere in her shoulder! Had it hit an artery? He'd noticed quite a bit of blood on the sleeve of his suit coat where his arm had supported Cat behind that injured shoulder. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think it was enough to indicate a serious bleeder. Now, in full possession of his rational senses, he realized how dangerous it had been to pluck her out of the car instead of keeping her still. But his beast knew no reason when it came to her. The only way he knew to protect her was to be a barrier between Catherine and anyone trying to harm her. Dr. Vincent Keller, though, knew that sometimes the best way to help someone was with your brain, not your brawn. He sighed. All he could do was hope and pray that he hadn't done more damage than good when he had moved her.

His cell ringing snapped him out of his dark thoughts. "Yeah, what did you find out?" he asked without preamble.

"She's still in surgery, obviously, and we won't know anything definite for at least another hour. But apparently the bullet did exit without doing extensive damage so that's something to be thankful for. They weren't sure about internal injuries from the crash though. Hopefully surgery will be in and out and they won't find any more problems to deal with."

Vincent knew that JT couldn't see his nod of agreement, but he was too choked up to speak at the moment, thinking as he was about the endless possibilities of the types of injuries Catherine could have sustained that the naked eye couldn't detect. And he hadn't had a chance to look her over with a clinical eye and a clear head before he'd handed her off to Evan. "Keep me posted," he finally managed to say on a strangled growl of frustration. How he wanted to be with her! He wanted to make sure that she got the absolute best care and even then he wanted to be able to oversee her treatment to make sure nobody screwed up. Not that the staff at Mt. Sinai were incompetent, it was just that he had a vested interest in making sure no oversights occurred. But for now, all he could do was resume his relentless pacing of the blocks surrounding the place where the woman he loved more than his own life fought for hers. And try to keep as calm as possible.

JT slipped the phone into his pocket and walked back to the ER to wait for news. As he entered the waiting room he quickly realized his mistake. "YOU!" JT's head snapped up and looked in the direction of the voice only to see Catherine's partner and M.E. friend barreling down on him. He suddenly felt caged, and turned to hastily retreat through the doors he had just entered. It was no use though; Tess and Evan were hot on his heels and he had barely cleared the building before they grabbed him. "Stop right there," Tess commanded as she flashed her badge. "NYPD. We have some questions for you."

Since escape was out of the question, JT opted to play dumb. He turned to face them with an "I'm clueless" smile he had worked hard to perfect. "Questions? Me? Whatever about?"

"You know exactly what about," Evan growled menacingly. "First you break into my lab and try to sabotage my work, and now you turn up here - wait. Why are you here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh… I'm just checking on… a friend. But I can come back later, really." JT tried to sidestep Evan, but it was no use.

"I don't think so. You're up to something and I want to know what it is. Are you here because of Catherine? Is that it?" A fuzzy thought was starting to form in the periphery of Evan's mind and warning bells were telling him to tread carefully with this conversation in front of Tess. He still didn't know the extent of Cat's relationship with this cross-species humanoid, and what her reasons were for lying to her closest friends about it. Until he did, he wasn't going to betray her confidence that had been given to him without her consent. Just as JT was about to open his mouth to say something, Evan stopped him. "Hold that thought…. Tess? Can you please go wait inside for news about Catherine?"

"But-"

"Please, Tess, for me? There are some… sensitive things I want to discuss with this… gentleman in private. Boring research stuff, you know? And like you said… it may not even be a chargeable offense. I need to have some more information from him first, ok?"

"Al-right," Tess responded with more than a little doubt and hesitation. "But I'll be right inside if you need me. Cell is on."

"Got it." Evan watched as Tess turned on her heel and walked back through the sliding doors into the ER. "Ok, now that we have some privacy, I want the truth. No messing around trying to lie to me, because I'm not the gullible type. This is about Catherine and her… special friend, isn't it?"

JT sighed, realizing that the damage was already done, thanks to Vincent's heroics, and there was no hope but to come clean and hope that his friendship with Catherine would be enough to convince the good doctor to keep his mouth shut about the whole incident. "Yeah, yeah it is. I hear you uh… 'met' Vincent earlier…"

For all that Evan had pieced together, that surprised him the most. Apparently that poor monster had gone straight to the little vandal and somehow grunted and relayed in broken language what had happened. Would wonders never cease…

"Wait a minute. Did you just call him Vincent?" Evan questioned. Where had he heard that name recently…

"Uhh well…" JT realized he had just given Evan more information than he'd already pieced together. Damn.

Evan's eyes went wide as the proverbial light went on. "Is that… creature… Vincent Keller? Is that why forensic evidence makes him appear to be a little too alive and well for a guy with a death certificate?"

JT's head dropped as he let out a loud sigh. Half of New York was going to be in on their secret soon, the way things were going. "It's really a long story, but to answer your question, yes, he's Vincent Keller."

Evan nodded. "Well then, yes, I met the former Dr. Keller at the accident scene. It was obvious he had nothing to do with what happened and that he was only trying to help… this time." Now that the beast had a name, Evan was finding it impossible to continue thinking of him as an "it." "But that doesn't explain the DNA samples we have of him found at numerous other crime scenes all over New York. Including the night I was kidnapped." Evan held up a hand to stop the flood of verbiage threatening to spill from JT's mouth. "That said, I trust Catherine implicitly, and for some reason she has been protecting Keller for quite a while now I suspect, and out of respect for her I will reserve final judgment until I have a chance to talk with her and find out why." Crossing his arms over his chest he added, "So now… why don't you tell me who you are, and what you were doing in my lab, hmm?"

JT blew out the breath he'd been holding in. "OK… JT Forbes, biochem professor. In all honesty, I was there using your DNA analyzer because I needed it to formulate a serum from some notes we found in Vanessa Chandler's research related to these… fugue states that her 'super-soldiers' were experiencing. Vincent had never exhibited any of the symptoms while he was in the program, and had blocked most of his memories of the experiments until recently. Anyway, long story short, I needed the equipment to try and find a solution to Vincent's lapses into animal insanity. So far it appears to be working, so…"

"JT! What the hell are you doing?!" Vincent growled from the shadows. "Why don't you just get a producer and make a Lifetime movie about it? Whatever happened to 'tell no one'?!"

"What?! YOU are lecturing ME about exposure? After what you pulled tonight? He already knows bits and pieces and thinks he knows more than he does. I'd say that makes him more dangerous than if he knew the whole truth at this point!" JT was keeping his voice to a hoarse whisper, but he was in full rant mode. With Vincent's super hearing he didn't have to talk very loud to know his friend could understand him, even though Evan could only make out half of what he was saying.

"I know but you didn't have to confirm what your involvement in this mess is!"

"Hey, you opened Pandora's Box when you let Cat in on our secret. This is just going to keep cascading out of control because you can't stay away from each other."

Serum ingredients: $296.34. Pilfered lab equipment usage: $0.00. But the look on Evan Marks' face at the moment he realized the disembodied voice in the bushes belonged to Vincent Keller - speaking like a normal human? Priceless. JT could almost envision the commercial for it now. He dipped his head to look at his shoes in a vain attempt to hide a smirk he couldn't contain, despite it being rather inappropriate under the circumstances. Nothing about this situation was remotely amusing. Strange, how the mind reacts to stress sometimes.

Evan looked first from JT to the shadowy figure standing by the bushes, and back to JT with utter confusion. Sure, this voice was deep and gravelly and Evan recognized some of the timbre of the voice he'd heard come from the beast at the accident scene, yet this was totally and unmistakably human. Thinking he must be confused – that this couldn't possibly be Vincent Keller lurking in the darkness - he carefully edged his way into the shadows off the sidewalk path. Just before Evan got close enough to make out his features, Vincent leaned in suddenly and went, "BOO!" Evan nearly jumped out of his skin, and Vincent couldn't help but laugh at the way his heart started racing.

Evan scowled as he looked at Vincent, making sure that was indeed who stood facing him. No doubt about it. "Very funny, Keller. I'd think given the fact that I could make life very difficult for you, you'd be a little nicer to me."

Vincent raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest in a parody of Evan's earlier gesture meant to intimidate JT. "Is that so?" he asked mockingly. He took a menacing step closer to Evan, who stood frozen in place. Leaning in just a bit so he was eye to eye with his adversary, he explained, "Well see, I'd say that given the fact I saw you kiss the woman I'm in love with, I am being nice. You know… relatively speaking." GOD it felt SO GOOD to admit that he loved Catherine out loud! Vincent had all he could do not to climb on a roof and shout it to the whole world.