Chapter 5
The first thing Catherine became aware of was the feeling of Vincent's arm around her. She thinks back to the night before, and how it felt to be with Vincent again. She'd had other lovers in her past, but none of them consume her like Vincent does. None of them have ever understood and accepted her like Vincent does. She reaches around and pulls Vincent even closer.
Vincent chuckles when Catherine pulls him closer, he buries his face in her hair and breathes deeply.
"Good Morning" He says, his husky voice sending electricity through her system.
Catherine burrows in even more. Refusing to acknowledge a new day, wanting to stay right where she is.
"No… no…. no… It's not morning yet, I don't want this night to end," She rolls around to face him, "I never want to leave this bed." She caresses the side of his face. "I am so glad I did not logic myself out of this."
Vincent smiles and pulls her underneath him.
"I am too, more than you know." He lowers his head to hers and there is no more time for thinking, only feeling.
Vincent and Catherine along with JT and Tess are meeting with Sam and Dana in Dana's office at the FBI.
"I have arranged some temporary safe housing for Sam and me." Dana explains to the group. "I think we should use burner cell phones to communicate and keep our location a secret, even to all of you."
JT is worried.
"I thought you wanted Vincent's protection? And what about Cat? They know about her now, isn't she in danger as well?"
"I think that we all need to take precautions and Dana is right, plus now that she knows what she is on the lookout for, she can protect Sam. I will stay with Catherine." Vincent looks at Catherine and quickly interjects….. "Not that she needs protection…."
Catherine is barely mollified by his admission.
"Vincent is right, I don't think any of us should really be alone, we would make too good a target. It never hurts to have someone watching your back."
"Sam, what do they want?"
"To make more beasts. This organization is huge, it's networked like a cancer, you can't destroy it, it's just too big. From what I understand they are in the business of making beasts, they are a commodity just like anything else. Their focus shifted 5 years ago, when I found that skeleton."
This news chills Vincent to the bone, but also explains a lot.
"That makes sense, back when I was experimented on, they obviously didn't know exactly what they were doing, or they would not have destroyed my whole unit. Now they are working off a prototype, which explains my upgrades. They went from trying to figure out how to make beasts to a genetic road map, and with Tori they now realize that the beast trait can be inherited as well."
JT jumps in as well.
"What about the gem, as long as there have been beasts, there have been people fighting against them. Who ever created that gem, did so to control beasts. We need to learn more about it. We know that it suppressed the beast in Vincent and Tori, but I wonder what else it does.
This is the first time Sam has heard about the gem and they explain to him, Vincent and Tori's reaction to it.
"Where is this gem now?"
Vincent is hesitant to share that info with everyone. The thought of anyone have access to something that could control him scares him to death.
"Somewhere safe….let's just leave it at that." Vincent gives JT a look that he correctly interprets as leave it be….
"We have to figure out who Tony Barnes is and how he is connected to all of this." Sam is frustrated. "All during the time of my captivity I could never figure out who was in charge. At every dig we went on and everyplace I was held there was always a different person in charge each time. I am not even sure Tony Barnes is a real person!"
JT is getting a headache.
"If Murfield or whomever they are now, have been able to make beasts and upgrade them like Vincent, what did they need me to make a serum for.
Suddenly it hits Catherine. As the realization sinks in, Catherine starts to panic. She cannot lose him again, she won't survive this time. She moves toward Vincent.
Vincent sensing Catherine's distress, opens his arms to her. He looks down at her.
"What is it?"
Catherine closes her eyes as tears threaten. She chokes on the words. Her arms tighten around Vincent.
"You…..they want you back."
Everyone is silent, each one thinking on what Catherine has said.
JT is the first one to speak.
"Well they can't have him back!"
Tess puts a comforting hand on JT's arm,
"JT, we won't let that happen….Right?' She looks at everyone.
Vincent is silent, staring down at Catherine. He thinks about all the pain he has caused her in the last year.
"I need to talk to Catherine…..alone."
Vincent doesn't acknowledge the others as they leave the room. JT makes a halfhearted attempt to stay, but Tess gently tugs him with her.
For a few moments, they don't speak, they just stand there holding onto each other.
Vincent kisses the top of Catherine's head as she steps back out of his embrace.
She is already shaking her head.
"No….no….no…I know what you are going to say and the answer is no, Vincent."
"Catherine."
Catherine closes her eyes, the way he says her name has always stoked a fire in her, but this is not the place or time for that fire. Another kind of fire is kindling as the fear she felt earlier slowly builds to anger at what she knows Vincent is thinking.
"Dammit Vincent! Will you stop playing the martyr for 2 seconds? You are not giving yourself up to them, not now…not ever. I panicked…..that's all…..a momentary loss of control. We are going to fight them and we are going to beat them and"….He cuts her off with a kiss.
The kiss takes her breath away, his tongue inside her mouth, tasting her. One hand slides down her back to pull her into him, as the other caresses the side of her face. Vincent pulls back and looks into her eyes. Catherine looking back at him sees his determination.
"Vincent, please don't do this….we will find another way." Catherine's voice breaks as her hands come up to cup his face. She kisses him back. "Promise me, no sacrificing yourself for me, we have to do this together."
Vincent stares hard into Catherine's eyes. He would give his life to keep her safe…to keep them all safe. He cups her chin and lifts her face up for his kiss. He leans his forehead against hers. They stand still, breath intermingling, unable to tell where one ends and one begins. This is when he feels most at peace….she is everything to him, the mere thought of leaving her eviscerates him.
JT is wearing a hole in the floor, outside the office.
"JT you're just making it worse, calm down."
JT looks at Tess in disbelief."
"Calm down…..calm down…now is not the time to calm down. You know what he is doing in there don't you? He is going to turn himself in, play the martyr. He will probably just blur away from here without giving us a chance to change his mind. Damn stubborn….ox, he never thinks before he acts….why do you think he volunteered for Murfield…..why he wouldn't leave Cat alone? Because the moron…"
The sound of the door opening cuts him off.
Vincent's deep gravelly voice asks.
"The moron what?"
JT looks embarrassed and surprised. A difficult look to pull off, but he manages it.
"You're still here!"
Catherine knows exactly how JT feels, he loves Vincent just as much as she does and he was hurt just as much as she was when he was taken. She walks over to him and gives him a much needed hug.
"It's ok, JT….Vincent is not going anywhere." She looks at Vincent for confirmation.
Vincent nods his head in agreement.
"I am not leaving JT, I promise, but we have some work to do."
Catherine will accompany Vincent as he tracks the beasts from the dance. Tess and Dana will back them up, while Sam and JT focus on the gem.
Vincent and Catherine return to the ballroom and Vincent begins to track Natalie and her partner/beast. Catherine follows Vincent, armed to the teeth and careful to watch his back. She is afraid this is a trap and she will be damned if anyone is going to take him from her again. Vincent tracks them out of NYC and up into Westchester Co.
"We are getting close to where I grew up."
Catherine explains to Vincent.
"Westchester is not that big, how could there be a place for beasts to hide out around here?"
"I don't know, but it makes sense, your Mom involved with Murfield. You growing up nearby, not exactly a stretch that a safe house could be nearby."
They come upon a sprawling estate, the house and several outbuildings were set back way off the road. Barely visible to Catherine's eye as it is surrounded by a stately brick perimeter fence.
Vincent stops in his tracks, mesmerized by something. His body is still, but Catherine can sense the strain in him. When she looks at him, her heart stops and her lungs seize up.
Vincent is struggling to maintain his human form. His beast is pushing to get out. Vincent drops to his knees, his head down and panting. His muscles bulge, the veins along his forearms standing out.
Catherine moves toward him but stops as he says.
"Get away from me"…he barely sounded human…."Catherine run."
"I am not leaving you….fight this Vincent, whatever it is….fight it!"
Vincent is trying to do just that. His brain is going haywire, images are flashing at him…he sees himself fighting….other flashes of being tortured. His beast is trying to get out to protect him. Another flash of Catherine's Father, asking questions about Catherine. Vincent throwing himself at cage bars, trying to get to him. Vincent is still on his hands and knees, struggling to keep the beast at bay.
Catherine comes up to him and places her small hand on his shoulder.
"Vincent…..Vincent."
As soon as she touches him, the beast calms. Vincent is able to exert control once again. His heart rate slows and his breathing returns to normal. He stays there on his knees a moment to collect himself.
"I'm Ok…I'm alright." He reaches out to her and she helps him up.
Catherine looks him over head to toe.
"What happened?"
Vincent closes his eye, shudders once and tells her.
"This is where he brought me."
Catherine steps back with her hand over her mouth.
"Oh My God"
Vincent doesn't waste any time now that he is back in control, he grabs Catherine and blurs away to safety.
A roadside motel is their safe harbor for now. Dana and Tess are there as well and Vincent updates them on what he can remember.
"It is just flashes of memories, but I am positive that is where I was held after your Father kidnapped me. We can't stay here it is too dangerous, especially for you Catherine."
Catherine is shocked.
"Me?...Why?"
"Because it's not me they are after, its' you….."