Episode Twenty Part Two
It was mid-afternoon and the brothers and their mates had arrived in London.
"Feels strange being back in England again," said Phoebe.
"It does," lamented Aurora; she still sounded so sad. Phoebe reached over and patted her hand, comforting her.
They drove through the streets until they came to some rich flats in Kensington. Marcus glanced through Thomas's side windows and his eyeballs beamed. "Quite surprised you didn't tell us we were visiting Fernando,"
"Who's Fernando?" asked Phoebe curiously.
"The mate of Matthew's late brother Hugh,"
"Before I met Argus, Fernando met Hugh. Phillipe did not approve of their relationship. But I did. I stood by their side. When Hugh died, Fernando wasn't accepted by all the de Clairmonts but the few of us who accepted him kept in close contact with him," Thomas explained.
"Any particular reason why we've come here alone?" asked Aurora.
"You'll see," said Thomas. They stepped out of their cars and walked up to the blue front door. Right before one of the girls could give it a knock, the door opened revealing a tall vampire with black bushy hair.
"It's so good to see you, Tom and Marcus," he hugged them one at a time.
"Thought we might be surprised," chuckled Thomas.
"And who might you two be?" Fernando asked, surprised to see his nephews with a human and a creature whose blood he had never smelt before.
"This is Aurora and Phoebe," Marcus introduced. "Our partners,"
Fernando was perplexed.
"We have a lot to talk about," said Thomas. "But we have very little time to do so,"
"Come inside then," Fernando invited them inside; they were offered wine, tea, and biscuits. And the story was told from the very beginning.
Benjamin and Fergus were down in the cellars, standing in front of the winged creature whom they had sent to Sept Tour.
"I give you one simple task and you fail me?" Benjamin's voice was quiet but cold as ice.
The creature didn't speak back. He just glared. He pressed a button. He cried out in pain, as electricity coursed through his veins. He screamed. He turned around and looked carefully at Argus. "I heard a member of the Congregation come over. Domenico…I presume,"
"He did," said Fergus.
"What was he doing here?"
"He offered a proposition. He said he had footage…of Thomas. He said he'd present them to the Congregation…If I brought him back someone,"
"Who does he want?"
Fergus was silent for a second. "He wants Diana's sister,"
Benjamin became intrigued. "Did he say why?"
"He didn't,"
The disavowed son of Matthew detected something strange but didn't speak. " I hope you did not accept his offer,"
Fergus was outraged. "But isn't this what you wanted? The de Clairmonts are being blamed for the murders,"
Benjamin was silent for a second. "It is Matthew who I want to see dead first. We need to be patient. And that girl…needs to be cut down. Do I make myself clear?"
Containing his outrage, Fergus nodded. "Crystal. What do we do about him?" he pointed to Jonathon. "Send him again?"
"No," Benjamin bent down, roughly slapping the prisoner's face, making him growl at him. "He will spend some time to reflect on his failure. In the meantime, you will find this girl and bring her to me,"
"I will not risk my family like this. We are being hunted by the Congregation and I will not endanger them a second time,"
"You forget who has worked his entire life to put the pieces on the board to ensure the de Clairmonts undermining," Benjamin said a little threateningly. "You forget who has given the MacDuffs the opportunity to strike down the family who took your brother from you,"
Fergus pinned him to a wall. "Don't you dare speak of my brother to me,"
"And you forget whose protection I'm under. Gerbert can easily have you all arrested if I don't return to Venice. So let…me...go,"
Growling again, Fergus released Benjamin slowly.
"You will fetch that girl. And bring her to me,"
The boys had told their uncle about the entire story and although Fernando couldn't be more than happy for their new partners, he was more concerned about the state of affairs that had arisen these last few weeks. "You sure you are wise to proceed without Matthew?"
"We can't trust him," said Thomas. "He caused this mess and he's refusing to take responsibility for it. And we can't risk Diana or the twins either. If we proceed alone, they'll be in less danger. Sooner or later they're gonna come here to find the missing pages from the Book of Life. And they will need protection here,"
"Promise me you'll guarantee their safety," Aurora implored.
"I will," Fernando swore. "It's what Hugh would have done if he was here,"
"I would have loved to have met Hugh," said Phoebe.
"So, what are we doing now?" asked Marcus to his brother.
"We leave again before Matthew and Diana can arrive here. We must go see Christopher and we have very little time to spare," announced Thomas.
They grabbed their bags again and they went to the car with Fernando preparing to wave them off. "Stay safe," he bid.
"It was so wonderful to meet you, Fernando," Aurora shook his head.
"It was a pleasure to meet you," he kissed her hand and then he did the same to Phoebe too. "And you Miss Taylor are very lucky to see this world hidden in human eyes,"
"It's been such an adventure," she said a little cheerily. "But I can't wait to see more,"
"Good luck,"
They entered the car and drove off through London again to a nearby university. They exited the car again and once inside, they walked to the office as a Professor Christopher Marlow. When he opened the door, he giggled when he saw Thomas appearing. He greeted him with a handshake and a hug. "What a surprise Thomas,"
"Quite the surprise indeed Christopher,"
"And you must be Marcus, Thomas has told me so much about you," he shook the doctor's hand. He was surprised to see Aurora. "You must be Aurora Bishop. I've seen your books everywhere. And who's this lovely lady here?"
"Phoebe Taylor," Phoebe introduced herself.
"Such a pleasure. Come inside," he allowed them into his study and he offered them tea and biscuits but they gently refused. "What brings you here?"
"I know it's quite a lot to take in Christopher. But we're here on important business,"
"Whatever business it is I'm open,"
"Christopher…what we're about to say will be…quite hard to take in," Thomas's words made Christopher frown a little in confusion.
"But we promise you it will be worth your while," Marcus said for his brother, sensing how agitated he was feeling. They had all discussed this and although they agreed they needed this biochemist's help to produce a cure for blood rage to cure their family and to ensure Diana and Matthew's twins wouldn't grow up being feared by the world if they inherited it, they hadn't realised how difficult it would be to ask for it. Telling Phoebe, a girl who loved to solve mysteries was easy…but a scientist who believed only in fact and not fiction…was a whole new level.
"So let me get this straight," he flicked his hand. "There are witches, vampires and daemons living in this world of humans. And you two…" he gestured to Marcus and Thomas. "..are vampires. You're…" he gazed discretely at Aurora. …"Some kind of hybrid between different creatures with unique powers…and.." he looked at Phoebe…" you believe them when they say they're not human,"
"You're crazy," he said to Thomas. "You're all crazy,"
"I know it's a lot to take in," said Phoebe. "I didn't believe it so myself. When Thomas told me I thought he was crazy too, but then when I discovered two artworks of his father painted hundreds of years apart…it all made sense,"
Christopher still wasn't convinced. Deciding he needed particular evidence; Aurora touched the cup of tea he was holding. To his horror, it froze solid and he nearly dropped the cup in fright. "Impossible,"
"Pretty cool right," said Marcus, smiling at his mate's gift.
"I'm dreaming," Christopher placed down the cup, closed his eyes, pinched himself, opened them again…they were still there.
"You're not dreaming," said Aurora. "But now is not the time for discussions, we really need your help and the fate of our family and perhaps all creatures depend on it,"
"I take it you've heard about murders in Oxford…" Marcus began, hearing a nod. "The murders were done by a blood-raged vampire. The vampire kills without thinking and such brutal attacks are exposing our world to humans. If they find out they'll hunt us. They'll torture us. Just like they did to our grandfather Phillipe. The Congregation are preparing to blame our family for what's happened and our father's mate is pregnant with twins. If they're born with blood rage, they'll be forced to hide, to suppress themselves for the entirety of their lives forever if they're vampires. Not unless you can help us develop a cure,"
"Please…" Aurora begged. "Less than a few days, I lost my aunt to a powerful witch," she was beginning to cry. "was framed for those murders. The Congregation are going to be hunting him down. And they'll kill every de Clairmont as well…when they've done nothing wrong,"
Christopher remained uncertain. "Please Christopher…" Phoebe begged. "If Thomas truly is your friend, then please help us. Help us find a cure before he is punished for murders which he did not commit. Helping us cure this murderer will help our kind too. It is fair that innocent humans are being killed just so our family can be killed like animals. And isn't fair for other creatures too to suffer from these circumstances,"
The human thought for a second. And then he gave out an answer. "I will get to work straight away," Christopher said. "You have my word, Thomas. I will do whatever it takes to help you and your family,"
"Thank you, my friend," Thomas said gratefully. "I promise you that we will do whatever it takes to ensure your safety as well. I will have knights helping you with your studies. And I'm gonna contact a close friend to help you with your research,"
"You're not gonna help?"
"I wish I could but we need to go,"
"Now? Again?" Marcus asked. "Where? Do we all have to go?"
"I can't say it," said Thomas. "Our father cannot know where we're going,"
"And Diana?" Aurora thought she was already breaking her heart already, leaving without saying goodbye.
Thomas looked at her remorsefully. "It's better if she doesn't know. For the sake of the twins," he looked at Christopher again. "Marcus and I are going to give you our blood samples so you can get started. Once Miriam gets here, she'll be able to help you and we'll ensure that the knights guard this building so no word of this gets out,"
"This is probably like the craziest thing I'm going to do…" said Christopher, still overcome with shock and fear. "But you're my friend Thomas. And I won't see you be punished for crimes you would never commit. And if that'll help humans too…then it's worth doing,"
"You cannot tell anyone about this," Phoebe implored.
"You have my word," said Christopher. "And if your friend is coming here, won't your father know too?"
"He will eventually but for the sake of the twins he'll need to let you proceed with this cure. I can't tell you where we're going because he could find out and he can't know. Now we must proceed quickly before he and Diana get to London,"
Using syringes, the brothers dejected whole tubes of blood from their arms and handed them to Christopher who stared them in a secure safe spot. "There," he locked it tightly. "No one except me can get it,"
"Thank you again," Thomas shook his hand. "The others will be staying in accommodations; we've already prepared for them. Now we best be off. We don't want to miss our flight,"
"Since when you did already book a flight?" Aurora asked, amazed by his quick thinking and planning, and altering of travel journeys.
"Whilst you two were asleep in the car," he said. "Goodbye, Chris. And please don't worry about Matthew. The knights will guarantee you don't get into any trouble with him and that you analyse these samples with or without his support,"
They said their goodbyes to Chris and instantly set off once again to the airport. They boarded a plane and in hours they had set off again. But unknown to them, as they boarded their plane they were watched by a spy who immediately sent a call to both Fergus. And Domenico.
And that's the next episode of Season 3 done. What do you all think? Episode 3's gonna be filled with a lot of surprises. See you all soon.