Rideten, Present TimeTalen was uneasy. He could not precisely pinpoint the source of his unease, and yet it persisted.It could be a culmination of things, he decided. The trauma all his mates and himself had experienced over the Van Helsing occupation of Havermouth during which he had almost lost each and every one of them, or it could be his concerns over the next stage of the battle for a future of equality with humans.It could also be his worries about Morgana. She was yet to embrace her pregnancy, in fact refused to refer to it as much as the morning sickness allowed her to avoid doing so. There was no excitement, no anticipation, no talk of names, gender, or the future. He could understand that the pregnancy was unexpected, and that there was some resentment due to Stella’s interference with her birth control, and yet she appeared to have forgiven Stella for her transgression, without accepting the baby that she carried.He was far from pleased about Stella’s interference. Whi

Havermouth, Present Time The sun had risen by the time they had brought Harry and Jules’ body back to Tony’s house. Whilst Samuel held Jules’ broken body in his arms, Tony carried Harry. Tony’s mate, Fatima, greeted them at the door, and ushered Samuel to the entrance to the secret underground cells with directions to take Jules to the end of the corridor before hurrying up the stairs to donate her blood to Harry. The entrance to the staircase was craftily hidden in the wall, undetectable unless a person knew the secret unlocking mechanism. Below was dimly lit, but Samuel’s vampire sight had enabled him to navigate the stairs without a problem. The light below came from a very narrow strip high in the roofline. A window to the outside world that was no wider than a finger. The cells lined that side of the wall. Each door had a window giving a fascinating view inside. The little rooms were not for prisoners, but rather to keep the vampires safe from themselves as senility took hold,

Havermouth, Present Time“Where is August Mason?” Meguitte asked as they left the bedroom.“Below, where Jules’ body is,” Tony told her.“Hmm. Convenient,” she stopped by the kitchen and searched through the spice rack. “Do you have a pestle and mortar?”“Here,” Connery retrieved it from a cupboard and set it before her. “It’s clean, I washed it after using it.”“Thank you,” she smiled up at him tightly, her mind on her task and her hands already combining spices and herbs into the bowl and grinding them into dust.“An interesting choice of components,” Connery commented mildly after inspecting the little jars. “Do you have any absinthe?” He asked Tony.Meguitte’s grin up at him was spontaneous and bright. Of course, Connery would know what she was mixing and what other ingredients would be required.“I do,” Fatima responded, eager to have a task. “I’ll go get it.” She hurried out of the room.“What is this for?” Tony asked warily from the other side of the kitchen bench. He was not a

Rideten, Present TimeTheir movements echoed hollowly round rooms that were bare of furniture. The house was in mid-renovation from the way the walls and floors had been stripped, light fittings hung, and boards or plastic covered many windows.“Dwayne,” Phillip had greeted their guide and turned now to them. “You, of course, know Stella, and my son Rhett. This is Aislen Carter, the Havermouth Triquetra’s mate.”“Hi,” from the way Rhett spoke, he had no idea who Dwayne was.“This is one of the backup entries,” Dwayne told them. “The Van Helsings having taken over the main facility. We’ll go down to the bunker now.”“You mean the church?” Aislen asked, shocked.“It came up for sale a while ago,” Dwayne snorted in amusement. “It seemed appropriate that we build our base under something that they would see as sacred. And the renovations were a good cover for building the bunker. The location however attracted their attention when they moved into Rideten, and they took control of the surf

Rideten, Present TimeChoosing the church as the base for the bunker had many disadvantages Aislen learned as Victor and his council went on to discuss how to mobilize their army without exposing their location to the Van Helsings above. The peaceful occupation of Rideten meant that their vehicles would immediately attract attention and panic.It was decided that teams of soldiers would exit through the various backup locations, such as the house that they had brought Aislen, Rhett, Phillip, and Stella through, and obtain their vehicles before making their way in stealth to Trayrock. Once in position within the town, they would contact the local werewolf pack and army, and co-ordinate a fast and hard attack aimed at driving the Van Helsings out.Aislen and her mates, would return first to Havermouth, and then travel to Trayrock in the wake of the battle with the reporters.“If they’re ignoring Tabitha Marie and putting it forward as a hoax, how are we going to get them to come with us