Feminine Fire

"They can come in so long as they follow house rules," Khaat said. "No eating my children or my cats either one. And they might not want to eat the cat kibbles. It will make them sick."

Her parents came back inside and reported that they hadn't found anything. Nothing. That didn't make her feel any better. Some wizard had to have gotten access to brian's land even though it was unplottable and surrounded by protection spells. She said nothing. She knew something was at work, but there was nothing they could do if they couldn't find anything. She was letting it go for now.

She simply got up quietly and decided she was going to take a walk herself. She wanted a bit of alone time and some fresh air and she decided that she wasn't going to let some new threat get to her. She quietly excused herself and just went outside. There wouldn't be many more days like this for awhile where she could still walk and be somewhat comfortable. She wasn't anywhere close to her due date and she was far larger than she had ever been with Abbey. She was going to enjoy what time she had left before she had to cool her heels waiting on the new additions to her family.

Steven looked at Cara who lowered and raised her head as if agreeing, the two pups now half grown moved to a corner and lay down. Cara followed slowly making sure they didn't do anything they shouldn't, soon she too lay down with them. Steven watched her and chuckled as he stood close by. He watched Khaat stand and move out side even though she was alone, he watched her giving her the space she wanted. He would not leave her totally alone, as that would give others an open target and he would not allow that to happen. As far as he was concerned it was his duty as a friend and body guard to make sure she was safe. He followed at a distance behind her.

Khaat wanted to empty out the stress from her mind. She did her best to shut down her seer senses and to just take in the fresh clean morning breeze. She enjoyed the sunshine today and the sounds of the birds. She shut everything else out. That made things quieter, more peaceful. She felt less stressed. She didn't know where the undercurrent of stress was coming from, but she did notice that when she did shut things out, she actually felt better. The stress had been something she had awakened with. She hadn't displayed any signs of being concerned for Archangel when they'd found him wounded this morning. That had been deliberate on her part. She had decided she was reducing the drama in her life. Getting upset about it wasnt' going to make things any different. So she had just, more or less, stepped back, and let everyone else handle it.

She took a little path off to the right, to walk in the woods. She liked seeing the wildlife that was in the woods, and she liked the feel and the smell of the forest. She hadn't been alone very long when she thought she heard movement in the brush. She decided ti just was nothing more than some sort of an animal. She hoped it would at least show itself so she could enjoy it.

Before she could react, she felt herself wrapped in a strong vine that coiled itself around her and bound her--a strange sort of incarcerous spell. It coiled around her mouth and prevented her even from crying out, much less moving. It had happened in seconds. She saw an outline of a man in the bushes. He flicked is wand at her, using some nonverbal spell, and she felt herself apparating out and away. Her brain was instantly a mix of panic with swiftly rising numbness that threatened to take over and shut it all out.

Steven turned and looked back at the house for only a moment as he turned back he saw nobody slowly he moved further on still no sign of Khaat now he took out his wand and shouted her name then Brian's "BRIAN!!" he yelled as loud as he could He saw Cara run out and sniff around where he had been stood " she's gone I...I turned my back only for a moment " he said and looked around the last place he had seen her " looks like she was dragged away " he said seeing marks on the ground.

At Steven's alarm, Brian flew, his wand drawn. He raced towards the woods and saw, well, nothing. He saw heard Steven say she was suddenly just gone. He examined the ground. There were some drag marks in the dirt and then just nothing at all but a stray leaf. His heart nearly stopped beating, and it took him quite a long while to realize he had just stopped breathing, as if he could hold his breath until he saw she was really alright and this was just some sort of huge joke.

"She was...evidently...apparated out somehow. Either picked up and carried away or just apparated out. We've been breeched. Somehow we've been penetrated and he managed to escape our check of the grounds," he said softly. And in his mind, it only meant one thing. It meant it was time for him to square off between himself and Tom Gelding. And one of them might not come back alive. But if it got Khaat and the babies back, it was worth the risk.

Steven nodded and looked at Brian " I'm sorry " he said softly to him holding himself responcible for not keeping his eyes on Khaat." we'll get her back " he also added gripping his wand tight as he saw jack walking around the perimeter jess he knew had stayed inside with Kate and the girls. " I will help you get her back no matter what or who we have to kill to do that " he said as jack walked over.

"Rest of the place looks secure but the rest of the men are coming over from Paris" he said standing with Brian and Steven " Gelding?" he asked and saw the ,look on Stevens face " that rat bastard should be shot hung and drawn” he said

"I'm presuming Robert knows then," Brian said quietly. "Re-check this. Make sure we haven't missed anything. Ask Kate or Jess to come out and see if they can detect anything at all that would help. From the drag marks, it looks like he was standing either in front of those bushes or behind them. Something just isn't adding up, though. It's not Gelding's style. Gelding doesn't like to dirty his hands with this sort of thing. He always passes this off to his lackeys. I'm going to go talk to Robert." In his mind, Brian felt that he had to gear up. He felt that he might well need to exchange his life for Khaat's. It felt bad. This just felt exceptionally bad for some odd reason. Something in his gut that he couldn't explain. This was different.

Jack nodded and looked at Steven, his mind was wanting to ask how it happened but he kept quiet. His hands deep in his pockets. " Yes sir, he does I am guessing he will be here any time soon" he said as Jess stepped out on the porch, then walked over to them all.

" I'm sorry I can't sense her " she said looking at jack and sighed touching his arm slightly before she looked at Brian again " I'm sorry" she said and felt terrible she could not she moved back in side.

Jack looked at Steven," now what?" he asked both of them .

Steven looked at Brian " if your going then so am I " her said " it was my fault they got close as they did " he said and stood to his full height in front of him " if you order me not to go I will follow you anyway" he said wondering just how long Robert would take to arrive.

"I appreciate the support," Brian said to them all. "All of you. Let's just pray we can find out who has her and how to get her back."

It was then that Robert and Kate came from the house. Robert began wordlessly examining what little there was at the scene. Kate did the same, but she was looking for another reason altogether.

"She had no time," Kate said. "There's no fear here. It...must have happened very very quickly. If she had been given time to react, we might have had more of an energy signal here. The fact that there isn't tells me is caught her totally by surprise and must have happened within seconds."

"This vine," Robert said, picking up the stray leaf. "My guess is that it was an incarcerous spell and that whoever took her apparated her out just as soon as they had her secured."

"Probably," Kate said. "Any sign of a struggle?"

"None," Robert said.

"Robert, whoever it was had a ruby signet ring. I just saw it," Kate said. Robert frowned deeply,. as did Brian.

"Burke," Brian said. "That was Luther Burke's ring."

"I'm betting his younger brother Ethan has that ring now, and I'm betting he's our culprit," Robert said.

Steven groaned softly " I knew we should have taken care of that twerp." he said as folded his arms across his chest. "He has done nothing but cause trouble. " He said and watched them all as Robert and Kate walked the scene of khaat's abduction." Well he has, he should have been put out of commission when we had him in our sights." Jack moved over to Steven and placed his hand gently but firmly on Steven's shoulder.

" Hey, its ok, stop beating your self up over it, lets concentrate on finding her. " he said and turned back to Robert. " Should we check out his finances, they should give us a clue where he has taken her. Maybe he purchased a building some where that he could have taken her to." He said hoping it would help them even just a little bit.