Marriage is Murder

Robert clipped one lock from Andrew's hair and thanked him. "This might help. We'll see," he said. "I'll be right back." He went down to his potions lab in the basement with Andrew's hair and the lock of black hair Brian had found. He closed the door and was gone quite awhile. Brian knew what he was going to do, but when Robert didn't come back as soon as he should have, Brian went down to the potions lab himself. He didn't find Robert there. He found him in his office with two test tubes in a rack in front of him. He was sitting back and just looking at them.

"Robert?" Brian asked.

"Close the door, Brian," Robert said. "I suppose, by chain of command, you need to know first. Look at these. What do you see?"

"Two green test tubes."

"Yes. The potion in them is the same color, isnt it? Do you see any difference?"

"Not noticeably. Maybe a trace."

"Remember, one is not Jack. Its Andrew. Jess's genetics are involved with him too."

"What are you saying, Robert? Did Fenrir infect Jack?"

"No," Robert said. "That's not I'm seeing. It goes far deeper than that. I've run the test until I ran out of hairs. And it comes up like this every time I run it. That bastard we fought off today is far more than any other werewolf. That werewolf is genetically identical to Jack."

"No," Brian frowned.

"Yes. He's Jack's older brother."

"Jack never mentioned to me ever having an older brother."

"Maybe he doesnt' know," Robert shrugged. "But there is no doubt in my mind that this man has been training directly under Greyback and he is larger and far more powerful."

"Do we tell him?"

"Do we have a choice?" Robert asked. Brian sighed, sat down in the chair across from Robert and leaned back in the chair.

"Damn," Brian said softly.

"I couldn't have said that better myself," Robert said.

Jack woke some time later he stretched out feeling some what stiff but well rested , showering he changed and walked out finding himself some what hungry he saw the door to the basement open and heard faint voices and moved down to the basement office that was Roberts and knocked before entering " Is there a problem?" he asked gently pushing the door open to walk in to face them , buy the look on their faces he could tell it was not good he folded his arms across his chest as he waited " not that stranger again?" he asked trying to gauge what it was that had both Robert and Brian looking so worried.

"Well," Robert said, "I don't know that its necessarily a problem, but there is a bit of news. Brian did a perimeter check after that dark wizard left. He found a lock of black hair. Just out of mere curiosity, I did some tests on the hair..." He paused a moment. "I believe that wizard was hand trained by Fenrir Greyback and has been mentoring under Greyback for a long time. He has a lot of the trademark abilities that Greybacks are so famous for. He's a great deal bigger than you are and a great deal more powerful. I don't want you to take him on. He'll overtake you.

"But there is one more tiny rub here," Robert said. "From all that I can find, you and he share the same genetic markers. That means there is every reason to believe that wizard may very well be your older brother."

Jack listened closely as he stood "That isn't a surprise I guessed as much, I recognized the smell from years ago that he had something to do with that thing." he gave a sigh as Robert continued he stood listening becoming more confused then Robert finished he stood silent for a moment then his face dropped " James" he said softly his heart beat fast in his chest as his head spun with thoughts. " No it can't be, your wrong " he stood up and paced back and forth. He felt his anger and confusion. " it can't be him , that would mean...." he stopped " Janice and Terisa" he said softly looking at them both " my mother before she disappeared again told me I had a brother but he went missing along with my two sisters, I'd hoped.." he held his head in his hands as he looked at the floor he felt his whole body growing cold. " what if he changed them too " he said and looked at Robert the pain on his face clear to see.

"Then they may well be working for him," Robert said quietly. "And, that makes yoru mother particularly vulnerable. And that makes your kids vulnerable. Brian, send Michael and a stealth squad without delay. You know what to do."

"Consider it done," Brian said, grabbing his portkey and apparating out.

"You know I will do whatever it takes to protect your kids, Jack. Let me handle it for now," Robert said. "For now, let us not alarm anyone before we know if we need to. But that may well be how he's getting in. He may well be using some sort of genetic mapping to do it. Genetic marking might be how he's finding us. Particularly if either of your sisters are seers too. But don't panic yet. There is too much we dont' know. And, if he's already found us, then we need you here more than ever. When waging a fight against a werewolf, one is always better to have a werewolf on the defensive team as well. In short, I need you right where you are. I know that may not make much sense, but if he's your brother, I need you here even more than I did before."

Jack looked at him and shook his head " no, it doesn't make sense, why did he drop me and keep my siblings , it makes me think from the start he didn't want me, was I not strong enough for him, was I..." he stood up " was I defective in some way so he threw me out in the woods like some piece of rubbish? " he said now turning to lean against a wall as he focused his anger so he could calm down, taking the bottle he drank a small amount and took a deep breath. " Your right, but Jess, Kate and Khaat will all know if I go back up, there seers , can't hide anything from them" he looked at Robert over his shoulder " brother or not, my sons and my daughter are my first priority" he said and looked at Robert " that didn't come out right , I mean... " he sat down again " I feel like some one just drove a stake into my chest "

"You're not a vampire," Robert scowled. "Stop it. Who knows why eh did what he did. Maybe you were just too young. Maybe he wasn't confident at that time that he could keep you under control, if you were headstrong back then. Maybe he needed to know he would always be in charge. I sent Brian out deliberately. Try not to jump to conclusions unless we know we need to, and right now thats all you're doing. The only fact we have is that the tests show that he is almost certainly your brother. Let's wait until Brian gets back. Don't make me wish I'd waited until Brian got back to tell you anything. Khaat's sound asleep. She isn't going to know anything until she wakes up. Second, when were you ever able to hide much of anything from Kate or Jess either one, whether you were on the same floor they were on or not? Do you not trust them to keep their mouths shut for the moment? And in fact I would not allow anyone here that I don't trust with my life or the lives of my family. Stop stewing, and let me deal with it, would you? If your top priority really is your family, then start showing it by backburnering this until I get more information."

Jack looked up at him and sat up then stood up to his full height." I meant the stake figuratively you know" he said and chuckled " besides I think Jess would kill me first if I did do anything " he thought long and deep " so how do we defeat him ?" he asked not wanting to think of anything to make him stop thinking that he was fighting his own brother but some monster raised by an even bigger one and that's who he wanted to rip to pieces. Jack looked at Robert " guess I should head back up I'll tell Jess" he held up his hand " I'm going to tell her, we have had no secrets in our marriage and I'm not starting now" he said " but it stops there till we know for sure" his mind made up he would not let the fact his blood flowed threw James as well stop him protecting every one.

"I am considering some options for stopping him. I've wanted to inconvenience Fenrir for a long, long time. It would give me great pleasure to do that. Lets wait until we get all we need before we make any decisions or moves, shall we? And yes, you might as well tell Jess because if I know her at all, she already knows. Life with a seer is never easy and surprising them is twice as hard. But you should go through the motions of at least offering to tell her. I doubt I'll have to say anything to Kate or Khaat either one. We will tell the rest of our immediate crew, though. They need to know the facts as we have them. And while you're doing that, I think I will check on my own family. Khaat put up a damned hard fight. I dont' want to ignore that."

He went upstairs and found Kate with Khaat. Khaat was awake and drinking a large mug of seers' tea.

"So did he take it well?" Kate asked. Robert just shook his head, laughing.

"Why am I not surprised that you both know already?" he said. "He's fine. Angry, but fine."

"You know Jess will know. If he's planning on hiding it, he won't gain a thing," Khaat said.

"I told him," Robert said. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused. I know I heard Remus," she said.

"I know. He was drawn to you because he somehow felt the stone's power. That's all I know. And he is always drawn to you. He knew you were in danger. Khaat, you are going to have to trust me with this idiot. He wants you. he wants to kill you now more than ever. And I think only part of it is to get to me. I think the other part is directly from his training from Fenrir. That Greyback versus Lupin thing I think is at work as well. I've sent Brian to get me some inforrmation I need. We will wait until he returns."

"Alright," she said, throwing back the covers. When she went to get up, her parents helped her up and helped her steady herself. "I'm alright," she said. "i'm fine." They slowly let go of her, and she found she could manage.

"Don't overdo it, now," her father cautioned.

"I'll be careful," she promised. She decided to go check on her kids.

Jack walked up and over to Jess taking her hand he lead her some what quickly into their bed room she laughed " jack, I know, I knew when Robert told you dear. " she said and kissed him deeply he could not help but relax in her arms finding the control he needed right at that moment.

"Thank you Jess" he said smiling as he saw her smiling too " you never knew this but I have two sisters I just hope and pray they are not like him " Jess caressed his cheek gently.

" we'll cross that when we come to it " she said and he smiled again as he pulled her close to him.

" I love you Jess , even after all we have been threw I would not trade you for anything " he said and chuckled Jess chuckled also.

" hum not even that big flash car you were eying up?" she said and he held her tighter as he chuckled.

" nope , not even that " he said kissing her one last time before heading out into the living room and smiled at Robert as they passed Brian and Khaats door telling him everything was ok.