Marriage is Murder

"No," Brian said, "Enjoy your game. She is capable of multitasking. Khaat, your mom sent some pictures the kids colored and some photographs. Wanna see?"

"Sure," she said. She studied the board and moved her next piece, deciding to be just a wee bit untraditional in her game. "Your move, Jim." Brian slid the pictures back into the large document envelope and floated them to her. She plucked the envelope out of the air and opened it. She slid the papers out and looked at the photos first. They brought a smile to her face. They warmed her heart, made her laugh. Her kids. She desperately missed them.

"This..." she heard Remus's voice softly in her head. "This is why you stay. I will always be here. But..those little faces, those little smiles...this is why you fight. Its why you stay there. If you come here, you can't go back to them. What I wouldn't have given to have stayed for Teddy. Don't throw it away. They are worth it all, Baby." She didn't respond. She looked through the drawings and loved every colorful little scribble. The kids delighted in bright colors, and they had filled the papers with all sorts of little squiggles in brilliant vibrant color."

"You know," Brian said, "What I see in those is that they've noticed. They've seen all the bright and dazzling colors you put into their nursery and their playroom and in the flowerbeds. And they havent missed it. They noticed."

"They have their grandmother's love for color," she said.

"Yes. They do, and I think this is perhaps their way of showing you how much they like bright and shiny and beautiful things," he said. "It gives me all sorts of ideas for redoing the nursery and the playroom in the Tuscany house. We need to make it bigger and better than ever."

"I think I'll ask Eli to paint some of his magical wizard murals on the walls so that they always have beautiful, moving paintings that tell them stories and put happiness into their world," she said. "I don't want any of our world's ugliness to ever touch them."

"Not until they're ready to step up to it, anyway," Brian agreed. "I think the murals are a good idea. Maybe we should do that at the main house too. The girls aren't babies anymore, and the triplets are over a year old now. We need to update their rooms now, I think." She nodded, agreeing.

"You still want to go see them tonight?" he asked.

"I really do," she said.

"Khaat and I will be taking a moment to slip home just to see the kids while they sleep. We dont want to wake them up because that will confuse them. We just want to see them."

"Do you want us to go with you?" Edward asked gently.

"I think we'd just like a few moments alone with our kids. I think it will be alright. I think we can apparate home for a moment and right back without getting into trouble," Brian said. "We wont' be making side trips. Robert and Kate are there. I can't imagine it will be a problem. I'd rather you all got some rest so we're ready for tomorrow."

"Alright," Edward said. "So be it, then. Take your time alone. Just let one of us know when you go and when you get back, please."

"Fair enough," Brian said.

Jim nodded and watched Khaat make her move he could not help think that maybe a trip back to the children would do them both some good. It took him some time but he managed to make a move which he thought would not lose any of his pieces, or so he hoped. He watched Khaat move to Brian and sat back smiling as he sipped his drink. " our game can wait Khaat " he said glad to be putting off his demise in a few moves. Jack nodded as Edward spoke about going and coming right back.

" if you see Jess tell her I said hi and I'm ok for now " he said and smiled taking a sip of his wolfsbane potion again.

Brian took Khaat home to see the kids and they didn't stay long, but he was uneasy. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he was uncomfortable. She didn't sleep that night when they got back to the hotel. Edward encouraged Brian to keep his distance, only telling him that she was 'preparing herself.' Brian didn't know exactly what Edward meant, but Edward wasnt' leaving her. He stayed up through the night with her, and strongly encouraged Brian to rest up while he could.

Khaat didn't eat at all the next day. Edward deliberately steered everyone away from her the next day. He let her drink as much coffee as she wanted, but she only drank one cup. Far off her normal quota. Brian noticed the desk drawer was unlocked again and the letter she'd been working on was gone. That didn't make him any easier. When they dressed finally, Brian helped her get dressed. She wasn't speaking. She was completely silent. She hated the dress. Brian saw that much was painfully obvious, but she was putting up with it.

Once she was dressed, Michael double checked her and made some final adjustments of his own. If they were fishing, he wanted to be certain that their 'bait' was irresistable. She hated it even more. It made her feel naked. She picked up the long silver cloak and covered herself quickly. She didn't want to reveal herself any longer than she had to. Brian knew she was far from indecent, but it was far from her elegant style, and it made her feel cheap. He couldn't blame her for hating it.

The men with her looked sharp. Elegant, Professional, and like they were not to be messed wtih. It was the way it needed to be. He saw her tuck her wand and Remus's in the dresser drawer in their room, under her clothes. There was no place to hide a wand in that dress. She was going unarmed.

When the three of them came out of the bedroom, she was totally covered in the silver cloak. Edward went up to her, dressed in his tux. He merely lifted her face to look into his eyes. Neither spoke. He merely nodded to her. It was his vote of confidence. His seal. They were ready.

"We go by gondola," Edward said to them. "Its waiting downstairs. Look sharp, All. Thhis is very serious business tonight. Someone will almost certainly die tonight, and if we do it right, it won't be one of us."

Jim and Jack both checked themselves and moved to stand with Michael and Edward Jack had added some cufflinks to his tux and on each one sat a small wand he smiled at Edward " thought they might come in handy , they detach, ones mine and ones Jim's " he said softly as he watched Khaat " shes defiantly off today " he said not liking it one bit " best be on the ball " he added and Jim nodded.

" yea never seen her like this before she's usually more... forceful and vocal " he said folding his arms across his chest as he looked at Brian and Khaat.

"She'll come through for us," Michael said confidently. "She knows her job. Whatever it is, I think she's shared enough of it with Edward that he is walking her through it. Lets just stay sharp. If this goes well, maybe she'll relax and we can get her to eat something and get some sleep.

They boarded the gondola and took it to the large art gallery and found that it was a bit like a red carpet event, only with gondolas instead of limosines. Michael's calculations had been correct. When she arrived, Khaat's beauty drew the eyes of everyone at the event. Edward got out first and Brian got out after him. Brian helped her out of the gondola. He was already hearing whispers amongst the party goers wondering who the woman in silver was.

They walked in and Michael paid, in cash, the entry fee for her participation in the fashion show. They were greeted by some of the artist's friends and handlers, and Brian busied himself with trying to memorize the faces of the people there, desperately trying to see if there was anyone there he knew. Michael glued himself to Khaat to let the others start scouting out the room immediately.

The manager of the fashion show soon approached Michael saying that Khaat was needed to join the women in the backstage area to begin the show. Michael showed them his receipt that showed he had paid double to allow her a bodyguard backstage. The manager agreed--but only to one guard. Michael looked to see if there was any preference of anyone wanting to go with her. If no one had a particular preference, he was certainly not going ot leave her.

Jack and Jim followed Brian closely to the gondola , once at the show both Jack and Jim stuck close to Brian and Khaat looking around and checking out every face that got close Jack even moved between a man and Khaat making himself known that he was not to get close. when they saw the even organizer walk over Jack moved to stand with Khaat showing he would go with her as her body guard. Jim moved to Edward " hes big and impressive they won't mess with him , besides it was decided between us " he said and looked back and Jack who nodded and staid close to her side.

"Go, then. Don't so much as blink," Edward said. "We are being very closely watched. I can feel it." He watched Khaat just start to walk away from them, following the fashion show manager. She wasn't even paying attention as to whether they were on protection duty or not. Brian nearly panicked. Edward touched Brian's arm gently "Jack's on it," Edward said. "Stay on task, Lad. We're alright so far."

Khaat simply walked into the back room and found herself surrounded by women that were all fawning over the idea of winning the artist's contest. There seemed to be no limit as to how they would dress or stage themselves to try to win. The manager arranged the women in a line and placed Khaat just about right smack in the middle of the contest, but insisted that Khaat lose the silver cloak. Khaat was emotionless and unfastened the cloak pin and slid the cloak off her shoulders. She met with mixed reviews from her fellow contestants. Some were jealous, some made fun of her, some just didn't care. The manager took the cloak off her shoulders, wadded the cloak up in a ball, and handed it to Jack. Khaat hadn't even noticed the mistreatment of the cloak.

The show itself seemed to go off without a hitch. Khaat hated it, but she handled the runway like a pro. She was blinded by flashbulbs from cameras, and she was inundated with deafening applause. The only thing she really was able to see between the cameras flashing and the bright stage lights was the face of the artist himself and his utter fascination with her. He was struck by a complete and utter infatuation with her like he had never felt before. She could read it in his face immediately.

When her brief walk on the runway was overwith, she felt like her senses were numbing even further. Several of the girls tried to speak to her, and she simply didn't hear them. It didn't feel like it took more than a moment before she was being recalled to the stage. She was in the top three finalists. The next she knew, she was being awarded with a black banner with gold writing and a mammoth bouquet of black roses. It took a moment for it to dawn on her that she had, in fact, won the contest.

The next she knew the stone around her neck seemed to light up with a blinding ball of green light and began to screech. She was used to it forming a beam of light that pointed out where the werewolf was. This was just a generalized green light that seemed to light all around her. She'd never seen that before. Or anything like it. It wasn't pointing anywhere. And then she heard James's echoing evil, amused laughter from somewhere in the room but she couldn't pinpoint where. She began to try to look at the faces of the crowd, and it seemed like she could see more werewolves in one place than she had ever even dreamed existed.

Jack stood at the end of the run way as Khaat was moved back up he stood holding the cloak in his arms watching he saw the young man and gave a frown at his intensity of his stare at her when she won he moved closer he felt the stone he knew the feeling and he quickly moved up onto the stage to stand behind Khaat as he too looked out his anger growing as he felt the pull of the pack seeming to rush through him but he saw Jim and pulled himself back as he looked out into the crowd and at Brian's face hoping he knew what was going on. Jim saw the green light from her necklace and looked at Edward. " where is he, its like hes all round us " he said softly to him.

Brian had never seen that sort of behavior from the stone. He began to look quickly trying to find him.

"We're surrounded," Edward said. "Find James. If we find him, the others may scatter. We have no choice. We have to kill him." He looked at the others and nodded. It was Edward's signal. They had no choice. They had to find him and they had to kill him.

Khaat knew no other choice to draw him out. He was desperate for blood. She accio'd a butcher knife off the chef's station for appetizers, and she used it to cut a long but shallow cut on the tender inside of her right forearm. Long enough for it to enticed James's sense of smell to the odor of fresh blood. She heard him immediately begin to growl and howl. It pinpointed him in the back of the room to her right, in the corner.

"There!" Edward pointed him out. "Take him! Now! Go now!"

Jim looked around and saw James but before he could move he saw Jack bolt for him Jim headed for Khaat but a figure in black dove from the shadows and stood in front of her his wand and a gun drawn as he aimed at any were that came too close. Jack bolted for James slamming him into the back wall full force he could feel James claws dig into his suit tearing at the thin fabric, but his own fists flew as he felt James try and push him off " you won't have her James " he said softly but he could see it was useless as James was in full blood lust , Jack let his claws grow and Glanced at Brian and Edward for a moment before he ripped open James chest and ripped out his heart holding it up and howling like a wear turning he was bloodied but held it up high to show all around James was finally dead by his brothers hand. " IT IS OVER !!!"he yelled out but some tried to attack he took them out with a swipe of his hand while the man on the stage took down three more.