Hunting Thingamajigs

Jack's pacing was something that was registering in the seer's part of Khaat's brain even while she was asleep. He wasn't very quiet. He was stepping on twigs and leaves and making noise.

"He wont come now," she said rather automatically and fell back into her peaceful sleep. Michael spun and looked at her. He? Who the devil was 'he'? He looked at Brian.

"She wasn't awake," Brian said, shrugging. "Maybe she was just dreaming."

"You don't think we should wake her and find out who 'he' is?" he frowned.

"She won't know. Those were her seer's powers at work. She does that nonsense to me all the time," Brian said. "Ask Robert. Kate drives him nuts with it."

"So we know its a male. Brilliant," Michael said.

"If he's alone," Angus said.

"Well, arent' you just the optomist?" Michael rolled his eyes at Angus.

Jack sighed and looked at Khaat " sorry " he said softly seeing she was still sleeping. Even he frowned at her words of being a him that stalked them. Jim just puffed on his pipe while Cassidy dozed but even her dreams were not pleasant ones as she jumped grabbing the first thing she could and that was Jim's waist her eyes shot open as she breathed heavily.

"Sorry bad dream" she said and moved away slightly from him as she wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow away . Jim sighed and pulled her back to lay against him once more.

" stop worrying " he said softly to her and she relaxed.

Brian insisted Khaat wake to eat. He fixed her a plate with an assortment of the cheese, the meat, the bread, and the fruits that Angus had set out and gave her a bottle of cold water. He sat beside her and let her lean against him. A breeze blew her hair forward into her face, and he brushed the damp, sweaty hair off her face to get it out of her eyes. He frowned just very slightly as his touch brushed against her forehead. He said nothing. Michael caught it, though. He saw the confused look in Brian's eyes.

After a quiet, relaxing lunch, Khaat took a moment to go refresh herself at the creek. It was rare to get anyplace for a moment of privacy, and sometimes a girl just didn't want to be seen by all the guys. She came back a few minutes later, feeling a bit refreshed by the cool water. Brian had taken a moment while she was gone to check Aura and then to mix Khaat a restorative potion from the medicine bag. She sniffed it, and didn't question it. She just took it.

"We should be ready to hit the trail in a few minutes if you've all had your fill of lunch," Angus said.

"Brian," Michael said, "Come with me and show me the direction we're going for the afternoon." Brian walked off through the trees a bit, out of earshot of the others. "Alright. Level. What did you find?" Michael asked.

"She's even weaker than she was last night," Brian said. "And I'm either losing my touch, or Aura's regaining her strength and her blood supply. And Khaat is losing both her strength and her blood supply. "

"What?" Michael frowned. "A spell maybe?"

"No," Brian said. "No such spell. Restoratives, yes. But nothing to account for Aura's relatively quick gain in her blood supply and Khaat's quick depletion. She's showing no wounds. I just dont get it."

"What will you do?"

"Keep an eye on them. What else can I do?" Brian asked.

Jim stood up and walked a little fining his legs some what tingly he walked over to Brian and Michael and listened to them both " what about some sort of charm that's passed from one person to the other or she could be a succubus sucking the life from Khaat" he said softly as he walked over to them " nobody thought about that did they" he said giving a small puff on his pipe. He saw Jack stand again and pace he shook his head " Jack need to relax" he told them but he too saw the draining from Khaat " that girl is not good for this group Khaat will be carried before this days out if she stays, but we can't make her leave that would be condemning her to death"

Brian glanced back at Khaat. He saw her offer Aura another drink from the flask, but Aura declined. Brian frowned.

"When did Khaat get any potion to refill that flask with?" Brian asked softly. "She had the flask in her pocket, but I had the medicine bag. How did she do that?"

"You want me to 'borrow it' from her for a moment?" Michael asked.

"Only if you can do it without her knowledge," Brian said.

"Childsplay," Michael said. "Give me a moment." He looked around and saw a family of brightly colored macaws landing in a tree overlooking the creek. He went back to the group. "Ladies, you might want to get your wizarding cameras and get some pictures. Those macaws up there are beautiful." He pointed them out to Khaat and Cassidy and handed Khaat her camera. Khaat went to take photos of the macaws, and when she was busy with the camera, Michael expertly pickpocketted the flask from her. Angus suspected something, so he went over just to stand with Khaat and began telling her and Cassidy about the beautiful family of parrots. Michael took the flask to Brian, blocking Khaat's view of Brian. Brian opened the flask and smelled it. His frown grew very deep and dark.

"What is it?" Michael asked.

"Its not potion. thats for damned sure," Brian said. "This is blood. Its completely full again--of warm, fresh blood."

"Wait..." Michael frowned. "Khaat is feeding her blood?"

Jim looked at them both " vampire?" he asked them both " that's a bad idea feeding them your own blood" he said looking at the girl. "You got to stop Khaat doing that , if she gets stronger " he said and glanced at Cassidy worried , Jack stood with them both between the girl and Khaat knowing Jack could smell the blood that was on the girls lips now. Cassidy shivered and looked at the men huddled in a corner of the camp. Cassidy walked over passing the girl, as she did she stopped and looked at her frowning. She had the feeling something wasn't right about her and knew some one was trying to tell her.

'i know what she's going to tell me, and I can't totally disagree with her," Brian said. "But...we can't have these kinds of secrets in our camp. One moment." He went back to the campsite and picked up some of the trash from lunch and looked as if he were merely glancing up at Aura.

"Hold still," he said to her. "Don't move..There's a ..." he went to her slowly as if he were going to carefully remove something from near the top of Aura's head. But instead, he touched her forehead and struck her with a spell to render her unconscious. Aura fell limp, and Brian laid her down to be sure she rested. He took his knife and cut off the bandages off her neck. Aura's neck was now healed except for three sets of clearly marked, deep bite wounds to her neck. Brian put the pieces together. Aura had been taken against her will and was now a very recently turned vampire.

"We all need to talk," Brian told them all. "Gather round." He waited a moment for them to gather and then he showed Khaat the flask in his hand. "You do know how dangerous this is, don't you?"

"What's in it?" Angus asked.

"Her own blood. Aura is a new vampire. Khaat's been feeding her to keep her from going into a frenzy. Admireable as that is, and as much as that keeps us all safe, it is extremely dangerous for Khaat," Brian said. "You can't do this."

"We've been successfully feeding vampires at St. Mungos for decades by giving them free feedings," she said.

"Yes! As well we should, but those feedings have been purified and have been enchanted to not turn the donor to a vampire. Do you have that ability here?"

"Only partly," she confessed.

"And how many draws have you done?"

"Just one," she said. "I did one draw--in my canteen. I took enough the first time to hold her for quite awhile," Khaat said. "I can't purify it, but I do have some ability to reduce the risk to the donor. My father knows the full spell for that. I only know part of it. But it does help."

Cassidy stepped back and lent on Jim " I knew it , I knew something wasn't right " she said but Jim stopped her backing away too far. Jim shook his head disapprovingly as he listened.

" I have only known trouble from a vampire" he said holding cassidy around her waist as she stood with him looking at the unconscious girl on the bed in front of her. this was her first vampire and she didn't like how she felt around it like someone had iced up her heart and would not let it go.

"She may not be your problem," Sergio spoke up. "It sounds like he's back."

"Who?" Brian's eyes narrowed.

"There was a vampire who was said to have lived here for hundreds of years," Sergio said. "The muggles believed they destroyed him about 50 years ago, and things have been quiet. However, Aura does fit the sort of woman he would target. He used to call women with dark hair and ice blue eyes 'Dulces'--or Sweets--like candy. He would look for them above all others. Any woman who looked rare to him was what he would pursue first. It sounds like he somehow fooled us all and has been in hiding. It sounds like he's back."

"And does this vermin have a name?" Brian said, already bracing for a fight.

"Brian," Sergio said gently. "Let it go. Go home to England. Do not pursue this, my friend. No good can come of this if..."

"Give me his name, Sergio," Brian commanded.

"Escobar. Emilio Escobar. He is very powerful indeed. Do not pursue this. Let Brazil fight its own evils. England has enough for you to battle...."

"What are you not saying?" Brian demanded. Angus was watching the conversation.

"Its not what he's not saying. Its what you're not catching," Angus said, adding things up. "He prefers women. Exotic looking women. Or exotic for the rainforest. Aura is his top pick. We know that. But--what do we have that he would want?"

"A blonde," Michael said, sighing. "One with brown eyes with green flecks. Very unusual eyes. Cassidy may be safer, at least for the moment. So--we have to protect Aura first, and Khaat second, and make sure Jim doesn't let Cassidy out of his sight."

"He already knew we were here before we found her," Khaat said. "Its what we've been feeling all along. I think Aura escaped him before she realized she had turned. She knows now, but she didn' when we found her. It didn't make sense to her when nothing quenched her thirst or her hunger. That was, I guess, when I sort of knew. She's not dangerous. Not if we keep her fed. And--there is enough in my canteen to feed her for quite a long time, and I have a cooling spell on my canteen so that it stays fresh."

"No more blood draws," Michael told her. "Its too dangerous. If we need to feed her beyond what you drew off with your canteen, you take a draw off each of us until we can get her to a hospital to care for her. I can't condemn you for what you did. Your father would do the same thing. But--he would have also known the spell to not risk himself. So--we have to do this a bit differently to reduce the risk. What else do we know about Escobar?"

"He's a vampire, he's clearly been practicing magic for hundreds of years, so he outranks all of us put together, he prefers exotic women, he's been watching us...and he must be on the path for the same artifact we are. And what else do we need to know right at this moment?" Brian asked.

Jim held Cassidy tight but really he didn't have to cassidy stood as close as she could get to him looking out into the jungle " do you think he would attack?" she asked clinging to Jim's arm as she spoke. Jim chuckled and patted her hand gently.

" its ok cassidy " he said softly but he felt her shake a little against him.

" Khaat I felt him to like an unholy dead that shakes the veil " she told Khaat as she glanced around her training finally taking over her body a she let go of Jim and held her wand out in front of her ready should he attack.