Marriage is Murder

Jack nodded and moved back to the house Steven seeing him return but he didn't move waiting for Brian and Khaat who he saw some moments later walking slowly back to the house . Jack moved to the kitchen and did just as he had told them he would a tray of warm tea sat waiting with some cookies he knew Khaat liked , Jess smiled and helped making sure they were just warm enough to melt in the mouth and the tea was kept warm. Cassidy looked up and moved to stand with Steven who wrapped his arm around her as he listened to Kate and Robert as they talked to each there.

Brian brought Khaat inside and took their coats and handed them to staff. He took her through to the Great Hall and put her in front of the fire and picked up a large bright colored, wool Navajo blanket and wrapped it around her. Kate thanked Jess and Jack for assembling the tea tray. She poured Khaat a mug of tea and took it to her.

"Here, Dear," she said softly. "It will warm you up. Its a special chocolate tea your father's been working on for Valentine's Day. He thought we ought to try it." Khaat nodded. It smelled like warm melting chocolate. She tasted it. It tasted like warm melting chocolate too. Robert went over and touched her forehead.

"You've been out in the cold far too long," he told her. "When you finish your tea, go get into a warm bath and soak. You need to warm up before you get sick." She merely nodded. "Khaat, is there something we need to talk about?" he asked. She shook her head no. What was there to talk about? He'd been very clear. She had no question. She knew the direction they were all to go.

"Brian," Kieran said, coming to his younger brother, "I hate to intrude, but I'm putting the main house on lockdown."

"We were just out there," Brian frowned. "What's the problem?"

"We've just gotten reports of a sighting of a very very large cougar on the grounds, and this time of year, with the hunting being thin, he could be very hungry. Either way, its exceptionally dangerous."

"Agreed," Brian said. "Alright..." he called in a loud voice. "We are on lockdown. No one in or out any more tonight. And not until I say so. And that does mean everyone. No exceptions. Got that?"

Jack smiled to Kate " our pleasure" he said and moved back to sit down with Jess at hearing about the warm bath Jess stood up and walked over to them,

"I'll sort that" she said and headed up to the bed room making sure it was warm and Khaats favorite oils were in the water that would make her relax and moisturize the skin as she soaked in the water. Cassidy listened and sighed as they both moved indoors shadow and his female moved inside too settling on a blanket in a corner of the room.

"Thank you, Jess," Brian said, grateful for Jess's help. When Khaat finished her tea, Brian excused Khaat and himself and went upstairs. He helped her into the tub and while she was soaking, he cast a simple charm on the bedsheets to warm them for her. He found her a pair of flannel pajama pants in a winter white with a pink plaid design and a matching pink thermal longsleeved shirt, along with a pair of pink slipper socks. Once she was warm and dry and dressed, he tucked her between the warm sheets. He wanted to talk with her, but she was yawning heavily.

He understood it. After all the hours of cold, the sensation of having warm tea in her stomach, along with finally feeling warm again had made her very sleepy. Her eyes were falling shut already as he covered her. He decided whatever had her not feeling herself could wait. He turned the lights down low and let her fall asleep.

Jack woke first looking out as he held a cup of coffee from the main living room he wondered why Escobar had returned . Jess sat not far from him as she saw the daylight light up the sky behind the trees . Jim was up and returning from a work out in the gym his towel laid over his shoulder as he walked out and took a bottle of flavored water from the fridge to rehydrate himself. Cassidy and Steven walked down talking about shadows female friend and the cougar that was out side , both also talked about Khaat hoping she felt better this morning and had not come down with any colds.

Brian had gone outside for a run. He had also wanted to see if he could see that blooming bat or the cougar either one. He had taken Archangel with him to let him fly. But he saw nothing.

Khaat had felt him get up to go out. She had waited until he was gone and then got up and dressed. She took both of her wands and a backpack and went out a side door and slipped out to a totally different part of the grounds. It was down a sharp, almost straight down ridge. It had been incredibly icy. She had had to climb, freehand, down the ice covered ridge. She hadn't brought a rope, and hadn't done so well at the apparating exercises that Escobar had tried to teach her. And now she was scraping her hands on the ice covered rock. But at the bottom of the ridge, she could not be seen from the house. And that was what she wanted.

In the pack were a couple of Brian's exercise books and a couple of old Hogwarts texts from a box of books that the staff had purged out of the library and were going to get rid of. She wanted them for the spells out of them andwanted to try to teach herself the things she didn't remember anymore.

When Brian came in from his run, he went upstairs to go shower and dress and found the morning coffee tray untouched. The bed was empty. He figured she hadn't gone far, but after his shower, as he dressed, he saw her pajamas in her closet and noticed her boots and her coat were gone. He dashed downstairs, hoping to find her at the breakfast table with the others.

"Did Khaat eat early?" Brian asked, trying to be very casual about this, like nothing was wrong. "Apparently, I've misplaced her."

Jess and Jack shook their heads " we've not seen her " they all said and Jack sighed " not again you don't think she would runaway ?" he asked and stood up walking over to the window seeing no sign of her he frowned " this is puzzling why would she leave and not let any of us know where she was going?" he said Jess looked at Brian and then to Jim who stood sipping his water every one was worried and concerned. Cassidy sat quiet as she listened to them all.

"If anything was wrong I'm sure we'd know soon enough" she said

Brian sat down with the rest of them. "I'm sure you're right," he said. He decided to give her a bit before he went hunting. He had just been outside, against his own orders, but he'd not seen her, and neither, apparently, had Archangel because he had not reacted to her. He was mentally thinking about the map of the grounds and where she had gone yesterday. He was also hoping that Escobar had not cast a fresh spell on her.

Robert and Michael and Kate arrived at the table and saw Khaat was not there. "Is my daughter not eating again?" Robert asked.

"I think she's already up and busy at something," Brian laughed. "I'm sure she'll be along."

"No," Kate said, "She's avoiding one of you."

"We didn't do anything for her to avoid us, Kate," Robert said.

"Maybe or maybe not," Kate said. "Will you give her until late tonight to be on her own?"

"No," Brian said. "That cougar is still out there. I can't risk it. Nor can I risk any of you. I'll go after breakfast and see if Archangel and I can find anything."

Meanwhile, Escobar had found her. "You are either very stubborn or very foolish," He told her. "Do you not know you are being watched?" She jumped when she heard a voice. She saw him and relaxed. Watched? Did she know? She shook her head.

"Over there," he pointed. "Look." He pointed to a log, and she couild clearly see two pointed ears and a pair of gold eyes peering at her from behind the log. She looked at him. It looked like a cat. "That, my dear," Escobar said to her, "is the cougar tha followed you yesterday. Awfully large for a cougar, don't you think? She shrugged. She didnt' know. "Well, it is. Do you know what else it is?" She looked at him, clueless. "That is not an ordinary cougar. That is an animagus. Remember I told you about those yesterday." She remembered. She didn't know why the animagus was following her.

"Why?" she signed to him.

"I don't know yet. But he's been living here on the grounds for awhile. He has a den. He has not shifted back to his human form so that none of you pick up on his magical energ, but he has been particularly interested in you. You must abandon this training outside in the cold and go indoors where you are safe at least until I know whether or not his motives are honorable."

Jack paced as Steven stood looking out of the window still Jess sat reading while Cassidy moved to the kitchen to bake some home made bread to keep herself busy while they waited to see if Khaat would return from where ever she had gone. Jess looked at Kate " where do you think she could have gone to?" she asked over the top of her magazine as she sat also watching the front door knowing she would not come through that but something made her want to go and find her a feeling of something about to happen.

"I'll go look. Try not to worry," Brian said, getting up. Michael got up with him.

"I don't have a family. I'll go with you. There's little loss if something happens to me," Michael said. "Kate, send that ruddy bird to go find her, would you?"

"Consider it done," Kate said, sending Archangel out again to find her. Michael accio'd Hiss to him and his coat. Brian got his coat and the two of them went out together. They watched where Archangel headed and when he finally screeched that he had found something, Brian sighed.

"There was only one direction I didn't want her to go. And that was the one," Brian said. "There's a sharp drop off. Straight down. And its nothing but jagged rock til you get to the bottom to the woods."

"Well, then you have use for a climber after all," MIchael said. "Shut up and run, Boy." They caught up with the bird at the edge. Michael stopped and examined the snow. "She's tried to climb down on her own. I can see the marks here in the snow. Hiss, we're going down. Let's go. Brian, you wait here. This isn't going to be easy. I'll go faster alone."

"Your husband is here," Escobar said. "You'd best go with them. I'll distract the animagus. If you decide to come out, you need to find a safer place than this one. Do not come back here. It is too dangerous. I must leave you now." He changed forms and flew off towards the animagus, seeing Michael preparing to come over the edge of the crevase.

Michael rapelled down to her and, spotting the cougar in the distance, didn't wait for her to protest. He merely put his arm around her waist and ordered Hiss to pull them up. Brian heard the order and added his own strength to help the magical rope pull them up.

"Why?" Brian asked her when she got to the top.

"I had no choice!" She signed before she really thought about it.

"What? Someone's making you do this? Who? I never gave you any order."

"Doesn't matter! Its been done. Stop treating me like a child!" she was angry.

"I dont' understand."

"That doesn't matter either. So long as I do what I'm told."

"You're not making sense."

"Lets debate this out of reach of the cougar?" Michael said. "That damned thing was down there and had her in sight. Lets get out of here." Brian whistled to Archangel to send him home, and he and Michael apparated Khaat and themselves back to the house.