Marriage is Murder

"We wont see them the rest of the afternoon," Brian said.

Kate hadn't been asleep more than a few moments when she woke sharply, in pain. It caused her to sit up, catching her by surprise, making her gasp for breath. Brian went to her quickly.

"You were dreaming, Kate. Its alright," he said to her gently.

"No," she said, trying to catch her breath. He drew off the pain, which didn't seem to have any sort of physical origin that he could find. "The beast. Its coming back. Soon."

"That's not possible. He was wounded badly yesterday...." Brian began.

"And I know what I saw!" she said sharply. "He's coming, and he won't be alone."

"He's never alone," Brian said dryly

Steven looked up and almost stood up as Kate sat upright in pain from her sleep. " if he does he's got to get past that dark spell Edward placed on the cave" Steven said as he slowly sat back down in his chair and watched Brian with her. " there's no way in hell he's getting on these grounds Kate" he said glancing at Jim.

" I'll patrol and get the regs to double up their guards" he added and stood up, slipping on his jacket he walked to the door , glancing down to the potions lab as he did. " as I said two boys with a new toy" he chuckled as he walked out for his patrol.

"Get me up," Kate said, tossing back her blanket.

"Kate,..." Brian began.

"I am not making a request. You get me up, you little buggar!" she said, wanting to stand. Khaat woke slowly.

"Mother," Khaat said softly, sleepily, "Calm yourself. Of course he's coming. He's not going to stop until he's dead. There's no point in panic. This will be war this time when he comes. You know Daddy. Daddy will be ready."

"I want to know where that monster is right now," Kate said, demanding.

"I already know," Khaat yawned, very sleepy. "He's not ready quite yet. Let it go. We've got time to prepare. He wont be ready til tomorrow sometime. They're still altering him again." She started to slip into sleep and added a few mumbled words. "Him and the new ones." And then she was gone into sleep.

"Wait..." Brian frowned. "New ones? They're making more of them? Oh, hell. That was not what I wanted to hear."

Steven looked at Jim and Brant who stood up and moved to the door " okay Im going to prepare " he left the room heading for the potions lab. Steven looked at Brian and sighed knowing Brant was right.

" okay I think we all should make sure were all in tip top condition " he said and glanced at Jess " right now I wish Jack was here he was our strongest hope " he added Jess glared at him a she folded her arms across her chest as she spoke to him.

" that would be right only if his mind was on the ball, after last time hes a liability not an asset one, if any one wants me i'll be in the gym," she to them all.

Kate got up, despite anything Brian wanted. He sighed heavily.

"Where are you going?" he asked her quietly.

"I am not going to hear this and not prepare. If for nothing else than to protect our children," she said.

"Kate, you can't fight," he said.

"Try to stop me. It doesn't take a bodybuilder to wield a wand," she said firmly. She accio'd paper and a pen and wrote three notes and sent them through the floo. Instantly, Lee and his men began to arrive to one of her notes. Kieran and Fi arrived to the arrival of the second, and mem from the organization in Paris arrived from the third. Brian actually decided he was relieved.

"I'll help you with the kids, Kate," Fi said.

"If you're fighting beasties, I'm going outside," Kieran said to Brian.

"I think we might be fighting a lot of them," Brian said. "I need more information from Khaat but I dont' know if I'll get her awake." He went over to her and called to her and tapped her good cheek very lightly. "Khaat, how do you know they're coming? I need to know."

"I've been watching them," she said nonchalantly, as if she'd been watching a sparrow out her window.

"Do they know you see them?" he asked.

"Nope," she giggled. He believed her information but also knew that her skewed emotions were due to the potions.

"What else do you know? There are more of them? Like the beast?"

"Uh huh," she said. "But they're not ready yet. The young ones aren't as trained, and the old one is tired."

"How many are there?"

"I don't know. Can't see that far."

"Okay," he sighed. He hoped Brant had gone to give a heads up to Robert and Edward.

Brant moved around the house looking for robert and Edward he found them and spoke " okay Khaat says there are more , a large one and several smaller ones , young-lings she called them I think , all I can say is I hope your ready as were going to get our asses kicked, Kate send for more reinforcements, lee and his crew and two others I don't know a man and a woman" he said and looked at the bottles and started to think of potions. " mind if I help myself I need to ad to my potions if were to stand a chance" he said softly. Cassidy heard Kate and stood up walking over she stood with her.

"Ever heard of an old Muggle saying , hell hath no fury like a mother scorned, we'll fight to the bitter end Brian." she told Brian and moved with Kate " I'll help to Kate" she said moving quickly to the nursery hoping the nursery staff would have them at least prepared in the event they had to leave

Robert turned, listening to Jim. Edward was chopping a little pinch of flea wings and didn't look up from his cutting board.

"Nobody is kicking our ass, Son," Edward replied, not looking up. "I'm not sure how they're going to get in, but if she says they're coming, then we are going to be ready. We need the stone, Robert. You know that."

"I do," Robert sighed. "But I don't know how to do that without risking her life even more. She's going to have to spend so much of herself..."

"We're all going to risk our lives, Robert," Edward reminded him gently. He accio'd another old book of potions and tossed it to Brant. "Make up the potion on page 23. She'll need it."

"What is it?" Robert asked.

"Its merely a high powered rennervate potion," Edward said. "The only down side is that its very time limited. It won't last more than about 45 minutes, give or take a bit."

"Then make more than one bottle," Robert told Brant. "I don't know who will be next to her if she needs another dose."

"Not only that, we might well need it ourselves," Edward said. "I'm busy with the flea wings."

"Are those bloody flea wings that important now?" Robert said, having lost his boyish interest in them.

"They might be if the goo works," Edward said.

Brant listened and cough the book placing it down and turning to the page he had been told to " I was planing on making an extra large batch so we' all have some on us " he told them as he gathered the ingredients then set about mixing them just as the book told him too. Brant heard the banter and sighed knowing both were right each having to risk Khaat and her life to kill the beast. " surly our increased numbers and stronger potions will do more than her stone I know its strong but still " he said as he added the next ingredient , crushed and ground to a fine powder and added slowly to the mixture that changed color from a ruby red to a sapphire blue right in front of him that was until he added the net where it changed again to a clear green that sparked in the light " right its done" he said and pored it into several bottles.

Angus was back in the kitchen preparing for dinner. He was making homemade pasta and a beautifl sauce to go with it. He'd made a salad and lots of slices of garlic bread to go with it.

Michael arrived back home towards dinner time. He'd been gone all afternoon and didn't speak about where he'd been. He made no move to go help in the kitchen. Instead, he got out a beautiful pink shawl that had a lovely magical shimmer to it. It was sheer but it was enchanted to keep her warm when she was cold and cool if she was warm. He didn't say anything. He merely got it out and wrapped it around her. Khaat noticed the lovely smell of flowers associated with it, and its soft warmth. Michael noticed it deepened in color slightly as it warmed her. She woke a bit.

"Didn't mean to wake you," he kissed her forehead. She saw the shimmering shawl.

"Its beautiful," she said sleepily. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Thats because they're rare," he said, smiling. "But, then, so are you."

"Michael," she said very softly. "I can see them. They're coming back."

"Who?" he asked with a slight frown. "The werewolves?"

"Yes. And there are more beasts."

"Oh no. Are you sure?" he asked. She nodded.

"Its time to go," she said. "We can build a new estate. Lets let them just have it...."

"This isn't about the land, honey," he reminded her.

"Then let them have me," she said. "If I'm what they want, then just let..."

"Shh," he stopped her, catching a couple of her tears on his finger. "No one is going to just let you toss yourself to the beast to be torn apart by them. This isnt about turning you. Its about killing you."

"Let me go. Its time. You don't know how much this already hurts..."

"Yeah. I do," he said, sympathizing for her pain from her injuries that was almost beyond anything they could do. "Nobody's going to do anything rash..."

Brian felt for her. She wanted her own suffering to stop, and she wanted to stop the ones she loved from continuing the bloodshed for her. He went over to her. He touched her forehead. "Calm," he cast the spell. "Sleep." He cast a sleep spell. Michael sat silently with her, brushing the tears off her face, not wanting anyone to really know this bothered him so much.

Steven moved to the living room and saw Michael with Khaat he nodded and moved to the potions lab " anything we need to do Robert?" he asked " ow Michael's back and he sat with Khaat in the living room he said and picked up one of the bottles Brant was sealing " whats this?" he asked and Brant looked to Robert as he spoke .

" its a potion for Khaat were all to carry a bottle with us in the fight " he said quickly as he pored another bottle and sealed it tight. Walking over he handed to Edward the book back " done " was all he said his face void of emotions knowing this battle was the biggest he had been in.