Marriage is Murder

"I'll fight him," Escobar shrugged. "But you are learning. Good."

He merely went over and looked over the fence. "What you have on the other side is a dumpster. And another alley. And rats--there are rats. Let's go. Oh, and don't jump on the rats." He had no issue using the powers that being a vampire brought him and leaped over the fence.

"I refuse to jump a freaking fence," Edward scowled. He flicked his wand and apparated to the other side of the fence.

Escobar was already hunting for clues again. The stink bothered him. It blurred his sense of smell for the blood a bit.

"Filthy humans," he mumbled. "Its a good thing I'm immortal. This alley probably has plague."

"Stop complaining and hunt," Edward laughed.

"Here," Escobar said. "He's moving faster here. "

"He was being chased, then," Edward guessed. "He could have apparated out, and he didn't."

"No," Escobar said. "He couldn't." He shoved a trash barrel out of the way to reveal two halves of a broken wand. He picked them up. It was Brian's wand.

"Then he's on his own," Edward sighed.

"If he's still alive," Escobar said grimly. "Can he handle himself without a wand?"

Jack jumped over the fence onto the top of the trash barrel and then down to the floor kicking a rat out of the way as he did. He moved and retrieved the wand placing it into a hanky and into his pocket as he watched Steven climb over and then drop down he saw the way Escobar was going and quickly followed behind him. Jack sneezed now at the strong smells he had.

" I hope I don't smell that bad to you escobar" he said and covered his nose and mouth but kept up " Brian is capable of handling himself with out his wand hes trained in hand to hand he insists we all learn it and are capable as well." he said as he moved.

"No," Escobar answered Jack, not entirely focused on Jack. "Be careful. The scent is changing. One of the werewolves' scent is getting stronger. This one...is older.  Powerful. I can smell him. Worth being worried about. Look." He picked up a small tuft of gray hair. "Hair. Not fur," he said. "From his head, not his body."

"Let me see that," Edward frowned. He took the hair sample from Escobar and looked at his. He sniffed it. "I know that smell," he said, a quiet anger from long ago resurrecting.

"From what? An old dog's hair?"

"No," he said.  "The dark ale. This old dog drinks a lot of it these days. Its even in his hair. Don't you smell it?"

"I did. I wasn't interested in it," Escobar said.

"You should be. If this is who I think it is, Brian is very much in trouble."  

Escobar's fine hearing picked up a sound. A cry of pain and distress. "If he is, he's that way," Escobar pointed down another section of alley to the left, heading even farther away. "We're close. Within a couple blocks."

"In that case, let's do this right. Escobar, can you gt behind them?" Edward asked.

"Of course I can. What am I doing? Going after some old dog?"

"Don't you underestimate this old dog," Edward said very seriously. "He's extremely dangerous. Worse than James.  We only want Brian out alive. Jack and Steven, you're with me. All we want to do is distract.  Do not try to beat him. Just distract him.  Escobar, if you can get behind them, you should be able to get Brian out. Are we all clear?"

"Except who this is," Escobar said.

"If it is who I think it is, it is an old enemy of mine. And he isn't going to be happy to see me," Edward said.

Jack listened and watched as Edward spoke noting how the look on his face became serious more so than he had ever seen him he listened between the two and then heard the scream his body wanted to run and help but he didn't, he stayed with them listening and nodding when he was told to stay with Edward he knew he knew best. Jack could not help but shiver hard at the thought but he would not say anything yet. "We should get going" he said and looked at them both. Steven drew his wand and readied himself for a fight that he knew was about to happen.

"we can't hang about, Brian hasn't got the time" Steven said now he wanted to get going and bring Brian back to Khaat. The cry had got him worried he'd never heard anything like it and he hoped Brian was still alive.

Edward looked at Jack seriously. The temptation for Jack to want to strike hard was about to get overwhelming, and Edward wanted to be sure Jack was under control.  

"Now you listen to me," he said. "You have no bloody clue what you're about to run into here.  And if you think James kicked your ass, you've got another thing coming. This man eats 'little boys', as he calls it, like you for a snack.  You're going to want to go get him. Don't. You need to resist any and all desires to take him on.  Stay on task. If you don't, Brian is going to die, and the rest of us will die trying to get him out.  You have got to stay focused."

"Let's go," Escobar urged, smelling more blood now.  

Edward nodded. Escobar changed form, flew off and seemed to disappear against the dark gray sandstone of the buildings around him.  

"Quietly," Edward said. "He will smell us coming.  But lets not give him any more time than necessary."

Edward led the way through the twisted alleys where he'd seen Escobar fly off to.  He could still track the blood trail.  And now he could hear fighting. Then he heard deep, sinister laughter.

"Nice try, Boy," the voice was saying. "He taught you well. But you're just not good enough."

"No, but I am," Edward said, walking into the alley.  Brian was on the ground, wounded, and from what Edward could see, Brian was exhausted. He seemed to have lost the fight more from sheer fatigue than anything else.  And the werewolf that had him by the throat was the most feared werewolf in wizarding history. Brian had found himself in the clutches of Fenrir Greyback himself.  The old werewolf was still more formidable than any other werewolf alive. Brian had reason to be afraid, but he hadn't yielded to it. He had fought hard. Then he had braced himself to die, and when he saw Edward and the others, he froze.  He didn't want anyone else to die because of him.

"Lupin taught him well, Donohue," Greyback laughed.  "Just not well enough.  Too bad.  I might have enjoyed killing his boy twice."

"What do you want with him?" Edward asked.

"Sport," Grayback said. "Its just because I can."

"Your logic always was shitty," Edward scowled.

"You're an old man, Donohue. You don't have any edge anymore," Grayback said.

"You're not 17 either, you old fossil. You want to see who's still got edge? Let's find out, shall we?" Edward said,  motioning to Jack and Steven.

Jack looked at Edward and nodded "Don't worry I'm not planning on letting it get to me that much." he said and looked to who nodded as Jack then took out his wand " I'm human" he said softly and looked to Edward and nodded " don't worry about me " he said and followed him close behind stepping out his eyes went wide as he saw Brian in the grip of a were.

He held himself gripping his wand tight to give him something to focus on his thoughts of his children but of not losing it to be able to focus and think so he would save them rather than flying off the handle and losing them. He saw Steven stand with Edward and he hung back glancing over at Escobar then at Edward.

Edward drew on Fenrir, intending to provoke him, to draw his attention. He was hoping that Jack and Steven would jump in and help because he was not looking to get into a fight with Fenrir Grayback today.

It forced Fenrir to let go of Brian, which was what Edward was hoping for. For Fenrir, the chance to kill Edward Donohue was too great to miss, and Brian was just recreation.

Brian saw that there was going to be a fight, and he tried to rally, to pull himself to his feet, to try to keep anyone from dying for him. Before he could manage to get his footing, there were two hands underneath his shoulders. Brian was ready to fight, to cry out.

"Learn when to shut up," Escobar whispered in Brian's ear, his hands underneath Brian. "Honestly. The things I do for her. We're leaving." He looked up at Edward and Jack and Steven and apparated out with Brian.

Jack and steven watched circle ing him as they saw him drop Brian and escobar grab Brian seeing him leave they heard Edward and watched him go leaving them selves seconds after him arriving in the safe house soon after Edward. Jess saw them arrive and quickly headed over to Escobar and Brian.

"Take him to the bed room hes exausted , Brant the rejuvination potion Robert made please make some and bring it " she said and looke at his neck then to Edward but said nothing only set the finger marks to healing as they moved him.

Khaat jumped when they suddenly ported back in, with Escobar with Brian. She was going to get up and go to him in a hurry, but Marcus stopped her.

"Jess has this," he said quietly. "He doesn't look really wounded. He does look like he's run some sort of marathon. A bit of sleep will do him good. Why don't you stay here with me and let Jess deal with it?"

"I should go check," she said.

"Give them a few minutes and then I'll check. I promise," Marcus said. "Its obvious he's still alive, so try not to worry so much."

"If this was James, I'm going to kill him," she said fiercely.

"Brave talk from a woman who can't see her feet," Marcus teased gently. "You might want to put a hold on the death wish for a month or so. Then if you want to kill him, I'll help you get him. Right now, you're a far better target than an assassin, my dear."

"

Jack heard Khaat and looked at her. " it wasn't James. " he said softly then looked to Marcus not saying any more than that as he moved to pore a drink for himself he felt after this day he needed it and downed it in one go. Steven chuckled as he walked over to him.

" okay pore me one too" he said and took the half filled glass. Brant dove to his room and returned with a small bottle he heade to Khaat and Brians room taking two drops he placed it on a spoon.

" Brian, drink this it will help you not to feel so exausted." he said and let him drink placing the top back on the bottle he placed it back in his bag and looked at Jess. Jess looked at but she felt Brians fatige leave him and she knew it would be moments untill he fell asleep.

" once hes a sleep some one should stay with him" she said " just for an hour or so incase he wakes" she looked to Brant who nodded that he would.