Marriage is Murder

Khaat leaned down to peek in the jar, since she couldn't pick it up. The plant started to screech at her in a high pitched, horrid scream.  

"Damn," Brian cussed. "This thing is annoying as hell. I vote we set it on fire."

Marcus drew his wand and lit the tip with a small flame. He held it close to the jar and the plant sample backed up to the other side of the jar, becoming silent.

"Well, it doesn't like that idea," Marcus said.

"Its hungry," Khaat said automatically, looking out over the water.

"And how would you know that?" Brian frowned. She stopped and thought and looked at him.

"I have no idea," she said.

"Alright, and what exactly does it eat?"

"Daddy's right. It is a parasite. It feeds on living creatures. Maybe we need to feed it."

"Maybe we need to leave the jar sealed until your father gets back," Marcus said. "Judging by how big the parent plant was, I don't want that thing outgrowing its jar like some bad muggle horror film before your father gets back."

"And that reminds me," Brian said, "If you intend to go back down there, you really do need to figure out a way to get past it so it doesn't try to eat you again."

"I know," she said. "I don't have that figured out yet."

Cassidy looked at the green creature and frowned " what does something like that eat?" she asked then looked at the ocean then at the jar. " fish maybe?" she asked as she continued " drat dropped another" she cursed and then picked it up again " its not as easy as you make it look" she said and chuckled.

Brant chuckled and shook his head " I've seen women work for months on items then have to destroy them because it wasn't right" he told them " but yours Kate looks warm and beautiful" he said smiling running his fingers over the weaving. Cassidy rolled her eyes.

"Hey haven't you got books to read, or a wedding to plan?" she asked and Brant chuckled and nodded.

" ow yes " he said and dove down below deck. Cassidy chuckled softly to her self.

" its like we have a love sick teen boy on board not a full grown man" she chuckled as she looked at seeing the pattern she was making." I bet that takes practice?" she asked. Jess looked at Jeffery and smiled as she passed him by a she headed back up to on deck to be with Jess and Brian.

"Jeffery will be leaving soon." she said softly to them both as she sat down she touched Brian and found him to be fine. Khaat was different she drew off some pain she felt creeping on to her then added some energy to keep her going. Jess felt the pain from the sound the creature made and rubbed her temples a little.

"It eats fish only out of sheer necessity," she said. "It doesn't really like it. It feeds on...life."

"Life," Brian said, thinking. "How deeply are you into this plant's head? Well..."

"It doesn't have a head," she scowled.

"You know what I mean. Answer my question."

"I don't know," she said. "I'm honestly not thinking about it. You asked, and I answered."

"Be precise. What does it eat?"

"It needs seer's energies," she said.

"And now its had a taste of you. What does it want? Your seer's energies? Your blood? What?"

"No clue. But its specific to seers."

"We're not opening that damned jar until your father gets back," Kate said. "And if it continues to be a nuisance, I'll drop the stinking jar overboard." She listened to Brant complimenting her work. "I'm hoping this piece will be decent enough to hang up on the wall someplace at home."

"I like Jeffrey," Brian said. "But he's going to make Robert bananas. He needs to give him some space."

Jess sat and shivered at the thought of what it ate " well..keep it away from me too" she said taking a step back from it. Cassidy shook her head and kept on weaving.

"How long have you been weaving that for?" she asked Kate trying to steer the conversation away from the green thing in the jar and the noise it was making. She was in agreement with Khaat about getting rid of it as soon as possible as she could see what it was doing to Khaat and the other seers aboard ship.

It wasn't long Steven and Jack appeared at Edwards compound. Walking up to the door Steven knocked. He was greeted by a young boy. " um is Edward around?" he asked him with a smile. Jack felt a little uneasy being around so many werewolf hunters but he didn't let it show outwardly.

"Oh, not long," Kate answered Cassidy. "Just a few days. "We lost some of the artwork we had when we had the fire at the farm, and we haven't been there in months, but I do need to replace it with some new things. Robert and I, much as we love you all, really don't want to be out of our own home forever. So I'm working on some things to put the farmhouse back into some sort of shape that feels like home again. It has the essentials. It just doesn't have what we need to make it feel like home."

The young Donohue boy certainly knew a werewolf when he saw one. He scowled, hesitant to open the door of the compound for any werewolf. It was forbidden.

"Wait," the boy said cautiously, shutting the heavy wooden door again, shutting Jack out. The little boy ran over to the grape arbor where Edward was sampling the grapes. "Nonno, un lupo mannaro!" the boy said frantically. Edward frowned.

"Si?" Edward asked.

"Si!" the boy nodded.

"Dove?" Edward asked.

"Alla porta."

"Stare qui," Edward replied. He went to the door and opened it. "Oh. I should have figured. No werewolf in his right mind knocks, and certainly on my door. Come in." He brought Jack into the beautiful compound courtyard. "Relax," he told the children. "He's a friend. Go and play." The children seemed to think no more about it and they went back to their games. "The kids are all naturally bilingual. They hear the Italian and the English daily naturally, so what they end up knowing is some sort of a mix of Italian and English sort of scrambled together. Its what happens when British kids are raised in Italy."

Jack watched as the door closed he understood and respected the boy for following orders. Steven just stood and chuckled f or a second then seeing the look on Jacks face stopped. When the door opened again they both followed Edward into the courtyard. Jack smiled seeing the children playing." this place is amazing and beautiful" he told him. They both listened as Edward spoke again.

"We just came to find out how they are, Khaat is getting a bit worried her absence was worrying the children" he looked around and smiled knocking a small ball with his foot back to them so they could play "Doesn't seem to bother them much, how are the twins doing?" he asked and chuckled at Jack " go find them" he said but he didn't have to all three ran happily to him and gave him a huge hug which he returned just as much now smiling and relived they were safe.

Steven looked at Edward "Things went asque, Brian drowned because he was caught in a trap but we got him back , he was out of it for a few days but it seems his memory's has come back, but he...he broke Khaat's one good arm to get her to leave him" he told Edward as he moved to sit down for a moment. He smiled as little Catline walked over and gave him a hug showing a drawing she had done for him. He picked her up and rested her on his knee. " its a place like this I could retire to when the time comes." he said softly.

"And you see now why I choose this as my primary home over England," Edward laughed. "At my age, one wants to be out of the cold and the damp.  And cold and damp is, at times, synonymous with England, I'm afraid.

"I knew you'd run into trouble," Edward said. He wasn't sure Jack knew he had been summoned to help Michael dismantle and remove the trap off the ship.  "The kids are welcome to stay here as long as you need," Edward continued.  "I knew this wasn't going to be just overnight. But I also know that Khaat is a good mother, and she wouldn't be normal if she weren't worried about the newborns. But they're fine. The only problem I can see is that my family loves having little tiny ones around again, and I'm afraid your children are all going to return to you completely ruined.  Much as I try to hold them to your schedule, my family insists on spoiling them completely rotten, I'm afraid," he laughed. "Outside of that, we're doing swimmingly. The older tots are learning to eat all kinds of new fruits and vegetables, and I can't seem to hardly keep enough fruit to please Khaat's children. Odd ones they are--they have their choice between fruit and pastries, and her children will almost always choose fruit. Not sure how Khaat's done that, exactly.  But the rest of them, on the other hand, are true Brits and have enormous sweet tooths and will pick the pastries any time over fruit. Especially yours. They're much too much like their father."

Jack chuckled and nodded " yeah, I see why its a beautiful country." Steven said Jack looked over as Edward spoke of the children and how they ate.

" yeah sorry always had that I'm afraid" he said softly and smiled as Little Robert walked over and held him in a hug. Steven listened to Edward again and nodded with a smile.

"We'll tell Khaat when we at back she'll be happy to hear there doing well, as for begin spoiled I don't think they mind in the least" he said noticing the sun dip slightly. " Jack, we should be getting back" he said and stood up " is there any message or and thing you want us to take back to the ship?" he asked placing down Catlin who ran off to play with the others. Jack let his children run and play and moved to stand with Steven.

" yeah we have a pocket full of clothes for Khaat already more isn't going to harm?" Jack said and watched Edwards face and the people behind him talking among them selves.

"Oh, just tell her not to worry," Edward said simply. "The compound has never been breeched. Its unplottable and almost completely impregnable. You all do what you need to do."  He paused and frowned. "Its not that simple, is it? There's more to this. What mischief are you lot into this time? Please tell me you're not looking for more of those bloody traps. Enjoy your cruise and let that underwater nonsense alone. It's Brian, isn't it? He's got to get it right, doesn't he?"

He wanted answers, but he was interrupted. He heard the sounds of an angry baby somehow approaching and then saw his 11 year old granddaughter bringing one of Khaat's newborns to him. The girl looked exceptionally frustrated, and the child was nigh onto a screaming fit.

"He just screams all the time, Nonno," she looked at him helplessly.

"Ah, well," Edward smiled at her calmly. He took the baby from her and laid it on his shoulder. "That's what they do, Mia."

"He's not wet, he's not hungry, he's not..."

"Sometimes they're cranky just because they're unhappy," Edward soothed her. "Which one is this?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I can't tell them apart."

"Neither can anyone else," Edward laughed. He looked at the tiny dot Robert had put on the babies wrists. "Ah. Daniel. Should have known. He's the noisy one. My guess is Daniel is just being Daniel. I'll keep him awhile. Go back and tend to Benjamin until I call for you."

"Si, Nonno," she said, relieved to not have Daniel for the moment.

Steven sighed and nodded " yes and I wish I could " he looked at Edward as he said it was Brian " I think its a bit of both, Khaat seems compelled to search these things out" he said as Jack walked over and faced them both he moved out of the way to let the young girl with one of Khaats twins walk over to Edward . He smiled as Edward could tell which one was which baby. " you noticed the mark" he said smiling Jack chuckled.

"We had to put our in different tee shirts for a while, now we can tell them apart easily, James likes to destroy and Jaylen is a pink girl" he said and smiled seeing them play happily together. Both men nodded and looked at the time " we should be getting back Tobias sent a lot of clothes for both Brian and Khaat " he said patting both his pockets to show just how full they were. " we'll pass on th message the children are all happy and spoiled rotten " he said and chuckled. With one last hug to the kids both men Ported back to the ship and went to find Khaat and Brian.