LONDON CALLING

"It's not anything that has any sentimental value to me, Ru," Angus said quietly. "If it's not safe to have around, we're going to get rid of it. My life was with Edward back then. And now my life is with you and with everyone here. I cannot let myself get stuck in whatever weird crap my parents got themselves into."

It was right at that moment that Marcus and Khaat apparated back into the house, and Khaat came straight into the kitchen.

"This isn't anywhere near your time," Michael frowned at her.

"She was in the midst of a board meeting, and she just got up and walked out of the room and told me she had to come straight home right then," Marcus said. "And here we are." She walked over to Gabe and took hold of the pendant by the chain. The moment, she picked it up, the stone around her neck flashed a blinding bright green light and started to scream in so loud of a tone that everyone except her needed to put their hands over their ears.

"What in the name of Merlin...." Gabe exclaimed.

"Well, now we know what it does," Michael said He looked at Angus. "If Gabe is right and they were going to implant this into you, then they were planning on turning you, just like they were turned. They were going to make you a servant of James by making you just like them."

Angus was overwhelmed. His head spun with the thought of how that would have destroyed him, Edward, and everything his entire family had known. And then how it could have easily destroyed everyone and everything with this family too. And Ru, and everything he had thought he wanted with her.

"Steady," Marcus came over and laid his hand on Angus's shoulder. "Breathe. It didn't happen. We stopped it in time. I know that scared the hell out of you but you're alright. Just breathe."

Ruby saw Khaat walk in and take the pendant she ahd also heard Angus say it was nothing important to him and nodded. When Khaat took hold of it and her pendant let out a screaming sound she covered her ears and moved to Angus. She gasped at Michaels explination of what they might have done and held Angus's hand tight "Then please get rid of it." she said but felt Angus become unsteady turning to face him she was glad Marcus was there too.

"Hey, Marcus is right we're all here, we're all safe, thanks to you it was found before anything was done and Im sure Gabe will dispose of it safely." she tried to reasure him hoping it was working as she glanced at Khaat and Gabe. Jess and Abby returned from shopping no sooner she appeared she held her head.

"Gods please take that thing away from here" she said feeling the throb in her temples growing. " its bad, you feeling too Khaat?" she asked knowing She would but seeing Khaats neclace glowing she shook her head.

"I feel it too," Khaat said. "That was some very serious dark magic. I felt it all the way to London. I knew someone was in danger and I needed to get home." She wrapped her hand around the necklace, hoping that by wrapping her own energies around the stone, the stupid thing would shut up.

"It never stopped with them, did it?" Angus said, angry with his parents. "I wasn't worth anything, so evidently, I was disposable to them. What human being wishes that on their own child? Never mind. I already know." Marcus was glad to see Angus move from being rattled to being angry.

"We staying for awhile?" Marcus asked Khaat.

"Yeah, for a little," she said. She knew what Marcus wanted. "Go ahead. I won't go without you." Marcus nodded.

"Come on," Marcus told Angus. "Let's go burn off some of that steam." Angus got up and left the blanket behind and went outside with Marcus.

"He's just going to take him on a walk to give him a chance to get rid of some of that anger," Khaat told Ruby. "I think Marcus would rather take him on a run but he knows that's out until Angus' shoulder can stand it. The vibrations would just cause him a lot of swelling and soreness that he doesn't need before they leave on that mission."

Edward had been outside fishing at the pond, and he had a stringer of fish. He had 7 nice large trout that he'd caught, and he brought them in to try to find some knives to clean them. But as he walked into the kitchen, the dark magic energies caught his attention immediately.

"What in the world..." he began. He walked straight over to Gabe and saw him holding the necklace.

"That's disgusting," Edward scowled at it. "Who is demented enough to make a necklace out of a vial like that?"

"Your daughter in law, apparently," Gabe said. "I think the blood is Angus's, but here' the kicker. It's been contaminated with lycanthropy. Wait. What's this?" He pressed a little button on the top of the pendant and a spring loaded needle sprang out of the bottom of the pendant. "I think they were planning on turning him."

"Should have disposed of them before now," Edward said, angry. "Does he know?"

"Yeah. Marcus took him out for a walk to blow off some steam."

"Good. One thing I'll say for Gelding--this plan is ambitious. It barely gives us time to breathe before he's taking a swipe at another one of us," Edward said.

"I'll take those," Michael told Edward, taking the stringer of fish and going to clean them. Michael needed to be busy.

"Well, I found something that might be worthwhile to the organization at some point," Khaat said.

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"Thomas Gelding has two sons and a daughter," he said. That captured Michael's attention immediately. He spun around to look at her. She nodded. "The daughter is the youngest, and she just graduated this May from Hogwarts. The kids all went to Hogwarts under assumed names. Not legal names, of course. And they all have different mothers. Their real last names are Gelding, of course, but clearly he's been trying to hide them from us."

"Your father is going to like this immensely," Michael said. "All of them Slytherins, I presume?"

"Just like their father and their mothers," Khaat nodded.

"Well, well, well. I see three potential bargaining chips, if need be," Michael said.

Ruby watched as Agnus left with Marcus a sshe held the blanket in her arms Turning to face Khaat she nodded and folded the blanket back up , placing it on the seat Angus had been sat on. Seeing ther string of fish she looked at Michael " I'll help with that" she said taking out two chopping boards and filleting knifes.

Jess was glad when the feeling subsides a little from around her. She could not help jump when the needle popped out of the pendant " thats just sickening for an adult or child to suffer that." she said Jack looked and shokm his head anger in his eyes as he looked at it.

"Jes is right its bad enough being bitten to be turned but to have it done sneakily is the work of a mad person." he said " and didn't they know , magority of children don't servive the change, they would risk there own son?" he gave a growl and shook his head again. " glad Marcus took him out, but what we going to do about this ..thing>" he asked " it can't stay here unless bound."

"They never gave one damn about Angus," Edward said. "That's why Caprice and I had him most of the time from the day he was born until we finally took permanent custody. And, honestly, when he was with us, he was the happiest baby I've ever seen. It got to the point where the minute his mother would pick him up, he would cry like his little heart was just broken.

"She would take him for an overnight--always on a night when Benjamin was hosting some sort of corporate dinner party, and he had to look like he was the perfect executive, perfect husband and perfect father. He needed to have Angus there for appearances' sake.

"Angus was a favorite of their corporate muggle friends because he was always happy to be in anybody else's hands but his parents'. His stupid muggle friends apparently could never read the signs that he was seriously neglected at his parents' hands. I would go over to Benjamin's early in the morning, and I would find Benjamin and Eileen passed out from entirely too much alcohol the night before. Angus would be in his crib. He was always wet and cold and hungry. The cocktail parties stopped after something happened at one of them. I never got the whole story, but one of Benjamin's friends rescued Angus from Eileen who apparently was threatening some sort of harm against Angus. The friend took Angus from Eileen and when she finally passed out, the friend brought Angus to me, telling me Angus was not at all safe to be with his parents. Benjamin and Eileen blamed Angus for the whole incident, and I'm not sure he ever went back to their home again after that--period. As I recall, he wasn't even two yet."

"The boy deserved to be more than a cocktail party game for them," Michael said, irked.

"And that is about all he was to them. I remember of Benjamin raging after that night, saying 'Angus blew it.' What a complete failure of a man Benjamin was," Edward said.

"I want Robert to see this thing before I destroy it," Gabe said, knowing that apparently everyone else was afraid to have the pendant in the house at all. "I'm not about to let it hurt anyone, for goodness' sakes. I'll lock it up upstairs in Robert's workroom til he comes home, and, yes, I will cast an age line across the doorway so a certain little lady can't get in."

Ruby looked up and at the pendant she wanted to take it and drop it into the nearest bottomless ravine for Angus's sake but she knew to just continue with filleting the fish even though she knew michael would and could see her anger at her some what less than percice cuts to the fish infront of her. She heard him say he would put it in Roberts room and cast an age spell to stop little girls wanting to play with it.

"good, that thing needs to be thrown down the nearest bottomless pit." she said realising she was pointing with the knife and she put it down beside the cutting board. Jack walked over and looked at the fish.

"Hum, looks like that fish got what for, wouldn't you say Michael?" he said glancing over at his fish. Ruby looked down then placed both hands on the counter,

"Im sorry, it just urks me the wrong way every time I hear what his perents did and how they treated him, hes the most intelagent, smart kind, kind loyal man I know." she took a deep breath and calmed herself. " I'd be the same with any perent that did that to their child, its inhumane how they treated him."

"I'm not going to let it hurt him or anybody else," Gabe said. "And he's smart enough not to muck with it, so I think you're safe."

"That fish isn't worth much except for fish cakes, Ruby," Michael teased. "Some lovely obliterated trout, there. I'll have to check my cookbooks to find recipes for mangled trout."

"I didn't like it either, Ruby," Edward said. "But consider for one moment the sort of man he might have been had he spent more time with them to follow in their footsteps. I think the man you see is because he wasn't around them much from then on. Caprice and I had temporary custody by the time he was three, and before he was five, we had permanent custody. Benjamin didn't willingly come to see him or take him for a visit after that cocktail party. Eileen would come for a visit, but Caprice and I never left him alone with her."

"Did you ever find out what happened between Eileen and Angus that night?"

"More or less," Edward said. He didn't answer right away. Then, he looked, seeing Gabe still wanting an answer. "Their friend who brought Angus to me that night said Eileen was trying to lob him into the wall. Caprice and I decided he was never again going anywhere with them, and Benjamin didn't want him after that, so the decision was pretty mutual. Besides that, Angus clearly hated them by then anyway, even before he could speak."

"You should have offed them then," Michael said, stacking up some of the neat fillets he had cut and taking another fish to clean.

"I hate to say it, but I thought about it," Edward said. "I was so angry that it did cross my mind. I didn't think I would ever have to actually do it, though."

Jack listened and saw Ruby shaking a little as Edward spoke more taking her hsoulders in his hands he led her to a seat and sat her down. He chuckled a litle at the fish " hum breaded fish cakes?" he said " or pouched fish in a cheese sauce." he wiped his mouth as if he was drooling making Ruby chuckle and relax again. " they were not worth the air they breathed." Jack said " but Micheals right, nobody does that to a child, thank goodness that freind was there and knew right from wrong." Ruby sat and nodded.

"I know, you and Eileen influanced him in the right way, Im happy for the man he became." she said glancing at the back door. " I will use the gym for a while, if thats okay." she said and stood up she looked at the locket and shook her head as she left the room. Jess moved to take over the filliting of the fish or what remaind of the half not cut to bits.

"Hum, I see what you mean Michael" she said holding up a fillet with multiple holes stabbed in it.

"Well, I insisted that they hire nannies that I approved of for the other kids. Benjamin and Eileen were jet setters and were rarely home, but I made sure the kids were well taken care of. That was the only way I was going to let Benjamin and Eileen have custody of their kids. One misstep, and they knew those kids would be mine--period, end of discussion. I probably should have taken custody of them too but by then Caprice was sick, and she just wasn't able to have any more kids brought into the house to raise. The best I could do was nannies and boarding schools until they were old enough to go to Hogwarts.

"The man he became is a fine reflection of you, though, Edward," Michael said, finishing with another fish. "Jess, I think we have more than enough fish for a fine fish supper sometime, but I know Ruby made lasagna for tonight. I think, if we seal the fish in an airtight container and refrigerate it, it should keep for supper tomorrow night. What do you think? And, I wonder if I should put together a caesar salad and some garlic bread to go with the lasagna. Didn't you say Simone brought some ice cream home from your trip into town this morning? Maybe we could use that for dessert."

Michael glanced out the window and saw that Marcus and Angus were back, and Marcus was starting to help Angus through some slow careful stretches with his shoulder.

"Good. Marcus and Angus are back. Looks like Marcus is showing Angus some stretches he can do with that shoulder to loosen it up. If it's going to take us two or three days before we need to climb, maybe that will help it from blowing out."

He heard the sound of apparating into the living room, and he recognized the distinctive crackling sound.

"That would be Robert home for the day," Michael said.

"Papa!" Abbey's little delighted squeal from the living room seemed to confirm Michael's guess. A moment later, Robert came into the kitchen, carrying Abbey, who had her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Well, this crew looks rather dismal," Robert said. "Did I miss something?"

"Angus found an interesting piece of jewelry in his mother's jewelry box," Gabe said. "I was going to take it upstairs but I hadn't gotten there yet with it." He dangled the pendant up so Robert could see it.

"What sort of a foul piece of dark magic is that?" Robert frowned. "Someone really took a vial of blood and made a necklace out of it? That's disgusting."

"And not just any old vial of blood. It's Angus's, and its been contaminated with lycanthropy. And, look." He showed Robert the needle contained in the pendant's design.

"Now, that just makes me angry," Robert said. "What are you plans for it?"

"I'm going to destroy it," Gabe said. "I just wanted you to see it first.'

"And you're sure it's contaminated?"

"Made Khaat's necklace go full out bonkers," Michael said.

"Good enough for me," Robert said. "Yeah. Let's destroy it. Anything else dark in that box?"

"Dunno. But I'll go through it," Gabe said.

"Thank you. Abbey and I are hungry. When are we eating?"

"We'll get Ruby's lasagna in the oven and put some sides together," Michael said. "Give us a bit."

Jess listened to Michael and nodded " sounds good and yes she did , abby sugested the cookie bowls again but peanut butter cookie bowls instead to go with teh ice cream." Jess moved to the freezer and removed the ice cream to show him. " I'll get the lasagna in the oven if you want to start the salad while I make the bowls, we'll leave Ruby in the gym." she said but Jack moved to head down to the gym he found her just sat on a bench,

"That thing is vial" she said not looking at Jack " sorry about before not sure why I got so angry, well I do but still I shouldn't have." she said looking down at her now bound hands as she'd been using the punching bag. "Maybe I should ask Kate if she teach me some breathing excersies to stop my anger, don't worry I would never hurt any one." Jack just stod and listened to her talk. then he moved and slipped on a pair of gloves.

"come on then" he said doing up the straps" I did this with Jess now your turn, you can't hurt me so ...bring it" he said "or don't you think you can" he taunted. Ruby stood up and moved to face him, she brught up her hands and tried to hit him but he moved dodging left then right. " awe come on im not even breaking a sweat" he taunted again at her. This time Ruby swung and hit him hard across his jaw it made him take a step back and rub his jaw but he chuckled. " alright, again."

Jess looked up and chuckled as she felt Jack get hit but said nothing knowing he was making Ruby work out all the anger as he ahd with her when they ahd first met. " dinner wont be long " she said forming several cookie bowls for the ice cream. She also made a lemon meringue pie and browned the top using a fire spell that was very low just to crisp the tips.