A Birth day

Lucian looked at a suit and picked up a blue one slipping it on he saw Michael walk in " hey Hiss, Michael too" he said and chuckled as he picked up one of the bags as Aria walked over and picked up a suit slipped on a green one.

"I'll come with you " she said and looked to Lucian and Michael. Ruby looked to Angus as she spoke to him " I'll stay with the babies " she said Aria nodded and looked to Angus to confirmation it was okay for her to stay in the duplex.

Angus saw Ruby had made no move to suit up or to ask if Edward or Simone could watch the babies. She intended to stay home, which was pretty normal for her. But, now the newspaper that Angus had seen at Evan's was haunting Angus. Priscilla was loose already. She was now, legally, going by Marie Laveau. The woman who had damned near killed him by burying him alive in a New Orleans swamp was on the loose again. It had chilled him on a whole new level. It haunted him, brought back his memories of being trapped in that coffin. Reminded him of his efforts to try to claw his way out. And now, he was preparing to go down into some godforsaken cave.

Angus smiled and nodded at Ruby. Well, someone had to stay with the damned babies, didn't they?

"I'll be right back," Angus said. He went upstairs to the bedroom. Years ago, Brian had given Angus a silver whiskey flask, and Angus had taken it on missions, particularly when it was cold. He hadn't taken it along for awhile but he wanted it today. He found it in the dresser, tucked under his boxers. He picked it up and found it still was full of whiskey, so he tucked it inside his suit, in an inside pocket and snapped the suit up again. This was one time he honestly had wanted Ruby along, but he wasn't going to let her know that. His job was to be stronger than that, so that was what he would do.

He went back downstairs and was going to shoulder a couple of the canteens at least, but Sam and Victor had snatched them up. There was nothing left for him to shoulder.

"Let's go, Gang," Michael said. "I'll meet you all up at the caves. You lot have two minutes." He apparated out. Sam and Victor didn't wait. They apparated straight out.

"Shall we?" Marcus asked Aria, reaching for her hand.

"Okay, Lucian," Angus said. "Back down in the cave, shall we?"

Ruby saw him head upstairs and looked at Marcus worried she'd done something wrong but when Angus returned she nodded and watched them. Lucian chuckled and watched as Aria took Marcus hand and smiled to him. " lets go" she said holding his hand tight. Lucian looked to Angus and took hold of his suit as they ported to the cave.

" okay, a spelunking here we go" he said in a sing song voice and chuckled as he pulled back the vines for every one then turned on his torch to light the way. " this should be fun , I haven't done this in years, spelunking I mean" he said as he fell in behind Angus and the others holding the torch so they could see the way.

"I have to admit, I'm usually climbing up the outside of one, not crawling down into one," Angus said to Lucian, as they went into the cave. He shivered, even though he really wasn't cold. Michael was already busy searching through all the crooks supply crates. Angus checked the fire. It was cold. Wherever they were, they hadn't stayed here last night.

"Fire's cold," Angus said. "They camped elsewhere last night."

"We'll find 'em," Michael said. "They can't be far."

"I bet they got shut out of the estate when Robert moved the protection grid," Marcus said. "Probably couldn't get back."

"Its as good a conjecture as any other," Angus shrugged. He wondered if they were as inept at surviving winter weather as they were changing into proper looking werewolves. "Now where the devil would I go if i were an utter nitwit at overnights in the woods in winter?"

"Probably to a warm inn in the nearest village," Marcus teased. Angus looked at him. "I was teasing," Marcus said.

"No, but you're right. You're probably right. I bet that's exactly where they went," Angus said. "Suppose we're wasting our time here?"

"Not necessarily," Michael said. "We still need to know where this cave ends, even if its just a dead end. I think we should go through it and check it out."

Lucian chuckled as he heard Angus but he could not help notice the shiver he recognised it as one not rom the cold but something else . Walking with Angus he placed his hand on his shoulder " you'll be fine , we're all here" he said smiling " and you got to tell me that story, be its a dozy and if you do I'll tell you of the time I got caught by the seat of my pants and had to have Michael come get me." he said chuckling as he looked to Angus hoping to have elevated some of the worry from his shoulders.

Hearing Angus say the Fire was cold now he shook his head then looked at the ground around the cave " agreed no new foot prints since we were here last time" he said then looked up as Angus said they might have found a warm inn to stay at with the weather being cold that night. He turned on his light again and looked down the cave " has a point , find the end and maybe find who organised all this" he added and glanced back to where Michael and Angus stood.

Aria searched the crates and found nothing of use until she moved a lid and saw a label still attached to it " hey there's an address on this label" she said to Marcus " could be their base?" she then scrunched her nose " would they be that stupid to leave an address label on?" she tore it off carefuly and handed it to Marcus.

"Thanks," Angus said to Lucian. No point in denying that he'd felt a bit of anxiety about being closed in, in the darkness of the cave. He smiled when Lucian said Michael had had to rescue him. Angus listened when Aria found a shipping label with an address. Marcus took the label and read it.

"Nitwits," Marcus said, now irked. "These arsehats. Honest to Pete."

"What?" Michael asked. "Aria, did you really read the address on the label? Its the property in the village that our cottage is sitting on. The land we have to move that place off of."

"Nice," Michael grinned. "Then we have the right to search it, don't we?"

"The house, yes. The land, no," Angus said. "But I bet you I'm going to search it anyway."

"We, Mate. We," Marcus corrected.

"No, but I think we should split up, in case they're still there," Angus said. "And since Lucian's the auror, maybe he and I should go do that while you guys carry on here. Maybe we can catch these little dopes."

"Well, that would make some sense," Michael said. "Aria? Marcus? Any objections?"

Lucian shrugged and smiled to Angus " no worries " he said softly then turned to look in Aria and Marcus's direction as Aria spoke. Aria looked at the address label again and shook her head " total nitwits" she said and looked to Marcus " they better not damage that cottage" she said " or they will be drinking out of a straw and plaster cast" she said some what irked they could be messing with the cottage Marcus and her home.

Listening to Angus suggestion Aria shook her head " no objections here " she said and looked to Marcus. Lucian looked to Angus and nodded .

"I got my badge on me so anything we find will be admissible in court." he said smiling as he looked to Angus " you lead the way you know where this place is." he said and looked to Michael " shame I'm not crawling threw damp caves with you guys, oh well maybe next time. " he said and chuckled as he held onto Angus.

Angus apparated them to the property where the cottage was. There was a "Sold" sign out front.

"Marcus and Aria bought the property," Angus told Lucian, "but the condition was that they had to move the house off the land. Something about selling it off for a commercial property or something. I forget. Anyway, Brian is enlarging the pond that's in front of our duplex, and this cottage and its out buildings are going on the other side of the pond." He motioned to Lucian and walked back through the property.

As they started to walk, Angus noted there were some trees, but not very many. It was a cottage on a rocky coastline. It looked actually fairly desolate. And as they walked, Angus was just looking at everything.

"This summer," Angus told Lucian, "we were on an assignment, trying to assist some of the aurors in America on a case in New Orleans. And we were after a woman and her boyfriend who were pulling a very expensive and dangerous operation, luring in vulnerable witches and wizards into a big operation. And, when one night when we were trying to wind the case up on an island out in the bayou, some of her men captured me, chucked me into a casket and buried me alive in an old cemetery out in the middle of alligator country. Damned near died for real in that casket. Went unconscious from the lack of oxygen, believing no one would ever find me. The Americans assured me they'd captured this crone and tossed her and her whole gang in jail for the rest of their lives. Only, that isn't what happened, is it? Evan had an American paper on his coffee table, and that paper said today that she's legally changed her name to Marie Laveau, and she's bought a voodoo shop in New Orleans, and she's back in business. Thought I had it all under control--til today. Not sure I do right at the moment. How's that for a doozy of a story? Wait...what's this?" He bent down and picked up some little black rocks from the stony shore.

"You know what these are?" he showed them to Lucian. "These are little pieces of Jet. Gemstones that are in the coal family, but they're actually gemstones. I knew they could still be found somewhere, but apparently there are some on this land right here. That's why they want Marcus to move the bloody cottage, sure as shit. They want to look for these gemstones. Not overly valuable, but still, it would be worth it to clear the land. Probably has nothing to do with the metamorphs that made the cave and make those wonky werewolves, though."

Lucian felt them land and looked around he saw the for sale sign and the cottage it was attached to " nice cottage , he made a good choice" Lucian said then listened to Angus as he spoke of what had happened to him " explains the not wanting to be underground again, I have heard of her though , not in pleasant cercles ether. " he said softly as they looked around the grounds , Finding a shore line he watched as Angus picked up a black stone and showed him it.

" but why go all threw that just for this Jet, its not worth a lot " he said turning the tone over in his hand feeling the smoothness of it then looked at Angus as he handed the stone back to him " the cottage is bought maybe the owner was coursed to sell the cottage separately so they could get a hold of this Jet." he suggested " or they have a different use for it, something in the black magic realm may be?"

"There's a reason you haven't heard of her in pleasant circles. She's a sorceress in the worst terms. Knows our standard dark arts, but she also specializes in dark folk magic like dark voodoo and hoodoo spells. And she and her partner have seer abilities. Powerful stuff, actually. I've seen what they can do with dream magic. Bastards, both of 'em. We should have gotten rid of her when we had the chance.

"You're right about the jet, of course," Angus said. "One of the cheapest gemstones around, and I can't imagine there's massive quantities of it here. I honestly don't know if it can be used for dark purposes, but Gabe would know. We can ask him. In the meantime, we need to look for any sign those metamorphs were here, in case they've been here."

He kept walking back through the lot, and then he smelled wood smoke, like a campfire. He looked around.

"I smell something," he frowned. "Campfire, maybe." As they went around the cottage, he saw a pile of camping gear stacked against one of the outbuildings. "Bingo," Angus said, satisfied. "They're here somewhere. I'd bet money on it. Little idjits saw the house was empty, sold, needed to be moved and likely wouldn't be moved until the winter weather broke, so this was a perfect place to spend the night when they couldnt' get into their supplies at the cave. They're either here or..." He looked around and then he pointed across the street from the cottage. "Coffee shop. Wonder if they're sitting in there, watching us search the property while they stuff their faces with bacon and eggs? Suppose?"