Notes from the Past

by Tanya Reed

Well, here it is folks—the final chapter. I hope you have all enjoyed this story. Please forgive this part for being slightly strange.

Disclaimer: I don't own Relic Hunter.

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Part 2, Chapter 5

The moment Sydney and Nigel entered Karen's room to announce that they had returned, they knew something was wrong. Claudia's face was as white as a sheet, and Karen's face was flushed and stunned.

"What is it?" Sydney demanded as she pulled off her gloves and started unbuttoning her jacket.

Claudia glanced at Karen, who answered, "It's the waitress, her name was June Morrow. She's dead."

"Dead?"

"Was it Harrington?" Nigel asked, also unbuttoning his jacket.

"I don't know, but she didn't die a very...nice...death."

Sydney frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Her body was ripped and torn as if she'd been attacked by an animal," Claudia said faintly.

"What?"

"I guess that's not so uncommon around here," Karen continued. "At least, that's what the policeman I talked to told me. There are predators in the forest. They found her in the playground."

"Dead women tell no tales," Nigel said grimly.

Sydney sighed. "I wish I could have talked to her. Maybe we should have waited for her last night."

"That's when she was killed." Karen stood up, rubbing her arms. "Sometime around midnight."

"She didn't even know anything. They didn't have to kill her!"

"If it was indeed Harrington," Nigel said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It could have been an animal as they suspect."

"Oh, it was him. I know it was. It was a warning."

"So, what do we do?"

"We go to the museum and find out what all this is about."

"Museum?" Claudia asked, some color coming back to her face. "What museum?"

It was Sydney's turn to fill Karen and Claudia in on what they had learned at Shady Acres.

When she finished, Claudia looked at her in awe as she said, "I guess this means we're close, huh?"

"Very."

"You know, Syd," Karen commented, "I don't think I've ever been there when you discovered a relic before."

"I have," Claudia said. "And twice, it wasn't all that great. But this time is going to be better."

Karen raised an eyebrow.

"Once, Claudia was kidnapped," Sydney explained, "and the other time, well..."

She trailed off and Claudia shuddered. "It was not fun...But the necklace was worth it."

Sydney smiled at her. "That's my girl."

"Some day, you're going to have to tell me that story, Claudia," Karen insisted.

"Sure." Claudia stood up. "But now, I could go for some grub. I think they serve salads in the hotel restaurant."

Nigel nodded enthusiastically. "I could go for some lunch myself—a big juicy hamburger."

Claudia stuck out her tongue. "You are so gross, Nigel!"

This broke the tension in the air and they all laughed in relief. Sydney dug through her satchel and found a fifty, so she offered to buy everyone lunch, which perked them up even more.

After breakfast, they headed over to the museum, which was a big, stately building near the library. It had once been the home of the first mayor of Clarksville, and the place hadn't been touched, except for restorations, for about a hundred and fifty years.

As they entered the front doors, a perky, dark haired woman came over to them.

"Hello!"

Sydney smiled at her, despite wincing at her sheer volume. "Hello."

"Is this your first time in the Clarksville Museum?" She flashed her smile at Karen and Claudia, and then she sized up Nigel appreciatively.

"Yes, it is. We've heard that most of the house is as it has been for the past hundred years."

"Yes. Donald Clark's descendants were very proud of him. In the 1890s, they restored everything to the way it was. It became a museum about twenty years later. The mistress of the house at the time was instrumental in it. She was married into the family, not even a descendant."

"Really?" Sydney asked, a suspicion in her mind. "What was her name?"

"Patricia Harrington, I believe."

Claudia gasped and Karen elbowed her

"Is something wrong?" The dark haired woman asked.

"No," Sydney assured her. "There are a lot of Harringtons in town, aren't there?"

"They are a very influential family." Sydney nodded but didn't reply, so the guide asked, "Would you like a guided or unguided tour?"

"Unguided."

"Okay. Just stay behind the ropes. Here are your information pamphlets."

She handed them each a small book, her hand lingering on Nigel's for just a second longer than necessary. Sydney raised her eyebrow at him, causing him to blush and Karen to giggle.

When the woman was out of earshot, Sydney said, "Remember what we're looking for."

Claudia reached into her jeans pocket and took out a piece of paper, which she waved in front of Sydney.

"Good. We'll make better time if we split up. Karen, you go with Claudia. If you find something you think could be the dead fathers or the stone crosses, come and get me. All right?"

"We'll be fine," Karen assured her, then the two of them moved off, one holding the book and one the piece of paper.

Nigel groaned under his breath. "What have we unleashed on this poor museum?"

Sydney just threw him a grin. "Ready?"

"As always. Where are we off to, Syd?"

"Since Claudia and Karen are searching down here, why don't we search upstairs?" She consulted her guide. "It says here there are three bedrooms, a study, and a library up there. I also want to check the hallways."

"The hallways?" He gave her a strange look. "Why the hallways?"

"It's just a strange feeling I have about the dead fathers."

"Okay."

They approached the house's curved stairway. It was wide enough that she and Nigel had no problems walking it side by side. As they went up, Sydney studied the banister.

"Anything?" Nigel asked.

"No, but the stairs were a long shot."

They started searching rooms methodically, sneaking under the red rope to search walls and ceilings and nooks and crannies. The bedrooms were first and, while interesting, didn't hint at anything like what they were looking for.

Sydney had hoped to find pictures of ancestors along the hallway, representing the "dead fathers", but it only yielded wallpaper and a horrible painting of a frightened girl under the pale light of the moon. Sydney studied it for several minutes, noting the terror on the girl's face, her slashed clothing, and a shadow that fell across her trembling body. The plaque underneath said: "The prey. Painting by William Harrington, 1803. Donated to the museum by its founder, Patricia Harrington."

"The Harrintongs are one creepy family," Nigel said from behind her, making her jump.

"Yes, they are."

She knew they were on to something as soon as they entered the library. At first, she wasn't sure why. There were the expected books from floor to ceiling, with gaps to allow for windows, paintings, and a big mahogany desk with a dusty globe.

"Search carefully, Nigel," she said, "I think we might have something here."

"Okay."

As they had in the other rooms, they stepped over the waist high ropes. Sydney went to the desk, and Nigel went to the bookshelves. She had just knelt to study the drawers on the front of the desk, wondering if they could be hiding what they sought, when Claudia and Karen entered noisily.

Sydney glanced up. "I thought you guys were checking out downstairs."

"There wasn't much down there," Karen told her. "How are you guys making out?"

"We haven't found anything yet either."

"What about that?" Claudia asked, pointing up.

The others followed her finger, which was pointed at one of the ceiling's corners. Along the molding, as white as bone, was a cross. Looking at the other corners, Sydney saw that all of them had small but perfect crosses.

A slow smile spread over her face. "What do you want to bet that, unlike the rest of the molding, those crosses are made of stone?"

"Yeah," Nigel replied, "and I think I found something too."

"What's that?" She moved across the room to see what he was looking at.

He reached into the bookcase and brought out a tome bound with red leather. This, he handed to Sydney.

"This shelf has four of these."

"What are they?" she asked.

"Family histories, from the time the Clarks came over from Europe until about 1950. These records were kept even after the house was turned into a museum."

Sydney flipped through the book in excitement. "So, it wasn't pictures after all, Nigel. Family records!"

"Then, we're definitely on the right track?" Karen asked.

"It looks like it."

Claudia looked at the piece of paper she still had crumpled in her hand. "So...we just need to figure out what Nic meant about 'horror of death' and 'birth of life'."

Sydney's eyes scanned the room. Not far from where she was standing, there were two paintings, side by side. These were also by William Harrington. One of the paintings was of a slender, blond haired, green eyed woman emerging from some sort of leaf, her arms reaching towards the sun, her face bathed in light and full of ecstasy. The other was of the same woman, lying in a field full of flowers, her heart pierced with an arrow and blood trickling down her pale skin. In both paintings, the woman was naked. They were titled "Beginning" and "End".

"There." Her hand went instinctively to Nigel's shoulder.

"I think you've got it, Syd," he replied almost immediately.

Claudia and Karen went over to study the paintings, while Sydney and Nigel shared a triumphant look.

"Do you think the whole family is crazy?" Claudia asked, squinting to better see the woman in the painting's wounds.

"They just might be," Sydney said, "though Cougar is nice enough. My uncle shouldn't be the only one locked up—at least he's harmless."

She joined the other two to also study the paintings. As she got closer, she noticed that both of them had a small round circle about the size of the pad of her thumb on the lower right hand corner. Up close, the circles turned out to be miniature symbols matching the cougar on the coin.

She ran a gentle finger over the one on "Beginning", feeling that the texture was just slightly different. She pushed harder and heard a small click.

"Karen, can you press the cat symbol on the lower right hand corner of that painting?"

"Cat symbol?" Karen walked up to the painting. "Oh, I see it!"

She reached out and pushed. Sydney heard another click before a section of the wall moved away to reveal an opening and a very dark flight of stairs. Used to this sort of thing, Sydney dug in her satchel and found flashlights. She handed them around before taking one for herself.

She ran a glance over her friends and said, "Ready?"

The three of them nodded as one. Sydney would have found it funny if the whole thing weren't so serious. Claudia and Karen looked slightly frightened but Nigel, for once, looked determined. There was not a hint of fear on his face.

When had that changed? She wondered. When had he become so brave?

But then, she thought, he had always been brave. Courage wasn't not being afraid. Courage was being terrified of the demon and steadfastly going forward to meet it anyway. Nigel had never refused to go where she led. She never had to question that, and she had never had to question him.

He met her eyes and asked, "What?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

Sydney went first. She liked going first because she could deal with any threat before it reached the rest of her party.

The stairs were stone, and the air was stale and cold. The walls were also stone, made from blocks, and slightly damp.

"Watch your step," Sydney said behind her as she shone her light ahead.

Karen was directly behind her, and Nigel brought up the rear. As they descended, a slight breeze tickled Sydney's face and played with her hair.

She pushed away cobwebs and carefully stepped as she had instructed the others. They were quiet, which was unusual, at least for Claudia.

The stairs went down until they would have been parallel with the house's basement. She could tell the moment they went underground because the air turned even colder.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Sydney shone her light around. They were in a small room with stone walls and an earthen floor. The room itself was empty. She stepped into it, running her light around again, this time more slowly.

"It's a dead end!" Claudia said, exasperation in her voice.

"I don't think so." This was Nigel. He had wandered a bit away from the others and was staring at the wall furthest from them.

Sydney hurried over to see what he'd found. As she got closer, her light joined Nigel's, illuminating words written in the wall's stone. Her mouth opened slightly as she moved her light to the top and began to read. Written there, with every word carved into a different piece of stone, was a poem that looked all too familiar.

Darkness comes on an unsuspecting world
And something dangerous takes shape
Claws and teeth and intelligence
Lives and blood to rend and take

It haunts the night
It loves the dark
It longs to tear and crush
It shies from light
That stops its heart
And turns its life to dust

The stillness breaks with one shrill cry
The victims run but still must die
The cat is loose to rule with fear
The moon has risen, the time is near

Scream and moan, flesh and bone
The prey to bleed as the monster feeds
It reeks of death, ripping into flesh
But it cannot stay come light of day

"I still hate that poem," Claudia commented as she and Karen came up beside Sydney.

"Yes," she agreed, "but this time, it is a lock just waiting for its key."

"What do you mean?"

Sydney reached into her pocket and drew out the coin, once more caressing its words with gentle fingers. She didn't even have to read them in the dim light because she knew them by heart: Darkness. Claws. Teeth. Blood. Haunts. Crush. Heart. Dust. Shrill. Victims. Cat. Moon. Scream. Bone. Feeds.

It finally made sense.

She moved closer, but motioned the others to stay back in case there was a trap. Coming within arm's length of the wall, she studied it without touching it to make sure she really understood the clue. A small indentation the same size as the coin at the base of the poem clinched it for her.

Carefully, Sydney put the coin in the indentation, with the words pointed out. Then, she reached up and touched the stone containing the word "darkness". It gave a little, and she heard a faint click.

"The coin tells you which words to press to unlock the door," Nigel explained to Karen and Claudia.

Sydney smiled to herself, pleased that Nigel had also figured it out.

"Not to mention which words to press to avoid triggering a trap," she added.

"You think there's a trap?" Karen asked.

"If what's in here is precious enough to kill for, there are traps."

She touched the word "claws" and was rewarded with another faint click. Slowly, she went through the words, repeating each one in her mind before she pressed it. She did not want to make a mistake.

As her fingers pressed "feeds", the wall gave a groan and a shudder. Claudia squeaked, and Sydney, from the corner of her eye, saw Karen grab Nigel's arm.

With a horrible screech, the wall began to rise. Beyond it was another room, vast and giving off a stale, musty scent. Near the door, Sydney's light revealed the remains of three people.

Besides the corpses, the room contained several chests. At first glance, she guessed there were at least twenty. All were wooden with big golden latches but no locks.

As the others entered, Claudia said, "Eww, Sydney. Do all of your adventures involve dead people?"

"A good many," Nigel answered. "We do look for relics."

"I wonder what's in those chests." This was Karen, her blue eyes wide.

Sydney threw her a look. "Then, let's see, shall we?"

"Are there traps?"

She stopped a moment, getting the feel of the room. Nothing dangerous jumped out at her. She just felt death and age and silence.

"I don't think so, just be careful. Keep your eyes and ears open, and if I give a warning, do what I say without question. Okay?"

Karen and Claudia both agreed. Nigel didn't have to, he had done this so many times that his instincts were as good as hers.

She carefully moved forward, senses alert. Reaching the first chest, Sydney knelt to open it. She touched the latch and paused, but still no trap manifested itself.

The others scattered to various chests across the room, but they waited for her before opening any of them.

She flipped the latch and raised the lid. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she took in what was inside. Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been books and paper.

Absently, she heard Claudia exclaim that she had found jewelry in her trunk. It seemed not all the chests were filled with paper.

Not knowing how fragile the contents were, Sydney was extremely careful as she picked up the top book. She flipped through it, noting it had names and dates. It took a moment to recognize it was a genealogy. Starting with Patricia and Ezekiel, it went back...and back...and back...With amazement, she saw that the records went back further than any she had ever seen.

The next book was just a tome of Ezekiel Harrington's poetry. She set it aside quickly, in no way interested. The third book was a journal. It was old, older than the genealogy, and the cover appeared to be some sort of skin. She ran her hands over it, feeling its texture. Something told her that the skin hadn't come from an animal.

Her hands opened the book at a random page and she began to read. Though the entry was dated over a hundred years prior to Ezekiel Harrington's poems, and about fifty years before William Harrington's paintings, she immediately saw it was filled with the same theme. Blood and death and hunter and prey. At first, Sydney thought the author was just the first in a long line of loonies.

And then she read a passage that made the whole thing clear. She knew as soon as she read it that this wasn't part of the man's insanity. Something deep inside of her believed. Everything they'd learned flashed through her mind, and all the pieces seemed to fall together as she read:

"The night comes. I can feel the desire coursing through my veins. It burns like fire and calls like sweet love. It fills all my emptiness, taking me from man to beast. I need it. I crave it. I must have it.

'Soon, my mind will go as the transformation I live for and the hunger only raw flesh can feed washes over me.

'Teeth will grow to rip and tear. Blood will drip down my pale fur, gloriously sweet.

'Words cannot describe the moment when the sun sets and my body becomes fluid. I choose the type; I choose the shape. My body's form is up to me, and that is a heady power.

'I have chosen my victim. She is young and beautiful, the daughter of the blacksmith, barely into her teens. Anticipation makes me count the minutes. Yes, it's only minutes now..."

Sydney skipped ahead a bit and saw that an entry was made the next morning, describing the author's hunt and his kill. Not usually squeamish, she felt her stomach protest lightly at the images and closed the book.

The trunk held family papers, ones that told a sickening tale. The cat was not just a symbol for the Harringtons. Even though the idea was almost too fantastical to contemplate, it appeared the family was one of werecats.

She dug through some more of the papers. Some were boring birth and death announcements, but others supported what the journal had said. She learned that all those born with the ability were green-eyed and that, after the setting of the sun, they could change into any breed of cat, though, since moving to New England, the preference was that of a catamount. The whole thing seemed impossible, but she had seen too many impossible things become reality to discount it.

As the others searched the rest of the trunks, Sydney continued to read the fascinating documents. The more she read, the more fascinated she became.

She heard footsteps and knew it was Nigel without even looking. His hand came to rest on her shoulder, so she raised her eyes to his face.

"What did you find, Syd?"

"Documents. If Alfred Harrington knows they are here, he probably doesn't want them to see the light of day. In themselves, they might be worth killing for. What did you find?"

"There's a fortune here—jewels, money, that sort of thing. If you're greedy, it's also worth killing for."

"Harrington definitely seemed like the greedy type to me."

"Me too. What exactly was in those documents of yours?"

"It's amazing, Nigel. Here, read for yourself." She handed him one of the more revealing documents.

"You'll find it intriguing reading, I'm sure." A voice from the doorway made four heads whirl in that direction. Sydney's stomach clenched as she saw Alfred Harrington standing there with a gun in his hand. "It's a shame you couldn't have waited a couple more hours," he continued, "Then I could have given Nigel a first hand demonstration."

Claudia let out a screech and grabbed Karen, who gripped her back just as tightly. Sydney slowly got to her feet, aware that Harrington was too far away for a quick lunge to relieve him of his gun.

"I knew Nic Parker had figured out how to find this place. I knew it! Twenty-five years I've waited for it to fall out of his addled brain." His green eyes seemed to reflect the glow from the flashlights.

"You knew what was here," Sydney said slowly, trying to buy time. "You knew your great, great grandfather hid a huge treasure because he was paranoid of theft..."

"He was?" Nigel asked, but she ignored him.

"And you knew he hid the proof about what you and the rest of your family are. This is most precious of all to you because it could destroy you—especially if people found out you killed June Morrow...and Melody."

"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, though if I would have known killing Melody would lock away any chance I had of finding this place, I wouldn't have done it. Now, at last, I'll be able to tie up loose ends. Nic can finally join his Melody." Harrington let out an evil cackle more suited to the movies than real life.

"You only let him live because he's the only one who knew how to both solve the code and find the treasure."

"He couldn't die when his brain held all the answers, no matter how long it took to extricate them."

"Did Nic know what the cat symbol really meant?" she asked, still watching the gun.

Harrington shrugged. "I don't know. Cougar might have told him. I never asked."

He looked from Sydney to Nigel, then to Claudia, and finally to Karen. When he saw her, a feral smile claimed his face. It was a smile laced with hunger. Sydney had a feeling the hunger wasn't for Karen's body, at least in the human sense. Her mind flashed with the images in the journal and words from the awful poem flooded her mind.

"I came here planning to shoot you," Harrington said, "but gun's are so messy." He nodded to the skeletons near his feet. "I see my ancestor had the right idea. It will be so much easier to let the room kill you for me."

"So, you're going to do what? Go out and and lock the door behind you?" Sydney asked.

"Sure. If I wait long enough, you'll be dead when I get back." Then, he nodded at Karen. "Except you. You're coming with me."

"What?" The frightened woman crowded even closer to Claudia.

"She's not going anywhere," Sydney said firmly.

"Oh, yes. I think she is, because, if she doesn't, I'll shoot the rest of you, right here, right now, while she watches."

"No!" Karen cried. "I'll go with you."

"I thought you'd see it my way."

"Karen!"

"It's all right, Syd."

The small blond extricated herself from Claudia and started moving across the room. Sydney knew she was right up to a point. Everything would be fine for a few more hours—until the sun set.

Nigel flung a look at her, pleading with his eyes for her to do something to save Karen, and ultimately the rest of them as well. She gave him a look back, asking what he thought she could do with Harrington so far away that he could probably shoot two of them before she reached him. A look of desperation went over Nigel's face, and she was suddenly afraid he'd do something stupid.

When Karen was close enough, Harrington grabbed her roughly and pulled her close. She swallowed hard, and she looked as if she might faint. Helplessly angry, Sydney watched with clenched fists.

"Say hello to your aunt for me," Harrington said cheerily as he steered Karen towards the door.

Suddenly, Karen twisted in his grip, propelling her body sideways, towards him. Sydney's heart jumped as Karen's slight form slammed into that of her captor. He staggered, and a shot rang out, flying wildly and nearly hitting Claudia, who whimpered and dropped to the floor.

Sydney was in motion before Harrington recovered. Karen was moving away from him, and he lost his grip on her as he tried to right himself to give a more accurate shot.

Sydney reached him before he could, kicking out at his wrist. The gun flew from his hand to land near the trunks, skittering as it hit the floor.

Harrington stared at her in shock, so she took the opportunity to lash out at his face with her right fist. He retaliated immediately, knocking her back a couple of steps. She dodged his next blow and gave another of her own.

He growled savagely, sounding more beast than human, and lunged at her, grabbing at her throat. She batted his hand away and swung out a leg, sweeping his out from under him. As he went down, he grabbed her jacket, taking her with him.

They grappled there on the floor for several minutes, Sydney on top but unable to loose herself from Harrington. He was surprisingly strong for his size, and the muscles under his pale skin felt like wire.

She wasn't expecting the sudden buck of his body that knocked her to the side. She struggled to regain her position, but he overpowered her and rolled on top.

This time, his hands had no trouble finding her throat, and once they were clamped on, they were as strong as steel. She pulled at them with her own hands, feeling the restriction the pressure was putting on her airway. Soon, she would be unable to breathe, and after that...

Harrington's eyes seemed to glow eerily as a savage, inhuman expression came to his face.

"It is not yet night, but I will feed," he hissed in a tone so far removed from the one he had greeted them with the day before that it was hard to believe he was the same person.

"The only thing you'll be feeding on is prison fare." Sydney heard through the buzzing in her ears.

There was a clunk, and Harrington's hands loosened as his body collapsed limply on top of hers.

"Are you all right, Syd?" Nigel asked.

"I think so." She struggled to shift Harrington's body off of her and onto the floor. Nigel was standing above her, a vase in his hand. "I thought you said the trunks were filled with money and jewelry."

"And a vase."

"Obviously."

She sat up carefully, rubbing her throat. Claudia and Karen were again hunched together, the former holding the gun in hands so shaky that Sydney hoped the safety was on.

Nigel reached out a hand and helped Sydney to her feet. "What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"About all this? We found the treasure, but it's rightfully Harrington's—even though he was willing to kill us because we knew its whereabouts."

"And because we know he killed June and Aunt Melody."

"Not to mention the fact that we know his secret. No wonder Cougar disappeared last night."

"You read?"

He nodded. "I read."

"I'm tempted to just leave him in here and throw the coin in the Atlantic Ocean."

"Syd."

She smiled at him half heartedly to show that she was kidding...sort of. "I wish we could prove that he's a murderer. We still don't know where he hid Melody's body."

"Well, that's one good reason to keep him alive."

"There is that..."

Her words trailed off as she was body slammed by what felt like a wall. She stumbled into Nigel, and they fell in a tangle of arms and legs, with something bearing both of them to the floor.

"Don't shoot, Claudia!" Karen cried out, "You might hit Nigel or Sydney."

Struggling to free herself, Sydney thought that was sound advice. She blinked as pain shot through her head when it was cracked against Nigel's. She saw little white stars when it immediately happened again.

Breath, hot and foul, puffed into her face as she heard Harrington's crazed beast voice say, "Scream and moan, flesh and bone, the prey to bleed as the monster feeds. It reeks of death, ripping into flesh..."

Claudia screamed. It was so shrill that it sliced through the fog in Sydney's brain. It was followed by a growl that didn't come from the man pinning both her and Nigel, and unlike his growl, this one had no trace of humanity in it. Instead, it was a feline roar of rage.

Claudia screamed again, and Sydney felt Harrington's heavy body roll off of her. Then, it was Harrington's turn to scream. It was high pitched and very human, cutting off in the middle.

She turned to rise, not quite believing what her eyes were telling her. Alfred Harrington was lying on the floor, dead eyes staring at the ceiling. His throat had been shredded. Sitting on his chest, its jaws dripping with his blood, sat an enormous cat.

The cat looked at her, intelligence in its deep golden eyes. Its gaze was compelling, drawing her in. With effort, she looked away.

"Nigel." He was on the floor, his eyes closed. "Nigel!" she said again, more urgently.

He blinked. "Am I alive?"

"Yes, thanks to Cougar."

Without warning, the cat began to change. Arms shortened; legs lengthened. Fur retreated, and so did ears and fangs. The transformation was swift, like watching a DVD set on fast forward.

It took less than a minute for the cat to become a very normal looking, very naked, Cougar Harrington. Blood still dripped down his chin, and he self-consciously wiped at it with his wrist.

Nigel sat up quickly, his hand gripping Sydney's arm. "How...? I thought they could only change at night. We haven't been in here that long."

"I was born different," Cougar explained softly. "I've never needed the darkness to change...and I've never hungered for prey. It makes me sick what they do—Uncle Alfred and Amanda and my cousin, Brian. I couldn't stop them before. They hunt together, so overpowering them was out. I could never go to the police—not without winding up in a cell next to Nic's. Or in some laboratory experiment. Now, my uncle will disappear and no one will know what happened...like Nic's Melody."

"You didn't have to kill him," Sydney protested.

"Yes, I did. My uncle didn't leave loose ends. Can't you see, he would have hunted you down, and he wouldn't have given up until all four of you were dead. You would have been prey in his hunt. I couldn't let it happen this time, not when I could finally stop it."

"How do you know we won't go to the police?"

Cougar shrugged, muscles rippling along his trim body. Like his uncle, he was thin and catlike even in human form. "I don't much care if you do. It's worth it to know Uncle Alfred can no longer hunt."

Sydney glanced to the side to see Claudia and Karen carefully approaching. Claudia still held the gun, but her arm was limp at her side. Cougar glanced at them too and nodded in acknowledgment. It didn't seem to bother him that he was naked. The blood had bothered him more.

"Now that your uncle's dead," Sydney commented, "I guess this belongs to you. Any idea what you'll do with it?"

He shrugged again. "Probably donate most of it. What I'm interested in is the family records. I need to know if there was ever another like me...Oh, by the way, Sydney, I managed to find out where they buried your aunt."

"What?" She sat up straighter, her body suddenly more tense than it had been during the scuffles with Alfred.

Cougar's eyes burned into hers as he said, "I will take you there and then, maybe, just maybe, I will finally have peace."

--------------------------------

Sydney had no idea what she was going to say. Words had tumbled around in her mind for the whole drive through the snow covered countryside, but none of them seemed right. Now, she stood in the doorway of the familiar lounge with Nigel at her side, studying her uncle.

He was sitting in his usual chair, a tray with the forgotten remains of his breakfast nearby. She wondered what her news would mean to him and whether he would really comprehend it at all. Would it liberate him or push him even further under? Maybe it would do neither and his life would go on as it had for the past twenty-five years, merging the past and the present until he had no idea what was real and what wasn't.

Nic must have sensed her standing there because he turned his head and said, "Hello, Sydney."

She felt her eyes widen in surprise that he had immediately recognized her. Elbowing Nigel gently so that he'd follow, she entered the room.

"Hello, Uncle Nic. How are you this morning?"

"Tired," he said sadly, "so tired. And alone. Brown eyes haunt me. I see her smile when I sleep. I'm never alone but always alone..."

"I understand." The funny thing was that she was beginning to. She wondered what it would be like to love someone so much that his death would completely incapacitate her. The thought was frightening, but it was also compelling. What must Nic and Melody's life together been like?

This time, she did not take the chair across from him. Instead, she knelt in front of him and looked him in the eye. It was reassuring after all that had happened to have ice blue regard her instead of shades of green.

"We have something to tell you."

"News about the coin? Sydney has the coin, Melody. She has the coin...but you will not die again."

"No, the news isn't about the coin. It's about Melody."

"Melody's dead," he whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. "They killed her."

"Yes, she is," Sydney agreed, "and there's nothing we can do about that. You've known all these years. Harrington told you, didn't he? It was Alfred Harrington who came to visit you when they put you in here, wasn't it?"

"He killed her...killed my Melody...she's lost...lost...and I can't find her..."

Nic seemed less lucid than usual, but Sydney plowed on. He had to be told, and she knew if she didn't tell him, no one would.

"It's all right, Uncle Nic. Nigel and I found her. We found Melody."

The hand on her shoulder squeezed and she saw real understanding go through his eyes. "You found her?"

"Yes," she assured him softly. "We found her, and she will be laid to rest with Isabelle and Makaio. Now, her soul can find peace."

Nic began to tremble, and tears came to his eyes. Sydney's heart ached for him as they overflowed and started to slowly slip down his cheeks.

"Found..." he mumbled, "...found at last...she can finally sleep..."

"Yes," Nigel said, coming up behind Sydney and putting his hand over Nic's, which still rested on her shoulder. "Now, she can finally sleep—and it's because of you. You helped to find Melody."

The tears continued to drip down his face, but he didn't say another word. Sydney and Nigel stayed for a little while longer, just watching him. They saw the joy with the tears, and she was sure Nic was communing with his dear Melody once more.

As she got up to leave, she kissed her uncle gently on the forehead, promising to be back soon. He didn't acknowledge it, but that didn't matter. She intended to keep the promise anyway.

-----------------------------------------

When they got back to Sydney's house, Claudia hurried upstairs to pack. It was New Year's Eve, and she had tickets to one of the biggest bashes in New York. Using her cell phone on the long drive from Clarksville, she had managed to book a flight on a plane that would get her there on time. The rest of the way home, she chattered on excitedly about what the party would be like. Karen answered her eagerly, but Sydney found the discussion gave her a headache. When she glanced at Nigel, he made a gun with his fingers and pretended to shoot himself in the head. Sydney laughed, causing Claudia to emerge from her rant long enough to ask what was so funny. Sydney shot Nigel a dirty look and made up an answer she hoped would appease her friend. She needn't have worried. Claudia was in "all talk and no listen" mode.

Claudia packed faster than Sydney had ever thought possible. Within fifteen minutes of bounding upstairs, she began lugging stuff down. Nigel watched her for a bit before giving in and politely offering to help her.

"You're so sweet!" she exclaimed, which he took for a yes.

It took them longer to bring the stuff down that it had for Claudia to pack it. Even so, soon Sydney's Jeep was filled with pink luggage.

The four of them stood in the living room as the reality hit them. It was time to say good-bye. Sydney found herself not wanting to. Despite Claudia's silly and often annoying quirks, she thought of her as a flighty but lovable little sister, and she had missed Claudia's joy terribly in the two years since the great job in New York had lured her away..

Claudia's bright blue eyes filled with tears, and she bit her lip. Lowly, she said, "I don't think I really want to go."

Sydney forced a smile. "You've got to go some time. Think of the brilliant job you've got waiting for you."

She sighed. "I know, but it's so far away. I'm going to miss you guys."

"We'll miss you too," Nigel said, the honesty plain in his voice. "Life is certainly more interesting when you're around."

She threw her arms around him, startling him. "I'll especially miss you, honeybun! We always have so much fun together."

He squeezed her back firmly. "You should come visit more."

"I will," she said, pulling away and turning to Sydney.

They regarded each other silently for several heartbeats. Despite the fact that they were completely opposite in every way possible, both in appearance—where one was rail thin, with pale skin, eyes and hair, and the other was dark and curvy with just a hint of the exotic in her features—to their personalities, they had somehow become very close friends.

"Thank you again for inviting me for Christmas," Claudia said, swallowing hard.

"You're welcome. Maybe we can make it our little family's tradition."

"I'd like that."

She threw her arms around Sydney, crushing the older woman in a strong grip. Sydney smiled and hugged her back just as hard.

"You behave yourself in New York, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mommy." Claudia laughed through her tears. When she pulled away, she was wiping her eyes with her thumb. She swallowed again and turned to Karen. "Okay, I guess I'm ready."

Karen nodded and grabbed Sydney's keys off of the coffee table. She would be taking Claudia to the airport. While she was doing that, the relic hunters would be performing the labourous task of taking down the tree.

Sydney and Nigel followed Claudia to the entryway, where she and Karen put on their outside clothes. Claudia talked the whole time, her little girl voice light and gay. She insisted the other three come and visit her soon.

"My apartment's certainly big enough, and we'd have loads of fun."

"Call us, and we'll see if we can get our schedules to match," Sydney told her. "Now, hurry up or you're going to miss your plane."

Claudia hurriedly finished zipping her jacket as Karen opened the door. She gave a little wave, and then the two of them headed through the snow to the Jeep.

Sydney and Nigel stood in the open doorway to watch them go. Once Claudia got in the the Jeep, she started waving wildly, and they waved back. The three of them waved until Karen turned out of the driveway and Sydney's Jeep disappeared down the road.

As she closed the door, Sydney sighed. "It was nice having all of you here for Christmas."

"It was great," Nigel agreed. "Despite being threatened by a crazy cat-man, it was a nice Christmas."

Her face broke into a smile and she punched him in the arm. He winced comically and rubbed it, causing her smile to turn into a laugh.

"I hope we do get a chance to do this again next year," she said.

"Me too."

She took his elbow when he would have went to the living room and steered him towards the kitchen. "How about some hot chocolate?"

"This may be the last chance I have in some time, so yes." Then, he paused as they reached the kitchen door. "...uh, Syd..."

"What?"

His arms reached out unexpectedly and wrapped themselves around her. Sydney squeaked in a most undignified way as Nigel pulled her close to meld her body to his. She didn't even have time to absorb this, or the fact that their bodies fit together way better than she expected them to, when he kissed her. It was a sweet, soft kiss that sent an excited tingle through her body. Letting the flow take her, she returned the hug, allowing her fingers to come up and caress the back of his neck.

The moment lasted much too briefly, and she was slightly out of breath when he pulled from her and she demanded, "Nigel, what the hell?"

A cheeky grin spread over his face as he pointed upwards with his eyes. Sydney followed his gaze to see that Karen, ever hopeful, had left one spring of mistletoe above the kitchen doorway.

Feeling evil and want to get back at Nigel for not warning her before he kissed her, she shrugged and said, "Well, in that case..."

She felt Nigel's surprise as she pulled him back into an embrace and kissed him firmly. Her body hummed in pleasure as he tangled a hand in her hair and responded to her kiss with enthusiasm.

I could really get used to this, she thought before completely losing herself to the moment.

------------------------------------------------

Sydney was sitting by the ocean, listening to the surf as it gently claimed the sand. The sun was warm on her skin, and the white grains tickled between her toes. There was a slight breeze, damp but pleasant, that played freely with her hair. Peace surrounded her, bringing with it a soothing calm. For once, she was happy sitting still.

"Sydney."

She looked up, shading her eyes with one tanned hand and smiled at the slight woman who had silently approached her. The woman smiled back and lowered herself to sit beside Sydney in the sand. She appeared to be the same age as Sydney, and her eyes and hair were just as dark. That was where the similarities ended.

"Hi, Mom," Sydney said. "It's been a long time since we've met here."

Usually, now, when she dreamed of her mother, it was of vague moments, full of motion. She attested that to the frantic pace of her life.

"Yes," Rosemarie Fox agreed, putting her arm lightly around Sydney's shoulders. "You are so grown up now. I'm so proud of what you've become."

"Are you really?" she asked eagerly, looking into a face she barely remembered but still missed longingly every day.

"How couldn't I be? You are doing amazing things. You grew into an honest, honourable woman. What more could I want?"

"Sometimes I wonder if it's enough," Sydney admitted quietly.

"You will always be enough." The arm around her shoulders squeezed.

"Thank you."

"No, sweetie. I'm the one who should be thanking you." Rosemarie waved her free hand towards a figure Sydney hadn't noticed.

It too was a woman, taller and curvier than petite Rosemarie, and more Nigel's age than Sydney's. Sydney recognized enough of her own features in the face to know she was seeing Melody. The face was more serious than she remembered, with sad brown eyes.

"You found her," Sydney whispered.

"No, you found her. You found her and brought her back to us. We don't have to search for her anymore."

"But what about Uncle Nic?" She didn't know why she asked about him in that perfect moment of time. The question just slipped from her lips.

Her mother did not get angry as she half expected. Instead, Rosemarie said, "He is welcome here among us. When he comes, he and Melody will each be whole again. We wronged him back then, Sydney, Maman and I. We didn't understand the bond that held them together."

"I like him."

"Compassion is one of your gifts, Sydney. It's one that I'm most proud of you for."

Then, Rosemarie's arm loosened, and Sydney knew their brief moment was over. Her mother paused only to kiss her lightly on the forehead before walking towards her sister. Only once did she turn back, blowing a kiss on the wind as she had when Sydney was a little girl.

Alone again, Sydney sat in the sand contemplating the gift she had just received. After what seemed like a long time, she too got to her feet. Brushing the sand from her clothes, she began walking in the opposite direction, towards Nigel, and towards life.

The End