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                Edward

relented, saying that could at least try. The door was on the corner, and they

made their way inside. There was a sizable bouncer there, and he stopped them

in a stern tone. 'Stoy! Vy ne mozhete priyti syuda."                Maggie

put on her best attitude. "YA skazhu vam, chto; yesli vy mozhete udalit' menya,

ya ostavlyu."                Edward

pulled her aside. "What the hell are you saying to him?"  The man was looking bemused and

belligerent.                 "He

said I had to leave. I told him that if he can remove me, I'll go."                "Maggie,

that's not fair to him."                "I

don't care. I want to check this place out, and we have the money for it."                "Right.

So then let's just pay him off and be done with it."                He

pulled out his wallet, which he had wisely preloaded with rubles and offered

the man several large notes. It didn't seem to impress him. He made as if to

toss them out when he suddenly stopped with a squeal. Maggie had him by the

balls and she had her sharp black claws out.                 "YA

khotel by predlozhit' vam vzyat' den'gi i zabyt' o nas. Yesli vy eto sdelayete,

ya zabudu o tebe. Yesli etogo ne sdelat', to ya budu okhotit'sya za vami, i

ubit' vas."                 She tucked the money in his pocket, gave him a

kiss and let him loose. He stepped aside in a crouched position with his hands

between his legs and let them through.                'That

wasn't nice Mags."                "The

world isn't always nice. He'll live. And I think you overpaid him. So he should

feel lucky. He was spared his life today and got a tip to boot."                They

were seated, and not without a few looks, but when their credit checked out,

all worries were dropped. Whatever they wanted, they could have. They soon had

a full table of food, and a bottle of the best vodka. Maggie viewed it wide

eyed when the bar manager brought out the box and opened it.                His

English was pretty good. "Your bottle of Stoli Elit sir. The only one we have.

Enjoy."                Maggie

leaned over and whispered to her father. "How much was this?"                He

smiled. "Too much. But what the hell! It's only money, right?"                "Yes it

is."                It

didn't take long for the entire staff of Da Vinci to end up fawning over the

two.  They became so absorbed in their

meal that they very nearly missed the two men who had entered and had seated

themselves in a corner. It was Maggie's nose who sensed them. She nearly missed

it over the smell of all the food set before them, but she picked up the sour

aroma of sweat and of incense. There weren't too many places that burned

incense except for churches. And a church going person wasn't likely to be

popping in here.                She

guessed that they were from St Catherine's, which meant that they might get

called out on why they were here.  On the

other hand, they had papers from the pope, so they didn't need to answer to

anyone else. But the smell had something else to it, and she couldn't place it

with all the other odors coming into her system. But she didn't like it.                She

stomped on Edward's foot. "Look over there, in the corner. Do you see them?"                He was

holding the gold plated ice pick that had come with the bottle. He looked up

and squinted into the darkness, concentrating his power to his eyes. They came into

focus and he thought he recognized the one as the man who had leaned out of the

car. It was hard to tell from this angle.                "I see

them. Who do you think they are?"                "I'm

not sure. It could be anyone, but I have a strong feeling they are from the

church. But why they're following us I haven't a clue. I told you that priest seemed

shifty."                "So you

did. But I don't think we have anything to worry about from them. After all,

what can they do?"                "In

public, I doubt there's much they can do, but if they're connected with the

church, who is to say that they don't have something to do with our former

friend the cardinal?"                Edward

paused. "So you think that this church could be one under his sway?"                "Maybe.

If there were members of the kind living here in the past, as we presume to

know, then there would be a chance of there being a ring here as well."                Edward

smiled. "Unless your grandmother took it with her."                "There

is that."                They

continued to eat and enjoy themselves, and after a few more bottles of a lesser

grade of vodka, they both became celebrities with the amount of alcohol they

could consume and still remain upright. This was not missed by the men in the

corner, and one had his cellphone out and was talking on it.                Maggie

pulled off her ring, and on a lark, placed it against her ear.                 "What

are you doing?" Edward asked, keeping his voice low.                 "I

can't change my ears in view of everyone, so I'm seeing if the ring will amplify

the sounds. I'm trying to hear those guys."                "And?"                "Shhh.

It's working."                Whether

it was by amplifying the sounds or enhancing her hearing, she was able to hear

this side of the conversation. "He's telling someone that we are behaving

oddly. And that we appear to be spending a lot of money."                "I

suppose we are. Why should they care?"                "I

don't know. Unless they think we're spending church money. But I think there's

more, and I think it has to do with the league we dismantled. Maybe they don't

know the cardinal has been deposed and is now dead. Only the pope knows about

that. So maybe they think we have something to do with the league. I can't

tell. My Russian isn't that good."                "It's

good enough. Should we confront them?"                She sat

and thought. "No. Let them wonder, and let them think that we haven't noticed

them. Maybe they'll slip up somewhere down the line and we'll find out what

they're doing."                "That's

fine by me. I had figured we'd be done with all that mess. But I guess I didn't

think about the fact that there would be branches here and there. How else

would that Bernard fellow have found us after all?"                "Right.  So let's assume that this is the case here.

So what do they think we're here for then?"                "Hard

to say, unless that fellow at the church has a ring and doesn't want to give it

up."                "That

could account for all the subterfuge. But do we really want another ring?"                "Would

you rather know where they're all at?"                "I

suppose so."                "Then I

guess the answer is yes. But for now, let' just keep quiet. No point in giving

them anything to be suspicious of."                "I

think it's a little late for that."                She

stomped his foot again and giggled.  He

was right of course; they were drawn into this web from the moment they set

foot on Russian soil. It was going to take some time to check it out, but the

heck if she was going to let this showdown spoil their fun. They had money, and

they had time. On top of that, there was very little anyone could do to them

within reason. After all, they were now close to being indestructible.                She

smiled. That thought gave her an idea. She asked for a silver spoon, but the

bar had no such thing until the bartender produced a flat, ornate device used

for dissolving sugar cubes into absinthe. She thanked him and purposely put it

in her mouth. She could taste the metal and she found it unnerving, but the

ring protected her from harm. She acted a little drunk to lend a reason to her

action, but she made sure the men saw it in her mouth.                Edward

caught on. Let them wonder. If she were of the kind, the silver would have

killed her, or else generated a lot of smoke and no little amount of pain for

her. So either she wasn't of the kind, or she was protected. Either way told

them something, though the lack of anything definitive made their position all

the more obscured.                She was

a wicked girl. It was one of her endearing traits - at times. It all depended

on where it was directed. He was always glad when her machinations worked for

their benefit. She had used them on him a few times and he wasn't sure he was

ready to forgive her for those. But on anyone else it was fine.                The

rest of the night flew by, and with the rings on, the alcohol had no effect

whatsoever. In fact, it seemed a waste to even be drinking it. But Maggie was

whooping it up, giving everyone the impression that the stuff was finally

having an effect of her. He had no idea why, until he remembered she had taken

the ring off. So maybe it was for real.                 He took

his ring off and slipped it on her finger. She shivered and then straightened

up. "Shit! What happened?"                "You

took your ring off stupid. Where is it?"                She

patted her pockets. "Here. I don't know why I didn't put it back on."                She

didn't have a chance to say or do anymore. The men from the corner came

forward, and with drawn guns, started firing.                 Panic

ensued. Glass shattered, liquor sprayed in the air and bullets flew, hitting

Maggie and Edward. She knew immediately that they contained silver because she

could feel it in her flesh. Belatedly, she remembered that she had his ring and

was horrified.  As the table collapsed

from the push of the crowd, she dived on top of him, knowing that it was too

late. The men reloaded and fired again. She was torn between covering his body

and attacking the others. The bullets might not hurt her, but they could hurt

him.                She was

drenched in vodka, blood and food.  She

was trying to sort out which was which, and whose blood it was. She knew some

was hers, but her body was already trying to heal over the wounds. Edward was

unmoving, and a quick glance showed a hole in his forehead.  The anger in her grew. Why was everyone always

trying to kill them? It wasn't like they were trying to cause anyone any

trouble. They were just trying to find their roots. And maybe a few more of the

rings, but most people wouldn't even know about that.                The

bullets continued to fly, and she could feel them as the struck her and buried

themselves in her muscles and bones. But she refused to move. She slipped his

ring back on his finger, saying a little prayer to any greater being that might

hear her. She hunkered down as the bullets continued.                 By now

the bar was empty of patrons and staff alike. The two gunmen continued to fire,

moving from spot to spot, unloading their weapons in a hail of silver

projectiles. Maggie reached around for something to throw. Her hand felt

something sharp. She grabbed it and threw it blindly. But with her unerring

senses, the ice pick found its mark. It embedded deeply in the shoulder of one

of the shooters. With a scream he dropped his gun.                That

took out one of them, but what of the other? She didn't have a chance to devise

a plan. As she was frantically trying to come up with one when she

suddenly went flying through the air in a spray of broken glass and shattered

china. It

was an explosion of epic proportions that blew out the windows in the bar,

spraying glass out into the street. .                Maggie

was plastered against the back bar, fragments of glass embedded in her back.

The alcohol burned like fire as the place descended from chaos into the depths

of hell. The noise became a deafening roar as a broken light bulb set the

alcohol on fire. Blue tongues of flame ripped around the bar, catching her hair

alight as she pulled herself from the debris and stumbled towards the door. For

the moment, all thoughts of Edward had been smashed from her mind in her

immediate fight for survival.