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There was a life boat bobbing in the waves. On board were two people, huddled together for warmth and support. The fog had rolled in and a light rain was coming down. "Well Maggie, this is another fine mess I got us into." "Spare me the funny stuff. Use your talent for figuring out if we're going to make it out of this alive." "I've tried. All I can see for now is a face." "Whose face?" A voice from above could be heard. "Mine most likely." Edward stood and nearly fell overboard. Maggie spread her wings and prepared to launch herself into the air. She couldn't see a damn thing, but she would attack anyone who threatened them. Edward scanned his surroundings for a few minutes. The voice was silent the whole time, but he heard something familiar. Maggie settled down and listened as well. There was a reason the voice was above them. "Who are you," he asked. "A friend. A relative too, perhaps, though that hardly matters." "A friend? If so, then where are we and how can we get to shore?" "Shore? Which shore? This world is filled with shorelines and beaches. You must be more specific." Maggie was losing her patience with this apparent game of words. "Any shore! He's injured and we're both hungry and cold and wet." "Listen little daughter, I don't take kindly to anger. It is a singularly useless emotion. All it does is blind you to your surroundings. " Maggie growled. "My surroundings are fog and sea. We have been through hell and back, and all I want is to make it to dry land safely. If you have no intention of helping, then go away!" Laughter echoed down. "My, such spirit! Still, it will be better when tempered by time. Throw me the rope little daughter, and make it quick." There was a rope tied to the bow, which she grabbed by the coil and tossed skyward. She had pulled the boat for some distance, but gave up when she couldn't figure a proper direction to go. The slack went out of it and the line went taut. The boat began to move with increasing speed. Whoever this was, they had more power in their wings than did Maggie. Of course, hers were new to her, and so essentially untried and unused, but it was apparent that the power behind those belonging to this voice wasn't to be trifled with. The conversation lagged as the boat topped the small swells. As they progressed, Edward's ears caught a new sound. It was both familiar in a vague way, and yet slightly foreign to him. Then again, he had never spent that much time on the water. Maggie knew what it was however. "Those are breakers! We're near shore!" "Yes little daughter, you are near shore. From here on out, you will have to make your way on your own." Edward stood in the rocking boat. "Who are you?" "That remains for you to find out my son. For now, you and your wife will have to make your way to my residence under your own power. I do not help those who cannot help themselves. " "Uh, we're not married yet." A snort echoed above the sound of waves. "A ring and a piece of paper do not make a marriage. Trust and love does. I should know. I've been married a few hundred times." "Excuse me?" "You're excused. Now, before I go, I will give you this. It will help you to find you way. If you need to, ask those you count among your friends. The wisest of them will know what it is and where to find me." A clang echoed as an object clattered into the boat. "Goodbye for now and pleasant journey." "Wait!" "What?" "Do you have a name?" "Yes I do. When you look for me, ask for Lily." With that, the voice and the person it belonged to were gone. The boat rocked in the waves as Maggie grabbed the rope and flew towards the shoreline. She nearly exhausted herself before she got the boat close enough for Edward to jump out and finish the job. They sat on the rocky beach and stared at the object that was dropped. It was very old looking, very ornate, and seemed to be of the same metal as their rings.  He pulled his off and compared them to each other. The color and sheen were nearly the same.  He pulled off the little vial from around his neck and made as if to throw it into the sea. Maggie stopped him. "I'm not saying that we will ever need that, but I don't think throwing it away will do anyone any good now." He laid it on the sand next to the key, for that was what had been dropped. The difference between them was stark. "You know, I don't feel so good. I sort of wish I was back to being myself, before all this happened." "Not again," sighed Maggie. "Look you stupid jerk, you're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you. Let's try to get ourselves on a good footing so that we don't have to feel put out all the time." He sat up straighter. "You're right. But for some reason I feel very confused right now. My head is full of things I can't explain." "Well, first things first. Let's get up on the land and see about finding out where we are. After that we need to find clothing and some decent food. Raw fish has killed my appetite for sushi for a very long time." Edward found that standing on solid ground again was more enjoyable than he had ever experienced before in his life. He might be a werewolf, but he knew that he wasn't a mere-wolf. He flexed his good arm and looked behind him to the fog enshrouded rise. "So, where do you think we're at?" she asked. The rocks gave way to sand; an incredibly large expanse of it. While the wind was blowing in from the sea, the smells of civilization were not far away. There was gasoline, pollution and food. "Can't say for certain, but does it matter? I say we head up and see what there is to see." Maggie chuckled. "Oh sure. Two nudists coming up from wading in the wonderful water. I've got wings dumbass!" She said it with less anger and more resignation, knowing that she was stuck as an oddity for the moment. She longed to return to her normal self, and abruptly remembered his words were nearly the same. One took for granted what one had until one lost it. As they plodded along, a lone figure came out of the gloom. Whoever it was, he or she was going to get one hell of a shock. The person stepped along carefully, looking down at the sand as if they were looking for seashells. The person stopped just shy of bumping into the duo and looked up. "Welcome my friends. Milady has bid you be taken to a halfway house, there to stay until you settle matters of clothing, food and finding your friends and family. Once that is accomplished, you will be set out on your way." "And you are?" Maggie asked warily.

"You may call me Brother Carcharoth." Maggie's ears perked up. "I know who you are!" "Good. Then that will make the rest of this easier. Follow me please." They stepped up their pace as the sand rose to meet the salt grass, and from there to a pull-off along a road. Cars were moving slowly through the dense fog, their drivers concentrating on the road and not on the side show freaks currently entering the vehicle sitting just out of their line of sight. The three of them got into the back of an old automobile which was not immediately recognizable and the chauffeur drove off. The old man in the robe seemed nonplused by the situation.  Maggie wondered if it was her wings or their combined nudity. She wasn't afraid to ask. "Brother Carcharoth, does our present situation bother you?" "Situation?" "Yes - our nudity?" He turned to stare at her. "No. Nudity is natural." "But you seem disturbed." "I am disturbed. The lady has forced me out of my library to come and fetch you. I have work to do." "Work? I though you already had a book that you wrote. Didn't you put together the Taburnum?" "That old thing? I didn't even know it was still floating about until it was recently ask for. It's got some nice old pages in it, but we have moved up to using modern technology. I don't approve of course, but we are under orders to keep up with all new developments." Edward had a different question. "Where are we?" "The Netherlands. Amsterdam. " "How did this lady - what is her name; Lily? How did she know where to find us?" "I am not privy to the mistress's methods.  Be thankful that she took pity on you and came to your rescue. She is not prone to going out of her way to lend assistance to just any ilk." Maggie felt a little ire rising inside her. "Ilk?" "My apologies. I know nothing about you. Might I have your names?" "I'm Maggie and this is Edward." "That means nothing to me. What are your lineages?" "Well, I'm a descendant of the Leeds line on my father's side, and my grandmother was a daughter of the last tsar." He raised his eyebrows. "Is that so? I have been remiss on following those lines. And you?" Edward sighed. "I am from the line of the Beast." Brother Carcharoth leaned away from them. "Tell me this isn't true." "Why? What's the big deal?" "Nothing. The lady must have her reasons for summoning you. It is not up to me to say anything for or against her will." Edward decided to press the matter. He was getting tired of all the secrecy, especially when people tended to know more than they let on. But it took him a moment to get his thoughts in order. "Who is this Lady Lily?" "She is who she is. She defines who we are. She is the Alpha and the Omega." Maggie managed to giggle. "She sounds important." The old man looked quite solemn. "She is the most important of all of us." She went to ask something else, but Edward put his hand on her arm. She jumped a little at the jumble of images coming through. His head was ablaze with strange images. She could hear him through the connection, but it was like listening to a person at a noisy party.

"Let it go. She saved us, so we owe her that." "What's wrong with you? It's like your head has gone all crazy again." "Yeah, I noticed that too. I'll get in under wraps before we meet up with her." "Get what under wraps?" she asked worriedly. "My head. I have a lot on my mind right now." She stared at him. "Are you having troubles?" "Nothing I can't handle." Brother Carcharoth was back to staring at them. "Having a private conversation is all well and good, but I think that it you have something to say, you may do so with complete confidence here." Edward waved him off. "It's nothing. Might I ask where we are heading?" "You may, but I'll not say. The house we are heading for is not to be taken lightly. You will have the time to recover, get organized and from there find your way to the lady." "Can't you take us to her yourself?" "No. I do not know where she is at present. As the keeper of knowledge, there is some information that is deemed too valuable for preservation." "That doesn't make any sense." "And yet it is the way it is." The rest of the drive was in silence. The car pulled into side streets until it arrived in front of an old stone house. There were no numbers on the side, and in the deep fog, there was no way of determining any of the façade's features. They were ushered inside where the door was slammed closed. The interior was simply appointed, and yet had the feel of old luxury. It wasn't filled with an overload of furniture and goods, but those present were of the highest order. They were shown into a room that had a sterile feel to it, and the old man rang a bell. A woman dressed in a severe uniform came in, clicked her tongue and went to a cabinet.  She came back with a vial. "I can only assume that you've been using your power recklessly as of late." "Uh, I guess so. Why?" "You're missing a limb. The Kind does not abuse their regenerative power. This is what happens when you do." He held up his hand. "But I have this!" "Pah! A ring. I know the stories. There is no substitute for common sense.  A battle avoided is an extra decade to your life. " "I don't get what you mean." "I'm sure you don't. You are new at this, are you not?" "Yes." "Very odd. You should have several decades behind you. Losing an arm is no small matter." Maggie was getting irked again. She didn't know these people, and she found their manners to be lacking. "Look lady, you have no idea what we've been through. We have been adrift at sea for days after dealing with a madman." "A madman? Many men are mad. This one must have been quite disturbed and quite powerful for this one not to be able to deal with him." She was referring to Edward of course. Maggie stood up. "Does the name Robert Louis Stevenson mean anything to you?" "Dah. We have met in the past though he knew it not. Our lady had orders for many of The Kind to be monitored." "So you know who his alter ego was?" "Oh I see.  It was expected that there would be a confrontation at some point. I take it you were involved with him?" "Involved?" Edward snorted. "Yes, you could say we were involved. Ouch!" The nurse, which is what she was, had stabbed his empty shoulder socket with a tiny stiletto that she had pulled from somewhere on her person and then bathed the fresh wound with the liquid she had gotten from the cabinet. Edward found the pain to be almost equal to that he had suffered while losing the limb. But he held still as the feeling of fire traveled down his side. Maggie was indignant, but she remained seated. "What did you do?" "I have stimulated his body to recognize that he is missing an important part of his system. Sometimes, when it has been stretched to its limits, it forgets what all it has to deal with. It is clear evidence that you have been running through your life force with less than proper concern for yourself." Edward sighed as the pain altered. He suddenly felt angry with himself. "I have been thrown into a variety of positions that I never counted on. I haven't only been injured; I was dead for a while." The nurse stepped back. "Dead?  No one returned from the dead. Therefore, you weren't actually dead. But such a condition must surely have sapped you of your life force." "How would I know? I wasn't aware I was anything more than a typical human until I had the silver dime pulled out of my leg." The nurse paled. "You survived silver?" "Yes." She backed up. "Who are you?" "Why does that question keep coming up? I told the old man that I was a descendant of the Beast." "Of Gevaudan?" "That's the one." "I see. Then there is more to you and to this present duty than I was lead to believe." She turned to Maggie. "You have a story too. I am not interested in it at the moment. I take it you can't return your wings to their normal position?" Maggie choked. "You say that like it's a common problem." "Not so uncommon, though normally the ability to use them comes naturally. I will have to assume that you brought yours forth under stress?" "Uh. Yes." "You tore them loose before they were ready. And now I suppose you want help in getting them back in place?" Even as she asked this of her, she stabbed her in the back and poured her vial over the wound. It was now Maggie's turn to writhe a little as the potion snapped her body back into shape. She screamed unwillingly as the nerve endings caught fire. It was apparent that the lady presently treating them didn't have a lot of sympathy for them. It was evidence that she had dealt with others who had suffered injuries. The rings might not be as much of a wonder-cure as had first been their thought.  The nurse spoke what they were thinking. "You use those rings like they are your saviors. They can take what you have to offer and speed up matters such as the healing process, but even your great size and strength all comes from something. When you alter your normal physiology, something has to give. We are not like our mistress. We have limits. When you try to exceed them, you will pay the price." "But no one told us about them." "Bah! Their creator thought they were all the rage." "You mean Master Leonardo?" "Ah, so you know who created them. Not many know about that. Who told you?" Edward was grimacing from the pain. At least it took his mind off of his mind. "He did." The woman looked down at him with a severe look on her face. "Tell me you didn't let that idiot out of his confinement!" "Uh, I can't tell you that because we did." "This is just great. The man may have been a genius, but he was terribly wonton in his methods. Yes, yes, I know what the history books say about him. The best thing he ever did was submitting to the deep freeze machine he created. What did you do with him, if I might ask?" "He's working for the pope now." She made a face. "Tell me if this is meant as a joke, for I do not share your humor if it is an attempt at making me laugh." "No, he really works for the pope. We were heading there to get married, and we had planned on all of us seeing his grace before we set off on other things." "All of us? Oh, never mind. There is a reason I refrain from asking too many questions. The answers hurt my head." "So what now?" She looked stern. "You rest. I am only your nurse, not your nanny. Arrangements are being made to try and find the rest of your party, or so I have been told. We all have our duties and we perform them to the best of our abilities. I will check on you tomorrow. The chef has prepared something for your dinner. It will not necessarily please your tongue, but it will help to replace some of the necessary nutrients you have lost." Maggie scowled. "Look lady, I don't like your attitude." "And that means what to me? I am not here for your approval; I am here for your recovery. You should be thankful someone cares enough to see to your treatment. As it stood, you could have been left to drift in the sea for weeks." Maggie went to say something else, but his hand came down and grasped hers tightly as he spoke to the woman. "Thank you. We will be glad of any meal that you see fit, and a nice long rest will be most welcome." That seemed to be the expected response, and the nurse smiled slightly and nodded. "Follow me. You will be shown to your rooms were it will be expected that you will stay until someone comes to get you." "What about this treatment you just gave us?" "If you're asking how it works, you must merely wait. It is doing nothing more than stimulating your systems to recover and reform or replace the damaged portions. It will not be instantaneous. I would suggest you sleep after you eat, and worry about it in the morning." Their room was well furnished, with a large bed, plenty of seating, and a window looking out over an alleyway. The only disconcerting thing was the bars on the windows. Still with the old and valuable items filling the house, it was likely a necessary precaution against thieves. Then again, if everyone here was of The Kind, a thief might last longer in prison then he would here.  Preventing him from making a mistake might be to his benefit. Food arrived just like in a hotel, piled high on a rolling cart. There were plates and trays and several bottles of wine, including a rather large one of champagne that had a little card attached. Maggie pulled it off and read it, mildly amused. To the lucky couple, in thanks for all you have done. She handed it to Edward. He shook his head as well. "What have we done?" "I don't know. I mean, yeah, we've done a lot, but why are we being thanked right after being reprimanded?" "I think the thanks are from one person, and the scolding from another. I'm really too tired and too thankful to argue it one way or another. I say we eat and hit the sack. It feels like it has been an eternity since we've been able to just relax." "Not an eternity, but long enough. I'm not saying I don't mind roughing it, but the past few weeks have been rather tiresome. I think I liked Russia's wildness better than what the North Sea offered us." "Amen to that. I doubt I will ever want to take a cruise for the rest of my life." They fell to devouring the food, which unlike what they had been prepared for, was well prepared and quite delicious. Edward was hesitant to touch the wine, but Maggie had no such qualms. "Look. The champagne is chilled and there are two glasses. That lady, whoever she is, called us a couple, and I for one agree with her. So why not celebrate a little? If we both recover from this ordeal with Hyde, then I say we have something to celebrate." He leaned back, holding his head. "This whole thing has made my brain hurt." "Yeah, about that. Your thoughts seem very disorganized and jumbled. What gives?" He refused that say anything for the longest time, and not until she prompted him again. "I think I let my good nature get the best of me." "What? What are you talking about?" "In killing Robert." "You did kill him, didn't you?" "Sort of." Maggie felt sick. "Dammit Edward, what did you do?" "I absorbed him." She shook her head. "You did what?" "It seemed a waste to kill a good man only to leave behind a horrible one. I took that which made him a good man and pulled it from him. Essentially I killed him, and yet I didn't." The glass broke under her grip. "Where's the damn vodka when you need it? You fucking idiot. No wonder your head is a mess. You can't keep him inside there. Can you?" "I don't know. I see bits and pieces of his life, just like when you touch someone. But I did more than touch him. I grasped his neck and willed him into my consciousness. I just can't kill a good person. But like he said, he had to be gone before Hyde would be alone. It was a risk I felt I had to take." Her anger burst forth. "When are you going to stop doing stupid things!" "Probably never." She settled right back down. "Good. If you did, I would know something was really wrong. But in the meantime, what are we going to do? I don't think a little potion, no matter how good it is, is ever going to rid you of something like Robert's awareness." "I know. I didn't think about what I was going to do with him once I had him. I just wanted to be rid of the evil and save the good." She sighed. "Well, there isn't going to be a body to stick him into. His old one is at the bottom of the North Sea, hopefully dead as a doornail. So I guess you'll have to ask this Lily lady what to do. From what I can piece together, she's pretty important." "Yes, I think she is. It has to be her face I keep seeing; she said as much, though for all I know it's something left over from Robert's past life." "What does she look like?"  "You didn't see her face when you've touched me?" "No." "Strange. It's always in the forefront of my thoughts. Her face is beautiful." "You sound infatuated." "Do I? I don't mean to." "Well you do." "Funny, I do feel a little turned on, and I don't know why. I have never met this woman, and yet I am seeing her image and I am feeling strangely attracted to her." Maggie fluttered her wings, doing so almost unconsciously. "I'd be jealous, but I think she has somehow implanted a method for finding her." "Method? You mean like a homing beacon?" "Maybe. I'm guessing the key will open a door to wherever she is at. I bet she prefers privacy, so that any intrusion into her space must be earned." "But she came looking for us!" "Yes she did. And she got us to shore. And then she sent people to fetch us. But outside of that, I think she expects us to work for the honor of meeting her." "Honor? I take it you are taken in with her too?" "Edward, don't be an idiot. We both know she has wings. Unless she can levitate, she has wings! Like me! Not many of us have wings, not that we've met. All those we know of are my family on my father's side. And ugh! Who would want to be with them?" He said nothing. Her father and his clan were a tough lot, and not one to be taken lightly. He had been a little surprised that she had managed to sprout wings at all, and though silent on the issue, was still grappling with that fact. On the other hand, it made sense, for a person was the sum of their genetics. But that also might mean that somewhere in the tsar's family line was someone who had wings. After all, a genetic feature that important likely had to come from both parents. "So, you want to meet her to find out about your special ability?" "Abilities! I can freeze people for short periods as well, something you can't do." "But I've never tried." "True. And you have a few oddities yourself. If this lady is wise and well informed, who is to say that she can't answer all of our questions?" "That will be up to her. In the meantime, I wish I knew more about her. It seems people know more about what is going on than we gave credence to. I mean, it seem like this Lily lady knew where to find us. I only wonder why she didn't help us sooner." "I'm sure she had her reasons. For now, let's just get this out of our mind." Then she grimaced. "Sorry. I guess you can't" "No, but I'll deal with it. I've had exchanges before, but this time I'm stuck with the whole package." He reached for a glass and tilted it towards her. "Fill'er up! We have to be the oddest damn couple in the world, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If there is anything to celebrate, I hues that would be it." As she poured, she stared at him. "Your mood seems to slip back and forth. Are you sure you don't want to go back to the way things were?" "I don't know. Sometimes I don't think I even know what that is." "It is what it was.  I for one am glad that we met." "When you put it that way, then I can but agree. Still, things have just gotten so weird anymore. It's like I stepped out of reality and into, into..." "The Twilight Zone?" He laughed ; a real, hearty laugh. "Yes, now that you mention it, precisely like that."