"You shouldn't have come. It's too soon. You should be resting."

"I'm fine. I am perfectly fine.

"No you're not. You've been through hell. You should have stayed in  bed. You need to take it easy, get your strength back."

"Really? As I recall your concern for my health didn't stop you last  night from ensuring my full and enthusiastic participation in  activities a lot more strenuous than a meeting, no less than twice in  fact….and then again this morning. I was sure you were going to make  us late."

"That's different!" He was starting to sound harassed.

"You're right," Doni retorted, "it was, this is a meeting and that  was…"

Stephen interrupted her hastily. "I know what it was. I was there."

"That was you? Thank you for sharing that with me; it's always good  to keep track of these things…for when the children ask you know…I  feel it's important to be able to answer the "who's my daddy'  question and until you said so, I hadn't known, I thought it was  someone else, somebody with some sense." Her face was alight with  mischief.

She was laughing at him, he decided and the only response was a  dignified silence. Didn't she understand he was just concerned about  her, that he wanted to protect her?

"I understand perfectly," she said, as if she'd been reading his  mind. "I appreciate it. But, I'm perfectly fine." She grinned. "Now  stop arguing about it. You aren't going to win and Tommy is standing  behind you waiting for your attention."

Stephen cast his eyes to heaven and then turned around. Tommy was  indeed standing there waiting for his attention, his face red and his  eyes glued to the floor. He looked embarrassed enough to die on the  spot. "Don't worry, Tommy, it only gets worse, but you'll get used to  it. The woman has no shame at all when she wants her way."

"Uhm…well…"

"Never mind. What is it you need?"

"I just came out to tell you that, uhm, everyone's here. We're ready  to start when you are."

Doni laughed at the look on his face as he realized their exchange  had been heard by everyone in the room, tossed him a wink and a kiss  over her shoulder, lifted her chin and went to find a seat. She had  reckoned without the fact that a number of the attendees had not seen  her since her return.

She was kissed soundly by Liam, twice, who struggled to speak;  kissed, hugged, blessed and invited to dinner by Clem who'd been  waiting to catch her to say hello before leaving them to their  business, hugged and kissed by Melly smiling radiantly at her, and  then hugged by Trevor. It took her ten happy, laughing minutes to  advance fifteen feet. So Stephen reached her seat before she did and  was holding it for her, a pointed look on his face. She rolled her  eyes at him and sat down.

Stephen took a seat next to her and turned matters firmly to  kidnapping, murder, unexplained demonic remains and revolution,  without question easier to deal with than a willful female intent on  teasing him.

"Just in case," he began dryly, "there's anyone here who still  doesn't know, on my right is Doni." From there he introduced everyone  else and then moved on, wasting no time on the amenities.

"OK, here's how it's going to go. Tommy has already made sure that  everyone is on the same page regarding what we already know about  what happened. Trevor and Doni are going to share their pieces of the  puzzle and then we'll see where we're at.

"I want to reiterate, before we go any further, that what is  discussed among us is discussed with no one else. I am convinced,  based on the evidence we have and the events of the last month or so,  that there are those at the Refuge who's primary loyalties lie  elsewhere.

"Doni, why don't you start?" He didn't look at all happy as he said  it.

Doni felt him open the bond between them, his presence a loving  warmth and haven of security amid the memories. But she wanted to do  this, felt she needed to do it, for herself and for those who'd  died. She pulled air deep into her lungs and clunging tight to the  contact with Stephen, willing detachment from every feeling, began,  saying simply, "I doubt very much if any this is about what happened  to Lily's children. I think it was all about what had been happening  to the teams and what I saw that day."

She took advantage of the stir that went through the room to tighten  her grip on her emotions and gather her thoughts, not at all sure if  she'd be able get through this without tears. "That day, I got  separated from the team by the aftershocks and the debris. I saw  them die and I saw who killed them. The trouble is the only thing I  can tell you about him is that it was one of the council's general  aides. I don't know his name.

"After, I came back looking for Stephen and Richard...to tell them.  Stephen wasn't here so I went out to the house. Everything there was  in an uproar over the babies. She hesitated then, her face getting  tense. "The only thing I'm going to say about that is that I didn't  know." She stopped again, willing the tears to stay away, gathering  herself together before going on.

Tommy watched her, frowning, then he stood up and fixed a cup of  coffee, set it in front of her and sat down again, blushing, his eyes  fixed on his note pad.

Doni took a sip and went on. "Anyway when I told Richard he said he  didn't care; it was our problem and told me to leave. So I started  back here, to find Stephen."

She stopped again, trying to control her breathing, feeling Stephen  wrapping himself around her. She took a deep breath, clenching her  fists under the table and went on, her voice strained, "I hadn't gone  all that far, I was walking…I was still in sight of the house and I  heard something…a whoosh of air or something and I looked back and I  saw the house come down and then all the rest of the buildings.

She fixed her eyes on the table, her shoulders hunched, pulling in  protectively as she went on, her voice becoming unsteady, "So I tried  to zap back and that's when...the same guy I saw in the morning. I  don't know what he did, but I couldn't do anything at all…it was like  I had no power, no strength and then I don't remember anything until  I woke up the first time in that...place...where you found me."

She felt herself start to tremble, starting to tear up. She opened  her eyes wide, willing them not to fall. She was going to have to  finish it in a hurry. "I never saw anyone there, but once in a while  I would hear a voice, a man's voice, talking to someone." She  reached for the coffee as she finished, trying to steady her hand and  swallowed the rest of it.

Tommy, reaching for the cup to refill it saw faint smears of red  where her hand. The cup he returned to her had none, though he  remembered to bring her a napkin this time.

"All right," Stephen said, 'let's all digest that while Trevor here  tells us what they've found so far regarding what happened in the  meadow that day."

Trevor, very tanned after so long a time in the field, looked fit and  confident. It was clear he was quite comfortable at dig. He was  dressed in khaki and white, the white shirt in sharp contrast to his  tan. His hair was shorn quite short, in a crew cut and was  sunbleached to blond. His blue eyes seemed to leap out of that tanned  and lean face. He pulled out a sheaf of papers and began passing  copies around.

"I wanted Charlie to come with me to brief you, but he preferred to  stay on site and keep working. So if there is anything you ask that I  can't answer, you'll just have to pop over to the site and see for  yourself and speak to him. If you've questions for me, I'd appreciate  it if you wait until I've finished my brief." Trevor had brought a  laptop and a projector and began showing slides and pictures on the  whiteboard at the back of the room.

"I'm now convinced what we have here is a crime scene. We've  recovered enough evidence to be quite confident that we've found the  remains of 10 different bodies. We've found them at all three sites,  Richard and Lily's house, Anne's house and Ned and Diccon's house.  We've been able to figure out a partial timeline or sequence of  events. We're pretty sure that all were dead before the houses were  pulled down over the top of them, effectively burying them and  destroying much of the evidence of the crimes. However, burial of  evidence can also preserve some signs that we can look for.

"In Ned and Diccon's house, we found the remains of three adults, two  male, one female, and one child, a boy about 2 years old. They were  not together so we can relatively safely assume the attack was swift  and unexpected. Traces we've found based on forensic evidence leads  me to conclude they were dead before the house collapsed, but not  long before.

"A similar pattern is seen at Lily and Richard's house and at  Anne's. Two adults at Richard and Lily's place, and they were  together. There is some indication that Richard tried to shield Lily  so he may have had a moment or two's warning of the attack upon them.

"At Anne's house, we found her daughter's remains in what was left of  her crib and Anne in what must have been the kitchen.

"Two additional bodies have been turned up near Richard and Lily's  house, two adult males. For now we are assuming they are Will Scrope  and Ed Perkins as they have not been heard from since the day of the  events.

"We've got DNA testing being done now, but not yet concluded. That  will tell us for certain if we are right in our guesses as to the  identification of each of the bodies."

Trevor paused and looked around at the shock on the faces around him.  They were staring at a picture of the excavated sight of Richard and  Lily's house.

"Only two children?" Doni whispered, pale faced, tears starting in  her eyes.

"Yes. We haven't finished with our searches for the other two, but at  the moment, we can report we've not yet found any evidence that the  other two children, Richard and Lily's children, were victims."

Stephen interrupted him, asking, "Do you have any reason to think  it's that you just haven't found any sign of them?"

Trevor gave it some thought before he replied. "It could be that the  children were outside or in a different part of the house. But we've  cleared the majority of the rubble. The odds are, at this point, that  they were not there at the time. Or..." Trevor let that sit there  unfinished.

"As to evidence, we've good evidence that this was a crime. We've  also found something that appears to be perhaps a signature left by  the murderer or murderers. This," Trevor put up a picture blown up.  It showed a bone fragment, and burned into it was a design.

Reno was the one who reacted to that. "I've... I've seen that design.  When I worked for the Council, before Marc hired me on. A ring maybe,  like a signet ring. I'm not sure who wore it though. It's been  awhile."

Marc was one of the last to exit the meeting, his mind busy on putting pieces together, plotting strategy, and trying to develop a plan of action, not to mention a plan to protect Stephen, whom he saw as being in even more danger now. When he did emerge from the meeting room, pausing for a private word with Trevor, he might have passed on and missed her altogether. But the pressure of her eyes on him, brought his attention to bear on the small atrium off to one side where she sat.

He walked over to join her, sitting on the bench beside her.

Neither of them spoke for some time. Finally he said, "I apologize for my behaviour yesterday with Laszlo. I was angry about something else entirely. And Laszlo, well, he was .." he let his voice trail off.

She waved that aside and something about the way she held herself alerted him.  She was near to tears he saw.  "What is it?" he asked.

"What have they found?" she asked, barely loud enough to hear.

"In the meadow?" he asked.

She nodded, clenching her hands into fists in her lap as she did so.

"They found what looks very like Richard and Lily there. Along with other bodies. I'm sorry," he added, after a moment.

Tears were forming, and leaking down her cheeks.  He put an arm around her shoulders and then, after a moment, he stood, pulling her up into the circle of his arms. He winked out, with her, to the living room of his new house.

It wasn't quite finished, the inside just bare as yet, no carpeting not much in the way of furniture, but it was private and quiet. And if she needed to cry it was a better place to do it than in the atrium were everyone passing would see her.

He held her, while she sobbed into his shoulder. "It was quick, Dinah. They barely had time to know they were under attack."

"The others?" she asked.

"Dead also." He hesitated, wondering if he should mention the two children they hadn't found, but her grief seemed mainly for her friends, so he did not comment on that. Instead he just held her, until her sobs eased up a bit, then he led her out onto the decking that overlooked the valley and sat down with her on the wood, their backs against the house.

He magicked up a bottle of good scotch and two glasses and poured. She took hers, using both hands and sipped, then coughed. He toyed with his, not really wanting it, but wanting to somehow ease her grief by sharing it with her.

He kissed the top of her head, which seemed to be a mistake, as it got her sobbing again.  He couldn't think of anything to say, so he just held her.      She lifted her head eventually, sniffling and mopping her eyes with her hands.  "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be crying all over you."

He brushed back her hair and handed her a handkerchief he'd pulled from his pocket. "You were close to Lily?"     

She nodded.  "Lily, well, she made it easy to be close to her.   But after I started spending time here when my grandmother died, I had no family left, really and she...it was...she was...we were like sisters.  And then...when she and Richard...and she didn't think she could come back here she stayed with me."  She stopped then and blew her nose, not wanting to start crying again.      

"Ah," he said thoughtfully, looking over at her, trying to figure out if it were safe to say anything more.  When she seemed to be a bit calmer, he offered, "I never met Richard.  I  heard third hand about the scenes with the Council. Lily, I did meet her once. I wasn't involved with the council at the time, and this was long before Richard.  I always thought it odd, you know, that when they.. when everyone thought they left the Refuge that they never contacted anyone to let their friends know they were all right."     

"Unless you knew Richard it wouldn't make sense.  He never wanted to come back...not after what happened that summer...then, after Lily got hurt he wanted to stop her from going out on calls...well, he cut a deal with Stephen.  So we all thought he just made her cut all contact and let it go at that, hoping I suppose that with time..."  The tears were starting again and she stopped and waited until she had herself in hand again.   "Stephen had me and Laz and Clem...even Baz I think, looking for a long time after, but when nothing turned up he stopped.  Then he had us start again...right before Malta.  We thought...oh God, we were so stupid..."  she said, the tears starting again, her voice a whisper, "We thought it's what she wanted."  

"Hardly stupid," he answered thoughtfully.  "I looked for them too when I went back and began to try to piece things together. With no luck either. So I've thought for a long time something had happened that no one knew about. But it's a shock to you and Lily's other friends."  He took the handkerchief she'd wadded up out of her fist and wiped her tears with it.  "Reno tells me these things come in handy. I guess he's right."     

"Smart man, your Reno.  Melly thinks so, too, which is definitive for smart."  She looked up at him, smiling weakly.     

He searched her face for a moment and then, slowly, bent his head towards hers, kissing her, gently at first and then, feeling her response, he deepened the kiss, drawing her to him.

"I'm not very good at this kind of thing," he murmured when they broke for air.

"You're doing just fine," she replied.

He ran the back of his hand along the side of her face. She leant her head into his touch.

They sat there in silence for a time when he finally said, "We should probably get you back. Tomorrow... Would you like to come for dinner? Just the two of us?"     

She tilted her head a bit and considered him.  "Yes," she said, "I think I would like that very much."

"Nothing expected of you. Just a chance to get to know one another better," he added.    

"I'd like that very much too."  She considered him again, and then said, "Do you think you could kiss me again before we leave?"    

Tabitha found Liam in the dining room, finishing lunch. She wiped her  hands on her apron, considering him and then, apparently making up  her mind, pushed the kitchen door open and crossed the room to his  table.

"Good afternoon Liam," she said. "All done eating?"

He nodded, wiping his mouth and pushing back from the table.

"Good, I want to talk to you." It wasn't a request.

"Ah, Tabitha, I have some things…"

She interrupted ruthlessly. "This won't take long." She pulled a  chair out and joined him, making it plain he wasn't leaving until she  was ready for him to do so. "What did they find in the meadow?" she  asked without preamble.

A shadow crossed his face. "Basically what I think we expected to  find."

Something moved in her eyes, something that Liam wanted to call fear  but it was gone to fast to be sure.

"All of them?" she asked.

"No, or at least not yet; there was no trace of Lily's children. But  everyone else, all ten of them, they found them all."

"Lily's? Are they sure?"

Her question had an intensity that, even in the circumstances,  surprised him. "They are sure that the two children they found were  not Lily's. Tabitha, what…"

She stood up, overriding whatever he was preparing to say. "Thank  you. The funerals?"

"Stephen is with Clem now, working out the details. Sometime early  next week I would think. I suspect it means a lot of work for you…  there are a lot of people who will want to come."

"Thank you," she said again, her mind clearly elsewhere as she turned  to leave.

She retraced her steps to the kitchen slowly. She continued on out  into the kitchen garden, and then, winked out.

She reappeared outside Orsisius's and was once again bowed into the  house and the conducted directly to him, reflecting wryly that until  this week she'd seen him on an average of once every four or five  years for the last millennia.

She bowed to him, murmuring the proscribed greeting and taking the  chair she indicated, the same as she'd occupied last time.

Perhaps because he recognized how unusual it was for her to have  returned so soon he spent less time over the amenities, waiting only  until his servant had left after bringing refreshment to approach the  subject of her visit. "I am delighted that you have graced my house  again with your presence. I am also desolated to have no news for you  regarding the matter we discussed previously."

"Then it is my good fortune to bring you glad tidings. Doni has been  restored to us."

"That is indeed glad news. I had wondered, perhaps…but no matter. I  rejoice with you. She is well?'

"She is well."

"Why then are you so solemn?"

"The Lady Liliana and her mate did not, as we had thought, leave the  Refuge. It would appear that someone has killed them. Her children,  meanwhile, have gone astray."

She waited then, sharing the silence patiently, until he spoke again.

"Steps are being taken to ensure they are recovered?"

It was clear to her he was not asking a casual question. "Yes,  though I do not know the specifics. I believe, though, we have been  given a sign."

"You are sure?"

"For myself, beyond doubt, for certainty…that must wait on events. I  have come to ask for what you hold in trust."

"Yes, of course," he replied absently as he rang a small bell to  summon his servant, giving him some instructions and sending him on  his way before returning his attention to her. "I will begin  inquiries of my own regarding the children. If something turns up I  will be in touch. Meanwhile, what are your plans?"

"I shall wait and see what develops. As you know my hands are tied to  a large extent at least for now. Nonetheless, I think there is a way."

He stood then, passing a box to her his servant had brought. "You  bring me hope, my dear. Thank you."

She bowed to him, deeply. "I am blessed indeed if that is so."

 Marc drove out to the southeast forty, the meadow where the excavation was proceeding.  He needed some time to think. He hadn't seemed to have much of a chance to do that, and his emotions had gotten away from him three times in two days. Once, when he'd nearly fried Duncan, and again with Laszlo, although it could be said that was merely an extension of the first episode. And again, today with Dinah.

Marc did not take lovers lightly. And of late they had all been selected toward achieving the goal of taking over the Council. But this time.... Dinah.  It was not wise. At many levels, and in many ways, it wasn't wise. But .. Something about her drew him. She was a strong individual in a flawed and weakened state. She was vulnerable; she knew that and hated it.   And Laszlo was right. He could hurt her.  He probably would hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her, but he saw no way of avoiding that. At first he'd thought she merely wanted a casual love affair. After talking to Laszlo... The best thing to do was to just walk away. Be brutal, cut it off. End it now before it went any further. She had Laszlo to run to. Yes, he decided that was what he'd do.

He was pulling up to the dig site then and dismissed Dinah from his mind. He needed to concentrate on more important things now.

Trevor, having heard the vehicle came out of one of the tents to see who was arriving. If he was surprised to see Marc, he didn't show it. He just walked up to the BMW X5 and held out his hand to Marc as he got out of the vehicle.

"Thought you might turn up," Trevor offered as they walked over to examine the site.

"Some of the findings you detailed this morning are worrying," Marc replied.

"Yes, I can understand that they are," Trevor replied non-committally.

"Is there somewhere we can talk without observation?  Or I can take you up to my house."

Trevor eyed him thoughtfully. "Perhaps your house is best. Let me collect some things first though."

Trevor didn't take very long. He brought his laptop and a file folder. Marc grasped his arm and the two winked out, to reappear on the deck at Marc's place. Since he'd been there with Dinah, the deck had been furnished with a glass topped outdoor table and chairs, and a few more comfortable ones for use in enjoying the scenery.

"Nice view," Trevor said as he walked over to set his laptop down on the table and fired it up.

Marc left for a few moments and returned with a bottle of single malt and two glasses.  He poured them each a swallow.

They touched glasses and drank, sharing a long measuring look at one another.

"What is it you want kept confidential," Trevor asked.

"There was an attack on Stephen not long ago."

"Ah," Trevor replied. "I heard he'd been hurt. Didn't think the details were any of my business."

"Normally they probably wouldn't be. But..." Marc let his voice drift off.

"But?" Trevor prompted.

"I believe that given what you've found, there will be even more pressure to try to kill him."

Trevor frowned and looked out at the scenery for a time, considering what Marc had just told him.

"If you believe that delving into all of this will expose someone, then that certainly makes sense. But I have the feeling there is more to it than that. Don't tell me. I don't need to understand it. But if you believe this, then you should increase security around here. So far as I can tell it is pretty much non-existent."

Marc nodded in agreement. "We can lock the Refuge down, restrict entry, which we did right after the attack on Stephen but with no one here to head it all up, well, it's lapsed again."

"And," Trevor commented, "if you've already someone here who might not be what he or she seems..."

"Exactly," Marc replied. "I've got some people looking to try to identify who that might be, as I'm fairly certain there are several people here feeding information to Stephen's enemies."

"Stephen's enemies?" Trevor asked with a raised eyebrow.  Marc and he shared yet another measuring look.

"I seriously doubt you want me to explain Awakened politics to you."

Trevor sighed. "Spare me."

"Suffice it to say, I need someone to set up security here, and we need to protect Stephen."

"Not to mention you," Trevor countered.

Marc raised an eyebrow.

"If they're targeting him, and as they'd kidnapped his wife as a way to try to take him out of the game without killing him, I have to believe you are now in their sights as well. After all, you've come down on Stephen's side.  No matter what the political details are, that puts you in the frame as well."

"How much more must you do at the site?" Marc asked, ignoring that last.

"We've got DNA ordered, it will take a few days yet for analysis. I need to spend some time coming up with a plausible explanation for things, given Doni's input. But mostly I'm pretty well done beyond wrap-up, unless Charlie unearths some additional evidence for the two children, or finds another sort of sign or some additional evidence on who might have done this.  Has Reno, by the way, said who this points to? Or is that beyond my pay grade?"

"If you agree to set up and initially run our security, at least until we can find a permanent candidate, I'll tell you everything I know."

Trevor's lip curled up in the hint of a smile. "I doubt that. But I confess to an interest in puzzles.  Not to mention I'd like a hand in finding Richard and Lily's murderers, as I seriously doubt the person who ordered this would just kill himself and then bury his own body in a nearby cemetery. Nice touch but a trifle hard to pull off."

"Security wise, what can we do?" Marc asked.

"Well, I'll need a quick course on what normal Awakened security consists of. Then... I'd suggest, since you are dealing with someone with similar abilities, you rely on more mundane methods to augment it. Even if someone can transport in, they might not be able to disable security cameras and sensors quickly enough to avoid all possibility of detection."

"Right," Marc agreed. "Also, we think someone is sending information back to Home."

"Do you have a way of monitoring private person to person mental communications?" Trevor asked

"Not per se. But if we lock down the Refuge again, mental communications to people outside the perimeter will be blocked. So anyone wishing to communicate in that way will have to find a reason to actually leave the Refuge."

Trevor gave that some thought. "Yes. That would help narrow down the field, if they needed to communicate."

"So is that a yes?" Marc asked.

"I'm not cheap," Trevor replied.  "And the equipment will be expensive. And hard to come by. But I can manage it."

"What, you're not doing this out of the kindness of your heart?" Marc commented as he poured them each another drink.

"I might, but Maggie does the books. She'd kill me if I did."

They clinked glasses.