A Requiem Eternal

Chapter 17 - Introductions

Kate woke up disoriented and sore from falling asleep at her desk. It wasn't something she let happen very often. She soon remembered in her morning fog why she was still in her office. Sara's grimoire contained a tangible revelation, one that she could follow up on. Sara's vision of Sorin mentioned a club he went to for the purpose of hunting victims. She wondered if she could find this place, if it actually existed. It was described with such detail; Kate thought she might be able to find it. She had a sinking yet exhilarating feeling she was getting close. So close to finding someone that spoke through Sara it was starting to frighten her.

"Mom...I wondered where you were," Tess said startling her.

Kate closed the book sliding it underneath her notebook when she heard Tess's voice behind her. She turned in her chair to face Tess rubbing her eyes. "I fell asleep reading."

"Exciting," Tess said sarcastically. "You really should get out more. I'm good with that, you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Anyway I made breakfast. Daniel's up too."

Daniel? Kate had forgotten. Oh, great, she thought; just what she wanted to deal with this morning.

Kate entered the kitchen to a busy Tess hovering over a full layout of breakfast with eggs, toast, sausage and fresh squeezed orange juice. Daniel sat at the bar with his head down and nothing on the plate in front of him.

"Help yourself Daniel."

Daniel lifted his head and Kate saw his unsettling eyes, their deep dark blue in unobstructed living color this time. The thought crossed her mind that he was really easy to look at but more towards the pretty side for a guy. His face had a haunting intensity to it for someone so young. She could understand why Tess was attracted to him.

Daniel pushed his plate to Tess. "Thanks, I'll just have some eggs. I don't eat much usually."

"Yeah, I can see that. If you want to do well in school you'll have to start eating a good breakfast."

"Daniel isn't in school, Mom. He's a musician."

"Yeah, I play just about every night. I don't make very much-- right now. But I can pay you something for staying here if you want."

Kate cringed at the fact that Daniel wasn't in school. She internally kicked herself for assuming again. Of course he wasn't in school. Tess said he was a runaway.

"Damn it, you walked right into that one," she thought to herself.

She hated how sometimes in her zeal to help others she forgot to pry out all the important facts. She suspected not being in school probably just gave him more time to get into trouble. She pictured him lying around all day doing nothing and the kind of influence he would be on Tess.

"I know you probably think since you aren't living at home anymore, you don't need an education. Nothing could be further from the truth."

"Mom."

Kate gave Tess the zip it look and continued.

"I'm not going to say you need to stop playing in your band while you live here, but during the day you will study for taking the GED."

"Mom--"

"No, Tess it's okay. I can do that Ms. Hartley."

"Call me Kate and a few more things for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later, but pretty much Daniel, any rule that applies to Tess also applies to you, except her curfew. I know you will need to be out later if you are playing, but I want you here precisely after shows and not a minute later. I'm always up late anyway, so I'll let you in. Also and most important, I will be living in this house too and I don't want to feel uncomfortable in it. So you two will keep your hands off each other. If Tess is the one for you, Daniel, you can wait. And the same goes for you Tess. If any of these main rules are broken just once I will call Child Protection. Do both of you understand?"