Elsa stared at the wall. She was back at Haven, sat next to Kate’s bed whose parents were probably frantic by now, wondering why she hadn’t come home and unable to get hold of their daughter. Marcus would find a way to explain everything away, that’s what Haven did. No one had witnessed the shootings outside the club; the shooter had used a silencer and everything had happened so fast. Logan had followed them out and smelt the blood, rounding the corner just as the van was pulling away. He’d been shot out of the van window as it drove away and thankfully his reflexes had been quick enough to stop him being seriously hurt. Sitting against the wall next to Sebastian with a bullet to the shoulder he had called Haven to tell them the situation had changed. By the time a team arrived to pick him up, Sebastian had recovered sufficiently to begin tracking the van and was long gone.
After receiving medical attention, Logan was able to pick up Sebastian’s scent and track him in turn but everything had just happened that little bit too late, Vincent had been one tiny step ahead the whole time.
The tactical teams had returned to base with all the intelligence they could gather from the compound where Vincent had kept Elsa and Kate. Gray was heading the team analyzing all the data they’d collated; everyone was working around the clock to find Vincent. To find Sebastian.
Elsa had told Gray everything she knew, which wasn’t much; she’d been out of it a lot of the time. Now she was waiting for her father. After his initial fear for her had been replaced by overwhelming relief that she was all right, slowly he’d become angry. Why had she gone running back to the compound alone? Anything could have happened. And who and what in the hell was Sebastian? She’d escaped for a few minutes to check on Kate but she would have to answer his questions soon, it might help to find Sebastian. It might also put him at further risk if he turned out to be a creature that Haven would exterminate without question. Despite her fear, she would tell her father whatever he needed to know, her priority was to find Sebastian, and she would worry about the rest later.
Kate looked deathly pale, her skin even whiter if possible than the crisp sheets she lay on. She had dressings on her head where it had been split open and Hesper had quietly informed Elsa that Kate’s skull had been fractured quite badly. This head injury, along with the vampire bites that had been inflicted on her had resulted in huge blood loss and Kate had been close to death when Elsa had arrived at Haven. Hesper had treated her injuries with a transfusion of vampire blood that had sped up the healing process considerably. The swelling in Kate’s brain had reduced dramatically and she was now breathing steadily on her own. This kind of treatment had its risks. It was a fine line but Hesper believed she had got the balance right; too little vampire blood would have left Kate battling her injuries alone, a battle she would have almost certainly lost; too much would have turned her into a vampire. A specially adapted dialysis machine was waiting to clean Kate’s blood when she was stronger, to ensure the vampire blood transfusion left no lasting side effects other than Kate’s full recovery.
They hadn’t been able to use Elsa’s blood to save Kate. Another thing for her to feel guilty about. Hers was contaminated, their words. Hesper had taken samples to analyze after they had all seen the extraordinary effect that drinking Sebastian’s blood had on Elsa. All her abilities had been amplified, she’d been astonishingly strong and fast, even for a very old vampire. Hesper was one of the oldest vampires any of them knew and she’d never seen anything like it. Unfortunately Elsa had also metabolized the blood very quickly and the effects had now subsided. Now she felt empty, like the very last piece of Sebastian she had to hold onto was gone. They’d even taken that solitary feather that had lain on the cold concrete floor next to Vincent’s taunting note.
Hesper entered the room silently. She placed a cool hand on Elsa’s arm, “Your father is waiting in the library,” she said and there was a kind tone to her voice. Elsa knew Hesper could feel the guilt that threatened to crush what was left of her spirit. She had left Sebastian twice, weak and wounded and now he was lost. She had almost killed her best friend and it was her fault Kate had been in danger in the first place. Elsa said nothing to Hesper, rising to leave the room without looking back at Kate. What she was going to say to her when she eventually came round, Elsa had no idea. There would be no way to erase her memory this time, it had been too long. She might well wake up and remember every last horrific detail. As she moved silently through Haven’s eerily quiet corridors, Elsa’s weary mind was running over everything she would need to tell her father and she barely even registered how she came to be stood at the library doorway, where she had spent so much time trying herself to find out exactly what Sebastian was.
Marcus was sat at one of the tables, his laptop open and piles of books and papers scattered across the tables surface. He looked tired.
“Dad,” Elsa announced her presence, she had obviously entered too quickly and quietly for Marcus to notice.
“Elsa,” Marcus stood and held out his arms, “I’m sorry if I was angry with you before, it wasn’t fair.”
Elsa moved into her fathers embrace, “It’s ok,” she mumbled, “I understand.”
Marcus pulled a chair out and she sat down, “Why didn’t you tell me about Sebastian before?” he asked gently. Elsa felt tears sting her eyes again, she’d felt so numb since she’d been back at Haven and she fought to keep her emotions in check, they wouldn’t help her find Sebastian.
“I was scared,” she admitted, “I thought he might be a demon, that you may have to destroy him. I tried to find out myself what he was but I couldn’t, I don’t know enough about this world.”
“If he was all demon Elsa, you’d be dead by now. Logan didn’t recognise his scent, neither did Gray and I trust his nose above anyone’s. Sebastian is definitely something we haven’t come across before but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure out what he is. If we can do that it might tell us why Vincent was suddenly so happy to take him in place of you.”
“Why did he want me so badly? Why go to all that effort and risk just to convert one vampire to his movement?” Elsa asked.
Marcus was silent for a moment, clearly struggling internally with something. Finally he gave in, “There’s something I haven’t told you about Vincent,” he said quietly, “When your mother was killed, we destroyed the vampires responsible, like I told you, but they were just the tip of the iceberg. The blood movement has been a very long-standing problem for us. Vincent was one of the vampires we were tracking when your mother died and I believe it was Vincent who sent those vampires after Sarah, after your mum. One of the group that we killed was his companion Ulric, they had travelled together for hundreds of years, they were friends, lovers, everything to each other. I believe that Vincent wanted to convert you to get his revenge on me for Ulric’s death. It would have been hugely important to him and for him to happily abandon that plan and take Sebastian instead? Well, there must be a very good reason.”
Elsa didn’t know what to say. She felt angry that her father had not told her everything from the very start, maybe she would have been more alert, maybe she would have noticed she was being watched or followed and none of this might have happened. But they were just maybes and, maybe if she’ told Marcus about Sebastian sooner things would have been different too. Once again, she kept her emotions in check. She shelved the information that Vincent had been involved with her mother’s death along with his treatment of Kate, of Sebastian and of her. She would make him pay for everything he’d done but it would have to wait.
Marcus studied her face for a moment but she was giving nothing away. He continued, “I need you to tell me everything you can about Sebastian, everything.”
She did. She told him how they had first met, how she’d been drawn to him even before she’d been changed and how he’d finally revealed himself to her and she to him for what they really were. She told him everything Sebastian had ever told her about his past, about the note from his mother, about the times he had killed and every way he'd tried to kill himself. And finally she told him how she’d drunk Sebastian’s blood and the incredible affect it had had on her.
All the time she spoke, Marcus rifled through books and papers, moving between them and his laptop, typing, searching, reading. And every time she paused he would fire questions at her, “Does he feel pain? Can he be hurt? Does he just drink blood or does he eat his victims? She shuddered at the words.
“Dad, he is not a monster I don't care what you say.” It was becoming difficult for her to remain neutral. It had been hours since Sebastian had been taken and her nerves felt frayed.
Marcus paused, “I'm sorry sweetheart, I can see how much you care for him, but I have to ask if we're going to help him.” His voice was softer now, “Tell me about his wings.” He looked back to his book.
“The first time I saw them, I thought he was an angel,” she began and then jumped as her father slammed the book shut.
“A what?” he looked up at her sharply.
“An angel,” she repeated, “They are huge and black but feathered, like I would have imagined an angels would be. You saw the feather he left behind didn’t you?”
Marcus looked confused, he took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes closed. “There is something,” he said, “A possibility maybe but I never thought it could happen.”
Elsa felt a flicker of hope, “What?”
“He could be a Nephilim, a product of a union between a demon and an angel.”
“Angels exist?”
“We could never be sure, if they ever did, they certainly don't anymore,” said Marcus, “I seem to remember a file...” he turned to the laptop again and began typing quickly. Elsa moved to stand behind him and could see he was logged into a secure part of Havens system, scanning through files for the key word 'angel'. After what seemed like an age, one file appeared on screen and Marcus clicked to open it. It was a scan of an old, yellowed hand written file, faded in places and difficult to read. A photo of a young woman, leaving a building with books clutched to her chest, looking up furtively as if she knew she was being watching, was attached to the top of the page and there were faded notes detailing times she had been seen and recording any observations made; '13/09/25 female, approximately 18-20 years old... tracking intermittently for five years.... has not aged visibly ... 04/03/26 scar apparent on left shoulder, right shoulder not visible ... 16/08/28 no set routine, careful not to be seen...'
“There's no record of her after 1928,” Marcus murmured, “Do you know how old Sebastian is?”
“He thinks he was born in the late 1920's, he can't remember exactly.”
Marcus clicked on a few pages, “There are medical records,” he scanned the page and pointed to a section of text, reading out loud, “Jane Doe, approx 18-20 years of age admitted following sever beating. Incoherent on admission, refusing examinations, required heavy sedation. Evidence of violent sexual attack.” he looked at Elsa, “It says she had large scars on both shoulder blades which appeared to be old wounds and that they were unable to complete treatment as the patient disappeared hours later.” The scars sounded just like the ones she’d seen on Sebastian’s shoulders.
Elsa looked back at her father and then again at the picture of the woman she was now sure was Sebastian's mother, “Is there a name?” she asked.
“There's a later record of a Sarah Bennet matching the same description being brought into hospital in the early stages of labour and disappearing as soon as she was left alone.”
“Sebastian’s surname is Bennet!” Elsa exclaimed, “She has to be Sebastian’s mother, doesn’t she?”
“It’s looking that way.” Marcus admitted.
“And Haven, back then, they thought she was an angel?”
“They thought she was the last one.”
*AN - sorry it's taken longer than I intended, thanks for waiting patiently - don't forget to vote and I'd love to hear your comments on how the story is unfolding :)*