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The French doors to the balcony weren&039;t exactly repaired, but they were boarded up and once again bore all the trappings necessary to keep away monsters

Since one of New Orleans&039; finest had been there, they&039;d been able to report the incident, and get Barry Larson to the hospital for the care he neededand explain the dead nor had whisked Mary off, so there was no need to explain how thecorpse had come back to life at the cris, but to Jessica, the night seemed to stretch forever Nancy and Jereie&039;s, safe, with Brent Malone and the others

As he watched the crime-scene team do their work, Bryan felt like an uneasy observer

He had worked alone for soLook at the way Jessica had been betrayed And yet he couldn&039;t help feeling he had lost out in soore&039;s death He was a warrior, and a warrior&039;s solitary quest was the destruction of evil Yet this group had also made that their aim, as unnatural-as io it didn&039;t see He had fought for a king who had honored hiside stalwart comrades They had worn leather, chain and steel, rather than cotton and denim, Levi&039;s and Armani, but in a way, they werethe activity all around hi a few plans of his own

At least the results of the prelieable froh the French doors, and he&039;d worn gloves No identifiable prints had been found, and no shoe prints in the garden below By agreement, Bobby had described the attacker as a tall man who had fled when he&039;d arrived Bryan was surprised to see that after his initial shock, the cop dealt with the situation quite well

Bryan finally left Jessica&039;s house, knowing she was safe in the hands of people who cared about her, and went to the hospital in the wake of the a the hour he waited until he was allowed to see Barry Larson, he checked on the status of David Hayes One of the residents lowered his voice as Bryan questioned hi, "I never saw soto make it Whoever attacked those cops ripped up the veins in his arh, which still that doesn&039;t explain"

"Explain what?" Bryan asked

"He&039;s convinced he was attacked by a vaue, then in his room by a man in a doctor&039;s whites"

"So he&039;s conscious now? Is he allowed visitors?"

"It&039;s up to the cops who gets in," the resident said

Bryan thanked him Mendez was on duty and let hi?" Bryan asked

The boy looked at him curiously "Do I know you?"

"I&039;ends and beliefs-like varavely

"Yes," Bryan said

David looked at him, stunned that someone finally believed hi to believe you I&039;d give it up, if you want to become a doctor"

Hayes shook his head "You don&039;t understand I&039; they tell you and you&039;ll be fine The vaht now He&039;syou full of new blood, so hang in there, and grow up to be a great doctor"

"That&039;sit?" David said

"Well, it won&039;t hurt you to eat a lot of garlic and keep religious symbols around your house"

"Like crosses?"

"Like whatever you believe in Face it, whatever supreme power is out there, I&039; to be most important is hoe treat one another while we&039;re here on earth"

David stared at hiot a real chance, kid Use it," Bryan advised, then got up and headed toward the door

"Hey, Professor? Are you going to be around? In casein case I need some help?"

"Not for a while, actually But don&039;t worry Soency and found out where they had taken Barry Larson, asn&039;t in bad shape, suffering reeted Bryan

"I nearly stopped him I tried, anyway"

"Goodon at that house I knew Big Jih I had my story down I said I couldn&039;t reuy broke in from the balcony and we tried to stop him" His face hardened "&039;Course, Gareth will colar, but that&039;s okay, I guess"

After a few pleasantries, Bryan left When he got back to Montresse House, Stacey was downstairs with Bobby, who still looked shell-shocked, but at least he was getting some colour back in his face He looked at Bryan eary eyes "They&039;re going to need a new maintenance man," he said dully

"Yeah Where is everyone?" Sean asked

"Sean&039;s been called back in Niles Goolighan acko in his cell, attacked a guard Most of the others are at Sean&039;s place They&039;re eerous to keep Mary at a house where there are children, so she&039;ll be staying with a guy naured out Jessica&039;s upstairs," he said "Resting"

"She&039;s not resting She&039;s busy bla," Stacey contradicted

"Thanks"

Upstairs, he found Jessica pacing the floor in her room, which had been put back in some semblance of order She stood still when he appeared and stared at hi

"Hey," he said softly

"Oh, God, Bryan!" She ran across the room to him, and he took her into his arms

"All these yearsGareth came toto rob the er of a convenience store, and hesaw me take them down He told the cops then I&039;d just had a lucky break, co him on the head with a bottle of wine I was sure he&039;d seen the truth, but he was so convincing A few months later he admitted that he knehat I was, but he said he wasn&039;t afraid, he only wanted to help me And he did Bryan, he ith me for ten years I left Stacey alone with him I trusted him"

Helplessly, he smoothed her hair "We all need to have faith in others And sometie you I&039; that you don&039;t have to be careful, but" He lifted her chin "Don&039;t forget there is love out there, friendship, loyalty You&039;ve got good friends Big Jiht be hi"

She sure, huh?" She shook her head, then let out a deep sigh "Sean went back to the station Niles Goolighan attacked a guard"

"The Master intended to leave a mess in his wake, and I&039;d say he did a damn fine job"

"I don&039;t knohat you mean"

"He&039;s moved on He&039;s caused all the trouble here that he wanted Noants us to follow him He never intended to have a full-blown battle here We&039;re not on his turf And we have no choice Wehave to follow him"

"Follow him where?"

"Where this all started Sometimes I don&039;t believe myself it all happened I don&039;t believe I was once aand a cause, in love with the king&039;s illegitihter That&039;s what he wants, Jessica He wants to relive that day We have to return to Scotland"

She backed away and stared at him

"It will be a different battle But," he added slowly, "the odds won&039;t be quite as bad as I&039;d always expected"

"Oh?"

"I suppose thereare a few good vaain

"You need to get some rest," he said

"We don&039;t have time"

"Yes, we do"

She looked up at him "A little physical activity always seems to help before a nap"

Hell, he hadn&039;t been born yesterday He kissed her, his lips light, infinitely tender

And he lance between theave way to the absolute passion and desperation of arousal, cliether in a bond as sweet as any the far distant past had ever offered

Afterward, she slept

He rose Downstairs, he found Bobby and Stacey cuddled together on one of the sofas

"Jessica?" Stacey asked

"Is sleeping," Bryan said

"I&039;d kind of like to go see Sean, then" Bobby hesitated, looking disbelievingly at Bryan "Stacey&039;s tried to explain it to et explanations for a lifetime-hell, you can live several lifetiuess everyone needs to get so plans And" He barely ht in the eyes "We&039;ll need all the help we can get"

Stacey sht I&039;ll see to it"

"I&039;ll be here," Bobby said "I won&039;t fail again, I promise"

"You didn&039;t fail, Bobby And next ti to happen here I&039;ain," Bobby repeated

Stacey curled her fingers around his hand, srimly as she looked at Bryan "Wewon&039;t fail," she assured hiuys to provide support, and that&039;s not because I don&039;t trust you But you&039;re only human, like it or not There&039;s only so much you can do"

They both looked deflated, but Bobby only sighed and told Bryan, "Yeah Sure We&039;ll reat babysitters"