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Unlike Sol, who always parked several blocks away from
Sabastian's brownstone, Mary pulled right up in front.

Stepping from the car, thankful that Mary was a very
fast, thought frighteningly reckless, driver,
Sabastian said, "You realize that you have parked in
front of a fire hydrant. I believe the human's frown
upon that."

"I know and really don't care," she said, stepping
beside him on the sidewalk. "If they tow me, I'll
just buy a new car.

"So," she continued, putting a boot-clad foot on the
fire hydrant, "this was your home?"

"Yes. And it still is my home, I have not given it
up, I have only lent it to Elizabeth."

"How sweet."

"You sound as though you are feeling better,"
Sabastian said.

"Yeah, I am. I guess some good city smog was all I
needed. Or maybe it was the traffic that got me
going. I don't know."

"I am glad to hear it, whatever the reason. Are you
up to joining me?"

"You bet," Mary answered.

The two walked past the outer gate and into the inner
court. There they saw three guards sitting casually
on the steps.

"Stop," one said. "Turn around and go back from
wherever you came from."

Sabastian and Mary ignored him.

All three guards got up in unison and blocked the
stairs. "Who the hell do you think you are?" another
of the guards asked.

Walking directly up to him, Sabastian said, "Why do I
always have to explain this. I am the owner of this
property and I intend to go inside."

"That's pretty funny," the vampire said, as all three
laughed. "I say Thomas owns this property and you
can't go inside."

"I really do not have the time to play games, move or
I will move you," Sabastian announced.

Getting right into his face, the largest of the
vampires responded, "No."

From next to Sabastian, Mary asked, "Do you know who
he is?"

Still in Sabastian's face he answered, "Yeah, and I
don't care."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sabastian thrust his
hand through the vampire's chest and out the other
side, holding his heart. With his other hand he
pushed the dead guard off his arm and then tossed his
heart to the ground.

The other two guards looked down at their friend, eyes
wide, and stood aside.

"You know that's really disgusting, right?" Mary
asked. "And how is it you aren't covered in blood?
Look at all the blood you got on my shirt, but you are
perfectly clean. How do you do that?"

Walking up the stairs, Sabastian said, "I have no
idea."

Following behind, Mary said, "Seriously, I don't
understand. When you killed Mina's guard, you got
blood all over. That poor old lady..."

"Claudia," Sabastian interrupted.

"Yeah, her. It took her hours to clean it. Yet you
didn't have a drop on you. Not even your hand."

Now in the living room, Sabastian said, "I do not know
the answers you are looking for, and now is not the
time for trivial conversation. We are here to help
Elizabeth. She is in the basement with Thomas and
Night."

"Fine, how do we get down there?"

"Through this door," he answered, unlocking the locks.
As he opened the door, he could hear Elizabeth crying
and begging for Thomas to stop, while Thomas and Night
laughed.

[Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006. All rights
reserved.]