Subj: Collinsport -- 64
Date: 3/20/00 2:52:20 AM Central Standard Time
From: DSRules

Azura and Zoe were working on Zoe's math lesson when they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Azura answered the door, and found herself face to face with Laura.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Von Stein," Laura began.

Azura suppressed a gasp when she met Quentin's former lover's too-blue eyes. "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced, Ms. . . .?" She said, evasively.

"Oh, come on now." The blonde laughed. "You know who I am, just as I know who you are. So, are you going to invite me in?"

* * *

Quentin gazed into the bassinet at the baby that lay within. {What am I going to do? I've got to get her back to David and Sarah, if it's the last thing I do. But how can I ensure that I can get her back to them without harming her?}

He knew that time was of the essence, so he pulled out Petofi's blueprints of the building and began to formulate a plan.

* * *

"All right, Laura," Azura said her name as if it were an insult. "You're right. I do know who you are. What do you want?" She centered herself in the doorway, to keep the Phoenix from crossing the threshold.

"I'll tell you as soon as . . ."

They were interrupted by Zoe's voice. "Mom, what's going on? Who's she?"

Azura didn't remove her eyes from Laura's face. "Go upstairs, Zoe. I'll talk to you about this later."

"But . . ."

"I said *now*, Zoe!" Azura's desperation to protect her adopted daughter made her tone short.

"All right . . ." Zoe sighed. Azura listened for the sound of her walking up the stairs.

Once she was certain that Zoe was safely out of range, she stepped to one side to admit Laura to the house.

"So, that's Quentin's child with Louisa, is it?" Laura asked. "I really sometimes wonder about the wisdom of letting her live. . . "

"'Letting her live'?"

"Well, I did . . . take her mother out of the way. Strange, though. She calls you her mother."

"I am her mother, in every way that counts. I love her as if she were my own."

"Well, I'm just surprised that you haven't started on a child of your own yet." Laura said.

"That's none of your business."

"I know." Laura smiled coldly. "But, after all, he's had a daughter with every woman he's ever loved. It's his pattern."

"What?"

"Oh, yes. All of them. Jenny. Beth. Louisa." She indicated the staircase that Zoe had just ascended, then continued listing the mothers of Quentin's children. "Amanda. . . . Me."

* * *

Barnabas walked back to his office from his final class for the day. He was thinking about Rosario's revelations that she was the reincarnation of Angelique, and that she'd traded her soul for Julia's health. {I wish I could do something for her. She shouldn't have to bear the burden of Julia's illness.}

He nearly bumped into several students in his distraction. {She told me that Nicholas bought her soul. It should have been my soul for Julia's health, not hers. I should contact him and offer him my own. But how? I can't just look up 'the latest reincarnation of the demon known as Nicholas Blair' in the phone book, now, can I?}

Subj: Collinsport -- 65
Date: 3/26/00 4:36:23 AM Central Standard Time
From: DSRules

"What do you mean?" Azura asked.

"Come on, now, Azura. I may call you Azura, now, may I? Surely Quentin has told you about our love affair?"

"He's told me about his prior . . . involvement with you, but 'love affair' is not the term he used for it. Far from it, in fact. The word he used was . . ."

"Oh, did he, now?" Laura interrupted her. "And with our beautiful daughter, Nora, to show for it?"

Azura glared at her adversary.

"He didn't tell you about Nora?" Laura asked with false artlessness. "How remiss of him not to tell you. I'm sure he told you about Lenore and Rebecca?"

Azura shook her head. "I know about Lenore, but who's Rebecca?" As she said this, she couldn't believe that she was falling for the phoenix's story. It seemed clear to her that the other woman was making the entire thing up.

"His daughter by dear, departed Beth Chavez, of course.*"

"He and Beth didn't have a child together. Jenny had a pair of twins. A boy and a girl."

Laura shook her head. "And you thought you knew everything about Quentin. Now you know how much you don't know," she said with a glacial smile.

* * *

{The trick is to get out without anyone seeing me,} Quentin thought as he studied the schematic of the building. {The guards patrol 24 hours a day, so I have to time this just right to get her out of here and back to her
parents.}

{But the first thing I'm going to need is a pad of paper and a pen.}

He dug around in Petofi's desk, finally finding a large yellow Post-It pad and a black felt-tip marker. {Not the best materials, but it'll do.}

Then he began to write:

{Dear Azura:

{I don't have long to write, so I'll make this quick. Now that we know for certain that the werewolf curse ended when the portrait was destroyed, I may be about to test whether I really _am_ immortal.

{If I survive what I'm about to attempt, I want you to marry me as soon as I return. And if I survive, I _will_ return. I promise you that.

{I always told myself that I couldn't marry again after Jenny -- not until I was able to face her memory without feeling such intense guilt over her death and the pain of her life. You helped me to do that. And I want to spend the rest of our lives together.

{Yours always,
{Quentin}

He folded up the note and put it in his pocket. {Now, to get access to a phone . . .}

* * *

{The only way that I can figure to get in touch with Blair would be to ask Rosario how she got in touch with him. But I can't do that. She's so determined to make up for the harm she did my family that she'd never let me barter my soul for her own. She'd be certain that losing my own soul would be *another* way she'd hurt me. Hmmm. . .} He sat there at his desk, pondering his options.

Then it hit him. {Of course! The vampire! My . . . } Even in his own thoughts, the word came to him with difficulty. {. . . sire. What was his name? Neil! He was furious with me for 'allowing' her to do this. He certainly would help me get her soul back for her. But how does one get in touch with a vampire? I certainly can't phone him. His voice wouldn't transmit over phone lines any more than he could be photographed. Well, Rosario said that he owned a movie theater in San Antonio. I guess I'll just try giving them a call and see what they recommend.}

* * *

In the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Brad Bradford** was in the Australia house. He entered the free-flying bat enclosure with pleasant anticipation. She'd been there every day this week, watching him as he fed the bats, and he just knew that she'd be there again.

As he filled the first pail with fresh fruit, his eyes scanned the dark recesses of the room. There she was. Just as he had expected. Every day, he had tried to catch up to her and every day, she'd eluded him. But it wasn't going to happen this day. His friends would see to that.

He hurriedly filled the other pails and then walked back to the keepers' exit. He ducked almost immediately back into the building through the visitors' exit. Just as he'd expected, she was gone.

He knew where she'd gone, though, and headed back out into the bright March afternoon sunlight. Tim had been standing farther up the path, and Tony had been standing farther down it. He'd described his 'mystery woman' to them and one of them had been sure to have seen her - and stopped her.

He walked farther into the zoo - towards Tim. He soon found his friend walking towards him, the beautiful brunette in tow.

"Hello." He said to her.

He waited for her response. When one didn't come, he tried another line. "I'm Brad. And you're - "

"Nora." She said in a remarkably petulant tone. "Nora Martinez. And I know your name. I also know that I'm going to be your wife."

=======================

* See my Quentin & Jenny story for full details.
** Sarah's adopted brother - remember him?