Nature or Nurture Ch. 49-50

'I see I come at an inconvenient time, you are dressed to go out,' the man says, and his voice is almost hypnotic, inspiring incredible confidence, and making Vincent rather suspicious. For who is to say that this man isn't using a spell on him? He tries sight, sees nothing, and then remembers his manners.

'Good evening, sir, we were indeed just going out, but if there is an emergency, we can go out any other night we want, we haven't got reservations.'

'Good evening to you, too, sir, I have no emergency, but my daughter told me you are having some trouble with supernatural occurrences. My name is Jakob Thorn, Melissa's father. She gave me your address, and such information as made me want to know more at the first possible opportunity.'

Melissa's father!

Vincent would have imagined him to be seven feet tall with fiery red hair and the same colour beard. At the same time, he berates himself: who's being judgemental on appearances now?

'Mr Thorn, my name is Vincent Heathcliff, do come in, we'll visit that show some other time, it's in terribly bad taste anyway. Though I used to play in it, and had the time of my life doing it. Still, it will be there tomorrow and every night after.'

He's babbling, but so much depends on this man, Catherine's safety mostly, Vincent feels very apprehensive all of a sudden.

Fortunately Adison is in the hall, interested to see who the caller is.

'Mr Thorn, my lovely wife Mrs Adison Heathcliff, Adison, Mr Jakob Thorn, Melissa's father.'

Instant comprehension in Adison's face, too, and they lead their important visitor straight to the kitchen, where Catherine doesn't even try to act the toddler, she does see things no-one else sees, and merely walks up to him and shakes his hand politely, 'I'm Catherine Heathcliff, how do you do?'

Mr Thorn shows no surprise either.

'Jakob Thorn, and I'm fine, thank you.

So you're the little girl who's set upon by servants of the night, I can see why, you have great potential. But I think they underestimate your will.'

Mr Thorn looks at Catherine with polite interest, and Catherine looks back with her most adult face.

Then she asks, 'Can you help us to stop them from hunting me, Mr Thorn?'

He practically exudes calm, Melissa's father.

'I have heard you are quite a capable group, so I was thinking of helping you to stop them yourselves, don't you agree that it gives a good feeling when you solve a problem by yourself?'

Catherine finds herself thinking of the witch in the carriage, and stunning her to let go of Adison, and she nods fervently.

'I didn't think of that before, but you are right. It makes one feel stronger to handle problems oneself.'

Adison now invites their guest to sit down, and she offers him coffee or tea. He accepts a cup of coffee gratefully.

'Thank you very much, ma'am, I hoped for that, I left right after dinner to arrive at a reasonable time, but an evening is not complete without a nice cup of coffee.

Now, Melissa told me just a tiny bit about you, she would have said more but I asked her not to, I'd rather hear things straight from the source. Prevents misunderstandings, in my experience.

So, will you tell me all that has happened to you, everything relevant to occult happenings, anything physics can't explain, as my daughter would put it?'

Vincent tells him, 'That will take some time, for I guess it started long ago, when I was still someone else, before I was reborn.'

'I was counting on that, which is why I skipped coffee at home. Will you indulge me anyway? The plots these people weave work slowly and very convolutely, and sometimes things that seem evil are in fact not that, but merely chaotic.

I'll explain the difference later, first, your story. Maybe you can start in the furthest past, with your story, Mr Heathcliff?'

'Would you please call me Vincent? I'm used to being addressed with my first name.'

'If you will call me Jakob, all of you, Catherine too.'

They all agree, and Vincent starts with his story, being taken from the streets of a rather large city by Cathy's father.

Victor and Mina have really found each other again, working late together, sleeping in together, even manning the practice together, and Mina really likes working with her lover, he is so incredibly competent at what he does.

She helps him draw now, and everything else Adison used to do, following the procedure she perfected before Catherine came into their lives. Victor clearly misses working with Adison, and Mina says, 'Victor, the two of you can decide by yourselves how you often want to work, you are making a very good living, you can take fewer patients and spend time together in here, or man the practice together. No need to work all by yourselves all the time.'

That is certainly true, and Victor acknowledges that.

'You are right, I will propose working together more often tomorrow, we were such a good team. Though I really like working with you as well, you're as precise, it shows that you used to study things meticulously from an early age.'

After a few hours of very efficient work by the light of a special lamp Victor developed years ago, they clear up their working space and head home.

This time, Mina doesn't sense a thing, not even being followed. They walk arm in arm through streets and alleys, trusting her keen senses to alert her to danger, and on Victor's new blade and Vincent's old blade, the unmarked one returned to him by Neil, now used by Mina for outings, to keep them safe.

Not especially attentive since Catherine is not with them, they take a shortcut they generally use, through a really dark alley, across a part of town that is not very favourable. Strangely enough, the chance of being waylaid here is smaller than in the richer part of town they could detour through, people here simply have nothing worth stealing. Almost through their shortcut, they suddenly find their passage blocked by two dark shapes, huddled in dark hooded cloaks.

Instantly taking a fighting stance, they free their swords in one swoop, ready for action, and before they have a notion what's happening, the dark shapes find themselves pressed against a blind wall, blade at their throat.

Muffled sounds come from underneath the hoods, and since neither of them has the ability to spy out magic use, Mina reluctantly decides to go for the kill.

Until a hood falls back, and shows a frenzied girl with indecently loose curls, not muttering an incantation, but begging for mercy, crying unashamedly, face totally contorted in fear of death.

Will these girls never learn?

As she lowers her saber slightly, her girl falls to her knees and literally throws herself at Mina's feet, sobbing noiselessly.

Victor looks at her and states, 'I take it you know these girls?'

By now the other has quickly taken off her hood as well, realizing it nearly got her killed, showing another curly haired, frightened girl.

'I do,' Mina says, and for their benefit, 'and I seem to remember telling both very clearly that I'd kill them next time we met.'

Even Victor is shocked by the sound of her voice, it is straight from someone's worst nightmare, and her facial expression matches it perfectly. He is a very sensitive person, much more so than Vincent or even Catherine, the little girl has nerves of steel.

That is why Mina loves Victor so much, and she feels obliged to let him know she's playing a role here. But apparently he is on to her, for he allows his own girl a little space to breathe, and she also drops into the mud, crying quietly.

Their sobbing sounds much like that of ordinary girls, young, frightened, hopeless girls. Still, they may be acting as well as Mina, there is no way to tell, so she orders them in a commanding voice, 'Stop snivelling and speak, why do you bother me again?'

Her own girl has managed to control her sobbing, and speaks haltingly,

'You advised us to flee, and we didn't dare go back, but now someone's after us and we don't know how they find us but they do, we've escaped three times so far, but they let us, they're toying with us, hunting us down slowly.

We haven't eaten or slept since we fled, we can't go on, you let us live, we knew your workplace, we knew you use this alley all the time, we thought we'd beg for your help, we didn't realize you'd see us as a threat, we nearly died again, didn't we?'

And the girl drops to the ground again, positively grovelling, an awful sight. But Mina knows she cannot leave these girls to be hunted and killed, slowly and painfully doubtlessly, though it will be a danger and a hassle to help them.

Still, there are things she has to make up for, and even if it is a trap, she cannot deny these girls a chance to be saved. Adison can probably remove the spell that is used to track them, and then they'll feed them and Mina will put them up in her old haunt, still a relatively safe place to stay for someone vulnerable.

She looks at Victor, who states exactly what is in her mind, he has read her thoughts.

'You need to help these girls, for who you were, I understand. They will not increase the danger to Catherine, though we cannot have them stay in our house.'

Relieved that he understands, she tells the girls, 'All right, I will help you. Someone helped me when I was near death and totally helpless, and I need to repay that debt. But...'

Her voice changes again, and the hopeful faces of the girls turn back to fear, as she says, 'Any danger to the people with me will cost you dearly, so do exactly as you are told, until you are safe. Then your life is your own again. Come with us now.'

They walk home slowly, the girls must be exhausted for they cannot go very fast. Mina is constantly alert to everything around them, and Victor keeps an eye on the girls, not that they are in any shape to offer them mischief.

In front of their door, Victor opens it with his key, surprised to find it unlocked. They always lock up before they go to bed, does that mean that Vincent and Adison are still up? With a certain reluctance, they lead the girls inside, straight to the kitchen. Halfway there, they can hear voices already, and there is an unknown male voice among them. They have a visitor, that's why they're still up!

Entering the kitchen, Mina sees even Catherine still up, and they are deep in conversation with a very average looking middle aged man, in simple clothes. He looks up at the newcomers with an open expression, this is a special person, Mina is sure of that.

'Mina, Victor, this is Mr Jakob Thorn, Melissa's father,' Adison says, 'Jakob, these are my professional partner Dr Victor Frankenstein, and his lady, Miss Hermina Murray.

Who are your friends, guys?'

Catherine is not as friendly in her looks as Adison sounds, and she hisses, 'They're the two little witches who wanted to kill dad and Mina!'

'We found them in an alley,' Mina says, 'apparently they did flee, and have been hunted day and night, without mercy. There is a tracking spell on them somewhere, we're in danger as long as they are here.

These girls begged me for mercy, and I feel called upon to help them, I was like that and you saved me. If I let them die I'm denying the mercy that saved my existence.

Adison, will you help me to release them from their hunters, then feed them and maybe let them get clean? After that I'll get them out of the house, there is a place where I used to live...'

At this point, Mr Thorn steps in, offering, 'Maybe I can be of some assistance here?

You have told me a lot about yourselves, but the only thing you know about me so far, is that I am Melissa's father.'

'We would very much appreciate your help, Mr Thorn,' Mina confesses, 'I'm way out of my depth here.'

The friendly man now tells them, 'I am the leader of a rather powerful, but very well-hidden circle, and I have a lot of contacts all over town. We can communicate among each other in total secrecy, and I can arrange a refuge for these girls within an hour.

But I will not subject my friends to persecution by either witch-hunters or evil practitioners, so in order to gain my help they will have to consent to being freed of any magic their former master has put on them. Even such as gives them their powers.'

The girls merely look hopeful, and Jakob continues, 'May I propose, Adison, that you do whatever you did to free Miss Murray here of her evil possession, and I watch and lend you assistance and if needed, some power? These may be potent spells, but I have a feeling you are very able to pull it off.'

Adison agrees to free the girls of spells if at all possible, and they all prefer she do it straight away, before their presence draws the hunters towards their home. They can talk after that.

Beckoning the first girl to sit in front of her, Adison first offers her a greeting.

'Please don't be afraid of me, I'm Adison. What is your name?'

The girl is totally overwhelmed, the warmth of the kitchen makes her drowsy, and she must feel a little safer already, for she seems to have given herself over completely to what is happening. Every person has a breaking point, and this girl is way past hers.

'My name used to be Anne, before I joined Mrs Poole's girls. Can I have my name back? Anne Dunne, I never liked my name but now I'd be so glad to be me again. My mum and dad were always good to me, but I was bored.'

'Pleased to meet you, Anne,' Adison says, quietly, as if the girl is merely an anxious patient.

'I am going to hold your face for a minute, then speak some language you won't understand, and I'll finish with a kiss, a chaste one, don't worry. It won't hurt. But first I want to take a good look at you, see what we're dealing with. Jakob, will you help me interpret what I see?'

The girl is very stoical about everything, she must be past caring.

Adison invokes her sight, and is stunned by what she sees. Of course she never saw Miss Yves or Mina with sight before she removed their possession, but in this girl it is very clear that her life is not her own.

The light inside her is surrounded with sickly red energy, and there are ties to her mind as well, she is fettered on all sides, all with sickly red energy, it is a miracle she has been able to exercise her free will to flee her mistress.

Jakob asks Adison to describe what she sees, which she does as shortly as possible. He nods, and says approvingly, 'That's all I see, I can only add, that power of that colour is usually acquired by blood magic, by the suffering of others. Don't touch it or you will get sick from the agony it contains. You are probably extremely sensitive to it, like Lukas.

Go ahead, do what you have done before, I'll anchor you and keep an eye on your power level.'

He reaches for her neck, and touches the bare skin there.

'I need to touch bare skin to anchor you, and from what you just said you'll need your hands. Do you feel my presence?

Adison does, and his touch truly feels like an anchor, keeping her firmly in this world.

Without further ado, Adison takes the girl's face in both her hands, looking her in the eye sincerely, wishing her to be free again. Then she speaks the Chinese formula, slowly, with clear articulation, and she can feel the child shudder beneath her hands.

There is some resistance, and Adison decides to battle it using sight, using her will to remove the sickly red energy from the girl wherever it is resisting her priestly spell. Once she feels it receding, she kisses the girl on the forehead, and that finishes it off.

She realizes that the kiss is an integral part of the procedure, had she followed the formula with the kiss as she did with Mina, Miss Yves, and those farmers in Gimmerton, and not thought about the procedure, she would not have met resistance. But her own will did the trick just as easily, it really is amazing to find out she can do this all by herself.

When she comes out of her trance, she feels fine, not tired, no headache. The girl looks relieved, but still hungry, dirty and very tired, of course. Mina hands her a cup of coffee and a large sandwich, the other girl gets the same.

Jakob looks at Adison with respect.

'That was amazing! You did part of that on your own, with your will, but the formula and the kiss did something I have never seen before. You say a Chinese master taught you this procedure?'

'He did,' Adison says, 'but I realized only afterwards that the kiss is an integral part of the procedure, had I spoken the formula and kissed her straight after, it would have been purer, so to speak. My developing insight in magic hindered me this time, I felt a need to interfere, which was not necessary. I'll do the other girl as it should be done, you can watch again.'

The other girl obediently leaves her coffee and sandwich to sit in front of her, and Adison greets her as well.

'You saw your sister wasn't hurt, will you allow me to touch you as well? What is your name?'

'I used to be Bridget, Bridget Rover, before she took my name.'

'You will have it back, Bridget, I'm Adison, pleased to meet you.'

They shake hands, and immediately after that Adison takes her face in her hands, looks her in the eye, wills her to be free, speaks the formula and places the kiss on the girl's forehead.

Jakob cannot control a gasp of surprise and awe, and as soon as Adison can talk again, he explains. 'You know I have a circle, we practise magic as a group, making it more powerful and safer for each participant.

What you just did is also a group-effort, though differently. There is no group linked with you, but as soon as you spoke the formula, a group-mind reached out and removed the spell from the girl, with your personal power fuelling it through the kiss. Incredible.

That was very powerful magic, Adison, I couldn't do it without my circle. I have been aware of other disciplines my whole life, but I never considered the Chinese having brought the art to such a level. I stand corrected, though they were rather reclusive.'

'Master Man, who taught me this spell and much more, was shocked to hear that magic exists. He thought it was a gift from the gods, he sees me as a priestess, not a mage. I'm very certain he will be eager to exchange knowledge with you, though it will impact his view on the world even more than yours.'

'Let's talk about that after we have these girls fed, cleaned and in a warm, safe bed,' Jakob says, and he is right, for the girls are in a bad state. The coffee has revived them a little, and they are eating with relish, but they need rest, and soon.

'Can you stand upright a little longer for a nice warm shower?' Mina asks them, but the girls have no clue what that is.

Vincent observes, 'Never mind, we can keep them upright if needed, I'll come with you. They're about your size, Adison, can you spare them a dress each?

And will you arrange a safe place for them, Jakob? We can afford to send them in a cab, to save them the fatigue and the danger of walking.'

Jakob seems to have everything firmly in hand.

'I've already contacted a friend who has his own carriage, and a manor that is guarded from all magic by wards a god can't break. They'll be safe there for the night, tomorrow we will find them a place amongst their own class, where they can build up a new life.

He'll be here by the time they've finished their sandwiches and their shower.

Do you have one of Paul's boilers?'

'We have,' Victor replies, 'that's how we met your daughter.'

By now, Vincent and Mina have each helped one of the girls up, and they take them to the bathroom.

Adison excuses herself to find two dresses she can miss, and Jakob asks with some concern, 'Are you all right Adison, not tired? That was quite a feat of magic, you know.'

But she feels fine, and she says so, apparently practising magic regularly builds up power quickly.