Full of concern tangled with reluctant trepidation, I stood just inside the door of Mids recovery room. Several monitors near the bed tracked Mids pulse, blood pressure and other physiological measurements.

What I didn’t understand was the reflective sunglasses that she still wore. They were probably why I was as unprepared as I was when she spoke Abby had asked me to stop by after she looked in on her, and probably wanted to give us some time alone. She just hadn’t warned me her patient was awake.

“I’m sorry Phantom; I wasn’t entirely on my best behavior, or so I’ve been told.” Mids said without smiling. “Do I really need these?” She gestured, lifting her cuffed hands from her bed rails. “Abby seems to think it’s your call.”

“You tell me, Mids. The IV has to stay, if the cuffs come off.”

She sighed in resignation. “I’d offer to cross my heart, but given that I can’t exactly do that with these things on; you’ll have to take my word for it. I promise to be a good girl -- this time.”

Fortunately, I knew that Abby had given her medication to keep her calm and on a more even keel. Medicine can almost seem magical when applied in proper doses.

I pulled a chair over and reversed it as I sat by her bed. Using the keys Abby had given me, I carefully unlocked both her wrists from their respective bed rails. She rubbed them as we sat and listened to the various beeps and other assorted sounds that came from the monitoring equipment as her medical information was tabulated and recorded.

“All of this is so stupid.” She started; voice soft with resignation. “I can’t believe Leviticus would have let this happen to me had he known.”

“Known about what, Mids?” I prompted.

She turned and looked at me. “You have to understand that I didn’t know it was going to come out the way it did. I really thought I could trust him, but he lied to me just as he did to you guys.”

I studied her for a moment, thinking of how trust applied to our old friend Leviticus LaRouchette was often a folly at best. “It’s okay Mids, I was there too, remember? We didn’t know what was going on until just about the time we got back. Even then I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story of what happened, or why.”

“That’s where the problem is Phantom. I knew before we went, what was supposed to happen and when.” She confessed softly, swallowing hard before continuing. “I’m sorry but I haven’t been as truthful as I should’ve been. Leviticus asked me to do something that I’ll regret for ... a long time.”

Looking down at the sheets, she shook her head. “I don’t think those Witches were the first ones that I might have gotten killed. I think I accidentally set up Dallas and Omaha as well because I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing and why.”

She paused, gathering herself. “I wish I could undo what happened to them but I can’t. I simply didn’t know it was going to happen until after it did; and by then it was just too little to late to do anything about it.” The depth of sadness within her soft voice was a reminder of what happened on the trip.

Closing my eyes, I thought about the two deceased members of our group. Omaha had talked her boyfriend Dallas into joining the group not very long before the trip. An unfortunate happenstance for him, as it would turn out. I’d seen their names on my data retrieval lists earlier. Both Mids and I knew why they hadn’t generated any data in the last ten years because we were both there when they’d died.

Sighing as I opened my eyes, I studied the reflection of the room around us in her sunglasses. I don’t know why, but I like to see the eyes of people I talk to. I waited for her to continue and when she did, she told me a story that filled in several blanks -- and explained a little more about what Leviticus LaRouchette had been up to.

We’d been nothing more than bargaining chips in a deal that had gone somewhat awry; but even that part may have been his goal all along. We’d just managed to exceed his expectations; emphasis on the word just.

The trip itself had not been entirely voluntarily. With the apparent exception of Mids, none of us had known we were even going until we had, well -- gone. We had each been kidnapped and sent to another reality as part of an agreement to spare the life of LaRouchette’s daughter Divanya.

The other people who’d made the bargain apparently had underestimated the daughter of our esteemed Roman General. Divanya, taking after her illustrious father no doubt, was not one who followed; but rather one who led.

We sort of figured that much out when we’d met her in the other reality. After all was said and done, we’d managed to make our way back to our own reality, unfortunately without Dallas and Omaha. They were still where we’d buried them; at least I hoped so, anyway.

LaRouchette had approached Mids prior to our trip, entrusting her with instructions on what to do, where and when we got there. She’d been given the task of making sure that we used the antidote serum that we’d eventually locate; at least according to the information LaRouchette’s source had provided from the other side.

Unfortunately, in the middle of defending ourselves from hostile revenants intent on dining upon our flesh and blood, a rather unfortunate chain of events occurred. Dallas and Omaha received non paired doses of the antidote serum; something that’d proven fatal in the end.

We’d found the serum through suggestions made by Mids; each batch containing two clearly marked doses that had been designed to match each other in ways not even LaRouchette had apparently known about, or probably imagined. It’d just been stressed by his contact that the pairing had been extremely important for activation once administered.

It’d been Mids who “volunteered” to determine the pairings without anyone realizing she’d known exactly what she was doing all along. It was almost done flawlessly. But as the old saying goes; close is only good in horseshoes, hand-grenades and Dutch love in an Indian wigwam. I’ve seen wigwams; very tight places for that kind of thing, indeed.

Mids had given out the paired syringes as planned, but had been completely unaware that Omaha had dropped hers and simply grabbed another from a set that had been unmatched to her partner Dallas.

Dallas then applied his dose without knowing that once he had, their fate had then been sealed. The importance of the pairings had not become clear until the revenants had ignored us completely and gone after Dallas and Omaha.

It’d been a lot like sharks detecting blood in the water and going into a feeding frenzy.

Neither Dallas nor Omaha stood much of a chance once they were swarmed and overrun. By the time we’d known what was happening and to whom, it was over. We were just left to pick up the pieces, literally; and bury them according to what we hoped their wishes would have been.

Mids discovered later why they’d been attacked and we hadn’t; after she’d recounted the sequence of events to LaRouchette. He’d finally explained why the pairing had been so important, at least as far as he’d been made aware of. The DNA pairings acted in tandem to essentially mask the paired individuals from the revenants. Without a matching pair, you might as well have not been inoculated at all.

But by then it had long been over and there was nothing anyone could have done.

Mids had been devastated when she’d figured out what had happened. LaRouchette was, well; ever the old stoic Roman General when it came to explaining his reasoning about the whole episode. Every battle has expected losses; we’d just been lucky enough to have only had two. It still hadn’t sat well with Mids. It also helped to explain what’d been her state of mind when she’d begun to fall ill.

Fortunately the rest of us had escaped mostly unscathed during the ordeal. But along the way we’d discovered that the antidote serum had an interesting side affect once it mingled with our blood. When one of the Vampires chasing us attacked and bit Nixon, the Vampire immediately reacted to the ingested blood and died a rather horrible and messy death because of it.

His screams of pure agony while he died for real, were haunting to say the least.

From later testing, we found that we now possessed an immunity of sorts to Vampires that we couldn’t share with anyone because of the way it had tied itself to our DNA; except for any offspring that might come along. Given what else had yet to be revealed about the serum and not entirely sure of the affects it’d have through any future children; many of us took permanent steps to rule out any chance of dangerous mutations that might result by our having children.

The rest accepted their roles of the dice and would see what; if; and when it happened. I’d have to ask Zebella about their youngest daughter. She’d undoubtedly have shown what result her mixed DNA would have in application rather than theory.

In the years since the trip, Mids had stayed in Toronto and life had almost returned to normal; until about a year ago when she slowly became ill.

At first she thought it was the flu, and then something neurological in nature when she’d started to lose her coordination and balance. She’d also become what she could only describe as albino-like in appearance.

All pigmentation of color faded from her skin while every hair on her body turned pure white. The result left her body looking like that of a, well; albino Vampire of sorts.

LaRouchette finally contacted the Council who then bought the services of a healing Witch from a local Sorcerer’s Cabal. Shortly after the Witch arrived, Mids slipped into a coma-like state and her system went into what the Witch would describe as a form of hibernation.

It was later, during a healing ritual, that the initial accident took place. When the Witch was performing her healing spell, she’d held both of Mids hands in hers, not realizing the consequences or the affects it would have.

LaRouchette would later tell of finding the Witches body on the floor next to Mids bed, quite dead and bleached of all color much like Mids had been.

However, Mids appeared to have returned to full health; with the exception of her hair, which had turned blood red in color. Before she awoke, LaRouchette had managed to remove the Witch’s body and asked the Council to send someone to examine the first resident of the newly created morgue. That someone they’d sent had fortunately been Abby.

Strange things soon started happening around Mids over the next few months. Doors were inexplicably locked and would only open when she opened them, or things moved when they shouldn’t have.

Mids hadn’t been told exactly what had happened to the first Witch, and she hadn’t known what to make of it when Abby had arrived for the first autopsy. She simply wrote it off as something LaRouchette had done.

But LaRouchette apparently began to have his own suspicions and must have started finalizing his plans. He needed to make sure what had happened had indeed happened, if he were to make his escape and reunite with his daughter.

When LaRouchette asked what would happen if we were able to return from the trip, his contact had told him about some of the affects the serum might have over time. He’d simply had to wait for a trigger event of some sort, which apparently had finally taken place somewhere.

Before long, he’d come to the conclusion he’d need to tell Mids a little about what he’d suspected was going on, so that she would be more willing to participate in later experiments as they were required -- and they eventually had been. He’d told her about some of the information his source had shared with him, so that she’d not be entirely as suspicious of his actions as she should’ve been.

About six months later, Mids began to fall ill again. Much like the first time, she became weaker, uncoordinated and lost much of her coloration. LaRouchette again sent for a Witch and this time watched closely as events would repeat themselves. He specifically asked for a Witch from another Cabal so that if what he expected was going to happen did, they’d be less likely to tie the two together; communication between Cabals about their Witches being as sparse and uncoordinated as it sadly is.

Once again, contrary to everything the Witch attempted, Mids slipped into a deep coma. It must have been at that point that LaRouchette suggested she try something different, such as hands only touch therapy. Unfortunately the Witch trusted the one man she shouldn’t have and paid a higher price in the bargain.

LaRouchette witnessed the resulting effects when the second accident occurred, much as he hoped it would. The information and predictions from the other side had been confirmed. LaRouchette now had proof of what was happening and why. The proof would be his ticket for rejoining his daughter.

He just wasn’t going to entirely share that with Mids.

Fortunately Abby had come to the much of the same conclusions and had notified Grace. Unfortunately the Council had also become suspicious and started an investigation of their own into the deaths of the Witches; bringing Parquette into the picture as she’d started to pick up the pieces and assembling the evidence.

About two months or so before the third cycle of Mids illness, LaRouchette completely vanished as Vampires often do; only without informing the Council of his plans. Something every Master Vampire knows is a bad thing to do.

That is where Parquette had finally arrived officially at the KOTC offices -- to investigate not only the suspicions that had been raised earlier, but also LaRouchette’s unexpected departure.

From Abby’s reports she’d pieced together some of what happened. When Mids had recovered from the death of the third Witch and Parquette had shown her the bodies, Mids then managed to make her way to her new panic room where she could still watch and listen to all that happened afterwards; just without the enforcers breathing down her neck.

Mids realized she’d have to wait until they were gone before she felt safe coming out of her room; and we’d all seen how well that’d gone.

“I have dreams about them Phantom. They come and tell me how to use their magic. But I already know and show them how much better I am with it. Over, and over, and over.” Mids said sadly. A tear rolled down her cheek from beneath her glasses.

“Mids, why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?” I finally got to ask.

She sighed deeply and pushed them up; revealing pupils normally black in the center with a band of blue that had become white surrounded by black. “That’s not the worst part.” She said. “Computer lights off.” Her pupils glowed in the dark like two tiny points of light. “I can see you as clearly in the dark as you can see me in the light, Phantom; and I can see temperature as color almost like infrared. Computer, resume lights.” She replaced her glasses as the lights came back on.

“The only thing is, that I don’t know why all this started happening when it did.”

It was my turn to figure out a way to tell her what I believed had happened. But first I needed to know something about the pairings. It would be an important piece to the puzzle. “Who was your paired partner for the inoculation? Was it Kit by chance?” I asked, already suspecting the answer.

Mids turned and looked at me for a few moments as she considered the question. “Yes, but how’d you know that? Has something happened to her?”

I pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to her; a printout of information NightStalker had found during its search. “Mids, Kit went missing about two years ago; probably a year before you started getting sick.”

Mids looked at the paper for a long time. We both were probably assessing the information we had just learned from one another. “Do you think she’s dead?” Mids asked with a frightened quiver in her voice.

“No idea. Although there is a reward posted for information about her disappearance. Abby and I are going to go visit the source of the reward shortly. If I were to guess, I’d say she probably played some of part in your illness, I just have no idea what or how.”

I stood up and put the chair back. Abby had started to make travel plans and I wanted to finish looking over the search results before we left. Grace had agreed to look after our patient while we were away.

“Take me with you Phantom.” Mids pleaded quietly.

I felt sadness for her. Having been on the emotional roller coaster I’d ridden recently, I could only guess about hers. “Abby doesn’t think that would be a good idea Mids, and I’m afraid I agree. But we’ll tell you what we find when we get back. Grace will help you with anything you need. Rest now and get better.”

I started to turn and head toward the door when I suddenly discovered I couldn’t. It was almost like I was wrapped in a coat of fluid air. “Phantom, its not that I’m asking; I need to go. If something else has happened to someone because of that trip, I need to help find out what.”

It was then that I realized Mids had done whatever it was that was happening to me. I could still see her, but her hands were now crossed at the wrists palm down. “Mids what are you doing?” I gasped, struggling against the forces she was apparently applying.

“I’m going to make you take me with you whether you want to or not. Like you, I need to find out what happened to Kit; not just hear it when you get back. Please Phantom. Don’t make me keep you here like this. I can do this for a long, long time and there is nothing you can do about it. That door is locked in such a way now that even Abby couldn’t come in and rescue you.”

Apparently I was not going to have much of a choice. Somehow Mids had become empowered with skills that you would normally expect to come from someone empowered with magic like a Witch or Sorcerer. Then it dawned on me; she’d simply absorbed their skills before they’d died. I remembered Abby mentioning the energy drain she’d suspected from the brain tissue samples she’d studied.

Apparently in death, the color of the three women had slowly returned as we’d seen from the evidence in the drawers.

“I have complete access to their powers Phantom. Please do not make me use them on you. I’m scared about what will happen if we don’t find out what’s going on soon. It’s probably why LaRouchette left when he did. He knew more than he was telling me.”

With frustrated resignation, I finally agreed under the condition that she had to stay near Abby while we traveled; in the event of a relapse where prompt medical attention might be needed. With limited options, I had managed to get something out of the deal.

Okay, I’ll admit it; I don’t like being frozen in place.

Truth-be-told I really hadn’t wanted to leave her behind with the possibility of Parquette returning to confront Grace. I didn’t want Mids to become collateral damage from the battles that would ensue between the two Vampires; suspecting that it was only a matter of time until Parquette came up with a reason to return.

It was an agreement that I would later come to regret, but it had been done with good intentions at the time. None of us could have seen what would transpire simply because Mids had come with us. But it had helped explain a lot of things that would come after that. I probably should’ve run the Tarot a few more times, but with the last great card adventures, I was avoiding them for a while.

The results of our trip would test friendships between the three of us in ways that none of us would ever have ever expected or even considered remotely possible. Magic would meet science and create a mixture that would reveal what LaRouchette had managed so well not to.

* * *