As soon as Merry felt the house asleep, she rose and quickly 
dressed.  She curled a blanket up beside Kitto for him to sleep next 
to, hoping it would fool him for a little while at least.  She 
watched silently as Nicca rolled over in his sleep and re-positioned 
himself before slipping back into a deeper slumber.  She winced 
minutely while pulling the dresser drawer out that held her Ladysmith 
and knives, causing it to scrape against the sides.  Neither of the 
boys moved however, so she lifted the weapons out along with extra 
ammo and holstered them.  She didn't bother to slide the drawer back 
into place.  It wouldn't take them long to figure out what she'd 
done.  

Most likely they would try to stop her.  That was their job.  She 
couldn't stand it another minute however.  She'd spent the entire 
night catering to her well-meaning secretary and the boys with their 
movies, pretending that everything was ok.  Inside, she wanted to 
scream.  Doyle was badly hurt and in trouble.  Probably Frost too.  
She couldn't just sit idly by and wait for news of their deaths.  She 
had to do something. She knew she risked Frost's anger and she felt a 
pang in her heart at that, but better to suffer his wrath and him be 
alive then mourn over him and be plagued with "what ifs" for the rest 
of her existence.  She scent of the gun oil tickled her nostrils and 
once more she looked over the sleeping men in her bed before she 
pulled the door silently closed behind her wishing she had the same 
stealth abilities Doyle had.  It would make this so much easier.  

Now all she had to do was slip past the outside guard.  As she turned 
to make her way down the darkened hallway, she found herself slammed 
up against a very firm, washboard stomach and stared up into one 
clear, unblinking cornflower blue eye. Rhys.  "Where are you going?"  
As if he didn't know.  "I'm going, Rhys.  They're wounded and in need 
of backup.  I can't just hideout here and let them be taken from me.  
I've got to do something."  Rhys put his hands firmly on her upper 
arms, "Merry.  Frost said for you to stay here.  It would be worse if 
they got to you, than if they merely took out a couple of Ravens."

Merry stomped angrily on his foot while holding his throat closed so 
that his pain was inaudible.  "I'M the princess. I say what will 
happen and what will not.  You boys keep forgetting that.  I say I'm 
going.  You may come along and guard me if you like, but DON'T try to 
stop me." She tried to muscle her way past the white-haired brick 
wall that stood in her path, but he wouldn't even be swayed even by 
her show of temper or inflicting of pain.  He knew well the stress 
she was feeling, the anxiety over the plight of their comrades.  He'd 
kept his own buried deep in an effort to help comfort and distract 
her earlier, obviously to no avail, but he also knew his duty.  To 
protect her at all costs.  He tried reason one more time.  "Merry, 
you would put Frost and Doyle in more danger if you went there then 
if you stayed put like they asked.  They would worry so much about 
you, they wouldn't be able to concentrate on what needs to be done.  
Please Merry, for both their sakes..." his eyes pleaded even as he 
left the consequences of her actions unspoken.  

She struggled in his arms and he quietly held her back until suddenly 
the phone blared out into the stillness of the deep night, causing 
them both to about jump out of their skins.  At once, Merry looked up 
at Rhys in stark terror imagining the worst.  He stared back at her 
with grim resolution, only his neck vein betraying his own anxiety as 
it flinched with the next ringing of the bell.  He released her and 
silently walked over to pick up the receiver.  With his back turned, 
his words were low and slightly muffled so she couldn't understand 
the conversation.  But then he turned and reached out to hand her the 
receiver, "It's Jeremy," he mumbled.  She tried to read the 
expression in Rhys' eye as she strode towards him and retrieved the 
phone, putting it to her ear.  "Hello...Jeremy?" her voice was barely 
above a whisper.  

"Yeah, its' me Merry," he answered on the other end of the line.  His 
voice sounded fatigued and something more....fear? "The cops found 
another one like last night," he announced. Merry's eyes widened and 
she looked back up at Rhys, but he had covered his expression with a 
mask of indifference. "It's the same, MO Merry.  I've been down here 
trying everything I know to break this spell cast around the body, 
but nothing works.  I hate to ask you, especially since this thing 
has every possibility of blowing up in your face...but....well I need 
you." he finished abruptly.  Merry licked her dry lips, trying to 
think.  So much had happened, that she barely knew where to 
begin.  "Tell me," was all she could get out, barely vocal.  The line 
was silent for a moment while Jeremy searched for the right 
words.  "It's bad, Merry.  If the first one was a calling card, a 
hail Mary as you said, then off the top of my head, I'd say this was 
a direct challenge...a threat...a Bloody Mary."

All the breath compressed out of Merry's lungs.  She swallowed hard 
in an attempt to center herself. "Is there media?" she asked 
solemnly.  "No," Jeremy replied, "The press is being kept strictly 
away from this one after what happened last time."  She nodded.  
Well, if Doyle and Frost wouldn't let her face the enemy that 
assaulted them in Cahokia, then she would face the one here. "Very 
well, Jeremy.  I'll be right down." she stated evenly.  She pulled a 
pencil and paper out of the drawer under the phone and quickly wrote 
down the directions to the site before hanging up the phone.  "You 
already know I don't like this, Merry.  Frost said for us to stay in 
the house," Rhys repeated.  "What do you want me to do, Rhys? Leave a 
corpse lying out in the middle of a public LA park with a potentially 
dangerous magic field surrounding it because I'm too busy cowering 
under my bed waiting for the boogie man to come get me?" she snapped.

Rhys pursed his lip, but said nothing more.  "I thought not," Merry 
about snarled.  "Get the others up and lets go." she ordered and Rhys 
strode off down the hall to do her bidding.  Well, there's a nice 
change.