“And fear is the mind-killer, the little death, if you will” Mohrg stated softly as he emerged from the shadowy corners of his haven. “I am relieved to see you Desiree, Primogen of Clan Caitiff, one of your clan is with me and he is in need of his own kind I believe.” he explained, bowing ever so slightly as he motioned towards the far wall with his arm.

“How bad is he?” Des whispered softly, feeling much more relaxed now that she knew Mohrg did not take offence to her being there uninvited.

“Physically he is, or will be fine. However, he seems to be having difficulty accepting what Roel did for he and Angus. I take it he was not embraced a Caitiff.” Mohrg asked knowingly.

“You are correct, and if what Prince Daithi has conveyed to me is true, this will be exceptionally hard on him. He’s never been part of a clan, not ever, he is truly a lone hunter.”

“Then I strongly suggest you talk to him,” Mohrg insisted, motioning for her to go to him. “I’ve seen the madness this can cause in the young, it warps the knowledge of ‘their’ reality. It can be dangerous and overwhelming.”

Des simply nodded as she walked silently to Cobryn, she turned back toward Mohrg and Fang, giving them questioning looks when Cobryn remained still and silent, seemingly unaware of her presence. She sighed as she saw the Nosferatu give her a commanding look, right before he placed his hand on Fang and left the haven with the Garou in tow. “Cobryn?” she whispered as she knelt next to the handsome hunter, “Cobryn, can you even hear me?”

“Why?”

“Why what, Cobryn?” Des asked, turning the hunter’s face towards hers. Any anger or resentment she may have felt towards him for his earlier behaviour towards her quickly melted away as she saw his tear filled eyes questioning her for an answer he could understand.

“Why did he do that? Why did he save me, I’m nothing to him.”..

Des shook her head sadly, “Its very hard to explain Cobryn, its not as simple as that. The Gangrel… the MacLeod Gangrel, they’re just different, they never had to learn to separate themselves from the rest of the world, from the living. Their clan, the mortal one, still accepts them as if nothing had changed, some of them even remain with their spouses, continuing the same relationship they had before they were embraced.”

“But I’m not part of his clan, mortal or kindred, he barely knew me…”

Des watched as Cobryn grew quiet once more, silent tears streaking his face as his mind tried to understand what his heart was already telling him. She sighed as she realized how hard this was for him, he had been truly alone since his embrace, that was obvious by his demeanour alone. He used his pride and arrogance to mask his loneliness, his silence to hide his pain. Des had the distinct feeling that it must be his undeniable skills that kept him in the Prince’s good graces, for it was certain that he was not the amusing conversationalist that Daithi tended to keep company with. “Cobryn, you have to talk to me, I do want to help you if I can.”

“Why? You don’t exactly care for me either, in fact I’d say you find me untrustworthy and arrogant.” Cobryn replied flatly, “And you despise the fact that I insulted you by naming your sire‘s clan.”

She waited for the hunter to say more, to continue on with his blunt and hurtful comments. But he simply sat there a blank look on his face as he stared into the darkness. As tempted as she was to leave him there, she knew she couldn’t. What he had said was true, she hated the fact that he could so easily tell what her maker was, but if she was truly honest with herself, she had antagonized him. “True, we started out on the wrong foot.” she sighed as she sat next to him, her back against the wall as she waited for him to at least look at her.

“You know, I remember when I first met the MacLeods” Des said softly, hoping to draw Cobryn back into the here and now. “I met Cash’s sire first, that was a few decades before Brutus was made, he was as loony as they come. Always laughing, always ready to fight, he said Cash thought too much, he much preferred his other childe, Ceili. I often wonder where she is now, she’s Cash’s great-niece, she had so many freckles” Des continued, laughing lightly as she remembered the plump, ginger haired woman with the contagious laughter and sparkling blue eyes.

“She would drive Cash and the others half-mad, such a practical joker, I wanted to kill her sometimes, just never do anything to her family….she puts Cash’s temper to shame.”

“Have you ever seen Cash frenzy?” Cobryn asked softly, “Was her ‘temper’ worse than that?”

Des looked down to see Cobryn’s hands clenched into fists, at first she thought it was due to anger, but she quickly realized it was to stop his hands from shaking. “I’ve seen Cash frenzy, and yes, her temper was worse by far. I actually witnessed her tearing the heads off of her enemies with her bare hands. The women of Clan MacLeod are a strange and powerful breed.” she stated as she gently placed her hand over his, “Cobryn, you need to let it go, what’s done is done, Roel made the choice to take the blow in place of you and Angus.”

She gasped with surprise as she felt Cobryn’s head lean against her shoulder, his dark, thick hair pooling against the cream-coloured silk of her dress. “Oh my poor, young hunter, you have so much to learn” she sighed softly as she twirled his soft locks with her fingertips. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she would find herself in this position, not with him, he was so quiet, so cold, to the point of being icy, but it was slowly dawning on her how much of his behaviour was simply a masquerade She gasped with surprise as she felt Cobryn’s head lean against her shoulder, his dark, thick hair pooling against the cream-coloured silk of her dress. “Oh my poor, young hunter, you have so much to learn” she sighed softly as she twirled his soft locks with her fingertips. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she would find herself in this position, not with him, he was so quiet, so cold, to the point of being icy, but it was slowly dawning on her how much of his behaviour was simply a masquerade.

Cobryn shuddered as he felt Desiree’s hands on him, it made him feel both confused and uneasy. He hadn’t physically been this close to anyone since the day he was embraced, at least not anyone he didn’t intend to kill. Part of his mind was screaming for him to get away from her, forbidding him from growing close to anyone ever again, he was cursed after all, just look at his bride, murdered on their wedding day by the same beast that made him into this immortal mockery of his own life. Cobryn finally forced the demanding voices deep into his bewildered mind as he listened to Desiree’s melodic voice telling him more about Clan MacLeod……

Harry leaned back and watched as Cat tended to the wound on her thigh, she was rumpling up green leaves and pressing them against the cut, stopping the bleeding almost immediately although the wounds still weren’t healing. “Mum, why isn’t the skin healing, I’ve seen you do this before, all you usually do is run your finger over a cut and its gone.”

Cat nodded, “The boglachs, they dip their blades in poison, I’ll have to ask Leumadair to heal this for me, I’m afraid I’m just not strong enough at the moment.” she explained, yawning widely. She smiled as Harry came to her side, obvious concern in his bright, green eyes that so looked like hers. “It’s alright Harry, I’ll be just fine, promise.”

“I know, I know, you’re ‘always’ fine, right?” Harry quipped as he sat next to her, only to chuckle as Shoshi came over to check on them. “Even she’s worried, Mum. You need to rest a little, you said there is nothing on Inish Tiode that can hurt us, right? So you can take a little nap or something, get some rest.”

“You, my dear son, are as bad as your father.” Cat shot back, smiling none the less. “And yes, nothing here can or would harm us. It’s a safe haven between worlds, an inter-dimensional rest stop, if you will.” she explained as she washed the rest of the boglach’s blood from her skin and clothing.

Harry smiled brightly, “Good, then you can get some rest and Shoshi and Viggo can get some food.” Seeing her about to argue, Harry decided to do what everyone else in the clan did when they saw that look on her face, quickly change the subject. “Mum, why is it so much warmer here, and all the plants are growing, like its Spring or something.”

“Yes, its always like this to us, of course mortals see what they ‘expect’ to see, a stark, barren plot of land in the middle of the lough, a few ruins, a ‘haunted’ graveyard. - they tend to stay away.” she grinned.

“And I’m betting you can tell me a lot about this place” Harry said, smiling knowingly, “and maybe a little about Armagh, I’m still a bit nervous about seeing Mac Lir….oh, and do I have cousins there?”

“Do you have cousins?” Cat sighed, rolling her eyes at the mere thought. “I’ve lost count of how many children Mac Lir has. You’ll have cousins coming out of your ears.”

“So, its like home then?” Harry grinned, his heart warmed by the sound of his mother’s laughter. After a little more cajoling, Harry had finally convinced her to at least lay down on the soft grass and rest as they continued their conversation. “So, tell me the legend of Lough Neagh, Shoshi says it has something to do with giants.”

“Yes, according to legend, Lough Neagh was created by a giant, an angry one,..an angry, Irish one.” she added, smirking as Harry laughed. “The giant was the legendary Finn McCool, he had been fighting with another giant for centuries, a Scottish giant named, Ruiscare. Any chance one of them had to harass the other was taken without thought, especially where McCool was concerned, as I’m sure you know, giants are not the smartest of creatures but McCool was an exception to his race thanks mostly to the Salmon of Knowledge that he had tasted.” she explained, smiling as she saw Harry listening to her words

“Finn was forever defending the coast of Ireland while he attempted to pull it to the shores of Scotland, as Ireland wasn’t quite big enough for him to live comfortably on.” . “However, Mac Lir’s father, Lir, felt it was his duty to prevent this, as it would destroy the sea and a great deal of wildlife, so every good plan McCool came up with, Lir would thwart.”

“This, of course, made Finn McCool horribly angry with Lir, and one day, McCool spied Lir and his arch -rival Ruiscare, in the shallows of the Irish Sea by the Mull of Kintyre on the Scot side. Lir was trying to direct some leatherbacks who had gotten separated from their families toward Fair Head, Ruiscare stood behind Lir‘s back, provoking McCool. Unfortunately, McCool thought that Lir was also involved in the rather….shall we say, ’unseemly’ …display and decided to send him back to the bottom of the sea. So Finn McCool scooped up a handful of dirt, and tried to fling it across the sea in an attempt to bury Lir and drown the other giant with the backwash, but he missed and the dirt landed in the sea, creating the Isle of Mann. Needless to say, Lir was not pleased by the unprovoked attack, or by the results and immediately took to destroying the causeway that McCool had built in Antrim. An act that made both Finn McCool and his girlfriend, the Lady of Staffa, who lived on the Hebrides islands.”

“So he stopped him from visiting his girlfriend? What sort of punishment is that?” Harry asked, screwing up his face as he did so.

“Think about it Harry, imagine what Sirius would be like if he could see me, but could never get near enough to touch me ever again?” She smirked as she saw the light dawning in his eyes. “Now you understand, not exactly life and death, but not pleasant either. In either case it eventually got sorted out, and Lir commanded the hole to be filled and fish to live within it.” she finished, yawning as she stretched in the warm, gentle sunlight…….

Mohrg shook his head as he listened to Fang, what had happened to the arrogant young pup who had come to Hogwarts scant weeks ago? He had been so wilful then, so full of pride and certainty that mingling with wizards would be the end of all of them. And now, now he was full of questions, doubt, and strange as it may seem, wisdom. Mohrg had always thought he would welcome such a change in the young Garou, but to be honest, he now found it disconcerting and depressing, he had never realized how much he relied upon Fang’s complete disregard of his elders to distract him from the growing horrors that were surrounding them. Mohrg made up his mind then and there to speak to the Gangrels about this, whatever was causing the change in Fang seemed to be rooted in the forced separation from Cash and the others.

As they continued their stroll, Mohrg paused as he felt a familiar presence. Placing his hand on Fang’s arm, Mohrg turned towards the deep shadows of an attaching hall. “Please, approach us, we will do you no harm childe. You are under the Gangrel‘s protection, after all.” he added, hoping to encourage the handsome Ventrue out into the open. Mohrg smiled every so slightly as he felt the childe approaching them, he could hear the rustling of the man’s clothes, the sound of his hair as it grazed over his shoulders, but he was waiting to see his eyes, those amazing grey eyes that he had missed so much over the past few weeks.

“Forgive me, I did not mean to intrude,” Dimitri insisted as he bowed his head to the Nosferatu, “I was searching for one of the Gangrel, I will leave you in peace.”

“Wait” Mohrg insisted, “why do you search for them, surely you know where they are, what has happened.” He asked, noticing the wince in the man’s eyes as he nodded his head.

“That is why I am searching for one of them, any of them. I dare not go to their haven, not unbidden, not if what I’ve heard is true.” Dimitri replied, finally looking up into the ancient Nosferatu’s eyes, hoping to see a sign that the rumours were not true, that one of his dear Gangrel friends had not be killed. But all he saw was a great sadness in the ancient one’s eyes, a tangible grief that seemed to invade the very skin of the vamypre. “It’s true, isn’t it?” he whispered

“Not entirely, so far no one has died.” Mohrg sighed as if the weight of the world had suddenly been placed upon his heart. “I think you and Fang should talk, young Dimitri, he knows more about what happened then I do.” he insisted as he half pulled the Garou Alpha in front of him, watching carefully as the two evaluated each other. Mohrg knew it could be a risky thing, forcing them together, but they had gotten along well enough before Dimitri had gone to bring the Roma, and he was certainly doted upon by Cash. And that could only mean there was something special about the Ventrue, something that Cash alone recognized, and Mohrg had learned long ago to trust Cash MacLeod’s instincts, no matter how odd or impetuous they may seem.

Mohrg staid in the background as the two youngster quickly found common ground and began discussing the nights tragedies. It was immediately decided that the area of forest were the Tremere was ensconced was to be declared off limits to EVERYONE, save the vampyre and Garou, and preferably only the leaders of those groups. It was decided that Fang would bring his entire clan inside the confines of the school, hunting would be figured out later, and the Roma’s caravans must also be brought inside, no point in giving Gustavas easy access to anything that may help him, and Hagrid, they had to convince Hagrid to stay inside the school for the time being.

Mohrg smiled to himself as he heard them dividing the work load and responsibility, and found it almost humorous when he had to step in and remind them that an entire clan of Gangrel and Caitiff were also available to assist them, and that Cash and Raul may like to be ‘informed’ of any decisions, out of courtesy, of course. In a very short period of time, Mohrg found himself and Fang being taken to the Roma, to be introduced and asked to help protect them, at least until Angel returned and permanent arrangements could be made. ……

“Leonora, please, would you stay in one place and stop wringing your hands like that, its annoying” Krystal sighed as she and her half brother Leumadair watched the nearly frantic young woman swim back and forth across the room. “Calm down and relax.”

“How can I be calm? This woman is coming to decide my fate, and the fate of my children…. What if she decides to have us killed? Or banished, or… or…” she collapsed into Leumadair’s arms as he did his best to comfort her.

“You worry for nothing Leonora, my cousin is a sweet tempered, forgiving angel.” he assured her. “and she adores children, I cannot EVER imagine her allowing a child to be harmed, let alone killed in her name or in her presence.”

“But your father, he said.”

“He said he would allow her to decide, and he will. You have to understand my father, Leonora, he’s a proud man, a strong leader, he can’t show weakness or compassion to someone like you, a member of the tribe that attacked our landed clan. No matter how much he wanted to, ‘he’ could never allow you to live amongst us, his enemies would use such a show of compassion against him. However, if my cousin takes it upon herself to forgive you, and yes, I know you didn’t ‘actively’ do anything to harm her.” he stated, “well then, who is my father to deny his favourite niece such a small thing as mercy?” he grinned, his eyes sparkling brightly as he kissed her cheek.

“Now, she and her son will be here soon, I suggest you and the boys get ready to meet her. A good first impression can’t hurt, and again, don’t worry, I’ll talk to her before father gets the chance to ask her to pass judgment over anyone.” turning to his sister, he added “Krystal, knowing father he’ll ask you to show her son, Harry, around the grounds while we ‘talk’ about things. I don’t want you to argue with him, I know you want to be part of the decision making but just this once, for my sake and for Leonora’s just show Harry around, take him to the wreck if you want to. Puneet is probably there arguing with the masthead again, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to talk to Kitty later, alright?”

“Oh, alright” Krystal sighed, twisting her shoulder-length blonde hair around her fingers as the Undines tried to weave the pearls and polished shells into her tresses. Their sea-horse-like bodies darting back and forth as their long fingers and quick hands made short work of the task. “But he better be either cute or interesting, cuz if he’s not….”

“Relax, little sister, from what I hear, he is both. Now hurry up and get ready, the last thing any of us need is father being angry with us for not being there. And yes, I know Kitty is no where near yet, but that can change in a matter of moments, now move it.”……

Maharet cringed as the mirror shattered, showering the floor with glittering pieces of glass. Magnus’s angry words were still echoing through the stone caverns of her haven, the venom all but dripping from the walls. When had her family turned against her, when had Orpha grown so strong, why did Magnus still blame her for what happened to his daughters. Who could have foreseen Wanda’s madness, no one had ever thought she would kill, certainly not her own family. The stray mortal or wizard here and there perhaps, but to slaughter her own family the way she did….but this too was blamed on Maharet, as if arranging her marriage was what drove her to such bloodlust. True there was little if any love between she and her husband, but other’s had suffered the same misfortune, they had not wrecked their vengeance upon the world, they had simply made the best of it. But then all of Magnus’s daughters had been nothing but trouble, from the eldest to his youngest, all of them were wilful, proud and far to independent for their own good, or more importantly, the good of the clan.

Well, if Magnus or Orpha thought they could convince Catrianna to forsake the ways of her mothers, they were sadly mistaken, she alone seemed to have learned from the mistakes of her sisters. She understood what it meant to be rion, the sacrifices that had to be made, she would do whatever was necessary to protect and preserve her clan. If only that Black wizard hadn’t shown up, not now, not when the timing was so critical, and even worse, if the rumours were true, if Catrianna was in fact with child. But no, how could she be, the carousel would have sprung into life heralding the birth of the next rion, the heir of the Sidhe, but it remained eerily silent, as it had since that fateful day seventeen years ago……

“So Harry, you ready to head out to Ram’s Island and then to Mac Lir?” Cat asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as Viggo and Shoshi wandered over.

“Are you sure you’ve had enough sleep?” Harry asked, the tone in his voice conveying that he didn’t think she had.

“Oh honestly, Harry, I shouldn’t have fallen asleep at all.” she sighed, “At this rate Mac Lir will think I’ve forgotten about my promise or something. You should have woken me up.”

“I did” Harry grinned as he mounted Shoshi, much more sure of himself than he had been when Duncan helped him that morning. “I just let you sleep a little while first….by the way, do you always talk in your sleep?” he asked, grinning widely as his Mum stared at him with wide eyes.

“You had better be joking, little man.” Cat growled playfully as Harry laughed at her “Oiy, far too much like your father” she sighed, smiling as she realized how grown up he truly was. He had been through so much in his fifteen years, hell, he had been through so much today alone, and yet look at him. More secure in himself and his abilities than he had been only a few scant hours ago, even to the point that he was now trying to take care of her instead of the other way around. She felt her heart swell with pride and love every time she looked at him, her little boy, her Harry.

If only she had been allowed to raise him as she and Lily had wanted, she blinked the tears away as she remembered the day she and Lily had realized what would happen. They had wept for hours, trying over and over to see a different future, a way to avoid the path that lay before Lily, but it was no use, nothing they did changed the visions, and some of their options had only made things worse. It was then that they decided on their plan, on the way to protect Lily’s as yet unconceived son, that was the reason it was so important for Harry to meet and accept Mac Lir, if it weren’t for him, Harry wouldn’t exist right now. It had been Mac Lir that broke through the barrier the MoM and her own Clan had placed between their worlds. It was his power, his strength that allowed the then very pregnant Lily to cross to Armagh to finish the spells they had started years earlier while students together in Hogwarts.

Hearing her name being called, Cat snapped out of her memories to see Harry staring at her, concern evident in his eyes. “Its alright sweetie, I was just thinking about Lily, I miss her. She would be so very proud of you, Harry. And so would James.”

“Really?” he practically whispered, a bright smile on his face as he imagined the look in their eyes, he imagined it would look a lot like Cat’s did right now. He couldn’t even begin to describe how much those few words meant to him. Not only because Lily and James would have been proud of him, but because that meant Cat was proud of him as well, even after everything that had happened today. He had been worried all morning that she would be so angry with him, or worse disappointed in him, he had never had her snap at him as much as she had today. But then again, he had never ridden a firebrand, gone through the veil, or been attacked by boglachs before either. “Mum, do you think Mac Lir will like me, I mean, after Hogsmeade and all?”

“I’m telling you Harry, he adores you, he thought it was wonderful that you stood up to him, ….stick and all…” she added, winking as he groaned at her. “By the way, I didn’t get a chance to say anything earlier, but you do realize that you performed Sidhe magic today, don’t you?” she asked as she mounted Viggo.

“You mean when that thing attacked me? Is that what happened? Is that what it feels like? I thought I had been hit by lightening at first.” Harry admitted, grinning slightly as he heard Cat laughing softly. “Is that why I couldn’t remember what spell I had used, because I didn’t use any?”

“Yes, its all emotions and strength of will, something you seem to have in abundance, may I add. And Harry, I’m sorry for being so harsh with you today, but I worry about you so much, when I saw the boglachs heading for you….” she shook her head sadly, “I would die if anything happened to you sweetie, I truly would. I hope you and your father understand that.” she added as she rode next to him and kissed his cheek, only to be startled as Harry reached out and hugged her fiercely, obviously today had been every bit as trying for him as it had for her. When they pulled back, Cat had to laugh, “What a sorry site we are” she teased as they both wiped the tears from their eyes. “Come on, lets get moving before we get any more emotional, huh?”

“Anything you say, Mum, besides, I can’t wait to ride over water again, its absolutely amazing.” Harry stated, rubbing Shoshi’s neck fondly as the firebrand tossed her head. “Shoshi likes it too, but I think this time she should let those big eels alone.”

“Ah yes, Shoshi and the horse eels, she’s been chasing them since she was a colt, I remember hearing stories about it. Just keep her away from Lough Reed, Ness, Naigh, Sealga, you know, anywhere those large beasties are.” Cat laughed, “But if you really want to see her go, let her catch a glimpse of a Cait Sith.”

“What are Cait Sith?”

“Something you should make it a point to avoid. They are called Highland cat or faerie cats, they’re huge black panthers with a white spot on their breasts, but what they really are is something quite different. It’s the form that hags take when travelling abroad, if you see one and you’re alone, try to stay very, very still, if it spies you and comes towards you, yell “Bo Shrove”, it can’t harm you then, although it will still try to frighten you and make you run, but never, ever run from them Harry. If you run, the protection spell won’t work, it’s a matter of faith, I’m afraid.” Cat explained as they reached the shore of the small island. “Ready to ride, Harry?” she asked, wondering if the smile on his face could actually get any wider……

Minerva sighed as she nodded her head, “I agree with you Albus, but what else can we do? We certainly can’t go to the Ministry with it, not that there is anyone left there.” she added tersely.