To Me, My X-Men!

[The Sleuth]

Rhys had avoided the mansion and just kept making portals until he got back to one of the old family homesteads in Ireland. Then again, truth be told, much of Ireland was considered part of the family home anyway.

As he stood in front of what looked like a now closed and somewhat shoddy-looking "tourist trap" castle, Rhys paced back and forth like a madman. "Ardan, where the bloody hell are you? Aerfen? Damn it! Why aren't you answering?"

"Because you are a raving loon, Rhys!" a woman said as she walked up behind him. "We got your message. Come inside before you pace a ditch in the road."

"Aerfen, you could have told me you were standing there all along," Rhys growled as he followed her into the castle and was thankful that the glamour on the place was just that. Inside the castle it looked just as it always had.

"Did you find out anything about Stefania?" Rhys asked as he hung his coat on a rack inside the foyer.

TBC

[Aerfen DalCais]

"Would you please just sit down!" Aerfen snapped at Rhys as they entered what was considered, by her anyway, the Trophy Room of her great castle. A huge taxidermied creature stood sentry near the doorway, and she giggled when her cousin jumped in fright. "It is quite, quite dead," she said as she continued to giggle as she got two glasses and a carafe of some claret wine. "My last lover gave me that. He killed the sodding thing when he ventured into Hell to fetch something for me."

"Aerfen, that is all well and good, but what about Stefania?" Rhys said as he finally sat down.

"I have no idea what that, pardon the expression, bitch is doing now," Aerfen replied as she watched Rhys pour the wine and then take a gulp of the beverage. The demented woman then snatched the glass and smashed it against the fireplace. "But I will soon enough," she said as she watched the fire dance off the spilled wine and glass shards. "Don't tell me you slept with the bitch. Even you are not that stupid. Now, her brother, he is a tasty morsel."

TBC

[Ardan DalCais]

"Oh no, not them again," Ardan said as he entered the room, putting added emphasis on the word "them" as he spoke. "The Radulescus. Again? Rhys, do you have a death wish?"

"I did not sleep with her, but for some stupid reason I was kissing her when Alice walked out of Kelsey's party," Rhys said as he nodded to Ardan. "I had been drinking absinthe, so I likely lost my mind."

"Or you were dosed," Ardan said as he shook his head. "Rhys, did anyone test your drink?"

"The glass got shattered and the absinthe dispersed," Rhys added as he tried to think back on all that happened. "There was nothing to test, and....there was too much going on to worry about it. Kelsey was rebirthed in a most horrible manner. My poor daughter. And Alice is pregnant. And this has all gone to hell!"

"Calm down. We will get to the bottom of this," Ardan said as he placed his hand on Rhys' shoulder. "We are family. We stick together."

TBC

[Otto Van Helsing]

OOC: The guy at the door will not be apped.

IC:

~~Outside the castle~~

"Please, everyone should call me Otto. It is so much easier than Mr. Van Helsing," the demon hunter said with a smile as the group exited the portal and stood in front of some tourist trap looking castle. "Ruarc, I don't mean to be rude, but she lives here? Oh wait. Defensive glamour?"

"Yes, Aerfen is as crazy as a fox at times, but most of the time she is just plain crazy," Ruarc said as he motioned for everyone to follow his lead and go to the entrance that looked like a gift shop. "Oh, this is wonderful. I forgot the footman's name. Best to knock then," he said as he went to bang on the door of the "gift shop" that stood before them. His hand did not hit wood or metal. It hit the chest of a very tall man. "Now you make yourself known! Hobson, right?"

"Mr. Ruarc, a pleasure to see you. Your brother is inside babbling like a brook," Hobson said as he bowed to the new arrivals and motioned for them to come inside. Hobson, if truth be told, looked a bit like Lurch in the Addams Family movie. His height, combined with his pale skin and piercing blue eyes would be enough to put off most people.


"This is much different on the inside," Otto said as he looked over at RJ. "I can see why she keeps it in a glamour. She'd be robbed blind if she didn't," he added as he looked at the vaulted ceilings, stained glass and antique furniture that dotted the hallway. "But what is she doing with an Abraxas demon in her foyer? Stuffed or not, that is not something I would want in my home."

The great gray demon with horned head and long nailed talons seemed to stand as silent guardian of the castle as the group followed Hobson into the Trophy Room where another demon, this one looking more like a mutated form of the red demon Axl DalCais became during battle, stood in an awkward pose near the door.

"Mistress, visitors," Hobson said as he bowed and left the room.

"I can see that!" Aerfen snapped. "Well, what all do you want? Rhys' babbling has been quite enough for one day!"

"I told you she was a few cards short," Ruarc whispered to Lily as Rhys threw up his hands and prepared to leave the room. "You. Sit. Watson, maybe you can talk some sense into him?"

TBC

[Watson]

"Yes please sit down, Rhys." Watson said as he held Rhiannon's hand tightly. He would be lying if he said that this castle wasn't creeping him out. "This place has a...certain charm, doesn't it?" He mumbled to Rhiannon.

"Daddy!" Kelsey said as soon as she saw her father and then went running to him. As mad as she was before at him, she felt none of it now. She threw her arms around her father in a hug.

"Please, everyone just sit down a moment." RJ said as everyone began to sit down in the chairs in the chamber room. "Thank you, Aerfan for not chasing Rhys off." He said with a nod.

Watson nodded to Aerfan and Ardan and then sat down across from Rhys. He wasn't sure where to begin. He knew no matter what he said or how he said it, Rhys was going to flip out. Rhys was already scanning the room for Alice. "Rhys, Alice has been abducted. We think it was by Stefania's brother possible. We don't have any leads on where she could be. You probably had no idea because her mind link is being blocked. Kelsey can't get a read on her either."

"And that's why we came here." He said, looking at Rhys and then to the twins. "We knew that you come here to seek help. And now it seems that we are going to need a lot of it."

[The Sleuth]

"Kelsey," was all Rhys could say as his daughter ran to him and hugged him. Then he realized who was not there and started to assume Alice was more than willing to lop his head off for this nightmare. That all came crashing down when Watson and RJ started to tell him what had happened.

"No," he whispered as he let go of Kelsey and got to his feet. "Valerui? He took Alice? No. That makes no sense. Stefania coming to me like that, and now Valerui?"

"You mentioned a baby, Rhys?" Ardan asked as he looked over at Rhiannon and Ruarc nodded to them. "Good to see family, but I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Alice is pregnant, yes," Rhys said as he paced. "Damn! When Alice had Kelsey, there was some weird woman who said if not the first then the second. Rhi, you remember that, don't you?"

"Goddess, yes!" Rhiannon said as she looked over at Watson and started to get something out of her bag. "That crone. We always thought she was just a bit nutty. I never thought it was a curse."

"I should have known this was all a bit too coincidental," Rhys muttered as he kept pacing. "Stefania didn't appear just to win me back. Its a damned blood debt for the mess with her family all those years ago. They want the baby because of what..."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ruarc shouted as Aerfen got up and hissed at her cousin. "And you. What about your connection to those lunatic gypsies? I thought you and Valerui did the deed and that shut him up?"

"No. His family dismissed me as a maniac. They feared any children we would have would be unsuitable," Aerfen said with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"Aerfen, sweetest cousin, Valerui is beneath you," Rhys said as he opened a link to the rest of the people in the room save Aerfen. {{I love her dearly, but Valerui never once looked at her. Her illness has made things a bit muddled for her. Please, everyone, humor her, or she might single-handedly slaughter every gypsy in sight before we get to Alice}}

"Indeed he is," Aerfen said with a giggle as she looked back at Watson and Rhiannon and then to Rhys. "And if he has Alice, well, he will pay. Now, what do you need? And how can we help get Alice back?"

TBC

[Moony]

"This is such a mess, I don't even know where to begin. I didn't know this feud with between the two families was....Goddess. I swear if anything happens to my daughter and her unborn child..." RJ shook his head and looked at Rhys and the rest of the family. He knew he wasn't making much sense at the moment.

"Father, everyone is here for Alice. No one is going to let those damned gypsies hurt her or the baby." Lacey said and then stopped for a moment and thought about something. "As mush as I don't want him here...I know for a fact that Godric has had some dealings with other gypsy clans before. I don't know if the Shadowhunters have any jurisdictions over them, but he might be able to help out. Maybe between him and Otto, they can figure something out."

"I think I'd feel better if Godric were here with us." RJ nodded. He had always liked and trusted Godric, and even though he and Lacey weren't married anymore, he still thought of him as a son.

RJ looked up at the moonlight that was shining through the window and sighed. "It'll be a full moon tomorrow night." He looked at Aerfan and Ardan. "I'm a werewolf. A real werewolf and cannot change at will and I cannot control my animalistic urges to kill. I'll be changing tomorrow night. Do you have a cellar you can lock me up in? Otherwise, I'll try to kill you all."

[Snow White]

Lily felt bad for RJ, it must be something awful to change into a cold blood killer especially for as someone as kind and gentle as RJ was. "How long will you be a were?"

"One night. But I'll be weak and almost useless for a few days afterwards. If we should head into battle with the gypsies, I'm afraid that I won't be able to help.RJ replied sadly.

Lily shook her head and furrowed her brows. "Okay what I don't get is how on earth all this started with the gypsies. You said over land? But what the hell was so special over a piece of land, that it led to an all out war between the families? Did it have magical properties or something? And who owns it now?

"Rhys does." Watson said without even thinking. The moment he said it, he wished he hadn't. Because now all eyes were looking at him in confusion, except for Rhys' which were more like shooting daggers at him. "Oh, Goddess..." Watson muttered.

"I'm confused. And judging by everyone else's faces...I'm not the only one. Lily said as she looked at Ruarc who was looking at his brother with an eyebrow raised.

[Watson]

"Do you want me to tell them the story or do you want to do it?Watson asked Rhys. Which Rhys simply made a gesture for Watson to do so. "Alright. And I only know all this because Rhys was really, really drunk one night and he told me the whole story. Like I said he was drunk, so I don't know how much of this is accurate. I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm in the wrong.

"The property used to be ruled by the Fae, and that's why the Radelescus and the DalCais wanted it. Because owning it, living upon it would boost that families mystical abilities. I know the DalCais family already knows all this but I'm recapping it for the everyone else." Watson said looking at Ruarc, who was giving him the 'yeah we know this' look.

"I know that they families went to war over the land several times before the birth of Rhys and Stefania. And I know an old crone gave Ruaidhri the prophecy that if that two families joined that would both benefit from the magic of the land."

"This sounds like a fairytale.. cut to the chase...how does Rhys own that land? Lacey said sitting down next to Alaric.

"Okay, so both families agreed to marry off Stefania and Rhys, who were actually in love with each other, despite what Rhys has said. But Ruaidhri and what ever the hell Stefania's father name is, had plans once the children were married to kill each other off so that only DalCais or Radelescus would be the sole owner. Goddess, this is confusing. But we all know those plans got all fluffed up and nothing happened besides the land being unowned and the families still at war with each other."

"After Stefania disappeared along with rest of the Radelescus, Rhys visited the land and met one of the fae that still resided there. She was actually the owner of the land, it wasn't vacant like everyone had thought. So actually it couldn't be owned by either family anyways. That being said, she was going back to the Arda for good and gave the land to Rhys and his future family. She only gave it to him because he was the only one who didn't want to go to war over it." Watson threw up his hands.

"So there you have it. Rhys is the true owner and has kept it secret all these years, because he was afraid that if the Radelescus found out, they'd come after him and his family."

[Adora]

"Daddy, maybe you should have mentioned this before? It could have spared mom from being taken. We could have had people watching over our family. I know you did it because you thought you were protecting us but sometimes it's okay to ask for a little help." Kelsey said as she looked at her father.

She moved closer to Artie and took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. This castle was a bit unsettling to her. She kept seeing spirits and ghosts moving about the room. "A lot of people died here at one time didn't they, cousin Ardan?" She asked as she watched a ghost of a young chamber maid float past her. This was something that she would never get used to seeing, what made it worse was she was able to converse with them as if they were still alive.

Kelsey rubbed her head and then leaned it on Artie. "Where is grandma and grandpa? I haven't seen them since the birthday party. I would have thought they would have come with us."

Lacey laughed. "I bet they knew all along that this was going to stem back to that land feud and decided to high tail outta here." She rolled her eyes and made a 'hmpf' sound. "I bet Lasair pushed Ruaidhri into that battle over the land back in day. Alice told me how sometimes Lasair seemed jealous of the MacFeorais family. How they were all mighty and powerful and the DalCais only seemed second best. I bet she wanted to use that land to boost her families powers."

"Auntie Lacey, please lets not start a DalCais/MacFeorais/Adler war now. I just don't want everyone to start accusing each other about things that happened so long ago. Kelsey said, but couldn't help but wonder if her grandmother did kind of push Ruaidhri into going to war with the Radelscus. As much as she loved Lasair, the woman could be a bit much at times.

[The Sleuth]

"I had planned to give it to you, Kelsey, when you got married," Rhys said as he shook his head. "I had another piece of land to hand over to the Radulescus. Well, I thought I did until Kari stuck her nose into things."

"And here we go," Ardan said as he shook his head. "Once again the blood of the High Kings comes to the top of the pot. Rhys, you know the royal lineage is on our side. Not theirs. If not for us, the MacFeorais would still be guards." He then looked at Kelsey and sighed. "Yes, many have died here over the centuries. Not all had pleasant deaths either."

"Not all by my hand!" Aerfen shouted as she glared at her brother.

"No, Ardan, it is not the blood of kings that sets us apart. It's the Goddess picking them over us," Ruarc added as he shook his head. "And we know you didn't kill every one of them, Aerfen. Only a few."

"If they want that land for Alice and the baby, they can have it," Rhys said as he clenched his fist and pounded on the table.

"And we have a very strong cellar, RJ," Ardan said as he looked at Aerfen. "Aerfen has an affinity for weres. She has a portion of the cellar that is specifically tailored for the change."

"My last lover was a were. He was wonderful. Too bad that twit Mephisto kept him after he got me that demon there," Aerfen said as she started to scream and cry.

"And now you see why our visits here are infrequent," Rhiannon said to Watson as she rested her head on his shoulder.

TBC

[Watson]

Watson brushed his hand through Rhiannon's hair and kissed the top of her head. "Yes, I see now why Rhys never invited me along with him when he came here." He whispered to Rhiannon.

RJ nodded to Ardan and Aerfan."Thank you for having a place for me. One other small favor...and I hate to ask but I'll require some sort of live animal in there with me."

Lacey gave her father a little smile. She knew he was embarrassed to ask for things for his condition, but he really shouldn't. He can't help what he was. "It's okay dad. I'm sure Ardan can get you a deer."

"Lacey, do you think you can contact Godric and see if he is willing to come here as soon as possible?" Watson asked.

"Yes, I can do that." Lacey said with a slight roll of her eyes. Every time Godric and she were in the same room, they always started to fight about something. She just didn't want to make it uncomfortable for Alaric.

"What ever your personal problems are, you and Godric are just going to have to put them aside for the time being. We're here for Rhys and his family." Watson looked to his best friend. Rhys was putting up his stone wall look, but on the inside, Watson, knew that this was tearing him up on the inside.

[Snow White]

"I'm sure it's just not going be that easy to just give the land to the Radelescus in exchange for Alice and the baby. The Fae usually make it pretty hard for someone to just pass their gifts over to other people. Maybe this Godric guy can shed some light on it." Lily said looking at Rhys and then to Ruarc, who gave a nod in agreement.

Lily's eyes wandered around the castle and she smiled. "This sort of reminds me of the castle I lived in Germany. Maybe not the stuffed demons though!" Lily laughed slightly. "I'm assuming that we're going to be staying here for a few nights until we figure out what the plan is. I'm sure this place has enough rooms for us all. Although, I wouldn't mind sharing a room with you, love." Lily gave Ruarc a wink.

"And it looks like Watson and Rhiannon could use a little one on one time too! She added, looking over at Watson and Rhiannon cuddled closely together and half asleep.

Watson's ears perked up and he sat up straight. "No, we're not here for a romantic holiday, Lilith." Watson inched away from Rhiannon a little bit. As much as he would love to share a night with Rhiannon, he wasn't planning on doing anything until he and she were married, and it certainly wasn't going to be in Howl's Moving Castle.

Lily shrugged. "Well, I just thought we shouldn't be completely miserable why staying here. I've waited hundreds of years to be with my hottie. I don't know if I can wait a minute more. She ran her finger down Ruarc's nose.

"Let's get back on track here..." Watson said as he shook his head and gave a snort of a laugh.

"Watson's the prude, right? Prim and Proper. Mr. No Fun At All."Lily chuckled and kissed Ruarc's cheek. She looked over at Aerfan and smiled. "So...Aerfan your lover killed all those demons? You must be a very special girl for a man to do that. Will he be joining us? Your lover, I mean."

[Adora]

Kelsey stirred the tea that was set down in front of her by Mr. Hobson. She tried not to focus on the spirits that were passing back and forth in the room, but it was almost hard not too. She looked up from her tea and gave a startled shriek, dropping her tea spoon and slightly spilling the tea cup. In front of her a ghost of a young man in armor passed by, but what was so startling was the fact that he had a battle axe lodged in the back of his neck. He seemed to be mouthing something to her but she couldn't pick up what he was saying. She looked away quickly and tried to keep from shaking.

"Cousin Kelsey? Are you okay?" Shanae's tiny voice called out. She had been so quite since they got there, that she was beginning to think everyone had forgotten about her.

Kelsey looked up and nodded. "I'm okay. I'm just tired. It's been a long long day, I think I just need some rest actually. I'm still weak from being rebirthed and this whole thing with the gypsies is starting to take a toll on me."

"I'm sure Ardan can show you to a room where you can rest. RJ said looking at his granddaughter.

Kelsey nodded. Some sleep sounded nice right about now, but she didn't want to be alone in a room. There were too many terrible things to see here and the taxidermy demons weren't helping either. She looked at Artie and wondered if he would come with her if she asked. {{Artie, if I go rest would you come with me? I mean...not to like do anything...but just to be there with me? I don't want to be alone...not here.}} She said telepathically to him

[Lacey]

"I'll go contact Godric now." Lacey said standing up and looking at RJ. She knew her father wanted nothing more for her and Godric to get back together but that just wasn't in the cards. The two of them got along like oil and water. Of course, Lacey wished it could have worked out at least for the sake of their daughter. But Shadowhunters would always have to come first to Godric. "I'll be right back, Alaric."

Shanae watched as her mother walked off to a quiet part of the chamber room. She was happy that her father was coming here, at least she hoped he' be coming. She rarely got to see him often and missed him so much. Even though the circumstances were not good ones, at least he'd be in the same room as she was.

Lacey closed her eyes and opened her mental link to her ex. Usually she kept it shut from him and only opened it if was an emergency. She didn't want her ex shuffling through her mind at any given time. {{Godric}} She thought and then waited to see if she got any response.

{{Has something happened to Shanae?}} Came Godric's response only seconds later.

{{No, nothing has happened to her but she is with me in Ireland at Rhys' cousin Aerfan's castle.}}

{{What are you two doing at that insane woman's home? Lacey, I swear if-}}

{{Oh just stop it! You always jump to conclusions, Godric! We're here because something has happened to my sister. Something to do with the Radelescu's. The gypsy clan. You've had dealings with them in the past haven't you?}}

{{Yes, about 300 years ago. Lacey, I'm in the middle of a vampire situation here-I can't-}}

{{Godric, we need you. My father needs you, anything you can do to help get Alice back. Please, I know you're busy, but this is family. Put family first for once in your life.}}

There was silence in Lacey's head for about a minute and then finally a response. {{...I'll be there in a little while. I just need to finish up a few things here in London. Don't make a move on the Radelescu's until I get there. They are not a family to mess with.}} Then the mental link closed.

Lacey turned back to everyone. "Godric will be here soon."