Ellen dressed, trying to choose her words. Inka was really dead? She hadn't believed Thierry, but after talking with Demetri, it seemed impossible that anything else was true. How? --and how was she going to tell Aubrey? He was broken up already about his little friend getting escorted away, how could she tell him that a good friend for a century was gone forever? He cried for weeks back when they still had pets, this was going to be beyond difficult. Maybe, just maybe, she could get away without telling him. Outside, the rain let up as quickly as it had started. How strange...

The flames licked at the ancient stone structure, uselessly. They did, however crisp the entire garden and a good chunk of the new wing had new ventilation where none had existed before. Ellen barricaded Aubrey in the deepest cloister of the abbey, far from every window and door, and hoped that that murderer had no way of gaining entrance. What the hell was he trying to do? He knew about the fire thing? How?! At least he didn't seem to know how to use it to his advantage. Yet.

This was good fun, my two favorite characters to write! I wanted to do a more extended smack-talk sequence, but yes... we can't always get what we want. ;) I had fun with this page, using my own photographic reference of a local cathedral again. (I'm sure they just love what I'm doing with it.)