Prelude

There was a difference between a pub in large cities and a pub that laid in the middle of nowhere. The Black Dog was such a pub. It laid in the Suffolk at the edge of a small town and it was the only place where you could buy a decent drink. The guests were not many people and therefore they knew each other quite well. This was the place where you could get pieces of information on the outside world as the bartender talked with all his guests and the travelers that were just passing through.

The bar was rather small. Fogging, small windows allowed just enough sunlight into the room to enlighten several shabby tables where the locals sat and drank their beer. The bartender was cleaning glasses. However most people of the town were huddled up at two tables, leaving the table near the door almost alone with one person sitting there, face hidden in the shadows.

Olalla Hyde had traveled back to the Jeziquel's house; her house now. Being the Guardian of the Gateway meant she could not stay in London for too long. The townspeople had all been rather shocked when she had reported Renata Jeziquel's death and claimed the house as her own, being a distant cousin. However Olalla had quickly established herself as the reputation of a devil's woman, a dangerous girl that caused even the toughest guys to tremble.

This was the reason everyone avoided her table as if she was carrying a disease with her. Olalla did not minded it though. She was nipping at a glass with cherry whine and was running over her upper lips with her fingers. The girl looked at the card, she was writing. It said:

Dear Robert,

I'd like to apologize. I behaved awful at Magarete's funeral and I said some pretty nasty things and for that I am sorry. I did not mean to trigger your anger. I was just tactless and behaved like a spoiled child. I did not want to leave with such an impression, but my duty demands my attention. For now. I just have to remember that you and I grew up in completely different worlds and have different mindsets because of this. I cannot help but wonder: Why are you so reluctant about Hyde? Why can't you just see that he is you? What is it you fear? What are you so afraid off?

If you need anything, any help, you know where to find me.

Lots of love, Olalla.

With a sight Olalla placed the fountain pen down. She read her letter once more. Then taking the glass of cherry, she gulped it down in one go. Standing up the woman walked towards the bar. All the guests backed away from her, keeping their respectful distance. The bartender looked at her. He knew Olalla better then most people as she had started to use him as a feeding source. There was a reason he wore a scarf all the time.

"What can I do for you, Olalla?", he asked. Olalla handed him the letter. "Deliver this to London", she stated, "And make sure it gets there." Eying the card, the bartender stored it away. "As you wish, Ms Hyde."

~Jekyll & Hyde~

Renata Jeziquel's house laid away from the town, separated by a large field of grass, shielded by trees. The property always seemed to be clouded in mist and shadows. The large, dark forest caused weird silhouettes at night. The wind softly moved a few low hanging branches, damp from the mist. Dosh grew on the barks like a pelt. It was hard to see much when one wandered through the grey sea.

There was only one footpath which lead towards the house. It was hardly used and hide itself underneath grass, dosh and sludge. As Olalla was walking alongside it, she came across a car. The woman stopped and blinked in confusion. Tilting her head aside, she eyed it. One thing was for sure: That is not Robert's car!  He would have told her if he came to visit and it was unlikely that he came after the argument they had only a few days ago.

The car was one of these ugly trucks, which had a cheap, black plastic excess. The wheels were thick and covered in mud. The seats looked hard and uncomfortable, the leather fake. Olalla only knew one possible organization that would give its henchmen such low equipped cars. The realization hit her like a wave of cold water: Tenebrae was here.

What do they want here?  Olalla started to race down the path towards the house. Her ears rang from blood, pumping in her veins. She thought to hear Renata's voice again, telling her about the gateway, hidden in the cathedral and the importance of the Jeziquel's Family Book. If Tenebrae got its hands on that, they could do dangerous things. Maybe even free Lord Trash. Was this possible? After all Hyde destroyed his heart. But how did Lord Trash work? He was an immortal and how did you kill an immortal?

The house appeared in her vision. It was a large, old building with ancient looking sims and decorations at the wall. Even the ceiling had something old and strange about it. The iron gate that laid a few feet before it was forced open. Olalla's brows furrowed in anger as she raced through it.

She slammed the door of the house open. The intruders were still there. The young Hyde found them in the living room. Three men had turned the room upside down in search for somebody or something. Carpets were re thorn, chairs thrown around, drawers pulled open. Papers and boxes laid scattered across the floor. They were still doing it as the house owner entered.

Olalla let a soft growl vibrate in her throat and leaned against the door frame. "Now what do you think you are doing here?" The intruders turned around, stopping in their tracks. They were butcher-like figures, wearing cheap, black cloaks that did not seem to fit their frames. Black eye patches over the left eye in their dull, brutal faces. And the man in the middle with the short mustache and the fair brown hair was none other then Silas.

How interesting that a group of minions makes it into this room. Olalla felt the thrill rushing through her veins. She was ready to preform her duty for the very first time. Even if it simply meant beat a group of men up.

One of the bandits shouted: "There is that Hyde girl! Shoot her!" Another one lifted his gun and shot. The blow echoed through the room. Olalla felt the bullet dig into her shoulder. She was staggering for a brief moment, before she readjusted her footing. Looking at the wound in her blouse, she turned back to face Silas, a maddening grin on her lips. Her eyes flashed cyan.

"Why, Silas?", taunted Olalla and pouted, "You ruined my blouse. How could you do that? Is this a way to treat a lady?" Taking a step forwards, she slammed her hand in the bandit by her left side. The man gasped in shock as he got thrown across the room, slamming against the sofa, tossing over it, before he laid still. Olalla swirled around and grinned. They were no match for her, even if it were three against one. Hyde's strength, rage and speed made up for her being one person.

The man who had shot her raced forwards in an attempt to slam a wooden stick into her side. Olalla sidestepped and watched him race passed her. "Try something better, you moron", she called. Hand forming into a fist, Olalla stroke the man's neck. He bellowed in shock as he fell on his knees. Olalla used his stick to give him a few lashes, causing several bruises on his arms and face.

Now only Silas was left to be dealt with. This is going to be fun. Hyde boiled inside of her, enjoying every minute of this little fight, causing her to go to greater extremes. For her this was not even a fight, but a game. She was the puppeteer and he was her puppet. Her little puppet, which danced on strings to her command and for amusement. Her eyes glowed in a maddening cyan and the veins around them darkened as Olalla let out a hiss. She spotted the book he was holding in his hands. The Jeziquel book.

"Didn't Mommy tell you not to steal stuff that does not belong to you?" Kicking Silas in his fat stomach, Olalla watched him fly across the room. He slammed against a curtain and got coiled up in it. The book fell on the floor with a low thud. Pushing it aside with her foot, Olalla slowly approached Silas who tried to free himself from the curtain he was entangled in.

"You know what I sometimes wonder", the blonde said and bent down before Silas, "Why Dance is not killing you yet? You are such a moron and can hardly get anything right. Maybe he sees letting you fail and face his rage as the greatest punishment of all. Or maybe he has just not yet found a decent reason to chop your head off." Olalla grabbed the bandit by his collar and lifted him up with one hand.

He gasped in shock as he got pinned against the wall. "W...what are you gonna do?", croaked Silas. Olalla leaned forwards. Her grin grew wider. "It is your lucky day, Silas", she whispered, "I am not going to kill you. I need you to deliver a message to Dance."

~Jekyll & Hyde~

"I must be surrounded by morons", whispered Dance. The Captain was sitting at a table in the Daily Truth building. It was a large, fancy table and the chair in which he leaned was rather comfortable. It actually belonged Prothero, but right now Captain Dance had taken it as his own. After all minions should recognize their leader at once when they entered.

Silas and his two men were standing before the table. They were covered in bruises and lacerations. Silas had a red mark near his throat. They all tried to have some kind of composer, but they could not deny it. Dance was angry and he had every right to be.

"You failed at something so simple", stated Dance with folded arms, "that it makes me wonder: Did my Vetalas ate your brains and I did not notice it? This task was not hard. And yet you failed. Miserably." He let his scoll sink in, watching the bandits, sharing glances. No one wanted to speak up for defense.

"Captain Dance, I can explain", stammered Silas finally. He tried to save the little dignity, the undead man left the bandits. "You can have your defense in a minute", cut Captain Dance him short. He was not done yet with the interrogating let alone dealing. "Yes, Captain Dance, sir."

His brown eyes glowed as Dance stated: "If I thought this was difficult, I would have told you to stay here and done it myself. But I thought: What can go wrong? All you have to do was get a book out of an abandoned house."

"Not quite abandoned", interrupted Silas and fell silent when Dance laid eyes on him. He slowly removed the gloves from his hands. As he lifted his hand, they all thought death was breathing in their neck. "I will not tolerate mistakes, Silas."

"Sir, this was not my fault", explained Silas and he stumbled over his words, "We were not prepared to face any guard." "A guard, you say?" Dance lifted a brow. "Well, then I suspect you can tell me who was the moron that got the guard's attention in the first place."

Silas fell silent and lowered his glance. He and his colleagues seemed uncomfortable. Slowly turning around, Silas looked at the man to his right. Feeling all eyes rested on him, the bandit stammered an excuse: "Well, you see, you did not tell us there was a guard, and it was a powerful one." "So you are saying it is my fault", guessed Dance coldly and leaned into Fedora's touch. She stood behind him and watched silently.

"No, Captain Dance, sir!", stammered the man, sweating. "You!" Dance turned around and looked at the third man, "Tell me whose fault was it. Who alarmed the guard? Who shall I shoot this time?" The bandit had several marks on his arms. He stammered: "I did nothing wrong, Captain Dance. I did quite well to be honest." He looked at Silas. "But I was not the one in charge, was I? I was not the one given the orders. We did what Silas told us to do. He is responsible for this outcome. So he should take the blame, shouldn't he?"

Blue magic sparkled around his fingers as Dance lifted his hand. "There is no denying you failed in your task, Silas." The leader lowered his head, shuddering, preparing for the next moment, the moment that would end his life.

Dance's voice was barley a whisper: "The only reason you are still alive is that you are the only one of those morons that has something that might be called a brain. Prothero is too selfish to do anything like that and I do not want to send my dear Fedora to do every single task." He smiled at her. "They say one should keep his best cards close to his chest and that is what I do. If I found any man who did this job better then you, you would be dead in an instant."

Silas whispered: "I understand, Captain Dance." "However somebody must take the blame." Dance stood up and approached the bandit with the bruises. "You. You have doubted the authority of your boss and we cannot have these kind of doubts." The man stammered: "No! No, no, no!" "You are discharged."

Eyes cold as black fire, Dance placed his hand on the bandit's chest. More blue fire enwrapped him. The man gasped. Silas and his colleague twitched backwards, eyes wide in terror. In front of them the man aged rapidly. His flesh seemed to melt from the bones, his eyes poped out of their caves and soon afterwards his appearance became skelletonlike. Another Vetala had been born.

Dance took a step backwards. "Dismissed", he commanded, "All of you." The two left bandits literally raced towards the door. However before they could reach it, the undead Captain added coldly: "Except Silas." The ugly man stopped in his track. He gulped and turned around. Face pale and covered in sweat, he asked: "Yes, Captain Dance?"

Captain Dance leaned himself against the table. Waving his fingers, he gave Silas the command to come closer. When the fat man stopped before him, the senior officer asked: "Who was the guard?" "Eh...I...I don't know." His words came as a brief pant, hoarse and dry. Dance smiled. "Please, Silas, you are a terrible liar. And the marks on your neck speak for themselves. Do not withhold information from me. Who was the guard?"

Silas swallowed. Dance ticked off the seconds in his head. Ten, nine, eight... When he had reached zero, the bandit busted out: "Olalla Hyde! It was Olalla Hyde!" His face was red and Silas slapped his hands on his mouth as if he had just let out a bad insult. Dance seemed to froze. Emotions fought on his face for superiority, but he kept his composer.

"Did she say anything?", asked the undead man, "Or did she just beat you up?" Silas responded hastily: "No! She said, she is the new guardian now and any Tenebrae member who enters her property will get killed. No exceptions." He ducked away, expecting an outburst of rage from Dance's side.

But the senior officer only lowered his head. "Leave", he snarled through his teeth and Silas obeyed. Only when he was gone, did Dance allowed his emotions to reach him. Shock, anger and hate boiled inside him. Oh, what a cruel twist of fate! His own daughter had not only left Tenebrae, but now truly worked against him.

But there was also something else inside him. Was it regret? Remorse? Sadness? Bitterness? The small core inside him that had always loved Olalla seemed to be shaken the most and did not know how to react.

Fedora approached him with worry in her face. "Darling", she asked, but Dance turned his back on her. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. But in his mind he was away, far away. Many years back in the past in a small bedchamber and his eyes rested on the little girl that sat in the corner of the room, her face buried in her arms.

~Jekyll & Hyde~

The soft whine filled his ears. Dance had never expected that a child of this seize could produce such a sound. Olalla had turned her back on him and curled herself up into a small ball. Her blonde hair bristled from her sobs.

Dance slowly closed the door behind himself. They had brought her into a normal bedroom. No cell or something dark and spooky. When Olalla heard the door click, she turned around. Her blue eyes widened in fear and she backed away. "Don't hurt me!", she squeaked like a terrified animal and lifted her hands as if she feared a slap.

"Easy, Olalla", responded Dance softly, "I am not going to hurt you." He tried to come closer, but she backed away, until her back touched the wall. The undead man could see the marks Keres had left after she had harmed and terrified the poor child. No wonder she feared him.

Her tears kept running down her face like liquid crystal. "I want my Daddy back", she whined, "Why isn't Louis coming home? Why is he not going to save me?" Dance sighted and sat down on the bed. He kept his distance, not wanting to scare her further. Looking into her pure, innocent eyes, the man responded: "Jekyll is not going to come back."

Olalla's eyes widened. She seemed to forget to cry. Dance's words were soothing and soft like a dark lullaby. His lies enwrapped themselves around the young girl's brain ready to shape her belief, change her allegiance. "Why should he come back? He saved the child, he wanted to save. Your brother, Robert. He was the important one. You were just the second sibling, he did not needed."

"No", whispered Olalla and seemed to choke on her own words, "He would never do this." Doubt. Dance had to resist a smile. He knew he had broken through the first cell. Now he had to reach her core, carefully replacing all her believes. Turning Louis Hyde into the enemy and Tenebrae into her new home.

"I am afraid, he would. That's how Jekylls are, Olalla. They lie and they betray you when you need them the most." Dance shook his head with a sad sigh. "Louis used to work for us, for Tenebrae. He was an excellent soldier and I could always rely on him. But then he turned his back on me. Just like he turned his back on you. Don't expect him to come back. He has proven who he values more. Your brother. For him, you will always be number two."

Olalla was crying again. She leaned forwards like a child that begged for a hug. The first sign he had been waiting for. Very slowly Captain Dance moved across the bed. Until their knees touched. Olalla flinched. "Shhh", the undead man whispered, "You are going to be alright."

"I want to go home", stammered Olalla, "I want my Daddy back. I don't want to feel this anymore." Dance tilted his head aside. "Feel what anymore?" She looked at him, lips trembling. "This pain, this fear, this weakness."

"Yes", whispered the Captain with pity in his voice, "Jekyll is weak. However there is more then meets the eye." He smiled and carefully pulled something out of his pocket. It was a weird object, looking like some kind of thick fork. Its handle was filled with a red liquid. Softly weighting it in his hands, Dance explained: "There is more to you that meets the eye. Do you know what you are, Olalla?"

She shook her head. "What is that?", she asked and pointed at the object. Dance smiled. "It's called a bloodspike", he explained, "It is a wonder object." He carefully lifted a hand and caressed her cheek. Olalla flinched briefly, but then she allowed the touch. "You must know, you are what we are. You have something inside you. Another side of you that has never been set free. A side that is strong, wild, powerful, that knows nothing of this all."

He waved the bloodspike before her. "And all we have to do to let her come out is piercing you with the spike." Olalla eyed the object with fascination. Her small hand reached forwards in an attempt to grab it. "Ah, ah, ah. Let Daddy do this", Dance scolded her softly.

"Give me your hand." Dance had laid his own hand on his lab and waited. Olalla carefully laid her own hand in his. The undead man pushed up her sleeve, revealing naked skin. Then he lifted the spike and slowly let the two needles slice through the skin.

For a brief moment nothing happened. Then a shrill, high-pitched, murderous scream filled the air. Olalla buckled over and almost slipped of the bed. Her veins pulsated and her head yerked around. Her jaws forced themselves open as she kept screaming and roaring. The first transformation always was the most painful one.

Dance grabbed Olalla by her shoulders. "W...what is happening?", she gasped between two screams and struggled even more. "It is alright. She is coming out." Dance softly embraced Olalla and caressed her bristling her. He held the struggling girl against his frame, tenderly, softly. His lips were close to her ear.

"Hyde is your true name", Captain Dance whispered, "Tenebrae is your true family." He felt her relax and lean against him with new confidence. The undead man patted her shoulder and kept her in his arms. "And I am your father." From the corner of his eyes, Dance saw Olalla's lips pulling into a bloodthirsty smile and her eyes got enlightened by a malicious cyan glow.

~Jekyll & Hyde~

"Darling?" Her voice made him snap back into the now. Captain Dance turned his head and looked at Fedora. The fair skinned woman smiled sadly. "You do not seem to like what Silas told you, don't you? You still love her." Oh, she knew him too well.

Dance took Fedora's shoulders and pushed her close to him. Bending over her, he responded: "It is impossible not to like something you raised yourself." He would never admit it aloud, but Dance truly loved Olalla. He always was filled with pride when he thought about her. Keres' order to raise her had been his most complex task in a long while and he was proud of what he had accomplished.

Therefore knowing that she had left him, Tenebrae and now worked against him left a bitter taste in his mouth. Dance responded: "Remember you too raised her." Fedora smiled and softly caressed his neck. "Oh, but you know that she was closer to you then she was to me. You deserve the praise of being her father. I just assisted with the execution."

Their tender moment was broken when a sharp pain clawed itself into Dance's forehead. He groaned in anger and pressed a hand on his temple. Keres... Of course she too knew what had happened. And she had to tell Dance her thoughts about it immediately.

Reluctantly Dance turned frigid and opened his mind to her, allowing Keres to communicate telepathically. "Well, well. Now we know where our runaway went." Dance hissed: Yes. Moreover, we know that she has the book. "Well, then our next step shall be easy. We kill Olalla and get the book."

Kill Olalla. He had to avoid gasping. Fear and care wanted to bubble up inside of him, but Dance fought these emotions down. The organization came first, personal desires later. He already broke that rule once. And Olalla was a traitor. Traitors had to die. Still, he could not just kill her. Not yet.

Keres, think about this. What if we need Olalla again?  Her voice was sharp and cold: "Don't try to argue with me about this, Dance!"

Please! Hear me out! This is not lead by foolish emotions. Olalla is smart. She is one of the best soldiers we ever had. I even think, she has the potential to become an officer. What if we need her? What if the book somehow has protections of any kind?

"Do not plead for her live with me."

Keres, listen. I have an idea. And I promise, it will work. Just don't kill her yet!

Keres fell silent for a long time. Dance kept massaging his temples. He waited, did not dare to breath. Finally the death spirit's voice echoed through him: "Fine. We shall do it your way. But if your plan backfires in any way, you will kill her. If you hesitate, I will make you do it!"

Dance nodded and she left him. Fedora asked: "Dance? What have you decided?" The Captain smiled. "Keres will get the book." "But Olalla is guarding it." "Then we have to make her leave", responded Dance, "And believe me, she will leave. We just need to get Robert Jekyll in trouble."