They went on a boat ride, Joon rented a fishing rod and attempted to fish, but got easily bored and simply asked Vernon if he could try attracting the fish to him because mother nature loves him. Vernon declined his request, trying to explain that although mother nature loves him, that does not mean every aspect of mother nature. Just the ones that would be attracted to the sun in his irises, like trees, flowers, and other plants.
Zane got curious what he meant. Dove, who was sitting next to Vernon in the boat, asked to touch his hair, he nodded, and she gingerly brushed his curls out of the way to reveal his eyes to Zane.
The man sat there, almost dropping his fishing rod, having never seen such a gorgeous glow in anyone's eyes before.
"Those are freaking beautiful." He said in a hushed, astonished tone.
"What kinda eyes do your parents have??"
Dove moved his hair back into place as he shrugged and answered that they both have green and brown eyes.
They got back to the docks and returned the fishing rods, having enjoyed a nice boat ride but didn't catch any fish. Vernon did however pick up a stray duckling that had no flock, causing Joon to be very excited and remark that he was chosen by the baby duck.
Its feathers were still yellow, with few patches of brown, but all very fuzzy, and it could fit in the palm of a hand.
They picked it up and cooed, taking pictures, Zane did some sketches of it as they each took turns carefully holding the duck, after each one washed their hands in the lake water. Dove was rather stiff when it was her turn to hold it, her palm flat as it sat there, like a fuzzy yellow ball that occasionally flapped the tiny arms that had yet to turn into wings.
"Dove, are you okay?"
"I don't want to break it by accident. I've never met something this delicate before."
"It's not like you're Annabelle!"
It did continue to follow them around after they put it back down, and they saw that there were many flocks of ducks and adult ducks by themselves, so they began searching for them around the big lake. Annabelle suggested leaving the duckling right at the ground near the lake water, just in case its mother came back.
"If there's one thing I know about being lost, it's that unless you know the area well, it's best that you stay around the area you became lost in."
"Yeah, I agree, it's like the same rule for never moving a baby deer who appears lost." Zane added.
She said this, but when they began to leave, wanting to explore some hiking trails, the duckling kept following them.
Joon picked it up and tried putting it on a nearby place where it couldn't wander off, but then they felt bad about leaving it there because the duckling appeared to have sad eyes when they began walking away.
They ended up bringing the duckling with them with on the rest of their activities, taking turns to hold it occasionally. Zane named the duckling 'Biscuit'.
Zane led them to a different hiking area that wasn't towards any hills, but rather into the woods and through a path that he took at random when exploring and photographing the environment.
It was the first peaceful walk the interns have had since the last time they went to lunch together. The air was crisp, and the leaves were still green despite the beginning of autumn.
He was becoming more excited the further they went, until he jogged forward, ducking under branches and dodging the sides of bushes, like he had done before, to find the clearing in the distance that he wanted to show them. That was the air slowly became very crisp, and a chilly wind came.
Annabelle screamed with joy and ran forward as soon as they saw the large clearing past the trees, but not because of the view.
"LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL VIEW!"
It was a large open space, with a beautiful landscape of wild, tall grass that reached the calves, and in the distance was a pond. Near that pond, was the end of a rainbow.
Joon soon began running as well after checking his artificial joints.
"IT'S A RAINBOW!!"
"WE'RE GONNA GET YOU RAINBOW!"
Vernon, who was holding Biscuit the duck that was sitting in his flowerpot, gingerly passed it to Dove after asking if she also wanted to go chase the end of the rainbow. She shook her head and took the flowerpot and Biscuit, motioning for him to go and follow them.
The grass parted into a neat path as he also began running.
Zane took out his camera as he stayed walking in the same pace with her, taking pictures of the view, the three running people included in some shots.
"They're pretty energetic." He commented.
"And optimistic, and sometimes impulsive, and sometimes it feels like they just like to do things without plans."
Zane chuckled and glanced at the side to her.
"So, are you like, the emo girl they drag around? Cause I've kinda been there."
Dove thought of a reply, then looked down at Biscuit that was still napping in Vernon's flowerpot. She held that flowerpot carefully, making sure not to jostle the duckling.
"Not exactly. They make me feel included, all the time, without trying. I'd go with them willingly even if they told me the most ridiculous plan about a museum heist."
"But I bet you would give them warnings and rules about safety the entire time, right?"
"Most likely, but then again I can be pretty reckless too. Last night, before your ex came guns blazing, I was planning to lure her out by taunting her with the selfie I had you and Annabelle take, then mess with her psychologically even if she did have some sort of weapon and then capture her. I was expecting us to have to take her fingerprints and check the farmhouse for them, just in case the shrine and letters weren't enough evidence. But clearly, that all went down the drain. Looking back, I feel oddly embarrassed."
Zane laughed, wholeheartedly.
"Don't expect things to be like Criminal Minds or Hannibal Lecter! Serial killers in real life are just impulsive with actual intrusive thoughts!"
"Oh, the disappointment I felt from that realization." Dove chuckled beside him, shaking her head as they both got closer, watching the interns now at the end of the rainbow even though they couldn't really see it from their perspective anymore.
Vernon, however, still could, so they knew, even without him telling them, that they were now at the end of the rainbow.
As it turns out, if Vernon ever ended up at the end of a rainbow, as close as he could get, his eyes would also begin shining like the colors of a rainbow. Annabelle and Joon took many photos and made many loud comments about it, waving the other two over to come look. Dove gently picked up Biscuit out of the flowerpot, giving Zane a turn to hold it, and ran over to see.
She couldn't stop staring at his eyes and Annabelle offered Vernon some bobby pins if he wanted to show them off for a bit longer. But he gave them the bad news that when they leave the rainbow, the effects wear off. That only motivated the act of more photos and videos. They beckoned Zane over to come and take some photos himself.
There was a crunching sound when he stepped closer. He froze. Annabelle gently pulled his arm to move him more forward and checked the spot where the crunching noise appeared. She reached into the tall grass and picked up a skull.
"Oh! Look!" She turned around and said, holding the skull of a canine most likely, based on the size and the back teeth of the jaw.
"Zane! You found a lucky skull! Make a wish!"
The man's face paled, and his jaw fell open like a silent scream.
It's alright, he would soon mentally recover.
And keep the skull as a souvenir after Annabelle and Vernon helped to fix it up, cover the cracks at the top of the skull where Zane had stepped on, with flowers and such.
Dove got a call not long after. They were all told to go back to the inn soon and pack up so they can go back. They'd be leaving the town tonight to head back to the city.
The group headed back to the lake where they found Biscuit and got ready to set him free. Jean and Dimitri were there as well after they finished their errands, already knowing they would be there.
Zane was still slightly intimidated by the two. They felt no offense, after all, it's only natural for a human to feel wary around predators that preyed mostly on humans.
The two waited as the interns and Zane first wanted to introduce Biscuit to them before letting the duckling free, and then they would prepare to leave.
"You named the duckling, 'Biscuit'?"
They all nodded.
"Because he's about the size of one! And he's yellow!"
"It's a 'he'?"
"Well..." Joon paused, lifting the baby duckling up above his head, and tilted his head still to take a quick look under the duckling.
Despite his attempts, he couldn't really see much aside from Biscuit's waddling feet and feathers.
"I don't know, but he was about as obnoxious as a boy, so-" He shrugged.
"Oh, as obnoxious as another boy you might know?"
Enzo slowly walked over, having also just finished some errands of his. He had a hand in his pocket, holding his phone in the other, just about to call them before noticing where they were. There was also a plastic bag, hanging from his wrist by the straps. It was opaque and the only clue of what was inside was a mystery box, given away by the shape the bag had due to the content inside.
He met them at the docks, Jean explained what the group wanted to do right before they had to leave, and he wore a frown as soon as he saw Biscuit the duckling.
"You want to release it into the pond?"
Joon nodded, still holding the baby duck.
"Right now? Just let it swim through the lake on its own?"
"Are you suggesting we should make Biscuit a little boat? Because we don't know any other way to help him find his family."
Enzo contemplated, then silently looked over to the two vampires, wordlessly asking for some verbal support. They only shrugged, not seeing the issue.
"Do you kids not realize the issue with placing a baby duck all alone in a lake? It is important to me that you know."
"We'll be right here! And there's nothing around to bother him, even the fishermen have all left a while ago."
The man had no more words, so he gave up and let them have their way.
Vernon knelt down and gently put Biscuit down into the water, stood back up and the interns and Zane waved as it began swimming away.
"See? Biscuit can swim on his own just fine!" Joon said over his shoulder to Enzo.
He and his friends continued to watch in bliss as Biscuit even made little quacking sounds.
"That's not what I was concerned about."
They watched as the duckling began to swim further into the lake, making little quacking noises that only a baby duck could make.
Jaws. Rubbery, duck-billed jaws of an animal that was not a duck, snapped out of the water, eating Biscuit the duck whole. The platypus then swam back underwater.
The interns and Zane looked on in horror, frozen and each with a different face of slowly growing despair.
Jean choked back a snort of laughter. Dimitri covered his mouth and turned his face away, muffling his laugh.
"That. That was what I was concerned about." Enzo said as he pointed to the spot in the lake where Biscuit was just seconds ago.
Joon fell to his knees and cried out.
"BISCUIT NOOOOOO!!!!!"
"BISCUIT!" Annabelle joined in and cried.
"What, what just happened- oh no. Oh no." Zane whimpered, hands covering his mouth in shock.
Enzo tried hard to stay serious, reaching to pat Joon's shoulder. He was trying to be sensitive and console them, whilst also throwing a look over to Jean and Dimitri.
"Why didn't any of you stop them?" He quietly asked.
"You- your interns are fine and peachy with death, gore, and-and love-craving lunatics with guns, but a baby duckling is where they draw the line?" Jean said in between muffled chuckles that he sincerely tried his best to hold back.
"W-why didn't you stop them if you knew this would happen?" Dimitri whispered.
Enzo could only purse his lips, leer at Dimitri, and console Joon and the others as best he could.
The hard part was taking them away from the lake, mostly because Annabelle wanted to dive into the lake to hunt down the platypus and no one was going to stop her. Enzo had to sift through his head for whatever he could think of that the girl would care about, until he brought up how her arms still had yet to heal, and the water would ruin her bandages.
The bag he brought was something he recently bought from a specialty provider, a box of assorted fungi and mushrooms. The types that grew in damp, shady areas, and did not care for nutrients from the sun, the type of fungi that Vernon had difficulty growing and had been looking for each time he was in the woods. He showed the box and its contents of assorted samples of mushrooms to the distraught, frozen boy, who gingerly took it with shaking hands.
Vernon wouldn't stop commenting about how he literally handed the duckling over to death. Consoling him would take a while.
Dove was distraught in that she blamed herself for not remembering the fact that there were predators in the lake and made Dimitri put on a straight face and comfort her. It was only fair; he couldn't be left with all of the work. Comforting Dove was no easy task, especially since the way to tell what type of comfort she needed all depended on her body language.
Dimitri ended up giving her a little talk about the natural food chain in the hopes that would ease her mind. She was still sad. Dimitri was beginning to get nervous.
Joon was a sobbing mess and Zane was apologizing profusely.
The scheduled time at which they'd be leaving was pushed back when Jean suggested something sweet.
The couple brought everyone to a cafe he and Dimitri had found earlier that day. Since the couple knew what would happen and still let the interns do what they did, they bought everyone an assortment of different ice cream orders. The interns sat at a booth together, while him, the vampires, and Zane sat in the booth right beside them.
Jean reassured him about his idea with a shrug.
"Do you remember that one film from years ago? Ah, what was the name? I can't remember right now but the woman was a lovely nanny who consoled the children in her care, and she gave them a spoonful of sugar with their medicine. A tub of ice cream is what most others would consume, but, well, I'm sure this is also a good solution. The cold will distract them from crying, and the flavor will make them feel better."
"The film was called 'Mary Poppins', and as much as I wanna doubt your theory for the sake of being purely upset with you, it is working." Enzo sighed.
Jean sat beside him, humming as he pushed the man's smoothie closer to him.
"Looks like you could also use a treat then." He teased.
Enzo leered at Jean's whimsy, but he begrudgingly took a sip.
"Again, I am so sorry. I wanted this to be a good trip before you all left." Zane said, a shaking tone filled with hesitation as he sat beside Enzo.
His eyes were still wide with shock as he stirred his straw in his smoothie.
"Honestly, it's alright. If it were any other group of people, they'd probably have laughed at the timing, and then also come here for comfort food. You didn't know this would happen, I don't know what you expected from a group of barely-turned-adults who got so connected to a duckling that they forgot the laws of nature, but now you know." Enzo patted his shoulder.
The bell above the door of the cafe jingled. Dimitri was outside previously to get something from his car, and he went to carefully hand it to Dove, who was sitting on the outer end of the seat in the booth.
"Here you go little darling." He said as he handed her the jacket she gave to Alana from last night.
Dove looked at the jacket in surprise. she touched the fabric and caught a whiff of the fabric softener. It was washed recently.
"Alana had wanted to return it to you last night, but she was concerned about the blood and dirt."
"She didn't have to return it. I thought she liked it, so I was gonna let her keep it."
Dimitri handed it to her, neatly folded, and she took it with both hands, placing it in her lap.
Dimitri only shrugged.
"She likely thought of it as those blankets given by police for comfort, not a keepsake. I didn't even think about it when Jean and I went to visit the sisters, but she brought it over as soon as we entered the house. She was eager to give it back."
Dove nodded silently, hands resting flat on the folded jacket.
"Thank you."
He raised a hand up, paused, waiting, and slowly pat her shoulder. She seemed fine with it.
"Laurence packed this jacket to help with comfort alongside cold. You should use it as well." He said before returning to the booth behind the interns to sit next to his husband.
Dove held the jacket close, looking at the color and feeling the texture.
Laurence chose a really good jacket. I would not have blamed Alana if she wanted to keep it. I remembered trying to offer it to Joon and the others if they wanted to use it, but they all said no, not because they didn't care for the coat, but because they all felt sadness in different ways. Vernon suggested that I wear it, he helped me drape it over my shoulders before going back to his milkshake.
She ended up keeping it on for the rest of the time there.
To make up for the tragedy of Biscuit the duckling, Zane thankfully ended the day by taking them to the museum. That helped to lift the mood back up, and it was especially fortunate that all of them were people genuinely interested in history and random facts.
Zane went on tangents and rants for different facts for each display they saw at the museum, and every time, he was genuinely being listened to.
Enzo was just glad that they managed to forget about the duckling for a little bit, at least enough to end the trip on a good note, and have everyone pack up so they could go.
Annabelle gave Zane a pocketknife as they said goodbye. Nobody knows where she got it from, Enzo counted all of his knives, so it wasn't from his collection.
"Be mindful of your surroundings, and remember, the best place to stab someone is in the armpit with the knife angled upward!" She told him and made sure he paid attention with wide, awkwardly nervous and intimidated eyes.
"You can mess up a person's body really bad if you stab them in the armpits!"
"How, how do you know that?"
"I read it online!"
"... Where-... you know what, I don't want to know. Thank you."
He waved by to them as each of the interns began to pack their things into Dove's convertible, and the vampire couple was still speaking with Enzo as they watched the interaction.
Enzo stood up straight, looking at something on his phone.
"So, you already checked on the Helm sisters, and checked the house for remaining nightmares?" He asked them.
"The house is nothing but normal now, he and the forensics team can go in with no issue. As for your idea to send fruit or a sapling to each of the families, that will get organized after they finished identifying every cadaver. Which may take some time."
"Great. Neither of you two have any more business in this town, I hope. Adan needs some help back at Macabre House."
"We'll be there, but first-" Jean said, and leaned in closer to whisper to him.
"When my husband and I were speaking to the sisters earlier, Hillary mentioned something about why she was told to blackmail Dove into helping her. Are you aware that the young girl has someone looking for her?"
Enzo nodded.
"We do. Adan already got a clue."
"Does she know?" Jean asked, his eyes pointing over to Dove.
The girl was currently occupied with helping put the items in the trunk, while the others were speaking again about the topic of how old cars don't have the safety latch that modern cars do.
"No."
"Why is that?"
"Adan doesn't want to scare her. She's going to be busy in October like the rest of us, and we've dealt with plenty of stalkers before. If this guy shows up, we already know what to do." Enzo responded, his hand mimicking a gun and pointing to his head to mimic the would-be stalker being gunned down.
"Yes, I can see your intentions are good but, this stalker seems, rather peculiar."
"Peculiar how?"
"He already knows where she works, so he could easily show up at any moment since he must also know her movements as well."
"Then, he's probably aware that we have guns." Enzo shrugged, before frowning.
"But then again, if he knew that she would be compelled to come to this town, then he should've shown up by now. Are you saying he's not intending to catch her alone?"
Jean nodded.
"It's a strange situation, but it seems like this stranger is being very patient. He's not intending to meet her any time soon; he just wants to keep an eye on her for now." Dimitri added in as he rested his head on Jean's shoulder.
"And, clearly, he's been using others as pawns. He's unfortunately very smart as well."
Enzo had a pensive stare, looking over at Dove, and then Joon and the others. He put his phone in his pocket, now searching for his keys.
"You should talk to Adan about the info you got. You'll also want to hear the information he has too. For now, let's drive back. They're having fun, I don't want them to get upset again."
The two vampires gave each other a look. Enzo found his car keys and unlocked it, about to make his way over before Dimitri made another comment.
"You know, I remember when you first arrived at Macabre House."
He stopped leaning on Jean's shoulder and went to open the car door for him. Jean stepped inside the 1970s Chevrolet as he continued.
"You were looking for Sienna, but you weren't intending to meet her either. You just wanted to be near."
"Are you saying this stalker might be like me? Because I highly doubt it."
"Oh, heavens no. I'm just reminiscing." Dimitri waved his hand in dismissal.
"I meant to bring up how you had just left your family at the time. You would've fit in just fine with them, but you clearly weren't happy, especially ever since Sienna left first, if I'm remembering correctly."
Enzo had a blank stare, just open to open his car door, but his hand only lingered for a bit. He had a sad expression.
"Not much to be happy about in a mafia family. Unless you only cared about money." He sighed, turning around to lean against his car instead.
He crossed his arms and crossed one leg over the other.
"Is she still acting as a field agent in New York?"
"Yes."
"And she knows you work at Macabre House now, but somehow, neither of you have come face to face with each other?"
"I make sure to avoid being present each time she visits. I know she wouldn't want to see me." Enzo said, then looked down.
"But I still can't help but worry about her."
Dimitri gave him a gentle look, and an understanding smile.
"Well, I didn't mean to bring up your family history. What I originally wanted to say was that I'm glad you joined us, instead of spending your life down a path you wouldn't have been happy with, especially with a heart like yours. As for Dove,,,"
He paused, turning his head to look at her one more time.
She was currently wrestling Joon, having him in a headlock after he tried to take her car keys. Joon was saying he just wanted to try driving her car out of the parking lot.
Dimitri chuckled.
"You also have the same idea?" His husband said from inside the car.
Jean was on his phone a moment ago, reading something, he never closed his door, so he was still listening.
"Dove might be one of us."
Enzo tilted his head.
"How so?"
Jean could only shrug.
"Not quite sure. It's nothing to dwell on for now. We should go."
Annabelle, with a grin, tied up Joon in the backseat and sat beside him, Vernon sat in the passenger seat, and Dove started her car, first waiting for either Enzo or Dimitri to start their cars.
Enzo led as he started driving slow so that she could catch up, and all three cars headed out on the road.
In about three hours, they were all able to make it back around nighttime, eleven pm about.
Leon and Laurence were outside in the parking lot, having gone out just as they all arrived. He welcomed his brothers as soon they got out of the car and checked on Enzo as soon as he noticed him and Annabelle had wrapped up wounds.
Laurence rushed over to see Dove as she got out of her convertible. He almost grabbed her shoulders to check her for any wounds, stopped himself, and stood in front of her, asking if she was hurt anywhere, hands anxiously at his sides.
She shook her head, and slowly spun, humoring him to show that she had no injury.
"You're not hiding it with the jacket I gave you, are you?" He asked and pointed out.
Dove suddenly remembered she was still wearing the coat.
"It's a really comfy coat." She said, finally remembering to slip it off and fold it neatly in her arms.
He helped her and the interns take their things out of her trunk. Leon helped Enzo take his gear and weapons from his car, just the ones that Adan told him to test. They were all in neat cases of their own.
Leon wouldn't let any of them go to their respective floors, well- Vernon had already gone up the stairs to head up to his garden, excited to study and plant the new fungi and mushrooms Enzo gave him. Jean had to quickly grab him to bring him to the apothecary floors, where Leon wanted everyone to be. He insisted on doing a check up on everyone, especially after Enzo gave him a summarized report of what happened, and Jean gave him the capture book.
He held it open to the page of the monsters they caught, especially the one that caused the most damage.
"The normal people who were taken to the farmhouse thought he was a lunatic serial killer." Dove said as she sat in the waiting room with Laurence.
"Apparently for Normals, they saw a human disguise. Joon and I heard their voices at one point when checking the cameras, but when we got to the house, the missing sister was the only living person that was found."
"That's to be expected. Nightmares created to kill don't waste time, unlike nightmares who are there to taunt. As long as the rest of you are ok?" Laurence asked, patting her back.
"Yeah, aside from Enzo and Annabelle, the rest of us are fine."
"Don't forget Biscuit." Vernon added, pacing the room, holding the box of assorted fungi.
He did not want to be in the waiting room, but Leon wanted to do a check-up on him as well, so he could only pace to get out his excess energy.
Dove and Joon flinched, Laurence looked up in confusion.
"Oh, right. Biscuit..." Joon said in a sad tone.
"Who, who's Biscuit?" Laurence cautiously asked.
None of the interns really answered, they all just had a gloomy look, and the waiting room became even more quiet.
He would only be able to learn much later, from Enzo, about Biscuit the duck after Leon checked everyone's health.
He changed Annabelle's bandages as her scars still had yet to heal over because she kept moving and reopening the small cuts, Enzo needed some ointment for the jagged cut along his cheek, and Joon had teeth marks on his prosthetic. Leon suggested he replace it with a temporary one while the other gets fixed up.
Because of the risk of reopening her wounds, Annabelle couldn't help much with any of the gym classes. Ursa benched her on the clerk's desk for the time being. Annabelle claims she was the only one who got the most consequences after the case was over. Dove promised she would make it up to her by driving her to whatever cafe she wanted to go to for lunch tomorrow, anywhere in the city.
I was just glad to end the case, but one question remained-
Who told Hillary to contact me? Who gave Hillary my contacts? How did this stranger know my contacts?
I asked Enzo if he ever found out who it was, now that I wasn't distracted by other things. He only told me that Jean and Dimitri spoke to the Helm sisters about that, but even they didn't know.
They genuinely didn't, because Hillary could only give them the same answer she gave me when we first met; that the person kept themselves anonymous and told her to blackmail me with the only sliver of info they gave.
I'm peeved. Not because of the lack of answers, sometimes you go through life, and you just have to accept that some answers you won't get, unless you wanna risk everything and almost ruin your life just to find them. I'm upset that there's someone out there who has info about me. They knew my workplace and were able to keep track of me somehow.
I'm gonna get my car thoroughly inspected at the dealers, and just for good measure, I'm gonna get a new phone, again. I'm not gonna replace my current phone completely, but, well, it's always good to have a hidden one.
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