so we "discussed" it....

Erynne's brother Stephen visited yesterday, while Erynne was out shopping. (I may be able to bring whole cities to ruin but there are things I don't understand about women. Erynne claims that she enjoys shopping, but it makes her tired, hungry and short-tempered.)

This time I'd heard too much about the Lamia killing lycanthropes to wait until she'd relaxed a bit. I made the mistake of suggesting that she and her sister-in-law spend some time in London while others deal with the Lamia, here. I don't much want to repeat the discussion that followed.

She went off to lie down, alone, while I phoned to order a meal - as soon as I put the phone down, it rang again. This time it was the Watcher, Rupert Giles wanting to speak to Erynne. He said he was coming up to see somebody in hospital, and wanted to know if the anti-venom was ready.

I hesitated a bit, because I'd rather have met him somewhere with the stuff, but I wasn't quite sure if Erynne would be OK. I don't let people know where my own bases are, but I told him he should go to Bionex - that's Amber's lab in Encino. If he gave the password "Niallan", and asked to see her he'd be given the anti-venom. I put the phone down with that nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something.

Thinking it through

The worst of it is that Erynne's right. I only saw it after I'd had some sleep myself. I probably dreamed of a night we'd spent in a barn in a different dimension. It was then that I'd first learned that the Lamia can both thrall and kill lycanthropes.

The thing had reached across the dimensions to taint Erynne's dreams, and I'd felt its slimy presence through the mindlink. It'd seemed to back off fast enough when it sensed me the same way.

Since then Erynne's done some worrying aloud about how she came to play a portal chant instead of music, bringing us to this dimension, though.

It didn't look as though distance from the Lamia made much difference, not if she could cast thrall across the dimensions, but if Lamia feared the mindlink, Erynne might be safest close to me, and that might be our best chance. (I hoped she'd seen it for herself, too - because it's exactly what I'd be trying to talk her into if I was just thinking of myself.)


There was more to it, though. Erynne told me some bad stuff about how Lamia's mind works, that night. I couldn't understand why the clan hadn't sent Amber away - why hadn't they sent away every human that they cared about? I needed to talk to Stephen again, PDQ, and this time I thought I'd rather Erynne was there when I did it...