A Birth day

Ruby looked at Marcus and nodded " yeah " she said as she heard him say bout swapping with David and senoded and chuckled but on hearingthe crash from their room she place ddown her cup a moved quikly with Marcus and Andrew stopping at the dorway as he saw the words writen on the wall "Realy? he could have used my lest favorate lipstick not my favorate" she said and moved into the room wavinf her hand she cleaned of the words then moved to the bed to grab the blanket that was covered in glas and make a bundle " I'll get rid of this" she said carrying it carfully down to the bin.

Once rid of the glass she walked to the abck door and shook it out then placed it in the washer to make doubly sure thre wasn't any in it . Returning she brought a new blanket and spread it out on the bed leting Andrew and Marcus help Angus while she cleaned up the rest of the glass and place the flowers into a new vase.

Marcus and Andrew laughed at her quip about the lipstick, and when Ruby had a clear path for Angus, he helped Angus get up and shower, helped him into clean jeans and a tee shirt and helped him put his brace and sling back on. The bruising today from the damage to the tendons and the ligaments had caused severe black bruising that was extensive. Andrew was certain it hurt. He brought Angus downstairs, and while Angus sat down in his chair to give himself a moment, Andrew brought him some coffee.

"This haunted house lifestyle you have is for the birds. We really have to do something about your father-in-law," Marcus told Angus sitting down on the sofa, knowing that Reginald wasn't legally his father in law but might as well have been. "He's a rude buggar."

"Yes. He is," Angus said, taking his first sip of coffee. The coffee felt like lifeblood this morning. Angus looked up, wanting to direct his next remark to Reginald if he was still here. "And a pain in the ass! " That made Marcus laugh. From next door, Angus heard Caprice squalling now too and being just a general loudmouth. Evidently it was breakfast time for her too, and she wanted it about two minutes ago. "And there's another country heard from," Angus said.

"Oh, they've got it, I'm quite sure," Marcus said. "She just has no patience at all. In all seriousness, though, Kate has to know some ways to keep Reginald from intruding like that again. Maybe she should try to have a word with him."

"Maybe," Angus said. "He has been pretty harmless, so far, though. I don't want him going after Ruby or the kids, though." As he was speaking the door opened and Anise came in. She looked as if she was talking to someone outside.

"You stay out there until we can clean you up--again!" Anise said, closing the door.

"Who are you cleaning up?" Andrew asked.

"The ruddy dog," Anise said. "Last night, David had to give him a bath because he rolled in the mud. This morning, he found the garbage bins, tipped them over and made a stinky nasty mess of himself. I'm not letting him in like that."

"Good girl," Marcus laughed. We'll find somebody to get to him shortly." Andrew looked out the window.

"When we catch him again," Andrew said. "He's on a wild dash to go back and get into the bins again. Naughty dickens."

Ruby smiled as she watched them walk Angus down to the living room " I'll finish up here and join you soon" she said as she finished cleaning up the wall. Once done she moved down the stairs and heard Anise " oh well done, but yeah he'll need another bath" she said chukaling poring and sending over a cup of fresh coffee over to Angus , well the table next to him " thought you could ues this" she said smiling as it set down carfully next to him.

She glanced at the clock she realized it was time for her to head to Paris and she walked over to Angus " I have to head to paris to continue my training with Owens, I'll be back soon" she said eaning down she kissed his cheek. Standing up she looked at Anise " I should be home in an hour or so. " she walked to Edwards side of the duplex and smiled as she saw Caprice eating , leaning down to her she kissed her gently on the top of her head " Im off to Paris for trainning " she explained " won't be long" she then stood up and aperated out to Paris .

Appearing in Paris she walked up to the main room and knocked hoping to find Owens inside.

"Thank you," he yawned, still fighting some lingering effects of the potion. She told him she was going to start training again. He looked at her with a slight from. "Ru, you don't have to do this, you know. I've got this. I'll stop her."

Marcus didn't react. He was actually glad she was taking a stronger stance. These were her parents, and they were threatening everything she loved in her life right now. They certainly were not doing her any favors. If anybody had a right to decide to take a stand, it was her, and it was well overdue, in Marcus's opinion.

Marcus and Andrew made sure that Angus got breakfast, and Marcus sent a note to the main house to Kate. It wasn't more than about ten minutes before Robert and Kate both came over. Andrew let them in. Marcus filled them in quickly, and Kate went to take a walk through of the house.

"That ruddy dog is a mess, and now he's into the mud," Kate scowled. "Someone send a paper bird to Jack. He speaks canine dialects. Maybe he can get Finn back under control and see if he can find someone to give him a bath, for heaven's sake. I'll go see if Reginald will speak with me."

"So, how's the shoulder?" Robert came over.

"Hurts," Angus said.

"He hasn't had any pain potion today because he just finished breakfast," Andrew said.

"That's alright," Robert said. "I'll check his shoulder and get his potion for him. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Till Reginald started throwing glassware at me," Angus said.

"The rest of that potion will wear off any time now," Robert said, starting to check his shoulder.

"Come in. Got your message that you wanted to train again," Owens again. "What did you want to focus on?"

Jack walked out the main house and was about to go to the barn when he saw Finn roling in mud " Hey ." he called then whistled " get your muddy ass over here" he called seeing it was finn. Watching the dog walk over to him he tapped his foot " you can't do that" he said " okay barn for a cold wash, it might make you rethink the mud bath" he said and motioned to the barn as he walked behind Finn.

Reatching the barn he took out a hose and began to wash down Finn washing off all the mud and bin juice smell. " now stay out of the bins and the mud, or at least wait till summer when you can jump in the pond" he told him as he dried him off using an old rag that was hung in the barn. Jack walked over to the Duplex and knocked on the door " hello , any one lose a dog" he said opening th door to let the clean finn enter.

Jack looked at Anise " don't worry hes been told off and bathed, from the hose pipe, with cold water, I think hes feeling rather sorry for himself" he told her with a smirk.

"I did try to call him back, but I swear the little demon was laughing at me," Anise told Jack. "I don't know what got into him." Finn looked at them both as if they were the dumbest things on two feet and took off again. "Do you suppose he's trying to show us something? Maybe we need to see what his issue is."

She walked over to the bins where the dog was going to start rooting again, and she grabbed his collar quickly, yanking him back.

"Not a third time, you spawn of a demon toad," she said. She had no idea what that even meant. It just spewed out of her mouth in anger. Then she saw the sunlight hit something in the tipped over mess from one of the bins.

"Wait. What's that?" she asked. She reached down and the moment, she touched it a burning pain like liquid fire raced up her arm. She cried out sharply in pain.

Edward had been outside, watering a large flower pot on his front porch that held a pot garden, when he heard her cry out. Edward went quickly and saw she was truly suffering a great deal of pain.

"What happened?" He asked her.

"I tried to pick up that shiny thing to see what it was," she told him, pointing in the trash mess. Edward crouched and took a stick to get a closer look to see what she was looking at.

"Ah. That is very, very interesting indeed," Edward said. He picked them up with ease, and they did not burn him like they had her. It was a a little bouquet of the distinctive purple blossoms of wolfsbane, held together by an a ribbon, and had an old antique cloak pin running through the main plant stem. The pin was bent. "Come with me. Let's waste no time, my dear." He walked her back to the duplex.

"Robert! I need your help right now," Edward shouted. Robert left Angus and went over to Edward's side of the duplex where he saw Anise was in excruciating pain, holding her arm. "This is what the dog was chasing in the trash."

"Oh, boy," Robert said. "You go, I'll do what I can." He had Anise sit, and he began casting an immediate healing spell.

"What is it? Why does it hurt so bad?" she asked. He finished his first spell and he looked at her. "Wolfsbane, when it is properly used and formulated very carefully as a potion is not will not kill a human who has the werewolf curse. However, the basic way it works is that because it is toxic to werewolves, it wards off the transformation for the length of time that the herb in the potion is in the werewolf's system. However, it is because the minute amount of the herb that's actually in each dose that it tastes so foul when you drink it. These lovely little purple flowers, my dear, are the pure wolfsbane plants. In short, what you touched is highly poisonous to you and would have been for Jack too. Fortunately, we're right here, and we'll have it remedied in no time, so do not fear. All will be well. I'm casting an antitoxin spell right now, and Edward is brewing an antidote as we speak. This is a potion he knows in his sleep, so you are in very safe hands."

Jack saw Finn run out snd back to the bins he followed behind Anise as she yelled and stepped back he held her against him seeing something shinny in the bin. He saw Edward run over and heard Anise explain as he held her by her shoulders. He then followed them inside to hear what it was that Anise had touched hering Robert he frowned " that kniving witch, you think it was put there by Suzzane?" he asked letting Anise go to Robert as he explained.

He looked down at Finn who sat next to him " so thats what you were going for, good boy" he said and rubbed the dogs head. " I think I have a bone for you as a reward" H elistened to Robert as he tended to Anise . " how long will she feel its affects?" he asked " maybe I should request Ruby return for today." he looked to Robert and Edward both.

"No. Let Ruby train," Robert said. "There's nothing she can do. Let her train. We don't know what sort of a fight is in store. We'll discuss it when we've got the medical handled. Get the non-werewolf crew out to look for any more on the grounds anywhere close to the house, and double check the camp. I honestly don't expect to find more, but let's make sure. Tell them I don't want any slip up's. This is too critical to screw around with."

Angus had heard her crying out in pain when Edward had brought her into the house. He got up and went over, and he saw she was in pure agony. Right now, she needed him.

"Come. Come sit with me," he calmly told her, feeling a need to ease her. He was sure she hadn't been this afraid probably in her whole young life. He took her to the sofa, and he sat beside her, taking off his sling, and leaned her against him and wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed because of the fear and the pain. Robert had to let Angus deal with that. For his part, he continued to work to cast the antitoxin spells. He did not want to give her any pain potion because he did not want to mask the pain. He needed it as a gauge about how much pain was still in her system.

Angus already knew. He could deduce exactly what had happened and why. He believed the wolfsbane was from the other night when James had come and let Suzanne in. He believed that Suzanne had probably been wearing it so that she was taking no chances, so that Janes nor none of his pack nor 'Robert's werewolves' could hurt her while she was so close to them. How it had gotten into the trash, Angus didn't know. Perhaps she had chucked it deliberately.

"Jack," Angus said in a deliberately very steady tone to not alarm Anise any more while he soothed her, "we need to ask the outdoor crew if they saw this little bouquet with the cloak pin. That's going to be important. Did they see it, and did anyone chuck it in the bin. That's what we need to know. Can we get someone on that straight away?"

Jack nodded as Robert spoke to him " all right." he said as they moved back to the duplex. he watched as Anise moved to sit with Angus he also heard Robert Hention getting the non were staff to look around, He nodded and sent a bird to the main guard house for the man on change to get his ass over to the main house.

Seeing the man walk up Jack moved to the door and walked out stopping infront of him and explaining . With a quick nod he ran off back to the guard house while Jack moved back to the house to Robert and Angus. He looked to Angus as he spoke and noded " all ready done mate, only the human staff will be searching the werewolf will lok but not touch and the head will be finding out who cleaned the yard after the fight and if they found the blasted thing and put it in the bin." he said looking at Anise who was now curled agains Angus.

"I can't make it taste worth a damn," Edward said. "'Can't be done. I'm sorry. Get her to drink that, Lad." He handed it to Angus, and he fed it to her, even though the slightest taste of it in her mouth made her want to vomit. It took all she had within her to be able to swallow it. The very instant she finished it, she hid in him, and he just continued to wrap her close. Robert cast three or four more spells, and then he checked her again. He nodded at Angus. Things were getting better. Finally, Robert touched her and cast a powerful pain relief spell for her. She was exhausted.

"Let her sleep for a bit if you can," Robert told Angus. "That will help her get through the pain and the nausea. She's going to chill for a couple hours, but then it will pass." Edward picked up a blanket from the back of the sofa and just wrapped it around her. Angus never moved until she was almost asleep. Then Edward helped him to just stretch her out on the sofa where she slipped into a sleep.

"Thank you, all of you," Angus said.

"Thank you for walking out every single step of that with her. It's clear to me that she certainly considers you her human parents. Nobody else but you or Ruby could have kept her that calm. Well done," Robert said.

"You need to find a spell to give me my kids' pain," Angus said quietly. "I don't want them having to deal with shit like that."

"I do understand that,' Robert said. "You're a good dad, Angus, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. She should be a lot better when she wakes but I'm sure she felt like she was dying. No doubt in my mind. I am very, very glad you were there for her. I think we'll leave Andrew with her. If she wakes, Andrew can call you."

Angus picked up the cloak pin with the blossoms and looked at it.

"There's a makers' mark on the back. I realize that since it's an antique, that might not tell us much, but could Michael tell us where it was made?"

"Oh, undoubtedly, yes," Robert said. "I'll send him over when he gets back. He went to Paris to talk to Daphne and a couple of our most reliable informants to see what they know. He said he was coming straight back, so when he gets back, I'll send him over."

"Are you absolutely positive she's going to sleep for a little?" Angus asked.

"For a couple hours, yes," Robert said.

"You shadowing me today?" Angus asked, knowing exactly why Marcus was there instead of David.

"Do you mind?"

"Not for the moment. Come along, then. I have an errand to run. It wont take even an hour," Angus said.

"Well, let's go then," Marcus said. Angus drew his wand, and they apparated out without another word.

"Should I be alarmed?" Robert asked.

"Not yet," Edward said. "He'll be back. He's going to Gringotts, I'm certain. He wanted to make some more deposits for Ruby and the kids, just in case. I think we should let him get it off his mind. He knows Marcus isn't going to let anything go off the rails, so let's just let him do it."