Post by StoryGirl83 on Dec 13, 2009 18:12:14 GMT -5
Chapter Thirteen – Bianca’s Latest Project
It was clear to everyone that Dr. Darrin was still not comfortable with Lawrence’s connection to the chief of police, even if it was the acting chief of police. He left the room after eliciting everyone’s promise not to leave.
“First he says go, now he says stay,” Lawrence said, slightly amused.
“Where exactly does he think we are going to go?” Bianca asked. “We came here for a reason.”
Piper exhaled and eyed her, still weary. She decided to find something to focus on besides Bianca. “Mr. Holbrooke?”
“Lawrence.”
“Right. What does your brother know about magic?”
He smiled. “Well, not as much as I do, but enough. He will make sure that nothing comes of the magical aspects of this.”
“You mean like the fact that my son’s attacker shimmered out of here?” Piper snapped annoyed.
Lawrence took no offence. He’d heard it before. “Like that.”
“And how does he expect to do that?” Piper wanted to know.
“By avoiding the subject mostly,” Bianca retorted. “But you should see Mason on the subject. It’s downright hilarious.”
“Brandon does all right though,” Lawrence reminded her.
“Uncle Brandy!” Ashlyn exclaimed.
“I can’t seem to get her to say my brothers’ names right,” Lawrence commented.
“Actually she means me,” a voice said from the door.
Lawrence turned around startled and looked at the man standing there. “Brandon? What are on earth brings you here?”
“Well, I was visiting a friend and I get this phone call from Sheldon,” Brandon Holbrooke informed his younger brother, “rather odd call it was, too.” He looked around the room. "So tell me, little brother, why did you call Sheldon?”
Lawrence exhaled slowly. He waved a hand in Wyatt’s direction. “Bianca’s latest project.”
Brandon’s reaction was more apprehensive that those simple words seemed to deem. He turned worried eyes at his sister-in-law. “Not Nina was it?”
Bianca shook her head. “Vera.”
He gulped. “Be careful.”
“Don’t I always?” She inquired.
“No,” came the immediate response of both Holbrooke brothers.
“Vera doesn’t play around,” Brandon warned. “I still have the scars to prove it.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Bianca reminded him.
“What happened?” Wyatt asked from his bed.
Brandon snorted. “Let’s just say that Bianca’s introduction to our family came just in the nick of time.”
“And that Brandon is a hothead,” Lawrence added earning a playful slap from his brother.
“I had it well in hand.”
“She had a knife to your neck,” Lawrence returned. “Just be glad the bounty was lifted or else you would be in constant fear of your life.”
“My life? What about yours? You were the one with the bounty on his head.” Brandon turned to address them. “My little brother here doesn’t have a job. He invests money and uses the returns to be a philanthropist. That annoyed some people on the side of evil. They decided they wanted him dead.”
“And Bianca saved me,” Lawrence finished, “and you. Thank you, but I doubt they need a recap on our lives. We aren’t the ones in danger here.”
Behind him the door swung open and Dr. Darrin entered leading a young, dark haired man in his thirties. He was wearing the uniform of the San Francisco Police Department. He smiled at Dr. Darrin. “Thank you for the help. My partner will be here shortly. We had trouble parking.”
When Dr. Darrin had left the room Sheldon Holbrooke looked at his two older brothers. “All we need is Mason and we have a family reunion,” he chuckled.
“You know fair well that Mason avoids anything magical,” Brandon commented.
“Yes, yes,” Sheldon agreed. “Can’t believe you beat me here.”
“I was in the hospital.”
“Huh. Okay, well, I wasn’t kidding about Tim being up soon and the guy has no sense of humor, so explaining away magic to him is near about impossible.” Sheldon looked at Bianca. “Who did this? And what did they do anyway?”
“Vera,” Bianca replied without hesitation. As Sheldon shuddered she added, “There is a bounty out for the guy on the bed and his brother.” With a look at Wyatt she asked, “Younger?”
Wyatt didn’t answer, so she just shrugged it off. “No matter. The bounty was posted yesterday, but I didn’t find out until this afternoon. She tried to inject him with something shortly after I arrived in the room. It’s on the ground.”
“Gloved?” Sheldon asked as he looked down at the syringe.
“Naturally.”
“I suppose that would have been too easy.”
“And I suppose you think a jail would have held her.”
“It would have if you bound her powers.”
“And where would Nina have been then?”
“Safe,” Brandon submitted.
“Who is Nina?” Piper asked, eyeing them suspiciously.
The three brothers looked at each other. It was Lawrence who answered first. “The reason our brother avoids magic.”
“Vera’s daughter,” Brandon added.
“Mason’s fiancée,” Sheldon put in.
“She’s someone who wants to change,” Bianca informed her. “We grew up together, but our lives were very different. Honestly I cannot approve of Mason’s relationship with her as things stand now, especially since she’s still very much magical and he detests all things thus and because she’s still in the ‘business’. That alone is enough to make me weary of the relationship.”
“Do I need to actually say anything?” Wyatt asked, watching the interchange with amusement.
Sheldon had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sorry, are you saying you actually want me to investigate a magical problem?”
“You’re here,” Wyatt reasoned. “I’m pretty sure it isn’t for a reunion. And even if it is, your partner will be here shortly and you need a legitimate reason for being here. I am that reason. A woman came in here and tried to kill me. I’ve never seen her before. And honestly I don’t know the reason why she wanted me dead.” He gave the older two Holbrooke brothers a look. “And don’t say because there was a bounty on my head. I only have your word on that, so I don’t know that.” He looked back at Sheldon. “I admit that chances are this will go down as an unsolved mystery, but are you denying you have to deal with it, or at least pretend to?”
Sheldon shook his head. “Sorry, I am used to Bianca having any living victims not wanting to even talk about it. Not that it’s Bianca’s fault, but an assassin that disappears in the blink of an eye . . . most people convince themselves that they are crazy.”
“Blink of an eye, huh?” Wyatt held out his hand and blinked his own eyes. Blue orbs surrounded Sheldon’s badge off his jacket and the badge reappeared in his hand. “I think I can handle the blink of an eye.”
Sheldon gave a low whistle. “Boy do you know how to pick them, Bianca. Since I don’t have to worry about that, why don’t we dispense of formalities. Bianca, hand them over.” He held out his hand as his sister-in-law glared at him. He smiled as she started reaching into her pockets pulling out knives of various sizes.
Wyatt’s eyes grew wide at the sheer number of them.
Sheldon just waited. When she stopped, he bobbed his hand up and down. “Bianca, really. I want all of them. Tim will be here any minute.”
Bianca gave him a look and walked over to where Ashlyn toddled around the room. She pulled out the chopsticks holding a small Pollyanna in a bun on the back of her daughter’s head. She handed them to Sheldon.
Sheldon gaped at her. “Great. Teaching the toddler how to throw knives is really responsible parenting.”
“Must we go through this every time we meet, Sheldon?”
He shook his head. “You know better than to enter a hospital with weapons.”
“I know better than to enter without them if I want my innocents to live,” Bianca shot back as a fair haired man enter the room.
“What did I miss?” Sheldon’s partner asked.
Wyatt looked at his parents about ready to burst. Barely controlling himself he turned to look at the man. “Hello, I am Wyatt Halliwell. I believe you are here to interview me.”