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by Katy

Part One

DUBLIN, IRELAND

A young woman emerged into an alley-way from and old,
deserted building. The cold breeze that whipped the city, blew a cluster
of hair over her eyes. She brushed it aside, smearing her forehead with
blood. She looked down and tried to conceal the blood that saturated her
jacket and blouse.

The sun, sinking slowly to earth in a red flame, mirrored
those whom she had just left behind. Those refusing to die, clinging to
every hope of life until they were no more than empty shells lying on a
cold, concrete floor. When she realized how close it was to nightfall,
Joscelin Mulcahy hurried down the streets of Dublin. She tried to keep the
stinging tears from blinding her eyes.

Then someone called out her name. Joscelin didn't stop but
kept on running. Her friends were lying slain in an abandoned building and
however painful their absence was, she didn't want to join them. She tried
to block the image of Garrick's dying body in her arms. Of Carolin and
Seamus lying side by side on the ground, of Carolin's head resting on
Seamus' shoulder.

She darted into a well-lit pub and asked the bartender for
the phone. He pointed her in the direction of the restrooms. She emptied
her purse onto the counter, grabbed some change and headed off for the
phone.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" she repeated as the line rang.
If she could just get through to Jean-Marc. When she had worked with the
young Frenchman on an investigation in Paris last fall, they had become as
close as two friends ever could. Now he was all she had left in the world.

She tried the number several times, not knowing that the
Paris Legacy House had been hit the same time hers had.

PARIS, FRANCE

"The phone," Noelle said. Paul Chambault pushed past her
and ran to the desk, pulling a gun from the drawer.

"Forget it!" he cried, "We're getting out of here!"

"Jean-Marc was supposed to check in. Mireille and
Genevieve haven't come back yet either," she said. Paul looked up at her
and winced at the blank expression on her face.

"Dammit, Noelle. You're in shock!" Paul ran towards her
and grabbed her arm, hauling her out of the room. While they were running
down the stairs he said to her, "They are dead. They are ALL dead, Noelle.
You saw them, in the library!"

As they ran out the front door, Paul stepped over the
gardener's body and stopped. He bent down and fished the man's keys out of
his pocket. They headed off towards the gardener's beat up old truck and
sped away from the Chateau. Noelle turned her head around.

Paul snapped, "Don't look back!" as he looked in the rear
view mirror himself. When he did he saw a large, black van pull onto the
road behind them. The older man cursed while Noelle looked out to see the
side of the van open up and the unmistakable barrel of an uzi pointed at
them.

"Paul!" Noelle screamed. He stepped on the gas just as
bullets from the machine riddled the truck. It plummeted over the side of
the road and flipped into a ditch. The van pulled over and stopped.

Pinned to the steering wheel, Paul looked over at Noelle.
She was leaning back in the seat, her head lying at an unnatural angle, her
eyes staring out blankly. Paul wasn't even able to get a look at the men
who jumped out of the van and tossed a grenade onto his lap.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

"DIE! Die you scum!" Nick screamed.
"You wish!" Philip yelled back at him. Both men were
snarling at each other in the darkened room when Kat ran in.

"Hey!" she shouted, "Who said you could play with my Nintendo?"

Nick flinched and Philip stood up, dropping the handset to
the floor.

"What are you doing up so early, Kitty Kat?" Nick asked
her, smiling.

"Don't sweet talk me mister!" Kat said. Philip laughed out loud.

"No, really, Kat," chuckled Nick, "why are you up so early?"

Kat walked over to the window and opened up the blinds.
Daylight slammed into the room.

"Whoa!" Philip exclaimed, "It's morning already?"

"Have you guys been playing Death Doom 2 all night long?"
Kat asked them.

"You caught us red-handed," Nick replied.

"Is anyone else awake yet?" Philip asked, picking Kat up.

Kat said, "Just Alex. Mom and Derek are still asleep."

As they walked into the hall, Philip and Kat collided with
a pale-faced Derek.

"Good morning, Derek!" Kat chimed.

"Yes," he said and pushed past them. Nick and Philip
looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"What a grumpy man!" Kat said.

Seated at the dining room table, Derek waited until Kat
finished her breakfast and went out to play before speaking.

"I had a dream last night," he said. Everyone laid down
their forks and looked at him. Derek remained silent.

"Are you going to tell us what it was about?" Alex asked him

"I was in a field...at night. It was foggy and I couldn't
see very clearly. I thought I was looking at rocks," he told them.

"Rocks?" asked Rachel.

"Yes, but when the fog lifted, I realized I was looking at
stones. Headstones. There were hundreds of them in this field," said Derek.

"What happened next?" Rachel questioned.

"I felt a feeling of overwhelming sadness and aching. Then
the dream ended," Derek replied.

"Maybe it was just a dream, and not a vision," Nick said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Alex said.

"No," Derek said, after considering Nick's words. "He's
right, I think it was just a dream. It had no detail. There were no names
on the coffins, nothing. There wasn't any kind of distinct odor in the air,
it was just...it was just a dream. I really believe that," Derek explained.

WARSAW, POLAND

Lesya stumbled across the room and onto the floor. She
weakly lifted her head to see Janezcka Zajiski walk in the door. When she
saw Lesya lying there, Janezcka tossed her purse and keys aside and ran
over to her best friend.

"Lesya! What happened? Where are the others?" she asked.
Before Lesya could respond, Janezcka smelled to overbearing odor of gas and
knew exactly what had happened. She dragged her friend out the front door
and laid her out on the ground. She then ran back into the house for her
friends. At one o'clock in the morning they would still be in their beds
asleep. Ten minutes later she ran back out of the house coughing and
gagging. She opened the passenger side car door and pulled Lesya inside.
She ran around to the other side of the car and jumped in.

Lesya asked her, "The others?" and Janezcka's eyes filled
with tears. She shook her head and Lesya closed her eyes and wept.
Janezcka looked all around for her keys and realized she had left them in
the foyer of the house. She told Lesya to stay put and that she would be
right back. Lesya watched the older woman run into the house moments
before it exploded with such force that it took the car and Lesya with it.

OREKHOVO-ZUYEVO, RUSSIA

"How are things coming along?" a voice in the darkness
asked. Two men of equal build stepped forward from a group of twenty
people. They strained their eyes to see where the voice was coming from.

One said, "They are going as you expected. Dublin, Paris
and Warsaw have been eliminated. We're ready for St. Petersburg."

"Go," the voice replied. "I'll be leaving for Prague where
I will meet with your colleagues and continue on from there. You are
prepared?"

"Yes," said the other man. He pulled out a box of small
capsules. "We are to take these when St. Petersburg has been finished."

"Correct," said the voice. "But you must make certain that
not one single member is left standing. Your predecessors have been
successful. Their reward was death. May I remind you of what will happen to
you if you fail?"

ROME, ITALY

"Something is definitely wrong," Lucia exclaimed. Leo
Giordano ran to the phone.

He said, "Maybe something was wrong with the lines. I'll
try them again." Giovanna slammed her hand on the phone. Leo looked at
her and hung the phone up slowly.

"We've called eight different houses in Europe, Leo.
Dublin, Warsaw, Budapest, Madrid, Prague, Ankara and Athens! None of them
are responding. None of them!" Lucia cried.

"Maybe something is wrong with OUR lines!" Leo yelled at her.

"No, can't you feel it? Something's coming. Something
more terrible than we could ever imagine. Please, let's just go and pick up
Renata and Agosto and get the hell out of Rome until we can find out what's
going on," she replied. Giovanna and Lucia grabbed a few things while
Leo scrambled to find the car keys. They piled into the car and drove off.
When they reached the intersection, Lucia noticed a large black van driving
off towards the direction of the house and exhaled heavily, stomping her
foot on the gas. She glanced into the rear view mirror and checked to see
that they were not being followed.

"Did you see that?" Giovanna asked. Lucia nodded and kept
on driving towards the Coliseum. When she turned the corner she slammed on
the brakes. Her eyes widened at the sight of the police cars and
ambulances parked outside of the restaurant where Renata and Agosto were
supposed to be with their informant. Giovanna sprung from the car and ran
to a nearby spectator to ask what happened. Leo watched her face pale as
she backed away from the scene and ran to the car.

"They're dead," said Giovanna. "That woman says that two
men came into the restaurant and walked to a table in the back and shot and
killed two people. A man and a woman. I know it's them. They're dead!"

Lucia whipped the car around and drove towards the airport.
Leo snarled at her.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't you think when they
see we're not at the house that they're going to come looking for us?
They'll check the damn airports, Lucia!" he screamed.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" she shouted. Giovanna
cursed under her breath.

Leo snapped, "Drive, just drive us far away from here,
alright? We don't even know how many of them there are!"

"We don't even know how many Legacy houses have been hit
yet," Giovanna cried. A horrifying thought crept into her mind of them
being the only ones left, of all the Legacy houses destroyed and having to
spend the rest of their lives on the run from assassins. She moaned, "I
can't live like that!"

"What?" Leo asked her. He turned around to look in the
back seat at the frightened woman whimpering and crying. His face softened
and he said, "We'll try to get in contact with someone, another house,
anyone! They can't all be gone, someone's got to be out there."

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Galina Perovskaya looked out the window of the small plane
and winced as she made out the barely visible trail of smoke that poured
from their home. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to smile
at Basil and Irina. She laid her hand on Bohdana's and squeezed. She
could not believe what had just happened nor was she sure that it had
happened. She felt like she would wake up and things would be the way they
were before. Tatiana and Alexi would still be alive. She closed her eyes
and sighed. How long had it been since the four of them decided to take a
joy ride in the Legacy jet? They had flown back and landed on the small
airstrip outside the aging mansion only to have Bohdana scream and pull
back on the stick. Galina had wondered what the hell the woman was doing
at the time until she looked out the window at the little ants. That's
what Tatiana and Alexi's bodies had looked like lying on the ground while
swarms of men in black covered the grounds and emptied their guns at the
plane. Basil tried several Legacy houses on Galina's cell-phone and when
he received no answer they convinced themselves that the plane was
interfering with the signal. They would try again a little later, Galina
thought. She tried not to think of the dream she had nights before of
wandering through the fog and looking down to see herself in a cemetery
filled with nameless stones.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

"That's strange," Nick said. Alex turned around in her
chair and looked at him.

"What?" she asked him.

"I tried calling a friend of mine at the St. Petersburg
House. I met her a few years ago on an investigation," he said.

"Her?" Alex said with a smile. Nick rolled his eyes and
made a face at Alex.

"Nothing like that. She's just a friend and today's her
birthday," Nick told her.

"What's her name?" Alex asked.

"Galina Perovskaya," Nick answered. Alex got out of her
chair and crossed her arms.

"So what's so strange?" asked Alex.

"Well, I couldn't get through to her. The operator says
the line has been disconnected," he said.

"Nick, you know that old mansion in St. Petersburg has
always had problems with wiring. The Legacy has been trying to get them to
move to a new location for years but that old battle-axe Tatiana won't
budge. Did you try Galina's cell-phone?" Alex asked him.

"Yeah, it was busy," he replied.

"See, they're probably in the middle of something. Just try
her back later," Alex said and walked back to her desk.

Nick said, "You're probably right, Alex..."

She turned back around and said, "But you don't think so?"

"No," he answered. "I've just got this feeling."

"What kind of feeling, Nick?" Derek asked, walking in.

"I dunno, just this really weird feeling, that's all," said
Nick.

"Call the London house, Alex. There is something going on
here," Derek told her.

"What, you had a vision or something?" Nick asked. Derek
turned around.

"No, I tried to call an old friend in the Rome house and
the line has been disconnected, and no one has answered their cell-phone,"
he explained, making Alex and Nick uneasy. Derek face fell and he said, "I
think I know now that my dream wasn't just a dream."

"A warning, maybe?" Alex asked.

"No," Derek said, "A foreshadowing of what is to come."

Part Two

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

"Adelle?" Samuel asked. He walked into the control room
where the older woman was creasing her brows in frustration over the mess
of files on her desk.

"Yes?" she asked him.

"I just got a phone call from the head of the San Francisco
House-"

"Derek Rayne! What's going on with him these days?" Adelle
said, her eyes lighting up.

"Let's find the others first, Adelle" Samuel said, gravely.

"Is it that bad?" asked Adelle. She stood up and walked
over to him.

"It's that bad," he answered.

They were all seated at the giant, cherry wood table when
Miranda Wilkins breezed into the room.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I got a phone call from Derek Rayne about twenty minutes
ago," Samuel began.

"He's head of San Francisco isn't he?" asked Miranda.

"Yes. He called the London house and they're all in an
uproar. Several Legacy houses in Europe, the Middle East and now Asia have
lost contact with the rest of the Legacy," Samuel explained.

Andrew Foraker snapped his head at attention.
"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean they're gone. We can't get in touch with any of
them. All of their lines have been disconnected," Samuel answered.

"And why was Rayne calling us?" Miranda asked.

"He seems to think something is going down and he seems to
think that we're next," said Samuel.

Edithe Hudson leaned forward and asked, "What was the last
house to lose contact?"

"Tokyo," Samuel answered. "And I think," he added, "That
Derek Rayne is right. I think we ARE next."

MIAMI, FLORIDA

"South America contingent is out," Rita yelled from the
other room. Jacob Haggert ran from the library.

He gasped, "What? All of them?"

"Mexico City, Bogot, Caracas, Lima, Bueno Aires, Rio De
Janeiro, all of them," said Rita.

"Any indication that whatever is happening has spread to
the States?" Jacob asked. Rita shook her head. Helen Sennet ran in,
breathlessly.

She said, "I called all the Legacy Houses in the United
States and Canada. San Francisco had been previously notified, everyone
else is getting the hell out of Dodge"

"What about Europe and Eastern part of the world?" Rita asked.

"As far as I know, all of Europe, Africa, and Asia are
either dead or in hiding. London went underground and the members of the
Sydney house are on their way to San Francisco," Helen answered.

Jacob grabbed his coat and said, "Tell everyone to pack
their bags. We're getting out of here too." Before he could leave the
room, the lights went out. Rita gave a short scream and crouched low to the
ground.

"Damn!" Helen whispered. They winced as they heard the
sound of glass breaking from downstairs. Jacob blindly made his way to the
section of wall panel behind his desk and popped it open.

"Come on!" he cried. The three of them crawled into the
space behind the wall and waited.

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Terence Edmunds was sitting at his desk holding a
photograph when the phone rang. He placed the picture down and steadied
his hand before picking up the phone. It had been almost two weeks since
Christine and Marla were killed and yet he still couldn't believe it. For
a brief second he almost believed that it was one of them on the other end
of the line, that they weren't gone. Just off somewhere on an investigation.

"Terence Edmunds," he answered. As he listened to the
voice on the other line he pushed all thoughts of Christine and Marla
aside. He slammed the phone down and ran downstairs to the library. Elise
Stuart and Jack Risley were trying their best to finish the food on their
plates when he burst in.

"Terry? What's wrong?" Elise asked him. Terence flinched
slightly. Elise was the only person in the world that could have gotten
away with calling him Terry.

"Something is happening to the Legacy. Members are winding
up dead or disappearing altogether. The Miami house just called me. They
advise that we leave immediately, so get your things together and I'll
dismiss the staff," Terence explained. Without saying anything, Elise and
Jack jumped from their seats and ran from the room.

Thirty minutes later they were lifting off from the
airstrip behind the house in their Legacy chopper.

Jack braved the silence by asking, "Where are we going?"

"San Francisco," said Terence. Elise whipped her head
around to look at him.

"What for? Is this about what happened to Christine and
Marla?" she said. When he didn't answer she cried, "For God's sake Terry,
let it go! It wasn't anyone's fault over there!"

Terence Edmunds remained silent in the back seat of the
helicopter. They flew in silence the rest of the way to California.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

"I called the phone company from a pay phone downtown,"
Derora told them.

Richard Reamonn looked up from his paper. "Well?" he asked
her.

"They'll try to get our phones back online as soon as they
can. As for our cell-phones, they have no idea why they aren't working,"
she responded. Emma stood up.

"Well," she said, "I'll go check e-mail and see what's
happening this mornin-"

"Shh!" Zachary hushed her. He was fixated on the
television set in front of him. "Listen to this!" he cried.

" 'Early this morning the bodies of three people shot
execution style were found lying in an abandoned building in Dublin,
Ireland. Not far from the scene a woman's body was found in similar fashion
in the alley way of a popular downtown pub. Authorities are not certain,
but many speculate that a militant Protesta-' " Zachary switched the
television off and stood up.

"What?" Emma asked him.

"I dreamed the other night that I was standing in a
cemetery," he said. Emma frowned at him.

"So what does that have to do with what's on the news?" she
asked. Zachary's face contorted and he grabbed his head in pain.

"Zach!" Emma cried. Derora and Richard raced to the young
man's side.

Zachary pulled himself together and plopped down into a chair.

"They were Legacy members!" he said. "Christ, it's Joscelin!"

Richard stiffened and asked, "How do you know for sure?"

"Because I just SAW it!" Zachary shouted. Richard didn't
argue with him. Rarely was Zachary's sight ever wrong.

"That's strange, the power just went off," Emma noticed.
Richard looked at the digital clock on the desk. It was off as was the VCR
and everything else in the room.

"A power failure?" asked Derora. Richard shook his head.

He said, "First the phone lines, then the cell-phones, the
thing in Dublin and now the power goes off?"

"Out! NOW!" Zachary cried.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

"Do they know where to meet us?" Nick asked racing by.
Alex tossed a large duffel bag onto the floor.

"Derek told them," she breathed, running into the next
room. Rachel was putting Kat's coat on while Philip was grabbing a few
things off the desk.

Derek walked in to see Nick loading his gun and asked, "Is
that always necessary?"

"What do you think? We don't know what the hell's going on
here, and I'm not taking any chances," Nick snapped. As he shoved the gun
into the holster on his hip, they heard the sound of a small plane landing
on the airstrip next to the castle. "That's not a Legacy plane!" Nick
shouted, looking out the window.

Nick screamed for the others to take the back door and run
for the car. Derek grabbed Rachel's hand and picked up Kat with the other.
Alex ran behind them while Nick looked at Philip and screamed, "GO!"

Philip hesistated and Nick yelled at him to leave. "Get
them out of here, Philip, I can handle this now GO!"

Nick tore down the stairs and waited, his gun leveled on
the door. Nick heard the sound of several running footsteps heading
towards the front door, but swung his gun around to face what was standing
behind him. Philip stood there holding a fire poker in his hand. Nick
whispered, "I thought I told you to get out of here!"

"Is that what you said? I didn't hear you," the priest said
quietly. Nick wasn't sure if he wanted to pat Philip on the back or punch
him in the face. He didn't have time to do either as the front door of the
castle was kicked in.

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