5.

The morning after the night that was. Bill Allen sits cowering in the darkest corner of his living room. He sits there hours before being discovered by his wife Corrine. For a long time from the birth of their daughter, possibly even before that too, they did not see eye to eye to the point they were drifting apart. The birth of Charlotte affected them both profusely, profoundly and in very different ways.

The pregnancy and birth completely drained Corrine to the point she rarely left her bedroom for a long time after the birth. It even took some time for her to feel confident to get up out of bed at all. As time moved on the fatigue not so much eased as it did become easier to live with. Spending the majority of the time with their daughter, Corrine often found it difficult to keep an anger in check. For Bill however, his daughter was and is his daughter and despite knowing that something is coming, not quite the what, Charlotte could do no wrong in his eyes. This is a view that has certainly changed.

He knew there were others, children, girls born during the days in and around the day Charlotte was born. A thought process, his own reasoning had him figure that if he could take one of those others out, end a life, then whatever would be coming his daughter's way may not come at all. Things didn't go his way, if anything, his efforts cost him dearly.

Despite all the difficulty, loss and damage, Bill and Corrine never completely lost each other. They never let the darkness completely tear them apart. In recent times they have been coming close again. Charlotte has not been with them for some time though she is still their daughter and Darkness is not completely done with them.

On this particular morning, she tries to give him space and time; curiosity however eventually gets the better of her. 'Tell me' she asks.

'You should have seen it ...' he struggles to get the words out and the tears are in full flow, '... though I'm glad you didn't. It was a disaster ... we knew something was always going to come. We never knew details, still we knew ... something. We knew our baby girl would one day be called upon. She had been called many years ago but this ...'

Corrine is of course sympathetic; she knows what Bill is saying is true and she feels it every bit as much as he does. She of course is upset too, and she has her own panic within her, consoling her husband right now may bring her something too. What he witnessed, she doesn't know if she should be grateful that she did not see it or as to if she should have forced herself to go. Still, she continues to listen.

'There was carnage ... utter chaos ... our daughter was not directly responsible for any of it, but she is a part of it. It is her destiny ... it was ... is ... what she was created for. She is only going to do bad things from here on in, very bad things, unspeakable things and there isn't a God damn thing I or we can do about it. I tried when she was a child, I really did, and it only cost me ...'

'I know you did. I know you did it to protect her, to keep her from her destiny. Only now you must try again this time without protecting her ...'

'You can't ask that of me ... I can't do it ...'

'You must ... we must for if we don't ... if we fail ... if no one else can do the right thing ....'

Bill looks upon his wife with panic and despair. He feels it deep down in his stomach. His wife is right. It needs to be done. Time passes and they know it too. That missing boy reported on television. Daughter Charlotte was never mentioned though they knew it, they knew she had him. They knew too as time went on that someone else did intervene. Bill can only imagine that it was this one girl in particular from that Ball. Maybe if he could find that girl then maybe his own daughter won't have to die.

'You know ... I was right all along. There are others ... eight others ... if only ... maybe it's not too late ... oh, I don't know ...'

It is all he ever wanted. Not normality, not so much for his daughter to be normal, he can deal to a point with the fact that she can split herself into two. If she can live, not go on to maim, hurt or kill then this is all he would ask for. If a time comes, if a situation makes itself ascertainable, will he, could he end his daughter's life?

Would he be able to deal with the knowledge that his daughter took a life if she were to be called upon to do something the likes of what he witnesses at that Ball? He did take a step back in years past, a step back more forced upon him than anything else. Now is the time to once again step forwards, if he doesn't then who will?

He is unaware that there are indeed others stepping one, at least one of whom is one of the nine. As it is Bill Allen cannot know this but what if he could? A though does hit him. Wasn't there one girl in particular at the Ball who appeared reluctant to be one of nine? But then again, she too took a life or at least came close to doing so. So, for Bill Allen, thing is ... what now?

He doesn't have long for something to present itself. A knock comes to the front door of the Allen household. Bill gathers himself then attempts to see who may be at the door before opening it but is unable to gather any information, so he doesn't waste time with opening the door. There is a grubby and pale looking man standing there before him and this fellow has apparently attracted the attention of many insects.

'Hello there good sir ...' speaks this visitor. 'Bill Allen, I presume?'

'What about it?'

'You don't know me, but my name is Adrian Roux and I have a daughter named Ruby. I believe we have a mutual acquaintance ...'

With that this Adrian Roux fellow gestures towards the end of the garden. Just beyond the Garden gates there is a man who cannot be there for that fellow as far as Bill is aware is dead. Adrian so happens to be dead too, such is why his appearance is partially as it is. The fellow beyond the garden gates so happens to be a man by the name Ben Ellis, the father of Nancy Ellis ... how can this be?