Episodes of Shade: The Mage from Cairo - 4. Visitation

     The afternoon turned into evening, Saeed and Barry helped Gwenny with dinner while Shay apparently finished up, whatever she was doing, in the barn. When she finally came in she was not alone, there was an elderly man with her whom she was assisting through the threshold of the home. Saeed barely noticed the man, he was mesmerized by Shay. She was a bit fairer than Barry, but bore features that betrayed her common ancestry with her darker skinned cousin. She was about fifteen if Saeed could guess, about Saeed's height with a head of unkept, chaotic, black hair.
"Gwenny, B, we have a visitor." She called out as she kicked off her shoes and motioned for her companion to take a comfortable looking armchair.
Barry was drying a dish with a hand-towel and glanced in Shay's direction to see just who the cat had drug in. When he saw the man his hands stopped, "Gwenny, it's him. The Druid."
"Here?" she questioned. "Now?" she stated more to herself as she took off her apron. She looked at Saeed and Barry, "you two finish up in here, I'm going to see what has prompted this visit."

     The Druid was an old white man with a long beard and long somewhat un-kept hair, Saeed thought the name fit. It looked as though the man's eyes displayed the cloudy quality associated quite often with one of the various maladies that cause blindness. From the kitchen Saeed and Barry could observe him, as they watched the Druid turned his head towards the approaching Gwenny.
"Culkin!" she greeted warmly, "to what to we owe this visit?"
His rather forlorn face dissolved into a warm smile,"Ah Gwenny," he stood and embraced her, "we shall get to that in short order." He turned into the direction of the kitchen and spoke, "tea lads." he commanded. His voice was much younger than his appearance, and somewhat refined. His unaccented American was articulate, learned, and perhaps a bit old-fashioned sounding.
    Saeed finished up with the remaining dishes while Barry put on a pot of water for tea. Saeed glanced out of the kitchen and saw that The Druid, Culkin, had moved from the entry and sat down in the den with Gwenny in one of a few chairs situated around a small antique coffee table. Shay was not in sight.
     The tea was hot so Barry with Saeed in tow brought it to the pair of elders in the den and were invited to sit in the empty chairs. Culkin began, "The purpose of my visit, is to bring you all up to speed on the movements of your vampires." he finished resting his gaze on Saeed. " He paused look downward now at no one, "as you well know, the group that attacked you and your aunt, Saeed, had been expelled from the Reno Coven and for some reason opted to head south to Carson City before turning west towards San Francisco. I've been in contact with my agents as well as my contacts within the local police agencies and some of the criminal elements in the greater Sacramento area. Vampires are quite difficult to track, thus one needs many sources." He sipped his tea while everyone waited patiently, thus far he hadn't really revealed anything. "My agents found them," he continued, "upon entering the area. The police helped me narrow down which buses left Carson City under the cover of night and would arrive in Sacramento while still under the cover of night, I focused my agents on those buses. You would think that they would have left the Sacramento area weeks ago, I mean, why stay?"
"They're still here?" Gwenny interrupted.
"Yes." He replied incredulously. "At first I thought that they had somehow slipped past me, but then one surfaced. Then another. Sometimes just one of them sometimes a couple. I have not uncovered anything that would suggest that they intend to stay permanently so I played with other theories. Eliminating theories that did not fit, I settled on just a couple. Those theories prompted me to stop using the police, and then the criminal underground. At present I am relying only on my own agents. When I learned that Saeed had arrived I thought it best that I come warn you all before they could act."
Gwenny was alarmed. "Why didn't you just call? Culkin, what are you getting at?"
The Druid opened his mouth to reply, but he stopped, then tensed. Outside a horse neighed, in the same moment Gwenny stood, alarmed, "One of my wards was just triggered." She said, looking to Culkin for the answer.
He quietly and calmly said, "They are here."