22nd of September, 1982

I've brought Cressman up to speed on events, set him to translating the script from the Torquerre castle. Wiggins-Hitchcock-Whatever is now his problem.

We took a daytrip to Rome, Adelaide, James Drake, and I, to investigate the matter of the elder vampire Shereborne who we thought had gone to his rest beneath the Castel Sant'Angelo. We were betrayed. The Bishop with whom we were to meet, Bishop Frederico, had been turned by a vampire and attacked us the moment we stepped foot in his office. His assistant, some Father whose name I never caught, all but melted into the floor and reformed as an undead, rotting blood golem. I am not sure what in the Hell it was, actually, but it took Adelaide away from us and tried to kill her, sealing the door between office and hall.

That is when the Corruption rose up from a trap door in the floor. Humanoid in build with horrific, squid-like heads with multiple tentacles where their mouths should have been; they attacked with spells that targetted the mind. My Occlumency saved me, and although James fared worse Drake fared worse, we managed to destroy them and capture the vampire Bishop. The Bishop committed suicide rather than face a questioning. Or, possibly, the magic within the collar he wore killed him rather than let him be questioned.

Could Kuznetsov really be working with Corruption? I knew she was insane, but her particular brand, I thought, was megalomania rather than nihilism.

It is as we suspected when it comes to the elder vampire. We found his tomb, and the Archbishop who assisted in sealing him in it explained that the missing Bishop Benvenuto Giacondo was only one of seven who knew the spells to unravel the wards and release Shereborne. We found his badly-decomposed body in that tomb. Every shred of evidence points to bloody murder and struggling. At some point, Giacondo had been subdued - Imperius Curse? - and was used in the ritual to revive the vampire. He struggled before he died, and then his body was left in the tomb and sealed out of sight.

This is a case I've left in Adelaide's hands and out of the Ministry's. I've a feeling that if RCMC decides to take this more seriously, they'll destroy him when they find him. At this point, he's done nothing worse than conduct a messy raid on a Muggle blood bank. As far as I can tell, there've been no strange deaths reported with victims drained of blood or hopelessly mangled. There've been no noticeable increases in missing persons reports. Granted, that could change at any moment when Kuznetsov decides to wreak havoc with him.

That entire incident dredged up some unpleasantness. When that corrupted priest took Adelaide from me, I saw Korvan Cindair again. His betrayal. I felt my throat breaking again, felt myself falling away into some dark place, watching her be swept away. Just like then, there was nothing I could do. I knew she was in danger, but there was nothing I could do until the greater threat had been eliminated.

I'd forgotten all about it, been caught up in distractions, until that moment. How much else have I forgotten?

Briefly I met with Nerys Llewelyn at Hogwarts. I've instructed the little bitch to stay close to the Headmaster. She is more vital than I'd ever realised. Hollingberry was absolutely right about her family being tied to the Tuatha de Dannan.

What I learned there...

It still terrifies me. If I try to think on it, I'll go mad.

Serys. The Mab. The scale of the battle to come is staggering. I need to tell someone some of what I've learned. Soong? Yes. I don't know if I can bring myself to tell him everything. On some level, we all know the stakes are extraordinarily high. There's no point in stressing out the boy even further. Logan Drake? Yes. It's time he and I had a long discussion.

I must also find the Darkefell girl and ask about that tomb she assisted in excavating some years ago. It is my only lead now to others of the Tuatha de Dannan.

The wedding of Cassandra and James Drake was fairly typical of all Drake feasts. This one took place on a cruise ship, and of all the people he could have asked, Drake wanted me as his best man. There were no hired Frenchmen this time, no mistaken ninjas, but there were skeletal, undead pirates and a sea serpent who attacked. Hollingberry took down the Captain, Drillock and Rhodes sank the ship, and Adelaide subdued the beast with a well-placed scolding. She almost fainted when later I told her it was not a staged event.

Mildly amusing.

Then I nearly choked to death when yesterday evening she told me she wanted a baby.

Of course I said yes, but a great many changes have to take place before we can bring one into the home. We'll have to build an extension, a new bedroom, though I am certain I can find someplace suitable for it. Adelaide wants to take on less hours at the Ministry and work more from home, investigating and hunting through paperwork, correspondance and evidence. That will need clearance from the Execuator. Then, of course, there is the matter of this little war brewing that shall have to be seen through to its bitter end before we do anything of the sort. I expect by then Xiu will long be in Hogwarts.

And Finn, the old boy, is getting on in years. I expect it won't be too much longer now for him. It hurts to see Adelaide grieving. I know how much he means to this family. He was the reason that Adelaide invited me to her flat for dinner for the first time, very early in our relationship, since I had rescued him. He has been her companion since coming to London, a steady constant. He bonded with Mihail and comforted him the first night he slept in his new home. For awhile, those two were inseparable.

The least I can do for Adelaide to comfort her is make certain his line does not die with Shai'tan.