"Hi, Ms Chandler !"

It took Catherine a few seconds to put a name on the smiling face.

"Sally, Sally Kendall! Oh hello! How are you?"

"It's Sally Carson, now, Ms Chandler, I took back my maiden name, didn't want to keep anything belonging to that bastard ! And I'm doing real fine now, thanks to you!"

"Thanks to your courage, Sally! You do look a lot better than two years ago!" She could remember the thin, frightened thing in a hospital bed, covered with bruises and stitches. She was scared to death, but had finally accepted to depose against the savage brute she'd had the bad luck to marry, and Catherine had convinced the tribunal to send him to jail for three years.

"I bet this is your little girl, Ms Chandler?"

"Yes, it's Caroline."

Sally bent and took the childs hand. "Hello, Caroline, you have the bluest eyes I've ever seen."

"I thought you'd moved to California?"

I did, I'm only here for one month, a training session for my job."

"Still working as an aesthetician?"

"Well, not exactly, I still do make-ups, but a different kind, I work for television now. Do you know ' Effie the Werewolf Hunter'?"

"Sorry, no, we don't watch TV much."

"Your daughter is still too young, teenagers are just mad about it. I do make-ups for the show, I'm quite good at werewolves, and they want me to create some new characters, so I'm here to learn some techniques I'll need."

"I'm really glad to hear you're doing well, Sally."

"I really owe you, Ms Chandler!"

"Catherine. And you don't owe me anything !" "But I'd like to do something - I know! Caroline, I'm sure you're invited to a Halloween party. How would you like a professional-style make-up? I could make a lovely kitten out of you - or a lion cub, maybe?"

Caroline winced and looked at her mother. Sally laughed. "It doesn't hurt, you know. Hey, are you all right, Ms Chandler - Catherine?"

"Yes. I was just thinking - maybe you've given me an idea. Where can I get in touch with you, Sally?"

Catherine took Caroline straight to the closest Tunnel entrance. The rest of their shopping could wait, and she had some planning to do. By luck Devin happened to be there. Since Charles' death, two years before, he had resumed his wandering life, but his visits to the Tunnels had become more frequent, and tended to last longer. She was glad of his presence. The ideas Sally had given her were appealing, but also risky and in more than one way. Devin was exactly the person she needed, because, just like herself, he'd always refused to take for granted the limits that restricted Vincent's life. She'd also need his help to convince Father - especially as her projects also included her son.

But, with some careful planning, and a lot of persuasion, she would be able to offer her family a really memorable Halloween. The hardest thing would be to keep it a surprise, as the bond she shared with Vincent made it almost impossible to hide anything from him. He already knew she was excited about something, and she could feel he was wondering what it was, and why she was coming Below early. He was sorry to be stuck in the lower Tunnels for another two or three hours, and she did her best not to let him know that, for once, she was glad about it.

"Do you think you can do it, Sally?"

"Of course ! It's not really difficult - and it's beautiful ! Where did you get that picture?"

"Oh ... a friend of mine took it ... a painted wall, somewhere."

She smiled, she was telling the exact truth ... but God help Devin if Father ever found out he'd sneaked a camera into the Painted Tunnels!

"Not so fast, Daddy!"

"Sorry, Jacob!" Vincent slowed down to let his son catch up, and took his hand. The boy grinned.

"You're in a hurry to find out, arent you, Daddy?"

"Find out?"

"About the surprise! Mommy and Caroline have a Halloween surprise for us, I can't wait to know what it is!"

Vincent smiled. Something had been up for two weeks, something Catherine was happy and excited about, though she tried hard not to let too much of it seep through the bond. Halloween had always been a special time for them, and tonight was the tenth anniversary of the wonderful night they'd spent walking in the streets together.

Becoming parents themselves had made them more receptive to Father's arguments about security, and for years now they had spent Samhain safely Below. But Catherine always found a way to make it a special occasion - what was she up to this time ? There was going to be a Halloween party in the Tunnels tonight, and the logical thing would have been for Catherine and Caroline to join them Below. But Mary, with a somewhat mysterious smile, had given Vincent and Jacob their costumes, two matching fairy-tale-prince outfits, all ruffles and shiny satin, along with a message from Catherine asking them to come to their house. And Jacob was right, Vincent was getting really impatient to find out what was waiting for them. But by the time they got there he could sense a change in Catherine's mood. As she felt him approach, she was getting more and more nervous .

"They're coming, Mommy! Are you ready?" Caroline was burbling with joyful expectation, but Catherine felt panic rise. What had she done? How was Vincent going to react? What if he didn't like it? If he was hurt by it? She had been so sure it was a good idea, but all certitudes had deserted her by now. My God, what if ...

"Mommy, they're coming up the stairs! Remember what we said, come on, turn round!"

Catherine sighed, too late anyway, and turned her back to the wardrobe door that led to the hidden staircase, holding her daughter's hand.

Vincent stepped in after his son and closed the door. There they were, facing the other way, expectably dressed in beautiful fairy-tale-princess costumes. He could feel Caroline's happy excitement, and Catherine's almost desperate anxiety. What could she have done to be so scared of his reaction ?

"Mommy, Caroline, we're home! So what's the surprise?"

Caroline tugged at her mother's hand and slowly, reluctantly, Catherine turned to face her husband. He gasped. "Catherine!"

In front of him were two feminine replicas of Jacob and himself.

Catherine, his beautiful Catherine, had made herself up to look like him!

"Hey, neat! Now we really look like twins!" Jacob and his sister were looking at themselves in the mirror, laughing.

Vincent's very first reaction was shock. His physical difference had always been a source of pain to him, it was not something to play with, but of course Catherine was not playing. She had found yet another way to tell him that she loved everything he was, that she was everything he was. And it made her even more beautifully ... "Catherine."

"Vincent." The green eyes were pleading, he could feel she was ready to cry.

"Catherine, you are - I have no words to express." He smiled, and felt a wave of relief sweep over her. It seems to me that the only appropriate comment would be ... he surprised her with a low, suggestive growl.

She smiled as widely as her fake upper lip allowed, showing sharp white fangs, and he suddenly understood better why she found his own smile attractive.

"I take it that means you like it?"

"I do. You are beautiful, Catherine." He pulled her into his embrace and whispered in her ear "And you have the sexiest smile!"

Vincent did not very often use that kind of words, even in their moments of intimacy, and when he did, it always had the most devastating effect on her. She melted instantly in his arms. "Vincent, I love you!"

They were called back to reality by Caroline's voice. "How do you like our Halloween surprise, Daddy?"

"It is a wonderful surprise, Caroline, you are the two loveliest princesses I ever saw!"

She pulled him and Catherine in front of the mirror, and Jacob joined them. "Have you seen, Daddy, we really look like a family, now!"

Vincent studied the strange picture the mirror reflected, a picture straight out of a fairy tale, the royal family of some fantasy kingdom. Or maybe the family he might have had, in a world where he wouldn't have been born alone of his kind. He knelt and faced his son.

"Jacob, we are a family, no matter what we all look like, it is what we feel that is important. Love is the most important of all, never forget it!"

"I won't, Daddy!" the boy promised solemnly. Then he threw his arms around his father's neck. "I love you !"

Caroline did the same. "Me too!"

Catherine bent to hug them. "I love you!" and Vincent closed his great arms around his most cherished treasures. "And I love you!"

A few seconds of emotion were more than enough for Jacob, who wiggled out of his parent's arms .

"Are we going to the party, now?"

Vincent smiled. "Yes, Jacob, you and I will have the honor to escort two beautiful princesses Below."

Catherine and Caroline exchanged a mischievous look.

"We will go to the party later. First we have something else to do."

"Another surprise ?" Jacob asked eagerly.

Caroline couldn't wait any more. "We're going out!"

"You mean out in the streets, really?" Jacob couldn't believe it. He'd sometimes been out in the Park at night with his father, but that was all he knew of the world Above, apart from what could be seen from behind the curtained windows of their house. It was hard on him, more so as Caroline was free to come and go between the two worlds, even if she did her best to share everything with him. It was also hard on Vincent, who had to bend his son's natural curiosity and enthusiasm, and explain to him why Above was a dangerous place for them without crushing his childish innocence with too much blunt truth about human nature.

"Daddy, it's true? We're really going out?"

"Catherine?"

'It's all right, Vincent, it's safe. Even Father agreed! We won't stay very long, but it's a unique opportunity to go out together, like any family."

Like any family Vincent found the idea very appealing, but, "Catherine, if anything should happen."

"We'd take care of it!" said a familiar voice.

"Devin!" Vincent turned to face a handsome tiger, followed by his tigress and their cub, in Victorian clothes.

"Hello, little brother!"

"Hi, Vincent!"

"Lena, Cathy But what ..."

"We're your escort!" Devin answered. "The more important a group is, the less the individuals will be noticed. And count on me to attract attention! If a problem came up, I'd create enough diversion for you and Jacob to get to the closest Tunnel entrance." He offered Lena his arm, and Vincent noticed that, while the others were wearing gloves, Devin's hands were covered with hair and tipped with sharp claws, just like his own.

"And now, lets go! Samhain is only once a year, brother, so enjoy your time out! And if people stare, it will only mean they think your costumes are beautiful, which they are. But as ours are even more spectacular, I bet we'll get all the stares and you'll go completely unnoticed!" Devin added with a toothy grin.

They all donned long cloaks, black like Vincent's for Devin and Jacob, white for the ladies, and went down the stairs to the main door. Vincent took Catherine's hand.

"We have been living in this house for nearly seven years and I never used this door."

"Maybe you should make a wish?"

"I already have everything I could ever wish for, including a very clever and extremely beautiful wife !"

Part 2