Long fingers wrapped tightly about the plain crystal rosary, pale blue and silver glints danced off the pale skin of her hand. Veti would never know how or why Cornelius knew this was just the needful thing for her, but he did. And when she laid Thad beneath that glass, Cornelius had a rosary of rosewood and gold, and Veti had wrapped it about his cooling fingers, and wept , and prayed, amazing even herself how easily the words came back to her with every pass of the beads.

She'd no idea if he were Catholic or Pagan, Protestant or Buddhist or atheist or even a bit of the agnostic about the whole Divine Plan 'thing.' But the anima's thoughtfulness had given her with [i]something[/i] at least, just a little something good and decent to leave with him, a small, mostly unknown and sacred piece of Veti's soul. Thad would know, though. He always had. And he would come back to her, somehow, some way. [i]He would.[/i]

Veti had to believe that. She did. Or she'd fall to pieces right here, right now on these ancient floors. Lots of little tiny pieces, like shattered glass that would never be put together again. And so the werewolf let herself back into the grand room as quietly as when she'd left - and eternally grateful someone had thought to keep the hinges of these massive wooden doors well-oiled. She'd obviously returned at the very moment of that proverbial pregnant pause, that instant of collectively held breath while the whole world waited for... [i]Something?[/i] 

Something she obviously didn't have the least clue about, and so Veti silently crossed the room toward the group. Apparently a far more dapper-looking Mr. Bain had joined them as well, and suddenly the mystery of a very pissed off-looking Siya, her expression dark an ominous as a storm cloud even in all her uncharacteristically colorful finery, was suddenly solved. And this one time, Veti sensed it was fine, really and truly fine, for her to stay in Siya's shadow this day. 

With precious little thought on the matter, Veti moved instinctively toward Nestor, toward the one man in the room her lover seemed to have truly befriended, however unlikely the pairing might seem on its face. Even the demoness, the one whose name she never caught, was... She was wearing Max's boots. The old motorcycle boots all beaten to hell on that island with the fox-thing. Veti still didn't know what it was, since she and Max - [i]Thad[/i] - Had been far too absorbed in their own cascade of sweet moments to linger over talk of dead monsters. 

Veti settled cross-legged on the floor beside Nestor's chair, her head resting slowly against the arm, the only sound an exhausted sigh escaping her throat. Absently, her fingers ran over the crystal beads of the rosary, one by one, her lips moving even as her distant gaze almost dutifully turned to her employers.