Thanks to Queri for being my critic and the only three characters 
that are mine are Casseopia St.Croix, Madame St. Croix, and 
Joesph Hastings.  The rest belong to Shaun Cassidy.  
    
The question is:  What if Lucas Buck had a sibling?  The answer is:



		BLOOD RELATIONS
		by
		Psylocke < TTa2753263@aol.com>


PART I

     Lucas sat in his cruiser watching the workmen from across the street.  
They were rebuilding the old Braddock home from its charred and desolate 
remains.  One of the workmen, a big, burly man with an untrimmed beard 
and a shirt full of stains ranging from the coffee he had that morning to what 
he had for lunch, was lurching across the damaged floor.  The rotten 
boards creaked and bent under the heavy weight.
     He's just itching to fall through," thought Lucas and just at that moment, 
the workman's foot sank through the floorboards.  The other workmen 
rushed around himi and tried to pull him out.  "Can I be of assistance?"  
Lucas appeared out of nowhere, and helpfully asking as he peered at the 
gaping hole where a few seconds before, it held the tons of a whale.  It 
seemed that there was another room under the house next to the basement.  
"Hmm," thought Lucas.  "What do we have here?"
     Within minutes, the area was cleared and he made his way down the 
stone stairs that led to the mystery room.  Lucas brushed handfuls of 
cobwebs away with his hand as he searched the area before him.  He 
found a painted portrait on the left side of the wall pulled the grimy cloth 
away and through clouds of dust, looked at the portrait.  It was of a girl 
of about eight or nine years old.  She stood there holding a violin; poised 
and ready to play.  The child had a beautiful pirate smile and her obsidian 
black eyes twinkled with joy.  There was something about the girl in the 
picture, but Lucas couldn't put his finger on it.  It was like he had known 
her.
     Thre was also a heavy trunk at the far end of the stone wall next to 
piles of junk and Lucas pulled open the lid.  Inside, were loads of 
photographs and letters from a Marha St. Croix.  Lucas disregarded the 
letters adn a photograph caught his eye.  It was of a middle-age woman 
holding an infant.  Her hair was pulled tightly into a bun and she held a 
stern expression.  Something ws nagging at him and that had to do with 
the photograph and the portrait, but the answer wouldn't come to mind.  
The fact that they were important to him, but not knowing why was 
annoying and very irritating.  It was getting hot and the stale stink of the 
room was beginning to nauseate him.  Lucas took the photo and headed 
back to his car.

***********
     A week after the house was rebuilt, a moving ban pulled up and 
started offloading furniture and other items into the house.  Caleb and 
Boone stopped their bikes to watch the fiasco.  "I wonder who's gonna 
move into that house?" asked Caleb as the movers were carrying a large 
vanity dresser inside. 
     "Whoever they are, they're crazy!" answered Boone.  "That place is 
haunted!"  Caleb looked at Boone with a questioning look.
     "Can't be haunted.  They just finished building it a week ago."
     Boone shook his head.  Caleb just didn't know.   "Not this one 
silly, the one they tore down to build this one.  My daddy said that it 
burned down with Old Man Braddock and his wife in it.  They had a 
daughter and child who disappeared.  No one knows if they died in the 
fire too or got away.  Their bodies were never found and some people 
say that they hear a child crying out of nowhere."
     Caleb rolled his eyes.  It was another one of Boone's ghost stories.  
A black Lincoln pulled up and the chauffer got out.  He opened the rear 
door and two women emerged.  The first was a tall old woman with the 
features of a bird with her tight skin and straight thin figure.  She wore a 
black dress that started with a high neck collar and ended at her ankles.  
Her eyes were a stormy grey like clouds and she wore a tight frown.
     "Is that the Wicked Witch of the West?" Caleb questioned.
     "More like The Bride of Frankenstein to me."  Both kids laughed at 
their little joke.
     The second woman seemed much nicer than the first.  She had a fair 
complexion and dark eyes to match her equally dark hair.  She wore a 
dress similar to the old woman's with the exception that it was dark blue 
intstead of black.  The woman saw them and smiled.  Caleb smiled back 
and waved.
     The wave caught the attention of the old woman and she turned fully 
in their direction and stared.  Boone felt the woman's cold eyes bore into 
him and it ran chills down his spine.  "Lets go Caleb," he remarked as he 
put his foot on the pedal.  "That lady gives me the creeps."  He began to 
rid off and Caleb followed.
     Madame St. Croix stood on the front lawn yelling at the movers and 
ordering around Hastings, the chauffer.  "Don't drop that!" she barked to 
the movers  who were carrying a large statue of the Virgin Mary.  "Its 
priceless and a relic!"  One of the movers seemed unmoved by her constant 
bickering.
     "So are you, you old bat!"
     She heard the snide remark adn exploded into a tirade beginning with 
"being a sinner" and  ending with "burning in hell".
     Casseopia St. Croix looked down at the ground and said nothing.  She 
had seen her mother like this many times before and had learned not to 
interfere.  She also memorized that "it was better to be see and not heard"
 and also "to speak only when spoken to".  Even Hastings was quiet and 
unmoving as the one-sided argument went on.  Cassie silently prayed for 
something to end the high tension in the air.
     Dark clouds started to roll in and Madame St. Croix stopped short to 
have the movers bring in everything before it rained.  Cassie whispered a 
silent prayer or "thank you" and followed Hastings and her mother inside.
      A black crow that had taken in the whole scene, cocked its head to 
the side, gave a loud caw, and flew away into the stormy sky.

***************
      Caleb and Loris were having dinner together.  Discussions at the table 
had been shorter and less frequent since the absence of Dr. Matt.  Loris 
was more silent and sorrowful as she cleaned and cooked around the 
house.  Even the food didn't have the same taste, but Caleb wasn't about 
to tell her that.  She was already sad that she had lost her best friend and 
telling her that the food didn't taste the same wasn't going to help.
     "Some people moved into the Braddock house today," spoke Caleb 
as he offered to break the silence.  Loris didn't look up from her soup but 
replied, "Oh really?"  It was a pitiful attempt to sound interested and Caleb 
saw through it.  Jumping up from the table he cried,"I've been going out of 
my way to cheer things up around here and nothing works!  Dr. Matt's 
gone and you have to accept that!  Feeling sorry for yourself ain't gonna 
helpin' him!"  Caleb ran to his room.
     Loris sat there by herself at the table.  Minutes ticked away as she 
didn't move.  Finally, she left the table and went to bed.
     Caleb layed in his bed as he stared at the ceiling.  "Merly," he started.  
"Everything's falling apart around here.  Loris is sad all the time and 
nothing makes her happy.  Matt refuses for us to seem him locked up 
in a cell so he just sits there alone day after day.  I talked to Boone, but 
he doesn't understand how it is.  Wish you were here."  Tired, Caleb 
drifted off to sleep.
     Merly came and pulled the covers up on Caleb's sleeping form.  
"Oh ye of little faith," she whispered and kissed Caleb goodnight.  Her 
form melted away to nothingness as he gazed lovingly at her brother.

*************
     Cassie was hearing crying.  Carefully lighting a candle as to not make 
herself known, she made her way downstairs.  The crying grew closer 
and once she made it to the livingroom, it stopped.  A hand touched her 
shoulder and Cassie almost screamed.  It was Hastings dressed in his blue 
nightgown and cap.  His mustache twitched from side to side. "Was that 
you crying my lady?"
     "Oh no!  I thought it was you or mother!"
     Hastings took her by the hand and led her back to her room.  He saw 
that being in a strange home bothered her.  She also needed to get out more 
and he had jus the idea.  "Tomorrow, I shall ask Madame St. Croix if  I 
can take you on my errands.  That way, you can see what the town looks 
like."  
     Cassie was overjoyed.

**************
     Meanwhile, Lucas sat in his bed with the photograph in his hand.  He 
was searching every door of his memory in his mind to find out why this 
picture meant something to him.  Selena waltzed in wearing a red neglige 
and matching pumps.  She let herself in the back door with her key after 
he had called an hour before.  Seeing that something other than herself 
preoccupied his mind just wouldn't do for Selena.  She took the photo 
from his hand and glanced at it.  "So you're into older women now?"  Lucas 
layed back with his hands behind his head.
     "No one has older tricks than you Selena."
     She dismissed his remark as she lit a candle over his body.  The hot 
wax dripped down and burned his flesh.  "Some tricks can never grow 
old honey," she purred.  Lucas closed his eyes as another drop of hot 
wax made contact with his skin.  Outside, the full moon shined just as 
brightly as ever.

TO BE CONTINUED....................