Author's note: A few more quiet weeks have past. Brady and Chloe's affection/attraction keeps growing while Sami and Lucas are having trouble remembering that they are suppose to hate one another. Ling hasn't made a move, or rather not one that our heroes are aware of.

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It was an uncommonly bright day, unseasonably mild, the gusty air carrying a hint of cinnamon apples and late harvest grapes as the park filled with kite flyers. Their light jackets and windbreakers mixed into a multicolored profusion as festive and brilliant as the kites flown or the leaves blowing under foot.

Silk dragons, rainbow boxes, spin wheels, butterflies, cartoon characters (like Sailor Moon, Goofy, Snoopy) painted the blue heavens from tethers of spooled string. The white noise from the crowd rustled with laughter and shouts, its infectious energy deafening in spurts and murmuring in waves.

From his removed vantage point, in the lair of a tinted window diablo, the man of darkness momentarily slipped and smiled. He knew this place of joy.

Watching two boys run from the parking lot, a diamond shaped flyer clutched between, a trail of red/orange bow ties dragging behind, he couldn't help but remember. It didn't seem so long ago when he was that young, spending days cutting and pasting, fashioning his first kite from bamboo, ribbon, and paper, his little brother hovering the whole while. And now it was like he was reliving it, hearing the steady stream of Hang's chattering once again.

"What are you making Kai, can I help? Please let me help."

"It should be a bird, Kai. Make a kingfisher, with wings out to here, so it can swoop fast and eat all the fish in the village."

Laughing at Hang's mimicking antics, he let his brother help. And they made a bird (even though he'd planned to make a tiger). When it was finished, the night was late and black, no stars.

"Can we fly it? We must fly it! Come on Kai, let's go!"

"No, there's no light. The sun has set. We'll wait for morning."

"No Now! Please! We worked so hard! We must fly it now! I can't wait any longer. I-I'll die."

"Patience, as father says the longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be."

"Yes but better to light a candle than curse the darkness… Please Kai?"

The memory of it made Kai Ling wince. He could never deny Hang anything. They took the kite to the top of Crescent Pass. They tied tiny lanterns to its string and there in the pitch black, a kingfisher flew, stars in its wake.

Yes, the man of darkness recognized this world of joy. But there was no place for him in it any longer. His brother was dead, murdered.

Slowly, he slid back in his seat, ignoring the distraction of the park and its children. Stone faced, he scanned the entrance and waited, letting his loss and pain escalate. According to the informant, Brady Black would be here today, along with his nephew.

There would be justice.