Thorne Ch. 06

"No" Olivia confessed. Every story that she had ever heard about the capture of vampires was horror filled. Even the ones where the deaths were supposedly merciful. "Why are you being so kind to me?"

"In my other life," Benita said after a brief hesitation, "I'm an economics college professor. One of the things that I teach is that you treat people in the way that you want to be treated- in other words, customer service. I know that it contradicts what I do on the side, but life is full of contradictions isn't it? You've given me no reason to hurt you, but if you do... Now please, sit down and eat."

"You're really a college professor?" Olivia asked.

"Most of us hold human professions" Benita replied. "There are those among us who are doctors, lawyers and custodians. The person who serves you when you go through the drive through for a late night snack could be vampire... do you see what I'm saying? Most of us are peaceful. We live by human law even though in our world they really mean nothing. We watch for your kind and when we know that you're around, we issue warnings to steer clear. I don't deny that there are those of us who hate your kind with a passion and will kill you on sight, but those are in the minority. The rest of us just want to be left alone."

"I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher" Olivia said. "I never pursued it because my father had other ideas."

"Why didn't you do what millions of people have done?" Benita asked. "Why didn't you just leave and make your own way?"

Olivia laughed.

"You don't know my father. He would hunt me down and drag me back home before I got one bag unpacked."

"It's obvious that you don't hold to the same beliefs he does or at least not to the same extent" Benita said. "But you don't speak up for yourself. Why is that?"

"Again, this is my father we're talking about" Olivia said. "With him there is no democracy. There's only his way. To question anything he says is considered treason. At the very least its punishable by whipping, at worst, you die."

Benita looked at Olivia and felt a little sympathy for her but she was still a hunter no matter how soft hearted she was.

"Eat and I'll be back later" Benita said. "Just remember that there's no way out of here and if you try anything, you will be hurt."

After Benita left the room, Olivia sat down and tried to eat. She took a few bites of the salad and pushed it away. She wondered where William and the others were and if they had been caught by either side. Of the five of them, William was the only one that she had any real concerns about. She also knew that her father had to be in town already and looking for her. Her stomach dropped at the thought of it. She could already feel his cold gray eyes on her. She could hear his strong tenor as he accused her of treachery and berated her for her failures.

Olivia stood up and began to walk around the room wondering if there was a way out of the mess she was in. If there was, she wasn't seeing it. The only thing that she could think of was to start praying that she would be killed and that it would be quick and merciful.

***

Noel stopped painting and looked at the portrait of the eyes. The owner of them was upset. He could feel the sadness coming from the painting. He laid down his brush and moved closer to the portrait of the eyes.

"What is upsetting you?"

Silence.

"How can I help if you won't talk to me?" he asked gently.

He waited for several minutes and when there was no response, he kissed the portrait where the forehead would be and went back to work on his painting. As he painted, he thought about the owner of the eyes. He wondered what she looked like, not that it mattered. She would be beautiful even if she had two heads and had a nose like Pinocchio. He wondered what she did for a living and if she liked the arts and music as he did. He looked at the eyes again and resisted the urge to ask her where she was. For one, he didn't think that she would tell him and two, apparently the fates didn't think that it was time for them to meet. And given what was happening, it was probably for the best.

Noel sighed and looked at the portrait that he was working on. It was a portrait of Ethan and Thorne standing side by side as Steven Sinclaire and his and Noel's father had once done before...

That was as far as the thought went before a sharp pain that started behind his eyes intervened. Noel wiped the tears away and shook his head to clear it. Whatever it was, he wasn't supposed to remember it; at least not now. He decided that when the time was right, the memory would come and there would be no pain associated with it. The decision felt right to him. Once he accepted it, the pain completely vanished. He picked up his brush and continued working on the portrait of Ethan and Thorne softly humming 'you are my sunshine'.

***

"I don't like your aunt" Victoria said as she held Celeste's hand. "Why is she so mean?"

"I don't know" Wanda replied. "She's always been kind of mean."

Wanda sat on the bed next to Celeste who was now sleeping. She had been furious with her aunt for making Celeste cry. After Leon had calmed Celeste down, he had asked Wanda and Victoria to sit with her. Every so often, Celeste would begin to cry in her sleep. Wanda did the one thing that she knew always cheered her little sister up. She began to sing 'You are my sunshine' until Celeste quieted.

Wanda had already made a decision. She wasn't going to let Barb hurt Celeste again and if she got punished for being disrespectful, then so be it. Truth be told, when she found out that they were all going to be staying in the same house with Barb, she had to bite her tongue. She loved her aunt, but she didn't like her. She could only hope that whatever was happening was over quickly so that they could go home. She had science projects that needed tending to and she hated missing school.

Seeing that Celeste was finally in a deep sleep, Wanda touched Victoria's hand and pointed to the desk in the corner.

"I don't want to wake her up" she murmured to Victoria.

"I'll help you keep her safe" Victoria said. "I won't let anything hurt her."

Wanda gave Victoria a curious glance and then thanked her. She had the feeling that Victoria wanted to tell her something but wasn't sure if she should. She loved Victoria, but at times found her mysterious; but not in a creepy kind of way. She had a lot of questions for her, but something always stopped her from asking. Now was one of those times.

"Let's play scrabble" Victoria suggested as she turned on her laptop. As with her mother and her sisters, it was her favorite game and Wanda gave her a run for her money.

Wanda glanced over at Celeste and nodded.

"Oh and only English words this time" she added.

****

Barb sat staring at her sisters waiting for one of them to speak. Finally, she broke the silence.

"What was that thing with Celeste? Why would she say something like that unless you've been talking about me behind my back?"

"Celeste is what's known as an empath" Juliette explained. "I don't really understand how it works, but she can feel the emotions of other people. That was why she was always so frightened. Apparently, she can feel whatever it is that your baby is feeling."

"An empath... what is this? The twilight zone? And by the way, she's wrong..."

"No she isn't" Louise said. "I've felt it too but it took me longer to figure out where it was coming from."

"I suppose that you're an empath too?" Barb asked.

"Yes among other things" Louise replied. "But we can talk about that later. Right now we need to talk about how we can act like what we are-sisters."

"Now you want to act like sisters?" Barb sneered. "Where were you when I landed? Oh yes... you had plans that were more important than I was. Why didn't you introduce me to a nice respectable man? Because you didn't want me to have more than you and what happened? I end up with that bastard Thorne Blackwell. Let's face it, you came out here, married into money and had no intention of sharing it.

And you Miss Purity... you come out here, meet a man and boom you're pregnant! I wonder what mom and dad would have to say about that! Is that how you got him? You can tell us now; you've got the ring on your finger."

"Now look..." Kevyn started to say, but Louise shook her head to silence her.

"And you," she spat out at Kevyn, "You say that no one stuck around to help Louise, but where in the hell were you? You were out here trolling for dollars! You say that you weren't, but I know better. By the way, you said that Clay killed someone? Just for the record, I don't believe it. So how did you get your rapist? Was he raping you and you decided that you liked it? Did you become a willing victim?"

Barb was out of control and she knew it. But she couldn't seem to stop herself. She continued to rant not censuring herself.

"And let's not forget Juliette who had every woman's dream for a man and couldn't hold on to him. You were looking for a rich man too and don't deny it. We talked about it. That's why you dumped your kids on Louise and went to the clubs. None of you have made an effort to try to help me! I'm in this position because of you!"

"Are you done?" Kevyn asked quietly. "If you aren't, then please continue. Tell us how it's our fault that you ended up with Thorne when we tried to get you to leave with us. Explain to me how it's our fault that you went to his club when Patrick tried to warn you away from it. Explain to me how it's our fault that you said that you wanted nothing to do with us. Tell me how any of the choices that you made is our fucking fault!"

"Kev..." Louise said.

"No!" Kevyn said. "I'm tired of this shit! For as long as I can remember it's been about you. You didn't give a damn about mom and dad or anyone else for that matter. The only thing that ever mattered was what you thought you needed. Now you've got it and guess what? You're still the sad, miserable person you always were. You're still blaming other people for your choices and I for one refuse to accept the blame. Oh... remember this, you showed up uninvited. You didn't give us a chance to get settled so that we could invite you. Not only that, you didn't call me, you called Lou thinking that she would be easy to get around. That was you thinking that what you wanted was more important than anything and anyone else. You came out here under the guise of wanting to spend time with us. You lied or tried to..."

"Why didn't you tell me about the rapes?" Barb shot back ignoring the issues that Kevyn brought up.

"How were we supposed to do that when you wouldn't talk to us?" Kevyn asked. "Louise showed up at your door and you threw her out! You changed your cell phone number and specifically told us to leave you alone. You've turned down any and all efforts that we made to reach out to you! So tell me how in the hell were we supposed to tell you anything?"

"Barb," Juliette said softly, "We love you; you've got to know that. Yes I admit to wishing for a rich man to take care of me and the kids and yes I admit to looking for one. You're also right about Angel. I was stupid and immature, but that doesn't make how you've been treating your family right. I've seen glimpses of the person that you could be, but every time she makes an appearance; you stop her. Why is that? No one is expecting you to do a complete turn-around. All we want is to do is to find a way that we can function as a family. Is that too much to ask?"

"You didn't answer my question" Barb said to Kevyn ignoring Juliette.

"No, Patrick didn't rape me" Kevyn replied.

"Would you tell me if he did?" Barb countered.

"Yes I would tell you" Kevyn replied, "but I think that I'm beginning to understand what's happening here. You really don't care. You acted enraged, but you never asked if I had been hurt. That was Leon, Juliette and Lou's first question. The only thing that this means to you is that you think that it makes you better than us. It's something for you to gloat over, but you know what? Go ahead and gloat. What they did is common knowledge. It's also common knowledge that they've owned up to it, faced it and aren't blaming others for their actions. If it makes you feel better to gloat then go for it. I don't care but you need to stop blaming your issues on other people. When your husband left, according you it was his fault. But wasn't it because you made a promise and then reneged on it?"

"What do you know about that?" Barb asked surprised.

"He told me" Kevyn replied. "He didn't want us to think badly of him, but as I said; go ahead and gloat. I just don't care anymore."

Barb blinked at the resignation in Kevyn's voice. She really didn't care.

"I'm going to tell you something else" Kevyn said. "You could have had a good mate... you had a good mate but all you could see was that he worked in a hotel. All you had to do was give him a chance and just maybe you could have come to love him. He went to the club that night fully prepared to fight for you and you turned him away. Now you're pissed at Juliette because she saw what a good man Hans is. That he's with her isn't her fault, it's yours. It's a consequence of your actions just like your husband leaving you was, as this pregnancy is and the fact that we're this close to walking away. My question to you is this, when are you going to start facing the fact that we aren't your enemy? When are you going to realize that you are your own enemy and the choices you made were your own?"

"She knew that he had money" Barb said looking at Juliette and ignoring Kevyn's questions.

"No I didn't" Juliette replied. "When I first saw Hans, I saw the same thing that you did; someone who worked at a hotel to pay the bills. But Barb even if he did have to work to pay the bills, I would still be with him. There are more important things than money. I understand why you think that it's so important. We had a hard life. All of us, mom and dad included wanted something more and god only knows how hard dad tried. I know that you think that he didn't try hard enough and I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. I know that you feel that you were abused, again; I'm not going to try to tell you that you weren't. Those are your beliefs. What I am going to tell you is this, love you or not; we can only take so much of your attitude. I'm tired of being figuratively slapped in the face every time we reach out to you.

You've got nieces and a nephew who don't like you. They love you, but they don't like you. You're carrying a baby that knows that you don't love him and he's afraid. I know that the circumstances of my pregnancies were different, but Barb; this baby is coming and you need to start thinking about that. You need to decide if you're going to be a mother to that baby or not. We want to help you if you'll let us. We want to help you decorate your nursery and have you help us decorate Louise's. We want to know our nephew. So can we please stop fighting and make our way toward being a family?"

Barb didn't answer, but looked at Louise.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me to say?" Louise asked. "It's all been said. I agree with Kevyn in that your only interest in the rapes is that it makes you feel that somehow you're better than we are. Maybe you are, but are you any better off? I think that if you stop and think about it, you already know what it is you're missing. Until you can admit that there's nothing else to say. I can only hope that you'll let us be involved with the baby and..."

"So damned perfect" Barb said interrupting Louise. "So damned perfect with your kisses on the temple and cheeks. Does that spend at the store? Does that make people notice who you are?"

"Fuck" Kevyn swore as she stood up. "I'm done here. Barb, when and if you're ready to talk and rejoin the family, let me know."

Barb's mouth dropped open when Kevyn started to walk out.

"You're walking out?" Barb asked.

"You were right" Kevyn replied. "There isn't anything to talk about. You're right and we're wrong. Being loved and loving doesn't count for anything and you can't spend it at the store. Being together as a family doesn't mean anything and your baby.... Barb, whenever you're ready call us. The ball's in your court."

Juliette stood up next.

"I'm with Kevyn" she said. "We could go around and around about this all day. No matter what we say or do, you're convinced that we're against you when we're not. I want to add this one last thing, if you and Thorne decide that you don't want your baby, Hans and I will take him. I can't stand the thought that he will be as miserable as you and Thorne are. If you and Thorne work things out, we'll give him back. Just think about it ok? For once think about someone other than yourself. You have my number and I'll be around if you want to talk."

For a moment, Barb couldn't speak. She stared at Juliette flabbergasted and didn't know how to respond. Finally, she spoke.

"I'll concede to one thing" she said. "I shouldn't have jumped you in front of the kids like that. They didn't need to hear that and I really didn't mean to scare them. As to the rest of it..."

"As I said, I'm done" Kevyn said as she slipped out of the door followed by Juliette.

Barb watched them leave feeling much the same way she did when her husband left her. She looked at Louise expecting to see her standing.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Barb asked

"Barb I don't know what else to say" Louise said sadly. "We're trying but you have to give a little. We're planning to meet with Katrina, Rachel and Maryann in a few days. If you're interested in having some guidance in getting along in this crazy world that we married into please come. I also think that you should give some thought to Juliette's offer."

"How do you do it?" Barb asked softly. "How are you adjusting so easily to this? How can you be a part of that family? How can you bring a child into this?"

"Do you want an honest answer?" Louise asked.

Barb hesitated. Did she really want to know? She decided that she did.

"Tell me."

"I'm not spending all of my energy trying to find ways to make myself and other people miserable. I'm trying to learn all I can about this world and what it means for my baby. I know that this is far more than you bargained for, but it's a reality that you have to learn to accept. Meeting with Katrina, Rachel and Maryann will help with that. Talking to us-your sisters will also help. Even though Kevyn is just as new to this as I am, she was still helpful."

"I'm not trying to make everyone miserable!" Barb said heatedly.

"Aren't you? That's what it looks like to me" Louise said. "And there's the other thing, the thing that you're too afraid to admit that you want and need. You keep thinking that you have to have one or the other when that isn't true. As far as being in this family, one; Nathan didn't rape anyone- you know that. I also believe that anyone and I mean anyone can change if they want to. I'm not saying that it's easy, I'm sure that Ethan and the others can tell you that it wasn't. It's a hard thing to admit to others what you are and to admit that you were wrong. The question is at what point do you stop blaming others and take responsibility for your actions. I could be wrong, but I think that's where change starts. I also agree with Juliette, no one is expecting a personality transformation. We just want to get along as families are supposed to.

You asked how I could bring a baby into this. Into what? A family that will love and protect her? Barb a baby is a chance to start over. This baby will know what her father's family was and is. She will also know how they struggled to change and how they helped others. But while we're on the subject of babies, you say that Celeste is wrong. But I notice that you refer to the baby as it and not he or she. Why is that? If you're accepting the fact that the baby is coming, and you imply that you care for him; why are you still calling him 'it'?"