Thorne Ch. 06

"He set her up" Nathan said.

"Exactly" Thorne replied. "My guess is that he already has a successor picked out and whoever it is, they're going to be as bad if not worse than he is."

"Will he kill her?" Louise asked oddly concerned about the hunter.

"Rufus Saunders is an insane son of a bitch" Thorne replied forgetting about the children until he heard Celeste whisper "bad word". "I'm sorry sweetheart" Thorne said and then continued. "He might think about killing her, but he won't. Olivia is a way to continue his line. If nothing else, he'll punish her and make her marry his successor."

Ethan listened to Thorne as he talked about Olivia and the wheels began to turn. What if??? He turned his attention back to Thorne when he began to talk about Olivia's crew.

"Here are the names of the vampires in her crew. Albert, Mary, William, Harry and Nell..."

Nadine took a sharp breath and gripped Leon's hand.

"This can't be!" She thought to herself. "Harry is dead! And so is Nell! Papa killed her! They can't be alive!"

She looked over at Hans and saw the surprise on his face. He gave her a reassuring nod and turned his attention back to Thorne. Leon however, saw and felt her reaction.

"Baby do you know these vamps?"

"Its vampires and not vamps" Nadine replied sharper than she intended. "I'll tell you later."

"They're the ones aren't they?" Leon asked. "They're the ones that you told me about."

"Not now" Nadine whispered urgently.

"Fine, but we're going to talk" Leon said his tone firm. "And when we're done, I'm going to find and kill every last one of them. And I promise you this; they won't be able to come back."

Nadine flinched at the intensity of his voice. She knew that it would be pointless to try to talk him out of it. It hadn't taken her long to find out that Leon had a stubborn streak a mile wide and that he took the safety of his family seriously. When he told Patrick and Nathan that he would go after them if they hurt his sisters, he meant it. The same went for Thorne. She also knew that he wouldn't rest until Nell and her family was dead. Her one consolation was that Hans and Nathan would go with him. While he was strong and growing stronger by the day, there was no way that he would be able to take on five vampires who were much older than he was.

"Does anyone have any questions or thoughts?" Thorne asked as he looked around the room.

He saw Noel standing back in a corner watching everyone and everything. Later he would be able to relay where everyone sat, what they were wearing and the expression on their faces. It was that gift that made him an exceptional artist. He wondered what Noel was thinking as he watched and listened.

When no one said anything, He called all of the men to his side. He noted with amusement that Victor included himself among the men.

"You," he said to Victor, "What's your name?"

"Victor sir" Victor replied.

"Since you're the shortest man here, come up front so that you can see and hear."

Victor didn't look at Juliette for permission as he moved closer to Thorne.

"My name is Thorne and it isn't necessary to call me sir" Thorne said. "I'm glad that you stepped up. There are places in the house that are too big for adults but perfect for a man of your size. These are the places where you will take the children if the need arises. In other words, Ethan and I are placing you in charge of the children. It will be your responsibility to show them where these places are and to teach them the pass codes. If anything happens and you are separated from the adults, you will take the other children to one of those places.

Victor's chest puffed out with pride. He looked up at Hans who winked at him. By late morning, everyone knew the codes. Victor took the job of teaching the codes to Wanda, Celeste and Victoria seriously. He drilled them until even Celeste could repeat the codes flawlessly and made sure that they all knew where the escape exits were. Then he made sure that each of their cell phones were charged and turned on.

"We'll all take turns watching Celeste" He said. "Who wants to be first?"

Juliette watched Victor with a lump in her throat. He reminded her so much of his grandfather and Leon. She had no doubt that Victor Yancy was looking down on his only grandson with approval. She also knew that Angel would be proud of his only son.

Barb followed Thorne around the house not speaking unless it was to repeat the codes. When her attention wandered, Thorne snapped at her.

"Pay attention! The lives of everyone in this house could depend on you knowing these codes."

Finally, Barb had the codes memorized. She went to the kitchen where Juliette and the others were making food for everyone before putting the children to bed for much needed naps. The men were still talking and making plans. Unable to help herself, she walked up to Kevyn.

"So sis, how does it feel to be sleeping with a rapist?"

The chatter in the kitchen died down as everyone stopped to see what Kevyn would say.

"Can you at least wait until the kids are in bed?" Kevyn asked. "And it has nothing to do with making up pretty stories. They don't need to hear this. After they're in bed I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"You know," Rachel said from across the counter, "Kevyn isn't the only one married to a rapist. In fact, we were planning to get together to talk about this and anything else that you all wanted to talk about. So why don't we do this? Let's get the kids settled and we go to an empty room to talk. As Kevyn said, we'll tell you anything that you want to know."

Barb nodded and walked away.

*****

"Well?" Olivia asked. "What will it take to get you to kill me?"

Benita looked at her shocked.

"Are you that afraid of your father?"

"My father... never mind, just kill me." Olivia said softly.

"I can't do that" Benita replied. "For all I know, they may want to turn you."

"That would be almost as bad as giving me to my father" Olivia replied. "What would be the point? I would kill myself anyway."

"Why do you hate us?" Benita asked.

"One of you killed my mother and my brother" Olivia replied.

"Was it a random killing?" Benita asked.

"What does that matter?" Olivia retorted. "The bottom line is that one of you killed them."

"It matters" Benita replied. "Answer the question."

"My father said that you people took my mother unprovoked and killed her."

"And your brother, wasn't he on a mission that resulted in his death?" Benita asked.

"How do you know that?" Olivia asked.

"I was there. Your brother was in the process of beheading a child! A baby who had done him no harm and he was going to snuff out his life as if he was nothing!"

"Adam... he wouldn't..."

"He and his crew rolled into Riverside late one night. There was a vampire family out for dinner. A mother, a father and a little boy. It was late enough that not many people were out so your brother and his crew of six attacked this family. My mate and I happened to be in the area, but got there too late to do anything for the parents. I killed your brother. How do you like those beans? Your brother was and is a murderer."

"That isn't true! Adam loved children!"

"Human ones" Benita said with a cold smile. "But let's move on. Let's talk about your mother."

"What happened to the child?" Olivia asked.

"I adopted him, but let's continue. What do you know about your mother's death?"

"Were you there for that too?" Olivia whispered still in shock.

"No, but the story is well known. Let me ask you something, other than the rogues; how many times has a vampire attacked a human?"

"I... I don't know" Olivia confessed.

"The answer is that it does happen, but let's look at the reasons. Sometimes the vampire is a baby who hasn't been taught how to safely take from a human or they haven't been taught to live as a vampire. In other words, they were turned and then left to survive on their own. Inadvertently, they become one of the rogues. Of course there are those who kill for the sake of killing and choose to become a rogue. The other reason is when your kind comes into town. You immediately start killing and abducting leaving us little choice but to defend ourselves. Sometimes innocent humans get hurt and of course, the hunters take no responsibility for that; but back to your mother.

Your mother was abducted because the daughter of one of our kind was taken by your father and tortured in order to draw him out. In retaliation, the father of the girl took your mother as a bargaining chip. She was never meant to come to any harm. If your father would have given the girl back, your mother would still be alive."

"But one of you killed her!" Olivia shouted.

"That's true" Benita replied. "But it wasn't one of the vampires that accompanied the girl's father. Your father employs vampires doesn't he? In fact, your entire crew is made up of vampires. How many crews are like that? I mean one human and five vampires?"

"What does that have to do with my mother?" Olivia asked.

"Did your father tell you who else was at that meeting?"

"No... he said that the girl's father showed up with several vampires at a neutral meeting place."

"Did he now?" Benita asked. "What else did he tell you?"

"Just that they killed mom before the meeting got started."

"And what happened to the girl?" Benita asked.

"He said that she died."

"What if I were to tell you that your father had no intentions of releasing that girl? He was going to kill her and her father. What he hadn't planned on was the girl's father bringing a bargaining chip- your mother to the meeting. All he had to do was to give the girl back, but he tried to ambush the girl's father."

"How do you know all of this?" Olivia asked.

"Do you think that you're the only ones who use those who take money for betraying their kind? Here's something else for you to think about, not everyone in your organization believes as you and your father does. But anyway, one of your crew killed your mother. And if you think about it, you'll realize that your father is a murdering son of a bitch who wouldn't know the truth if it sucked his cock. Do you realize that you've said very little in his defense? Why is that? In fact, you didn't defend your brother."

"The girl... did she really die?" Olivia asked not answering the question.

"Why do you care?" Benita countered. "After all, she was nothing but a way to carry on our race."

"I never wanted to hurt children" Olivia replied. "I never wanted any of this. I just want to go home to my little house and to be left alone. I don't want to be the leader of anything. Do you know what I was doing the day I was spotted? I snuck out and spent the day pretending that I was someone else. I was Megan with two kids and a husband who was an attorney. I breached security so that I could feel normal. But you didn't answer my question. Did that girl really die?"

"No, she still lives, but only because her father turned her. Your father tried to kill her" Benita replied. "You might be interested in knowing that it was her that spotted you. You still haven't answered my question, why aren't you defending your family?"

Olivia started to defend her father and brother, but it was too late. She knew that everything that Bonita said to her was the truth. At this stage of the game, she was already in deep trouble. Admitting to the vampire that she spoke the truth wasn't going to make or break anything. She was shocked at the sense of relief that she felt. She no longer had to pretend that her family wasn't as horrible as they really were. She no longer had to pretend that she wanted to take over for her father.

"I'm not defending him because I know that you aren't lying" Olivia replied after several minutes. "I would still rather die than be turned or to be given back to him. So do me a favor and get it over with."

"I can't do that, but I'll tell Mr. Sinclaire and Mr. Blackwell what you want. Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Olivia blinked. She hadn't expected to be treated with such humanity.

"Yes... please."

Benita untied her hands and grabbed a hold of her arms.

"Just so you know," Benita said, "There's no way out of here and there's nothing in the bathroom that you can use to harm yourself."

Olivia went to the bathroom, washed her face and stared at her reflection.

"What's going to happen to me?" she whispered.

****

"Where are we going?" Nell asked for what had to be the tenth time.

It was becoming clear that Albert really didn't have much of a plan. In fact, William had advised against going on Rufus Saunders' payroll. But Albert hadn't listened. He was seeing the dollar signs and not looking at the big picture. To William's way of thinking, they should have made their getaway long before this. There had been plenty of opportunities, but Albert refused to take them.

Olivia weighed heavily on his mind. He felt guilty for leaving her at the club, but he couldn't afford to be caught. He hoped that they were treating her decently and not hurting her. Finally, he could take the bickering no more.

"Everyone just shut the fuck up!" he bellowed. "This is what's going to happen..."

Albert started to say something, but William interrupted him.

"This is your fault! I tried to tell you that we needed to stay away from Saunders! And where is this grand plan to escape? We should have left a long time ago and then Harry had to kill the man's wife! What do you think Rufus is going to do when he finds out? You are no longer the head of this family, I am! I should have done this a century ago."

"What if I want to be the head of the family?" Harry challenged. "Are you going to stop me?"

"Sit your ass down" William said. "You couldn't lead your way out of a fucking paper bag. You're too... That girl at the club... that was you wasn't it? You're the one who killed her."

All eyes went to Harry waiting for him to answer.

"Do you know what you've done?" Mary asked.

"They don't know it was me" Harry said.

"No, but they have Olivia" Nell said. "They know about us. That means that not only is Rufus going to be looking for us, so will every vampire security team in the area if not the country. We need to leave now."

As usual, it wasn't until the consequences of his impulsiveness was staring him in the face; did Harry understand.

"I'm sorry" he said losing the belligerence in his voice.

"That's what you've said ever since we took that girl from her family" William snapped. "This time you've really done it. Do me a favor and don't speak."

"What are you thinking?" Mary asked.

"We have to go" William said. "Go north to where we took the girl and I'll meet you there and for god's sake, keep an eye on Harry."

"Where are you going?" Albert demanded.

"He's going after that bitch" Harry said with a sneer. "You know that she's already given us up."

William didn't answer, but gave an order.

"Go and if I'm not there in three nights, assume the worse and go to the Bahamas or better yet someplace that isn't heavily populated. If I manage to find Olivia, I'll find you. And Harry; no more killings! We're in this shit because of you."

A few minutes later, William was sitting alone at the kitchen table. When he heard voices approaching, he vanished.

***

Caleb and Rufus spent the entire flight on the phone. No one had seen where Olivia had been taken or where Albert and his family had gone. The one thing Rufus kept hearing was how empty the streets were.

"If I didn't know any better, I would swear that the fangers knew that we were here."

"That's impossible!" Rufus snapped. "Even if Olivia opened her mouth, there wouldn't be enough time to get the warning out."

"I was just making an observation" the voice on the other end of the phone said.

"Then observe something that I can use!" Rufus yelled into the phone and slammed it shut.

"You aren't going to like this." Caleb said as he hung up his phone. "Many of the hunters who live in the area are gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" Rufus demanded.

"No one knows, but it does give some credibility to the idea that the vampires knew we were in the area."

"And?" Rufus barked out.

"The only way that they would know where our people were is if Olivia told them" Caleb said.

"She wouldn't dare" Rufus said firm in his conviction.

"Rufus, they have her" Caleb said. "God only knows what they've done to her. We have to be prepared for the possibility that they've either killed or turned her."

"If they've turned her," Rufus said, "kill her."

Caleb blinked in surprise.

"Rufus, she's your daughter..."

"If she's one of those things, then she's no longer my daughter; she's our enemy. She's now nothing more than an incubator to bring more of the bastards into the world, but not only that; she has information that they could use against us. She dies."

Caleb nodded his agreement. As far as he was concerned, it was too bad. He genuinely liked Olivia and thought that she would make a good wife and mother. He was fully aware of her politics regarding the vampires and other species, but he really didn't care as long as she kept her views to herself and didn't teach them to their children. He didn't really want to marry her, but if it got him into Rufus's position, he would do it. Suddenly, he hoped that she was either dead or turned. It would make his life so much simpler and he could choose his own wife or not. No one said that he had to be married to hold the position and he sure as hell didn't need to be married in order to have kids.

He came from a family where most of the babies born were male and he saw no reason as to why he couldn't continue the trend. In his mind he bid Olivia a farewell and turned his mind to the job at hand. As soon as the jet landed, they were off the plane and rushing through the airport.

"May I hail you a cab?" a voice called out as they practically ran to the exit

Neither man replied as they ran out of the door. When they were gone Ollie took out his phone and called Ethan.

"They just landed."

****

"I want the bastards" Leon told Nathan and Hans. "I'm going after them whether you come with me or not."

"Leon, we just can't go looking for them." Nathan said. "We need to calm down and think of a plan that assures that we get we want and that we all come back in one piece."

Leon took a deep breath and nodded his head. Nathan was right.

"I suggest that we put the word out that if they're found that we be called" Nathan said. "Let the hunters work for us. We'll also make sure to let the other reconnaissance teams know. "

"So we just wait?" Leon said.

"I know that Thorne and Ethan are setting up reconnaissance teams and that we will be a part of them" Hans said. "That would be the time to look for them, but I don't think that we'll find them. They have to know that they're being searched for by both sides. If they're smart, they've left the area."

"Nadine will never be safe until we find them" Leon said. "And I won't stop until all of them are dead."

Hans and Nathan saw by the expression on Leon's face that his mind was made up.

"We're with you" Nathan said. "I'm sure that Ethan and Thorne will help, but we've got to use our heads."

"Thank you" Leon said. "I need to go check on Nadine, hearing those names freaked her out. She was so sure that she had killed Harry."

Leon found Nadine sitting by a heavily draped window. He sat beside her and hugged her.

"I'm going to find the bastards" he said. "No one will ever hurt you again."

Nadine pulled away from him, looked at him with tear filled eyes and began to beg him to let it go.

"Dina, I can't" Leon said. "I know that you think that they've forgotten about you, but they haven't. I'm going to end this before they find you. What I need from you is their descriptions."