Thorne Ch. 09

Harry was full of himself. He wondered why he hadn't realized sooner that he could touch Nadine telepathically. Had he realized that, the others wouldn't have had to die. The only thing that really concerned him was the presence that he felt when he touched Nadine. He couldn't tell if it was male or female only that it was powerful. That should have given him pause, but it didn't. He was focused on the knowledge that he now had unlimited access to Nadine. He wondered if he could make her relive the assaults. Instead of leaving as he planned, he decided to try. He looked around and assessed his surroundings. Sensing no one, he closed his eyes and concentrated on Nadine.

****

Nadine had actually managed to relax and was having a good time- as good as could be expected anyway. The only issue had been Victoria's reaction to Barb going to the kitchen. As she listened to Katrina and Rachel talk about how they had managed to not only survive brutal rapes but married their rapist, she realized that Leon was right. These women could help her deal with what happened to her.

She had just made up her mind to talk to them when she felt Harry in her head. Then she felt his hands on her skin. She jumped so hard that she tumbled out of the chair. She could hear herself screaming "no! No!" just as she had back then only this time, someone helped her.

She heard her name being called and then hands on her. There was a voice whispering in her ear for her to breathe. Louise.

"He can't hurt you, you're with us," Louise said. "I'm with you."

But it felt real. Nadine struggled to do as Louise told her. She tried to take a deep breath but all that came out was a sob.

"Dina?" she heard inside of her head and sobbed in relief. "Baby are you alright?"

She could only nod. She didn't trust herself to speak. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and was finally able to talk.

"I... I'm ok."

"He was in your head again wasn't he?" Leon asked. "The sick son of a bitch!" he said not giving her a chance to respond. "Don't worry baby, this ends tonight."

A few minutes later, Louise knew the general vicinity where Harry was hiding. A couple of minutes after that, she knew exactly where he was. She could feel Nathan in the back of her mind and knew that he was angry. In her mind, she had done the right thing. She and the baby were both fine and Nadine and Leon could be rid of Harry.

"Nadine," she whispered, "give this address to Leon. Harry is there but he won't be for long. He can feel me."

Nadine hesitated and then telepathically relayed the message to Leon.

"Got it," Leon said, "now try to relax he won't come near you again."

As if to negate what Leon was saying, Nadine felt Harry's none to gentle touch on her face. She bit back a scream and steadied herself reminding her that Harry wasn't there and that he was toying with her. Then he was gone. Nadine sagged in relief and let the tears flow. Juliette and Kevyn helped both Nadine and Louise to their feet and lead them to chairs.

Barb seeing what was happening when she came out of the kitchen went back, got a tray and put glasses of water and juices and took them back to the living room.

"Here's something to drink," she said lowering the tray so that Louise could take a glass. She then took the tray to Nadine who took a glass of water and thanked her.

"Thanks Barb," Louise said after she finished her glass of juice.

"You're welcome," Barb replied. "I'm going to bed, keep me posted."

When she got to her room, she realized that she hadn't asked what happened or if Louise was alright. She hadn't even asked about Louise's baby. She started to go back and changed her mind. She would ask later.

*****

William was on high alert. Even though Caleb was dead, Rufus was doubly dangerous because he had been challenged and he was acting impulsively. He reminded William of Hitler in the way that he disregarded the advice and observations of his crew leaders just as Hitler had ignored the advice of his generals. Word about Caleb had spread like wildfire. William could see it in their eyes. If Rufus's goal was to reestablish control, he had done that. He had also by refusing to listen, ensured the needless deaths of many of his men.

William said nothing. He supposed that some of the hunters weren't necessarily bad people, but for now; all of them with the exception of Olivia was the enemy. He wondered which of the hunters would be the first to try to assassinate Rufus. He looked at the men surrounding Rufus and decided that it would be none of them.

While it was obvious that they hated Rufus, it was equally as obvious that they were afraid of him. William had to give Rufus credit. He was smart enough to change out his personal guard after he killed Caleb. He surrounded himself with men who would do as he said without question no matter how they felt about him. William also wondered if push came to shove if any of them would do anything to prevent Rufus's death.

He didn't think so. Especially if they had someone- him to take the blame for it. William shrugged as he realized that he could conceivably die. It didn't matter as long as Olivia was safe and as long as she stayed with the Blackwell/Sinclaire factions; she would be.

He took another moment to think about his family hoping that they took advantage of the opportunity that he had obtained for them. Harry he knew was a lost cause. He had been a lost cause even before they had been turned by a coven of vampires who caught them while they were trying to escape to the north. The vampirism had only made his insanity more visible. William inwardly sighed and redirected his complete attention to what was going on around him. By morning, not only would Rufus Saunders be dead; so would Harry. It bothered him that he didn't really feel sad about it.

When they left the house, William hung back and waited for his opportunity. If it didn't present itself, he would create one. Whenever he could, he tried to help someone caught out on the street. It didn't matter what species they were-they were at a disadvantage. There were a few times that he couldn't do anything except watch. To do otherwise would have tipped his hand too much. Rufus was already suspicious of him which is what he wanted.

William felt Rufus looking at him as if he had been reading his thoughts. William looked back at him and gave him a cold smile. He almost laughed at Rufus's startled expression. Rufus had expected him to be afraid especially with so many hunters around. William stared at Rufus until Rufus turned away under the guise of giving an order.

"Soon," William thought to himself as he watched Rufus walk away.

****

Harry was having a good time. He was having such a good time that he lost track of time and abandoned his plan to leave. He was like a child playing with a new toy. He first became aware that something wasn't quite right when Nadine stopped reacting to him in fear. The next thing to alert him was that the other presence in her mind was stronger than he had originally thought. So strong in fact that he could give it a sex-female. He wondered how that could be. It didn't occur to him that the other presence could track him to his exact location. How could she? They hadn't shared blood. Nadine however was another matter. If he could find her, then she could find him. That realization made him wonder why she hadn't done it.

"Panic," he said with satisfaction.

He looked around him and realized that he had been in the same spot for much longer than was wise. It was time to go except- he couldn't move.

"Hello Harry," Leon said from behind him.

Harry stopped struggling and waited for Leon to come to him. His eyes widened when he saw Leon. Leon was taller than him by several inches and outweighed him by more than fifty pounds but- he was the older of the two of them. He could tell that Leon wasn't very old as a vampire- less than a year at least and that was to his advantage.

"Nice trick," Harry said with a smile. "You must be the mate to MY Nadine."

Leon recognized the statement as a goad and didn't react the way that Harry hoped that he would.

"You really are as stupid as Nadine said you are," Leon replied. "You could have been long gone, but you stayed. That is a mistake that will cost you your life."

The smile left Harry's face and was replaced by a smirk.

"Are you going to kill me?" Harry asked. "My guess is that you've never killed anyone. What makes you so sure that you can kill someone now?"

"Because of Nadine," Leon replied. "You hurt her and you're still hurting her. I may feel guilty about killing you, but I'll deal with it."

"You are newborn," Harry said with a derisive laugh. "How do you plan to kill me? Let's make a deal shall we? Release me and I'll let you go. Release Nadine to me, she is rightfully mine and I'll let you live."

Much to Harry's surprise, Leon burst out into a full bellied laugh and he didn't like being laughed at.

"Nadine didn't tell me that you were a comedian. That's probably one of the funniest things that I ever heard. The answer is no. I would die before I let you anywhere near her and that includes mentally. So let's get this over with."

Suddenly Harry was able to move. He looked around and extended his senses. Surely the new vampire hadn't come alone. He was right; he sensed two others not far away. He didn't recognize the scent of either of them, but he could tell that one of them was old; much older than he was. He wondered who they were and who this new vampire was that he had such an old one with him. One of them had to be his maker. It was the only thing that made sense.

"So you brought friends," Harry drawled hoping that Leon would slip up and reveal who they were.

"I wasn't stupid enough to come alone," Leon replied. "But don't worry. They won't interfere unless I can no longer defend myself."

"Hmmm, I would like to meet who it is that I will be killing after you," Harry said.

"Dude, seriously-do you think that I was born yesterday?" Leon asked with a chuckle. "You're fishing for information. It doesn't matter who they are, the fight is between you and me."

Harry was becoming unnerved. He didn't like the confidence that Leon was exhibiting. It made him nervous that Leon wasn't afraid of him.

"Do you understand that once you're dead there will be nothing that will keep me from finding and fucking your mate?" Harry asked trying to goad Leon into attacking before he was ready.

"What I understand is this," Leon replied. "Even if you manage to kill me, Nadine will never go with you. She would kill herself first. I also know this, even if I die; you die too. My unseen friends will ensure that. So what are we going to do? Time's passing by and I have things to do."

Instead of Leon acting rashly, Harry did. He charged Leon thinking that he had the element of surprise on his side. When Harry reached him, Leon vanished and appeared behind him. Harry whirled around and bellowed in anger. There was one thing that he hated even more than being laughed at- it was being made a fool of and that's what the new vampire was doing. Instead of taking the opportunity to vanish, Harry charged again. This time, Leon didn't move. He stood with his hands balled into fists at his side and waited. When Harry reached him, he raised his hands and hit him square in the chest. It didn't take him long to realize how he was going to destroy Harry. He was going to let him do all of the work.

Harry stumbled backwards and landed on his ass. He shook his head and jumped back to his feet.

"Not bad newborn," he said and before Leon realized it; Harry was behind him with his hands around his neck. He felt Nathan move toward them and waved him away. He used his greater height and weight to his advantage and reached behind him. He had just got his hands behind him when he felt warmth running down his shirt. Harry was trying to decapitate him.

"Shit!" Leon swore as pain ripped through him. Once again he felt Nathan move and he waved him back. He wasn't anywhere near defenseless or dead yet. He ignored the pain and grabbed Harry by reaching back and wrapping his arms around him and squeezing as hard as he could. Startled, Harry loosened his hold around Leon's neck. Leon took advantage of the release and twisted so that he was now facing Harry.

"This ends now..." was all he managed to get out before he felt an excruciating pain in his chest.

"I agree with you," Harry said as he pushed the blade of the knife deeper. "It hurts like a bitch doesn't it? That's how it felt when that bitch buried my own knife in me. I can promise you that when I get my hands on her... I'll fuck her silly and then she'll feel the pain that I did and still do."

Leon felt himself weakening as the blood poured from his neck and chest. The last conscious thought that he had was to Hans and Nathan.

"Kill the sick mother fucker."

*****

William was still watching Rufus and planning his next move when he felt Harry die. A small part of him mourned, but a bigger part of him was relieved. He wondered who it was that killed him and decided that it really didn't matter. Even from where he was he felt his family's pain. He had no doubts that his father thought that he had turned Harry in. He couldn't think about that now- he had to rid the world of Rufus Saunders.

"I'm sorry Olivia," he thought to himself as he watched Rufus strutting around like a peacock even though he had received word that several of his crews had been either killed or captured. William listened with disbelief as Rufus called for more teams from as far away as Arizona and New Mexico. He no longer had the luxury of waiting for the right time. He had to kill Rufus before those teams left their respective states.

He slowly made his way closer to Rufus and was within striking distance when someone stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going fanger?"

"Nowhere, I only wish to hear better," William replied.

"I thought that you guys had that supersonic hearing and all that shit," the hunter replied.

When William didn't reply, the man continued talking.

"Well? What about it? Do you have supersonic hearing and x-ray vision like superman? Can you fly?"

William backed up realizing that as afraid of Rufus as these men were, he had been wrong in thinking that they would allow any harm to come to him. He would have to kill Rufus without giving him a chance to defend himself. He waited until it was almost morning when the hunters would be exhausted from the hunt. When no one was watching, he vanished and ended up behind Rufus. With one strong swipe, Rufus's head flew off his shoulders and hit the ground in the midst of a group of hunters tiredly trading stories of their night.

At first no one moved. They looked at the severed head in shock and then pandemonium broke loose. They looked around them and didn't see anyone. William stood back and watched as the accusations flew and wondered how long it would be before his name came up.

"A damned vampire did this!" someone finally shouted out. "And I know who! It was that fanger William! He was trying to get close to Rufus earlier and I stopped him."

"Where is he?" someone asked.

"I saw him a little while ago, he was back behind that tree," someone replied.

"Who's our leader now?" someone else piped up.

That one question silenced everyone.

"Caleb is dead and now so is Rufus, so now what do we do?" the same person asked.

William waited to hear the decision. He had to know if someone else would step up to the plate.

"I don't know about you," the same speaker said, "but I'm taking my fat ass home- you do what you want."

One by one the others agreed.

"Hey, don't you think we'd better call the others?" a hunter asked.

The hunter who had stopped William agreed.

"I'm thinking that they'll want to leave too," he said as he began to punch in numbers into the phone.

Twenty minutes later, the ordered reinforcements had been cancelled.

"Stay home, we'll call you when we get back."

William breathed a sigh of relief and vanished.

****

Ethan and his crew found and destroyed three more crews who refused to surrender before receiving the call from William. The next crew that they found was given the news.

"Your leader is dead as is his successor. I am giving you two options, you leave with your lives or you die here fighting."

"Liar!" a hunter called out.

"I don't lie," Ethan replied mildly. "Are you willing to die for a man that's already dead? Think about it, he sent you out here to die. He killed the only man who knew what the plan was and then he sacrificed you. How many of you have died? Do you even know? I do-the latest count was seventy of you. It's probably more by now..."

"Oh fuck!" a voice whispered. "I just got a text message," he said in a louder voice. "Rufus is dead... his head was cut off... they think that the vampire that was part of Olivia's crew did it."

"What's it going to be gentlemen?" Ethan asked.

One by one the hunters turned away giving Ethan his answer. At the last minute, one of the hunters turned, weapon in hand and fired. Ethan ducked just as the wooden bullet grazed his scalp. Because the wound was minor, it began to heal immediately. He heard a whimper of pain and looked behind him. The vampire from his security team had been hit in the eye leaving the socket empty. Before the shooter knew what was happening, arms were around him; but they weren't the arms of his brethren. They stood silently watching as the life was squeezed out of their friend and comrade.

"That was so unnecessary," Ethan said quietly. "No one had to die. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

Ethan pressed a clean handkerchief against the empty eye socket and vanished to the living room of the house. All conversation stopped when they saw him. All of the women breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the fallen vampire wasn't one of their mates.

"Take care of him," Ethan said laying the vampire on the couch, "I've got to go but it's almost over."

He gave Katrina and the girls a quick kiss and was gone. Vanessa and Veronica took over and began to issue orders wondering how many others had been hurt.

****

Harry yelped when he was yanked away from Leon and tossed to the ground. One of the vampires he recognized from seeing his picture on the internet-Nathan Sinclaire. He didn't have time to wonder how Nadine knew vampires as wealthy and well known as the Sinclaires because the other vampire was on him with fangs bared and eyes blazing.

"I want you to know who is going to kill you," Hans said. "I am the one who found Nadine after you brutalized and turned her."

Harry's mind reeled. He hadn't believed William when he said that they had almost been killed by another vampire. Even when he saw Nell's wounds he didn't believe them. He thought that they really hadn't looked for Nadine and the wounds had been administered by either William or their father.

"I wish that I had looked for you, but you're here now. Do you wish to say anything?"

It wasn't until then that Harry truly understood that these were his last moments on earth. Oddly he wasn't sorry. He stopped struggling and relaxed telling himself that there was no point in fighting it. At the last moment, he began to fight. He wasn't going to die like this! To do so would mean that the bitch had finally succeeded in she had tried to do before and he couldn't --no he wouldn't allow that to happen.

Hans was glad that Harry was fighting back. He didn't want to kill a man that was ready to give up so easily. He would have done it, but he wouldn't have liked it. With one hand around Harry's neck, Hans reached down and gave a hard jab into Harry's chest. For just a moment, Harry stopped struggling. This wasn't what he was expecting. The pain was excruciating and took his breath away. It increased as Hans reached in and pulled out Harry's still beating heart.