Vanessa and Veronica Ch. 09

"Nathan..." Martin started to say.

"No, he's right." Kevyn replied telepathically, "I'm sorry, it's just that she's my sister and I wanted to know what you were thinking about her."

"All you had to do was ask." Nathan replied, "Your apology is accepted but please don't do it again."

Louise felt the tension in the car but attributed it to the situation at hand not once thinking that she was partially the cause.

"It's going to be alright." she said softly to no one in particular. It was a sentiment that she had used often with her mother when she sat up with her as she stroked her hand until she slept. Those five words seemed to calm her more than any anti anxiety medication that their mother always kept within her reach. And it had the same effect now, the tension in the car dissipated and Louise went back to looking out of the car window even though she couldn't see anything.

Kevyn closed her eyes and sent a thought to Patrick not knowing if he could hear her or not.

"Don't you dare do anything stupid!"

******

Patrick, Rik, Luc and Ethan walked around the general area in which Victoria sent them. None of them could sense or hear anything out of the ordinary. Rik made several attempts to reach Veronica but failed each time. He wished that they had brought Victoria with them but knew that neither Ethan nor Katrina would have allowed it. It was enough that one of their daughters was in danger without risking another. Each of them headed in a different direction and stopped every few seconds to scan and then listen. An hour later, they still were no closer to finding Veronica than when they started.

Patrick was almost overcome with guilt, He had a mate and she was safe but he had taken the mate of another. For a brief moment, he thought to offer himself to the vampire in exchange for Veronica. If he hadn't found Kevyn, he would have with no questions asked but fair or not, he found her and he wasn't about to leave her.

"Don't you dare do anything stupid!" ricocheted in his head so suddenly that he jumped.

"Kev?" he whispered.

"Yeah and I mean it, don't you even think about doing whatever it is that you're thinking about doing."

Up until that point, Patrick wasn't sure of why Kevyn had to be there but now he understood. Of all of them other than Victoria, she would be the one that could talk to Bradford and more than likely sense him. He had the same question that everyone else had, where did Louise fit into the scheme of things? He hadn't wanted her to come, but when Nathan stepped up he felt better about it, Nathan would keep Louise safe.

While they waited, Patrick told them why Kevyn had to come with them.

"What about her sister?" Luc asked.

"I have no idea." Patrick confessed.

An hour later, Martin was parking the car not far from where Ethan stood waiting with the others. Kevyn was out of the car and halfway to Patrick before the others were out of the car.

******

Bradford made his way to Veronica, reached out a hand and pointed a finger. The chains holding Veronica fell to the floor with a loud clang.

"You never did say what was in the chains." Veronica said as she stood, stretched and tried to vanish.

Bradford watched her amused, "This room is warded, and you cannot leave here unless you go through that door. It is because of this room that your family won't be able to find you."

"That's why you agreed to my terms." Veronica said, "so now what? You kill me?"

"As regrettable as that is... yes." Bradford replied.

"You're sure that you have to do this?" Veronica asked as she moved away from Bradford and toward the door.

Bradford already anticipating her plan moved with her but made no effort to touch her.

"Ronnie? Hang in there." Victoria said in her head, "they're there but they need to find you."

Veronica didn't acknowledge Victoria in anyway; she didn't want to tip Bradford off. She stopped moving and waited for him to make a move toward her.

"Just how old are you that you can compel another vampire to leave her place of safety?" she asked as she formulated a plan on how best to fight him.

"I am well over a thousand years old." he replied, "I can remember what the humans call the ice age and even beyond that."

He took a step toward her, smiling as she backed away. Veronica looked at Bradford and realized that he really was going to try to kill her. The time for talk was rapidly passing and she had to figure out how to kill a thousand plus year old vampire. She took a quick glance around the room looking for anything that she could use as a weapon. The only things were the chain and the chair on which she had been sitting. Of the two objects, only the chain would be of any use and that was if it would work on him.

"Veronica, use your brains!" she admonished herself. There was no way that she could physically take him but maybe....

"So Brad, let's just say that I wanted to reconsider your offer."

Bradford stopped moving, "I wouldn't believe you but let's just say that I accepted, why the change of heart?"

"I'm a realist." Veronica replied, "There's no way in hell that I could physically take you, I'd be dead in no time."

Bradford gave her a smile filled with regret and triumph as he moved so fast that Veronica almost didn't see him. She moved as fast as she could grabbing the coiled chain as she passed by. Before Bradford could touch her, she swung the chain and hit him on the side of the head. He let out a howl of pain as the chain connected and the blood began to flow from the cut made from the chain.

******

Kevyn had just finished a very fast lesson on blocking unwanted interference when a stab of pain went through her head. She heard Bradford's howl of pain as it resonated through her head causing a pain that made her knees buckle. Patrick caught her as she dropped to her knees holding her head. She had just gotten a fix on him.

"He's hurt... I just heard him scream... she hit him with something."

"Which way?" Rik asked anxiously watching his tone.

"That way." Kevyn said pointing east, "there's a house about thirty miles that way."

"Are you alright?" Patrick asked as he kissed her.

"Yes, no my head really hurts." Kevyn replied.

Patrick kissed her forehead taking away the majority of the pain before helping her to the car.

"I'll see you there." he said as he helped her in.

*******

Seconds later, Ethan, Luc, Rik and Patrick stood at a spot thirty miles away from the last spot. They saw the house but it looked empty and Rik still couldn't reach Veronica. He knew that she still lived because Victoria was still able to reach her even though Veronica wasn't responding.

"Maybe there's another house." Luc offered.

"Maybe." Rik offered as he headed toward the house "but I don't think so. My question is why can't we sense anything coming from the house?"

Patrick stopped Rik before he had gone too far, "we need to wait for Kevyn..."

"Would you wait?" Rik asked.

Patrick said no more, he would be doing exactly what Rik was doing, as would any of them.

"Just watch yourself," Patrick said, "it concerns me that we can't sense either of them and he could have booby traps set."

Rik nodded and began to move slowly toward the house as he began to reach for Veronica in his mind.

Martin and the others arrived a few minutes later; Patrick's first question was about Kevyn's headache.

"I'm fine, so this is the place." she mused as she looked around. "He's in there." she murmured to herself.

"Veronica?" Patrick asked.

"She's in there too and she's as mad as hell."

"That's good." Patrick replied.

"It won't help." Kevyn said taking Patrick's hand, "no matter what you offer or say it won't change anything. He wants to die and it won't matter who he takes with him."

"Maybe I can talk him out of it...."

"No, you can't" Kevyn interrupted.

"What about Veronica? Will he kill her?"

******

Veronica didn't give Bradford a chance to recover before she swung the chain again this time hitting him on the arm as he raised it to protect his head. He managed to grab the end of the chain wrapped it around his hand and pulled it hard. Veronica let go of the chain causing Bradford to fly backwards, her element of surprise was now gone. With nothing else to lose, she made a dash for the door and safety.

"Frightened now?" he asked from behind her.

She stopped, turned around and faced him. The vampire who had shown regret at what he thought he had to do was gone. In his place was a very angry and homicidal vampire with which there could be no reasoning with but still she wasn't afraid of him.

"No, I'm not frightened." she replied as she edged toward the door. "I'm simply trying to escape but I do have a question for you... I do get a last request don't I?"

Bradford gave her a curt nod of permission to speak.

"Why didn't you kill me right away? I mean you compelled me to go with you so I wouldn't have resisted."

"I told you." he replied, "I wanted to see Ethan Sinclaire afraid."

"Maybe that's part of it but I think it's because you want me to be afraid and I'm not. Even under compulsion you knew that I wasn't afraid and that intrigued you admit it, it still does."

"Be that as it may," Bradford replied, "it changes nothing, the game ends now."

Veronica kept her eyes on Bradford waiting for him to charge her, she didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against him but she was going to go down fighting.

Ten seconds....

Twenty seconds....

And he hadn't moved, Veronica watched as the expression on his face went from determination to surprise. Taking the opportunity, she dove for the chain snatching it from his hand and wrapped it around his neck as she circled behind him and began to pull.

******

Holding on to Patrick's hand, Kevyn called Bradford's name several times until she felt a response. Even though she wasn't physically in the room, she felt his anger and the madness that possessed his mind.

"Don't kill her; she's done nothing to you." Kevyn murmured.

Luc, Ethan, Nathan and Louise made their way to the house. Rik was already inside searching the seemingly empty house verbally and mentally calling Veronica's name. When the others got there, they took a portion of the house with Nathan holding Louise tightly against him.

"Geez, will you let go?" she asked irritated but liking the feeling of safety.

Nathan released her only slightly making sure that she was away from any doorways.

******

"Kev, can you tell where she is?" Patrick asked.

"I don't know.... Wait a minute, the basement! There's a room down there...how do I know this?"

"I don't know and we'll figure it out later." Patrick said as he called to Ethan and relayed the information.

Kevyn kept talking to Bradford hoping that she could keep him distracted enough to give Veronica a chance and the others more time to find her.

Suddenly, she gasped and pain ripped through her head.

"Kev?" Patrick called out just as she fainted.

********

Veronica continued to pull the chain as hard as she could but she was at a disadvantage because of the difference in their height, it wasn't until Bradford dropped to his knees that she was able to pull with everything that she had.

"You could have walked away!" she said as she pulled, "you could have taken Rosie and been gone!"

She cried out when she felt the chain begin to cut through Bradford's neck. She was so intent on her task that she didn't hear the door open. She almost discounted the arms that she felt go around her and the voice whispering in her ear telling her to let the chain go. Instead, she pulled even harder; she wanted to destroy the vampire that threatened her and her family.

"Veronica, it is alright... let it go." Rik encouraged, "we will finish it."

Slowly the voice began to sink in and she let the chain slide from her hand watching as Bradford fell face first to the floor.

Ethan, Luc, Nathan and Louise were in the room seconds later.

"Veronica!" Ethan called completely ignoring the barely alive vampire on the floor.

"Papa!" Veronica called reverting to the childhood name that she hadn't used in ages. She broke away from Rik and flew into Ethan's arms. Close but not quite in tears, Veronica hugged Ethan, somehow for her to cry in this room with Bradford still in it meant weakness to her and after all, that she had been through with him she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

The only person in the room that paid any attention to Bradford was Louise. Perhaps it was because she wasn't aware of the history between the Sinclaires and Bradford that she felt compassion for him but she approached him. She could see that he was still alive but barely and she didn't think that anyone should die alone no matter what they did or didn't do.

As she started to move, Nathan grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"He needs someone to sit with him." she replied as she pulled away.

"He doesn't deserve your concern." Nathan replied taking her hand again.

"Maybe he doesn't but I'm going to give it anyway now let me go." she said in a voice that surprised her.

"I'm coming with you."

"Fine." she replied and walked over to Bradford with Nathan close on her heels. When she reached him, she sat on the floor and looked into his face. She didn't see a face filled with rage or anger but a handsome face filled with pain and sorrow. Without saying anything, she smoothed Bradford's hair away from his face, took a rapidly cooling hand in hers, and began to stroke it murmuring, "It's going to be alright now."

As Bradford lay on the floor dying, he wondered how it had gone so wrong so quickly. He should have killed the Sinclaire woman immediately but it was as she said, he had been intrigued by her courage. He was going to die, they would continue with their lives, and he and Rosie would be nothing more than a memory to them.

He felt surprise and then relief as someone; a woman sat next to him and smoothed his hair back away from his face as she murmured small comforts to him. The last thing he remembered before he died was the woman, a human woman he now realized, was holding his hand and telling him that "it's going to be alright now." those words soothed him in a way that he didn't understand.... Then, it was over.

Nathan helped Louise up and led her away from the body before it began to turn to dust. When she tried to look back, he kept her moving forward. Now wasn't the time or the place to explain things to her but he did feel pride that she was his even though she didn't know it. Ethan and Luc searched the basement and found Rosie's corpse dressed in a blue dress with matching shoes.

"We'll send someone back and have her properly buried." Ethan said as he walked away.

Rik and Veronica followed by Nathan and Louise had already left the house and were on the way back to the car by the time Ethan and Luc left the house.

Rik picked Veronica up and carried her in spite of her protests that she was fine.

"I don't care if you are fine; I am going to care for you."

She finally gave up and laid her head on his shoulder, she was very tired.

Ethan took out his cell phone and called Katrina who anxiously answered on the first ring.

"We've got her and she's alright, yes, sweetheart she killed him. We'll be home soon, I love you too."

Ethan was proud of Veronica and the courage that she displayed, he felt sorrow that she had to take a life no matter how justified it was. He also had to wonder if there were others with the same agenda as Bradford's and how soon it would be before one or more of them came forward.

For the moment though, all of his girls were safe and that was very mattered.

*******

Kevyn woke up sitting in Patrick's lap in the back seat of the car.

"What happened? Veronica? Is she alright?"

"We got her thanks to you and Victoria." Patrick said, "How's your head?"

"Better, I've never fainted before, I feel kind of silly." Kevyn replied.

"Don't, you expended a lot of energy." Patrick told her, "You fainted to protect yourself."

"You're sure that she's alright?" Kevyn asked again.

"She's fine," Patrick assured her, "You were phenomenal!" he added, "you just stepped up to help us without question."

"You mean like you did with my totally crazy family?" she asked. "Patrick your family is my family too and I will do whatever I can to help keep all of us safe so no thanks alright?"

******

Everyone was waiting in the living room for the first group of rescuers to arrive. As soon as Veronica saw Victoria, she ran over to her, picked her up and kissed her face all over until Victoria was giggling.

"Thank you pumpkin!" Veronica said repeatedly.

Ethan hugged and kissed Katrina assuring her that it was over and then hugged and kissed Vanessa before taking Victoria from Veronica's arms.

"I am so very proud of you!" Ethan said hugging her tight. He didn't miss the look of approval that Jamie Donahue was giving Victoria and was grateful that their mating wouldn't happen for several more years, he needed to catch his breath from the events of the past few weeks.

Vanessa and Veronica hugged, it was then that Veronica began to let go. It wasn't about being afraid, it was about the fact that she, a physician killed someone, that he was going to kill her didn't matter. She had the feeling that it would be a long time before she reconciled the two parts of her. She also suspected that at some point, she would have to talk with someone about her time with Bradford but not now, it could wait.

"Come Veronica," Rik urged, "you need to eat and rest."

"No, I want to meet Uncle Patrick's mate and to thank her and her sister."

"It will be another two or three hours before they get here, you can rest until then." Rik said and tried to lead her away.

"I'm fine and I'm waiting for them." she said firmly.

Three hours later, the rest of the rescue party arrived tired, hungry and closer to sunrise than they liked. Louise didn't get what the big deal was but said nothing as they sped home. Once again, the thought occurred to her that there was something very odd about the Sinclaires. She made a mental note to ask Kevyn about it as soon as she could catch her alone. As soon as they were in the door, Veronica rushed to greet them. She didn't give Kevyn a chance to say anything as she threw her arms around her and hugged her.

"Thank you for everything that you did."

"You're welcome; I'm glad that you're alright." Kevyn said returning the hug.

Veronica went to Louise next and hugged her too.

"I don't know what you did but I know that Bradford felt some measure of peace when he died. Thank you for coming with them to rescue me."

Louise had reverted to her shy, quiet self and found herself embarrassed by all of the attention. "You're welcome." she said not knowing what else to say.

"You're tired." Rik said from behind Veronica, "let's rest and we can all talk later."

*******

Once alone in their room, Rik crushed Veronica to him. While she was missing he made several promises to himself, she was never going anywhere alone again topped the list, the second thing was that he would never complain about her messiness again, he had been very close to never seeing her again and in the scheme of things how neat she was or wasn't just didn't matter anymore. He would gladly spend the rest of eternity picking up after her and not utter a single word of complaint.

Now that things were calming down he could deal with his own sense of guilt. He should never have left her go to the kitchen alone but it was so close... Ethan's doubts had been misplaced, instead of Luc failing to protect his mate, it was he but it would never happen again.

"It wasn't your fault." Veronica said, "it was only a matter of time before he got one of us and truth be told I'm glad that it was me as opposed to Victoria, Vanessa or mom but it's over and we can move on."