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marysuevirus2018-09-15 09:08 am
ladydeathfaerie) wrote in marysuevirus2018-09-15 09:08 am
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Title: The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Chapter Seventy Five: The Ties That Bind
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea, SilverFoxChan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: so much plot. we're drowning in it. all the damn plot. some of it not even planned!
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link
She stared at the modest house with trepidation running through her veins. Very little had changed about it since she'd last seen it. There was a new coat of paint on the building, and the windows had been given new curtains. She could see that through the glass panes. Beyond that, it was the same as it had been since before she'd gone off to school. But she was so very, very different.
"It'll be okay, Minette," Micah said quietly, one hand reaching out to settle on her shoulder in a silent show of support. "They're your parents. They love you."
"They don't know that I was infected. They don't know about the horrible things Bruce did to me. The horrible things his pard did to me," she replied, voice soft. Micah's fingers squeezed her shoulder.
"They can't be any worse than my family, Minette," Aedan said, effectively breaking the tension in the car with the mention. When Minette turned to look at the other woman, it was to find she was smiling ruefully.
Much against her will, Minette found herself smiling. "Okay. I admit. Its going to be pretty hard to top homicidal siblings and incest and a power hungry father."
"Besides," Jason interjected. "If your parents want to shun you or whatever, you've already got another family in place. And we all love you."
His words made warmth spread across her chest. It was so lovely to know that not everyone wanted to use her to their own ends. That not everyone was cruel and sadistic and opportunistic. She didn't really need this. She had a family. They didn't need to do this. Not now. Not ever. "You know, you're right. I do have a family. And its a good one. One I picked all for myself. We don't have to do this. We can just turn around and leave right now. They don't ever need to know we were here." Minette hoped she didn't put too much into her voice. She didn't want them to think she was too scared to see her parents, even if she was. Nor did she want them to think that she was too cold.
"Its a good idea, Minette," Aedan said, a grin in her voice. "But I think it might be too late for a tactical retreat." To emphasize her point, Aedan motioned toward the windshield with her head. Minette turned to find that the wooden interior door had opened and a pair of anxious faces stared out at them through the screen door. She saw the curious, hopeful faces of her parents and her heart kicked into overdrive.
"Well, then. I guess its time for us to get out of the car and go say hi," Jason announced and reached for the handle. Minette held back a sigh and did the same.
All four doors swung open at once. Minette and Jason climbed from the front seat, while Aedan and Micah got out of the back. Minette didn't bother to look at the large SUV parked behind them, loaded down with several of Rafael's rats. Maybe she wouldn't have to try and explain things if she didn't acknowledge them. They stood there a moment, trying to decide what to do. Minette was aware of Aedan's gaze taking in every inch of her parent's property. She knew the woman was scouting things out, looking for hidden dangers. Ever on alert. Minette knew the woman was armed, could smell the metal of her weapon even hidden under her coat as it was.
The screen door creaked a little as it opened, the sound so familiar that Minette was thrown back to her childhood for a moment or two. Her mother had always known when she was trying to sneak out, no matter how slowly and carefully she'd tried to open the door. And her father had always said he would oil the hinges for her. Looked as if he still hadn't gotten around to that yet. She watched as her mother and father stepped out onto the front porch. "Minerva?" her mother asked softly. It wasn't meant to be heard by anyone, more an intensely quiet whisper to herself. But it carried across the distance to Minette and she heard in it so many emotions that she had to force herself not to cry.
There was that solitary moment where the two of them stared at one another across the distance, Minette and her mother, and then the woman who had given life to her was in motion. She hurried down off the porch and across the lawn in order to draw Minette into a bone crushing hug while she sobbed in Minette's ear. Minette returned the action, mindful of her strength, and gave in to her tears. The two of them stood like that for several minutes, simply hugging and crying and muttering incoherently into one another's ears. And then finally her mother drew back in order to stare, her hands coming up to cup Minette's cheeks so she could get a good look at her daughter. "We haven't heard from you in so long. We thought..." she said, then broke off on a sob and hugged Minette to her once again.
"So much has happened, Mom. There's so much to tell and I couldn't find the words to tell you about it," Minette admitted, still not sure she could do this. She looked over her mother's shoulder to find that Micah and Jason were smiling at her. Aedan was watching with a cool expression. Minette wasn't sure if it was to do with her recent encounters with her family or if it was for some other reason.
"Let them come inside, Elaine," her father said. He was wearing a soft smile that Minette remembered from her youth. That expression made it seem like no time had passed at all. Her mother pulled back and turned to look at the three people who had come with Minette.
"Oh, goodness! Where are my manners? I didn't mean to keep you standing out here in the sun like this. Come inside. Please," she said, hand sliding down to take hold of Minette's. Then she turned to look at the SUV full of rats. "Are these more of your friends? Would they like to come in?" she asked.
"We'd love to come in, Mrs. Poulson," Bobby Lee said as he climbed from the vehicle's front seat. Her mother seemed startled by the response, but she took it in stride and nodded.
"Please. All of you. Follow me," she said, spreading her smile around the yard. Minette shot a look at Aedan, who was hiding a smirk. It looked like she was enjoying Minette's slight discomfort. "Alan, go inside and pour some lemonade. Bring down the good cookies. Put together a plate for our guests." She turned her focus on Minette's father, issuing the order with all the assurance that he would never once bat an eyelash at it.
"Of course, Elaine," her father replied, then stepped inside the house. Minette watched as one of the rats went first, crossing the yard with long, easy strides to step into the house before the rest of them did. Jason went next, then Micah. Minette and her mother were after Micah, followed by two more rats. Aedan came next to last, with Bobby Lee bringing up the rear. Based on the way the older man was smirking at the back of Aedan's head, she wasn't happy with that call.
They all congregated in the living room, still as neat and clean as it had been the last time Minette had been in the house. The furniture had been replaced since then, a plush couch with thick cushions and a set of chairs that matched. There weren't enough seats for everyone present, which was solved by a couple of the rats moving into the kitchen. Bobby Lee and the remaining rat took up positions in the corners. Aedan decided to hold up a wall, one shoulder pressed to it with her arms crossed over her chest. That put her hand closer to her gun. For a moment, Minette worried that she suspected trouble. But her body language was very relaxed. So was Bobby Lee's. She pushed the thought aside and shifted her brain to the task of deciding where she was going to sit.
She was still caught up on that task when her father returned with a tray in hand. It held glasses of lemonade, along with the pitcher. A plate of cookies accompanied the tart beverage. "Please. Sit. I'm sorry we don't have room for everyone, but we weren't expecting so many people to come with you," her mother admitted.
"I'm sorry about that, Mom," Minette began, trying to figure out how to explain it.
"You can blame it on me," Aedan cut in, effectively taking things out of Minette's hands. "My... significant other is paranoid and won't let me leave the house without body guards."
Minette's mother stared at Aedan, eyes wide. "That's a little absurd, isn't it? Maybe a little too possessive. Do you need any help? Is he keeping you with him against his will?" she asked, point blank ignoring said body guards.
Minette choked on the sip of lemonade she'd taken, eyes wide with shock as she looked between her mother and her best friend. "Mom!"
Aedan chuckled and shook her head. Lifted her coat to show the dark shadow of the weapon holstered under her arm. "Nothing like that, Mrs. Poulson. Some very bad people have threatened my life. He's simply being cautious."
It was her mother's turn to stare with eyes gone wide in shock. "That's an awfully big gun," her mother commented. Unspoken was her mother's belief that she didn't think Aedan should be carrying it.
Aedan reached into her coat's inner pocket and came out with the leather wallet that held her badge. She flipped it open and showed it to Minette's parents. "It is a big gun, Mrs. Poulson. And I know how to use it. I'm a Federal Marshal. My name is Aedan Kinkade."
"Aedan Kinkade? You're Aedan?" she asked, then plowed on without even waiting for the other woman to say yes or nod. "Of course Minerva told us all about you in her letters home from college. I didn't think we'd ever get to meet you in person. Especially after Minerva never came home. And please. I insist you call me Elaine. None of that Mrs. Poulson stuff. We're not big on formalities around here."
Aedan smiled and tucked her badge into her pocket, then dropped her coat back into place. "And Minette never missed a chance to tell me how amazing her folks were."
Her mother smiled and blushed, obviously pleased by the praise. She glanced around the room at everyone present. "You're all Minerva's friends? Did you meet her in college?"
"Yes, they're my friends. But I didn't meet them in college," Minette said, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. This was the part she'd been dreading about the visit. Having to talk about Bruce and what he'd done. But there was no way she'd be able to avoid it. And her folks deserved to know the truth. "I met them when I got away from Bruce."
"When you..." her mother began, only to trail off in confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean, when you got away? What does that mean, Minerva?"
"Why don't you take a seat? Get comfortable. Because I've got a long story to tell," she said in return. Her mother nodded and kind of drifted over to one of the chairs. She watched as the woman settled into it, shifting a bit to make herself comfortable. Minette gave her attention to Aedan, a silent question in her eyes. Aedan merely shook her head and once more pressed her shoulder up against the wall. Minette took that to mean the other woman was going to stand, so she wandered over to the couch and settled down on it. Jason took her left and Micah sat on her right. Her mother watched the entire thing with an intense stare. Her father was the last one to sit, taking a seat in the remaining chair.
Silence ruled the living room for several long moments as Minette tried to find the place to start. Micah settled a hand on her knee, silent support for the upcoming confession. Jason wasn't touching her yet, but it was a close thing.
"Alright, Minerva. What's going on? You're as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs," her mother said. The woman always had known when Minette was twisted up inside about something. Her words brought forth a bark of laughter from Aedan.
"Well, if that isn't an apt description," the necromancer commented. Minette shot her a dark look, hoping Aedan would take the hint and fall silent. The action only prompted further laughter.
"You're not helping, Aedan," Minette remarked. Then she sighed and looked at her mother. "There's so much to tell you and I honestly don't know where to start."
Her mother's look softened. It made Minette feel oddly like no time had passed at all. The woman had always had an uncanny ability to make her feel more at ease. "The beginning is usually the best place. For a suggestion, how about introducing us to your friends?"
Minette frowned and shook her head. She'd been so wound up that she'd honestly forgotten that part of the game. "I'm sorry. I don't know where my manners are. Mom, I'd like you to meet Micah Callahan and Jason Schuyler. They're... both my sweeties."
"Both of them?" her father asked, eyes moving from one man's face to the other as he tried to digest that bit of information. She'd known this was going to be hard, but that still didn't make it any easier to not pull in on herself. Her parents had never been what one would call old fashioned and stuffy. They were fairly open minded. But that didn't mean that explaining all of this was going to be easy.
"Yes, Dad. Both of them," Minette confirmed.
"What about Bruce, honey? I thought you two were going to get married." Her mother looked utterly confused about that.
"Bruce is..." Minette hesitated. Her folks had loved Bruce, had been charmed by his glib tongue. To the point that her father had decided Bruce was the man to run the company when Alan Poulson retired. She wasn't sure she could tell them about everything he did. Not just to her, but to others.
"Bruce is what, honey?"
"Bruce is dead, Mrs. Poulson," Aedan said from her corner. Every eye turned to look at her, most almost absently, as if they were only doing so because it was expected of them. Minette's parents were staring in surprise. And Minette was giving Aedan a look of thanks.
"He's dead?" Elaine asked. "What do you mean, he's dead? What happened?"
Aedan's gaze shifted to Minette's and she saw something in her friend's expression that she wasn't sure anyone else saw. A promise. One Aedan had made to her a long time ago. When she'd first learned what Bruce had done. It was in her eyes now, telling Minette she was going to do whatever she had to to keep her friend safe. Minette saw her intent a moment before Aedan gave her attention back to Minette's mother. "I shot him."
"You shot him? Why on earth did you shoot him?" There was maybe a touch of outrage in her mother's voice with the second question.
"Aedan," Minette began. The woman held up a hand, bringing Minette to silence. Her gaze never left Elaine's face.
"Because he was a very bad man who did bad things," Aedan explained. She made sure Minette's mother was staring right at her when she said the last part of her explanation. "To so many people. To Minette."
"Minerva? Is this true?" Her mother turned back to her, face filled with confusion. Minette wasn't sure that her mother really wanted to know what kind of person the man she'd thought would be her son-in-law actually was. But she was about to find out.
"Bruce was not the man he made you think he was," she began. Now that it was out of the bag, there was no putting it back. And Minette found that Aedan's lie had made it easier to tell her story. She'd known that this part of the visit was going to be hard. She just hadn't realized until they'd gotten there exactly how hard it would be. "He lied to you. To me. To everyone he met. He brought harm to people. He... He raped me."
The words fell into the room like a lead pipe hitting a concrete floor, echoing hollowly off the walls while her parents struggled to absorb just what it was she'd told them.
"Tell them the rest, Minette," Micah said softly. His touch on her knee got heavier, a silent promise that he was there to help her.
"He raped a lot of people. He did horrible things. He was..." she stopped and swallowed. Why was it so hard? All she had to do was say three little words, tell her folks what he was. So that she could tell them what he'd done to her. It wasn't as if she was ashamed of being a leopard. In the months since she'd gone to St. Louis, she'd more than embraced her animal side. But suddenly, facing her parents, the idea of telling them about that part of her made her feel dirty.
Anger came at that thought, sudden and hot and scorching as it washed through her. Why should she be ashamed of who she was? Why should she let that man make her ashamed of who and what she was? How dare he try to maintain his hold on her after his death! How dare the ghost of his memory still gleefully instill fear where it had no place to exist. Minette shoved the fear aside, pushed down the shame and the inadequacy, and took a deep breath. Stared her parents dead in the eyes. "He was a wereleopard and he intentionally raped me in his half and half form. Repeatedly. So that he could infect me. Until he was sure I would change."
The admission echoed around the room as her parents stared. As they struggled to absorb what she'd just told them. Jason leaned into her, one hand sliding behind her back so that it rested on her hip. Silent support. Silent approval. "He never asked me to marry him. He never asked me anything. He only told and ordered. So when he told you we were going to get married, it was a lie. I wanted nothing to do with him. But I was such a weak leopard that I couldn't fight him. He could force me to do whatever he wanted. Either with his power or with his threats."
"What did he threaten, Minette?" her father asked. The familiar nickname falling from his lips felt so right. Tears sprang to her eyes because of it. He'd always been the one to call her that. His pet name for her.
"He threatened to tell you what I was. That I was a whore. He threatened to hurt you. He kept me silent and complacent and frightened."
"And this is why you wanted to go away to college. To get away from him," her father said.
"Yes, Daddy. Because it was the only way to keep my sanity," she admitted.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner, Minette?" There were tears on her mother's cheeks when she asked the question, tears in her voice that made the words thick. And there was something else there. Self-recrimination. She blamed herself for what had happened.
"I didn't know how, Momma," she said. "I wanted to, but I was so scared. Bruce had made me believe that no one would ever love me if they knew what I was."
"Lying sack of shit," Aedan muttered. It was loud enough that even her parents heard it. "I should have killed him then."
"You weren't a Federal Marshal then, Aedan. You would have gotten into a lot of trouble because of me," Minette reminded her friend.
"Only if they'd found the body," Aedan countered. It made Minette wonder just what she would have done.
"Tell us what happened next," her father prompted, drawing Minette's attention back to them and her story.
"I met Aedan in college," Minette smiled fondly at the memory. "She was just as much an outcast as I was, so we kind of fit together."
"Outcast?" her mother frowned. "What do you mean?"
"She means, Mrs. Poulson, that no one wanted to share a room with a weirdo like me because I could tell them where the ghosts were. Just like I can tell you there are four dogs, six cats, and two parakeets buried under your garden in the backyard. The last one died... six years ago."
"You're so extra, Aedan," Minette snarked at her friend. It earned her a broad smile. Minette looked at her parents. "Aedan is a necromancer. She can sense the dead. She can raise the dead. People didn't like being around her for longer than a class took. She wierded them out."
"So you two became friends?" her mother asked.
"We became roommates first. Then friends." Minette let her glance stray toward the other woman again. This time she was greeted with a smile. "Aedan never once looked at me like I was a freak for what Bruce had done to me, despite his having convinced me that everyone would blame me. She even threatened him to his face once when he came to the campus to visit."
"I should have done more than threaten," Aedan said from across the room.
"Hush. You're scaring my parents," Minette chided. She smiled, though, and once again turned back to her mom and dad. "Aedan is the reason I got away from Bruce. She's the reason I'm part of a healthy, happy, safe pard. She helped me get away from Bruce and his insanity."
"Aedan was working with a friend of mine," Micah took up, bringing her folks' eyes his way. He slipped his sunglasses off and let them get a good look at his eyes. Her mother gasped. Her father only blinked. Minette was surprised he'd called Anita a friend instead of his lover. But she supposed that would seem odd unless they told that part of the story. Minette wasn't sure she was up to that. So she said nothing, simply let him tell them about his part in the tale. "She went to this friend and told her about Minette. And about what Bruce had done. Our mutual friend came to me and suggested my pard take Minette in. Give her a safe place. After looking into Bruce's pard, I decided that it would be a good idea to bring Minette to St. Louis and make her part of my pard. I'm the head of my pard, which means I'm strong enough to protect Minette from almost any threat that comes her way."
"Almost any?" The question came from her father.
"There are some threats that not even a lycanthrope can handle. Alpha or not," Aedan explained. "Vampires will always be stronger and faster in a fight. There are humans out there who are very good at hunting lycanthropes, at exploiting their weaknesses. Which is why Minette has me. And my big gun."
"How can you and your big gun protect my daughter from the things that a lycanthrope can't? You're only human."
"Dad!" Minette said, shocked at his casual inference that Aedan couldn't protect her.
"Look out your kitchen window, Mr. Poulson. Please," Aedan commented softly. Minette turned a look on her.
"Excuse me?"
"Aedan!"
Her friend ignored the obvious scorn in her voice, focused solely on her father. "Please. Get up and go to the kitchen, then look out the window into your back yard."
Her father stared at Aedan for a moment, probably trying to decide if she was absolutely insane or not, before heaving a sigh and pushing himself up out of the chair. Minette watched as he strode from the room, heard his footsteps as he wandered down the hall toward the kitchen. Heard his shoes slap softly against the linoleum on the floor in the kitchen. Heard it when he came to a stop and then when he sucked a quick breath. Heard his softly uttered "Jesus Christ!" before he returned to the living room. His face was white when he reclaimed his seat. "What the hell?"
"That's my unique ability, Mr. Poulson. I have never been 'only human' and that's why. In case you missed it, that man was wearing clothes that are a couple hundred years out of date," Aedan told her father quietly.
"Aedan! Put the zombie back!" Minette ordered.
"I will. In a moment. But I want your parents to understand that I am anything but human and I will do whatever I have to in order to keep you safe. None of you even felt me summon that zombie. It took almost no thought. No effort. I can bring the rest of the bodies up to the surface with the same lack of effort. I don't need a ritual. I don't need a sacrifice. I don't need to have skin touching the ground. I can just do it. And those bodies are hundreds of years old." Aedan made sure her gaze never left Minette's father's face. "Minette is the first real family I've ever had. I will lay down my life to see her kept safe. That's a promise. But do not make the mistake of thinking I will go down without a fight. And don't make the mistake of thinking that I can't do anything to protect her because I'm 'only human'. That's a description that has never applied to me."
"You're saying you'd kill for my daughter?" her father asked Aedan. The room was utterly silent as he spoke, and every eye turned to her to see what her answer would be. Surprisingly, Aedan's gaze shifted toward Minette and something filled it briefly before being hidden away behind her cop face.
"Yes," she said.
Minette knew that her parents would take the statement to mean that she would kill someone in the future who was threatening Minette. That that was what she'd done with Bruce. Aedan had said as much in the beginning of the conversation. But Minette knew different. Minette knew that Aedan meant she'd already done it. She didn't know how she knew, maybe something in the way Aedan answered. In the look she'd given Minette. Maybe something else entirely. She just knew. And she didn't know who Aedan had killed for her, but she knew that her friend's words were the gods' honest truth. Minette should have felt horrified. Or frightened. Or something along those lines. She didn't. She felt warmth. And love.
She watched as Aedan and her father stared at one another across the silence of the room. She didn't know what either one saw when they looked in the other person's eyes. But a thread of tension ran through the room, making energy spill across her skin as everyone tried to figure out what was going to happen next. Finally, her father gave a nod and a grim smile. "Good enough for me."
Just like that, the tension was gone. Minette watched as her mother shifted her focus back and forth from the man she'd married to Aedan. She wasn't sure what her mother was thinking. For the moment, she let it go. Instead, she tried to find a way to shift the conversation back to something a little less intense. She found herself at a loss. But her mother knew just the thing. "Is anyone else hungry? I can whip up some lunch really quick. We've got the makings of sandwiches and I know there are some chips in the pantry."
"That isn't necessary, Mom," Minette began, but her mother waved her protests off with a hand.
"Of course its necessary, Minerva. These people are your family. Which makes them part of our family. And you know what your Grandma Eugenie always said."
"Family takes care of family," Minette intoned dutifully.
"Yes. It does. So if you'll all excuse me while I go make those sandwiches. Minette, come give me a hand," Elaine stood and started for the door. Minette turned wide eyes toward Aedan.
"Relax. Already done," her friend assured her. Minette sighed and nodded, then rose from the couch and trailed after her mother toward the kitchen to lend a hand. She shouldn't have been so tense. The hard part was over. She'd told her parents about Bruce and what he'd done. Where that had put Minette. She'd gotten all of that off her shoulders. But she was still tense. Because there was another reason for her mother to ask her to help out in the kitchen other than simply having Minette help.
The real interrogation was about to begin.
~*~*~*~*~
"Your ten o'clock," Craig said as he opened the door to her office and pushed it wide. Aedan looked up and found that he was wearing an expression she'd come to understand meant something was hinky with the client. She gave him a slight smile in thanks and set the file she'd been reading aside. She worked a professional smile onto her face moments before the client walked into her office. Only practice saw it remaining where it was when she recognized the new arrival. "Miss Parnell. What brings you all the way to St. Louis and my office?" Aedan asked before slanting her gaze Craig's way to let him know it was okay. The secretary nodded and slipped from the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
"I came to talk to you about Ted," Donna said, crossing the floor to settle into one of the chairs before Aedan's desk. Aedan drew a breath, clasping her hands before her.
"I'm afraid you wasted a lot of money and your time. I have nothing to say about Ted," she replied evenly. Firmly.
"Then you can listen," the woman returned shortly, giving Aedan what she believed to be Donna's version of a hard stare. It was far less intimidating than Edward's, but there was an intensity to it that said she would not be denied. Aedan considered throwing her out for a moment or two, but pushed the thought aside and spread her hands in a silent indication that Donna should continue with her tale. Not that it was going to change Aedan's mind where her cousin was concerned. That ship had sailed. "Ted's devastated that you pushed him out of your life."
Aedan doubted that. Edward didn't have feelings. At all.
Donna went on, unaware that she might as well be talking to a brick wall. "You have to talk to him. Fix this rift between you. Its tearing him apart."
"I'm afraid you're very much mistaken. I do not have to do anything where Ted is concerned," Aedan told her coldly.
The tone of her voice seemed to startle Donna, because she simply stared at Aedan, eyes wide and touched by confusion. "Aedan--"
"We are not familiar enough for you to call me anything but Miss Kinkade," Aedan said, cutting across Donna ruthlessly.
The woman's expression went slack in shock. It lasted for a moment or two. But then it hardened up and became something less open. More considering. "That was just plain rude and I'll thank you to hear me out before you treat me with such disrespect. If you were my child, I'd take you over my knee for speaking to me that way."
"But I'm not your child, Miss Parnell," Aedan reminded her.
"No. You're not. If you were, you'd never speak to anyone that way. Its obvious no one ever taught you manners."
"I was raised by a psychopath. Manners weren't on his to-do list where I was concerned," Aedan returned. It didn't ruffle Donna's feathers one bit, letting her know that Edward had been telling secrets. Perfect.
"Yes. I've heard all about what a prize parent your father was. Ted told me he killed your mother. That he raised you to fear your own powers. He was a horrible parent. But that doesn't mean you should take your emotional upset out on the only family you have left," Donna insisted.
"Oh, I have a family, Miss Parnell. One I made for myself. A bunch of freaks and outcasts, just like me. Lycanthropes. Vampires. Witches. Its a good family. One Ted doesn't belong in anymore." Donna opened her mouth to address that, no doubt to argue in Edward's defense. He'd probably want to skin her alive if he knew she'd come here to plead his case for him. And there was no doubt in Aedan's mind that he had no clue that Donna was sitting in her office at this very moment. Aedan had to give that the woman had a big brass pair. But she was going to burst Donna's bubble. "But since you want to talk about my blood relations, let's get right into that. Shall we?"
To her credit, Donna gave her a wary look. It almost made Aedan smile. Almost.
"Did Ted mention to you, when he was telling you the sad, sad tale of my life, that he decided to take the opportunity to use me to further his own ends? Did he mention the part where he figured he could use me to get to the man who killed his cousin? Because that's what he did. He made me think he had my best interests at heart. He made me believe that he might actually care about me as a human being." It still stung so badly that he'd been more like a father to her than her own, in his own weird way, and then he'd just fucked it all up. He'd fucked her all up. And she was fucked up enough as it was.
"He does care about you, Aedan," Donna insisted, effectively ignoring Aedan's attempts to keep the other woman outside her personal comfort zone.
"He has a really fucking odd way of showing it. Because, as it happens, he decided that I was the best way to get back at the man who killed his cousin. Never mind that I'd spent years living under the sick fuck's tender ministrations. Never mind that, of either one of us, I like to think that maybe I had more claim to deal with the bastard. That I had more right to exact some kind of vengeance for what he'd done to me. But I wasn't even part of Ted's equation. I was a means to an end. Because everything he did for me was a lie. And, in the end, he used me. Just like my own flesh and blood father used me. So, you'll excuse me if I'm not eager to hear your pleas on his behalf."
Aedan expected her visitor to perhaps quake with fear a bit, shiver under the weight of Aedan's anger. But Donna merely stared at her for a full minute before a look of absolute sadness came to her face. "So much anger for someone so young. That man must have done horrible things to make you like this. No wonder Ted has been so wound up and worried about you."
Aedan snorted, effectively letting Donna know what she thought of that. Donna's eyes narrowed on her.
"You are so much more like him than you realize. Ted is proud and stubborn and incapable of admitting he needs help. Or that he needs someone. You're the only blood family he has left. Maybe the way he handled things was wrong. I don't know. I can't say. What I do know is that he's lost without you. You gave him a reason to continue when Anita died. A reason I couldn't give him. One I can't give him." There was no malice in her words, just a sort of sad acceptance.
"He'll get over it. Ted doesn't need me anymore than I need him." Aedan made sure the words came out exact. And steady. Because she had to. Because, if she didn't, she'd dissolve in a fit of tears and he wasn't worth crying over.
"You would punish the only blood you have for making a mistake?" Donna asked. Her tone said she honestly believed that that's all it had been. A simple mistake. A misunderstanding. Something easily fixed with a half-hearted apology. Aedan pressed her hands flat against the desk before her in order to keep them from balling into fists.
"A mistake?" she questioned, voice going soft and quiet. Flat. Dangerous. Donna didn't know her well enough to know the warning signs. She was about to learn. "A mistake? Was it a mistake when he decided, upon learning who my mother was, to keep that from me? Was it a mistake to simply decide not to tell me that he was blood to me? Was it a mistake to walk into my hospital room, after I'd just endured four days of torture and abuse, and up and tell me everything? How about when he planted a tracking device on my clothing? Was that a mistake, too?"
Her face said these were things she hadn't been told. Aedan gave her a vicious smile and rose to her feet. "Nothing Ted does is a mistake. Nothing he's ever done is a mistake. He thinks about everything he's going to do. Plans out each and every move. So, in case you missed it the first time, allow me to tell you again what happened."
Donna's mouth fell open, obviously in the effort to issue some kind of defense on Edward's behalf. Aedan didn't let her speak, pushed on to be sure the woman understood exactly why it was she'd pushed Edward out of her life. "At some point in our acquaintance, Ted discovered who my mother was. And he learned that I was his second cousin. He chose to keep that information to himself. When he found out that my mother had been murdered, he opted to hold on to that story. The same thing happened when he unearthed the fact that my father was the one responsible for murdering my mother. Do you know how long I've known Ted? For years. Something like a decade. How many of those years do you suppose he kept all of that information to himself?"
She paused, gave Donna the opportunity to defend Edward's actions. The woman could only stare at her, lips slightly parted in shock or dismay. Aedan didn't know which. She didn't care. When nothing was forthcoming, she pushed on.
"Do you know when I found all of this information out? About a week ago. Ted kept all of that from me for years. And then only tells me when he absolutely has to. You'll have to pardon my skepticism with the idea that he only had my best interests at heart. Ted didn't take my interests into consideration. The only person he thought about was himself." Aedan stopped. Snorted in disgust. She shook her head at herself. "Do you want to know the kicker? I'd already started to think of Ted as family. Before I found any of this out. I thought he was someone I could surround myself with. I wanted him as part of my weird, freaky little found family. I even told him. And the whole time, the whole fucking time, he already knew that we were family. He just didn't care enough to tell me."
Donna stared at her, either unable to find anything to say or just unwilling to speak. Aedan didn't care. She was already tired of the conversation. And she could tell that Donna didn't see how Edward had used her.
Moments passed before the slightly dazed expression left the woman's face, replaced by a look of intense consideration. "I have no doubt Ted had his reasons for not telling you. Maybe because he knew you were a hothead and that you'd run out and do something stupid if he told you. Maybe because he didn't want to see you hurt further. Maybe because there was nothing you could do with any of that information." Donna paused and shook her head. "Its obvious to me that you're a spoiled brat and you really do need that spanking I mentioned earlier. You're also obviously selfish and so caught up in your very narrow view of the world. Its plain to see that you won't ever understand Ted's motivations and maybe things are better this way. You don't deserve to have him in your life."
The words were meant to sting and inflict pain. To bring about remorse. Aedan gave Donna a small smile that let her know her blatant attempt at manipulation was pathetic. "You'll have to try a different avenue of attack if you think you can guilt me into changing my mind. My sperm donor was so much better at it than you. And his skills stopped working on me a long time ago."
Donna looked like she was winding up to deliver another scathing assessment of Aedan's character. It was in her eyes. But the opportunity was taken from her by the chime of Aedan's cell. She glanced at the screen to see who it was before returning her attention to Donna. "You'll have to excuse me, Miss Parnell. Your time is up. The police are calling and I have to take it." Aedan lifted the phone and made to answer. "You can see yourself out. Have a pleasant return flight to New Mexico. Don't bother coming back. I won't have any open appointments."
She tapped the screen and took the call, letting her gaze rest heavy and hard on Donna's face while she answered. "Kinkade. What do you need, Zerbrowski?"
~*~
Aedan stared at the scene before her with a touch of trepidation running down her spine. Zerbrowski had simply told her that they needed her help at a scene and had rattled off an address. Nothing else. Aedan hadn't really wanted to go. She was tired of seeing dead bodies. Tired of talking to dead people. Tired of everything. But there had been something in Zerbrowski's voice that had told her they really, really needed her. So she'd grabbed her things and headed for her car, ignoring the way Claudia shadowed her so closely that she could feel the woman's breath on the back of her neck during the elevator ride down to the first floor.
Evening traffic had been just heavy enough to make getting to her location take longer than she'd liked. Some voice echoed at the back of her brain, telling her that whatever Zerbrowski wanted her to see was important. Even now, parked outside the address he'd given her, that voice was still repeating its message.
It was a warehouse, and that was enough to see her heartbeat pick up. She had a suspicion that whatever was inside the property, it was somehow related to Carter Solomon. Just thinking about him made her heart pound in her chest. Claudia, who had ridden with her because she refused to let Aedan out of her sight for more than a minute, reached over and put a hand on her knee. "Are you alright? Your heart rate just spiked."
"Nervous. Anxious. Scared," Aedan admitted. Claudia turned to look at her.
"Of a warehouse?"
"No. Of what's inside." Aedan heaved a sigh and dug her clip on ID out of her pocket. It got stuck on the lapel of her suit coat even as she pocketed the keys. A quick pat of her hand assured her that her gun was in its holster under her arm, even though she could literally feel it there. "Right. Let's go. The sooner we get this taken care of, the sooner we can leave. Right?"
Claudia gave Aedan the hairy eyeball. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
"No. But I don't have much of a choice. Whatever's in there..." she trailed off and shrugged. "They need me. So here I am."
"Okay. But if its too much for you, I will drag your ass out of there. No matter what the cops think," she warned. Aedan smiled at her.
"Thanks." She slid from the car, Claudia following her lead. There was yellow tape up to establish a perimeter, but no one to keep out. Yet. If the news vans caught wind that RPIT was at a scene, they'd no doubt be showing up soon enough. She wanted to be in and out before that happened.
The warehouse was guarded by a sagging fence that had obviously been the victim of neglect. There were rust stains here and there, bits of the chain link tugged out of shape by careless hands. But the chain that was presently hanging from one of the open gates was new. Shiny. Thick. Meant to keep prying eyes out. Or something in. Aedan didn't like that idea. The uniform guarding the gate nodded at her, lifting the tape to allow her entrance. But his gaze went to Claudia and turned hard. It was a good look of intimidation. Sadly, it did not work on Aedan's companion. She heaved a sigh and gave the cop a look. "She's with me. And if you don't let her enter with me, you can personally explain to Detective Storr why I turned around and went home."
It was the best threat she could have given. The cop paled ever so slightly before giving a single nod and stepping away from the tape. She could feel Claudia's amusement and hoped it lasted through whatever they faced on the other side of the warehouse doors.
The two of them crossed broken and chipped concrete in silence, feet avoiding the tufts of grass that sprouted up between the cracks to make the path uneven and slightly difficult. The building before them was old and slightly worn, but still sturdy enough to do its job. Aedan wasn't really sure she wanted to find out what its job had been, but there was no turning back now. She could see Dolph and Zerbrowski standing just this side of the doors, both watching her come as they talked to one another.
A swell of power caught Aedan off guard and saw her tripping over one of those overgrown tufts. She might have gone down face first if not for Claudia's hand on her arm. "Aedan? Are you okay? What was that?"
She turned wide eyes to Claudia and blinked, then shifted her focus back to the warehouse. There was shouting from inside, along with some screaming that was too high pitched to be anything but childish. Those screams were enough to snap Aedan out of her surprise and she picked up the pace, practically running across the lot to the door. "Dolph, pull your men out of there now!" she snapped even as she hurried past him. Claudia was behind her, but only because she wasn't sure what they'd be facing when they got on the other side of the warehouse doors.
The sight that greeted her was one of pure chaos. A dozen officers were spread out in a semi-circle, shouting for people to put their hands up. The officers' hands, meanwhile, were clasped around the butts of their guns. Guns that were currently pointed at a rather large group of children, mostly girls, ranging in age from wee babies to young teens. The babies were, surprisingly, not crying. But some of the older children were sobbing softly. Those kids were held close by an older one.
At the head of the group was a girl who looked to be about ten. She'd obviously appointed herself the group's leader and protector, and she'd put herself between the police and the rest of the children. There was defiance on her face. Anger in her eyes. And power riding her skin that felt achingly familiar.
Standing beside the girl were two dogs. It was obvious they were zombies. There were patches of fur and skin missing, and the level of rot said they had been dead a while. But they were faced off against the police, lips peeled back to expose their fangs as they growled at the threat before them. "You men, stand down now! Holster those weapons! She's a child, for fuck's sake!" Aedan ordered.
Her voice saw the cops falling silent. But no one moved. The dogs continued to growl and the cops continued to point their weapons at a scared little girl.
Aedan let her power swell, let it roll over the dogs and push the girl's control aside. It took over and immediately calmed the dogs. But they tightened their position, inching closer to the girl in order to keep her safe. The girl looked confused, unable to figure out what had happened. Aedan cut between them, putting herself between the frightened children and the idiot cops who had no clue what they were dealing with. "Enough!" she barked. "Put the weapons down. That's an order!"
"You men heard Marshal Kinkade." Dolph stopped behind his cops, but he made sure they felt his displeasure. Slowly, the guns were lowered and holstered. Aedan wanted to take issue with the cops not listening to her, but it wasn't important. What was important is that the children were safe.
"Now get out!" Aedan snarled at them. She turned to face the children, ignoring the cops in favor of trying to calm the obviously frightened kids. The girl who had raised the dogs was eyeing her intently, her frown deep.
"How did you do that?" she demanded, trying to capture the dogs back from Aedan's power.
"Practice. Age. I'm more powerful than you," Aedan told her honestly. "What's your name?"
"Tina," the girl said, then looked past her to where Claudia had stopped. A glance over her shoulder told Aedan that the other cops had cleared out, leaving Dolph and Zerbrowski the only police remaining inside the warehouse.
"My name is Aedan, Tina. I'm pleased to meet you," Aedan said, drawing the girl's attention back to her. She let her gaze slide around the collection of children and frowned. There were far too many of them. And there were no adults. When she turned back to Tina, she smiled. "Want to see a trick?" she asked softly.
"What kind of trick?" Tina asked, voice clearly showing that she didn't trust Aedan.
"This kind of trick," Aedan replied, then pushed a little power at the dogs. Just like that, they no longer looked like zombies. Their fur was whole and full, plush stuff that a little girl would enjoy burying her face in. Tongues lolled happily from open mouths and tails wagged, thumping the warehouse floor noisily. Tina's eyes were wide.
"How'd you do that?" This time, the words were filled with awe.
"Practice. You'll be able to do it, too. When you've gotten older and had time to learn what it is you can do." Aedan let her gaze slide from Tina to the rest of the children. Some of them looked as if they were calming. Some were still trembling with fear. "Does anyone want to come put the puppies?" she asked, one hand reaching out to scratch a particularly good spot under the closest dog's chin.
A couple of the younger kids started forward, only to be stopped by the older ones standing near them. Aedan turned to look at Tina, who was watching her closely. "I know you children don't know me. You have no reason to trust me. But I promise I won't hurt you. I'm not here to do anything but help. I promise," Aedan let her voice echo softly around the warehouse, made sure that each of the children present could hear her.
"You're like me," Tina said. There was something in her voice that tugged at Aedan's heart strings. And that's when she knew.
"Where's your mother, Tina?" she asked softly. Carefully.
"She's dead," the girl spat. Aedan felt Tina's power flare across her skin as her anger rose.
"What's your mother's name?"
"Cherie," Tina whispered. Aedan swallowed.
"Cherie Masters?" The question brought pain to Tina's eyes and it was enough. She urged the dogs closer to the girl, watched as Tina's tough girl exterior crumbled and she knelt, burying her face in the closest dog's fur in order to sob. The other dog simply leaned into her, tongue gently licking at the bit of cheek that showed. Aedan let her gaze slide over the assembled children one more time and saw it, that one thread that tied them all together. Anger rushed through her, hotter than the fires of hell, to scald her skin from the inside. If the son-of-bitch wasn't already dead, she'd kill him herself. Maybe she should convince Edward to tell her what he'd done with Solomon's corpse so she could raise him and do some horrible shit to him before she put him back. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could bring her back for you. The best I can do is let you see her once more before she's laid to rest for good. What I can do is tell you that the man who took her away from you will never be able to do it to anyone else."
Slowly, cautiously, Aedan approached Tina where she knelt. The girl's shoulders shook with her sobs, her thin arms curled tightly around the shaggy dog as if it was the only anchor she had left in the world. Aedan reached out with one hand and settled it on the back of the girl's head. Let it glide down the length of her hair to Tina's back. Tremors raced up and down Tina's spine, her grief so complete that she couldn't control the way she shook. Aedan knelt behind her and wrapped her arms around the child and the dog she held. She had to squeeze her eyes shut in order to keep her own tears from falling.
They stayed like that for a long, long time. Until Tina's body simply sagged against the dog she held. Aedan pulled back and gently disentangled the girl's arms from the dog, turned her and pulled her into her own arms. "I'm so sorry, Tina. I'm so sorry for everything he did," she whispered in the girl's ear.
The dogs whined, noses pushing against Aedan's arms in an effort to get closer to her and Tina. And then there were so many more arms as the rest of the children crowded around them. Aedan let them cling to her, let them cling to Tina and the dogs and take what comfort they could.
It was the least she could do. They were all family, weren't they?
~*~
Aedan's gaze stayed locked on the other side of the warehouse, where a small group of the children were still awake. Her mind was still turning in circles, trying to wrap itself around the whole thing. Every single one of the two dozen children in the warehouse had been sired by Carter Solomon. The oldest was thirteen. Born shortly after Aedan had been sent away. She couldn't help but think that it was no coincidence. She watched as Minette sat on the floor with a wee tot settled in her lap. The sight made her smile, even if only a little bit.
"Kinkade!" Dolph snapped, drawing her attention away from the small group working with the children. When she looked at him, she could see he was still irritated with her for stepping on his toes. But he'd been ready to call Social Services to deal with the children. Children who were all traumatized. Tina had explained to Aedan, young voice filled with so much contempt, that they'd been alone in the warehouse for more than a week without anyone coming to check up on them. She'd told them that Solomon had visited twice a day with a trio of women who helped look after the babies. She'd whispered, fear thick in each of her words, that they were afraid they would die there. It had been enough to see Aedan riding rough shod over Dolph and insisting that they would not call Social Services to deal with the kids.
She'd called Minette, who had come with Micah and Jason. Janika had come, as had Rhia and Nathaniel. Isis and Rosamund and Lettie, as well. And each one of them had dived right in with soft voices and gentle hands to help soothe the children. To get food into their bellies. To settle them and put them to sleep until Aedan could figure out what to do about them. "Do you want to explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Dolph demanded, one large hand holding out a thick stack of papers they'd found locked away in a small office on the far side of the warehouse.
"At a guess," she began, for the time ignoring his anger. "I'd say these are all Carter Solomon's children. And, if I had to go based on what I read in his personal writings, I'd say he was trying to recreate a child with Katherine's abilities."
Dolph eyed her a moment before his frown tightened down. "You mean your abilities."
"No. I mean Katherine's abilities," she snapped, temper suddenly gone. She didn't like the idea that Tina and the others might have suffered because of her.
"You're Katherine," he replied.
Aedan spun to face him, eyes blazing with emotion. She saw Zerbrowski shuffle back a step. "No. I am not. My mother named me Chastity Aedan Kinkade. Katherine Solomon is dead. Technically, she never existed. Keep your shit straight, Storr, or I'll walk out of here and I'll take every last one of those children with me. And I'll take the rest of your investigation with me."
"We called you in on this," Dolph reminded her.
Aedan pulled the wallet from her pocket and made sure to put the badge in his face. "And I'm the fucking Fed here. Ironically, so is Janika. We've got fucking jurisdiction. Which is why I brought in people who are equipped to deal with the type of trauma that those children have seen."
"Social Services has seen trauma," Dolph reminded her.
"Not the kind of trauma those children have been through all their goddamn lives. Not the kind of trauma Carter Solomon subjected them to." Aedan paused and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a hard stare. "Also, considering they're all my siblings, I think that gives me the right to decide whether or not Social Services needs to be called. Guess what? I win."
"You don't know for certain those kids are related to you," Dolph said, even though they both knew it was a last ditch effort.
"Of course they are," Aedan replied. "Those papers that you keep trying to shove into my face say they are. I know you've read them over. They told you exactly the same thing they told me. Solomon was trying to breed fucking nercromancers that he could use in his war against the vampires. So far, Tina was the only one he managed to have."
"Aedan," Zerbrowski cut in, obviously aware that tempers were running too high for anyone's safety. "These kids... They need the resources that Social Services can offer. There are people who would be willing to take them in and care for them while we sort this out."
"You want to send someone like Tina to a group home? She'll run away within a week. Kids are mean to anyone their age who isn't exactly like them. No. I won't let it happen. I'm taking charge of the children."
"You don't have the resources..." Dolph started.
Aedan shot him a glare that saw him falling silent. "I don't have the resources? Have you forgotten who I'm hanging around with? Do you want to talk to him and see if he's got the resources? I can get him on the phone. Or you can just wait until he gets here. Because he's on the way. That tends to happen when I get pissed off."
"He isn't stepping foot past the tape. This is my scene," Dolph said.
"No. It isn't. Its officially a federal crime scene. Which means I can say who does and doesn't get past the line."
"Aedan, why are you being so unreasonable about this?" Zerbrowski asked, once more coming between the two of them. She wanted to be mad at him the way she was mad at Dolph, but she couldn't. Because she could see that he really cared. And he really wanted to know why it was such an important thing.
"Because once upon a time, Zerbrowski, I was Tina," she said quietly. "The man I called father didn't like who I was and constantly tried to change it. Tried to change me. And all it did was mess me up in the head, because I didn't understand why he didn't love me like my brothers and sisters. I didn't get then that he didn't care about me. He only wanted to use me. No one understands better what those children have seen. A social worker isn't going to be able to look at Tina and tell her, when the questions and the tears come, that there's nothing wrong with her. That she isn't some odd freak of nature. That it was all her father, because he wanted something from her she didn't have. Didn't know how to give."
Both men stared at her, obviously trying to figure out what to say. They needn't have bothered. There was nothing to say. And Aedan had come to terms with the fact that her father had never really loved her a long time ago. Old news. She would survive. But those children... They needed people who understood exactly what kind of shit they'd been through. And then words weren't important because a uniform stepped into their little group and looked at Dolph. "Detective Storr, there's..."
"The Master of the City is here, isn't he?" Dolph asked, gaze locked on Aedan.
"Yes, sir." the uniform nodded.
There was silence for a moment or two, then Dolph sighed and shook his head. "Show him in," his voice was tight. The uniform stared a moment, then nodded and turned to go fetch their visitor. Aedan let her gaze wander to the other side of the warehouse again, took note that only about three of the children were still awake. One of them was Tina, who was staring with big eyes at the door through which everyone entered and exited. Waiting.
Not long after, the uniform stepped through the door with Jean Claude right behind him. Aedan felt relief wash through her at the sight of him. She saw Tina's eyes get bigger. And Jean Claude, astute and in tune as he was, flicked his gaze the girl's way before returning his attention to Aedan. "Gentleman," Jean Claude said as he joined them. He stopped next to Aedan, but made no move to touch her.
"Jean Claude," Zerbrowski said. Dolph nodded his head. Then Jean Claude turned to her.
"You are okay, ma mie?" he asked, a faint hint of concern touching his face. "You were terribly upset."
"I'm okay," she nodded. She felt his skepticism and had to fight a smile. Instead, she turned and faced the other side of the warehouse. As she'd expected, Jean Claude turned to look at the children with her. "Just..." she began, trailing off when she couldn't decide how to explain it. So she motioned to the kids with one hand.
"Carter Solomon?" he asked softly. Aedan nodded.
"What do you know about Carter Solomon, Jean Claude?" Dolph questioned, obviously of the opinion that he could get new information from a new source. Jean Claude turned to look at the man and shrugged one shoulder in that way that only he could do. It meant nothing and it meant everything.
"Only what the media has told us," Jean Claude replied. "That he is missing. Presumed dead. That he is a religious figure. That there are questions about how he runs his ministry. That he is charismatic." Jean Claude paused there, stared at Dolph for several long seconds. And then he spoke again. This time, his voice was deeper. Touched by anger and disgust. "And that he is Aedan's biological father, though that is something she wishes to forget. And that he tried to manipulate her as a small child to do as he wished."
"That's all?" Dolph asked. The tone of his voice suggested that her really didn't want to believe Jean Claude. Which made Aedan glad that he'd been careful about referring to the man only in the present tense.
"Should I know anything else about him? I have never met him. What little I do know says I do not want to meet him."
"We need to find places for them to stay," Aedan said softly. Her friends had managed to get everyone back to sleep. Except for Tina, who continued to stare at Aedan and Jean Claude with wide, curious eyes.
"Social Services can handle that," Dolph insisted. Aedan heard in his voice his absolute hatred of the idea that any of those children would be around the vampires. She held on to her sigh and tried to stuff the anger down. Being so upset was doing her no good at all. But there was no way in hell she was going to allow any of those children to go to Social Services. None at all.
"Aedan and I will arrange for someone to look after the children," Jean Claude replied steadily. "I have many contacts who can aid in such an endeavor. No doubt they need to be placed with people who can care for their unique trauma."
She had no doubt he'd already made arrangements. Warmth bubbled in her chest. She reached out and took Jean Claude's hand, tugged him into motion behind her as she started across the warehouse floor. She didn't care if Dolph wanted to talk about anything else. She'd already stated her opinion and the matter was resolved, as far as she was concerned. "Come on. I want you to meet someone."
The two of them went in silence, headed for Tina. Minette was with the girl, though Tina didn't seem to notice her there. All of the girl's attention was focused on Aedan and Jean Claude as they came. Aedan flicked her gaze to take stock of where everyone else was. Janika was with one of the older children, who looked as if they were having a nightmare. One hand soothed the child's hair back from her face while she spoke softly to her. Rhia was in a corner with a baby cradled in her arms. Nathaniel was beside her, lips moving as he either spoke or sang to the baby. Isis was tucking the blankets up around the shoulders of a small boy who clung tightly to a small stuffed animal. Micah and Jason were off in a corner, talking lowly among themselves.
"She won't sleep, Aedan. She insists she has to stay awake and protect them," Minette said as Aedan and Jean Claude came to a halt before Minette and Tina. The look Minette gave her was filled with humor. "Just like someone else I know."
Aedan shot her a look that plainly said she should behave, then turned back to Tina. "Tina, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine. His name is Jean Claude and he's--"
"A vampire!" the girl said, the words a mix of excitement and disbelief. Her reaction prompted a smile from the three of them.
"He's also Master of the City."
"Enchanté, Tina. It is a pleasure to meet you," Jean Claude told the girl, offering her a smile. She smiled in return before shifting her attention to Aedan.
"My father said vampires are evil and have to die," Tina whispered softly.
Aedan knelt and stared right in the girl's eyes. "He told me the same thing, once upon a time. But you do not have to be what he tried to make you. Jean Claude and I would like to help make sure you get to be whoever it is you want to be. Is that okay with you?" Aedan asked, making sure Tina understood that everything from now on was her choice.
Tina considered it, her gaze sliding from Aedan to Jean Claude and back again several times before she offered Aedan a faint smile. "I think I'd like that," she said. Then she threw herself at Aedan, wrapping her thin arms around Aedan's neck so that she could hug her close. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much for saving me."
Aedan swallowed the lump in her throat. Kept the tears from falling. "You're welcome," she returned. After all, what was family for?
Chapter Seventy Five: The Ties That Bind
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea, SilverFoxChan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: so much plot. we're drowning in it. all the damn plot. some of it not even planned!
The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link
She stared at the modest house with trepidation running through her veins. Very little had changed about it since she'd last seen it. There was a new coat of paint on the building, and the windows had been given new curtains. She could see that through the glass panes. Beyond that, it was the same as it had been since before she'd gone off to school. But she was so very, very different.
"It'll be okay, Minette," Micah said quietly, one hand reaching out to settle on her shoulder in a silent show of support. "They're your parents. They love you."
"They don't know that I was infected. They don't know about the horrible things Bruce did to me. The horrible things his pard did to me," she replied, voice soft. Micah's fingers squeezed her shoulder.
"They can't be any worse than my family, Minette," Aedan said, effectively breaking the tension in the car with the mention. When Minette turned to look at the other woman, it was to find she was smiling ruefully.
Much against her will, Minette found herself smiling. "Okay. I admit. Its going to be pretty hard to top homicidal siblings and incest and a power hungry father."
"Besides," Jason interjected. "If your parents want to shun you or whatever, you've already got another family in place. And we all love you."
His words made warmth spread across her chest. It was so lovely to know that not everyone wanted to use her to their own ends. That not everyone was cruel and sadistic and opportunistic. She didn't really need this. She had a family. They didn't need to do this. Not now. Not ever. "You know, you're right. I do have a family. And its a good one. One I picked all for myself. We don't have to do this. We can just turn around and leave right now. They don't ever need to know we were here." Minette hoped she didn't put too much into her voice. She didn't want them to think she was too scared to see her parents, even if she was. Nor did she want them to think that she was too cold.
"Its a good idea, Minette," Aedan said, a grin in her voice. "But I think it might be too late for a tactical retreat." To emphasize her point, Aedan motioned toward the windshield with her head. Minette turned to find that the wooden interior door had opened and a pair of anxious faces stared out at them through the screen door. She saw the curious, hopeful faces of her parents and her heart kicked into overdrive.
"Well, then. I guess its time for us to get out of the car and go say hi," Jason announced and reached for the handle. Minette held back a sigh and did the same.
All four doors swung open at once. Minette and Jason climbed from the front seat, while Aedan and Micah got out of the back. Minette didn't bother to look at the large SUV parked behind them, loaded down with several of Rafael's rats. Maybe she wouldn't have to try and explain things if she didn't acknowledge them. They stood there a moment, trying to decide what to do. Minette was aware of Aedan's gaze taking in every inch of her parent's property. She knew the woman was scouting things out, looking for hidden dangers. Ever on alert. Minette knew the woman was armed, could smell the metal of her weapon even hidden under her coat as it was.
The screen door creaked a little as it opened, the sound so familiar that Minette was thrown back to her childhood for a moment or two. Her mother had always known when she was trying to sneak out, no matter how slowly and carefully she'd tried to open the door. And her father had always said he would oil the hinges for her. Looked as if he still hadn't gotten around to that yet. She watched as her mother and father stepped out onto the front porch. "Minerva?" her mother asked softly. It wasn't meant to be heard by anyone, more an intensely quiet whisper to herself. But it carried across the distance to Minette and she heard in it so many emotions that she had to force herself not to cry.
There was that solitary moment where the two of them stared at one another across the distance, Minette and her mother, and then the woman who had given life to her was in motion. She hurried down off the porch and across the lawn in order to draw Minette into a bone crushing hug while she sobbed in Minette's ear. Minette returned the action, mindful of her strength, and gave in to her tears. The two of them stood like that for several minutes, simply hugging and crying and muttering incoherently into one another's ears. And then finally her mother drew back in order to stare, her hands coming up to cup Minette's cheeks so she could get a good look at her daughter. "We haven't heard from you in so long. We thought..." she said, then broke off on a sob and hugged Minette to her once again.
"So much has happened, Mom. There's so much to tell and I couldn't find the words to tell you about it," Minette admitted, still not sure she could do this. She looked over her mother's shoulder to find that Micah and Jason were smiling at her. Aedan was watching with a cool expression. Minette wasn't sure if it was to do with her recent encounters with her family or if it was for some other reason.
"Let them come inside, Elaine," her father said. He was wearing a soft smile that Minette remembered from her youth. That expression made it seem like no time had passed at all. Her mother pulled back and turned to look at the three people who had come with Minette.
"Oh, goodness! Where are my manners? I didn't mean to keep you standing out here in the sun like this. Come inside. Please," she said, hand sliding down to take hold of Minette's. Then she turned to look at the SUV full of rats. "Are these more of your friends? Would they like to come in?" she asked.
"We'd love to come in, Mrs. Poulson," Bobby Lee said as he climbed from the vehicle's front seat. Her mother seemed startled by the response, but she took it in stride and nodded.
"Please. All of you. Follow me," she said, spreading her smile around the yard. Minette shot a look at Aedan, who was hiding a smirk. It looked like she was enjoying Minette's slight discomfort. "Alan, go inside and pour some lemonade. Bring down the good cookies. Put together a plate for our guests." She turned her focus on Minette's father, issuing the order with all the assurance that he would never once bat an eyelash at it.
"Of course, Elaine," her father replied, then stepped inside the house. Minette watched as one of the rats went first, crossing the yard with long, easy strides to step into the house before the rest of them did. Jason went next, then Micah. Minette and her mother were after Micah, followed by two more rats. Aedan came next to last, with Bobby Lee bringing up the rear. Based on the way the older man was smirking at the back of Aedan's head, she wasn't happy with that call.
They all congregated in the living room, still as neat and clean as it had been the last time Minette had been in the house. The furniture had been replaced since then, a plush couch with thick cushions and a set of chairs that matched. There weren't enough seats for everyone present, which was solved by a couple of the rats moving into the kitchen. Bobby Lee and the remaining rat took up positions in the corners. Aedan decided to hold up a wall, one shoulder pressed to it with her arms crossed over her chest. That put her hand closer to her gun. For a moment, Minette worried that she suspected trouble. But her body language was very relaxed. So was Bobby Lee's. She pushed the thought aside and shifted her brain to the task of deciding where she was going to sit.
She was still caught up on that task when her father returned with a tray in hand. It held glasses of lemonade, along with the pitcher. A plate of cookies accompanied the tart beverage. "Please. Sit. I'm sorry we don't have room for everyone, but we weren't expecting so many people to come with you," her mother admitted.
"I'm sorry about that, Mom," Minette began, trying to figure out how to explain it.
"You can blame it on me," Aedan cut in, effectively taking things out of Minette's hands. "My... significant other is paranoid and won't let me leave the house without body guards."
Minette's mother stared at Aedan, eyes wide. "That's a little absurd, isn't it? Maybe a little too possessive. Do you need any help? Is he keeping you with him against his will?" she asked, point blank ignoring said body guards.
Minette choked on the sip of lemonade she'd taken, eyes wide with shock as she looked between her mother and her best friend. "Mom!"
Aedan chuckled and shook her head. Lifted her coat to show the dark shadow of the weapon holstered under her arm. "Nothing like that, Mrs. Poulson. Some very bad people have threatened my life. He's simply being cautious."
It was her mother's turn to stare with eyes gone wide in shock. "That's an awfully big gun," her mother commented. Unspoken was her mother's belief that she didn't think Aedan should be carrying it.
Aedan reached into her coat's inner pocket and came out with the leather wallet that held her badge. She flipped it open and showed it to Minette's parents. "It is a big gun, Mrs. Poulson. And I know how to use it. I'm a Federal Marshal. My name is Aedan Kinkade."
"Aedan Kinkade? You're Aedan?" she asked, then plowed on without even waiting for the other woman to say yes or nod. "Of course Minerva told us all about you in her letters home from college. I didn't think we'd ever get to meet you in person. Especially after Minerva never came home. And please. I insist you call me Elaine. None of that Mrs. Poulson stuff. We're not big on formalities around here."
Aedan smiled and tucked her badge into her pocket, then dropped her coat back into place. "And Minette never missed a chance to tell me how amazing her folks were."
Her mother smiled and blushed, obviously pleased by the praise. She glanced around the room at everyone present. "You're all Minerva's friends? Did you meet her in college?"
"Yes, they're my friends. But I didn't meet them in college," Minette said, trying to keep the emotion from her voice. This was the part she'd been dreading about the visit. Having to talk about Bruce and what he'd done. But there was no way she'd be able to avoid it. And her folks deserved to know the truth. "I met them when I got away from Bruce."
"When you..." her mother began, only to trail off in confusion. "I don't understand. What do you mean, when you got away? What does that mean, Minerva?"
"Why don't you take a seat? Get comfortable. Because I've got a long story to tell," she said in return. Her mother nodded and kind of drifted over to one of the chairs. She watched as the woman settled into it, shifting a bit to make herself comfortable. Minette gave her attention to Aedan, a silent question in her eyes. Aedan merely shook her head and once more pressed her shoulder up against the wall. Minette took that to mean the other woman was going to stand, so she wandered over to the couch and settled down on it. Jason took her left and Micah sat on her right. Her mother watched the entire thing with an intense stare. Her father was the last one to sit, taking a seat in the remaining chair.
Silence ruled the living room for several long moments as Minette tried to find the place to start. Micah settled a hand on her knee, silent support for the upcoming confession. Jason wasn't touching her yet, but it was a close thing.
"Alright, Minerva. What's going on? You're as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs," her mother said. The woman always had known when Minette was twisted up inside about something. Her words brought forth a bark of laughter from Aedan.
"Well, if that isn't an apt description," the necromancer commented. Minette shot her a dark look, hoping Aedan would take the hint and fall silent. The action only prompted further laughter.
"You're not helping, Aedan," Minette remarked. Then she sighed and looked at her mother. "There's so much to tell you and I honestly don't know where to start."
Her mother's look softened. It made Minette feel oddly like no time had passed at all. The woman had always had an uncanny ability to make her feel more at ease. "The beginning is usually the best place. For a suggestion, how about introducing us to your friends?"
Minette frowned and shook her head. She'd been so wound up that she'd honestly forgotten that part of the game. "I'm sorry. I don't know where my manners are. Mom, I'd like you to meet Micah Callahan and Jason Schuyler. They're... both my sweeties."
"Both of them?" her father asked, eyes moving from one man's face to the other as he tried to digest that bit of information. She'd known this was going to be hard, but that still didn't make it any easier to not pull in on herself. Her parents had never been what one would call old fashioned and stuffy. They were fairly open minded. But that didn't mean that explaining all of this was going to be easy.
"Yes, Dad. Both of them," Minette confirmed.
"What about Bruce, honey? I thought you two were going to get married." Her mother looked utterly confused about that.
"Bruce is..." Minette hesitated. Her folks had loved Bruce, had been charmed by his glib tongue. To the point that her father had decided Bruce was the man to run the company when Alan Poulson retired. She wasn't sure she could tell them about everything he did. Not just to her, but to others.
"Bruce is what, honey?"
"Bruce is dead, Mrs. Poulson," Aedan said from her corner. Every eye turned to look at her, most almost absently, as if they were only doing so because it was expected of them. Minette's parents were staring in surprise. And Minette was giving Aedan a look of thanks.
"He's dead?" Elaine asked. "What do you mean, he's dead? What happened?"
Aedan's gaze shifted to Minette's and she saw something in her friend's expression that she wasn't sure anyone else saw. A promise. One Aedan had made to her a long time ago. When she'd first learned what Bruce had done. It was in her eyes now, telling Minette she was going to do whatever she had to to keep her friend safe. Minette saw her intent a moment before Aedan gave her attention back to Minette's mother. "I shot him."
"You shot him? Why on earth did you shoot him?" There was maybe a touch of outrage in her mother's voice with the second question.
"Aedan," Minette began. The woman held up a hand, bringing Minette to silence. Her gaze never left Elaine's face.
"Because he was a very bad man who did bad things," Aedan explained. She made sure Minette's mother was staring right at her when she said the last part of her explanation. "To so many people. To Minette."
"Minerva? Is this true?" Her mother turned back to her, face filled with confusion. Minette wasn't sure that her mother really wanted to know what kind of person the man she'd thought would be her son-in-law actually was. But she was about to find out.
"Bruce was not the man he made you think he was," she began. Now that it was out of the bag, there was no putting it back. And Minette found that Aedan's lie had made it easier to tell her story. She'd known that this part of the visit was going to be hard. She just hadn't realized until they'd gotten there exactly how hard it would be. "He lied to you. To me. To everyone he met. He brought harm to people. He... He raped me."
The words fell into the room like a lead pipe hitting a concrete floor, echoing hollowly off the walls while her parents struggled to absorb just what it was she'd told them.
"Tell them the rest, Minette," Micah said softly. His touch on her knee got heavier, a silent promise that he was there to help her.
"He raped a lot of people. He did horrible things. He was..." she stopped and swallowed. Why was it so hard? All she had to do was say three little words, tell her folks what he was. So that she could tell them what he'd done to her. It wasn't as if she was ashamed of being a leopard. In the months since she'd gone to St. Louis, she'd more than embraced her animal side. But suddenly, facing her parents, the idea of telling them about that part of her made her feel dirty.
Anger came at that thought, sudden and hot and scorching as it washed through her. Why should she be ashamed of who she was? Why should she let that man make her ashamed of who and what she was? How dare he try to maintain his hold on her after his death! How dare the ghost of his memory still gleefully instill fear where it had no place to exist. Minette shoved the fear aside, pushed down the shame and the inadequacy, and took a deep breath. Stared her parents dead in the eyes. "He was a wereleopard and he intentionally raped me in his half and half form. Repeatedly. So that he could infect me. Until he was sure I would change."
The admission echoed around the room as her parents stared. As they struggled to absorb what she'd just told them. Jason leaned into her, one hand sliding behind her back so that it rested on her hip. Silent support. Silent approval. "He never asked me to marry him. He never asked me anything. He only told and ordered. So when he told you we were going to get married, it was a lie. I wanted nothing to do with him. But I was such a weak leopard that I couldn't fight him. He could force me to do whatever he wanted. Either with his power or with his threats."
"What did he threaten, Minette?" her father asked. The familiar nickname falling from his lips felt so right. Tears sprang to her eyes because of it. He'd always been the one to call her that. His pet name for her.
"He threatened to tell you what I was. That I was a whore. He threatened to hurt you. He kept me silent and complacent and frightened."
"And this is why you wanted to go away to college. To get away from him," her father said.
"Yes, Daddy. Because it was the only way to keep my sanity," she admitted.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner, Minette?" There were tears on her mother's cheeks when she asked the question, tears in her voice that made the words thick. And there was something else there. Self-recrimination. She blamed herself for what had happened.
"I didn't know how, Momma," she said. "I wanted to, but I was so scared. Bruce had made me believe that no one would ever love me if they knew what I was."
"Lying sack of shit," Aedan muttered. It was loud enough that even her parents heard it. "I should have killed him then."
"You weren't a Federal Marshal then, Aedan. You would have gotten into a lot of trouble because of me," Minette reminded her friend.
"Only if they'd found the body," Aedan countered. It made Minette wonder just what she would have done.
"Tell us what happened next," her father prompted, drawing Minette's attention back to them and her story.
"I met Aedan in college," Minette smiled fondly at the memory. "She was just as much an outcast as I was, so we kind of fit together."
"Outcast?" her mother frowned. "What do you mean?"
"She means, Mrs. Poulson, that no one wanted to share a room with a weirdo like me because I could tell them where the ghosts were. Just like I can tell you there are four dogs, six cats, and two parakeets buried under your garden in the backyard. The last one died... six years ago."
"You're so extra, Aedan," Minette snarked at her friend. It earned her a broad smile. Minette looked at her parents. "Aedan is a necromancer. She can sense the dead. She can raise the dead. People didn't like being around her for longer than a class took. She wierded them out."
"So you two became friends?" her mother asked.
"We became roommates first. Then friends." Minette let her glance stray toward the other woman again. This time she was greeted with a smile. "Aedan never once looked at me like I was a freak for what Bruce had done to me, despite his having convinced me that everyone would blame me. She even threatened him to his face once when he came to the campus to visit."
"I should have done more than threaten," Aedan said from across the room.
"Hush. You're scaring my parents," Minette chided. She smiled, though, and once again turned back to her mom and dad. "Aedan is the reason I got away from Bruce. She's the reason I'm part of a healthy, happy, safe pard. She helped me get away from Bruce and his insanity."
"Aedan was working with a friend of mine," Micah took up, bringing her folks' eyes his way. He slipped his sunglasses off and let them get a good look at his eyes. Her mother gasped. Her father only blinked. Minette was surprised he'd called Anita a friend instead of his lover. But she supposed that would seem odd unless they told that part of the story. Minette wasn't sure she was up to that. So she said nothing, simply let him tell them about his part in the tale. "She went to this friend and told her about Minette. And about what Bruce had done. Our mutual friend came to me and suggested my pard take Minette in. Give her a safe place. After looking into Bruce's pard, I decided that it would be a good idea to bring Minette to St. Louis and make her part of my pard. I'm the head of my pard, which means I'm strong enough to protect Minette from almost any threat that comes her way."
"Almost any?" The question came from her father.
"There are some threats that not even a lycanthrope can handle. Alpha or not," Aedan explained. "Vampires will always be stronger and faster in a fight. There are humans out there who are very good at hunting lycanthropes, at exploiting their weaknesses. Which is why Minette has me. And my big gun."
"How can you and your big gun protect my daughter from the things that a lycanthrope can't? You're only human."
"Dad!" Minette said, shocked at his casual inference that Aedan couldn't protect her.
"Look out your kitchen window, Mr. Poulson. Please," Aedan commented softly. Minette turned a look on her.
"Excuse me?"
"Aedan!"
Her friend ignored the obvious scorn in her voice, focused solely on her father. "Please. Get up and go to the kitchen, then look out the window into your back yard."
Her father stared at Aedan for a moment, probably trying to decide if she was absolutely insane or not, before heaving a sigh and pushing himself up out of the chair. Minette watched as he strode from the room, heard his footsteps as he wandered down the hall toward the kitchen. Heard his shoes slap softly against the linoleum on the floor in the kitchen. Heard it when he came to a stop and then when he sucked a quick breath. Heard his softly uttered "Jesus Christ!" before he returned to the living room. His face was white when he reclaimed his seat. "What the hell?"
"That's my unique ability, Mr. Poulson. I have never been 'only human' and that's why. In case you missed it, that man was wearing clothes that are a couple hundred years out of date," Aedan told her father quietly.
"Aedan! Put the zombie back!" Minette ordered.
"I will. In a moment. But I want your parents to understand that I am anything but human and I will do whatever I have to in order to keep you safe. None of you even felt me summon that zombie. It took almost no thought. No effort. I can bring the rest of the bodies up to the surface with the same lack of effort. I don't need a ritual. I don't need a sacrifice. I don't need to have skin touching the ground. I can just do it. And those bodies are hundreds of years old." Aedan made sure her gaze never left Minette's father's face. "Minette is the first real family I've ever had. I will lay down my life to see her kept safe. That's a promise. But do not make the mistake of thinking I will go down without a fight. And don't make the mistake of thinking that I can't do anything to protect her because I'm 'only human'. That's a description that has never applied to me."
"You're saying you'd kill for my daughter?" her father asked Aedan. The room was utterly silent as he spoke, and every eye turned to her to see what her answer would be. Surprisingly, Aedan's gaze shifted toward Minette and something filled it briefly before being hidden away behind her cop face.
"Yes," she said.
Minette knew that her parents would take the statement to mean that she would kill someone in the future who was threatening Minette. That that was what she'd done with Bruce. Aedan had said as much in the beginning of the conversation. But Minette knew different. Minette knew that Aedan meant she'd already done it. She didn't know how she knew, maybe something in the way Aedan answered. In the look she'd given Minette. Maybe something else entirely. She just knew. And she didn't know who Aedan had killed for her, but she knew that her friend's words were the gods' honest truth. Minette should have felt horrified. Or frightened. Or something along those lines. She didn't. She felt warmth. And love.
She watched as Aedan and her father stared at one another across the silence of the room. She didn't know what either one saw when they looked in the other person's eyes. But a thread of tension ran through the room, making energy spill across her skin as everyone tried to figure out what was going to happen next. Finally, her father gave a nod and a grim smile. "Good enough for me."
Just like that, the tension was gone. Minette watched as her mother shifted her focus back and forth from the man she'd married to Aedan. She wasn't sure what her mother was thinking. For the moment, she let it go. Instead, she tried to find a way to shift the conversation back to something a little less intense. She found herself at a loss. But her mother knew just the thing. "Is anyone else hungry? I can whip up some lunch really quick. We've got the makings of sandwiches and I know there are some chips in the pantry."
"That isn't necessary, Mom," Minette began, but her mother waved her protests off with a hand.
"Of course its necessary, Minerva. These people are your family. Which makes them part of our family. And you know what your Grandma Eugenie always said."
"Family takes care of family," Minette intoned dutifully.
"Yes. It does. So if you'll all excuse me while I go make those sandwiches. Minette, come give me a hand," Elaine stood and started for the door. Minette turned wide eyes toward Aedan.
"Relax. Already done," her friend assured her. Minette sighed and nodded, then rose from the couch and trailed after her mother toward the kitchen to lend a hand. She shouldn't have been so tense. The hard part was over. She'd told her parents about Bruce and what he'd done. Where that had put Minette. She'd gotten all of that off her shoulders. But she was still tense. Because there was another reason for her mother to ask her to help out in the kitchen other than simply having Minette help.
The real interrogation was about to begin.
~*~*~*~*~
"Your ten o'clock," Craig said as he opened the door to her office and pushed it wide. Aedan looked up and found that he was wearing an expression she'd come to understand meant something was hinky with the client. She gave him a slight smile in thanks and set the file she'd been reading aside. She worked a professional smile onto her face moments before the client walked into her office. Only practice saw it remaining where it was when she recognized the new arrival. "Miss Parnell. What brings you all the way to St. Louis and my office?" Aedan asked before slanting her gaze Craig's way to let him know it was okay. The secretary nodded and slipped from the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
"I came to talk to you about Ted," Donna said, crossing the floor to settle into one of the chairs before Aedan's desk. Aedan drew a breath, clasping her hands before her.
"I'm afraid you wasted a lot of money and your time. I have nothing to say about Ted," she replied evenly. Firmly.
"Then you can listen," the woman returned shortly, giving Aedan what she believed to be Donna's version of a hard stare. It was far less intimidating than Edward's, but there was an intensity to it that said she would not be denied. Aedan considered throwing her out for a moment or two, but pushed the thought aside and spread her hands in a silent indication that Donna should continue with her tale. Not that it was going to change Aedan's mind where her cousin was concerned. That ship had sailed. "Ted's devastated that you pushed him out of your life."
Aedan doubted that. Edward didn't have feelings. At all.
Donna went on, unaware that she might as well be talking to a brick wall. "You have to talk to him. Fix this rift between you. Its tearing him apart."
"I'm afraid you're very much mistaken. I do not have to do anything where Ted is concerned," Aedan told her coldly.
The tone of her voice seemed to startle Donna, because she simply stared at Aedan, eyes wide and touched by confusion. "Aedan--"
"We are not familiar enough for you to call me anything but Miss Kinkade," Aedan said, cutting across Donna ruthlessly.
The woman's expression went slack in shock. It lasted for a moment or two. But then it hardened up and became something less open. More considering. "That was just plain rude and I'll thank you to hear me out before you treat me with such disrespect. If you were my child, I'd take you over my knee for speaking to me that way."
"But I'm not your child, Miss Parnell," Aedan reminded her.
"No. You're not. If you were, you'd never speak to anyone that way. Its obvious no one ever taught you manners."
"I was raised by a psychopath. Manners weren't on his to-do list where I was concerned," Aedan returned. It didn't ruffle Donna's feathers one bit, letting her know that Edward had been telling secrets. Perfect.
"Yes. I've heard all about what a prize parent your father was. Ted told me he killed your mother. That he raised you to fear your own powers. He was a horrible parent. But that doesn't mean you should take your emotional upset out on the only family you have left," Donna insisted.
"Oh, I have a family, Miss Parnell. One I made for myself. A bunch of freaks and outcasts, just like me. Lycanthropes. Vampires. Witches. Its a good family. One Ted doesn't belong in anymore." Donna opened her mouth to address that, no doubt to argue in Edward's defense. He'd probably want to skin her alive if he knew she'd come here to plead his case for him. And there was no doubt in Aedan's mind that he had no clue that Donna was sitting in her office at this very moment. Aedan had to give that the woman had a big brass pair. But she was going to burst Donna's bubble. "But since you want to talk about my blood relations, let's get right into that. Shall we?"
To her credit, Donna gave her a wary look. It almost made Aedan smile. Almost.
"Did Ted mention to you, when he was telling you the sad, sad tale of my life, that he decided to take the opportunity to use me to further his own ends? Did he mention the part where he figured he could use me to get to the man who killed his cousin? Because that's what he did. He made me think he had my best interests at heart. He made me believe that he might actually care about me as a human being." It still stung so badly that he'd been more like a father to her than her own, in his own weird way, and then he'd just fucked it all up. He'd fucked her all up. And she was fucked up enough as it was.
"He does care about you, Aedan," Donna insisted, effectively ignoring Aedan's attempts to keep the other woman outside her personal comfort zone.
"He has a really fucking odd way of showing it. Because, as it happens, he decided that I was the best way to get back at the man who killed his cousin. Never mind that I'd spent years living under the sick fuck's tender ministrations. Never mind that, of either one of us, I like to think that maybe I had more claim to deal with the bastard. That I had more right to exact some kind of vengeance for what he'd done to me. But I wasn't even part of Ted's equation. I was a means to an end. Because everything he did for me was a lie. And, in the end, he used me. Just like my own flesh and blood father used me. So, you'll excuse me if I'm not eager to hear your pleas on his behalf."
Aedan expected her visitor to perhaps quake with fear a bit, shiver under the weight of Aedan's anger. But Donna merely stared at her for a full minute before a look of absolute sadness came to her face. "So much anger for someone so young. That man must have done horrible things to make you like this. No wonder Ted has been so wound up and worried about you."
Aedan snorted, effectively letting Donna know what she thought of that. Donna's eyes narrowed on her.
"You are so much more like him than you realize. Ted is proud and stubborn and incapable of admitting he needs help. Or that he needs someone. You're the only blood family he has left. Maybe the way he handled things was wrong. I don't know. I can't say. What I do know is that he's lost without you. You gave him a reason to continue when Anita died. A reason I couldn't give him. One I can't give him." There was no malice in her words, just a sort of sad acceptance.
"He'll get over it. Ted doesn't need me anymore than I need him." Aedan made sure the words came out exact. And steady. Because she had to. Because, if she didn't, she'd dissolve in a fit of tears and he wasn't worth crying over.
"You would punish the only blood you have for making a mistake?" Donna asked. Her tone said she honestly believed that that's all it had been. A simple mistake. A misunderstanding. Something easily fixed with a half-hearted apology. Aedan pressed her hands flat against the desk before her in order to keep them from balling into fists.
"A mistake?" she questioned, voice going soft and quiet. Flat. Dangerous. Donna didn't know her well enough to know the warning signs. She was about to learn. "A mistake? Was it a mistake when he decided, upon learning who my mother was, to keep that from me? Was it a mistake to simply decide not to tell me that he was blood to me? Was it a mistake to walk into my hospital room, after I'd just endured four days of torture and abuse, and up and tell me everything? How about when he planted a tracking device on my clothing? Was that a mistake, too?"
Her face said these were things she hadn't been told. Aedan gave her a vicious smile and rose to her feet. "Nothing Ted does is a mistake. Nothing he's ever done is a mistake. He thinks about everything he's going to do. Plans out each and every move. So, in case you missed it the first time, allow me to tell you again what happened."
Donna's mouth fell open, obviously in the effort to issue some kind of defense on Edward's behalf. Aedan didn't let her speak, pushed on to be sure the woman understood exactly why it was she'd pushed Edward out of her life. "At some point in our acquaintance, Ted discovered who my mother was. And he learned that I was his second cousin. He chose to keep that information to himself. When he found out that my mother had been murdered, he opted to hold on to that story. The same thing happened when he unearthed the fact that my father was the one responsible for murdering my mother. Do you know how long I've known Ted? For years. Something like a decade. How many of those years do you suppose he kept all of that information to himself?"
She paused, gave Donna the opportunity to defend Edward's actions. The woman could only stare at her, lips slightly parted in shock or dismay. Aedan didn't know which. She didn't care. When nothing was forthcoming, she pushed on.
"Do you know when I found all of this information out? About a week ago. Ted kept all of that from me for years. And then only tells me when he absolutely has to. You'll have to pardon my skepticism with the idea that he only had my best interests at heart. Ted didn't take my interests into consideration. The only person he thought about was himself." Aedan stopped. Snorted in disgust. She shook her head at herself. "Do you want to know the kicker? I'd already started to think of Ted as family. Before I found any of this out. I thought he was someone I could surround myself with. I wanted him as part of my weird, freaky little found family. I even told him. And the whole time, the whole fucking time, he already knew that we were family. He just didn't care enough to tell me."
Donna stared at her, either unable to find anything to say or just unwilling to speak. Aedan didn't care. She was already tired of the conversation. And she could tell that Donna didn't see how Edward had used her.
Moments passed before the slightly dazed expression left the woman's face, replaced by a look of intense consideration. "I have no doubt Ted had his reasons for not telling you. Maybe because he knew you were a hothead and that you'd run out and do something stupid if he told you. Maybe because he didn't want to see you hurt further. Maybe because there was nothing you could do with any of that information." Donna paused and shook her head. "Its obvious to me that you're a spoiled brat and you really do need that spanking I mentioned earlier. You're also obviously selfish and so caught up in your very narrow view of the world. Its plain to see that you won't ever understand Ted's motivations and maybe things are better this way. You don't deserve to have him in your life."
The words were meant to sting and inflict pain. To bring about remorse. Aedan gave Donna a small smile that let her know her blatant attempt at manipulation was pathetic. "You'll have to try a different avenue of attack if you think you can guilt me into changing my mind. My sperm donor was so much better at it than you. And his skills stopped working on me a long time ago."
Donna looked like she was winding up to deliver another scathing assessment of Aedan's character. It was in her eyes. But the opportunity was taken from her by the chime of Aedan's cell. She glanced at the screen to see who it was before returning her attention to Donna. "You'll have to excuse me, Miss Parnell. Your time is up. The police are calling and I have to take it." Aedan lifted the phone and made to answer. "You can see yourself out. Have a pleasant return flight to New Mexico. Don't bother coming back. I won't have any open appointments."
She tapped the screen and took the call, letting her gaze rest heavy and hard on Donna's face while she answered. "Kinkade. What do you need, Zerbrowski?"
~*~
Aedan stared at the scene before her with a touch of trepidation running down her spine. Zerbrowski had simply told her that they needed her help at a scene and had rattled off an address. Nothing else. Aedan hadn't really wanted to go. She was tired of seeing dead bodies. Tired of talking to dead people. Tired of everything. But there had been something in Zerbrowski's voice that had told her they really, really needed her. So she'd grabbed her things and headed for her car, ignoring the way Claudia shadowed her so closely that she could feel the woman's breath on the back of her neck during the elevator ride down to the first floor.
Evening traffic had been just heavy enough to make getting to her location take longer than she'd liked. Some voice echoed at the back of her brain, telling her that whatever Zerbrowski wanted her to see was important. Even now, parked outside the address he'd given her, that voice was still repeating its message.
It was a warehouse, and that was enough to see her heartbeat pick up. She had a suspicion that whatever was inside the property, it was somehow related to Carter Solomon. Just thinking about him made her heart pound in her chest. Claudia, who had ridden with her because she refused to let Aedan out of her sight for more than a minute, reached over and put a hand on her knee. "Are you alright? Your heart rate just spiked."
"Nervous. Anxious. Scared," Aedan admitted. Claudia turned to look at her.
"Of a warehouse?"
"No. Of what's inside." Aedan heaved a sigh and dug her clip on ID out of her pocket. It got stuck on the lapel of her suit coat even as she pocketed the keys. A quick pat of her hand assured her that her gun was in its holster under her arm, even though she could literally feel it there. "Right. Let's go. The sooner we get this taken care of, the sooner we can leave. Right?"
Claudia gave Aedan the hairy eyeball. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
"No. But I don't have much of a choice. Whatever's in there..." she trailed off and shrugged. "They need me. So here I am."
"Okay. But if its too much for you, I will drag your ass out of there. No matter what the cops think," she warned. Aedan smiled at her.
"Thanks." She slid from the car, Claudia following her lead. There was yellow tape up to establish a perimeter, but no one to keep out. Yet. If the news vans caught wind that RPIT was at a scene, they'd no doubt be showing up soon enough. She wanted to be in and out before that happened.
The warehouse was guarded by a sagging fence that had obviously been the victim of neglect. There were rust stains here and there, bits of the chain link tugged out of shape by careless hands. But the chain that was presently hanging from one of the open gates was new. Shiny. Thick. Meant to keep prying eyes out. Or something in. Aedan didn't like that idea. The uniform guarding the gate nodded at her, lifting the tape to allow her entrance. But his gaze went to Claudia and turned hard. It was a good look of intimidation. Sadly, it did not work on Aedan's companion. She heaved a sigh and gave the cop a look. "She's with me. And if you don't let her enter with me, you can personally explain to Detective Storr why I turned around and went home."
It was the best threat she could have given. The cop paled ever so slightly before giving a single nod and stepping away from the tape. She could feel Claudia's amusement and hoped it lasted through whatever they faced on the other side of the warehouse doors.
The two of them crossed broken and chipped concrete in silence, feet avoiding the tufts of grass that sprouted up between the cracks to make the path uneven and slightly difficult. The building before them was old and slightly worn, but still sturdy enough to do its job. Aedan wasn't really sure she wanted to find out what its job had been, but there was no turning back now. She could see Dolph and Zerbrowski standing just this side of the doors, both watching her come as they talked to one another.
A swell of power caught Aedan off guard and saw her tripping over one of those overgrown tufts. She might have gone down face first if not for Claudia's hand on her arm. "Aedan? Are you okay? What was that?"
She turned wide eyes to Claudia and blinked, then shifted her focus back to the warehouse. There was shouting from inside, along with some screaming that was too high pitched to be anything but childish. Those screams were enough to snap Aedan out of her surprise and she picked up the pace, practically running across the lot to the door. "Dolph, pull your men out of there now!" she snapped even as she hurried past him. Claudia was behind her, but only because she wasn't sure what they'd be facing when they got on the other side of the warehouse doors.
The sight that greeted her was one of pure chaos. A dozen officers were spread out in a semi-circle, shouting for people to put their hands up. The officers' hands, meanwhile, were clasped around the butts of their guns. Guns that were currently pointed at a rather large group of children, mostly girls, ranging in age from wee babies to young teens. The babies were, surprisingly, not crying. But some of the older children were sobbing softly. Those kids were held close by an older one.
At the head of the group was a girl who looked to be about ten. She'd obviously appointed herself the group's leader and protector, and she'd put herself between the police and the rest of the children. There was defiance on her face. Anger in her eyes. And power riding her skin that felt achingly familiar.
Standing beside the girl were two dogs. It was obvious they were zombies. There were patches of fur and skin missing, and the level of rot said they had been dead a while. But they were faced off against the police, lips peeled back to expose their fangs as they growled at the threat before them. "You men, stand down now! Holster those weapons! She's a child, for fuck's sake!" Aedan ordered.
Her voice saw the cops falling silent. But no one moved. The dogs continued to growl and the cops continued to point their weapons at a scared little girl.
Aedan let her power swell, let it roll over the dogs and push the girl's control aside. It took over and immediately calmed the dogs. But they tightened their position, inching closer to the girl in order to keep her safe. The girl looked confused, unable to figure out what had happened. Aedan cut between them, putting herself between the frightened children and the idiot cops who had no clue what they were dealing with. "Enough!" she barked. "Put the weapons down. That's an order!"
"You men heard Marshal Kinkade." Dolph stopped behind his cops, but he made sure they felt his displeasure. Slowly, the guns were lowered and holstered. Aedan wanted to take issue with the cops not listening to her, but it wasn't important. What was important is that the children were safe.
"Now get out!" Aedan snarled at them. She turned to face the children, ignoring the cops in favor of trying to calm the obviously frightened kids. The girl who had raised the dogs was eyeing her intently, her frown deep.
"How did you do that?" she demanded, trying to capture the dogs back from Aedan's power.
"Practice. Age. I'm more powerful than you," Aedan told her honestly. "What's your name?"
"Tina," the girl said, then looked past her to where Claudia had stopped. A glance over her shoulder told Aedan that the other cops had cleared out, leaving Dolph and Zerbrowski the only police remaining inside the warehouse.
"My name is Aedan, Tina. I'm pleased to meet you," Aedan said, drawing the girl's attention back to her. She let her gaze slide around the collection of children and frowned. There were far too many of them. And there were no adults. When she turned back to Tina, she smiled. "Want to see a trick?" she asked softly.
"What kind of trick?" Tina asked, voice clearly showing that she didn't trust Aedan.
"This kind of trick," Aedan replied, then pushed a little power at the dogs. Just like that, they no longer looked like zombies. Their fur was whole and full, plush stuff that a little girl would enjoy burying her face in. Tongues lolled happily from open mouths and tails wagged, thumping the warehouse floor noisily. Tina's eyes were wide.
"How'd you do that?" This time, the words were filled with awe.
"Practice. You'll be able to do it, too. When you've gotten older and had time to learn what it is you can do." Aedan let her gaze slide from Tina to the rest of the children. Some of them looked as if they were calming. Some were still trembling with fear. "Does anyone want to come put the puppies?" she asked, one hand reaching out to scratch a particularly good spot under the closest dog's chin.
A couple of the younger kids started forward, only to be stopped by the older ones standing near them. Aedan turned to look at Tina, who was watching her closely. "I know you children don't know me. You have no reason to trust me. But I promise I won't hurt you. I'm not here to do anything but help. I promise," Aedan let her voice echo softly around the warehouse, made sure that each of the children present could hear her.
"You're like me," Tina said. There was something in her voice that tugged at Aedan's heart strings. And that's when she knew.
"Where's your mother, Tina?" she asked softly. Carefully.
"She's dead," the girl spat. Aedan felt Tina's power flare across her skin as her anger rose.
"What's your mother's name?"
"Cherie," Tina whispered. Aedan swallowed.
"Cherie Masters?" The question brought pain to Tina's eyes and it was enough. She urged the dogs closer to the girl, watched as Tina's tough girl exterior crumbled and she knelt, burying her face in the closest dog's fur in order to sob. The other dog simply leaned into her, tongue gently licking at the bit of cheek that showed. Aedan let her gaze slide over the assembled children one more time and saw it, that one thread that tied them all together. Anger rushed through her, hotter than the fires of hell, to scald her skin from the inside. If the son-of-bitch wasn't already dead, she'd kill him herself. Maybe she should convince Edward to tell her what he'd done with Solomon's corpse so she could raise him and do some horrible shit to him before she put him back. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could bring her back for you. The best I can do is let you see her once more before she's laid to rest for good. What I can do is tell you that the man who took her away from you will never be able to do it to anyone else."
Slowly, cautiously, Aedan approached Tina where she knelt. The girl's shoulders shook with her sobs, her thin arms curled tightly around the shaggy dog as if it was the only anchor she had left in the world. Aedan reached out with one hand and settled it on the back of the girl's head. Let it glide down the length of her hair to Tina's back. Tremors raced up and down Tina's spine, her grief so complete that she couldn't control the way she shook. Aedan knelt behind her and wrapped her arms around the child and the dog she held. She had to squeeze her eyes shut in order to keep her own tears from falling.
They stayed like that for a long, long time. Until Tina's body simply sagged against the dog she held. Aedan pulled back and gently disentangled the girl's arms from the dog, turned her and pulled her into her own arms. "I'm so sorry, Tina. I'm so sorry for everything he did," she whispered in the girl's ear.
The dogs whined, noses pushing against Aedan's arms in an effort to get closer to her and Tina. And then there were so many more arms as the rest of the children crowded around them. Aedan let them cling to her, let them cling to Tina and the dogs and take what comfort they could.
It was the least she could do. They were all family, weren't they?
~*~
Aedan's gaze stayed locked on the other side of the warehouse, where a small group of the children were still awake. Her mind was still turning in circles, trying to wrap itself around the whole thing. Every single one of the two dozen children in the warehouse had been sired by Carter Solomon. The oldest was thirteen. Born shortly after Aedan had been sent away. She couldn't help but think that it was no coincidence. She watched as Minette sat on the floor with a wee tot settled in her lap. The sight made her smile, even if only a little bit.
"Kinkade!" Dolph snapped, drawing her attention away from the small group working with the children. When she looked at him, she could see he was still irritated with her for stepping on his toes. But he'd been ready to call Social Services to deal with the children. Children who were all traumatized. Tina had explained to Aedan, young voice filled with so much contempt, that they'd been alone in the warehouse for more than a week without anyone coming to check up on them. She'd told them that Solomon had visited twice a day with a trio of women who helped look after the babies. She'd whispered, fear thick in each of her words, that they were afraid they would die there. It had been enough to see Aedan riding rough shod over Dolph and insisting that they would not call Social Services to deal with the kids.
She'd called Minette, who had come with Micah and Jason. Janika had come, as had Rhia and Nathaniel. Isis and Rosamund and Lettie, as well. And each one of them had dived right in with soft voices and gentle hands to help soothe the children. To get food into their bellies. To settle them and put them to sleep until Aedan could figure out what to do about them. "Do you want to explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Dolph demanded, one large hand holding out a thick stack of papers they'd found locked away in a small office on the far side of the warehouse.
"At a guess," she began, for the time ignoring his anger. "I'd say these are all Carter Solomon's children. And, if I had to go based on what I read in his personal writings, I'd say he was trying to recreate a child with Katherine's abilities."
Dolph eyed her a moment before his frown tightened down. "You mean your abilities."
"No. I mean Katherine's abilities," she snapped, temper suddenly gone. She didn't like the idea that Tina and the others might have suffered because of her.
"You're Katherine," he replied.
Aedan spun to face him, eyes blazing with emotion. She saw Zerbrowski shuffle back a step. "No. I am not. My mother named me Chastity Aedan Kinkade. Katherine Solomon is dead. Technically, she never existed. Keep your shit straight, Storr, or I'll walk out of here and I'll take every last one of those children with me. And I'll take the rest of your investigation with me."
"We called you in on this," Dolph reminded her.
Aedan pulled the wallet from her pocket and made sure to put the badge in his face. "And I'm the fucking Fed here. Ironically, so is Janika. We've got fucking jurisdiction. Which is why I brought in people who are equipped to deal with the type of trauma that those children have seen."
"Social Services has seen trauma," Dolph reminded her.
"Not the kind of trauma those children have been through all their goddamn lives. Not the kind of trauma Carter Solomon subjected them to." Aedan paused and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a hard stare. "Also, considering they're all my siblings, I think that gives me the right to decide whether or not Social Services needs to be called. Guess what? I win."
"You don't know for certain those kids are related to you," Dolph said, even though they both knew it was a last ditch effort.
"Of course they are," Aedan replied. "Those papers that you keep trying to shove into my face say they are. I know you've read them over. They told you exactly the same thing they told me. Solomon was trying to breed fucking nercromancers that he could use in his war against the vampires. So far, Tina was the only one he managed to have."
"Aedan," Zerbrowski cut in, obviously aware that tempers were running too high for anyone's safety. "These kids... They need the resources that Social Services can offer. There are people who would be willing to take them in and care for them while we sort this out."
"You want to send someone like Tina to a group home? She'll run away within a week. Kids are mean to anyone their age who isn't exactly like them. No. I won't let it happen. I'm taking charge of the children."
"You don't have the resources..." Dolph started.
Aedan shot him a glare that saw him falling silent. "I don't have the resources? Have you forgotten who I'm hanging around with? Do you want to talk to him and see if he's got the resources? I can get him on the phone. Or you can just wait until he gets here. Because he's on the way. That tends to happen when I get pissed off."
"He isn't stepping foot past the tape. This is my scene," Dolph said.
"No. It isn't. Its officially a federal crime scene. Which means I can say who does and doesn't get past the line."
"Aedan, why are you being so unreasonable about this?" Zerbrowski asked, once more coming between the two of them. She wanted to be mad at him the way she was mad at Dolph, but she couldn't. Because she could see that he really cared. And he really wanted to know why it was such an important thing.
"Because once upon a time, Zerbrowski, I was Tina," she said quietly. "The man I called father didn't like who I was and constantly tried to change it. Tried to change me. And all it did was mess me up in the head, because I didn't understand why he didn't love me like my brothers and sisters. I didn't get then that he didn't care about me. He only wanted to use me. No one understands better what those children have seen. A social worker isn't going to be able to look at Tina and tell her, when the questions and the tears come, that there's nothing wrong with her. That she isn't some odd freak of nature. That it was all her father, because he wanted something from her she didn't have. Didn't know how to give."
Both men stared at her, obviously trying to figure out what to say. They needn't have bothered. There was nothing to say. And Aedan had come to terms with the fact that her father had never really loved her a long time ago. Old news. She would survive. But those children... They needed people who understood exactly what kind of shit they'd been through. And then words weren't important because a uniform stepped into their little group and looked at Dolph. "Detective Storr, there's..."
"The Master of the City is here, isn't he?" Dolph asked, gaze locked on Aedan.
"Yes, sir." the uniform nodded.
There was silence for a moment or two, then Dolph sighed and shook his head. "Show him in," his voice was tight. The uniform stared a moment, then nodded and turned to go fetch their visitor. Aedan let her gaze wander to the other side of the warehouse again, took note that only about three of the children were still awake. One of them was Tina, who was staring with big eyes at the door through which everyone entered and exited. Waiting.
Not long after, the uniform stepped through the door with Jean Claude right behind him. Aedan felt relief wash through her at the sight of him. She saw Tina's eyes get bigger. And Jean Claude, astute and in tune as he was, flicked his gaze the girl's way before returning his attention to Aedan. "Gentleman," Jean Claude said as he joined them. He stopped next to Aedan, but made no move to touch her.
"Jean Claude," Zerbrowski said. Dolph nodded his head. Then Jean Claude turned to her.
"You are okay, ma mie?" he asked, a faint hint of concern touching his face. "You were terribly upset."
"I'm okay," she nodded. She felt his skepticism and had to fight a smile. Instead, she turned and faced the other side of the warehouse. As she'd expected, Jean Claude turned to look at the children with her. "Just..." she began, trailing off when she couldn't decide how to explain it. So she motioned to the kids with one hand.
"Carter Solomon?" he asked softly. Aedan nodded.
"What do you know about Carter Solomon, Jean Claude?" Dolph questioned, obviously of the opinion that he could get new information from a new source. Jean Claude turned to look at the man and shrugged one shoulder in that way that only he could do. It meant nothing and it meant everything.
"Only what the media has told us," Jean Claude replied. "That he is missing. Presumed dead. That he is a religious figure. That there are questions about how he runs his ministry. That he is charismatic." Jean Claude paused there, stared at Dolph for several long seconds. And then he spoke again. This time, his voice was deeper. Touched by anger and disgust. "And that he is Aedan's biological father, though that is something she wishes to forget. And that he tried to manipulate her as a small child to do as he wished."
"That's all?" Dolph asked. The tone of his voice suggested that her really didn't want to believe Jean Claude. Which made Aedan glad that he'd been careful about referring to the man only in the present tense.
"Should I know anything else about him? I have never met him. What little I do know says I do not want to meet him."
"We need to find places for them to stay," Aedan said softly. Her friends had managed to get everyone back to sleep. Except for Tina, who continued to stare at Aedan and Jean Claude with wide, curious eyes.
"Social Services can handle that," Dolph insisted. Aedan heard in his voice his absolute hatred of the idea that any of those children would be around the vampires. She held on to her sigh and tried to stuff the anger down. Being so upset was doing her no good at all. But there was no way in hell she was going to allow any of those children to go to Social Services. None at all.
"Aedan and I will arrange for someone to look after the children," Jean Claude replied steadily. "I have many contacts who can aid in such an endeavor. No doubt they need to be placed with people who can care for their unique trauma."
She had no doubt he'd already made arrangements. Warmth bubbled in her chest. She reached out and took Jean Claude's hand, tugged him into motion behind her as she started across the warehouse floor. She didn't care if Dolph wanted to talk about anything else. She'd already stated her opinion and the matter was resolved, as far as she was concerned. "Come on. I want you to meet someone."
The two of them went in silence, headed for Tina. Minette was with the girl, though Tina didn't seem to notice her there. All of the girl's attention was focused on Aedan and Jean Claude as they came. Aedan flicked her gaze to take stock of where everyone else was. Janika was with one of the older children, who looked as if they were having a nightmare. One hand soothed the child's hair back from her face while she spoke softly to her. Rhia was in a corner with a baby cradled in her arms. Nathaniel was beside her, lips moving as he either spoke or sang to the baby. Isis was tucking the blankets up around the shoulders of a small boy who clung tightly to a small stuffed animal. Micah and Jason were off in a corner, talking lowly among themselves.
"She won't sleep, Aedan. She insists she has to stay awake and protect them," Minette said as Aedan and Jean Claude came to a halt before Minette and Tina. The look Minette gave her was filled with humor. "Just like someone else I know."
Aedan shot her a look that plainly said she should behave, then turned back to Tina. "Tina, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine. His name is Jean Claude and he's--"
"A vampire!" the girl said, the words a mix of excitement and disbelief. Her reaction prompted a smile from the three of them.
"He's also Master of the City."
"Enchanté, Tina. It is a pleasure to meet you," Jean Claude told the girl, offering her a smile. She smiled in return before shifting her attention to Aedan.
"My father said vampires are evil and have to die," Tina whispered softly.
Aedan knelt and stared right in the girl's eyes. "He told me the same thing, once upon a time. But you do not have to be what he tried to make you. Jean Claude and I would like to help make sure you get to be whoever it is you want to be. Is that okay with you?" Aedan asked, making sure Tina understood that everything from now on was her choice.
Tina considered it, her gaze sliding from Aedan to Jean Claude and back again several times before she offered Aedan a faint smile. "I think I'd like that," she said. Then she threw herself at Aedan, wrapping her thin arms around Aedan's neck so that she could hug her close. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much for saving me."
Aedan swallowed the lump in her throat. Kept the tears from falling. "You're welcome," she returned. After all, what was family for?
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New favorite line: "Aedan! Put the zombie back!" *dies laughing all over again* Bad Aedan...not a time to be playing with her toys. ;) Seriously though that whole convo with Minette's parents was great. I love how Aedan doesn't really remain silent - not one of her strong suits is it? ;) LOLOL
Also love Donna coming in to confront Aedan about 'Ted.' Man, I'd hate to piss either of those women off, to be honest. :-) Easy to judge someone when we don't know the whole story though, Donna. Just sayin'. ;)
And oh man those kids...Solomon was something else, wasn't he? Holy crap. I just hope none of those kids inherits Sol's wackadooness - to use the clinical term. ;) Man oh man. But they have a better chance than Aedan had, given who they're ending up with. :-)
Gotta tell you, I choked back a few tears over those kids...damn you! ;)
Well done, shotgun....well done! xxooo
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Donna loves Ted. and she can see that he isn't his normal self because of the crap that happened with Aedan. so of course she's going to try and do something about it.
the more i discover about Carter Solomon, the more i despise him. and the happier i am that Edward dealt with him so efficiently. there are so many layers to that piece of shit and, to be honest, it scares me that he came out of my brain.
hopefully, the kids will be able to heal and to thrive. we'll see what happens.
glad you enjoyed it, bb. thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
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Donna vs Aedan. I'm sorry, but Donna didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell. Maybe something go through Aedan's thick skull though. Maybe? We'll see.
All those kids. OMG. That sick fuck fathered all those poor kids as a god damn experiment? I kinda hope Aedan does get to raise him and exact some vengeance because right now I'm thinking he deserves it!
You're killing me, woman. You really are.
So is this how Aedan and JC end up with a child to raise together? >;D
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i have got to give Donna credit. she tried to go toe to toe with Aedan. i mean, she didn't come out on top, but she pretty much held her own. and, yeah. it might make Aedan think. might.
Carter Solomon is a piece of work and he deserved to die in a much slower and far more painful manner than he did. maybe someday Aedan can exact some revenge on him. we'll see.
i'm good at that. aren't i?
maybe? we'll have to see.
thanks for reading, hon. glad you enjoyed.
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Kill to protect and apparently die for. Yeah. I figured that out already. ;)
Yes. Yes, you are.`