Chapter 13
Everything happened at once and so fast that it was hard to keep up.
Anne grabbed for Tori, Maggie and Vicki held her hands tighter and suddenly, there was a white glow around them so bright that the four vampires had to back away and cover their eyes. The glow did not affect Henry and Will so they seized the moment to grab Lars and Charles from behind.
The wolves held the circle so the other vampires could not escape the light. Mike was frozen in shock, his head pounding from the concussion he'd likely acquired when thrown into the wall.
"Look out, Fitzroy!" Mike managed to yell before the female vamp, Raisa, tried to grab for his hair.
Henry held tight to Lars and swerved in time to miss her. Anne tried to reach again for Tori, but without being able to see her, she was swatting at air.
"It's futile, Charles," hissed Will into his ear. Will had Charles in a chokehold, his powers in full swing.
"Will, please, we are unhappy. Can't you see? We want so much to have what you have and we can't. We wish to go back to the old ways."
"Why?" Will asked.
"Because at least we had something special, OUR way to live and feed. We never killed, just fed and it was a connection. We have lost that..."
"Human connection." Will stated. That's where the hatred of humans was coming from now. Anne and Raisa were swatting wildly in the air, reaching for anything and completely missing.
Henry was having no trouble containing Lars. Lars was just a baby vamp, only 50 years old. Henry was holding him with one hand, like he was nothing.
Lars' eyes were wide with fear. The wolves were still holding the circle.
"You know, you all know, that if I give the command, these wolves, our wolves, will tear you apart and there will be nothing left. You will not live at all."
Anne cried out, "DO IT! KILL ME! I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE!"
With those words, she lunged towards the wolves, looking for a quick end but not finding one. Blade, the wolve that caught her, used one arm to stop her. This outburst had stopped everything in one fell swoop.
"Vampire depression, think they make a pill for that?" Mike said to no one in particular. They all stared at him while Anne continued to bury her face into the wolf and sob. Even though the danger seem to pass, Vicki wasn't quite at ease and wasn't happy at what happened next.
Will and Henry released the men and they all fell back as if it was synchronized swimming. Maggie and Vicki released Tori's hands and the glowing stopped. Vicki was a little less tense, but still cautious.
"That's what this is about? Children? Family? That's ALL it's about, nothing else? " Maggie asked Charles.
Charles nodded. "Yes, yes. We have tried to have a child numerous times. Raisa and Lars have lost 7, Anne and I, 8. Anne, she is not...she is not taking this well."
"Really? You can't tell, " Vicki said, carefully approaching the group of men, while unbeknownst to them, she wrapped her hand around the flamethrower in her pocket, just in case.
Henry shot Vicki a look that said, this is not the time. She didn't need to hear his voice in her head, she saw it in his eyes.
Will nodded to the shapeshifters and said, "Thank you men, you have done well here tonight. Once again, proof we can all work together for a common cause." Blade bowed to him and the other wolves followed suit. They left house quietly leaving Mike to figure out how that much animal could do anything quietly.
Now they all knew: Four predators wanted to have a normal family life, who would have thought? "Charles, we CAN fix this. There has got to be a reason why it's happening, blood clotting issues, blood typing..."
"All goes back to the blood," Mike mumbled. Vicki decided she had better check him out while things were somewhat under control.
"Mike, let me see your head," she said as she reached back to check for lumps. He winced when she touched the back of his head. "Yep, that's gonna hurt like hell for awhile," she said.
"Thanks for that professional opinion." Mike replied with a touch of sarcasm.
Raisa, Lars and Charles had all come to stand in front of Will, Henry, Maggie and Tori. Vicki joined her group, while Mike stayed seated, the room still spinning. Anne had not yet gotten off the floor and was still weeping. Tori walked over to her and touched her head.
Anne jumped and hissed, Tori hissed back, "Don't be so angry! My daddy can fix anything. Just give him a chance and stop trying to be so mean."
Anne looked at the little girl and realized that it wouldn't solve anything by killing innocent people. Tori held out her hand to Anne, "Well, come on, stop sitting there feeling sorry for yourself. Let's go see what my daddy can do for you." Anne was amazed at this act of kindness from a child, considering the fact that they had kidnapped her and were contemplating killing her.
She took her hand and joined Charles, Tori joined Maggie and Will.
Charles spoke first, head bowd in shame, "Will, sorry will never be enough. We should have come to you, we should have asked for your help, not threatened you. If you feel that we need to follow law, we will understand."
"Follow law? What's that mean?" asked Vicki, looking to Henry for an answser.
"It means that, because Will's family was threatened, Will has the right to carry out an execution." Henry looked at Vicki, waiting for a smart ass remark.
"You mean just kill them all? Just like that?" Henry and Will nodded. Vicki looked at the four vampires standing across from her, all so beautiful, frozen in time, so vulnerable right now. I will not feel sorry for them, Vicki thought, and yet, she did. There they stood, ready to die and yet just moments earlier, they were ready to kill. "Now, I have to say that yes, I was really wanting to kill these, " she looked at Maggie when she said "Guys" instead of what she was thinking earlier, " when I came in here, but what I think we have is just a failure to communicate. Are you the only ones having a problem conceiving and carrying to term?"
"Yes," answered Raisa, "and we don't know why. We are truly sorry. We are just so angry."
Vicki got it. That very moment, she knew what part of the problem was: anger and fear.
"It's not physical, it's metaphysical." she stated. Henry looked at her with surprise, Mike rolled his eyes and said "ouch" when he did. Vicki shot him a "that's what you get" look.
"When my marks glow, it's usually because of something evil." Vicki said as she paced back and forth. The others were are staring at her intently, as if she would magically fix everything at once for them.
"THIS time, they glowed, but they didn't burn which means anger and fear." She looked at all of them. "Don't ask me HOW I know that, it just came into my head and I know." She stopped and turned to them.
"You have to be open to the new ways, you are not whole," said Vicki, Maggie finishing for her, "You have a hole in your aura."
