I know, I know its been forever but I cant help it, life is very hectic right now and squeezing sleep in my schedule is a little difficult right now, the other day I sat down on my bed for a second and ended up falling asleep! But have no fear a chapter is here…if I can only stay awake long enough to write it…

Blood or Chocolate: A New Generation, Part 1

Chapter 11: Found Out

Gabriel and I jumped to our feet instantly. They did not have a warrant, no one had been arrested: they had no right to tell us we couldn't get someone from a room at our inn. I laughed to myself when a muscled FBI guy jumped out of the way when Gabriel and I headed towards the doorway he was "guarding", letting us pass on through.

Gabriel and I were already too late. The door was open and Agent Mahone himself was standing there looking down at a shocked and frozen Philip and Claire. They had not been eating their lunch. Instead Claire rested back on several pillows and Philip was leaning over her, one hand resting on her other side, face inches from her's- or it had been- it was steadily moving away now. He was moving his body as if to block hers from view. Smart, but not smart enough, her bandages were clearly visible.

I blamed the triplets of course; her outfit was ridiculous. Sure the short shorts had some merit, they kept cloth from brushing against her tenderly bandaged thigh, the one that concealed a gaping hole. And I guess the tank top served a cooling purpose in the stifling room, as well as allowing the bandages along her shoulder and throat to have some air, but not spectacular against hiding the bandages bunched under it over her ribcage. She looked very much like a victim of something horrendous.

"Get off of her!" Agent Mahone shouted before I could blink, we hadn't even entered the room fully yet.

"I…I didn't do anything to her I swear!" Philip stuttered out as Agent Mahone shoved him out of bed and against the wall pulling out shiny silver double-lock handcuffs. Wait silver? Aren't regular handcuffs made out of metal or iron? Why silver? My mind was reeling, did Agent Mahone know about us? But that didn't matter, first off we had to stop him from putting them on Philip.

"Stop, he didn't do anything!" I stepped forward tugging at Agent Mahone's arm. He flung me off, it was only then that I realized I hadn't put on any muscle; I had just came at him with my human strength.

"Arrest them all, they're a part of it, they've been hiding her the whole time!" Agent Mahone bellowed to the other men now rushing down the hall towards Gabriel and I. Gabriel turned to the men and looked at them, jaw tight, broad shoulders heaving. They stopped.

Agent Mahone cuffed Philip, and while they would do no danger to him on his skin as long as he had no cuts, it was still weakening after awhile. I had no idea what to do as Agent Mahone came towards me.

"Uncle Chuck stop!" The surprising words came from Claire on the bed, now sitting up clutching her side. I could see the blood pooling under her bandages from the strain of moving herself for the first time in days. She should not be moving like that, but it looked like she was going to try and get out of bed. Agent Mahone froze.

"Stop it, I know you came here looking for me, but these are not the people that hurt me! They saved me! Look at me! Without them I'd be one of those bodies left ripped apart in the woods!" Claire's voice was strong. It held steel, iron and diamonds, metals and alloys and anything strong and steady and lethal: poison, weapons, silver, and the little indestructible black box all rolled into one.

Her jaw was set, she looked determined and sure. This coming from the girl who only 48 hours ago was shrinking away from me in fear. Now she was defending us? And super badass agent was her uncle? Well it explained why the government finally decided to investigate, someone near and dear to Mr. Special Agent had gone missing.

"What were you doing with her?" His voice was directed at Gabriel and I.

"Nothing. We found her. Do you see any hospitals in town?" Gabriel looked into Agent Mahone's face confidently.

"There are ambulances that could be called." Mahone walked even closer to us.

"Yes, but we have a woman who acts as a medical personal for the inn. She took care of Charlotte and she thought it best if she wasn't moved, even in an ambulance." I took a turn.

"Why didn't you contact the authorities when you found her. She's a missing person." Agent Mahone's face was livid.

"Because I told them not to." The old feminine voice came from the doorway behind Gabriel. It was Abigail, a frequent guest at the inn-but she had left when we decided to close down the inn. What was she doing here?

"What are you doing here Abigail?" Agent Mahone looked genuinely shocked and so was I; how the hell did these three know each other? Was there anyone else connected to Claire hanging around that we should know about?

"Claire was traveling to visit me at my home in Manchester, only I wasn't there. It was by a happy mistake that she found me here anyway." Abigail said cheerfully, moving between Gabriel and I to sit next to her niece on the bed and help her rest back down. So this was the aunt she was going to visit. Claire was clearly working to hide her shock at seeing her aunt, in seconds her face was cool and expressionless, like she had practice.

And of course that's when it came back, the conversation we'd had when she was explaining how she was abducted:

…"And my dad had taught me how to dislocate my thumbs to wriggle out of almost anything, so I got out of the ropes that were holding my hands together and I ran. I think I was running down hill, I didn't know where I was, I was just trying to get away from that cave. I didn't think to look at the surroundings, I should have. I knew to, but…but when you're in a situation like that you just can't…you just can't think."

She'd been trained to handle threatening situations. I should have noticed that no normal human girl would know how to dislocate her thumbs to escape or know that she should memorize her surroundings, but Claire did. It made sense. But how did Abigail fit into this? The town had evacuated all humans besides the locals who were raised here or forced to stay in the valley because they were "in the know." No tourist had been allowed to stay. But stranger still was how she had known to come here at the exact right time. It couldn't have been just a coincidence that she showed up at the inn again just as her niece was being found out and we were being blamed for her abduction.

"By a happy accident? You call Claire being kidnapped and tortured a happy accident?" Agent Mahone, or "Uncle Chuck" as Claire called him, was beside himself, face red and voice steely.

"There's no need to take that tone with me, you know full well she should have been with me in the first place and then none of this would have happened." 'Aunt' Abigail sat primly on the edge of the bed facing the furious man but not looking up to him, patting her niece's (and I assumed she was a great niece given how old Abigail looked) hair. Claire still looked vaguely wide-eyed at her aunts appearance.

"This is not the time or place to discuss that," Agent Mahone sent daggers at the old woman with his eyes. "Claire you need to tell me what happened starting at the beginning." His voice took on a whole different tone when he addressed Claire. It was gentle, loving, like a parent's voice to a small child.

Claire rolled her eyes, "If I have to go over this one more time.."

"Just this once." Chuck encouraged waving a suited man from the doorway to hand him a recorder from his pocket.

"Fine." Claire straightened up as best she could and her eyes flickered to Philip for a brief instant. "You think you could un-cuff my boyfriend? He didn't do anything." She said it very casually, like they'd been together months instead of only knowing each other days.

Chuck blinked.

"Come on its not like this is the first time you've caught me with a guy, and you and I both know that's the only reason why he's in cuffs."

The words themselves could be construed by any guardian as mouthy, like their child was talking back, but her voice was very matter of fact and somehow Agent Mahone relaxed rather than balked at them.

He tossed a small silver key to one of the men who released Philip, who almost immediately began rubbing his wrists. I shook my head at him and he stopped. We couldn't have him showing any unusual reaction to the metal.

"Get out of here," was all that the big bad agent man said to Philip. That was odd, I watched as Philip left the room, but I guess if he suspected any of us it would be Gabriel and I.

"If I'm going to go through all this again could we at least clear the room? I am barely wearing anything. No offense guys." Her remark was targeted towards the men in black behind Gabriel and I. A few off them actually looked ashamed and waved sheepishly like they were embarrassed they hadn't anticipated this particular need. Who the hell was this girl? The princess of the FBI? What did uncle Chuck do, take her to play with handguns and shred super secret documents when she was two? I was surprised they hadn't showed up earlier looking for her then.

"Clear the room. Everyone." Agent Mahone caught sight of Gabriel and I. "You two don't leave the inn, and tell the other two out there not to leave either. I have to talk to you four."

Of course he was talking about Gabriel, Jacque, Charlotte and I.

"No-I want them to stay. You are conducting an investigation on their property, they have a right to know what's going on." Again her voice could almost have been cheeky, but not quite, somehow it still held an ounce of respect and an iota of gentle prodding. The triplets could learn loads from her.

"Of course they can stay dear, Vivian and Gabriel are great friends of mine." Abigail smiled broadly at me.

I had to smirk. Abigail was a frequent guest, every once in a while I got the idea that she knew more about us than she let on but I never felt the need to investigate, she was a guest and she was pleasant unlike some people who only had complaints to pass out like this was a common motel below their standards. Abigail appreciated us. We weren't really that close but "Uncle Chuck" didn't need to know that.

Agent Mahone threw us a loathing stare but I perched on the chair near Claire's bed and Gabriel leaned against the dresser like a lion ready to pounce on its prey, or more appropriately a wolf waiting for the kill. But there was nothing we could do, it was all up to Claire now. If she chose to turn us in she could, but somehow I doubted that. After all there was Philip and exposing us for what we were would mean exposing him too.

I was pretty sure we were safe until I heard a high-pitched howl coming from the woods outside Claire's window.

Well who could that be…mmm three guesses sound fair? I really am sorry for the wait and if you would do me the great honor of reviewing what you thought /think/predict, I think I can crank out another one by tomorrow.

Hugs and stuff :D melissaturkey

Ps I have a poll on my profile for what project to work on after I'm done with my BaC fics, so check it out :D

once again, mt.

Pps (yeah I know this is super short)