Helene and Malachai were roused from the sleep soon after by a very panicked Jill with Percy at her side. "Edele and her husband have taken someone," she said. "He needs to be rescued!" She paused. "Well, actually, I don't think he's going to be seriously hurt, but it wouldn't do any harm to go find him."
"What's happened?" Malachai asked her firmly after getting over the shock of her standing over him and staring silently. "Tell me exactly what went on in your vision and don't leave anything out."
"All right," Jill said, boosting herself up next to him on the mattress while Helene went to get some coffee. "I saw…I saw a man in dark clothes sitting in someone's living room. He had dark hair and dark eyes also. Then a boy and a girl came in. The boy had darker hair and dark eyes and so did the girl. The girl spoke to him and called him "Finn."
"That's my nephew!" Malachai burst out, and she gave him a look. "Sorry," he apologized. "Please, go on."
"Anyway," Jill continued, "The boy and the man talked for a bit, and then the man hit the girl with some magic and she was twitching and convulsing on the floor while the man and Finn went away. I'm pretty sure the man in my vision was Edele's husband."
"But Edele doesn't have a husband," Malachai told her, his eyebrows knitting. "She never married. Not that I'm going to doubt the veracity of your visions, of course. But I just think it's odd."
Jill shrugged. "Well, whoever he is, he took your nephew and you might want to think about rescuing him, like I said before."
"Yes," Malachai nodded. "Yes we should. Thank you for letting us know."
"You're welcome," Jill replied. "It seems like I came just in time, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Malachai nodded as Helene brought them coffee. "Yes it does." When Helene came in with her coffee, he said, "I have to go see Kai and Victoria about Finn today. I know your mother is working on getting the council back in order, but could you just call her and let her know that my sister has been resurrected and is back to her troublesome ways?"
"Sure," Helene nodded. "Of course. But she might already know. She knows lots of things."
Malachai shrugged. "Well, so much the better, then."
"So you haven't heard anything from anyone since Finn was taken?" Malachai asked Kai. "Not one peep?"
"Well I didn't think there would be one, so I thought I would ask you to come and talk to Mother with me," Kai told him. "Safety in numbers and all."
"Yes," Malachai nodded. "That's smart thinking."
Then Kai looked at Victoria. "And you'll keep making plans with your side of the family?"
"Of course!" Victoria nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"
"All right," Kai said, his voice full of steely resolve. "Let's go talk to Mother about what the hell she did with my son."
"Yes," Malachai nodded. "Let's do it."
"What do you mean you don't know what's going on with Finn?" Malachai did his best to hold onto his temper and not shout too loudly at his sister. "He was kidnapped! That's what's going on! And don't play dumb! I know this was your idea!"
"I admit that I wanted him to be part of our family," Edele agreed, her blue eyes actually troubled. "And Molly too. They are our children, after all. But I didn't have anything to do with the kidnapping. That was John's idea. Stop badgering me and take it up with him."
"Well, as that will be somewhat difficult without backup, all we want to know is if Finn is hurt or dead," Malachai told her. "Is he?"
"Of course not, you idiot!" Edele whispered angrily. "What good would it do for us if we killed him?"
"I don't have any idea, but I know you too well to not let the thought bounce around in my head for a little bit," Malachai replied.
"Especially since we know how you treat your children," Kai told her darkly. "The male ones, anyway."
"Oh, don't be stupid!" Edele frowned at him. "The situation with you is different than the one with Finn. He's wanted."
"Yes, and kidnapping him and hurting a friend of his is exactly the way to show it," Kai gave his mother a thin-lipped smile. "Do you really think he's gonna give you any loyalty after this?"
"I'm sure John will find a way to make it happen," Edele nodded. "I just…I hope he doesn't hurt him."
"Are you saying you'd let that happen?" Kai asked, rising to his feet and nearly jumping across the table to attack his mother. "That you'd even let the son you want be hurt or even killed because his father is a nut?"
"Of course not!" Edele said. "I would try and save him. I'm just…I don't know how successful I would be."
"What the hell sort of men do you let yourself get involved with, Edele?" Malachai asked, shaking his head. "Bridget had a nice, normal marriage with a perfectly wonderful man. Why couldn't you do the same?"
"Don't you wish I could have?" Edele snapped. "Things would have been a lot easier for me that way. But it's just not how it worked out. Now if you don't mind, now that you know Finn is safe, please go away before John figures out you're here."
A loud cry echoed through the house then and Kai felt all the hairs rise up on the back of his neck. "How are we supposed to know Finn is safe? I don't think we do, not for sure. What the hell was that?"
"I-I don't know," Edele said, looking frightened for what seemed like the first time in her life. "You two go. I'll check on him, I swear."
"You better," Kai spat. He and Malachai disappeared and Edele ran to the room where John and Finn were 'bonding'.
"What's all this noise?" She called. "John, what are you doing to Finn? He better not be hurt or dead!"
"Oh, relax," John called back, "Nothing is wrong with him."
But when Edele came in, she saw Finn lying sprawled on his back on the hard stone floor with a hand over a wound on his cheek, which was only noticeable because of the blood that trickled under the spot his hand covered.
"You do realize that if you do things like yelling at our children and hurting them, we'll never get their loyalty, right?" Edele told John in an angry whisper after dragging him off to a corner as Finn struggled to get up. "And that's what we need. I know you like being the Phoenix, a source of fright to the world, but at least show restraint with your children."
"I'm surprised at you, darling," John told her as he put a cool palm against her cheek. "I thought you would be much more like me when it came to how our children would be raised."
"I was until I actually saw you handling him," Edele said. "If this is how you handle your son, I'm wondering whether I should even let Molly near you."
"You murdered her and I'm the one you're worried about her being around?" John chuckled, some of his brown hair speckled with gray hanging down in his eyes. "Well, that's rich. Hopefully Molly got the backbone that her brother seems to lack."
"Yes," Edele told him firmly as she took Finn's hand and led him out of the basement. "I really think she does."
"Okay," Molly said as she sat sandwiched between Mikael and Kol. "What's our first move? What do we do?"
"Well, I have one idea, but I know your mother will never go for it," Mikael replied.
"What is it?" Molly wanted to know.
"Well, would you be willing to be used as bait to save your brother?" Mikael asked her.
"Grandpa!" Victoria cried, looking horrified. "I've already had one child be kidnapped. I'm not gonna lose the other one too."
"Oh, come on, Mom!" Molly said. "It could be fun!"
"'Fun'?" Victoria repeated. "What in the world would make you think that?"
"Well, I could beat the crap out of them and they'd never bother us again!" Molly smiled. "I'd be so powerful! And I'm not scared, either."
"That's very commendable," Mikael told her. "But it's going to take more than a punch in the nose to get the Phoenix off our tracks."
"Why?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, why?" Kol wanted to know. "Why's everyone so scared of him? Surely he can't beat us."
"He can," Mikael nodded. "He's immensely powerful."
"How powerful?" Molly asked, cause she needed to know what that meant for her as his daughter.
"Well, his sisters, Ena and Enid, created werewolves and vampires many, many years ago," Mikael said. "But before they actually cast the spell for good, they practiced on him. Therefore, besides being a warlock, he's also a werewolf and a vampire. All three at the same time."
"Oh," Molly made a face and sat down. "I was hoping for something more fantastic than that. I'm a witch and a vampire too, you know."
"Yes, but like I said, he has much more power than you," Mikael told her patiently. "And it takes a hell of a lot to subdue him. I don't know who put him in his tomb in the first place, but I commend them."
"So what will we do instead if we can't kill him?" Molly wanted to know. "Do you still want me to do the bait thing? Cause I'm not against it. I sort of want to meet my birth parents."
"Oh, god," Victoria groaned. "Why? Is it because they seem more interesting? Being interesting can lead to trouble, you know."
"I know," Molly nodded. "But we need someone to deal with this that they'll actually let near them and I could be that person. That's all I'm saying."
"And how do you think Adrian will feel about this?" Victoria wanted to know.
"He's gonna throw a fit probably," Molly replied. "But it's my life and I think we all know that I'm hard to kill."
"It's not the killing we're worried about," Kol told her. "It's that you could be brainwashed into being on their side and then turn against us. And we don't want that."
"And then there's the worse possibility," Victoria added. "That you would just choose to go with them of your own accord and turn against us."
"I wouldn't do that," Molly assured her mother. "This family means too much to me for me to just turn away like that."
"Well, I hope so," Victoria replied and then went to get some blood to calm her nerves.
"If you need to go hunting, we can go, Vicky," Kai offered.
"Yes," Victoria nodded. "Some nice juicy humans ought to do the trick and cheer me up."
"Good," Kai said and began steering her toward the door. "Maybe we'll have your parents come with us too, just for the company. What do you think?"
"That sounds good," Victoria nodded. "Let's do it."
"So let me get this straight," Adrian told Molly. "Your brother got kidnapped and now your parents want to use you as bait for his kidnappers to get him back?"
"Yeah," Molly nodded. "That's what they want. I'm not against it. And not that your telling me I can't would stop me, but I just thought I would let you know."
"Well, thank you for the warning," Adrian said. "That's really kind of you."
"And actually, it's Grandpa Mikael and Grandpa who made the plan," Molly corrected. "Dad and Mom are as nervous about it as you are."
"I'm not nervous," Adrian told her. "I know that you'll come out of it okay, but…I don't like the thought of you being taken advantage of or hurt. That's all."
Molly kissed his cheek. "You're so sweet to think of me that way."
"I know," he said, taking her in his arms. "I don't think such things about everyone. When is it you're going?"
"I don't know," Molly shrugged. "Once my parents get talked into it, I guess."
He inhaled the scent of her hair and then said, "You're gonna hear me say this a million times, but please: for god's sake, take care of yourself. I've connected with no one my whole life like I did with you. The last time I felt this loved and secure with a woman, I was being hugged goodnight by my mother."
"Really?" Molly smiled. "You're not making that up?"
"No," Adrian shook his head. "I'm not making that up."
And because he was serious, he called Helene that night. "You've told your mom about the whole Edele kidnapping thing right?" He asked. "This isn't the first time you've heard of it?"
"Oh, no," Helene assured him. "Malachai's daughter Jill saw Finn's kidnapping in a vision, and once we knew, I called Mom right away. Why?"
"Cause we're gathering the troops over on my end too, and both Mikael and Kol think that the best way to rescue Finn is to use Molly as bait. You know, distract them with the much darker thinking sibling so we can get the gentler one to safety, and I just…before Molly went off and risked her life, I wanted to make sure that the Council was aware."
"They are," Helene told him. "Molly is going to be looked after by so many people, she won't actually have a moment's privacy, even if she doesn't know it. But don't tell her that. We don't want her to do anything risky or stupid."
"I won't tell her," Adrian promised. "And Helene?"
"What?" Helene asked.
"Thank you," he got out. "Thank you for protecting Molly. It means a lot to me."
"I know it does," Helene replied. "And you're welcome."
