Chapter 14

My One True Love

February 11, 1979 (Sunday)

6:30 a.m.

Damien was pissed off.

Normally, he'd be the happiest being on the planet over something like this.

His cousin, soldier of Christ, and general do-gooder who just came off his insignificant grounding was going to embark in an act of teenage independence that just might get him right back on punishment detail.

Damien was stretched out on his bed watching Mark change his mind about the large blue suitcase he took out of his closet and decided to use his DMA issued duffle bag instead.

"You're actually going to go through with this?" Damien had to know.

"Yes. You aren't going to snitch are you?"

Damien could have been insulted that Mark would think that he of all beings would have done such a betrayal. He however, let it go, because it would all be taken care of soon.

"No, Mark."

Mark going almost eight hundred miles to be with his pristine and smug girlfriend who would not put out was not Damien Thorn's idea of a good time.

"You're angry, Damien. I can tell." Mark disappeared into his closet to get some shirts.

"I'm NOT angry." Damien knew his emotions were much more complicated than being simply angry.

"The answer is within you…"

I swear Mark if you tell me the answer is to find Christ….don't make me hurt you. Because I don't ever want to be put in such a position, don't you ever make me do bad things to you.

Mark came back into view and stuffed his clothes into the bag.

"You don't have to keep company with only slutty girls, you can find someone nice to settle down with."

"You sound like a middle-aged man."

Mark decided to ignore Damien's ignorant comment. He was never going to understand because he didn't have someone else in his life.

"Whatever happened to that mystery girl?" He hoped the four hundred dollars that he had in his wallet was enough.

Mark lied to his father and told him that his friend Benjamin invited him to the Foster's summer home in Malibu Beach. He thought either he was a very good liar or that his father was stupid or in denial about such things, but all that mattered was getting the "A-okay" to go.

"Do you mean Sage?"

"Yeah...she seemed to have disappeared as quickly as she came."

Damien often wondered what happened to the mysterious girl who seemed to know who he was, but he knew nothing about her. Father wasn't supplying the information and he wasn't able to gather anything on his own which pissed him off. Besides he was never one to chase after people.

"There's other fish in the sea."

Damien smirked at Mark's use of such an overused cliche.

"What do you think you are going to accomplish?" Because even if it was never going to happen, Damien still had this insatiable need for knowledge.

"What do you mean?" Mark deflected Damien's question with another question.

He wanted his cousin to love him without Damien having to make it happen and yet no matter what clues he carefully put in front of Mark, he still wanted to be with that high-horse bitch instead.

Damien grabbed the extra pillow that was behind his head and put it in front of him as he needed to subtly squeeze the life out of something.

"What is your life purpose?"

Mark thought Damien was a hypocrite, but he didn't want to wind up punched in the face again. He just told him that he was acting like a middle-aged person and here he was presenting him a question such as this.

"To graduate high school, go to college far away, and start my life with Vanessa." Mark zipped up his duffle bag.

Damien's facial expressions went from pissed to disgusted. Mark wanted the idyllic life in the suburbs in a house surrounded by a white picket fence, his idiot wife, and their future brood. He wanted what was not real. This rationale was expected from him from the day he was born, including his little teenage 'rebellion', none of these thoughts were of his own making and that was something that Vanessa also needed to know someday.

But how, Father?

Mark wanted to be far way from Damien.

He didn't want him in his life.

All because of her.

No.

Damien stood up. He needed to leave this room before he said or did anything that he wouldn't be able to take back. Damien decided for Mark's safety he would go outside to the stables and pay a visit to the horses.

Let him have his insignificant visit with Vanessa. It wasn't going to change a damn thing.

"Damien?" Mark questioned as his cousin closed the door behind him.

Mark sighed as he grabbed a paper tablet and pen off his end table. Sometimes he felt very sorry for Damien. Until he opened up about those horrible events of childhood, until he at least found some inner peace through the Bible's teachings. He would always have this hardness about him. A tough shell that should not have been in a young man.

Damien deserved to have happiness.

He wrote his itinerary on the paper and thought, maybe he was the answer. Maybe, he could set Damien up with someone.

It would be nice to see his cousin experience the wonders of loving another person. And then maybe once he opened his heart to someone else, then he would learn what life was really about.

Mark Thorn would personally see to it.

Preston Academy

NYC

90 Minutes Later

Vanessa Greenhill was all alone again.

She didn't want to write letters to Mark because she was afraid they'd be intercepted by his folks or - worse yet - Damien - and they didn't get to talk to each other much on the phone.

Hannah wasn't even here to keep her company as she and her band were in upstate New York recording a demo record during the time off from school.

She knew that Jenkins was pissed having one student that did not go home for the winter break meaning she couldn't technically leave the premises.

This school was just as bad as her previous one. Preston's version of Christine was a girl named Amy Sidwell, a snotty entitled girl whose father worked on Wall Street, her mother was a surgeon at Roosevelt Hospital.

Lauren Jamieson was the Charlotte ready to fuck any guy that came in her web.

Their boys of choice all went to the neighboring Sullivan Prep.

Vanessa didn't want to venture out by herself. She thought she could go to the Thorn office that was in the financial district. But it could get back to Mr. Thorn that she was nosying around and she didn't want Mark to get punished because of something she did.

The only she could do and not lose her mind in the process was to read her Bible that she purchased on the day she got her small amount of clothes and pray that she would be seeing her boyfriend sooner rather than later.

Thorn Manor

Damien zipped up his jacket. It was twenty-five degrees and windy outside. At least the weather was a feeling. It was legitimate. The snow made a crunching sound under his feet as he walked towards the stables.

What was he going to do with the five days* during Mark's absence? Didn't Mark realize he could go to Richard and Ann and tell them, that he wasn't spending time with the Fosters? That he was really going to pay his holier-than-thou stuck-up girlfriend a surprise visit? Mark should be grateful that Damien was even allowing this non-event to happen in the first place.

There was only one outcome.

There was only one end game.

The stables were heated so Ruby and Lucky didn't have to deal with being out in the cold.

The time frame for this was no different than a business deadline. His Father stated that they couldn't co-exist and Damien knew if Mark wouldn't follow him - fuck.

Damien pet his horse. It was funny how Ruby and Lucky could spend the rest of their lives coexisting. It never had to come down to one of them dying if they refused to comply.

What if Mark refused to comply? Damien didn't even want to think of the consequences. It was only February, they were still was still some time left, not as much as Damien would have preferred, but at least it was there. He needed to figure out what to do next.

He grabbed two apples from the basket and gave Ruby and Lucky their treats before heading back inside the house.

Preston Academy

New York City

Vanessa was bored out of her mind. Hannah said she could listen to her records, but she didn't care about The Clash, Sex Pistols, or The Ramones.

It wasn't her type of music. She was content to just read the Bible or to leaf through one of the magazines of the day.

Vanessa never wanted to be something she wasn't. She just wanted to graduate high school, get married to Mark, and start a family. She didn't even want to go to university. She had goals, they just weren't the aspirations of girls in her peer group, when they weren't having premarital sex.

She wanted to join a church with Mark before they got married, so they could see if it was going to be a good fit for them. She wanted to be away from the money and greed, her parents, while they may have been liberal in their politics but they acted just like some of the more conservative leaning parents.

There was a knock on her door and she stopped reading. It couldn't have been Hannah, maybe it was Jenkins. But then again why would she knock?

When Vanessa opened the door, no one was there. She just happened to look down to see a card on the floor. Did Hannah have an admirer?

The blue envelope had her name typed. She took out a card, it was sky blue with white clouds, the golden letters and the inscription also typed was "I miss you." but there was no signature.

"I think I forgot to sign your card."

Vanessa looked up with surprise eyes to see Mark in the doorway holding an ink pen, his duffle bag at his feet.

"Mark! Is it really you?"

Mark knew Damien thought their love was corny, but it was genuine and it was something he would never be ashamed of.

"Yes, Baby. It's really me."

Vanessa threw her arms around him to give her boyfriend a big hug, it was only when they were in the middle of kissing each other that she realized she was in the corridor. They kissed each other with pent up passion.

"M-Mark, what are you doing here?"

"Surprising you?" He gently took the card out of Vanessa's hand and signed Love Always, Mark before handing it back to her.

She rested her hands on his shoulders. "You did a good job. Do your parents know that you are here?"

"No. They think I'm with Benjamin Foster and his family in California."

"What if you get into trouble?"

"We're going to be eighteen eventually. What is my father going to do? Force me to join the Army?" Mark picked up his bag.

Vanessa laughed, "How did you get by….it doesn't matter...ssh," Vanessa whispered, "Come into my room and we'll figure out the rest later."

"Happy Early Valentine's Day, 'Nessa." he kissed her once more and realized in the planning of this trip he forgot to get her a present for what the more cynical people referred to as a greeting card holiday.

"Happy Valentines." She was so happy to see him.

Mark and Vanessa walked arm-in-arm into her room both believing they had all the time in the world.

Thorn Kitchen

Damien was restless. It surprised him that he could not finish his sandwich, normally he could eat two at a stretch. He needed to do something with this malevolent energy building up inside him. There were no maids in the kitchen and he didn't feel like going upstairs to make a phone call.

Why not? He thought as he went to the telephone and decided to place a call.

"...Hello?"

Damien swallowed. A game. All of this was a game and it would all be over soon.

"Hello, Christine, it's Damien…."

"Hello, Damien! I'm glad that called."

"Are you doing anything right now?"

He knew if she had plans she would promptly break them to do what he asked of her.

"No, Damien," She twisted the ends of her hair, "What did you have in mind?" Valentine's Day was just around the corner.

"I'll pick you up in an hour. Be ready." He didn't give Christine a chance to reply he just hung up the telephone.

NYC

Vanessa thought normal teenagers would be having fits of ecstasy in bed with their partners regardless of whether they loved one another and not sitting on the bed after an all-too-quick make out session to play one of the dusty old board games that Hannah had stashed in the back of their closet on the top shelf.

"...you must be tired of me, Mark." Vanessa nervously shook the dice cup.

"Never 'Nessa. Trust me, it's okay. When you are ready. Your turn."

"How did you get past Jenkins by the way?" She figured a much needed change of a subject was in order.

"There was no one around." If Mark learned one thing from Damien it was to take advantage of an opportunity so when he noticed a delivery truck going towards the front entrance, he made his way around the back.

"We should do something else besides play board games. Why don't we go out for lunch?" She looked at his watch on her wrist.

"Of course." Mark figured he should be careful walking down the streets since Thorn had a New York City location, but on the other hand, there was a part of him that didn't care if he was caught.

He squeezed her hand tight.

"I love you, Mark Thorn."

"I love you, Vanessa Greenhill." He leaned in to kiss her.

"How about pizza?" She offered.

"Sounds good to me."

Old Cemetery

an hour and a half out from Thorn Manor

Christine buttoned her coat up to her neck, she was absolutely freezing and couldn't help but shiver. She envisioned being in Damien's strong embrace as he kissed her hard while she gave him a handjob while they were in some place warm.

"Damien, why are we here at a cemetery? I'm fucking freezing."

"Christine, you did so well with our game at the winter formal. Do you remember?"

Yes, she did...and it all lead to great sex with Damien plus that goody-two-shoes Vanessa being shipped to a school in New York City.

"Yes, I do...Do you remember what we did after?"

She had to be kidding thinking she had the upper hand.

"Of course. Well, don't you think I brought you here for a reason?"

"You brought me to an old cemetery outside the city limits for a reason? And what reason is this?"

Damien led her to a dilapidated shed and opened the door.

Nice touch, Father.

Christine preferred hotel suites, limousines, and parties. This place was scary in the daylight, she couldn't even imagine what it would have looked like in the dark. The wind rattled what was left in the shed causing her to jump and she didn't want to appear scared in front of Damien.

"To play another game."

"Will this lead to us fucking?"

"It might." He went over to her and kissed her like she mattered.

"Okay…." Christine wondered if Vanessa was already gone what game could they possibly be playing in this cemetery?

Pizza Place

Vanessa held Mark's hand in the candlelight as they waited for their pizza to arrive. She always thought going into these dark romantic restaurants when it was daylight outside was pure magic.

""Nessa," Mark took a drink of soda, "I was thinking and would love your opinion on this. I think we should set up Damien with somebody."

Vanessa sighed, "You are just too wonderful. Your heart is always in the right place."

"Maybe if he meets someone, he will finally understand what is so important in life."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Mark, but I don't think your cousin is capable of loving another. Why subject someone to him?"

Mark sighed. If Vanessa saw Damien as a lost cause...maybe this was something he was going to need to do on his own.

"I wish the two of you would get along." Although that was easier said than done, considering he had his own issues with Damien. But he was going to be married to Vanessa one day and he wanted everyone to be at peace with one another.

"That would take a miracle from up above." Vanessa stated as the waiter came by with their order. She didn't want to say what she really felt, Damien was not worth it.

She didn't want to waste her short time with Mark talking about his cousin.

Cemetery

It was like static coming from a mixed radio signal within Damien's brain.

don't….wrong….mark….don't think….your cousin….is capable of lov….

He almost felt himself lift out of his own body and could kill the banal Christine right then and there if it weren't for his growing ability to stay calm.

"Dam-ien, I don't know…." Christine whined thinking Damien would give in and just take her to some place warm where they could have sex. She really didn't want to do this. This was much different than the games they played before.

Damien reached for her hand and squeezed it tight while he locked into her eyes with his.

"...All-right….I guess it'll be fun..." Her voice uncertain.

Next Day

NYC

Vanessa thought she was the luckiest woman and she partly wished that Christine and Charlotte were around so she could say that you didn't need to have sex to be happy, that there was a contentment and joy with waiting. No one knew or cared that Mark was here, because Jenkins used this time for her own romantic pursuits she didn't care about her and Hannah were up to.

The sun shone through the windows and Vanessa smiled as Mark blinked his eyes open.

"Good morning," She kissed Mark, "I love having you here."

"I love being with you, 'Nessa."

They shared a morning kiss before deciding where they wanted to go out for breakfast.

Suburb outside Chicago

Christine cried into her pillow. It wasn't the sex with Damien. She liked it rough and he delivered**.

It's what she had done….oh fuck...what had she done?

Thorn Manor

Damien did not feel satisfied. He stretched in his bed wishing Mark was present and watching him get dressed after the shower while he stroked himself under the covers.

Even manipulating Christine didn't give him any pleasure.

Father….fuck….

DAMIEN STOP YOUR WHINING….

But...I want Mark with me not with that wretched high horse bitch…

THEN MAKE IT HAPPEN….

How?

FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF. AND DAMIEN…..

Yes?

DON'T EVER DISAPPOINT ME.

Of course, Father…

Damien sighed. His eyes caught the calendar that was hanging up on the wall. What was he going to do?

"Mark," Damien announced to the empty room, "I love you…and as my father is my witness, the wonderful Satan, you better damn well love me too."

NYC

Vanessa drank her orange juice in the diner not far from her school where her and Hannah plus her roommates friends had cocoa and she felt like a fifth wheel because she didn't like rock music and couldn't relate to their conversations.

"When did you buy these?" Vanessa put her hand on the heart shaped box of chocolates.

"Last night when we were at the pharmacy and you were looking at hair ties."

"Very sneaky." Vanessa thought he had bought a sports magazine.

"Vanessa…" Mark pointed to the TV that was on in the corner. Mark knew that cemetery. It was the stuff childhood haunted nightmare tales were made of on Halloween night. He dared never to go there.

The waitress put the volume up.

"...In National News***, The abandoned St. Vincent de Paul cemetery outside of Chicago, Illinois was vandalized sometime last evening…"

"How terrible." Vanessa said over the television. She always thought how sad it was when cemeteries were in disrepair. Didn't anyone care about the dead? Was performing upkeep on a cemetery such a daunting task? Seeing all of the destruction made her push her plate of pancakes off to the side.

"Who would do such a thing?" Mark wondered.

Vanessa wondered, no, it was too far-fetched. What if Damien was behind this? She was convinced that he had no soul.

"I don't know Mark, but, if you are done eating. I'd like to just go back to school."

Maybe if she fell asleep in her boyfriend's loving arms all of the world's evils would just go away.

Didn't people realize God saw all? Whoever did such a heinous act Vanessa was convinced God would get every last one of them for their blasphemous behavior.

Mark squeezed Vanessa's hand tight. He could get their meals wrapped up to go. "Of course."

Maybe once Vanessa was back in Illinois with him and they were official high school graduates they could do some charity work in between their college courses. There was too much darkness in this world and he absolutely wanted no part of it.

Ezekiel 7:25 ****

Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

Author's Notes:

*Five days, not the length of the winter break, just how many days Mark visited Vanessa.

**That might be better suited for a one-shot someday so that is why there are some gaps in this particular chapter.

*** No 24 news cycle yet, CNN wasn't invented until 1980.

**** King James Version.