Chapter 45: Kaitlyn

"As if we would let you take us."

"What the-?!" Kelly whispered as all eyes turned to where the familiar voice was coming from, her eyes widening when she saw Kaitlyn standing at the top of the nearby staircase, her free hand already crackling with electricity. "Kaitlyn!?"

"Well hello to you too Kelly," The brunette mumbled as she slowly made her way down the stairs. "I hope we weren't interrupting anything."

"Huh, so that's Cody's mate huh?" John whispered to Ted as the standoff continued. Ted could only nod in confirmation as he snuck a look at his mustached friend, who could only look on at his other half in stunned silence. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He will be once we get Kaitlyn back to her senses." Ted decreed as Randy took a step forward.

"Kaitlyn, you need to listen to us," Randy said, his voice stern, yet somehow reassuring. "We're not your enemies."

"I find that quite hard to believe," She admitted as she reached the end of the stairs. "After all, sneaking in here through the old escape hatch doesn't help me picture you guys in a good light."

"Okay, she makes a good point there," John mumbled, only to get elbowed in the gut by Ted as a result. ". . . Ow."

"Now then, I have a few guards waiting patiently for my signal behind that door up there," Kaitlyn explained, pointing to the door at the top of the stairs. "I'm giving you all this one chance to leave the property unharmed. I suggest you take it."

"We will, but you, Kelly, and Amanda are coming with us," Randy declared, his tone brokering no room for argument.

"Kaitlyn, listen to me!" Kelly pleaded as she stepped forward. "Whatever you believe about Randy and the others, it's not true. They're here to help us, not hurt us."

"Help us?" Kaitlyn questioned as she started moving the electricity between her finger tips. "By taking us away?"

"Kaitlyn, it's not safe for us here," Kelly bit back, keeping her emotions steady as she glared at her friend. "Mr. S is manipulating you and Amanda. He brainwashed the both of you. He had one of his lackeys convert you into a vampire!"

"And look how it has worked out for me. . ." The Texan said with an almost maniacal grin, gesturing at herself. "I think vampirism suits me just fine, don't you?"

"And yet that decision wasn't Mr. S' to make," Cody quietly growled, finally getting out of his stunned stupor.

"And what? It was yours?" Kaitlyn shot back, having easily heard him.

"Not quite," Cody admitted, stepping forward. "It would have been a decision we would make together, Kaitlyn."

"Together?" Kaitlyn asked, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as her eyes finally landed on Cody's face.

"Cody is your soulmate Kaitlyn," Ted explained as Kaitlyn's face became more confused than threatening. "You are each other's other half, and I know that you've grown to care about him just as much as he cares about you. . . No amount of brainwashing is going to change that."

"I'm not brainwashed!" The Texan exclaimed back, her anger starting to affect the lights in the room.

"Yes, you are!" Cody confidently admitted as he took another step forward. "Your mind has been messed with. We're not your enemies. Mr. S is!"

"Guys, I'm not sure that you;re convincing her," John mumbled as he watched the anger flood the brunette's face. "I think you're making her more pissed off than anything else."

"Listen to your friend there. He's the only one making sense!" Kaitlyn screeched before throwing a ball of lightning at them, hoping to take them off guard.

They all managed to dodge it, letting it hit against a glass case that stood against the wall behind them. The resulting noise caused the guards that Kaitlyn mentioned earlier to run into the room, most of them completely bypassing the stairs by leaping down to the floor.

"My lady, Mr. S and Mr. Punk have been alerted of the intruders' presence," said a female guard whose long blonde hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. "We have been given permission to use as much force as necessary to stop then."

"Are they coming back?" Kaitlyn asked as she readied another ball of lightning.

"Mr. Punk is. Mr. S has been held up at the office but he plans to return as soon as he's able to."

"Great! Our limited time just got smaller," John grumbled as he looked over at Randy. "Now what?"

"Cody, Ted, and I will handle the goons. John, you need to get Kelly out of here," Randy ordered, turning to his left to see the shocked look Kelly was giving him. "Don't give me that look Kelly! You and the others' safety is our highest priority at the moment."

"Randy's right Kelly!" Ted added before the mermaid could even start to argue. "We don't want you getting caught in the crossfire here! As they are now, Kaitlyn and Amanda are dangerous and you could get hurt in the process of bringing them back to their senses."

"I know I'm not much of a fighter, but you guys need me here, especially for moments like this." Kelly bit back as she outstretched her hands forward.

"And what can a little mermaid do to u-?!" One of the guards dared to ask as he moved forward, only to stop in his tracks as he felt his body betray him.

Before any of his comrades could ask him what was wrong, they too started to feel the effects of Kelly's powers. Many of them fell to their knees, feeling like their blood vessels were on fire as they crumbled into themselves, almost convulsing in agony.

"Okay, I'm impressed, and a little shocked," John admitted as he kept his eyes on their downed enemies. "Kelly, what exactly are you doing to them?"

"I'm not an offensive type mermaid, not by a long shot. . . But as a healer, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to subduing an opponent," Kelly admitted as she kept her hold on them firm. "Just like humans, most supernaturals' bodies are composed of water. If I can connect to it, I can control it."

"Like a puppeteer controlling a puppet," Randy concluded as he snuck a look at Kaitlyn, who was the only other person still able to move. "Kaitlyn's still moving?"

"When I tried this move on her before, she showed a stronger tolerance for it than most people," Kelly admitted. "If you're going to subdue her, you're going to have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Noted; John, Ted, handle the guards."

"On it!" Ted stated, only to come face to face with Kaitlyn, who appeared right in front of him thanks to her speed. Before he could react, he yelled out a shriek of pain as the Texan got her hands on his neck, shocking him from head to toe.

Randy moved to pull her away, only to get a nasty shock of his own as soon as his hand touched the bare skin of her wrist. John moved in next, quickly finding a cleaning pole and using it to snag Kaitlyn's head within the net. Yanking back, he pulled the newborn vampire off her feet, finally giving Ted a reprieve as he crumpled to his knees.

Before Kaitlyn could get back on her feet, Cody leapt into action, climbing onto her and pinning her down, making sure that his hands were nowhere near her bare skin. Kaitlyn valiantly struggled against his grip, angrily glaring up at her captor, but all she saw was Cody's somber gaze.

"Sorry Kaitlyn," He whispered to her. "But I got to do this, for your own good."

"I am going to ki-" She started to say, but Cody suddenly bit down into her neck, cutting her threat off short.

"What is he doing to her?" Kelly asked as John helped Ted to his feet.

"He's biting her; that's what he's doing to her," Randy answered as he shook out his still stinging hand. "It's a way that us vampires can. . . subdue our mates when they get increasingly out of line and all other options fail to do the job."

"It's a way to reassert dominance when we feel it's been lost," Ted added, still looking a little out of it thanks to his sudden shock therapy. "Some may call it archaic, but it gets the job done."

"Well, as long as she's not flinging electricity our way, I'm fine with it," Kelly mumbled, moving her gaze on the guards she was still holding down. "So, mind handling the rest of these guards for me?"

"Ted, John, you handle them," Randy ordered. The two nodded before quickly getting to work, while Randy quietly walked over to Cody's side, taking in Kaitlyn's now subdued face as he stood as non-threatening as possible. ". . . Cody?"

At first, Cody didn't budge, and Randy was very close to touching his shoulder to get his attention, but the look the mustached vampire suddenly gave him froze him in his tracks.

"Cody, I know that you're going through a lot right now, but we can't afford to waste any more time," He pleaded, his steely gaze locked in battle with the other man's heated one. "We need to keep moving."

Cody remained unmoved at first, but soon enough, he dislodged his mouth from Kaitlyn's neck once he licked the wound clean, slowly moving off his mate's body with his lips still slightly covered in her blood. Both men looked up at her face to see that she had gone unconscious during the process, and while Randy was relieved that Kaitlyn was no longer an issue, for now, his fellow vampire was going through a torrent of emotions.

"Cody, are you going to be okay?" Ted called out to him as he and John came over to his side while Kelly knelt beside Kaitlyn.

"I will be. . ." He grit out as he tried to get his mind to focus. "It's just. . . I saw it all."

"Saw what?" John asked as Kelly started to examine her, her hands glowing with energy.

"When I bit Kaitlyn and tasted her blood, I was, I was able to see some of her memories," He admitted, his eyes never moving from her still body as Kelly looked up at him in shock. "Being able to tap into your mate's memories isn't possible for vampires that have only recently been mated. . . Well, the one exception being that, at the very least, one vampire has psychic powers."

"Like you?" Kelly suggested, her question finally getting Cody to look up from Kaitlyn for once. "Your illusions Cody . . . Being able to conjure up illusions is a psychic ability."

"Kelly's right man," Ted added. "It's the only plausible explanation for it . . ."

"What did you manage to see though?" John asked.

"They were sparse images, but they said a lot," Cody grumbled, his tone growing more angered. "At least I know the face of the one who bit her now."

"You can think about your revenge plans later," Randy announced as he stood back up. "We need to find Amanda, now!"

"Don't worry. You won't have to look far."

And before anyone knew it, everything went black.

A/N: Please review!