Chapter Ten
A little before noon, Terra and Eli clammer out of the twins' hammocks. After some stretching and a shower, they went downstairs to make something to eat. They decided to warm up some leftover soup and join Lucy in the sunroom. "Morning, ma. How are you doing?" Lucy was holding her tea mug with both hands and staring out into the yard. She had a lot on her mind, trying to figure out what her next move was going to be. "I'm trying to decide what to do about my relationship with Max, and I'm worried about Michael and Sam." Lucy quietly stated. The two girls haven't met Max but they knew who he was and how he knew Lucy. Eli finished chewing before speaking, "Well, besides being a vampire, he seems like a really good guy. Better than Brian that's for sure. From what we know, Max seems to genuinely care for you and he trusts you enough to reveal he's a vampire. That says a lot about him, considering that is not something you go blurting out to just anyone." Lucy nods her head, "That's true. He has been nothing but a gentleman. I think I will call him tonight so we can talk." The rest of the day was spent relaxing knowing that soon they won't get to.
The girls were cleaning their dishes from an early dinner when Sam came into the kitchen. He was getting ready to head to the boardwalk to hang out with the twins for a bit since he hasn't really seen them recently. Sam made himself a few sandwiches. He was getting ready to sit at the table when the three of them heard a vehicle come down the driveway. Terra was the first to walk out of the kitchen, followed closely by her sister and Sam, still holding his plate and eating one of his sandwiches. They stepped out onto the front porch as a black SUV parked and a man in a three-piece suit got out. He moved to stand in front of the SUV, "Afternoon ladies, gentleman. My name is Sean and I have come to deliver a message from the Company."
Terra stiffened, ready to strike if need be, "And that is?" Her hands were on her hips, inches away from her knife holsters strapped to her thighs. Eli moved to stand in front of Sam, one of her hands reaching behind her back, gripping the butt of her revolver in its holster strapped to her back. Sean held his hands up in a placating manner, "I am not armed. I only came to inform you that The Company has taken upon themselves to isolate The Black Demons. All your connections within the Company have been severed and every living relative has been disposed of." The implications of his message were loud and clear. They were alone.
Sam had stepped around Eli, "Everyone?" He may have disliked his father but he didn't want him dead. Then his mind veered to his long-time best friend and crush Jessie. She and her family lived a few doors down from them in Phoenix. Sam felt sick thinking Jessie may be dead.
Sean didn't even hesitate, "Every living relative, family-friend, and even their pets. The Black Demons have become enemy number one of The Company. They will not stop until you four are dead as well." He turned to leave when Terra appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket. She wanted to deliver her own message, "Now, you listen to me. You are going to return to The Company and deliver this message." Terra brought his face closer to hers, expression cold but her eyes burned with rage. Terra spoke in a cold, quiet voice, "You tell them we are coming for them. We are not going to stop until we bring down their whole fucking empire." She forcibly let him go with a push. Sean lost his balance and fell on his ass, dirtying his suit. He scrambled to get into the SUV and drove off like a bat out of hell.
Eli had led Sam into the house. He collapsed onto the couch in shock. His face was pale, and he was shaking from nerves. Sam was mumbling to himself but the girls heard him, "Jessie is gone. I never got to tell her that I like her. I was going to ask her to prom, but now she's gone." Eli gave Terra a knowing look before turning back to Sam, "We're going to go check and see if he was telling the truth." Terra agreed with her sister, "Yeah, we need to be sure."
They made sure Sam was comfortable before 'jumping' to various relatives' homes. Terra wasn't as affected as Eli. They had found that Sean was telling the truth. Each finding their mothers had been murdered. Terra wasn't close to her mother but it still hurt. Eli on the other hand was very close to her mother. Terra had to pick up a sobbing Eli off the floor, hugging her close and whispering in her ear, "Come on Eli. Your mom wouldn't want you to crumble. She would want you to stand tall, head held high while watching your enemies burn. She raised you to be a strong woman, who didn't take shit from anyone." Eli knew she was right. They could crumble and cry afterwards.
Their last stop was Phoenix. Eli made a promise to Sam to check on Jessie. Both girls were still very emotional when they walked into the family-friends house. Not really paying attention to where they were stepping. Eli was a few steps up the stairs when she felt and heard a familiar-sounding click. She looked down to see the carpeting of the stairs looked slightly off. "Terra? I think I just triggered a landmine." She stayed very still, any movements could set the explosive off. Eli looked up the stairs and found that Jessie was gagged and handcuffed to the top landing very much still alive. "Shit, Terra! Jessie's alive."
Terra wasn't faring any better. Somehow Eli had bypassed the tripwire in the kitchen. Terra did not. The tripwire caught the tongue of her boot, and she is unable to move or the whole house will explode. "Um, I'm not doing any better. I caught a tripwire." Taking a deep breath an idea struck, "Time to test out something." Terra closed her eyes and concentrated on the twins. The sun had gone down a few minutes ago, so she was hoping they're awake by now.
The Cave
The Lost Boys and the twins were just waking up for the night. Kayla was pulling a shirt over her bra when Terra's voice sounded in her head, "Kayla, can you hear me?" Kayla went rigid, her eyes wide looking around the room to see if Terra is near. Realizing Terra is trying to contact her telepathically, she closed her eyes and responded, "Terra? How are you doing this?" Kayla actually heard Terra sigh in relief, "Another ability we have. Listen, Eli and I are in trouble. We're trapped." Terra recapped what happened and where they were. Kayla had to sit down on the bed. An overwhelming feeling of sadness hit Marko and Jade. They entered the room Kayla had slept in, finding her in tears. Marko knelt in front of her, "Kayla?" She kept looking ahead of her, "They're all gone." "Who's gone?" Jade asked. Kayla licked the tear that reached her lips, "All of our relatives and friends. Every one of them is gone, except Jessie. The Company killed them all. Terra and Eli went to check on Jessie. And now they're all trapped. They um… triggered some explosives and can't move. Jessie is still alive, handcuffed at the top of the stairs."
Jade snapped her sister out of it, "Then let's go get them." Kayla turned to her sister, "How?" Jade sits next to Kayla, "Terra and Eli can jump out of there at the same time. It's Jessie they're worried about." Kayla relayed what Jade just said to Terra. "That could work. Just as long as no other explosives are triggered," Terra warned her sister. Jade stood to get changed, "It's settled then. We'll go get Jessie then Eli and Terra will jump out of there." Marko opened his mouth to protest but Jade cut him off, "Unless you guys know about tripwires and landmines, you're not going." Paul had come into the room looking for his mate and heard everything, "Funny you should say that." The look on his face left no room to argue, they were all going. Jade and Kayla tried to argue about David and Dwayne going but they were adamant about it. So, Kayla and Jade held onto two vampires each and jumped into the backyard of Jessie's house.
Phoenix
The six vampires made their way to the backdoor leading into the kitchen. Paul is in the lead with David close behind. Paul carefully opened the door, knowing it was not rigged to explode like the rest of the house. Terra looked over her shoulder at the group, "I am not sure if there are any other areas wired to blow." David grabbed the cigarette from behind his ear and lit it. Taking a bigger pull than normal, he blew the smoke towards the floor. The cloud moved along the floor a few inches before dissipating. No other tripwires were spotted. He did this several times while slowly moving through the kitchen, and into the hall by the stairs. "Clear so far. Paul, can you diffuse the tripwire?" Dwayne carefully stepped over the tripwire and joined David in the hall.
Eli was holding onto the railing with one hand while the other was placed on the wall. Her position caused her leg muscles to burn. Dwayne floated next to her. He wasn't going to risk stepping on the stairs causing the landmine to blow. Eli wanted to turn her head and look at him but was afraid to move. "Get Jessie, please. Terra and I can jump once you're clear of the house." Dwayne didn't move from her side. David rolled his eyes and levitated next to the handcuffed girl. Jessie was in real bad shape. She had been beaten and starved before being gagged and cuffed to the stairs, who knows how long she has been there. David grasped the chain on the cuffs and yanked, breaking the links. Jessie barely realized what was going on around her. She felt her wrists fall to her sides then being lifted and carried outside. David stood next to Marko and the twins in the backyard waiting for Dwayne to exit. Paul had exited the house shortly thereafter, he was unable to diffuse the tripwire. "The tripwire led to a grenade that is set to blow a propane tank when the pin is pulled. The pin was halfway out, I couldn't reach it without hitting the tripwire," Paul was frustrated with himself.
"Are you sure you can jump without getting hurt?" Dwayne didn't want to leave Eli's side. She gave him a small smile, "I'm sure. But I won't jump until you're safely outside." Dwayne looked at Eli, really looked at her. He wanted to kiss her, touch her, carry her out of the house but he knew if he did everything would be set off. Dwayne raised his hand to caress her cheek but thought better of it, "I'll be waiting." He flew out of the house, passing Terra as he went out the door.
Kayla concentrated on Terra, "All clear of the house. We're far enough away now." "Alright. Good," Terra readied to jump. "Eli. On the count of three, we jump," Terra said to her sister. They both started counting out loud, "One….Two….Three." On three they jumped at the same time into the backyard.
The moment they jumped, the house exploded, sending debris and glass shards in every direction. The group shielded themselves as best they could, still getting hit with shrapnel. They could feel the heat from the flames as the house burned. The group took a moment to catch their breaths and did a headcount. Six vampires and three humans. Terra and Eli made it out.
Jade and Kayla hugged their sisters. Jade pulled away from Terra and smacked her shoulder, "Stupid. What the hell were you thinking?!" Terra rubbed her bruised shoulder, "We had to find out if the messenger was telling the truth." Terra ran her hand through her hair, "Come on. Let's get Jessie to Sam and figure out a plan." The girls grasped onto their mates and jumped to the Emerson household.
Emerson Household
Lucy practically jumped out of her skin when the group landed in the living room. She was going to yell at them for scaring her when she saw Jessie, "What happened?" David laid her down on the couch and moved away so Lucy could look her over, she removed the gag. Terra explained everything. Sam had joined them all in the living room, Michael, Star, and Laddie were sitting on the stairs, Grandpa stood in the doorway of his taxidermy room and listened in. "So, everyone you see in this room is practically all we have left," Terra finished off her story. To say Lucy was upset is an understatement, "Dad, do you have any tools to remove these cuffs?" Grandpa went into his workroom and brought out a small toolbox. Setting it down and pulling out a lockpick kit. He removed the cuffs and threw them out as he left the room.
Hearing what The Company did after the adrenaline had worn off brought the sisters to tears. They clung to their mates as they silently cried. The guys could do nothing but hold their mates no matter how uncomfortable they felt. None of them were good at comforting crying females. It took some time for everyone to calm down. In the meantime, Lucy and Sam were tending to Jessie. Lucy went and grabbed a hand towel and got it wet to wipe away some of the dirt and grime from Jessie. The poor girl was filthy and will need a bath once she wakes up. Her injuries were not life-threatening but she was severely malnourished. Sam picked Jessie up and took her to his room and laid her on his bed. He pulled a blanket up to her chin and left the room to retrieve the cot from the linen closet. He didn't want her freaking out any more than she was going to when she woke up in a strange bed. Sam went to let his mom know he was staying in his room with her. Lucy knew her son wouldn't take advantage of the girl, so she just nodded her head and kissed his cheek.
As tears dried, anger was felt from the girls. The Company has gone too far. With the deaths of every living relative, even distant cousins, the girls felt alone. They may not have been close with their families, but they didn't want to be the only ones left. Terra kept picturing her mother's body slumped over the kitchen table with a bullet wound in the middle of her forehead. Eli's mother was found almost the same way, only the location of her body was different. They jumped to every relative they knew and found the same scenario, a bullet to the brain.
David broke the silence, "I contacted Max. He's on his way here. We need to come up with a plan." Terra felt the vibrations of David's voice cut through her thoughts. She had an idea of where to start, "I say we don't wait for them to attack us. Take tonight to come up with an attack plan and bring them down." The tone of her voice implied that she didn't plan on making it out alive. David held her tighter, "It would be best if you turn first." Terra and Eli already agreed to turn, they just haven't informed anyone yet. "I know. We were going to say something to you guys after the twins recovered from turning," Terra voiced. Eli nodded her head against Dwayne's bare chest, then made a remark, "Do you ever wear a shirt?" She inadvertently made everyone laugh a little. "No. Haven't worn a shirt in over a decade," Dwayne stated.
With the arrival of Max, the group passed ideas around. The most prominent was keeping the humans and half vampires safe. After some arguing, it was agreed upon that the humans stay with Max at his house, and the half vampires stay at the cave. Terra and Eli, however, will be staying at the cave with their sisters and mates. It would be safer that way. Nobody is distracted with worry since the sisters and mates would be together in one place. With that decided, Lucy went upstairs to wake Sam and have him pack some clothes and pack a bag for herself. Grandpa was adamant that he will be fine staying at his home, in the hidden bunker under his taxidermy room nobody knew about.
The group split up and went their separate ways. Max drove his sports car with Lucy in the passenger seat, Sam following in his Jeep with a still sleeping Jessie beside him. Sam had put the top back before leaving the house. The rest of the group rode their bikes to the cave. The girls were shown where to park their bikes out of sight near the cliffs by the wooden stairs leading down to the cave. Everyone tried their best to relax for the rest of the night. They all felt things were going to start happening quickly.