ISFNE Chapter 33

Faith POV

Everything froze as I suddenly stumbled and barely caught myself on the counter behind me. I felt so dizzy. I staggered over to the shop door and quickly changed our sign to closed and locked the door with shaking hands. I needed water, or food. I made my way back to the counter, practically crawling as I found my snack stash and water bottle quickly gulping it down and feeling my vision focus slightly. I put down my bottle and crawled back to Caleb, I'd burned him three times quite badly, but had I killed him? I felt the bile rise in my throat and desperately held back. I carefully knelt to check Caleb. He was still breathing, he just seemed out cold, though what had happened before still scared me to death.

I stood shakily and dialed Davenport on my phone, tears beginning to stream down my face. It went to voicemail.

"Edward, it's Allison, I just," I took a shaky breath, "He came here, Edward. He came to the bookstore and he, and," a sob burst out of me unbidden, "I don't really know what happened, but please, come quickly," I cried. It was the truth, mostly, I really didn't know what had happened. How was I going to explain to Davenport?

Maybe two minutes later I got a call from him, "Are you still there with him?" he asked.

"Yes," I said with harsh exhale, trying to stymie the tears.

"I'll be there immediately," he said, and hung up. I sobbed again as I sank to the ground sending up thanks that Simon had taken the twins out to the zoo for the day. The apartment and bookstore were completely empty for the entire showdown.

Davenport arrived within twenty minutes, in which time Caleb had still not moved.

"My lands, what happened Allison?" he said in horror, seeing the burns and his nephew's unconscious state.

"I'm not sure, but he didn't see my necklace and when he first grabbed me I burned his shoulders pushing him away. But then he compelled me to remove my necklace, and I burned his head fighting him on that, and he started convulsing and his eyes rolled back and – I-I don't know. I'm s-so sorry but he scared me so much," I said tripping over my words as they all spilled out. I was pretty happy with the fabrication I'd come up with, though I hated having to lie. But I couldn't trust Davenport with the knowledge of my connection to Eric. There was only one degree of separation there. Plus, it was the Dracula, he may have loyalties when it came to someone that important.

"Caleb isn't usually one to come on so strong to mortals. He must have tried to influence your mind and it somehow rebounded on him because of your crucifix. That explains why he had trouble compelling you too," Davenport muttered. "Oh, my dear, I am so very sorry." It was obvious he wanted to take my hand in support, but the welts on his nephew's head were reminder enough of why he shouldn't.

I wiped away more of my tears, "you should take him back, I don't want him to see me again."

"Is it you, Allison?" Davenport asked suddenly. "Are you the one he told me about?"

"Who did he tell you about? Did he see me before today?" I asked, partially trying to play dumb, partially worried he'd identified me to Davenport.

"A missing bride to the Dracula himself," he said gravely.

I didn't miss a beat, looking shocked, "The Dracula? The most powerful vampire in the world lost his bride? I had no idea I was in company…"

It worked, Davenport immediately moved on, "I'm sorry, it was a silly notion. Caleb was just describing the girl, he met her, and for a moment it sounded so much like you."

I laughed but somberly shook my head, "I- wow, I pity her, vampires must truly have a type, corrupting girls who don't want corrupting."

"It was a silly notion, of course," Davenport said waving off the conversation, "I knew it couldn't be you. An amazingly powerful bride on the loose. She's probably off living well somewhere else," he said, "I'll take Caleb back to my house and make sure he's okay," he said picking him up. "Again, I apologize for everything, his advances, my not believing you."

I smiled thinly, "Don't worry, I'll be okay. I hope he is too." And finally, the vampire in my bookstore was removed. Now to wait for him to wake up and see if I'd successfully wiped our encounter from his mind.

Simon POV

"He recognized you?" I asked in agitation. Faith's story was a scary one to come home to.

"Yes," she responded, biting her lip, "but like I said, I think I resolved it."

"Yes, but 'think' doesn't mean you did. What about Davenport? What if he can tell?"

"Simon, he bought my story completely. Plus, he's only a dhamphir, and a weak one at that. It's not like he can counteract what I possibly did."

"We should leave. You should have never gotten Davenport involved," I said sitting down at the kitchen table and running my hands through my hair anxiously.

"He tried to keep Caleb away, it's not his fault at all," she said coming over to me and massaging her fingers against my scalp, "I'm not going anywhere. I haven't been identified. I won't uproot our life and that of the kids on mere what-ifs. Not yet at least."

"Why are you the one comforting me? Shouldn't this be the other way around?" I asked looking up at her and taking her hands, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, I just got really scared."

"Why did you never tell me it was the freaking Vampire King you were mated too?"

"It's just Count if anything, Si, and I don't know," she said with a sigh, sinking into the chair next to me. "It never occurred to me as an important detail."

"It's a bit of a scary detail," I said honestly, "I'm just worried, this guy has every resource available to him."

"And he hasn't found me yet. It's been over five years."

"This was too close, there could be follow-up," I said in concern.

"From who? Davenport?" she retorted.

"What about his nephew, he must have friends, maybe family?"

"But there's a story. And no, unless he's newly acquired one, he doesn't have family."

And that one word gave me clarity. I tightened my grip on her hands slightly, "Marry me, Faith," I said.

"What? Simon, I-"

"We'll move far away from here. You'll take my last name; I'll adopt the twins. You'll disappear all over again. Plus," I looked at her pleadingly, "Why are we still putting this off? I love you."

"I love you too, Simon," she said, "but we can't up and leave. What about my graduation?"

"Is your diploma worth your freedom?"

"But all that money…"

"That we will have the rest of our lives to make up for."

"You're not done with your residency!"

"I can transfer hospitals," I reasoned.

"But the bookstore," she said softly, and that one gave me pause. Gram's bookstore. With neither of us here, who would carry on its legacy?

"Maybe Chloe," I said. "She'd take it."

"Would she? She's already got a career."

"We'd have to leave it," I said quietly. "But it's a worthy sacrifice."

"Simon, no, this was your grandmother's lifework."

"The timing will never be perfect, there's always something that's going to be wrong or difficult. But all I know is that I love you and I want you to be safe. Anything is worth your safety."

"Okay," she finally relented after a long pause, "But we aren't leaving yet, we wait for a sign from Davenport and then, if it seems possible that my cover is blown, we leave."

"Is that the 'yes' I've been waiting for all these years?" I teased a little, "It was a little less enthused than I'd hoped for."

She blushed and leaned in to kiss me, finally getting up to sit across my lap, still showering affections on me. When she finally pulled away she leaned her forehead against mine, "I've already said yes, Mr. Fiancé!" she teased, "but yes, I will marry you, Simon Timmons. I love you and would be honored to be your wife."

"I cannot tell you how much I love hearing those words from you," I said, feeling her shiver as I kissed at her neck.

"Okay, okay, slow down, Ellie and Solomon could pop down here at any moment," she giggled.

"Fine, stop being so sensible!" I said, kissing her once more as she laughed. I could never be happier than this. "Tomorrow at the courthouse?"

"Tomorrow," she said, with the loveliest smile I'd ever seen. I kissed her again - and suddenly heard stifled laughter.

She pulled back and rolled her eyes good-naturedly at me in a silent 'I told you so'. "Come out you two I know you're here."

"Mommy's getting married!" Ellie announced with a huge smile. Solomon was right behind her.

"Yes, she is," I said with a smile, kissing Alice once more to a small chorus of playful "ews".

"Does this mean you'll be our dad?" Solomon asked shyly.

I let Faith slide off of my lap and sit beside me at the change in conversation. "Would you like me to be? Your mother and I talked about making it official in that I would adopt you two, but you don't have to stop calling me Simon if you don't want to."

Solomon smiled, "You're already our dad. I just can finally call you it."

I was floored. Solomon's statement was so simple, so matter-of-fact, but so important and relieving. I wasn't made of stone – I felt tears of joy start to stream down my face seeing my reaction reflected on Alice's face as well.

"Get over here, you two," I said, pulling Solomon and Ellie into a hug. "I love you guys."

"Love you too, dad," Ellie whispered.

Eric POV

"Eric it's from the counsel. Seems important," Max said coming up with a phone in hand. It'd been a week since the council meeting, I wondered what could have possibly happened to deem a call.

I took the receiver, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked.

"Dracula we are very sorry to bother, but we have a case that might you're your personal attention. It has a few more official levels to go through before would have been presented to you, but since you are somewhat nearby it seemed remiss to not inform you."

"A case? It's been an age since anything has been brought to me."

"We wouldn't have bothered except that it seems so strange," they quickly backpedaled, probably fearing I was being inconvenienced and would be upset at their calling. A healthy amount of fear was good in the council, so I let the silence sit for a moment before responding. They wouldn't have called me without reason though. Especially if they were this worried about my approval.

"I shall take a look, where do I go?"

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It had been a short flight and maybe an hour's drive before I walked up to the building, it was a nice home with somewhat opulent, yet comfortable living spaces. I was greeted outside at the door by a woman with dark skin, an inch or so shorter than I, with tightly wound hair. "Greetings, Dracula, I am your humble servant," she said bowing her head.

I nodded my approval, "Such a nod to tradition is greatly appreciated but quite unnecessary. What is your name?"

"Morgan Williamson, master, I'm the baronetess for this state, I've just assessed the situation myself if you would like a summary? I can, of course, take you upstairs immediately if you would like to assess it yourself."

"I'd like to hear your take on it, if I may. I've heard no details up to this point and must say I'm quite mystified."

"Well, that is only because we are quite mystified as well," she said her brow furrowing, "It's one of ours, a vampire by the name of Caleb Linders."

My attention sharpened immediately, "Caleb Linders? What is he doing out here?"

"You know him, Master?" she asked in surprise.

"He was assisting me personally with some business a few years ago," I said, "What's happened to him?"
The woman, Morgan, hesitated, "It might be best to just show you at this point."

I followed her into the house and up the stairs to find Caleb laid out in a bed, looking at a faraway point that wasn't there. His eyes seemed dull and he was blabbering absolute nonsense, not to mention he was burned badly in multiple places. It was painful to see having known the strong and somewhat stoic Caleb of a few years ago. "Caleb?" I asked.

"Caleb, Caleb, Caleb…that's…. that's me?" He said, a blank look on his face. It was obvious how much effort it took him to remember even his name and he certainly didn't remember mine.

"What happened?" I asked again, a little bit at a loss. Feeling shaken upon seeing Caleb so reduced, but knowing I had to look detached.

"Memory wipe of some kind that went wrong. But, it's like nothing we've seen before. It has an unknown quality to it and…it reduced him to this," the noble stated, "The only power we've seen of this strength is your own, Master. We worried at first-" she stopped short, thinking better of completing her sentence.

"That it was by my hand," I finished for her, "I assure you it isn't. Caleb was a loyal servant; I have no idea what could have brought him to this. What was he doing here?"

We aren't sure, he was brought in at the beginning of the week by an Edward Davenport, apparently his Uncle."

I nodded and sat down next to Caleb and carefully put a hand on his head, closing my eyes and feeling out for his mind. I found it and connected to it to try and unravel whatever power was holding his mind back, but there was nothing. His mind had been destroyed, not merely twisted. I carefully continued to evaluate trying to find a remnant of where he'd been attacked when I suddenly felt that quality they had spoken of and I knew it immediately. I'd felt it myself hanging in the air after a very different phenomenon.

My eyes snapped open as I disconnected.

Morgan was perceptive, "You recognize it."

"I do," I said struggling to keep myself composed. Caleb had found her. It was Faith's signature. It was the same quality I felt in the air after she vaporized my competitor. But he hadn't even been searching for her? How was this possible? It was suddenly starting to come together in my head.

He'd stumbled across her accidently, she'd panicked, so much so she'd unleashed her raw power on him, something that had been building for years. I shuddered to myself, no wonder Caleb was in this state. I quickly went back on track.

If he'd run into her I needed to retrace his steps as soon as possible, Faith was probably already trying to fly the coop. Or someone was going to tell her to.

"I'm taking you off this case and attending to it personally, thank you for bringing it to my attention," I stated, standing up, "What do you know of Edward Davenport?"

Davenport POV

I was torn. I'd taken Caleb in to see if what had happened could be reversed but they had immediately seen something fishy about his state which seemed to be quite singular, invalidating Allison's story. I'd endangered her safe life. Everything made sense now with that small detail – her ultimate paranoia, the twins' powers manifesting so early. I could only assume she'd lied to me as a last-ditch effort, probably afraid for my alliances.

I couldn't blame her, keeping that detail secret. Being mate of the Dracula was a very identifiable position and called for a very different kind of loyalty. While I was happy to keep her secret from any regular vampire, it was practically treason if I didn't turn her in to the Dracula. If they traced back any connection with me I could be killed.

Yet on the other hand, Allison was my friend. And she'd trusted me with so many of her secrets. She'd practically made me family allowing me to offer help with suppressing the twins' powers so they could live a normal life. For goodness sake, they called me Uncle Edward.

I sat at my dining room table with my cell phone in front of me, opened to her number. I should call her, to warn her. I made up my mind and was about to call when the doorbell rang. I left the phone on the table and went to the door. A quick check out the peephole told me it wasn't anyone I knew, but maybe it was news about Caleb. Or someone selling something.

I opened the door, "Hello?"

"Are you Mister Edward Davenport?" he asked.

"Yes, that's me, how can I help you?"

"I'm coming from the noble's estate and wondered if I could ask you a few questions."

"Do you have news about my nephew?" I asked hopefully.

"Not the kind you're hoping for I regret to inform you," he said, seeming genuinely sorry. I likely looked quite crestfallen. "Might I come in?"

I hesitated, "Um, yes, I just need to make a quick call, but you can make yourself comfortable."

"Who are you calling?" he inquired.

"A friend," I said evasively, "It's very important or I would wait, I'm terribly sorry."

"Don't call her," he said suddenly. His voice carried a command with it, but his tone was pleading.

"What?" I asked, trying to play off my fear at this stranger's knowledge. How did he know? Who even was this man?

"Don't call the girl," he restated. A heavy silence fell, as he stood still in my doorway.

"But I must; she's my friend," I finally pleaded, so thrown off by this man's knowledge I didn't bother with denial.

"But she is my bride," he responded quietly.

A/N: Hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long! Let me know what you think! What will happen NEXT?!