His icy blue eyes staring into Sheriff Lucian's, Theodore let out a hiss, "Sheriff!"
Blood dripped from the sheriff's face as he held a pistol he stole from Dolores, having used it on her and Bonnie, before fleeing into the kitchen, as Theodore put himself in front of the unconscious Lila as he shielded her from the sheriff, anger flowing through his veins.
"You have, no goddamn idea, what's going on here!" Sheriff Lucian shouted at Theodore, as he clutched the stolen pistol tightly in his bloody hand.
That man, he predicted everything that'd happen tonight, down to an uncomfortable level, Sheriff Lucian desperately fought against the thought the man was right, but he was, and it's like a nightmare the sheriff couldn't wake up from.
The moment he saw Theodore and Lila, he knew it was inevitable, somehow his brain didn't register it until they found the skeletal remains.
With the phone call, their fates were sealed, as though the strange man ensured that they couldn't change the fates he set for them, as much as Sheriff Lucian tried, but failed.
He tried persuading Dolores not to become greedy, only taking one human at a time, like they've been doing since they've been on the island, but she refused to listen to him, and had them catch almost ten people, to bleed into wine bottles.
Everything he tried, Dolores wouldn't agree to them, for whatever reason, and only because he wouldn't do the one thing, she asked him.
Provide for their family.
Though, Sheriff Lucian argued that he did provide for them, a magnificent home on the island, a legitimate business to make money with, and a way to safely go about their lives, without anyone knowing what they truly are, however, it wasn't enough for Dolores.
She insisted that he provide for their family.
If not being the only male survivor of the massacre of their family, she would've killed him for his perceived failures.
Used the fact that if it ever came out what they are, Sheriff Lucian wouldn't have a way out of it, he would be facing the same punishments as Dolores and Bonnie.
Like the man told him.
Even if Sheriff Lucian did as Dolores asked, it wouldn't have mattered, he's infertile, there was complications with the birthing that resulted in his inability to "provide" for his family.
Dolores can fight against it all she wants, but they don't have any legs standing, between his infertility and the complications with Bonnie's mental development, it's a sign that they're not long for this world.
It was only a matter of time, exacerbated by the massacre led by the killer, who isn't standing in front of Sheriff Lucian.
He smelled Theodore's blood and he knew that while the blood's different, it wasn't the same blood Dolores made them smell constantly during their youths, ensuring they know the scent of the man who killed their family.
Tilting his head as his icy blue eyes narrowed on Sheriff Lucian, Theodore mocked, "Oh, something going on, why, I hadn't realized it, I thought it we were on a set for a debauched family horror show!"
Exhaling sharply, Sheriff Lucian shook his head disdainfully, as he insisted that Theodore didn't know the whole story, but the angry giant wouldn't listen to him.
"You think I wanted this?" Sheriff Lucian shouted at Theodore, his temper flaring, as he aggressively gestured with his free hand, "I've did everything I could to stop her, but she wouldn't stop!"
Believe him, up until now, Sheriff Lucian tried everything under the sun to stop Dolores from making a mess of everything, trying to make her live a simple life on the island, but again, she wouldn't listen to him!
Turning their heads, the men heard noises coming from the dining room, Sheriff Lucian cursing as he started barricading the kitchen doors, while Theodore remained unsure of his motives, but wanted Lila safe, above all else.
"Al! I found Lee! She's hurt, I need you to take over!" Theodore ordered Al in his mind, causing the AI to stir as he irritatedly pointed out that he has the trap set, all Theodore needed to do's go through a tear, and that's that.
Al's further irritated that Theodore won't go through the tear with her, that he wanted to finish what his father started, which Al reminded him that they were finishing what he started, with something straight out of 'Blade' but without the rave music.
Of course, he's dealing with a stubborn kid, just like Medi.
Gently, Theodore cooed as he picked up Lila from her spot, the tube on the ground as he kept pressure on where it was inserted with his finger, holding her in his arms as he sees her somewhat stirring, as she muttered.
"Don't argue with me!" Theodore huffed as he quickly formed a tear that allowed him to safely pass Lila off to Al while he stayed with the sheriff.
With Lila out of harm's way, Theodore focused on the sheriff as he barricaded the doors with whatever he found in the kitchen, blood running down his face, as sweat intermixed with it.
Sheriff Lucian's shocked that Theodore stayed back with him, but the angry giant informed him that he wasn't staying for long.
He wanted answers.
"You want 'em, help me!" Sheriff Lucian bartered with Theodore, that if he helped deal with his family, he'll tell Theodore what he wanted.
He has nothing to bargain with, fine, but that's par course with situations like these, so he only has his words.
Theodore inherently didn't want to trust the sheriff, but Sheriff Lucian insisted he's the reason Lila's still alive, that the women wanted to kill her outright, but he convinced them to let him set Lila up for a blood drip, as they call them.
She'll be woozy for a while, but she's better off than what she would've been hadn't the sheriff used what little power he had.
"She woulda died hadn't I done something!" Sheriff Lucian bluntly told Theodore, that without him, Theodore would've found Lila in a much worse state.
Trust him, he's been cleaning up after his family for over a hundred years at this point, and he's done with it.
If not, the Doctor that killed them, an entire army will, and Sheriff Lucian didn't want that.
Staring at him with his quizzical icy blue eyes, Theodore glimpsed into his mind for a moment, to see it for himself, and the sheriff told the truth, he used his meager bargaining to pull the fighting Lila into the kitchen, subdue her, and stick a tube in her arm, allowing her to survive his family, whom wanted to bleed her right then and there.
Still, Theodore wouldn't trust an enemy of his father.
However, Theodore ended up glimpsing into other memories, where the sheriff's talking to an unseen person, it's impossible for him to tell because he's merely glimpsing into the sheriff's mind.
Something's off about the memories, because it felt like the unseen man knew Theodore was there, watching him, through them, and the uncanny feeling entered Theodore's mind as he peeled away from the sheriff's memories.
"Fine. Say I believe you, what then?" Theodore sharply asked him.
Amid hearing his family screeching in the dining room, as they attempt to claw their way into the kitchen, the sheriff tells Theodore, "I know you're going to kill us… and I know you're not the same man, either."
Sheriff Lucian accepted his fate the moment he was told, he won't fight Theodore, he just wants this over as much as him. He already knows Theodore isn't the same man who destroyed their family, but he doesn't care, it'll be poetic, though.
Seeing hands bursting through the waning doors, Sheriff Lucian fled with Theodore towards a hidden doorway behind the spice rack, allowing them to flee the women as they burst through the kitchen, fire in their eyes.
As he fled with Sheriff Lucian, Theodore warns Al what's happening, causing the AI to face palm, before Theodore asserted that believed in the sheriff, though that's something he never thought to say, but he did.
"Lee's doing fine, it's not bad, she'll need a couple of prime rib steaks and a few iron supplements," Al gave an update on Lila, despite how she looked, she wasn't in a bad shape, she'll be pale for a bit, and need to work up an appetite, but she'll recover.
Slow, but it could've been worse.
The sheriff didn't lie.
Following the sheriff, Theodore's led out of the hidden passage way to the floor with the large equipment, as they silently processed the wine in the vats.
"When I tell you, send them into the vats," Sheriff Lucian ordered Theodore.
He knew.
He wasn't going to argue, not now, Theodore reached out to Al, telling him to ready to flood the vats with the tampered wine.
Al disappeared from his mind as he stood near the large vats, they'll easily house the women and the wine with no problem, Sheriff Lucian telling Theodore that they'll fight, but it'll take, quickly.
"What about you?" Theodore asks the weary sheriff.
Sighing, he said, "Bottoms up."
He'll drink the wine.
"How did you know?" Theodore wanted answers how the sheriff knew what they were planning, but the sheriff grew evasive.
He only said that he just knew and that he won't fight against it, it's what they earned for their years of causing pain and suffering to the people on the island and the tourists.
"Why didn't you do something sooner?" Theodore asks Sheriff as he clutched his gun, prepared to fire off a few rounds, to alert the women where they were, so they'd fall into a tear that Theodore formed.
Frowning, his pale skin barely showing a line, Sheriff Lucian tells Theodore, "How could I, they were my family, my only family?"
At first, he covered everything up because they were family and he wanted to help them, but as he grew older, and kept covering up the murders, it broke something in him.
This wasn't living.
Dolores may say it is, but it isn't.
"He should've killed her when he had the chance," Sheriff Lucian tells Theodore how his father had the chance to kill Dolores, but he saw how young she was, no more than ten, and he grew reluctant.
A move that proved fatal, as they came to learn.
Warning him, Sheriff Lucian raised the pistol, Theodore covering his ears as the sheriff shoot numerous bullets into the air, the sound rattling throughout, alerting the women to their location.
"The vats are loaded, kid!" Al popped up in Theodore's head as he prepared to trap the women in a tear he formed right where they would run over.
There are rampant footsteps, shouting, as the women bust through the wide doors, their eyes darting until they laid on Theodore and Sheriff Lucian.
Covered in their own blood, the women ran towards them, incensed at the betrayal by Sheriff Lucian, and the appearance of the most feared man in their family.
Straight out of a cartoon, they ran over the spot that Theodore opened the tear, sending them through the floor, and into the vats behind the men, where they immediately contacted the wine.
In seconds of coming into contact, the women started howling, screaming, smacking against the sides of the vats as they begged for Sheriff Lucian's help.
He stood idly beside Theodore as they heard the women screaming bloody murder, muffled by the vats.
His head low, Sheriff Lucian briefly closed his eyes, before turning his head towards Theodore as he tells him, "Tell 'em the wine's bad, it was covered up, it'll destroy the industry on the island, but it had to be done."
Slowly nodding, his icy blue eyes focused on the sheriff, Theodore agreed to follow the sheriff's wishes.
The screaming continued until finally growing silent in the vats, the women are dead, Sheriff Lucian knew they were, and he went up to the vats, kneeling towards the valve, where he turned, allowing wine to start spilling out.
Using a cup a worker left behind, Sheriff Lucian collected the wine, holding the ruby red in his hand, his eyes staring into it, he then tells Theodore, "I knew. You know. I knew the moment I met him. That's why… that's why he came to me."
And he did as he told Theodore, he drank the wine.
Within seconds of drinking, he collapsed on the ground, unable to breath, his eyes wide as he struggled, losing control of his limbs, until he went limp, a mix of the wine and his blood oozed out of his mouth.
Standing over the body, Theodore sighed, before he opened another tear, allowing him to leave the winery, returning to the safety of the TARDIS, much to Al's relief, before he chews Theodore out for going against the plan.
Once he stopped, Al exhaled as he said, "I'm just glad I don't have to explain to your brother, what happened!"
With Al's help, Theodore did what Sheriff Lucian wanted, and the word reached every news station in the whole world about the insidious look behind the wine that people coveted, omitting the fact that the perpetrators were aliens from another world.
Al put his processors to work, ensuring that every person who lost someone to the Family received notice that there's a development in their cases.
It took work, but an exorbitantly number of families got their wish, knowing what happened to their loved ones, and the winery had a mysterious blaze break out, shortly after the TARDIS disappeared.
Dolores and Bonnie's remains were found in the vats, as expected, the wine boiled in the intense heat, and the story ran had the two hide in the vats to hide from the flames.
Sheriff Lucian's body was found in an entirely different place, charred, he was hooked up to tubes, drained of his blood, when investigators attempted to move the body, it turned into ash.
Theodore and Lila made a full recovery, with Al's careful eye, their blood count returned to normal, and for Lila, she's expected not to have any problems thereafter from losing nearly a pint of blood, though she does have a bruise on her arm from the tube.
The island fell into destitute from the winery's closure, the reveal that they knowingly exported fraudulent wine, and despite attempts, it's expected to become fully abandoned by the end of the year.
Al suggested that it was only a matter of time, anyway.
Even he couldn't work out a way to save the island.
It was fated to die, a slow economic death.
Don't ask Al, that's the way of the universe.
The Family's finally gone, this time, for good, Al made sure that there's no chance they'll show up somewhere else, and that said, good.
Sheriff Lucian might've had guilt for his family's crimes, it didn't excuse him for his culpability in them, though the strangeness of the memories that Theodore accidentally glimpsed hadn't fully disappeared, it continued to perturbed him.
More, Sheriff Lucian's words.
He knew… he knew what?
THE END