No one heard Vicki and Henry enter. They were lucky as Vicki had bumped something in her zeal to get in.
"Sorry." She mouthed to Henry as he frowned at her.
"Sorry to crash your party, but we're afraid we're gonna have to close this little medical facility." Vicki had stepped into the main area, Henry beside her at the ready.
The man who had taken Braidon reached for a gun laying nearby, the older man and woman froze.
"I wouldn't do that, you don't want to make him angry, you won't like him when he's angry," Vicki said pointing to Henry, who had begun a low growl.
Surprisingly, the man backed off from the gun. They didn't seem like a violent group, Vicki decided they would pursue the rescue without the police.
"Look...we..we.." the man was stuttering, he was frightened. Braidon couldn't move so he began screaming a high pitched scream.
Vicki ran over to him, releasing him, but he continued to thrash.
"Don't let go of him Vicki, he's frightened and he'll run." Henry told her. Vicki nodded. If she hadn't been more than humanly strong, she wasn't sure she could hold him. She stroked his head and rocked him back and forth. That calmed him a little. His screaming became soft, no's, over and over.
"Why are you doing this?" Henry demanded.
The woman had joined the man by now, the younger one standing behind them. They looked alike, like maybe parents and son.
The older man was wringing his hands.
"Me and my wife, we," he began, "we just don't want others to go through what we went through. We wanted to find a cure so these children could be normal."
"By subjecting them to barbaric tests? These children are fine the way they are, you need to accept that yourself. Where are the others?"
The man looked as though he was ready to cry, "They had to be institutionalized. We...we made them worse. I'm ssso sssorry."
The woman was comforting him, finally the younger man, their son apparently, spoke.
"Sir, my parents were only trying to help. My sister, she was autistic. She ran into traffic and was killed. There was nothing to be done. My father is a neurologist, can you imagine? Having a child with a brain disorder and you feel helpless. So he thought if he could map the brain, try to find the areas or sensory deficits or whatever was triggering it, he could help others. We just wanted to lessen the pain that so many have felt before us and others that my come after."
This was truly a sad family. Henry could not let the police get to them. He had something else in mind.
He used his "power of persuasion" to change their agenda. He just hoped it was enough time to get them out before the police arrived, which by estimation, would be any minute. He let his eyes bleed to black and used his vampire skills...
"YOU WILL GO, YOU WILL NEVER THINK OF AUTISM AS ABNORMAL, YOU WILL USE YOUR KNOWLEDGE TO CREATE A CENTER FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN, A PLACE OF ACCEPTANCE AND TRAINING, A PLACE OF LEARNING, YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER THAT YOUR DAUGHTER WAS KILLED BUT THAT SHE DIED PEACEFULLY."
When he was finished, they all shook their heads.
"Where..how.." The man started, looking around. Henry could see their confusion.
"Well, I don't think this particular place would be good for a clinic, do you?" Henry asked the man.
"No, I don't. We have to go."
Just as Mike was pulling up in front, the family was leaving. The family didn't use the white van, they had another vehicle there apparently. The white van would have been noticed so Henry was glad. He felt sorry for them. They were in pain as well and thought in their own way, that they were helping.
"What's going on here?" Mike yelled rushing in, guns drawn.
Henry was now beside Braidon and the little boy looked at Henry with his big blue eyes as wide as saucers. The boy was completely calm now, smiling at Henry.
Henry's eyes were tearing, something only Vicki could see.
"Well, looks like we were either just in time, too late or both. We got a tip and uh, they left I guess." She was sweeping her hands around, acting innocent. Mike knew better.
"Uh huh," he said puttin his gun away. He told the other half dozen officers to leave.
As soon as they were gone, he started grilling them.
"Okay, one of you gonna tell me what the hell just happened here?" Mike said frowning at both of them.
Vicki walked over to him standing right in front of him, being stubborn as usual.
"Well, which version would you like? The real one or the one you need for your report?" she responsded smiling sweetly at him.
Mike shook his head. He threw his hands up and told them both just to give him the report version. Vicki obliged telling him that their office had received a tip as well, they had arrived and no one was here, just the boy. She said they must have seen them coming..yeah right, was Mike's response. He didn't seem to care though, considering what he had gone through himself.
"Well, all I can say is, at least the boy is safe and that's what we wanted right? How is he doing?" Mike asked looking over Vicki's shoulder at Henry and Braidon.
"Which one?" Vicki asked watching the love of her life somehow communicating with this child. The boy was calm, he was touching Henry's face, Henry put his had at the top of the boy's forehead and ran it down slowly and genlty to his chin. This made Braidon laugh and giggle.
"Looks like they are both fine to me." Vicki said to him. Mike nodded and flipped his phone open to call the station and give the "report" to Crowley.
Vicki walked over to Henry and Braidon. They both turned to look at her.
"He says thank you." Henry told her smiling. Henry finally looked relaxed and relieved.
"Tell him he's welcome, but how.." she started to ask.
"I can hear him, remember, he can talk to me."
"Hmm, Henry Fitzroy, vampire austism whisperer, I think I've found you're calling..."