Chapter 10 - Strength & Love
"I'm going back to my hotel now. He won't make a move yet until he finds the right victims who match our profiles" said Maggie after what was probably the most difficult conversation she had ever had in her life. Serving as a CIA operative had been hard on her soul but this was something else. Killing people she had befriended, torturing suspects for information were all part of that old life, that old job.
All that had hardened her heart to point she sometimes wondered what kind of monster she had become. Seeing her daughter's pain was like looking into the mirror and it wasn't pretty. Walking up to Henry Maggie touched his arm. "Protect her Henry, keep her alive she needs you more than she needs me." she finished sadly.
The door closed leaving silence. Feeling his breath upon her neck Vicki turned to face him through tear filled eyes struggle to smile at the man who had brought hope and a future to her once empty life.
"You hit her didn't you Henry?" she asked thinking about the bruises on Maggie. "Right now I'm trying to get angry over that fact but I can't seem to. My mother is a killer and here I was thinking all the monsters had gone" Vicki laughed a brittle dry sound.
"Stop Vicki, please stop, don't do this" said Henry running his fingers through her hair, gently brushing it away from the face of the woman he loved before continuing.
"We've come through so much together, given up part of ourselves to not just survive but to reach for what's most important to our lives. Don't let it be for nothing Vicki. Your mother made mistakes, so have I and so have you." Henry leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers before pulling back to look deep into her eyes.
"Just answer the question" she said frustrated but feeling better hearing the truth in his words.
"Yes I did, she left me no choice. As it is my walls are pepper in machine gun fire and my sculpture has become a little more abstract" Henry tried for some humor, knowing the the ex-cop in Vicki would respond.
"She tried to shoot you with a machine gun?" she asked raising her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Between that and the stab wound to my arm I'm lucky to be alive. I always wondered where you got your strength from Vicki, now I know".
Vicki turned to Henry and reached out as she never would have done 12 months ago. Defeating a Demon had given her a strength and wisdom beyond her years.
"I'm glad she didn't kill you Henry. Thats my job and I can think of the perfect way" she purred taking his lips between her teeth and nibbling.
Henry pulled her into his arms in a crushing embrace, pressing every part of his body against every part of hers Soothing her with his strength, his presence and his love.