Chapter the Seventeenth

In which the Devil gets his Due

Alexander had been taken on a Wednesday and it was six days later that Damien asked that he be left alone; both children agreed only if he came down to dinner later that night.

Delia and Alexander puttered around the house all morning until Alexander suggested that they go to the stables. They ate lunch, cleaned up and it was one by the time the Thorn siblings left the house to go out back.

While the Thorns still had horses, they were no longer kept at the house; Damien was too busy to ride and Delia and Alexander preferred to do other things on a regular basis. If the children wanted to go riding, Damien simply contacted the people who were boarding the horses and they would bring them out to the house saddled and ready to go, and then take them away once the Thorns were done. Since the stable was no longer used for horses, Damien had had it remodeled and it was now a heated/air conditioned recreation area for the children housing all kinds of games and sporting equipment, including a trampoline.

They used the bows and arrows, doing target practice before the two of them got onto the trampoline, bouncing and doing flips until Alexander collapsed onto his back and Delia followed suit. He lay there, staring up at the ceiling, "Damien is going to kill that man tonight."

Like her father, she sensed a coldness in him that hadn't been there before and she got up on her elbows and looked at her brother and smiled, "How did you figure that out, Sherlock?"

"He's been quieter and quieter over the past few days and he's...tense and anxious. I hate to be the proverbial stick in the mud, but shouldn't we be worrying about, oh I don't know, Damien getting caught and going to prison?"

Delia had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing, though she knew that her brother would be able to feel her amusement, "The very short answer to that question is no and once this all taken care of, you'll know why we don't get into trouble when we do those sorts of things."

Alexander sat up, "Is is it bad?" he paused, "are we bad?"

She got up, walked over to her brother, sat in front of him and put her forehead against his and he rested his forehead against hers, "Please, please, please don't ask me about anything else anymore because I'll tell you and Damien will be beyond furious with me, but good and bad? That has nothing to do with us; we are so much bigger than that. Will you tell me what happened to you?"

"On one condition."

"What?"

"You stop thinking that what happened to me was your fault."

"I know it wasn't, it's just that...I know it wasn't my fault."

And he told her everything and when he was done, she began laughing, "He shot Tom?"

Alexander got up and pretended that he was their erstwhile driver getting shot in the head, but much more theatrically as he took advantage of the fact that he was on a trampoline, which now looked like Tom had died while doing flips and bouncing on the pavement like some kind of cartoon character. Once he felt like he had exhausted all the creative possibilities of the many deaths of Tom the chauffeur, and had sufficiently amused Delia, they decided they would play with the dogs and take them for a walk.

At the door to the stables, Alexander's hand paused on the handle and he was silent before turning to his sister, "I understand now, what you mean when you say that we're different. When I looked at them, they weren't like us."

Delia tried very hard to control her pride and happiness, but she failed miserably.

"I also know that if I were anyone else, I'd be dead right now and you and Damien would..." but Alexander couldn't finish the thought. "I told father that I liked it and not just because it got me out of trouble, I just...liked it."

Delia wanted to tell him good, that it was good that he liked what he had done and that he was so much more ready to hear the truth than he realized. Instead, she took one of this hands and smiled as he lifted his eyes to meet hers, "Xander, how can anything that helped you get out of that horrible situation be bad? How could anything that brought my brother back to me unharmed be bad? Do I think it's bad?"

And Alexander reached out to her. He knew she was controlling herself, hiding things from him; but he also knew that she was being as honest as she could be, and he couldn't sense anything from her that made him think that what he had done was bad.

"No."

Delia only gave him a wider smile, Alexander smiled back and the two of them took off to find the dogs.

...oOo...

As promised, Damien came down to dinner, though he said little to his children and then quickly disappeared back upstairs.

Delia and Alexander cleaned up and after, she told her brother she needed to go to her room and that left him alone downstairs watching television until the door bell ringing at eleven sent him to answer it.

When Alexander opened it, Anna was standing there, looking more like her grim faced uncle than herself.

"Hey, Anna Banana, what's up?" Alexander stepped aside to let her in and then with sudden realization, quickly turned to look at her. She was here because of what had happened to him. Alexander looked outside and there was Thomas standing by his car, smoking.

Alexander closed the door and locked it. Whatever was going on was much bigger than he imagined. He didn't bother telling Damien that Anna was here; Alexander was sure Damien would already know.

Damien had spent the day in his room and in the chapel and then had come down to join his children for dinner and then had gone back upstairs. He eventually dressed for the night's outing and waited. He had known Anna and Thomas were here before she had rung the doorbell.

Damien left his room and knocked on his daughter's door, "Delia?"

"Hang on...okay, come in."

When he opened her door, she was sitting behind her desk, reading, "Anna's here, are you going to come down?"

"I'll be down in a minute."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes."

"Delia."

"It's nothing important and not anything that you need to worry about right now."

"Okay, don't be too long."

"I won't," Delia gave her father a smile as he closed the door.

She lifted up the file folders that she had used to hide the pamphlet she had been looking at and let a pang of regret well up in her chest and then quickly stifled her ache. She scooped up the other pamphlets and letters, threw them in the garbage and then went downstairs to join the rest of her family.

Alexander was standing beside his father as he watched Delia come down the stairs and he was suddenly struck by the illogical feeling that of everyone standing in the foyer, including Anna, he was the one that didn't fit in. As he looked up at his father, he realized that this was happening, that Damien Thorn was leaving the house to kill someone because that man had tried to hurt him and fear filled Alexander, but he seemed to be the only one who was afraid.

"I'd like the both of you to walk me to the car."

And Delia and Alexander quickly put on their shoes and followed their father outside. Thomas stepped away to give them privacy.

"Tell me."

"What if you get caught. What if you go to prison. What if this man is ready for you and kills you, what will happen to me and Deedle?"

"Alexander, none of that is going to happen, I promise."

"What about Anna and Thomas, they won't tell?" he had lowered his voice.

"No, for more reasons than we can get into right now."

"And you'll be back tonight?"

"Yes, you and Delia can wait up for me. Anna is here to keep an eye on things. You both can do whatever you want. This is so close to being over and then you and I will talk and you will find out everything, okay?"

Alexander nodded, "I love you and be careful."

"I love you, too and I will."

Delia must have asked for privacy because the next thing Damien knew, Alexander had taken off back up to the house, but stood by the door waiting for her to return, "Watch your brother and try to keep him calm."

"Will do."

Damien coldly smiled down at his daughter, "Tell me."

"Make sure the last minutes or hours of his worthless life are spent regretting the moment he decided to hurt us."

"Will do," Damien kissed his daughter on the forehead and watched her turn and run back to her brother.

Delia and Alexander watched as Thomas got in the car and then drove away. They stepped inside and Alexander shut the door and locked it.

"Nothing for us to do but wait until he comes home," Delia smiled at him.

Alexander let himself be reassured by her confidence and they went off to try to occupy themselves until their father returned.

...oOo...

Damien's anger had emerged when Delia told him that Alexander had been taken and between then and now, it had only grown until he needed most his energy to control the rage inside of him. He had even considered dealing with Brian physically...hunting him down and ripping him apart with his bare hands and teeth, but had thought better of it. However, while Damien wouldn't physically tear him apart, it didn't mean that the last moments of Brian Hughes' life wouldn't be spent wishing that he had never been born.

It was after midnight when they arrived at Fox Lake. Damien and Thomas walked towards a large stone house, their feet crunching on the gravel driveway. It was dark and there were no lights on in the three other nearby houses. They walked passed Charles, who sat waiting in his car, ready to take Damien home once everything with Brian was done.

Damien needed no key to open the door and he waited downstairs while Thomas made his way up the stairs and down the hall to the master bedroom. He opened the door and there, standing in the middle of the room, was Brian Hughes.

Brian had been under Damien's thrall from the moment that he knew who it was who had taken his son. Damien's influence had waxed and waned, depending on what Damien needed Brian to do and for right now, Damien had lessened his control, not allowing Brian to leave, but allowing him to be cognizant enough to wonder why he was at his lake house.

Thomas walked past Brian and turned on a light, "Good evening, Mr. Hughes. I trust you've had a pleasant night?"

"Whorar you ?" Brian's voice sounded far away, like he was very tired and struggling to stay awake.

"Who I am is irrelevant. You only have to concern yourself with my employer."

"Whozat?"

"Damien Thorn, of course. However, I think the first place to start is with you. I'm sure you've experienced an interesting phenomenon over the past week...not remembering doing things...lost time...being somewhere and not remembering how you got there? Well, all of that has been courtesy of Damien and my, what interesting things you've been doing. Embezzling company funds, being seen purchasing and using illegal drugs, sexual relations with dubious women who hire themselves out for money. You squandered your children's future education by taking the money set aside for their college years and gambling it all away. You've brought your company, or what's left of it, to the brink of financial ruin and in a fit of rage, you've murdered the last woman whose services you bought," Thomas pointed to the bed where a naked dead woman lay across it.

"I'm sure that you'd like to know how Damien was able to accomplish a seemingly impossible task of making you do all those things without you knowing about it, or being there. The answer to that question is simple: Damien Thorn isn't a man, he's the Antichrist, born of the Devil. I, and others, which include members of Chicago's finest, help and serve him. Damien has been able to control you because he used his mind to take over yours to get you to do whatever he's wanted you to do. It wasn't enough just to kill you, and trust me, he's going to kill you, but he wanted you to wreak the kind of devastation within your family as you tried to do in his. You tried to take something that didn't belong to you, something that belonged to God and that is a big no-no for Damien.

"Alexander is Damien's successor and as such, inherited his father's abilities. He simply got Phillip to kill Andrew and he then killed Phillip and as far as the police are now concerned, those two were the ones who took Alexander. The boat was stolen, so your death will in no way, shape or form be tied to Damien, or your futile attempt to teach him a lesson. Your demise will be the result of a coronary incurred from your sexual liaison with this latest and last woman whom you paid for sex. An 'anonymous' tip will be phoned into the one of the newspapers about screams coming from this very house and when the police arrive, they'll find you and her and then all the those fun things you've been doing will be revealed," Thomas looked at his watch, "Damien, you can come up now."

Brian heard the approaching footsteps.

"You really should have let your bad business decision go, but you didn't and now there isn't anyone who will help you."

Thomas left and Damien walked in the room and gone was any trace of the man; in his place stood an unearthly being, part of Satan and in possession of powers against which no human being could survive.

Damien stood in front of Brian, who was crying and had pissed himself, and put himself in Brian's mind, giving to him all the rage that he had been controlling since this had started.

A scream began in Brian's throat, but Damien stifled it as the man fell to his knees, shaking like he was having a seizure, his body contorting and writhing in pain as bones snapped under Damien's torture.

It went on for nearly forty-five minutes, until Brian could no longer register what Damien was doing to him. Blood seeped out of Brian's eyes and nose and finally seemingly satisfied with what had happened, Damien reached out and stopped Brian's heart and he lay dead on the floor.

Damien staggered back with exhaustion and fell against a desk, sending it's matching chair to the floor with a loud thud. Moments later, Thomas was at the bedroom door, but Damien waved him away and reaching down into himself, he drew on his final energy reserves to get himself to the car and then stay awake on the ride home.

...oOo...

While Damien was gone, the younger Thorns tried as best they could to keep themselves busy, but finally gave up and sat on the main steps of the foyer and quietly waited for their father. While their dogs lay patiently beside them, Damien's dog paced around like a man waiting for his daughter to come home from her first date.

It was after two when they heard the car pull into the driveway and Delia got to the front door first and flung it open as Charles parked the car in front of the house.

Anna, who could no more relax than the Thorn children, came out to join them.

Charles walked behind Damien as he slowly made his way to the house.

"Anna, will you please give us some privacy."

She nodded at Delia and turned and went back to the family room.

Alexander couldn't take his eyes off his father; he had never seen Damien like this. He was white as a sheet, his hair was drenched with sweat and his face strained under the effort to try to stop himself from collapsing where he stood.

Charles went to step inside when Delia stopped him, "It's okay, we have him."

"But..."

"Please, Charles, please leave. It's okay, he's home and we'll take care of him."

"Okay, but you call if you need anything," and waited until the Thorn's acknowledged him with a nod and then he turned and walked to the car, got in and drove away.

All the dogs were whining and nuzzling Damien's legs, trying to help the master of the house to get better.

"Please let go and let us help you," Alexander put his arm around his father's waist and grabbed Damien's right arm and put it around his shoulders.

"No, Xander, that's bad. If he lets go, he'll collapse in the hall and we'll never get him upstairs," Delia followed her brother and put her arm around her father's waist and his arm around her shoulders, "just hang on a little longer, daddy."

Damien hesitated a moment, both children could tell that he was considering trying to make up the stairs on his own, but he must have thought better of it as he let them lead the way.

As they got to the landing on the second floor, Alexander realized that they were leading their father up to the forbidden room.

At the door, they let go of Damien and he collapsed against the wall and Delia leaned against him, worrying that if she let him go, he'd fall over. She turned to her brother, "Xander..."

"It's okay, you do what needs to be done and you get better, D-man," Alexander reached up and kissed his father's cheek and took off down the stairs leaving Delia and Damien alone.

Delia reached into her father's pants pocket and took out his keys and unlocked the chapel door and Damien walked inside, collapsed against a wall, slid down and was unconscious before his ass hit the floor.

Delia removed his jacket, shirt, socks and shoes. She felt too uncomfortable taking off his pants, so she carefully laid him on his side, folded up his jacket and put it under his head. Like her brother, she kissed her father's cheek.

Before she left, she closed her eyes and offered a prayer of thanks to God that He had brought Damien safe home and asked to help make her father better.

She closed the door but didn't lock it. Damien's dog had come upstairs and Delia didn't need to instruct him to guard his master; he simply lay in front of the door and anyone attempting to pass into the chapel who neither Delia nor Alexander would be torn to shreds.

Downstairs, Delia found Alexander in the kitchen with Anna. She had made cocoa for all of them and Delia grabbed the mug meant for her.

"I was going to go home, but I'm not leaving until he's back on his feet. I'll sleep in one of the guest rooms."

The three of them finished their drinks and once everything was closed up downstairs, the trio headed up stairs, the dogs in tow. They stopped in Delia's and Alexander's rooms to get their night clothes and toothbrushes, then Anna followed the siblings into Damien's room, where the dogs were already waiting for their masters. Delia went to Damien's drawer and took out a pair of pyjamas and handed them to Anna.

"Thanks...you two, sleep as late as you want and I'll see you both when you get up."

"Okay, goodnight Anna," Alexander disappeared into the bathroom to change, closing the door behind him.

"Is Damien going to be okay?" Anna kept her voice low, but doubted Alexander could hear her over the running water.

"I think so, he's better now, he's not angry. His body's shut right down and hopefully, he just needs rest."

"Okay and if you need to talk to me tomorrow, we can do that."

"Okay, good night, Anna Banana."

"Goodnight, Delia Fobelia," Anna let herself out of Damien's bedroom and closed the door as she left.

Delia quickly changed into her pyjamas and once Alexander was done in the bathroom, she got in and brushed her teeth.

Alexander was already in bed by the time she was done. Once Delia was in bed, he shut off the lamp on the bedside table. She pulled the covers up to her chin...they smelled like her father.

"Delia, is he okay?"

"Yeah, but releasing all that anger that was inside of him and whatever he did tonight drained him. He needs rest. I'm sure the plan was to talk to you tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen."

"I've never seen him like that," his voice was small in the darkness.

"I have, not the tired part, but I've seen him looking like that."

"When?" Alexander reached out and began stroking his dog's head in an attempt to get some comfort.

"In my nightmare where Damien gets killed," her voice, like her brother's, seemed small in the darkness...two young teenagers who wanted nothing more than their father.

Alexander didn't bother asking his sister to elaborate; it was too late and she wouldn't anyway. The explanation for all of this was going to have to wait one more day.

But mentioning the nightmare was the worst possible thing for Delia to have done. She was sent back in time to waking up in the middle of the night fearing that Damien was dead. But it wasn't only that. She felt lonesome. She wanted to throw off the covers and go sleep with Damien in the chapel, but she knew that her father wouldn't want that and she'd be leaving Alexander by himself. She had a brother, but he seemed so far away from her that she might as well be sleeping alone.

"Delia?"

And she couldn't take anymore. She wanted her father; she wanted to tell her brother everything, that their father was in God's presence right now, being healed and made better, but she couldn't and she burst into tears.

Alexander put his arm around his sister and her dog moved closer to her, and reached up and licked his mistress' face, but she kept crying.

"Deedle, I'm here, you're not alone," Alexander sent his love to her hoping that that would make her feel better.

She had buried her face in her dog's neck and once she was done crying, she sniffled and hiccuped and realized that Alexander was handing her some tissues, "Thanks," she took them and blew her nose.

"Come on, Deedledork, let's get some sleep."

Delia turned to face her brother and they put their foreheads together, "I love you, forever and always."

"I love you, always and forever, though all this keeping me in the dark is sincerely testing that love," Alexander smiled at her.

"Patience, annoying one," and she smiled back, knowing it was only Alexander who could make her smile despite everything that was going on.

Both of them closed their eyes, relaxed and succumbing to the darkness and tranquility and surrounded by the scent of their father, they fell asleep.