In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 6 - The Cousins Come Home

Day 6060, (February 1, 2037)

At the time of the Insurgence, the Home Coven had taken over the family business from the human side of the family. Before the Event, the humans had managed the business, which was selling lumber from their property and lumber products including furniture. After the Event, the vampire side of the family handled the business and continued the distribution. Initially, there was little need for furniture, as vampires simply went into the now vacant human homes, and after selecting the house they wanted, they scavenged the other houses for furnishings to their taste. But after a while, a taste for novelty restored an interest in new furniture, and business returned. The Boys began to make trips into various cities to sign contracts for shipments of their products.

On one such trip, nine of the boys left Home for various cities. None of the vampires had mated yet, as they stayed close to Home to guard the family. On this trip, six of the boys were drawn to the local Human Containment Facilities of the cities they were visiting. Once at a facility, they followed scent trails to the breeding side and found six girls, ranging from ages thirteen to eight. Since the boys were drawn in each case by the human girl's scent, they had to hide this fact, as mating with humans was not allowed.

Luther, who at age 550 was the oldest of Papa's boys, had the most dramatic reaction to his future mate's scent. He was with Byron, who at 75 years of age was one of the younger Boys. Luther was showing him how to conduct the family business. They were traveling in North Carolina on their way back home from meeting with a client.

Luther unexpectedly stopped the car along the freeway, got out, and raced into the woods. Byron followed him, but by the time he caught up, Luther had gone into his animal side and was beyond the reach of words. Luther was circling a massive brick building but instead of entering through a door, smashed a rock into a wall. With the wall weakened, Luther began tearing out the stone, mortar and rebars. When the guards arrived on the scene, Luther tore the arms off three guards and tossed them into a corner. After that, the guards watched from a distance. Guarding humans was supposed to be an easy job, one that did not involve confrontations with trained Vampire fighters.

Once inside the building, Luther ran down the hall, stopping briefly in the room with the exsanguination machines. He went into a rage at the sight of the machines, which he had never seen before, and started to tear apart anything with his future mate's scent on it.

At this point, a human girl named Celeste, who was waiting by the door of her cell, called "hello", and Luther tore off down the hall, following her voice.

When he found her, he put his hand into her cell in an open, upturned position. When she placed her hand in his, he pushed aside the rebars of the cage, picked her up like she was a soap bubble, and ran back down the hall the way he had come. He carefully put her through the hole he had made in the wall, and once they got to outside, he set her down on the grass. Despite the strong attraction he was feeling, he recognized she was only thirteen years old and was very gentle with her.

Byron, meanwhile, did what any good Vampire would do after seeing his 550 year-old brother tear down walls and take off with a human. He got out his cell phone and called Papa.

Papa just said, "Well shit", and yelled for someone to gas the Cessna. They flew to North Carolina, and when Papa saw and smelled the Human Containment Facility, he told the owner that they were going to take the girl, and in return, he would not summon his remaining sons to tear down the rest of the facility. The Human Containment Facility owner decided this was a probably a good deal and let her go with Papa.

Once Papa had brought Luther and Celeste home, he contacted the rest of the missing boys and told them if they had found a human girl, come home now. Five other boys had also found their mates, but they had bought the girls from the facilities in the usual way, trying hard to hide their true intentions. They were all ashamed of their actions, as they were appalled at the prospect of buying a human though they were excited they had finally found their mates.

Once everyone was assembled back at Home, it became apparent that the six girls were related. They looked as though they could all be the same girl, just at different ages, and they all had a very attractive scent to vampires. In fact, they had almost identical scents, with different notes being highlit for each girl. Celeste smelled more strongly of honeysuckle, Hope smelled of orange blossoms, Faith smelled of roses, and so on. The six girls, upon meeting, realized that they had all seen one another in what they thought were dreams. They realized they could, now that they had met, communicate with one another internally, without talking.

The six new couples posed something of a housing problem. The human side of the family had traditional housing. On the Vampire side of the family, only Papa and Leah had a true house. The human mothers had declared several centuries ago that Papa, as head of the vampire family, needed a house and forced him to build one. Once Leah was turned, Papa thought it improper for a young woman to live in the bachelor pad style house that the boys shared, so she lived with him. The vampire boys had a kind of long house, a crash pad, as they didn't sleep and were on constant guard duty.

Now that there were vampire-human couples at Home, Papa built a traditional house for each of the girls. He had been horrified at conditions of the Human Containment Facility they had grown up on. He wanted the girls to have as much a normal human experience as was possible while living with the boys, so he built six matching houses for them in a vacant spot on the property. Of the six girls, only Hope was actively mated to her Vampire, as she was eighteen. Hope brought with her one child and was pregnant with another. The other couples were waiting for the girls to reach an age Papa felt appropriate for mating.

Once they realized the girls were related, Papa asked if there were any other family members. The girls had been aware of two deaths from their dreams. One cousin had died during child birth of a broken hip, and another cousin had been sold to a brothel and died within four weeks. The seventh cousin was not with them. They also learned that the baby Hope was raising was not her own. When she gave birth to a boy while living on the human death camp, he had been taken from her, and sent to another Human Containment Facility. Hope had been given a girl to raise in his stead. So Papa sent the boys back down to search for Hope's son, and they also began trying to track the missing cousin.

As the cousins had the gift of shared consciousness, they could tell Papa the missing cousin's name was Bella, and she was in place that was dark but was not a Human Containment Facility. The "room" she was in appeared to be moving. It was eventually determined to be a train, a space the cousins did not recognize as they had never experienced one. Celeste described the seventh cousin as a samurai warrior. She was initially laughed at, as she was considered a dreamer. It turned out she was not entirely wrong about her cousin, however. Several of the boys were sent to try to locate the missing cousin in order to reunite her with her family. The result of the search surprised everyone but Celeste.

Four of the boys had gone south and followed the cousins' descriptions of the scenery and signage visible from the train until they came close to Bella, the missing cousin. But Bella had sensed the vampires trailing her and had gotten off of the train. She knew she was being followed and started moving on the ground. They began to run circles with decreasing perimeters, trying to locate her by keeping her in the center. She slipped through their circle by jumping onto the back of a passing truck.

After Bella slipped out of the boys' circle maneuver, Papa sent Luther. Luther found her while she was still asleep. He waited in a tree, so she wouldn't be startled by seeing a vampire when she woke up. When she woke up though, she was incensed at the sight of a vampire in a tree. Luther jumped to the ground and explained that he was there to take her to live with her family. When Bella only rolled her eyes, and said, "That's different, but if you're going to bite me, just do it here," Luther leaned forward to pick her up.

This was the move Bella had been waiting for. She flashed out her sword and cut off one of his arms. She quickly kicked it underneath her and held it in place by putting her foot on the wrist. She waited for him to try to retrieve it, so she could cut off his head. When it appeared he was going to wait her out, she set the sleeve on fire to push him into action. That got the negotiation going. Eventually, she let him have his arm back, as she sensed he didn't really mean her any harm. She still had not reconciled herself to the voices in her head, as she worried that they were auditory hallucinations. What Luther told her about her family made sense and gave her some relief.

They ended the stand-off when Luther called Papa and described Bella as an accomplished fighter who could handle herself. Although both Luther and Papa were reluctant to leave little Bella in the wilderness, it was what she wanted. So Papa told her she could come join her family any time, and Luther left, returning Home to the family and Celeste.

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