Re-United - 9. Chapter 9

We put on shorts and headed downstairs for breakfast, leaving Brian snoozing in the chair with Jenny watching over him and Charlie. When we got to the kitchen, we found James, Donna, Tommy, and the new security force gathered for their breakfast. As soon as I walked in, they all jumped to their feet and stood at attention.

I remembered something from a war movie and said, “At ease.” They instantly snapped their hands behind their back and moved their feet apart several inches, still standing frozen. I turned to Tommy and asked, “Am I missing something, Chief Marshal?”

“I told them they’re allowed to relax inside the residence, My Lord, but they don’t believe me,” he replied.

I had an evil thought and began pacing in front of these new guards, letting my eyes roam up and down their bodies as I moved. I stopped in front of the lone female and asked, “And your name, marshal?”

She snapped to attention and replied, “Sylvia Vega, My Lord; Acting Captain of your Baronial Guard.”

I nodded thoughtfully, then asked, “And why are you the Acting Captain instead of,” I glanced down the line and pointed at a man of African descent who looked about my age, “that man? You there, what’s your name?”

“Antonio Riva, My Lord.”

“And do they call you Antonio or Tony?”

“My friends call me Tony, My Lord. On duty, I’m called Marshal Riva.”

I turned back to Vega and said, “You never answered me, Acting Captain,” putting emphasis on the ‘acting’ part.

“Seniority, My Lord.”

I turned to Tommy and snapped, “How can she have seniority, Chief Marshal? They all started today.”

Tommy looked flustered and said, “Well, My Lord, you see, she has more experience in—”

I interrupted, “She said seniority, Chief, not experience, which is it?” I raised my voice, “Are they all inept? None of them know proper protocols, and I blame you for that!”

“I’m sorry, My Lord, what protocols are you referring to?” Tommy asked, thoroughly confused.

I stepped up to get in his face and said, “None of them, including you, have called me Greg, you ass. Is this what I can expect under your command?” I asked, finally grinning.

Without hesitation, Tommy replied, “No, Greg, you ass, it is not. And I’ll get you for this, you little punk.”

I cracked up and turned to see all five staring at the two of us with their mouths hanging open. Finally, I said, “Well, sit your asses back down and finish your breakfast so I can get mine.”

I noticed James staring at me, so I smiled and waved as I snatched a slice of toast off Riva’s plate. I was about to take a bite when James stood and snapped, “In my office, Greg; now.”

I froze with the toast halfway to my mouth and whined, “But you said it’s my office.”

Scott grabbed my hand and pulled me to follow as James all but stormed from the room. The door was barely shut when he turned to me and angrily asked, “Which one was it?”

I was thoroughly confused. “Which one what?”

“You fed from one of your friends, Greg. Tell me which one,” James growled.

Stunned, I asked, “How did you know?”

“You’re blood drunk.”

I heard Scott mutter as I asked, “What’s that?”

“First, who did you feed from, Greg? They consented, right?” James pushed.

I was embarrassed, and I wasn’t sure why. Was it because James had called me out? Because I’d made a stupid mistake? Or something else I wasn’t aware of? Maybe all three, but my beast wasn’t happy.

He didn’t like me being talked to like I was a twelve-year-old. He has no right to treat us like this. He does; he is our maker. We are a baron; he is not. This is his home. We have that paper from the court; we’re an adult. That’s weak, even for you. He is our mentor, our maker, and, as such, our father. You will respect that. I could feel his sigh as he surrendered; we will respect that.

“With respect, James, I will not reveal who, but I will explain why. Before I do, would you explain blood drunk?” I asked.

James seemed to relax. He waved us over to the seating area and sat in the overstuffed chair. Scott and I sat on the sofa as James explained that fresh human blood gives us a high somewhere between the effects of alcohol and large amounts of sugar. When a young vampire first starts feeding on human blood, their parents slowly introduce it into their diet. By gradually increasing their intake, they condition the young vampire and lessen this effect, but even James, who has been drinking human blood for five centuries, got a slight high when he fed. As a newborn, changeling, feeding for fifteen minutes had roughly the same effect as a six-pack of beer had on me as a human teenager.

He finished by asking, “Would you care to explain why you decided to feed from one of your friends without discussing it with me?”

I didn’t want to share Brian’s private story, but I needed to be honest with James, so I said, “One of them has been living as the victim of abuse for several months, and after a short talk, I thought I could save him the trauma of reliving the memories by feeding and getting the story that way.”

James nodded, then tented his fingers in thought. After several silent minutes, he asked, “And what are you planning to do about Brian’s dad?”

“I never said it was Brian,” I argued.

James laughed, “I feed from Mike; I would have seen it in his thoughts, so I know it’s not Chris. David obviously loves his boys, and they show no signs of feeling anything but the same in return, and he all but said that Jason was a drunk. Who else would it be, Greg?”

I leaned back into the sofa and sighed, defeated. “I don’t know what I can do, James. And it’s even more complicated because—”

“Because of Jenny.”

I shook my head in amazement. “Nothing gets past you, does it.” I sighed. “Are you aware of the incident last night?”

When his eyebrows raised, I realized I had made the mistake of revealing too much, but the cat was out of the bag. I told him about our human friends wanting to see our beast form and Jenny’s reluctance to shift. Then I told him of Brian’s reaction to her vampire form and the subsequent reaction to her beast. As I was telling him about how I handled the dangerous situation, he was nodding.

“Well, I have to say you dealt with it like a true baron, but you do realize you put your son’s life in danger?”

“I never doubted her, James. And it turned out to be the one thing that helped keep her in control,” I replied.

James held his hands out, saying, “I don’t know her like you do, so I must accept that. The results seem to indicate your faith is well founded, but we come back to my first question. What are you going to do about Brian and his situation? And don’t say ‘nothing’ because I know you. That boy is in your clan, as is his mate; you need to deal with it.” Before I could reply, he added, “I’m not judging you, but this is why we try to avoid entangling our lives with humans.”

With a pointed glance at Scott, I said, “Are you the pot, James? Or the kettle?”

With a grin, James nodded and said, “Touché.”

“Sorry, James, that wasn’t fair.”

“Maybe, but your point is valid. Nice try, deflecting, though. Now, your plans?”

“I can’t make any plans; not without talking to Brian,” I replied. “If everyone involved were vampires, I could act unilaterally, but Brian’s the only one that could in any way be considered in my clan.”

Scott said, “You might ask George, but considering what he did for them, I think our friends would be considered clan by anyone that matters, Greg. Add in the fact that each of them has referred to you as ‘My Lord’ at least once, asked you to change them, and obeyed your instructions. I think it would stand up in court if it had to.”

I thought about it and realized Scott was right. That didn’t change the fact that I had no right to decide things for others, not without at least getting their input. My mind wrapped around this idea and followed it deeper. Did I have the right to decide things for vampires without asking them? My project was, in a way, doing just that. George and James supported the idea, but did that make it any less invasive?

I was pulled from my thoughts by a knock, and Jenny stepped in to hand Charlie to me. When I asked, she said Brian was awake and eating. I asked her to send Billy in and to send Brian in after he finished his meal. Scott followed her, saying he would bring some food for the two of us. During all of this, I had slit my thumb and started feeding Charlie, all without conscious thought.

I turned and asked James, “Could I enthrall Brian and erase his memories?”

James smirked, “I assume you mean only those related to the abuse. To alleviate the emotional pain?”

I nodded, “Yeah. You said you could erase a human’s memory if they freaked out when you asked about feeding; why couldn’t I do that for Brian?”

“As with most things, George is your best resource, but erasing months of abuse is much more involved than erasing the last five minutes. Even if you could do it, they would probably return when you change him. The change would remove the enthralling.”

There was a knock, and Billy came in. “You needed me, Greg?”

When I asked about the manuscripts, he went to the bookcase, moved a few books, and opened a safe I’d never noticed. When I asked, James said it was ours until I was seated, and he would use the one in the smaller office near the garage. He then excused himself, explaining that he wasn’t cleared to view some of the manuscripts. I told Billy what I was looking for, and soon I was reading a four-hundred-year-old manuscript that was written by a vampire who spent fifty years studying enthrallment and memory alteration. He used humans of various ages with an even mix of genders and had several pages devoted to discussing the differences he observed when the vampire was of the nobility. Scott came in and set a plate on the desk, then took Charlie so I could eat. As I did, I told him what we had found. When Brian knocked, we were much more well-informed on the topic of enthrallment than we had been when we woke up.

We sat, and I asked him, “When I was looking at your memories, what did it feel like?”

He shrugged, “I don’t really remember it, Greg. I remember us talking about it, and I remember offering you my hand, but then I guess I just kinda dozed off. When I woke up, Jenny was sitting where you had been.” He looked uncomfortable and asked, “Did you see much?”

“I saw enough,” I said, not wanting to go into the details. “Now we need to talk about what to do.”

His face contracted in confusion. “What do you mean, Greg? It’s not like I’m in your clan.” He paused, unsure, then asked, “It is called a clan, right?”

I smiled and nodded, “Yes, you remembered it right; it’s a clan. But you’re wrong, Bri. You, Chris, and the twins were in my clan before I had one, and you know that. And everyone involved knows it, including my prince, so the question remains; what do you want to do about it?”

Brian leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, intently studying his feet as he considered my question. Still looking down, he angrily said, “If you ask me that at the wrong time, I’d ask you to kill him. Not like you would, but there are times I hate him so much.”

“If I thought you meant it and it would help you, I would do it, Bri.”

His head snapped up, and he examined my face. When he realized I was being honest, he said, “Even with what he’s done, I still love him, Greg. I couldn’t do that.” He paused and wiped his eyes. “I guess I just need to know why he’s doing it, and maybe we can get him to stop. Can you do that, Greg? Can you make him stop?”

I pulled him to his feet and held him, rubbing his back as I promised him, “He will stop Bri. No matter what I have to do, he will stop.”

When he took a deep breath and pulled away, I let him go. He looked like the scared little boy I remembered from second grade. It was the only time Jake and I had ever gotten into an actual fight when I found the twins bullying Brian on the playground. I smiled and gently touched his cheek.

“I won’t hurt him, bro, not unless I have to. We’ll figure something out.” I turned to give Billy instructions, but he was already heading for the door.

“Back in a minute, Greg,” he said without looking back. Jenny soon joined us, bringing Charlie’s carrier, and after another five minutes, Jake came in and explained that Josh had left to handle something about the equipment purchase and had taken Chris with him. Billy followed, carrying one of the sofas from the family room. As Scott and I moved chairs, Billy placed the sofa so it faced the one already in the office. I was about to ask when I realized this gave us enough seating for everyone without resorting to the less comfortable Queen Anne chairs.

When everyone was seated, I took Brian’s hand and asked if I could share his memories with everyone. I expected his reaction and told him he could leave the room while I did this so he didn’t have to hear all the details I had pulled from his mind. He chose to stay, and while I recounted everything I had seen, Jake and Scott held Brian as he reacted with tears, sobs, and an occasional flinch. When I had covered everything, Jenny and Billy went to get us some drinks while Scott, Jake, and I continued to comfort Brian.

With soft drinks in hand and Brian somewhat recovered, we continued. Brian said that he had forgotten several of the memories I talked about and commented that he wished he could forget all of them. This was something I had already considered and discussed with James. From our research, I felt I could conceal the memories, but I wasn’t sure how long they would remain suppressed. I agreed with James on one point; they would be revealed when I finally changed Brian, and I was concerned about how his beast would react. Unfortunately, it wasn’t mine to decide; I had to explain everything to Brian and let him decide. After hearing that I could suppress his memories, Brian all but begged me to do it. Fortunately, Jake is good at seeing all the nuances of a situation.

“If he suppresses your memories before we deal with your dad, you won’t understand why we’re doing whatever we decide to do,” Jake explained. “And, God forbid, he does get a chance to hurt you again before we deal with him; you’ll go through the trauma of that first beating. At least if you know he’s done it before, it won’t be such an emotional shock.”

I agreed with Jake, but this was Brian’s call, and I would do as he asked. As he considered it, he turned to Jenny and asked, “What do you think?”

“I think you have some very wise friends, my love. And if I were you, I would let them decide everything because you’re too close to the situation to make wise choices.” Brian shook his head, but she cut him off, “I agree with Jake; you should wait. You’ve lived with the stress for months. A few more days is nothing; you’re strong, and I’m with you.”

My phone interrupted, and after seeing who it was, I hit speaker. “Hey Josh, what’s up?”

“Just letting you know, Greg. I bought the equipment, and they’re loading the skid-steer into the back of the truck now. When that’s done, I’ll put the excavator on the trailer, and Chris is going to follow me to the job site, so I don’t have to drive the dump truck to the house.”

“OK, well, don’t do more than drop it off, Josh. Working alone is dangerous,” I warned.

“And I need to learn how to run them,” Brian added.

“You’ll have lots of time to practice, Bri, no worries. We’ll stop for lunch somewhere, but we’ll be back for dinner. Hey, I need to hook up the trailer. I’ll call you when we leave the site.”

I glanced at the time and suggested we take a break. I wanted to give Brian a chance to get his mind off of things, and I needed to apologize to Tommy for earlier. While Scott carried Charlie and followed everyone to the pool, I went looking for Tommy. I could have sent him a message, mind-to-mind, but I felt I needed to go to him in a subtle act of humility. I found him and all the new guards in the rec room over the garage, the one Scott suggested we convert into an apartment.

Once again, they all snapped to attention as I entered the room. I walked up to Tommy and offered my hand, saying, “I owe you an apology, Tommy, I was blood-drunk this morning, and my behavior was out of line.”

Shaking my hand, he replied, “As my baron, you never owe me anything, My Lord. As my friend, I appreciate it very much.”

I glanced at the guards, still standing like statues, and asked, “How long until they relax around me?”

“At ease,” Tommy said, looking at his guards. “The baron would like to speak to you informally.”

I glared at him before turning and addressing these new guards. “You may or may not know that I’m a new baron. In fact, I’m a new vampire, and I very much prefer a more relaxed atmosphere than most of you are probably used to. I won’t be angry if you address me formally, but all of us would prefer if you used our names. One last issue: this house is clothing optional from 6 pm to 6 am on weekdays and all weekend. If that makes you uncomfortable, please ask Tommy to assign you to the day shift or duties that will keep you away from the house. This week is an exception, and we’re clothing optional until Monday.”

I turned to Tommy and asked, “Did I forget anything?” As I asked, I remembered and turned back, “Captain Vega, please accept my apology for insulting your qualifications earlier; it was out of line.”

She bowed from the neck and said, “I appreciate it, My,” she paused, then smiled. “Er, Greg, I’ve done some stupid things while blood-drunk myself, so I can’t judge. It’s forgotten.”

“Do I call you Captain, Vega, or Sylvia?” I asked.

“Any of those will do, Greg. May I introduce you to my troops?”

“I would like that, Sylvia, thank you.”

She stepped forward, and I joined her as she went down the line, introducing each of my marshals by name and rank. I was surprised to find that Riva was the sergeant and the other three were simply marshals or troopers. When I asked about other ranks, Tommy stepped in and explained that Adrian Cruz was the Lieutenant of my guard, and his wife was the other sergeant.

After meeting each of them, I stepped back and explained that we were all in the pool until lunch and invited any who were off duty to join us. After glancing at Tommy, Vega said they were all free to join us until after lunch when they would resume their orientation. Frank, one of the troopers, asked if his wife could join us, and I remembered she was a student and that Vega had her husband with her. I told them everyone was welcome, then turned and headed for the pool.

I dropped my shorts on the pool deck and dived in, took three quick strokes, and wrapped my arms around Jake’s waist, dragging him to the bottom of the pool. I released him and went searching for Brian. Before I could get him, Jenny had her arms around me and was doing her best to protect her man. Suddenly, Brian and Jake jumped me, but even with two of them, they had no chance. I was about to toss Jake again when I was wrapped in a pair of muscular brown arms, and the next thing I knew, I was flying toward the end of the pool.

When I surfaced, Riva was nervously watching me, wondering if he had just screwed up. I glanced around and noticed the eyes of every new guard intently watching me. I could have scared him by acting upset. I could have tried my newly discovered telekinetic abilities to toss him on the deck. I could have done several other things that would have freaked him out. Instead, I smirked and flipped him off.

Jenny had pulled Brian from the line of fire, and to my surprise, Jake was suddenly at Riva’s side, smirking at me. “Finally, I have someone to protect me from the big bad vampire!”

I smiled and said, “Sergeant Riva, if I were you, I would run as far from that nutcase as you can.”

Riva looked from me to Jake, then back to me, saying, “I don’t know, he’s kinda cute,” before grabbing Jake and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

I rolled my eyes and thought, ‘Oh no, not again.’ I leaped from the pool and looked back at Jake and Riva, “You two, in my office, now.” I could hear them following, so I simply headed for the office.

On my way inside, I grabbed a few towels and, once inside, tossed one to each of them and pointed at the sofa. Once we were sitting, I asked them what was going on. An hour later, I was satisfied that they had things under control and decided to stay out of it. Considering my history with Jake, I wasn’t about to interfere with his happiness. Jake was still going to West Point, and Riva was going to remain as a Sergeant of my guard. For now, everything would stay the same.

When we came out of the office, we found everyone having lunch. Billy had Charlie in his arms, feeding him with one thumb, and Scott was spoon-feeding Billy. It was so cute it was sick; it was also hilarious and got me giggling. I moved in and took over feeding Billy, and Scott soon transitioned to feeding me. Jake looked at us feeding each other, opened his mouth, and inserted his finger, mimicking gagging himself. I grinned when Riva slapped the back of his head.

When everyone was finished with lunch, Tommy led the guards on a tour of the property, starting with the interior of the house. I asked him to start with the office, so we could resume our conversation about Brian’s issue. Jenny grabbed a carrier and set it by the desk, and I placed a sleeping Charlie in it and moved to the sofa to pick up where we left off.

“Where were we?” I asked as I sat between Scott and Billy.

“Trying to figure out how to stop Bri’s dad from beating him. I say we should just kill him,” Jake said with no regard for Brian’s feelings.

I glared at him and replied, “That is not an option, and don’t mention it again.”

He started to argue, but a slight lift of my eyebrow shut him up. Billy asked, “Why not see if Mike can get him emancipated, Greg? That judge liked you, I bet you could get it done fast.”

“I can’t leave Mom,” Brian argued. “He’ll just turn on her, and it would be my fault.”

Brian seemed calmer this afternoon, and I quickly realized why. Jenny was holding his hand. She had a calming effect on him, just as Scott had on me. I smiled and reached for the hand resting gently in my lap; I was only slightly surprised when I looked down at Billy’s hand in mine.

“It wouldn’t be your fault, Brian,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze. “Everything he does, or has done, is on him, just like your life is on you.”

“Still, if they separate, he has to be the one that leaves; otherwise, he’ll just turn it around and blame me, or worse, blame Mom,” Brian said, his agitation rising.

“Shh, calm down, baby,” Jenny said, “no one is going to do anything unless you say. We’re just discussing ideas, OK?”

Brian took a deep breath, nodding as he blew it out. “It’s just hard to even talk about this without getting upset. I wish I could just look at it from the outside, just until we figure out a plan.”

“That’s it!” Scott exclaimed. We all looked at him like he was nuts, but I realized what he had in mind before he went on. “We can enthrall Brian and suppress his emotions about this until we sort out a plan.”

I looked at Brian and could tell he had decided before he spoke. After he confirmed this, I reached out with my mind and worked my way past his fears, past his shame, and past his anger. As each of these emotions calmed, I found what I needed and planted the idea that they would remain suppressed until I came back to release them. I slowly backed out, trying to ensure that I hadn’t touched anything other than the emotions associated with his abusive father. When I was out, I needed to test it.

“So,” I said, “I’m not sure that killing him is such a bad idea.” I watched Brian for a reaction.

Jenny also studied Brian as he shook his head and argued, “Without an elaborate plan, it would never work,” he said rather calmly. “First, how would we explain where he went? Then there’s the issue of the body, my mom, and probably a dozen other things we can’t think of.” He paused, then asked Jenny, “Have you ever killed anyone? It would be helpful if you have experience.”

Jenny’s face showed a cute mixture of emotions: relief that Brian was discussing this without emotion and concern that her fated mate thought her capable of murder. I was smirking at her as she said, “Well, what other option do you suggest?”

It took us two hours to come up with a plan. The truth is, it took us thirty minutes to rule out several and the other ninety minutes to try to punch holes in the one we decided was best. It was Brian who came up with it, and while there were some small issues, none we couldn’t handle. With our plan settled, we decided to head back this evening and deal with Brian’s dad tomorrow, giving us the evening at my house to get ready for Dad’s memorial service on Saturday afternoon.

With our plans set, I once again reached into Brian’s mind and gently removed the blocks I had put in place, allowing him to feel all the emotions associated with his abuse. As I did, I watched his reactions; he had none. Once all the blocks were removed, I had expected a sudden flood of pain, guilt, and several others; he felt none of these. His only emotion now was relief that his months-long nightmare might soon be over.

My phone rang, and I answered without glancing at it. Ninety seconds later, I was on my feet and running for the door. Billy shouted for Tommy as Scott told Jenny to care for Charlie. They were all shocked by my words.

“No time to wait for Tommy,” I paused and thought for a second, “and Jenny’s coming with us; we’ll need a nurse.”

“I’ll get Mom to watch Charlie,” Scott said, running for the kitchen.

Three minutes later, I was, for the first time, driving the Denali, headed for the job site. I had just started telling everyone where we were going and why when my phone rang. I had expected this call, so I hit the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel.

“Hey, Tommy.”

“What the fuck are you doing, Greg? What’s so important that—”

“Shut up and listen, Tommy; there was no time,” I replied, cutting him off. I went on to explain how Josh and Chris had bought the equipment and, to save a trip, had loaded the skid-steer in the back of the dump truck, then loaded the excavator on the trailer and headed for the job site. When they got there, Chris had asked if he could try operating the equipment, so, with Josh instructing him, they unloaded the excavator and then unhooked the trailer. Unfortunately, they hadn’t given thought to unloading the skid-steer. The dealer had a dock, which made loading it into the dump truck a simple matter. On the job site, Josh quickly built a ramp with the excavator, and Chris was unloading when it rolled over. That was all I got before the phone went silent.