Andrew and Jamie - 12. Chapter 12, Part 1 - The Wrong Twin

Casey started to wake up and instantly found himself bombarded with voices, two of which were in his head and the rest of which seemed to be a short distance away - but behind a door maybe?

“Casey? Casey? Where are you? Can you hear us?” Shouted Jamie and Andrew’s voices.

Wincing slightly Casey carefully opened his eyes only a slit to see what he could of his surroundings. Yep, he was in an empty room, at least he was on a bed and not the floor.

Casey quickly answered Jamie and Andrew as their voices were getting progressively louder, “Hey guys, stop shouting, I can hear you, but you’re not really helping the headache, I’ve got.”

“Casey, you get yourself back here now and tell us what happened.” This from Jamie almost had Casey laughing out loud, he sounded so much like the father he would soon be.

“I think I’ll stay a while. They obviously think they have you and if I remember Thane right I have twenty-four hours before they expect me to start fainting or anything. Let me look around and see what I can find out. There may be stuff we can use to get the High Council to do something about these assholes.”

It took a bit more persuasion but Casey finally convinced them that he would be okay staying a while. But he did agree to keep the mental link between the three of them open at all times. That meant they would be able to hear and see everything he did. That way there would always be three sets of eyes looking and one may notice what another missed.

***

It wasn’t long before the door opened and he watched through narrowed eyes as a pair of shiny high heeled shoes approached the bed. He jumped when a hand landed gently on his shoulder and he was shaken.

“Come on, you need to wake up and eat something or you’re going to make yourself sick.” The voice was female and then Casey heard Andrew saying it was Flora Canfield. Of course, the woman who had given birth to Andrew then thrown him out when he wasn’t what she wanted. Now she wanted him back to mate with that Elder, Simon? No, Samuel, that was it.

Casey gritted his teeth and made a show of slowly waking up. He opened his eyes and met the gaze of Flora.

“Mrs. Canfield, where am I? What is going on?” He tried to sound confused and half asleep.

The woman put the tray she was carrying on the floor and sat beside him on the small bed. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am this happened.” She answered with a dead look in her eyes, “When we returned from your community Samuel went mad. He couldn’t believe that Andrew had found his true mate and there was no way to deny it as you’re the walking proof. You wouldn’t be pregnant if you weren’t his true mate. He decided that if you both needed to be kept together then he would have both of you. He has a plan for a joint mating for all three of you. He also wants to include your twin. I overheard him saying he had always wanted twins in his bed, but he is worried about your twin’s ability to transport. He is consulting with his contacts to find a way of chaining the ability so he can’t use it”

Casey was staring at her in shock, mate Jamie and Andrew and him? He could hear faint swearing coming from Andrew and Jamie in his mind.

“You do realize that none of us will agree to this idea? Without our consent, the mating won’t take and we become just mindless slaves. I doubt he wants that.”

“I know that,” Flora said chewing on her lip, “But I don’t think he is really thinking now. There are things you need to see and I am hoping you can help me. He said you could have run of the inner compound as long as you’re accompanied.”

Casey frowned, “Why would I want to help you with anything? You wanted to give Andrew to this man as a mate.”

“No, we didn’t want Andrew to be his mate,” Casey felt shock go through him at the vehemence in her voice, “But he has threatened our daughter, he has the power to send her away to be mated to almost any vampire Elder he can think of. Most vampires are looking for their true mates and wouldn’t think of taking another but some, like Samuel, like to take as many ‘mates’ as they can. We were hoping that we could play along till we could get our daughter out of the way. But then it was too late.”

Casey started to think out these new developments, if he could indeed move around the inner compound he could gather some great information before he headed home.

“Fine then, let’s go for a walk. Maybe some fresh air will clear my head. Who was it that drugged me anyway? I hope it won’t affect the baby.” Casey hoped he put the right concern in his voice.

“Don’t worry, the drug is harmless to the baby and besides the baby won’t allow you to absorb anything harmful. All it had in it was a sedative. You’ve been asleep about two hours. The man was one of Samuels’s personal guards. Now drink that protein shake, I was told you couldn’t eat but you could drink.”

After Casey had drunk the shake they headed out the door and he had to blink in the light.

They slowly walked the perimeter of the inner compound, it gave them time to talk more without being overheard and gave Casey the time to see all the defenses.

“I know you can talk to Andrew, is he okay?” Flora asked suddenly.

“How could he be okay? You have stolen his mate and his unborn child.” Casey burst out turning on her, keeping up the pretense of who he was.

She held up her hands in surrender, “But you don’t seem to understand. Samuel doesn’t realize you can talk to each other through your minds. He’s never had a true mate and he has never bothered to find out about them because he just wanted his harem of willing women and men. He hasn’t even ‘mated’ any of them. This means that he will allow you to see and hear things he wouldn’t want his enemies hearing or seeing. I hope you’re following this or I’m wasting my time here.” By the end, she was getting hysterical and Casey instinctively reached out and muttered a short calming spell.

She looked at him in shock for a moment as she instantly stopped, dropping her eyes she muttered, “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes I did, I made a promise when I became a healer to help anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

“Anyone?” she questioned curiously.

He wondered where this was going but nodded anyway, “Of course anyone. No one deserves to be in pain. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just I know a few people who could do with a healer but our witch healer won’t touch them and Samuel won’t let outsiders in. If I get you inside to see them can you help them?”

“I can’t say for sure until I see them but I can promise to do my best.” Casey was getting a bad feeling about the whole situation, but Flora actually seemed to be genuine and he couldn’t find it in himself to turn his back on possibly helping people.

As he was thinking this he started to feel giddy. As he swayed Flora put an arm around his waist.

“I think I had better get you back to bed and I will come for you as soon as I can.”

Casey allowed himself to be guided back to the small bedroom and waited till Flora had left before speaking to Jamie and Andrew.

“What do you both think?” he asked once he was as sure as he could be that he was unobserved.

“Well, I’ve never heard her be so passionate about anything!” Andrew replied first, “She is probably telling the truth or the truth as she knows it. My parents would do anything to protect my sister, everyone loves Beth. She was always helping the neighbors or helping out at the community school. I actually believe that the worst thing Samuel could do would be to hurt her in any way, the community would hate him for it. But he doesn’t seem that stable anyway so…”

Jamie agreed, “You be careful there Case and if you think there is any danger then come home and –" he cut off suddenly and Casey heard shouting vaguely coming through the link. The voice got louder as the speaker presumably got near to either Andrew or Jamie.

Suddenly he could hear Jackson’s voice, “You both tell him to come back here now. The danger is too great and he is not a trained spy.”

“Calm down Jackson,” he heard Jamie saying, “Casey can get out at any time and he will be home within twenty-four hours anyway. They will be suspicious if he doesn’t start fainting after that amount of time.”

“Why does he need to do anything more? We know what Samuel is up to. I can get some men together and storm the community within the next few days.”

“NO,” Casey interrupted their conversation, “No one can storm this place. Most of the community has done nothing wrong except believe their Senior Elder, as they have been taught. Plus if there are hurt people here I need to try and help them. Come on, Bro. You know I won’t leave them.”

“I know,” Jamie said and repeated everything to Jackson.

Jackson grumbled for a while longer but he finally conceded and stayed out of the rest of the conversation.

“You need to be prepared at all times,” Jamie said, “Don’t eat anything and only drink from something they drink from first.”

Casey agreed then told them he was going to nap till Flora came for him.

***

It seemed like he had only just closed his eyes when he felt the warning spell he set on the door alert him that someone was approaching.

Flora entered and held a finger to her lips to keep him quiet. Then in a loud voice, she started talking, “Samuel has decided to let you see what he has in store for you. He thought that if you see what has happened to others who have not done as he wished you may be more amenable to his requests. Come with me.”

With her last words, she turned on her heel and walked to the door beckoning him to follow. Casey was guessing that this was the excuse she had used to get Samuel to agree to him seeing whatever it was she wanted him to see. He was very nervous about what he was about to see but he knew he had to do it if it may mean helping people who needed him.

They headed out and across the grounds again till they reached a small two-story building set apart from the other buildings.

At the door Flora repeated what she had told him in his room to the guard, the guard gave him a leer and opened the door.

The first person he saw was a young woman with a black eye, she was cowering away from the door and glancing fearfully at the guard who had let them in. When the door shut she turned her gaze onto them.

Flora held out a hand and waited till the woman took it, “This is Grace,” she introduced the woman, “Grace this is Jamie. He is a healer and is hoping to help some of you. Can you take us to the worst ones first?”

The woman nodded and hurried off not waiting to see if they followed. Casey’s horror rose when he saw faces peering out from doorways, there were men and women all with various bruises on their faces and who knew what else on the rest of their bodies.

Grace stopped outside a door and indicated it to Flora before running off quickly.

They stepped quietly into the room and Casey gasped, on the bed was a young boy who could not be more than eighteen. The pillow under his head was red with blood and he was moaning quietly in pain.

Casey rushed to the boy’s side, gently he touched his face and let a small amount of magic trickle into his body. The magic had two purposes, the first was to relieve a little of the pain to make the boy more comfortable and the second was to see what more damage was done.

“That’s Daniel,” Andrew told him, “He was my best friend. What has been done to him?” Casey could hear the tears in Andrew’s voice and then heard Jamie trying to calm him down.

The magic returned a report and Casey was shocked, “This boy has been tortured,” he stated turning to Flora and trying to block out Andrew’s sobbing without breaking the link, “he’s got three broken ribs, a broken right wrist and four broken fingers on his left hand. I can’t heal this alone I would need my brother and Daniel here would need ongoing care to fully recover.”

Casey let more magic seep into the boy and knocked him out, adding a little extra to stop any bleeding.

“I’ve put him to sleep till I can get him to the help he needs, now let’s see who else needs help.”

Flora pulled herself together and led the way out of the room.

In the hallway, Casey saw a familiar face and stopped dead. “Ricky?” he called out and the young man who had been moving out their way stopped and raised his head to look him the eye.

“Jamie? Casey?” Ricky asked in confusion obviously not realizing which twin he was looking at.

Ricky had been Jamie and Casey’s neighbor when they were young. He had disappeared when they were eighteen and his parents had received a letter from him a year later saying he was well and settled but didn’t want contact with them. Everyone was devastated.

“No, you can’t be here. You can’t see me like this.” Ricky was getting more and more upset and was trying to back away from Casey.

Casey managed to grab his arm and then he saw the tracks on his arm along with bruises on his face and exposed chest. There were also what looked like burn marks on his chest. Casey pushed his reaction down and kept his voice calm.

“Ricky, listen to me. Nothing matters to me other than that you’re alive. I am going to take you home but you don’t have to see anyone but me and Jamie. Okay?” he muttered the same calming spell he had used on Flora and Ricky calmed and stopped struggling.

Flora had been looking on in shock but recovered fast, “What are you going to do?”

“First, I’m taking Ricky to Daniels room and then you’re taking me to see Samuel. It’s time he learned a lesson.”

Flora seemed to trust Casey’s decisions because she helped Casey take Ricky to Daniel’s room and after Casey had put him to sleep in a chair by the bed they headed back to the front door.

When Casey saw Grace again he called her over, “You’re a beautiful woman,” he told her as he touched her face, “but I think this will help a bit as well.” With a few muttered words the bruise on her face disappeared and she smiled as she must have felt the pain fading into nothing.

“Thank you,” she whispered before darting away.

***

Flora and Casey were escorted into Samuels’s presence in his great room. The room had been done up to resemble the throne rooms of the old kings and queens. There was an ornate chair on a dais at one end of the room and a long carpet led from the door to the base of the dais.

“Jamie, have you decided to accept my offer and bring Andrew and Casey here to me?” Samuel was smiling in a self-confident way but that smile started to slip as Casey didn’t answer and just glared at him.

Finally, Casey spoke, “Firstly, Jamie and Andrew and I will never accept your offer, so don’t waste your time.” Casey paused to see if Samuel would realize the significance of what he had said but there was no reaction, “Secondly, you really should employ better kidnappers, and then you can be sure to get the right person next time.”

Before what he had said that time could register Casey grabbed Flora’s hand and disappeared.

***

They reappeared in Daniels room.

“Grab Ricky’s hand,” Casey instructed Flora. When she had he grabbed Daniel and called to Jamie, “Bro I need your magic now!”

He felt his brother linking their magic over the miles and he grabbed it to fuel the transport.