Chapter Thirteen

Roxy’s dad introduced the Betta family to everyone. Roxy was surprised at how young the kids were. She asked their ages.

“Jack is eighteen,” Mrs. Betta said, “and Toni is sixteen.” Mrs. Betta and her children had darker skin tones while Mr. Betta was paler. He had lighter brown hair, while his wife and children had thick, almost black hair. Toni had pink streaks in her hair.

Roxy glared at her dad. “A sixteen year old is going, and you’re fine with that?”

“They’re just following Xana’s scent as far as they can,” Arthur said. “They’re not going to be fighting anyone.”

“Arthur and I will be going with them,” Milo said. “Jeremy, you stay in contact with Martin and Anderson. Pass on anything new they find to me, and keep digging on leads yourself.”

“A lot of James’ Clan live together,” Max said. “Only a few own vacation homes, and currently no one’s renting anything. Of course, that’s only their known names.”

“I got all of James’ aliases,” Xavier informed. “I can pass the list on to you. Maybe I can get the guy to give me Clan member aliases too.”

“Don’t spend all your money, man,” Max warned.

“I have enough money,” Xavier snapped. “And money’s not more important than Xana.”

“I just don’t want you to get robbed.”

Arthur changed the subject, “The Pack is running the call center. There have been a lot of calls since the story broke on the news. They’re passing the info to the police, but nothing has panned out.”

“News papers and channels have been calling all day,” Charlie told them. “They want statements or interviews. I’ve been telling them you don’t want to speak to anyone right now.”

Maggie grabbed Charlie’s hand. “Thank you. I couldn’t handle all that right now.”

“My friend Gemma’s mom has been doing a lot of posting on Facebook and stuff about this. She’s making Gemma and her sister Molly do it too,” Toni said.

Maggie was suddenly alert. “Is their last name Newkirk? Is their mom named Carol?”

Toni nodded. “Yeah.”

Maggie got off the couch. “I need to make a call.” She headed upstairs.

Roxy looked around the room. “What was that?”

“Maggie’s sister Carol married a man named Harry Newkirk,” Max said. “They haven’t spoken because of their father disowning Maggie. Carol wasn’t really a rebel.”

“We sent cards after Gemma and Molly were born,” Xavier said. “Carol did the same for Xana.”

All Roxy could think of was that Xana would be excited to learn she had cousins. She’d be pissed she hadn’t gotten a chance to know them, and would fix it immediately. It was a shame it took Xana’s kidnapping for the revelation. Roxy promised herself she’d tell Xana if they found her. When they found her. No. If. She couldn’t get her hopes up like Jeremy.

“So what are we moving on to?” Jeremy asked.

“You and Max will continue to check on James’ Clan and their property,” Milo said. “You’ll also look into James’ aliases. Arthur and I will go with the Betta family. If nothing pans out, I’ll talk to some Rogue Hunters who may know something.”

“Why would they help?” Roxy wanted to know. “They think Halfies are unnatural, and that they should be killed too.”

“Finding if James took Xana would allow us to get a Kill Order,” Milo said. “They’d be happy to kill a Vampire without consequences. Of course, if we do use them, we’d need to keep an eye on them after, just in case.”

“It won’t come to that,” Jeremy said with confidence. “Let’s get a move on it.”

 

 

            Jeremy and Max spent hours going over names and properties. It was getting close to eight o’clock when Milo checked in. The Betta family was leading them down Route 1 toward the beach. The police were able to identify the Humans with Adam King in the security footage from Midnight. Most of them were accounted for except a woman named Arianna Zeller.

            Arianna’s family had been contacted, but they hadn’t spoken to her in years. Only a grandmother had contact with her. The grandmother happened to own a place at the beach where she sometimes let Arianna stay.

            Roxy was on the phone with Larry, “They’re making progress, I guess. It helps we got the police and a private investigator.” Although her faith in Milo had been shaken. Xana had been taken under his watch, and they still hadn’t found her yet.

            “So you think they’re close to finding her?” Larry asked.

            Roxy sighed. “I don’t know. I just keep thinking about how statistically her likelihood of being alive is decreasing by the hour.”

            “No one’s asked for a ransom?”

            “Nope.” Roxy wished she could share the full story with Larry, but while something horrible was going on, it really wasn’t the time to introduce him to the Supernatural. “I’m also afraid of what’s happening to her. Like, those messages she got were super graphic. It makes me sick to think about it.”

            “When they find her, we just have to be supportive and understanding,” Larry said. And help her as much as we can.”

            There was yet another person saying “when.” It almost made Roxy feel like everything was going to be okay. But what if it wasn’t okay? Why wasn’t anyone preparing for that?

            Charlie was outside saying good-bye to her dad. “Thanks for bringing me a change of clothes. And convincing Mom to let me stay with Roxy.”

            Her dad nodded. “I kind of had to fight, and I know you’ll be missing school tomorrow, but it’s not like you’ll be able to concentrate.”

            “No.” Charlie looked at her feet. “Do bad things surround me, Dad? Am I bad luck?”

            “Of course not! Bad things just happen in life because of the bad people in the world. It’s not fair, but it happens.”

            “Is there a point to all the bad things?” Charlie wondered, looking back up at her dad.

            “Maybe it’s to make us stronger, and so that we can have more faith in ourselves. Maybe it helps us determine if we, ourselves, will choose a good or bad path. You can use these unfortunate experiences to become a better person in some way.”

            Charlie thought that over. She’d started to hate what Marco had done to her and still had nightmares, but now she knew how to spot a predator. She knew who to avoid. She could use that knowledge to help other girls in the future. She could use it to help Xana if those Internet threats came true. She could tell Xana it’s horrible and difficult, but slowly it gets better.

            “I can kind of see your point,” she said. “I love you, Dad.”

            “Love you too.”

            Charlie watched her dad drive away before going back into the house. She dropped her bag by the front door, and headed to the kitchen. She needed coffee, and was sure others did too. Max and Xavier probably needed blood as well.

            Max wandered into the kitchen when he smelled someone heating up blood. He saw it was Charlie, and made sure to keep his distance. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. He felt bad that it made her jump. He knew

She was still struggling when near Vampires after all they’d done to her. “You’ve been a real help these past few days.”

            She didn’t meet his eyes. “I feel pretty useless.” She placed a glass of blood on the table.

            Max took it once she stepped back. “You have. None of us would be standing if you hadn’t been feeding us.”

            “Can’t make anyone sleep, though.” Charlie poured herself some coffee. “I hope Xana knows a lot of people care about her, and are trying to find her.”

            Max nodded to himself. “Me too. She’s like a little sister to me. I only had brothers when I was Human, and wanted to be that protective big brother for a sister.” He was silent for a second. “I’m afraid of what they might be doing to her. Especially if Roger’s there.”

            “No one deserves that.”

            “And it won’t be easy to get over.”

            “How would you know?” Charlie didn’t mean to be snippy, but the tiredness let the resentment towards Vampires she pushed down get to her. At least it wasn’t Xana’s dad she snapped at.  

            “I’ve been through s situation similar to yours.”

            Charlie actually looked at him, surprised. “Really?”

            Max sat at the kitchen table. “I was never motivated by sex. I never really had the desire like my brothers and friends. It wasn’t a big deal since I was raised Catholic. Everyone in my village in Ireland viewed me as a good Catholic boy, someone they’d want their daughters to marry. But my parents always wanted one of their sons to be a priest. Since abstaining would be easy for me, I did it.

            “There was a parishioner at the church I was assigned to. He only came in at night to pray or do Confession. He also donated a lot of money to the church. He was very friendly with me, and I just thought that was how he always acted, even if it made me uncomfortable. But he had other things on his mind.

            “One night he tried to seduce me when it was only the two of us in the church. He was pissed when I showed no interest and offered to counsel him. You know the church’s view on homosexuality, and this was the early 1900s.

            “Anyway, he forced himself on me. I was shocked by how strong he was. He looked like someone I could’ve overpowered. He fed me his blood when he finished. I was already in pain, but then the burning in my gut started. I blacked out, wishing for death. Three nights later, I woke up again, starving. He made me drain a small child he’d taken from somewhere.

            “He said he’d kill me if I didn’t earn my keep. So many years of having sex with people�"Human, Vampire, Shifter, Were�"that I didn’t want. He’d starve me and hurt me if I didn’t do it. I felt like nothing. I was just an empty shell people used to get off.

            “In the 1970s, our Clan crossed Xavier’s. He noticed what was being done to me, and wanted to stop it. He offered me a place in his Clan, but I was too afraid to leave the on who Turned me. I knew what to expect from him. What would a new Vampire do? Xavier ended up paying for me. It took me so long to trust Xavier. But he just wanted me to live my own life, and tried to help me heal emotionally. He showed me I didn’t have to kill to feed. He spent a long time babying me. I ended up his second in command because I’ve spent the most time close to him. He lets his Clan travel and live wherever. As long as they don’t kill and follow Supernatural law, they can be a member of the Chambers Clan. He suggested therapy for me eventually, and it helped. A Shifter shrink, so he knew how it was.”

            “Does it still get to you?” Charlie asked.

            “Seeing a person who looks like the one who Turned me makes me flash back to the nights he raped me. I still have nightmares about my time with him. Sometimes being touched makes me want to curl into a ball and disappear. But it gets easier.”

            Charlie looked down. “But it’ll always be there.”

            “Just remember that what he did to you doesn’t define you. You aren’t how he made you feel. You’re so much more, and you deserve the world.”

            “Thanks.” Charlie put some coffee on a tray and went to pass it around, holding back tears.

 

 

            Xana was once again at the dinner table while everyone ate and drank around her. She just had that damn decanter of Vampire blood in front of her.

            The Vampire blood was actually more tempting this time. She had a horrible headache, was shaky, and her head felt floaty. She didn’t realize lack of Human blood would give her withdrawal symptoms. She had never been so hungry before. It made her decide to also help people who were actually starving if she got out of this. Her throat was also super dry from crying and lack of liquids. She would sneak a bit of water when the Weres or Humans let her go to the bathroom. But when Magenta let her into the bathroom, and found out what she was doing, Xana got a hard slap to the face. When she tried to drink shower water, her head got slammed against the wall.

            Xana guessed Magenta was fine with hurting her now because Arianna was so good at covering bruises and such with makeup. Or maybe James didn’t give a s**t anymore.

            Roger pleasured himself again while she showered. And he stayed while they dressed her�"she had slept in her dress from the night before. This time she was wearing a cotton white halter dress that went to her knees, and was a little see-through. She wasn’t given a bra. Xana felt like a doll they were using to play dress up.

            Xana’s stomach growled again, making James smirk.

            Xana looked at Arianna for a distraction, and noticed that she looked distressed. “What’s wrong with you?” Xana smiled because she knew why. She liked that one of her captors was in emotional turmoil. All because of what Xana overheard at six o’clock. “Is it because there was a news segment about me? And your name was mentioned?”

            Arianna slammed her wine glass down.

            “Quiet, Xana,” James commanded. He turned to Arianna. “You knew the risk.”

            “You said it was very unlikely,” Arianna told James.

            “Well, maybe if you had stolen cars instead of using Adam’s parents’ cars, it wouldn’t have been so easy for the police,” James scolded.

            “And maybe if you didn’t take me from a Wawa,” Xana added.

            Arianna threw her glass at Xana. Xana blocked her face with her arms, and it hit her right one. The glass didn’t break, but her arm was sore where it hit. That would be another bruise.

            Xana was going to have a lot of bruises if she lived. Her left ankle was a mess, which made her glad they didn’t force her to wear shoes. She still worried about infection or something on her wrists. They definitely weren’t healing, and the silver was slowly burning away skin. Her wrists looked raw.

            James shook his head at Xana before asking, “Are you going to drink my blood tonight?”

            “Absolutely not.”

            “All your pain will go away if you do. Those injuries will be healed when you wake up again in three days.”

            “Don’t care.” Maybe the next day during sunlight hours, she could get some Were blood. Either with a quick bite, or by convincing them to give her some. Probably the latter since the former didn’t work before. The burst of strength and quick heal would be really helpful. But were her powers of persuasion strong enough? Would it be wrong to offer her dad’s money?

            “Don’t be stupid, Xana.”

            Feeling bold, Xana looked James dead in the eye and knocked over the decanter of his blood.

            Anger flashed in James’ eyes. “Do you think you’re funny?”

            Xana immediately regretted her actions. It was like fire was in James’ eyes. But she couldn’t let fear show, so she shrugged and said, “Sometimes.”

            Next thing Xana knew, James was on the table and in front of her. James punched her so hard she fell to the floor. The chain stopped her from flying further on the ground. She spit up some blood. Her teeth cut the inside of her mouth, and one even felt loose.

            “I do not tolerate that kind of behavior in my Clan,” James told her icily.

            “Good thing I’m not gonna be in your Clan,” Xana mumbled. That earned her a kick in the side.

            “Take her back to her room,” James said with a wave of his hand.

            Magenta unlocked Xana’s chain, and pulled her up the stairs. She pushed Xana onto the bed then locked her chain onto the wall.

            Once she heard Magenta walk down the stairs, Xana let herself wail from the pain.

 

 

            Xavier hung up his phone after talking to Milo. “Their group split up and checked out Arianna Zeller’s grandmother’s beach house. Mr. and Mrs. Betta and Arthur didn’t hear or smell anyone in the house. At closer inspection, they saw it was empty. Milo and the kids stayed where they stopped following the trail, and are back on it now.”

            “So we’ve gotten nowhere,” Roxy said.

            “At least we know where she’s not,” Maggie said trying to find the positives. “And they still had a trail.”

            Max and Jeremy quickly entered the living room.

            “Jeremy had a great idea,” Max announced.

            Jeremy shook his head. “It was just… none of James’ aliases were panning out. So, I asked Max if he knew James’ birth name. Max spent a few hours asking around, and he thought�"well, hoped�"he got it. He was in touch with a Vampire he knows in France, who spoke to a Hunter in Germany who believed he had it. I checked it out, and found several properties and such. One here in Delaware down by the beach.”

“Jeremy gave Milo a call, but it went to voicemail,” Max continued, “so Jeremy left him a message with the address.”

"So now we wait?" Charlie guessed.