She smiled, closing her eyes again, content for once, in her Daddy's arms.
Stepping into the dining room, we walked into the argument that I could hear from outside. Hot Ben was pointing to a map of California spread on the table. He was pointing out locations of old nests that he and Teren had gone to years ago. I knew those nests would be abandoned by now, by Ben still wanted to try scoping them out.
"Teren and I could check these ones here." He pointed to a northeast corner of the map. "They were big last time, there might still be some people hanging around."
"It's too dangerous, Benjamin," my mother said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ashley looked over at her. "What else can we do, Mom? Look under every rock in the State, the Country?"
Teren walked up to the table and every voice in the room quieted as they looked at him. Knowing my husband looked like he'd been on a wild bender, I wasn't too surprised when they all stared at him wide-eyed.
Glancing down at the map, Teren sniffed then looked back up at Ben. "We're not hunting." Ashley started to object and Teren sliced his eyes over to her. "It won't help. He's not hanging around other vampires. They won't know...anything."
Ben started to walk around the table as Alanna swished into the kitchen to make her son some food. "Teren, man, you never know. He has to have some connections somewhere. If we can find who's helping him..."
Teren looked over at Ben. "He will kill my son. If we look, if we stir the wrong nest, he will kill Julian." Nika sniffled, clutching Teren tighter as he patted her back. In a whisper, he added, "He's already left him starving and alone...I won't risk it."
Imogen squeezed his arm and Teren looked down at her. "How do you know?" Her pale eyes searched his frantically, the hope clear in them.
Teren looked at me behind him before shifting to take in every awaiting person. Jack held my mother's shoulders as Ashley started to tremble. Hot Ben looked between Teren and the map, silently weighing the risk. Alanna swished back into the room, her breath held and her hands empty, as she waited for her son to confess what he knew, what he'd found out. I stepped up to him, putting my hand on his back.
He sighed. "We met Malcolm today. He confessed that he left Julian with nothing, and he would let him starve to death if we...didn't do what he wanted."
Gasps and sobs filled the room. I closed my eyes, but I could still hear my mother cry softly as Jack clenched her tight. I could still hear Ashley heavily sit into a nearby chair and Hot Ben cursing under his breath as he sat beside her.
Alanna's presence stepped up to us and I peeked up at her. Her face suddenly as worn as Teren's, she shook her head, pink tears dripping off her cheeks as she did. "What does he want?"
Imogen shook her head, her eyes brimming with red tears. She wrung her hands as she looked around their home. "What do we have that he needs?" She looked about ready to hand him over the deed to the ranch, if he wanted it.
I sighed, knowing that his needs weren't material objects. Teren sighed too. Closing his eyes for a second, he wavered on his feet. With a quick kiss to his daughter's head, his eyes opened and his gaze floated around the room. "He wants me to kill Gabriel," he whispered.
Every standing body found a chair to sit in. As one, all the vampires looked east, to where we all felt Halina. She hadn't been back either, instead pushing farther and farther away from us in her search. I knew she was probably sleeping under a mound of dirt right now, and I knew she probably hated it, but she was as relentless in her quest as Teren was. And now, Teren had to decide if he was going to kill the man she loved....to save our son.
Alanna looked up at Teren. "And what are you going to do?"
Clutching Nika tight, his eyes misting, Teren shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered.
Alanna closed her eyes and nodded. Imogen beside her was shaking her head in disbelief. A ray of sun highlighted the grandmotherly vampire's face but in that moment, I more saw a concerned daughter than a loving grandparent. "You can't," she whispered, brushing a loose lock of hair back into her bun. "Mother loves him...you can't..."
She looked up at Teren with torn eyes, her expression the same that was on my face. No, he couldn't, it was horrible, but if it was our only chance to get Julian back, should he anyway?
Everyone looked between Teren, the location Halina was, and the table. Teren silently watched everyone's reactions, tilting a bit on his feet. My arms went around him, steadying him. "Go upstairs, rest."
He shook his head, looking down on me. "I can't rest. I can't...with Julian out there."
One hand rubbing the back of my daughter's clinging shape, the other reached up to brush over his cheek. "He gave you three days, nothing will happen to Julian until then." My voice cracked but I made myself continue. "Go upstairs with Nika and try to take a nap." My hand cupped his cheek. "You're exhausted," I said pointedly, knowing I was mimicking Malcolm's last words. "And the next time we meet him...you'll need your strength," I added quietly.
Teren closed his eyes, leaning into my hand. Nika generally fought against the idea of a nap, but her arms around him tightened as she buried her head in his neck; she wasn't letting go of Daddy anytime soon. Alanna blurred out of the room while he nodded.
He looked around at the remaining people in our home, then looked north, to where Gabriel was also searching for our son. He'd checked in with us periodically, mainly to let us know that every lead he'd gotten hadn't led anywhere. They'd been so close to nabbing Malcolm, then he'd all but disappeared. I remembered the torn bloody section of Malcolm's shirt. If only they'd finished the job in that raid...then he wouldn't have slipped away and snatched my son.
Sighing, Teren pulled his eyes from the man he'd been assigned to murder, and started to shuffle back down the hall. Everyone at the table silently watched him leave. Not able to stand the oppressive silence in the room, I followed him.
Alanna blurred out to us by the stairs, steaming thermos of blood in hand. Teren glanced at it instantly, his hand reaching out at the same time hers did. Tilting it back, he gulped it down hungrily, although not spilling any on himself this time. I watched his thirst, tears in my eyes. He'd been putting himself through so much, just to keep up the impossible task of finding our son.
Tears in her own eyes, Alanna took back the container once he was finished. "Do you want some more?" she asked quietly, her voice shaky as she brushed some hair off his forehead. The movement was so similar to how I always brushed hair out of Julian's eyes that my throat choked up.
Teren sighed, shaking his head. "No, thank you, Mom. I just want to lie down." He staggered on his feet and Alanna nodded. I ran my hand over his back and urged him upstairs. He needed to rest before he simply fell over.
With his head resting against Nika's, I led him to our room. I thought to help him clean up, but Nika wouldn't disengage from him long enough for him to strip his clothes off. I tried to gently pull her off, but she whined and shook her head, clutching him tighter.
Teren shook his head at me. "It's okay." He shrugged and sat down on the bed with her. Swallowing the emotion in my throat, I took off his shoes and helped him shift under the covers with the lump of our daughter attached to his chest. She didn't relax her rigidness until they were snuggled together.
I wrapped an extra blanket around her, to counteract Teren's' chill. Teren sighed and closed his eyes, kissing her forehead as he ran a hand down her hair. She peeked up at me when I pulled away from the pair. "Mommy?" she said quietly.
Threading my hand over the hair above her ear, I murmured, "Yes, baby?"
Teren's eyes cracked open as our daughter responded to my question. "Julie's scared."
My eyes watered right back up as Teren clenched her tight. "I know, sweetheart, we're gonna bring him home, really soon."
She nodded and closed her eyes, her young face worn, but completely believing me. She had absolute faith that what we told her would happen; I prayed it did. Teren exhaled brokenly, looking up at me. I nodded at him, kissing his forehead. "Sleep, we'll figure it out when you wake up."
He nodded, his eyes fluttering closed. I slowly backed out of the room, watching them. Nika's breaths were low and even by the time I reached the door. Teren's had completely stopped. Exhausted, they'd both nearly passed out.
I felt my own weariness as I considered joining them. I couldn't though. I heard conversations downstairs over what to do now and I wanted to be a part of them. Plus, every nap or rest I'd taken in the last few days had ended with me waking from a scream worthy nightmare. I didn't want to have any nightmares right now; my awake moments were nightmarish enough.
While Teren slept, my family debated over options. There weren't many. Blindly looking for Julian was an impossible task. Knocking on vampire's nests was also an impossible task, impossible and dangerous. The odds of them knowing anything helpful about Malcolm weren't all the great, since he'd been on the run for years. Plus, Gabriel knew several vampires, if it were really a matter of just asking one, he would have done that.
That of course brought the conversation around to Gabriel. No one flat-out said that Teren should just kill him, but the tension of the thought was in the air. It wasn't as if anyone disliked the man, far from it, but he was over six hundred years old. He'd lived a full life - several of them. My son had barely just begun. The tradeoff seemed fair, in a horribly unfeeling way.
When the sun set, I began to feel Halina's presence stir. All the vampires looked her way as we felt her come towards us. I didn't know if she was returning to the ranch because she was tired and frustrated of pointless searching, or if she just felt guilty being so far away from her clan. Probably guilt. Halina would search relentlessly if she needed to, but she'd have a problem with completely abandoning her position as protector. Even though she could feel us, she was probably anxious over our safety.
Like Teren, Halina had dashed out to search for Julian on foot. She'd been forced to break her frantic pace during daylight hours, when she had to hide out the sun, but I was sure she was just as weary as Teren, emotionally if not physically. As her presence was heading back towards us at a pace that was slower than she was capable of, I figured she had obtained a car during her travels. Knowing her, it was probably a fast one. I wondered briefly what fortunate soul "gifted" her a vehicle. But, fast as it was, it was still going to take her some time to make it home. A couple of days, since she could only travel at night.
When Hot Ben decided to go out for more pointless searching, Alanna, Jack and Imogen agreed to go with him. They'd been studiously watching over my mother, sister and Nika, protecting them in case Malcolm had decided that he wasn't done abducting people, and they hadn't had a chance to look for my son yet. I wished them luck as they left, knowing they wouldn't find anything, but understanding the need to look. Even now, knowing that Julian was safely stashed somewhere for at least the next few days, I wanted to look for him. It was hard to stay still, but I did, for my family.
I heard Jack and Alanna get in his truck, Imogen slip into her car, and Hot Ben get in his SUV. My mom and Ash wanted to head out too, but I made them stay behind. Unless you were undead, or had experiencing dealing with the undead, it just felt too risky to be out in the night, kicking over rocks. Scary things sometimes lived under rocks.