“Billy said you have the building ready to go
too. That’s working pretty well for them as well. He said you hired a bunch of
the homeless at the shelter to work for you.” She nodded, feeling slightly
embarrassed. “Are any of them going to stick around and work after you get
open?”
“A few of them. There are two men that seemed
to be really excited about being the delivery men. Grandmother and I looked at
moving trucks and we got a good deal on one to use. Hugh is helping them learn
to drive it. They can both drive, but it’s been a while, they said.” He smiled
at her. “I gave my notice at the firm too. I think they were sort of glad to
get rid of me for some reason.”
“I doubt that. From what I’ve heard about you—and
yes, I did have you investigated—you’re fucking amazing at your job.” She
nodded and leaned back when he did. “We’ll have a grand opening when you’re
ready. Connie said she knows the best people to invite. I forgot to ask her if
they were living or not. She’s wonderful.”
He fell asleep. They weren’t far from their
home, but she let him sleep. Billy had been coming to see her while Mitch and
the others were gone to tell her how he’d helped the young man that had killed
himself. And what had happened with the woman and man.
I need to talk to you. Now. Get your ass over
to the place where you murdered me.
Her father’s voice rang in her head as if he
were standing right next to her. And the anger in it made her smile. She had
long since gotten over any kind of rules or commands that he could make her
follow.
Did it ever occur to you that if you had
treated me with anything but contempt or hatred that I might want to help you?
He told her it was
her duty
. No. It was your duty to be a parent I could depend on. You were
never that, and neither was Mother.
She was a good mother. And you never forget
that. She never drowned you, did she? Or sold you off to those people willing
to give us a lot of money. The things I could have done with that much money.
But no, your grandmother said it wasn’t right. I think not killing you when we
had the chance made us wonderful parents, don’t you?
Vinnie was too
shocked to answer him.
Now, get your ass over to the grounds that you killed
me on. You’re going to help me get myself back together. And you’ll do it or so
help me, Victoria, I will make you pay.
How?
Her father started to tell her how to get to
him.
No. I know where I killed you. It’s a place I go to often when I want
to feel good about myself. How is it you think you’ll make me pay? Do you think
to come into my house and murder me? Won’t work. We’ve taken precautions so you
can’t. Are you going to tell Mother to come to me? Won’t work either. She’s
dead, thanks to the council. Who, by the way, said you should have been killed
long before I volunteered for the job.
You volunteered to kill me? What kind of
child did we raise? You’re not a child of mine as of this moment.
She started to point out
she’d not been a child to them since she’d taken her first breath, but he spoke
before she could.
Now, get over here now, Victoria. It’s your duty as my
child to help me.
You just disowned me.
He said nothing.
No.
I’m not going to you. I won’t be bothered by you again. Don’t contact me again,
Father. Or so help me, I’ll have Mitch come to you and zap you over right this
minute. And so you know, he is coming for you.
She closed the connection between them. It was
much easier than she’d ever thought it would be. And she knew it was solid too,
the wall she’d put between them. She wondered if it was because he’d told her
she was no longer a child of his or something else that gave her the ability to
cut him off. Not that it mattered, he was gone and she felt free of him.
When they arrived at their home, Vinnie woke
Mitch up and he smiled at her. She thought it was the most precious thing in
the world, to see him smiling at her with such love. She touched her fingers to
his cheek, then to his lips. She smiled back at him when he bit her finger.
“I do so love you, Mitch. I don’t know how I
ever thought I could not have a mate.” He kissed her fingers now and held them
to his heart. “You are by and far the best thing that has ever happened to me,
and will be forever.”
“I want to have children with you.” She
nodded, her eyes filling with tears of joy. “I’m not sure how it works with me
being human and all, but I’d very much like to have several children with you.”
“It’s the same way.” He nodded, still
smiling. “Our children could be necromancers or vampires, or a combination of
both. Even just human. With the two of us being what we are, we can’t know what
our children will be.”
“They’re going to be loved, cared for, and will
know we love them more than life itself.” There was a knock at the window and
they opened the door. Vinnie wasn’t surprised to see her grandmother at the
door waiting for them, but what she was surprised about was the fact that the
council was standing on the wrap around porch.
“We’d like a word with you, if you please?” Nodding,
Vinnie glanced at her grandmother, who was smiling. “There is a problem we’d
like to talk over with you. It’s about...well, not a problem but a...we were
wondering that...should you like to—?”
“Could you just ask me?” She knew she should
have curbed her temper a little, but they were making her nervous. “Just ask me
or tell me whatever it is you’re doing here.”
“We have items too. That we’d like for you to
sell for us. We’ve no desire for the money, should it sell, but we have so
much...we’d like to rid ourselves of the burden of taking care of it.”
Mitch laughed, and she had to think what they
were saying. “You have items? As in old furniture?” The man nodded and smiled
at her. “I don’t understand. How is that a problem that...unless you mean there
are more than just the three of you that have items you want to get rid of.”
“There are many of us. We would like to have
the things handled by you, as we have said, but we’d also like for you to take
the money and put it into a fund to help others like us.” She asked him what he
meant. “There are so many of the older vampires that have lost so much. Due to
poor planning or other reasons, there are many vampires that are without even the
basic needs of a place to rest. These people are not like your parents. They
are not as understanding in the world as we have become and have been taken
advantage of.”
“So you wish to sell your things in my shop
so that you can fund these other vampires that have nothing. You can’t do
that.” He asked her why. “Well, for one reason, I have to account for the money
that I make. Secondly, if you put it out there that you’ll be helping everyone
with their hand out just because of poor planning, then you’re going to have a
bunch of people not doing shit, because why should they when you’re giving it
all to them? Then you’ll have others coming around too. Humans that work for
these vampires. They’ll want their share of it as well.”
“Yes, yes, I can see that.” They were all
nodding, and she thought of something else. “We would be overrun by anyone that
thinks to be taking advantage of our funding.”
“Who would run this foundation you’re setting
up?” They looked at each other, then at her. “Oh no. I’m not doing it. You’re
going to have to find someone else to do that part. I’ll sell off your things
if I can, but I’m not going to run that as well. I have a life. I want to have
children, and I have a mate I’d like to see every once in a while.”
“I would love to do it.” They all turned to
her grandmother when she spoke. “I’ve been trying to think of things to do. I
have some friends I’d like to see, but more that I’d like to avoid. But I think
this will be just what I need to...well, to feel like I’m productive again.”
“Then it is settled. We will give you a list
of the inventory we have acquired and get it to you within a fortnight. After
that, we’ll set up all accounts that are needed to make this work for all
concerned.”
As they moved away, talking to her
grandmother, Vinnie looked at Mitch. He had the strangest smile on his face.
She asked him what was so funny.
“I’m going to be married to a vampire who
works for the council, who just happens to love me right back. Life couldn’t be
any better if we tried. Now if tomorrow goes well, we can get on with our
lives.” She hoped it would be that easy. But things had a way of fucking up. She
knew this first hand.
The courtroom was packed. Mitch looked around
again and wondered why there were so many people there for this. He was both
terrified and embarrassed by it all. When his attorney slapped him on the back
and told him not to worry, his worry doubled. The guy was just entirely too
chipper for his tastes. Mitch looked around the room again.
You’re worrying too much.
Mitch smiled at the
sound of Vinnie’s voice in his head. Last night they’d gotten a call that the
hearing had been moved to later in the day, and she’d not been able to attend
with him as he’d hoped
. I’m there with you, just not physically. What has
you so worked up?
There must be two hundred people in here, and
I’m not kidding either. Then there are the ghosts. Some of them are sitting on
the laps of the humans like they’re the only ones here. It’s almost comical.
She laughed in his
head and he felt better.
You did that on purpose, didn’t you?
Yes. You need to just relax. According to
your attorney, this is a piece of cake. Though why he wants cake and not a
thick juicy steak is beyond me.
Mitch glanced over at the man they were
talking about. He was a shifter, a wolf, and Mitch had to stifle a laugh when
he grinned at him again. The man really was too happy all the time.
Just let
it flow. If they win, which I highly doubt, then I will hunt them down and
drain them for you. It would taste nasty being that they’re who they are, but
I’d do it all in the name of love.
It took him several seconds to realize she
was kidding. At least he hoped so. There were times when he was never sure.
Like now. Was she or not? Either way, he didn’t want to think about it right at
the moment. When the judge was announced, everyone stood up and he felt his
heart beat just a little harder. It was do or die time.
The other lawyer stood up to give his speech.
Hell of a speech it was too. He went on about how the Bruces had been
struggling for years, that they’d been having trouble feeling their confidence
again after what had happened to them that horrid night. And how the government
had treated them since, giving them little to no work. So little, in fact, that
Mr. Bruce had had to take on a second job, one that took him out of the house
when his wife of thirty years needed him the most.
Mitch’s lawyer stood up, but instead of
speaking, he turned to the back of the room. A single man stood up and asked to
speak to the judge. As he made his way to the front of the room, several people
started whispering, but the judge put an end to that quickly.
“There will be order in my courtroom.” No one
said another word and the man that had come from the back was standing in front
of him. “Now, young man, I’m assuming you have something you’d like to say? And
it had better be relevant, if you know what’s good for you.”
“Yes, sir. It’s about this case. I know that
before the lawyer for the defendant speaks I have to ask you if I may be represented
by the same attorney. To save time.” The judge looked at him, then back at the
young man. “I should like to make it known that I was also abused by the Bruces,
and barely made it out at all. I want to put in my two cents worth.”
“Your honor. That isn’t right. He’ll have to
file like the rest of us did.” The judge leaned back in his chair and seemed to
be thinking as Jefferies continued. “Besides, we can’t repute his claim or his
charges against this nice family.”
“You saying you want to throw your hat in
with this man? You know what will happen if he were to lose, don’t you? You’d
not be able to come back on him or the
nice
family over there.” He made it
sound as if he didn’t believe they were any nicer than they were telling the
truth. But the man, Donnie James, said he wasn’t worried. Just as he sat down,
handing a file to his attorney, another man stood up and asked the same thing.
After the third man stood up and was given
permission to join Mitch’s side of the table, the judge asked how many more there
were that were going to come along for the ride. Roger, his own attorney, stood
up and cleared his throat. The judge grinned, but Mitch was beginning to worry
about this.
“In here, sir, there are nine more men.” He
asked him what he meant by in here. “There are about a dozen or so more out in
the hall. There wasn’t enough room for them all to come in, your honor.”
“So you’re saying that you now have over two
dozen men that want to be a part of the suit against the Bruces in the same
venue as this man here?” Roger nodded and asked to approach. “If you tell me
that you’re part of the alleged abuse, I’m going to be highly pissed off, just
so you know.”
“No, sir, I’m not. But I do have affidavits
from each man, with dates and hospital records as well. They were nice enough
to bring them with them today, as I had no knowledge of their coming forward.”
The judge just cocked a brow at him, but neither of them said more. As they
stood there, staring at each other, Mitch looked over at the Bruces. He
wondered how many others they might have abused in the name of whatever the
fuck was going through their minds at the time.
They were squirming. Not only that, but arguing
as well. Carol looked like she was telling her husband to go on with this,
there was no way they could lose, but Mark was saying no way. Their attorney,
Jefferies, put his hands on both their shoulders and told them to wait. The
judge picked up his gavel when the room started to erupt in voices again.
“Now see here. You want me to clear this room?”
No one answered him, and the room was suddenly quiet. “Good. I’d like as many
people as we can get in here to see this. This is...this has got to be the
worst case of work for the system as I have ever seen.”
After turning to the bailiff and telling him
to bring in the rest of the men, no one said a word, but Mitch was thinking
this was going to be disastrous. As they came in, one by one handing a file to
Roger, they lined up around the back of the room all the way to the front. There
were more than five dozen men standing around the room.
“Your honor, I had no idea.” The judge only
nodded and asked to see the files. Making two trips to the dais, Roger gave the
judge the files and then asked for them to wait. He had looked over a few of
them when Jefferies finally spoke.
“Your honor?” The judge told him to wait. “Your
honor, my client would like to see this trial ended. There is no proof
whatsoever that what these men are claiming is even real.”
“I’m thinking you might want to shut your
trap and let me read here. And as for proof, I’m looking at some pretty
damaging proof right here.” The judge said a name, and the man stepped forward.
“You claim that you have a video of the alleged rape from the Bruces. You have
it here?”
“I do, your honor. I wasn’t sure if it would
help or not, but I did make a couple of copies. The night this was taken
was...I was eleven, sir. And I had only been with them for a few days when I
found this cell phone on one of my trips to the yard.” He asked him what he
meant by that. “Daily, sir, they would take us to the yard, hose us off, and
give us a bottle of dish detergent. Then they’d hit us with the water to make
it so that we’d be—”
“They were fucking nasty.” When Mark stood up
and screamed at the judge, no one made a sound, not even his lawyer. Mitch
could hear Vinnie laughing in his head, but was too shocked to see what she
thought was so funny. “Do you have any idea how smelly they were every day?
There was no way I wanted them in my bathroom to piss, much less to shower.”
“You made them do their business outside
too?”
Before Jefferies could tell him to sit down
and shut up, Mark answered the judge. “You bet I did. And they’d have taken
their meals out there too if...if....” He seemed to have realized in that
moment what he was saying. He paused long enough to let a mask—and that was
what it looked like—seem to fade over his entire body. “I’ve been ill lately,
dealing with all of this. You’re going to have to forgive me of my ramblings.
Sometimes I say things that aren’t true. Like this.”
“I’m betting that sort of thing goes over you
all the time.” Mark nodded, but Mitch was pretty sure he thought the judge was
being sympathetic and not a smart ass. Yeah, he thought, you are a liar, that’s
for sure.
The judge and the man who had brought the
video were taken to the back offices as the rest of them sat there. His lawyer,
as well as the one for the Bruces, were asked to join them almost as soon as
the door shut behind them. Mitch took the time to look around the room at the
men seated now, thanks to the judge, and wondered about them.
Several of them were in suits. A few more
were in only jeans and shirt, no tie or jacket. There were three that looked
like they were dressed for something other than a courtroom, and more like they
were headed to the gym afterwards. Each of them had a haunted look about them,
and most of them were not looking in the direction of the Bruces. The few that
were looked as if had they had a gun, both of the people who had cared for them
would be dead.
Connie sat down next to him when he looked
over at the couple as well. “They’re not dealing with this well, are they?” She
laughed her little laugh, and he had to smile. “I know you can’t speak to me
without having them look at you as if you’d gone over the edge, but I can tell
you a bit about the men there. Not all of them, but some.”
He looked at the man she pointed out. He appeared
well-dressed if a little haggard. He was a large man, with big hands and chest.
Not fat, but big all the same. He was one of the few that were glaring at the
Bruces.
“When he was younger and living with those
people, he vowed if he ever got out alive he’d make sure that no one had to go
through what he had as a kid. His home has seen more than five dozen children
go through there, and all of them still call him Dad and his wife Mom. They
gave those children a chance at life as well as a hand up when they went to
college. He has devoted his life to helping those who could not have made it
without him.” He wondered if there was a way he could help as well, and made a
mental note to ask Vinnie what they could do. “The man sitting next to him has
been helping the kids on the street. He’s a surgeon. He and his office staff go
to the streets twice a month to help those that need it. Kids that have nowhere
to go and no one to turn to. He also has a friend who is a dentist that goes
with him, and they offer free dental exams as well as any surgeries that need
to be performed.”
As she pointed out what each man was doing to
come to terms with what had happened to him, he realized he’d done nothing. Not
one thing to help those that might have been going through what he had. When he
felt Vinnie’s anger, he sat up higher in his chair and started to reach for
her, but she was speaking before he realized her anger was at him, not
something with her.
You dolt.
Mitch might have laughed at the old
word had he not been a little afraid she might have come to him and murdered
him.
What do you think you do every single time you help one of the lost
people? You think that had you been killed any night you were with those people
that any of the ones that you help would have gotten your help? You think they
would have been able to have closure or anything else they needed had you not
been what you are? Or doing what you do for them?
I’m pretty sure that Steele or any of the
rest of them would have been able to—
Vinnie told him to shut up and listen. He
did, thinking she was kinda scary when she was pissed off.
Yeah, you think that that boy you just
helped, you think that they could have done as good a job as you did? I don’t.
You could feel his pain because you’d lived it. You were able to be there for
him as none of the rest of them could.
He didn’t say anything but listened to her
now.
Those other boys you’ve helped. They needed you, not Steele. Though I
think he’s a good man, he doesn’t have the kind of experience you have in
dealing with those kinds of pain. You helped them because you knew what they
were feeling.
She paused to take a breath, and he smiled.
But you and I
can do much more than we are now. I think your idea of opening a shelter for
them is great. I have just the building we can use, too. We can bring in more
doctors and help. Offer some scholarships if they need it, along with some
mental health counselling.
I think that’s a wonderful idea.
He looked around the
room, seeing the people for what they were. Men who had not just risen above
what had happened to them, but also had gone on to make sure things were better
for those that followed. And so had he in a different sort of way. Ten minutes
later the Bruces were asked to join them in the chambers, and Mitch started to
get nervous.
When the judge and the two lawyers come out
of the chambers, he waited for the Bruces, but they never came out. When the judge
started talking, it was all Mitch could do not to jump up and down, laughing.
“The Bruces, after much...discussion, have decided
to drop their suit against the forenamed people. They instead are being brought
up on other charges.” No one said a word for several seconds, waiting like him,
he was sure, for there to be some sort of explanation. When it came, it wasn’t
from the judge. It was from Billy.