After hanging up with Patrick the girls talked.
"That was close." Veronica said.
"Very, I'm glad dad and Uncle Martin got there and that Eustace is going to be there too." Vanessa replied.
"What do you think it was about this particular woman that set him off?" Veronica asked, "I mean he hasn't had a problem for the past twenty-five years."
"True but my question is why didn't finding his mate help? And why was he able to know her without raping her?" Vanessa asked.
"We need to talk to him ASAP but not tonight, he's still pretty shaken up and he needs to talk to Eustace. Tomorrow will be soon enough."
Veronica wrote some notes on her laptop as Vanessa wrote in hers, they wouldn't talk about what they wrote until later when they both had a chance to process the information that Patrick gave them. They each had their own theory as to what was happening with not just the males in their family but in the vampire male who resorted to rape or violence. Each kept her theory to herself not wanting to influence the thoughts of the other and wouldn't share until Patrick had a chance to enter his own theory into his laptop that he hadn't picked up yet. Once he did, they would meet, compare notes and go from there.
The girls worked in silence for a few minutes until Vanessa spoke.
"I wonder what she's like."
"Who?" Veronica asked distractedly.
"Uncle Patrick's mate, I wonder what she's like?"
"I'm sure that we'll meet her when it's time... hey are you done with your notes already?"
"No not yet, I was just thinking how hard this must be for him." Vanessa replied.
"Well thinking about it isn't going to help him." Veronica said as she continued to work.
Vanessa looked over at Veronica, of the two of them Veronica was the more straight forward and not always sympathetic or empathetic whereas Vanessa was sometimes too much so but they balanced each other and worked extremely well together but Vanessa felt led to issue a warning to Veronica.
"Ronnie when we talk with Uncle Patrick, be careful ok? He's really upset."
Veronica didn't argue. She knew how she could be and Vanessa was right, she had to watch her tongue. It couldn't have been easy for Patrick to tell them what happened.
"Got it." she replied as she kept typing.
Vanessa went back to entering her notes and finished when Veronica did. It was early yet and they could still get quite a bit of work done.
"Why don't we make sure the PET scan machine is alright before we use it?" Veronica said as she stood up and stretched.
Both of them had taken an extensive training class on operating the machine, they hired the consultant for a month to show them how the machine worked and how to trouble shoot any problems that came up. By the end of the month the consultant was so enamored with both of them that his memory of them had to be erased. After that they looked for a vampire that would come and take care of any issues that they couldn't take care of themselves.
They checked the machine over twice, the first time Veronica looked over the mechanisms while Vanessa called them out, the second time they switched places.
"It looks good." Vanessa said.
"We'll ask Uncle Patrick if we can do a PET scan on him when we talk to him." Veronica said, "and yes I know, be careful of how I ask."
Vanessa smiled, but her mind was somewhere else.
"Nessa what's up? You've got that wistful look on your face again."
"Don't you ever wonder about what would happen if we found our mates or they found us?"
'Not really, I mean I hope we find each other but it's not something that I consciously think about but obviously you do." Veronica said.
"Guilty." Vanessa said, "But it's not like I think about it all of the time but I want what mom and dad have. I want babies... don't you?"
Veronica hesitated.
"I guess I do but I've decided that it'll happen when and if it's supposed to and thinking about it isn't going to make it happen any faster."
"You're right." Vanessa conceded, "We still have time to make it home unless you want to stay here for some reason."
"No, let's go, you wouldn't be interested in helping me clear off my bed would you?" Veronica asked.
Vanessa laughed, "I was wondering when you were going to ask."
An hour later, Veronica's bed was cleared off and there was actually a place to sit after Vanessa helped her hang up her clothes.
"You know if you hung things up or put them in the hamper when you were finished with them...."
"Ok mom." Veronica grumbled. Vanessa sounded more like Katrina than she realized.
"Oops, I sounded like mom and dad didn't I?" Vanessa asked giggling.
"It's ok, and besides you're right. I think that I have to have some place that I don't have to worry about being organized in and its here."
"Understandable." Vanessa replied, "I'm headed off to bed, see you later."
Vanessa went to her immaculately clean room, undressed and got ready for bed. As she brushed her teeth she formulated the questions that she wanted to ask Patrick. It occurred to her that Eustace would ask the same questions and that afterwards they should compare notes to see if Patrick's answers were any different or if his impressions of the event had changed. She was even thinking that they should ask Eustace to join them in their research; he could concentrate on the psychological aspect of their research freeing her and Veronica to concentrate on the rest of it. When she saw Veronica later in the evening, she would bring it up.
Veronica tossed and turned, she hadn't been entirely honest with Vanessa, she thought about finding her mate more than she had let on. She didn't even tell her about the voice that asked "where are you?" that she heard in her head a few days ago and several times since. At the time she had discounted it as a dream but she really wasn't sure that it was since she heard it several times. She didn't know why she was so reluctant to tell Vanessa about it since they told each other everything.
She forced herself to think about something else, Patrick. She loved him, felt for him and hoped that they could help him and others with their research but it was going to take time to unravel the mysteries of the vampire brain. It was then that she realized that they should do a PET scan of a human brain. Basically the human brain and the vampire brain were similar in structure except that the vampire used much more of his brain than the human did. Her question was did they react in the same way when under stress.
Unable to rest, she got onto her laptop and pulled up the PET scans of known violent offenders. The problem was that there were no before pictures but compared to a normal human brain there were some differences especially in the centers of the brain that controlled impulses and emotions. In the violent offenders these areas were sometimes much smaller in comparison to the normal ones.
"What does this mean for a vampire brain?" she mumbled as she made notes on her laptop.
*******
Rik and Luc had finally gotten settled in their home away from home. It was a large house with two wings that was located on a private beach. The nearest neighbor was three miles away giving them almost complete privacy. Each wing of the house was equipped with a small kitchen that was fully stocked, its own bathroom with a Jacuzzi, living room and two bedrooms. The wings were joined together by a common living room and a large fully stocked kitchen. Off to the side of the house was a Jacuzzi room that also held a small swimming pool. The previous owners of the house had been vampires so no major changes were required.
The house also came complete with an intercom and sound system as well as each wing having its own stereo system all in all the brothers were pleased. They spent the first week exploring their surroundings but avoided going anywhere near the house down the beach but by the end of the week, Luc was dying to go out.
"Rik let's go! I've had enough of this rest and relaxation shit!"
"Then go." Rik replied not looking up from his book.
"I want you to come with me; maybe we'll find a couple of willing human women." Luc said as he took the book out of Rik's hands.
"Laisse-moi tranquille! - Leave me alone!" Rik protested.
"English if you please." Luc said, "And I will leave you alone only if we go out for dinner."
Rik rolled his eyes, what Luc promised was true, he wouldn't be left alone until he went to dinner with him.
"Fine, let's go." Rik said standing up.
"Excellent!" Luc exclaimed, "Where shall we go?"
An hour later they were sitting at a table at a restaurant/ nightclub waiting for their drinks. Rik ignored the attention they attracted when they walked in while Luc soaked it up like a sponge stopping at tables to kiss the hands of any woman who happened to be sitting there. If they were particularly beautiful, he would add a comment, "Splendide- lovely" as he kissed the woman's hand.
Rik found himself wishing that he had stayed home, he knew what was going to happen next, Luc would find two women; one for each of them and ask them if they wanted to take a walk. Before the walk was over, Luc's cock would be buried deep inside of one woman while Rik would try to find a way to extricate him from the other one.
He enjoyed sex but on his terms it was something he and Luc had talked about several times and Luc just didn't get it. Rik no longer got angry with him and stopped trying to explain to him that his world didn't revolve around the next fuck, in Luc's mind he was caring for his brother.
"Luc, please do not bring me a female." Rik said telepathically.
"How long has it been?" Luc replied, "If my memory serves me, it has been more than two weeks."
