Vanessa And Veronica Ch 07

Ethan was shocked, who would destroy the girl's lab and why? And what did they want him to see? Then there was the issue of sensing someone even though the security team didn't see or sense them. Ethan began to get a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What's going on?" Katrina asked.

"I wish I knew." Ethan replied absently. "I'm going over to the lab you stay here with Victoria and don't let her out of your sight."

"They wanted me to come too." Katrina replied.

"I know but something's wrong and I need to know that you and Victoria are safe." Ethan replied. "Stay in the house and I'll be back soon."

Ethan was gone a few minutes later after kissing her and then Victoria goodbye.

"Make sure that you stay with your mom and that you listen to her." Ethan admonished.

"What's wrong papa?" Victoria asked worriedly.

"Probably nothing but be a good girl and listen to your mom." Ethan replied.

Victoria gave him a nervous smile and then nodded her head. Ethan took Katrina by the hand and led her to the door.

"I sensed someone outside but the guards didn't." he told her. He had learned long ago not to try to keep things from her, it always came back to bite him in the ass.

"Alright and that means what?" Katrina asked.

"I don't know but I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach especially since the girl's lab has been broken into." Ethan replied. "I don't want to scare you but please stay indoors until I come back."

Ethan stepped outside and looked around trying to sense something about whoever had been there. Not once did he doubt what he sensed, someone had been on their property.

*******

Vanessa looked around her room stunned; the amount of rage directed at her was staggering. She wracked her brain trying to think who would be this angry at her and could think of no one. Tears ran down her face as she looked around her room trying to understand why someone would leave a corpse on her bed and her walls coated with animal blood. It wasn't a fresh body but one that had been exhumed.

The body was dressed in one of Vanessa's outfits holding dead flowers in its bony hands. Who ever had brought the body in had gone so far as to apply some of Vanessa's make up to the corpse. Vanessa began to shake but not with fear but pure anger. She felt Anger that someone would remove a body from its resting place, anger that they had entered into her private place and desecrated it with the blood of what they knew to be a large animal of some kind.

Luc tightened his arms around Vanessa as her trembling increased. It took him several minutes to realize that she was trembling in anger.

"Who would do this?" She asked Veronica.

Veronica was at a loss for words. Of the two of them she was the one that trampled on people's toes and Vanessa was the one who soothed the hurts away, it just didn't make sense unless...

"Nessa, what if who did this chose you because he thinks that you would be an easier mark?" She asked. Vanessa, Luc and Rik looked at her.

"Vanessa? An easy mark?" Luc asked remembering the brief show of her temper.

"Yes, just hear me out." Veronica said, "Anyone who knows us knows that I'm the one or I was the one with the temper. Even when we were kids I was the one who got into fights while Vanessa was the peacemaker, I mean until that night the restaurant I didn't even know that she had a temper like that."

"What you are saying," Luc said, "is that if you didn't know then neither would anyone else."

"Exactly, we....."

"Shit!" they heard come from the front of the lab, "what in the hell..."

********

Ethan walked into the lab and stopped in his tracks, the first thing that hit him was the stench of spoiled blood. The second thing that hit him was the amount of damage that was done to the lab; he could almost feel the hatred as he looked around the room. He began to run through his list of enemies and the list was quite long but none of them were stupid enough to piss in his back yard but someone had.

Suddenly Ethan knew that whoever had done this was the same person that he sensed in his yard. He knew something else, whoever it was wasn't really after the girls at least not in the traditional sense, and they were after him and using the girls to do it.

The question was how he and Ethan was convinced it was a male had managed to get by his security and how he had gotten into the lab. He didn't even know the access code to get in and as far as he knew only the girls, Patrick and now their mates knew the code.

The amount of damage told Ethan that the male was completely out of control and that both girls were in danger, they had to find a new lab and there was going to be security whether they wanted it or not.

"Dad!" Vanessa cried out as she broke free from Luc and threw herself into Ethan's arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked kissing Vanessa's head.

"I'm fine just mad as hell!" she exclaimed her temper showing, "Just look at this mess!" she added looking around the lab.

"My only concern is you and everyone else." Ethan replied, "You mom said that you wanted us to see something?"

"Yes, where is mom?" Veronica asked.

"I had her stay home with Victoria." Ethan replied.

"All is well?" Luc asked.

"I don't think so." Ethan replied and then told them about the intruder he sensed at the house.

"You're saying that this is connected?" Vanessa asked.

"I think so." Ethan replied but show me what you wanted me to see.

Ethan stared at the body in total shock. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this. The smell of spoiled blood was almost overwhelming as he approached the body on Vanessa's bed. It was then that his suspicions were confirmed; this was very personal but why involve the girls?

When he got to the bed he looked at the body. He didn't recognize her but knew that somehow her identity was a part of whatever was going on. Ethan took out his phone and called Katrina.

"Is everything alright there?" he asked.

"So far." Katrina replied, "What's going on there?"

"I'll explain when I get back, where's Victoria?"

"Here with me.... Ethan what's going on?" Katrina asked now concerned, "is everyone alright?"

"They're fine." Ethan replied "But I want to bring them home with me."

"I'll get the rooms ready." Katrina replied.

"Fine but keep Victoria with you."

********

He chuckled softly as he thought about Ethan's reaction to his presence and wished that he could have seen Vanessa's reaction to her room. It really wasn't anything personal it was just that her room was so immaculate that it was worthy of leaving his beloved there. The other room was.... At any rate, Vanessa's room was worthy and that was all that mattered.

He was certain that Ethan would be called and he was certain that Ethan suspected that someone was after him and his precious family. He wished that he could take them all but one of them was all that he was permitted, a life for a life. He was also aware that they would all think that Vanessa was the target that had been unintentional but to his benefit.

He had thought to take one of them and do to them what had been done to his beloved but he didn't think that he could, doing so would have made him as bad as them. He would be satisfied with knowing that they would suffer as he had and was. That he would die was of no consequence as long as he took one of the females with him.

The chuckles turned into soft sobs as he remembered his beloved and the way that he found her. She was so beautiful with long red hair and green eyes. Her skin was almost flawless and her laugh... it reminded him of tinkling bells. She had brought out the very best in him; her death had brought out the worst. "I miss you Rosie." he murmured.

In some ways he blamed himself for her rape and subsequent death. If he would have just claimed her she would be with him now. But he hadn't, he wanted to take the time to really get to know her, he wanted to court her and present her with a diamond, all of it but it never happened.

He remembered it as if it had just happened instead of fifty years ago. That it wasn't Ethan that raped her was immaterial, it was fact that he admitted that he could have done something centuries before. He knew that what they were doing was wrong and he allowed it to continue stopping it too late to save Rosie.

He wasn't sure when he started thinking about revenge. Maybe it was when he decided to kill himself, it was then that he decided that it just wasn't fair so he watched and waited. When Ethan mated with the woman that he had raped and they had children the injustice of it all hit him. He would never have another mate and would never know the joys of holding a child and Ethan had all of those things and now his children would be having children two of them anyway.

*********

"Do you know her?" Veronica asked.

"No at least I don't think that I do." Ethan replied looking up from the corpse and at the blood splattered room. "Was anything left in Veronica's room? He asked.

"Not that we can tell." Vanessa said earning a glare from her sister. "What do you think is going on?" she asked.

"Something very personal." Ethan replied "I know that you're newly mated but I want you all at the house."

Luc bristled and caught Ethan's attention.

"This has nothing to do with whether I feel that you can keep Vanessa safe; it's about safety in numbers. Whoever did this was able to approach the house without the guards noticing. I have Katrina and Vanessa under guard and in the same room as we speak."

"Do you think that someone is after us?" Veronica asked.

"I don't know what to think but I believe that it's a possibility." Ethan replied, "It'll be easier to keep everyone safe if we're together."

Ethan waited for a few seconds; he was fully prepared to force the issue if he had to.

"We will meet you there." Rik said seeing and conceding Ethan's point.

"Fine and I'll send some people to clean up this mess." Ethan said looking around the room again.

"What about her?" Luc asked meaning the corpse.

"She goes with us." Ethan said, "I think that she's at the center of whatever is going on."

**********

Victoria was going stir crazy, she wasn't used to being confined to just one room and she was beside herself with boredom.

"Mom can I go outside?" Victoria asked.

"For the tenth time, no!" Katrina said a little sharper than she had intended. "I'm sorry baby, I didn't mean to be sharp with you but you can't go outside until we know that it's safe."

Victoria started to argue that they had guards but held her tongue. It was a rare occurrence to see her mother so anxious and when she stopped to think about it, her father was tense. Instead of arguing Victoria turned on her laptop to play a game of scrabble against the computer.

As she waited for the game to load, she felt someone outside. She looked over at Katrina who was working on her laptop and then at the window. She was about to go see who or what was outside when Ethan appeared in front of her.

"Where were you going?" he asked scooping her up in his arms. He knew how hard it had to have been for her being confined to the one room.

Victoria squealed in surprise and the laughed in delight as Ethan swung her around until she was dizzy.

"Papa!" she laughed, "stop!"

Ethan kissed the laughing girl and sat her on her feet holding on to her until she was steady.

Katrina watched them with a smile on her face, the twins had stopped calling them "papa and mama" by the time they were Victoria's age they had long outgrown enjoying the games that Victoria still took delight in.

"Are they alright?" she asked after a moment.

"They're fine and they're coming here to stay until we know what's happening." Ethan replied as he walked over to Katrina and kissed her before sitting down to tell her about the lab and the corpse.

"You have no idea of who she is?" Katrina asked.

"Not a clue but she's at the center of this."

"Ethan.... Is it possible that she was a victim? One of yours maybe?" Katrina asked.

The thought had already crossed his mind and more than likely the woman had been a victim to one of them which meant that whoever destroyed the lab and whoever had been in the yard was the same person. It also explained the rage that Ethan felt when he walked into the lab; the woman had been the mate of a vampire. He couldn't have claimed her or else she wouldn't have been raped Ethan realized as he began to run all of the possibilities through his head.

There were hundreds if not thousands of possibilities that could only be narrowed down if they found out who the woman was.

"It's possible." Ethan conceded, "We have to find out who she was."

Katrina hesitated, she knew that the corpse was going to be brought home and she didn't know how she felt about that.

"Does she have to come here?" she asked.

"We could take her somewhere else...... Victoria!" Ethan yelled just as he sensed the presence again and saw Victoria headed for the door. He vanished from where he was sitting to the door getting there just as she was reaching for the doorknob.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I.... there was someone outside asking if he could come in." Victoria replied.

Ethan vanished outside and looked around inhaling deeply trying to pick up on the scent. He felt his anger growing that someone would dare approach his home and threaten what was his. As he stood outside Vanessa, Luc, Veronica and Rik pulled up.

"What are you doing?" Veronica asked as she got out of the car.

"He was here." Ethan said, his blue eyes flashing in anger as he continued to look around the property. "Richard!" he shouted.

"Yes sir?" asked a vampire that appeared in front of Ethan.

"Did you see, hear or smell anything out of place in the last ten minutes?"

Richard frowned, "No sir, no one has been here other than us, you and your family."

*******

He watched as Ethan went back into his home followed by his daughters and their mates. He had almost gotten caught and by a child no less! "Interesting" he mused as he watched them go into the house. They were doing what the Sinclaires did best... circling the wagons.

He went back to the lab to retrieve the body of his beloved not thinking that they would have taken it. He went through the lab and to Vanessa's room where he stopped and looked at the empty bed in shock and pain.

"No!!" he screamed.

And made himself calm, this ended tonight and he didn't care which of the women he took.

********

Ethan and Katrina let the girls show their mates where they would be sleeping. Victoria they decided would sleep in their room. That she could sense someone that no one else other than Ethan could sense concerned all of them.

"I'm not a baby!"

"We know you aren't a baby." Katrina soothed.

"So why can't I sleep in my own room?" Victoria asked pouting.

"You stay in here with us, end of discussion." Ethan said firmly. "Now your mom will go with you to your room so that you can change into your pajamas and get ready for bed now scoot."

Victoria looked at Ethan and then Katrina and back at Ethan again. She couldn't remember the last time he had used that tone with her any more than she could remember the last time her mother had snapped at her and the last time there had been something wrong too.

"Yes papa." Victoria said quietly as she headed fore the door.

"Victoria, come here." Ethan said gently. When she reached him he knelt before her and hugged her. "I'm sorry that I was so firm but there's someone who wants to hurt us and I need your complete obedience, do you understand?"

"Is it the man that was outside?" she asked.

"I think so and if he asks again about coming in the answer is no." Ethan replied.

Victoria nodded, she wasn't going to let the man in anyway, he didn't feel right to her, he felt... sick and very, very angry at all of them but especially her father and she wanted to know why. She didn't bother to ask, he wouldn't have told her deeming her too young and he didn't want to frighten her. Victoria kissed Ethan on the cheek and headed to her room with Katrina following close behind. As Katrina and Vanessa left the room, a guard fell in behind them, when they reached Victoria's room one went in before them.

********

Vanessa, Luc, Veronica and Rik were sitting in the living room talking.

"Who do you suppose she is?" Rik asked.

"If I had to guess, I would say that she was a victim." Veronica said, "Whose is anybody's guess."

"But what I don't understand is why now? That corpse has to be at least fifty years old and the last sanctioned rape was over twenty-five years ago." Veronica said.

"Maybe he's been waiting for what he considers to be the right time." Luc said.

"And what would make this the right time?" Vanessa asked.

"Us." Luc said.

"Us?" the girls asked at once.

"Let us think about this," Luc said, "when did the trouble start?" When no one answered, he answered, "it was soon after Rik and I found you. Whoever this is has become .... Enraged, that is what we saw at the lab and the corpse? She is his."

"Why did he leave her there?" Veronica asked.

"He wants us to know the reason for his anger..... Fuck!" Luc exclaimed.

"What?" they all asked startled by Luc's outburst.

"We weren't supposed to take her; we were just supposed to see her."

"You think that he went back for her don't you?" Veronica asked.

"Luc is right" Rik said. "Neither of us was thinking but then we didn't know what was happening and my guess is that he already knows she's gone and that we've got her and if he hasn't gone over the edge, he has now."

********

His room was totally destroyed. "How can you take her from me again!" he screamed at no one in particular but meaning the Sinclaires. Tonight one of them would die and although he said that it didn't matter which one, it wouldn't be the child even though her death would hurt them more than any of the others.

Before anything else happened, he had to find Rosie and bring her back so that he could prepare her for their final departure. When he took the Sinclaire woman who was to pay the ultimate price for the sins of the family, He would be merciful, he wouldn't torture or needlessly hurt her, she wouldn't even see it coming which is more than they did for Rosie.

He left his room and went to the room that he had specifically chosen for his final hours. The blue dress that he had chosen for Rosie was laid out on the bed waiting to be worn by her. It had taken some doing but he had finally located a vintage dress shop that had a dress similar to the one that Rosie had been wearing when he first found her. The shoes sat at the foot of the bed, they were a perfect match for the dress.... They were the original shoes, the only part of her outfit that he had been able to save.

"Soon my love." he murmured as he vanished from the room to begin his search for Rosie. Nothing else could or would be done until he found her.

*******

"What now?" Vanessa asked, "Can we take her back to the lab?"

"I do not think so, if I am correct, he has already been there and knows that we have her."

"I think that we must talk to your father." Rik said, "Maybe he has thought of something."

"I'll go get him." Vanessa said.

"I'm here." Ethan replied coming into the living room followed by Katrina and Victoria.

Luc waited until they were sitting and explained the situation.

"You're saying that we have to find someway of getting her back to him." Katrina said.

"Exactly." Luc said.

Ethan sat back in his chair his fingers tapping the arms as he thought about what to do next.

"He's been here twice, the first time I sensed him the second time Victoria did and he asked her to let him in."

All eyes went to Victoria who knew what they wanted.