Chapter 20: Chapter 20 DAUGHTER

“Scarlet.” Stephan circled his arm around her waist and lifted her, moving her away from the door.

“Stephan I don’t want him in my house.” She struggled against his hold. “The last time I saw his face my son got snatched up by a crazy woman.”

“I’m sorry about that, it was my fault. If I had told Stephan about their plan earlier I could have saved you from that horrific experience.”

“What’s going on here?” Kayla ran down the stairs Jade by her side. “What is he doing here?” She pulled Jade behind her ready to protect her.

“I came to talk to Stephan.”

“Ok let’s go outside. Solara do you mind coming with me.” Stephan didn’t trust Leo anymore, he had already betrayed him once.

“Sure.” Solara walked Leo out of the house.

“Stay here.” Stephan put Scarlet back on her feet and closed the door behind him.

“Kayla I have a bad feeling.” She looked through the glass as the three men walked towards the forest.

“I didn’t see anything that you should be worried about. Why don’t you go put on some clothes?”

Scarlet nodded, but on her way up she ran into Eric. “I know this is going to sound odd but, smell me.”

Eric shrugged then took in her scent. “What exactly I’m I looking for?”

“Never mind.”

“What do you want Leo?” Stephan stopped to ask him once he was sure they were out of hearing range.

“It’s Marquis. She’s back.” The grim look on Leo’s face mirrored the tone in his voice.

Stephan ran his fingers through his thick hair. He knew this day would come but he had hoped that it would take her a few more years.

“What does she want?”

“You. She has convinced the Counsel that you are a danger to their survival and that you and your son could make a race more powerful than the vampires.”

“I can’t believe we are back at this again.” Solara angrily kicked a rock that went through a couple of trees.

“It’s not the right time for all this crap. Couldn’t she get her revenge in a year or so?” Stephan mocked.

“Kayla has been through enough already, not to mention involving our daughter in all this. She has barely been with us for two weeks.” Solara was now a father and his priorities had changed.

“What do you think we should do Solara?” Stephan wasn’t going at this alone, he had learned his lesson from the previous time he decided to face his past on his own.

“I would say ask the wives, but I’m afraid that they would kill us before Marquis and her Henchmen got the chance.”

“Keep it quiet?”

“Keep it quiet,” Solara confirmed.

“You can’t do that. You need to strike first before she does.” Leo had a tone of desperation lining his voice.

“Leo we have families we can’t just pack up and leave.”

“Well, you have to. Think about your family, they will be in danger if you don’t do something.”

“We need to think about it. Marquis won’t get us off guard, we’ll be prepared for her, but until then I am going home.” Stephan turned and began walking to the house.

“She is working with Ric,” Leo called out.

Stephan came to a halt. “What?”

“Who’s Ric?” Solara asked.

“Ric and I were Stephan’s seconds in command. He is ruthless and he isn’t Stephan’s biggest fun.”

“I haven’t met anyone from Stephan’s past that liked him.” Solara pointed out. Stephan seemed to have rubbed every single vampire in his past the wrong way.

“That’s because I was a different person back then.”

“So what did you do to piss him off?” There was always something.

“I burnt out his eye.”

“Oh, that would do it.” Solara looked up into the sky and muttered an oath.

“Leo when does the Counsel makes its decision.”

“Not anytime soon. Some of them are too scared to face you ever since you tossed Salvatore’s head on the courtyard.”

Stephan continued walking back to the house, the situation had changed. Now he had two vampires who hated him after him.

“What do we do?” Solara fell in step with him.

“Honestly I don’t know but I think we should do nothing until Leo comes to us with a concrete answer from Rio.” Stephan was worried. The last time they had been in this situation he almost lost his wife and son. He was sure Scarlet would leave him if this new threat came to light.

“We tell them nothing. It’s a good thing Jade is here. Kayla is too preoccupied with her to focus on my mind.”

“Good. I don’t want to cause a panic.” Stephan had to figure out a way of taking care of this without alerting Scarlet. They were in such a good place, it had taken Scarlet a long time before she could be confident in their relationship. And now Marquis was threatening it all over again.

“I’m glad to see that you have some clothes on.” Stephan met Scarlet at the foyer, her arms crossed over her chest and her feet tapping the vanished wooden floorboards impatiently.

“Cut the chit chat, why was he here? What does he want and what do we have to prepare ourselves for now?” She leaned away from his kiss and looked him in the eye.

“Why are you so suspicious? It was nothing, he just has a problem and I told him I can’t help.” He turned his back to her before she could read his eyes and see that everything spilling from his mouth was complete hogwash.

“He was out of here before Kayla could get a read from him, but I hope that he won’t bring us any trouble.”

Stephan was relieved at that revelation, what Kayla didn’t know Scarlet wouldn’t either. “No babe I already told you, he’s gone.”

“You better not be lying to me Jeraldi or I swear- Ow!” Scarlet doubled over and dropped to her knees. A wave of pain seared through her body settling on her lower abdomen.

“Scarlet?”

“She’s in pain. Her stomach hurts.”

Stephan turned to find Jade on her knee, her arm around her belly and a pained look on her face.

“What’s going on?” Solara knelt by Jade’s side.

“I don’t know Scarlet went down and so did she.” Stephan was cradling Scarlet in his arms, the pained expression on her face subsiding.

“The pain is easing up.” Jade got back on her feet.

“Excuse me?” Solara asked again.

“I’m going to my room.” Jade took off not looking back until she got back to the confines of her room. She felt like a freak of nature. For some reason she was tuned in to their feeling and although it had happened before it was never of this magnitude.

“Why is Scarlet on the floor?” Kayla stared at them, confused.

“She was in pain.” He pulled Scarlet to her feet, “Kayla has Jade mentioned anything to you, about herself or the changes she’s experiencing?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Because when Scarlet was in pain so was she. And when I was asking Scarlet what was wrong with her, Jade seemed to know all the answers.” Solara rapped out.

“What?” Kayla was shocked. It didn’t logical but in their new lives, she realized logic doesn’t exist.

“On the porch, the day Solara took her hunting, she said she could feel how upset Solara was. I just thought that it was because of Solara’s evident bad attitude.”

“I didn’t have a bad attitude. Besides, that’s not what we are talking about here.”

“Well, I think you should go talk to her,” Scarlet suggested she seemed to have recovered from her bout of pain.

“I think the more important question is why you are feeling pain. You are practically dead you shouldn’t be feeling anything.” Kayla looked her over.

“Half dead. Whatever it doesn’t make much sense to me either. The both of you should be concerned with your daughter and not me.”

“You are right. Let’s go Solara.”

Kayla knocked on Jade’s bedroom door, “Jade Hun can we come in.”

“Sure. Why not?” She sat on the bed her legs crossed, her leather skull bracelet exposed.

“What happened?” Solara pulled a chair to the bed, as Kayla sat next to her on the bed.

“I don’t know. It was like I could feel everything she felt, the pain, the fear, and the relief.”

“Uh-huh,” Solara couldn’t find anything else to say.

“You think I’m crazy don’t you.”

“Nope, if there is a crazy person in this room is your father and not you. He reads people’s minds.” Kayla said.

“But so do you. And you love him, he is your world- You see it’s like I am tapped into you.”

“We all have different talents and maybe this is yours.” Kayla pulled Jade into her arms and hugged her.

“Having abilities is a good thing. Everyone in this house has one, everyone except Scarlet. But it’s a good thing, it’s a part of who you are.” Solara chipped in.

Solara watched how beautifully Kyla fit in the role of a mother. There was doubt of her ability since she had taken care of SJ for the first few weeks of his life, but this was different. This was their child, in every meaning of the word but one. Kayla had brought her into their home and slowly they formed a bond similar to that of biological parents.

He never thought of being a parent, in fact before SJ he always thought of children as a nuisance. But here he was an uncle and a father, two unselfish roles that he never thought he would possess.

“So I’m not a freak. I’m special.”

“That’s right.” Kayla kissed the top of her head. “I have to go see what’s wrong with Scarlet.”

Kayla slid off the bed and headed for the door, Solara following closely behind her. They stopped at the door once Jade called out to them.

“Guys, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Anything sweetheart.”

“Ok, you know that I haven’t had a family or parents who cared. In the weeks I have known you, you have made me feel at home, more than any of the other foster homes I have been in. You gave me a family and you have been my parents. So I guess what I wanted to ask is if I could call you mom and dad.”

Kayla and Solara looked at each other, shock evident on their faces.

“It’s cool if you don’t want me to.” Jade wanted to retract her request when they hesitated.