Amelia & Andrew: The Diamond Legacy Ch. 02

While they ate, Andrew told the group about the disc.

"While I agree that it would be a shame for her to get away with what she did," Mark said, "but if you turn her in or have her turn states evidence you'll lose access to the house and a large portion of the assets. I'll think of something but I can tell you that killing her isn't a good idea, you should know better than anyone that cops take the disappearance or death of their own very hard."

Mark had just made an argument that Andrew couldn't refute. If Denise went missing, there would be an all -out search for her and more than likely, the feds would get involved.

"What does the vampire law say about killing a cop?" Andrew asked.

"Killing a cop isn't going to make you lose your head but it is frowned upon." Mark replied. "And since you are parvulus you may get a visit but going on a rampage like your sire did will definitely get you killed. I'm giving you generalities but what actually will happen depends on the lead enforcer for the area."

Amelia listened to the information and thought about it.

"Is there a way for her to be punished and not have her son be made a ward of the state?" she asked. "I just hate to see any child go into foster care."

"Is the child here?" Susan asked, "And if he isn't, then who is caring for him?"

Amelia grimaced. In all of the excitement, she hadn't thought about the whereabouts of the child.

"Let me go get her." she said. "We can find out where her son is and then figure out what we're going to do about them."

As soon as mark saw Denise, he tensed, his eyes going to black orbs. Susan and Gloria both recognized the reaction and Susan placed Denise's mind into a catatonic state. Susan stepped in front of Mark and snapped at him.

"Snap out of it! We need to talk and we also need to explain what just happened to the parvulus."

Mark blinked rapidly trying to clear his mind. Seeing his mate had hit him like a ton of bricks that he wasn't expecting. He knew that Andrew wanted Denise's blood and wondered if Andrew would want to fight him over it but he couldn't allow any harm to come to her.

"Denise is my mate." Mark said, "And I can no more allow any harm to come to her than you could Amelia."

Andrew couldn't believe the turn of events. He couldn't understand or believe that Mark would choose her of all people.

"Why in the hell would you choose her as your mate?" he asked angrily.

Mark's eyes changed into black, lifeless orbs as he angrily retorted, "I didn't choose her but she is mine! You cannot touch her and if you do, I will kill you."

Feeling threatened, Andrew dropped his fangs and allowed his primal side to come forth. He felt his senses sharpen especially his sight and smell. He smelled the sweet scent of fear roll of Mark, it was slight and he felt everyone else in the room go on the alert.

Susan knew that by showing fear Mark had made a potentially fatal mistake. Even though he was a much older vampire and had full command of his powers, he was no match for Andrew. Susan moved into a position where she would be able to protect mark if she had to. When this was over, she was either going to kick Mark's ass or kill him, she didn't know which. Challenging a parvulus and then showing fear? What in the fuck had he been thinking?

After he issued the challenge, Mark realized that Andrew was a superior predator and although he tried to control his fear, it seeped through. He saw the tenseness in Andrew's body and knew that he was getting ready to attack. How he would survive it if he did, he didn't know but he would go down defending his mate. He saw Amelia approach Andrew and reined in his primal side hoping that Amelia could talk her mate down.

Amelia seeing that Andrew was losing control stepped in between him and Mark. She could feel and smell the fear coming from mark and could tell that Andrew was relishing it but she could also sense his sensible side struggling for control.

"Andrew my love," she said softly, "he isn't threatening us. He was just protecting his mate as you protect me. Please look at me."

Slowly Andrew's gaze went to Amelia. She easily pushed into his mind and began to calm the feral side of him. After a few tense minutes Andrew felt his feral side relax and the logical part of him begin to take over. He wrapped his arms around Amelia and hugged her as the last of his aggressive feelings subsided.

"Impressive." Susan said. "I fully expected you to attack Mark especially with the scent of fear emanating from him. You did well in controlling your base form. Amelia, that was an impressive show of your ability to reach and calm your mate."

Neither Andrew of Amelia replied. Each of them was working through their emotions and trying to organize their thoughts. After several minutes, Andrew spoke.

"I apologize for my outburst."

Amelia stayed close at his side while everyone took their seats. Susan took over the discussion.

"Mark, no one said that you couldn't claim your mate and Andrew never threatened her, he only said what the rest of us were thinking. Andrew, I know that you are new to this life but mates aren't chose. it has something to do with genetics. Mates are always complimentary to each other and balance each other out, in other words, you keep each other on an even keel.

I believe that the reason that you and Amelia are adjusting so well is because you are mates. Andrew, what are you going to do now that you know that Denise is Mark's mate?"

Andrew took several seconds to respond, "Am I going to kill her? No, you have my word that I won't harm her but what about her son?"

Mark shrugged, "he will be raised as my own, what else can I do?"

"I'm not sure." Andrew replied, "But it sounds like a match made in hell, a lawyer and a corrupt cop. Who or whatever decides who the mated pairs are has one hell of a sense of humor."

Everyone had a quick laugh before Susan brought up the next topic. The disc.

"While it sounds nice to turn the disc over to the authorities, the reality of it is that the most that will happen is the arrest of a few of the low to medium level organization members and then it will be back to business as usual. I vote that we hold on to the disc, it could be invaluable in keeping the humans out of our hair.

Andrew and Amelia looked at each other trying to gage each other's thoughts. After a minute or two, they nodded at each other.

"Mark, if I turn the disc over to you for safe keeping it will be protected under attorney/ client privilege and I'm sure that you and Susan will each want a copy so that you can protect your interests, am I correct?"

"I'm not talking about just protecting my interests." Susan said, "I'm talking about using them to protect our species. Even now, there are members of a government organization who are aware of our existence and have been trying to capture one of us alive. They plan to study us and to use us as weapons. Can you even begin to imagine what would happen if someone had an entire army of vampires at their disposal? She asked.

Andrew could imagine the government dissecting them to see how they worked and looking for ways to make them even stronger. And because they were technically dead, they would have no rights. Andrew wondered if there were other things that went bump in the night.

"I have a question." Andrew said. "Are there such things as witches and werewolves?"

Susan chuckled before replying, "I was wondering when that question would come up. As far as I know, witches don't exist. I have been in existence for almost two-thousand years and have never seen a real witch or warlock. Weres do exist and not just as wolves but in many other species. Contrary to the legends, they are not the mindless bloodthirsty creatures that they are made out to be. They are able to shift from human to animal form, which is the main difference between them. They can live among humans with no problems and no, I do not know of any that are living in the area. The last one that I knew personally died almost two-hundred years ago, and they are not immortal."

Amelia listened to the conversation and agreed wholeheartedly that they needed to protect themselves from the government but she was more concerned about their abilities.

"How do we learn to control our abilities?" she asked. "Hell, how do we even find out what they are? When we first mated we were able to speak to each other telepathically but haven't been able to do it since."

"It takes time and practice." Susan replied. "Normally your sire would help with that. A sire can sense their parvulus and that helps him or her guide their creation in discovering and mastering their powers. Unfortunately, you have no living sire. As for the talking to each other, it's easy once you know the trick. You must stop thinking about projecting thought and just think about what you want to say to him. Discovering the rest of your powers will be through trial and error although Charles may be of some help to you there."

While the women cleaned up, Andrew and Mark started going through the financial records, vehicle titles and property deeds. They noticed that the brothers had over ninety percent of their assets in off shore banks which would make Mark's job easier. He could start funneling the money into new shell companies and dummy corporations. He would also set Andrew and Amelia up with a long-term financial portfolio that would withstand even the most meticulous of federal investigations. He would also get them all of the identifications that they could possibly need not only for now but also for the next lifetime. For the time being, the identification for Catherine would show her as being their daughter and she would have a trust fund valued at around twenty million dollars.

"It's going to take me about a week to set all of this up." Mark said. "Catherine will be able to take out about two-thousand a month to live on and that can easily be changed. She'll also have a stock portfolio valued at around forty-five million but she won't be able to access that until she is married. Sound good so far?" he asked.

He waited for Andrew's answer before continuing.

"As for you and Amelia, You'll have fifty million available to you by next week. I have to get the accounts set up, get the identification to you and transfer money into the accounts as well as transfer all of the vehicles and properties into your name. And so you won't have to worry about anything, I'll have a management company take care of the properties.

Even though I'm starting the process now, it will take about ten years before the entire process is completed and your net worth? It will be somewhere in the neighborhood of three to four hundred million. If you like I can manage your assets at the standard rate."

He made sure that Andrew understood the plan and that his cut would be approximately four million dollars.

**************

After the kitchen was cleaned up, the women got everything ready for Catherine's waking. Susan tied her to the bed and had a cup and straw ready to go.

"Once we start feeding her the blood, she'll take it willingly." Susan explained. "We'll keep feeding her until she's full which should take about twelve to fifteen units and the men cannot come in, she'll want to have sex with them. When she's calmed down, we can start explaining things to her."

The women sat by the bed and started the vigil.

Catherine's eyes popped open around two am. She looked around the room trying to remember where she was and what had happened to her.

"You are restrained so that you do not harm yourself." Susan said to her softly. "I am going to give you something to drink that will make you feel better but you mustn't fight me."

Susan tried to push into Catherine's mind and met a wall of resistance.

Catherine was scared but the scent in the room was heavenly. Her reaction was the same one that she had whenever her mother made a fresh peach pie, she was salivating and her stomach was rumbling. As soon as the straw was placed at her lips, Catherine began to drink from it. Whatever it was that was in the cup, she had to have it.

She drank that cup and six more after it before she was calm enough to be untied and remembered where she was. She looked around the room, saw Amelia and started to back away.

"It's alright." Susan said as she wrapped her arms around the girl. "She will not harm you again. She was protecting her mate and she now understands that you are no threat to him or her."

"I just want to go home." Catherine whimpered. "My parents have to be worried sick and I promise not to say anything about what happened here."

"I'm sorry." Amelia said in a low voice, "That can never happen. It's too dangerous for you and for them."

"Why can't I go home?" Catherine asked as tears ran down her cheek. "Oh my god! You're going to kill me aren't you?"

All of the women felt and sensed Catherine's fear as Amelia tried to reassure her.

"No dear, "she said with a sad smile, "we aren't going to kill you again."

Catherine's eyes widened, "What do you mean by again? You're fucking nuts!"

"Catherine," Susan said softly, "I am sorry to have to tell you this but what Amelia said is the truth. When she bit you, she released venom that stopped your blood from clotting... you died. She didn't drain you until your heart stopped and that is why you have returned as a vampire."

"All of you are fucking nuts!" Catherine said as she laughed hysterically.

"Do you realize that you just drank human blood?" Susan asked the laughing girl.

Catherine stopped laughing and looked at Susan as if she had grown a few more heads and then slowly looked into the cup. Her eyes widened in shock and the tears began again.

Several hours later, Catherine had calmed down enough to have her new life explained to her. By the end of the conversation she finally accepted the fact that she couldn't go home and she agreed that for the time being, she would stay with Andrew and Amelia.

Susan and Gloria left just before six am with profuse thanks from Andrew and Amelia.

"You're welcome and you owe us a favor which I assure you we will collect." Susan said as they walked out.

Mark asked Andrew if he or Amelia cared if he used one of the spare bedrooms to turn Denise.

"No problem." Andrew replied. "We'll even pick up some blood for you since we're going out." he added.

Andrew took Amelia and Catherine too the 'White Marsh Mall' where the women seemingly went into every store and dropped well over two-thousand dollars in clothes, jewelry and accessories. Andrew rolled his eyes with his only purchase being a prepaid credit card on which he placed five-hundred dollars on for Catherine.

Before leaving the mall, Catherine changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt that actually fit her, the clothes that Amelia bough for her at Wal-Mart had been a bit too tight. Andrew waited until they were in the vehicle before giving her the credit card.

"This is for emergencies only." he told her. "Once the finances are in place, we'll get others that will have enough money on them to buy a couple of units of blood and plus leave a little extra for travel."

The last stop that they made before going home was at Biomedtronic to pick up some blood for Mark. Mark had called ahead and the blood was ready for them. While they were waiting, Amelia had the feeling that they were being watched and that whoever it was; they wanted them dead.

"We're going to be attacked." Catherine said once they were back in the car. "He's going to strike before we get home."

"Are you sure?" Andrew asked.

Catherine's eyes had a slight glow to them as she replied. "Yes, he is preparing to attack us now. He wants all of us dead but especially you Andrew."

Andrew reached under the seat, retrieved the glock and handed it to Amelia who out of habit checked the clip to make sure that it was full. She reinserted the clip and chambered the first round as she spoke.

"I sensed that we were being watched and that whoever it was had strong feelings toward us. I can also tell you that he's a vampire and a lot older than us and I mean a lot older."

"First of all," Andrew said, "don't panic and if he does attack I'll hold him off while you two run back to Susan's and tell her what happened. And I'll rejoin you as soon as I can."

"Fuck no!" Amelia exclaimed, "I'm not leaving you! Remember what you said? You said that we either live together or we die together."

'I'm not leaving either." Catherine said. "I'm not running away and besides we stand a better chance if we stay together. I may not like how things went down but you're all I've got."

Catherine's primal side began to come forth and unlike Amelia and Andrew, her eyes did not change to black but had an eerie glow about them.

"He's going to attack us when we get by the park." she said, "he has the road blocked, I can see it now."

"I would rather fight him in a place of our choosing." Andrew said as he made a U-turn. "Catherine, have you ever used a gun?"

"No but I'm a quick study." she replied.

"Good, Amelia call Susan and let me talk to her." Andrew said. "And Catherine, once this is over we're definitely going to the shooting range." he added.

Amelia dialed Susan's private number and after two rings, Susan picked up.

"Susan, it's Amelia, Andrew needs to talk to you."

Andrew took the phone and started talking.

"It seems that we have a problem." he said. "A vampire is trying to ambush us. Catherine sensed the attack and warned us. Would you happen to have any idea of who we're dealing with and where a good place to resolve this would be?'

Susan didn't even have to think about who was responsible.

"The vampire is Victor Stone; it was his mate that you killed yesterday. Andrew, you have to be very careful, he has always been on the edge of sanity but without his mate, he is dangerously insane. If you can get back here, I'll be able to help."

"No but thanks, we'll take care of it." Andrew replied. "Where can we go that there will be no humans?"

"Andrew, listen to me." Susan said. "He is dangerous and has full control of his powers. Amongst other things, he is telekinetic and knows how to use it as a weapon."

"Susan you've been a great friend but we can't allow you to fight our battles for us. We'll take care of it. I just want an area where we can fight and not involve innocents." Andrew said.

"Damn it Andrew! He's going to have help! Let me and Gloria help you to at least even the odds, hell, I'll even bring my security force!"

"Susan, thank you but no. I can't let you get involved in this but if you will take care of Catherine, I would appreciate it. I doubt that he would have any interest in her."

Catherine shook her head vehemently. "Fuck no! I'm going with you two, we're doing this together."

"Catherine, please go with Susan and Gloria where you'll be safe." Amelia said.

"No way." Catherine replied. "You made me and now you're stuck with me so how do we beat this asshole? And we need to hurry. My shows are on tonight. It's bad enough that this bastard is going to make me miss GH today."

Time was getting short and it was obvious that neither Amelia nor Catherine was going to listen to him so Andrew turned his attention back to his call with Susan.

"Can you call him or give me his number?" Andrew asked.

"I can call him." Susan replied. "What do you want me to tell him?"

"Tell him to meet us on Gwynn's Falls Trail in Carroll Park right before it crosses the river in two hours.

"Hold on." Susan replied.

She buzzed Gloria to come to her office and while waiting called Victor.

"You couldn't leave well enough alone could you?" she asked. "I told you that they were under Charles' protection and yet here you are. You are aware that if anything happens to them your entire line will be wiped out?"