Chapter Text
Max opened the door to his office, tired after a busy evening. Lucy had called out because of her father, and Maria couldn't come in. Being a Friday night, the store had been too busy for one person to handle. He sighed heavily, then looked up and screamed, almost dropping his cash drawer in fright.
In front of him was the man who spoke to him earlier in the evening, hanging by his entrails. His abdominal cavity was sliced open; various organs were cut out and laid out on the tarp below, which was collecting the blood that still slowly dripped from the man.
Someone snickered. Max turned and saw Paul and Marko off to one side, grinning. He moved further into the room and saw David sitting in his chair, his legs propped on his desk, ankles crossed. He was smoking, a cocky smirk on his lips.
"What is the meaning of this?" Max roared, turning an interesting shade of red.
"We brought you a present," Paul laughed before an angry glare was sent his way.
"David!" Max barked. "What did you do?"
"Not me," he laughed and nodded toward something behind Max. He turned and found both Dwayne and Cassidy. Dwayne was casually leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Cassidy was sitting on the back of one of his office chairs. If he'd had his wits about him, Max would have chastised her for it. Instead, he was momentarily stunned. She exuded the same deadly, emotionless aura that David did when he hunted for reasons other than food. Add to that, she was dressed in all black - jeans, boots, and tee-shirt - and it was an uncanny resemblance.
"Dwayne, do you wish to explain this mess?"
The vampire shook his head 'no' and smirked. It was obvious to everyone in the room that Max was trying to ignore Cassidy's presence.
"You know, Max, this guy was the first person to touch me inappropriately. I was eight. I didn't know what exactly was happening, just that it hurt and made me feel icky. About a year after it started, I finally gained the courage to tell David about it. He had to explain to me what molestation, rape, and sex were. He had to explain that at eight, nothing could make it my fault, regardless of what anyone else said.
"If I could have come up with a worse way to die that didn't involve multiple days, I would have done it. As it was, he happened to have that paralytic on him that they liked to use, so I used it. I broke his fingers. Then I sliced him open and started removing organs one by one until he died. I tried cauterizing some of them initially so he'd live longer but decided it wasn't worth the time.
"Now, I realize that from your standpoint, it's probably a huge waste of blood. None of the boys nor myself drank any. I think Thorn put it best when he said it was poison - and that was before we gave him the drug.
"Looking at your face, I can tell you don't believe I did this. The boys gave some suggestions, but they didn't do it. I'd tell you to ask Thorn, but he doesn't talk to you. He talks to me, but not to you. He says you don't listen."
Max gaped like a fish out of water. The boys, minus David, had turned a bit green when the man was being dissected, but now they were smiling proudly at Cassidy. David smirked with a gleeful malevolence.
"My question, though, is what possessed you to call these people in?" Cassidy continued. Thorn had wandered in while she was talking and now sat in front of Cassidy while she absentmindedly scratched his ears.
David moved to stand so the desk was now behind him. Paul and Marko shifted slightly. All four boys subtly moved so they could attack if Max tried anything.
"I could understand if it were Lucy Emerson. From what I understand, she would have seen the commercials with my mother begging for my safe return and thought she was doing a good thing. But you. You know what happens to children sent there, and you still called them. You purposely called them so they could lock me away and continue torturing me. Why?"
"Now, Cassidy," Max began in a condescending tone. Thorn moved slightly in front of Cassidy, but not enough for anyone but the girl to notice. "I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding, my dear."
Max took a step towards Cassidy, causing Thorn to growl in warning.
"Thorn!" Max scolded.
"Thorn doesn't like you, Max. Like I said, he talks to me, and I listen. You've never tried to listen to him. He saw you talking to this man earlier this evening. He heard you make the calls to the Hospital. I've let him walk through my memories, so he knows what happened there from my vantage point. I think if you were to push the subject, Thorn would be on my side, not yours."
"Cassidy, Thorn is not a normal dog. Just because he lets you pet him like one does not mean you can treat him like one."
"Oh, I know. He's a hellhound. He came when you called because it suited his purpose. You don't own him, and he doesn't have to do your bidding if he doesn't want to. David," she said, leaning to look around Max. "I forgot. Thorn requests a new bed if he moves into the caves with us. Max doesn't allow him on the furniture, and the bed he has there is only a step above the floor."
David and the boys chuckled. "If he wants to move in with us, I'll gladly take him shopping for whatever kind of bed he wants."
"Now, you listen to me!" Max yelled. Thorn snarled loudly at him.
"Now, I have a dilemma, Max," Cassidy said calmly, ignoring Max's outburst. "I've always said that anyone who sends someone to the Hospital and knows what happens there deserves a slow, painful death. I was able to do that for Chuck and the four other people that have shown up this week. You, however, are a full vampire, and I am only half. David might be able to kill you. Your commands haven't worked on him in a long time, so he could potentially kill you unless there's something because of the sire bond. The other three are in a similar situation."
"The boys can't kill me, Cassidy," Max mocked. "If they kill me, they die too."
"Yeah, about that. Thorn says that's a lie. We called another vampire that David knows, and he agreed with Thorn - after he stopped laughing. So, I figure you have two options. You can leave and be out of Santa Carla by sunrise, or you can take your chances with Thorn. Thorn is positive that he can take you."
By this point, Max was so angry that he practically glowed. He took another step forward, and Thorn lunged.
* * * * *
"Natasha, what happened?" The Widow Johnson barely had the phone receiver to her ear before her sister started talking. "I was looking at the vision I've been telling you about, and suddenly it just disappeared. It didn't change; it just vanished!"
"I'm not quite sure," the witch replied. "Just now, there was a sudden influx of magic, similar to what happens when a witch dies, but darker. If I had to guess, I'd say a local vampire has died."