Chapter Thirty Two: Collectors

Lorraine had been sitting in her living room, staring intently at her two visitors. They kept stealing worried glances towards each other then back at her. Despite her earlier reluctance to let them in, their desperate faces tucked at her heart. She could see that John was specially jittery, the softest of sounds made his eyes dart to their direction. Lorraine let out a sigh with her gaze focused on John, “Everyone thought you were dead.”

John let out a shaky breath, “I’m as good as dead, believe me.” He turned to Sally and grasped her hand in his. “They killed my parents and will kill me now that they have what they want. When I ran away, they went after Sally.”

Sally bit on her lower lip, “That’s why we came to you.” She tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear, “I’m still new to all of this, but from what I understand no one can help us but you.”

Lorraine rubbed her temple, “Who’s after you and why?”

“Victoria Delvaux and The Brotherhood of The Sun.” John informed, and Lorraine couldn’t say she was surprised. She only gave him a short nod to continue, “My dad was a warlock, and my mom… .” His tone was pained at the mention of family and he swallowed a lump forming in his throat, “She was human. At first they came and tried to make a deal with my parents. For some reason they wanted Jonas' grimoire. Of course my parents refused, especially my dad.”

“From what John told me.” Sally started tightening her hold on his hand, “The Brotherhood of The Sun is a shady group with nothing but sinister intentions.”

“But why did they want your grimoire?” Lorraine asked with furrowed eyebrows. None of it made sense anymore. At first, she thought they were after her for The Vancsura’s grimoire, but now they want another one. *“Are they collecting them? Maybe more grimoires mean more power?”*

John shook his head, “I don’t know.” He started to look guilty and she could see tears forming in the corners of his eyes, “I…” He swallowed again, “I had to give it to them. I had to tell them where it was, and now that they don’t need me they have been haunting me.” He glanced at Sally once more, “That’s why they went after Sally.” He looked at Lorraine pleadingly, “That’s why I had to come to you; I heard them talking about you being a Vancsura, and we all know how strong the Vancsura line is.” At the doubtful look Lorraine gave him, a tear fell from his eyes and he dropped Sally’s hand. “At least protect her. She has nothing to do with any of this. She’s my only friend.”

Lorraine gave a small smile, but she didn’t think that they were only friends. The way they both looked at each other made her believe that their feelings ran deeper. The smile disappeared from her face when she realized that she might not be able to help. “I wish I can help. I really want to, but I’m not even sure I’m a Vancsura. I have never practiced magic, I don’t even think I have any.” John covered his face with his hands and she could see his shoulders trembling. Sally put a hand on his back and mumbled something under her breath, which Lorraine couldn’t hear. “But I can try to help you nonetheless.” Once the words left her mouth, John looked at her with a tear-stained face, with a flicker of hope in his eyes.

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Bates and Aiden were sitting in the parlor, hearing the endless screams of their hostage, Dave. They were not sure what Cedric was doing to him exactly, but they decided that it ought to be terrible. “This is taking forever.” Aiden commented with an impatient huff. Bates gave him a rebuking look, then turned away. The way Cedric had been torturing their hostage made it seem somehow personal to Bates. He could hear Cedric thoroughly enjoying it.

Bates' phone rang, pulling him out of his thoughts. He turned the phone to Aiden to show him it was Lorraine who was calling. When he answered she told him that John Jonas, the kid who went missing, is at his house with a friend of his called Sally. Bates remembered who John was immediately and he told her that they would be there right away. He rushed towards the basement with Aiden right after him. When they arrived they found Cedric inside the cell with Dave slumped on the floor in a pool of his own blood and intestines. Aiden scrunched his nose at the sight then turned away quickly.

Cedric turned to Bates with a gleeful grin, “Came to join the party?” Bates shook his head, and the grave look on his face made Cedric realize that something must have happened. He glanced at Dave with a tilted head, “Heal up, Dave. I'm coming back for you.” His taunting voice was met with nothing but a pained grunt from Dave. Once upstairs, Bates told Cedric what happened which made him furrow his eyebrows. He looked at his bloodied hands, “I’ll clean up and meet you outside.” He turned to Aiden, “One of us must guard our prisoner.” The implication was clear in his tone before he left.
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Lorraine had gone up to check on her mother, but she still refused to talk to her. So, Lorraine made her a sandwich and left it on her nightstand. “I understand you still don’t want to talk to me, but please eat something.” She wanted to tell Suzan how much she needed her at that moment. She wanted to tell her how she ended up in a situation bigger than her, beyond her comprehension. However, she knew she couldn’t. She realized Suzan wasn’t as strong as she had thought earlier. Her mother broke down just from facing vampires once, as traumatizing as the experience must have been, part of Lorraine couldn’t help but hope that her mother was slightly stronger than that. A faint, really small part of her, blamed her mother for being so weak, for not being able to help. She let out a soft sigh, and went downstairs for her guests and offered them sandwiches. “You must be starving.” She put on a smile and tried to be strong.

The two accepted the food gratefully and ten minutes later there was a knock on her door. John jumped from his seat, almost dropping the plate in his hand. Lorraine gave him a small smile. “It’s okay, they are the friends I told you about.” He nodded hesitantly, and she went to open the door. Cedric gave a look to Lorraine, and just seeing him had her heart skip a beat. He walked inside like he owned the place followed by Bates, who asked Lorraine how she was doing. “I’m fine.” He only gave her a nod, but he didn’t believe her.

When Sally's eyes fell on Cedric she stood up, “It’s you!”

Cedric ignored her, and Lorraine told them everything she was told. “I think they’re collecting the grimoires. I’m not sure why, but I think it makes sense.”

Bates nodded firmly, “More grimoires would mean more spells.”

“The Brotherhood of The Sun wouldn’t be interested in spells and magic; this isn’t the way they handle things.” Cedric started then paused for a minute with a thoughtful look on his face, “Unless they’re looking for something specific.”