51
The next few days passed in a blur as Timothy practically moved into the house and helped with all the women next door. A few of them were severely traumatized and Stella worked closely with them as did Nadia. She shared her own ordeal with them and through her they started trusting us enough to share information and write statements.
A few of the women had no lairs or families and they were integrated into our lair and Hannah found jobs for them in Aurora. The ones that were more traumatized were sent for counseling and Timothy worked closely with them. For some reason, the women really trusted him and we spent a lot of time piecing together the McIntyre network.
Baz had made Carson’s dragon submit much to his irritation and we still held him in the basement. I would deal with him later. We had over twenty statements and video footage of the women testifying about the things that were done to them.
They all knew Carson’s face and name and they mentioned several other names of men now all dead. The bloodied warehouse was all over the news and described as a horrific bloodbath. Hearts had been ripped out, necks slashes open, a part of the warehouse had burned for a few hours and there were no survivors. One police officer described the scene as something from a horror movie and that some of the victims had their throats torn out.
That was Timothy’s doing, he tore out their throats after drinking them dry to hide the evidence of his bite marks. The police had no leads and no fingerprints of suspects had been found. We were all working around the clock to build a case to present to the Elders especially because of their behaviour towards me and their refusal to help me at first.
Timothy had been a godsend, he had copied all their files from the computers in the office onto a hard drive and we spent even more time going through all their records. There were a few hidden files that he was trying to decode but so far none of his programs were working.
“Lucas!” Hannah said sharply.
“What?” I asked her as I rubbed a hand over my face. I hadn’t shaved in a few days and I was exhausted. I think we were all exhausted except Timothy who could function on an hour’s sleep for an entire week.
“You’ve avoided me long enough now. When are you going to talk to me about Rylee?” she asked me the third week we were back at the house.
“She left,” I said and turned my attention back to my laptop. Hannah slammed the laptop closed and glared at me.
“What did you do?” she asked me.
“I don’t have the energy to fight with you Hannah. She wants a divorce and raise her children in peace, I’m giving her what she wants,” I said.
“A divorce? Like a human divorce?” she asked me.
“Yes, she wants her children to have her surname and not be bound to mine because of marriage,” I said to her.
“What about your bond?” she asked me.
“We’ll learn to live with it. Yes I was wrong and I was an asshole but for once I’m going to do the right thing and give her what she wants,” I said.
“You’re making a mistake,” she said to me.
“Then I’ll see it as my penance,” I said and she slammed her hand down on the table in front of me.
“You didn’t listen to a word I said! I told you if she left she’s in danger!” she yelled at me.
“She doesn’t want to be found Hannah! Let it go!” I yelled back.
“No!” she yelled at me.
“Even if I do find her, she won’t come back with me, it’s over between us,” I said much calmer.
“I can find her,” Timothy said as he looked at me.
“No,” I said and stood up.
I left my office and locked my bedroom door behind me and sat down on the sofa and closed my eyes. I didn’t know what she expected me to do. I had enough things to worry about with the threats from the Elders because I turned Jennifer and the time consuming work building this case against Joseph McIntyre.
“It’s no use to hide from me! You have to come out some time!” Hannah yelled from the other side of my door.
“Give it a rest Hannah,” I said.
“Mom and Dad would be so disappointed in you right now!” she said loudly and my eyes blazed yellow as I pulled the door open.
“What did you just say to me?” I asked her angrily.
“I love you Lucas, but you’re the most hard headed person I’ve ever met in my life seconded by Rylee. I know you love each other. So let Timothy find her for you and make this right,” she said to me sadly.
“If you want to find her so badly then go find her, I’m respecting her wishes, she made it very clear that she never wants to see me again,” I said.
“I don’t blame her,” Hannah said and turned around and walked away from me.
That night I couldn’t sleep and Baz was restless too. He hadn’t left me again but he didn’t talk to me as much as before. I got a few hours’ sleep in between the rolling around and finally got out of bed at six am to shower and dress.
I found the Elders in the foyer as I went downstairs for breakfast and I looked at them as all the anger and discontent I felt for them came rushing to the surface. They didn’t seem pleased to be in my house either.
“Morning Sire Lucas,” Elder Gareth greeted me.
“What do you want?” I asked them.
“Your disrespectful nature is crossing a line Lucas,” Elder Peter said.
“I apologize,” I said and smiled, “what the fuck do you want Elders?”
The Elders shook their heads at me and Elder James opened the briefcase he carried with him and produced a set of documents which he handed it to me. I scanned it quickly and looked at them.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked them.
“Not at all Lucas,” Elder James said.
“Fifty lashes for turning my own member?” I asked shocked at their intent.
“You did so without approval, though I’m still not sure how you did it, but either you did or you consulted other Elders to do it,” Elder Peter said.
“And when would you like to give me these fifty lashes?” I asked them.
“How about tonight in your ceremonial hall at your club. We expect your lair to be present and after we’ve dealt with this issue we will discuss the disappearance of your sister,” Elder Gareth said.
“Sure, my lair will be present at The Drake at six pm tonight,” I said.
“Perhaps after this you will learn some respect and know your place,” Elder James said.
“Perhaps, now get the fuck out of my house,” I said and turned my back on them and walked into the dining room.
I was early and alone in the dining room and I heard them mutter to themselves and then leave my house. Those fifty lashes tonight would be extra hard because of my rudeness this morning. Martha popped her head into the dining room and brought me coffee.
“I thought I heard voices,” she said as she put the cup down in front of me.
“The Elders made an appearance,” I said.
“And I’m sure you welcomed them heartily and that’s why they left so suddenly,” she said as she looked at me.
“Of course, you know me, always welcoming and shit,” I said and she laughed suddenly.
“You’re going to get us all exiled one day,” she said with a smile.
“Martha, can I ask you a question?” I asked her.
“You just did dearie, but yes ask another one,” she said and sat down in the chair next to me as I smiled at her.
“What am I supposed to do about Rylee?” I asked her.
“That’s a very complicated question Lucas. You’re both so stubborn although nobody beats you when it comes to that. This unfortunately is something only you can answer. Are you willing to accept her completely with those two children or not? Everyone makes mistakes and you’re not innocent in this whole matter dearie. You’ve hurt her just as much as she hurt you if not more. How would you feel if she moved her ex-lover into your house and you had no say about it? Put yourself in her shoes, if she doesn’t remember making that mistake how much can you really blame her for the assumptions she made.”
“I know all this Martha,” I said to her.
“I know you do dearie but you’ll have to decide for yourself what type of man you really want to be and how you want to live the rest of your life,” she said and stood up from the table.
“You could’ve just said you don’t know,” I said loudly as she walked out of the dining room and I heard her chuckle.
“Morning,” Timothy said as he walked into the dining room looking sharp as ever.
“We need to present our case to the Elders tonight,” I said to him.
“Why so soon? I haven’t decoded the hidden files yet,” he said to me.
“Because they just delivered this,” I said and slid the documents over to him.
He read them taking his time and he gave me a pointed look once he was done. His expression was unreadable like most days and he was extremely good at hiding his emotions.
“Is this for real?” he asked me.
“Yes.”
“This is absurd,” he said.
“I know but I’ve given them more than enough reasons to hate me and I know secretly they’d exile me if I wasn’t so powerful,” I said to him.
“Sucks to be you,” he said and I laughed.
“So you’ll be ready tonight?” I asked him.
“What time and where?” he asked me.
“Six pm at The Drake,” I said.
“What’s happening tonight?” Preston asked as he joined us in the dining room followed by Rev and Hannah.
“Lucas is getting whipped by the Elders,” Timothy said.
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