The next few days were the happiest Charles or Rebecca could ever remember. Charles could not believe that he had wasted so long not being a part of this family.
The day dawned bright and blue and Charles wrapped his arms tighter around Rebecca's sleeping body. He kissed her hair and she woke up and looked up at him with a sleepy smile.
"Good morning." he said. She curled up closer to him, wrapping her leg over his.
"Very good morning." she said.
"I can't help but notice that there is no one yelling this morning." Charles said. Rebecca listened for a moment and smiled.
"Bethany, Greg, Jordan and Kent all are gone to Rome I think. Jordan said she wanted to take a romantic trip before she starts waddling." Charles shook his head but smiled a happy smile.
"I missed out on so much with Kaylee, Kayleb and Laney but I'm going to make up for it with this one." he said. Rebecca kissed him gently.
"I know you will. Sometimes I still feel like I'm dreaming when I wake up in your arms. I never thought this would happen for us." Charles kissed her passionately.
"You're not dreaming." he assured her.
"Prove it." she said. "Make love to me again." Charles growled and happily accepted the challenge.
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They walked downstairs an hour later and found Raquel, Evan, Joey, Lane, Angela and Jake in the kitchen.
"Where are the kids?" Rebecca asked as she watched Charles walk over and fill the tea pot with water and set it on to boil.
"Laney, was dying to go out and play so Kaylee and Kayleb took her for a walk in the woods." Angela said taking a sip of her coffee.
"Jake, I was thinking the other day about how long you all have been living in this house.. When do you plan on moving somewhere new? Aren't the mortals starting to get suspicious about everyone's agelessness?" Charles asked sitting down across from his son. Jake wrapped his arms tighter around Angela in his lap.
"If anyone has noticed they haven't said anything." he said. Lane winked.
"That's the beauty of this day and time. Plastic surgery and botox are the new big thing. People don't expect you to get old. We would stand out more if we starting getting wrinkles and gray hair." he said.
"Besides I figure since the twins are already in high school we might as well stay long enough for them to finish and then we'll figure out where we want to go." Jake added. Charles nodded.
"I wasn't trying to question your judgment. I can see that you've done a good job keeping the family together. I will admit at first I questioned the wisdom of letting Angela and Joey into the family. Two mortal born women..." Charles paused at the sound of Jakes low growl. "But I was wrong." he added quickly. "You have done a good job."
"Jake hasn't had to work nearly as hard to keep us safe the last few years. Now that no one is out making enemies on a daily basis we all have much more peaceful lives." Raquel said and Charles could see the warning in her eyes. He sighed.
"I have already promised everyone that the man I used to be is gone. I won't hunt anymore and I won't put my family in danger." Rebecca wrapped her arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek.
"I'm sure Raquel knows that. She just worries about her kids." she said gently.
"I wonder how long they are going to be gone." Lane said looking out the window at the gathering storm clouds.. "It's starting to look pretty nasty out there."
(Kids it's time to start heading back this way.) Evan said even though he knew they couldn't respond. Not until an immortal turned sixteen did they gain the full strength of their immortal powers. They couldn't telecommunicate over long distances or change to wolves but they would be able to hear him.
The adults waited and made small talk for a while. Angela stood and began pacing the kitchen. Jake stood and grabbed her shoulders to hold her still.
"Do you want me to go look for them?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No, I'm just worrying too much. You know how I am." Just then Lane cursed out loud and ran out the door. Everyone followed him out into the driving snow and howling icy wind.
Kayleb had Kaylee in his arms as he stumbled bloody and beaten out of the woods. Evan took Kaylee from his arms and everyone followed him into the house.
"What happened and where is Laney?" Jake demanded.
"There was a vamp. He attacked us. He took Laney. I tried to stop him uncle Jake but he was just too strong." Kayleb said his shame at his failure clearly visible on his face.
Evan laid Kaylee on the table. She was unconscious and bleeding freely from a wound in her stomach. She was too young for her body to be able to heal itself quickly. Her body was barely capable of healing any better than a mortal would be.
"Angela help her....." Raquel said clinging to Kaylee's arm as desperate tears ran down her face. Angela forced her own fears for Laney from her mind and laid her hands on Kaylee's stomach. She focused all her energy and the wound healed beneath her palms. She pulled away and Charles saw she looked pale and scared to death but strong.
"Kayleb, where is my daughter?" Angela demanded. Kayleb shrugged as tears ran down his cheeks.
"I don't know! He grabbed her and ran off. I knew Kaylee would die if I didn't get her back here." Jake cursed and grabbed Kayleb's arm roughly.
"Ran off? Not dashed?" he asked.
"No he ran. He said something about getting revenge on grandpa for killing three of his friends recently...." Charles was certain that fire filled Jakes' eyes as he turned on him.
"Do you know what he's talking about?" Jake demanded. Charles thought back to the night that seemed so much longer than two weeks ago. He nodded. Jake growled.
"If my daughter dies because you led that blood sucking son of a bitch here I'll...." Angela slapped Jakes arm to shut him up and he looked at her with shock.
"Fight with him later!" she shouted. "Bring my daughter back to me!" Jake turned without saying a word and went down the hall to the door that led to the basement where he and his father had kept their office. Charles and Lane followed him down into the dusty room. Jake grabbed several wooden stakes and put them in his pants and then tossed some to Lane and Charles.
"Son, I'm sorry...." Charles said. Jake held up his hand.
"Not as sorry as you'll be if something happens to my daughter." he said and ran back up the steps.
"Let us go with you." Angela and Joey said at the same time as three of them came back into the kitchen. Jake growled and shook his head.
"Hell no. I am not going to have to worry about whether or not you're safe! You stay here!" Jake said grabbing Angela's arm and forcing her to sit in a chair at the table. Angela nodded. She had never seen Jake this angry before and she didn't want to distract him from what he needed to do.
"Well I'm coming." Joey said. Lane shook his head.
"Nope."
"Why not?" she asked. Lane growled then and forced her into the chair next to Angela.
"Because I love you dammit and I want you to be here safe." Joey blew out an impatient breath but nodded.
"I'll come." Evan said stepping away from his mate and kids. Jake shook his head.
"Stay with your family, Evan." he said. And then he was out the door with Charles and Lane on his heels.
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Rebecca was inside with Evan, Raquel and the kids while Joey and Angela were outside in the cold wind and snow and watching desperately for any sign of the men or Laney.
"I wonder if they've found her yet?" Angela said as she paced back and forth holding tightly to her wooden stake.
"Do you want me to contact Lane?" Joey asked. She had her arms crossed tightly over her small chest her wooden stake sticking out of the waistband of her pants.
"No we don't want to distract them." Angela replied.
"Oh shit. Angela, we have company." Joey said as a vampire stepped out of the woods and began walking toward them.
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"I can smell the bloodsucking son of a bitch. We have to be getting close." Jake said quietly. He could smell his daughter as well. He could smell her fear and her pain but at least she still seemed to be alive.
(Daddies coming for you Laney.) he said so only his beautiful daughter would be able to hear him.. He hoped that hearing his voice would help to soothe her.
"Vamps... Ugh I hate vamps! No better than nasty ass leaches." Lane said matter of factly.
"I can smell him." Charles said. "He's an old vamp. Might be a challenge."
"What possessed you to mess with this guy and his buddies anyway?" Lane asked. Charles shrugged.
"I was slightly intoxicated." he replied.
"That's usually my line." Lane said but there was no humor in his voice and no one laughed. Charles kept thinking about Laney. Her innocence and the way she liked to throw her arms around his neck, covering his face with her black curls. If something happened to her he would never forgive himself and he wouldn't fight back when Jake came gunning for revenge.
"There they are." Jake said stopping suddenly. The three men looked ahead. There was a small clearing and the vamp was crouched next to Laney who was lying curled up in the snow.
"There is your family now, my sweet. I'll have to deal with them before I get back to you." the vamp said standing up and looking at them. The three of them walked into the clearing.
"You won't live long enough to get back to my daughter." Jake said matter-of-factly .The vamp laughed.
"You should have left me and my friends alone." he said looking at Charles. Jake didn't wait to hear more. He lunged at the vamp who rolled out of the way.
"Not fast enough, dog." the vamp said. Jake swung his fist and caught the vamp hard on the jaw. The vamps head whipped back and he hissed as he spit out a mouthful of blood. He lunged at Jake who caught him in mid air and the two of them fell to the ground becoming a tangle of fists as they wrestled around.
Charles pulled a stake from his pants and jumped forward but the vamp freed himself from Jake and jumped out of the way of Charles. Lane saw him making a move for Laney and quickly jumped over the top of his niece.
"Don't even think about it you damn overgrown tick." Lane said.
"Tick?" the vamp asked tilting his head to the side. "That's not very nice."
"If you think I'm rude then you'll really hate my brother." Lane said. The vamp turned just in time to feel Jake's hand close around his throat.
"Any last words before I kill you?" Jake asked.
"Ask your father how many of us he left alive that night." the vamp said. Jake growled and then twisted his hands and ripped the vamps head from his shoulders. As all that was left of the vamp blew away on the wind, Lane took off his coat and wrapped it around Laney, lifting her into his arms.
"Uncle Lane?" she asked in a scared little voice.
"I'm right here, gorgeous." Lane said kissing her tiny forehead.
"Is my daddy ok?" she asked.
"Daddy is right here baby girl." Jake replied then he turned to Charles.
"What the hell was that vamp talking about? How many of them were there?"
"Two. Jake there were two." Charles said. All three men looked at each other with different degrees of horror.
"Oh shit, the women!" Lane said. Without a word they dashed back to the woods next to the house and found Angela and Joey battling the second vamp.
Angela's fist plowed hard into the vamps face and his head snapped back.
"Stupid bitch." he yelled as he started for her. Charles was about to run to help but Jake stopped him.
"She can take care of herself." he said. Charles looked over at Jake but he didn't seem worried at all niether did Lane.
"Poor vamp.... " Lane said with a shake of his head.
Angela ducked and the vamp missed her. She caught him around the waist and tossed him over her shoulder. He landed on his back on the ground.
Joey kicked him hard in the face with her combat boot and then planted her foot firmly on his chest as he tried to sit up Angela picked her wooden stake up out of the snow where the vamp had thrown it earlier and walked toward him.
Charles was surprised to see the panic on the vamps face as Angela and Joey both stood over him and he wondered how Joey was holding down the vamp with only her foot.
"Where the hell is my daughter, you fucking, blood sucking, son of a bitch." Angela demanded. Charles looked over at Jake.
"Quite a potty mouth your mate has got." he said. Jake just smiled proudly.
"My brother has her." the vamp replied. "She's probably already dead."
"For your brothers sake I hope you're wrong." Angela said and then before the vamp could fight back or reply she came down on him and drove the stake deep into his heart.
Angela saw Lane carrying Laney and ran to him. She took Laney into her arms as tears began to run down her face.
"Oh my baby girl are you ok?" she asked. Laney nodded and kissed her cheek.
"He was mean." she said. Angela saw the bruise on her daughters cheek and knew the vamp must have punched her. She touched the wound and willed it to heal.
"Let's get in out of this cold." Jake said wrapping his arms tight around Angela and breathing in her scent.
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"Why didn't you call for help?" Rebecca demanded of Angela and Joey. Laney, Kayleb and Kaylee were all upstairs in their rooms. Evan and Raquel were upstairs keeping vigil by Kaylee's bed and waiting for her to wake up, though Angela had assured them that she would be fine she just needed to rest.
"It wasn't anything we couldn't handle." Joey said matter of factly as she buried herself in Lanes' chest.
"How did you manage to hold that vamp down?" Charles asked Joey.
"Angela got healing and I got strength." she replied. Charles looked over at Angela and Jake. Jake was holding ice against her bruised and swollen knuckles and kissing the cuts on her cheek where the vamp had scratched her before the men had shown up.
"Doesn't seem fair you can't heal yourself." Charles said to her. She nodded.
"I know." she said. "But I'll be ok.. I'm feeling better already."
"You'd be fine by now if you hadn't used so much energy to get rid of all of our bumps and bruises." Jake scolded her. She just smiled and laid her head on his chest.
"Dad is that all of them? Are you sure there were only two?" Lane asked. Charles nodded and buried his face in his hands. Rebecca ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." he said. Jake shook his head.
"No I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted the way I did with you. It could have just as easily been someone I'd pissed off in the past coming back after us. As a matter of fact it has been several times." he said.
"All that matters is that everyone is ok." Rebecca said.
"Are you all sure you still want me around? I can't promise there aren't more crazy people like that out there wanting revenge on me." Charles said looking at both his sons. Jake and Lane looked at each other and then back at their father.
"You are our father. Of course we want you here." Jake said. "This is your home."
"Besides." Lane added. "It does Jake good to have a good fight every now and then. Keeps him young and helps him relieve stress."
"This family is the reason I have stress." Jake said. Lane smiled.
"And I find it incredibly sexy to watch my mate and my sister in law kick ass....." Lane said. Jake growled and pulled Angela tight against him.
"My mate has kicked entirely too much ass the last few years. I think that if she has to do too much more of it my damn heart will give out."
"You forget, Jake, that I can pick up on what you're feeling and you found it to be damn sexy too." Angela said matter-of-factly. Jake chuckled and kissed her hair.
"That doesn't mean I ever want to see it again." he said.
"Should we call the rest of the kids back home?" Charles asked Rebecca. She shook her head.
"No. Let them have a good time. We're all fine." she said. Charles stood then and walked out into the living room. Everyone looked at Rebecca but she just shrugged and followed her mate.
"Are you ok?" she asked him. He turned to face her and shook his head.
"What if Laney had died, Rebecca? What if Kaylee or Kayleb had died? What if I'd been responsible for something like that?" Rebecca laid her hand on his cheek.
"Charles, everyone is going to be fine." she said. He nodded.
"This time...."
"This time is all that matters." Rebecca said. "We can't worry about what's going to happen in the future because we can't predict it and we can't worry about what's happened in the past because we can't change it." she said. He wrapped his arms tight around her.
"I love you, Beccs. I'm lucky to have you." he said. She nodded.
"Yes you are. Maybe this time you won't forget it." she said. He kissed her nose and smiled down at her.
"Never again, Beccs... Never again."