90. Quad

[Sinclair]

“Four children? From your centuries of experimentation, you could create four viable children? So you also lied to the sisters when you told them that there were only three of them?” I asked after a few moments of silence, doing a double-take as even as the words left my lips, I found them near impossible to fathom.

“Do not be absurd, recreant. They are the children of Nancy, but not of any relation to me. After I saw what needed to be done with the first three, that is when I fathered the child.” Edward responded with a growl, eyeing Amber skeptically before looking back at me.

"What do you mean, when you saw what needed to be done? You just said three children survived before Mercy. How far apart were they?" Alaric asked Edward.

"Excuse me? Nancy exclaimed in a high-pitched squeal, then roared out in anger as she grabbed the bars of her cage and shook them, but to no great avail, as she didn't have a chance in hell of breaking through a cage made from an elemental, especially one made by Mercy.

"Shut up, Nancy. The adults are talking." Bast snapped, then smacked the bars of the cage, her eyes flashing crimson in warning as she glared at Nancy.

"Amber was the sixth to survive and only one of the four whom I believe to be still alive. The boy before her, well, he went a bit mad after a few decades of existence. The woman before the boy died two decades after being born. Amber was the first to survive over fifty years, and she was the roadmap I used to make Mercy possible. You think I would father a child before I knew it would survive?" Edward explained, laughing spitefully as if it was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard.

"You believe to be alive? You're telling me that you don't know where the other two are?" Bast asked him with a growl as she took a step forward and took Mercy's hand in her own, a small but ultimately effective gesture as Mercy seemed only seconds from losing her temperament.

"I don't, and I don't care. The only reason I cared about Amberlynn is I wanted to know how she found out about what I'd done. Once I met her, I decided that she would be of great use to me in the coming years. As it turns out, I was correct." Edward said, grinning as he motioned to Bast and Mercy, his blood-red eyes overflowing with laughter.

"So the other two, you don't know if they're alive or not?" Damien asked him with a sigh, narrowing his eyes as Edward began laughing spitefully.

"You aren't very good at listening, are you, vampire king? As I've already said. I do not know, and I do not care. Is there anything else you'd like to ask me after I've already answered it?"

"Consider yourself lucky, Edward. If it weren't for your daughters being here, I would choke you to death on your.-" I started to say, then cut myself off with a grin as I looked back at Damien, then at Alaric, raising an eyebrow as I opened my mouth and ran my tongue along the length of my fang, showing them precisely what I was thinking.

"Though I would very much love to see it, that is something you need to ask the sisters permission for," Damien responded after letting out a small laugh of amusement, then looked past me at Edward with a growl.

"Say, Edward, do you know what happens when a vampire's fang is torn out?" Mercy asked him as she took a few steps towards his cage, grabbing the bars as she watched him stand and walk closer, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I do not, but the thought sends a chill through my spine," Edward responded honestly, narrowing his eyes as he glared up at me, then looked back down at Mercy curiously.

"I guarantee you; it is not something you want to find out the hard way. Though, if I'm to be entirely honest, I'm very curious to see it myself." Mercy snickered softly as she reached through the bars of the cage and grabbed Edward's collar, yanking him closer, slamming his face into the bars of the cell. "You should have thought twice about fucking with us. Now, look at you. A lonely little vampire, with no power, at the mercy of the children you wanted to kill."

"At the mercy of Mercy." Ciaran snickered under his breath, giggling softly as he and Azeneth walked up behind Mercy, looking up at Edward curiously. "Did you really think that you could make hybrids this powerful, then kill them without issue? You're dumber than you look, and believe me when I say, you look pretty fucking dumb."

"We can read your mind, grandpa. We know that you're lying about the kids. So, you have two choices. Either be honest, or we're going to give you a little taste of what we can do." Azeneth said, cocking her head to the side as she put her leg through the bars of the cage and kicked Edward, causing him to crumble to the ground helplessly. The sound of his bone-shattering echoing out through my ears like an infernal chime.

"Okay! I know who the other two are, and they are still alive." Edward cried out as he leaned forward to nurse his shattered leg, then cried out in panic as Azeneth and Ciaran stepped through the bars of the cage, shrinking back from them in terror.

"It's okay," Ciaran said, holding his hands up to Bast and Damien, who'd both ran forward, telling them not to open the door to the cage. "We're okay, we promise."

"I didn't know the bars were big enough for them to fit through," Alaric mumbled as he watched the twins, shaking his head in disbelief.

"They aren't," Amber said, stepping to the side to show us that they had forced the bars wider so that they could step through.

"That means that they are more powerful than Mercy if they could get through borders that she put up." Hanna gasped out breathlessly; her golden eyes widened in shock as she crouched down to inspect the gaping hole in the cage.

"The other two kids. Who and where are they?" Azeneth asked Edward after clearing her throat, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared down at him.

"If you can read my mind, what is the point in asking?" Edward growled in response, groaning in pain as he snapped his leg straight, gasping out in pain as it healed.

“You don't ask the questions here, Edward; we do,” I responded with a sigh, rolling my eyes as I looked from him to the twins, waiting to see what they'd do next. *’Terrifying little things, the two of them. I can't help but wonder, is Maeve worried that our child will be like these twins?’*

"I truly and honestly do not know where they are. I lost sight of one of them a few decades ago when the recreants went further into hiding. One child, he goes by the name of Xander, was in your army. The girl, Cassandra, I have seen nothing of her in a long time. I know she is alive, but nothing more."

"If you haven't seen or heard anything about her in as long as you say, how do you know that she's still alive?" Mercy asked.

"She was alive as of ten years ago, and so I assume she is still alive, but not on this continent. I have not tried to find her, as I had no interest in doing so, but that is my assumption."

"He's telling the truth," Ciaran said after inspecting Edward's face for a few moments, sighing softly as he took Azeneth's house and led her back to the hole in the cage, stepping through after her before pushing the bars back into place.

"So much for staying back and remaining silent, huh?" Bast said as she took Azeneth's hand, then held her free hand out to Ciaran, pulling the twins back up the stairs and out of the basement.

"Nancy, you honestly did not know that I wasn't the only survivor?" Mercy asked her, narrowing her eyes as she glared at Nancy, inspecting her face as she studied her reactions.

"I swear, Mercy, I didn't know! If I had known that there were survivors, I never would have let him continue to experiment!" Nancy gasped, nodding as she grabbed the bars to her cage, her eyes swelling with tears as she looked past Mercy and to Amber. "I- I don't know how to apologize for what he did to you."

"This is not how I pictured this happening. For centuries, I've been looking for you, and I believed you tossed me to the street because I wasn't what you wanted. You didn't even know I existed." Amber responded in a voice just above a whisper, her golden eyes watery as she stepped up to the cage, gasping out in pain as she and Nancy watched each other.

"Amber, I'm going to go out on a limb and trust you because I think I can. Do not make me regret it." Mercy said after a moment of silence, looking back and forth between Nancy and Amber before sighing and waving her hand, dropping the cage surrounding Nancy.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Hanna gasped, furrowing her brows in confusion as she watched Mercy, her eyes darting back and forth from Mercy to where Nancy was staring wide-eyed at the space where the bars of her cage used to be.

"I'm letting Amber have time with the mother she never got to meet, Hanna. I know I said you and Sinclair should choose what to do with her, but for the time being, we could at least give her this." Mercy responded, then pointed to Amber and Nancy, motioning towards the basement steps, telling them to go upstairs.

"You're letting her out? What about me?" Edward roared out in anger, shaking the bars of his cage as if he could break them, as we all knew he couldn't.

"What about you, Edward? I'm not doing this for Nancy. I'm doing it for the sister you denied me of having." Mercy snorted, rolling her eyes as she walked towards the stairs to follow Amber back to the surface, stopping when she heard Edward's next words.

"What about feeding me? I have received nothing today, but every other day, a vampire feeds me."

"What about feeding you, huh?" Mercy repeated, looking back at me, then at Alaric, before raising an eyebrow as her eyes met Damien's.

"You're grounded. No dinner for you." Damien responded with a snicker, motioning for us to leave the basement as Edward roared out in anger, howling obscenities to our backs as we made our way back up the stairs.

"Is that a cat?" Alaric asked, looking around the foyer, smelling at the air as Damien slammed the basement door closed, trying to find the scent of the animal he'd caught.

"Yes, Nya," I responded with a smile, knowing the scent all too well, telling me that Maeve and Rafferty had returned and brought the small kitten with them.

"Oi, get back here, ya little fluff ball!" I heard Maeve yelling out from the library as the little kitten came running full speed towards me, sinking her claws into my leg as she climbed up into my arms. "Aye, I should have known," Maeve said as she came running into the foyer, throwing up her hands in a show of defeat when she saw Nya was nuzzling against me, rubbing the side of her face against my chest.

"Awe, it's so cute!" Azeneth squealed out as she stood on the tips of her toes as I bent down to allow her to pet the small kitten, grinning as she felt Nya purr. "I wonder how cats taste?"

"Don't you dare!" I gasped out, turning to the side to try to hide the kitten from Azeneth, growling when she tried to reach up to pet the kitten once more. "No more kitten for you."

"I bet Maeve was thinking the same thing after what you did to Amber," Ciaran snorted under his breath, then cried out in surprise, running out of the house as quickly as he could when Damien's eyes flashed red.

"You think you can outrun me?" Damien called after him, nodding as he took off his jacket and hung it on the coatrack, pausing to kiss Bast before running after Ciaran with a grin.

"Men," Mercy said with a smile as she watched Damien chasing Ciaran through the yard, then turned to look at Amber and Nancy, who were standing off to the side, unsure of what to do, other than wait to be told what to do.

"Hanna, did you also hear what Mercy and Alaric said when they stepped out of the house?" I asked her, shooing Azeneth away as she continued her futile attempts to try to take Nya from my arms.

"I did, and I've been giving it some thought," Hanna responded with a nod, letting out a long and drawn out-breath as she searched my eyes. "I won't kill her, as I understand it just as you do."

"Yeah? Good. Amber, we will not kill you, but we will not trust you with Nancy. I hope you understand?" Mercy said to Amber, motioning for Nancy to hold her hands out, waiting for Amber's agreement before continuing. "You can talk, but it will be within ear reach, and you aren't getting too far away."

"I didn't know we could do something like that, but it's good to know," Bast said with a laugh when she saw Mercy was creating a chain link made of dirt, cuffing Amber's left wrist and Nancy's right wrist together before creating a few hundred feet of chain, driving a stake into the center of the foyer ground.

"Neither did I, but you never know until you try." Mercy responded with a shrug as she yanked at the cuffs to test their strength, making sure Amber and Nancy could not break through it. "It should be long enough to get to the middle of the driveway, so you can at least take a brief walk as you converse."

"I know you didn't have to do this, Mercy, I-" Amber struggled out, biting her lip as she bit back tears, shaking her head softly. "You can kill me because I could die happy after this. Thank you so much."

"Huh? You're my sister, Amber. I can't let you die before I can get to know you yet!" Mercy gasped, pulling Amber into a half hug before pushing her and Nancy towards the front door, growling at Amber when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Mommy, Sinclair won't let me have the kitty!" Azeneth cried out, stomping her foot in anger after finally realizing that she wouldn't be able to trick me into giving her the kitten.

"Azzie, honey, you can't really blame him, can you? You said out loud that you wanted to know how her blood tasted. Do you really think Sinclair would let you kill his girlfriend's pet?"

"I won't kill her! I was only saying that I was curious, not that I would actually do it!" Azeneth responded, pouting as she turned her attention to Maeve, widening her eyes as she gazed up at Maeve, who groaned with a shake of her head.

"Nya barely even likes me, Azeneth. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't leave Sinclair's arms if you dangled a mouse in front of her." Maeve snorted with a shake of her head as she came to stand next to me, looking down at Nya curiously. "If our baby acts the same way this kitten does, we're going to have a problem."

"That would be by no fault of my own, I assure you," I said with a grin, chuckling as Maeve tried to take Nya, but took a step back with Nya hissed at her, trying to attack her hand. "I have never understood why, but animals and children have always seemed to like me."

"Well, that's not true. We're animals in a sense, and we don't like you," Kerr said as he and Octavia came into the foyer, carrying a pile of rabbits in their arms, followed by Sam and Samantha, who brought a few blood-filled bottles. "Should I let them loose in the house, or will you be taking them? Wait, where are Damien and Ciaran?"

"I do not know. Ciaran is probably still trying to outrun Damien, who's probably acting like he can't catch Ciaran, even though he definitely can." Bast said with a yawn, shrugging softly as she tossed Octavia the recorder she was holding.

"Why is Damien chasing Ciaran?" Octavia asked as she made a small pen out of dirt, motioning for Kerr to set the rabbits down, then created a lid so that they couldn't escape.

"He made an adult joke, then ran, so Damien chased after him."

"An adult joke? Wait, is that a kitten? Where did it come from?" Samantha asked as she smacked Octavia's arm, telling her to move before standing on the other side of me, looking at the sleeping kitten in my arms.

"It's Maeve's kitten, but Sinclair won't let anyone else hold her. Where is the mimic baby? I haven't seen him since earlier." Azeneth said as she looked around the foyer, seemingly noticing for the first time in hours that Samantha was no longer holding the baby.

"Asleep in the library. The same place he's been for the last few hours. You're just now noticing that Samantha's not holding him anymore?" Sam snorted softly in amusement, then went into the library, returning a few moments later with the mimic child.

"He hasn't made a sound in so long; I forgot," Azeneth said with a shrug as she walked over to Sam, smiling as he got down on one knee to let her see the toddler.

"He's a sleepy little thing, that is for sure. If I ever have a child, I can only hope it sleeps as long as this one does." Samantha responded as she walked over to Sam, smiling down at the bundle in his arms.

"That is very unlikely," I chuckled as I tried to set Nya down, but couldn't, as she sank her claws into my shirt and refused to let me do so. "Maeve, your kitten seems to have separation anxiety."

"Aye, that's because you've spoiled the lass. Coddled her from the moment you met her." Maeve said, shaking her head as she watched me try to pull Nya away from me.

"There is a difference in spoiling her and simply giving her the attention you neglected her of."

"I didn't neglect her. I just didn't hold her every time she wanted me to. I had to go to work, and all you did was hold her the entire time I was gone. It's your own fault she refuses to let you put her down."

"Well, there's no question about their parenting styles." Sam laughed out as he turned around, stepping to the side just as Damien walked back into the house, a shrieking Ciaran tossed over his shoulder.

"Sinclair, I believe Ciaran has something he wishes to say," Damien said as he crouched down, setting Ciaran on his feet, holding him with an arm around his waist to make sure he couldn't run away.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Ciaran said, then burst into a wriggling mass of giggles as Damien wrapped his arms around him, growling in his ear as he tickled under his arms. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"

"I don't think he meant that, do you?" Damien asked me, raising an eyebrow as he continued to tickle Ciaran, laughing as he fell to the ground, helplessly trying to feign off Damien's playful attacks.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe if he tried again, but without the goofy grin?" I taunted, biting my lip to stop myself from laughing as I watched Azeneth try to save her brother, but to no avail, as she only ran into a trap in which brought her into the same situation her brother was in, becoming a mass of giggles on the ground as Damien began tickling her as well.

"I'm sorry, I swear!" Ciaran cried out, gasping out through his laughter as he jumped to his feet and tried to run away, yelling to Bast to save him as Damien yanked him back.

Though I probably shouldn't have found it as funny as I did, the sight of Ciaran clawing at the floor as Damien pulled him back was a sight that I saw as nothing less than comical, making it incredibly hard to stop myself from bursting out in laughter.

"Huh? Oh, no, daddy will do the same thing to me if I tried." Bast said, holding up her hands as she shook her head, taking a few steps back as Damien turned to look at her. "Maybe aunt Mercy will- Oh, nope, she says no. It looks like you're on your own, then, huh?" Bast said, motioning to Mercy, who laughed out with a shake of her head.

"Uncle Sinclair, I'm sorry! I vow on my life!" Ciaran struggled out as he gasped for breath, kicking Damien in the chest so hard, I swear I could hear his breast bone-breaking from the force.

"Okay, I forgive you!" I exclaimed, my eyes going wide as I waited to see if Damien was okay, as the crushing of his breastbone was nearly deafening, and panic-inducing, to say the least. "Lucifer?"

"I'm alright, just got the wind knocked out of me. Good job, Ciaran!" He groaned, clearing his throat before beaming happily at Ciaran, nodding his head in approval as he sat back on his legs, watching the twins as they scrambled to their feet to escape while they could.

"You alright, babe? That sounded horrible." Bast said as she fell to her knees next to Damien, turning his face so that she could survey it.

"Yes, I'm alright. I will begin training those two in the morning, after a good night of rest." Damien said with a nod, looking back and forth between Ciaran and Azeneth, a smug grin playing at the corners of his lips. "I will have my revenge."

"Awe, what the hell!" The twins exclaimed in unison, then hung their heads as they sat on the stairs, looking around the group with matching smiles.

"Mercy, you didn't ask Edward and Nancy about Nancy being your biological mother," Alaric said after a few moments of silence, holding his hand out to Damien to help him to his feet, then doing the same with Bast.

"No, but I don't think it matters very much, does it? My entire life, I thought she was my mother, and I've only gone a few months thinking that was a lie. I'd rather just get on with my life and stop thinking about it in general. What difference does it really make, whether or not she's my biological mother?"

"I suppose you're correct. Where are Amber and Nancy?" Damien asked, looking around the foyer curiously.

"At the end of that chain," Samantha laughed out, pointing to the stake sticking out of the foyer floor.

"I didn't know you could do something like that, but it's good to know," Kerr said as he picked up the chain and tugged it softly, laughing when he heard Nancy and Amber yelling out in anger, then turned to wink at Octavia. "Pretty sturdy, too."

"Ew, no, stop!" Azeneth whined, putting her hands over her ears, letting out a theatrical gag as if it was the most horrific thing she'd ever witnessed.

"I am regretting my invitation for us to share a household for the night." Damien snorted, closing his eyes as he shook his head, then motioned towards the kitchen. "I know the four of you wish to listen to the recording. Since our dinner was interrupted, and this is our last night together, why don't we have dessert?"

"You say it's our last night like we'll never see each other again, Lucifer." I grinned as I pulled Nya's claws out of my shirt, setting her on the ground before running across the room, but to no great use, as the moment she saw me, she began running towards me as fast as her legs could carry her, meowing loudly.

"Sinclair's being tormented by a little furball. A sight I did not know would be so endlessly hilarious." Alaric laughed, crossing his arms over his chest, chuckling as the group watched me continually moving around the room to avoid the endless attempts by the kitten who didn't seem to ever tire of chasing after me.

"Maeve, a bit of help?" I asked her as I walked up the stairs past the twins, hoping they would try to catch Nya, growling at them as they moved out of the way, allowing the kitten to run past them.

"See what coddling gets you?" Maeve responded with a grin, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched Nya struggle to climb up the stairs. "Alright, lass, you've had your fun. Come here, now, come on." She said after a few moments, crouching down as the kitten tumbled down the stairs and galloped towards her.

"I've never seen a cat that actually came when it was called. Valerie had a cat, and that damned thing did nothing but stare at me when I called it." Sam said, watching as Maeve scooped Nya into her arms, then set her down in the pen with the rabbits, giggling as Nya began tormenting the rabbits, biting at their tails and nibbling at their ears playfully.

"Aye, Nya's a good lass when she wants to be, but I swear she thinks she's a dog."

"Nya, doesn't that mean meow in Japanese?" Samantha asked, furrowing her brows in confusion as we made our way into the kitchen, where Damien turned on the oven and pulled a pie out of the refrigerator.

"Aye, bang on." Maeve agreed with a nod as she yawned and sat at the table next to me, resting her head on my shoulder with a sigh.

"You named your cat meow?" Bast giggled, shaking her head in disbelief when Maeve nodded her agreement. "Wait, where is Rafferty?"

"On the roof," I responded, pointing to the ceiling as I put an arm around Maeve's waist, pulling her against me, resting my cheek on the top of her head. "He does not seem to enjoy being on the ground with the rest of us, which isn't a surprise, seeing as how he is used to taking to the sky."

"No offense to any of you, but I'm so excited to work full time as an elder. I know you're going to say that I'll tire of it, and I know you're right, but I haven't had the time to tire of it yet." Mercy said, grinning happily as she leaned back in her seat, looking over at Samantha, who shared wholeheartedly in her excitement.

"No, quite the opposite. I've been doing it for quite a while now, and I still find myself surprised by some of the things we see in this job. I've actually been considering going back into the field, to show Bast the elders' job as well, but-" Damien said, but stopped himself when Bast gasped out in happiness.

"Yes, let's do it! In a few weeks, the twins will look old enough to be adults, and they could pass as being in their twenties, so let's do it!" Bast grinned, turning to look at the twins, who nodded their agreement without a second of hesitation.

"Yes! Oh, daddy, please! We want to learn how to do your job, too!" Azeneth said, taking Ciaran's hand as they gazed up at Damien, their heartbeats speeding up as they waited for his response.

"Very well. It will take a few weeks to have new identities and credentials set up for the four of us. By then, the twins would be old enough to pass as new agents." Damien said, smiling as he walked to the table to stand behind Bast, leaning over to kiss her cheek before looking up at the twins. "A family that runs a continent together stays together."