The three of us continued walking together through the park. I was guiding us further away from the parking lot, bringing us in the direction of the creek and the trees.

Jessica was to my left and Tara on my right as we walked. And about twenty meters behind us, Daniel and Kathryn were following. They kept their distance but kept us in view.

Without stopping I asked Jess, "So will you cut the bullshit and just get to the truth? I don't know what to believe with you right now. Are you seriously struggling to hold the Family together? Or was all that a sob story to try drawing me and Tara and Reuben back here?"

She frowned at me, "What makes you think I've been lying?"

"You said you've been watching my parents' house since my dad died," I stated. "That was March seventh. It was September tenth when you emailed Reuben asking us to come back and help you. Seems to me like after waiting six months you got impatient and decided to try luring us back here directly."

Jess sighed, "It was coincidence, Samantha. Nothing more. And I wasn't the one who ordered your home watched, that came from the elders."

Tara finally spoke up, though she kept her voice down. "So what's the story Jessica? What's really going on?"

I didn't lead us into the woods yet, I didn't want the two vamps behind us to get uptight if they lost sight of us. But I kept us moving alongside the trees, so it remained an option.

Jessica sighed again as she replied to my girlfriend, "The elders want you two dead. And Reuben as well of course. They've ordered all three of you to be killed on sight, and they ordered us to monitor your parents' home incase you returned there."

She continued, "What I wrote in my email, what I told you on the phone, it's all true. The family is falling apart. We need help. And obviously I haven't carried out the order to kill you both."

Jess stopped walking and turned towards me and Tara and said, "So you're here now. Will you please help us? Or are you really just going to get back in your car and drive away? Are you going to turn your backs on your Family? Samantha we were your family for thirty-three years. You were with us almost twice as long as you were with those two humans."

Tara and I stopped as well. I looked back at Jessica and shook my head, "Twice as long doesn't mean fuck all Jess. At least those two humans loved me. Tara loves me. The Family treated me and Tara like shit. We were slaves here, and we were treated like shit by the other slaves."

Jessica shook her head slowly. She looked frustrated, disappointed. She asked, "Haven't you heard the phrase, 'blood is thicker than water'? Your blood is our blood Samantha. Like it or not, like us or not, you're still part of the Family."

I scoffed, "Of course I've heard the phrase. It's used all the time by overbearing demanding families who want to guilt or shame people into doing shit they know they shouldn't do. Did you know that's the shortened, bastardized version? The original phrase has a very different meaning."

The frown on the tall redhead's face told me she didn't know what I was referring to. Tara looked curious as well, she obviously wasn't familiar with it either.

"Blood of the covenant is thicker than water of the womb," I stated. "The bonds we deliberately choose and forge for ourselves are stronger and truer than something random and beyond our control like the family we're born into."

To make my point I wrapped my arm around Tara's shoulders, then added to Jess "The short bastardized version of the phrase warps and inverts the original meaning. Drop a few words, turn a truth into a lie. Speaking of lies, you read Isabelle's letter. You know she lied and manipulated me when she turned me. And I unknowingly perpetuated those lies when I turned Tara. We were betrayed from the very beginning, we owe the Family nothing."

From the look on Jessica's face, I figured she was trying to decide if she should argue about whether or not the full version of the phrase was valid, or maybe she wanted to disagree with my interpretation of it. In the end she let it go and returned to the topic at hand, but this time she tried a different approach.

"Very well," she sighed. "Forget the Family. I'm asking you as a friend and colleague Samantha, please help me. Don't do it for them, do it for me."

I was quiet for a few moments as I thought about this new request. My eyes wandered away from Jessica and I stared at the trees to my left while I considered it. I still had my arm around Tara, and she slipped hers around my waist.

While I was thinking, my girlfriend asked "What do the others know, Jess? Daniel, Kathryn, do they think Sam and I are criminals? Or have you told them the truth? And are they waiting for the order to execute us, or are they here to protect us from other vamps?"

Jessica replied, "They know the official orders are to kill the two of you on sight. The official story is along with Reuben, the three of you tricked and betrayed Isabelle, Molly, and James. That you killed the three of them, and Cynthia too. That is what Julian and Olivia have told the whole Family."

She continued, "Unofficially they don't believe it. They know it's impossible, that the three of you would never have a chance against three elders. I haven't told anyone what you shared with Reuben and myself, they wouldn't believe that either. All I've said to them is there's a lot more going on than our remaining elders want us to know, and that we can no longer afford to follow orders blindly and without question."

"What happened to the rest of the peacekeepers?" Tara asked. "And was there ever an explanation given, or was it just the same story about a 'vampire hunter' in town?"

Jess sighed, "There was never any official statement or explanation, but I'm sure Samantha's theory is correct. Carlos, Sally, Marcus, Anthony, and Gwen were probably lured into the livery and executed. After Carlos and Sally they stopped bothering with the Hunter pretence. They probably just incinerated the bodies as soon as they were finished. As for the rest, you know what happened to Cynthia. The three of you fled the city. That only left myself, Daniel, Kathryn, and Michael. I don't know what became of Michael. He simply vanished one night a few weeks after you left. He might have been one final victim of our remaining elders, or perhaps he decided to set out on his own."

I spoke up again and asked, "So are Daniel and Kathryn on board with your plan to get us to help? Or are they here to gun us down if we try and leave? I'm assuming they're both carrying silver-loaded rounds in their guns. Daniel's probably got a shotgun, Kathryn's got some kind of heavy-duty handgun."

"Very observant," Jessica replied. "And correct. Victor examined the elders' bodies and figured out what you did with silver dust in the bullets."

She added, "As for what they're going to do, that depends on what the two of you decide."

Tara scowled slightly, "So if we decide to help, they're on our side? If we try and leave, they're here to kill us?"

Jess shrugged, "Desperate times, desperate measures."

"I take it none of you have brought on reinforcements?" I asked with a frown. "Still no new turns?"

"None of us know how to do it right," Jessica admitted unhappily. "I know the basics of course, I still remember what it was like when I was turned? But I don't know all the details, and I don't want to risk repeating your mistakes Samantha."

Both Tara and I held our tongues, but I hugged her a little tighter. We both knew what happened to Tara was no mistake, but this wasn't the time or place to get into that conversation with Jess. And I didn't want to get roped into teaching them how to do turns. Or worse, I definitely didn't want to be forced to turn someone here just so they'd become more chattel for the Family.

Jessica added, "Anyways with only three of us left trying to keep the peace, we've simply been too busy to even think about taking the time to do that. Not to mention with the Family being so unstable right now it doesn't feel like a good time to bring anyone new in."

"Ok Jess," I sighed. "Give me a few minutes here to think things over, and discuss the situation with Tara. I'll tell you right now though, if we were to agree to stay and help there's two things that I absolutely will not budge on. One, we're not staying long-term. This would be a temporary situation then we're both returning to our new lives. Two, if we do this it'll be done our way. No arguments, no compromise on either of those points."

Jessica nodded slightly but didn't respond. I kept my arm around Tara as the two of us walked a few paces away, a little closer to the trees so we could talk in private.

"Are you seriously considering this?" my girlfriend asked quietly.

I shrugged as I replied just as softly, "I don't really want to, but I don't want to get into a fight with Jess. I don't want to have to kill her, or Daniel or Kathryn. And I don't want either of us to get hurt."

Tara sighed, "So what are we thinking? We're not staying, so you're not going to take over and be matriarch. That just leaves killing the last two elders, so Jessica can take over."

"Yeah," I nodded. "She said they're not that militant, not very effective. My guess is they're Slúag Marb, but there's something different about them. If they were normal vampire elders, I don't think there'd be any question of them being ineffective. I've never met Olivia but I have met Julian, and he didn't impress me. He sure couldn't dominate a roomful of vamps the way Isabelle did. So I think he must have been a Slúag Marb even back when I met him? I mean, if he is just a normal old vamp, he's pretty fucking useless."

Tara was quiet for a few moments, then asked "So how are we going to do this?"

"We'll get another hotel room, and we'll have to spend some time with Jessica," I replied. "We're not going to just storm the mansion right away, we need to come up with a proper plan. Ideally we need to get the two elders out in the open somewhere, so we can take them by surprise."

My girlfriend took a deep breath then sighed, "Ok. We should set a deadline though, like say two weeks? Just in case Jess gets the idea to drag her feet and stretch things out to keep us here."

I nodded, "Good thinking, I agree."

Tara looked around at the trees and the creek, then frowned "Why'd you bring us here anyways? I mean this park, and this spot in the park? Like Jess said, it's not a good spot for a fight if it came to that."

I grimaced and gestured vaguely at the trees to my left, "The trees all look the same, and everything looks different than it used to. I was trying to find the place where I died. It was around here somewhere. This is the park where Isabelle found me."

"Really?" she asked as her eyes widened. Then she frowned, "What was Isabelle doing here? I thought she used to patrol downtown, didn't you take over her area when she became matriarch?"

"Yeah I took over her turf. No idea what she was doing here that night," I shrugged. "I never really thought about it."

I turned around and motioned Jessica to join us.

"Well?" she asked as she approached. "What's the decision?"

I took a deep breath then gave her our decision, and our terms.

"We'll stay and help, but with a few caveats in addition to what I said earlier. One, we're not moving back to Toronto. We're helping you, then we're going home. And we're not bound by your rules while we're here, we're not part of the Family. Two, we do this our way. That means you, Daniel and Kathryn are working for me and Tara while we're here. Three, we have a deadline. You've got us for two weeks, then we're leaving whether the job's done or not. So no point dragging your feet to try and keep us around. And four, since we're not sticking around to run the Family, that means our help is to remove your useless elders so you can take over."

Jess stared at me for a few moments as all that sank in. It was hard to read her expression but I got the feeling she wasn't really prepared for all that. In the end, the question she asked had nothing to do with us helping her.

"Did you come here planning to hunt humans in our city?"

I replied calmly, "No. We fed before we left home, and we weren't planning to feed again until we got back. We didn't plan on hunting here at all. Seeing as you're insisting we stay, that plan will change."

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