Hero?

43

"She's been gone a year! Where the hell is she? Calum, your ex did she get the tracker put on her?" Damon demands. He figured that Trina was his best bet at finding Ana, but Ana figured that out as well.

"Ana won't let her go to the new headquarters. She figures that you and possibly others will use her. Trinity and Trudy always meet her at a public place. Every time we try to follow them Ana has us cut off and distracted until they are no longer under surveillance." Calum is still reeling from the divorce settlement Ana managed to get from him. He can never see Trina again.

"Dammit! has anyone figured out a way to find her?" The only reason Spider hasn't attacked Ana yet is because he's having no better luck at finding her than Damon is. Although Ana has been easily taking his men. Damon can only guess what's happening to them since they are never heard from again. He wonders if Ana has gotten any useful information out of them before she kills them or if she is just using them for stress relief.

"Well you could always invade her territory and let her take you." Calum says rather snidely. He's expecting the blow that hits him that time.

"Wouldn't work anyway. She doesn't touch our guys, we haven't done anything to her. Spider has and it won't be much longer before one of them is ready to take out the other."

"Make a meeting between us, we can meet anywhere she wants. I'll let her set all the details. She can just give me the time and place at the last minute. I need to talk to her." Damon is just about in tears at this point. He's got to see Ana and get her to listen to him. There's information she needs to know about. He's sure that she doesn't know some of it and it could mean her death if she doesn't find out.

There's a knock at the door and Gemma comes in with the snacks that they had ordered earlier. She goes silently about setting up the tray when Damon startles her by talking to her directly. "Gemma, is there any way that you can contact Ana? There is information that I need to give her that could save her life."

Gemma stands up and takes a long look at the man that has done so much for her. She's torn between her loyalty to him and her loyalty to Ana. "Her life truly is in danger and this isn't just another means of trying to track her?"

"Make no mistake, Gemma, I want her back here where she belongs, but no, the threat is real. I need to make a meeting with her." Damon is all but in tears at this point.

"I will try to contact her, but there is no guarantee. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. What message do you want me to relay if it does?" Gemma says hesitantly. She feels like this is betraying Ana somehow even though it's supposed to help her.

Damon goes to his desk and writes down what he wants her to say. "Tell her this exactly, she'll understand what you're saying. Hopefully she'll reply, if she does write it down exactly how she sends it no matter how crazy it might sound. Ana and I have worked out a code...please, do this for her Gemma."

Gemma hesitantly takes the paper with the weird nonsense sentence on it. "I'll send it tonight. If she replies, I'll bring it by tomorrow. If she doesn't reply by morning then she won't reply at all." Gemma says trying to make sure Damon doesn't get his hopes up. Bad things happen when Damon gets his hopes up and they aren't fulfilled.

"You're dismissed for the rest of the evening. Send that message as soon as you can and bring me the reply if there is any to my room if I'm not up yet in the morning." Damon orders and Gemma leaves looking at Damon every few steps until she's out of the study.

Damon watches Gemma go. She is one of a handful of people that need never worry about Damon hurting them no matter what happens, but she doesn't know that. Damon watching her makes her nervous and scared.

"Did you really have to free her, Damon? She was one mighty fine fu-" before his man could finish that sentence Damon hits him hard enough to knock him out.

"Any one else want to disrespect Ana's maid?" Damon's voice is dark and cold. The men all quickly shake their heads no and make busy getting food or somehow making it look like they are busy.

"Do you think that will work when nothing else has, Damon?" Calum asks anxiously. He knows what the information is and it's time sensitive.

"I hope so, Calum or when we do find her, we're liable to find a nasty mess of death."

"You really think Hawk's men will allow Spider and the new comer to hurt her?"

"I don't think so, but their combined numbers might be too much for Ana's men. I have no idea of the house and layout and what she has for defenses. But she's smart, I'm sure her defenses are even better than those here. In which case it might just be a matter of numbers. Do we know if she's been gaining any recruits since she's left?" Damon demands.

Calum shakes his head, "Things on her end are tight. Her people aren't talking to anyone. If she is recruiting it's done on the down low and completely off the radar. She wouldn't do massive recruiting. Ana never trusts people enough to do that, she does individual interviews and only takes those that she trusts. She doesn't take very many. I'm not sure she trusts anyone now." Calum makes sure that he doesn't look at Damon when he says that.

Damon closes his eyes at the words. There were three people Ana trusted completely and only one of them is by her side now. One is guarding his door and the other, she no longer trusts.

"Master Damon?" Gemma knocks on his door the next morning.

Damon hadn't been able to sleep, hoping that Ana would reply to his email, or rather Gemma's email. He races to the door and opens it.

"She replied and I copied it exactly as she wrote it. I hope it's the answer you are wishing for." Gemma hands him the paper and leaves. She doesn't want to be near him in case it isn't what he has hoped for.

Damon slowly opens the paper and reads what it says. He drops down to his knees with tears leaking from his eyes.