To Love A Sociopath

tradition

Caroline knocked on the door, waiting patiently for the answer. Jo opened the door, her hand hovering over what seemed to be a bat or weapon near the door. When she realized it was the golden streak of happiness, she released the breath she was holding, chuckling nervously. "Sorry, after the whole Sybil and Kai situation, I have the kids find a hiding spot and I keep a weapon in sight when we have unexpected visitors."

Caroline beamed, "Hey Jo." 

"Hi, Caroline. Can I help you? I'm finishing up the contracts for the wedding before we can move on to proper preparations regarding the venues and cake testing. Now this is the fun part," Jo gushed, her cheeks glowing at the thought of her wedding day.

Caroline cocked her head slightly, the fact that Jo's Christmas wedding was coming up soon. "Oh. Right, totally, your wedding. Do you need help, I can definitely help."

Jo nodded, stepping back. "Of course, your fashion taste is amazing."

Caroline took an eager step forward but bounced back at the invisible force field at the door. Jo turned around quickly, eyes wide. "Oh, I forgot to mention that Ric signed over the house to a new human contractor. It was a long argument but he wants to control what vampires are allowed in the house."

Caroline nodded. "Right. So...am I an imminent danger to the house?"

Jo laughed heartedly, shaking her head in amusement. "Of course not, come in, come in," she beckoned the vampire in with warm arms, turning back to the living room. "So the papers are here and I've been struggling with calculating the final prices. I know, it's embarrassing that I'm asking a sixteen-year-old how to calculate math numbers but when I was young, we had an option between math and magic."

Caroline realized that Jo was as much of a talker as Kai. Only she was quicker in a nervous manner. Caroline glanced towards the stairs. "So the kids are upstairs?"

"It's late. I told them that they better rest for tomorrow, it'll be Christmas. Santa doesn't stand sloppy children, my mom said when I was a child. I went to sleep quick," Jo cackled, appearing with papers when Caroline did not follow her.

She rubbed her hands together in an apologetic manner. "I'm so sorry to bother you but I'm sort of craving something sweet."

Jo haltered, frozen for a moment before her smile returned. "Oh. Oh, no worries. I'll be right back with some cookies and brownies. The kids love it so much, I'm surprised they don't have cavities from sneaking baked goods into their rooms." Jo disappeared to the kitchen, mumbling to herself.

Caroline immediately flitted upstairs, pushing into the room. The walls were a swirl of baby pink and purple, spread around the room. There were two identical beds, positioned right in front of each other against the wall. Children's drawings of the family were hung on the walls, crayons rolling on the floor. Lizzie was giggling frantically and Josie poked her head out the closet they were in. "Mommy?"

Lizzie crawled out, recognizing the woman in front of her. "Aunt Carrie!" 

Caroline laughed when Lizzie jumped to her legs, never getting used to the nickname the child had given her. Josie followed after, nestling in between her legs. "Hey girls, how are you?"

"Good," they said at the same time.

Caroline crouched to their height, her smile wavering when she beamed at them. "I need you to do me a quick favour, okay? You don't need to be scared, you guys are the strongest girls I know."

In sync, both twins stared at each other, sharing some sort of language through their minds. Lizzie was the first to step back, Josie following after. "Do you want us to leave with you?"

Caroline nodded. She hoped Kai wouldn't hurt them but if the kids were insurance to make sure Bonnie wasn't harmed...Caroline straightened, holding her hands out. "Yes, let's go."

Both girls grabbed her hands and Caroline was moments about flitting away when something sucked against her skin. She winced, hissing at the pain that only grew. She quickly turned to the girls, realizing that their hands were pulling energy from her. 

Lizzie wasn't smiling but she didn't pull away. "We are sorry, Aunt Carrie. But mommy said that we can not let anybody but daddy and mommy take us out of the house without their permission." Her grammar was broken but the message was clear. The little girls knew how to protect themselves.

Caroline swayed on her feet, becoming exhausted and her skin was rippling with grey vines. The door burst open, Jo appearing with the phone on her ear. "What are you doing, girls?" They let go of Caroline immediately, taking a step back and remained silent. Jo turned to Caroline with an apologetic glare. "I'm so sorry, that's a new change we added. Ric's on the phone and he's wondering if you're here? I thought--" Too slow, Jo connected the dots. She dropped the phone, pushing the girls quickly back into a small compartment before she reached for the toy guitar. Caroline tried to run again but the musical instrument slammed against her head, dropping for the second time of the day. 

Jo panted in shock, later grabbing Caroline's leg so the twins don't peek and see a body in their room. She dragged her to their room before returning, opening the closet. 

"Hey, gir--" The compartment was empty. "Lizzie?" Jo reached into the room, patting around just in case they had used Caroline's magic to cloak themselves by accident. It was normal if they were frightened. "Josie?"

"Josette," the familiar masculine voice caused Jo to spin around. She couldn't believe her ears and she gasped when her father stood there.

"Dad?" She blinked a couple of times in denial. "What--what are you doing here?"

Joshua stood tall, in a vest and fancy pants. "I'm quite disappointed that you didn't tell me about your boyfriend, your fiancee, your children and your wedding. I'm your pops, you're my favorite child, I thought we were close."

Jo swallowed. "Where are they?" They both knew who she was referring to.

"It made it all even worse when I had to find out from Malachai, out of all people," he tsked, holding his hands out in front of him. "But don't worry, the twins are in good hands now. They no longer have to suffer from your recklessness."

"Dad..." Jo warned, feeling her heart thunder in her chest. "You don't need them--"

"You know I do. You know why I do. The coven needs to come back and my two lovely granddaughters will ensure that. I can only hope they haven't failed me as you have. Because that is what you did when you turned your back on us, running to the human world for shelter. Instead of standing with the Parkers, your family, to brave the demon that your brother now is." Joshua shook his head, taking steps back. "But this has to brief, pressing matters need to be met."

But before he could turn, Jo grabbed his arm in a pleading manner. "Dad, please. You don't need magic, the family can survive. If you do anything to try and push Kai off the leader podium, he'll only get angry and retaliate against us all."

He shoved her grip off and turned to her with an astonished glare. "You're still afraid of that fool? This is why you've always been the weaker twin, why you've always been afraid to merge. This is tradition, you have no right to take it away, Josette," Joshua spat before aiming once more to leave the room. 

Jo registered that pleading wasn't going to cut it. So she reached for another tool in the room, prepared to swing the child's chair at his head when a syringe pricked her neck. Jo's vision blurred and she fell to the floor, the chair tumbling out of her grasp. In her vision, a woman with golden straight her emerged. "Adaline," Jo rasped drowsily.

She waved. "Hey, niece. Time for a little Christmas trip back home."

~

"Still totally revolting to me."

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