Chapter 9.

ANGELIQUE.

The children had all finished their dinner and Sharon had taken them upstairs for bath time and stories. Only Jenni remained and she wasn't going anywhere.

"Sweetheart, I'm not sure it's suitable for you to stay with me while I greet Gabriel tonight," I told her, sitting on a couch in the living room, surrounded by Bella, Chrissy and Rose.

"But I want to see!" Jenni declared. "You said I could."

"Well... no, I said you could..." I sighed and rubbed my forehead where a headache was building.

"Jenni," Bella called out, "When the boys shift back to human, they're usually naked. So, you might need to wait until Gabe has at least pulled some pants on. Yeah?"

Jenni's mouth dropped, then her cheeks colored red. "Oh... yes. Okay, that makes sense. Um, well. Can I see him as soon as possible?"

I glanced around the circle with the other girls. Our men generally took us straight to bed when they woke up, but as this was the first time Jenni would see Gabe after knowing the truth, I could probably bend our schedule a little.

"All right," I told her. "But you get ten minutes, then you're off to read."

"Yes! Thank you." Jenni said, throwing her arms around me.

I hugged her back, then heard a vibrating on the table.

"It's Anthony." Rose called out to me after shifting forward to read the screen. "He's calling you."

I grabbed up the phone and put him on speaker. "Anthony! The man of the hour..."

"They're coming!" Anthony yelled. "I was just on the phone to Bill and they got him. They're close. You all need to hide! Run! Now!"

I jumped to my feet, adrenaline zinging through my veins. "But the guys... they're still..."

"I know... you can't do anything for them now. Lock all the doors and hope the sun sets before the men find them."

"But..."

"Angelique! I'm on my way but I'll be too late to help any of you!" He sounded terrified which made tears spring to my eyes. "You need to act. Now! Go!"

I hung up the phone, spurred on by Anthony's screams. "Okay. Jenni... go up to Sharon and tell her you all need to hide. Take the children and go to the attic. Sit on the couches. Lock the inside of the latch and move something heavy over the lock. Okay? Go!"

Jenni's eyes filled with tears. "But mom..."

I grabbed her hands, hard. "No buts, Jenni. You are a brave, steady girl, and I am so proud of you. But my babies need you. Can you help me?"

She nodded, her lip quivering as tears slid down her face.

"Go!"

Jenni ran from the room and Bella came to me. "I'm not leaving Rafael."

"We need to lock everything." I said, already running towards the front door. "I've got the front. Bella take the back. Rose and Chrissy do the windows!"

I got to the front door to find my butler standing guard. "Giles. They're here. Bill's been hurt. We need to lock the house."

He nodded and moved faster than I've ever seen him, deadbolting the large double doors.

"Now go." I said. "Find the rest of the staff and hide in the basement. Lock yourselves in and don't come out."

"But what about you ma'am?"

"I'll be fine," I said, giving him a shove towards the servant's quarters. "They're not here for you. Go."

I double checked the front doors and the windows adjacent, then set off running to the back. Bella had gotten most of it locked up, but I adjusted the stubborn handle, and we got it closed together.

"Windows." I said to her and bolted to the next room. The residence was huge, over three thousand square feet. We needed to make it as hard as possible to get inside.

When I was done checking our side, Bella and I ran back to the kitchen.

Rose hurried into the room, white as a ghost. "I saw them. Moving in the garden. They're dressed in black and wearing machine guns."

I gulped, my hands trembling now.

Chrissy ran into the room, shaking like a leaf. "What do we do?"

"You can hide in the wine cellar," I said, the only remaining place. It was never meant to be a shelter, but I played there as a child and knew it well.

"What are you going to do?" Chrissy asked me.

I inhaled sharply, my chest tight with stress. "I'm going up to Gabe. I'm not leaving him."

"We need to call the police," Rose said, shivering again.

"Yes, do that." I said to her, "then go hide, I'll show you where the cellar is."

"I'm not hiding," Rose whispered to me as she dialed 911 and put her phone to her ear. "Nate will be awake in half an hour. We just have to hold them off until then... Hello, yes. We need the police. There are men trying to break into our house."

Rose walked away to speak on the phone, and I turned back to the others. Bella's jaw was set, and Chrissy held her head high, even though she was shaking.

"Do you have any guns in the house?" Bella asked me, her voice steady.

"Ahh..." I thought hard. "A couple of shot guns in my father's study. But that's it."

"That will have to do." Bella said. "I'll take one."

"I've got the other," I said, then grabbed Chrissy's hand. "I'll take you to the cellar."

"No!" she declared. "I'll go up to our room and bolt the door."

"Push any furniture you can against the door too." I said and squeezed her hand. "Go!"

Chrissy took off running and I hurried to the study. "I'm not sure what two shot guns can do."

I took them off the wall, unlocked the cabinet and pulled out the bullets. Rose picked one of them up, checked them, and started loading them.

"If we can get to the top of the stairs." She said, "Maybe we have a chance of stopping them coming up?"

I shivered a little but pushed the fear away. There would be time to panic later. For now, we had to act. Everyone's lives depended on it.

Rose stuck her head in the room. "I'm going upstairs to stay with Nate."

I grabbed one of the shotguns and followed her to the staircase. "Block the door the best you can."

Rose hugged me, tight, then we heard the crashing of the windows in the living room.

"Fuck." I muttered, "They're breaking in. Run!"

We bolted up the stairs. Rose ran to her room and Bella stood beside me. "How are we going to do this?" She asked, the signature chit chut sound of cocking the barrel making me jump.

"We need some cover." I said, glancing around. "They have machine guns."

There were heavy pillars standing at the top of stairs. "How about behind there?"

She nodded and ran towards one. I went to the other, pushing my back up against the pillar and holding the gun in my hands. My heart pounded like a steam train against my ribs. I forced myself to take some slow, steady breaths. I could do this, we both could. If we just held them off long enough for our men to shift, they had a chance of fighting back. And winning. They had no hope in their gargoyle forms.

My children were safe. The staff were hiding, and the police were on there way.

We could do this!

Men's voices echoed through the quiet of my home, as did the sounds of breaking glass and the shattered pieces crunching underfoot. I closed my eyes, forcing the sheer panic down. I wanted to run and scream. But I couldn't. My family needed me.

I forced myself to look across the landing to where Bella was standing, still pressed against the pillar. The lawyer turned librarian had nerves of steel.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs had my heart rate accelerating.

One, two, three.

I swung around the pillar with the gun loaded. I squeezed the trigger and fired at the two men in black trotting up the stairs, armed to the teeth. The first shot hit the man on the left, knocking him back.

I managed to get another shot off before the second man turned his gun on me. I ducked back behind the pillar as Bella's gun went off, once, twice, three times. Damn she was good with that gun.

There was a heavy thud and I sneaked my head around the pillar to see the two men, fallen and most likely dead, on my stairwell.

"Re-load." Bella whispered to me. I nodded, opening up the canister to put more rounds into the barrels.

There were shouts of alarm and more men ran our way, then the shooting started. The bullets from the machine guns sprayed the stairs and our columns like rain from a storm. The noise was deafening.

I dropped the gun and put both hands over my ears, glancing across at Bella as she clung to the column. We didn't have a chance against these guys.

Run.I mouthed at her. And she nodded.

We waited until the shooting stopped, then Bella bent her knees like a sprinter and bolted for the hallway. The shooting started again, puncturing the walls around her.

"It's just the woman." I heard one of the men say. "We aren't here for them."

I glanced down at my shotgun. Did I dare pick it up again? My arms were shaking now. I wouldn't be a good shot. So, instead of firing on them again and risking getting hit, I ran for it, making it down the hallway with ease compared to Bella's escape.

Our bedroom was on the right and I threw the door open, then slammed it shut again. The locks on these doors were heavy and old, as were the doors. I slid the top bolt into place, clicked the lock, then ran over to the armchair next to my bed.

It was heavier than I thought, but between pulling and pushing I managed to jam it up against the door just as someone on the other side wriggled the nob.

"Oh god." I jumped into the chair, weighing it down. The banging at the door got louder and the sun outside still shone too brightly.

Please.I begged to whatever deity was listening. Please save us.

"We only want the freaks." The man outside my door yelled through the wood. "Get out of the way and we'll leave you and the children unharmed."

I didn't believe him, and I couldn't risk it anyway. I didn't yell back but, in my heart, I heard the words I wanted to say anyway. No fucking way.

I pushed my feet into the carpet and leaned back, using all my weight to keep them out as long as possible. We just had to hold on a little longer.