This is the final chapter from Derrick's point of view. I don't know if I'll break from Greg's POV again in the future, but I might do some alternate POV chapters to fill in some blanks in the past, if I hit another block.

Sorry for the delays, but real life has pulled me away more than I expected. I've also been struggling with unifying the two lines. I hope I've done a smooth enough transition.

Your feedback is taken to heart at Jst4fun2nyt@gmail.com.

The sex isn't a major part of my story, nor is it graphic. If you're looking for masturbation fodder, look elsewhere. There will be many slow times in this story, just like there are in life. Other times, things will fly at you too fast. There will be boring days, and exciting days. It's just how it's flowing.

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Chapter 81

Derrick

Brandon and Morgan both dove right into getting in trouble. They led large groups of volunteers who continued to dig through the wreckage that used to be our home. Grace had set up several video cameras, to record the debris so we knew where it came from, and she had instructed Craig on how to document each load as the trucks hauled it to a field behind Todd and Lisa's house. We all stopped for a moment and watched as Dad's brand-new Silverado was lifted into the back of a dump truck to be carted off as one more load of trash.

The garage area was now cleared, and with the lack of damage to the lower floor, Grace agreed with me when I said I thought the explosion had to have been in the kitchen, family room, or Dad's bedroom. Brandon still thought it could have been a rocket propelled grenade, or even a bomb hidden upstairs. Whenever we argued this, Morgan just stayed silent, looking off in the distance. One time, Brandon asked him about it and he just shrugged and said "I don't know, but that doesn't feel right."

I still had no clue how to use Morgan's gift to help us, and sadly, he had no clue either. There were times he was certain of things, and when he was certain, so were we. The first certainty that I agreed with, was his insistence that my sisters would become adults. He didn't act like it might happen, he acted like it had already happened, and was fact. That was enough for me to trust him on that issue. The next time he was certain about something, part of me was terrified that he was wrong, but I followed my gut, and ignored my common sense.

Shortly after Dad had given me his ultimatum, Morgan stood up with a look of terror on his face and said "Derrick! That evil man from the funeral is at Dad's castle!"

We all stopped working as I rushed to his side "What do you mean? Prince Markov? The one that tried to attack Dad?"

"Yeah, that's him. He's at the castle, now, I can see him."

That statement alone had me shocked. None of us knew where Dad and Papa had gone. All we knew was they had flown away in a rush, on a plane we knew nothing about, to a destination that no one shared with us. Morgan hadn't mentioned this castle to us at all, until now. Was Dad a prisoner? Oh, no, he said Dad's castle, so Igor might be attacking? Or a prisoner of Dad? I reached in my pocket to pull out my phone so I could warn someone, but Morgan stopped me.

"Don't call, it will mess things up."

"What good are your visions if I can't warn someone, Morgan? That seems like a waste."

"I dunno, but I know you can't call, it will wreck everything."

"Well, at least tell me if they're safe or not."

"Dunno that either, I see that bad Prince Igor guy, and I see Dad, but I don't see much else. Papa's there, and Opa, and... the castle's really big Derrick, bigger than this house was. But I'm sure that you can't call him. Not now, not yet."

I looked to Brandon, but he looked as confused as I felt. I turned back to Morgan as I put my phone away "You'll tell me when it's ok to call? Promise me buddy?"

Morgan nodded, then he went back to digging through what had been our family room. He didn't make another sound for an hour, then I noticed him standing still, staring off into the night. His arms were wrapped around what looked like the quilt Mom liked to wrap around her and the girls when they fed.

Unlike the first time, I simply stood and called to him "What's up buddy?"

He turned and we saw the tears rolling down his cheeks as he said "She's alive."

Brandon moved to his side asking "Who's alive, buddy? Mom?"

Morgan nodded, then said "I picked up her quilt and I saw her, holding a boy pup."

Brandon and I looked at each other as the tears started. There was no doubt we trusted Morgan's visions, and that meant there is no doubt that our mom is alive. After what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a minute, Brandon nodded his head, and we all quietly went back to work.

It was just before dawn when I noticed it. I was digging through the debris where the conference room had been, when I realized there was something odd. I told everyone to clear away and called Brandon over to show him what I'd found.

"Am I seeing things, or are those rocks floating?" I asked him, as I pointed to what I'd found.

He did a double take, then got on his knees and moved one of the rocks. He lifted it with no trouble, then dropped it, and it stopped just short of hitting the concrete below it. I knelt beside him, moved the rock, and when I put my hand in the empty space, I couldn't reach the concrete. There was a force field that kept my fingers from touching the concrete. It felt warm, and was gently pulsing. I turned to ask Brandon what he thought, but was interrupted by Grace yelling my name.

I stood, and when she saw me, she shouted "Meet me in the command center. The labs think they've found something on the video."

I turned to Brandon and said "Dad thinks that Frederick and Grand-pére were in this safe room, right?" He nodded, so I went on "Just keep digging. We need to expose an entrance. Common sense says it would be under Dad's office so focus on that end. Don't mention the rest of this to anyone, not yet. If this means what I think it does, we might have a problem."

Brandon gave me a funny look, then nodded, and turned to continue directing the digging while I turned and headed to meet Grace. Jamie had been a few feet away as I talked to Brandon, and when I turned, he and Stephanie headed to join me. Grace stopped us outside the trailer.

"Alpha Warnick, the FBI has determined the source of the explosion, but we can not share our determination with you."

"If you can't tell me the cause, why the hell are you even here?" I shouted, before Jamie and Stephanie both pulled on my shoulders, silently telling me to calm down. I took a deep breath and said "I'm sorry, Grace. Please explain why you can't share it with me?"

Grace looked embarrassed as she said "I'm sorry Derrick, I worded that poorly. This is an unusual situation and I'm trying to adjust. In the past, vampires were always US citizens, so we had jurisdiction. Now that your father has taken the throne, our role is purely advisory. I can show you everything we've found, but I am not allowed to make any deductions for you, or share the conclusions of our experts. If you come to the same conclusion as our experts, on your own, then I am allowed to agree. Please believe me when I say, I wish I could just lay it out for you, I really do."

I nodded and said "I'm going to assume your people have made their decisions? They feel they're sure they know what caused this?" She nodded, so I asked "And it should be obvious to me, from what you're going to show me?"

"They had made up their minds about an hour ago, but with the restrictions, I wanted it to be very clear. I feel you will see it all quite easily."

"And are you allowed to answer questions? Or just show him lab reports and such?" Steph asked.

"I can explain lab reports, but I can't expand on their possible meaning." Grace said, then turned to me and said "I think, once you see what we have, you'll come to the same conclusion."

We followed her inside the trailer. I looked at Ricky and said "I need the room, Chief. Everyone, take a well-deserved break. Get some food, some blood, and you can return to work shortly."

He nodded, and quickly escorted his team out, leaving my mates, and I standing with Grace. She opened her laptop and entered her login. The first thing she showed me looked like an autopsy report. I saw Sarah's name at the top, and as I read the medical explanations of damage her body had taken, I couldn't help the tears that fell. One thing stood out, so I pointed at the screen.

"I'm assuming her body being covered in this should direct me to look at other things?"

"I can't answer that, Alpha. I'm sorry, it would be leading you."

I nodded and asked "What else do you have for me?"

"We got some video from the internal security cameras. Because I can't guide you, I can only show you the views we feel are important. I can't stop, slow, or rewind on my own." Grace said, as she pulled up another file.

We all focused on the screen, as we watched video from what had been our home roughly 30 hours ago. We watched Sarah cooking breakfast, then watched as our family gathered to eat. I saw Brandon come in, and Papa noticing his Beta marks. We watched as everyone left the room, heading to school, the office, or out of town. After watching the empty kitchen for 15 minutes, I was beginning to see that, without Grace being able to guide us, this could take hours.

"Pause this." I said, and when she did, I continued "We need to speed this up somehow. Are there other videos that were recovered that we should be watching?"

"I can set up monitors for anyone you authorize Derrick. Do you want to stop until I get more set up?"

I said "If we can, we'll keep watching while you set up monitors for Brandon, Jamie, Stephanie, and Jarrod."

Grace restarted the video of the kitchen, then started pulling out laptops and setting them up around the table. She had just set up 4 more when the view of the kitchen ended in a flash, followed by a black screen.

Steph asked "Should I go get Brandon, hon?"

As if he were listening, Brandon came bursting through the door. "Sorry, but we think we found the entrance but..." he looked at me, then glanced at Grace.

"Grace, I'm putting my trust in you." I said, then turned back to Brandon and said "I'm guessing the force field, or whatever, is keeping you blocked?"

Brandon nodded as he said "Yeah. We found spiral stairs from Dad's office, but they lead to a dead end. That makes no sense, so I'm guessing the entrance is disguised somehow."

Before I could reply, Grace said "I might be able to help. Show me where you think it is."

"I'm not sure what the FBI can do about this, Grace. Care to explain?" I said.

"You trusted me enough to let me know about the force field, will you trust me enough to come help now and explain later?"

I looked at Brandon for some input, but he just shrugged, so I said "Fine, let's see what help you can give me. We should get moving."

"Do you want Steph and me to look at more video, or do you see it too?" Jamie asked.

"It can wait." I said, then I turned to Grace "My gut is telling me that you're about to reveal a secret of your own?"

She smiled at me, nodded, then spoke into her radio "All agents, gather at the command center until my return."

Brandon looked at me for a second, then turned and led us out and over to where Dad's office had been. Like he had said, behind where the desk would have been, was a spiral stairway leading down to what looked like a square concrete room. No other entrances or exits. That made no sense because, if this was supposed to be a safe room, there was nothing stopping people coming down the stairs. There had to be an entrance here, but there was no door.

I looked at Grace and said "Time for you to help, I think?"

She smiled at me, then raised her hands as she muttered some words I couldn't understand. Suddenly we could see a huge open door, like a bank vault. There were a few pieces of stone piled up, blocking the door open, and through the door I could see Frederick and Grand-pére. Frederick's head snapped up, like he sensed us, and when he saw us, he smiled, then I saw the air shimmer for a second.

I saw Frederick pull out his cell phone, but what I saw behind them made me drop to my knees, sobbing. Behind me, I heard Brandon on his cell phone, talking to Joshua.