There was a city of empty, take out food containers, built in one corner of the coffee table. In another corner was a mountain range of empty soda bottles. In the middle of it all was a stack of file folders and papers scattered about.
Chloe and Roxanne were sound asleep, each respectively on the two sofas of the family room. They had spent all of last evening going over the Higgins case notes.
Chloe finally awoke from her slumber. She stretched and yawned. Chloe got up and went to use the upstairs bathroom. She had to go really bad.
Roxanne opened her eyes. At first, she was disoriented, but then remembered that she and Chloe fell asleep after hours of going over all the information in the case files. Roxanne got up. She took off in search for a bathroom.
Chloe was just coming out of the bathroom, when she bumped into Roxanne. They both laughed and went on their respective ways.
Chloe had just reached the bottom of the staircase when the front door opened. It was her dad! Chloe rushed into his open arms and practically knocked him over. She closed her eyes and squeezed him tight. Andrew whispered in Chloe’s ear that he was okay, but she kept holding on for fear he would vanish once she let go. Chloe finally opened her eyes to see two strangers; a man and a woman with her dad. She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and let go.
“Chloe,” Andrew said, as he gestured to the others. “This is Kara and Nick.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Chloe greeted them.
“We’re going to get some rest,” Andrew told his daughter. Andrew kissed her and led Kara and Nick upstairs. Chloe must have looked perplexed and Andrew said, “I will explain later. Please trust me, okay?”
“Okay,” Chloe smiled back. She went to clean up the family room.
Roxanne had just exited the bathroom when she saw Andrew come up the stairs with a man and woman right behind him. She immediately ran to him as he reached the top step. Andrew dropped the backpack he was carrying. Roxanne threw her arms around Andrew and squeezed him tight. Andrew hugged and kissed his friend back.
“I’m alright,” Andrew assured Roxanne.
“We all missed you.” Roxanne gave Andrew a squeeze and let go.
“I missed all of you too,” Andrew said. He picked up his backpack.
“Who’s with you?” Roxanne looked at the others.
“I’m sorry,” Andrew apologized. He introduced, “This is Nick and Kara.”
“A pleasure,” Roxanne smiled.
“We really need some sleep,” Andrew muttered. “I don’t mean to be rude.”
“Okay,” Roxanne said. “I’ll go help and Chloe clean up.” She left them alone.
“Just point me to a bed,” Nick moaned, exhausted.
“Me too,” Kara lamented.
“Follow me.” Andrew led the way, smiling. He opened the door to one of the guest rooms. Kara and Nick walked in and closed the door behind them. Andrew left for his own bedroom. Once he was there, Andrew just dumped the back pack on the floor, and climbed into bed and underneath the covers. He immediately fell asleep.
Chloe and Roxanne returned to the family room. They started to clean up their mess from the night before. Neither one of them said anything for some time. Then Roxanne finally broke the silence.
“Your dad looked bad.” Roxanne was worried.
“Yeah, I know.” Chloe was very concerned.
“What do you think happened?” Roxanne paused from picking up. She looked fully at Chloe, who was crying now.
“I…I don’t know,” Chloe sniffed back her tears. “But, I…I’m glad he is home.” Chloe stopped picking up and oozed down into one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. Roxanne sat in the other one across from her. Chloe grabbed a tissue and dabbed the corners of her eyes. “Whatever happened had to be huge,” Chloe cleared her throat to speak. “Really huge.”
“Did you see the woman with him?” Roxanne said after making certain they were alone. “She looked like one of those vampire people we interviewed, remember?”
“Yeah, she did, didn’t she,” Chloe finally laughed.
“And the guy looked like a cop,” Roxanne added.
“Dad said he would explain,” Chloe answered.
“It must be bad,” Roxanne said. “I’ve been getting bad vibes since they had arrived in the house.”
“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.
“There are dark forces involved,” Roxanne shuddered. “I feel death.”
“I believe you,” Chloe said. “We need to secure the house.”
Both girls rose up and went to make certain that all the doors and windows were locked.
Like so many nights before, Andrew got up and went down to the kitchen for a late night snack and to think. He grabbed some food from the refrigerator to make a sandwich. He walked over to the counter and set it all down. He grabbed a loaf of bread from the bread box and opened the bag. Andrew spread the mayo on the bread and proceeded to build his creation of meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. At last, Andrew declared his creation complete and was about to put it all away, when a tiny voice from the dark said, ‘Could I have one?’. Andrew turned around to see his daughter standing in the doorway. Andrew grinned and went on to create a masterpiece for her too. While her dad worked on her sandwich, Chloe grabbed two glasses and poured them some milk. She put the milk back and slid into the breakfast nook. Andrew put all of the extra food away and joined his daughter.
Father and daughter just sat there, ate their sandwiches and drank their milk. Neither one said a word. But just then, as any child would, Chloe got bored.
“What happened in Germany?” Chloe blurted out. Andrew thought how direct and to the point she was. How he would answer, was foremost on his mind.
“Is it that important?” Andrew replied.
“To me it is,” Chloe answered. She looked keenly at her dad, “It is just that you seem different to me; more withdrawn. You are not yourself.”
“Not true,” Andrew bluffed.
“You are not telling the truth.” Chloe called his bluff. She stopped eating and focused on him. “I read all about what happened in Chicago. I know how you saved those kids in the park that night. I know what you had to do.”
“…And,” Andrew added.
“…And I want to know what happened in Germany,” Chloe answered. She stretched out her hand and touched his arm. “Please tell me.”
“It was worse than Chicago.” Andrew stopped eating. He pushed his sandwich aside.
“How much worse was it?” Chloe choked.
“I’ve had to do things I am not proud of,” Andrew’s voice trembled as he spoke. He looked away; focused his eyes elsewhere. “I had to kill people…”
“People that wanted to hurt you or others,” Chloe inquired.
“Yes,” Andrew looked away, unable to face his daughter. “Others were not.”
“You killed on purpose?” Chloe was shocked. In the past she knew her dad had defended others; himself, but never killed anyone on purpose. What could have brought her dad to do such a thing? Chloe demanded, “Tell me.”
Andrew finally granted her request. He told her about the incident in the park in Berlin when Talia and Kara were kidnapped, how Sergeant Schindler was a Knight of VanHelsing and how he was framed for his death. Andrew further explained how he was pursued by the police on the train to Zwickau. He shared with Chloe, the fight on the train and how Lieutenant Gunderson was killed.
Chloe listened with great interest as her dad recounted all the events of the recent past. She was in awe of his rouse when he assumed the identity of Gold Blade to gain entry to Gothica castle. She could picture it all in her mind. A chill consumed Chloe as her dad told about the death of Talia and how he took on Ana and her knights. She could not believe that Talia, who had hated her dad, sacrificed herself to save him or how her dad fought such zealous killers. Chloe had only seen her dad cry twice; once at her mom’s grave and the other was the day he found out Megan was pregnant. Chloe got up and went over by her dad. She enveloped him with her arms as he wept heavily.