Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Trinity’s POV
After the confrontation between Matt and Derek, (I refused to call him my father) we walked back to his stuff to drop my bag off. We were walking back downstairs when he turned to me.

“You ready to officially become part of the Avenged family?”
I grinned, jumping up and down and nodding like a spaz. He smiled back at me and took my hand, leading me downstairs and to what I assumed was his garage. He flicked the lights on, revealing a black SUV that was about as big as a house.

“Matt, what kind of car is that? It’s beautiful.”
“That, little one, is a 2009 Cadillac Escalade, with custom black and red leather interior, and the best sound system money can buy. She’s my first daughter” he grinned at the last part of his sentence. I looked at him, completely confused. He laughed when he noticed the look on my face.

“You’re my second daughter sweetheart, and we’re gonna go finalize that right now” he said and walked towards the car. I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked behind him, skipping over to the passenger side and climbing in. I wiggled in my seat, getting used to it as he looked over at me with a *what the hell are you doing?* sort of expression. I laughed and explained.

“Ha ha I’m just getting comfortable, it’s a habit from when I was younger” he laughed and nodded, starting the car and pressing the button to life the garage door. Pulling out of the garage, we made the short 20 minute trip to the offices of Danson, Howard, and Kilmer. I grinned again and literally bounced out of the car, unable to contain my excitement. Matt laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, steering me inside. I let my eyes and attention wander as he told the pretty blonde receptionist why we were here. I was pulled back to reality when Matt started walking again, this time through a door to an office, where a kind looking older man was sitting. He smiled and stood when we walked in.

“Ah Mr. Sanders, here to sign the papers?”
“Yes sir, just need to get everything finalized.”
“Well, everything is ready, I just need you to sign page one, initial pages three and six, and sign page twelve.”
“Ok, that’s easy enough” Matt answered, reading the packet before signing everywhere that was needed. About two hours later and we were done. I was in a total daze, I never had to go back to that house again. Matt had gotten a copy of the adoption papers as an “insurance policy”. I just nodded and followed him to the car. We arrived back at his house after battling traffic for almost an hour, and I frowned in confusion when I noticed an SUV sitting in the driveway that I had never seen before. I looked over at Matt, he was grinning, dimples out in full force. He noticed my look of confusion and laughed.

“Looks like the guys got here earlier than expected” he explained, and I was suddenly filled with nerves. What if they didn’t like me? Matt seemed to be able to read my mind.
“Don’t worry, they’ll love you” I took a deep breath and nodded, getting out of the car and marching into the house, loud laughter assaulting my ears. I followed the noise into the living room and was met with the sight of four very intimidating looking men, all with a beer in their hands. They stopped laughing when they noticed me, and before I could say anything, I was being picked up and pulled into a bone crushing hug. I squeaked and wrapped my arms around the guys neck, looking into his ice blue eyes as he laughed and spun me around. I was starting to get dizzy when Matt finally came in and rescued me.

“JIMMY! Put her down!” I was dropped on my feet and I stumbled, the room was still spinning.
“Sorry Trin, I forgot one of your new uncles is off his fucking rocker. So let’s get on with introductions yeah? The short shit over there is Johnny, the dumbass whose wearing sunglasses inside is Brian, the dude who looks like a girl is Zacky, and the tall psycho one is Jimmy” I heard a round of protests coming from all the guys, none of them seemed to like their rather…odd intros haha.I smiled and waved.

“Hi everyone, I’m Trinity, and for the record, crazy Jimmy is my new favorite.”
“YES!!! I KNEW IT!!”Jimmy screamed, hopping up and down. I giggled and hugged a pouting Matt.
“Don’t worry Mattie, your still awesome.” He smiled and hugged me back.

4 hours later and my sides hurt from laughing so hard. I don’t know how I had taken to the guys so easily, but I just felt…safe around them. Like nothing was ever going to hurt me again. It was a nice feeling, and I couldn’t wait to leave this neighborhood and never have to see the evil people again. I got quiet as I thought about my old life, Zacky seemed to notice and nudged my arm.
“Hey, you ok? You seemed to leave for a minute there.” I gave a weak smile and nodded.
“Yeah I’m fine, I was just thinking.” I replied. He smiled and gave me a one armed hug.
“Well, if you ever wanna talk about it, all of us are here for you ok?” I nodded.
“Ok Zack, thanks”
“Not a problem kid, your part of the family now” He said and grinned. I laughed and nodded. Looking over at the clock, I noticed it was almost 11 at night.
“Hey Matt, it’s getting late, I think Imma go to bed.”
“Alright little one, good night” I walked over and gave him a hug, telling the rest of the guys good night and walked up the stairs into my room. It only took me a few minutes to get ready for bed, then I was snuggled under my covers, on my way to dreamland.

Matt’s POV
“So, what do you guys think?” I asked after I was sure Trinity was in her room.
“DUDE!!! I love her!” Came Jimmy’s over excited reply. The rest of the guys laughed and nodded.
“Yeah man, she’s pretty awesome, but she seems scared of almost everything. Like, every time she thought one of was upset, she’d try to shrink herself, like she was making herself a smaller target.” Brian added, looking upset.
“I know, she’s been hurt pretty badly in her life guys, she’ll adjust eventually.” Zacky said. I looked closely at him; she seemed pretty comfortable around him, like she was with me.

“Well, we have to get up early to get the house packed up, I know I said I would give it a few days, but I want her out of this place as soon as possible. I feel weird staying here longer than absolutely necessary.” All the guys nodded and we got up and walked up the stairs, all the guys taking a different spare room. As I got ready for bed, I thought about what Trinity would think when she heard we were leaving tomorrow. Whatever, I’d deal with it tomorrow. I got into bed, drifting off into dreamland, hoping that everything would be ok.

That’s when a piercing scream of pure terror rang through the house.