Bat Country

"You did not tell me Nikki was involved, Matthew. You did not tell me they had sided with him and Andrew. How could you have omitted something so serious?" Thor asked.

Matt slumped on the couch and ran a hand over his chin. "Would you have participated if I told you?"

Thor's eyes gleamed with rage for a moment before he looked down and straightened himself back out. "I do not at all appreciate the insinuation that I am a coward, Matthew."

Matt examined his nails and sighed. "I need her back."

"How the hell do you propose we go about that?!" Johnny yelled, rubbing at his recently healed silver burns.

"You saw their fucking speed. The younger one alone would prove more than we could handle." Miranda added. "I mean even when he killed Valary, he was so--"

Matt snapped up and was instantly in Miranda's face. "Are you telling me that Andy is the one who killed Valary?"

"Y...yes..." Miranda said meekly.

Matt thought for a moment before shrugging. "I could care less how she met her end. She's out of my hair. Why was he there, do any of you know?"

Zacky cleared his throat. "He told her to come find him when she was ready."

Matt whipped his head in Zacky's direction. "To find him when she was ready?" He verified.

"Yes."

Matt's large hands came up and rubbed his face. "None of you thought to tell me that information?!"

"With all fairness, other shit seemed more important." Johnny said, stroking Miranda's hair softly.

"Matthew, they will all have to die before you will get her back." Thor said warningly.

"Then they will. I will pay whatever price it takes to get her back." Matt said, returning to the couch.

"Have you asked yourself how it's possible she mated to Brian when she was already mated to you, or are you going to either disbelieve or disregard that tidbit?" Thor asked, looking down at Matt.

"I have not asked myself how it's possible because frankly I do not care. Brian will regret taking her from me."

"As you took her from him?" Zacky inquired. "She's not a toy you can just play tug of war with. She's flesh and blood, Matt. Jesus Christ."

"I will do with her what I like and while I am leader of this nest, no one, including you, will stop me. He will regret what he's done, Zack, and you will accept that or leave."

"No he won't." Thor added. "He doesn't have to do either of those things. You need all the numbers you can get and you cannot afford to lose anymore nestmates, Matthew. He will stay. You will accept that you need him. You will treat everyone here with respect from now on. They have stayed with you through this, they have fought for you."

"And I'm tired of fighting." Miranda asked.

"You need to raise your numbers now, Matthew. When you move to take Alexis back, which will not be easy."

"That gives me an idea." Johnny said coolly, sitting back in his chair.

Green eyes flicked to Johnny. "Well?" Matt asked him.

"Do you remember when Alexis had first risen, you explained to her that all vampires used to be like her and not like us? Do you remember what you said about what cut down the number of originals?" Johnny said cautiously.

"I told her we had so many of us that we overwhelmed them with sheer num..." Matt said before it dawned on him and his eyes shadowed.

Thor smiled. "There are a few problems with that. If you all made four children you will still not have the numbers needed to overpower them. Maybe if you all had four children and they all had four children, and then they all had four children could you even come close to approaching what you'd need to overtake them and get Alexis back. After that, so many of them would die that it'd be nearly impossible to concentrate because of all the bond severances."

Matt sighed.

"I'll continue to shoot that idea down, Matthew. If you made that many children in such a short span of time, you dilute the blood and may very well end up being the progenitors of a new type of vampire, and given the differences between us and originals, if that's the case your offspring may as well be human. You'll need to ask other nests for help. Several. Get some rogues as well. Ruthless, they are. I'll call in favors. Just let me know when you plan to do the deed."

"And how should we get any nest to come against Nikki and Andy, much less Alexis and Brian? It sounds like suicide." Johnny interjected.

"Or find a reason to draw Alexis back home." Thor said menacingly. "Find something she wants more than Brian."

Zacky sighed and rubbed his face. Maybe they were right. Maybe we are just fucking compassionless monsters.