206. Come To A Head

Warning: language, nudity and violence

Appaloosa Plains, present day...

It was Joshua…He kicked the door shut so hard Michaela was convinced it would fall off. She anxiously tucked the covers tightly around herself as she held his intense gaze.

“My father told you to leave us alone, why are you here, Joshua?” She stammered, her voice cracking just a little, betraying her fear.

“Your father is a stupid man!” Joshua raged at her as he kicked off his shoes.

Michaela shrunk visibly at the violence in his voice. She closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them again he’d be gone. And she almost burst into tears a second later when she saw he wasn’t a bad nightmare she'd soon awaken from, he was really there.

“Did he think he could buy me off? Absolve you of your crime?” Joshua demanded as he continued to strip off his clothes and throw them on the floor.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Michaela cried in a small voice.

“You know damn well he tried to pay me off to leave town, but I didn’t leave Michaela. I just did a very good job of staying in the background. I’ve been watching you since then, waiting for this perfect moment. So here we are, and my aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!”  

Michaela watched in horror as her fledgling quickly unbuckled his belt and shrug out of his pants, exposing the clearly visible erection in his underwear.

She wanted to get up from the bed and run, but Joshua stood between her and the door, the look in his eyes told her she’d have to go through him first if she wanted to leave the room.

“Cameron will be back, you’d better leave now,” she tried a different tactic, hating herself for sounding so scared and pathetic, hating Joshua for what he was about to do to her if she didn’t put on a good fight.

“No he won’t. I made sure of it. When he gets to the office, the receptionist will keep him entertained; it’s amazing what I can buy with your father’s money,” he smiled smugly at her. In a flash he was on the bed, but she quickly scrambled away from him, falling face down on the floor.

“You made the call?” She asked as she slowly crept away from him. She didn’t really care about his answer, she was trying to delay what seemed inevitable, prolong it for as long as she could.

“Genius don’t you think?” Joshua nodded. When she didn’t reply he went in for the kill, “You really should close the blinds Michaela. You put on quite a good show and you got me so excited, now you have to finish what you started.”

“Fuck you,” Michaela screamed, feeling rage for the first time since he walked into her room uninvited.

“Trust me you will fuck me, we have the whole night,” Joshua swooped on her then, she kicked, shoved and pushed as hard as she could, but he soon overpowered her, and brutally ripped her nightie, leaving her naked and vulnerable to his lascivious gaze.

Michaela felt violated, she burst into tears as she tried to cover herself and get away from him at the same time. But he tripped her with his foot and she screamed out in pain when she hit the floor.

“Stop fighting me, you know I love you, and you love me too. This will be so beautiful, just stop fighting me,” Joshua growled in her ear as he pinned her on the floor, one hand held her right arm over her head, while the other kept trying to force her to look at him.

Michaela tried to knee him in the groin but he was too quick, laughing at her attempts he ducked away, only to plop down on her again not even a second later, slobbering her with unwanted kisses.

“Please Joshua, don’t do this,” Michaela begged as she tried to push him off. “Don’t do this. I’ll do anything you want, just don’t do this!”

The door opened suddenly and Cameron walked in. Halfway to the office in the outer building he’d realized he forgot the key card to his, and he’d turned back to get it thinking the receptionist might ask for it.

The look in his eyes was murderous when he approached Joshua. With no effort on his part he roughly yanked him away from Michaela and threw him across the room.

The young vampire landed on the wall with a sickening thud. At blinding speed Cameron was all over him, beating the shit out of him.

Cameron’s rage knew no limits as he kicked and punched the hell out of Joshua. “You piece of shit! After everything her parents have done for you! After everything Krisis has done for you, this is the way you repay them?”

Joshua tried to fight back, and he landed a few punches and kicks of his own, but as a youngling, he was no match for Cameron. He soon gave in and begged for forgiveness.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t going to do anything.” He lied. But Cameron was not in a forgiving mood.

Somehow, through all the chaos in the room, a stunned Michaela scrambled to her feet and ran to the bathroom, her whole body trembling from relief and unshed tears.

Katie, who up until now had been sleeping quietly in the room next door, rushed in when she heard the commotion. Fearing for Joshua’s life she called the ranch’s management.

She was about to call Krimsyn and J.D. when they strolled in, they were outside, stargazing and trying to come up with a name for their baby when they heard the racket in Michaela’s room. She quickly fed them the few details she had.

J.D. lost interest halfway through her explanation; he jumped to Cameron’s aide, all his hate and rage for the young Vampire poured forth as he went at him relentlessly, and Katie kept begging them to stop.

But her pleas fell on deaf ears. Things had finally come to a head; they were beyond being reasonable, and she was so afraid they’d kill him …

Krimsyn went to the bathroom find her daughter and she died a thousand deaths when she saw her cowering in the corner, looking battered and bruised.

For one split second, undulated rage consumed her and she wanted to head back into the bedroom and finish off the psychopath responsible for her daughter’s heartbreak.

“I’m so very sorry,” Krimsyn broke down as she helped her up from the floor, and wrapped a clean towel around her.

“He never left, mom. He was watching me the whole time. Why didn't he leave? Dad told him to leave. Why didn't he?" Michaela screamed hysterically, and all Krimsyn could do was to hold her and comfort her as best as she could, her heart bleeding for her shattered innocence.

Krisis and Leigh, on their way back from the stables were also drawn to the brawl. The sense of betrayal they felt when Katie filled them in was almost crippling, it felt very much like that time two weeks earlier when they connected Joshua to Beau.

The sheriff was called in by the ranch’s management and they hauled J.D., Cameron and Joshua to the county jail.

J.D. and Cameron were booked for third degree assault. It was a misdemeanor in Appaloosa Plains, and it  carried a maximum sentence of two years in a county jail and/or a fine. 

Joshua was held for attempted rape, if convicted he could get up to five years.

For what felt like hours Michaela sat numbly in her seat as the Sheriff took her statement. At one point she broke down and cried, it was bad enough Joshua had attacked her, and now she had to keep going over the details again and again, it was like a bad dream, a never ending bad dream, it excruciatingly painful. 

Eventually Krimsyn snapped at the Sherriff and told him to back off.

“I’m just doing my job ma’am,” the Sheriff smiled at her sincerely. But Krimsyn had long since passed the stages of pleasantries. 

Katie’s patience, like Krimsyn’s, was wearing thin, very fast. She didn’t understand why they didn’t just lock up Joshua in the tiniest cell and throw away the key. He was a sociopath, and the sooner society was rid of him, the better.

The young officer taking her statement wasn’t interested in her opinions though, he just wanted facts from her.

Three hours later, J.D. and Cameron were released after Jessica paid their fines. They were both grateful to learn Thornton had pulled strings to fast track their case.

None of the friends Joshua had called  for help wanted to post bail for him...