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Chapter 23: Have Fun with Motherhood

Chapter 23: Have Fun with Motherhood

MARCH 3, 2022

"Who are my birth parents?" Sabrina asked.

Bowie and Prim had adopted her, and they had loved her. They were as dead as Hush Warden, a Freeman Sabrina would never miss. Were her birth parents alive?

"Your birth father is Theo Majestic," Kevin said. "And your birth mother is Lilly Majestic."

The most powerful Soynite had fathered Sabrina, and the Watcher who had raised her for years was her uncle. She pressed her back against the gray wall.

Kevin put his hand on her cheek, something he had done many times before. Today he had revealed a secret he had kept for too long. Still, he had told the truth. Tears left Sabrina's eyes, but she hadn't been shot.

"You already know that I'm Lilly's younger brother," Kevin said. "You're my sister's child. I'm your uncle. And your birth name is Nova Majestic. You're the second child of Theo and Lilly. Your siblings are Nick, Hailey, and Anne. Nick is your older brother. Hailey and Anne are younger than you. Anne is eleven. She will be twelve on December first."

When Sabrina met Anne, two sisters had met for the first time. Someday they might love each other, which sisters should do. Sabrina wouldn't let a Freeman, a traitorous former High, or anyone else kill Anne.

Kevin wiped away Sabrina's tears, and Jake went closer to them. He smiled. Seeing him do that was great, like the moment when Sabrina realized he had become her best friend.

"You're my sixth cousin," Jake said. "So is Anne."

Jake was Sabrina's closest friend and her distant cousin. After that spaceship landed on Earth, two Majestics had emerged from it. Back then, Sabrina hadn't known she was Theo's daughter.

"Kevin, I'm glad you told me the truth," she said. "But why did you keep it a secret for so long?"

"Theo wanted to tell you the truth himself," Kevin said. "But he's not here, and you needed to know the truth before it was too late. I didn't do what Theo wanted, but I did what he needed."

Sabrina put a hand on Kevin's arm. "He's going to forgive you."

"Thank you, my High."

Kevin took a few steps back. He looked around the hall, but he didn't see any pale morons. He picked up his Freeman gun. Sabrina stood near her uncle, her distant cousin, and her younger sister. She needed to protect them, like she needed to kill Lock.

Anne moved closer to Sabrina, then removed her blue backpack before placing it on the floor.

"Can I get a hug from my older sister?" Anne asked.

Sabrina nodded. "Yeah, of course."

She and Anne embraced. Hugging her made Sabrina happier, as if she had killed the Freeman who had murdered her father and mother.

"We're related," Anne said, as the sisters hugged. "That means that we should be together. I hope we can stay together, Sabrina."

"Me too," Sabrina told her.

The hug ended. Anne picked up her backpack and put it on. Where had she left her Soynite pendant?

Sabrina wore one. Bowie and Prim hadn't gifted it to her. Her birth parents, Theo and Lilly, had given her the pendant.

"Where's your pendant, Anne?" Sabrina said. "Our parents gave you one, right?"

"Yes," Anne said. "But I don't wear it. Also, Theo and Lilly aren't the only parents I have. I have four of them. Two fathers and two mothers."

Kevin frowned.

"You have four parents?" he said. "Who takes care of you, Anne?"

"Bane Sinister and Summer Sinister," Anne replied.

"Summer Sinister. Did her last name used to be Locket?"

"Yes. Summer is my Watcher. She took me away from Theo and Lilly, but she did it for a good reason. She did it to protect me."

Sabrina, Kevin, and Jake looked as if they tried solving a riddle.

"What do you mean by that?" Kevin said. "You were kidnapped. Plus, Theo and Lilly love you. They won't ever hurt you. Summer shouldn't have taken you away from them."

"The Soynite royal palace was being attacked," Anne said. "It was a target, and so was Theo. I wasn't safe there. I wasn't safe with the other Majestics. My mother took me away from them. She had to do it."

Kevin glared at a wall. "Summer is not your mother."

Anne looked as if she wanted to use her laser vision on Kevin.

"You just told a lie," she said. "Because Summer is definitely my mother. She has loved me ever since I was a baby. And she takes care of me. Can I say the same about Lilly?"

"No, you can't," Kevin said. "And that's because you were taken from her. But you're going to see her again. We both will. My sister, your mother, isn't dead. She needs to be alive."

"You shouldn't believe something just because you want it to be true."

Anne considered Summer and her husband to be her parents. To Sabrina, those two were Anne's parents as much as they were Highs. Someday Anne would stop wanting to call Summer and Bane her parents.

Jake held two laser guns, and one of them belonged to Sabrina. She approached him.

"I need my gun back," she said. Jake handed her the Freeman pistol. "Thanks."

Sabrina and Jake shared an ancestor, and the name he had given himself was Hase Majestic. A long time ago, his pendant had touched Sabrina's and Jake's foreheads, then they had boarded a spaceship before escaping Soy. They had loved each other for years.

Would she fall in love with him?

"I really hope that you find your parents, Sabrina," Jake said. "You deserve to be with them again. So does Anne."

"I know," Sabrina said. "My adoptive parents died on Soy, but I still have Theo and Lilly. I just have to find them."

The former Supreme High and his wife might be together. Or maybe they were separated. Today Sabrina had hugged her closest friend after being apart from him for a long time, and she had found her sister Anne. If Theo and Lilly were separated, they could reunite. Their former friend Don lay unconscious not far from Sabrina.

Before Kara's birth, Don had wanted Victor Valley to become her Watcher. Don had arranged for Victor to graduate from his Watcher academy early. He was Kara's Watcher and her adoptive father, but her biological one might try to kill Victor if the two saw each other again.

Sabrina approached Kevin. "Kevin, I have to tell you something. Most of the former Highs joined Lock Tannis. Theo and Reed are the only ones who didn't."

"It's true," Jake said. "Me and Peter learned that today. Don Ascend is unconscious in the hall over there. Sabrina used Vamp to knock him out. Also, Lovely Windsore is blind, and Boris Endman is dead. Lock killed him. I don't know why, though."

Kevin looked at the wall, as if doing that might get rid of his problems.

"That's a lot of information to take in," he said. "And you said that Lovely is blind now. Do you know where she is?"

Jake shook his head. "No. But I do know that I'm glad she's not with us."

"You still hate the girl."

"And I always will. She's never going to change. I don't want to see her anytime soon."

"She definitely won't be seeing you anytime soon," Anne said.

She lifted her Soynite laser gun off the floor. Summer had abducted her, yet she acted as if that woman had taken her from abusive parents. Theo and Lilly were Anne's parents, not Summer and Bane.

"Anne, you're going to reunite with your actual parents one day," Sabrina said. "And you're going to love them."

"Bane and Summer are my actual parents," Anne said. "Theo and Lilly are my actual parents, too. But did they stop my mother from kidnapping me? No. And when a Freeman was going to kill me and my mother, my father Bane saved us. Not Theo. And not Lilly, either. Are you going to tell me why I should be loyal to two people who couldn't protect me?"

"Yeah, I am going to tell you. Theo and Lilly love you. They're your parents, and I'm pretty sure they wish you were with them right now."

"I want you to meet my parents," Anne said. "They're in this building, too. I got separated from them, but I'm going to find them. Or maybe they will find me."

"Kevin," Jake said. "Sabrina told Don to send a message to Lock, because she wants him to come to Earth so she can kill him."

Sabrina looked at Kevin. "I'm going to do it, Kevin. I'm going to get rid of that Freeman."

Anne fiddled with her fingers. When Sabrina killed Lock, Anne wouldn't have to worry about that awful man anymore. Neither would Jake or Kevin.

"Sabrina can kill Lock, Jake," Kevin said. He looked at the paper resting on the floor. "I do believe that."

Jake ran his fingers through his hair. "She's going to get herself killed."

"No, I won't," Sabrina said. "I'm going to beat Lock. I'm going to challenge him to a sword fight, and I'll win it."

Kevin walked closer to the paper. The Vamp-filled syringe lay on it. Freemans manufactured Vamp. Strife came from Strife Mountain, a massive mountain on Free. Like Vamp and strife, Killian Soynites had the power to temporarily take away Saves.

Kevin bent down near the paper before moving the syringe off it. The black double triangle and the sentence stayed on the paper. Kevin grabbed it, then stood.

"He is always with us," he said, looking at the paper. "Who is he? And what does this symbol mean? Whose paper is this?"

"It's mine," Anne said.

"Who is the he you mentioned?"

A Freeman stepped into the hall, armed with a sword. During the Invasion, he had wielded a laser gun. He had used it to murder Bowie and Prim.

Sabrina knew she needed to turn him into smoke. "You! You killed my parents. Kevin, that's him. That's the Freeman who killed my mother and father."

Kevin glared at the Freeman. "You're right."

The pale murderer returned to the hall he had emerged from. He wielded a sword, and Sabrina didn't. But she could get one. She moved her Freeman gun into her pants pocket. She ran toward the nearest pile of Freeman belongings, then bent down. A sword sat in a red scabbard. Sabrina grabbed the black handle before pulling the sword free. She stood.

"Let's get him," Kevin said.

"No!" Sabrina replied. "I need to kill him on my own. I'm going to come back, though."

"Turn that murderer into smoke."

Jake frowned. "Be careful, Sabrina."

The Freeman needed to be careful. Over a decade ago, he had participated in Soy's invasion, and he had killed Sabrina's adoptive parents. Today she would avenge them.

Sabrina Sam went on the hunt for her parents' killer.

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Listening to the murderer's footsteps, she moved through various halls. She found him outside. The bottoms of her shoes pressed against grass, something Soy no longer had. While Freemans attacked that planet, the one standing across from Sabrina had murdered two good people. The Freeman base stood behind her, and the pale murderer would never enter it again. He would die outside.

"You know what you did to my parents," Sabrina said, as she and the Freeman held their weapons. "And I know what you did to them. You killed Bowie Low and Prim Low. Do you remember that?"

"I do," the Freeman said.

"My name is Sabrina Sam. When you killed my parents, I was Reese Low. Before that, I was Nova Majestic. I'm Theo Majestic's second child."

"My name is Vale Lit, and I'm going to kill a Majestic."

Sabrina looked at Vale's sword.

"We're going to have a sword fight, Vale Lit," she lied.

She would kill Lock with a sword. She wasn't Vice Reaper, Boris Endman, or someone else Lock had slain. Sabrina would end his rule, and her reign over the Freemans would begin.

"But I do have to remind you that you weren't fair with my parents," she said. "They were running when you killed them."

Sabrina dropped her sword. She pulled her Freeman pistol from her pocket, then opened fire. A red laser shot through Vale's forehead. It blasted through the back of his head before continuing its journey, glowing.

Vale dropped onto the grass, and blood spilled from the red tunnel in his head. He stopped breathing. Then his corpse became smoke.

Sabrina had avenged two good people.

"You weren't fair with my parents," she said. "I wasn't going to be fair with you."

Clouds moved above the trees and the Freeman base, a building Vale couldn't go into. But Sabrina could return to it, then kill more Freemans. Smiling, she went into the building.

A door in the hall stayed open. When Sabrina passed it earlier, it had been closed. Wailing emerged from the room. After turning intangible, Sabrina rushed into it.

"You're not going to kill him!" a Freeman shouted.

He aimed a laser pistol at Sabrina, and she pointed hers at him. His laser passed through her intangible body. Hers tore through his skull. Afterward, he collapsed onto the gray floor.

"No!" shouted the Freeman woman sitting in the bed.

She aimed her gun at Sabrina, then opened fire. But no harm came to Sabrina. She fired a laser into the woman's head. Her combat uniform rested on top of her covered legs, touching the black comforter. Her name showed on the uniform. Honda Sink. Forman Sink was the name of the Freeman man.

A red backpack leaned against a wall. Two tables were in the room, and the long table had a container of baby formula sitting on it. A stack of baby clothes rested beside the container. Six bottles stood in a line, their nipples pointing at the ceiling. A red crib remained in the room.

Sabrina moved her Freeman gun into her pocket, stepped past the crib, and grabbed the sheet of paper on the table.

Name: Suntro Sink

Gender: Male

Birthday: March 3, 2022

Planet of Birth: Free

City of birth: Spike City

Father: Forman Sink

Mother: Honda Sink

Sabrina folded the sheet of paper several times, moved it into her pocket. She went closer to the crib. The baby lay in it. He didn't stop wailing. His hair was black, and his eyes were brown. Someone had wrapped a red blanket around him. The foul Freeman couldn't hurt Sabrina, but she could hurt him.

Soon Suntro's parents would turn into smoke. Not planning on letting smoke inhalation kill her future victim, Sabrina pushed the crib. Its wheels rolled against the hard floor.

After the crib met the wall, Sabrina pulled her gun from her pocket, then aimed it at the baby. He wailed. If she killed him, there would be one less Freeman. His parents couldn't protect him.

Vale Lit hadn't been fair to Sabrina's parents. He had shot and killed innocent people. This baby Freeman hadn't murdered anyone.

If Sabrina killed Suntro, what would that make her?

She moved her gun into her pocket. She wouldn't turn this Freeman into smoke. Suntro wailed, but his parents couldn't hear him. They couldn't hear anyone. Yet a certain High could comfort their son.

"It's okay," Sabrina said. She curled her fingers around the crib's railing, and observed Suntro. "I'm not going to hurt you. But I am going to hold you."

Sabrina lifted Suntro out of the crib. He had stopped wailing.

"My name is Sabrina Sam," the High said, holding the boy. "Your name is Suntro Sink. I'm sorry I killed your parents, but I had to do it. They were trying to kill me. Look at you. You're a lot smaller than the other Freemans I've seen. You also don't want to hurt me. I like that."

Unable to talk, Suntro looked at Sabrina. She had killed his parents. Sixteen years ago, Bowie and Prim had become her parents. They had adopted her. She could adopt this baby boy, and give him a new name.

"I'm going to take care of you," Sabrina told Suntro. "I promise. I'm your mother now. And you need a new name."

Sabrina thought about what Suntro's new name should be.

"Ben," she said. "Ben Sam. That's your new name. You have your mother's last name because you don't have a father, but that's okay. I can't wait to take you home, Ben. I live in California. When I was younger, I lived in New York City. You were born in Spike City."

Spike City was the largest city on Free. The place was named after Zero Spike, the first Freeman. Nerra Majestic, Sabrina's distant aunt, had murdered him. The Freeman royal palace was in Spike City. Sabrina was far from that city, but she wasn't far from Kevin or Jake. With pleasure, she and Kevin had slain Freemans, but he wouldn't kill the one she held. She wouldn't let him, Jake, or anyone else murder Ben.

His father, Forman, lay on the floor, and his mother Honda stayed in the bed. Ben hadn't died in her womb. Even if he had, his body wouldn't have turned into smoke. That didn't happen to the bodies of Freeman babies who died before birth.

Sabrina had never been pregnant, yet she had a son. Regardless of what he was, she wouldn't let him die anytime soon.

When she returned to the hall where she had last seen Kevin, Jake, and Anne, Sabrina kept her new backpack on. It was the red one that had been inside the room where she had found Ben.

Jake stood beside Kevin, who stood across from Anne. A man and a woman flanked her. The man's gray hair was past his shoulders. Tinted X-ray vision goggles prevented Sabrina from seeing his eyes. The woman had long brown hair and blue eyes. Like the man, she didn't wear a Soynite pendant. But she did have a Soynite laser pistol. The man and the woman wore backpacks.

The man removed the goggles, and looked at Sabrina with his blue eyes.

"Wonderful," he said. "There's only one Freeman left, and he won't be bothering us."

Sabrina assumed the strangers were Summer and Bane, but Sabrina wouldn't die if she asked Kevin who the man and the woman were.

"Kevin, what's going on?" Sabrina said. "Who are these people?"

"The woman is Summer Sinister," Kevin said. "The man is Bane Sinister. They already know who you are, Sabrina. Anne told them. They know you're Nova Majestic. Also, we shouldn't fight them. We don't know how dangerous they are."

Summer looked Sabrina up and down, then smiled, as if Sabrina had told her she was glad she had kidnapped Anne. Theo and Lilly hadn't wanted Summer to take Anne from them. That woman didn't deserve to hear Anne call her Mother.

"I remember you, Sabrina," Summer said, speaking English with a Soynite accent. "When I saw you for the first time, you didn't even know you were Theo's daughter. You didn't even know he had children. That was before the Freemans attacked Soy. What they did to that planet was great."

Sabrina glared at Summer. "Are you serious? The Invasion wasn't great at all."

"You're wrong, Sabrina," Anne said.

"Do you really think that the Invasion was a great thing?"

Anne nodded. "Of course I do. The Invasion was great, and Lock Tannis is great. I worship him. My parents worship Him as well."

Anne knew what Lock had done, yet she worshiped that foul moron. Two Lock worshipers took care of Anne, but they didn't deserve to have her living with them.

"We do," Bane said. He pressed a finger against his chest. "This man was the first Lock worshiper. My darling wife was the second one. When the Freemans were destroying Soy, our family wasn't a big one. Fortunately, many Soynites have joined our family. All of us worship Lock. We all love Him. So does Anne. Our family is called the Lock Tannis Church, and it's my responsibility to lead us."

Bane led a group of Soynites who believed worshiping Lock was better than wanting to kill him. Sabrina would rather save Anne from that cult than let her stay in it. And if Anne's fellow cultists died soon, it would be great, like when Sabrina avenged her parents.

"Anne, how did these two convince you that worshiping Lock is the right thing to do?" Sabrina said. "You're supposed to hate Lock, not love him."

Jake nodded. "She's right, Anne."

"The three of you hate Lock," Anne said. "I know. But it's not too late to join our family. We'll give you time to think about it."

Sabrina gripped her backpack's red straps. "And what if we decide to never join the Lock Tannis Church?"

Bane smiled. "You know what will happen, darling."

Did Bane have any powers? Did Summer have any? If Sabrina pulled her Freeman pistol from her pocket and tried shooting them, one of them might kill her. Or maybe Anne would.

If Sabrina died in this hall, Ben would never reach adulthood. And if Bane, Summer, or Anne killed her, she would never reunite with Theo or Lilly. Kevin knew it wouldn't be smart if they attacked Bane and Summer. Sabrina knew it, too. She didn't pull out her Freeman pistol.

"None of you have to become like my father," Bane said. "He died during the Invasion, but a Freeman didn't kill him."

"And after he died, Bane met me," Summer said. She ran her thin fingers through Bane's hair, then pressed her lips against his, kissing him. "Do you see how much I love him? And he's not just a great husband. He's also a great father."

Anne put a hand on Bane's arm. "A way better father than Theo Majestic."

"Anne is still a Majestic," Bane said. "I want Theo to know that his daughter is being raised by a worshiper of Lock Tannis, and that's why her last name isn't Sinister. She belongs to the Lock Tannis Church. She belongs to this wonderful family I started."

"She belongs to the Majestic family," Kevin said. He looked at Anne. "We're going to help you, baby. The cult you're in won't keep you forever."

Anne sighed. "Father, let's go home. I'm tired of being in this place."

"Your sister wants to go home, Sabrina," Bane said. "It's such a shame that you won't be coming with us. Anne wants to give you three some time to make your decision, and that's why the Lock Tannis Church isn't going to sacrifice you today. Be grateful. I have killed heretics before, and I can do it again. So can Anne. She has sacrificed Soynites to Lock, too."

Sabrina looked as if she had seen Ben get shot. "You turned my sister into a killer."

"I turned her into a great servant of Lock. And that great servant wants to go home. Me and my family are going to leave now, and we're going to be with the rest of our family."

"Anne, you can be a good kid," Kevin said. "It's not too late for you to be one."

Summer kissed Anne's long blonde hair. "My baby is a good kid, Kevin. She's also the reason why you're still alive."

"You're an ungrateful man, Kevin," Bane said. "Anne wants you to live, yet you think she's a bad kid. You should appreciate the fact that your niece doesn't want you to die today. As for you, Sabrina, I know what you're hiding. Have fun with motherhood. And remember this. Lock Tannis is always with us."

Bane and Summer would leave with Anne. She and Sabrina shared the same birth father, and they had emerged from the same woman. Anne wasn't just a girl Sabrina had hugged inside a Freeman base.

"Anne," she said. "We will always be sisters, and I'm going to save you one day."

Bane moved a hand into his pants pocket. He, Summer, and Anne vanished, teleporting. Bane must have used a teleportation stone to get away. He had left with Anne, but Sabrina would see her again.

"We're going to take Anne away from them," Sabrina told Kevin and Jake. "I'm not going to let those Lock worshipers keep her forever."

"One of those Lock worshipers told you to have fun with motherhood," Kevin said. "What's in the backpack, Sabrina?"

Ben wailed. Sabrina would end his discomfort. She removed the backpack, then kneeled. She placed it on the floor. Part of the biggest pouch was unzipped. She had left it like that on purpose.

"I killed his parents," she said. "His name was Suntro, but I changed it to Ben."

Sabrina unzipped the backpack's biggest pouch. She grabbed Ben before lifting him out the backpack. The red blanket was still wrapped around him. As Sabrina held Ben, Kevin and Jake took multiple steps back, as if both of them might die if they stood within three feet from the baby Freeman.

Ben had stopped wailing.

"It's okay," Sabrina said. "I got you, baby. Your mom has you."

Sabrina hadn't succeeded in rescuing Anne from the Lock Tannis Church today, but she had gained a son. She smiled at Ben.

"Sabrina, why didn't you kill that thing?!" Kevin asked, looking at Ben in a way that made Sabrina want to call Kevin something awful.

Sabrina glared at him. "I wanted to, but I couldn't! He's a baby. If I killed him, I would've been as bad as the Freeman who killed my parents."

"That thing is a Freeman!"

"He isn't a thing. He's my son, and you need to accept that. You will accept that."

Jake stepped to the spot beside Sabrina. "I'm with Sabrina. She wants to keep Ben, and I'm okay with it. That means you have to be, too. We're your Highs."

Jake had killed Freemans, but he didn't want to murder the one Sabrina had spared. She grinned.

"Thank you, Jake," she said. "I love you even more now."

Kevin glared at Ben.

"Kevin, stop looking at my son like that," Sabrina said. Kevin averted his gaze to a wall. "He's going to come home with us. It was my idea to attack that Freeman base in California, and it was my idea to adopt Ben. Jake is right. We're your Highs. And you aren't going to kill this High's baby."

Sabrina's birth parents might be alive, but she had killed Ben's. He had lost his first mother. And he had gained a second one. Freemans had died inside this building, but the one Sabrina held wouldn't. She would bring him to her home. Kevin wished she had killed Ben, but she was a High and Kevin wasn't. He needed to accept what she had done.

"Kneel for your High, Kevin," Sabrina said.

Kevin kneeled on the floor before placing his Freeman pistol on it. He bowed his head.

"I'm one of the six Highs," Sabrina said. "You're supposed to protect and serve your Highs. You're supposed to follow their orders, and I'm ordering you to protect and serve this baby as if he was a High. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Kevin replied.

"Good. Rise."

Kevin grabbed his gun before rising. He didn't glare at Ben. Theo had given Sabrina authority over most Soynites, and she could use that authority to help her get what she wanted.

If Kevin murdered Ben, Sabrina would never forgive Kevin.

"My son is a Freeman, but you're never going to kill him," she said. She had killed a different Freeman before meeting Ben. "I killed the Freeman who killed my parents, by the way. His name was Vale Lit. He killed my mother and father by shooting them, so I shot him."

"Good," Kevin said. "I just wish that we could've shot Summer and Bane, and then took Anne with us. But we needed to be smart around those three. What if Bane is a Killian? What if we started a fight with him and Summer, and he was able to take away your Save, Sabrina? That situation probably would've ended badly."

"I know, but we're alive. And that's what matters. Bane and Summer didn't kill us. And we can go home."

Jake put a hand on Sabrina's shoulder. "I'm really glad that Vale didn't kill you."

When Sabrina killed Vale, she had avenged her birth parents. Bowie and Prim were as dead as Boris Endman, but Theo and Lilly might be as alive as Sabrina. She and Anne had come out of Lilly, and so had two other Majestics. Sabrina had hugged Anne today, but Sabrina hadn't embraced Nick or Hailey earlier.

"Me too," Sabrina said. "And I'll be really glad if I see Nick and Hailey. I hope they're still alive."

Jake looked at Ben. "They have a nephew now. Hopefully, they will be good to him. But they might hate Ben when they meet him, Sabrina."

"Jake is right," Kevin said. "Ben is a baby, but he's also a Freeman. You're a High, Sabrina, but that doesn't mean your family is going to like Ben. And there are four Highs out there who might end up hating him, too. Especially Lovely. She hates the boy's mother, after all. If you see her again, you will have to keep Ben away from her."

Sabrina smiled. "Good, Kevin. You want to protect Ben. That's what I need you to do. And you don't love him, but you're going to. As for Lovely, she's a blind girl who is never going to hurt my boy. I won't let anyone do that to him. And I will kill to keep him safe. That's the truth."

The paper Anne had left on the floor remained in the hall. The Vamp-filled syringe lay on it. Anne had gone away with Summer and Bane, but Sabrina would see her sister again. She would help Anne realize how wrong it was to worship Lock. He was the worst Freeman, and Sabrina carried the best one.

"We need to go back to the room where I found Ben," she said. "There were baby supplies in there. Jake, grab that backpack. I want to keep it."

Jake lifted the red backpack off the floor. "After we get to your house, I'll call Peter. He probably made it out of here."

"We'll get the baby supplies, then we'll leave. I'm so glad that you're coming home with me. I'm also glad that I'm going to get my first kiss."

Sabrina brought Ben's face closer to hers. She kissed him on his white-as-snow lips. Kevin didn't frown or glare, but Sabrina didn't doubt he wished she hadn't kissed the Freeman.

"Cute," Jake said, holding the backpack.

"Okay," Sabrina said. "Let's get the baby supplies, then go home."