Amelia & Andrew: The Diamond Legacy Ch. 06

Andrew was coiled tightly and was ready to strike at the slightest provocation, not that you could tell from appearance. He was watching Charles waiting to see what his reaction was. If Charles tried to attack, he would do whatever he had to do to protect Amelia.

"Why would you think that?" Susan asked.

" I do not think it. Amelia knows it, she warned me that Charles considers me a possible threat. What I would like to know is what is he going to do about it? Secondly, why does he think I am threat? I am not going to be going around looking over my shoulder." Andrew replied in the same easygoing demeanor as before.

What Charles found most disconcerting was Andrew's easy stance he looked as if he was discussing the weather he showed no apprehension or fear. Charles could not believe that a parvulus could have such control over his emotions. He could feel the apprehension and even a bit of fear off everyone else but him, as if he had the ability to turn off every emotion. Amelia quickly rose and moved beside Andrew; her body language showed her tensed and ready to strike.

Charles felt Susan take a quick reading on him and he knew that not only did she know what he was thinking, but also that she wouldn't help him this time. He was now reconsidering his original assessment of the two of them. The two of them were proving that they very well could become a major threat to him in the near future. He was beginning to think that it might be in his best interest to strike now. He knew that Susan would set this fight out, but for the first time he was unsure if Gloria would get involved or not. If she did and he had to destroy her, it would hurt Susan deeply.

Charles knew if he struck now he would have to do some fast-talking to prevent Catherine from seeking revenge. Of course, eliminating her would be the easiest of all. Just has he had that thought Amelia scowled at him. Charles now realized she was still able to read his mind even though he was blocking her. The only person who had ever been able to read him like that was Diamond. He tried to reinforce his mental barrier as he muttered, "Fuck!"

Gloria was torn she knew that if a fight broke out that Susan would side with Charles and attack Andrew and Amelia. Gloria had no desire to attack anyone in this room. She looked at Susan, her eyes pleading. Susan shook her head telling her not to get involved. Susan then looked at Charles, so he could see the displeasure in her eyes.

"Why are you doing this now Charles?" Susan demanded.

"I was just doing a threat assessment. I didn't think anyone would be probing my mind and to be honest I am not happy that she did it or even that she has the ability to do it. I have to protect the species." Charles lied hoping it would defuse the situation.

Amelia was incensed that he had the balls to try to lie. She mustered as much venom as she could as she accused, "Your only concern was your empire, and that in a few decades Andrew could be strong enough to take it from you. Well asshole I will tell you this; neither of us want anything from you, and if you try to go after Catherine I will do everything in my powers to kill you. You leave her, Scott, and their baby alone. You have a problem with the two of us, then lets settle it here and now."

Susan went wide in shock as she looked at Amelia in disbelief. She had never seen anyone but her stand up to Charles like Amelia had just done. Susan was concerned that Charles would take offense or worse yet make him believe that they were truly a threat to him and strike. Susan subtly positioned herself to be able to intercede between the two of them.

The surprise in Charles' face was evident; no one had had the balls to stand up to him in this way in centuries, not even Susan. Not only was Amelia standing up to him but she was actually calling him out. The both of them were ready to face him. Knowing they didn't stand a chance in hell of winning was extremely impressive. What astonished him the most was how protective they were of each other, they were both ready to throw their lives away to give the other a chance to survive. He found himself growing in respect for the two of them by the minute

"Please forgive me. She is right I was trying to decide if the two of you were a threat. You two are impressive and could be a very real threat in the future. Usually I would have watched the two of you but with everything going on right now I am hyper-vigilant and very much on edge. I will give both of you my word of honor that at this moment I have no intention of striking against either one of you, and I hope that the two of you will forgive me for making you believe that I was intending to.

Susan has repeatedly told me that the two of you would be a good addition to our organization, and she doesn't feel that you two would ever be a threat to what we have built. I normally take her word, it is just with being betrayed as I was and not knowing the two of you, I was overly concerned. I ask that you understand my motives. I have to always be on guard against people who would try to conduct a coup against me and I guess this time I let the circumstances of the past few days' events cloud my better judgment. Amelia please believe me that while I may think about doing such things, I have never destroyed someone without just cause and in an instance like this before I would act against the two of you I would have discussed it with not only Susan but Emma. I give you my word I have no intentions of acting against any of you." Charles explained earnestly with a hint of regret in his voice.

Susan placed herself between Amelia, Andrew and Charles to try to defuse the tension before it spiraled out of control. "Why don't we all..."Susan started to say when her cell phone interrupted her.

"Hello Emma what is a matter? ... No, it was just a misunderstanding; tell Catherine that Amelia will call her in a couple minutes. Also, remind her worrying isn't good for the baby... Yes dear, we are all fine. Is everything OK there? ... No, I do not want him anywhere near you. I want you to get everyone to move now. Let me talk to Mitchel... Mitchel this is Susan I want you to take everyone including your mate and leave now. Make sure everyone is armed, and use the emergency exit. I want you on the road within fifteen minutes... You know which members we picked and under no circumstance is Amsu allowed in with Emma... once you are in route call me... thank you and please be careful." Susan said in a concerned voice.

Susan hung up the phone and saw five very concerned faces staring at her. All of the troubles between them were placed on the back burner. "What is the matter?" Charles asked.

"Emma said that Amsu has been demanding to see her, and that if he wasn't allowed to see her soon it would be dire consequences. Damn it Charles that bastard is threatening our family." Susan replied her eyes filling with rage.

Charles wrapped his arms around Susan, "Love, calm yourself down and we will get her here were she is safe. Then we will deal with Amsu and he shall pay dearly." Charles whispered while comforting Susan.

"Love I know we need to settle things with Charles, but please lets bide our time. Catherine and Scott are in trouble and we can't protect them on our own," Amelia pleaded using their link.

"I will let it go for now so we can all work together and protector our families. I warn you, no matter the outcome, if I even suspect for a second that he will try anything I will strike without hesitation or warning," Andrew replied mentally with a sigh.

"Thank you my love, I just hope Susan is right about Charles being a man of his word. However, if things do go bad what do we do about Susan and Gloria? Susan is sure to defend Charles. I am pretty sure Gloria will not idle set by and allow Susan to be destroyed so we will also have those two to contend with." Amelia warned using telepathy.

"Let's just worry about protecting our family and pray that everything here was just a big misunderstanding escalated by frayed nerves and not knowing each other well enough. We will just be vigilant and watch each others' backs." Andrew replied the same way, as he said while motioning towards the cell," I guess if Catherine, Emma and the others are coming here I better clean up my mess."

The tension in the room lowered immensely and Gloria breathed a sigh of relief. "I will go get some cleaning supplies and help you," She offered cheerfully.

Charles headed to the armory and started to pull out a side arm for each one of them. He reached up and grabbed two gold plated .454 Casull Taurus revolvers and the six speed loaders beside them. He then retrieved three .50 Action Express Desert Eagles and half of dozen magazines for them. He knew that all of the weapons here were supposed to be loaded with Teflon coated rounds, so called cop-killers because their bullet resistant vest could not stop these rounds. He laid the pistols carefully on the table before him. He made sure that all of the guns were properly cleaned and loaded then placed them in shoulder holsters.

Andrew made quick work of cleaning up what was left of Uwais. He then went to see if he could help Charles while keeping an eye on him. He couldn't fully trust him yet and didn't want to give him a chance to ambush Amelia or himself. Charles was just finishing when Andrew joined him. Andrew was impressed with the collection of firearms stored in this room; everything from modern semi- and fully automatics to Antique match locks. He took a quick look around and he seen a Schofield Cavalry revolver. "You have quite the collection here." Andrew said.

"Most of the older ones Susan, Gloria, or myself carried at one time. That Remington over there was one of the gun that Gloria used to avenge her parents ." Charles explained with a smile. He indicated an old Remington Navy .36 caliber cap and ball pistol. Andrew looked around the room while Charles continued, "This collection is nothing compared to what I have at my home. Once we get out of this mess, I would love for you and Amelia to come over and see it"

Andrew was a still wary of him but thought it better to try to keep thing friendly for the time being. He figured Charles and he would settle things one way or the other once everyone was safe. He said, "I look forward to seeing that collection."

"Andrew, I know we got off to a bad start here but I really would like the chance to get to know you and your lovely mate. I was concerned for my organization and yes, you and she could be a real threat in the future to it. I am willing to gamble that Susan is correct and that you will be an asset to it. What I am asking is for a chance for us to become friends. What do you say?' Charles asked while offering his hand.

Andrew quickly assessed what Charles had said, looking for any deceit and not finding any. He accepted the offered hand letting go the remaining tension. "I would like to be able to call you friend." Andrew replied.

Charles handed Andrew one of the Desert Eagles." It is loaded with teflon coated rounds so be mindful of what is behind your target." Charles warned.

While the others saw to their various tasks, Susan and Amelia started preparing rooms for the others that were coming. They had just finished the second room when Susan's cell rang. "Hello," Susan said into the phone.

"Mother, Amsu was waiting for us in the garage and won't let us leave; he said we will die if we try to go. Mother, it almost sounded as if he was threatening us. What do you want us to do?" Emma asked her concern evident in her voice. While they were talking, Susan could hear Amsu arguing with Mitchel.

"Let me talk to Amsu," Susan ordered.

"Susan, I sense that Emma is in grave danger." Amsu said without any greetings after he was handed the phone.

"Amsu, we were trying to move the children and their friends to a safe location when you interfered. Please let us get this done, then we will contact you in arrange a time and place to meet to discuss how best to alleviate the threat." Susan calmly stated biting back her anger.

"I am telling you if they try to leave here they will die. If you are insistent on this foolish move then I insist that you allow me to accompany them." Amsu demanded angrily.

"No, you are not going with them. I will just put a larger escort around them. This is none of your concern Amsu, now remove yourself from the secured area and we will contact you once they are safe." Susan ordered her anger starting to leach into her tone.

"It is my concern; Emma is my grandchild. Please let me speak with Charles." Amsu retorted.

"Hold on a minute I will get him." Susan replied coldly.

Susan muted the phone and went to get Charles." You better talk to this asshole Charles or I am going after him and consequences be dammed." Susan angrily demanded.

"Talk to whom? My love," Charles asked clearly confused.

"Amsu. He has just threatened our daughter. I will kill that fucker and anything that gets in my way." Susan threatened. Charles could sense the anger rolling off her in waves. He knew that if her control slipped she could very well destroy a large portion of the city.

"Love, calm down" Charles said. "Don't you remember what happened in 1871 when you went after Carl Misère? I don't think that the humans will blame Mrs. O'Leary's cow this time."

Charles took the phone and started to talk to Amsu. He was concerned that Susan would threaten Amsu and it would get out of hand. He knew under normal circumstances Susan would be able to maintain a level head but with Emma being threatened, she would very quickly loose her perspective and could very well make the situation much worse.

"You started the great Chicago fire?" Andrew asked his surprise evident.

"Yes." Susan replied flatly, as she walked over to the bar. She poured herself a glass of whiskey and drank it straight down. Andrew noted that her eyes were in beginning stages of change.

"Susan, we will do whatever we have to do to protect our family. I am including Emma and Neil in that statement. Amsu will pay, and it will cost him dearly; once we have our love ones safe." Andrew promised.

"Thank you, I cannot tell you how much that means to me." Susan replied as she gave Andrew a friendly hug.

"You and Gloria have been there for Amelia and me from the beginning and there is no way we would abandon you when you need us even if Catherine wasn't involved." Andrew said.

*************

"Amsu, what are you doing?' Charles demanded without the normal preliminary small talk.

"I am trying to protect my Granddaughter. If you take her from here she will die. Call it a premonition." Amsu said inject the correct amount of concern in his voice.

Charles realized that Amsu was indeed threatening Emma. He fought to maintain control of his baser self. After a brief struggle, he came up with a way to buy them some time and maybe throw Amsu off-kilter enough to give them a chance to rescue Emma and the others. "Perhaps it would be best if they stayed there. Let me talk to Mitchel then I will call you back. I need a favor from you." Charles responded, carefully keeping his anger in check. He waited until Amsu handed the phone to Mitchel then said, "I want all of you in the secure family room. Stay there and await further orders from me. Have Vernon's team put the club on lockdown."

"Consider it done. Any other orders?" Mitchel asked.

"Just be ready at a moment's notice and tell Amsu, I will call him back in about ten minutes," Charles replied. He then disconnected the call.

"Gloria call Andrea and tell him to get his team to BWI, then call Keith and tell him I want the jet at North Philly within three hours; I don't care how he gets it done. Also, tell him that Andrea will be joining him. Once he lands tell him to prepare the plane for a trip to Cancun. Susan call Ulysses tell him to prep my jet and prepare flight planes for both LAX and Miami International. Amelia would you please go back over everything you picked up from Uwais' mind and try to find out what Amsu's goals are. I will explain my plans as soon as I get done talking to Amsu." Charles quickly said.

Charles dialed Amsu's cell and waited for him to answer. "Old man do you still have a good relationship with Sophie?" Charles asked.

"In what way do you mean?" Amsu asked curious where Charles was going with this.

"If you ask her for information, would she try to get it for you?" Charles inquired.

"I believe so, but even if she wouldn't or couldn't I have many other resources. What do you need my son?" Amsu responded.

"I need all the information you can get me on a man named Uwais." Charles requested.

"W...Who is that? What does he have to do with threat to Emma?" Amsu asked, his trepidation showing.

"I am hoping you can find out more information on him. He is an assassin that was following Susan and me. Andrew managed to capture him alive and we are questioning him as we speak, but it will take time he is highly trained to resist interrogation. I am hoping that you can find out who he is working for." Charles stated with a smile. He realized he had hit a nerve with Amsu.

"I will do what I can but why don't you let me have a crack at him. I should be able to get through his mental defenses with ease." Amsu offered.

"For now I like to keep our location a secret. I am sure they have a spy in my organization and do not want to take a chance on you being followed here. Amelia was the one who got his name and assignment from him already. Try to find out what you can and I will call you back in a couple hours and if we haven't made any progress with him then we will make arraignments to meet up and give you a crack at him." Charles suggested.

As they spoke, Charles wondered why Amsu was trying to take his territory. If he had wanted a territory, all he had to do was ask for one. Charles knew for a fact that Amsu could have had the Middle East including his beloved Egypt. He was beginning to wonder if Diamond's death had pushed her creator over the edge. He wondered why Amsu was going after him and his family, after all he had always thought of Amsu as a father figure and his betrayal hit Charles hard. He knew he would have to face him soon, but he would bide his time only striking when Amsu was at his weakest; in that moment the greatest chance of success presented itself

"OK my son, who knows maybe I will find out something form my contacts and we won't need to waste the time breaking through his mental defenses." Amsu replied carefully controlling the inflections of his voice.

While Charles was dealing with Amsu, Susan finished the task that Charles had assigned her. Susan then went to help Amelia with her task hoping that between the two of them they could get some clue as to Amsu plans. She was hoping that since she knew the members of Amsu's personal staff she would be able to help Amelia come up with something.

Once Charles was finished, he called everyone together so that the five of them could try to come up with a safe way to get their love ones out of danger. After discussing the problem for almost an hour, they came up with a working plan. Gloria would take the armored van and go meet their families. She would take them to Philadelphia International Airport to meet Charles' jet and have it take them all to Scotland. Gloria had a piece of property there that until today no one but her knew about. The property had a large country estate located on it and was being cared for by an older couple that happened to be vampires.

Charles would call Amsu and ask him to meet them at a piece of property they had about an hour from Philly. He would claim that were unable to pierce Uwais' mental shield and they wanted him to try.