Thom had decided to be optimistic and, when he and Colin returned to the Lair, while Colin went to take care of some of the details of running the club that had been forgotten over the previous few days, he decided to prepare where Laura would live, as well as finding some rooms for himself (four in a bed was fun, but not conducive to sleeping). The Lair had a lot of unused space. It was a huge building and he found some unused rooms that had not been left closed up for too long and began planning.

Damian had found him about half an hour in, after he had decided which rooms were going to be his and which were going to be Laura's. There was some furniture in the rooms already, and he was doing his best to decide what to keep and what to put into storage. He would be able to pick up the furniture from his home eventually, once it was no longer a crime scene, but that would be a few days at least.

"You may be an artist," Damian said, after watching him moving things for a while, "but you are no decorator. We're going to have to air out and paint these rooms completely before their usable. I'm going to find some of the boys, they can be useful for something other than sex this evening."

And that was it, Damian took over.

Thom just backed out gracefully, especially when Jonathan got involved as well. When Jonathan had moved in with him, his boyfriend had just about remodelled the entire house, so Thom was well aware of when to keep his mouth shut and let the self-appointed experts get on with it.

It was two hours later he felt the summons from Laura.

"Damian," he said, from where he was watching Damian order around semi-naked vampires in a bid to redecorate the rooms, "Laura called. If she has chosen us, I will contact you. It should be you, Colin and I who bring her over."

Damian gave him a nod before turning back to the task in hand without comment. There was no need to talk about what they had already decided.

On his way out, Thom gave Colin a similar message and took the details of the Lair's lawyers just in case, but he had an overriding feeling that he wouldn't be needing them. It took him very little time to reach the sheriff's station. The sheriff met him virtually the moment he walked through the doors.

"Swear to me you are not going to hurt her," Trout said in a very firm tone.

"Laura has been my friend for a long time, Sheriff," Thom replied, equally as direct, "and I would never hurt her. If you believe nothing else, then believe that."

Trout looked him in the eye, assessing him and finally unblocked his path with a nod.

"You know the way," Trout said, and Thom headed to where he knew Laura was waiting.

Once again, as soon as he walked in, Laura stood up. This time he didn't bother with protocol, he simply walked straight into her cell. Laura appeared nervous and her body language was anxious, so he was pretty sure he knew what she had decided.

"Would I really be powerful?" she asked, fiddling with the necklace in her hands.

"You will be the only female in the coven," Thom decided to explain a little, "and magic has balance, male and female; you will be the focus of the softer but no less powerful side. It will give you status and power; enough so that you would never be weaker again."

Jimmy's effect on Laura had been obvious over the time he had known her, and he could see the scars in her psyche.

"The balance is missing from the coven at the moment," he added, reaching out and taking her hand, "and we will treasure you for giving it to us."

Thom had seen a lot of different theories on magic and its uses in his time alive. Some believed in only male or only female, but he had experienced the truth of true unification, and he knew its significance.

Laura gave him a small, nervous smile.

"Then yes," she said in a quiet but firm voice, "I would rather be with friends than in jail alone."

Thom smiled and stepped up to her, pulling Laura into a hug before he really thought about what he was doing. Her choice made him incredibly happy.

"I will need to go and speak to Sheriff Trout," he said, strangely excited, "but if you are sure, I will summon Damian and Colin. We are the power base for the coven, and it will be all three of us who bring you over."

Laura looked kind of scared.

"Will it hurt?" she asked, and Thom realised he was running away with everything.

"Not if I put you in thrall first," he said and gave her a reassuring smile. "We will be very gentle with you."

"Then hurry back before I lose my nerve," Laura said and pushed him towards the bars. "Don't give me too long to think about it."

Never one to ignore good advice, Thom set about everything he needed to do.

====

The sheriff was difficult to begin with, but that was entirely expected. Thom was beginning to think that their alliance would be forever prickly, but eventually Trout was convinced.

Thom had decided that he would leave Dr Belmont to Trout unless Belmont became a real problem, so once everything was settled, he summoned Damian and Colin. So as not to spook the sheriff any more than necessary, they arrived through the front door, although there was no way they could have made it from the Lair in the time it took them had they been normal human beings.

"Laura," Thom greeted as they went back into the cells, "you know Colin and you've met Damian before, but he was pretending to be someone else."

"Hello," Laura said, clearly very nervous.

"Good evening," Damian said, turning on the charm, "it is lovely to finally meet you properly, Laura. Thom has been talking about you all night, so distracted was he that Jonathan and I had to rescue your new rooms from his clutches before he rearranged them into oblivion."

"New rooms?" Laura appeared surprised.

"I was erring on the side of optimism," Thom said with a little smile, "and, luckily for you, Damian took over before I totally wrecked the rooms we're clearing out for you."

"Jonathan is playing foreman while I am here," Damian added, clearly trying to set Laura at ease. "He's having to keep a close eye on the others; gay men can become so flamboyant."

That made Laura smile and Thom thought she might have relaxed a little. It was quite amusing seeing Damian putting someone at their ease rather than being dangerous and mysterious. It was a side of his vampire child that he enjoyed seeing.

Trout had insisted on being present, just to make sure everything was above board. What the man thought was above board Thom had no idea, but the idea was to keep the sheriff happy, so Trout was hovering in the background. When he looked over to the man, the sheriff walked forward and unlocked the cell door. It wasn't necessary, but Thom hoped it would make Trout feel useful.

"So how do we do this?" Laura asked, eyes flicking between them all nervously.

"Just look into my eyes and let go," Thom said, not wishing to drag this out any longer than necessary for Laura's sake, "and leave the rest to us."

To her credit, Laura did look into his eyes almost immediately and he smiled and sent peaceful signals her way. He didn't even have to say anything as Laura's eyes fluttered closed and she swayed slightly where she was standing.

"She'll be okay, right?" Trout did not seem to be able to resist putting his oar in.

"Laura will be better than okay, Sheriff," Damian said as Thom continued to concentrate, making sure Laura was very deeply under.

They had not planned exactly how to do this, but they seemed to naturally fall into place: Thom behind Laura, Damian to the left and Colin to the right. Thom wound a steadying arm around his friend while Damian lifted her left wrist and Colin the right.

"If you're squeamish about bites, Sheriff," Thom said, looking over at the hovering man and letting his teeth elongate as he spoke, "now is the time to look away."

Moving with complete synchronicity he leant forward sinking his teeth into Laura's neck as Damian and Colin did the same for each wrist. Laura made a small noise and stiffened slightly, something reaching her even though Thom held her in deep thrall, but it lasted only a moment and she relaxed into his embrace.

Her blood was sweet and velvety on his tongue. He drank deeply, allowing his power to move through Laura as he tasted the essence of her life. This was the ultimate power of the predator. It was liberating not to need to curb his instincts as he kept drinking way beyond the point where he felt Laura's body begin to fail.

He could feel Damian and Colin in unholy communion with him as they stole away Laura's life and he reached out to them on a psychic level, pulling them yet closer. They were the power base for the coven, the unholy three: father, son and possibly the most dangerous piece of ass between the island and the other side of the country. Their powers mingled in Laura, leaving the foundation on which her reawakening would be built.

With all three of them drinking it didn't take long and he felt Laura's heartbeat faltering as her breathing became laboured. He was holding her up now completely and as Laura's last breath passed her lips, he pulled back, perfectly in time with Colin and Damian. The blood high was a powerful thing, but Thom reigned in his senses. With the help of the other two, carefully moved Laura to the bunk. Her heart was still beating, just, but as he listened it faltered one last time and he felt life leaving her.

It felt strange even knowing that they would bring her back, and he carefully moved some stray hair out of her face, making sure she was comfortable, even though she would be senseless until the next night. He did not want to leave her side and it took him a moment to gather himself and stand back.

With one finger he wiped away the drop of blood which had escaped his mouth and then he put away his supernatural nature.

"She is all yours now, Sheriff," he said, turning and looking Trout straight in the eye, "please look after her for us."

Trout looked very uncomfortable with what he had just seen, but the man did nod. That was all Thom needed. Now all they could do was wait.