JD indicated that his father should sit in the witness chair once more, while Gabriel took his original seat next to Sarah. Then he began his questioning.
“Did you attack Sandra?”
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“No.”
“Was she making advances toward you?”
“Yes.”
“This is ridiculous,” Mark’s voice sounded out. “This proves nothing. He is still lying.”
“Actually he’s not. Let me give a demonstration,” JD said.
He looked at his father and grinned. He was not going to like his next question.
“What do you think of my mother’s latest hairstyle?”
Shawn squirmed in his seat. He did not want to reply.
“Answer the question,” Gabriel said.
Shawn kept his eyes on JD as he did so; he did not want to look at his wife. “I hate it. I think it makes her look like an old woman trying to look young.”
Linda’s mouth dropped open as someone at the back of the room broke out in laughter and was soon joined by others. Even Damon’s lips twitched as he forced himself not to smile.
“Have you ever told her this?” JD asked.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings. I told her I liked it.”
“Tell her that again now.”
Shawn looked at Linda, who had closed her mouth, but was now glowing pink as she felt everyone looking at her. Shawn opened his mouth, but no words would come out. He tried again, to no avail. He gave up. “I can’t.”
JD looked across at Mark. “Is that a good enough demonstration for you?”
“No, he could be acting.”
“Then you ask him anything you want to.”
Mark shook his head. “Why? Why should I believe anything he says?” He turned to Damon. “I have had enough of this farce. You have turned these proceedings into a pantomime. Sandra and I are leaving. Let me know when the retrial is and I pray they put someone better in charge.”
“You will sit down,” Damon said in a cold voice. “If you leave this room, I will find in Shawn’s favour and will charge your daughter with making a false accusation. Do I make myself clear?”
Mark did not respond, but he did sit down.
“I’ve heard enough from your father,” Damon said to JD. “I want to hear what the witness to the crime has to say.”
Ben stood up and began backing away, waving his hands in front of him as though they could protect him from Gabriel. “I won’t let you bite me,” he stammered.
Gabriel grinned at him, making sure he revealed his fangs once more. “I don’t need to. I’ve already done it. Sarah, JD and I arrived earlier than the others. I followed you into the bathroom, bit you then told you to forget that you had seen me. Now go and sit in the witness chair. Answer every question truthfully and my hold on you will be removed the moment you leave this room.”
The last part was a lie as only time would remove Gabriel’s hold on him, but those who knew the truth wouldn’t say anything.
Ben obeyed, though he clearly didn’t want to.
JD went straight in for the attack. “How long have you known Sandra?”
“A couple of years. We are on the same course at university.”
Gasps filled the room. Even the council members looked shocked.
“He’s lying,” Sandra shouted.
“He can’t lie,” JD said calmly. “Did you see Sandra being attacked?”
“Yes.”
“Who did it?”
Ben looked over at Sandra. He didn’t want to speak, but he would not be given a choice. She was shaking her head at him, warning him not to say anything.
He turned away and dropped his head. “I did.”
Not even JD had been expecting him to say that.
“Why?”
“Firstly, because I got to have sex with her. Look at me. In what world would I ever get to have sex with someone who looks like her? When she gave me the chance there was no way I could say no. Also, she paid me two thousand dollars and I needed the money.”
Mark turned to look at his daughter. “Tell me that isn’t true.”
“Of course it’s not,” she said. Not even Mark looked convinced.
“What exactly did she pay you to do?” JD asked Ben.
“Have sex with her, not that I wouldn’t have done that for free. She wanted it rough, but I swear it was consensual. Then she ordered me to beat her up. To be honest, I rather enjoyed that part as well.”
JD had to turn away before he hit Ben. As far as he was concerned, Sandra deserved everything she got, but that didn’t make it alright for Ben to enjoy hitting women.
“I’ve heard enough,” he said. “Got anything you want to ask him Mark?”
“Actually I do.” He stood up and walked over to Ben. “Can you prove that my daughter paid you?”
“No. She paid in cash.”
“So it’s just your word against hers.”
Ben shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so.”
“And you admit to beating her up.”
“At her request, yes.”
Mark moved so fast even JD had no chance of stopping him before his fist connected with Ben’s jaw.
JD grabbed hold of Mark and dragged him away. “This isn’t going to help,” he said quietly.
“It will make me feel better,” Mark said through gritted teeth. “That bastard attacked my daughter. Let me go so I can do the same to him.”
“No,” JD said. “That is not the hunter way.”
“Someone get that piece of filth out of the witness chair and out of this room,” Damon said.
Craig and Jonathon both moved forward, but Gabriel called out, “Wait.”
He approached Ben, who tried to look away, but Gabriel grabbed hold of his head and forced him to look at him. “Have you ever hit a woman before?”
“Once,” Ben said. “A few months ago. But she deserved it.”
“When you leave this room, you will forget everything you know about hunters or vampires. You will have no memory of what happened here today. You will not mention what you did to Sandra to anyone. You will go straight to the nearest police station and confess to hitting this other woman. You will provide them with her name, the date and you will describe everything you did to her in great detail. Now go.”
Nobody spoke as they watched Ben stand up and leave the room.
“Thank you,” Damon said once the door closed behind him. “We couldn’t do anything to Ben, but hopefully the police can.”
“I’ll check up on him later,” Gabriel said. “If he hasn’t been charged with assault, I’ll make sure he never hurts another woman again.”
“How exactly are you planning on doing that?” JD asked, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“Stop looking at me like that JD. I’m not going to kill him, just have a little chat.”
Damon didn’t want to hear any more. “Have you finished questioning witnesses?” he asked JD.
“Just one more,” he said and turned to smile at Sandra. All the colour drained from her face.
“You can’t let them do this, father,” she said. “We kill vampires. We don’t let them bite us.”
JD could see the indecision on Mark’s face. He wanted desperately to believe that his daughter was not lying to him, but Ben’s testimony had convinced him that he, at least, was now telling the truth about who had attacked her.
JD almost felt sorry for him. “It’s not your father’s decision to make,” he said and nodded at Gabriel.
Gabriel moved fast, not giving Sandra time to scream. He took hold of her, injected just enough venom into her to control her, then returned to his seat before most people even realised he had moved.
“Tell the truth Sandra,” he said and she began to tremble.
JD didn’t make her move to the witness chair. He could question her just as easily from where she was seated.
“Did my father attack you?” he asked gently. She would tell the truth so there was no need to be harsh with her.
“No.” A tear trickled down her cheek and she angrily brushed it away.
“Has he ever touched you in any way?”
“No.”
“Did you set him up?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he rejected me. Me! Look at me. I’m gorgeous. How could anyone reject me?” She was screeching by the time she got to the last sentence.
“I have nothing more to ask,” JD said. He could see what Sandra’s words were doing to her father and didn’t want to make her say anything else.
Mark, however, did. “You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You used me to get your revenge on your trainer just because he rejected your advances.”
“Yes.”
“I am so glad your mother isn’t alive to see this.” Mark couldn’t bear to look at his daughter any longer and turned his back on her.
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Damon said. “Sandra, you are charged with lying to the council, betraying your trainer and dishonouring the hunter society. How do you plead?”
Sandra opened her mouth, but could not speak. She tried to say ‘not guilty’, but she was still unable to lie.
“Answer the question,” Gabriel said.
Sandra glared at him. “Guilty,” she snarled.
“Sandra,” Damon said loudly, “you have admitted your crimes so no hearing is needed. You are hereby banished from the hunter society. You will be permitted to return to your Sanctuary, but only to collect your things. Your hunting suits will be burned and your swords broken. You will have no contact with any hunter, or they too will be banished.”
“No,” Mark cried out. “You can’t do this. Where will she go? She’s just a child.”
“She is old enough to commit the crimes, she is old enough to serve the punishment. You need to decide if you want to be a hunter or a father; you cannot be both.”
“That’s a little cruel, isn’t it?” Gabriel whispered to Sarah.
“I agree,” she whispered back. “But that is hunter law. There is nothing we can do about it.”
“You have an hour to decide,” Damon continued. Then he called for guards to take Sandra away. Mark did not look at her as she was dragged screaming from the room.
Then Damon addressed Shawn. “It appears that you are the victim here. You are not guilty of the crimes you have been accused of. You are formally cleared of all charges and all mention of them will be removed from your record.”
He then focused on Mark. “Mark, you have some questions to answer. Why, for example, did you request this hearing be brought forward?”
Mark slumped down in his chair. He was a defeated man. But not by JD. It was his daughter’s lies that had beaten him. He had no fight left in him.
“Sandra asked me to. She said the thought of this hearing was giving her nightmares and she wanted it over and done with.”
“Why was JD not given the information he requested?”
Mark looked up at the blonde council woman who Damon had looked at earlier. “I asked Shirley to keep everything from him. I know how good a lawyer he is and I wanted to do everything I could to make sure Shawn paid for what I believed he did to my daughter. I also asked her to say that Shawn refused to give a statement about the accusations.”
Damon was furious. He turned to look at Shirley. “I can understand Mark’s actions. I deplore them, but at least I understand them. He’s a father trying to protect his daughter. But why did you go along with what he was asking? You knew it was breaking the rules.”
Shirley smiled tenderly at Mark. “Mark and I have been seeing each other for a few months now. How could I say no?”
“You should have put the council before your personal feelings,” Damon snapped. “Council members always do what the law says.” He looked at Mark once more. “Why did you request a public hearing?”
“I wanted everyone to know what Shawn had done to my daughter. I wanted everyone to turn against him. That’s why I let slip the details to a few key people who I knew would spread the word. I didn’t want my daughter’s attacker to have any peace while the investigation was going ahead.”
“But Shawn was innocent.”
“Yes,” Mark said sadly. He turned to look at Shawn. “I am truly sorry for my actions. I hope you can understand and forgive me.”
“I can,” Shawn said.
“Well I bloody well can’t,” JD heard Jonathon whisper to Katie.
“Mark, Shirley,” Damon said loudly and clearly. “You have both admitted to breaking the council rules. I have no choice other than to remove you both from the council. If I had my way, I would stop you being hunters as well, but unfortunately I can’t do that.”
He stood up. “This hearing is now over. Everyone go home. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I need a drink.”
He walked out of the room, quickly followed by most of the council members.
“Is it over?” Linda asked. JD nodded his head and she threw her arms around her husband.
JD spotted the elderly council member approaching and pulled on his father’s arm to get his attention.
“Let me introduce you to Daphne. It’s thanks to her that we were able to mount a defence. She sent us all of the information she could get her hands on.”
Shawn took her hand and shook it. “Saying thank you seems inadequate.”
“No thanks needed. I’m just glad that justice was done. Now you should go home and celebrate.”
Daphne said her goodbyes and moved out of the way of one of the hunters from Sanctuary 3 who was waiting to speak to Shawn.
He held out his hand, but Shawn did not take it. “I am glad you are back as our trainer,” the man said.
“I’m not back. I’m resigning as a trainer and I will never set foot in Sanctuary 3 again,” Shawn said. “Not one of you even asked for my side of the story. You all just accepted that Sandra was telling the truth.”
The man opened his mouth, but Shawn had not finished.
“None of you asked me if I had done it. Nobody from Sanctuary 14 did either, but the difference is that they assumed I was innocent while you assumed I was guilty.”
The hunter from 3 was taken aback by the anger in Shawn’s voice. “You have to understand. None of us could believe that a woman would lie about who attacked her. And there was a witness.”
“She did though, didn’t she. And the witness also lied. Get out of my sight. You’ve said enough.” Shawn turned his back on the hunter and took his wife’s hand. “Come on Linda. We are going home.”
It took the couple a lot longer to leave the room than they had hoped. Everyone, except those from Sanctuary 3, wanted to let them know how pleased they were with the outcome.
Jonathon walked up to Gabriel and held out his hand. “Thank you for what you did. It appears I have misjudged you.”
Gabriel took his hand and gripped it tightly. “You know you could thank me properly. Let me have Katie for a night.”
Jonathon tried to remove his hand, but Gabriel was holding it too tightly. “I’m joking,” he said. “I promise you I will never make a move on your wife. There’s a wine bar just round the corner. Why don’t I buy you both a drink?”
Jonathon glanced at JD, who nodded. “Take Craig and Natalie with you. Jane is going back to Sanctuary 5 with her boyfriend and I think Scott has already left with Doc and Silvia. I’ll take mum and dad home.”
“What do we do now?” Sarah asked when they had gone.
JD put his arms around her and kissed her.
“Now, as Daphne said, we go home and celebrate.”
I can make him do anything I want
As soon as Shawn and Linda walked through the door of Sanctuary 14, they were handed glasses of champagne.
“So much for not allowing alcohol in the Sanctuary,” JD said.
“This
is a special occasion,” Doc said. “I’ve already informed Sanctuary 7 that we will not be available for a hunt tonight.”
JD accepted the glass that was handed to him, but quickly took Sarah’s as she reached for it. “Don’t even think about it.”
“One little glass won’t hurt,” Linda said. “I drank occasionally when I was expecting you and your brother and you both turned out okay.”
“That’s different. We had a normal father. I’m not taking any chances.”
Linda opened her mouth to protest, but Sarah cut her off. “He’s right. I don’t have a problem avoiding alcohol for a few more months. I’m just grateful he’s still allowing me to train and hunt.”
“Speaking of which, you won’t be hunting again until after the baby is born.”
Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re going to discuss this now?”
“Yes, because you’re in a good mood and are just going to say, ‘Alright Jason. Whatever you say.’”
He put one arm around her and kissed the top of her head. Sarah rolled her eyes. “Alright Jason. Whatever you say.”
“That’s my girl. Now onto more important matters. Dad, what are your plans now that your name has been cleared?”
The three couples and Scott went into the lounge, where Shawn and Linda talked about what they wanted to do. Linda approved of Shawn’s decision to not return to Sanctuary 3 and to resign as a trainer. JD tried to talk him out of it, but failed.
They planned to go away for a few weeks, then look for a small cottage somewhere nearby to purchase. Doc and Silvia assured them that they could stay at Sanctuary 14 for as long as they wanted, but they had been discussing getting their own place for a while and what they had just been through had given them a reason to do so.
JD looked at his watch and almost swore. It was later than he thought. “Sarah needs to eat,” he said. “And the rest of you probably should as well.”
During a late lunch they discussed the morning’s events. Shawn wasn’t happy with the lengths JD had gone to to prove his innocence, but understood why he had done so. If he had been asked about it beforehand, he would have said no, which was why JD kept him in the dark.
“Are you like that with all your clients?” Linda asked.
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