AFTERMATH

Luke paced back and forth tirelessly, waiting by the front door for the others to return. "They should have been back by now," he hissed as he paced, and Nicola sighed, she too sitting by the door. "Rachael went to break up with Livia, it won't be quick," she responded, yawning a little as she spoke. Luke shook his head and kept pacing, his footsteps echoing off the hallway walls as he went back and forth. "Something must have gone wrong," Luke muttered darky, and Chloe chuckled, watching him pace. "Well, you keep brooding by the front door. I'm going to call them," she responded, reaching for her phone as Cookie bounded down the hallway to lick at her fingers. Chloe giggled a little as she opened her phone onto the news page, accidentally of course, and her face instantly grew taunt and pale. "Guys, look at this," she whispered.

Luke turned to her, as did Nicola, and they gathered around. It was a live news report outside a University, with the main headlines being: MASS BRAWL AT LOCAL UNIVERSITY. Nicola groaned, and then the front door burst open. The three of them looked up instantly to find Darcy, Mikayla, Sienna, Jacob and finally Rachael limping in, all of them bloodied and bruised. "For fucks sake what did you do!" shouted Chloe as she rushed over to Rachael and hugged her tightly. "Livia…didn't take it well," muttered Rachael as she returned the hug weakly, and Luke sighed. "Well, the good thing is that you guys are alright," Nicola said as she came up behind Chloe, and Jacob shrugged. "Danny was with them," he whispered hoarsely, and Luke looked up in surprise. "Danny?" he asked incredulously, and Jacob nodded in confirmation. "He didn't seem very happy with us."

Vivian came around the corner behind them, and she groaned disappointedly when she saw their state. "What happened?" she asked, and Mikayla stepped forward to answer. "Livia wasn't exactly cooperative with the situation. She started a fight…and we all got involved. I think we won, considering we're not on the floor like they are." Vivian slowly nodded, although the expression of concern never left her face. "So, what do we do now?" asked Chloe, glancing at each of the five injured Family members. "What's going to happen," came a deep, gruff voice, "Is strictly between you and me." The Family turned, surprised, to find Andrew leaning against the doorway. Andrew was only locking eyes with one of them in particular. Rachael stared back, too tired to be defiant as she held her ribs, and Andrew seemed to take note of that. "You guys look like you need medical attention," he said slowly and deliberately.

He pushed himself away from the doorframe and took a step into the mansion, still only staring at Rachael. "Come on, guys, let's give them a moment," Darcy murmured before quickly stepping out the main hallway, and the others followed, leaving Rachael and her father staring at one another. "You know…I've always wanted a dad," Rachael murmured, her voice barely a whisper, and Andrew nodded. "You know, I've always wanted a kid. Mostly a daughter if I'm being honest. When I heard of the murder of your friend Leila, I came as fast as I could, because I had known Leila once as well. I never thought Leila was here because you and your friends were. When I went through the list of her close contacts and found your name among them, I knew I had to try to run into you." Rachael stared at Andrew, eyebrows raised, but she never moved.

"I will understand if you're mad at me," muttered Andrew as he took a step closer, but Rachael didn't answer. Instead, she took a step forward to meet him and hugged Andrew tightly. Andrew made a sound of surprise, waited a few moments, then wrapped his arms around Rachael in return. The two hugged tightly for many minutes before slowly breaking away, staring at one another again. "Andrew…. Dad…. what do we do?" Rachael whispered, and Andrew chuckled, "I came here for a reason. I need all of your help," he replied, and Rachael's eyes widened in surprise. "I've been thinking about this serial killer and his current rampage… there are bits that just aren't adding up," Andrew whispered softly, and Rachael nodded, her eyes locked onto him. "Like what?" Rachael asked, and Andrew sighed before gently wrapping a single arm around her shoulder.

"These killings…they don't match to his record of kills. For example, his first victim was Ellie, right? At Trinity's. He killed four others as well. Thomas, Leila, Jasper and Eddie. Two girls, three boys. What's not making sense to me is the locations. Trinity is still a crime scene for the murders, but there have been reports of several adults murdered over town. I visited one just last night. A woman had been pretty much slashed apart by a lunatic with a knife the same size as the adult murders…but not the murderers of the children!" Rachael's eyes widened. She knew what Andrew was saying. "Two murderers?" she whispered, and Andrew shrugged. "It's just a theory for now. I don't have enough evidence to prove it, but this killer isn't going to switch which knife he uses dependant on age group. He is far more coordinated than that."

Rachael cocked her head to the side slightly as she stared up at her father, "What makes you think he's coordinated?" Andrew chuckled again, patted Rachael on the shoulder, and then cleared his throat before speaking again. "He is more coordinated than our entire police force. He killed kids and slipped away undetected. He knew we were hunting for him, so he broke into the news station, held a hostage and demanded the hunt for him immediately halts. That threat he made, killing all our families? That shook a lot of people. Many are too afraid to leave their homes and insist on defending themselves from the inside if someone were to break in. This man is somehow coordinated to take an entire city hostage with a singular threat." Rachael lapsed into silence, taking in what her father had said. "How are we going to catch him?" she finally asked, and Andrew's eyes brightened.

"That's both the beautiful and complicated thing. The police can't risk any innocent people being purposefully targeted if we are discovered…I've realised that this killer is looking out for the police, but what he is not looking out for is you and your friends." Rachael gasped, and Andrew slowly nodded, "We need the Family to help catch him. It's the only choice we have." Rachael shook her head, eyes wide in confusion, and she took a small step backward. "Why us? Why not anyone else?" she demanded, and Andrew sighed, now looking down to the floor. "Because the eleven of you are more capable than many of my officers. You think I haven't watched the security footage from the University? It took five of you to take out Livia. All of you are needed, all eleven, for this to work." Rachael opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking as Andrew gently held a hand to her back. "I'll talk to the others," she mumbled, and Andrew nodded, a small smile on his face. "I know."

Rachael stared at her father quizzically, and when he said no more, she asked what was on her mind. "So, if we need to help catch him, what are you going to do?" Again, Andrew chuckled, reaching up to gently ruffle Rachael's hair playfully before replying. "I'm going after the bastard who started this…who would have told Livia what to do. I don't believe Livia thought of doing this on her own. I'm going to have a little chat with her father."