Avenge (12 page)

“
We’ll find her. It’ll be
okay.” James tried to be soothing, but I found it patronizing. My
shoulder clipped him and knocked him back a few steps as I brushed
by him, needing to take action myself. I sprinted down the street,
stopping to check every alley way and dark corner. I looked in bars
and behind dumpsters. I screamed her name, over and over again,
begging her to answer.

This was a mistake of some kind. She
was playing a joke. And I was going to wring her neck when I saw
her again for making me worry so much.

But she wasn’t here.

She wasn’t anywhere.

The hum in my chest that I felt since
her mortal body died was still there, so I knew she was alive, but
it was dim.

And fading.

I jogged back to where we exited the
trolley, retracing our every step. I searched under cars, inside
dumpsters, and even the private booths inside the strip clubs. But
the search was fruitless, and I had no choice but to turn around
and rejoin the group.

As I approached, the old woman who
originally made us stop eyed me from a downstairs window. I veered
toward the door and—thanks to being a Patronus—went directly
through the wall to confront her.

“
Why did you make us stop?
Did you plan this? Do you know what happened to her?”

The elderly woman patted the seat next
to her, indicating I should sit. But I couldn’t sit, I needed to
move and release my frustrations. She patted the seat again, and I
knew she wouldn’t talk until I complied. So I sat, and buried my
head in my hands.

“
This will be a time of
great tribulation. Many sacrifices will be made, and only if you’re
strong enough will you come out whole,” she stated
matter-of-factly.

I lifted my head to look at her. Her
face was blank, and a white, milky film covered her pupils. “What
are you talking about?”

“
You will have a decision
to make, but either choice will not be without consequences. You
must stay strong and follow your heart toward the correct path or
all will be lost forever.”

I grasped the woman’s hands, trying to
get her to look at me, but it seemed like she was in some sort of
trance. “Please, stop speaking in riddles. Do you know where I can
find Lucy? Is it her that will be lost forever? You must give me
some clue.”

“
The dark will become black
before it sees the light.”

This was hopeless. I had no idea what
she meant, and it wasn’t bringing me any closer to finding Lucy. I
stood up and headed back for the door. Before I could walk through,
there was a thump behind me. I spun back around. The woman had
fallen to the floor and was convulsing.

I rushed back to her, hitting my
bracelet for James as I walked. I knelt down beside her and placed
my hands on either side of her head to keep it from further injury.
James and the others burst through the door, weapons
drawn.

“
I think she’s having a
seizure or something. She was talking gibberish, her eyes rolled
back into her head, and as soon as she finished, she collapsed and
started shaking.” James knelt beside me and replaced my spot while
I stood up and resumed my pacing.

“
What was the gibberish?”
Sadie Ann asked.

“
Huh?”

“
What did the woman say to
you?” Her words were more forceful this time.

I paused and addressed her. “It was a
bunch of nonsense about the dark and light and how choices have
consequences. Stuff like that. None of it made any sense. She
wouldn’t explain what she was talking about.”

“
She’s a known soothsayer.
She’s had visions and made prophesies her entire life. We strongly
believe that they come directly from the Alpha’s inner
circle.”

Cassie scoffed. “Pfft! That’s
ridiculous. Why would the Alpha communicate directly to some human
woman instead of going through his angels or us?”

“
I don’t question His ways,
I can only attest that she’s never been wrong. Not
once.”

“
But I have no idea what
she meant! It was only a bunch of vague warnings. How am I supposed
to decipher it?”

“
You need to tell me—word
for word—what she said. Maybe together we can figure it out. I’ve
been working with her since she was a little girl, so maybe I’ll be
able to gleam some meaning—though I make no promises.”

I closed my eyes and went back to the
beginning, recalling the woman’s words. As I started to speak,
Sadie Ann interrupted again. “No, write it down. It’ll be easier if
we don’t have to keep asking you over and over.”

I flipped on the keyboard in my
bracelet and spelled the words in my head. I read them over twice,
making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything before hitting send to the
rest of the team. Sadie Ann nodded in acknowledgement and walked
into the kitchen, muttering the words over and over as she tried to
understand them. Cassie and Adam left to check on the status of the
woman while Zander kept watch outside in case this was some type of
setup. That only left Lola and me standing in the doorway. She
lowered her face, and I could see she was holding back
tears.

Recalling the words I spoke to her
earlier tonight, I couldn’t believe they came from me, that I could
be so cold. So cruel. I hung my head in shame. “I’m sorry, Lola. I
shouldn’t have yelled, or taken out my frustrations on you. Can you
forgive me?”

“
No, Max, it is my fault. I
should have been paying closer attention. It’s what we’re trained
to do. I never sensed any threat or danger. Everything was calm,
and then she was gone. The last thing I remember is hearing her
run, but by the time I turned around, she was gone. I didn’t even
see what direction she went.”

“
So she was running away
from something? But if there was a threat approaching, she would
have said something, called out. It wasn’t like she was alone. I
don’t understand.”

Lola leaned up against the doorframe
and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. “But what if she wasn’t
running from something? What if she was running toward
something?”

My head tilted to the side and I
wrinkled my nose. “What would she run toward?”

Lola’s eyes snapped open and she
pushed off the wall. “Not what—who!”

And like a strike of lightning, it
dawned on me. “Jessica!” we said simultaneously.

Lola smiled and I wrapped her in a big
hug, twirling her around. “You’re brilliant!” But even as I spun
her around, my smile faded. My heart could feel Lucy fading away
from me, and with every moment that passed she grew dimmer like
grains of sand falling through my fingers.

“
Why’s she brilliant?”
Cassie asked. She and Adam returned, with James and Zander right
behind.

I composed myself, clearing my throat
and focusing on what needed to be done. “She’s figured it out. The
only reason Lucy would have taken off without telling anyone wasn’t
because she was in danger, but because she saw something she needed
to chase. Something she couldn’t let get away and didn’t have time
to wait for us.”

“
Oh my God, you think she
saw Jessica and went after her?” Cassie clutched Adam’s arm in
nervous excitement.

“
I’d bet almost anything
that’s exactly what happened. It’s the only thing that makes
sense.”

“
But it couldn’t really be
Jessica. It’s been months, the vampires must have taken her soul
and transformed it by now.” James was ever the voice of
logic.

“
Yes, that’s true. But what
if they kept Jessica’s form as a way to lure Lucy to them? They saw
how much of a fight Lucy put up when she was taken, and they
certainly know how hard she’s fought in the last few months.
Damnit! How could she be that stupid? How could she fall for that?”
I pivoted, punched the wall, and left a crack in the
plaster.

Cassie placed her hand on my shoulder.
“It’s no secret that she wants Jessica back. They used that to
their advantage.”

“
It’s a great tactic,” Adam
agreed. “It would be the only thing that would make her follow her
heart rather than her head. Other than you, Max.”

He was right, and I knew it. I just
didn’t want to accept it. No one spoke for a few moments and as
much as I wanted to punch that wall again, the physical pain
wouldn’t lesson the ache in my heart.

James called for Sadie Ann to join us,
and we hashed out a plan. “So now that we have an idea of what
happened, we need to figure out where they would have taken her. It
can’t be far, they wouldn’t be able to transport her to another
location. They can’t use realm doors like we can, and her bracelet
won’t open one with a vampire anywhere close to her. I bet they’re
still in the city. Sadie Ann, have any of your sources been able to
uncover where they might be hiding out? Any place at
all?”

“
Well, there have been a
few leads, but we checked them all out and they were dead ends. We
never found any vampires or evidence of vampires.”

“
We’ll search them again,”
I vowed. “It’s the only lead we have, and I’ll be damned if I’m
going to sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for another clue to
magically appear.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “It’s
worth a shot. Maybe something was missed, or they went back after
you searched, thinking the coast was clear,” Zander chimed
in.

“
All right, Sadie Ann.
Lead the way.” I stepped aside so she could pass me and we set off.
I prayed with every ounce of my being that one of these leads
panned out. I couldn’t face losing Lucy forever, my heart couldn’t
take it. I almost lost her once due to a vampire attack and it
nearly broke me in two. I wouldn’t let it happen again. And once I
got her back, there was going to be hell to pay for whoever took
her away from me, of that I was sure.

Chapter
Fourteen

I woke up. Begrudgingly, but I woke
up. Pain emanated from my entire body. But what was worse was the
ache inside me. I don’t know how I knew it, but I knew that Max was
in pain somewhere—not physical, but I could feel his heart being
ripped apart. And that knowledge alone hurt me worse than any
physical torture. I wanted to throw up and scream at the same
time.

I don’t know how much time passed, but
I knew it must have been a while because I had been moved to
another section of the room and was soaking wet. I assumed they
turned the hoses on me to clean me off. There wasn’t much of my own
blood left on me, only dried, crusty traces lining the crevices of
my cuticles. I blinked a few times and drew a deep breath, but a
sharp, stabbing pain came from my chest. I bent my head, wondering
why I hadn’t healed myself yet. Did too much blood loss prevent
self-healing? I didn’t notice any visible obstructions, so I
concluded that I must have broken a rib or two.

“
Hello?” I called, but the
only reply was my voice echoing off the walls back to me. I pulled
at my arms and legs again, but I was still restrained in the thick,
heavy wall cuffs. They couldn’t have been regular steel; I would
have been able to break through them if they were. They were
something stronger, but I had no idea what. The room was drenched
in darkness save for a sliver of light coming from the bottom of
the steel door on the opposite side of the room. There were no
windows, so I had no way of knowing if it was day or
night.

I screamed for hours, until my throat
was raw and I coughed up blood. I didn’t know where I was, but even
if there was a slight possibility that someone could hear me and
get me out of this, I needed to try. I even hoped one of my captors
would come in, even if only to tell me to shut up. I tried
constantly to make the communication system in my head reach Max or
James, or hell, even Elizabeth, but nothing I tried or did worked.
Without my bracelet, I was lost. There was nothing I could do but
wait for someone to come back. So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Days passed and no one answered my
cries or came in to see me. I had no food or water. No contact of
any kind. With my hands chained above my head, the numb feeling in
my outstretched arms turned to a burn, and then I lost all feeling
whatsoever. I could see that the tips of my fingers were turning a
deep shade of purple from lack of circulation and knew it was only
because of my enhanced Patronus blood that they hadn’t turned
black.