I just didn’t know what.
“The auction is in a few hours,” Lex said as we left the house. “I don’t want to think they might have captured her, but we need to be careful.”
“He’s right,” Helena added. “The vampire slayers will be out in full swing tonight. They’re probably trying to round up some last-minute meat for their little event.”
“Gross,” Raven said.
“Very gross,” Michael agreed.
Together, the five of us left the mansion and headed into the grove. We walked together. Each of us had on a trench coat, boots, and clothing that let us move easily. Well, all of us except for Helena, who was still in one of her dresses. It didn’t matter, though. Helena could move like the night if she wanted to. She was that good.
We made it to the apartment in no time and all, and immediately, I knew something was wrong. When we arrived outside of the building, I gestured for everyone to circle around. Then Lex and I walked inside, up the stairs, and to her door. We stood there, sniffing the air. I couldn’t quite pinpoint the sickly scent that filled the hallway, but it wasn’t good. It wasn’t blood, but it wasn’t good.
When I looked at the door to the home, it was slightly ajar.
Someone had been here, and recently.
Lex stepped forward and pushed the door open. Then together, we went in. We each went in opposite directions to look at the apartment, and then we gathered back in the kitchen.
“Someone took her,” he said.
“She was here, though.”
I wasn’t sure if that should be reassuring or not. It was quite horrible to think that someone had simply come in and taken the woman I loved.
The woman I loved.
That was what she’d become. I’d believed for years that she was my fated mate, but now I truly felt like we were beginning to love each other, and I didn’t want that to stop. I didn’t want any of this to stop.
“She can’t be dead,” I whispered. “I would know it.”
“I don’t think she’s dead,” Lex said. He moved swiftly throughout the space. Even for a vampire, he was fast. It was one of the best and most interesting things about Lex. Where most people just saw a handsome face, there was more to him than that. “I think he took her.”
“Who?”
“The organizer of the event tonight.”
I sniffed the air. I could smell that strange, pungent odor. Was it him? Was that what the human man smelled like? There was something else, too. It was fear or anger all rolled into one. She was scared. She’d been scared. The man had scared her.
My fangs extended, and I felt myself growing more agitated.
“Calm down there, friend,” Lex said. “We still have time. They aren’t doing anything for a few hours.”
“They’ve already done enough,” I said. I walked around the apartment again, looking for clues...looking for anything. The carpet in the hallway was a little messed up. It looked like there had been some sort of struggle there. I crouched down, looking around. I wasn’t really sure what I was trying to find.
Then I notice the closet. It was a linen closet of sorts, perhaps, and I reached for the door handle and opened it. There, just inside, was an empty syringe.
Why was there a syringe?
I reached for it.
“Be careful,” Lex said.
“I’m always careful.”
I examined it, looking it over. It smelled like nothing at all. Lex, too, sniffed it.
“A tranquilizer?” He asked.