Page 36 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

Tabitha wasted no time in sequestering herself in the center of the dancing women. They obliged her and almost appeared to want to hide her from the vile man who stared venomously at her, still clutching her black hood. She was disrobed, leaving her in her nothing more than her jeans and shirt. A woman approached her and handed her a tambourine and beckoned her to play. They cared not that she looked different than them, significantly shorter, more petite, and less beautiful. They sang joyously and clamored away.

She made it blocks away, watching over her shoulder for the man who'd snatched at her, but he'd disappeared among the fray.

Another beautiful woman, singing in a lovely, resounding voice approached Tabitha on the left, another to her right; they seemed to flank her. Tabitha knew not what to do, so she softly hummed and pretended to play along in the parade as she drew further and further from where Kane had left her. The women looked down at Tabitha and clearly noted all the key physical differences between them and her. She felt like a plump blueberry amidst a bowl of strawberries, and at any second they might reveal her true alien identity, and then she'd be terminated, or worse.

10

A vacant hooded cloak lying on the ground was all that remained of where Kane had last left Tabitha. Kane called forth his wolf and let loose a subdued howl to alert back his compatriot, Graham. Soon after, Graham bounded over, completely changed into a shirtless ensemble with billowy white pants so that he better resembled the infernas demons of the marketplace town.

"Where's your mate, friend?" Graham asked dubiously.

"Vanished," he responded. "I told her to stay put. This reeks of foul play." He showed Graham what was left of Tabitha, a cloak drenched in sweat.

Graham winced. "Not good, mate. What about Alexis and her brother? Any sign of them?"

Kane shrugged. He cared not for the vampires, even the ones Alpha Zeke had approved of for this mission. They were better off dead or imprisoned in his mind. "I don't care, and I haven't seen them. The crowd is too dense, and there's too many scents and aromas masking their presence. We must find Tabitha. She's the most vulnerable. Did you get any leads?"

Graham shook his head regretfully. "The language barrier is egregious. No one understands me, other than vacant looks and slammed doors in my face. They sense or know that I'm different from them. We need to leave this place quickly. There is no castle here, and I can't communicate with a single other person here to ask for directions, if you catch my drift. I offer we terminate the group and head in separate direction."

"Impossible, we have very little time, and we might never recover each other to return home," Kane said. "First, we find my mate, and then we figure out how to find the castle. We've lost half a day's time already."

"There appears to be a celebration in town. I saw banners, ribbon dancers, and enough God-awful singing to make me wish I'd brought ear plugs. I say we scout the rest of the marketplace together, blend in, and find your mate. We can sniff out the vamps as we go along, we just need to remain cautious. There's some sketchy folk around," Graham said.

Yeah, he was one to talk, Kane thought. A half-naked werewolf carrying heavy backpack with an sword across his back, Graham definitely stood out in this world; however, they had yet to be revoked from the town or lynch-mobbed, so they had that going for them.

"We certainly can't remain here any longer. We don't know what the laws are of this land, and what little information they had in the great library, wasn't of much help."

"Agreed," Graham said.

They set off through town together, one large werewolf to another. Kane used his acute sense of smell to try to track Tabitha, but there were so aromas clouds of acrid smoke, cooking meat, cloying incense, and the stench of demon that her own unique odor eluded him.

"You know you need to lose the hood and cloak, mate. You don't blend in." Graham made a point, but Kane disregarded it and chose to keep his robe on. It better hid the arsenal of weapons he carried.

"I can't scent her," Kane replied instead. "Can you?"

"Not with this circus taking place here. It looks like a a festival is going on. Is that why Zeke wanted us to fetch this bloody relic now? Some sort of sacred celebration taking place or something?"

Kane pondered this before replying. "It could be. The man's always up to something, but he's also the most secretive person I know, perhaps more so than I am. He's forever keeping his cards close to his chest. All I know is he said he believes the relic will somehow heal his insane wife and return her to normalcy."

Graham whistled low beneath his breath. "Good luck with that. Crazy begets crazy, and I'll be damned but they both are bonkers and meant for each other."

"Have you spotted Alexis or Seth?"

"Nay," replied Graham. "There's so many burning fires here, the smoke makes it harder to scent them than usual."

Kane agreed, and they continued their trajectory through the narrow passageways of the corners of the marketplace, which was enclosed by stone walls on each side. He counted two entrances, the one they entered in on the south side of town, and another on the north side. What he needed was a map, less of a language gap, and to find Tabitha as soon as possible.

Their perimeter check proved fruitless. There was no sight of Alexis, Seth, or Tabitha. Shit. It was like a horror movie gone wrong.

"Do you think this hubbub in town is typical?" Kane asked his partner.

Graham shrugged. "Can't tell. The language difference is excruciating. I don't dare wink at a lass, or I might get my throat cut. We don't know anything about the culture or mannerisms of these infernas demons, other than they appear to adore fire, don't they?"

His partner had a point. It seemed at every hut or shop was a raging campfire in front of it and a hefty smoke stack that billowed black char from a chimney-like structure.

"Well, the good news is we haven't had to kill anyone, yet," Kane said as his eyes tracked the crowds. Many of which ignored them or only spared them passing glances. Perhaps a werewolf in Hell wasn't so unusual after all? And, why did that rankle his nerves at the oddness of it?

Graham smirked. "True enough."

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