Page 37 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

They decided to make their way to the center of town where the festival was in full bloom, replete with music and singing, of which Kane grimaced at the horrendous sound. Perhaps the lilted tunes sounded lovely to the crowd, but to him sounded like a record playing on reverse. He'd find Tabitha. The vampires, Seth and Alexis, he could leave here to rot, for all he cared, but he couldn't move on without his future mate.

They searched every building they were free to enter and every public outlet, and still there was no scent or sign of his little human or the missing vampires from his crew.

Kane's trepidation growing by the second. All manner of thoughts tore through him—visions of her body chopped up, visions of her imprisoned for any manner of injustice. He was ready to brawl, if necessary, then high-tail it out of this strange world.

They approached the center of town, and quickly were engulfed with the acrid tinge of dead flesh—vampires—and not smoldering ones, but living ones. His eyes zeroed in immediately upon Seth and Alexis who stood surveying the crowd much as he and Graham had been doing. He let loose a low whistle and their eyes swept to him immediately. Seth gave a grim nod, and the brother-sister duo began to filter their way through the throng of dancers and musicians playing loud enough to crack an ear drum. There was a sizable audience of demons in attendance; Kane could hazard a guess that there were nearly four hundred infernas demons.

Alexis eyed Kane and Graham with a shrewd gaze as she approached. "Lost the human so soon?"

Kane glowered at her. "She may have been abducted. I left her behind a quiet to investigate, but when I returned minutes later, she was vanished, with only her hooded cloak left behind."

"If not an abduction, mayhap she went off in search for a story," Graham offered, his eyes scanning the throng for trouble. "We don't fit in here. The sooner we leave, the better. Did you learn anything?"

Alexis stood tall, making her equal in height to Graham's own towering form. Personally, he preferred Tabitha's short stature, which made him long to protect her.

"We've learned much from our reconnoitering, Kánnérd. The castle is east through the treacherous wastelands, apparently. Though our data may be inaccurate." Alexis preened with this announcement.

"And how did you discover that news, lass? You speak demonic?" Graham smiled at her.

"Nay," she mocked back. "Me and my brother can interfere with minds, and some of these demon's mind are weak enough to probe telepathically. I saw visions and received projections of awe and honor toward a demon king who sits upon a thrown of gold. In their thoughts, they referred to him as The Golden King, or some such translation. It may not be entirely accurate, but when I probed further, I received a direction of east, bypassing a massive desert wasteland and serpent-like underground caves with man-eating worms. It may be a significant distance away, and getting there on foot could be time-consuming."

Seth stepped beside his sister in support. "I also probed several minds here. Many are wary of us and have already alerted some sort of an authority figure; however, a sacred festival of the feminine is taking place to crown a fertile female for some bidding war. It was hard to understand and even harder to describe, but I gathered much of the same inferences as Alexis did with regards to the castle. East is where we need to go."

Well, this was good news to Kane, and also bitter.

"So, where is Tabitha?" he ruminated. The thought of a female ritual and making bids sounded a lot like a lottery, and he feared the repercussions of having left her alone…for mere minutes. "I don't think she left that spot of her own volition."

"Mayhap not," Graham agreed. "Have any of you scented her?"

Alexis and Seth shook their head in denial.

"She's useless for our mission," Alexis offered. "I suggest we abandon her here, complete our mission with our newfound leads, and recover her on our return journey."

If it was anybody but Tabitha, Kane might have agreed, but he refused to leave her alone in this dangerous world alone, to be possibly butchered, sold, or worse.

"I cannot abandon her," Kane said. "Not now."

"Then, I suggest we hurry," Seth said, his sharp, silvery eyes pensively staring down every demon that so much as glanced their way. "Most of my mind probes have been nonsense. Frivolous thoughts about which clothes to wear, am I pretty enough, is this singing too loud, and the likes. They aren't afraid of us, but they have been whispering about us…much."

"Then, let's move," Kane said.

They walked through the crowd, looking everywhere for any sign of the fragile human tabloid writer. Time was slipping by and each second counted.

"How soon would it take us to reach the castle?" he asked Alexis and Seth.

They glanced at each other as if speaking mind to mind, before Seth turned to him. "I fear they will not trade with us to allow the use of their ridable animals, therefore, we must travel on foot. I am fast, and you werewolves are as well, but the human remains a problem. She's not a marathon runner. I did find a barn of sorts that harbored some foul-smelling creatures with a saddle, but I doubt they'll allow us to traverse with one, let alone trade for one, and the language barrier is significant. We cannot speak to them, and they cannot to us."

"We could steal them," Kane offered, ensuring his voice was low.

"True," Seth said. "But, then we risk being chased out of town and entire hunting parties coming after us. We're better off to blend in and get along with them than to steal and aggrieve."

Kane viciously swiped away sweat from his brow as his agitation bloomed. Damn but it must be over a hundred degrees down here! Feeling at a loss, he looked high and low across the marketplace one more time before letting out in a booming voice, "Tabitha!"

He never had been a particularly patient man.

The music slowed, then stopped halted completely. A hundred orange-skinned faces turned to face him with a mixture of suspicion and glee. Trying the route of pleading, he gentled his voice, now that he had garnered the attention of the civilian population and said, "I am missing my wife. A small female. Has anyone seen her?"

Graham backtracked, stepping away from Kane. "Way to remain discreet, mate."

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