Page 26 of By The Moon

Louis followed him inside, closing the door behind him, and paused. He listened to the house, hearing nothing. No creaks, or steps, no rustling of covers. The house was silent.

Gray murmured, “Clear,” from somewhere towards the back and Kelvin responded that their area was clear as well. They split up when they reached the stairs, Louis moving toward Gray as Kelvin carefully made his way upstairs. It didn’t take long for Gray and Louis to check all the rooms downstairs, finding no Skylar or Jerome.

“Clear,” Gray murmured again, knowing Kelvin would hear him.

“Clear up here too.”

“Let’s search and see what we can find.”

“I still can’t believe Skylar took him. I’ve known Skylar for years. I invited him to our party.” Louis shook his head as he opened drawers in the kitchen, searching through the junk drawer everyone had.

“Me too. Hard to think that someone we know would do something like this. Why now? Why Jerome? It doesn’t make sense. He knows Henry and Key. He’s had plenty of opportunity to take one of them.”

“I think it’s not the human he’s after but the vampire.” Kelvin stood in the doorway. “It’s you.”

Louis shrugged as he continued to search. “I have never been interested in Skylar. He’s a friend and nothing more.”

“Maybe he wanted to be more and when you announced your mate, he knew he couldn’t have you.”

Gray pushed past Kelvin and into the living area. “Doesn’t matter why he did it. All that matters is he did do it. Jerome could be in danger. What we find here could lead us to Jerome’s location.”

Kelvin rummaged through the shelves, pulling out books and flipping through them before dropping them to the floor. “We’ll find him, and if not, Louis can deal with Skylar.”

Louis grunted. “I’ll be dealing with him either way.” He walked into a room that appeared to be a study and went through allthe drawers, pulling out paperwork, checking pictures. Bills and more bills. Pictures of all of them together, pictures of vacations Skylar had taken. Once he’d cleared the room, he shouted to Gray. “There’s a computer in here. Can you access it?”

As Gray walked into the room, Louis heard Kelvin going up the stairs. “If I can’t I know a human who can.” Gray switched it on and Louis waited. Gray had his phone to his ear and as soon as it was answered said, “I have Skylar’s home computer. Getting you access now.”

Louis had no idea how it was done, but before he knew it, Key had control. Gray put him on loudspeaker then said, “He isn’t here and it looks like he hasn’t been for a number of days. He has another location which we have yet to find paperwork on. Search the computer while we carry on here.”

“On it.”

Gray stood and nodded to the filing cabinet. “Has that been searched?”

“Not yet. I’ve done the drawers so far. They were next.”

“I’ll do them now. Key?”

“Nothing interesting yet. There is something…”

“What?”

“A hidden file. Not that well-hidden for us. Password protected and encrypted. Interesting.”

Gray grunted and carried on searching the cabinet, pulling files out and checking them before dropping them to the floor. “Keep searching.”

“The house you’re in is the only one he owns?”

Louis paused. “That we know of.”

“Hmm. Okay. Let me follow this and see where it leads.”

Gray glanced at the computer then his phone then Louis. “A second location. Makes sense.”

“It does, and shows this has been thought out.”

“Before he knew Jerome existed unless he followed you and you never noticed.”

“Could be.” Louis shook his head. “Why would I bother checking if someone was following me around? I would never suspect a fellow vampire.”

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