Page 3 of Those That Are Lost
CHAPTER 3
TY
It has been 109 days since she got out.
I lean out over the boat's railing, willing it to pick up speed. I have already searched two regions; this boat is taking me to the third. I’m not stopping until I find some trace of her. Henry’s hand takes a grip on my left forearm as he steps up behind me. I know he can feel my unease. He gently tugs and I realise that I’ve been gripping the railing so hard the metal is bending under my strength.
I step back to resume pacing instead as my companion returns to his seat. He knows it's futile to ask me to do the same. I can’t stay still. Even as the boat carries us across the ocean, I cannot rest. My need to keep searching is a burning itch under my skin.
The dread I’d felt since I’d barrelled into Henry’s apartment only fuelling the desperation in my chest. She was meant to be there. Where are you, Red? Why didn’t you make it to Henry?
“Is she here?” I don’t wait for Henry to invite me in before I barge past his giant six foot five frame and into his loft apartment in the suburbs of the city. I have been to his place a few times over the years so I know the layout. I peer into the tiny kitchen on my way tothe open lounge with huge floor to ceiling windows that overlook the metropolis below. With no trace of Red I cross the space, stomping to the guest bedroom and the ensuite attached to it. Finding both empty, I try the main bathroom, slamming the door open. My heart rate picks up as I stare at another room without a trace of her scent.
I silently send a prayer towards the sky before checking his room. I don’t want her scent to be in here but I need to know. The thought of her finding solace in my friend weighs heavy on me but I wouldn’t be able to blame either of them. I should be dead. And he is a great guy.
My relief as I stare at his neat and tidy room is short lived. She’s not here.
Where are you, Red?
My brain starts working through a hundred different scenarios of why she wouldn’t be here, of how I can search for her. The need to find her suffocating my lungs.
“Hello to you too,” Henry calls, closing his front door. “And who exactly are you expecting to be here?”
“You really haven’t seen her? She didn’t make it here?” I find him, hands tucked into a dark pair of slacks and looking at me like I need to start talking.
Fuck, where do I start? Now that I know she isn't here, I need to leave. I don’t have time for this, it’s already been too long. She’s been out here somewhere, on her own, alone. Has she been captured by another pack? Some of them are not like the one I’ve left but several might be even worse.
“Ty, what’s going on?” Henry remains stoically calm whilst I feel like I might break apart.
“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.” I try to swing past him but he sidesteps, blocking my exit and brings his hands up in a placating motion, like he’s soothing a wild animal.
“Henry, let me go,” I raise my voice at him. I can’t stop searching.
“I’m not letting you leave until you tell me. You look like shit.”He gestures to my stained and torn clothes—the ones I’ve been wearing for a good few weeks now. “And you’re clearly in need of blood and some sleep. What the hell has happened?”
“Adicious, his stupid games, is what happened!” I’m yelling now. I need to get him to understand so he’ll let me leave. “He turned a female, Henry. A college student, a beautiful, clever college student. Everything backfired. I got her out but they’ve been keeping me prisoner for weeks. They’ve been bleeding me dry to use my blood as bait to lure her back. I only escaped because they made a mistake with my feeds, and I got strong enough to run.” I pant, breathless after spewing everything in one breath so I can get out of here faster. “I need to find her before they do.”
Henry blinks at me for an infuriating second but I can almost see the cogs in his brain turning.
“He figured out how to turn females into vampires,” he says, before releasing an audible exhale. “Holy shit.”
He didn’t listento any of my protests about joining me. He also locked me inside his flat for twelve hours and practically force fed me blood packets whilst we planned a strategy, and I told him the entire story.
I’m grateful, even if I did threaten his life several times for the stunt. It’s a good job we’ve known each other since the war, having signed up around the same time and being placed in the same training regiment. I guess we’ve not been close since, but I always made sure to stop by whenever I was in West Scotia on pack business.
Through talking everything out, I remembered Red telling me about her wishes to visit the Northern Isles. As soon as I recalled the conversation, I couldn’t let it go. The itching under my skin renewed with vengeance. I needed to be on the move. After Henry did some sleuthing in the city, andconfirmed there wasn’t even a rumour of a new vampire we booked the ferry and left.
However, with over two hundred tiny islands to search, and no guarantees that she was even there, I still had a sinking pit in my stomach. The longer she was by herself, the more I feared she’d be discovered or come to harm.
Looking out at the approaching coastline, I felt the impatience rising. My blood called for her. I only wish she knew I was out here, looking. If she was alone, I wanted to give her the reassurance it wouldn’t be for much longer. If she’d found an ally, I could only hope that she hadn’t moved on.
CHAPTER 4
AURORA
Already I feel the voices escaping that box in my brain. After a run as long as the one I’ve just completed, they normally recede for at least a couple of hours. I push myself so hard, running for hours at a time because I need the break from my own mind. Exhaustion, I’ve found, is the key.
However, today the rush of the exercise lasts only the time it takes to push myself up the stairs and let myself into my small, rented room on the top floor of this quaint four storey.
