Page 5 of Last Hope
He could have been helping Caesareon willingly or unwillingly. He was missing, but the only thing Isis cared about was that her little brother was alive and she wanted to find him.
“If that’s all you people need…” Isis stood up abruptly, scratching the chair across the floor. She looked from Victoria’s brown eyes to Terrance’s gray ones.
“Yes, thank you for your cooperation, Isis. If you hear anything will you let us know?”
Isis barely nodded before she turned and walked out of their office, to see her friends. There was no need for her to answer the question because they all knew that if Isis heard anything about Azizi she wasn’t going to the police.
Esmeralda, Antonio, and Anya were waiting for Isis in the lobby and stood up as soon as they saw her. Esmeralda ran to her almost immediately and threw her arms around Isis’s neck, nearly knocking her backwards.
“Isis! What’s going on? What happened? What did they tell you?” Ezzy asked, practically in a rush, slurring her words together.
Isis rubbed her friend on the back and looked over at Anya, who was regarding her with a mixture of curiosity and worry, but otherwise remained still where she was. And Isis wanted nothing more but to be in her Soul Mate’s arms at that moment.
“Are you okay?” Antonio stepped forward, his son murmuring in his arms as if asking her the same question. She smiled at them and only nodded. She was at a loss for words, as if there was a need to say anything at all. What was the point? Her brother was alive, that much they knew, and they also knew that she wouldn’t rest until she found him.
“Let’s get out of here,” Isis barely whispered, moving away from Esmeralda. She reached for Anya’s hand and pulled her away towards the front door of the police station.Later, she vowed to herself. Later she would tell them what was wrong. Right now, all she needed was sleep.
3
“Sir,” the urgency in that voice was evident. “Sir, we have located her.”
Azizi stopped what he was doing immediately, for he had been waiting to hear those words for weeks. He turned to the supernatural, a werewolf, and said, “Are you sure?”
The wolf nodded. “We have found the vampire who killed Caesareon. We have found her.”
Azizi felt a smile tug at his lips; a smile of satisfaction. Now that they found the bitch that murdered their master, the plan could be set back in motion—once they killed her, of course. Granted, he didn’t even know who the vampire woman was, and it mattered little. All that mattered was that she suffered for what she did and he didn’t care how the suffering was done. All he knew was that he wanted her head on a silver platter, decorated next to the machine that would change the fate of the world forever.
“Bring me her head,” Azizi commanded and turned back to his work, admiring its beauty. He could feel the wolf nod his head behind him as he turned to leave.
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, and one more thing.”
“Sir?”
“Kill anyone that gets in your way.”
* * *
Isis grippedAnya’s hand as if it were a lifeline. In a way, it was. It was the only thing keeping her in a conscious state, surfaced in reality, keeping her floating in the real world instead of helping her sink into those bloody dreams that she used to have. Anya was keeping her on her feet.
“They recovered the evidence from the tape that was erased the night someone went in to break out the prisoners,” Isis began explaining, finding comfort in the cold night as it whipped at her face, Anya’s warm hand wrapped around hers was the only thing keeping her voice steady, even. “The person in the picture, breaking them out? It’s my brother, my younger brother, Azizi. And don’t ask me if I’m sure,” she added when she saw Antonio’s mouth start to open and form the question. “I’m positive. I’d remember his face anywhere, and we look alike.”
They walked along the sidewalk and for a moment Isis wished that they had taken a car, the distance would have been shorter, as would have been their current conversation. Unfortunately since she, Anya and Viktor had ridden in the patrol car with Agent Phillipe, they didn’t have their own form of transport and not all of them would have exactly fit on Antonio’s motorcycle so he had left it parked where it was and they were all forced to walk home in the cold.
“It’s just really hard to believe,” Ezzy whispered, tightening her son against her chest. His blanket was wrapped around him like a nice little cocoon, all protection, and for a moment, Isis envied the child.
“After all this time, how could you not have known?” Antonio asked.
Isis’s patience had begun to wear thin. She loved her friends to death but she hated having to explain to them over and over again about how Caesareon was a traitorous lying bastard and that it should have been no surprise that he had lied to her about Azizi. Isis was about to turn and snap at them but a squeeze from Anya stopped her.
They are making an attempt at understanding the situation just as much as you are. Please, be patient.Anya’s voice echoed through her mind, cool and collected, causing Isis to shake her head back and forth, take a deep breath and relax.
She was right. There was no need to take her anger and frustration out on her friends, especially when they had done nothing wrong. Not to mention that it would most definitely not help the situation at all. If anything, she needed their support and she didn’t want to risk them getting angry with her.
“I’m just as confused as you are.” Isis chose her words carefully. “I don’t know much about what’s happening, I don’t know what’s going to happen now. All I need is for you guys to be here for me, please.”
They were silent for a moment and just as Isis started to enjoy the sound of nothing but the whispers of the wind, there was the low rumble of an angry growl and out of nowhere, jumped a werewolf. It was large and gray, its top lip pulled back in an angry snarl; and it was staring directly at Isis.
