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Lottie’s pov
I heard a loud high pitched screams and I raced off in the direction of them. Vera! My heart plummeted. I couldn’t run fast enough. Suddenly the screech stopped. As if the air had suddenly been sucked out of her. I pushed myself faster, smelling the air to find my daughter.
“VERA!” I shrieked. I got to her room but there was no sign of her. I knew by the silence that she was gone. I dropped to my knees digging my fingers into the floor, trying desperately to get a grasp on reality but I felt that I was just too late to save her. An agonised cry ripped from my throat as I screeched at God for taking another of my daughters and then my world went black.
Bastien’s pov
Lacey came running into the bar and grabbed my arm…..she was gasping for breath. Her eyes shut tightly as she tried to speak but failing miserably. I was chatting to one of my regulars, a man called Gavin, in his early 60’s, a very interesting person. Lacey started to pull on my shirt again and was still red in the face and gasping for breath but started pointing in the direction of the door to the main house. I looked at her now properly and excused myself from Gavin, rolling my eyes, my guess was that it was Opal again upsetting her. I quizzed her about Opal but she shook her head vehemently and continued pointing to the door.
“Afton can you get Lacey some water please” I asked him and he landed over a second later with some for her. She greedily drank it and then screamed at me.
“Lottie!” and made for the door, looking back at me like a dog wanting you to follow it. My heart lurched.
“It’s Lottie! She needs you! Go now!” She didn’t have to say it twice I bolted for my home and to my beloved wondering what the hell had happened? She knew I had to be in the bar at the moment, why couldn’t she just call me. What with that troublesome kid coming in and causing trouble. But as I got closer to my home I got a sudden creepy feeling down my neck, call it intuition. It was too quiet. I looked back and saw Lacey way behind me so I let myself into the house and found my beloved mate on her knees on the floor, acute pain etched on her face, her mouth open in a silent scream. OH GOD, VERA! I know that look on Lottie’s face, it happened before. I ran through the house looking for Vera, knowing as I did that her scent that normally drenched the house was faint and vague. I knew she was gone. I raced to Lottie and shook her to try and snap her out of her stupor. Her head flopped back and forth on her neck.
“LOTTIE!” Please I need you to come back to me. I can’t lose you too. LOTTIE PLEASE!” I roared, to no avail. Lacey finally got to the door and was now bent over, breathing heavily, her hand on her side, panting trying to catch her breath. I asked Lacey had she seen Vera anywhere and she nodded but held up a finger so she could catch her breath. Dammit I needed to know now what the hell had happened. I pinched my nose between my eyebrows, a trick I had picked up from Edward. Edward! he could help me. But no he won’t want to come near us cause of all the blood. Maybe Alice has had a vision. I went and got Lacey some water and she gulped it down. Finally she seemed ready to talk.
“Bastien, she’s gone, they are all gone!” she declared and began to cry.
“Start at the beginning please!” She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop crying. I looked over at Lottie, she hadn’t moved since I got here and at least I know it was because of Vera.
“It all started when Ortho started seeing his sister, who’s dead by the way. I thought he was being paranoid and imagining things, but he was, is my friend” she corrected herself. “Is my friend, the only one in this mad house we live in. But he thought he was losing his mind cause he’d look up and point out to the woods and one day I did see a little girl of about 5 years old standing in the woods with an older boy with her. “I nodded at her wondering what the hell that had to do with Vera and Lottie.
“So then I went to his room when I heard him talking to someone in there. It sounded like a little girl but I thought maybe he was doing the talking like in a story or something and I wanted to comfort him, but as soon as I opened the door the talking stopped. And there was no-one there, not even Ortho. I know cause I searched and the noticed that the window was open so I assumed he had got out of the window to avoid whoever was coming into his room. But he’d have fallen down the full storey if he did because there’s nothing to hang onto on that side and he wasn’t down below. I went outside to look but he was just gone. So I went back inside and found Nate and told him, but he was acting like he didn’t care and I accused him of being a loveless monster, he kissed me and then ran out the door and I haven’t seen him since either.”
“When was that?” I asked wondering again when she was going to get to the point.
“Um about 4 days ago. Both guys are missing. Me and opal were covering their shifts this week remember” she said and I nodded remembering finding it odd that there had been no sign of the boys working this week, but I didn’t mind who came in as long as the shift was covered.
“Go on” I urged her.
“So I was coming home from town about half an hour ago when I saw Vera playing with a new little girl.” I sat up when she said this.
“What little girl? What did she look like?” I demanded.
“I didn’t see her face but she has longish dark hair and she and Vera were skipping and both were laughing. Vera seemed to be happy and waved at me but as soon as I went into the house with my bags, I had just put them on the floor when I heard a blood curdling scream and I raced out in time to see the dark haired little girl carrying Vera over her shoulder and I’m sorry to say she was running at vampire speed. Then Lottie came in looking for Vera and when I got over to your house I found her like this.” She said indicating to Lottie and then I came to get you” and with that she burst into tears. I moved to hug her and soothe her and thank her for her help. I went to Lottie and picked her up and pulled her onto my lap and crooned into her ear softly in hopes of getting her to come round.
“Don’t worry darling we’ll get to the bottom of this and find Vera and bring her home. I promise.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled down to Alec’s name and dialled him.
“Hi Alec, something has happened, are you and Faine free to come over to ours now?” Two minutes later they arrived. Faine pulled Lottie up from me and brought her over to the couch and laid her out on it and gave her something and ordered her to swallow it. Then she gave something to Lacey and laid her out on another couch. Lacey fell asleep immediately but Lottie was still staring at the ceiling. Her mouth at least had now closed and her face began to relax.
“What did you give her Faine?”
“Hey Bastien, just something to relax her, I found something that works on us, it’s harmless but it will sedate her a little so she can come to terms with what’s going on. By the way what is going on Bastien?” she asked softly. She reached over to give me a hug and I began to relate Lacey’s story to them both. They’re faces showing their reactions as I told them the story.
“Whoa, does that mean we have a vampire thieving our staff at the bar or is the little girl really Ortho’s sister? Or is not related and what does she want with Vera? She’s not even human, well not entirely anyway? What the hell is going on? If Aro were still alive I’d say he had a hand in the goings on” said Alec. Faine rushed to Alec’s side and rubbed his face and said softly to him that Aro was dead and it had nothing to do with him. I smiled at Faine at her kindness. Poor ole Alec was inclining to blow things out of proportion.
“I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do Bastien or Alec but I do know that if you hurry in the direction Lacey suggested that you may still be able to catch Vera’s scent and then you can trail her. Don’t worry about Lottie and Lacey I’ll stay here with them and let them know what’s going on when they come too. I’ll sort out the bar too, Chelsea and Afton are there now and I’m sure Luke and Sean would be willing to help out; they’re not too far away at the moment. Now go!” said Faine in her gentle voice again. We raced out the door, with me thinking how lucky Alec was to have such a sensible wife.
We sniffed the air around us and there was a strong scent of Vera drenching the air down the path in the forest so we took off and trailed her. We hadn’t gone very far when we saw 2 vampires that we recognised but were shocked to see them as they were Ortho and Nate, Newborn's. With a little girl coming with them. Alec and I stared at each other in surprise.
“Hey now there’s no need to take out your thirsts on a little girl. We don’t start off with the young only the old.” I said to them. They both started laughing at me as did the little girl. Oh my god, were we too late? I looked worriedly at Alec.
“NO ye are not too late” said Ortho and my head snapped around at him…Oh great another mind reader! There was no response from him. I looked at him but he was still smiling at me.
“Um how do you know what I’m thinking?” I said looking at Ortho. He smiled and his red eyes were quite hypnotic as I gazed at him.
“Your face said it all mate!” he said laughing again. “Bastien, Alec, meet my little sister Abbie.” He said pushing her forward for inspection.
“Bastien, my old friend!” said Nate grinning at me and sticking his hand out to shake mine. “Alec, what brings ye out on this fine day?” we were both surprised at his friendliness.
“We are looking for Vera, she’s been kidnapped by a child seemingly.” I said staring at Abbie who had the same description as Lacey had given. She looked up at me with big brown eyes, not a newborn it would seem, and she said
“Sorry Mr Bastien, sir, but it wasn’t me because I was with my brother all the whole time.” Smiling at me but something in her eyes made me think she was lying.
I heard a loud high pitched screams and I raced off in the direction of them. Vera! My heart plummeted. I couldn’t run fast enough. Suddenly the screech stopped. As if the air had suddenly been sucked out of her. I pushed myself faster, smelling the air to find my daughter.
“VERA!” I shrieked. I got to her room but there was no sign of her. I knew by the silence that she was gone. I dropped to my knees digging my fingers into the floor, trying desperately to get a grasp on reality but I felt that I was just too late to save her. An agonised cry ripped from my throat as I screeched at God for taking another of my daughters and then my world went black.
Bastien’s pov
Lacey came running into the bar and grabbed my arm…..she was gasping for breath. Her eyes shut tightly as she tried to speak but failing miserably. I was chatting to one of my regulars, a man called Gavin, in his early 60’s, a very interesting person. Lacey started to pull on my shirt again and was still red in the face and gasping for breath but started pointing in the direction of the door to the main house. I looked at her now properly and excused myself from Gavin, rolling my eyes, my guess was that it was Opal again upsetting her. I quizzed her about Opal but she shook her head vehemently and continued pointing to the door.
“Afton can you get Lacey some water please” I asked him and he landed over a second later with some for her. She greedily drank it and then screamed at me.
“Lottie!” and made for the door, looking back at me like a dog wanting you to follow it. My heart lurched.
“It’s Lottie! She needs you! Go now!” She didn’t have to say it twice I bolted for my home and to my beloved wondering what the hell had happened? She knew I had to be in the bar at the moment, why couldn’t she just call me. What with that troublesome kid coming in and causing trouble. But as I got closer to my home I got a sudden creepy feeling down my neck, call it intuition. It was too quiet. I looked back and saw Lacey way behind me so I let myself into the house and found my beloved mate on her knees on the floor, acute pain etched on her face, her mouth open in a silent scream. OH GOD, VERA! I know that look on Lottie’s face, it happened before. I ran through the house looking for Vera, knowing as I did that her scent that normally drenched the house was faint and vague. I knew she was gone. I raced to Lottie and shook her to try and snap her out of her stupor. Her head flopped back and forth on her neck.
“LOTTIE!” Please I need you to come back to me. I can’t lose you too. LOTTIE PLEASE!” I roared, to no avail. Lacey finally got to the door and was now bent over, breathing heavily, her hand on her side, panting trying to catch her breath. I asked Lacey had she seen Vera anywhere and she nodded but held up a finger so she could catch her breath. Dammit I needed to know now what the hell had happened. I pinched my nose between my eyebrows, a trick I had picked up from Edward. Edward! he could help me. But no he won’t want to come near us cause of all the blood. Maybe Alice has had a vision. I went and got Lacey some water and she gulped it down. Finally she seemed ready to talk.
“Bastien, she’s gone, they are all gone!” she declared and began to cry.
“Start at the beginning please!” She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop crying. I looked over at Lottie, she hadn’t moved since I got here and at least I know it was because of Vera.
“It all started when Ortho started seeing his sister, who’s dead by the way. I thought he was being paranoid and imagining things, but he was, is my friend” she corrected herself. “Is my friend, the only one in this mad house we live in. But he thought he was losing his mind cause he’d look up and point out to the woods and one day I did see a little girl of about 5 years old standing in the woods with an older boy with her. “I nodded at her wondering what the hell that had to do with Vera and Lottie.
“So then I went to his room when I heard him talking to someone in there. It sounded like a little girl but I thought maybe he was doing the talking like in a story or something and I wanted to comfort him, but as soon as I opened the door the talking stopped. And there was no-one there, not even Ortho. I know cause I searched and the noticed that the window was open so I assumed he had got out of the window to avoid whoever was coming into his room. But he’d have fallen down the full storey if he did because there’s nothing to hang onto on that side and he wasn’t down below. I went outside to look but he was just gone. So I went back inside and found Nate and told him, but he was acting like he didn’t care and I accused him of being a loveless monster, he kissed me and then ran out the door and I haven’t seen him since either.”
“When was that?” I asked wondering again when she was going to get to the point.
“Um about 4 days ago. Both guys are missing. Me and opal were covering their shifts this week remember” she said and I nodded remembering finding it odd that there had been no sign of the boys working this week, but I didn’t mind who came in as long as the shift was covered.
“Go on” I urged her.
“So I was coming home from town about half an hour ago when I saw Vera playing with a new little girl.” I sat up when she said this.
“What little girl? What did she look like?” I demanded.
“I didn’t see her face but she has longish dark hair and she and Vera were skipping and both were laughing. Vera seemed to be happy and waved at me but as soon as I went into the house with my bags, I had just put them on the floor when I heard a blood curdling scream and I raced out in time to see the dark haired little girl carrying Vera over her shoulder and I’m sorry to say she was running at vampire speed. Then Lottie came in looking for Vera and when I got over to your house I found her like this.” She said indicating to Lottie and then I came to get you” and with that she burst into tears. I moved to hug her and soothe her and thank her for her help. I went to Lottie and picked her up and pulled her onto my lap and crooned into her ear softly in hopes of getting her to come round.
“Don’t worry darling we’ll get to the bottom of this and find Vera and bring her home. I promise.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled down to Alec’s name and dialled him.
“Hi Alec, something has happened, are you and Faine free to come over to ours now?” Two minutes later they arrived. Faine pulled Lottie up from me and brought her over to the couch and laid her out on it and gave her something and ordered her to swallow it. Then she gave something to Lacey and laid her out on another couch. Lacey fell asleep immediately but Lottie was still staring at the ceiling. Her mouth at least had now closed and her face began to relax.
“What did you give her Faine?”
“Hey Bastien, just something to relax her, I found something that works on us, it’s harmless but it will sedate her a little so she can come to terms with what’s going on. By the way what is going on Bastien?” she asked softly. She reached over to give me a hug and I began to relate Lacey’s story to them both. They’re faces showing their reactions as I told them the story.
“Whoa, does that mean we have a vampire thieving our staff at the bar or is the little girl really Ortho’s sister? Or is not related and what does she want with Vera? She’s not even human, well not entirely anyway? What the hell is going on? If Aro were still alive I’d say he had a hand in the goings on” said Alec. Faine rushed to Alec’s side and rubbed his face and said softly to him that Aro was dead and it had nothing to do with him. I smiled at Faine at her kindness. Poor ole Alec was inclining to blow things out of proportion.
“I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do Bastien or Alec but I do know that if you hurry in the direction Lacey suggested that you may still be able to catch Vera’s scent and then you can trail her. Don’t worry about Lottie and Lacey I’ll stay here with them and let them know what’s going on when they come too. I’ll sort out the bar too, Chelsea and Afton are there now and I’m sure Luke and Sean would be willing to help out; they’re not too far away at the moment. Now go!” said Faine in her gentle voice again. We raced out the door, with me thinking how lucky Alec was to have such a sensible wife.
We sniffed the air around us and there was a strong scent of Vera drenching the air down the path in the forest so we took off and trailed her. We hadn’t gone very far when we saw 2 vampires that we recognised but were shocked to see them as they were Ortho and Nate, Newborn's. With a little girl coming with them. Alec and I stared at each other in surprise.
“Hey now there’s no need to take out your thirsts on a little girl. We don’t start off with the young only the old.” I said to them. They both started laughing at me as did the little girl. Oh my god, were we too late? I looked worriedly at Alec.
“NO ye are not too late” said Ortho and my head snapped around at him…Oh great another mind reader! There was no response from him. I looked at him but he was still smiling at me.
“Um how do you know what I’m thinking?” I said looking at Ortho. He smiled and his red eyes were quite hypnotic as I gazed at him.
“Your face said it all mate!” he said laughing again. “Bastien, Alec, meet my little sister Abbie.” He said pushing her forward for inspection.
“Bastien, my old friend!” said Nate grinning at me and sticking his hand out to shake mine. “Alec, what brings ye out on this fine day?” we were both surprised at his friendliness.
“We are looking for Vera, she’s been kidnapped by a child seemingly.” I said staring at Abbie who had the same description as Lacey had given. She looked up at me with big brown eyes, not a newborn it would seem, and she said
“Sorry Mr Bastien, sir, but it wasn’t me because I was with my brother all the whole time.” Smiling at me but something in her eyes made me think she was lying.
