CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"We meet again. I'm starting to think you're following me." Cole flashed a half smile that Willow doubted he intended to come off so creepy.
"Seriously, what do you want?" Willow wasn't in the mood. She was restless and her stomach was twisted in knots. She tried to push the fact that it could have been because she wanted to go find Chase and be there for him, out of her mind. She wasn't sure what was worse, that she wanted to be there for him when he was upset, or that she wasn't actually with him.
"Me? I was sitting here, minding my own business." Cole feigned innocence, but Willow wasn't buying it for one moment.
Cole was corrupting her special time in the park. Wherever she went, there he was. Whether she arrived first, or not. It was as if he knew where she would go, even before she'd made up her mind, and she was getting sick of it.
"Whatever, I'll leave." Willow turned on her heel, but Cole jumped off the park bench and grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Don't go."
She spun around and hissed at his grubby hand on her. Everything about the contact brought her back to years ago. The way his hand felt on her, the smell of his breath so close to her face, the sudden feeling of being trapped that had consumed so much of her life.
But Willow wasn't that little girl anymore. She knew how to fight back. She knew how to kill, when it came to that. It didn't matter what Cole's intentions were, in that moment, Willow was ready for a fight.
"Whoa, calm down." Cole immediately dropped her arm and took a step back. "I was just trying to get your attention."
Willow's breathing was fast, ragged, and she glared into him with her best death stare. "Getting my attention does not require touching me."
"You're right, I'm sorry."
"No one touches me without my permission."
No one, but Chase fared well with that.
"You're totally right. I'm sorry. I was just trying to stop you from leaving. Look, I get it, you don't like me. I just figured that if you got to know me, you might change your mind."
"That's just it, Cole," Willow hissed. "I don't want to get to know you. And you always showing up isn't making me want to change my mind."
Cole's eyes dropped and he let out a slow breath. "I understand. Hey, I'll go. You stay and enjoy the park."
"Now you think you can tell me what to do? Who the hell do you think you are? Just because you say you tried to be my hero when I was a helpless kid, does not give you points now. For all I know, you are making that shit story up and you were one of the sickos that Julian rented me out to."
Cole stared at her for a long moment with wide eyes. She wasn't sure if he was that shocked that she thought he might have done those things, or because he hadn't previously realized the extent of Julian's depravity, but she didn't care. Cole wasn't her concern. Michael and Chase were right about him. He was a creep and she wanted nothing more to do with him.
"Willow, I—"
"Don't." She held a hand up to stop him. "Just stay away from me." With that, she turned and walked away from him. She fought the urge to hurry, not wanting him to think that he in any way intimidated her, or made her uncomfortable. Even if he did, just the tiniest bit.
Cole wasn't what Willow needed to be concerned about. Chase, no matter how jumbled up her feelings were in relation to him, was there for her when she needed someone. She wanted to do the same for him, even if he couldn't admit that he wanted her to.
***
Hayley looked around the room and counted. Including herself, there were eight of them in the small room. Half of their original group were now sitting in a room, bare of anything except a few stained mattresses on the floor.
They huddled in groups of two or three, talking in hushed whispers. All were confused, none knew how they'd gotten there. It was like that day at the school all over again, minus the chaos.
When the strigoi showed up in their little school, no one knew what to do. Hayley only remembered flashes of the day, but she did remember the screaming and crying. Then she remembered waking up in a field with the rest of them, confused and afraid.
They hadn't realized right away that they'd been turned vampire. It wasn't until the hunger hit that things started to click. Back at the training camp, they'd been told that they probably didn't remember their first feeding, maybe that they'd forgotten an entire day, or more. Hayley hated that she had no memory of that time. She would never know if she'd hurt someone, or worse. Jayce said she was better off not knowing, but still, it haunted her.
They would never know why the strigoi choose them, why he changed them, or why he didn't take all of the kids. They would also never know why he left them in the middle of a field, or why he'd tried to get them back. None of it made any sense.
Hayley didn't need it to make sense. She never wanted to be vampire, but there she was, and she had to deal with it. But now, who knew what they were in for. It could be the strigoi holding them there. It made the most sense, but why? What did he want with them?
"You okay?" Jack slipped an arm around Hayley's shoulder and pulled her closer to him.
"He didn't feed us today."
"Are you hungry?" Jack looked over her as if there was something he could actually do. Which there wasn't.
"No. I mean, why didn't he feed us? It's weird, right?"
Joseph left the small group he was in and walked over to Hayley and Jack.
"You noticed that too?" he asked, clearly eavesdropping on their conversation.
"You just got here. What would you know about it?" Hayley narrowed her eyes at Joseph.
"I've been talking to the others. They said they were fed about the same time each day, twice. But today, nothing. It seems odd."
"Maybe he died," Jack said, smoothing his hand over Hayley's arm.
"Then we'll die too. We're stuck in this room, with no food or water. If no one comes back, we're screwed."
"Maybe we need to find a way out," Joseph said. "This is a new room. Did anyone check to see if the door would budge?" He spoke loud enough for the others to perk up and take notice. There were some whispers among them, then some heads shaking.
"Well, why don't we try." Jack was up and to the door before anyone else could get there. He pulled on the handle with all his strength. The door flew open with a whoosh, knocking Jack to the floor.
"Well, look at that," Joseph mused with a weird smile. "It's not locked."
Hayley glanced over him with a chill, then got up to help Jack to his feet.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Jack said, motioning for the kids to follow. There was a pause, then they all filed in behind Jack and Hayley. Jack was right. One way or another, they would get out of that place.
***
Michael was always in control of his emotions. He'd learned long ago that in order to survive, he needed to keep that part of him locked away and play along. He'd gotten good at it, prided himself on it. It wasn't until he met Finn that it was an issue.
But when he was awoken by the sound of banging on his door, on that particular afternoon, after the week he'd been having, he didn't feel so in control. In fact, he was ready to use his magic to make it stop, one way or another. There were at least ten different spells he could come up with just off the top of his head, that would make the incessant noise stop.
Grumbling under his breath, he got up to answer the door, holding on to that last shred of control he had.
"What is it?" he asked before fully opening the door. His voice was steady and void of the aggravation he felt inside.
Standing in front of him, he found the young redhead, Jayce, from security, about to bang on his door, yet again.
"Oh hey, you're home. Great. Samuel sent me to find you. You gotta get back to the training facility. You're never gonna believe what happened."
"Spare me the excitement and tell me here." Michael gripped the door so tightly, the blood was forced from his hands, leaving them a pale white.
Jayce opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and shook his head. "Can't. Samuel said to find you and come right back. I'm not pissing that guy off." With that, Jayce turned and jogged back in the direction of the training facility.
Michael wasn't in the mood, but what choice did he have?
He straightened his suit, ran a hand through his hair, and went to see what Samuel wanted. There was a possibility that more kids had gone missing. Michael would be able to track them, barring any unforeseen circumstances, but he'd also have to explain why he used significant magic without permission.
Such a double standard.
Vampires could use any and all, often secret, abilities they wanted, without anyone having a clue what they were up to, but witches had to have permission to use magic. That was the world they lived in though, and since he wanted to stay in vampire city, he would try to play along.
He walked back to the training facility, using the cool night air to help wake him up. He also wasn't in the hurry he should have been in. A little time in his own head wasn't always a bad thing. If he needed to use his magic to ignite the spells and find the kids, he would need a clear mind. Walking into the training facility however, Michael knew he wasn't going to need his spells after all.
Chaos.
That was the best way to explain the atmosphere in the training facility. People were everywhere. Arguments had broken loose. Someone was crying. Michael focused in on a heated debate in the center of the room. Samuel and Gabriel were arguing. Gabe was keeping his cool, but Michael could tell he was just barely keeping it together.
It was understandable.
Samuel was an asshole.
Jayce found him in the crowd and grabbed his arm, dragging him in the direction of Samuel. Michael wasn't one to be dragged around, but the little redhead was persistent.
"Where have you been?" Samuel barked the words, like some sort of holier than thou, dictator.
"Home, taking a nap."
"A nap?" Samuel scoffed. "You're joking, right?"
Michael stared at him with a blank expression. He wasn't in the mood for the vampire's power games.
The standoff went on for a solid minute, before Samuel moved on, as if it never happened. "So you don't know what's been going on here then?"
Michael glanced around the room and shook his head. "Are you planning on telling me?"
"The kids wandered back," Gabe said, waving an arm toward the far corner where Michael noticed they were indeed standing, surrounded by a group of armed vampires.
"Wandered back?"
"They said they were held somewhere, but this morning, they woke up, all in the same room, groggy, and the door where they were being held was open," Samuel said, taking control of the conversation back from Gabe.
"And where is it they were being held?"
"They didn't know, but it had to be in, or close to Vampire City, because they found their way back in a reasonable amount of time," Gabe said, despite the glare he received from Samuel.
"We have people out now looking for it," Samuel said, puffing out his chest just enough to be noticed.
"I don't understand," Michael said. "The whole city was searched. How could they have been here this whole time and no one noticed? It doesn't make sense."
Samuel pulled out his cell, checked a message, and excused himself.
Gabe rolled his eyes, then pulled Michael over to talk. "It's possible they weren't here the whole time. The kids said they were in other rooms before today. It's possible they were moved and probably they were drugged."
Michael looked at the group of scared vamplings again. They hadn't run away. Not that Michael put much consideration into that theory. They all looked relatively well. A little ragged maybe, especially the first few that went missing, but they didn't look as if they'd been tortured, or abused in any way. So what was the point of them being taken?
"Has the king looked into their heads to see if they're hiding anything?"
"He's a little busy right now."
"What could be more pressing than the return of the missing kids?" Michael raised a brown and Gabe smiled.
"The birth of his twins."
That was definitely more important than what was going on here. The kids were all okay, after all. Whatever happened to them was obviously a concern, but one that could be put off until the royal babies were born.
"Have you checked to see if they were being dishonest?"
"Briefly." Gabe turned and looked at the kids for a moment then continued. "They're pretty shaken up. I didn't want to stress them out further."
Michael had seen Gabe after Jewel was returned. He'd stayed by her side, doing anything he could to help her through a traumatic time. It changed Gabe, from what he'd seen and heard about the guy. Michael could tell that when he looked at those kids, it brought back a lot of those same feelings he had when Jewel was brought in. She'd clearly gone through a much more horrific ordeal than those kids, but Gabe was going to be protective of them nonetheless.
"What can I do to help?" Michael broke Gabe from his thoughts and waited for him to shake off the fog.
"I'm not sure just yet. Samuel wanted everyone here who had been in contact with the kids. You were the only one he couldn't locate."
Michael glanced around the room. Chase was missing, clearly because his sister was about to have two babies, but there was another missing as well.
"What about Cole? He's been training this week and I don't see him."
Gabe scanned the room, twice, then went over to talk to Jayce, before returning to Michael.
"I actually haven't seen him since the kids were first brought in. When was the last time you saw him?"
"I'm not sure," Michael said. "But I don't trust that guy."
From the first moment Michael came face-to-face with Cole Porter, he got a bad vibe off him. The focus had been on his sister, but only because Michael hadn't thought his intentions went beyond what he could get from Willow. If he'd looked deeper, maybe he would have get a better idea of what the guy might be hiding.
Just because he was a creep, it didn't mean that he was involved with the abductions of the vamplings. It also didn't mean he wasn't. It would make sense. Cole had access. He wasn't originally from around here and Michael hadn't met a single resident who had a nice thing to say about him.
Why though?
What would Cole want with a group of kids? And why would he be stupid enough to leave the door open so they could escape? He might be a creep, but he didn't seem like he lacked intelligence. In fact, Michael got the opposite feeling. He came off as if he was an average guy, but Michael knew he was pretending to be less intelligent than he was.
Michael had met people like that before. They made you lower your guard, made you think they were harmless, but Michael didn't buy his act. Neither did Chase. Maybe that was just because he didn't want Cole near Willow, but maybe he saw something else, too.
None of it mattered if they couldn't find the guy.
That was only a matter of time. All Michael needed was Willow and they would find Cole Porter. Then they would get to the bottom of what happened to those kids, and what his involvement might have been.