Chapter 1
“We have a problem.”
Vaid watched Burn as he sprawled on the couch staring at the ceiling while idly flicking a lighter. “What’s going on?”
“There are people missing.” He said with an annoyed sigh. “Like, a lot of people. No one Ashdown gave a shit about so any reports made were ignored. Hundreds of people have just vanished without a trace over the last few decades. Always when they were moving. They leave one town and just never arrive at another one.”
“And no one noticed?” He raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not weird for people to change their minds about their final destination. Sometimes they find out some new information and decide a certain clan isn’t for them. Some intentionally go clanless which means for however long that’s going on, they’re more or less off the grid. Some move to smaller towns where they’re the only Vampire around. Unless someone else passes through and mentions who and where they are when they get back to civilization, it may not be figured out for a long ass time. But we’ve been digging. Asking around. There’s a lot of dead ends and I’m running out of ideas.” He admitted.
“When I talked to Ace about how they found us she mentioned a guy called The Wanderer who helped. It sounds like he does a lot of traveling, maybe he’s got ideas?”
“Yeah?” Burn perked up. “Does she have current contact info for him?”
He sent a quick text to Ace asking about that and within a minute she had appeared near the door and headed over to them. “What’s up? Why do you need to get hold of him?”
“I’ve been going through all the census bullshit and updating the files. After going through and getting an updated headcount and list of names we’re seeing a lot of missing people. Every clan keeps up with local deaths and there are a lot of people just plain unaccounted for. Vaid thinks the Wanderer might have an idea where to look next.” Burn explained.
Ace nodded and plopped on the couch next to him as she dialed, hitting the button for speakerphone. After a few rings a cheerful voice answered. “Hey, man. Thanks for your help last time but we got a new situation you might help with. The big fang counter is here with a question.”
“Fang counter?” The Wanderer laughed.
“Record keeper. Whatever.” Burn was clearly torn between amusement and dismay. “Sorry to bug you but we’ve had a lot of people disappear when moving between cities. Are there any areas you consider to be dangerous?”
The Wanderer took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was hoping you’d find them. I figured… anyway. I usually avoid the Appalachian Mountains when possible. I’ll go around or just never stop on a main road going through. But… I’ve heard talk. I’ve started to consider 219 to be a cursed stretch of road. Aside from that it’s all clans I avoid, not places.”
“Thanks, that at least gives me a starting place.”
“Happy to help. I hope you find them alive. A few of my closest friends have vanished and I was really hoping they’d just decided to move to Florida or something stupid like that.”
Burn snorted a laugh. “I wish. The clans down there are all accounted for.”
“Thanks, man. Let me know next time you hit a big city and we’ll hang out!” Ace grinned, hanging up after getting an affirmative response.
“It’s a long road and pretty out of the way.” Burn mused. “I’ll dig into the cities along the way before I send anyone out there. I’m sure the local Sidhe won’t be thrilled about any of us showing up.”
“I’ll talk to Oberon once you decide it’s time for an in person investigation. If anything goes wrong we can get out fast and I’m sure he’ll make sure his children leave us alone.” Vaid suggested.
“Alright, that’ll take some stress off. I’ll let you know when we have information.” Burn stood and stretched. “I better get going before the sun’s up. Master Zanetta is expecting me to visit and I’m stuck playing this damn role.”
“She’s certainly unique company.” Vaid grinned as Burn rolled his eyes and left.
“Do you think the disappearances have to do with the Silver Wreath people?” Sera asked from the kitchen. “They wouldn’t be able to get away with anything in a city like this but I bet they could snag some Vampires looking for a new place with no clan to ask about them.”
“That’s a good point.” He agreed, thinking it over. They’d have to use a contract but a lot of businesses did. There might even be a hotel with a contract that looked like a guestbook. All it would take would be getting someone to sign and whether human or Vampire, they’d belong to the Sidhe. He was still waiting for the Order to find a human who could be tricked into getting a copy of the contract.
All he’d been able to do in the weeks since the discussion with Elle was wait. He would be more impatient but he was still healing. He was making good progress and it was increasingly difficult not to test that. It was no longer difficult to speak to Sera telepathically but he hadn’t dared do much more than that. He even had Sera summon his Pater to avoid that much exertion of will.
With a steady supply of food he felt almost normal now and had a feeling it would be safe enough but until the others assured him the damage was healed enough he just kept waiting. At the last visit things looked promising for his Pater’s child. She was badly shaken by the experiences she could remember and the golden glow that added new challenge, but her return to life and the willingness of the Entaent to help had gone a long way to improving things.
The Vampires had made a formal but half-hearted petition for the return of those trapped in that realm but had been denied for both. Since both Matthew and Ashdown were looking at permanent imprisonment or execution for the danger they had put everyone in, it was decided to let the Demons keep them.
Matthew was given to Azerragan as her first proper meal. Ace hadn’t been happy about that but couldn’t argue. It had been deserved. Ashdown was to be studied then eaten by Mesatia which would allow the Demons a chance to gather information about the previously unknown species.
As much as he had been looking forward to returning to hunts, he had only watched a few in the new Club. Sera still disapproved and couldn’t believe he hadn’t lost his taste for it entirely after what happened but there was a difference. There had been a few other Entaent express interest in seeing what it was like but not many. The option was what mattered.
There were only two strictly barred from attendance - his grandmother and her husband. Apparently they terrified the average Vampire and the others couldn’t trust that the two would stop with the one allowed death. It seemed excessive but he also didn’t think they would be interested, anyway.
He and Sera were both pulled out of their respective thoughts by a mild warning. They silently grabbed their coats and Sera took them out into the bitter cold to find out what was going on.
