Passion Follows Pain (Passion Series Book 3) (22 page)

“What is it Mrs Appleby? What’s wrong? Is it Arissa?” He asked, his stomach tightening as he waited for her answer.

“Oh god yes Lucian. I needed to check she’s not here. She’s not here is she?” She asked and he shook his head.

“She was here late but I walked her home around 4am. She went inside, she closed the door. Are you sure she hasn’t just gone for a walk or something?” He asked.

“No, no. I don’t believe she’s gone for a walk. I know she’s been home. Her bag and the clothes she wore out that you bought her are in her room but she’s not there. Her bed hasn’t been slept in and I think…oh god…I don’t want to think what it could mean but I think…I think there’s blood near my front door. I’m so scared her father’s found her.”

“You know about her father?” Fabian asked.

The old woman shook her head. “Not much. She didn’t say much about him. She seemed reluctant to tell me anything about her past but I got the impression he wasn’t a very nice man. Very controlling I think, strict with her, kept her under the thumb type. She’s such a sweet girl but she has that air of vulnerability, you know? She seems innocent, inexperienced with the ways of the world.”

“She is very innocent and she’s sweet, beautiful, kind but very fragile. She needs protecting. Her father was not a control freak in the usual sense of the word, and you must not reveal to her that I have told you this, but her father was a violent, abusive man who beat her, starved her, kept her locked up like an animal and raped her for years.” Lucian spat out. “Do you suppose that bastard found her? I’ll put on shoes and come over to your home; I want to see if it is in fact blood at your door.”

Lucian hurried back to his room to get shoes, his mind racing with all possibilities and none were good. God led her be ok. If that bastard had found her, he hated to think what he’d do to her for running away. He had to find her if she was gone. He had to save her and hope to hell that asshole didn’t touch her before he found her. The thought of what could happen to her made his stomach roll, and if he could vomit, he probably would.

Once he was ready, he and Fabian followed the old lady back over the road to her home. As Lucian approached her front door, he stopped, frozen, his nostrils flaring, his stomach tightening as pain lanced through him. He didn’t need to see it, he could smell it. The blood splattered near Mrs Appleby’s front door was Arissa’s. It was her blood, he’d know the scent of it anywhere. He’d fed several times from her. Fuck, fuck, if that asshole had her, he didn’t want to think about what he might do to her.

Slowly he approached the door staring down at the blood and he closed his eyes for a moment bracing himself against the searing pain he felt as his mind raced with all the possible scenarios of what could have happened to her. If that bastard hurt her or worse, if he killed her, god he didn’t want to think about it. He would hunt him down and tear the prick apart with his bare hands. He’d make sure he barely resembled a human being by the time he was finished with him.

Mrs Appleby was hanging around looking anxiously at them as they searched for evidence of what had happened.

“Can we come in and see Arissa’s room please?” Lucian asked.

“Yes but I don’t know what that’s going to do. She came home obviously but it looks like she’s been taken near the door here, there’s nothing in the house but come in anyway, both of you.” She opened the door and they all stepped inside.

“I’ll distract her while you take something of hers son. Get an item of clothing, something that has her scent on it. It will help us track her.” Fabian whispered to Lucian.

“We should call the police.” The old woman said and Fabian turned those strange pale eyes of his on her.  

“No, the police are not to be involved in this.” He said, his tone firm and Lucian watched that look of acceptance and compliance settle over Mrs Appleby’s face. Obviously his sire was putting her under mild control. They didn’t need the police involved in this because when they caught up with Arissa and her father, if he had her, there wouldn’t be anything left to hand over to the authorities.

“Come and sit down Mrs Appleby.” Fabian said quietly but firmly, leading the old woman through the house while Lucian entered Arissa’s room and stood for a moment looking around.

The first thing that registered was her sweet scent, it was everywhere. The second thing he noticed was the bed had obviously not been slept in. He walked around the room, opening drawers, rifling around through her underwear, looking for something that smelled strongly of her scent but none of it did. He moved into her bathroom and found the dress he’d bought her folded on top of the dirty linen basket and he lifted it to his face, breathing in deeply, her scent filling his nostrils. Without warning, tears welled in his eyes and he didn’t attempt to stop them, he let them fall as he hugged her dress to him like it was a lifeline.

Fabian walked in and Lucian hastily swiped at the tears but not before his sire had seen them. “We will find her son. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, we will find her. You care for this woman don’t you?”

“I do sire. She’s not like any woman I’ve ever met. She’s so sweet, kind, so innocent and she trusts me. Despite all that has happened to her she was slowly starting to come around, to let me touch her. She even asked to touch me, intimately. It took me by surprise that she has come to trust me that she is so accepting of what I am, of what we all are, and now this has happened. I’ve let her down. I couldn’t protect her and I told her I would. Several times I assured her that she would be safe from her father and I didn’t keep her safe. He got her. I have failed her. She will never forgive me and if that bastard hurts her, it might finish her. God we have to find her, we just have to.”

“We will find her Lucian. Now have you found something that carries her scent? We need something that smells strongly of her.”

Lucian began to dig through the dirty linen basket and found a pair of panties, red, silky ones and he didn’t need to hold them to his nose to smell her on them. Her sweet scent was strong. He took them and her dress that he’d bought for her to wear and they left the house, rushing back over the road so they could start planning how they were going to locate Arissa.

“What have you done with Mrs Appleby?” Lucian asked.

“Don’t worry about her. I’ve put her into like a state of suspended animation. She is aware of things around her but she had no memory of coming to see us or that Arissa is missing. I’ll leave her like that until we figure out what we’re going to do. I can’t risk her calling the police. I don’t want them interfering. We will take care of Arissa’s father once we find him.” The tone in Fabian’s voice made it perfectly clear it was going to be ugly. No way would her father come out of this alive.

“How the fuck are we going to find her? There’s nothing. I can’t smell her scent beyond the blood at the door and that scares the crap out of me. If she’s bleeding, what the fuck has he done to her? Why did this have to happen? She was just starting to let me in. God, what she did for me tonight. She went against everything that would normally terrify her and repulse her. She’s so beautiful, so strong and brave and she likes me. She did things to me, she let me introduce her to pleasure sire and now she might…she might be gone? Even if we find her alive, she could be so severely traumatised she’ll never recover. I can’t imagine how she’s feeling right now. She must be so scared. I’m supposed to be protecting her. We have to find her; we have to find her quickly.”

“We will find her Lucian. I just don’t know how long it will take but I understand how urgently we must find her. Come, we will speak with Sirene. She’s our best chance. Maybe she can do some sort of spell.”

When they got back inside the house, Fabian walked off to go and wake Sirene. He’d held off disturbing her until they knew what was going on but now that it was obvious this situation was serious, Arissa was gone and hurt, they needed her.

While his sire was gone, Lucian paced restlessly around the living room. He raked his hands through his hair over and over again, his head filled with images of what Arissa could be enduring at the hands of her father and he felt sick, anxiety twisting his gut into a painful knot. They had to find her, they had to find her soon before it was too late.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see Fabian entering the room with Sirene. She looked worried and her anxiety only fed his more. She hadn’t even bothered to dress. She was wearing a silk robe over her slim, petite body but it was obvious she was naked under it.

“Fabian has filled me in on what’s happened.” She said, her eyes filling with sympathy as she hugged Lucian. He felt tears well again at her tone and when she pulled back; he hastily tried to wipe them away before she saw them. “Stay strong Lucian. Your girl is going to need you. She is strong; she has survived so much already. Don’t be disheartened and don’t give up. I don’t believe that she will. She has been away from her father for quite a lot of weeks now. She has grown in that time. I feel she will not give in to her father without a fight. You have come to care for this girl and from what Fabian has told me, she must care for you too if she’s allowed some intimacy between you. She must trust you and has become comfortable around you. She will need you when we find her. I need you to be strong, stay strong for me, for her.” She said her thumb sweeping up one of his tears as it hovered under his lashes, about to make the journey down his face.

She released him and began to pace the room herself. “I need to think about what to do. Do you have something of Arissa’s for her scent? We are going to need it. I will try something like a location spell to see if it can pinpoint her location but I must warn you, they are not always that accurate. It might give us a general area, but not an exact location. I need a map of Tasmania. It’s unlikely he’d have flown her out of the state. He hasn’t had the time to arrange that and it’s too obvious anyway. Plus she would be harder to control on a plane. Fabian, find me a map please.”

“One moment my beauty.” He gave her his classic formal nod of his head before leaving the room.

“I’m serious Lucian. Location spells aren’t always very accurate. It can give us an approximate location, but they could be in a 20 or even 50 kilometre radius of that location.”

“I don’t give a fuck I just want to do something. The longer this takes the further he could be taking her or the more he could be doing to her. He could be...he could be raping her.” His voice cracked when he said it as unwanted images of her father hurting her filled his head. “Please hurry, we have to find her.”

Fabian walked back in with the map in his hand and gave it to Sirene who spread it out on the coffee table.

“Give me her clothing Lucian. I need it for the spell. Hopefully having something that smells of her will help make the location spell more accurate.” Her tone was hopeful but it didn’t make Lucian feel any better. It was a worry when the witch had little faith in her own spell.

“Take these clothes, use the scent, and find the girl for which these clothes are meant.” Sirene chanted.

She spread the dress out and moved the map over it. Once she was done, they all crowded around to wait and see what happened if anything. Slowly as they watched an orange light began to glow on the map, lighting up a network of roads heading north.

“He’s taking her north, but how far, I don’t know. They’re travelling by road which doesn’t surprise me given he can subdue her more easily in a car. They’re roughly somewhere between Launceston and Devonport but where exactly, I’m not sure. I don’t know if they’re still moving though or he’s got her somewhere. I can’t work that out from the map. The way the light seems to be just hovering there I’m guessing they’ve stopped but I’m not sure.” Sirene said as she studied the map.

“We need to go then, we’ll drive I presume?” Lucian asked.

“Yes we will have to drive. There are no commercial flights to either Launceston or Devonport and to charter a plane will take too long. In the time we could organise something like that, assuming we could get a flight out today, it would be quicker to start driving. We must be mindful of the sun and we will have better control of that if we drive.” Fabian said. “Come we must start preparing.”

“We will leave a note for the others and inform them of what is happening.” Sirene said as she gathered up the map and Arissa’s clothing again.

“Bring ropes, handcuffs, masking tape, whatever you can find to restrain that bastard. We will be bringing him back with us if circumstances allow it. I would prefer to have him here and not have to deal with him where there is a risk of being caught. We can’t afford to have any loose ends that could bring problems for us. Go and get the Mercedes Lucian. I want the van. It’s easier for us to shelter from the sun and will provide plenty of room to deal with the girl’s father and her for that matter given we don’t know what he’s done to her if anything.” Fabian instructed him.

“Will we need Damien or Francesca?” Lucian asked but his sire shook his head.

“No, I don’t wish to get them involved. We don’t want to risk drawing unwanted attention to ourselves and as you know neither your brother nor sister are exactly the shy retiring types, especially Francesca. There’s too great a risk that she will do or say something inappropriate. Plus I get the impression that your girl is not that comfortable around them.” Fabian waved his hand. “Now go, quickly, get the van.”

With a nod of his head, Lucian headed for the front door, grabbing the keys from the line-up of various car keys and disappeared outside to go and get the car.

Arissa

I could tell I was in a car or something moving when I started to come to. I groaned at the pain in my head. My cheek felt like it was on fire, the side of my head not much better and all I could think was, my father had found me, he’d captured me and he’d done this to me. What was wrong with him? Why did he hate me so much? What father does this to their child?

I opened my eyes but when the pain in my head escalated until it felt like an army of workers were in there with tiny hammers, I closed them again. It was broad daylight going by how bright it was from the little glimpse I’d seen before I’d had to close my eyes.

I tried to sit up but my hands were tied behind me and when I went to shift my legs, they were bound too. How could he do this to me? My father had kidnapped me, punched me and I shuddered to think what else he had planned for me.