The Psychic and the Vampire

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ant yawned and stretched out his arms as he woke up, his eyes flying open when he realized his bedroom was a lot lighter than he thought it should be. Viktor was propped up on his elbow, stretched out beside him, watching him with a neutral expression on his face.

“Why did you let me sleep in?” Ant stretched and yawned again. “Has Bridget already been here? What time is it? Where’s Able?”

“Bridget hasn’t been here,” Viktor said slowly. “Able is fed, watered, and was enjoying the sun on the porch outside last time I checked. You were tired and needed your sleep.”

“I love how you care for me.” Ant patted the bed and then reached out and patted his bedside cabinet. “It’s not good that Bridget didn’t come today. We really wanted to speak to her, and I felt for sure she would come. Have you seen my phone? Oh, wait, it would’ve been with my clothes. Are they still in the bathroom?”

“No,” Viktor chuckled. “I folded your clothes and put them on the chair over by the window last night. I cleaned up after you fell asleep.”

“I must’ve been really tired. I didn’t even hear you.” Ant rolled out of bed, barely noticing he was naked. He was with his mate. It didn’t matter. “Excuse me a minute, I'll just go and take care of things in the bathroom and then we better find out what's happened to my missing sister. It’s really not like Bridget to simply not turn up.”

He went through into the bathroom, although he could still hear Viktor through the open door.

“Maybe she didn’t think you were here because she didn’t see my car? Perhaps she thought we’d gone to my house instead.”

Ant quickly did what he had to do, considering Viktor’s ideas and marrying them against Bridget’s typical behavior. “I don't think that would stop her from coming in,” he said as he washed and dried his hands. “Even if she didn’t think I was home, she would still pop in. If you recall, I didn't have a car for years so there was no reason to think that I wouldn't be home just because your car wasn't here. For all Bridget knew, you had to go out this morning to do something else. You could’ve had an appointment or an early meeting. That’s typically the life she lives so she wouldn’t think that was unusual.”

Ant came back into the bedroom and went over to where Viktor had folded his clothes, searching through his pockets and pulling out his phone. “There're no messages. That's very strange.” He woke up the screen by tapping it and then double checked, because maybe for some reason his notifications weren't showing. That had happened before. But no, there were no messages from Bridget.

“This is getting stranger,” Ant said, feeling a fissure of worry start to slither through his gut. “Even if she wasn't going to come she would have still checked in by text to see how we were doing this morning. Hmm.” His worry started to grow wings. “This isn't good Viktor.” He noticed his mate was already dressed. “Did you want to go out for breakfast? Because if you did, would you mind if we stopped in and checked at Bridget's house first just to make sure she's all right?”

Viktor was up off the bed in a flash. “We can grab some breakfast on the way. Is Bridget's house very far?”

Ant shook his head as he went over to his chest of drawers and pulled out some fresh underwear. He could probably do with a shower, although… he sniffed at his arm. He smelled of the bath bomb Viktor had used the night before, in the bath they barely used. He wasn't going to grumble about it. But it didn’t stop him asking, “Did you give me a sponge bath last night?”

Viktor came up behind him, sliding his arms around Ant's waist. “Somebody had to, because my very exhausted mate did fall asleep, but at least you waited until your cock was spent first. It was a close call.” He chuckled, brushing a kiss on Ant's neck. “It's all right. I’m not getting frisky. This is affection. I know you're worried. Get yourself dressed. I'll go and make sure Able doesn't need to go outside one more time and then we'll… Oh, damn. We’ll have to call an Uber or something. My car’s a wreck.”

Clearly the vehicle was important to Viktor if he was mentioning it. It wasn’t like Ant had forgotten the events of the night before. “We can shop for one later today.” Ant opened one drawer and then another and then opened the first drawer again. “I need to find out where Bridget has gone first. It’s probably nothing. Perhaps she did have an early morning meeting. Maybe something had cropped up at the office and she just got caught up.”

Viktor was watching him. “Has that happened before?”

Ant shook his head. “No, I'm kidding myself. Something is definitely wrong.” He quickly pulled out a relatively newish t-shirt and a pair of jeans and then looked around for his boots. They were waiting underneath the chair that Viktor had folded his clothes onto.

“You are very tidy,” he said as he went over and picked them up. “I do appreciate that,” he added as he finished getting himself ready. “All right, I can hear Able outside the door. Let him in if you please.”

The moment Viktor opened the door, the big German shepherd came bounding up to Ant, wagging his tail wildly, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Ant made sure to bend down and give him a good few minutes of scritches, because despite what might be happening with Bridget, Ant couldn't get through his day without his reliable furry companion. “I know. I know. Viktor let me sleep in. Wasn’t that nice of him?” he said making an extra fuss.

When Able was satisfied he was Ant’s favorite companion, Ant realized he'd just given his dog more attention than his mate. That’s probably not a good thing for a mating. Indicating for Able to stay, Ant hurried over to Viktor, standing on tiptoes so he could brush a kiss on Viktor’s chin. “Sorry. Good morning.”

“Good morning to you, too.” Viktor stroked the back of his fingers down the side of Ant’s face. “It's all right,” he added. “I know you're just being you.”

“Yes, well, this morning is one of those unusual situations. I've never had to worry about Bridget before.” Ant caught hold of Viktor's hand as they left the bedroom, clicking his fingers of the other hand for Able to follow. “Bridget's the sensible one out of the two of us, the one who's always organized and keeps herself together. That’s why I knew she’d be able to help us with this Manzano family business. It’s totally out of character for her not to turn up today.”

“We can check out her house,” Viktor said, “and then we can go to your office straight after.”

“And then we get breakfast,” Ant said. “Because I don't know what's happening with my sister, but I do know I desperately need something to eat. Hmm” - a random thought hit him - “it must have been because of all that energy I expended last night. I'm sure there's a correlation there somewhere.”

“There probably is,” Viktor agreed. “We can discuss that when we find out if everything is all right in Bridget's home. I called an Uber. It should be here in two minutes.”

“Good idea.” Ant shelved his thought for later. Finding Bridget was far more important.

/~/~/~/~/

In Bridget’s house Ant looked around, both with his eyes and sending out his magic “There's nothing here.” He hurried through to the kitchen, going over to the counter and resting his hand against the coffee pot. It hadn’t been turned on. “No, that's not right. If the coffee pot isn't on, then it means she didn’t come home at all last night.”

He looked at Viktor with wide eyes. “The coffee pot. She always flicks it on because it’s one of those automatic things. Bridget always sets it before she goes to bed, so it’s ready for her in the morning. She didn’t come home last night.”

Viktor didn’t seem to look as worried as Ant was, but Ant couldn’t pick up why. “Your sister is a very attractive woman,” Viktor said slowly. “Is it possible that she had a date last night and not said anything…”

“I know I've been caught up with you and the Manzanos and these murders and everything else, but no, I would have distinctly remembered if she'd said something about having a date or going out of town or doing anything else like that. It's not like her. It's not like her to do that at all.” Ant checked the coffee pot again, but no, it hadn’t mysteriously turned on while Ant was freaking out.

“All right. You’re the mage here. Clearly this house isn’t a crime scene, so nothing’s happened here. So if we…”

“Yes. Yes. We’ll got to the office and then if she’s not there, I can at least check through her computer and see whether there’s anything on her calendar – maybe she did just forget to tell me something…”

Ant trailed off. There was no point in him trying to calm his nerves. Every instinct he had was telling him something was desperately wrong. Bridget wasn't the sort of person to just stay out all night without at least texting him and letting him know that she was okay. Logic dictated that could only mean she wasn’t all right.

It was another twenty minutes before they made it to the office. Ant could tell that Viktor was getting annoyed with the Uber driver, but then that was probably because the vampire was used to driving his own vehicle.

Ant didn’t drive, and never had. Bridget had always said he was too easily distracted to learn. Ant was happy to be the passenger and accepted the driver would get him to his destination in the time that it took to get him there.

He didn’t understand why Viktor was clenching his jaw when the driver was checking his phone instead of moving with the traffic at the traffic lights. Ant never cared how long it took someone to navigate an intersection provided it was done safely. He also had no idea why Viktor’s hands fisted when the vehicle turned. Use your damn turn signal came through their bond loud and clear though. Ant patted Viktor’s hand and tried to send him soothing vibes. For Ant, he just needed to get from point A to point B, and his only concern when ordering a car was making sure the driver allowed animals in the back seat.

As the car pulled up outside the office block, Viktor asked, “What floor are you on?”

“Top floor. Thank you.” Ant gave some money to the driver and got out of the car, looking up at the four story building. “I personally own the building, but Bridget and I lease the whole top floor for my business. The rest of it we lease out to other businesses. Bridget said it made a sound business decision, buying a building as a personal investment, and then being able to lease the top floor back to my consulting company, plus gaining an income from the rest of the businesses who share our space.”

“Hmm, that is smart,” Viktor said, but he still wasn’t happy even though they’d gotten out of the car. Ant got that sense again that Viktor was like Able on one level, always on guard, and that was confirmed when Viktor said, “There's an awful lot of people going in and out of this building.”

“I’m sure they all have business here.” Ant had barely stepped inside the foyer when the receptionist called out to him. “Doctor Channon, sir. There’s a message here for you.”

“Is it from Bridget, I mean Miss Channon?” Ant asked, hurriedly going over to the counter and taking the envelope she was holding out.

“No sir, at least I don’t think so. A police officer left it first thing this morning.”

“I shouldn’t have slept in,” Ant muttered as he nodded his thanks and headed for the stairs. The note he stuffed in his pocket for later. If it wasn’t from Bridget, it could wait.

“You don’t believe in using elevators?” Viktor indicated an open door.

Ant shook his head as he started to climb the stairs. “My magic is tied to my emotive state a lot of the time. I’m worried. I know something’s wrong. If we step in there my magic would probably fry the systems before we got to the second floor, and then we’ll both plummet to our deaths along with anyone else who got in there with us.”

“Noted.” Viktor didn’t seem to have any trouble keeping up with him, and nor did Able, probably thinking Ant was playing a game as they hurried up the stairs. Ant was out of breath by the time he’d gone up eight flights, but he pushed on, leaning on the double swing doors that led to his private reception area. The doors had barely been open a second when Viktor growled, Able barked, and Ant sunk to his knees as a vision hit him hard.