Chapter 38 Downwards Spiral
thirty-eight
Downwards Spiral
*MARCELLUS*
The moment Benjamin linked me, it was like a switch went off in my head, my body on autopilot as I shift and rush to find Sheila and Maddie. It doesn’t take me long to find the car, noticing how Lori has already pulled Sheila and our warrior out of it and has done first aid.
“Alpha,” she calls out in panic. “Maddie! They took her!”
“Fuck,” Silas curses, as he dashes past me. “I can’t sense them! This is bad. Where did they head off to?”
Lori points towards the forest, her hand trembling slightly. “There. Nova and Benji are following the guy.”
I shift to my human form. “Double fuck!” I exclaim. “They are in grave danger!”
“I will go after them,” Silas snarls before running off, with Lucian hot on his trail.
For a moment, I feel torn, but then remember that I have two hurt pack members here who need my attention, and that we are not safe from attackers yet.
One of us has to stay close to the pack, and since Silas already took off, that task falls to me.
However, I gesture for two warriors to follow Silas. “Make sure to try and track Benjamin’s scent!”
“Yes, Alpha!”
After they have rushed off, I turn my attention back to Lori. “You did first aid already,” I notice.
“Sheila has a head wound from the crash,” Lori mutters. “I am a bit worried. As for the warrior… sorry, I don’t know all the names yet…”
“Michael,” I say.
“Michael doesn’t seem to have any outer injuries, but he is still unconscious.”
I check the man over, frowning when I see how he trembles slightly.
That’s not normal. When I try to reach out to him via mind link, there is a block, too.
“I bet whoever the attacker was put a spell on him, or a potion or whatever,” I mutter.
“That’s how he lost control over the car in the first place. ”
“But why?” Lori asks.
I have a sinking feeling that I know what this is about, yet I’m hoping I am wrong. “Let’s wait for Silas to return before jumping to conclusions,” I say, more to myself than to Lori.
More warriors join us together with Micah, who hands me some pants. His eyes are clouded with worry when he looks at Sheila. “I called Cassian. He is going to send a doctor to us.”
Silas will come back with Benj and Nova, and with the vampire attacker safely secured.
Nothing’s gonna happen to Maddie. While I chase my own delusional thoughts, Amos stays eerily quiet, making my heart sink even more.
“Micah, I am afraid you will need to call him once more and ask him to come over here himself,” I say.
“Why?” Micah asks.
“Because Nova-“ I pause when I hear footsteps approaching us. Silas returns, his expression unusually hard. That’s all I need to know. “Call Cassian,” I tell Micah. “We have an emergency here, and Nova’s got caught up in it.”
“Fuck,” Micah curses. “Got you.”
Once he has taken off, I instruct one group of warriors to carefully take Sheila and Michael back to the pack, and another group to secure all the traces here.
Lori hasn’t moved at all, her eyes wide in fear. “Benji?” she asks.
Silas and I exchange a glance. “I am sorry, Lori,” Silas says. “I should have run faster.”
“You didn’t find any of them?”
“Their scents disappeared all of a sudden,” one of our warriors who went with Silas explains. “As if they disappeared in thin air.”
“Exactly,” Silas says grimly. “And there aren’t many who can pull that off.” He looks at me. “Can you call Julianus? I think it’s better if you tell him.”
“Oh, damn it. Right, Nova…” I mutter. “I will give him a call.”
Silas nods. “I will reach out to Alex, asap.” He looks at me. “He knew,” he says with emphasis. “Aloysius knew about her!”
Cassian paces around in my office, a deep frown on his face. “The fucker who abducted Nova is going to pay,” he says. His voice has an edge of anger to it, but other than that, he is calm, much calmer than I expected him to be.
Meanwhile, Julianus looks like anxiety in person. Lori isn’t much better. Micah has made sure she gets some tea and something to eat to help with the shock, but she has barely eaten or said anything. She just sits in a chair, chewing her lips.
“Try not to think of the worst,” Silas says quietly while he sits down next to her, gently touching her shoulder.
“I can’t lose him,” she mutters. “I just can’t. He has been so… so… Ever since I came here and he welcomed me, I felt at home. And now he isn’t here, he is somewhere… bad, and I haven’t even told him what he means to me. I haven’t told him I love him and want him to mark me.”
“Listen, Lori, I’ll bet he knows,” Silas says. “And Benjamin is an alpha’s son, don’t forget that. He isn’t weak. He is a strong wolf. And I am sure he will fight to get back to you!”
“Lord Silas is right,” Lucian agrees. “I have been training Benjamin, Lori. He joined my training for vampires. He knows some tricks.”
I am not sure if Lori believes them; actually, I am not sure if they believe themselves.
Benjamin is strong, they are right, but Aloysius is an ancient vampire with powers we don’t quite understand.
I just hope that he sticks to his track record of being a sly and sleazy asshole who doesn’t want to cause unnecessary conflict.
“Nova is an alpha’s child, too,” Cass says all of a sudden. “She is strong. She has trained together with me ever since she was a child.”
“How can you be so calm?” Julianus exclaims. “She is your sister!”
“She is my beta,” Cassian replies blandly.
“Are you not worried?” Julianus yells.
I am stunned. Of all the moments, he uses this one to get emotional? Well, on the other hand, it makes sense. Maybe Nova grew on him already, and he probably feels a connection to her.
Cassian’s eyes darken as he jumps up and grabs him by his collar. “She is my beta,” he hisses. “She is my beta. Nothing will happen to her!”
I take a careful step closer to them. “We will make sure to get her back safely,” I say. “We’ll do everything, so please stop arguing.”
Julianus looks flustered. “I apologize,” he says quietly. “I am just worried.”
“At least I know now she matters to you,” Cassian observes.
“Of course she does!” Julianus exclaims. “She is kind, funny, generous, smart and so hot.”
“I will pretend I didn’t hear the last part,” Cass groans.
“Who is our opponent?” Lori asks. “I feel like you all know except for me.”
“My brother,” Silas says. “The oldest one.”
“And you are sure about that?” Cassian asks.
“Definitely. The way he attacked the car, how he made sure to knock the others out, and then how he abducted everyone without leaving a trace. And he did it outside of pack grounds on top of that, which means he was smart enough not to cross our borders, where I might have sensed him. Not many vampires can pull off what he did. I only know of a handful.”
“Maybe it was one of the others?” Cassian suggests.
“The others would be Lord Silas or Lord Alexander,” Julianus answers.
“It certainly wasn’t me,” Silas says.
“We know that,” I reassure him.
“What about your other brother?” Cassian asks. “Do you trust Alexander?”
“I will pretend no one just asked that question,” Alex’ voice pulls us out of our conversation.
“I apologize,” Cassian says shortly. “But with all due respect, I have no reason to trust any high-ranking vampire but Silas and Lucian.”
“Alex is the only one I truly trust,” Silas says.
“You say that, but you never told me about the child,” Alex argues.
“It’s not like you didn’t notice yourself.”
I stare at the brothers, realization setting in. “Wait, you knew?”
Alex shrugs. “I had a feeling when I saw her. But seeing how Silas pretended she wasn’t a vampire hybrid, I thought he had reasons for it.” He pauses. “Anyone notified Durant? I am worried he might be in danger.”
“I did,” Silas reassures him. “But I was only able to talk to him briefly. He sounded stressed. Hopefully, he will call back.”
“Can someone fill me in?” Lori begs. “I don’t want to overstep, but… Benji…”
“You are not overstepping,” I reassure her, before glancing towards Silas.
“Maddie,” Silas starts. “Maddie is actually my niece. When I met Marcellus, she was just a baby. I’d saved her from Aloysius.”
“Wait…what?” Cassian blinks. “That’s some details I didn’t know either.”
“Wait a moment,” Julianus’ eyes widen. “Is she the child that Aloysius supposedly killed?”
“Yes, and he did kill her,” Silas says. “He finished her mother first, then killed the newborn baby. However, he left immediately afterward, and Lucian and I managed to reanimate her. We decided to keep her hidden, and when we left the coven, I obviously took her with me.”
“That’s why Silas couldn’t raise her himself,” I point out. “Or the connection would have been too obvious. Sheila was already with me when I met Silas and his people. She offered to adopt Maddie and keep her heritage a secret.”
“Have you ever seen the lifeless body of a baby?” Silas says into the silence.
When none of us answers, he continues. “Nothing is more frightening and traumatizing. Maddie’s safety was more important than anything else, so I hope you don’t hold it against me that I didn’t share this knowledge with anyone. ”
“Well, if you put it like that, I can’t really argue with you,” Alex mutters.
Before we can discuss the issue any further, Silas’ phone rings. “That’s Durant,” he says. “Finally.” He answers his phone swiftly before putting it on speaker. “Took you a while, little brother. Please tell me you aren’t in danger?”
I am fine, Durant hurries to explain. I managed to sneak away for a bit. Fuck, Silas! I should have seen it coming!
“It’s not your fault,” Silas reassures him. “Aloysius is unpredictable.”
Still, I promised to keep an eye on him… and I swear I did
“Aloysius is a genius, Durant. Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Silas says. “Do you know where he is?”
I think he is in his second hideout
Alex and Silas exchange a gaze. “He has a second hideout?”
That’s what I heard, Durant explains. I believe I can try to get one of his entrusted men to talk.
“Be careful, please,” Silas says. “I don’t want you to get hurt, and I don’t want the kids to get hurt either.”
Kids? I thought he abducted one child.
“Actually, he also took Benjamin,” Silas explains. “And Nova. You met them both, didn’t you?”
What!? Fuck, you didn’t mention that earlier! We have three innocents in his hands now.
“Yes, it’s a worst-case scenario,” Silas confesses.
Leave it to me, I will try to find out where he is hiding, Durant says. He doesn’t suspect me at all, and doesn’t know we are talking.
“What about Juniper?” Silas asks. “Is she safe?”
I am not sure, Durant admits. I haven’t seen her for a couple of days.
“Fuck,” I swear under my breath.
“Who is she?” Cassian whispers.
“One of Silas’ close friends, and very loyal to him.”
“Is she trustworthy?” Cassian whispers to me.
I exchange a look with Alex. “Is anyone?” I ask quietly.
“Be careful,” Silas tells his younger brother. “I really don’t want you to get hurt, Durant. Aloysius is cruel. You saw what he did to me. And you have heard what he did to innocent children. He is a psychopath and won’t hesitate to hurt you.”
I will be careful, Durant promises, before hanging up.
Silence engulfs us before Cassian clears his throat. “Is your brother seriously that crazy?” he asks.
“Absolutely.”
“How do we know Maddie is still alive?” he asks.
“Well,” Alex says. “Aloysius likes to keep his image of a strong, controlled leader. He won’t just kill a child, not because he is such a good person or because he feels pity for her, but because it’s all part of the image he wants to maintain: dignified, intelligent, controlled.
Granted, he is nothing like that, besides being highly intelligent.
However, unlike the wolves, we can’t sense any blood relation.
He will need to test her to make sure she is his. Then he will kill her.”
“And Nova and Benji?” Lori asks.
“I am not sure how he will handle it,” Silas admits.
“But Aloysius doesn’t want a battle with the werewolves or lycans.
He isn’t stupid, nor is he reckless. Nova and Benjamin weren’t part of his plan, so he is probably trying to figure out what to do with them, which probably buys us some time.
When he finds out that they are ranked members, their chances of getting out of this unharmed are pretty good. ”
“Unless they won’t do anything reckless,” Alex adds. “So, how high are the chances that the both of them stay put?”
Benjamin staying put? The chance of it is so low, it makes my heart stop beating for a moment.
He will try to save everyone, I just know it.
Since he’s found his confidence, he’s also started to grow into his role as my gamma.
And as such, he will want to make sure Maddie and Nova get out of the situation unharmed.
Cassian and I exchange a horrified look. “We’d better find them fast,” Cass blurts out. “Nova is definitely not going to sit idly.”
“Benjamin is there, too, which makes it even worse,” I point out.
“Oh, fuck,” Cassian groans. “Two do-gooders in one place!”
“You make it sound like that’s bad,” Julianus huffs.
“I don’t find that side of Benji a bad thing, either,” Lori argues.
Silas looks at them, shaking his head. “Both of you chose a weird moment to commit to your mates,” he mutters. “But at least this means they have something they are fighting for.”