11. Bellamy
Chapter 11
Bellamy
T he grey offline symbol next to Nevermore’s name taunts me, refusing to change to green no matter how many times I’ve logged on the past five days. She hasn’t responded to any of my messages, and after that bruise I saw on her face…
Scrubbing at my bleary eyes, I hack into her computer again, but the webcam is still disconnected. “God damn it!” I snarl, fisting my hair and taking deep, heaving breaths.
I thought if I sent her to the office and she caught her cheating ass boyfriend in the act, she’d finally leave him. But I never thought she’d go radio silent. She was supposed to call me to vent about what a piece of shit he was, and I’d convince her to move closer to the compound where I could keep a better eye on her, make sure she’s safe and taken care of. She’s online every day without fail. Even when she’s not in the mood to game, we chat through a voice call while she works on her game system or shoot each other memes. I’ve never gone this long without talking to her in the three years we’ve been friends.
Her bruised face is seared into my eyelids, haunting me every time I close my eyes. What if that’s the last image I’ll ever have of her? My heart plummets to my stomach like a rock.
What if Adam wouldn’t let her leave? What if he hurt her? She has nobody looking out for her but me. The turnover rate at her cleaning job is so high, they’d never even question her being a no call no show and just replace her. It’d be far too easy for him to isolate her. Keep her at his mercy until he gets what I suspect he’s always been after; cashing in on Ever’s gaming tech.
Chest heaving, I focus on slowing my breaths. I can’t help her if I fall apart. First thing’s first. Find out if Adam has her, or if she escaped.
A ping sounds on one of my monitors, and I release a heavy breath. “Twenty-third time’s the charm. Come on baby, give me something to work with this time.”
I’ve spent the past couple of days hacking into the security cameras around her building, trying to catch any trace of her, but so far, they’ve all been a bust. Most of the businesses are focused only on their doors and inside, not giving me a wide enough shot of the street to search for her SUV, and all of the houses with doorbell cameras have let me down so far. This is the last direction she could have gone, so if she doesn’t appear on it… she’s still trapped in her apartment with that bastard.
The video loads, and I rewind with bated breath. When a flash of teal catches my eye, I’m so relieved, my heart skips a beat. Relief soaks into my bones as I rewind, watching over and over again as she drives away with a fierce scowl, and while it’s blurry because of the window tint, her trunk is clearly full, so it’s likely she left his cheating ass and that town behind.
I slump back into my computer chair, blowing out a heavy breath. “She’s okay.”
But the more I think about it, the more questions I have. Even if she was looking for a new apartment, why hasn’t she been online at all, at least on her phone?
“She could have been in a car accident. Not like she has any family for an emergency contact. Or mugged at a gas station on her way out of town.”
I scrub my hands down my face to muffle a frustrated growl. I wouldn’t trade my job for anything, but it takes a toll nobody here beyond the elders really understands, and even then, the world has changed so much since they stepped foot in it. The retrieval team has some idea, but I’m so meticulous when planning out their missions, we’ve only had a handful of issues over the years, and even then, nothing too severe.
Without internet access, the rest of the community gets to live in blissful ignorance with only ghost stories to warn them of the horrors outside of these walls, but I'm faced with every graphic detail of why this compound is necessary. It's why we only adopt children and bring them to our safe haven, never adults.
If the supernatural world knew that mimics still exist, it'd be a bloodbath.
All the kidnappings, murders, rapes, and abuse. It’s not safe out there, especially for a young woman as stunning as Ever. I can’t even write it off as anxiety because these fears aren’t irrational or even uncommon. Every single horrible thing I imagine happening to her is one hundred percent possible, and the images of bodies that have been through those things are permanently seared into my brain. Ever’s out in that hellscape alone, and she doesn’t even have any supernatural abilities to protect herself.
I call her through the app we always use to video chat when gaming again, not really expecting her to pick up, but disappointed all the same when she never answers. It’s been nearly a week since she’s been gone; if she could have gotten online, she would have. Something terrible must have happened to her, and nobody but me cares that she’s missing.
She has no family or friends. Nobody that would notice if she disappeared or try to contact her. No abilities that could constitute her as a threat to the compound…
Resolve steeling my spine, I take off my headset and look around the safety of my inner sanctum. Tech covers every inch of the walls, soundproofed to block out all distractions so I can concentrate on what I do best; rescuing people. Normally I’d send my retrieval team; various mystics that have gone through specialized training in order to leave the compound. But they’re trained to extract children; Ever would never go with them willingly.
There’s no other choice. I’m going to have to find Ever myself and bring her here where I can keep her safe. The elders have been hounding me to take a mate for years, so they’ll forgive me for leaving as long as I come back with one. By the time they realize I bonded a human, it’ll be too late to send her away, and Ever will be mine.
Forever.