Our Story - Part Four - The Lost Ones

Chapter Thirty Two

“When we get there drop me off at a hotel,” Kalena announced. “They can’t see me with you guys if this crazy plan of yours is going to work.”

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Rowan asked suddenly very worried, and feeling guilty for asking the hunter to do this.

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Rowan nodded. “You have my cell number if you need us.” Twelve hours later, they had dropped Kalena off at a hotel and arrived. “Oh my God,” Rowan whispered.

“So says the girl who lives in the huge house alone,” Garret teased. The mansion stood two and a half stories tall; it didn’t look very big from the front but as they drove up the long driveway she could see how long it was. There were several fountains on the grounds and extensive gardens although neither were much to look at right now with the New York snow covering everything. Garret parked around the back and she could see the forest behind the mansion. It was the perfect home for a vampire or a shape shifter. The four climbed out as a beautiful woman approached.

She walked to Garret and regarded him silently for a moment before taking him into her arms in a warm, motherly embrace. “You must be Rowan,” the woman smiled. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.” She extended a perfectly manicured hand. Rowan took it timidly. “I’m Serene, Liam’s match. Come, let’s go inside, I’ll send someone to get your bags.”

“Serene, I just wanted to tell you-” Garret started.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” Serene admonished. “I know what happened and no one blames you. It was a rough year for all of us.”

“Yes, but-”

“I don’t want to hear you apologizing. I’m just glad we found you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Garret took Rowan’s hand as they walked up the driveway. “Have you been waiting in the cold long?”

“We have a new security system that tells us when someone comes up the driveway. Later this month Liam is having a gate installed.”

“That’ll be nice for the dogs,” Ayden commented.

“Dogs?” Rowan asked perking up.

“I’ll take you to meet them later,” Garret promised smiling. They followed Serene into the mansion. The hall was gorgeous, hard wood floors, beautiful plush rugs, and expensive paintings hanging on the walls. The mansion appeared to be deserted but the sound of people laughing and talking could be heard.

“Go down to meet the others,” Serene tone Ayden and Angela. She turned to Garret and Rowan. “Liam’s waiting to see you.” She led them up a flight of stairs and down another hall.

“Your home is beautiful,” Rowan breathed looking around.

Serene smiled. “Thank you, but in less than three hours it’ll look horrible again. We don’t even have any children here anymore and it still looks like there are twenty two year olds running around. Well, you know where the office is.” She hugged Garret again. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Me too,” Garret told her. She walked back down the stairs. Garret led Rowan the rest of the way down to the end of the hall. The door swung open as they approached. Garret smiled wryly. Liam always was one for theatrics.

The man Rowan guessed was Liam stood behind his desk. Blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his clothes were immaculate. He was facing the window. Rowan realized with a pang that her heart was pounding. As warm and open as Serene was this man was cool and closed off. She looked at Garret and he squeezed her hand. Liam turned and cool gray eyes locked on hers for a second. Rowan had the feeling that she was being assessed for her worthiness.

“Liam,” Garret said stepping forward and extending a hand. Liam’s eyes warmed as they slid to Garret.

“Where have you been, kid?” he asked taking Garret’s hand in a firm handshake. “This place has been dull without you and Ayden to liven it up for these last couple years.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Garret smiled, then looked puzzled. “What do you mean without Ayden?”

“He felt terrible for what he did. He’s been trying to find you since you left.”

“He’s been trying to find me all this time?” Garret asked.

“You’re surprised? You two were inseparable. He quit his job at the hospital, but you know how that work bothered him. Enough about Ayden, I’m sure he’ll fill you in on his years, what’s been going on with you?”

Downtown

This was a place Kalena never expect to see again. With a deep sigh she walked up the stairs to the door of the Predator’s headquarters, Samuel’s house. She personally didn’t understand why, if the Predators and the Lost Ones hated each other so much they didn’t just kill each other. It’d be so much simpler. Her knock on the door was light, and she half hoped that no one would answer.

She wasn’t afraid of them, she just hated them almost as much as she hated vampires. Luckily for Rachel she didn’t have the chance to burn down the “lab” as she had wanted before she left or the Predators would know that she was no longer on their side. The door swung open and Zeke, one of the younger hunters stood on the other side. “Kalena?” he asked his brown eyes wide.

“Hey,” she said brushing past him and into the house. The other young hunters were there. Kalena threw her jacket on the back of a chair and faced them calmly. “Where’s Samuel?”

“Out,” Steph a petite girl partial to her crossbow responded.

“I need to see him,” Kalena said.

“First you need to tell us where you’ve been,” Alyssa, the Predator’s best, snapped. “We don’t owe you shit until you tell us why you ran off.”

Kalena gazed at Alyssa coolly. “I’ll tell Samuel.”

“What makes you think we’ll trust you enough to even let you stay here?” Jared, Steph’s boyfriend retorted.

“If you want Samuel, he’s at the lab.” Kalena turned and saw Sonny standing behind her. This was a man she truly hated. His sandy blond hair was styled perfectly. He stood with his arms behind his back offering her a smile that didn’t reach his sky blue eyes. There was no excuse for the cruelty he used on ‘shifters, leaches and the occasional witch in the name of “science.” “I’d be happy to take you to meet him.”

This was a trap. She knew it but she also knew all of Sonny’s tricks. If he had Rowan’s friend she’d be at the lab. “That’d be great.” The ride over was tense to say the least. Kalena gazed, seeming uninterested, at the scenery speeding by. She watched Sonny out of the corner of her eye. She knew that there was no way that he could take her in a fair fight, but she also knew that Sonny wasn’t known for fighting fair.

Soon they arrived. The lab was a huge white building. It was undecorated with no logo to mark it, there weren’t even any bushes growing in the immaculate lawn. This place had always scared Kalena and there wasn’t much in the world that could do that. He parked and she followed him inside looking around herself carefully.

“Kalena?” Samuel asked. “We were afraid you might have died.”

“I was trailing a vamp,” Kalena said approaching the older man. Samuel had a sense of charisma that had once comforted Kalena, now it just annoyed her. How many teenagers had he charmed into joining his “cause.” His black hair had more gray in it than she remembered from the last time that she had seen him. “I didn’t have the chance to call in.”

“And this vampire,” Samuel said examining his perfectly manicured hands, “did you take it out?”

“Yes, I got rid of quite a few actually.”

“You will forgive me of course if I don’t believe you. We know where you as well as who you were with.” She felt a sting in her neck and realized that she had made a terrible mistake; she had turned her back on Sonny. She whirled around and punched him already feeling weak. Her fist met with skin and with a satisfying thump Sonny fell at the same time that she did.

“It’s a shame, Kalena,” Samuel said idly, standing over her, “you showed such promise. It’s all for the best, I suppose. Women really aren’t cut out for this kind of work.” Kalena would have liked to punch him for that comment but unfortunately, by that time she was losing consciousness.

Later

When Kalena finally awoke she couldn’t see much of the room she was in. Sitting up and allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness she saw that it was a large cell and that there was a pair of eyes glowing in the moonlight coming from the only window in the cell. She felt for her knives and cursed finding them gone. “You smell like Rowan,” a woman said. Her voice husky and shaking, sounding as though she had been crying.

“Are you Lupe?”

“Yeah.”

“When I said I’d find you this isn’t quite what I had in mind. Are you okay?”

“I told her not to come after me.”

“I may not have known Rowan as long as you but even I know better than to think that she’d abandon a friend.”

“How is everyone?”

“Okay. They’re all worried about you.” Neither mentioned Orion as Kalena felt her way around the room. “This may be a silly question but do you know if there’s any way out?”

“No,” Lupe said and stepped into the small but of light in the cell. Kalena valiantly swallowed the gasp that wanted to escape. This wasn’t the Lupe that she had been shown pictures of. Lupe was naked, the girl before her had lost twenty pounds of weight she couldn’t afford to lose.

“Is he starving you?”

“No,” was her only reply. “The door only opens once we’re unconscious,” she said changing the subject.

“I have a plan to get that door open,” Kalena said with sudden inspiration. “But we’ll have to move fast though. Will you be able to do that?”

“Honestly, I don’t care about getting myself out,” Lupe said. “But I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

“Good. We’ll need to wait until nightfall.”