Vampire Holiday - Completed

25. The search.

Aurora’s POV

It was already 2 p.m., and I completely missed Daniel leaving our apartment. I checked the weather, and it was an extremely sunny day. I had almost forced myself not to rush out of the apartment and instead sent him a text.

I hoped I was paranoid for no reason and that he would reply.

My message, “Where are you?” was delivered but not read.

Yes, there was clothing I could shield myself, and there were ways, but they required being careful and not shaking as I was for whatever reason.

I got all my special sunproof clothing ready, so I could start frantically doing what? Running through the streets howling for him? It was not a great plan. I didn’t know how to find him, nor did I have any of his friends’ numbers. My mind was racing. I was glad that my vampire’s heart was not beating hard inside my chest.

I tried to get my s**t together. First, he was probably at work, so I sat on our couch again, bathing in his smell. I knew where he worked, so I could take an Uber there and start finding out if he ever showed up, even though it might look a bit on the crazy side of things.

So I waited and set a timer for sixty minutes in case he was simply busy, and my feelings were lying to me. I looked at my watch, and it seemed like an eternity while the electronic hand was barely moving. So, after it passed the thirty-minute mark, I put my clothes on, carefully checking not to make any gaps, and called an Uber.

There was no answer from Daniel, and the message was still not read. Maybe he is stuck in one of their gatherings that he calls “Meetings.” When my timer went off, I rushed to the Uber, waiting for me outside. I jumped into it and had to accept the slow pace of the noon city traffic.

When I got to his shiny gray building covered in glass, I quickly rushed inside, but the security guard in the suit stopped me right before the gate I headed to jump over.

“Where are you headed, Mam? Please scan your badge here,” he pointed me to the scanner. I glanced at him, a fine and strong specimen of a man whose veins I didn’t care for.

Obviously, he could not stop me, so after a bit of glamour, I was in an elevator, heading to Daniel’s floor. Luckily, I knew the name of the company. I only needed to check which floor he was located on. The receptionist at the front desk next to the elevator greeted me. She had a plastered smile on her face.

“Hi, who are you meeting here? How can I help?”

I didn’t waste any time. “Where is Daniel?” I asked her, using my glamour again.

“He was not in today,” Her heart fastened. I could tell in her eyes that it was not because of the glamour. She must have had some feelings for him or history. Vampires sensed the lust or deep attraction in humans that made their blood taste better, even if it was not a feeling for the vampire. That was not important to me now. I still had this bad feeling. I needed to find him.

“He took a personal day.” The receptionist quickly checked her computer.

Looking down, I followed her gaze and noticed that my arms were grabbing her glass desk, shattering it, and cracks were spreading through the rest of the glass.

“There was an accident with the glass. The delivery worker ran into a heavy container,” I told her, frustrated, and roamed around the offices in case I caught something or someone could give me the information. It was probably pointless, but I could not decide what to do next yet.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Caleb. He saw me and started walking towards me reluctantly.

“Hey, Daniel is not here today if you are looking for him,” he told me.

I could tell he was hiding something from me. I almost instantly wanted to glamour him, but the fume of the bite on his neck was already in my nostrils. Fellow vampires didn’t appreciate it when we glamoured their pets or messed with them in any way. Would I break that rule? I would if I was sure I needed it, but I chose to have a cool head as much as I could.

“Where is he?” I asked instead, almost grinding my teeth.

“He should get home soon,” Caleb looked at his watch nervously. “He just had his personal things he wanted to do.”

“Are you sure about that?” I hissed at him, trying to keep my composure and not do anything I would regret. Why would this human know it while I was in the dark about Daniel’s plans? Daniel talked to me about his work and what his days were like while I was sleeping. I didn’t feel that he was holding any secrets from me, not the way that I was acting, but maybe he did have something hidden. It didn’t occur to me before. He seemed like a pretty open book. Yet his human friend obviously knew more about him than I did. It was frustrating. I must have shown my fangs just thinking about that.

“I promise you,” he replied nervously. He knew not to mess with me, but he was not budging and not giving me anything else.

I could tell he was still not telling the truth. I composed myself, hid my fangs, and thanked him, which might have surprised him even more, but he quickly stepped away from me, which was probably wise on his part.

I decided it was best to head back home and investigate from there.

“I will find you if I can’t find Daniel,” I spat out through my teeth to Caleb and left.

When I got to our door, I could smell Daniel. Was it him, or was it his scent from earlier today? I was not sure if my senses were lying to me. But my nerves were still buzzing from the weird day that I had. I opened the door as quickly as possible and saw the drops of blood on the wooden floor of the hallway of his apartment. My nostrils were also filled with tonic odors common to vampire parties.

Whatever bad feeling I had before amplified, and I rushed through the apartment, following the trail into the bedroom. I opened the door and saw that Daniel was lying naked and unconscious.

One of his palms was covered in blood.