"Why would they have gone?" Pete replied with a question, tugging at his hair. "Patrick wasn't even conscious when we left, what the fuck is going on!?"
Ryan suddenly cried out, tightening his grip on Brendon's to bone crushing levels. Brendon snapped his eyes down to the youngling, who continued to cry loudly as Breezy pulled back a small, smoking cup she had in her hand.
"It's something to bring down his fever." She said, looking at Ryan with sadness laced in her expression. "He needs all the help he can get, seeing as magic ailments can't simply be sweat out."
"STOP LETTING THEM HURT ME!" Ryan screamed, thrashing his head from side to side.
"It's going to help you, Ryro!" Brendon insisted, pinning Ryan's arms to the ground with a pained expression. "They can't hurt you."
"Beebo, I want my mommy..." Ryan sobbed, still fighting against Brendon's restraint. "I saw her, I see her..."
Brendon had a pained expression on his face as he looked down at Ryan. Both Breezy and Pete looked at the floor, unsure what to do or say. Breezy quickly regained her composure, turning to get back into her bag. She pulled out some kind of root, quickly crushing it in her hand before sprinkling it into a small bowl from her bag.
"I can take away the monsters for a bit." She spoke sweetly to Ryan as she quickly arranged ingredients, "I can make you sleep soundly until I can fix you, alright?"
"I'm not ready to see mommy yet..." Ryan mumbled, relaxing his fight against Brendon.
"Just hush, baby." Breezy soothed, "Can you drink something for me?"
Ryan nodded. Breezy looked over at Brendon, nodding at the smaller vampire. Brendon scooped Ryan up into his arms and held him close, in case he began to fight back again. Breezy then brought the small bowl to Ryan's lips, urging him to drink the mixture.
Pete looked away, instead beginning to scan the halls for any sign of the humans. His eyes trailed the tunnel just outside of their room before the room itself. Nothing too out of the ordinary... Until Pete looked down.
Claw marks, much like the ones on the tunnel's lock, slid across the floor. Pete followed the trail, noticing it lead to his bed. He rushed over to it, inhaling deeply to try and pick up a new scent.
The only thing there was human, and possibly the slight scent of death... But what could that have-
"Revenant." Pete spoke audibly, without much thought.
"What?" Brendon looked up at Pete with a confused expression, "Why would you bring those things into this?"
"They are the reanimated dead, right?" Pete questioned, grabbing his bedding and beginning to shake the scent of death loose. "Zombie like, but more obedient to someone that resurrected them?"
Brendon's eyes widened as he caught the faint scent that filled the air. "Someone kidnapped them with a damned revenant!?" His tone grew slowly louder as the possibility began to sink in. Even from across the room, Pete could see anger bubbling in the older vampire's eyes.
"Dallon isn't dead, right?.." Ryan asked weakly. Whatever Breezy had given him was beginning to take affect. He was calming, and slipping into a complete unconsciousness.
Brendon ran his fingers through Ryan's hair. "No, Ryro. I'll make sure of it." He said lowly, trying to hide his anger from the small creature. "Don't worry, just rest."
Ryan nodded, limply, growing quiet. It was a few hushed minutes before anyone would break the silence.
"Who would go to this trouble?" Breezy asked, "Who could have so much hatred in their heart to raise the dead and torture the living?"
Brendon shook his head as he rose to his feet. He held Ryan close, walking across the room and laying him gently across his bed. He sighed before turning with a shrug. "It doesn't make sense. Fake ID was a runaway..."
"And Patrick was a grieving man with no one." Pete said, flashing through the feelings from Patrick's memories. He felt twinges of guilt and sadness, as well as anger, all within seconds. However, he shook it away, wanting to focus on finding Patrick.
Breezy bit her lip. She looked over at Brendon with a hint of fear in her eyes. "Could it be the same people after my family from all those years ago?" She asked.
"Why leave him, then?" Brendon asked, looking at the now peacefully resting figure. "Why not take him and leave the humans? It did the exact opposite."
"Who would want Patrick and Dallon, then?" Pete chimed in, pushing fingers through his dark hair. "Why?"
"I don't care why, I care about knowing where the bastards that took them are so I can rip their still beating hearts out of their chest." Brendon growled, his hand balling into a fist at his side.
"Let me take care of Ryan." Breezy said, pulling more ingredients and containers from her bag. "I think I know how to help him. You two need to find your friends, especially if a revenant took them."
"What if you're not safe?" Brendon shot her a look of concern, but she just held a small bundle of something up to show him.
"Protection." She said, "My grandmother made it, so I that it to do its job."
"You can really help him?" Brendon asked after a moment of consideration.
Breezy smiled. "Anything for family." She replied, "Which includes you, for the service you have done my grandmother... For Ryan."
"But he's not blood." Pete spoke up, softly. "That's what makes family."
"Family doesn't end in blood." She said with the shake of her head, "Family is in the bonds and relationships you create."
"Right now, part of our family needs us." Brendon said with a look to Pete, "Can you track the scent?"
Pete shook his head, "It's too weak."
"I can." Brendon said, moving across the room before disappearing into the darkness of the connecting tunnel. Pete went to follow, but was stopped by a soft voice.
"Be careful."
Pete turned to see Breezy with concern on her face. "Please." She added with a worried smile.
Pete didn't know what to say, so he just nodded. He flashed a smile of reassurance before following Brendon into the darkness.
