Kidnapped by Vampires ✔ (The Broken Trilogy Book 1)

Chapter Eight

They were nearing the 72-hour mark cutoff and Charles, who they later realized went by the nickname Charlie, still had not led Ethan to the Rutherfords. He was getting nervous. Sure this guy kidnapped Mia. Sure he was a vampire. Sure, he's maybe done this to other people, but he was also a kid. And Ethan wasn't sure he deserved what was coming for him.

"This guy is giving us nothing," Lauren groaned. She, however, was the most comfortable out of all of them because she claimed the backseat and was currently stretching out her legs and had pillows and blankets. Ethan and Ben were confined to the front seat where they got no such luxuries.

"Do you think he knows we're following him?" Ben asked.

Ethan shook his head. "If he did, he might've led us into a trap by now courtesy of Ellias Rutherford, the devil himself." He looked at his watch. Only two more hours before they would have to call this in as a failure. And then...

He erased the thought from his head. He didn't need to think about that. Charlie seemed like a nice kid. He went to school and hung out with friends and then came home and helped his mother make dinner. How he got mixed up in all this was just mindboggling. His mother wasn't a vampire or a monster of any kind. So, what happened to Charlie?

Minutes ticked by at they sat outside Charlie's house and still nothing happened. Ben was fiddling on his phone playing some sort of zombie game, Lauren was struggling to get a granola bar open, and Ethan was staring intently at the house, daring for Charlie to do something.

"C'mon," Ethan practically shouted. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. Lauren and Ben exchanged a glance.

"Look, just because he doesn't lead us to the Rutherfords doesn't mean that your mom will see you as a failure," Ben said. Lauren hit his shoulder. "Ow, I'm just saying that Ethan was the one who found him and his mom would recognize that."

Lauren rolled her eyes. Ethan barely heard what they were saying. It was only twenty minutes left. Twenty minutes and he would have to call his mother.

"There's got to be some way that we can still make this work," Ethan said. He rubbed his face so hard he saw stars in his eyes.

Everyone was silent for a minute before Lauren said what they were all thinking. "He's too low on the totem pole."

The remaining nineteen minute ticked by without anyone saying anything. Then the clock struck eleven and Ethan pulled out his phone to call his mom. The conversation was quick and to the point. She asked if they found the Rutherfords. He said no. She told him to bring Charlie in for questioning and then hung up.

"We have to go get him now," Ethan said while pulling out a blue crystal the color of the night sky out of his backpack.

Lauren held out her hand. "It'll work better if I use it."

Ethan closed his fist around it. "You can't. My mom hasn't cleared you."

"There are five people in that house including one vampire. We need someone to use it who it'll work for."

"It'll work for me."

"Not as well as it would work for me."

"Guys!" Ben said. "Look, Lauren, the bottom line is that yes, it would work better for you, but that is beside the point. You have less training with the crystals and Councilwoman hasn't cleared you. It'll still work with Ethan and he can legally use it so that's the plan we're going with. Understand?"

Lauren nodded but didn't look happy about it. She sulked the entire time as they got out of the car and made their way to Charlie's house. Ben easily picked the lock and they quietly made their way inside. It didn't look like anyone was awake, but Ethan led the team just in case anyone was.

They made their way upstairs and searched room by room for Charlie. They almost thought they were caught by his parents but they just left the tv on and fell asleep. Ethan touched the crystal to each of their foreheads once and they visibly fell deeper into sleep.

Then they ran into his little sister's room and his older brother's where they did the same thing. When they arrived at Charlie's, they braced themselves. Since he was a vampire, he would be crazier at night and more likely to fight back. They tried to open the door, but it was blocked by something on the other side. They managed to move the door enough to see that it was a dresser.

"I was wondering how he managed to live with his family and not eat them," Ben said. They made their way back outside and around to the back of the house where Charlie's bedroom window was. They started a human pyramid with Ben at the bottom, Lauren in the middle, and Ethan tottering on top while trying to get the window open.

He thanked the stars that it was unlocked and slid the window open. He crawled inside and landed on his back on the floor. And he saw why the door was unlocked.

Charlie was sitting at his desk chair staring at the window. His eyes were black like he was ready to attack and Ethan very much wished he wasn't in the room right now.

Charlie jumping on Ethan and tried to pin him down and drink from his neck. The crystal slid out of Ethan's hand and he was desperately trying to grab it while keeping Charlie at bay. He then tried punching him in the face and it distracted Charlie for a few seconds so Ethan could grab the crystal and put Charlie to sleep.

Unfortunately, he fell asleep right on top of him and now Ethan couldn't move.

"Lauren? Ben? A little help up here?" Ethan called down to them. Soon Lauren made her way up through the window and dragged Charlie off of him. She was struggling not to laugh the entire time.

"Well, that could've gone better," Ethan said while he and Lauren moved the dresser back to its spot on the wall so they could go out the front door. They picked up Charlie and made their way back to the car where they threw him in the back and made the drive back to HQ.