We wandered around the park for an hour, making sure we were seen but steering clear enough that we passed unmolested. After that, we went home. We didn't hear from Brian for two days after that. When we did get a call from him, it wasn't actually him on the line.
I looked up as Jackie's chirpy 'hello' turned into fear. I got to my feet and came over to her to listen in on the conversation.
“If you want to see your little puppy again, come and get him back. We'll be waiting for you in the park. You know the one. Same one you wandered around for an hour tempting us. See you at midnight.”
The females voice laughed as the line went dead. Jackie turned to me with fear in her eyes. Daniel laid a hand on her shoulder to help comfort her. She dropped the phone and I deftly caught it. She was immediately across the kitchen and pulling her tarot deck out.
She had shuffled and cut before she got to the table. She hastily laid out cards, not bothering to wait to turn them over. Her eyes skimmed over them all and she blew out a breath.
“This wasn't supposed to happen. This skews everything.” She was starting to sound frantic. She turned to look at Daniel and me with wide eyes. “We have to get him back. I should never have said to leave him alone. This is all my fault.”
I grabbed her shoulders, pulling her around to get eye-contact.. “We will get him back Jacquelyn. This wasn't your fault alright. We can fix this.”
She nodded and turned away. Despite both my and Daniels assurances to the contrary, she was still blaming herself. She waited anxiously until it was time to go, repeatedly laying out cards and reading them. She left them scattered over the table when I suggested we go. Something she never did. She was always careful with her cards.
When we arrived at the park she was first out of the car and striding quickly for the gate. I caught up to her and grabbed her elbow. “Jackie, I know this is a problem but you have to calm down. If you keep rushing ahead you're going to run into danger yourself.”
She nodded to show she heard but didn't slow very much. The only thing that gave her pause was the pair of Vampires that slithered out of the darkness in our path, one male and one female. She growled in annoyance, making me grin.
I laid a hand on her shoulder. “I'll deal with this.” I met Daniels look of worry with a cocky smile. “Keep her safe.”
Jackie nodded and started to move when she froze. The blank look in her eyes told me she was getting a vision. “Look for the gateway to the tunnel before you cross the border.” There was nothing else. She simply walked straight at the Vampires, Daniel close on her heels. The Vampires let them pass without an issue. They grinned at me. I snarled back.
“Well, well, how noble of you.” The female spoke. She sounded like the one who had made the phone call. That was all the preamble I got.
My eyes widened as they rushed me, just barely dodging both of them. I struck out hard at the male, shrugging when I cracked his nose instead of his jaw. Either way worked. The female grabbed me from behind and hissed as she prepared to bite me.
I lunged forward, placing my hands on the ground to help protect my head as I flipped over and crashed down on top of the Vamp. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. I rolled free and swept a leg under the males feet. He jumped it and came back down with a punch aimed at my face.
I rolled away and to my feet. I spotted a sharp stick laying on the ground and lunged for it. The female hissed in warning as the male jumped me. Too late. He stumbled back, looking at the impromptu stake through his heart. His eyes turned back to me in hate as he turned to ash and blew away.
The female shrieked in rage, leaping to her feet and rushing me. I dodged her flurry of jabs and kicks, getting hit three times with glancing blows and once with a significant rake across my thigh. She backed off with a grin and licked my blood from her nails. I winced as my leg throbbed when I put weight on it. She had gotten me good. Any deeper and my leg would have been useless.
She eyed me when I limped a bit and came at me again with a hiss. I waited until the last possible instant. I rushed against her, getting in her space and wrapping my arms around her, grappling with her as her momentum bore me to the ground. She choked.
I rolled us over and spat out the chunk of throat I had torn from her. She coughed, spraying me with blood. “Dog.” She gurgled. “We still win. We only need one of you.”
My brows knit for a moment, then I tore her head from her body. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. Damn it.
I limped in the direction Daniel and Jackie had gone. It took me five minutes, at the end of which my leg was burning, but I finally spotted shapes in the moonlight. Two on the ground and at least seven disappearing into the night.
I ran over to the boys, looking around wildly for Jacquelyn. “Where is she?”
Brian knelt on the grass, blindfolded and his hands cuffed behind his back. He cocked his head in my direction as I ran up, twitching eagerly for freedom.
Daniel was slowly picking himself up off the ground, licking a gash in his arm to get it to close. He looked at me nervously.
“Where is Jacquelyn?” I asked harshly, pulling the blindfold off Brian and inspecting the handcuffs. I could get them off him, I was sure.
Daniel finally broke the news. “They took her.”
In moments I was on my feet and punching Daniel in the face. “You were supposed to protect her!” I flipped him onto his back and pulled back for another hit. “I trusted you!”
Daniel went limp, calmly staring up at me. I let go and took a step back, breathing hard and clenching my shaking hands into fists. I couldn't keep beating up on him now that he had submitted. And anyways, I had to stop panicking and think. I had to find Jackie.
I stripped and changed into a wolf and put my nose to the ground, looking for any type of trail. I could have shifted in my clothes but it made moving really difficult. When I had turned to attack Daniel in the kitchen back then most of them had come off with all my jumping and twisting. Given the option, I preferred to change without clothing.
Brian stayed on his knees with his head bowed, blue eyes watching me carefully. Daniel just lay on his back staring up at the sky. I found a trail and gave a sharp bark.
Brian slowly got to his feet. Daniel stood, gathering up my clothes and waiting to move right behind me. I wandered in the direction the trail led, nose to the ground and following the trail.
Even with Brian helping me, we still lost the trail multiple times. With every hold up and set back my worry increased. With every rise in worry, my temper shortened. I was snapping at them both with regularity.
Daniel was beginning to lose patience in me. “Why do we keep stopping?”
I sneezed. I'm wolf, not scent dog.
Brian laughed. Vampire not know wolf. He cut off when I growled at him.
Submission to mate. Respect.
Brian lowered his head at the chastisement and sulked. I didn't pay him anymore attention. Daniel probably had no clue that a conversation had even taken place. I found the trail again and took off, reaching top speed. I was close.
I pulled up at the boundary fence of a large estate. I could see the little band of Vampires herding Jackie amongst them into the house. I paced along the fence as my mind churned. A full frontal assault would be stupid. But how did we stealth our way into a place that was obviously a Vampire nest.
“Look for the gateway.”
My head whipped around to face Daniel. He was gazing over me to the house beyond.
“Isn't that what Jackie said?”
I bobbed my head up and down. That was what she had said. Look for the gateway to the tunnel before we cross the border. I put my nose to the ground and started searching. I ranged back and forth along the fence, heading towards the back of the property.
I was no expert on architecture, but if I were making a tunnel off the property, I would put it in the back. I was around the mid-point of the back line when I caught the scent of something interesting. It smelled like old wood and dust, with a hint of rust. I started circling, trying to find the source.
Daniel shuffled through the leaf litter in boredom. We all froze when a dull clink sounded at his feet. The boys cleared away the leaves and dirt while I changed back to a human form. Daniel handed me my clothes and I pulled them on while we studied the 'gateway'.
It looked like an old-fashioned cellar door. Square with two doors and a big ancient padlock holding the rusting chain around the door handles.
I knelt and examined the padlock. I lifted a hand over my shoulder. “Bobby pin?” I glanced over my shoulder when nothing was pressed into my palm to find both boys staring at me like I was crazy. I had forgotten Jackie wasn't here.
I sighed and dug through my pockets. I blew a sigh of relief when I found one in my pocket. It must have been left there from the last time I needed to pick a lock. I stuffed it into the old padlock and worked at it for about ten minutes.
I grinned when it popped open. I stood and gestured for Brian to turn around. Might as well take care of his cuffs while I was at it. That one only took ten seconds. That had been what I had learned to pick to begin with after all.
Brian nodded his thanks, rubbing his wrists. I pocketed both the pin and the cuffs. We pulled the chain off the doors and opened up our gateway. It was pitch black down there and the air was stagnant. Good thing all three of us could see in the dark.
Brian glanced up at me. “Want me to go first?”
I shook my head. “Submissives never go first.”
He shrugged and made a gesture with one hand that said 'you can go then'. I took a calming breath. Whatever we met down there would be a step towards the conclusion to this. I could feel it.
I glanced back at Daniel. “Sorry. I got a little carried away.”
“Just a little.” He didn't smile and brush it off like usual. It made me feel guilty. Unfortunately, I wasn't good with apologies. Fenrir, I wasn't good with social skills period. But I couldn't do anything about that now.
I turned back to the dry darkness, and jumped in.