Chapter 174 : Missing

Chapter 174 : Missing
Cole. 

Each of us landed on the ground outside the Nephilim base, and in a split second, Nicolas came out of the front door. 

"Where is he?" I urged as I turned my body toward him. 

"Locked up inside." He said as he motioned towards the door with his head. "We just took down the wards to let the demons in." My eyes looked at the other three men before turning to nod. 

"This way." Nicolas led us, and we followed him. 

All of us entered the massive building, and as soon as we stepped foot inside, we were met with glares, but for once, I found that more of the hatred was aimed at Jesse and Taylor than me. But as soon as my wings came into view, I could see panic fill them. Some of them gawked at Chase, and Taylor looked rather uneasy, while Jesse ignored them all. 

"I guess we won't be welcome here," Taylor muttered under his breath. 

"I don't care." I said bluntly as I kept my gaze straight ahead. "They can think what they want." 

We kept walking after Nicolas down a long hallway that led to a staircase that seemed to go down to the basement. Once we reached the bottom, there was a long row of cells lined up against the wall. 

Nicolas walked through them, passing several guards armed with swords and other weapons, before finally stopping in front of one of them to look into the dark iron bars. It showed Levi leaning against the back wall with chains shackled to each of his hands. We all stopped as my eyes focused on Levi, and as we made eye contact, Levi smiled. That kind of smile irritated me. 

"What is up with those chains?" Jesse asked from behind. 

"The chains were coated with angelic runes, so they took away the demonic powers that bound him," Nicolas explained. "He is harmless now." 

"If Cole was in them, would that take away his powers too?" Taylor asked in a curious tone. 

"Probably only the demonic ones would be gone. They are hard to come by. There are many cases where they were stolen by demons to use against each other." 

Then I took a step forward, and my eyes narrowed at the sight of Levi. "He is not injured." 

"Yeah," Nicolas stepped to my side then shoved his hands into his pockets. "He barely even fought us." 

"Hmm," I hummed in response as I observed the demon's entire demeanor as Nicolas opened the door to the cell. 

"It's all yours," he said, and he and I glanced at each other before I walked into the cell, while Jesse and Taylor soon followed, and Chase stayed by Nicolas' side. 

I stepped forward, and Levi's smile grew, haughtily. "Well, well, look who finally showed up. Don't you think that you are cutting it a bit too close?" 

Getting pissed off, my eyes flashed an orange light and blurted out, "I have a few questions for you." 

"Oh, I'm sure you do." 

Sure enough, I had to fight every urge to beat this guy to a pulp to get the answers, but with all the Nephilim guards around, I knew that would not be a clever move, not here. First, I had to get some basic information to confirm their knowledge. 

"Who is your boss?" I asked, demanding. 

"Hmm? Silas?" 

"Not Silas," I snapped at him. "We know you work for someone, someone who has incredibly powerful ancient magic. Those people gave Silas the ability to cast a rune, and they gave you information about what we were looking for." I stared at him as I took a step closer. "Who is it?" 

"Is that all you want to know?" Levi replied with a scornful laugh. "Too bad, I have not met them myself. So I can't give you the answers you want." 

As I let out a frustrated voice, I snapped at him. "You are lying." 

"Am I?" he sneered. "I have been told that they are eager to meet you. In fact, that is why I was sent out." 

"What?" Taylor wrinkled his forehead. 

"They are finally ready to make a deal." 

"What deal?" I asked her as I stepped closer. 

"I'm not here to discuss the details, but I can take you to them. If that is what you want," he offered. 

"You have to tell us who your boss is now, or we will make you one." I growled at him as my eyes turned blood red, and Levi's lips curled into a wicked smile. 

"But you have to go see them." He looked me up and down. "If you want what's yours back." 

My expression turned into a frown. "What—" My words were cut off as my cell phone started ringing, and I saw her name on the screen. I had not spoken to her since before I left, and my letter... "Wait a minute." I said as I turned around, and Jesse stepped forward to watch Levi. I answered the call and brought the phone to my ear. "Hey, Ray, I—" 

"Cole?" a voice said, and my eyes blinked as I realized it was her mother. 

"Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry, I thought Rayline was calling." I replied, flinching in surprise. 

"Cole, is Rayline with you?" she asked anxiously, and my body froze as I heard the panic in her tone. 

"No, she is not. Isn't she resting at home?" 

"No," she replied. "She... early this morning she was in tears and crying, saying that she did not know where you were and that you were going to die?" I swallowed sharply. "We had no idea what to do, we left her for a while to call an ambulance, and—" She trailed off. "She's gone. She only left her cell phone. We thought that she had gone to look for you. We tried to follow her outside. She looked like she was walking towards someone, but she just vanished. We have been going around trying to find her." 

My lips parted as I tried to get through her words, and I struggled to find the words. "I... I have not seen her since last night, I... um." My eyes glanced at Levi and caught sight of the wicked smile growing on his face, and my stomach twisted. "Look, don't worry. I'm sure she started walking to where I was and forgot her cell phone. Please don't worry. I'm going to look for her, and I will call you." 

"Thanks, Cole," her mother said before the line hung up with a beep. 

My hand slowly lowered the phone to my side, my eyes glued to the ground. 

"Cole?" Jesse called out, and Taylor turned to me.