Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

Ryker.

I'm so fucking pissed off I can't think, I can't breathe, I don't even fucking know if I need to breathe. What the holy fuck was she thinking?

I wish I could remember. I've already gotten a couple of memory flashes, the house, the party, there were human girls there, and Emma with my wrist in her mouth. Emma… Fox.

I should have been calling her Fox all along, cunning, persistent. I wonder if this was her end game the whole time.

I shake my head at my train of thoughts. I don't think she had planned to turn me before. I really thought I knew her. I don't know if I should feel like an ass right now or not, and it's frustrating as hell.

Besides the fuzzy memory and being really pissed off, I feel great. I feel like I could leap buildings and all that shit. I won't lie, it's an empowering feeling, and eventually, I'll calm down enough to appreciate it. Right now, I need to get away from her and get a clear head while my memories return.

I find Gabe, Drew, and Zeke in Gabe's office. Gabe is leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on the desk, Drew is sitting in one of the chairs across from him, and Zeke is pacing the floor next to the desk, but he stops when I enter.

"Hey brother." Drew waves me in. "Come take a load off."

My mind flashes with images of Drew rushing into the room and shooting Sato. "Nice shot."

I stand behind the empty chair next to Drew and grip the back of it, anger still boiling in my veins. I'm so worked up, I barely notice the array of voices in my head, although they sound strangely like Drew, Zeke and Gabe, even though they're not speaking. When I take a deep calming breath, I can smell each of their distinct scents, and something rich underneath, that might be their blood, but I try not to think about it too hard.

"You remember?" Drew's face lights up.

"I keep getting flashes." I frown. "I saw her bite me."

"That's not how it happened," Zeke says. "I mean, kind of, you know, but there's more to it."

"She didn't mean to," Drew supplies.

"It doesn't matter." I shake my head. "It's done. What now?" I say the last to Gabe.

He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it. He frowns and then tries again. "You're always welcome here, Gunny. You know that, but there have been some issues while you were… um, dead. You need to talk to Fox."

"I need a minute," I sigh. "Just fill me in."

Gabe looks to Drew and Zeke, who stay quiet, and then back to me. "Fox's friend Everlee joined us the day after the mission."

"I was wondering who the girl was who ran into the medical room with you," I say, licking my lips, suddenly feeling very thirsty. I get a memory flash of rushing into the house after Luis's distraction and shooting multiple vampires.

Gabe nods. "She brought news. There's a chance that The Community will come after Fox. She's been waiting for you to wake up, but I'm fairly sure she plans on leaving soon."

"You said The Community will come after Fox." I raise my eyebrows. "Not both of them?"

"Yes." He shifts and looks uncomfortable. "You need to talk to her."

"Someone fucking tell me," I bark, my frustration distracting me from my thirst and my sudden, disturbing senses. "I'm sick of not knowing shit. It's fucking frustrating and frankly pissing me the fuck off." I look from Gabe to Zeke and finally narrow my eyes at Drew.

"Apparently The Community declared her married to some vampire douchebag," Drew blurts out. Then he lets out a heavy exhale.

"She's married?" I croak out the word past my cotton mouth, and ignore the voices I'm hearing. My mind flashes with her getting shot in the chest and falling to the floor, she tells me she loves me and then dies.

"Not by choice," Drew rushes to say. "The vampire council can declare a woman married without her consent."

"Without a wedding or anything," Zeke puts in. "It happened while we were on the mission. Fox had tried to buy herself some time so we could complete the mission and she could get out of dodge, but the 'douchebag' didn't buy it and had the council make the declaration right away, so if she returns she'll be under his control."

"How do you know all that?" Drew looks at him.

"Everlee." Zeke shrugs and looks away to hide a grin.

"Anyway, we got Keegan, Russell and the twins guarding the doors," Gabe says. "Derek upped our security measures. We've all been waiting for you."

My mind flashes to me cutting my wrist and putting it in Emma's mouth as she lays dead. I'm crying and begging her not to die.

I realize it was my choices that started the events leading up to me waking up as a vampire. It was my actions that started it. And I jumped to all the wrong conclusions and didn't let her explain before assuming the worst.

"Fuck. I just remembered something," I say and rush towards the door. "I gotta go talk to her."

I run to where I last saw her, the medical room, but it's empty. I check the nearby offices, a couple meeting rooms, one has two cots but is otherwise empty. I check the gadget lab, just to be sure she's not visiting with Minion.

I frantically run back to Gabe's office. "She's gone."

I look from one face to the next, but they all look to be at a loss for what to say or what I expect them to do about it. I can hear their voices in my head, but I don't understand what it means and ignore it.

"Where did she go?" I demand. My mouth feels like a desert and my tongue is swollen, I pour myself a glass of water from the wet bar and down it in one gulp. It eases some of the discomfort in my mouth, but I'm still thirsty.

"We don't know, gunny." Gabe puts his hands up. "She didn't have any plans yet that we know of. She just kept saying she was waiting for you."

Drew and Zeke nod in agreement.

My mind flashes with her waking up with my wrist in her mouth and spitting it out as she looks at me in horror, asking me what I've done. She didn't mean to.

I made the choice to save her. I hadn't even considered the consequences of waking up a vampire, but it was definitely my doing. Not hers.

"I have to find her." I rub my hand across my face and feel the week’s worth of beard growth. "How do I find her?"

Gabe picks up a piece of paper and dials a number on his phone. After a second, the person picks up. "We need you." After a pause, "Now." Another pause and he hangs up without a word. He looks at me. "Fifteen minutes. Why don't you go get cleaned up and ready to go."

"I'm ready," I say automatically.

"No offense, brother, but you've been in those clothes for four days." Drew raises the corner of his mouth in an amused grin. "I wouldn't go chasing my girl looking like that." He might have a point.

I turn and stomp out of the office towards the locker rooms. I keep spare clothes in my office since I never know what to expect around here.

Zeke jogs to catch up to me and walks next to me.

"This is awkward, but necessary," he starts, and I stop to face him. "Everlee said if it went down like this, she'd leave some of the blood bank bags she had with her in the fridge for you."

I open my mouth to protest, finding it incredibly disturbing, but he puts his hand up to stop me.

"It's just how it is now. You don't know if you're going to get thirsty and freak out on one of us. You need to be proactive. We all trust you and love you like a brother. I know if you hurt someone, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself."

I nod. "You're right. Thank you."

I shave, shower, get dressed and go to the fridge. I cringe at the thought of drinking blood, but take the bag from the fridge and empty it into a cup.

"Here goes nothing." I start slowly, but then down the entire cup, licking my lips. Very strange, yet refreshing. I feel better already, the cottonmouth is gone. I feel kind of stupid for not realizing what was happening sooner. Of course I'd need blood if I was a new vampire, it's lucky I didn't freak out and bite one of my brothers.

The blood would taste better warm… and fresh. That's a weird fucking thought, and I need to move on from this.

I hurry back to Gabe's office, approaching the door just as a petite blonde arrives. She looks so much like Emma, I have to do a double-take. My heart drops when I realize it's not her. She walks to Gabe's office confidently, and I let her pass me on the way in.

"I know you said you'd call me," she smiles widely at Gabe, "but I didn't expect it to be so soon. Did you figure out your issue?"

I was hoping I wouldn't have to call her perky ass, but desperate times… I hear Gabe's voice in my head, even though he's not talking. What the fuck?

"Yes and no." He gestures for her, and then me, to come into the office and sit. He looks at her intently. "You were able to track Fox here. Can you do it again?"

I frown, why had she tracked Fox? Who the hell is this girl? I don't even care if she can find Fox now.

"You lost Fox?" Her eyebrows raise, and she assesses me out of the corner of her eye. "Who's he?"

"Fox's… um, boyfriend?" Gabe looks conflicted and looks at me. Help me out here, Gunny.

I ignore the weird ass voice in my head, even though I'm fairly sure I've lost my damn mind. "I acted like an ass, she and her friend ran away, I want her back," I admit vaguely.

"You're kidding." She barks out a laugh. "You called me in for a lovers spat?"

"It's more than that, her life is in danger, you don't know the whole story," I say defensively.

"At least you thought of me," she says to Gabe with a smug smile. "I guess I got my point across."

"So can you track her?" he asks between clenched teeth. Oh, I've thought about you all right.

"Did she turn her phone off like I told her to?" She pulls a laptop out of her bag.

"I don't know." Gabe shrugs and looks at me.

"I don't know either." I consider it. "But if she's trying to stay hidden and you tracked her with it once already, then you can almost guarantee she did."

"If she's smart, she would've had her friend turn her phone off too then." She's logging on to the computer and typing things in. "I can check if you have the friend's phone number."

I pull out my phone and send Zeke a text. He seemed to be the one who talked to her most and it's possible he got her number. Sure enough, he replies a few seconds later with it. I read it off to the girl sitting next to me.

"It's off. Fox's too." She looks up at me. "What else? Would she have flown? Driven? Train?"

"She drives a BMW," I supply.

"She drove off in it too. I had it in the underground parking, and it's gone," Gabe says.

"Do you know the license plate?" she asks me.

I give it to her. Good thing I'm an observant guy and the numbers and letters stuck out in my mind.

She types on the computer for a few minutes. "Got her. She's southbound on I25."

I run from the office and hit the elevator button. My phone rings, and I answer it.

"Hey commando," the girl from the office chuckles into the phone. "She's still moving. I'm sending coordinates to your phone, and I'll keep you posted. Gabe says I'm grounded or I would've just run after you."

I hear Gabe grumble in the background.

"I'm Ryker," I offer.

"Serena," she says and disconnects.

I get on the elevator when the door opens and take it to the underground. I jump in my car and point it in the direction of the interstate.

I have no idea where she's headed, and I have no beliefs that my Nissan Maxima could ever catch her BMW if she's moving fast, but I have to believe that she'll be driving the speed limit to avoid being stopped by police, and she'll have to stop somewhere eventually, right? Even vampires stretch their legs.

My phone rings, and I put it on the Bluetooth as I merge onto the interstate.

"Looks like she's leaving town," Serena says. "She's still southbound on twenty-five. Traffic must be bad, though, she's not moving fast."

"Thanks," I say and disconnect.

I wish I had my motorcycle right now, traffic does suck and catching up to her is not going to be easy. I weave in and out of traffic. Twenty minutes later my phone rings again.

"Something happened," Serena says. "She's stopped on the interstate just outside of Denver. I have you up too, you should be approaching her in a few minutes. You were really hauling ass."

"Gonna get himself fucking killed," I hear Gabe say in the background.

"Don't mind him," Serena chirps. "He doesn't understand love."

I hear Gabe snort.

"Do you have any plans once you find her?" Gabe asks.

"No," I admit. "Besides the obvious." They're quiet, so I explain, "Apologizing."

"That's a good start." Serena chuckles. "She's right in front of you."

Traffic is backed up, and I'm slowed to nearly a stop. I pull off to the shoulder and see her car, it's crushed. There's a second car that looks to be in bad shape too. EMS workers are hauling someone into an ambulance.

"It's weird that there's an ambulance here but no cops, right?" I ask as I survey the scene in front of me.

"Extremely," Serena says. "She's only been stopped a couple minutes. How would an ambulance get there so fast?"

The EMT shuts the door, hops in the cab. The lights turn on, and it starts to pull away. I drive forward and look in the car. It's empty. So is the second car.

"They took Fox and Everlee in the ambulance," I tell them as I pull back onto the road. "I'm going to follow them."

"Be careful, Gunny," Gabe says. "I'm sending in reinforcements."

I can hear Gabe talking to the guys in the background.

"They must've been waiting for her to leave the office," Serena muses brightly.

"Are you enjoying this?" I growl.

"It's nice to be needed," Serena says unapologetically. "I was one of the girls you rescued the other day, and I was just asking Gabe for a chance to help. This sucks for you, I realize, but it works nicely for me."

"Glad I could help," I say flatly.

"Yeah." She clears her throat. "Sorry."

"It's fine." I weave in and out of traffic, but I lost the ambulance. Then I see them on the exit and swear, cut through two lanes and just barely make it. I'm sure I got some hand gestures from other drivers for that one, but I don't care right now.

I drop back to avoid being seen and follow from a distance. After ten minutes of driving, we head into a really rich neighborhood. The houses are far apart with spacious yards, fences and hedges for privacy.

The road comes to a dead end and the ambulance turns into the last house. I pull over and creep forward, trying to see inside the property. I park the car, jump out and run to the hedge, ducking down.

Fuck, I can run fast now. I sniff the air, I can smell Emma. That's cool and weird at the same time. I peek out and see men coming out of the house. They walk towards the ambulance.

There is pounding from inside the back of the ambulance, and I can hear her screaming and swearing. I can't make out every word, but it's clear she's fucking out of her mind pissed off.

I hear cars coming down the street. They slow and park behind my car, and I smell Drew, Gabe, and Zeke as they exit the cars. I don't stop to appreciate how strange it is to recognize their scent, I look around and spot them flanking the hedge with Axel, Asher, and Keegan. Their voices flood my ears, but I don't have time to dwell on it. As long as they're not attracting the vampires’ attention, I have more important things to worry about than why they're talking so much.

Attacking the vampires in the open like this is risky, but I don't know what will happen once they get the girls into the house, and I can't take that chance.