Chapter 19 - Searching...Then Finding

I awoke. I stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Then I took my eyes away from the ceiling and looked around the rest of the room. It looked exactly as it had just a couple of days ago. Grey sunlight peeking in through the curtains. I looked to my left side. Aeryk wasn't there. I stared at the empty spot for a few minutes. I hated it. It made me feel as if Aeryk was gone along with Daren. I looked away and stretched out my arms. I got dressed and walked down into the kitchen. When I got there, I found Joshua sitting at the kitchen table, just thinking.
"Hey," I said. He looked up from whatever he was staring at to me.
"Hey," he said with a small smile.
"It's quiet. Where're the twins?"
"Out looking for Daren."
"Oh, right. And Patrick, Eval-"
"They're all out, too."
"Oh. Okay. So, why'd you stay here?"
"We thought someone should stay incase you finally woke up." At these words I looked up at the clock. It was already 2:00 in the afternoon.
"I've been sleeping all day?"
"Yeah." I looked around the kitchen, for some reason I was utterly confused. I locked my sight on Joshua. He looked back at me. "What?" he asked.
"Lets go help look for Daren." I walked straight out of the kitchen and out the front door. Joshua followed.



After about a half an hour, we had caught up with the Blakes. They hadn't found anything that could lead to Daren's whereabouts. We were at the park now, resting and trying to think of other places to look.
"I miss Daren," Riley said.
"Oh, we all do, honey," Evaline said and started stroking her hair.
"I'm beat," Evan said.
"Yeah, me, too," Derek replied, "We've been searching for like forever!"
"Well, most of us have," Evan said, giving Joshua and me a dirty look. Joshua's brow furrowed then.
"Hey, where's Aeryk?" he asked.
"Yeah, where is that fluffball?" Derek said. Just as if he had been qued, Aeryk came rushing at us at full speed. When he got to us and stopped, he tried to say something but was panting to hard.
"You-guys-" he said between pants.
"Hey, hey, calm down, big boy," Evan said.
"What is it, Aeryk?" Patrick said. He had caught his breath a little and could speak a little more clearly now.
"I think-I found-Daren," Aeryk said.
"Where?"
"Over-by-Nat's house."
"Okay, Joshua, Evaline, Mary, Rayne, and Aeryk, you all come with me."
"What about us?" Derek and Evan said together.
"You stay with Riley and take care of her."
"Where are you guys going?" Riley asked.
"We're going to get Daren." After these words were spoken, there was a moment of complete and pure silence. Patrick glanced at everyone, and finally, his eyes rested on me. "C'mon, lets go," he said and ran towards Nat's house. We all followed him.
When we got to Nat's house, we stopped about 100 feet away. There was a strange feeling about it. I could tell that we all could feel the uncomfortableness of this house. I looked over at Aeryk, he looked at me. We stood like that for maybe three seconds, then looked forward.
"They're all inside," Patrick said and started slowly walking to the open front door. We slowly followed. As I stepped into the house, I saw that it was clearly being torn apart by someone. All of the furniture was thrown about. The wallpaper hung down in strips. There was broken glass everywhere.
"Hello?" Patrick called out. There was a loud bang from the door that led to the basement. "Hello?" he called again. Another bang. He walked up to it cautiously and opened it. "Is anybody here?" We walked down the narrow stairwell, each of us very close to each other. It was pitch black and all of the vampires' eyes were glowing. "He-" Patrick was cut off and disappeared from the front of the line. Evaline had been right behind him an squealed.
"Who's there?" Joshua yelled. There was a low, frightening chuckle emitting from the end of the black staircase.
"It's just us," a growly woman's voice said.
"Who are you?"
"We're your friends, of course."
"Who are you!" Joshua screamed. "What have you done with our family!"
"Oh, there's no need to get angry, now. Lets all just calm down and you can come down and we'll all get more acquainted." I heard a man's snicker from the darkness. The woman hushed him. I heard a name: MacGuire. They were all here, waiting to rip us limb from limb, to torture us. I started walking past everyone down towards the darkness.
"What are you doing?!" Aeryk said, grabbing my arm.
"I've got to find Daren," I replied.
"No, I'm not letting you go by yourself."
"Then by all means go with me." He stared at me for a second, not letting go of my arm. He looked away from me and into the dark. He took in a long, shuddering breath. He was thinking. He looked back down at me.
"Okay, I'm going with you." His hand slid down from my forearm to my hand. I tightened my grip on it and whispered to him, "Thank you." He nodded his head. We edged forward. When I had almost reached the bottom, Joshua spoke out to us.
"Rayne, what if he's not down there?" he said.
"Then...I don't know what will happen. But be ready for the worst," I replied. We took another step down. We were on the ground step now. The Blakes were up on the stairs, keeping their eyes on us. I looked straight into the blind darkness, then stepped into it. Aeryk and I were both completely envoloped in black. I didn't dare let go of his hand. From every direction I heard soft whispers and quiet laughs.
"Daren?" I said as quietly as possible. Almost as a reflex, a light turned on at my small noise. I saw the most terrifying thing I had ever seen in my 300 years as a vampire. We were completely surrounded by Reds. Each of them staring up at us, evil smiles plastered on their faces, their red eyes penetrating me. Their laughing and talking grew louder. Then, "Hello again, love." My head darted to the back left corner of the room and the noise quieted. Alexander was sitting in a moth-eaten chair, Nat holding Daren back on his left side and another male Red holding Patrick on his right. "It's been a while, I must say."
"Daren-" I blurted out. He looked at me with eyes that were flooded with fear and outrage. But Nat had a rag in his mouth and he was unable to say anything.
"Yes, I do believe you have come here for that." He looked over at Nat and Daren. "Let him go." Nat reluctantly cut his hands free. He fell to the ground and pulled the rag from his mouth. He quickly got up and ran over to the stairs.
"Now him," I said, pointing to Patrick.
"Oh, I don't think he will be that easy."
"What do I have to do?"
"I will exchange him for..."
"For what?"
"For you." At this, Aeryk got close to me and got very protective.
"She's not going anywhere," he practically growled at Alexander.
"Fine, then he'll die," Alexander said, turning to Patrick. Evaline let out a whimper then. I realized that she was crying. I almost started myself.
"No, I-I'll go," I said, holding back the tears.
"What?! Are you crazy? Who knows what they'll do to you and besides, I don't want to loose you that way, I don't wanna loose you at all," Aeryk said, tears coming to his eyes.
"Aeryk, I-I have to."
"No. You don't. There has to be another way. There has to." He was starting to get a little frantic. He looked to Evaline and Joshua for help. They could only look away. I started to walk in Alexander's direction. A smile came to his face. But Aeryk pulled me to him again and that smile faded quickly.
"Rayne-" he said, beginning to protest but sobs overcame his words. That's when I started.
"Aeryk, I'm sorry," I said, letting go of his hand and walking to Alexander again.
"No!" Aeryk yelled and grabbed my hand again. He fell to his knees, begging me to stay between sobs.
"Ugh, this is getting annoying. Get him out of here," Alexander ordered two of the Reds. They went to Aeryk, picked him up off the ground, and tried to drag him away. Buy he wouldn't go. Not yet. He freed himself from their grips and he latched onto me. As soon as his arms were around me, mine were around him. Our tears kept flowing.
"Don't go. I love you," Aeryk whispered into my ear. This only made the tears come down even harder. I took in a deep breath.
"I love you, too, but I have to go," I said.
"No, you don't."
"Will this soap opera ever end?" Alexander said. "Get him and their friends out of here!" The same two Reds grabbed Aeryk again and this time managed to drag him despite his fighting. As they got to the stairwell, the Red behind me released Patrick and Aeryk started screaming my name. Patrick and Evaline embraced eachother and held onto each other for a moment.
"Take this," one of the Reds dragging Aeryk said to Joshua and handed him Aeryk's left arm. The other Red handed Mary his right arm. They left. The Blakes were speechless for a moment. Then Joshua said, "Rayne, are you sure about this?"
"Yes," I said, nodding my head eventhough I was the exact opposite of sure. Aeryk was still screaming out my name. I could hear his sobs. The Blakes left and I couldn't take it any longer. I dropped to my knees and put my hands over my face.
"Oh, there, there, darling," Alexander said, he laid his cold hand onto my back, "It's okay. We're together now."

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