Lavender

Searching

"So, do we go door to door?" Vienna asked.

Adam and Max looked to each other, weighing the option. Paolo cleared his throat. "If you think it's smart, go for it. But you have to weigh the fact that we're not supposed to draw attention to the Mansion. We should probably lie lower than that."

Adam sighed. "Then we can't go around asking for him."

"What would get him to leave? He hasn't done that before." Sam inquired.

Adam and Max looked shocked. They clearly hadn't even thought about that. "Perhaps we should ask Lucille." Adam stated.

"Who?" I asked.

"She's our detective. Back in the times of vampire hunters, our people used to get snatched. She's Briar's daughter, and was gifted the gift of long life. She's about 360 years old."

"Oh, wow."

The green trio turned around and began heading further upstairs. We hit a door that said "maintenance."

"Oh yeah, she's crazy by the way." Max whispered into my ear right before the door opened.

"Visitors? How kind."

A voice that sounded like a creaky door came from inside. Perched on top of a mop bucket was an old woman with clothes that made her look like a civil war reenactor. Her eyes were an off-white color. She was reading an old-looking book that had a title that looked to be perhaps in Russian. "Oh, to live in a hut on chicken legs. Run through the forest without having to use my old legs."

Max and I shared a look that read "the fuck?" with each other. Adam addressed her. "Hi, Lucille. I was wondering if you could help us find our soulmate? He's missing."

"And you need me why? You could just as easily get someone with some brains. I only have noodles."

She looked at us like she said a joke that went over our heads. She rolled her eyes and jumped off of her bucket. She moved past the shelves of cleaning supplies and tools until she was with us in the hallway. She made a beeline for the Lavender suite. "You should be warned," Max called to her, "it's a mess in there. That's all me."

Lucille opened the Lavender door and inspected the mess. She kicked through it and headed for the windows. She inspected all of them closely. When she checked the one in the bathroom, she spoke. "Like a lamb to the slaughter."

"What did you find?" Adam and Max asked in unison.

The window was closed. It look completely normal. Adam leaned in close to the glass. "The screen is gone. He could have crawled out."

"But why?" Vienna asked.

Max responded. "Well, I'm assuming Marissa has something to do with it. He wouldn't just leave."

Lucille opened the window. "Who is Marissa?" She asked.

"We're not entirely sure," Adam started, "He doesn't talk about it much. But she abused him. Badly. He wasn't allowed to do anything without her permission. He couldn't feed himself, go for a walk, he couldn't get himself out of bed because of how afraid of her he was. How afraid of her he is."

Lucille hopped out the window into the ledge of roof. She motioned us to follow. The green-eyes folk clambered out, followed by Max. Adam took one look and said. "We'll meet you down there."

What a way to find out Adam is afraid of heights.