10:30, The Day Before Yesterday

Book 2 Chapter XV - Up On the Roof

Chapter 30 - Up On the Roof

Dani stared, amazement, incredulity, and horror warring for the upper hand in her mind.

"Is that true, or is it a really terrible joke?"

"Would I joke about something so serious?"

Hmm. That was a hard question to answer. She knew Vlad Dracula was a vampire, he was creepy, he lived in a ridiculously elaborate castle and he was a murderer, but she didn't know him. Nor did she particularly want to know him.

"No?" she guessed.

The vampire must have sensed her uncertainty and gave her an offended glare. "My sense of humour isn't that twisted."

Dani couldn't help noticing he'd essentially said his sense of humour was somewhat twisted. "Then who's doing it and how do I stop them?"

"I suspect the same person or people who have made your holiday so unpleasant are to blame, but... I know of no way to stop them."

~~~~

Panic reigned in InGEN 24 - or at least one floor of it - when Hazel discovered Dani's disappearance. He paced up and down the hallway, trying to think of what to do. She couldn't have gone downstairs, since he was in Lucius's room and he'd have heard her. She couldn't have gone upstairs, because the stairs leading up to the attic were metal and the noise they made when someone was going up or down put a marching band to shame. If she was still in the bathroom, she wasn't answering when he knocked at the door.

Just my luck. I'm told to guard the girl and the moment my back's turned, she vanishes.

When Helena, Dandelion, Lucius and the Frankensteins appeared in Lucius's room, he was so relieved he could have kissed them.

"Dani's missing!"

Dandelion groaned. "Not another escape attempt."

"I don't think it's an escape attempt." Quickly, he filled them in on the events of the past half hour. "She didn't come out of the bathroom, and when I knocked the door there was no answer."

"Why didn't you go in?" Lucius asked, looking at his twin as if he was very stupid.

Hazel returned the look with interest. "Because it's a girl's bathroom! Nothing in this world or any other could convince me to go into a girl's bathroom!"

"When someone's life is possibly at risk, little details like that are unimportant," Helena said through gritted teeth.

"Easy for you to say; you wouldn't be accused of being a molester or peeping tom if you went into a girl's bathroom."

Helena ignored him in favour of storming out of the room. Lucius followed. Dandelion and Hazel exchanged a glance before traipsing after them. The Frankensteins stayed behind.

An odder scene you could hardly have found if you tried; Helena yelled for "Tamari" to "come out NOW", Lucius knocked at the cubicle doors, and the other two stood in the doorway and watched proceedings with a mixture of worry and bewilderment. At last they admitted defeat.

"I can't understand it; she couldn't have climbed out that window and gotten to the ground without breaking her neck, and she couldn't have gone up or downstairs..." Helena sounded more confused than Hazel had ever heard her.

Dandelion looked at his friend. "Are you sure she didn't sneak past you?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Hazel replied shortly.

"No one could get in here, kidnap her, and leave without making a lot of noise," Lucius piped up. "Maybe she wasn't kidnapped."

Hazel blinked, reviewing the night's events. "But how could she have -"