Finding Fire

Chapter 11

Anna had a difficult time just sitting around and waiting for Nicolas to make contact. She desperately wanted to call him. Sitting and waiting in her tiny apartment was driving her insane.

She tried to get some grading done, but it was much too difficult to focus on the words she was trying to read.

Eventually she went to bed, but sleep wouldn't come to her. Around three in the morning, she pulled out her laptop, hoping the Internet would distract her from her worried mind.

She checked up on some of her vampire sites. There wasn't anything interesting or new on any of them. There was no news from the Stakes. She wanted to tell them something. All this searching for the supernatural and Anna had been hanging out with one for the past two nights. It seemed only fair that she give them a heads-up.

At the same time, she didn't want to give Nicolas away. She opened up her email she used for her vampire hunting purposes and typed in Dennis's email address. She stared at the blank screen for a few minutes as she debated how much information to share.

She wrote:

Dennis,

I found one. Can't talk about it. Mr. X called me. I don't trust him. He knows too much about us.

Be safe, Anna

Anna hit the Send button and was happy she'd sent the email. The group deserved to know. She picked up her phone and stared at it, willing it to ring.

She debated calling Nicolas herself. Maybe he'd forgotten to call her, but she doubted that was the case. It was now two and a half hours after the meeting was supposed to have started. Something must have gone wrong.

She couldn't sit around while Nicolas was out there. The only reason he'd gone there was because she told him about it.

At four in the morning, she finally gave up on waiting for a call and pulled on her leather jacket. She would run by his apartment, and then she would plan from there. Maybe he was there and wounded. He could be safe, but unable to call.

She no longer had a gun to protect herself, but she dug out an old container of mace Abigail had gotten her when she'd first moved to the city.

Her legs wanted to run, but she forced herself to go at a brisk but relaxed pace. If there was trouble, she would have to conserve energy. She repeatedly checked her phone on the walk, but she never got a call.

Because of the late hour, she'd brought her lock pick set along. She didn't think there would be anyone coming or leaving the building at this hour, and hopefully no one would be around to pay attention to what she was doing.

Even though the city never slept, the people out at four thirty in the morning liked to mind their own business.

When she got there, she didn't need to pick any locks. The doorjamb was broken, as if someone had pulled until the wood around the lock just gave. Little splinters stuck out from the broken door, and a few rested on the ground where they'd fallen.

That wasn't good. Anna opened the door slowly, but there was no one in the entryway. It took a lot of strength to break a door. She supposed a human could've done it, but it was much more likely that a vampire had pulled on the door so hard the lock ripped out of the wall.

She wanted to go to Nicolas's apartment to see whether he was there but knew that would be a stupid move. Then again, even coming to the building hadn't been the brightest idea. Even if there were vampires in the building, chances were they wouldn't care about her.