A/N: And here is the second chapter to make up for missing last week. Enjoy! Love you all. A xxx
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and although I didn’t sleep during the day, the sunlit hours passed equally as peacefully. Conn had phoned once he’d met with Ishbel and the human government officials, and he sounded optimistic that there would be a straight over transfer of the treaties from BritVaC to NorVaC. Of course, I should’ve known better than to relax. A peaceful evening with Lex waiting for Leof’s return would’ve been too much to ask. I didn’t make it as far as leaving the Sire’s suite, never mind opening a bottle of vodka and packet of Doritos, before trouble came a-knocking.
In the preceding months, my ability to block out the cohort’s emotions through using Conn’s as a shield had increased. I really felt completely overwhelmed the way I had done. I’d become a high functioning empath, but that skill brought its own set of drawbacks. Although my own low-level anxiety crept over me shortly before dusk, it was well after sundown when I realised what my anxiety had been reacting to.
Pain beat against my shields. Pain and fear, though I only recognised the intensity of both when I briefly let my focus on Conn slip. Another’s fear crashed over me, bringing with it a spike of adrenaline.
Grabbing my sword and jacket, I headed out onto the landing, phoning Will to meet me in the security office, along with Lex and Katie. My co-Sire and his consort were the first to arrive, and they looked at my armed state with growing concern.
“What’s happened now?” Will asked, just as Lex burst into the room and announced “Adams hasn’t arrived for her shift.”
Lisa Adams was one of our long-serving sentries, but most of our guards lived in Milbank House. We were trying to get as many of our people as possible to shelters, not let them remain alone and vulnerable.
“I thought she lived here?”
“She did until recently, but her brother’s in his nineties. He’s got dementia and cancer and Lisa wanted to stay with him until he passed, to take care of him and to say goodbye. She started staying with him while you were in Ésageard. She’s still a sentry, though, and she covers a few nights a week when respite carers watch her brother. She said she needed to be with him, but needed the job to keep her sane too. Tonight is one of her nights but she’s not here, and she’s not answering her phone. No one’s picking up at the brother’s either.”
“Can you get me her brothers address?” I asked, a sense of dread blooming in my chest. “We need to get there and check it out. I need a team ready to leave immediately. Someone one’s afraid and in pain, and if we have a missing sentry, then...”
“It’s likely to be them,” Will finished for me.
“I’ll arm up,” Katie added, heading out of the office to retrieve a sword from the main weapons store, while Lex nodded and announced, “I’ll get a team together and meet you in the car park in ten?”
“Make it five,” I advised, then yanked open a cupboard where Gunner stored a variety of smaller weapons.
Selecting a range of blades, I strapped them to various limbs while Will watched me in contemplation. His fingers drummed nervously off Gunner’s desk, and despite not being able to feel his emotions, his worry seemed tangible.
“I won’t gather the cohort until we know for sure if it’s Lisa,” he announced at last. “If it’s not, I’ll get Lydia to start phoning around our unhoused members.”
He paused, frowning, a deep crease between his brows before he asked, “I’m not going to ask Katie to stay behind, as much as I want to. She won’t take no for an answer.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “She’s learned too much from you, but promise me you’ll do your best to keep her safe. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
