Half-Blooded | The Dark Child Prophecy Series [✔️]

Chapter 61: Trouble

Two Nights Later...

"She's more than twenty-four hours late. Someone needs to call her," Nikolas insisted as he finished straightening his royalty sash. "She should've let us know if she was going to skip out."

Krystal sighed and peeked out into the large auditorium dome that held the entire European part of the Shadow Stalker nation. She glanced at her wristwatch. "She always checks in with me when she's traveling, but I didn't even get notes from her visit in Dublin."

"That's not like her, even when she's doing her own thing," Gabriel agreed. "I'll call."

"Thanks, Gabe," Krystal said as she watched her eldest twin brother pull out his cell phone. She listened for the telling sounds of the phone ringing and held her breath.

"I'm telling you, if she skipped out to go back to France with the king alpha, she's going to get in trouble with the administration. They were already pissed she delayed that leg of her trip," Nik said from behind them.

"Shut up, Nik. Seren doesn't just drop off the face of the earth without checking in with at least one of us," Gabriel snapped. "Remember last time when she disappeared without giving us a head's up?"

The phone continued to ring...

~*~

I glanced down when I heard my cell phone begin to buzz as it vibrated in the center console of the dark-colored SUV. I sat in the middle of the backseat between Page and a guard, another in the front passenger seat and a third behind the wheel. The phone continued to buzz and I jiggled my handcuffs as I tried to situate myself so I could reach for it. My hopes of moving fast enough to grab it and answer before they could stop me were dashed when the man in the front seat picked it up.

"It's one of the vampire princes, sir," he said.

"Just another Mezdor looking for our guest, I'm sure," Page answered him.

The phone went silent before beginning to buzz again. I felt my throat close up with the worry that my family was looking for me. Would I be alive if they did find me?

"How incessant are your relatives?" Page groaned as my cell phone continued to vibrate in his lackey's hand with the second incoming call. "I don't envy the king alpha for aligning himself with them. Hand me the phone."

They exchanged my cell from the passenger seat to Killian Page and he read the screen. I noticed Gabriel's name and his number, making me hold my breath again. They knew I hadn't made it to the Capitol for the summit.

Page readjusted himself in the seat beside me and pulled a knife from its sheath at his hip. He placed the tip of it against my leg, but didn't apply pressure. "I'm going to give this to you and you're going to answer. You will tell them that you won't be coming back and needed a vacation. If you disobey and tip them off, this knife will go through your leg and then into your throat. Are we understood?"

I nodded, not able to look at him as I continued to stare at the phone in his other hand.

The blonde Canadian alpha handed me the flat cell phone and I gripped it in my fingers, my wrists close together from the silver handcuffs. I tried to ignore the burning sensation that filled my forearms as the metal slid down my skin from the shift. I hit the sensor on the screen to answer and lifted it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Serenity? Where are you?" my cousin's voice came over the line. "You've got everyone worried. Are you on your way?"

"Hey, Gabe," I answered, glancing at Page again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Where are you? The summit starts in an hour."

I looked at my captors again and winced, my eyes closing. If I gave the S-O-S for help, then I was signing Jason's death warrant, along with my own. "Sorry, Gabe, I'm not going to make it. Something's come up."

"What do you mean 'something's come up?' Where are you?"

Page pushed the knife downward on my leg and I could feel my skin try to comply so it wouldn't be broken by the blade.

"I'm just going through something. I haven't had much cell service to call. Can you cover for me?" I asked, trying to play it off.

"Why? What's going on? Your brother's been contacting everyone in the family all over the globe to see if anyone's heard from you and you haven't answered your phone. Even the king alpha is calling around to find you. What's happening?"

I cleared my throat, grimacing when the knife shifted. "Something's come up and I had to get away for a few days. Can you let everyone know I'm fine? I just can't handle that right now."

"You're not telling me what's going on. Where are you?"

"Gabe, I can't talk long. Just... Tell Aunt Eris I'm sorry I can't make it and if Luce asks, let him know I'll get in touch in the near future," I answered.

"Is this something to do with Jason?" he asked, suddenly sounding suspicious. "Serenity, if you're running, then you need to tell me and we can make an arrangement for you to go to any family home you want. You don't need to hide from us, too."

"No, it's not," I said, glancing at Page as he made a motion with his hand to wrap it up. "Gabe, I've gotta go. Don't worry about me. I just need a little time to myself and get my head on straight. All the notes were sent to Krystal for tonight. Will you also let Grandfather know that we'll be interested in the family house in Belfast in the fall? I've gotta go."

"Seren, wait—"

Page took the phone out of my hands and hit the button to end the call. "Was that so difficult?"

"Lying to my family? It's never been that hard in my life," I shot back, my nose wrinkling as he took the knife off my knee.

"Did he believe you?" he followed up his question as he placed the knife back in its sheath.

"I think so. Like you said, my family knows I have a tendency to be adventurous," I replied sarcastically.

~*~

"Seren, wait—" Gabriel was saying when the line went dead. He frowned, lowering the phone down to stare at it. "What the fuck?"

"What was she talking about? She's been perfectly fine every single time I've seen her in the last month," Krystal said, having heard the whole conversation with her vampire hearing. She crossed her arms over her stomach so as not to wrinkle her sash.

"What did she mean to tell Grandfather about the house in Belfast? We don't have a family house in Belfast. It's in Bristol," Nik added. "She knows that."

"Because that's Mum's code for trouble. Belfast was where the enemy caves were when she had her first interaction with Moon Worshippers," Gabe answered as he flipped through his phone's contact list.

"You think Seren's in trouble with Moon Worshippers?" Nik asked.

"Maybe. But either way, there's something going down and she just warned us."

Krystal frowned and glanced back out at the filling hall of coven councils. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm calling Jason's front office," Gabe said as he walked towards the door that led to the throne room for the quiet. "Something's up."