The Secret of Jauregui Estate (Camren)

Chapter 12

"401 Dark Oak Dr, 401 Dark Oak Dr," I repeated the address over and over so I wouldn't forget it. The neighborhood was now only lit by the street lights along the side of the road and the little bit of light peeking through a few of the house windows and porches. It was a humid night with no signs of outside activity, the perfect night for something to go wrong.

I looked out my window and saw the house labeled 400. I continued to find house 402 where my destination should be. I put it in park and slammed my head back against the seat. "Are you kidding me!?" I yelped to no one in particular. I jumped when I heard someone knock on my window. I rolled it down and a man fully coated in black stood hunched over outside the car door.

"Looking for house 401?" He mumbled through his scarf around his face only revealing his golden eyes. I gulped and nodded briskly. "Follow me." I quickly un buckled my seat belt and chased after him and in no time at all he was already halfway up the hill. I finally caught up to him and took a minute to catch my breath. "Stay close."

"Why?"

"Unless you'd rather be killed?"

"Nope! I'm good!"

"Then don't wander off." I followed him to a house that looked sadder than a wet kitten! It was an old shack of a house that looked like it had maybe four to five rooms inside. The white paint was chipped and the wood was creaky and unstable, a poor excuse for a home. The man led me inside then up some unreliable stairs to the first bedroom where Lauren was held.

When they opened the door my heart sank down to my feet. She was tied to a white bed frame with a gag in her mouth. Her wrists were tied to the frame and her ankles were tied painfully tight together both by some type of steel handcuff. Lauren was thrashing about on the bed in attempt to free herself but to no avail. A clicking noise echoed in the nearly empty room and Lauren let out a low groan of pain.

"Lauren, it's no use. The more you struggle the tighter those slip knot cuffs get." A man stood in the doorway with a cigar in his mouth.

"Let her go!" I demanded. The man chuckled as he took a puff from his half used cigar.

"Give me one good reason why."

"Because my friend Dinah will give you a poly beat down if you don't!" The man chuckled soon joined by more scarfed men armed with guns.

"Now Tell me, who is this Dinah character?" He laughed.

"Da QUEEN is IN da SHACK, JACK!" There was only one person that could be!

"DINAH!" I called.

"Don't forget us!" Normani & Ally screamed from a top Mani's broom stick. The tree were piled up on the feeble broom which now hovered outside the window.

"What the-"

"Hey, smokey! Watch yoself!" Dinah exclaimed as she transformed into her golden wolf and pounced onto him with brute force. Ally & Mani never left the broom as Mani picked the gunmen up and threw them a few blocks down.

"They're gonna feel that in the morning!" She giggled. We heard another click but this one was the sound of a gun trigger. We looked over at the bed and froze. A man had a gun aimed at Lauren's head.

"One move, ladies! Just one move!" He breathed through his scarf. Silently, Dinah's paw gently hit the wood floor causing him to snatch an iron chain from his pocket. Lauren's eyes went wide as she whimpered at the sight of it. This was the first time I've ever seen her scared! "Yeah, you should be scared, vampy." He spat, wrapping the chain around her arm momentarily. Her skin sizzled and burned as she let out a high pitch scream of pure agony.

"STOP!" I exclaimed. The man snarled and removed the chain from her arm and gazed proudly at the jagged scar now wrapped around Lauren's forearm. Lauren groaned and rolled around on the bed. Another click was heard and the cuffs tightened even more. Lauren yelped and a tear streamed down her pale cheek.

"Now..." The man said as he unhooked Lauren from the bed frame but then attached her to a chair in the middle of the room. Both feet were tied to a chair leg and the gag was then removed from Lauren's mouth. "You have been very notty, Jauregui. You've disobeyed orders time and time again."

"Yes, stupid orders!" Lauren snarled.

"Stupid or not, orders are orders!" He yelled, "You aren't free, Lauren! You are expected to do what is asked of you." Lauren looked at us with her beautiful glowing orbs. "Oh! Oh I see!" The man said approaching us. "You've grown attached to these things!"

"THEY AREN'T THINGS, KEATON!" Lauren hissed her eyes quickly fogging red.

"They are! You left us for THEM! Some high school nitwits! I didn't save your sorry butt a hundred years ago just so you can live a free life without a care!" Lauren hissed in anger. She was obviously trying to keep her cool so she wouldn't move or in other words make the cuffs tighter.

"You don't know them."

"I don't want to." He said with a smirk. "I already have you." With that he reintroduced the chain to her, brandishing it in front of her.

"K-Keaton, S-St - stop!" Lauren stuttered never breaking eye contact with the chain before her. Keaton grabbed a longer chain and wrapped it around Lauren's neck. Lauren screeched struggling to get the chain off only burning her hands in the process. Dinah pounced on Keaton while Ally and I tried to get the chain off.

"How is it not burning us?!" Ally asked.

"Who cares!? It's burning her!" I exclaimed as we tried to cut the chain. Lauren wailed once again in agony.

"I got this!" Mani says swishing her wand. The chain and cuffs break and Lauren gasps for air as the once red hot mark on her neck turned black. Another more severe scar was now around Lauren's neck that matched the one on her arm perfectly.

"Lauren! Can you hear me?" I asked. Lauren squeaked out a yes as we hopped onto Mani's broom.

"Dinah, come on!" Mani screamed after her. Dinah then turned and jumped onto the back of the broom in her human form.

"How is she?" Dinah asked completely out of breath.

"She's in severe pain." Mani said. "We need to get her back to the Estate."

"Why the Estate?" Ally asked.

"It's her only hope now."