Chapter 21

Her milky blue eyes watched him with all the innocence of a lamb, but the cruel curl to the edge of her smile revealed the cold heart of the hunter which lay within. Jay knew better than to underestimate her and he wasn't about to let her out of his sight for a second. She was stronger now she'd fed; now she knew what she hungered for. And she did hunger for it; she was like a caged animal waiting for its chance to escape. He knew she would only remain obedient to him as long as he could quash her hunger; as long as he could keep her full.

But that wasn't going to be easy; keeping her fed was taking more out of him than he'd anticipated. He'd miscalculated. Badly. And if his plan was still going to work he needed to be done with her by the early hours of the morning at the latest. But in her current state there was just no way they could move about in the middle of the day, not without drawing some serious attention. So there was nothing he could do but wait until darkness came and hope one night would be enough.

It was mid-afternoon and there'd still been no sign of Téa, Mai or Kaiba. Joey had known from the moment they'd set out finding clues would be difficult. For a start none of them could be certain where they'd been taken from and without knowing why or having any idea by who... Joey's head suddenly surged with pain and the noise of the First's voices. It forced him to take a seat on a nearby bench and press his hands tightly against his skull until the pain subsided. He knew what it meant; the First was just as worried about this situation as he was.

'You okay man?' Tristan's voice sounded from above him.

'Tired,' he lowered his hands and stared up at him, 'I didn't exactly sleep much last night.'

'Neither did I,' he sighed, 'and I'm starting to think you were right about not going into this thing half cocked. We have no idea where to start looking and all we're doing right now is running around in circles.'

'Your medication finally kicked in then?' Joey gave a weary half smirk.

'You really want to joke about something like that right now,' Tristan glared at him.

'I'm sorry, I just...'

'I get it,' he cut him off, 'I just wish we knew why they were taken.'

'I know,' Joey pressed his lips together and met his gaze. 'But right now I have to be honest with you Tristan; if we're going to figure this thing out I think we have to assume it was Piper and not Kaiba who was taken.'

'Why?'

'Two reasons, the first is that you yourself said it was Piper out there walking around yesterday and not Kaiba. The second is because, technically speaking, Piper, Mai and Téa are all females involved with Higher Beings.'

'Involved with Higher Beings?' Tristan gritted his teeth. 'I'm not involved with Piper.'

'No, but you are involved with Kaiba and Piper is a part of Kaiba no matter how you look at it.'

'So you're pulling this on a technicality?' He balled his fists.

'It's not a technicality; it's the only thing that makes any sense to me right now.'

'But it's not the only possibility which makes sense' he held firm. 'Why does it just have to be girls involved with Higher Beings?'

'Because else it would be you instead of him.'

'How'd you figure that?'

'Téa's dating Yugi and he's the Face of Friendship. Mai's married to me and I'm the First. You're with Kaiba and he's the Pure. See a pattern.'

'Yeah…' his tense expression relented into a frown.

'So do you see why it makes more sense to go with the whole three females thing?'

'I guess,' he shifted his gaze away, 'but I really hate Piper; I don't exactly want to focus on trying to find her.'

'Well just pretend she's rich boy, oh wait, you don't have to. She is.'

'Grow up Wheeler.'

'I love it when you talk like him,' Joey rolled his eyes. 'Look, I get it, you're gay now and the suddenly the whole girl thing is foreign territory to you. But the way you talk about Piper... it's like you don't even remember you used to like girls.'

'That's not the problem I have with her,' he folded his arms.

'Then what is your problem with her? I don't get it.'

'Do you really want me to list the reasons?' Tristan was starting to get angry now. 'She's manipulative and selfish. She's always showing up when she's not welcome and definitely not wanted. She does things just to wind Seto up, not to mention really piss me off. She...'

'Rich boy tried to get rid of her, didn't he?' Joey cut him off.

'What? How...?'

'Rich boy tried to get rid of her and failed and her survival instinct kicked in and now she's doing her best to show him who's boss,' he shook his head. 'Don't you think I saw this enough times with the Pure to know what's going on here?'

'You saw?' Tristan frowned. 'Don't you mean the First saw?'

'Err... yeah,' he shifted his gaze away.

'You do that a lot you know,' Tristan shook his head, 'and you're worried about blurred lines between the Pure and Seto.'

'Well considering what happened...'

'Stop holding it over his head like some glorified trophy,' he glared, 'it happened, get over it. And to be perfectly honest with you Joey, the lines between you and the First have always been a lot more blurred. So why don't you stop worrying so much about him and start worrying more about yourself.'

'Right now I'm more worried about Mai and the others,' Joey lowered his gaze.

'Well that makes two of us,' Tristan gave a heavy sigh and began massaging his forehead. 'So what should we do now?'

'I think it's time we regrouped to see if any of the others have come up with anything. Maybe head back to the Southern Palace for a little food.'

'I would make some comment about you being unable to think on an empty stomach, but I probably should have something to eat about now.'

'Are you saying you're hungry?' Joey frowned. 'Or are you thinking about taking something which is ill-advised on an empty stomach?'

'A little of both.'

'Okay, well I know the others scents pretty well so it shouldn't be too hard to hunt them down.'

'Really you want to track your friends?' Tristan cocked an eyebrow at him.

'How else are we going to find them?'

'Never heard of a mobile phone?' He rolled his eyes as he pulled his out of his pocket. 'I'll call Duke, Mokuba and Yugi; I assume you have a number for Covo.'

'Um…'

'Please tell me that Covo does have a mobile phone.'

'Not that I know of,' Joey felt a sheepish expression pull across his face.

'I know you reawakened an ancient civilisation Joey, but this is the modern world; a little technology wouldn't go astray you know.'

'It takes time to get round to these things,' he shrugged.

'Whatever,' Tristan sighed, 'I guess you'll have to track him down with your nose, whilst I get everyone else to gather here and wait for you.'

'I was going to start with him anyway, as a part of my household I've got his scent memorised.'

'Okay, that's just a little bit creepy.'

'But I'm a wolf, my household is pretty much like my pack, why wouldn't I have his scent memorised.'

'You're a wolf, Joey, but he's not. In the wild, if you two were actually animals and not Silkoneons, he would be your prey. Hence, creepy.'

'Sure, whatever,' Joey rolled his eyes, 'you get the others here; I'll be back with Covo as soon as possible.'

With that he got up from the bench and began walking away from him. He hadn't made it very far when he spotted a woman in her forties, with an anxious look across her face. It took him a few seconds to recognise her, but when he did he lowered his head and prayed she wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately his plan didn't work as well as he'd hoped.

'Joey,' the woman rushed over to him, grabbing hold of his arm and forcing him to a stop. 'Joey thank god I found you.'

'What do you want?' He gave a heavy sigh as his eyes lifted to meet with hers.

'Joey, you have to help,' her face creased with worry, 'it's your sister; she's gone missing.'