Nuclear Dreams-Part 5
By the time Nick and Nat got back to the loft, he had felt his daughter's anger toward him through their link. He immediately felt guilty for leaving her behind. 'I'm sorry, Princess. I will beck back after sunset. I promise.' He sent to Nichole through their link.
When they reached the loft, Nick immediately knew that he needed help. He walked over to the phone and called the Raven hoping that LaCroix was up already. He breathed a long sigh of relief when the ancient vampire picked up the phone and growled out a hello. "LaCroix, I need your help. Nichole's been kidnapped, and I need to make a plan to get her back. Will you help me?" He asked uncertainly. Nick knew he would most likely get a lecture on something, but he also didn't exactly want to ask the elder vampire for help in returning his daughter.
LaCroix immediately felt anger toward this unknown kidnapper. "Of course Nicholas, I will help. I get what is left after you, no?" He replied into the phone fully vamped out. He growled an approval after he heard his son's through the phone.
"Will you come by after sunset so that we may talk out a course of action?" Nick asked his father, who he knows that at this moment is very angry. "I know you're very angry, but I want my daughter back. Unharmed LaCroix."
"And you shall get her back that way, Nicholas. I just can't make any promises about who took her." LaCroix answered him with deadly quiet. "Sun sets in about half an hour. I'll be there in 15 minutes." He then hung up the phone.
Nick then hung up the phone and turned around to face Nat. "He maybe sadistic, but he loves her like a grandfather. To him, nobody messes with his family and gets away with it. No one." He explained his reason for involving LaCroix. He saw Nat nod her head in understanding.
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Nichole was woken up by the door opening, and she immediately sat up and scooted into the farthest corner away from the door. She didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier, but the man that stood before her held a very expensive looking dress. She didn't make a move to the man, but shot daggers and a look that could kill an elephant his way. "Mr. Wilkes requests that you wear this for dinner. He wants your company at a business dinner." The man said in a suggestive tone to tell her just what kind of company the man wants from her.
She was her father's daughter to the bone. She looked at the man defiantly and spat at him, "Tell Mr. Wilkes he can shove his dinner and that dress up his butt to where the sun won't shine. I will not attend his dinner."
The man entered the room and stalked up to her. He then slapped her with enough force that his hand had busted her lip and bruised her cheek. "Mr. Wilkes does not take no for answer. You either put on the dress yourself, or I will do it for you and I will have some fun if I have to do that." He gave her a suggestive leer and raked his eyes across her body letting her know that he was imagining her naked.
Nichole reached out a hand and snatched the dress from him. She was scared and wished her father or grandfather was here. She waited until he left before showing her fear and her tears. She hated to be forced to do something against her will, but she will not let anyone touch her inappropriately.
Fifteen minutes later, she was dressed and in a limo with her captor on the way to a fancy restaurant. She thought that he was a dumbass for flaunting her around after kidnapping her. The vehicle pulled up in front of the Azure, and he ushered her inside. She managed to see that the sun was low enough in the sky to know that someone will be after her shortly. She felt Wilkes' slimy hand at the small of her back, and she suppressed the urge to shiver violently.
"You can continue what your betraying mother had done for me before I had her killed. If you do not, I will have no qualms of punishing you for it." She heard Wilkes' accented voice whisper in her ear. He then guided her to a table with four more men in business suits. "Gentlemen, I did promise you entertainment, but you will have to share her." He announced their presence to the table.
Nichole glared at them and then to Wilkes as he pushed her to the nearest associate. She tried to detach her mind from her body as the mongrel laid his filthy paws on her, and started to play with her chest. She immediately smacked his hands away from her, and stood up. She took a look around her to see if she could find an escape route. She saw that the only way was to go to the restroom. She ran to it and roared in defeat as she found that there were no windows for her to slip out of. She then decided to hide in there until one of three things happen: One, her father finds her; two, her captor finds her; or three, she either dies or comes across.
The door to the restroom was banged open, and Nichole immediately held her breath. She heard footsteps slowly make their way to the stall she was hiding in, opening and closing stall doors on the way. When the person got to her door, the man opened the door and she recognized him as one of the brawny brutes that accompanied them to the restaurant. He reached in and slapped her again and gave her a black eye for trying to run. She then did the only thing she could think off, she lashed out and with her superhuman strength she managed to beat him unconscious.
Nichole then took the opportunity to run out of the room and the building, and hoped that someone would call the cops at her appearance. She ran out the door and into the sidewalk, having no idea where she was in the city. She knew the best chance for her to escape was to find a crowd and lose herself in it, and headed for what looked like a nightclub full of kids her age. Once inside she quickly lost the dress she was forced to wear, and threw it out of the club. She wore what she had on when she was taken this morning, and blended in somewhat with the gothic crowd. She dared not to get on the phone to call her father or the cops just in case Wilkes' buffoons popped their heads in to retrieve her, and she was reward a few minutes later by seeing a couple of them enter the club.
The buffoons recognized her from across the room. She held her breath as they started to slowly approach her. She waited until a good sized group of kids got in the line of sight before slipping away and disappearing out the back. She needed to contact her father, and she opened the link fully. 'Daddy! Help me, I've managed to get away but I'm lost! I don't know how to get home!' She sent to him as she continued to run down the back alleyway. She knew that if she could just make it to the Raven, she would be safe.
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Nick was pacing and wearing a hole in the floor as Natalie watched. In mid stride he stopped and turned to her with hope in his eyes. He could feel the sun starting to set and wished it would completely disappear. "Nichole had just gotten away and now she is lost." He then looked up as LaCroix landed in the loft.
LaCroix looked at his son and said, "What had happened?" He then vamped out and let his anger dictate his movements for the time being. "It is just about sunset, Nicholas. We must move fast before they catch her again." He said with a deadly hiss and looked back at the younger vampire. "Only you can pin point her exact location."
"I know that, LaCroix!" Nick growled back at him and the looked to Natalie, "Nat, will you stay here incase she does manage to find her way home?" He really didn't want her to see what he and LaCroix would do to Wilkes, as he knew that it would not be a pretty sight for a mortal to witness. After Natalie nodded her head in agreement, she watched the two vampires take to the air.
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Nichole could hear Wilkes' men after by their footsteps echoing behind her on the concrete. She didn't stop as she could hear them gaining on her and she pushed herself harder trying to get away from them. She closed her eyes and prayed that they didn't catch her this soon. 'Daddy! Please, come get me!' She let the thought echo throughout her mind as she continued to run from the gorillas after her to drag her back to her captor.
She turned a corner and stopped as she realized that it was a dead end. She was too weak to fly out of there, and she quickly looked for a hiding spot. It was too late to turn around as she spotted a dumpster up against a wall and she quickly moved it from the wall a bit before crouching behind it.
Not too long afterwards, the burly men rounded the corner after her. They slowed down as they too realized that it was a dead end, and began to search the alley for her. When they neared her hiding spot, she held her breath and got ready to fight her way out if she should be found. She quietly released it when they continued on into the alley.
Nichole took the opportunity to quietly come out of her hiding spot and run the opposite way down to the opening. She then continued to run down the previous alley, hoping to come to a major street. She didn't even let her aching side stop her from continuing to get away from her pursuers.
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Nick and LaCroix landed in the dead end alley just after Nichole and her persuers vacated it. Nick roared in frustration at knowing that his baby girl was in danger and he can't do a thing about it. He looked to LaCroix with his golden eyes as if to seek guidance on tracking her down now. "She was just here, and she is too weak to attempt to fly on her own." Nick hissed as he could smell her kiwi and pine scent hang in the air around them.
"Then track her on the ground, Nicholas. She can't be too far from here." LaCroix answered him with his rage barely controlled over some scum taking his granddaughter from where she belongs. He gestured to the opening of the alley and waited for the younger vampire to take the lead. He didn't have to wait too much longer as Nick took off like a rocket after his daughter.
LaCroix didn't waste no time in following his son's trail down the other alley. Both of them were moving in a blur that mortals might see if any were watching. The pair of vampires didn't care who saw them or not, they were too intently focused on finding the youngest member of the family.
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Nichole's hopes were answered as she came to a fairly busy street. She paused for a moment and looked left then right. She decided on a path and took off to the left as she hoped that the goons following her would think that she went right. She continued to run for a few more blocks before she had to catch her breath. She leaned in a doorway out of sight and doubled over holding her side.
She then took the time to peer around the corner of her hiding spot just in time to see her pursuers come out of the alley and stop. They looked around just like she had done and then took off to the right. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and then slowly continued to walk down the street. She looked around as tried to figure out where she was just by the landmarks. She was starting to get frustrated as she couldn't even see the CN Tower, at least she could find her way home with that as a guide.
Nichole turned down another busy street, and missed her father and grandfather emerge from the alley that she had just vacated not too long before. She heard laughter and giggling not too far down this street and she made her way toward it. To her surprise she found a small park with a pond to feed the birds during the daytime. She made her way to the pond and found an empty bench before sitting down and actually taking time to catch her breath. She looked down to her right when she heard a tiny meow and saw a lost baby kitten. It looked frightened and scared. She reached out her hand and let the feline sniff her scent and was rewarded with it rubbing its head against her hand.
She carefully picked the animal up and cradled it to her chest much like she had seen Natalie do with Sidney, her cat. She was rewarded with a small loving purr and she whispered to the animal, "Your lost and scared too. I was taken from my family this morning and held prisoner all day. I wondered what happened to you?" She didn't even know that her tears had started to fall down her cheeks at her statement. She then tried something that she had only done with humans to the poor cat.
Nichole gently eased her mind into the animal's and started to look at its memory. She saw that the cat was beaten for being a cat before being thrown out of a fast moving car in a plastic bag. She then eased her mind out of the kitten's and said softly, "It is okay, little one. I won't hurt you, ever. I know what it is like to be mistreated for being myself." She then continued to hold the baby cat to her and look out over the pond as the only sound she could hear was the kitten's purring.
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Nick and LaCroix exited the alley and looked quickly around as they saw the two large men chasing Nichole run down the street in the opposite direction that the girl had actually gone. They didn't waste no time in following suit of them thinking that is also the direction Nick's daughter had traveled.