Thankyou once again to all my lovely reviewers, I love you guys. Now on with "Return to me"

P.S I'll be dropping some clues through till the end of the story as to who kidnapped Beth, so in your reviews feel free to have a guess who it is!

Part VI

The bright red figures froze on 0:06, Mick had succeeded in disarming the bomb.

Mick pulled the bomb off from where it had been attactched and threw it into the murky waters that flowed under the bridge. Snatching what he no doubt thought was another note from under the metal bar; he climbed back onto the bridge. Mick started walking, unfolding the piece of paper as he went. He held the note up to the light of a nearby streetlamp and began reading the same familiar characters. Mick frowned, suddenly feeling annoyed.

Another riddle, fantastic, just got to love them. This guy must make so much sense in person.

And so you have made it thus far,

You have succeeded in disabling my bomb,

But you were unable to save the lives of three lovely young women who are unfortunately now gone,

I will give you six hours to prepare yourself for what is to come,

So tick tick tock Mick, it's a quarter to five,

You better be well rested if you intend to keep her alive.

Time goes by at a snail's pace Mr St. John for those who wait,

So as you may notice there is no time to vacillate.

In six hours time you will receive an email from me,

So you better keep up the charade of the hero you pretend to be.

Beth sat cross-legged in a dark room, heavy humid air circled above her head, her hands bound behind her back. A small plate of bread and butter was handed to her through a small rectangular slot that was positioned next to the heavily bolted door. She struggled for breath and, summoning all of her strength, she opened her eyes. Her pupils enlarged dramatically in a desperate attempt to be able to see where she was, the last thing she remembered was a sharp, sudden pain to the back of her head and then everything went black.

Where am I? Why am I here…someone please help me…

Beth stood up and walked towards the tiny window, silver beams of light streamed in through the small opening. Cool breeze blew her golden hair off her shoulders, sending a deep shiver tingle down her spine. Beth stood on her tiptoes and peered out into the darkness, it seemed like a whole new world came to life after the sun went down. She wondered if Mick found life in the daylight as strange and foreign as she found the nighttime. Crickets chirped loudly from somewhere in the darkness, dogs howled and owls cooed, Beth had never noticed before, but she found these sounds strangely relaxing. Beth took a deep breath and let herself slowly slide down into a sitting position, bells rang somewhere overhead and soon found herself drifting into a dreamless sleep.

…Help me Mick, please help me.

Mick sat at his desk examining the collection of notes Beth's kidnapper had so kindly left him. So far, he had been lead to Beth's apartment, to then be led to the lighthouse only to be lead to the bridge, and then he was told to go and rest.

Why the hell would he want me to go have a rest? What's it matter to him anyway, all that should matter to him is how many more people he's going to kill, where he's going to lead me to next…

Mick shivered.

…And how he's going to torture Beth.

His eyes turned to ice, his hands clenched into fists and his fangs elongated to the point where they were digging deep into his bottom lip. Warm blood spilled from the tiny incisions, flowing down his chin, until he was snapped out of his daze when he noticed the scarlet liquid about to stain his shirt and grabbed a tissue to stop the bleeding. Mick found himself deep in thought, cursing whomever kidnapped Beth, treasured moments that they spent together played in his mind like the replay of an old film.

When I get my hands on him I'm going to rip his face out!

Deciding to check his emails, Mick turned his computer on, who knows; maybe Josh had found something new. The email icon flashed, a small message appearing on the bottom right hand corner of the screen in small characters, a small image of an envelope appearing in the taskbar.

One new message

Mick hesitantly moved the mouse over to the flashing icon and highlighted it. Mick sat back in his chair, took a deep breath and hit enter. A window materialized on the screen. Mick followed the usual prompts, and he soon found himself staring wide-eyed at the screen. An image of his beloved Beth met his eyes. Her magnificent green orbs glistened like emeralds. Her golden locks framed her beautiful face, her delicate features arranged in a sweet smile, a smile that he had grown to love ever so much. Mick, with some difficulty, managed to tear his eyes away from her beautiful image and scrolled down. A message was written in small, black letters:

"Good evening Mr St John."

Mick almost crushed the keyboard. Deciding that maybe he could get some insight into who he was, started to type his reply.

"Who are you?

"That is of no importance Mick, you may call me anything you wish"

"You mean like bastard?"

"You are a funny man, Mick St. John, I like a man with a sense of humour."

"Why, why are you doing this?"

"I have my reasons, which are none of your business Mr St. John"

"Well then, why does it involve the deaths of innocent people?"

"If you are talking about the little incident over at the lighthouse, that was your own fault, Mr St. John, for not solving my riddle in time"

"You shot a serrated blade through three women!"

"That is why you should have listened to me, do you believe me now when I said I was serious? If you do not prepare yourself for everything, how can you save anything…or better yet, anyone?"

"Why do you leave riddle like a coward? Come out of your hiding spot and fight me! Why did you kidnap Beth?"

Mick's computer emitted a sharp, high-pitched beep, before the screen went blank. Mick felt anger bubble up inside him like boiling water; he switched the computer back on again, resisting the urge to destroy the damn thing in the process. The welcome screen illuminated the previously blank screen, the envelope icon flashing once again. Mick opened the message. One word, written in small black letters was all he could find, he scrolled up and then down, searching for anything else, his eyes finally resting on the one small word that humanity can't ever seem to get enough of.

Revenge