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Lost Things-Chapter 2

"What?" muttered Mick in surprise. He had to hear Josh say it again just to be sure he'd heard the words correctly.

"Beth's missing, I need you to find her," repeated Josh. His eyes were wide with seriousness and fear.

Mick's head began to spin forcing him to take a seat on the couch. Beth was missing, the person he could not even comprehend living without, was gone. This could not be happening he thought. He buried his face in his hands. "How could this happen?" he asked Josh looking up at the man, confused.

Josh shrugged his shoulders. "She and I got into a fight early this morning she stormed out and when I called her house to check on her she didn't answer. I called her cell phone and still no answer. Then I called BuzzWire and they said she hadn't come in this morning, and when I went outside I noticed her car was still in the parking lot. She didn't even have the time to leave. After that I called the police and they're doing all they can, but there's not much they can do without any evidence."

"There's no evidence?"

Josh shook his head and flopped down on one of Mick's chairs. "No witnesses, no nothing. No one saw what happened to her. The police are stumped and so I'm forced to come to you. I figured you would never say no to this," explained Josh.

Well anybody in the world could figure that out. Josh would not be getting a gold star for that conclusion. "What were you fighting about?" asked Mick looking toward Josh.

Josh felt a twinge of anger surge through his body when he thought of the intense argument or rather disagreement he and Beth had had. It had all been because she was spending a little too much time with the man that now sat before him. Normally he would have been a nice guy and lied, but he had no intention about being kind to this man. "You…we were fighting about you."

Mick wasn't surprised. He knew Beth and Josh weren't getting along too well because of him, and he didn't particularly like Josh but he didn't hate him. So there was no use in prolonging the conversation with him. Beth was missing and he had to find her and quick.

-----

Beth awoke in a cold dark room looking up at the magnificent moon shining on her. Startled, she jolted up and took in her surroundings in fear. She was in some strange room that was like a cage. She could see the sky and hear the sounds of the night, but she could not get out because the ceiling of the room was like the top of a sewer. Around her everything was dark except for the small circle of light from the moon she sat in.

Her breathing picked up as she recalled the events of the night before. She had been kidnapped, forced inside a truck and from there she couldn't remember a thing. Slowly, she stood up. The cage like ceiling prevented her from standing at her full height. She used her hands to look for the wall, and was startled when she felt the cold metal against her skin. It felt old and rusted and she brought her hand back to her side.

There was no use looking for a door in the place. It was completely dark and there was no telling what else was in the room with her. She noticed her purse was gone and so she couldn't use her phone. The only thing she could do was scream. "HELP!" she yelled. Her heart rate was rising in fear. "HELP!" she screamed again hoping someone, anyone would hear her.

"It's no use, no one can hear you." Beth's heart almost stopped when she heard that voice. She knew that voice, but it was a voice she really hoped she'd never hear again.

---

Mick stood outside Josh's apartment building examining the sidewalk. The doorman had not been around when Beth came outside and the worker at the front desk said she had seen Beth storm outside at about 6 AM. Mick noticed Beth's car was in the parking lot. So somewhere between the door and her car she had been taken. There had to be evidence around here somewhere. Someone cannot just disappear. Beth was taken by someone and that meant there had to be evidence. No one is perfect and whoever took Beth left something behind. It was just finding it that was the hard part.

Near the sidewalk Mick noticed tire tracks. It was a road so the police must have thought they were from some other time, but Mick with his heightened senses could tell they were new. Someone had driven off from this scene pretty quickly and very recently. He knelt down and felt the tracks. Even still the could feel the warmth of them. Whoever was driving this car had taken Beth.

His eyes examined the area taking in everything down to the dirt on the ground. Then he noticed a small used cigarette lying a few feet away from the tire tracks. Carefully, he picked it up and smelled the scent of a male on the end. It was fresh like the tire tracks. Hopefully he could get it tested for DNA and find out who it came from. It would just take time. He slid the cigarette carefully into an evidence bag.

Josh then came waltzing out of the building eager to see what Mick had found. "Did you find anything?" he asked when he reached Mick.

"I found this fresh cigarette and a set of tire tracks over there." Mick pointed out the dark patterns from tires on the road. "Can you get the DNA tested?" He threw the bad to Josh.

"Yeah sure, but how did you know they're fresh?" inquired Josh. Mick could not hold back a small grin. There was so much Josh didn't know. Things that would put his mind at ease with Beth. Perhaps he wouldn't be so worried about Mick taking Beth away from him if he knew what Mick truly was, but if that happened Mick would be the one worrying. Most humans didn't take kindly to the thought of vampires around. Beth was just an unusual find.

The ringing of his cell phone startled him. "Who is it?" asked Josh. There was no way Josh would be surprised if Beth called Mick first after she'd been missing for almost twenty-four hours.

Quickly, Mick took his phone from his pocket hoping it would be Beth as well and to his surprise it was. "Where have you been?" he practically yelled into the phone.

"Wow Mick you would really talk to your girl that way?" It was a female's voice, but it wasn't Beth's. Josh stared at him with confusion.

"Who is this?" questioned Mick turning away from Josh.

The woman on the other line snickered in an evil way. "I'm the past come back to haunt you," she replied. "So you missing your girlfriend?" She sounded proud of herself, proud that she was torturing him.

"What did you do with Beth?" Anger rushed through Mick's body.

She woman sighed as if she were annoyed. "The girl's safe for now, but I don't know how long that could be. You see I've got her in a rather tough situation."

Mick's breathing began to pick up in fear and frustration. Who was this woman? Why had she taken Beth? "What kind of situation…what are you talking about?"

Again the woman laughed in that same wicked way. "Let's just say I would go check out the hospital. Beth might not be the only woman you care about that's missing." Then the line went dead.

Mick's heart stopped as he realized what she had said. Coraline! Without any care for Josh he ran as fast as he could to his car and drove off toward the hospital although he knew what he would find. The woman on the line had been pretty clear. Coraline would be missing and things would start to get a bit more complicated.

When he reached the hospital he ran inside almost knocking down everyone that got in his way, but when he got to the floor Coraline was supposed to be on he could already sense that she was not there. Slowly, he walked to her room only to find it blocked off and empty. Coraline was missing and the psycho woman on the phone had both the women that meant everything to him in her hands. Mick fell to his knees and started crying right there on the hospital floor. Without Coraline he would never find out the cure and without Beth he might as well die right there.

"Sir can I help you?" Mick looked up to see a nurse staring at him with a confused face.

"What happened to the woman in this room?" he asked trying to fight his tears.

"Well you could probably answer that question better than I could. Miss Vincent disappeared just last night," explained the nurse. "No one knows what happened to her. The police were here all night investigating it.

--

Beth was startled when she saw Coraline step gracefully into the moonlight. She was still wearing her hospital gown. "We're in the middle of the woods somewhere. Far away from anyone that could hear us," she said.

"How long have you been here?" asked Beth. Coraline took a seat on the floor facing Beth.

"One day I think…but I was too out of it to tell."

Of course Beth had another question. How was it that Coraline had even made it here alive? Last time she'd seen her she'd been nearly dead. "How are you here? I thought you were dying…"

Coraline looked down and a confused look came over her face. "I guess my cure wasn't exactly permanent."

Both of them looked up when they heard the metal door creak open. A small woman with brown hair and big brown eyes walked into the room carrying something Beth recognized as a flamethrower. Smiling wickedly, she rubbed her finger over the trigger glaring at Coraline. "I wouldn't try attacking me. Plus even if you do manage to kill me there are two guys outside ready to take your head off so the act would be useless," said the woman in a calm voice. Then she turned to Beth. "Well I'm glad to see you're both awake."

"Why did you kidnap us?" inquired Beth.

The woman smiled in a way too creepy for Beth to stand. "Revenge Miss Turner…revenge."

Beth glared at the mysterious woman, confused. She had never seen this woman before in her life. There was nothing she could have done to deserve this. Coraline, however, she was sure was a far different story. "But I haven't done anything to you," replied Beth.

"No you haven't, but a certain vampire friend of yours has," said the woman.

Beth had no idea what Mick could have possibly done to piss this woman off so much. "And what exactly did Mick do to you?" Coraline asked without a drop of fear in her mesmerizing voice.

"That's a story for another time," answered the woman.

"Then what do you want from us?" Beth asked.

"Well the both of you don't have to do anything. Just sit and wait. Hopefully Mick will find you in time," the woman said.

"Wait what do you mean in time?" Beth questioned with her fear rising again.

"Well I don't know if you no much about vampires. But Miss Coraline over there just happens to be one, and I'm sure she's rather desperate for blood. There's no telling how long she'll be able to restrain herself from getting it, and seeing as you're the only person in the room with her than I can assume she'll be going after you," explained the woman. "So now that I have you up to date with everything. I guess I'll be seeing you later." She went to the door and turned to Coraline. "Then again maybe not." Then she left the room locking the door behind her.

Beth fell to the ground in fear. Coraline sat in the moonlight across from her. Her life was in the hands of the woman who had kidnapped her when she was little. Her life was in the hands of the woman who was competing with her for Mick. Coraline had no reason to let Beth live. It was Coraline's choice. Although Beth knew that when it came down to it…there would probably be no choice at all.