Will POV
"Dammit Vick, why did you do that?"
"Crystal and Xavier told me you were absolutely beyond reasoning. And I had to turn back from the chase for it, which may have cost us two lethal criminals." His voice and expression gave nothing away but that was nothing new.
I stalked back and forth in front of him, pulling at my hair to stop myself from strangling him. We were in my bedroom back at the apartment and killing Vick seemed like something I could put down to stress later.
"How many hours did we lose that could have been spent searching for her?!"
"Again," Vick said glaring at me by this point. "We had no resources to focus our efforts on tracking her with all our agents trying to bring down the van and SUV."
I wanted to snort and but we had been over this several times. And I was no less angry. "Putting me to sleep helped no one and-"
Vick cut me off. "You were completely disruptive and a danger to all of us and yourself." He stopped me by the shoulder and spoke low and hard. "You know I hated to do it but whatever you two had… It needs to be put to the side in an investigation. Got it?"
I grunted my assent and we both headed out. I really hated arguing but waking up back in your bed hours after finding your soulfinder was kidnapped was not an easy pill to swallow. I all but tackled Victor when he came to wake me up.
Out in the kitchen, only Crystal, Xav, Tulip, Kanti and Lucian were sitting about. "I just finished interviewing Tulip and the other two." Victor told me as he went to make coffee. 'The other two' remained quiet, picking at cold scrambled eggs. Looks like Crystal and Xav were trying to be nice for once. "We only have the details of the ransom letter left to go on."
"There was a ransom letter?" I gasped. Victor frowned at me but Tulip wordlessly handed me a thick sheet of paper. She picked up her cup, her tears slipping down her pinked cheeks without acknowledgement. I scanned the letter. No authorities, look the other way at their activities, Willow… The letter was printed but the surface was uneven under Willow's name. Frowning I held the letter up to the weak yellowed light coming through the window.
"Will…" Xav began but the name soon focused. Crystal. I remained frozen in that position for a few heartbeats, reading and re-reading those seven letters through my six.
"They probably wanted me because I have the soulfinder link with Xav," Crystal rushed out, "But I was gone on the raid so maybe they picked from whoever was left and just-"
"She has a soulfinder too." I retorted before catching myself. Was it the shame of having my one and only soulfinder reject me that kept me quiet? I crumpled the letter in my hand and let it sour. I wished it actually would so I could throw it away without another thought.
Crystal came over and unclenched my fist and carefully took out the letter. "We know Will. I wish she had hers because the bastard who wrote this knows they would be the best chance we have."
"Or bastardess." Xav quipped. When we all looked at him my brother had his trademark grin on. "What, equality and whatnot?"
"Bitch Xav," Crystal groaned.
"Why would I bitch about the bastard right now? We have bigger-"
"Xav," I said. "Just drop it." He was the closest brother I had in age, barely a year younger than me, but I was this close to using the big brother card to hit him. Could he just not turn off for five minutes? Vick's phone began ringing before Xav could staunchly deny doing anything which was a relief. Vick excused himself and headed down to my room.
I sink down into the couch, weary. And I hear rather than see the couch sink under Crystal's weight as she sits down beside me. "Uri and Tarryn will be over any second to-"
Her phone vibrates and she gives a weak chuckle. "That would be them, I just better let them up." She grips my shoulder and gives it a little shake before hurrying out. She swings the door shut just as Vick barrels into the kitchen. He strategically covers the mouthpiece and scans the room, swearing before focusing in on Xav.
"Set a track from my work number now!" he hisses. Xav looks absolutely dumbfounded but soon spurs to action as Victor turns on Lucian and Kanti. "Neither of you speak a word!"
My stomach sickens as I get up just as Crystal rushes back with Uri and Tarryn. Vick looks relieves and repeatedly gestures towards Xav. Uri hurries over but Vick has already moved on.
"Are we in company now Victor Benedict?" a male voice practically purrs. I have no idea who it is but Tulip frowns in my periphery.
"Yes, two of my brothers and soulfinders are present along with another brother and friend of Willows."
"Names before I continue." The voice continues. He sounds bored and exasperated as though trying to explain why the sky is blue to a child.
Victor's jaw visibly twitches but reels out our full names. Xav whispers he cannot set a track, causing Victor's fist to slam down on the kitchen counter. The voice starts laughing as Vick gives his hand a rough shake.
"Oh my, my perfect crowd. Tulip and Will, how convenient?" I no longer know what to feel as I meet Tulip's equally widened eyes. I spring up from the couch and crowd Victor in the kitchen. Tulip however remains still but within seconds her face contorts in fury.
"Christophe!" she roars. "You, you little shit! You have her, you and your buddy from that stupid Halloween-" Lucian is on her in an instant and he pulls her away from the phone.
"Tetchy are we not?" Christophe laughs.
"Continue or I end this call." Victor threatens.
"Well, since I do have things to attend to…" he trails off and I nearly butt in Tulip style but Xav shakes his head silently. We need to be calm about this. "I thought I should update that lovely letter of mine. Number one, I am aware a certain Benedict could track it," Uri whips his head up from where he and Tarryn are trying to soothe Tulip, "But anything he sees is irrelevant. Not that hard a workaround." He continues cheerfully. "Next, we would like immunity from prosecution for our businesses that may come to federal attention. All current, past and future workings. I will be in contact with papers to be signed to confirm this with a twenty million dollar payment for the fuss," he sighs but seems to maliciously perk up for the last bit. "And when you want your soulfinder back, do not try anything rash. I have ways to deal with that. The letter signed, stamped and the amount transferred before you see her. Talk soon." He finishes and immediately disconnects before I get a word in sideways.
"I recorded it Vick but I cannot track a call from here," Xav mumbles. He puts in an earphone to check what he has as everyone lets the call sit a while. And in that moment before everyone begins to argue over what to do I grab Vick's phone and fling it with all my strength against the far wall.
I want to smash that asshole. Burn every stupid blonde hair off his head as I know well which of the two exactly that guy was. I only got a brief look at him that night, more preoccupied with my soulfinder's activities, but there was something about that voice that matched up to those brief seconds I locked eyes with that man. If he was even that. A kid, probably seventeen or eighteen, but with eyes that confident, charming yet haunting, he was a hard figure to forget.
I try to get past Vick before he can eat into me but Uri blocks me and presses a hand lightly to my chest. "We need to stay calm Will. And together."
"Look we can excuse that, right Vick?" Xav says. Vick poorly conceals a grimace but nods as he picks up the remnants of his phone. "And we have something bigger to deal with."
He clicks the recording on. While the quality is twice as bad as a phone call, my heart more than triples in speed listening to every word.
"And when you want your soulfinder back, do not…" my heart is pounding so hard I hear nothing more than static after that. He knows. I never picked up on it the first time but how does he know? My palms break out into a sweat and my temples prickle uneasily as my panic grows deeper.
"Willow has a soulfinder?"
"Does he think someone else is here?"
"Why did she never-"
I probably have moments before they begin to figure it out and it hurts. I thought I could hold this secret alone with the hope someday Willow would want to try a relationship but all Christophe did was help me. I need my family for this. And however many times Willow would reject me, I knew even if we never became anything I would always protect her.
"I want my soulfinder back," I barely say above the level of a moth's breath. Half the room continued to argue over what he meant. Was it someone here in the room? Was he playing with us? But I could concentrate on none of it. Did he know Crystal could track her through me? Why had we not thought to try!? They just needed… Me.
"I want my soulfinder back," I announced. Louder I spoke. "Guys, guys." The blood hammering in my ears had completely taken my hearing now and I fought to keep my breath steady. Never, ever had I felt this anxious. Not when Trace crashed his motorbike years ago in highschool or when Xav had flirted with the girlfriend of our state wrestling champion the time we snuck out to a bar. None could compare to the growing panic of having my soulfinder, however reluctant, in danger. And as the room quietened, I realized they had to know. If there was anything my family was good at it was saving our soulfinders.
"I need my soulfinder back." Crystal immediately opened her mouth but I shook my head. "Willow is my soulfinder. And… She… She did not want me." The quiet in the room mirrored that of the aftermath of an unresolved argument; tense and with a lot of people holding back. Vick was the only one who looked relatively… Un-stunned? Considering his penchant for having a rifle through minds, perhaps he had already looked through mine. Or not judging by the deathgrip he had on his mangled phone.
"She did not want a soulfinder," I said. "But we still have the bond so Crystal…" I trailed off, not used to so many people staring at me. I doubted there was ever a silence that said more than this. Sky and Tulip actually had their mouths open while Crystal's opened and closed a number of times before managing to get a word out.
"Like… What?" she gawped, one hand raised with her fingers dangling. She brought up her index finger and pushed around her lower lip before continuing. "Since… How long have you guys known?"
"Remember when Willow and I were hit by a car… Since then."
"That long!" Tulip cried. Kanti looped an arm around her silently, Tulip's tears dripping steadily onto her shoulder.
"That was even before us," Lucian murmured to Kanti. He moved closer to her while Xav leaned back against the living room wall.
"I'm just amazed mom didn't pick up on it when we visited a few weeks ago," Xav said. Considering the two of us had spent a lot of our time catching up with high school friends who were in the area, not really. Mom had just seemed thrilled to have us back at the breakfast and dinner table.
"Look Crystal," I said, consciously ignoring the rest of the comments. "Can you track her through me?"
"I should," she murmured. Giving her temples a quick rub, she pulled herself together and took my hand. Xav took her other hand in his grasp and rested his chin on her shoulder, helping her as always. Watching Crystal work never ceased to be fascinating as Xav let her come into our orbit without pain. Not a word was breathed as our collective heartbeats pulsed out some measure of time for us.
Before she opened her mouth, I could see it all. What Crystal visualized as a thick pane of tinted glass, all I saw was that we were on the wrong side of it. We could sense she was alive but nothing more than that. She could have been anywhere, experiencing anything yet even Crystal could not find her. "They must have a shield up. She is there, I know that Will, Xav knows it and I know you do too. We can launch a search now. Right Vick? Yeah, we can send out some guys Will, we can get her. Will?"
There was that part of me that just wanted to keel over and give up. When you see the hill is a mountain or when drip blood and dig dirt caked fingers into a side to alleviate the pain in the final moments of a match. You see the logic of giving in, of turning back or sitting to the side. But no matter the odds, we had the bond and it counted for something. Something that I could never ever give up on.
"Willow will be coming back home if it's the last thing I do."
Author person again,
loved 'Angel Dares'. 'Stealing Phoenix' remains my favourite to date I must admit. Btw. In 'Angel Dares', there was a scene involving a shipping container that shares similarities with a scene I had planned. Now, not sure will I keep it because I actually was having difficulty writing that very chapter but if I do, heads up, not copying Joss! I do not own any of her characters or the concept of soulfinders, savants etc. but I am not nicking her shipping container scene too!
Besides the fact there is a shipping container and it is used for similar means, the scene I was planning is very different. I just feel bummed I never got to publish it before 'Angel Dares' came out. Ah well.
I hope you liked the update, despite the fact it is random :)