Chapter 10: Gone From Sight Ashley's POV
Chris was going over a plan that him and his group had made up. While going over this I sat there listening. I remember that Chris was talking about how to find the source as to where she was. In fact I think that all of us were wondering. If she were to leave then she would have told someone, right?
At this time where we were about to leave there was a knock on the door. All five of them quickly shot up expectantly like there was danger. Chris silently walked to the door and after a brief moment he opened the door to find Dimitri. He held a unemotional look on his face and he was looking at the ground.
"Can I help you?" asked Chris. Dimitri's head shot up with his eyes wide. I found it funny that Dimitri would act like that.
"Hello Chris, I heard that Vanessa went missing..." he paused with sadness in his eyes. "May I help find her. I have an idea as to what might have happened." The whole room was in an awkward silence for the longest time. Finally Chris broke it.
"What is the information?" Chris said this with determination in his words. I kind of admire this about Vanessa's brother.
"Will I help? If not, then I am afraid that you won't see your sister ever again."
"What was that?" Now Chris was all up in Dimitri's face like nobody's business. I stood up just then.
Honestly, I wasn't going to just sit here while a fight was about to start. Of course I really didn't know what was going on at first. I walked in between them to make them stop talking. My plan worked and they both stopped to look at me with surprise.
"Hey Chris, we can get all the help we can get if we want to find your sister and my friend. We can't do this alone." I paused for a brief moment to let what I said sink in. Chris was about to respond to my comment until I interrupted by starting to talk to Dimitri. "And is your information valuable enough to find her?" He nodded in response.
Dimitri told us later that it had to be one of his kind. In the end, though, we agreed that he would go along with us to find her. Dimitri left about a half hour later and Chris told his group to go home. They did as he asked and all that was left was Chris and I. We were both silent for the longest time.
"Chris I am going home." He looked at me surprised.
"Are you sure about this?" I nodded in response. I know that my emotions were still raw and that I would be in big trouble but I was ready. And besides, I am going to help find Vanessa tomorrow. I walked out the front door with my bag and walked through the forest. The whole time I was thinking of what my foster parents would say and what my punishment would be.
The forest around me was dark and gloomy since it was now dark. I swear that there was fog around me and I wasn't able to see from my knees down. While walking I suddenly hit something hard on my foot. I wasn't aware of this until I tripped over it and I landed right on my face. The ground that hit me was damp and cold. I will probably have a huge brown spot on my shirt. Looking back at what I tripped on ended up being a backpack. It was red and black with a folded piece of paper on top of it. Picking it up I unfolded it only to see a letter. The lettering was in dark red, cursive lettering. It said:
"Dear Chris, Yes, I have your sister and if you don't hurry, there won't be much left of her. Or the old her anyway. I advise you to tell me about the transaction before I ring it out of her. Also find me and tell me who the half-breed human is. This is your only warning. Sincerely,
P.S. Good Luck!"
This letter startled me as I read it over and over again. Chris needs to see this now. I took the letter and the backpack and ran back to Chris' house as fast as my legs would let me. As I ran the trees around me seemed to blur around me and I seemed to be able to run really fast. I don't remember running this fast in my life.
After a little bit I was back at Chris' house. I pounded on the door and in a millisecond Chris was there. I handed the backpack and the letter to him and told him to read it. He did as I said and after a few minutes he looked at me with the same expression that I had had earlier.
"Chris, do you know who wrote this?" Chris didn't respond, instead he looked through the backpack to find food.
"Chris answer me. What is going on here?" Chris snapped at me just then.
"This is none of your business Ashley!" My friend this is where I snapped as well.
"This is so my business. I was the one who found this in the first place. Now tell me or else I will try to find her myself." This finally went through his thick skull.
"Ashley, this is the work of Vincent." Vincent? Who was Vincent?
"Who exactly is this Vincent?" I asked. This took a moment before Chris was able to answer. I could tell that Chris was in his own thoughts right now. The look on his face was so full of pain and anger.
"Vincent, is...the king of vampires."