A couple of more days passed by, and there was still no news on Alice's whereabouts, causing anxiety to intensify. The knowledge of Cole's assaults weighed heavily on everyone's minds, and the fear of the unknown escalated. An ominous cloud of worry lingered, casting a pall over the relentless efforts to locate and rescue her.

Seth and Anon, bound by their shared determination, found themselves sitting in Anon's room, surrounded by notes, and scraps of information. The room seemed to reflect their frustration, a chaotic mix of scattered papers and unanswered questions. Seth's hellish stature couldn't overcome the limitations of his powers on earth, making the search for Alice a difficult task.

"Seth, there has to be something we're missing," Anon said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "We can't just sit here. We need a plan, a lead, anything."

Seth sighed, the weight of Alice's disappearance heavy on his shoulders. "I know, Anon. I wish I could just snap my fingers and find her, but it doesn't work that way here. There are rules, even for me."

Anon nodded, his gaze fixed on the notes as if they held the key to their finding her. "We can't count on Cashew right now. His biases are too obvious, and we need to work with someone that hasn't involved themselves with Cole like he has."

Seth nodded. It was true. Since Cashew was romantically involved with Cole, he might not want to hold him accountable for what he's done to Alice, and might want to give him another chance. Something that Seth and Anon were unwilling to give.

Seth sighed heavily as he looked through his notes and info. This was going to be a long search…

XXXXXXXX

-With Alice, days later-

Alice was stuck wherever she was, a basement? A room? She didn't know, all she knew was she was alone…Cole hadn't come to see her in days…either he was planning something, or he was super pissed at her. Not that she cared, but the silence and the unknowing was driving her crazy. All the noise she ever heard around her was footsteps above her and the gentle sound of music coming from upstairs. It sounded nice, but the lyrics were very dark and obsessive, showing Alice just how crazy he was (Aside from the kidnapping). The one thing that she noticed was that every time she woke up from sleeping or napping there would be food waiting for her. So he still came down to technically see her, but not while she was awake…

Right now she was sitting on a spare couch that was in the room she was in. It was the middle of the night, she stood awake because for some reason she had an urge to see him, to see what exactly he was doing when he came to 'see' her. But so far he hadn't come down…almost like he knew she was awake.

As she waited for him to appear, she heard a door open and footsteps coming her way. She turned towards the sound and found Cole standing at the foot of the stairs. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days, but it seemed as if once he looked at her, all of the sleep deprivation faded and all that was left on his face was love and adoration. He made his way over to Alice and sat by her, holding onto her hands.

"I don't like to leave you alone, darling.." He started. He looked away as he continued. "But you frustrate me so much! Why can't you see that I'm doing this for you!?" He said as his voice began to raise.

Alice snatched her hands away from his grasp. "I liked everything the way it was before!" She yelled as she got up from her spot and stood in front of him. "Why did you do this?! I thought you were fine with the way things were! You said you didn't mind it! I thought..I thought I did things right!" She said as tears pricked in her eyes. She looked away as Cole didn't say anything. "Why..? Why did you do this..?" She asked in a whisper.

Cole took her hands once more as he stood up and stood in front of her, he purred as he used his other hand to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I did this for us my darling… Those…men were in the way of our love.. I knew when I saw those…beasts that they didn't deserve you.." He began to explain. "They didn't deserve your smile…your care…your laugh.. All of it. Sometimes even I feel like I don't deserve you..but the way I feel for you is real, it's proof that we're meant to be! I knew once you said you loved me, I knew that was fate telling me to take you for myself!" He said as his voice started to pick up and started to become obsessive.

He purred as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I tried to make it work my love. I truly did…But it drove me crazy knowing you were giving your love to those less deserving!" He said as his voice trembled a little. "But that doesn't matter now, my love…you're here…you're here and you're mine… you're mine, and I love you.." He said as he cupped her cheeks and pulled her in for a tender kiss.

Alice teared up as he continued to kiss her, a horrible feeling settling into the pit of her stomach. She was doomed from the start…suddenly a thought hit her as he pulled away. "It was you…" She suddenly said. "You were the killer…" She said, her voice trembling as she backed away slowly. Cole slowly followed as she began to feel more fear. "Ah..yes..those two.. worthless people.." He said, recounting those she was talking about.

"You killed my coworkers…my friends.. I knew it was too convenient finding you, the way you came to me was too coincidental..and when you found the 'murderer' without me there...It was all planned to get close to me from the start wasn't it?" She said, finally connecting the dots after all this time.

Cole grabbed Alice's wrist and pulled her in for a tight embrace. "It was all for you, my love. They were threatening to take you away from me! I couldn't let that happen..you are meant for me!" He growled, his tail swishing around angrily.

A few tears fell from Alice's eyes as she felt her world crashing down around her. She felt like she couldn't escape his grasp now that she was moved somewhere excluded. She stiffened as she felt Cole purr and kiss her neck as he ran a hand through her hair.

"No one will take you from me…" He growled into her ear.

Alice bit her lip as she choked back a sob. Where were her lovers when she needed them…?

XXXXXXXX

-With Seth and Anon-

A frustrated sigh was heard as papers flew across the room, it was Seth looking through their notes that they collected over the days. He was beginning to grow more frustrated that they couldn't find Alice. It should've been easy! But even Anon was having troubles tracking them down.

As Seth was sitting on the middle of the floor thinking, a thought suddenly hit him in the face.

"I GOT IT!" He suddenly shouted as he stood up. Anon shot up from his keyboard from being sleep deprived after being awake for days. "What!?" He yelled tiredly, whipping his head around.

Seth slammed into Anon's chair as he grabbed Anon by the head. "You can hack anything right?!" He asked hurriedly.

Anon shook him off. "Gah! Get yer' germs off of me!" He complained. "But yes, I can hack anythin', I've told ya this already!" He confirmed.

"See if you can hack into the traffic light monitors! I just realized we can use this to track them down!" Seth exclaimed.

Anon looked as if the idea just hit him in the face and he smacked his forehead. "Of course! Why didn't we think of that!? It was so obvious!" He said as he quickly got onto his computer and hacked.

-Half an hour later-

Anon had just finished hacking into the traffic light monitors and was looking through every monitor within the current area and wasn't finding anything that was concrete evidence of Alice's whereabouts.

Anon sighed frustratingly. "I'm not findin' anythin'.." He muttered.

"Look farther! We gotta find her no matter what!" Seth growled.

"I'm tryin'! I'm tryin'!" Anon yelled back.

Anon's fingers danced across the keyboard as lines of code scrolled rapidly on the screen. The glow from multiple monitors cast an eerie light in the dimly lit room. Seth paced nervously, glancing at the screens in anticipation. They had to find her…and fast…

As Anon went through the different traffic monitors, he suddenly found something familiar. Cole's black sedan!

"Found him!" Anon exclaimed. Seth ran to him and looked at the screen and it was indeed him.

"Follow him! Now!" He yelled with a growl.

Anon nodded and began to follow him. Unfortunately he eventually took a turn towards a road where the monitors stopped. Anon slammed his fist down. "Damn!" He yelled.

Seth patted his back. "Don't beat yourself up, we at least found his approximate location. We can try and track him down that way." He said to the half-lemur man.

Anon nodded as he adjusted his glasses. "True. ya think ya can get there with my instructions?" He asked.

Seth grinned. "Of course! Let's get Alice back!" He said as he grabbed his jacket.

"Perfect! Let's get it goin'!" Anon responded.

As Seth walked out the room, he found Cashew at the other side. He glared. "What do you want, traitor?" He said venomously.

"I..just wanted to say sorry for what I did..I know a simple sorry doesn't cut it, but…I really feel terrible for what happened and I know I could've stopped it. I know it was foolish of me to think he could change, but it really seemed like he was different…" He explained.

Seth shook his head as he walked past him, his shoulder slamming into the squirrel boy. "Forget it, you can't change what you did." He said as he walked off, leaving Cashew alone..

XXXXXXXX

-With Cole-

Cole had just come back from running a few errands and was downstairs in the room Alice was in and was running his fingers through her hair, as she sat there, slowly losing hope that anyone would come for her.

"Talk to me my love..It's been so long since I've heard you speak.." He said as he placed tender kisses on her cheek, down to her chin.

Alice looked away, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of speaking to him. Maybe he'd leave her alone if she ignored him. Cole growled as he didn't hear a response. He put a hand on her neck tenderly and gently squeezed.

"Now, Alice. When I talk to you, you talk back.." He growled, using her name as it indicated he was losing his patience. "Now..will you speak or will I have to..force you too..?" He threatened.

Alice felt her throat tighten as tears pricked into her eyes. She glanced at him and saw his eyes were filled with impatience.

"W-what do you want?" She asked, her voice trembling with fear.

Cole smiled sickeningly sweet. "I just want to hear you talk to me, my love. I want you to understand how much I love you.." He said to her.

Alice's lip quivered. Right. This was all because he loved her. As Alice looked away from him, he got up and put on some gentle music, it was a song named 'Crazy' by Daniela Andrade. He went back over to her and held a hand out.

"Come here." He urged.

Alice sighed, she knew if she didn't listen he would get upset, so she went along with it and grabbed his hand. He pulled her up and began to dance with her. Alice was confused, why did he want to dance with her? As he spun her around and waltzed around with her, he pulled her in and purred into her ear. "I love you.." He gently said to her.

Alice couldn't stop the heart pounding that went through her. It seemed like she was still holding love for him subconsciously… "I love you too.." She muttered pathetically.

Cole made her look at him, his eyes filled with impatience. "I couldn't hear you, Alice.." He growled.

Alice swallowed hard. "I-I love you too." She said louder. Cole smiled as he ran a hand through her hair. "Good..you're so good for me.." He said, his voice sounding gentle to her.

Alice, not really thinking, put a head on his chest, causing him to purr. It seemed like she was losing hope in anyone finding her, so she was slowly, subconsciously letting Cole in her heart once again.

Cole kissed the top of her head and rubbed his cheek against her head.

"I love it when you're good, my love. I just want you to understand how much I love you.." He said to her.

Alice let a stray tear slip as she held him. Unaware that there was someone coming for her…