Perv.
Celine is Velma, wearing an orange sweater dress and fake glasses. Valen is Fred and I’m Daphne, becauseof course. Zav even dressed Midnight up as Scooby with a little teal collar and everything before we left. If it were a normal day, we’d all sayhell no to Zav’s dress-up idea, but he was obviously trying to lighten the mood. None of us are particularly looking forward to returning to the club, especially Celine and Valen.
Grasping Valen’s hand, I squeeze. He turns to me with a small, sad smile. The poor guy continues to be haunted by his past, but hopefully we’ll find answers that will put all this behind us. Whoever held him captive all those years kept him for a reason, and if they’re trying to get him back, he’s clearly very important.
We waited until darkness fell to pursue our investigation, and I pray it goes well.
Rolling up to the club, Zav parks in an alleyway across the street, and once he turns off the car, we sit in silence. The front of the building is boarded up and covered in yellow caution tape.
“Ready to go, Mystery Gang?” Zav attempts to lighten the mood.
“Let us go,” Valen sighs and is the first to open his door. Per usual, he’s at my side in a flash, opening my door for me.
“Hey, stop showing me up,” Zav whines as Celine steps out before he can get over to her. “My honey is too independent to let me open her door. It’s not that I wouldn’t.” He strokes his fake goatee, and I shake my head. If we manage to make any progress in our snooping, it’ll be a miracle. I’m not sure the red-haired vampire can take anything seriously.
“Nobody asked,” I reply, and he scoffs at me.
Celine pats his chest as we cross the street. “Don’t worry. I appreciate you for letting me do my thing.” She kisses his cheek, and I fake gag toward Valen, who smirks.
The small moment of humor sobers quickly as Valen and Zav pick both of us ladies up and stealthily speed into the club. Even though the police are gone, we still don’t know what we’re walking into, and we want to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I pull a flashlight out of my backpack and scan the room. It’s still riddled with broken brick, splintered wood, and dusty debris. What was once a chic nightclub now lies in tatters. The ambience is a little freaky, if I’m honest, and I share a glance with Celine, who appears to be thinking the same thing. It’s crazy to think that it really wasn’t all that long ago that we were at the club partying. It was the first time she met Zav, even though she didn’t see him.
“Ready to head in?” I ask and everyone nods. Pulling on my big girl panties, I attempt to step through the doorway leading to where we want to go. Valen holds an arm out and stops me in my tracks.
“You do not go first,” he growls and I swoon right then and there.
Even though he must be terrified, he refuses to let me put myself in harm’s way and takes the lead. Zav takes up the rear with us girls in the middle.
The door creaks open, and we make our way down the hall. Celine has a death grip on my arm, and I let her squeeze however hard she needs to in order to feel better. I can’t imagine how she felt being locked in this place while Zav and I searched for her.
At first glance, it’s empty except for the occasional bug that scuttles across the floor. Gross.
“There’s a filing room down this way,” Valen whispers, and I resist the urge to take him away from this hellhole that haunts him. I hate that he has to be back here, even though I know this is necessary.
“Should we split up?” I hate to even suggest it, but there’s a lot of ground to cover.
Zav replies immediately with a hiss. “Fuck no. This place is an unknown. And after what went down, there’s no way we’re letting anyone out of our sight. We can’t riskit.”
I lower my head in acknowledgment. It was a dumb suggestion, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible, not only for me but everyone else. Technically speaking, I’m the only one who didn’t see the carnage that lay below the club.
Finding the room he mentioned, Valen leads us into a storage room full of cabinets. Some lie on their sides with drawers full of files spilling out, others somehow survived the battle and only suffered a few dents. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Valen and Celine share a look nobody else could ever understand.
The two of them lived out a horror nobody ever should. Celine getting taken and tortured was horrendous, and yet she still managed to save Valen, and the two of them escaped together.
“Are you both okay?” I ask. “We can take a minute or two if you need it.” They’re about to be sick of me checking in like a mother hen. I’m worried for them, though, and the dark place this visit could put them in.
“Fine,” Celine replies shakily and tucks a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She left it down and long instead of in her usual ponytail. “Look through the files and see if you can find anything.” Her eyes dart up to a vent with the cover hanging off its hinges and she shivers as a memory hits her. Zav makes his way over to hug her to him. She grasps at his back desperately.
Not wanting to interrupt their moment, I get to work sifting through a huge stack of files lying across the floor in the corner. I situate myself against the wall, hoping I don’t encounter creepy crawlies, and settle in.
Over the next half hour, we each read as much as we can. Various eerie sounds echo through the hall, and each time, Valen and Celine nearly jump out of their skin. It breaks my heart to witness their obvious trauma. The longer we’re here, the more they recede into themselves. I know with her detectivebackground Celine can compartmentalize, but this is a lot.
For the most part, the papers are based around the club and not about anything damning vampire-wise. I close my last file with a frustrated sigh and rub my eyes.
“How is there nothing here?” I voice my frustration. I thought it would be a smart idea to come here and try to get ahead of things, but it looks like I was wrong.
Zav stands from where he’s sitting and stretches like he isn’t a vampire in his prime. “We have to go deeper into the tunnel system. Whoever was here covered their tracks well. They wouldn’t have kept the really important information here. They would’ve wanted it more hidden.” He eyes Celine, who gives him a panicked look but nods.
