“Police believe the woman disappeared from this motel,” Skylar said. “Witnesses say she was in the company of two men, but her parents believe she isnotwith them willingly.”
“What the fuck?” Saxon asked as he stepped closer to the TV. He wasn’t well-versed in human news, but heknewit was odd they were reporting on apossiblyabducted woman and following the story all morning.
The female reporter strolled closer to the police cruisers. “Police are investigating this claim, but until they know more, they’re asking for the public’s help to locate Elyse Hughes.”
A picture of Elyse filled the screen; Saxon had no idea when it was taken, but she looked like a teenager. The banners in the back made him suspect the photo was from one of the events her mom took her to. It may be the only photo the Savages had of her, and they had to be the ones behind this.
“She’s twenty-two, five foot four, and weighs one hundred and five pounds. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen getting into an SUV at this motel. Police don’t have a make and model of that SUV yet, but we will keep you posted when they learn more. We have photos taken from surveillance video of the two men she was last seen with.”
The screen cut to a grainy black and white photo of Declan and Asher in a department store checkout line. It must have been taken when they were buying supplies for him and Elyse.
“Those bastards,” Declan snarled, and when he stepped toward the TV, Saxon thought he might smash it.
“Declan, don’t,” Saxon said.
When Declan’s gaze swung toward him, his eyes were red, but he took a deep breath, and the tension in his shoulders eased. It was rare to see Declan lose his temper. He pulled out a lollipop, but instead of opening it, he crushed it in his hand.
The camera cut back to Skylar, who gazed solemnly into it as she continued speaking. “If you see these men, the police ask you not to approach but to call them immediately.”
A number flashed across the bottom of the screen as the reporter continued speaking. “Of course, you can also call 911.”
“Let’s hope they find her soon,” the female anchor said when the camera returned to her. “Now on to sports.”
Asher turned the TV off, and they all stared at the blank screen.
“What was that?” Lucien asked. “What are they thinking by involving the humans in this?”
Saxon didn’t know. For millennia, Savages, hunters, and the Defenders had all battled each other. Throughout it all, there was alwaysoneunspoken law they all abided; keep the humans out of their world. And now, the Savages had drawn the humans into the middle of their battle by involving the police andmedia.
The police at the motel were probably under control of the Savages, and he suspected any calls about Elyse were going to police under Savage control, but they’d also involved themedia. The Savages had to know they were taking the risk of exposingallof their kind by going public with this story.
“This is the second time I’ve seen this story run in less than ten minutes,” Asher said. “The first time I was taking a swing through the ER to make sure everything was still good there.”
“Did anyone see you?” Lucien asked.
“There were a couple of patients there at the time, but they weren’t paying attention to me.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Saxon said. “There are too many people in this hospital who could recognize the two of you and Elyse. We’ve got control of some of them, but we can’t control all the people in this building.”
“They want your girl bad,” Lucien said.
“Her ability is extremely rare; I’ve never heard of anything like it before. It’s an asset to them, but it’s also abigthreat,” Declan said. “We can use her to hunt them.”
“No one is going to use her again,” Saxon growled.
“That’s not the way they’re looking at it,” Declan said. “They don’t care if she’s alive or not; they have to know that she’s not working with us. If the police find us, we can’t fight them; we’ll expose ourselves if we do.”
“And we can’t kill humans,” Lucien said. “And those bastards are using that against us.”
“This is so fucked up,” Asher said. “They plastered our faces all over the news.”
For the first time, a vampire had been exposed to the public. They didn’t know Declan was a vamp, and humans had found out about them before, of course, but it had always been in small, controllable numbers. Now, they had no way of knowing how far this story had spread, and if the humans came for them, they could only do so much before they risked exposing themselves to the public.
“Is there a way for you and Declan to get out of here without anyone seeing you?” Saxon asked Asher.
“Yes. The hospital is quiet this early in the morning,” Asher said.
“Good. You two have to get away from the public eye. Once you’re out of here, let Logan and Ronan know what’s happening; we’ll meet you as soon as Elyse is ready to go. When we go to Maine, we’re going to have to take a route that doesn’t involve any cameras or tolls.”
