“Shit. Who could have done something like this?” Justice looked up at Aedan’s dark eyes.
“To bypass the vampire army, only a high-level demon or deity has this type of power.” Derrick clenched his teeth. “Abe!” Derrick growled, and the man appeared in front of him. “Can you feel her? Can you use your connection to go to her? She’s been taken.”
“I …” Abe shook his head. “I can feel her. But the connection is muffled. I can’t get an accurate reading. I won’t stop. I’m going to look for her,” Abe said darkly as anger flashed over his eyes.
“Wait. We need to think about this. Whoever took her … what if it was Wicker, and he took her to the witch? Ryan, I need you to go to the front line and find out how things are going withJasper. If the witch has her now …” Derrick felt his heart racing. He couldn’t lose her.
“If a deity has her, there is only one person who can help.” Aedan looked at Derrick. “Where did Lucie put her piece of the pearl? We need to get to Uncle Levi.”
“Wait, I’m coming with you. I’m going to have my father put out a high-alert distress order. My mate has been taken. This is not something we can take lightly. I will have him send his armies to the front lines. If she has her …”
“No matter what, we need my Uncle Levi. Dispatch your armies, but have them wait with Jasper. We will consult with the others and form a plan. We need to think this through.” Aedan knew his family was experienced in these matters, so it was best to seek their counsel. Plus, no one else could fight on par with a deity or an upper-level demon.
“You guys sit around and think things through. I’m going looking for her.” Abe growled and vanished. To hell with waiting. He wouldn’t wait for something bad to happen to her. He would follow their connection the best he could. Maybe he could map out a general area of where to search. He had to find her. No matter who had taken her … it didn’t matter to him if he was risking his soul. All he wanted was her safety.
CHAPTER 56
Alarge group gathered outside the palace of the West Dragon Kingdom. The entire Chain family, as well as their dragon relatives, were all present, including a very angry younger generation.
“Everyone needs to relax.” The Great Sage spoke with authority. “I know everyone is ready to go to war, but remember what we are dealing with here. The only one who can do anything in this situation is Levi here.”
“I won’t sit around and do nothing!” Derrick yelled angrily. “I can’t. I’m going crazy right now.”
“Easy, Derrick. We all feel the same way. That’s my baby out there,” Hunter growled lowly. “We saw the devastation from both an original demon and from a tier-one deity. We are nothing to them. I’ve even sparred against Levi here with a group of us, and he didn’t even break a sweat.”
“If it’s who I suspect, you are nothing more than a gnat to him. That’s why this is something the deities have a problem with. It’s why they originally had a problem with me being with Reiya.” Levi rubbed Reiya’s anxious shoulders. “The problem will be finding her. Where is Abe? The djinn is connected to her, and can sense her better than we can.”
“He went off looking for her on his own.” Derrick sighed angrily. At least someone was searching for her. They were just sitting here. And he couldn’t take it.
“What are you going to do? Just go running around blindly? You’ll never find her like that,” Levi said, seeing Derrick’s agitation. “We also need to be smart here. This could all be a clever diversion for the witch. I’ll go looking for Lucie.”
“Let me come too. Please, I can help,” Alexa begged.
Her father’s eyes darkened. “Absolutely not. For all we know, he’s trying to lure you out. Remember the premonition. You are grounded and are to remain inside the castle,” Levi said as he watched Alexa shake her head angrily.
“I can’t just sit here. I can’t take this. You have to let me help. You can’t go off on your own. If something happens to Lucie ...” Alexa looked up as tears flowed down her face.
“We can’t risk something happening to you too,” Lita said calmly.
“Screw the fairy princess role. I feel like that’s all everyone cares about,” Alexa snapped.
“That isn’t true. We can’t ignore the premonition, Alexa. Your father is right. You are not to leave the castle.” Reiya understood how her daughter was feeling. None of them wanted anything to happen to Lucie. But Alexa was the one who really couldn’t get involved.
“If something happened to you because you went looking for her, Lucie would never forgive herself.” Freja smiled sympathetically.
“I’m not weak or fragile. I’m the second strongest here. I shouldn’t be getting locked up,” Alexa hissed angrily as she swatted the tears away from her face. She looked at everyone’s eyes. No one was in agreement with her. Even Derrick and Aedan disapproved of her going. “Lucie wouldn’t be looking at me like this. She would have let me help.” She looked over at Mikah and Raine, who dropped their heads to avoid eye contact with her. “Wow … so I have no one in my corner.” She grit her teeth and yelled angrily, “If something happens to Lucie, you might as well kill me too, because I’ll be dead inside! Knowing I could have helped and you didn’t let me!”
“Lex, calm down. We aren’t going to let anything happen to Lucie. You aren’t the only one who feels that way,” Justice growled. He was Lucie’s guardian, and he’d failed her. His existence was now about protecting Lucie, and he’d already failed during his short time as a guardian.
“So what’s the plan for now?” Xander asked, looking at Levi. Everyone knew he would be the one making the call here.
“Derrick, see if you can call the half-demon. Maybe with his help, he can give me a general location. A master-servant relationship is bonded, so much that you can usually summon them from any location. So we know she’s in some sort of a barrier … she must be, right?” Levi dropped his shoulders with a sigh and looked at Derrick.
“Abe, if you can hear me, please, we need your help.” Derrick hoped his connection to the servant would be enough to override his drive to find Lucie. To his surprise, the man appeared at his call. “Abe! Any luck?”
Abe shook his head sadly. “I can feel her, so I know she is alive and okay.”
“Come with me. Help me search for her,” Levi said, his tone commanding.
