Page 65 of The Vampire and the Barista

Mathis shrugged. “The only tributes I can think of are from The Hunger Games.”

Gabe shook his head. “I’ve never seen it. But could the voice mean tributes, as in sacrifices? If so, we need to find the others; they might be in trouble.”

Gabe rushed towards the door, when it slammed closed. “Really? You’re getting predictable now.”

Mathis punched the door, but nothing happened. He tried kicking it, but again, nothing happened. “Let’s try a window.”

They walked to the closest one. Mathis tried again to punch through it, but nothing happened there either, not even the smallest crack appeared.

Gabe pulled his wand out and drew the power rune in the air, flinging it at the window. Nothing happened. “Well, that didn’t work.”

“Little witch, I have a feeling we might be the tribute.”

Jamie opened his eyes, expecting to see himself inside the middle of the circle in the foyer, but he wasn’t. He spun around, trying to figure out where he was, but it was too dark to see. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on his torch.

He saw he was in a room with Mathis and Gabe. “Mathis, Gabe,” he called out, but neither man heard him.

Jamie put his hand out, cautiously moving forward. His hand hit something. He moved his hand around, feeling. It was some sort of barrier.

“MATHIS, GABE,” he shouted while banging on the barrier.

Again, they didn’t seem to hear him.

He looked at his phone, wondering what to do. He needed to find a way to contact Ivan and get out of this barrier thing, but how? He looked at his phone again and, shaking his head at his own stupidity, he quickly found Ivan’s number and dialled it.

“How could he vanish without us, without me, noticing?” Ivan asked, running a hand through his hair.

“Magic,” Adrian replied. “We need to find that demon. Hopefully, that will lead us to Jamie.”

“So, how do we find the demon? Thiago?” Olly queried.

“It might help to have Thiago here,” Adrian said.

“We probably should have brought him with us in the first place,” Ian commented.

Seth pulled out his phone and called Raz, who answered on his first ring.

“Hey, Seth. Do you need me?”

“Thiago and you, if possible, we have a demon problem.”

“Okay, we’ll be with you in a moment.”

Just as Seth hung up, Thiago and Raz suddenly appeared in front of them. They arrived so quickly that Raz still had his phone out.

“Whoa, demon energy is all over this place,” Thiago said, turning in a circle and looking around.

“Apparently, one of the asylum’s former residents, a chap called Derrick, sold his soul to an evil demon, we think for immortality. We need that immortality taken off him,” Seth told him. He looked at Raz. “Mathis and Gabe haven’t returned from their search, and Jamie has just vanished from the middle of our circle.”

“Do you know where Mathis and Gabe were searching?” Raz asked, concerned.

“That corridor,” Cairo said, pointing.

As they talked, Thiago walked to the middle of their group and bent down, touching the ground. “It can’t be,” he muttered, standing up with a look of concern on his face.

Raz stepped forward. “Tia?”

Thiago looked at him. “I recognise the demon magic. I can follow it to find Jamie, if you want to get searching for Mathis and Gabe.”

“Don’t go alone,” Raz cautioned.

Thiago stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss and a sad smile. “Sorry, I have to.” The next moment, Thiago vanished.

Raz took a step forward and then stopped and hung his head.

There was silence for a moment, which was interrupted by a phone ringing.

Ivan grabbed his phone out of his pocket and sighed when he saw Jamie’s name. “It’s Jamie,” he clicked answer. “Jay, are you okay?”

“I think so, but I think I’m in a weird force field or something. I’m in a room with Mathis and Gabe, but they can’t see or hear me. To be honest, I'm surprised my phone is working.”

“Do you know where the room is?” Ivan asked.

“No, but they’re trapped in the room, and there are runes everywhere. I have no idea what they mean, though.”

“We’ll find you,” Ivan promised him. He heard a strange noise, then laughter. “Jay?” There was no answer. He looked at the others. “We need to find the others now.”