All Is Fair Ch. 15

Tonight would mark Helena's fifth night with him. If his second bite was anything like his first that meant she would wake up tonight. If he bit her again that would make her a vampire. Brooks needed some good news.

The door to the computer room opened. Andrew walked in. His dedication to finding Helena now almost matched Brooks'.

"They found the car Zachary was driving," Andrew said.

"Where?" Brooks asked.

"In the middle of the woods," Andrew said. "I can take you there."

"Any sign of Helena?" Brooks asked.

"No," Andrew said. "It will be faster if we drive there. No need to shift."

Brooks followed Andrew out of the room and towards the front of the house.

"What are you going to do when you find him?" Andrew asked.

"Kill him," Brooks said.

"How?"

Brooks never thought that far ahead. He was so concerned with getting Helena back he didn't think about dispatching Victor.

"Try and pull him into the sun," Brooks said.

"That sounds risky," Andrew said. "Do you have any wooden stakes?"

"Those don't work," Brooks said. "Only silver can pierce a vampire's skin."

"Good luck finding any silver around here," Andrew said. "I can go into town and see if there's any?"

"It doesn't hurt them like us," Brooks said. "We would need a pure silver knife...do you remember when I told you to burn Helena's suitcase?"

"Yea," Andrew said. "I took it to the incinerator."

"Let's stop there first," Brooks said.

They walked outside and towards the shed that housed the incinerator. It wasn't going at the moment. Brooks took that as a sign. He opened the door to the incinerator and looked at the ash covered floor. Before sticking his hand inside he grabbed a rag and started to feel around.

"They never burned her stuff," Andrew said.

He pointed towards a pile in the corner. Mainly of papers and other items to be destroyed. Helena's suitcase sat to the side. Brooks walked over and opened it up, dumping the contents on the floor. He didn't find what he was looking for. He searched all the pockets and still came up empty handed. An idea came to him. Brooks began tearing the lining and then he spotted his prize. A long silver dagger.

"Whoa," Andrew said.

He took a step back. Brooks reached in and grabbed the handle careful not to touch the blade. If that touched his skin it would burn him immediately.

"Maybe I can kill him with this," Brooks said.

He picked up one of Helena's old shirts and wrapped it around the blade.

"Grab the rest of her stuff," Brooks said. "We can give it out for people to get a refresher of her scent."

Andrew put the clothes back in the torn bag and the two of them left the shed. The car was a good sign, Brooks knew it would lead him to her. It had to, because he was running out of time and options.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brooks expected Andrew to park their car on the side of the road, but instead he turned into the woods. Brooks thought he was going to hit a tree.

"I'm just trying to take us as close as I can," Andrew said. "I figure he drove the car into the middle of the woods so I should be able to."

"It was just sitting there?" Brooks asked.

"He probably didn't think he should bother trying to hide it," Andrew said. "Try and think like him. He doesn't know we have the video feed or Rebecca. Without those we would be searching the entire country. I would have assumed he had taken her as far away as possible."

Brooks was surprised Andrew didn't flinch when he said Rebecca's name, but now wasn't the time to ask. Brooks looked at the surveys for this area again. The car came into view. There were about five people standing around it, waiting for orders. Andrew stopped and Brooks got out of the car.

"There are fourteen structures in the twenty miles surrounding here," Brooks said. "I want everyone to start searching those first. Remember he is in some sort of basement, with electricity and indoor plumbing."

As Brooks approached Zachary's car he was hit with a familiar smell. It was faint, but Brooks couldn't miss it. Helena. She was here. The vampire used Zachary's car to transport her. Brooks tried to follow the scent, but he only made it a few feet before it completely vanished. He had lost too much time.

"What is it?" Andrew asked.

"She was here," Brooks said. "Hand out her clothes."

She was close. Brooks could feel it. The helpers had already shifted into their wolf form and took off running, following Brooks' instructions. Only Andrew remained behind. He was starting to take off his shirt.

"I'm not shifting," Brooks said.

"Why not?" Andrew asked.

Almost all of their senses improved when they were in wolf form. Brooks walked back to the car and grabbed the dagger. He gripped the handle.

"For two reasons," Brooks said. "First it would be impossible to hold onto this. Second I think she's close by. This guy might be careless, but he plans things out. Wherever he is I have a feeling it would be easy for a wolf to skip over it. I am taking your advice and thinking like he would. He knew we would look for her. If you were trying to hide her what would you do?"

"Somewhere off the grid," Andrew said. "Not on any maps."

"But he would have had to find it," Brooks said. "What could he have been doing that would have let him stumble upon this place? We know from the video it's not decorated. He hasn't been there long, it's not his true home, but there is a source of electricity or else the camera would have died."

"Maybe he was trying to bury a body," Andrew said.

Brooks looked the ground. He couldn't think of a better reason for a vampire to come out to the middle of the woods.

"I want you to head west," Brooks said. "Go a mile and then circle north. Keep your eyes on the ground and look for anything that seems out of ordinary. Alert me if you find anything."

Andrew left and Brooks started heading in the opposite direction. There was nothing to focus on but the ground, and so far nothing was unusual.

He searched for about a half an hour, hoping he would pick up Helena's scent or something that told him he was on the right path, but so far it was nothing but twigs and leafs. Brooks noticed something odd. About a hundred feet in front of him was a pile of leafs. He didn't know anyone who would come to the forest to rake. The area next to the pile had a few more leafs scattered around. Brooks bent down and picked one up. It stuck for a moment before peeling off the ground. Brooks looked down and ran his hand over the area. The few leafs that were scattered were all stuck. It was like they were glued to the ground. Brooks rubbed a little harder. The ground wasn't dirt, it was cement.

Brooks felt around the edges. He pulled at a corner. It was heavy, but it shifted. Brooks continued to pull and the lid slid a little further. The second the air was exposed Brooks was taken back to his time at the motel room. The air flowing out was thick with the scent of his mate.