Sanctuary

Chapter Twenty Two

When Jake awoke the next evening on the floor, he was up and out the door in seconds, pushing past the startled Onyx, who had been bent over him in concern. He was outside, looking around in fear, a terrified, desperate look on his face. "Daegel! DAEGEL!" The lack of ashes calmed him a little, but not by much. Where in the fuck were his brother and mate!? "DAE!"

"Jake!" Onyx grabbed his arm, trying to get a coherent answer out of the panicking vampire. "What the hell man!"

"Daegel didn't come back in last night! There was someone there, he did something to me! Dae came to get me! When I woke up he wasn't there!" All the pigment seemed to drain from Onyx's face, leaving her even paler than before. "No ashes, I don't think he fried. But where the fuck is he!"

"...Dude..." Whispered Onyx, then she ran back inside, searching frantically through each room. In a state of distress, Jake followed. "Raven isn't here either!" The space beside Cahya where Raven had been occupying constantly over the last few days was indeed empty.

Jake paled. "Oh shit... y-you don't think..."

"W-We don't know that. Maybe they just went for a walk, stayed out too long? Took shelter for sunrise?"

"NO! They were attacked by someone! I don't even know if Dae won or not!" Jake was pulling at his hair, trying to keep calm, or something resembling calm. Something bad had happened. He knew it. And it was his fault. A soft groan then drew their attention and they turned to see Cahya's eyes slowly flutter open.

"Cahya!" Onyx knelt next to their pack leader, sagging with relief as she saw familiar gold eyes instead of white. "Thank fuck. How do you feel?"

"Like. Shit." Cahya growled, shifting and groaning. He looked around in search of something. Or someone. "Rave... hey, where's Raven?"

Biting his lip, Jake was the one to answer. "We... we don't know. Neither Daegel nor Raven are here. They didn't come back onto the bus last night after we were attacked outside."

Cahya's eyes snapped open and he surged into a sitting position. His face was twisted in what could have been agony, and his golden eyes seemed haunted. "No..."

"We don't think they fried!" Onyx was quick to say, grabbing onto Cahya's shoulders in a move that was both reassuring and to keep him from leaping out of the bed. "There's no ashes or anything outside. They might have just stayed out a bit too long and took shelter elsewhere."

"No! You don't understand!" Cahya struggled against Onyx's stronger grip. He was weakened from lack of blood, so it wasn't too hard for Nyx to stand her ground. Raven had been feeding him in small amounts, but the four of them had been going on rationed blood while they had been fleeing.

"Cahya, it's okay. I'm sure your mate is fine. Raven told us." Onyx tried to smile reassuringly. "We'll just wait and-"

"NO! We have to find them! HE has them!"

There was a horrified silence. Jake's eyes widened at the same time as his heart dropped. "Wh... What?"

Cahya's eyes were glimmering with unshed tears, startling and unfamiliar on the face of their leader who was always so strong. "M-My vision... oh god Raven... I-I saw them... they... he had them..." Tears trailing down his cheeks, long since cleared of makeup, as he curled into a ball, completely petrified that his horrible vision had come to pass. "There was so much blood..."

Jake started to growl. "Where." Uncharacteristic of Jake, he barked out the single word, eyes red. His fangs were elongated and bared, threatening. The sweet young man they knew had morphed into a person fueled by hatred for the creature causing such distress to his pack.