Chapter 42: Chapter 13-1: Pulling Out All the Stops

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

 

Innocent Devil's Harem | Chapter 13-1: Pulling Out All the Stops

By the time Nick was slamming on his breaks, I was already yanking open his door, reaching in to tear his seatbelt right off only to grab a fistful of his shirt with the same hand, jerking him out of the car and thrusting him high into the air. The crushed microphone was still in my other hand.

“Where the fuck is Serenity?!” I snarled in outrage, trying to do everything in my power to not kill him right then and there.

His dark eyes were bugging out of his head, his hands grasping at my wrist from him sliding down until my fist was underneath his jaw, his feet kicking wildly in the air.

“It wasn’t me!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide with terror, his scent radiating it.

I held up the crushed object still in my hand. “Then what in the hell is this?” I snapped.

He didn’t have an answer for me.

Gabriella popped open the door to my car, yelling my name as she climbed out. “Kai!”

I only barely glanced at her, smelling her distress, only to meet Nick’s gaze as my mind began kicking back in, realizing it would be foolish for him to return here if he’d been the one to take her. And I didn’t have time for this shit. I had to find her now.

Letting go, he dropped to the ground, falling completely into a heap from the two-foot drop. I continued to hold out the microphone as he struggled to get to his feet, grabbing at his vehicle for support, with me still waiting for a response.

Without hesitation, Gabriella rushed up behind me and wrapped her arms around my torso while burying her head against my back. Her scent was borderline tainted with fear, likely a natural response from my sincere anger, but it wasn’t preventing her from trying to appeal to my humanity.

Nick finally recovered enough to respond, both hands out slightly, palms down, as if he was nonverbally trying to urge me to calm down.

“I heard it happen,” he exclaimed breathlessly. “I didn’t take her. I would never do anything to hurt her! I like her, dammit! I came as soon as I heard it happen.”

“And what exactly happened?” I snapped, tossing the plastic pieces on the ground and balling my hands into fists, even as Gabriella tightened her embrace around my chest. A part of me didn’t want to hang around for the answer, wanting desperately to just jump into the sky and start searching now, but any hint I could get might be the difference between life and death.

Problem was, time itself was the difference between life and death.

“Someone took her,” he replied quickly. “She struggled, but they must have drugged her or something, because it ended fast.” He jerked his hand into his pocket. “Here, you can listen to it. Maybe you’ll hear something I didn’t notice.”

Pulling out his phone, he made a few taps and then handed it to me.

I immediately held it up to my ear, even though I could already hear the start, putting all my focus into every detail I could pick up. For a second, there was nothing at all, minus some even breathing that most people probably wouldn’t be able to hear without a ton of audio adjustments.

Then, a knock on the door.

My housemate shifted her weight in the kitchen chair, followed by hesitation, before I heard her grab her gun, pop in the magazine – which she left loaded, but always took out of the gun when she came home – and then stuck the weapon in the back of her jeans.

However, the moment she unlocked the door, it sounded like it was kicked in, hitting her and knocking her backwards onto the floor, possibly smacking against her head. It then sounded like she barely had time to recover, another loud smack occurring, skin-to-skin, followed immediately by sudden silence.

If I had to guess, based on the sound, I’d say it was Serenity who smacked the assailant, before the individual somehow drugged her, whether that be via injection or by covering her face.

Either way, it was over just like that.

I listened for a few more seconds as the attacker began dragging her limp body outside, a low growl subconsciously rumbling in my throat, before I handed the phone back, realizing I’d just wasted time after all.

“Gabriella,” I said firmly, in response to her tightening her embrace when she heard the quiet but deep growl. “I have to go. I have less than an hour to find her, or else she’s dead.”

I was struggling to be patient, because the stakes had never been this high before. Serenity’s death was the one thing that I couldn’t handle. The one thing I wouldn’t tolerate. The one thing that would turn me into a bloodthirsty monster, out to slaughter whoever I had to, in order to find her.

And unfortunately, knowing Serenity’s scent, and now having the faint scent of the stranger to go off of, suddenly didn’t seem like enough.

Nick interjected before Gabriella could respond. “How do you know that?” he asked in shock. “That you only have an hour?” he clarified.

I shot him a glare, my tone harsh from my impatience. “Because the kidnapper left a note. It’s inside on the kitchen floor, next to what’s left of the table,” I added with a sneer. I then glanced down as Gabriella slipped to my side underneath my arm, prompting me to try to force my tone to be more gentle. “I’m sorry for scaring you,” I said sincerely. “But I have to go.”

She shook her head, while simultaneously doing as I asked, taking a step back. “I’m not afraid of you, Kai. I’m afraid for you. Sorry,” she added, likely in response to delaying me. “Please find her.”

I nodded. “Go inside and make sure all the doors and windows are locked. Don’t answer for anyone, no matter what.”

“I can help,” Nick said urgently when I took a step back.

I shot him another glare. “I don’t need help,” I hissed.

He shook his head, holding out his phone again. “It’s not worth the risk. Just take my phone. It’s fully charged, and the emergency contact is my second phone.” He paused when I seemed hesitant. “I realize you can probably do this alone, but just take it, in case you do need help. Or in case you need to warn us about something.”

“Just do it,” Gabriella agreed. “Don’t let pride cause you to take an unnecessary risk. It’s not worth it. You’re strong and fast, but you aren’t a god. Even you have limitations.”

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I focused on her determined expression in surprise, before gritting my teeth and grabbing the phone. Because she was right. If I failed, I’d always wonder if it was my fault for not accepting every help I could get.

“Fine,” I said flatly, slipping it in my pocket. “Now, go inside Gabriella. Lock everything.”

“I’ll make sure she stays safe,” Nick commented.

I leered at him, prompting Gabriella to chime in. “It’s okay, Kai. I think we can trust him. Just go. We’ll be fine.”

I returned my gaze to Nick, struggling to speak briefly. “Fine. But if you so much as touch her, I swear…”

Nick immediately held up his hands. “Of course! I won’t, I promise! I owe you my little sister’s life, remember?”

My eyes narrowed.

“Go Kai,” Gabriella urged. “Just go. Find her. You don’t have much time.”

I nodded again, turning without saying goodbye, taking off into a sprint as I tore my shirt off, my muscles actively reshaping as wings erupted from my back.

I then leapt upward.

Within seconds of my ancillary appendages beating as hard as they could, I was high in the air, far above the trees, desperately trying to track down either Serenity’s scent, or the stranger’s odor in the conglomerate of other aromas vying for my attention.

Thankfully, I had the starting point, leaving me a pretty obvious trail to follow, my nose a thousand times sharper than a bloodhound. However, the problem was that it led into the city, where I might be seen in the sky if I flew too low.

Thus, I stayed high above as I tried to navigate an invisible trail, leading me to the south side of the city where there were tons of warehouses and business offices that likely didn’t get frequented by the general public. At the very least, the streets were empty enough that I dared fly lower, realizing the trail was leading me past some of the newer buildings to what appeared to be a couple of older abandoned warehouses.

And then I found my first real clue, a black car parked outside the side of one of the warehouses, the smell of exhaust still potent in the air, though I was sure it had been here at least twenty or thirty minutes. At the very least, while I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in the air, the kidnapper had likely come straight here at a quick pace, whereas I couldn’t fly nearly as fast as a car was capable of going.

Even without the head start, I would have fallen behind, my only advantage being that I didn’t technically have to follow the roads.

Listening carefully as I began dropping toward the ground, folding my wings just enough to let myself start falling without losing control of my speed, I didn’t notice any signs of life inside the warehouse itself.

Finally dropping the last twenty feet to the heavily cracked pavement, reabsorbing my wings the moment I touched down, I focused only briefly on the empty car before following my nose to a metal door leading inside.

Part of me wanted to just barge in, but I knew stealth was the best approach to try to ensure Serenity’s survival. Thus, I cautiously opened the door, listening carefully for any noises within as it creaked slightly, before slipping in and closing it just as quietly behind me.

Dashing silently down the pitch-black hallway, which did nothing to hinder my grayish night vision from my glowing gold eyes, I finally picked up a faint heartbeat far off in the distance. However, I didn’t hear anything else, or anyone else. The scent of the stranger who’d taken her was thick in the air, but there were no signs of him being in the vicinity.

When I reached the end of the hallway, ignoring all the closed doors, I realized that the heartbeat wasn’t as far away as I thought, instead just being heavily muffled by another closed door. Opening it carefully, I peeked inside to discover myself in the main portion of the warehouse, which was completely empty aside from a solitary metal table lit up by just a single overhead light, as if this was some kind of massive operating room.

Granted, the light reached further than a spotlight, but it still left the vast majority of the empty warehouse nearly pitch-black.

And Serenity was lying on her stomach on that table, completely naked, with a tray of knives directly next to her head, her clothes in a heap on the floor. There were also a couple of large orange rubbery bands next to her bare feet, almost looking like some kind of makeshift tourniquets.

It was obvious from her open eyes, which had nowhere to look except the knives, that she was conscious, but her body was otherwise completely limp. There was nothing holding her down, and yet it was obvious she couldn’t move a muscle.

I could actually smell the drug leaking out of her pores, the same scent as back at the house, wondering if it was some kind of powerful muscle relaxer or something.

The idea pissed me off to no end.

Just the fact that the bastard clearly planned on cutting her up while she was conscious, killing her slowly while she was fully aware, chopping her up piece by piece until there was nothing left to even have a proper funeral…

Keeping her alive as long as possible by cutting off the blood flow with tourniquets…

I was about to go on a massacre myself.

However, I still hesitated, holding myself back as I strained all my senses, feeling like everything about this situation screamed ‘trap.’ After all, this whole setup had my friend looking like bait, and the note said that the kidnapper knew what I was.

Not who, but what.

Yet there was nothing.

Aside from the stranger’s odor, there was no heartbeat, breathing, or any other noises to indicate a second person was in the vicinity.

Deciding to just get this over with, caring about absolutely nothing else except getting my best friend to safety as fast as possible, I finally took action, beginning to creep into the room while looking in every direction for any signs of anything.

Yet there weren’t even cameras as far as I could tell.

 

Copyright © 2020 Kaizer Wolf

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