Chapter 27

It was in the mid morning of the next day when Rose weakly opened her eyes to her bad vision. Even though her vision was terrible, she could tell that she was in a hospital due to the thick scent of drugs and disinfectants.

Rose attempted to sit up straight but her soreness kept her at bay. Having no other choice but to lay down, she stared at the ceiling. Suddenly a flashback of what happened to her came to her. She gasped at the memory of hearing Whitney's voice and seeing her figure.

"She is still alive." Rose muffled with tears stinging in her eyes.

"Who is still alive?" a masculine voice sounded and Rose cringed at the recognition of it.

"What are you doing here, Benjamin?" she asked him with indifference.

Sitting comfortably by the bed side was Benjamin. He wore a smart suit and tie with a serious look plastered all over his face. Rose listened to the mini tapping sounds of him typing something in his phone. He showed no interest in Rose who laid there bandaged up.

Benjamin took his eyes off his phone when he finally noticed that Rose hadn't answered his question. "Rose," he began. "who is still alive?" he asked her again.

"That is none of your business." Rose vehemently told him.

"Mm, none of my business, huh?" Benjamin raised his eyebrow. "Well, when the life of my son is put at risk because of your fetish fantasies, it becomes my business." Benjamin icily told her and she scoffed.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"Don't play dumb." Benjamin gave a slow sarcastic laugh that forced an eye roll from Rose. "Everyone knows about your stupid attempt to find your friend's murderers." he said and Rose gasped. "Or should I say, your crush's murderers." he snickered and Rose faced away in disgust. "The news is all over the papers. Oh look, I have one now!"

Benjamin put the paper before Rose's eyes. The headlines read;

'COPS GO MISSING AFTER PURSUING PACKET BROTHERS'

"Get that stupid paper out of my face. In case you have forgotten, I can't see anything without my lenses." Rose breathed hard as she felt herself getting agitated.

Benjamin laughed at her annoyance. "Oops ,my bad." he said and Rose rolled her eyes again. "So, when you went after the Packets, did you think about my son?" he asked her but got no response.

Benjamin leaned closer and cupped his ear in her direction. He smiled at the angry silence that was maintained.

"Ah, the classic silent treatment. Well then, we shall see each other in court. I am taking my boy."

Suddenly Rose had enough energy to get up and she roughly grabbed Benjamin by the collar - almost pulling him off his chair. She clenched her jaw and wrinkles formed on her forehead.

"Listen to me you womanizing prick. You are never going to take my son away from me you hear? Never! I would rather die than watch you raise him."

"Is that so?" Benjamin smirked and felt her tighten her grip on his collar.

"What are you even doing here? We both know that you don't care about Mason and I." Rose icily replied.

"How can I not care about my son? It is you I can't stand. Marrying you was the biggest mistake of my life." Benjamin spat back.

"At least we agree on something. Get out of my room."

Rose let go of him and laid back down with her face to the ceiling. Benjamin straightened his wrinkled shirt and adjusted his tie. He shot one nasty glare at Rose and walked out of the room.

****

"What the fuck?" Danny gasped when he and Lil Jack saw their destroyed cabin.

They couldn't keep their mouths closed as they stepped out of the truck. Danny didn't even close the door before taking shaky steps forward. He scanned the place in disbelief while Lil Jack held his head in shock.

The cabin was almost completely in ruins with no sign of Billy, Madeline and Monique. They had no idea of who would have done this. Truth be told, the Packets had a lot of enemies but none of them alive knew where their secret hideout was.

Danny was still looking on confused when Lil Jack rushed into the ruins to obviously look for Billy. Danny continued to look around in total disbelief. He wondered who or what could have caused so much destruction.

Could those two have gotten into a fight or something? Danny held his chin in thought. He shrugged the thought off when he remembered just how close Madeline and Monique were.

"Danny!" Lil Jack yelled from inside and interrupted Danny's thoughts. "Come quick, you need to see this!"

Danny got in and ignored the ruins. He covered his mouth and coughed at the dust. Going in further, he followed Lil Jack's voice down to what was left of the basement. Danny found him struggling to get a tree trunk off Monique who was gasping heavily in pain.

Danny lifted the trunk and Lil Jack pulled Monique out. Danny set the trunk back down and got hold of Monique - smacking her in order to keep her awake. He needed to get some answers from her.

"Who did this to you? Who fucking did all this?" he asked her.

"She was so strong that we didn't stand a chance. Poor Madeline, she was killed on the spot." Monique huffed, her face was covered in sweat.

"You aren't telling me who did this." Danny aggressively told her.

"I don't know man. She came out of nowhere. I still don't know why a darkas god came for that chick you kept hostage." Monique whimpered.

"What the fuck would a darkas god want with her?" Lil Jack walked back and forth in panic.

"I'm starting to wish we had just killed her the moment we caught her. We should have realized that something fishy was going on when she came here alone. She was bait." Danny lamented with a serious tone.

"Please help me. I need blood." Monique longingly gazed into Danny's eyes.

Danny took out a knife from his pocket. He cut his palm and put it on Monique's mouth. She sucked his blood hungrily. Her dull yellow eyes started glowing. She shuddered at the warm blood restoring her strength. Danny felt her sink her nails into his flesh and pulled out his hand in fear that she would drain him. Monique huffed and puffed with her greedy dead eyes fixed on the blood getting sealed away by a handkerchief.

"Stay here," Danny ordered her and she obediently nodded her head. Danny turned to Lil Jack. "Let's go and look for Billy."

****

Asher swam gracefully in Steve's backyard pool. It was a hot afternoon and all she desperately needed was a nice good old fashioned swim. After several failed attempts to get Steve into the pool, she swam alone while Steve read the paper.

Asher got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat on Steve's laps. That, however, did not help her get his attention. Asher pouted at the fact that he was sucked into the paper. She peeked at it and gasped at the headline.

"Someone knows where your brothers are." she voiced out her fears.

"That person was Rajat Mandhan, a former intern at the firm. It says here that he persuaded the police to go on a rescue mission in order to save Rose. She was apparently hunting down my brothers because she suspected them of killing Whitney."

"Rose? You mean that orange head with anger issues that is ever flirting with you?" Asher asked Steve.

"Flirting with me?" Steve looked at her above his glasses puzzled. "She hates my guts!"

Asher rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb Steve. She is ever flirting with you when I visit you at the office and it gets on my nerves. Actually, I remember she used to get on Whitney's nerves too." Asher pouted but then suddenly sighed and Steve knew why.

"I thought I told you not to feel guilty about what happened between Whitney and I." he softly reminded her.

Asher set her glass on the table and wrapped her arms around Steve. "How can I not when you broke up with her because of me?"

"We were long over. Neither of us had the courage to say it." Steve squeezed her thigh but received a sigh in response.

"I guess you're right." Asher picked up her glass and took a big gulp.

"Anyway, Rose didn't listen to me when I told her to stop snooping. I'm impressed that she went as far as tracking them down. I wouldn't expect anything less from her." Steve changed the uncomfortable subject to Asher's relief.

"Do you think that she knows your true identity?" she tucked her lips, her blue eyes exposing the fear in them.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she does." his words only lowered her spirit.

"I'd hate to see you going to jail baby." Asher openly frowned.

Steve held her close and gave her belly a rub. "Don't worry, I will always be there for both you and our child." he assured her to which he received a faint smile.

****

Danny and Lil Jack searched high and low for Billy - calling out his name but got no response. They both hoped that he was okay. Lil Jack got tired and sat on a rock while Danny continued with the search.

Feeling pressed, Danny stopped to take a piss. As he urinated, he looked around himself. He then spotted Billy's boot behind a bush. Danny jumped a little and zipped up his pants. He got his revolver out and walked towards the bush with caution. The dry leaves barely made a sound underneath his boots.

When he set his eyes on Billy's remains, his knees got weak and he knelt down with his mouth wide open. Not bearing to look at the sight anymore, Danny faced down and bit his lip. Lil Jack caught up with him and when he saw the body, he vomited. Danny dropped his gun, faced the sky and let out a loud yell that scared the birds out of their nests.

****

Deep down, underground, ran some hallways and passages of a secret underground base. Sean, the vampire who killed Paul, walked in the hallways with his hands in his pockets and unlit cigarette in between his lips. Walking beside him was a skinny white haired boy vampire that looked 9 but was at least 546 years old. He had a cold and blank facial expression.

The two went down some stairs in silence and came face to face with a steel door. Sean opened the door and walked in after the boy. They stepped into a laboratory filled with machinery and busy vampire lab assistants. They turned their attention to Dr Spencer, the scientist who was with Sean on the day of Paul's murder. He was looking at glowing test tubes and writing notes about them.

"I am so close that I can feel it." Dr Spencer chuckled in excitement.

"I can see that you are not done yet." the boy announced their presence.

Dr Spencer turned to Sean and him. He scowled at them and put his notebook on his desk. "I thought I made it clear that I don't want anyone but my lab assistants when I am down here working." he sternly said to them.

"We are to check your progress under the instructions of the Great One. The Great One is losing patience with you." the boy said with a bored look on his face.

"Tell the Great One that I will be done soon. I am almost there." Dr Spencer confidently explained.

"Okay," The boy said. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sean poking some test tubes that had green glowing liquid in them. "I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to touch those." he said to him.

"Put a sock in it midget. I am just taking a look." Sean rudely answered back.

"I will take no offense to the words of a faggot vampire." the boy answered back in a colder tone.

"You homophobe piece of shit. You want to go now? I can take you. Don't be so fucking arrogant just because you are the Great One's favorite." Sean cracked his knuckles with a scowl.

"I sense jealousy in your voice." the boy raised his eyebrow. "You know that challenging me will lead you to your death."

"Why you -" Sean's fangs stretched along with his claws but the boy stared back at him unfazed.

"Enough!" Dr Spencer raised his voice and it echoed throughout the laboratory, momentarily distracting the busy assistants. "Ezio and Sean, in as much as I would love to see you tear each other limb from limb, I have work to get back to. Get out of my lab."

"Yeah sure," Ezio said and left. Sean soon followed out after.