106. Missing Blake

Bridgeport, present day
Day Two in the search for Blake...

The warm ray of sunlight sneaked through the crack in the curtain. 

Her cold body, buried underneath covers, with her grief and numbness wrapped tightly around herself, refused to acknowledge its presence, refused to accept the gift of hope from the birth of a new day.

For a second Eloise lay under the covers, her heart filled with a longing so strong, and so deep she thought it would split her in two.

She clutched the blankets tightly around herself, thinking if she stayed still and lay quietly enough, heartbreak would walk past her, anger and fear would pass her by, and once again her life would return to its normal blissful state.

But the subdued voices beyond her bedroom door, the rapid pacing, the agitated cries, reminded her she was still caught in a nightmare she’d never awaken from because she wasn’t asleep, she was watching everything play out.

She sat up and ran a tired hand through her hair. A sticky feeling on her chest made her glance down and she immediately burst into silent tears. Blake’s feeding time had come and gone. Her heavy, aching breasts were evidence of that. The clammy puddles on her tank top reminded her she hadn’t nursed Blake in a little over twenty fours.

She wondered if he’d been fed or if his diaper had been changed. She wished she could tell Tamsyn to rub his back in slow circular motions to help him burp after feeding him. She wished there was a way to give Tamsyn Mr. Bear, his favorite stuffed animal; Blake would never fall asleep without it. But most of all she wished she could tell Tamsyn to look after her precious son…

The door opened slightly and Leigh poked her head through. Her smile was a little unsure when her eyes found Eloise’s.

She waddled in, and sat down beside her friend.

They made small talk for a few minutes. Eloise wanted to know where Lily was and Leigh explained she was with a sitter. It wasn’t long before they ran out of things to say. Eloise didn’t care much about filling the painful silence, Leigh did. She wished there was something she could say or do to make things better for Eloise.

“You scared us,” Eloise cried, as if she’d suddenly remembered she had company.

Leigh knew she was referring to yesterday's episode at the police station, and she smiled apologetically and explained she’d just been discharged from the hospital; Krisis only brought her over because she’d promised not get worked up again.

“We’re having triplets,” she added as an afterthought. She knew baby talk might upset Eloise, but the relationship they had…their friendship…they’d never kept secrets from each other.

Eloise nodded absently, as if having triplets was an everyday occurrence.

“Your parents are on the way, I don’t have the details, they spoke to Dev,” Leigh told her. For a while she writhed on the bed, trying to bring up her knees and get comfortable, but after a few seconds of struggling with her huge tummy she gave up and crossed her legs instead.

Eloise didn’t react to her announcement. She carried on staring at her with a vacant expression on her face and Leigh looked away. She couldn’t look at her pain and sadness, couldn’t confront her grief. It was all too much for her.

 “We’ll find him. The police followed up with the hospital. There was an employee in the Records department named Sasha Nielsen and they think she’s Tamsyn. They’re raiding her last known address now…” She filled Eloise in on what she’d missed while she slept.

“And no one thought to wake me up?” Eloise jumped on her then, her angry words falling hard on Leigh.

“Devon thought it’s best not wake you. You needed to rest. The cops are doing everything they can to find him,” Leigh explained as calmly as she could, but Eloise’s anger was making her agitated. She stood up when she felt the familiar cramps.

Krisis stalked in, his blue eyes sparking furiously. He was in the living room when he sensed her distress.

Without saying a word he lifted her in his arms, and gently placed her on the couch in the living room.

You promised not to get caught up in this! He growled, planting his angry thoughts in her head.

I’m okay. Eloise and I were just talking. She assured him, but she could tell by the deep scowl on his face he wasn’t convinced.

One more incident Leigh, we are going home. Devon and Eloise will have to sort their shit on their own! He threatened, but she refused to be drawn further into their argument…

A knock on the front door took the heat from her. Krimsyn and  J.D. walked in, followed by Michaela and Cameron.

“Breakfast!” Krimsyn announced merrily, holding up the shopping bag in her hand.

Leigh knew breakfast could only be plasma fruit and juice or blood packs, either way the triplets were sorted.

What’s going in? She asked Krisis.

He placed her on his lap and looked at her for a while before he answered. Help. Devon refuses to sit by and wait for the police to find Tamsyn. He wants to find her first, and they all offered to help. Ben will be here soon. As well as Carla and Gabe!

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Michaela and Cameron smiling at each other. Something about their sudden closeness…He couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge it or put a name on it, but it was there, and it bothered him. And he wondered if J.D. saw it too.

Or maybe he was reading too much into things. It’s possible, he’d barely slept since they found out Leigh was pregnant and Blake’s kidnapping had added to his stress.

But still…he didn’t like the way Cameron’s eyes seemed to light up whenever he looked at Michaela, or the way she blushed when she found his eyes on her…

A silly little crush. That’s all it is. Krisis told himself over and over.

He hoped he was right. For Cameron’s sake!

He left Leigh’s side when his niece brought her a mug of warm blood, afraid if he stuck around he’d be tempted to ask her about the loaded glances she kept stealing at Cameron.

Devon, caught in an intense discussion with the vampires, did a double take when he saw his sister drink from the mug. It was the first time he saw her drink blood and he felt sick, but he forced himself to hang on to the contents of his stomach.

He moved out of her range, refusing to witness anymore of her strange behavior.

“Okay, if we are going to do this, we have to do it right!” J.D.’s voice snapped his attention back to the situation with Blake.

“I don’t want any mess-ups like the last time with Vladimir. We go in, get Blake and get out. Let the cops deal with Tamsyn. Are we clear?” J.D. looked at the small group, they all nodded except Devon.

“Are we clear Devon?” J.D. asked again, holding the other man’s gaze.

“Sure. We’re cool,” Devon agreed, but they all knew it was a lie, another reason they didn’t want him to get involved from the start. He was deeply invested in this, and too emotional. They knew he would kill Tamsyn if given means and opportunity. But he wouldn’t be kept out. He wanted to be involved in finding his son.

“Did you call Gabe and Carla?” Krisis asked Krimsyn and she nodded.

Carla and Gabe were a girlfriend and boyfriend team of trackers. They could track anyone, human and vampire alike, they only needed a personal item of the person they were meant to find. The psychic prints and the person’s scent on the object helped locate the person. They used to be known as the best trackers in Bridgeport, but they’d since retired and chose to lead a reclusive life, away from the spotlight and the drama that comes with it. Krisis had had to beg, plead, blackmail and promise to pay them double their normal fee just to get them out of retirement.

“We’ll need something of Tamsyn’s, a clothing item, jewelry, anything she might have touched, or come into contact with, but it has to be small and portable,” Krimsyn turned to Devon and he stared at her blankly.

“I don’t have anything of hers,” he mumbled. “She moved out a long time ago.”

“Will this help?” Eloise asked from the doorway, holding up Mr. Bear, Blake’s favorite teddy bear.

She’d been standing there for a while, listening to plans of finding her son being made without her input, watching Leigh drink blood and talk to Michaela.

“I think the nurse, I mean, Tamsyn, might have touched it when she grabbed Blake from me. She might have touched his bag too. I don’t know. Just take it…But please bring it back. It’s Blake’s favorite toy, you know? He likes Mr. Bear.” She mumbled. Her words spinned around the room, not making any sense. She dropped the stuffed animal in Krimsyn’s hand.

She turned towards bedroom, but stopped when she felt the wet stains on her breasts.

“It’s his feeding time you know,” she announced. They all turned to her, watching her wrap her arms tightly around herself, trying to hide the stains on her chest.

“He likes me to rub his back after he feeds. He won’t burp unless I rub his back in circular motions. He won’t sleep unless he has Mr. Bear with him. It’s his feeding time!” She cried, tears filling her eyes. Devon reached for her, but she pushed him away and ran into their bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Devon turned to Leigh, his eyes pleading with her to do something. And she turned to Krisis, begging him to let her go after Eloise and comfort her. He hated being put on the spot like that, but the pleading look in her eyes undid him, and he silently agreed, hoping their conversation this time wouldn’t end with Leigh getting distressed again…

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Note: the poll results are in...drum rolls...more drum rolls....and more drum rolls...Okay, okay, I'll announce it already!

2 people prefer not to read adult content, i.e. steamy love scenes, in Krisis. 17 don't mind reading it and 30 of you would like to see more naughty. So I guess something naughty this way comes. But I will give fair amount of warning in those chapters.

Thank you all for indulging me, and for all your continued support, always!

BTW, this whole season will be focusing on finding Blake, so there will be a lot of sadness ahead. I don't mean to make any of you sad or depressed, but it is what it is. If my characters depress you, I suggest you sit this season out, it's up to you. But for those who choose to continue reading, thank you, it means a lot to me!