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Chapter 28
Three days later, Nick drove one of the coterie vans with shapeshifter entertainers, as well as Ambrose, Ellania, and Lauren. The performing vampires had gone to the valley before the sun went down, so they’d be in the theater when they rose. With the extra shows, the first performance was earlier in the day, and they would have to rise and perform much earlier than anyone was accustomed to. The youngest of them wouldn’t make the first performance, but most were old enough to rise in time.
The theater with the all-supernatural cast was made for this, so all backstage areas as well as the main performance hall were light-tight.
Most of the shapeshifters, however, had spent the night in the coterie mansion, and they were all riding into the valley together in a convoy of vans, with the one Nick was driving carrying fourteen people.
The show would go on, but mostly only because the Concilio insisted they get things back to normal for the humans. Given the choice, Nick felt Gavin would’ve kept the theaters closed until the threat was over, because whoever was hiding Morella was capable of thwarting Apollonius, and that was damned scary.
To do his job as a physical therapist, he should be at one of the dance-intensive shows with humans, helping his patients warm up beforehand, and then working on them after the show. However, to do his job as Rex, he needed to be with his lionesses, watching over them, and most of them were working the supernatural show.
And to do his job as one of Lauren’s guards, he needed to be right where he was, driving Lauren down the mountain. Gavin hadn’t assigned him this job, but the Amakhosi had. Realistically, Lauren’s security detail was probably overkill, with a demigod, a goddess, and a Rex, but that was fine. Nick wasn’t going to take chances with Lauren’s safety.
Lauren was on the phone for part of the trip, talking to caterers and lighting people, and working the logistics for four showings today instead of three. In some ways, Lauren’s job should be Chief Problem Solver, because everyone came to her with their problems and expected her to fix them.
And she did.
The fact she had two degrees from Harvard, one in business and another in theater, would seem on the surface to make her ideally suited for this job, but he figured she could’ve done it without the degrees. If she’d spent those four years in pretty much any theater, she’d have easily gained the hands-on knowledge necessary to do this job. However, without the degrees, it’s possible no one would’ve trusted her in the position. Well, Gavin would’ve, but only after he’d seen her capable of handling the job for someone else, and that only happened because of the degrees, and the networking necessary while she obtained them.
For his job as physical therapist, he absolutely needed the things he’d learned in college, but—
The van in front of him went off the road, careening and crashing down the side of the mountain. The van several cars behind him slammed into an oncoming car in the inside lane, and the van directly behind him crashed into the back of his van. Everything happened at once, so it was several long moments before he understood why Ellania was making a keening scream behind him, and Ambrose was standing in the center of the van, turning and looking every which way.
Four of the people in their van were gone, including Lauren.
Nick brought the van to a stop and looked over their van. Four people had simply disappeared into thin air. He checked in with the other vehicles and discoveredallof the people in the van that had crashed down the mountain were gone, two of the vehicles were half empty, and one of them still had everyone. Most of the other vans were either nearly empty or nearly full.
All apex predators had been left behind, and the not-so-scary predator shifters along withallprey shifters had been taken. Also, the three humans, Lauren included, had been taken.
Gavin was still dead to the world, so Nick contacted Queenie as soon as it happened, and kept her updated with information. She had them all pile into the three vans still mechanically sound, if a bit beat up, and return to the coterie house. The rest, she assured him, would be towed to a body shop.
And then he called his king, though he knew the news would have already reached him because Ambrose and Ellania would’ve let Mordecai know immediately.
“What the hell? Report!” Nathan sounded pissed, but as always, controlled.
“I was driving the van in something of a convoy, taking shapeshifters down the mountain to the theater, when a van in front of me went off the side of the mountain — we now know that van was emptied of everyone, driver included. Vans behind me and in front of me were involved in crashes when their drivers disappeared.”
“All prey and the lesser predators?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I’m watching a satellite replay, and there’s nothing to indicate unfriendlies in the vicinity. As you said, the vans merely went out of control. It didn’t happen all at once. The front van first, then the next, then the next, all the way to the end. It’s easy to see which vans lost their drivers, and when.”
“How do we get her back? Ambrose can’t flash to her.” Nick was holding on to a false outward calm, but inside, he was a mess.
“Neither can Mordecai. Get everyone back to the coterie house, and get me a list of everyone missing — name and type of shifter.”
“Three were human, counting Lauren. The other two are the mates of shifters. One works with the stage lighting and another helps out in the dressing room for fast changes.”
“None taken are apex predatory shifters?” Nathan asked.
“Not to my knowledge at this point, but we’ll know for certain once Queenie can provide an exact list of those missing.”
* * * *
Gavin awakened to soul-shattering pain. He didn’t have to breathe, but it helped move the process along, so he took deep, painful breaths until the pain gradually dissipated and was gone.
Master! We need you! Lauren’s been taken, and others.
