Chapter 12

"I forgot to ask, why are the three of you here? And where is your elder?" Sam said, clearing his throat, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the matter at hand.

"Erica is in a meeting with a human businessman and does not need me at her side, and William was already here, visiting Bartholomew," Alaric responded, eyeing me curiously like he was trying to read my mind.

"How long have the two of you been together?" I asked William and Bartholomew, glad to have a change of subject, as the very last thing I wanted was to think about Bast anymore than I already did.

"Almost a twenty years, now. We met at the meeting where they decided to ask you to become the king." Bartholomew responded with a grin as he looked over at William, who blushed and looked away.

"So, something good came of that meeting, then?"

"You mean other than the fact that you became the vampire king?" Alaric asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"He said something good, Alaric. Nothing about Lucifer or his ascension to becoming the king was particularly good for anyone." Sam said with a chuckle before looking up at my desk, where my phone had started ringing.

"Great," I groaned as I stood and walked to the desk, staring down at my phone for a long few moments, hesitating before I picked it up. I knew it had to be either Bast's parents or one of the guards watching Bast, as Sam was the only other person who had my phone number. I couldn't help but be surprised when Bast's number flashed across my screen, as she'd never called me before. Not of her own volition, in any case.

"I need to take this. Excuse me." I said to the men, then took my phone and left the building, ensuring that the men could not overhear my conversation. "Bast, are you alright?"

"Uh, hey- um, sorry," Robert said, stumbling over his words as if he'd never spoken to me before.

"What is it, Robert?" I asked with a sigh, unable to stop the disappointment I felt when it wasn't Bast who was calling me. It surprised me just how excited I got when I thought that it was Bast, though it probably shouldn't have. 'Sometimes I forget just how much I care about that little human, until times like this.'

"Well, -" Robert said, cutting himself off as I could hear him taking a long and shaky breath before he could get up the courage to say anything more. "Bast is gone."

"What do you mean, she's gone, Robert?" I asked, sinking my fangs into my tongue to stop myself from doing anything I may regret before I'd heard him out. 'Gone, as in dead, or disappeared? No, she can't be dead. If she was, I would be recreant.' I told myself as I waited for Robert to respond, which was taking much longer than I would have liked.

"Like, I came upstairs to get her for dinner, and she's not here. I have no idea where she is."

"When is the last time you saw her?"

"Huh? Oh, before she went to school, I guess."

"You guess?" I growled, then sighed as I ended the call and ran towards Bast's house, no longer having the patience to wait or to deal with his endless bullshit any longer.

When I arrived at her house, I didn't bother waiting for one of them to open the door, so I twisted the handle until it broke, then stormed upstairs and into Bast's room where Robert was still holding her phone up to his ear, trying to see if I was still on the other line.

"Did she have any afterschool projects that would keep her this late?" I asked him, rolling my eyes as he jumped back with a loud yell of surprise.

"After school projects that would keep her for over twenty-four hours? I don't think so." Robert said after taking a few moments to catch his breath, gawking up at me in horror as I snarled and took a few threatening steps forward.

"You just said that you saw her before school. What the hell do you mean, twenty-four hours?"

"I saw her before school yesterday, is what I meant."

"You worthless piece of human filth!" I growled as I balled my fists, shaking my head as I did everything I could not to choke the life out of the man cowering before me. "Does she have any friends that she may have stayed the night with?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Huh? Oh, she has this friend, Valerie, that she spends a lot of time with. She lives a few blocks over." Robert gasped out, pointing to the left.

"Very well," I said with a sigh before storming out of the house and walking towards the left, where Robert had pointed. I would have used my vampire speed but decided a human pace was better, as I did not know if anyone was watching, as there were multiple security cameras on the houses surrounding Bast’s, on the route I was currently walking.

Every step I took felt like an eternity until I finally caught a whiff of Bast's scent. The rush of relief I felt when I heard Bast's voice could be likened to nothing else I'd ever experienced, as I felt every drop of anger and worry leaving my being as I came closer to the house where I heard her talking with another girl who smelled and sounded around the same age.

"Okay, come on!" a girl's voice said from the other side of the door, right before it swung open, just as I was raising my hand to knock. "Oh, my-" the girl cried out when she saw me, putting a hand to her chest as her heart began pounding in fear.

"Are you alright?" I asked her after giving her a few moments to catch her breath, narrowing my eyes as I looked at the young girl standing before me. 'She looks oddly familiar, but I do not know why.' I thought as I tried to figure out why this girl both looked and smelled familiar.

"Val, are you alright?" Bast gasped as she ran to her friend's side, her green eyes wide in shock, then quickly darkening in anger when she saw me. "What the hell, Damien!"

"Your father called me because he did not know where you were," I responded before turning my attention back to the girl who'd opened the door. 'So that is why she looks so familiar. She is the girl who threw herself at me at that party. I cannot believe Bast is friends with a girl like this. The shameless gold-digging harlot. She was wearing caked-on makeup that night, and now she is wearing none. It's a shame, seeing as how she is quite beautiful without the layers of paint on her face.' I thought as I took in the girl's appearance, noting her nearly perfect porcelain skin, long blonde hair, and big doe-like brown eyes. 'Such a beautiful young woman, ruined by such a repulsive character.'

"My dad called you? I left a note!" Bast gasped out in disbelief, then shook her head with a sigh. "Well, you found me. Now you can go away."

"You will return home, Bastet, now," I responded, raising an eyebrow as I glared down at her. 'Just who in the hell does she think she's talking to like that?'

"The hell I will!"

"The hell you won't," I said as I took her forearm and pulled her out of the house, turning towards Valerie. "I apologize for frightening you. Bast must return home now." I said before taking Bast's hand in mine, doing everything I could to ignore how small and fragile her hand felt as we walked back towards her house.

"Let me go, Damien!" Bast whined out as she continually tried to pry my hand off of hers, but to no avail, as she didn't stand a chance, as we both already knew.

"I will do no such thing. On this alleged note, did you tell your parents that you would be gone for over twenty-four hours?"

"Alleged note? Really?" Bast asked me as she continued her futile efforts to free herself from my grasp before finally giving up and walking alongside me. "I said that I would be spending the night. Isn't that enough?"

"No, it is not enough. Why did you leave your phone?" I asked, then noticed that her heart was beating faster than normal, making me realize that I was walking much too fast and forcing her to overwork herself to keep up, so I slowed down to allow her to walk at a slower pace.

"I didn't mean to; I just forgot it. I don't see why it matters, Damien. I'm alive, isn't that all you need me to be? After all, I am just a.-"

"If you call yourself a blood-bag whore one more time, Bastet, you will surely regret it." I snarled, cutting her off before she could get the words out, coming to a stop before yanking her hand, forcing her to come to a stop as well. "Do not speak about yourself in such ways!" I growled as I leaned down, so our faces were less than an inch apart, staring into her eyes as I dared her to say the words.

Bast gasped out with a small whimper, which sounded more like a purr of arousal as her beautiful green eyes went wide in a mixture of shock and fear. "I- I'm sorry." She whispered in a voice so small and soft; it tugged at heartstrings I didn't know I had.

"Do not apologize, Bastet, simply do not do it," I growled, doing everything I could to hide the softness in my voice, as she'd managed to devour every ounce of anger I had the moment she'd made that noise of fear.

"I won't, Damien. I'm sorry." She whispered with a tiny nod, then looked down as she squeezed her legs together, waiting for me to release her so that we could continue our journey back to her house.

The way she squeezed her legs together did not escape my notice, however, as I cupped her chin with my hand and pushed her back until she was backed against a fence, searching her eyes as I pressed a leg between hers, listening as her heart rate spiked, and the smell of her arousal invaded my every sense. 'So, she does want me. I knew it.'

"Let me go, Damien!" Bast cried out with a whimper, trying everything she could, not to show me how much she wanted me, but it was too late, as I already knew, and she couldn't hide it anymore.

"Very well," I responded as I straightened my back and allowed her to catch her breath, gasping out as she tried to regain her composure. 'This whole time I've been telling myself that I wouldn't take her as my own because she didn't want me, and I would not force her into being with a man she didn't want. I was wrong. She wants me, much more than she would ever willingly admit.' I thought as I watched her, waiting for her to begin walking, as I didn't want to rush her.

"Why did you do that?" Bast finally asked after what felt like an eternity of silence before she started walking forward and again fought to free her hand from my grasp.

"I do not know," I responded honestly, watching her out of the corner of my eye as we walked, trying to gauge what she was thinking. 'The one time that I want my power to work, and it won't. Hmm, I wonder if it's because of what just happened?'

"Well, my house is right there. I can walk myself the rest of the way."

"As you wish. The next time you decided to spend the night at a friend's house, take your phone, and make sure your parents know. I will see you in a few months." I said as I came to a stop and released her hand.

"I- okay," Bast responded with a nod, furrowing her brows in confusion as she looked down at her hand as if she couldn't believe that I agreed to let her walk the rest of the way home.

"Tell your father that the front door handle is broken, and to fix it immediately," I said as I walked past Bast, back towards my office, waiting until I was no longer in view of the security cameras so that I could run back to the office.

"What happened?" Sam asked as I arrived back at our building, leaning against my desk as I hung my jacket and sat in my chair with a groan.

"They left?" I asked, nodding my head towards the couches where Bartholomew, Alaric, and William were seated when I left.

"Yes. Erica's meeting ended, so Alaric had to go. William and Bartholomew said they were headed home. Bastet is alright?"

"Yes. It was a misunderstanding." I said with a nod as I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning back in my chair as I looked up at Sam, narrowing my eyes in thought for a few moments. "I will do as you said, Alastair. Once she has completed college, she will be mine.”