(57) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Piers, asking every fifteen minutes is not going to get him here any faster. When I get the word that it's safe I'll go get him, and not before."

"I know, Helmut, but—" Piers wandered away, muttering "Sorry" under his breath.

"It's times like this I wish he could go out during the day," Linden said. "There's so much to do then."

Helmut nodded. "I was hoping that taking him to feed earlier would help alleviate some of his tension. I guess not."

"Nothing will until Roderick's here. If it were me I'd be feeling the same way."

"Seems to me you did at one point, and gave me a major heart attack as a result." Helmut hugged him, then said, "Go see if you can find something to keep him busy." When Linden grinned wickedly, Helmut smacked his ass. "Not that, boy."

"I know. Just teasing you." Linden kissed him quickly and went in search of Piers.

Piers wasn't the only one worried. Three days with no word from Roderick had Helmut doing his own pacing, just not when the young men were around. When he'd taken Piers to the town several hundred miles from where they were living to feed he'd also placed a call to emergency number Roderick had given him. There had been no answer, only the message that that number was no longer in service.

"If I have to go searching for you," he growled, afraid that his friend had either been caught, or had moved on to a new hiding place. If it was the former there was little Helmut could do and he knew it. If the latter, then he'd just have to wait until Roderick could get in touch with him. The only other option was to go to where he was supposed to have met Roderick to bring him back and hope the vampire had left him some kind of message.

"Guess if that's what I have to do—" Seconds later he was in a dark alley in a major Asian city. He checked to be certain no one was watching then moved swiftly to the street. He would have transported directly into the building Roderick was using but the vampire hadn't sent him a visual for it. He did however have the address.

Casually strolling down the still crowded thoroughfare, Helmut paused in front of a closed shop, using the darkened window to check the doorway of the building he needed. It was vacant and unlit, both pluses. He crossed the road, opened the door and stepped into a ill-lit hallway that reeked of cooked food. Taking the rickety stairs to the second floor two at a time, he stopped when he got there to decide which way he needed to go. The rooms he needed were at the far end of the hall. When he got to them he tried the door. It swung open at his touch. Carefully, every sense alert, he entered. The main room, simply but elegantly furnished, was empty. He passed through it to the far door. It, too, opened at his touch.

"Oh hell, Rod," he growled seconds later.