Sandra, most commonly called Sandy, looked at her husband Rick as the phone went silent. “I think our son is hiding something.” she said.
“I think you might be right. Where was that hospital located?”
“Glasgow, Montana.”
“We just need to think of why he was in Montana.”
“He did mention Lucas.” Sandra said.
“Call your sister, see if she has an address on Lucas, or knows how to get ahold of him, then I’ll get a message to Shoyebi.”
Sandra nodded, and dialed her sister Maria.
“Maria!” she enthused, putting up a false pleasantry. “How are you? I haven’t heard from you since your divorce. Are things going well?”
Rick tuned out his wife’s small talk and turned his thoughts toward Shoyebi. Shoyebi was their Vodunon, their priest, but he was also a rather old vampire, one who wanted to create a child. He wouldn’t choose one of his followers, calling them valuable, but lost to their upbringing. He had to help them go from being lost to finding their way to the light. No – what he wanted was an actual child, one brought up in his religion and beliefs when the time was right. in other words, he wanted Lucius.
Rick, Sandra and other members of their faith thought this a high honor, not only for Lucius, but for Rick and Sandra as well. The Vodunon would not be pleased. Wasn’t pleased, he corrected his thoughts. Shoyebi was more than unhappy when he learned his mark had run away – in fact, he was downright angry, demanding that they find him. They’d had no luck in tracking him down until they’d heard he was in a mental hospital. they ran into legal problems there, as they were no longer his guardians, what with him being eighteen now. What would Shoyebi do, assuming they could get information of where Lucius was? He wondered to what extremes he would go in order to secure Lucius as his own.
Maria was chatty, so it was some time before Sandra could get out of her Lucas’ address – she used the excuse that she wanted to send a belated birthday gift to her favorite nephew (never mind the fact that Lucas was her only nephew). Eventually she hung up with Maria, and waved the little piece of paper that held Lucas’ address.
“It’s not a specific house address, but it does give us a location.”
“Where would that be?”
“Willow Creek, Montana.” she said. “That sounds insanely familiar, for some reason. Rick…bring me Lucius’ laptop again, will you? I want to give another crack at unlocking it and see if we can get anywhere before we talk to Shoyebi.”
Rick nodded, retrieving the computer from his son’s bedroom, carrying it downstairs and setting it in front of his wife. Sandra opened it up, and spent the next couple of hours trying to decipher the password to unlock it. Frustrated, she tried something on a whim, and it worked.
“Rick, I’m in.” she said, as she pulled up email and search history.
“What was the password?”
“It was a date….I think it was the date of his first date. You remember that girl he had us meet.”
“Yes. Amanda, wasn’t it? Pity we couldn’t convince her to join us…things would have gone much more smoothly.”
“I don’t think he went to Willow Creek to see Lucas.” she said after a few minutes.
“What makes you say that?”
“Lucas may have been attending the university there, but apparently, that’s where she moved and enrolled to.”
“Makes sense. It’s a wonder we didn’t think to track her down before this.”
“Finally, we have something to present to Shoyebi.”
“Speaking of our Vodunon, service is soon. We should head to temple and greet him with our news.”
“Agreed.” Sandra said, and the two of them gathered keys, purse, and the laptop, and headed to the meet for the evening. When service was over, they approached Shoyebi.
“Vodunon.” Rick started. “We have news.”
“Oh?” the old vampire responded. “Good news, I hope.”
“Yes.” Rick responded. “We found Lucius.”
“This is good news indeed. Where is he?”
“In Montana.” Sandra replied. “We think he headed there to see his ex-girlfriend, before falling into some trouble.”
“Why have you not thought of this before?”
“We just didn’t think of her.” Sandra stated honestly.
“How do you come by this conclusion?”
“He called today – said he was visiting his cousin.”
“His cousin happens to reside in Willow Creek as well.” Rick continued for his wife.
“Good. Very good.”
“What will you have us do?”
He gestured to the laptop. “Is this his?”
“Yes.”
“Hand it over.”
Without a word, they handed it over to the old vampire.
“Calculate how long it would take to travel to this Willow Creek, and find suitable accommodations. I will be going along with you and whomever else I decide to send, to avoid mistakes happening. Lucius will not escape me again.”
“Yes master.” they replied, and went to work. Within the hour, they had mad sufficient travel arrangements for their master, as well as rented a house in the area, and had travel times. It would take roughly a day, but if they left soon they could be in town by the following evening.
In the meantime, Soyebi was perusing the contents of Lucius’ laptop, from private journal entries to e-mails, to photos. It was easy to guess from all that he had seen just how much he cared for this girl – he spoke of her relatively often, and had several pictures of her. Lucius was unlikely to come willingly – so he would have to, or have someone else, do some research on the girl. If he could acquire her in some fashion – be it ghoul, friend or just garner her compassion, he was hoping to get Lucius finally on his side. Should all else fail, he would enact the embrace. He chided himself for having not ghouled the boy long ago. But then, he reminded himself, he was too young.
He selected a few to travel with him – Rick and Sandra, of course. Not only were they Lucius’ parents, but they were among his most loyal followers. He brought four others, men of varying skillsets, and by midnight they were all on the road in a modified RV, headed for Montana. While he slept during the day, they were expected to sleep in shifts so that someone was always driving – no stops except for gas. Those who weren’t driving or asleep were to dig up information on Willow Creek itself, as well as information on the girl Lucius was infatuated with.
By nine the next evening, his followers had settled into the rented house, one staying in the RV to protect him. Soyebi awoke and followed them into the house, where he was presented with the information about Willow Creek and it’s residents – reliably given by a Nosferatu associate. Likewise, he was presented a small dossier about the girl, including a few digital surveillance photos from earlier that day.
He bade them all to eat and rest while he overlooked the information, and decided upon what course of action to take.