Simon's hand gripped the phone, and he dialled Melanie's number once again while he continued to look through the windows. He couldn't feel anyone's presence in the house, and he wondered if they had gone somewhere.

  But then, when he thought about it as the phone continued to ring on Melanie's side, he noticed that the count of heartbeats he could hear around had reduced since the last hour he was here.

  He walked to Conner's house, moving to the human's room, and he heard the window being tapped. The phone call he made was disconnected, now coming as unreachable.

  It was Conner who mouthed something from inside the room while he continued tapping on the window as if wanting to break the glass.

  "Meet me at the door," Simon said to Conner, jerking his head towards the door, but Conner shook his head.

  'My door and the window is locked,' Conner mouthed the words, and Simon frowned.

  "Give me a minute," responded Simon, raising his index finger.

  He left Conner's window and walked to the main entrance door. Keeping his ear close to the door's surface, he pulled out a knife from his pocket and started to fiddle inside the lock.

  "Sometimes, I am so glad that my siblings used to lock me up in the cupboards and rooms. Was enough practice to break into the houses without having to break anything," murmured Simon under his breath before he heard a click sound. He pushed the door and stepped inside the house. He then went to Conner's room and unlocked the door.

  "Oh, thank God you are here, Simon! I was so exhausted that I decided to take a small nap with the stressful condition that was going on in the hunters house," Conner wiped out the sweat from his forehead.

  "Why was your room as well as window locked?" questioned Simon before he asked, "Do you know where Mel is? It looks like someone took her and her phone."

  "What do you mean?" Conner asked him back. "Being in the house of the hunters, our windows are bullet proof, you cannot open it once it's locked and it is airtight. Do you think my parents and Mel's parent's found out?"

  "But why would they leave you here, while taking Melanie with them?" Simon looked around the house.

  "Where did my parents go?" Conner asked himself.

  "They invited themselves for a party in Veteris. They lied to you about attacking Veteris tomorrow, the attack is going to take place tonight. Right now," stated Simon, and he continued checking around Conner's house to see if he could find anything important.

  "They took my phone away too," mumbled Conner in realization. "Do you think they would have taken Melanie to Veteris to fight?"

  "That sounds like an unlikely thing, unless they plan to use her as bait on a hook for the vampires," Simon said grimly. His eyebrows furrowed, and he whispered, "The basement. She must be in the basement!"

  Simon and Conner quickly left Conner's house to Melanie's house. They broke through the main door and went straight to the basement.

  "Mel!" Conner shouted while standing in front of the basement door.

  "Conner?!" Melanie shouted, sounding slightly worried yet distressed.

  Simon looked at the door, which he had tried to open earlier that day but had ended up getting electrocuted. At the moment, Donovan and Roman phone's were unreachable because of the lack of network in Veteris.

  "How are you doing there, Mel?" questioned Simon, and for a second, Melanie didn't reply. She then said,

  "I am strapped to a chair and I think I have a thirsty vampire for company!" came her freaked out voice.

  "How alive does he look?" asked Simon, and he bent down to look at the keyhole again.

  "What kind of question is that?" asked Melanie, "He looks dead. Or he was supposed to be dead, and he woke up after I was locked in here. They are planning to attack Veteris now!"

  "Yes, we know it, and Dante has sent out a message. I think it would be best you relax," Simon advised her, and Melanie stared at the door from the other side.

  She turned to look at the vampire, who until now had only moved his hands and toes. He slowly pushed himself up as if using all his strength and sniffed the air in the room. The scent of a human drifted across his nose. He looked pale in complexion, appearing like a corpse that had been left to dry under the hot sun.

  "How do you fucking relax when you know you are going to be sucked dry!" came Melanie's panicked voice, and she kept moving her body upwards, trying to release herself out of the chair. But whenever she did that, the straps bit into her hands and legs.

  Outside the basement door, Simon asked Conner, "Do you know where the electricity is? I want you to turn it off. Maybe it will be easier to kick the door open without getting shocks and dying before Mel does."

  Conner quickly nodded, and he started to look for the control board of the house.

  Now that they were both alone, where Simon ignored the vampire, he placed his hand on the door and asked Melanie, "How did you end up there?"

  "I don't know. I think mom had an inkling over it for some time now. And she was waiting for me to slip. I cleared all my texts and call details. Also erase the numbers," replied Melanie, keeping her eyes on the vampire, who was trying to put some more energy to jump down from the table. "The other guy…… the head of the hunters, he was the one to figure it out."

  "How did your parents take it?" asked Simon.

  "Not good……" Melanie's voice trailed, and she said, "They hate me. I am a disappointment to them."