Her scent was everywhere and nowhere. It was all over the bench, the discarded phone he'd bought her, and yet it vanished in the December air. It made his fingernails dig into his palms as he bent all his thought on locating, at the very least, which direction it went.

"Anything?" Charlotte asked breathlessly, breaking his concentration. "I swear she was sitting right there a second ago." Teresa began nodding fervently. 

It had been twenty minutes. Twenty minutes since he had came back with a billowing cloud of spun pink sugar on a paper cone, but a handful of minutes before that the girls had discovered her missing. The thought had crossed his mind that she had gone to the bathroom, or simply saw someone she knew and went off to talk, but those all faded when he drew nearer the bench. There was another scent on the painted wood--ancient and musky. Skylar's perfume was strong, but he could sniff out the traces of that mouthwatering scent he used to crave so much.

Fear.

"Nothing," he bit out.

"Okay, that's it, I'm calling my dad." Charlotte whipped out her phone and cursed as the face recognition wouldn't work properly in the dark.

"No." He turned to her as she curled her lip. Blood welled from the crescent moon marks he'd made on his palm. Anything to keep his rage contained. Charlotte opened her mouth to protest and, ignoring Teresa's surprise, he gripped her shoulders and looked past her eyes and into the depths below--her soul. "Don't call him. I will find her."

He waited for that rapid dilation of her pupils, allowed them to grow and shrink into pinpricks before going back to normal, then he let go. Let go of his mental hold on her, his pressured command. He didn't even bother to glance at the girls as he fled into the night. Didn't bother to tell them where he was going or just how he intended to find her. 

Bear blended into the night in his midnight ensemble as always. It was necessary, a predator's attire. He would have to do it. He would have to confront him. But he couldn't do it in his current state--couldn't risk giving him the upper hand because he was too weak to fight him.

Bear needed to feed. He needed fresh blood.

-------

Drip, drip, drip.

Skylar opened her eyes and panic flooded her. Black. Everything was black. She was in a chair, that much she knew from the cool metal at her back and the mercilessly tight bonds tying her legs and hands against it. 

Drip, drip, drip.

She wanted to cry out--to call out for help if anyone was near. Fear, blinding and raw, gripped her, compelling her to stay silent. Her mind needed to be quiet, needed to shut out the relentless protests that her body made. The throbbing ache at the back of her skull where he'd struck her. The gnawing hunger in her gut that illustrated just how long she'd been there. Or had she only just arrived? Time moved and stilled in that darkness like a bottomless pit of chaos.

Drip, drip, drip.

Skylar cringed at the sound. It was both deafening and minute. Though she felt no dampness in the air, heard no sound of water running, there was the incessant dripping somewhere farther in the black. It kept a constant pace, dripping and plunking softly to the hard ground.

She strained her ears to listen for anything else, but there was only the dripping. Only the maddening sound of water droplets. God she hoped it was only that--water. She couldn't dwell on that. Not allow the image of being trapped in the dark with something else making that sound.

The sound of metal scraping had her holding her breath as a small sliver of light trickled through the crack in a door to her left. She shut her eyes as quickly and softly as she was able. Feigning sleep was easier than facing whoever was going to walk through that door.

Viktor's amused voice rang out, "I know you're awake. I can hear your heart beating."

Her heart thrummed in her chest. It filled her ears, pounding in her head so loudly that it overwhelmed her. She raised her head, a defiant glare aimed at the suave man in the doorway. His hand moved and the room was flooded with the buzz of lights flickering on overheard. Her eyes squeezed at the sudden presence of light before she cracked one open and blinked rapidly to adjust.

Drip, drip, drip.

Against her better judgement, she looked for the source of the sound. The room she was kept in resembled an abandoned warehouse, but she knew better. Roman Ridge didn't build its wealth on forgotten warehouses, it built its wealth on biotech. To her left lay the door, and a smug looking Viktor. To her right, a long table pressed against a water damaged wall. The yellow stains marred the once ivory wallpaper, but the table still looked pristine. It was new. Stainless steel without the slightest bit of damage by time or water, and atop it lay a massive spread of tools. there was no a single thing against the wall in front of her. No trickling of water from the ceiling, no busted pipe--

Drip, drip, drip.

Viktor tilted his head back and took a long inhale as a wide smile spread over his face. "You're more curious than afraid," he stated somewhat drawn. 

"Where am I?" Her throat ached when she spoke. 

"At the original Gore Palace of course. This is where all the fun stuff happened before my brother got that cushy cover as a science god." Brother. The word hung in the air. "Oh, he didn't tell you? He's full of secrets I think you'll come to find. As are you," he said, crossing the room. 

Drip, drip, drip.

"I don't--"

He slammed his hands down on her wrists and lowered his gaze to hers. The smell of his cologne lingered around him. "Of course you don't know your secrets. They're as much a mystery to you as I am. So," he said, standing tall again, "I've developed some methods to pry them from you."

He swiveled her chair around until she faced the back wall.

The scream bubbled up and pierced the air around her before she could stop it. She screamed and screamed and screamed, but Jake didn't move. His Nike shoes nearly touched the ceiling, his head hung limp, and there at the base of his throat was the tiniest of cuts that let out a steady flow of blood into a galvanized basin below him.

-------

"Mr. and Mrs. Carrow?" Teresa cleared her throat as she approached the happy couple.

"Yes?" Mr. Carrow turned away from the ring toss.

"Oh, Teresa," Skylar's mom greeted the familiar face, "how nice to see you."

Teresa took a shaky breath and gathered her thoughts before spewing, "I was walking to Skylar, and she was sitting on a bench by a corndog stand, and people kept getting in the way, and it took forever to get through, and--"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down sweetheart. Start over. Is everything alright?" Mrs. Carrow put a motherly hand on her shoulder and gave her a long look.

Teresa shut her eyes for a moment, gaining control of herself. "I think Skylar is missing."

Mr. Carrow's eyes narrowed as he surveyed her. "Why do you say that?"

"One minute she was on the bench, and the next she was gone. I didn't see what happened, but I know that she was right there and then some people walked in front of me, and by the time Charlie and I got to the bench she was gone. But she left her phone," she blurted, reaching into her purse and handing them the pink cell.

Mrs. Carrow took it with some hesitancy. "She didn't just go to the bathroom?"

"It's been over an hour." 

"Has anyone called the police? What about Charlie's father? Isn't he a cop?" Mr. Carrow sent a flurry of questions at her.

Teresa shook her head, her throat bobbing as she said. "Charlie won't call. I've asked her three times, but she just keeps say no and that Bear will find her."

"Is he here? Where is he?" Mr. Carrow whipped his head around in search of the lithe millionaire.

"He left to go look for her. Maybe half an hour ago or so."

"I'm calling the police." Mrs. Carrow pulled out her phone.

"Hang on," Charlie panted, running up to them. Her hair was a mess from the humidity.

"Charlie," Mrs. Carrow breathed in relief. "Why haven't you called your father? Where's Skylar."

"Don't call." Her face was blank.

Mrs. Carrow blinked and looked to her husband. "Excuse me?"

"She's not missing, she went home with Bear."

Mr. Carrow's shoulders sagged at the news. Mrs. Carrow gave an audible sigh and dropped her phone. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she just called me from his phone. She left hers by accident." Charlie's smile warmed everyone.

"Here, why don't you take it to her when you girls leave." Mrs. Carrow handed the phone back to a grinning Charlie. 

Teresa gawked at them. "What? No! She's missing!"

Charlie cocked a brow and snorted. "T, chill. She just called me."

The Carrows went back to their game with a cheerful wave of their hands and let the girls go back to their festivites. When they were out of earshot, Teresa spun on her heels and grabbed Charlie by her arms. "What the fuck was that about?"

"You shouldn't have done that." Charlie's scowl was foreign on her pretty face.

"Done what? Told her parents the truth?" When Charlie didn't budge, she added calmly, "You do realize there have been bodies found literally on a weekly basis, right? She could be in actual danger, Charlie. Don't you get that."

Charlie tugged away from her with a sharp snap of her arms. "Bear said he'd find her." She stomped back to the carnival as Teresa watched on in utterly terrified bemusement.