Areion was getting old and Raphael didn't want to separate him from Frostine, the name Rouge had given the white horse she'd brought to the Isle with her. That left their son, Storm, a young black and white stallion who'd been born two summers ago. He wasn't as big as his father but stood taller than his mother. Raphael saddled up the young horse and began to pack the saddle bags. Robert walked into the clearing and nodded toward the young horse.

"You going?"

"She hasn't come back and hasn't sent the bird. Something's not right. It's been four days." Robert handed Raphael a bag bulging with gold coins.

"Could you pass that on to my son? He said he was running short in his letter."

"Of course."

"Send Rouge to us when we're needed. It'll take us a week of nights running to reach you."

"I will. Thank you."

"Remember you always have a home here."

"Thank you, Robert, I hate to ask..." The older man nodded.

"I knew yesterday you'd be leaving today or perhaps tomorrow. I've already sorted out the care of the horses." The vampire nodded to the wolf and moved to Areion who was unsettled like he knew what was happening. He pressed his forehead to the horses.

"Robert and the pack will look after you till I'm able to return old man." The horse grunted and rubbed his head against him.

With that Raphael went back to his cabin, grabbed his pack and returned to the young black and white stallion. As he straddled the young horse Areion trotted over and nudged at the vampire. He stroked the horse's head and urged the younger one out of the clearing as Robert caught the distressed older one. Raphael felt guilty as they entered the treeline and Areion whinnied urgently at being left behind.

***

"Rouge? Rouge?" Raphael barreled through the front door of his family's home without waiting for Winston to open it. Gabriel and Winston came running down the stairs as Duncan stepped out of the drawing-room followed by a short dark-haired woman Raphael didn't know.

"Rouge!"

"Raphael? Rouge isn't here. She went to see her father and then was coming to the hidden Isle to get you. She was sending for a pegasus to bring you here."

"How long ago?" Gabriel and Winston's faces creased with worry.

"Weeks ago. We thought she was travelling down the country with you."

"She never came back to the island." Raphael's face paled as he stared at his brother.

"Can't you feel where she is? She may still be with her father."

"No, I can't."

"Maybe Merlin's magic prevents you from feeling her in his home?" Interjected Azrael as he came running down the stairs.

"I can't feel her anywhere. I never marked her." Yelled Raphael as he spun on his heels and ran back out of the door. Nearly colliding with Cassiel on the steps as he ran down them heading back to his horse.

"Raph!" Cassiel grinned at him, "should have known it was you making all the noise. Where is my favourite witch?" Snarling at his brother as he sprinted to his horse he leapt on Storm's back.

"Don't you start." With that, he rode off fast down the driveway.

"Did I miss something?" Asked the hybrid in confusion. Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck.

"Winston, can you bring the car around. He'll be heading for Stonehenge. We'll get there quicker in the car." The dwarf took off at a quick march towards the garage Gabriel had recently installed in the old stables.

"Stonehenge?" Azrael shook his head.

"Rouge May never made it back to the Hidden Isle, Raphael came here expecting to find her."

"Shit!" Exclaimed Cassiel as Winston tore around the corner in Gabriel's new Standard Model S. The racing green open-topped car with its gold grill and headlights was still new to the vampire and Gabriel still wasn't a comfortable driver. But it would be the only way he'd get to Stonehenge at the same time as his brother as they no longer owned horses.

"Cassiel, it might be nothing and she may well have been delayed with her family. But can you head to Annies and see if she's heard anything?"

"On it." He headed off on foot down the drive.

"Azrael, wait here in case he comes back." Duncan jogged down the steps and leapt into the passenger seat in the car and looked at Gabriel expectantly.

"I guess you're my map reader." The wolf laughed.

"Aye, map reading and tracking are my best skills."

***

"ROUGE? ROUGE?" Raphael stormed around the ancient stones bellowing her name as he tried to squash the rising fear that was threatening to overwhelm him, he could smell her blood in the place. Not enough to mean she was dead and it wasn't fresh, but that didn't mean she wasn't dead. Why hadn't he marked her, if he'd fully mated with her, let his demon taste her blood he'd be able to sense if she was alive and if he was near or far from her.

"MERLIN? ROUGE?" Over and over he yelled as loud as he could, he knew her father's home was here, somewhere. He had to be able to hear. Finally, an elderly man dressed in a long blue robe with a huge long white and copper flecked beard appeared between two of the huge stones.

"Who are you? What do you want?" He asked irritatedly. Holding his palm up so the wizard could see his mark he spoke in a low tone.

"Is she here?" Merlin narrowed his bright blue eyes as he stared at the mark.

"Oh, so you're the vampire. I thought you'd be bigger. Of course, she's not here. She went back to the Hidden Isle."

"She didn't show up. I can smell blood here." At that Merlin visibly blanched.

"What?"

"When she didn't return I went to my family's home and then came here looking for her. No one's seen her." He could hear the tremor in his voice as he spoke. Merlin closed his eyes as he spread his arms wide and began to mumble inaudibly to himself.

"She's not in this realm." His voice held a note of worry.

At that moment Gabriel pulled up and both he and the wolf leapt from the car and ran to the stone circle.

"She's not here." Said Duncan as he scented the air.

"No." Whispered Raphael. He felt out of step with reality like the world was ending and they didn't seem aware of it.

"Where's my daughter vampire? The whole point of your existence is to protect her." Merlin's face had become a mask of anger.

"Something happened here." Stated Duncan pointing at a scorched mark in the grass just outside the stone circle. He'd been walking about scenting the air in an attempt to locate anything. The assembled creatures all raced to the spot. Merlin placed his hand on the blackened grass and again closed his eyes and mumbled. Duncan walked a few yards and then picked up Rouge's shredded clothes, her ribbon and pendant fell out of the bundle to the ground.

"She was pulled out of the mirror realm by something or someone powerful in this spot." The ancient wizard finally said.

"There's smears of her blood on the stones." Said Raphael in a daze. Merlin looked across to the stones.

"Someone was trying to get to me, they thought her blood would break through my spell." He said in a flat tone. "I know who has my daughter."