Chapter Thirty: Holding a Hostage

They had long since left the basement for the living room. Lorraine turned to Aiden with sad eyes, both of them saw the tears smudging the ink on the yellow papers of the diary and it wasn’t hard to see how bad it was for Suzan. “It looks all way too terrible.” Lorraine mumbled under her breath, her eyes turned back to the diary and shook her head. “Do you think that…? She didn’t get to finish her question when Aiden gestured for her to keep quiet.

Suzan arrived at the living room. She saw Aiden and attempted a small smile. “Hello Aiden.” Her eyes fell on the notebook that Lorraine was holding, and her face morphed into one of anger, even slight betrayal. She rushed to them and snatched the red diary from her hand, “Where did you find this?”

Lorraine stood up hurriedly and stammered her words, “I… I found it in the basement.”

“You had no right.” Suzan turned around so fast and left the room without another word. Lorraine stared with an unblinking gaze at her mother’s back until she disappeared from her view. She let out a sigh, shaking her head, and turning to Aiden.

“She needs time.” Aiden said with empathizing eyes. “Sometimes, we bury parts of our past so deep, pretend like they never happened… She just saw part of her past glaring at her; it can tear you apart.” Lorraine knew he was talking out of experience. She felt like he was talking about himself rather than her mother. She opened her mouth’ perhaps she wanted to offer comfort, for him or herself, she wasn’t yet sure. Aiden moved closer; she noticed his body very close to her own, and she was reminded of their earlier almost-kiss.

Lorraine didn’t know what to do. She knew she cared for Aiden but she didn’t know if it was in that way. The moment she shared with Cedric had confused her; He confused her. It was all in a split-second, but her mind ran through all the different possibilities. She wondered if what she felt with Cedric was just a physical attraction. *“Whatever the case, I cannot lead Aiden on. He’s so good, and he cared deeply about me.”* She decided in her mind that hurting him would equally hurt her, that was how deeply she cared for him.

Lorraine turned her face away quickly and the awkwardness cascaded on them. She tried to say something, anything, but her mouth opened to only let out a frustrated breath. There was a look of sadness that crossed his face before he stiffened then his eyes turned to the front door. Before she even knew what happened, he fled the house in a flash. She wasn’t sure what happened, but she hoped it wasn't because of the awkwardness.

It was an hour later that her phone rang. She answered and the first thing Cedric said was, “Where the hell is Aiden?”

“He left an hour ago, did something happen?”

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Aiden was in the basement of Bates’ house. It was a long dark hallway with three cells side by side. He stood in front of one of the cells, the one which held the vampire who was lurking around Lorraine’s house captive. The vampire looked familiar at first, until Aiden recognized him as the same one, he had fought in the forest after having attacked Lorraine.

The vampire was waking up and he let out a groan. He rubbed at his neck slightly, feeling the pain of having it snapped earlier by Aiden during their fight. “Who sent you?” Aiden asked with gritted teeth. Aiden had sensed his presence earlier outside of Lorraine’s house, and he knew he must get him.

The vampire smirked, “Who do you think?”

“Marcus?” The vampire looked at him but didn’t say anything. “Where is he?” Aiden was aware that the vampire was part of The Brotherhood of The Sun. He had the tattoo on his wrist. “If you don’t talk then you’ll stay here until you rot”

The vampire laughed weakly but his eyes held a menacing look on them, “I’d rather rot here than have them kill me.”

“The Brotherhood of The Sun?” Aiden asked, though he believed he knew the answer.

“And your dear brother.” The vampire said after a short nod of his head. “Do you think Marcus is here for some family reunion?” The vampire chuckled, “He’d like nothing more than to have you killed.”

Aiden had to fight his desire to know more about Mark; it was an urge that he had to curb for the more important things. “What about The Brotherhood? Why are you following Victoria?”

The vampire looked at Aiden like he had just told him that he saw some pigs flying, “We don’t follow Victoria.” He stood up and walked closer to the metal bars of the cell, clenching his fists tightly around them, and putting his face so close that his nose was between two of the bars. “Victoria follows us. She’s a mean to an end.”

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Cedric arrived at Lorraine’s house with Bates. She opened the door for them, and the first thing Bates asked was, “Any news from Aiden?”

Lorraine shook her head and closed the front door and followed them to her living room. Bates was pacing back and forth with obvious worry. “He wouldn’t just leave Lorraine like that. There must be something.” He turned to Lorraine with a questioning look, “Do you have any idea of why he left?”

Lorraine casted her eyes down, before quickly shaking her head. “I… I’m not sure.” They both heard the lie she said. The way she wouldn’t meet their eyes and how her heart skipped a beat. “I’m sure he’s okay, though.” She shook her head,

Cedric scoffed, shook his head, then threw a yellow file on the coffee table. He didn’t know what Aiden did, but it bothered him that it had put such a despondent look on her face. “I think we might have another lead.”

“We don’t know if it’s relevant to anything, but it was at Victoria’s house.” Bates continued absentmindedly.

Lorraine furrowed her eyebrows, “You didn’t find her.” It was more of a statement than a question, but they both nodded anyway. She grabbed the file and when she saw the name on the very first page her eyes widened. “Raymond Brown.” She said the name with utter shock. She dropped the file mumbling for them to wait for her. She retrieved Suzan’s diary from the kitchen island after she had sneaked into her mother's room and took it. She then ran back to them. “I found this earlier.”

Both men inspected it, then Cedric looked up. “This keeps getting better and better.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Raymond Brown is actually your father.”