In The Beginning, Chapter 116

Daniel POV

I watched Charlie leave with a goofy smile plastered on my face, the relief and serenity I felt after patching things up with her actually making me feel lighter, as I opened the encrypted line to Kasa and Lander.
“Daniel? Did we have a call set up for today?” Kasa asked when he answered, as usual it was taking Lander longer to join the call.
“No, but since I was kidnapped yesterday by a vampire, and tortured on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Mexico, I thought I should update you both.” I replied dryly.
“Holy moon goddess! How did you escape?” Kasa asked, his shock written all over his face.
“I didn’t, Charlie rescued me, alone, although the warriors here at Applewood got some vamp killing practice when they followed us to the pack.” I admitted, I thought Kasa’s eyes might fall out with how much they were bulging.
“She... I... what?” He finally asked, dumbfounded.
“She teleported to the ship, and got me out, but a number of vampires followed her, our warriors came to aid the patrol, thankfully there was a group nearby doing exercises in the woods, which saved a lot of lives.” I informed him. “They attacked Appletree, didn’t care who saw them, killed several of my employees, some of whom were pack members, so you need to be careful, beef up security, just in case.” I stressed.
“Yeah, Hyacinth put protections on the pack house, she didn’t have the strength to make a barrier, but she said the warding’s should be enough to keep Astrid safe...” He trailed off, lost in thought.
“What did I miss? Daniel... you look... different.” Lander commented as he joined the call.
“Appletree was attacked yesterday by vampires, they teleported in, drawing the security teams into the lower half of the building, before trying to capture Charlie. They set off an explosion in R&D, killed several pack members and humans, in front of human witnesses, we believe the explosion was set off early however, as it alerted us something was wrong. One of my Zetas, who has been acting as Charlie’s body guard, got her and my sister-in-law out, just before the vampires came for her. During this time I was also attacked, and when they couldn’t get to Charlie, they took me, tried to use me as bait, but she got me out, and our warriors killed thirteen of the fuckers... three got away, including Hermes, the mastermind of the whole thing.” I sighed.
“Isn’t the female supposed to be the damsel in distress?” Lander asked chuckling.
“You say that because you haven’t seen my Luna pissed.” I replied, making both Alphas laugh.
“Well, she would have to be strong willed to put up with you!” Kasa added.
“Yeah, yeah, just make sure to add extra security. It’s unlikely they will come after you, Hermes is pissed Charlie killed his daughter, but rather safe than sorry, yeah?” I asked both men, who nodded, the smiles slipping from their faces.
“How are you both?” I asked, scrutinising both men.
“About the same.” Lander sighed, frustrated.
“Astrid has been sleeping through the night since Hyacinth came to stay... still won’t talk about it though.” He sighed sadly.
“There was really no improvement?” I asked Lander, I had been sure Hyacinth would do something to help.
“Leif sleeps a little more, but Mia, is exactly the same, she’s terrified, every second. I found them both under our bed yesterday, Leif insisted it made him feel better under there.” Lander confessed, Kasa and I exchanged a look of concern, our friend was looking worse every time we saw him. He had noticeable hair growth on his usually smooth face, his hair was longer than I had ever seen it, instead of his usual suit he was in stained sweats, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a month. Deep, dark bags marred his face, which was paler and more gaunt then when I had seen him just three days prior.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked him softly, when his entire face broke, his mask disintegrating as I saw him openly sob.
“I don’t know what to do! She won’t talk to me, and everything I try makes it worse, or makes her angry with me... She blames me for not being there to protect them... I blame me for not being there.” He lamented once he had pulled himself together.
“I understand, I feel the same way sometimes.” Kasa sympathised. I felt bad, I hadn’t told either of them about Charlie and I’s recent problems, I wasn’t sure they would understand or think I had some level of culpability. And in our society, to cheat on your mate was an unforgivable offence.
“Charlie and I had a rough patch recently... I gave her some space, it nearly killed me, but we’ve turned a corner, and things are starting to get back to normal.” I finally admitted without going into the details.
“Yeah, we knew something was going on, last time we spoke you looked like death warmed up.” Kasa muttered, while Lander chuckled.
“Wanna talk about it?” Lander asked when it wasn’t as amusing to him.
“Not really.” I replied, both men nodded.
“What was the name of the ship? I’ll see if one of my tech guys can trace the owner, or a company its done business with.” Kasa interjected.
“The Talaria, its some sort of cargo ship.” I answered, I could hear Kasa typing away for a few moments.
“I’ll get back to you with anything we find.” He replied, his attention elsewhere.
“Good, anything else to report?” I asked them both.
“Unfortunately not, no matter how we approach it, there is shockingly little information out there on any of the companies we have reason to believe are vampire owned. Which leads me to believe they had help, from human companies and governments.” Kasa explained, his tone frustrated.
“Okay, well, keep at it, and we will talk again in a couple of days.” I sighed, the task of finding anything on where Hermes or Apollo were hiding seemingly impossible.
“Yeah, will do.” Kasa said, signing off, while Lander just sat there, staring at me.
“What?” I asked him after several uncomfortable seconds.
“What happened?” He asked, his face placid.
“It doesn’t matter, but it was bad... really bad, thought I was going to lose her bad.” I admitted, still feeling so much guilt over the whole thing. “Try giving Mia a bit of space, just a day or two.” I shrugged, unsure if it would help, but I was growing increasingly worried about my friend.
“Yeah, maybe, talk in a couple of days.” He said wearily, before ending the call on his end. I closed down the programme, and checked the time, I had told Robert to send one of his detectives to get my statement at 10am. I still had time, so I checked a few emails, and called the families of the employees we had lost. It was harrowing, the tears of their partners, one of the humans’ only relative was her elderly mother, whom she took care of. I spent so long on the call with her the detective turned up and had to wait in the living room until I was done. When I finally joined him, and realised he was human, I was in no mood.
“Good morning, Mr Summer, I’m detective Griffiths, if you could run me through everything you remember, that would be great.” He said as he offered me his hand, I shook it, hoping to get the whole thing over and done with as quickly as possible. He pulled out a black leather book and a pen, jotting down a few things before he looked at me expectantly.
“Two men posing as clients got into my office, while their friends were downstairs, when we felt the explosion go off, they attacked me. I managed to fight them off, for a while, but eventually someone hit me in the back of the head, I don’t remember anything after that, I just woke up in the hospital.” I gave him the story Ben had laid out; he nodded a few times.
“Can you describe these men?” He asked.
“Both were around 6ft, 180lbs, slimly built, white, with dark hair, they were wearing black suits, white shirts, black shoes and ties.” I shrugged, but he didn’t seem satisfied. “Something wrong detective?” I asked when he paused.
“Yes, I walked the crime scenes yesterday, floor by floor, and it was a nightmare. Your security is so tight we needed a guard to remain with us at all times. So, I suppose I’m still trying to understand how they were able to get into R&D, when you can only access it with a security badge?” He asked.
“I have no idea; do you think they were working with someone within my company?” I asked in return.
“Possibly... Could you tell me more about the men who came to your office? I saw the damage your fight caused, and yet you seem to have no physical injuries... it seems unlikely.” He probed.
“I work out, and I had a couple of inches and about thirty pounds on them, and I may not have an visible wounds, but believe me, my body is aching. I can only assume adrenaline had something to do with it.” I replied, getting pissed off.
“Hmm, and you’ve never seen these men before? Or suspect another company that could be behind it?” The detective questioned.
“Never seen them before, and they gave no clues about who sent them.” I answered.
“What about your live-in girlfriend? Charlie Phillips? She works for you too, doesn’t she?” He asked, without looking up from the book he was scribbling in.
“Fiancée.” I clarified, getting annoyed. “And she wasn’t in the office at the time.”
“Why not?” He asked.
“She is working on a flexible schedule, working from home occasionally.” I replied through gritted teeth, she must have felt my displeasure, as she emerged from the den.
“Ah, you must be Miss Phillips!” Detective Griffiths announced when he spotted her, standing to offer her his hand.
“Yes, and you are?” She asked as they shook.
“Detective Griffiths, I’m investing the incident at Appletree Architecture and Engineering, that’s quite a mouthful.” He commented with a smile.
“Most people just call it Appletree.” Charlie replied with a dazzling smile that put the detective on the back foot.
“Yes, I suppose that makes sense.” He chuckled as she took a seat beside me, her hand slipped into mine immediately. “Umm, what else?” He asked himself as he flicked through the pages of his book. “Oh, yes. I checked with the ambulances that were called to Appletree, and you weren’t on one, so how did you get to the hospital, Mr Summer?”
“I have no idea, my head was hit pretty hard, I only remember waking up at the hospital here in Applewood.” I replied, thankfully Ben had thought of that already and had an Eta ready to say I was slurring my words when I came to, so he drove me to the hospital.
“That’s interesting, Applewood, Appletree?” He noted.
“Not really, Applewood was founded by my three- or four-times great grandfather, while Appletree was created by my great grandfather.” I snapped; Charlie squeezed my hand to calm me down.
“Detective, I don’t mean to be rude, but my fiancé is still recovering, maybe we should continue this another day.” Charlie suggested.
“I apologise, but I only have a couple more questions, please?” He was making me uneasy. “Were you kidnapped Mr Summer? Maybe you, or whomever paid your ransom were told not to speak to the police? But you need to tell us, everything.”
“If I had been kidnapped, wouldn’t I have some injuries? Your scenario seems unlikely.” I answered.
“You wouldn’t be the first man to want to keep something like a kidnapping secret, some might think it embarrassing, or shameful?” The detective pushed.
“Well, that’s not Daniel, he is secure in his masculinity.” Charlie answered before I could, giving the detective a withering glare. “And i think you should leave, now. Before you insult us again.”