Sought(131)

“Of course.” Her Grandmother blew her a kiss. “Remember, Kat, I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

“Thanks Grandma. Goodbye.” Kat watched as her grandmother’s image faded to a single bright dot in the middle of the viewscreen and then went completely black. Olivia, sitting on her right hand looked grim and Sophie, on her left, was openly sobbing. “Okay, guys, come on,” she said with an effort. “Let’s get going. We can’t paint the town red of we’re crying our eyes out.”

“I’m sorry,” Sophie whispered brokenly, trying to control her tears. “I just…don’t want to lose you, Kat.”

“I don’t want to lose me either,” Kat said grimly. “But I’m not lost yet so if you don’t mind—”

Suddenly the viewscreen popped back to life. “Forgive me for interrupting your privacy,” said the Blood Kindred warrior, whose face had appeared on the screen. “But there is an incoming call for Miss Waterhouse from a woman who says she is your aunt. Do you care to accept it?”

“Oh my God! Aunt Abby! That detective must have told her what we said about Lauren.” Sophie turned to Liv. “Should we take it?”

Liv frowned. “It’s likely to take a little while and we might not have much time to, er, have fun. Maybe we should ask her to call back later.”

“No.” Kat swiped at her eyes and shook her head. “Take the call. I want to talk to her.”

“All right, if you’re sure…” Liv looked up at the Blood Kindred communications officer. “Fine, we’ll take it.”

“As you wish.” His image disappeared to be immediately replaced by the distraught face of Liv and Sophie’s Aunt Abby.

“Detective Rast told me that Lauren’s been taken by the Scourge,” she said without preamble. “He said you knew all along. How could you lie to me, Olivia, Sophia? How could you?”

“We didn’t want to,” Sophie said at once. “But we thought it might be easier for you to just think she was missing rather than to know…to know…”

“That the Scourge had her,” Liv finished for her. “Aunt Abby, we’re sorry, really we are. We thought not knowing would be better than, well, knowing.”

“And you’re sure they have her?” Aunt Abby looked almost wild. “Truly certain?”

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt,” Liv said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“They don’t have her any more.” Kat spoke for the first time, stepping forward. “At least, the AllFather doesn’t.”

“What do you mean? What do you know?” Liv and Sophie’s aunt demanded wildly.

“I don’t know exactly where she is right now but I saw Lauren just a few hours ago and she was fine,” Kat assured her. “She hadn’t been molested or abused in any way—just held prisoner.”

“But where? Where are they holding her?”

“She was on the Scourge home world when I saw her.” Kat shifted uncomfortably. “But I think she escaped.” She wished again that they could have made a more thorough search for Lauren before leaving the deserted planet.

“You think? So then she’ll be coming home soon?” The hope in Aunt Abby’s eyes—the same clear amber as Lauren’s—nearly broke Kat’s heart.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I do know she had a protector—one of the Scourge was taking care of her, making sure she was safe and no one hurt her. We…had to leave the planet in a hurry but we saw another ship take off right before we went. I think he and Lauren must have been aboard.”

“But will he bring her home? Will I see her again?” Aunt Abby demanded.

Kat bit her lip. “I wish I could answer your questions but I really can’t. All I know is that Lauren seemed safe and well when I saw her and she did say that Xairn—the Scourge who was keeping her safe—had promised to take her home.”

Aunt Abby took a deep breath and nodded. “All right, thank you…”

“Kat,” Kat supplied.

“Thank you, Kat. At least I know she was well and healthy a few hours ago. If only I knew where she was and if she was heading home…” She blotted her eyes and looked at Sophie and Liv. “If you find out anything else will you please, please let me know, girls? Lauren is my daughter, I’d like to be kept in the loop.”

“Of course, Aunt Abby.” Olivia looked chagrinned. “And we’re really sorry for not telling you in the first place. “We just thought…well, obviously we thought wrong.”